See How She Awakens (4 page)

She doesn
’
t really want you here. She thinks you will take her position. If she truly loved you, why didn
’
t she come for you when your mother died?
  The darkness came, more audible this time.  It was growing stronger, expanding within me.  I could feel it searching for chinks in my armor.  With each breath I took, it grew inside of me, learning me.  Its words growing teeth as the truth of them sank in.  The darkness was right, she never came for me.

We made our way through the house, everyone giving me a wide berth. The looks on their faces a mixture of horror and pity. What did they see when they looked upon me? Was I truly so altered?

A closed door was all that stood between us and Molly. Just beyond the wooden barrier, I could hear anguished pleading. It cut through me as I realized it was Ian’s fearful voice coming from within.

“Molly, stay strong. Don’t let them get to you again. You can’t go back into the dreaming,” Ian pleaded.

“But Izzy is there. If she doesn’t come back then all is lost. She knows something, Ian. Something that will stop this.”  Molly’s voice sounded weak. 

The doors opened to an unspeakable horror. My eyes refused to believe what they were seeing.  Molly lay stretched out on the bed, altered almost beyond recognition. Her arms and legs were coated with black crackled skin, turning them into nothing more than charcoaled waste.  Her beautiful face was twisted in agony as trails of blood traced maps down her face.   

There was something familiar about the horrific image. I’d seen this. In the void. This wasn’t supposed to be real.

“The darkness is coming. Act now, or all is lost. The war rages on.” The words escaped my lips as my feet began to carry me around the room. Unease settled in my bones as the voices continued their assault. All I wanted was for this to be over. It was supposed to be over. My hands lifted to either side of my head, trying to block them out. This wasn’t real.  Maybe I was still in the void.

“Izzy? Izzy is that you?” Molly questioned hopefully.

“This isn’t real,” I murmured, unable to look at Molly.

“I assure you, Izzy. This is quite real.”  Aberto’s voice seemed to pull me back to the room. 

“What is this? Is this some kind of ploy to keep me here? Did you do this so that I would stay?” I turned on Aberto as the darkness swelled within me. 

“Izzy, STOP!” Ian shouted. His face told me everything I needed to know. This was really happening, and it was my fault. She’d said she had to go back into the dreaming to find me. She’d been there, and I’d pushed her away.

“How?” I choked, falling to my knees. The realization of knowing I might have been able to prevent this from ever happening threatened to pull me under. Everyone I loved ended up hurt because of me. My love brought with it a death sentence. My mother, Kennan, now Molly.

It is better to not love at all,
the darkness whispered.

“She is an Empath,” Eleanor spoke from the doorway, moving towards me. “When she first arrived here two months ago, the bleeding started. With each trip into the dreaming, it has gotten significantly worse.”

“Why did you keep going back?” My voice came out a broken whisper as disbelief and pain warred within me.

“To find you, Izzy. She kept going back to find you. According to her, you wouldn’t have let us stay in the void alone.” Ian bored at me, and I could see anger and blame in his eyes.

“Ian, don’t,” Molly begged. “She had every right to do what she did.”

“Not at the cost of your life,” Ian swore, his jaw clenching as the fire in his eyes engulfed me.

“I didn’t know. I didn’t know they were real. He was there, and I just wanted to stay. I didn’t want to come here. Don’t you understand? I will be the death of everyone if I remain.”  My head whipped back and forth as I frantically searched the faces of those I’d held so dear.       

Their looks of concern and blame pressed in on me, choking the air from my lungs. They didn’t understand. How could they? Fear clawed at me as the panic began to well within; I couldn’t stay in this room. Longing for an escape, I sifted outside of the house leaving them behind. 

“What in the hell were you thinking?” Conall’s voice shouted from inside the house.

Voices moved towards me, each one drowning out the others in an effort to be heard.

“I’m sorry, but what I said is the truth,” Ian growled.

“No, what you said is your truth. Izzy watched as Kennan was torn from her. She lost all she’s ever known. Furthermore, she was in the void. You’ve heard stories of what that can do to someone’s mind. Do not dishonor Kennan’s memory by allowing your pain to hurt Izzy more than she already does.” Conall opened the door, cutting off his words as he searched for me.

“Izzy.” Ian lowered his gaze.

“I didn’t know.” Tears welled in my eyes. “I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“What do you mean, hurt anyone?”  Conall’s voice softened, coaxing me to press on.  He kept his distance, as if I were a scared rabbit ready to race off at the slightest movement.

“Why doesn’t anyone see it?” I begged. They all looked at me like I was mad, but I wasn’t. Was I?

“Izzy, what are you talking about?” Ian moved closer, reaching to touch me.  He couldn’t touch me; no one could. 

I sifted out of the way, causing his hand to brush through air.

“Please. Don’t touch me,” I whispered, turning my back on everyone and wrapping my arms around myself.

“Where the hell is Aberto?” Ian grumbled. 

“I am here. I had matters to discuss with Mona.” I could feel Aberto’s stare on the back of my neck, making it all too clear the matter he’d needed to discuss was me. 

Before I could sift away, his arms lifted me into the air, cradling me like child. He effectively secured me so I could no longer escape. 

“DON’T!” I shouted, fear slithering through me.

“I held you in the dreaming, and no harm befell me. I believe myself to be safe from whatever you fear may come.” Aberto’s voice was calm. 

“But that is the dreaming. Here it might happen. I just want down. I want everyone to stay as far away from me as they can. Why doesn’t anyone understand?” I was trying to protect them, and all they did was put themselves in danger. 

They don
’
t believe you, Izzy. They think you went insane in the void,
the darkness murmured.

“I will take you to a room where you can rest.”  Aberto refused to let go, and no matter how hard I tried to sift away from him, I couldn’t.

“Not that room. I can’t go back to that room,” I pleaded, praying Aberto would understand. The memories of the time Kennan and I’d shared in this house pulsed from the room we’d shared, and mercifully Aberto led me past it, taking me further into the house.

“Of course.”

Aberto’s steps led me into a room I’d never seen. Gently, he lowered me onto the bed, tucking the blankets around me to form a tight cocoon. I stared blankly at the wall as he moved from the room, shutting the door behind him.

“What is going on?” Ian’s heated voice asked from just beyond the door.

“Keep your voice down, Guardian, she is resting,” Aberto chided.

“What happened to her in the dreaming?” Conall’s lowered voice was still audible, if just barely.

“She believes something is inside of her that will harm us. She looked at me with such pain in her eyes. She has convinced herself she will bring nothing but suffering with her.”  Aberto sounded scared.

“How can she help us if she has gone bat-shit crazy?” Ian growled.

“We will bring her back. She gave all for us, sacrificed all to bring down Sonneillon. No matter the cost, we will bring her back,” Conall swore.

“What about Molly? Izzy can’t help her when she’s like this.”  Ian’s voice sounded as though it came through clenched teeth.

“Which is more of an incentive to bring her back to herself, is it not?  Do not mistake me, Guardian.  My whole existence belongs to Izzy.  If you so much as move to push her beyond her limitations, I will end you.  Though I understand the pain you suffer, trying to move her before she is ready will not serve any of our purposes.  I will protect your Seer.”  Aberto’s steely voice sent chills down my spine. 

“How? How can you possibly protect her? They said the marks wouldn’t work.”  Ian’s voice was full of hope and fear.

“I can put her in a sort of stasis.”  Aberto moved away from the door, his voice fading toward where I’d left the broken Molly.

“Like a coma?” Ian shouted, his voice following behind Aberto’s.

“Rest well, Izzy. We need you.”  Conall’s voice flitted softly through the door before his footsteps led him away.

They want you to give more. Haven
’
t you done enough
? came the darkness.

“I will give them my all before I see her dead.”  I promised before sleep pulled me under.

The cemetery loomed before me, the gathering clouds overhead dark and ominous. The moment had come. It was time to face the prophecy, to move forward and save everyone I loved. I
’
d seen this moment for months, known how it would play out. Just as I
’
d known a battle raged overhead, a never-ending war that could have no victor.

Uriel had told me what would come if I didn
’
t fulfill my destiny. I
’
d seen the vision of Sonneillon as he lay waste to the world around me. Brother turning against brother, their hatred set aflame from within. I knew I had to act, to stop it.

Guardians amassed, preparing to fight the demon as it broke through to our plane. Their forms shifting and changing as they took on the aspect of their lineage. Kennan grew to towering heights, seemingly invincible, a gargantuan creature bent on destruction
—
a berserker. Surely he would be protected.

The earth shook, pulling my attention to what was coming. The world would never survive if I didn
’
t fulfill my call.  Through the darkness the demon came, surging onto our plane of existence; where it was never meant to roam.  I became stone, powerless to move as the darkness washed over me. 

Everything moved slowly as the demon made its way in my direction. Still, I couldn
’
t move.  My mind frozen, unable to break the hold the demon had over me.  The hatred swirled through my soul.  Whispering to me, calling me to bend to its will. 

Kennan moved towards the demon, struggling to intercept it.  Then it happened.  The moment time would never be able to undo.  As the demon lifted Kennan from the ground, it ripped outward, pulling Kennan apart. 

Kennan was gone. He couldn
’
t be gone. It couldn
’
t happen that quickly. Why did he do that? Why did he get in the demon
’
s way?  I was supposed to fall.  I was supposed to die, not him. 

A fissure ripped through my soul, exposing all I
’
d been holding back. A power so forceful, it ripped through my corporeal form, shifting me and molding me into something no Seer was ever meant to be. The fire coursed through me as I grew closer to Sonneillon. Everything I
’
d loved had been taken from me.  I had nothing left; the prophecy would be fulfilled.  My existence swirled in a maelstrom of blue flames burning ever brighter.  As my arms made contact with the demon, it happened.  The moment that was spoken of when time began. 

But then it stopped. Nothing, no sound, no movement
—
the moment froze in time.  I looked up at the demon and saw something, a skittering cross its eyes, almost a smile.  I burned, the flames engulfing us both, but made worse by the darkness that had begun to snake itself around my legs.  Surely it would disappear with the demon.