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  “Alright, time to get out Izzy. You need to put on those hiking boots in the backseat. We’ll be walking from here," he said tiredly, as if he just knew I was going to give him problems.

  I bit my tongue and put on the shoes in silence. Of course they fit perfectly. I drew on the raincoat I’d found next to the boots and exited the Jeep As I stood staring at my former best friend, I suddenly realized I didn’t know him at all. He might as well of been a complete stranger.

  I supposed I could try and run, but first I needed to know where the hell I was. I could be patient. I would just go along with whatever Crazy Pants here had planned for me until I knew more about what special kind of hell I’d found my way into..

  My attention was drawn to the traitorous bastard himself, he was busy unloading supplies and filling up a giant hiking backpack. He had a second backpack close by that was loaded with barely anything. I knew which one I wanted to carry. Once finished, he covered the vehicles so that it was barely visible. He turned and grabbed the giant backpack as if it weighed nothing then handed me the lighter one.

  “We’ll be walking for about four hours. We can stop and rest as much as you need to, but we need to try and make it where we’re going by nightfall," with that he disappeared into the tree line.

  I stepped in after him noticing that there was no discernible trail. The trees were the biggest trees I’d ever seen in my life. I couldn’t even wrap my arms a quarter of the way around some of them. I was lost in a dreamland while blindly following him. As my mind wandered, I remembered the dream I’d had of my mother warning me to hide. Could she have been warning me about him all along? Or was it just a coincidence? I stumbled on a root and lightning fast, a hand reached out to steady me. Without any explanation Kennan turned and kept walking.

  I refused to ask for a break and after three hours of walking up what felt like a mountainside I was exhausted. Kennan didn’t look back at me but any time my steps faltered, he was there to steady me. By the time the fourth hour had passed I was about dead on my feet. We were steadily climbing when there was a sudden break in the endless trees and man-eating ferns.

  There, standing in the small clearing with a rock face at its back, was a cabin. It was no meager one room shack type cabin, either. This was a huge, well-built structure. I marveled at how something like this could be built up here. There were no roads to bring supplies, so I had no clue how it would’ve been done. Just to clear a patch of forest to build it would’ve been a feat in itself.

  “We’re here,” Kennan announced the obvious. As if there were another cabin out here in the middle of God knows where.

  “How does your head feel? Is there a pull anymore?" The concern lacing his voice ignited my anger once more.

  How could he possibly know that what it felt like back at the gas station? I tried to hide my surprise as best I could and replied shortly, “I’m fine.”

  “Alright then, well, I guess you should know this is going to be home for a few weeks. You might as well get used to it, because there is no way you will ever find your way out of here by yourself. Like I said before, I will find you. Always," he said cryptically.

  “Okay then, can we maybe go inside, or are we just going to park it out here like a couple of lawn gnomes? I think that there are parts of me that aren’t drenched and freezing yet." I felt I had a right to be a little grouchy considering what the last few days had been like.

  “In ya go then. Why don’t you take the bedroom and I can sleep out here on the couch. If you want to take a bath or anything, the bathroom is down the hall."

  “That would be nice.”

  I headed to the bedroom and was relieved to find an actual bed with a real mattress. Not for the first time, I was curious as to how everything had gotten up here. I took the boots off of my feet and peeled off my damp socks. Of course my feet were now covered in lovely blisters. It seemed my city treks hadn’t prepared me for a mountainous hike. After throwing my feet a sufficient pity party, I started to strip off the wet clothes. I took the jacket off and started to take my shirt off when I realized, I didn’t pack a stitch of clothes. I headed back into the living room to find Kennan building a fire in the large stone fireplace that took up one end of the cabin.

  Kennan didn’t even look back at me. It was unnerving, this new development of his. It was as if he knew exactly where I was at all times, without ever having to look for me. He just started talking as if it was the most normal thing to talk to someone that wasn’t there five seconds ago.

  “Your clothes are in the bag I just carried up. I told you to pack a bag. Unfortunately, you went all hysterical back at the house, so I had to pack one for you. Everything you need should be in there. If you didn’t have it, I packed it for you out of what I’d already prepared. All of your toiletries and stuff are in that bag as well. If you want to go get cleaned up, I will make us some dinner."

  Without responding, I went to the now much smaller bag he’d carried up and took it to the room. I unloaded the bag slightly mortified that he had been fondling my undergarments only to find that almost none of the clothing inside the bag was mine. The only thing I recognized was my green sweater and my underwear. The rest of the clothes were all in my size, but they were meant for hiking and camping. Granted, most of my clothes back home were for work, and we were in the middle of the woods, but jeez I would have liked something that was mine at least.

  In the bottom of the bag was the only picture I had left of my parents. It had been taken out of its frame, but it was there none the less. I didn’t understand what was going on and I just couldn’t take the not asking thing any longer. I stormed out in the living room and started talking at him before he could do the creepy talk to me without looking at me to know I was there thing.

  “What in the hell is all of that in there? Those aren’t my clothes. You kidnap me, drug me, haul me to God knows where in the middle of the woods to probably murder me. The least you could do is pack my own damned clothes. How do you even know my sizes? Invasive much? Or for that matter, why the hell do you have a stockpile of clothes for me lying about? I’ve been doing my best to keep it together and not go totally postal on you. I’ve been trying to figure out why three days ago my life was totally normal but now I am in some parallel dimension where my best friend speaks in a totally different accent and kidnaps me. But I can’t anymore. And cheese on a cracker, I am going to lose my job and then Gram’s house if I don’t call Mike.”

  I fell onto the sofa totally losing steam from my rambling rant.

  “First, I need to clarify that it’s been about a week since your life was normal. It took us three days to drive here. You don’t remember a lot of that probably. For that, I’m truly sorry. The clothes were a precaution, as is this cabin and the drugs I used on you on the way here. Mike already knows you’re gone. He knows far more than even you do about who you really are. Your Grams wasn’t your real grandma either, and I’m not really an American at all." He said all of this as if it was supposed to make some sort of sense.

  I just stared at him hoping to get more. He stared right back for a moment with that same tumultuous look in his eyes that I’d been noticing lately. After a moment, he went back to poking the fire. Clearly, I wouldn’t be getting any more information from him right now. Mister "I-keep-my-mouth-shut-about-all-of-the-important-crap-but-for-the-past-two-years-I-have-had-time-to-play-pranks-on-you-and-stockpile-emergency-kidnap-you-supplies."

  I headed back to the room and started to just change into some other clothes, when I realized I smelled kind of bad. Not showering for a few days had made me pretty rank.

  I took my bag down the hall to the bathroom, avoiding him as much as the cabin would allow. I started the water and was surprised to find hot water. How in the world? There must’ve been one heck of a generator up here. I climbed in under the hot water and let it take me away for a few minutes. I scrubbed myself thoroughly and got out to find two fluffy towels hanging on the rack that h
adn’t been there before I’d gotten in the shower. With one fluffy towel wrapped around my head, I quickly dried off with the other. When I was sufficiently dry, I climbed out of the tub to rifle through the bag. I hoped desperately to find something to sleep in. What I found served to set my temper aflame once more. I stormed out into the living room wearing nothing but a towel and dangling a nighty from one finger.

  “Are you freaking kidding me Kennan? Whose is this, one of your ex-girlfriend’s? Do you expect me to parade around like some vamped-up, sex-kitten, eye-candy in front of the man that just kidnapped me? Where are my t-shirts and holey sweat pants? Where are they?" I asked through gritted teeth. I really couldn’t seem to get my temper under control right now.

  Kennan laughed. He honest to God had the audacity to laugh at me. And not just a chuckle, he laughed his deep belly laugh that seemed to rumble and resonate through every surface around him.

  “So, that’s the straw then? The choice of pajamas and the clothes are what is setting you off. It wasn’t the drugging you, or the making you pee in the woods, or even the four hour hike, it’s the clothes I packed for you.” Tears were leaking out of his eyes, he was laughing so hard. This, at least, was a trace of the Kennan I used to know, but I was too infuriated to be relieved.

  “Besides, Lass, that towel covers less than those pajamas do. Yet, you don’t seem to have any objections to prancing around in it.”

  “Quit calling me 'Lass,' you sound like a freaking leprechaun. Who are you? Clearly you aren’t the Kennan O’Malley I thought you were. So please, just give me something here, or I’m heading back out into those woods and walking until a wolf, bear, or some other woodland creature decides to put me out of my misery!”

  He sobered very quickly and nodded as if deciding it was time.

  “Go put some clothes on, we’ll eat something and then I’ll tell you everything you need to know. About me, about you, and about what is happening. I promise I’ll try to stop calling you 'Lass'.”

  I walked back to the bathroom with my sails slightly deflated and finished cleaning up. I looked in the mirror only to find I had mascara streams coming down from under each eye. Not only did I just go ballistic, but I’d done so looking like a glorified raccoon. Ugh. Could this day get any worse? No really, could it?

  Part of me was excited about finding out what was really happening, but the other part was wary. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure that I could trust anything Kennan said now. I headed back to my room and pulled on some long john pants and a tee. I exited the safety of my room to face whatever Kennan had to say.

  **********

  SEVEN

  The most intoxicating smell filled the cabin. It smelled like heaven. I wondered when the last time I’d eaten had been. I headed towards the small two person table in the kitchen and sat down while Kennan scooped some sort of pasta, chicken, veggie mix onto my plate. He brought me a glass of water as well. Even now, he still had to feed me. I really was pathetic. He sat down and we ate in companionable silence with him eyeing me warily. Even though I was bursting to know what brand of crazy he was selling, I was famished.

  Once we’d both finished eating, he took our plates to the small sink and rinsed them off leaving them to wash later. He returned, gesturing for me to follow him to the living room.

  “Before I explain anything, before you will believe anything I try and tell you, I’m going to have to show you something. I was hoping this day would never come, Iz. I never wanted this life for you. I need you to look at me closely, Iz. Really pay attention. When you feel like looking away, look a little longer. Do you understand?" he asked timidly. I just nodded. I was too curious to say anything else.

  He nodded once and then muttered, “A bhidse.”

  I watched him closely until the air around him started to shimmer. Like a flash, he expanded outward and upward. At the same time dark bluish-black ink swirled about his skin in intricate patterns, starting at his neck and wrapping itself under his shirt and down his arms and God only knew where else. The air settled, and there stood a man that I didn’t know. I could not begin to comprehend how this could be the Kennan I knew.

  K.O. was tall, yes, but the man standing before me was 6 foot 7 at least. Almost as broad as he was tall, strong chords of muscle roped down his arms and legs. He wasn’t bulky like some sort of weight lifter. Instead, he had the physique of someone that’d worked manual labor his entire life.

  I stood there taking him all in. The man I used to know was no more. Just as I began to speak, the inky pattern swirling down his arms came to a rest. Instead of the swirling miasma, there was now an intricate Celtic scroll design, far older than anything I’d ever seen.

  I got up from the sofa and went to where he was standing by the fireplace. I studied him carefully and then finally looked up into his face. His jaw was clenched, and his eyes looked blankly ahead as if he were waiting for me to scream. There in his eyes was my best friend and the man that had kidnapped me. So I did the only thing I could think of. I poked him. He looked down at me surprised.

  “What no screaming?” he asked.

  I shook my head, still too stunned to say much. But somehow this felt right. I felt as though I was seeing the Kennan I’d been catching glimpses of recently. That same place in my gut that told me to avoid mister CEO was now telling me that this was the man that I’d known for the past two years. There just seemed to be more of him than before.

  “How did all of this fit into that?" I asked, honestly curious.

  For the first time in what seemed to be ages, he relaxed. A smile danced on his lips, which seemed to be much fuller and so very appealing. Holy cow, hormones, let’s just put that on the back burner and come back to it never. Trying to distract myself, I moved back to the sofa and plopped down. Standing next to him was giving me a size complex.

  “Do you mind if I sit down to explain this?” he asked, moving my way.

  I shook my head as he took the cushion next to me on the sofa.

  “Okay, so, how to explain this? It’s kind of like magic, but not. I can convince people that they see something that isn’t really there. It’s a mind trick of sorts. Like at the gas station when no one noticed us go into the bathroom. I can project it onto other people as well. I sort of project myself in a way that is more socially normal than the way I really appear. I know I’m not making any sense.”

  “What are you?" I asked simply. The most complex question that came to my mind was "what are you?" Like he was going to tell me he was a werewolf or vampire. I needed to cut down on my novel intake it would seem.

  “What I am is the same as you, just a little different. I’m a Guardian, a sworn protector of the Seers. More precisely, I’m your Guardian. I have sworn a vow to keep you safe from those that would do you harm. Hence, I kidnapped you to a cabin in the middle of the Olympic National Park wilderness. I thought we were safe in Chicago. I honestly did, and then he found you. He’s been looking for so long. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Are you following me so far?"

  I nodded in encouragement. I was afraid if he stopped I wouldn’t be able to get him talking again.

  “Your mom is a Seer as well. She can predict the future outcome of events. She can even predict various outcomes of a situation based on the different choices that can be made. She’s amazing. She can pick out when a natural disaster will happen within the second. She can even predict winning Lotto numbers if she really wants to focus her attention that way. I’ve never seen anything like her before. She’s the best of all of the Seers throughout history, and you are predicted to surpass even her." He said this with a look of awe like it was a good thing.

  “You keep saying she is. Kennan. What she is, is dead. She has been for a long time," I said with an obvious air of confusion around me.

  “No, she’s not.”

  With those four little words, he’d successfully flipped my world on its ear. If my mom wasn’t truly dead, then where had she been all of these
years? Was she really talking to me in my dreams? Suddenly an immense panic began to wash over me. It threatened to pull me under. I felt like I was trapped in an elevator in between floors. I was unable to catch my breath as the cold sweat spread over my body. She wasn’t dead. I could feel myself start to lose consciousness, as if my brain was not equipped to handle anymore crazy. Just as I started to fade I felt two strong arms scoop me up.

  **********

  “You can’t let him find you my love," my mother said to me somewhere in the fog.

  “Who is he? Where are you? Are you even really talking to me?” I asked the fog, even as I realized I was dreaming once again.

  “Kennan will watch over you. Trust him, trust no one else. And for the love of God do not come for me. Whatever you do, you run. I have tried for so long to keep him from you, but I’m fading my love. So you stay alive, and don’t you dare let him catch you.”

  The fog started to lift and I saw her, for the first time in more years than I could count. She was lying there in front of me. She was strapped to some sort of hospital bed with at least twenty tubes coming out of her. There was something attached to her head like a crown. In place of the strong lithe woman I remembered, there was a withered, frail creature.

  The closer I got, the more horrified I became. How could I not look for her? How could I possibly leave her like this? Just as I approached the bed, she opened her eyes and stared at me. As if awareness had just dawned, she began to scream.

  “No, you can’t be here. You have to go. Please, go now!" She looked around her frantically as a dark shadow started to seep in from the background.

  With the darkness came another voice. It wasn’t as clear as my mother's, but decipherable none the less.

  “Tisk Tisk, Little One. You can run, but you can’t hide forever. Tell that Guardian we are coming for you.”

  I screamed as the inky splotch started extending towards my body.

  **********

  I was being shaken, and I opened my eyes to see Kennan. He was yelling my name and shaking me by my shoulders. I took a deep breath filling my burning lungs. I stared into Kennan’s eyes as the tears start flowing.