See How She Fights (19 page)

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TWENTY FOUR

I opened my eyes and shot up from
the seat. Aberto stood outside of the car, staring at me with anger burning in
his eyes. I couldn’t understand why he was so angry with me. I moved to get out
of the car and he appeared in the seat next to me. He pulled my arm toward
himself, violently ripping away the fabric to look for the first rune that had
appeared on my body.

I tried to pull my arm back,
terrified by how he was handling me and the anger in his eyes. Aberto had
always been so even-tempered with me. Even when he scolded me he was calm. This
was a side of him I didn’t know how to handle.

“What are you doing?” I asked,
still trying to pull my arm away.

“Damn it. Why?” he screamed,
staring toward the sky.

I looked down at my arm and saw the
rune was still there. I didn’t understand. I ended it. I stopped Xavier from
finishing his work. Hadn’t I? Maybe there was an explanation for it. Maybe it
just hadn’t faded yet.

“Maybe it takes a while to go
away.” My voice was shaking. The tears threatened to fall. It was supposed to
be over. I was supposed to be safe. I looked up to find Aberto’s eyes burning
with passion. He reached up and grabbed the sides of my face holding me still
so that he could look in my eyes.

“I will not let them take you,” he
said before disappearing before my eyes.

“Who?” I yelled at the air. “You
owe me some answers, Old Man,” I muttered staring back down at my arm. I
covered it as Kennan approached the car. I didn’t want him to worry about it.
Not tonight. I would tell him tomorrow.

“Where’s the Old One?” Kennan’s
voice sounded exhausted.

“He poofed again,” I said,
shrugging. “So, it is over then?”

“Yeah, he is gone. You did it,
Izzy,” he said, moving into the seat next to me. Conall jumped in the driver’s
seat where Ian had been on the way over. I looked at him questioningly.

“Ian wants to spend some quality
time with Elaine,” Conall answered my unspoken question.

“Ah. Well, can we go home now? I
don’t feel so hot.” The truth was, I was drained. When I had marked Xavier
something had been taken from me. It wasn’t quite like before, but I still felt
an emptiness.

“Your wish, my command,” Conall
nodded. Another Guardian climbed into the passenger seat and we drove away back
toward the Council headquarters and hopefully some answers.

“Do you feel okay, Red? Want to
tell me what happened?” Kennan wrapped his arm around me, pulling me as close
as my seatbelt would allow.

What? I wasn’t going to risk
getting taken out by something like a car crash after everything that I had
been through.

“I’m fine. Marking souls like that
just takes something out of me. I understand why he told me it was not
something that should be done. It hurts too badly,” I muttered sleepily into
his chest.

“Can you tell me what happened?
When we got there Xavier was almost already gone,” Kennan kissed the top of my
head causing butterflies to alight in my chest. I would never tire of that
feeling.

“Nothing too terribly exciting.
Well, I take that back. Aberto went all soul ninja on Xavier and ripped his
soul right out of his body. It was insane. Then he pinned him to the ground
with the wrath of God burning in his eyes. He called Xavier a Betrayer. Is that
what all Guardians are called that forsake the purpose set before them?” My
eyelids were starting to grow heavy. With everything that had happened today,
it was a miracle I was still on my feet. I had died after all, well technically
my body had died.

“Yes, those that forsake their
purpose, whether Guardian or Seer, are known to the Old Ones as Betrayers.
Close your eyes, Izzy, and rest. You are safe now,” Kennan muttered. I could
hear the relief in his voice and I hated that I would be the one to take that
away soon. I could give him tonight though. There was no harm in that.

I closed my eyes and let my
thoughts drift me away to the dreaming. I hoped it would no longer feel unsafe.
I needed the rest.

**********

“Izzy?” I heard Ren’s voice. It
was far more timid than I’d ever heard her before.

I turned and wanted to cry. She
was whole once more. No more runes, no more gore, and no empty eye sockets. She
shouldn’t have been here though. She should have been freed. Had I done
something wrong?

“Izzy, calm down,” Ren said,
more her old self.

“Why aren’t you gone?” I asked,
wide-eyed.

“I was permitted to linger so
that I could deliver a message. Well, two really. The first one is thank you. I
didn’t think you had it in you, but I am pleasantly surprised. You came through
for us, Izzy. I, well, I know I was kind of horrid to you, but well…you
understand,” Ren looked down at her feet for a moment before throwing herself
at me. She wrapped her arms tightly around my shoulders and I squeezed her
back.

“What was the second part of
this message, Ren?” I pulled back to look in her eyes. She had beautiful brown
eyes that were filled with tears.

“It is too horrible. I don’t
want to tell you,” she said, looking away.

“Tell me, Ren.”

“The darkness is coming and if
you don’t stop it, all will be lost. This is your purpose, this is your
command,” she said as she was pulled away toward a blinding light.

“What is coming?” I yelled at
her fleeting form.

“That’s all I can say,” Ren
yelled back through tears. “Be well, sister,” I heard her say before she
disappeared and the light faded leaving me alone.

I wandered the fog for a moment
and let it swirl around my legs. I wanted to disappear into it. I wanted to
fade away and not be called to some higher purpose. I felt something staring at
me and stopped. I turned and looked into the fog where I felt the eyes.
Standing there was a man dressed in a crimson robe. All I could make out was
his mouth which was twisted in an eerie smile.

“Who are you?” I yelled.

“You shall soon see,” he replied
before fading into the fog. I ran to where he had been standing moments before.
I felt like I was blindly searching.

“What do you want from me?” I
screamed through tears.

“All,” I heard echoing around
the fog. I pulled myself from the dreaming.

**********

“Did you sleep well?” Kennan asked
against my hair.

“Yeah.” I breathed slowly trying to
calm myself.

“You okay?” Kennan pulled back to
look into my face.

“Really, I promise, I’m fine. I
just had a bad dream is all,” I lied. I didn’t want him to be afraid for me.
More than anything, I wanted to be back at the Council building. I felt a sharp
pain coming from my side and I knew that when I got back, there would be a rune
there. I wondered if I could get Conall to patch me up without Kennan knowing.

“Conall?” I sounded a little shaky
even to my own ears.

“Yes, Milady?” Freaking Milady. One
Guardian I don’t know in the car and he is all “Milady” again.

“I need to speak with you in
private when we get back. I have a message from your mother.” At least it was
the truth. She had asked me to pass along a message for her.

“Is all well, Milady?” he asked
slowly.

“Yes,” I said, looking up to find
Kennan eyeing me steadily. I knew he wasn’t completely buying it, but for once
he was not going to push.

“I will wait for you in our room,”
Kennan said evenly as we pulled up the driveway.

“I won’t be long. Promise,” I
smiled up at him and unbuckled myself trying not to wince in the process.

“See that you aren’t,” he said,
full of promises. Too bad I would be busy hiding runes all night and wouldn’t
be able to take him up on any of those promises.

“Shall we, Milady?” Conall bowed,
holding open my door for me.

“I suppose,” I winced as I stood up
and moved toward the house.

“Are you okay, Iz?” Kennan rushed
over to stand next to me.

“Fine, just tired. Promise,” I
smiled up into his eyes.

“Don’t keep her long,” Kennan said
to Conall before heading toward the stairs.

“I won’t,” Conall looked at me like
he wasn’t buying it. He would find out the truth soon enough.

“Can we get this over with?” I
moved toward the office and away from the ruckus in the rest of the house.

As we went I saw a bloodied Elaine
being pulled downstairs by Ian. His face was etched in anger as he dragged her
along. Molly stood at the top of the stairs looking down at her mother with no
hint of emotion. I wanted to go to her, I wanted to be the friend she needed
right now. The pain in my side burned hotter. I looked back to Elaine to find
her smiling wickedly at me before she disappeared down the stairs.

I moved into the office and toward
the couch. I lowered myself down slowly as Conall came in and shut the door.

“What are you hiding from him,
Izzy?” Conall moved towards me with determination.

“I need your help and I need you to
swear secrecy to me until tomorrow. I promise I will tell him everything
tomorrow.” I gazed into Conall’s face, hoping that he would do this for me.

“Why not tonight, Izzy?”

“He needs to feel like I am safe.
At least for a night. Give him that,” I begged.

“If you do not tell him in the
morning, I will. But for this night, you have my word. Now let me see what has
happened.” He moved towards me and I lifted my shirt up so that he could see
the new mark. Luckily my shirt was black or Kennan would have noticed the blood
soaking through.

“Shit,” Conall jumped away from the
mark. “Are the rest still there, Izzy?”

“Yes, they are. Can you help me fix
this so that it stops hurting enough for me to make it through the night?”

“I can’t,” Conall said, staring at
the rune that now occupied my left ribcage. “I can’t touch it, Izzy. That is a
Hagalaz. It is the mark of destruction for rebirth. If I touch it I will feed
into the power.”

“Then get me the stuff so that I
can fix it,” I said through my tears.

“Alright, give me just a moment.”
He moved around the office, gathering the stuff we would need to fix my side
for the night. “Did you really have a message from my mom or were you just
trying to get me alone?” He moved back towards me with a damp cloth and the
salve as well as a pile of bandages.

“She said to tell you she loves
you. She really has moved on now, Conall. She is with your father again.” I
reached up and brushed my hand across his cheek. He pulled my hand close to his
face and held it there for a moment closing his eye. I let him stay that way
for a while before pulling away. “I hurt, can we get this fixed?”

“You need to clean it first, then
spread the salve and bandage it. Swear to me you will tell him tomorrow.”

“I swear it.”

“So be it.”

I doctored my side up as best I
could, wincing through the pain. It seemed that durn tattoo on my back was not
good for anything. So much for protection. I finished applying the bandage and
pulled my shirt back down to cover my ribs. I was exhausted and ready to be
done.

“Let me help you up to your room.”
Conall offered up his arm and I took it. I could barely stand on my own accord.
I wasn’t sure if it was the new mark or having left a piece of my soul behind
today that had done it. Maybe after a good night’s sleep, I would feel better.
“Don’t let him touch it, Izzy. If he does, things will get worse.”

“But the bandage will protect it,
right?”

“I’m not sure, I wouldn’t take the
chance if I was you,” he finished as we reached the door.

“Well, goodnight then. And thank
you for not ratting me out tonight.”

“In the future, please don’t ask me
to keep things from him, Izzy. I understand your reasoning tonight, but not
again,” Conall said, moving away.

“Alright then,” I sighed, opening
the door.

**********

TWENTY FIVE

“Hey, everything alright?” Kennan
moved towards me, wrapping his arms around me and squeezing tightly. Conall’s
warning echoed in my mind and I pulled away slowly and trying to hide my pain.

“Everything is fine, promise. I’m
just really tired. Do you think you could block me from the dreaming tonight?”

“Are you sure?” I could tell Kennan
was doing his best not to push me. He had been reigning himself in all night
and I wondered if someone had said something to him.

“I’m sure. I just need some sleep.
I feel like I’ve been run over in a stampede. I love you,” I sighed, leaning
into his chest. He reached his hand up and ran it through my hair.

“I’m worried about you, Izzy. What
happened today with Aberto, when you died? You were gone for like three
minutes. I thought I’d lost you.” His voice caught.

“I don’t know. He promised me
answers and as soon as I find him to get them, I will tell you.”

“Alright. For tonight, I will let
it go. You ready?” He looked down into my eyes causing my resolve to waiver. I
didn’t like lying to Kennan. But I wanted him to have one night where he did
not worry about me.

“Ready.”

Kennan reached up and gripped the
sides of my face, chanting the words so familiar to me.

“I am going to change, then will
you whammy me to sleep?” I grabbed some clothes and headed to the bathroom. I
made sure to get long sleeves and pants to hide it all.

“Sure.” Kennan said slowly. I was
terrible at keeping secrets. He knew something was up. Even if I wanted to tell
him tonight I was too tired. It had to wait.

I changed quickly, tossing my blood
soaked shirt in the trash. Even if I could get the blood out I would not want
the reminder of what tonight held. My hopes of rest had been dashed and now I
was left with yet another obstacle to overcome. Only this time, I had no idea
what was waiting for me.

“I’m ready.” I laid down in the bed
as Kennan chanted over me. I drifted off into oblivion without a dream in
sight. It was glorious.

**********

I woke up still feeling sore and
empty. I sighed, turning over to find Kennan staring down at me. I looked at
the clock and saw that it was only five in the morning.

“Why are you up?” I asked sleepily.

“What did you want to hide from me
last night, Izzy? I know you were keeping something from me and I haven’t been
able to sleep at all. So could you tell me now?” Kennan got up from the bed to
pace the room. This was not exactly how I had planned to break the news to him.

“I need you to calm down before I
tell you.” I patted the bed beside me, hoping he would sit back down again.

“What happened? What did that
bastard do to you? I don’t care if he is an Old One, I will end him,” Kennan
growled, coming to sit next to me.

“This has nothing to do with him. I
need to show you something, but I need you to not panic when I do. We are going
to solve this and I will be okay. Alright?” I was trying to convince myself as
much as I was trying to convince him.

“Show me.” Kennan’s eyes filled
with trepidation.

I lifted the arm of my shirt to
show him the rune that still marked it. It still looked as disgusting as the
day it had shown up. I moved to stand up and cringed. This last rune seemed to
hurt worse than the others had. I couldn’t understand the difference.

“I got another one last night on
the way back. I was in the dreaming and there was this cloaked figure. Well, I
would rather only have to explain this once so if we could just do it with
everyone?”

I felt so tired suddenly. My future
spread out before me and it looked to be an endless uphill struggle.

“Show me,” Kennan whispered.

I lifted my shirt and peeled the
bandage from my skin.

“NO!” Kennan yelled out. He jumped
towards me and grasped my face in his hands, making me look at him. “I won’t
let this happen to you, do you understand? We need the others and we need to
talk to Elaine. I want to know what she knows.” Kennan was frantic, rushing to
make plans. I could hardly track him with my eyes as he moved around the room.

“Kennan, stop. Please, just for a
moment.” I reached my hand out to steady him. He looked back at me with
glistening eyes. “I’m okay. Promise.” I reached up and brushed his lips with my
own. He swallowed deeply and nodded.

“We need to talk to the others. I
need to know what Elaine knows. Does Conall know about that?” he asked, his
voice filled with contempt.

“Yes, and I made him swear not to
tell you last night. I wanted to give you a break from worrying about me. Dumb,
huh?” I looked down at my feet, realizing just how silly the notion had been.

“Not dumb. I understand that you
want to protect me from this. I have been doing the same thing to you. Let’s
just promise one another, no more secrets.”

“Deal. I guess I should probably
put some clothes on.” I looked down at my plaid pajama pants and sighed. It was
a green sweater sort of day. Thank God I’d packed it.

We both dressed quickly and headed
out the door in search of the others. We stopped by Molly’s room first and Ian
answered the door. His face was still marked with concern.

“We need to talk to both of you in
the office. Get Elaine and bring her up as well. We will gather the others,”
Kennan said, moving away before he even finished the sentence.

Next, we stopped by Conall’s room
and found him ready when the door opened. “So, you have kept your word then?”
he asked me.

“We will discuss this later,
Brother,” Kennan said, motioning for him to follow. I pulled my green sweater
around me more tightly. I wanted to disappear. I wanted to fade into the
background, never to be seen again. Instead I followed along down to the office
where Ian and Molly were waiting with Elaine.

I moved inside and shut the door
behind me. I walked over to Molly and grasped her hand. I wasn’t sure who was
supporting whom at that moment. She looked down at our hands and back into my
eyes and smiled softly. I could tell she had been crying and I wanted to take
that pain away for her.

“I’m fine, I promise. What has
happened that they have dragged everyone in here now?” Molly asked in my head.

“Me. As per usual,” I answered
back, adding a shrug.

“What did he have planned, Elaine?
We need to know,” Kennan started in on her. “I want to know everything that
transpired from the time you took him until we came to get you. If you don’t
cooperate I will just let Izzy memory sift you and find the information.”

“I will tell you anything you want
to know. I have no intention of hiding. Even if I tell you what is coming, you
won’t be able to stop it,” she said with a snicker.

“Start talking,” Kennan said,
barely an inch from her face.

“They are conjuring the darkness.
It will be set forth on this land and bring pain and suffering to those that
oppose it. She is the conduit. You remember how that works, don’t you Conall?”
she asked with a sickening laugh.

Elaine’s calm demeanor set my teeth
on edge.

Molly flew at her mother, wrapping
her hand around her throat. She slammed her head against the back of the seat
and got as close to her face as she could. “You listen to me, you worthless woman,
we will stop this.”

“Hardly, daughter. You won’t be
able to stop anything, not with your powers fluxing. You still haven’t learned
to control them. By the time you do you will be too late to help,” Elaine said
with a raised brow, earning her another slam of the head. Ian moved to pull
Molly away.

“I think it would be best if you
filled us in later,” Ian nodded, pulling Molly from the room as he went.

“Why me?” I finally found my voice
enough to speak.

“She’s joking, right?” Elaine asked
the room.

“Answer her, woman, before I change
my mind about sparing your life,” Kennan growled.

“You are the one the prophecies
have been written about. It has always been you. They thought Cait might have
been the one, but she wasn’t strong enough. Well, not strong enough to form a
sustainable bridge at any rate. She did throw a wrench in their plans with that
self-sacrifice bit she did,” Elaine giggled to herself.

“We are not going to get anywhere
with her,” I said, moving toward the windows. I stared out at the garden and
listened as Conall and Kennan broke into a heated argument. A Guardian stepped
in to remove Elaine and take her away. I listened for a moment longer as Kennan
and Conall bickered before I’d had enough.

“I’m going to go out there for a
little while,” I nodded towards the garden and Conall and Kennan both moved
towards me.

“I’ll go with you,” they
simultaneously said.

“Alone. I’m going to go out there
alone.” I reached up and patted the side of Kennan’s face before moving toward
the door. I was bone tired and all I could think about was getting away from
their fighting. “You can watch me from the window. While I’m gone, you guys can
try and figure out what we can do to stop this. You beat them once, we can do
it again.”

I walked toward the French Doors
that led out into the garden. I reached for the handle only to be stopped by
Kennan’s hand.

“Don’t leave the garden,” Kennan’s
voice was a plea. I knew it took a great deal for him to let me go out there
alone at all.

“I promise I won’t. I just need
some air. I’m not feeling well.” I smiled wanly before opening the door and
heading out into the early morning chill. I wrapped my sweater more tightly
around me as I moved into the hedge maze.

**********