CHAPTER ONE
I awoke
drenched in a cold sweat for what seemed the millionth time in the past
month. Every night I closed my eyes with
the single hope of a restful night’s sleep only to be greeted with a foul
phantom. Xavier’s visage appeared each
night bringing with it nightmares both old and new. As I lay there, staring at the ceiling, I
wondered if he were really dead. I took
a deep breath trying to clear away the remains of his latest taunt. He couldn’t be real. I killed him.
I looked
over at Kennan, lying peacefully in the bed.
I pondered what I would tell him when I woke him up. I had been trying to hide my nightmares from
him for the past month and I knew he was beginning to suspect something was
wrong.
I took in
his face as he rested. His eyelashes
fanned out on his cheeks and his face relaxed as if there were nothing in the
world to worry about. A knot formed in
my stomach. I knew the moment I woke him
up and told him everything would change.
I gritted
my teeth together and tried not to be angry at the universe or whatever kept
dragging me into this mess. Selfishly I
wanted things to remain the same. I
longed for my life with Kennan, our wedding, and even someday a family. I wanted a future that did not include
subterfuge, violence, and pain.
If I were
ever going to make that future a reality I had to stop hiding. I swallowed down the lump and pulled up my
big girl panties. It was time to face
the music and find out just what the universe wanted from me. I couldn’t ignore the not so subtle hints of
my nightmares any longer. Stupid
universe, always getting in the way.
I nudged
Kennan’s shoulder trying to wake him up which caused him to sprawl more, almost
making me fall off of the bed. One would
think with a California King there would be plenty of room. Not with his giant self. Stupid Guardian. Ugh, I needed coffee to deal with this.
“Kennan,
wake up. I need to talk to you.” I said, trying not to giggle as he pulled me
against his body nuzzling my neck.
“Woman, you
better be waking me up for a good reason.
You know I don’t do mornings.” he
groused. Kennan was an even worse
morning person than I was.
“First of
all, it is eleven. So stop
grumbling. Second, I really do need to
talk to you. It is kind of
serious.” As the words left my mouth
Kennan’s body grew rigid.
“What’s
happened?” he asked, fully alert.
“So, I have
sort of been having the nightmares again.
I don’t know why or what they mean, but I have a bad feeling
Kennan. I feel like something wicked
this way comes, if you know what I mean.”
“How many
Izzy? How many have you had?” his voice barely masked his anger. Apparently my jokes were doing nothing to
diffuse the situation.
“Three or
four a week for the past two months. Originally
I thought it was just some sort of Post-Traumatic Stress disorder. But they just kept coming. Now I can’t seem to shake this gut wrenching
feeling that everything is about to go to hell in a hand basket. I’m not explaining it right. Ugh.”
I threw myself back into the pillows exasperated. Not only was my future about to get jacked
but I couldn’t even properly explain what was going on.
“What
happens in the dreams? Is it more of
what happened back at the lab and the Council?
More importantly, why in the hell didn’t you tell me Izzy? I could have been helping you instead of
wondering what was going on. I was
starting to think you didn’t want to marry me.”
He sat up in bed to stare down at me.
His wickedly tattooed body beckoned me.
He still
took my breath away. His dark wavy hair
was mussed from where he had slept and he had a shadow of growth on his
jaw. I loved when he left just a bit of
scruff, it felt amazing against my skin.
I needed to get a hold of myself.
Serious topics needed to be discussed and here I was wanting to climb
atop Kennan and ride him like some sort of rodeo bull. I shook my head to clear the thoughts away
and get back on track.
“I didn’t
want to worry you. I know it was stupid
so don’t give me that lecture. I was
just trying to deal with it on my own and not put you through my crazy again. Besides, I was always aware that it was the
dreaming this time. Even the nightmares
were like watered down versions of themselves.
Bah. This sucks. I just wanted to get married and have a wonderfully
fluffy future with happy rainbows and a unicorn or two. Is that too much to ask? Instead I have to be the all powerful Seer,
savior of the universe. I thought that
my superhero costume was finally retired.”
I said as I buried my face in the pillow allowing my self-pity to run
rampant.
“Unicorns
don’t exist Izzy. So that future is
implausible.” Kennan said as I glared at
him for dashing my imaginary future.
“Izzy, you know you have to call Isadora, right? There is a reason she gave you that
number. I am pretty sure this was it.” He
continued on as if I weren’t giving him a withering glare. I needed to start practicing these faces in
the mirror. I must be doing them wrong,
they never seemed to produce the desired effect.
“But I
don’t wanna.” I whined gaining myself an
annoyed look from Kennan. “Fine, I
realize I am being petulant. I just
thought that maybe, just maybe our lives would be normal now. Besides, we have a life here Kennan. What if she says we have to come back to
Illinois? As much as I would love to see
Molly and Ian again, I really don’t want to leave here. This is our home now.” I was beginning to resign myself to my reality. I needed to call her. I just didn’t want to. Besides, she had probably already seen
everything that was coming.
“Call
her.” Kennan said, getting up from the
bed. He walked over to the dresser and
grabbed his phone tossing it back at me, sparing me a hard glance before
turning to leave the room. I stared
daggers at his back. Okay, so they were
probably more like toothpicks, I didn’t have the angry face down quite yet. Why did I love his bossy Guardian self again?
I stared
down at the phone waiting for it to magically disappear. I wanted to remain in my happy bubble of
existence. No matter if the bubble were
a figment of my imagination or not. I
swallowed deeply resigning myself to my fate.
If I were being completely honest with myself, I knew it wasn’t
over. When we’d left the Council months
ago, I’d had the feeling that it had all been the beginning of something
more. Why did I have to have such a
heavy conscience? I breathed in and out
for good measure before finally pressing send on the phone. It only rang once before Isadora answered.
“What took
you so long?” Isadora asked
smoothly. She never ceased to creep me
out with her all knowing self. I hoped
that I would not be that way when I was her age. I had about a hundred and twenty years to
worry about that yet.
“I was
practicing my repression and avoidance techniques.” I said snarkily.
“How did
those work out for you last time my dear?”
She asked without a hint of emotion.
“Fine,
okay, I should have called sooner. I get
it. Moving on. The nightmares are back. Which you obviously know since you are
getting on me for not reaching out sooner.”
I said rubbing my hand down my face, a gesture I had picked up from Kennan. He did it whenever he was exasperated, which
I was becoming.
“No need to
be snippy young lady. I did not, in
fact, know about the nightmares. I just
knew that you were stressed about something.
I kept seeing you look fretful and upset. I knew you needed to reach out but that you
would do so in your own time. So, here
we are. Tell me everything.” She paused patiently, waiting for me to spill
the beans.
“The
nightmares started up about two months ago.
I thought all was well and then out of nowhere they showed up
again. The common denominator in every
last one is Xavier. He shows up at the
end telling me that it is not over. He
keeps telling me that there is more to come.
In this last one he told me ‘I was nothing compared to what is to come.’ Then I wake up and question my sanity. I feel like something is coming. Something bad. I haven’t seen anything but I can’t deny what
my gut is telling me.” I finished hoping
she understood the jumble I had just spit out.
“Well, this
is certainly no good. Do you have any
idea if he is still alive or not?”
“No. That is the part that scares me the
most. I thought that he was
finished. I thought I had watched him
die. It wasn’t until I watched that
surveillance video at the Council that I began to doubt it. I am not sure what to believe where Xavier is
concerned.”
“I have been
seeing some things lately. Things that
are quite disturbing. I really don’t
want to discuss this over the phone. Do
you think that you and your dear Guardian might be persuaded to come back to
the Council? I really would like to
clear this all up with you in person, my dear.”
Isadora might have posed it as a question but I knew that it was more an
order than a request. My fears brought
to life, we were going back to Illinois.
“Let me get
things arranged with Kennan and I will call you when we are on our way.” I grumbled, knowing good and well there was
no use in fighting it.
“That would
be lovely dear. We will set up a room
for you. I expect to see you by week’s
end. Until then, stay safe. Oh, and have Kennan block your dreams. I need you well rested when you arrive.” Isadora hung up the phone before I could even
sputter a quick goodbye.
I sat there
staring at the accursed thing. In that
brief conversation my whole future had shifted.
It looked like the wedding was on hold and my life was back to being a
jumbled mess of chaos. I yelled out and
threw the phone on the bed. I furiously
put on my robe and headed downstairs. I
knew it was silly for me to be so upset, but ever since this Seer business
started I’d felt like my life was not my own.
I thought that once we brought down Xavier all would be well. I knew deep down that it wasn’t true but I
had disillusioned myself for so long that I had started to believe the
lie.
I looked in
the kitchen and found Kennan cooking breakfast.
I walked up behind him, wrapping my arms as far around him as I could
manage. His butt hit my stomach and my
face barely reached the middle of his back.
He was my anchor in this world of chaos.
I knew that I needed to start telling him when the bad stuff
happened. The last time I tried to do it
on my own he had almost been killed. I
needed to suck it up and just admit that I had a role to play. The life I longed to build had to be put to
rest for the greater good, at least for the time being. It didn’t mean I had to be happy about it
though. I buried my face in Kennan’s
back and breathed in deeply.
“What did
she say?” His voice vibrated against my
ear.
“She says
we have to be in Illinois by the end of the week.” I sounded drawn, even to my own ears.
“Well we
need to make arrangements then. After
breakfast I will call some of the other Guardians and schedule a meeting. If what you said earlier is right then we
need to be prepared for whatever is coming.”
“But
Kennan,” I sighed into his back, “we have things here. What about my garden? It will die without me.” He laughed and the vibration was a comfort to
my weary soul.
He turned
around to look at me. His eyes full of
laughter. “Izzy, your garden is already
dead. I think it will do better without
your constant attention. It is the
brownest plot of land I have ever seen in my life. In fact, I think the local nursery has put
your picture up with a ban on any future purchases. You are a plant murderer my love.”
I smacked
his arm and moved over to pour myself a huge cup of coffee. I needed liquid reinforcements. I glared at him the entire time I fixed
it. Not that he was fazed. He just went back to cooking and ignored my
angry glances.
“I am not
that bad.” I mumbled as I plopped down
in my chair.
“It doesn’t
make me love you any less. It just means
that I will have to do all of the gardening when the end of the world
comes. Otherwise, we may starve.” He snickered as he brought the bacon and eggs
to the table.
Some days I
wondered why I loved him so much. He
really was a giant pain in my rear. On
top of that, he never let me get away with anything. In all of my romance novels, the men fawned
over their women giving them whatever they pleased. Granted, I probably would not love him as
much if he did that.
I looked
out the window at the brown plot of land in question. Stupid garden.
It wasn’t even my fault. I grew
up in the city where there were no wide open spaces to grow things. How was I supposed to have picked up that
life skill? I wasn’t hundreds of years
old like Kennan, the ridiculous old man.
We finished
breakfast in companionable silence.
Kennan seemed to be trying to form a plan to protect me from my own
stupidity while I was trying to form a plan to get out of my inevitable future. Maybe I had a long lost twin out there that I
could pawn the fate of the world off on.
After everything I had seen, it was highly plausible.
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