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  “Fuckskittles, there you are!” A voice rang out from the fog. “Do you know how long we have been trying to find you, but do you make it easy? Of course not.”

  I turned to find a cloaked figure standing in front of me. She was around my height, but the strength she radiated made her presence imposing to say the least. There was something about her that unnerved me, not just her demeanor. The chaotic power pulsing from her set me on edge.

  “Ummm, sorry?” I wasn’t sure why she’d been looking for me. For all I knew, she was with the bastards that were summoning the darkness.

  “Not cool, I’m so not with those asshats. Bureaucratic bullshit, if you ask me. Nope, I’m part of what your people call the Abominations. Which really, when you think about it, is just plain mean.”

  “Abominations?” Okay, that handbook I’d been meaning to write since all of this happened, it was going to have to be extra-long. I was constantly learning new things. This Abomination business didn’t sound too promising. In fact, I wasn’t sure talking to someone that was considered an abomination of any sort was a good idea.

  “Yeah, the group of Seers and Guardians that choose to use their abilities for what they were meant for, instead of seeking the approval of the Council before moving forward with their actions. You know, Seers that operate outside of the regulations? I guess you could call us rogues for the side of good.”

  “I didn’t even know there was another group of Seers. I thought that this was pretty much it.”

  “Where have you been? Seriously? We don’t have time for this. You need to come to us, we have information for you. We’ve been trying to find you for weeks, but something has been blocking us. So talk to your Guardian, or whoever you trust, and come find us.”

  “Who are you?”

  “I’m Sena, the Grand-Seer’s messenger. Find us, Izzy. You’re gonna need our help. Until then, protect yourself, because not everyone is who they seem to be.”

  “Yeah, I pretty much figured that one out already. Where can I find you?”

  “Your Guardian will know, and if not, ask your Old One. He can certainly bring you to us. Oh, and tell old Abe I said hey.”

  “Ummmm," I said as I stared at the empty spot where Sena had just stood. Had she seriously just called Aberto “Abe”? I couldn’t see him liking that at all. And what in the heck did fuckskittles even mean? Whoever Sena was, she sure had a foul mouth, but I liked her.

  I walked around the fog for a while, aimlessly. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for, perhaps it was Aberto. Perhaps, I just wanted to find the bastards that kept marking me up with runes. I let my mind wander and memories wash over me. Things would never be easy for me again, of that I was sure. Aberto had been right, it was time for me to stop wallowing and accept that some things just were. Waiting for him to explain anything was rather fruitless at any rate. He wasn’t exactly the most open person. I thought about Sena as I walked. I wondered if she was just another trap, or if her people really had information for me. Ultimately, there was only one way to find out, and I wouldn’t find it in the dreaming. At least this was something proactive for me to do.

  I came back to the present feeling empowered by the thought of having something to do. I had been spending countless hours with Eleanor going over musty old documents with not so much as an idea of how to put a stop to the darkness to show for it. I was tired of not being able to fix whatever was coming, and more importantly of not knowing what exactly was coming. I knew one person that could help me, but drudging up her ghost seemed cruel. Cait had suffered enough, and if I could find a way to put an end to all of this without her help, I would. I looked around the room and found Kennan standing next to the door staring at me.

  “How long was I out?” My voice was raspy from sleep.

  “Just an hour. Aberto popped out in the hall before he left. What did you do to make him so angry?” Kennan moved towards me slowly, questions lingering in his eyes.

  “Nothing, it was totally not my fault. He has his stupid secretive self to blame for that.” I sat up straight then bent over stretching out the stiffness that had settled in my muscles.

  “You were talking in your sleep. Were you in the dreaming, or was it just a normal sleep?”

  “The dreaming. I honestly don’t remember what a normal sleep is like. But, I may have some good news. Probably.” I paused looking up at him. Only hours ago things seemed to be getting better between us, but I could tell that the rift was still there. It was smaller, but it was not gone. My heart dropped for a moment before I pulled my attention back to the bigger picture. I didn’t have the luxury of worrying about myself anymore. It was time to get proactive. “Do you know someone called the Grand-Seer? Or maybe where I can find the Abominations?”

  “Why would you want to see them? They have forsaken our cause to fulfill their own desires.” Kennan spat. Apparently, he held the same view of these people that everyone else in the Council did. As far as I was concerned, they were just Seers doing what they were called to do. But what did I know?

  “They have some information for me. They told me to come and find them, and I intend to.”

  “You can’t trust anything they say, you know that right?” Kennan moved to kneel in front of me. “Anything they tell you will probably be misleading and just take us on a wild goose chase. They can’t be trusted.”

  “Have you ever met them?”

  “No, but that isn’t the point. I know of their kind. I’ve heard the stories.”

  “So, you’re telling me that in all of your years you have never interacted with them at all, yet you can adamantly declare that they are up to no good? I find that hard to believe from someone like you. What happened to the Kennan that thought for himself and gave people the benefit of the doubt?”

  “He realized that he was naïve and foolish. You almost got killed by my brother thanks to my forgiving nature. Pardon me if I am leaning towards the side of caution these days.”

  “I have to find them, Kennan. If they can help me, then I need to go. I already know that there are people here I can’t trust. Even if I have no clue who they are. Isadora really could’ve given me a heads up on that one.” I paused looking down into Kennan’s worried eyes. “We have to do whatever we can to make it stop. Even if that means going to find people that y’all seem to think are going against some sort of divine manifest. After talking to Aberto, I am starting to think that none of y’all really know what you are here for. So, I’m not going to pass any sort of judgment until I meet them for myself. Will you help me, or not?”

  “Of course I’ll help you. Unfortunately, the Grand-Seer keeps them on the move. She is notoriously untrusting of anyone outside of their Order. The last time I heard, they were in South Dakota near the Badlands. They tend to hide themselves in places that are hard to find. Ian may know more. He was sort of raised inside the Order.”

  “I thought you and Ian had known each other for like, ever. What do you mean, he was raised inside the Order?”

  “I mean, his mom was a member. They don’t demand that you stay there, they give you a choice of where you feel you most belong. If nothing else will dissuade you from finding them, just remember how weird he turned out.” Kennan rubbed a hand down his face in exasperation.

  “I’m going to go find Ian. You coming?” I got up and headed towards the door, not even waiting for a response. I was getting better at the whole Isadora question thing.

  “I suppose I don’t have any other choice.” Kennan followed closely behind until we reached Ian and Molly’s room. Well, Molly’s room that Ian had been camping out in since her mom had been brought in. Ian didn’t trust Molly to go unsupervised while her mom was in the same house. I was convinced that Molly would have shanked her mom by now if it weren’t for him. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you, Izzy. Most of the stories I’ve heard came from Ian.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Stop stalling. I finally have something that I can do, and here you are trying to keep me from it.”
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  “Woah there, scrappy. I’m not trying to keep you from doing what you need to. I’m just trying to be the voice of reason. Remember, I’m supposed to be keeping you sane?”

  I glared at him a moment before turning my attention back to the door. Just as I raised my hand to knock, it opened with Molly staring at me.

  “Are you going to stand out here yapping all night, or come in?” Molly huffed.

  “We’re coming, settle down.” I walked past her into the room, bumping her arm so that she was thrown off balance. I snickered as Ian swept in to steady her.

  “I wouldn’t have fallen.” Molly sounded exasperated. I was sure the close quarters with Ian weren’t doing anything to calm her already fragile nerves.

  “No harm in being careful," Ian replied steadily. Sadly, Ian had begun dressing in more subdued clothes that matched. He’d forsaken his Hawaiian shirts in favor of button ups, and his kilts in favor or jeans. These were sad times, indeed.

  “What can we do for you? I’m sure this isn’t a social visit, with everything else that is going on.” Molly walked across the room and lowered herself to the bed, patting the space next to her for me to come and sit. I felt a pang of guilt as I moved towards her. With everything that had happened over the course of the last year, she’d always been there for me. Yet, when she needed me the most, I had to keep the rest of the world grounded and didn’t have time to be there. It royally sucked. She never once made me feel guilty, she didn’t have to. I did a good enough job of that on my own.

  “Actually, it is Ian that may be able to help.” I lowered myself to the bed, eyeing Ian steadily.

  “Oh, really? Do tell," Ian crooned.

  “I need to find the Order. They have some information that I need to know. A Seer named Sena just found me in the dreaming and told me to come find them. So, find them I will.” Ian’s face was a barely contained mask. Just below the surface, a million emotions passed, all conflicting. “Kennan told me that you might be able to help find them.”

  “Kennan should have kept his mouth shut," Ian said, before turning toward the door.

  “Ian, wait. I don’t know what happened to you, or why you chose to leave there. I have no idea what reservations you have, but if this can help me put a stop to what’s coming, I have to try.”

  “I’m not going back there, Izzy. I can’t go back. Once you make the decision to leave, you are forgotten from the collective. That is their way. So, even if I wanted to help you, I can’t. I made my choice when I was young, and dumb, and there is no taking it back. Not even when I wanted to say goodbye to my mother as she died, not when I questioned my decision to leave, not when my whole world fell apart, and not now. I’m sorry, but I can’t help you.” Ian never once turned back to face me as he said it, instead he just quietly left the room with us all gaping at his back.

  “Um, anyone care to explain?” Molly asked, getting up to move toward the door.

  “Apparently, Ian was raised by the Order. And I need to find them.”

  “Well that explains why he is so weird. I’m going to go find him. You know who will have the answers, Izzy.” Molly gave me a look before turning to find her Guardian.

  “She’s right, you know?” Kennan muttered.

  “Shut it, you," I groused before getting up to leave Molly’s room. It felt weird to be there without her or Ian. “I guess I better get this over with. I’m going to go outside to call for him.”

  “There’s two feet of snow out there, woman. Why can’t you do it inside?”

  “Because, I’m still irritated with him. I hope he shows up unprepared and freezes his eternal buttocks off. It would serve him right.”

  “Whatever you say," Kennan snickered as he moved towards our room to grab my heavy coat.

  Chapter Eight

  I walked out into the frigid Illinois winter, the snow crunching beneath my shoes. There was something disarmingly peaceful about the winter. Everything was at rest, waiting until the cold passed to wake up in the spring. I wished I could do the same, just cover myself in a blanket and wait out the storm. I sighed, causing a puff of smoke to form in the air. I’d wasted enough time. Exhaustion was once more creeping in, and I’d yet to find where the Order was.

  “Aberto, I need your help," I whispered to the air. I stood in the garden hedges alone, in the same spot he’d confessed his feelings only months before. Kennan had told me if I wanted to be petulant, I had to do it on my own. He was waiting inside the warm office, where he could still see me.

  “Are you done?” the wind whispered. I’d found out recently that Aberto could be on both planes simultaneously. He thought it was hilarious the first time he talked without actually being on this plane. He’d scared the living daylights out of me. I almost felt like Alice when the Cheshire cat would pop in and talk without being there.

  “This isn’t about that. It isn’t even about me so much as information that I was given. I was told to ask Abe for directions," I snickered remembering Sena’s nickname for Aberto.

  “I abhor that name. Why she cannot call me by my given name, I will never understand.” Aberto appeared before me, wearing a dark wool pea coat, buttoned up so that the collar slightly flipped up, framing is ridiculously gorgeous face. I guess my plan for freezing really didn’t work out.

  “I need to find the Order. Can you help me? Kennan says they move a lot, but Sena told me they have information that may help me.”

  “Yes, I know where they are. We can go through the dreaming to get there, or we can travel with a large party. It is up to you. I prefer the first, so that we may get there more swiftly. I leave the decision to you, Milady.” Aberto turned and walked down the hedges. Something had shifted between us. Since I’d spiked his anger the last time I’d seen him, he’d become cold with me. On the one hand, it might be nice to have the intensity turned down a bit. On the other hand, I was getting sick of moody men in my life. Between Kennan and Aberto, I felt like I was surrounded by a bunch of hormonally imbalanced women. I was getting ready to hand them both their own carton of ice cream and a box of tampons and tell them to both suck it up. Even I didn’t get that moody. “Izzy?”

  “Right, sorry. Let me go discuss it with Kennan. If you would like to follow me, you are more than welcome to. We might be able to leave faster if you don’t poof off again.” My feet followed the winding path back up to the house and the French doors of my office. I stepped inside to find an incredibly handsome Guardian waiting by the fire. Oh wait, it was just Kennan.

  “Can he help?” Kennan asked, not turning from the flames.

  “Yes, he can,” Aberto’s voice rumbled from far too close behind me.

  “So, we have two options. We can all go, posse style. Or, I can go with Aberto on a soul walk into the dreaming to find them. I wanted to see what you thought before I made my decision. I’m leaning more towards the soul walk.”

  “Wait, you are actually asking for my input before jumping into something? Is this April first? Am I on some reality show right now?” Kennan’s face titled up in a half smile which made me want to smack him all the more.

  “You’re a regular comedian. Now tell me…what do you think?”

  “Personally, I would rather be with you when you go. Practically, I think it would be best for you to go through the dreaming. Even if I hate the idea of soul walking, it is the best option.” Kennan turned to look Aberto in the eyes fully. “Just try not to get her killed again, okay?”

  “I will do whatever it takes to make sure she fulfills what is asked of her," Aberto responded coldly.

  Kennan raised a brow in my direction to which I shrugged my shoulder. I didn’t have time for his man-drama.

  “Welp, let’s get a move on. Shall we?” I settled down into the couch, ready to pull my two halves apart. “See you soon.”

  “Promise me you will be careful this time. No risks, Izzy. I mean it. You take care of yourself.”

  “Promise, promise!” I muttered.

  “You be
tter,” were the last words I heard as I pulled myself in two, leaving my corporeal form to lie on the couch as I walked into the dreaming with Aberto.

  “Where exactly are we going?” I asked Aberto as he reached for my hand.

  “Right now, they are shacked up somewhere in the Okefenokee Swamp. Hold tightly, this journey will not be a pleasant one for you.”

  “Shacked up? Really Aberto? Did you start reading the urban dictionary online or something?”

  Aberto stared at me coldly. Right, I’d forgotten, he was still pissy with me. No jokes today, nope, not gonna happen.

  I entwined my fingers with his, my hand swallowed inside his massive one, almost disappearing. The dreaming spun past us in a flurry of images, some real, some imagined. Places, times, they all seemed to merge and divide so quickly I was left reeling by the time we came to a halt. I fell to my knees, trying to breathe deeply to chase away the nausea.

  “We’re here. We must leave the dreaming to speak with them. For that, you will need to make yourself corporeal. Will this be a problem?”

  “Can I have like two seconds here? I feel like my stomach is trying to climb its way out of my body at the moment.”

  “I thought we agreed that you would not call on me until you were done feeling sorry for yourself.” Aberto’s cold voice rang in my ears making me want to throat punch him. He was really starting to grate on my nerves.

  “Listen here, Old Man. I’m not used to doing some weird time tunnel vortex through the dreaming. I’m sorry if I’m not as up to speed as you would like me to be, but trying to have a second to catch my bearings is not feeling sorry for myself. It’s called self-preservation, you asshat.” I stood, glaring at him. The green pallor of my skin probably took away from the overall affect, but I was sticking with it. At least my fingers were getting zappy, that was a bit intimidating.

  “I have no time for your ridiculous rantings. Calling me illogical names will do nothing to solve our current predicament, Izzy. Now, can you do what I asked of you, or not?”