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  “We need to get going,” I said as I abruptly stopped.

  “Oh no you don’t, woman. You are gonna finish what you started,” he growled as he rolled me over and pinned me to the bed.

  “But we told them we would be there this morning. We have to get going if we want to make it before noon,” I said pleadingly.

  “This won’t take long,” he said with a grumble as he started kissing my neck.

  “But, morning breath!” I squealed.

  “Hush, I am working here,” he said as he took my mind off of everything but him. I could not think of anything but our bodies anymore. I needed him. I gave in and rode the wave of his pleasure until its apex. When it crashed down around me, I was left feeling simultaneously empty and complete.

  I looked at him with narrowed eyes. “We really need to go, Kennan. You know Molly will be freaking out. She already sounded tightly wound on the phone yesterday.”

  “Fine, but we need coffee,” he said as we got up and found our clothes. We got dressed in a hurry and made our way down to the lobby where there was a coffee stand, or Valhalla. Whichever.

  We got our coffee and made our way out to the car for the seven hour trip. If we were lucky we would make it there just before noon. Stupid Kennan and his glorious body ruining our schedule. Okay, so maybe I didn’t mind so much. The truth was I would take any excuse to attack my future husband.

  **********

  The car trip to Chicago was far more boring than the one to Nashville had been. The scenery consisted of cornfields, soybean fields, farm houses, and the occasional windmill. There was not even a hill in sight. I was bored to tears by the time we finally made it to the city limits. The noise of my old home welcomed me in with a warm embrace. I was surprised by how much I had missed the hustle and bustle of the city. Kennan steered the car toward our old house, and a thousand memories assaulted me.

  We passed the pub that Kennan owned when I first met him. I thought back to that first encounter. I still don’t know how I had been so blind to him for so long. I blame my own jumbled brain for not seeing how amazing he was back then.

  We made it down the two blocks to our old brick house. Now it was Molly’s. I looked up at the old building and the nostalgia rushed in. Pizza nights with Kennan, him waking me up from my dreams, every single moment we had spent there. The memories of Gram’s, Kennan and my old life swelled to the forefront. The house beckoned me in. I could honestly say I did not miss living there, but the memories the house contained made me long to be inside once more. Kennan parked the car and I jumped out, eager to be reunited with my old house and the people that now lived inside.

  As soon as I opened my door, Ian came running out of the house. His clothes were subdued and matching. I was instantly convinced something was wrong.

  “Are you sick, Ian?” I asked, concerned for my friend’s well-being. Every other time I had seen him he had been in ridiculously loud clothing. He picked me up and twirled me around in a hug.

  “Nope, I am in deep trouble though. This is my way of trying to apologize,” he said as he sat me down and walked over to give Kennan a manly embrace.

  “What did you do?” I asked as Molly appeared on the front step with hair that resembled a straightened rainbow clown wig. “Oh no, please tell me you didn’t!” I turned back to Ian with a horrified expression. He looked downright pleased with himself.

  “I thought it would be funny. She is always so serious. Plus she wouldn’t stop nagging me about my clothes,” he said with a shrug, only slightly cowed.

  “I swear to God, I am going to kill him, Izzy. I don’t care if he is my Guardian. I am going to murder him. I think that the Council will understand,” Molly said as she hugged me, keeping a wary eye on Ian.

  “Please tell me it isn’t permanent color. I mean, if it is temporary maybe we can fix it,” I said, running my fingers through Molly’s once blonde hair. She looked up at me, her bright eyes brimming with tears. I knew it took a lot to make the hard Molly cry.

  “It was the only kind I could find,” Ian said. He smiled brightly at Molly which just made her that much more upset.

  “Well, maybe you could go dark for a while. We can go pick something out right now if you want,” I said hopefully. I wanted to get Molly as far away from Ian as I could. She was bound to stab him with anything available.

  “Dark would be good. Let me go grab my purse,” she said, making her way back inside.

  “I will get everything taken in. Be careful, do you understand me?” Kennan asked as he pulled me in to kiss my forehead.

  “Promise,” I said as I stood on tiptoes to kiss his mouth briefly.

  “Gag!” Ian exclaimed.

  “Shut it you. You are lucky Molly has not set every last one of your belongings on fire. You better hope we can cover that up. Otherwise I may help her kill you,” I said pointedly.

  Molly came running out of the house with a sweatshirt on. The hood was pulled tightly over her hair trying to hide the rainbow monstrosity. If Ian had done it well it would not have looked so bad. As it was she looked like a rainbow cheetah with random splotches of color all over her once blonde hair. She grabbed my hand and pulled me down the sidewalk as I yelled a hasty bye to the guys.

  “So, it is going well I see,” I said with a snicker.

  “I hate him. One second he is sweet and totally there and supportive and the next he is just a jackass. I don’t know what to do with him, Izzy,” she said. The frustration rolled off of every word.

  “You still haven’t heard anything from your mom?” I asked. It was a subject we tried not to talk about. She had been missing since the lab evacuation. No one had seen or heard from her since.

  “No, nothing. I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know if she is dead or alive. I think that maybe she was with the Corporation too long. Maybe she just doesn’t trust the Council. I’m not sure. She could be dead for all I know,” Molly sniffled and I pulled her into my arms. “I just wish I was finally old enough to have the full-blown visions. Maybe then I could see what was coming. Ever since we left the lab and I stopped getting the injections my brain mojo has been off.”

  “We’ll find her, Molly. Kennan said that several members of the council have been out looking for her for quite some time. Right now, let’s worry about your hair. I am thinking a deep chestnut brown. What do you think?” I asked as we made our way to the store down the street.

  “I think I still want to kill him, slowly,” Molly griped.

  “I think that our dear, sweet Ian is like that boy on the playground, pulling your pigtails,” I said with an arched brow.

  “You do realize I have no idea what you are talking about, right? I was raised in the Corporation.”

  “Right, well in elementary school, when a boy likes you, he pulls your hair. Or he is just generally mean to you,” I said, like a well-informed documentarian.

  “Not funny, Izzy. I am leaving the romantic entanglements to you and Kennan. I don’t have time for that. Besides, I hate him. Like, hate him, hate him. The Corporation, or Ian, if forced to choose, I may just go back to the Corporation. I honestly don’t know which of the two is worse,” she grumbled.

  “You know which one is worse. Don’t lump Ian in with them. I love you Molly, but he deserves better than that. Even if he did turn you into a rainbow cheetah.”

  “I know. I am just so stressed with everything. He doesn’t understand that I don’t operate like you. I need calm and space, not hijinks and pandemonium. He thinks that he can pull me out of my depression by making me laugh. I just need to be sad for a while. I don’t really think there is anything wrong with that. She is my mom. She might have been a horrible one, but she is the only one I have,” Molly said as tears started to gather in her eyes.

  I could feel her loss keenly. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into a hug. I realized how foolish I had been. I should have been there for her instead of being wrapped up in my romantic bliss. I felt like someone had p
unched me in the gut.

  “I should have been here for you more. I am sorry for abandoning you to Ian. But you have to know that he cares and that is the only reason he is doing the stupid stuff he is. I’ll talk to him. Maybe I can get him straightened out.”

  We walked into the drug store and made our way to the meager hair dye selection. I held up multiple boxes to her face until we decided on a brownish red color. It was dark enough to cover the colorful disaster without turning her into a Goth wannabe. We walked up to the counter and made our purchase. As we headed out the door Molly started in on the questions. I knew I couldn’t fool her.

  “So, what is really going on, Izzy? You didn’t come all this way for a social visit. Spill it,” Molly said, sounding more like herself.

  “I’ve been having dreams again. They are becoming more frequent. When I told Kennan he freaked and made me call Isadora. I can’t explain it. I feel like there is something bad coming though. Something worse than what happened before.” As the words left my mouth I realized it would be worse than before. Whatever was coming our way carried with it a darkness the likes of which I had never seen before.

  Just as the words finished leaving my mouth I was sucked into a vision. Molly moved us to a bench knowing exactly what was about to happen. I was grateful she had not let me face-plant on the sidewalk. With that, my awareness slipped away completely.

  **********

  I was looking over a barren landscape. I had seen this place before. This was the Badlands. Why in the world was I standing in the middle of the Badlands? I looked around and saw a man standing off in the distance as if he were waiting for someone. Slowly I made my way over to where he stood. I hid myself behind one of the rock formations, trying to be as silent as possible. I wasn’t sure if he could see me or not. I wouldn’t risk it.

  When I finally got a closer look, my breath caught in my throat and my legs threatened to give way. My heart beat quickly as I looked upon the man that had haunted my nightmares for so long. My eyes refused to believe what they were seeing. Xavier was there, in absolute perfect health. Was this the past? Was it the future? Why didn’t these stupid visions come with a date and time stamp?

  A hazy figure appeared and moved towards Xavier. I could tell it was a woman, but beyond that I could not see anything. It was as if she was shielded from me. I could hear her and I could tell where she was, but beyond that, all of my senses were dulled. She approached Xavier and began talking in a voice that was somehow familiar to me. I couldn’t place it.

  “Hello again, Xavier. How are our plans coming?” she purred.

  “Everything is coming together nicely. The Chicago base is almost completely set up. Are you keeping up your end of the bargain?” he asked, unaffected by her tone.

  “Oh, of course I am. I wouldn’t want to disappoint you. You have given me everything I could ever want. My only desire is to please you,” she said with the same syrupy tone.

  “Excellent, then make sure everything is set to bring in the other Seers. I expect you to be there and act as my right hand. Do you understand?” Xavier’s tone brooked no opposition.

  “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,” she said as she rubbed a blurred hand down his chest. He stood as still as a statue. The look on his face spoke of tolerance without a trace of pleasure. He did not enjoy her attentions, whoever she was.

  The figures disappeared into thin air as I was ripped back to the present.

  **********

  “Izzy, what the hell? Are you okay? What happened?” Molly’s barrage of questions was giving me a headache.

  “Slow down. Let me think for a second, Molly,” I said, trying to get my stomach to settle. I would never get used to the nausea the visions induced. Each time I was left unbalanced, as if I was struck by a terrible case of vertigo.

  I sat with my head between my knees, trying to make sense of what I had just seen. I couldn’t understand who the woman was. If she were a Seer like me, then why would she willingly help Xavier? What was she to him, other than his right hand? Why had he suffered her attentions with only a bare trace of disgust? Xavier was not one to tolerate anything. So whoever she was, she must be important. She must be powerful. I pulled myself up.

  “We need to go, and now,” I said, standing up and heading down the street. I didn’t wait to see if she followed. I needed to see Kennan. I needed his help to make sense of what I had just seen. Xavier was his brother, surely he would know what it all meant.

  “But what just happened? Izzy, wait up!” Molly yelled as she sprinted toward me.

  “I will tell you when we get to the house. I don’t have time.”

  I knew the events had to have happened long ago, that the vision wasn’t something that could be stopped, but it didn’t change the sense of urgency it had induced. I knew undoubtedly that the meeting I had just witnessed was the first piece of a much larger puzzle. Whatever was coming, whatever new, horrible thing we were about to face, it all started with that woman. Whoever she was, she was the catalyst that had set this newest nightmare into motion.

  **********

  By the time we reached the house Molly was out of breath.

  “Jesus, woman, have you been training for the Olympics or something?” she wheezed.

  “No, but I have been running with Kennan. So, it is pretty much the same thing. You should start training,” I said with a smirk.

  As soon as we got in the door, Kennan folded me into his arms. He had a worried expression etched over his brows.

  “What took you so long? I was about to come and find you,” he said as he buried his face in my hair. I barely had enough room to breathe.

  “I almost had to sit on him, Izzy. Seriously, what did take you guys so long? You were gone for almost two hours,” Ian said with a similar look of concern. I always forgot how long the visions lasted.

  “Izzy had a vision,” Molly wheezed. She was still having trouble catching her breath.

  “Are you okay, Molly?” Ian asked as he moved towards her. He wore an expression so serious it made me want to laugh. Whatever Ian might have done to Molly, I knew in that moment he cared more deeply for her than she realized.

  “Fine, we need to train it seems.” She plopped down on the floor with her knees bent trying to catch her breath.

  “The vision, what happened?” Kennan asked with the same authoritative tone he had used in the cabin those many months ago. His face had gone all serious Guardian again.

  “It was of the past. I was in the Badlands and Xavier was there. It was some sort of meeting. Why they met there I am not sure, but that’s beside the point. There was a woman but I could not make out any of her features. She was, or perhaps is, important to Xavier. I have never seen him tolerate much of anything but he seemed to accept her affections even though they disgusted him. She seemed like she was completely in love with him. I can’t be sure, but I think whatever is going on now all leads back to her. My biggest fear is that Xavier was right, whatever is coming is far worse than anything he has done to us.”

  I looked up to find Kennan taking in everything I’d just said. He seemed to be trying to make sense of Xavier’s actions much as I had.

  “Why did they meet there, of all places?” I was genuinely curious. It seemed a very out of the way place to plan a clandestine meeting.

  “There are certain places on this Earth that are protected. Places that are harder to get a read on by Seers and Guardians alike. Most of them are sources of great power. The Badlands just happens to be one of them. You said she seemed like she was in love with him. Did you recognize her from the lab? Do you remember anything else about her?” Kennan asked with concern etched in his brow.

  I looked over to find Ian rubbing Molly’s back as she finally slowed her breathing. She elbowed him in the stomach causing him to topple over. The two of them needed some couples therapy.

  “I told you everything I know. Well, she did say something about getting the Seers to bring in to the lab. So I kn
ow she helped him set up the operation in Chicago. That is all I remember. She was surrounded by a weird haze. It makes no sense, but deep down I know that whatever is coming is going to suck, and big time.”

  Kennan released me and moved down the hall to make some calls. He had mentioned something about calling in reinforcements. I was not even sure what that meant. I looked at Molly sitting on the floor holding on to her bag of hair dye.

  “Right, well, let’s get your hair fixed. We might be heading to the Council sooner than we thought.” I reached out to help Molly to her feet.

  We made our way upstairs where I helped Molly get her hair covered in the dye. If we were going to fight, at least she would look good doing it. By the time we finished, she looked as good as new. The dark color suited her. It made her eyes stand out in stark contrast to the rest of her features.

  “Not bad, what do you think?” I asked.

  “I kind of like it. I may just keep it this color for a while. The change is nice,” she said thoughtfully, running her fingers through her waves.

  “Well, you better go get some stuff packed. It sounds like the natives are getting restless.” I smiled as we made our way to her room. As soon as we got in, I noticed the multiple deadbolts in various stages of assembly in her room.

  “I told you I was making some changes. I wasn’t about to risk him sneaking in and doing something else to me while I slept. I don’t mean like that. I just mean that I didn’t want to wake up with missing eyebrows or with a Sharpie mustache. I don’t trust the man,” Molly said with a scowl.

  “I am surprised you didn’t do this sooner. I would have,” I said laughing. I could just imagine Molly drilling holes and installing the locks, cursing Ian the entire time.

  “Alright, I think I’m ready,” she said, pulling her bag up her shoulder.

  “Well, that was fast. I didn’t think you would be ready for a while.”

  “I learned to always have a running bag ready. I had plans to escape the Corporation long before you came along. Then you showed up and brought the cavalry.” She smiled brightly as we made our way back downstairs.