Aurator, The (13 page)

I started thinking back to the different dreams I had over the years, flashes of faces, fighting between groups of people I didn’t know. Was that a premonition of this? I looked up and the men were talking among themselves. I could hear them in the background like white noise. What was happening to me? Was I going to faint? I felt hot and overwhelmed. I saw lines of red, white, and black connecting in my mind. I suddenly couldn’t feel my body. I closed my eyes.

Get a grip
, I thought to myself. My breathing was fast and hard. I saw hordes of men, some of them talking, some of them fighting. I saw older Aurators swirling around in front of me. Talking to me and telling me the past. I saw myself as if looking in a mirror with my family around me as we passed through darkness. Then suddenly a bright red light, almost blinding, directly in front of me. I brought my arms up in defense, somehow knowing that if I walked toward and trusted the light I would be fine. Electricity coursed through my body and my eyes shot open.

Suddenly I realized I was two feet off the ground. I looked around and saw the three men standing around me. Max and Aaron with shocked looks on their faces and Nicholai with a knowing smile. Looking at my body, I felt each muscle flexing and extending, just as I had during my first purpose. My breathing slowed and I consciously brought my body toward the ground. As my feet touched, I looked at each man standing in front of me. Somehow I knew what was and what would be.

“We will need to be prepared for these men tonight,” I started. “I agree that Tomas is the weak link and will undermine us at the first opportunity.”

Aaron’s jaw dropped open and he looked at Nicholai. “What just happened?”

Nicholai’s smile had not yet left his face. “She has transitioned and become one with her past, present, and future… who she is meant to be.”

I felt an inexplicable anger toward the Caduceus and a sense of purpose to rid the world of them.

Nicholai walked over to me, “This final transformation was not to happen until you were ready. You are ready to lead us. And we will follow. You will know what to do now.”

“How do you know this?” Even though I also knew this was my heart of hearts, I was curious about his knowledge.

“Nostradamus,” he stated very simply.

“What about him?” I became aware that as soon as I asked the question I knew the answer. “He prophesied us all coming together under these circumstances to combat the Caduceus.”

All three men looked at me, as if my eyes were open doors. “Yes, I know everything now.”

“Yes, you do,” Nicholai added. “Your ancestors are now a part of you.”

“Wow!” said Max. “I didn’t see this one coming. But I guess if you live long enough among those with special gifts you will eventually see something that takes your breath away.”

Realizing that I needed to get ready for tonight and set the scene at home so that no one suspected anything, I announced my departure. After saying good-byes, Nicholai walked over and hugged me. As he pulled back he simply stated, “Tonight.”

I nodded yes, and with that I left.

16. Powers
 

Driving home, I was acutely aware just how different I felt. I wasn’t afraid of anything. That was a very odd feeling for me, since I had been afraid of everything my whole life. I was more profoundly aware of everything around me. I saw minute movements that caught my attention. Control over myself was the only way I could describe it.

The night went by smoothly. I kissed everyone goodnight and left for “work.” I stopped at a coffee shop, changed out of my scrubs, got a coffee, and went to Max’s for the meeting.

His house was so beautiful and majestic, all lit up in the dark, that it almost took my breath away as I drove through the gate. I noticed a rental car in the driveway. As I turned off my car engine, I stopped to take a breath. I was ready.

I knocked on the door, and Vivian opened it, greeting me once more. I felt much different entering the house this time. Strong… powerful.

I turned the corner into Max’s study. Standing next to Nicholai were two other men. Max stepped forward and began in a formal tone, with flourishes of his hand, “Gentlemen, please welcome Megan. Megan, these are our Seniors, Aleck, Tomas, and Nicholai.”

Aleck stepped forward first. He was a beautiful man, and I don’t say that about too many men. Dark curly hair, warm olive skin, and clearly in good shape. His aura was brilliant. It sparkled red. He was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, which I thought was odd given the cool temperatures of springtime, and each muscle was clearly defined along his arms. He smiled at me as he approached.

“Hello, Megan,” he said with an excited tone in his voice. “I’m
very
pleased to finally meet you.” Looking closer at his face, I was surprised because he had to be in his late sixties or even seventies, but his body shape and stance were closer to someone my age. My body relaxed and I smiled; until this moment I had not realized how tense I was.

I looked over at Tomas who was approaching, and my body tensed again. I pondered this. Was it because of everything the others had told me or was I sensing something? I tried to tune in to this. He stood in front of me while Aleck moved to the side. He was smiling, but his face was not as easily warm as the others. I had a brief flash of nausea, then I felt heat and a shiver of electricity shoot through my body. Feeling each of my muscles tense ever so slightly, I wondered why I was having this reaction. His aura was not brilliant red like the others. It was more of a dull, muted, brick red, as if all happiness had been drained from it.

He sensed my reaction and paused. His head tilted downward slightly as his gaze on me intensified. We both stood staring at each other for what felt like hours but was only seconds. In that moment, I saw flashes of pictures in my head. They seemed disjointed and didn’t make any sense. An open grassy field… flowers… glass shattering and strewn about. He smiled and then took the last few steps toward me. Extending his hand he voiced a greeting.

I barely heard what he said, still pondering the images flashing too fast for me to put them together. I snapped out of my self-imposed trance. I noticed his bright red, wavy hair curling softly around his ears. He had hypnotic green eyes that seemed to be trying to read my face. He was an attractive man, but there was something wrong that I couldn’t put my finger on.

I reached out and took his hand. Not realizing my own strength my muscles tensed in response to his touch.

“Ow,” he said softly and pulled his hand back.

“I’m sorry,” I replied.

Neither of us took our eyes off each other. I was then interrupted by a sense of ease when a hand reached over and touched my shoulder. It was Nicholai. I turned and we shook hands and introduced ourselves as if we had never met.

Then Max interrupted, saying, “Okay, everyone. I’m sure we all have questions and there are many things we need to talk about. But first things first.” He motioned for everyone to sit.

Vivian entered the room and set tea down on a table. She looked at me for an instant and I could see the concern written into the creases on her forehead. I nodded ever so slightly at her and she nodded toward me. I felt a kinship with Vivian now that I had learned that she first cared for me.

“Now…” began Max, “since we’ve all met Megan, we can start to discuss the next step.”

I heard voices but they trailed off. I saw images flashing in my mind. Again, there was the open grassy field… flowers… and glass all around me. I saw dark figures in front of me but couldn’t make out how many. I saw a beautiful island with seven white pillars surrounding its cobalt blue shores. Seven pillars stood erect on the island. There was blood and screaming. The pictures stopped, and I held my hand up to interrupt the men in the room.

“Excuse me,” I started, “the Caduceus side will be organizing.” All heads turned toward me with surprise in their eyes. “I see two places to start with.” I paused to review the pictures before continuing.

“What do you mean, two?” started Aleck, but Max placed his hand on Aleck’s arm and motioned to wait.

“There will be two conflicts… fights.” I continued to search for more clues in the pictures. “Soon.”

“When and where?” asked Aaron.

I looked up at him. “Very soon, and from what I’m able to see, one will be here.”

Nicholai began to look uncomfortable, “Do you see faces?” He glanced over to Tomas.

I thought about this and said, “No.” I decided to keep one of the visions to myself since I suspected it was here in San Francisco and I had an idea of where it was. I did, however, have a question about the second. “Is there a place that has seven pillars that any of you know about? I also see these on land with very blue water next to it. Is this Greece?”

All eyes were wide and bearing down on me. “What?” I asked.

Nicholai began first. “Megan, have you ever been to Greece? Or studied Greece?”

He looked as if he knew this answer already but was setting up his next statement. I said, “No, why?”

“There are seven pillars at Asklepion. Ruins of the original temple that was built to honor Asclepius.” He leaned forward. “Your ancestor.”

I remembered the story and had been doing some online research about Asclepius, but I didn’t remember any building associated with him and had not researched going to the island. I looked inward for some doubt, some shred of my former lower self-esteem that might make me question my story. However, I couldn’t find it anywhere.

Discounting my own belief systems—gone. I stood a little taller in that moment. “There
will
be a fight soon, at this place you mentioned. The date is not in my vision, but the location is crystal clear. I do see a few faces but I do not recognize them. And… well, there will be deaths.”

There was silence in the room. Everyone looked at each other. Aaron spoke first, “Who dies?”

“I don’t know, it’s a blur. I just see bodies,” I answered.

“Well,” started Nicholai, “this is what we’ve read about, so now is the time. Aaron, can you please connect what Megan is saying with Nostradamus.”

“
Nostradamus again?
” I thought.

Aaron stood up and started pacing, he looked at Max and exchanged a look before beginning, “Nostradamus’s predictions for
us
, not the general public, were a continuation of Hippocrates’s. He said that you, Megan, were coming, and that this would signal the great ‘coming together.’ He urged that we, as Aurators, start organizing because the Caduceus side would be doing so also. There would be many small battles as the two sides were growing. These battles are to take place on several continents worldwide. There are predicted to be deaths… many. Both sides will lose individuals. However, at some point in the near future, which hasn’t been determined yet, everything will come to a crucial point and all will converge around the earth for the final battles.”

“Wow,” I said, “I have to admit I don’t see all that. We don’t know when?”

Aaron scratched his head, “I don’t know exactly. There are a lot of references to the number eighteen in the writings. But remember that things were written in code so that the other side wouldn’t know what, who, or when it was coming. Remember, we already lost so much with Hitler and Napoleon. As much as I can tell, we are not supposed to know
when
until after you have arrived.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Aleck raised a hand to interject, “Okay, so what I’m hearing is that right now we will have two battles on a small scale, one here and one in Greece. Is that correct?”

“Yes.” I answered with such confidence that it surprised even myself.

“Okay then,” he continued, “we should return to Greece and be watchful for this event. Is there anything else you can tell us?”

I thought back on the flashes of images in my head. “People are in long sleeves right now in the visions.” “It’s cool there right now?”

“Yes,” stated Aleck as he looked to the two other Seniors.

“Then it will be soon.” Something in my vision caught my attention and I looked off as if looking into the distance. “Soon, two to three months.”

The room got quiet. It was very clear everyone was pondering this last statement. However, the silence was broken by the phone in Max’s study ringing. He stood and strode over to the desk. Lifting the receiver from the base, he answered, “Hello?” But it sounded distant. I was still lost in thought regarding the visions of the fight here at home and what I thought looked like the location.

“What?!” I heard Max shout, and it pulled me from my thoughts. He was looking directly at me while the person on the other end of the line was obviously saying something rather involved. “When? . . . I’ll be right there. Yes, thank you for calling…
I’m glad I gave the journal to Megan
.” He turned slightly away from us, leaned against the desk and hung up the phone. Why did he say that out loud? I looked around but nobody seemed to flinch at the idea that I had the journal. Thank God.

Everyone looked back and forth at each other. It was Aaron who spoke first. “What happened?”

Max turned slowly, suddenly looking very tired, shaking his head back and forth. “That was the campus police. My office was broken into tonight. It’s… in shambles. They said that even some of the floorboards had been ripped up.” His eyes passed over me quickly as if trying to direct my eyes somewhere else. I followed the intended direction and looked directly at Tomas. He was the only one not making eye contact with anyone else in the room. I also noticed the very slightest hint of a smirk on his face. His aura was shifting, almost clouding more, becoming more muddied.

“Oh my God, Max!” said Aleck whose utterance returned my thoughts to the conversation. “Did you have anything…
important
 . . . in there?” We all knew what he meant.

I flashed on the vision of his office and remembered the break-in. God, it had actually happened. How could I know these things? If my ancestors were future tellers, was I truly destined to be one as well? I wasn’t sure I really wanted to know everything that was going to happen, but in this case the knowledge had proved to be advantageous by allowing us to keep the journal safe.

Max looked back at Aleck, “No. There was nothing in my office. I…”

Aleck interrupted, “The journal?” He sounded stressed.

“I had just moved it.” I thought I saw a slight smile starting on Max’s face. He looked smug, and Aaron looked toward me.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Tomas shift ever so slightly, looking more uncomfortable. Everyone else in the room sighed. “Thank goodness,” I heard someone mutter.

Walking slowly over to the group, Max announced, “If you’ll excuse me, I have to go. I need to see to my office.”

“I’ll come with you,” Nicholai started first and then everyone followed suit.

The door to the study opened and Vivian entered. Every man stood out of respect for her, not only because she was a woman but because something about her seemed almost regal. As she hurried over to Max, the worried look on her face was obvious. His face softened as he looked at her. Slowly raising his arms to meet hers, they clasped hands as she asked, “Is everything okay? I heard the phone ring and then heard you. What’s wrong?”

He raised a hand to her cheek, caressing it softly. “Don’t worry, someone broke into my office, but everything’s okay. We are all going over there right now to check it out.”

She nodded in agreement. “Okay, be careful.”

Max kissed her lovingly on her forehead and we moved to leave. I drove with Max and Aaron while the three Seniors piled into their rental car.

Aaron began speaking as soon as we drove away. It was as if he had a terrible secret and couldn’t wait to talk about it. “Okay,” he began, “did anyone else notice how uncomfortable Tomas seemed?” We both quickly agreed. This fact had been painfully obvious.

“I have another question,” Aaron began but I cut him off and answered with irritation in my voice.

“Look Aaron, I’m apparently now the Guardian of the journal. I didn’t ask for this, but the job is mine. Max gave me the journal last week.”

Both men were quiet and looked at each other. In my mind I reviewed what I had said… I didn’t think I had said anything that would have offended anyone or that was a secret. “What?”