See How She Falls Read online

  “What is it, Aberto? Can we play some more?” My child-self pleaded.

  “No, Izzy. Now it is time for a different game. This is a game of memory. I am going to hide memories so that someday, when you need them, you may find them. Does that sound like a fun game?” The child’s eyes lit up as she nodded. “Izzy, the dreaming will be no more for you. You shall not remember your friend from sleep, nor shall you remember that your mother can come here as well. The dreaming is but a hazy memory locked away tightly. There is no dreaming, there are no people with special powers, and you are a normal little girl with a grand imagination. Do you understand?”

  “Who are you?” the little girl asked. Aberto’s eyes clouded over with a look that I had come accustomed to. He had lost something that brought him joy, and it had been replaced with yet another burden to bear.

  “It’s time to get you tucked in, my sweet.” My mother held her hand out for the child. They walked hand in hand, disappearing into the fog, leaving Aberto and I standing there.

  “Not everything is always so simple, Izzy. There are times when there is no clear right or wrong, only what must be done. I beg forgiveness for what you feel I have stolen, but I cannot apologize for protecting you. I am honor bound to guard you until my last breath.” He was staring straight at me, where I stood.

  “How did you know I would be here?”

  “I told you, we would play a game of hide and seek. You sought out answers, and you found them. Now, you must wake up. There is much to be done.”

  “But….”

  “Awaken.”

  I sat up in the bed, trying to catch my breath. How in the heck had I gotten into bed? I looked around the room until my eyes came to rest on the clock and my sleeping Guardian. It was only three in the morning, why in the world had Aberto wanted me to wake up?

  “Because we have much to discuss.”

  “Son of a…. Gah, give a girl some warning, and you aren’t supposed to read my mind!” I jumped, waking Kennan up in the process.

  “Why are you in our room?” Kennan asked groggily.

  “Izzy and I have important matters to attend to. Namely, the darkness. Perhaps you remember, she is the only thing standing between it and the world’s undoing.”

  “There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t remember. But perhaps she would be better equipped to save us all if she got a little rest.”

  “There will be time to rest later," Aberto replied shortly.

  “Yeah, when I’m dead," I muttered.

  “Not funny," they simultaneously reprimanded.

  “Fine, but can I please put on some clothes before we get started? Oh, and maybe drink some coffee?”

  “If you must.” Aberto moved to lean his mountainous form against the door.

  “Umm, turn around.” I raised my brows at him, hoping to get the point across.

  “You could just conjure some," Aberto mumbled as he turned. I knew that there had to be some sort of a perk to this whole thing. I thought up a pair of pants, but nothing appeared. That trick still needed a bit of work, sad really. I moved towards the dresser and pulled out my last pair of jeans.

  Fully clothed, I turned to look at Kennan who was still lingering in bed. “You coming?”

  “Am I needed?”

  “Pretty sure you are always needed," I answered with a raised brow.

  “Not at this juncture. Izzy and I must discuss things she is remembering. The time has come for the rest of our story.” Aberto nodded towards Kennan before turning to leave the room.

  “You really aren’t coming?”

  “Izzy, it is easier this way. I know he won’t let anything harm you, but when the two of you are together, it is difficult for me not to interfere. He was right, and so were you. I need to let you start standing on your own feet, Iz.” The covers fell away from his boxer brief clad body as he got up from the bed to move towards me. “I will always be there when you need me. If you want, I can come now.”

  “No, I know you’re right. But, I don’t want you to feel like I’m choosing him over being in bed with you. Because, trust me, I would much rather be back in that bed wrapped up in you.”

  “That isn’t fair, and you know it," Kennan growled as I tried to climb him. “You know that the risk of transference is too great. Even the times we have tried to be careful, it was almost too close.”

  Once more, I cursed the blasted runes decorating my body. If any Guardians or Seers touched them, the runes could potentially harness their power to strengthen the bridge. It wasn’t a risk either of us was willing to take, but that didn’t mean I had to like it.

  “This job sucks," I grumbled, disentangling myself from my resilient Guardian. “Moreover, your self-control is stupid.”

  “Get back to work, oh fearless leader.” Kennan swatted my butt before flinging himself back on the bed.

  “I don’t like you anymore. Just so we’re clear," I muttered as I left the room, only to hear a, “You love me and you know it,” shouted at my back.

  Chapter Eleven

  “Alright, spill the goods," I said, limping my sore-legged self into the hall.

  “We shall discuss your memories once we have reached the protections of the office.” Aberto reached out grabbing my hand inside of his. He pulled me close, helping me to steady myself as we made our way down into the main part of the house where my office was being guarded by a seemingly tireless Conall.

  “You know you don’t have to stand there all night, right?” I questioned.

  “Milady, I wish to ensure that you are kept safe and that your information is uncompromised,” Conall’s calm voice echoed through the empty hall.

  “Right, okay then. Well, we are here now, so go sleep.” I moved into the office, wishing desperately that they would put a coffee maker in there.

  “Your wish," Conall smiled as he moved down the hall towards the stairs.

  “I wish he would stop saying that.”

  “You are not in high spirits this morning, Izzy. What bothers you?” Aberto moved into the room behind me, pulling the door shut in the process.

  “What’s the matter?” I groused.

  “That is what I am inquiring, what burdens your mind?” Aberto seemed confused as I threw myself onto the closest comfortable surface, which just happened to be the couch.

  “No, I’m saying that you should have asked ‘what’s the matter?' Remember, we are trying to get you hip to the times, old man.”

  “Ah, I see. What’s the matter?” Aberto asked slowly, as though the words tasted strange upon his tongue.

  “The dreams, or memories, are they real?”

  “They are.”

  Aberto moved to crouch in front of my prone form on the couch. I rolled to the side so that I could face him.

  “Why were you always there? Why was I even there as a child? I thought that wasn’t supposed to happen. And my mother and aunt, how do you know them?” I rubbed my eyes, still fighting off the exhaustion that threatened to pull me under.

  “You came into this world like a bright shining star, Izzy. There is not one Seer or Guardian in existence that did not feel the moment you came into being. The purity of your life, of your soul, it awakened something in me that I had long forgotten existed. It pulled me from the fog, from the brink of despair, and made me want to be the man I was created to be. You drew me out from the fog, for I knew that I had to rest my eyes upon the being that brought that much light into the world.” Aberto lifted his hand to stroke my cheek. This time, I didn’t fight him. This time, my soul cried out for the touch. “Then it happened.” Aberto paused as if afraid to go on.

  “What happened? You are doing the riddle thing again.” I raised a brow at him as he stilled his hand on my face staring intently into my eyes.

  “I saw you, and everything changed. I knew from that moment that I would do whatever it took to ensure your survival.” His voice choked in his throat as he stood to move away.

  “Do you regret it? Saving
me?” I’d wondered that since he’d told me that he would be stuck like this for all of time.

  “Never.” Aberto breathed the word, never looking my way. “I would gladly live this unending existence if it meant you were safe. It seems that by interfering I have done you more harm than good. I’ve put you in this position, owing the gods for something you weren’t meant to have. The real question is, how can you ever forgive me? For changing you, for interfering without your consent, I put you more in harms’ way, Izzy.”

  “I’d be dead if it weren’t for you.” I marveled at Aberto. I’d never once regretted being saved. I might not like the changes happening, but it was way better than being dead. I struggled to pull him back from his dark thoughts. “Don’t get me wrong, some days death seems like it would be an easier choice than trying to suppress these new abilities. Then there is the whole ouchie rune thing, that kind of sucks. But, Aberto, I don’t blame you for what’s happening to me. I just want to understand it. You aren’t exactly the most open person I’ve ever known. Prying answers from you could be an Olympic Sport.”

  “I don’t understand.” Aberto looked confused by my reference.

  “I’m saying, it is hard to get you to give a clear answer on anything. You have this uncanny ability to steer our conversations in completely opposite directions leaving me unsure of what it was I’d wanted to know. That is, until you’re gone again and then I remember what I’d asked you, and what you hadn’t answered. So no more misdirection. Tell me about me, about my family. What do you know?”

  He turned back towards me, closing the distance between us before he finally began to give me long awaited answers. “As I said before, I wanted to see what brought such a light into the world. I approached your family, stepping out of the fog for the first time in hundreds of years to see you. Many had come to seek my help before, but I’d grown weary of the endless battle. You may imagine the surprise of your father when I first appeared. He’d been there through countless battles with the Division. He didn’t trust me, nor did he want me anywhere near his family. He knew that I had the power to intercede on Cait’s behalf, yet I had not. Your mother, she was quite a remarkable woman. She convinced your father to allow me to see you. That was the day you came home from the hospital. I walked into your nursery and saw you laying there in the crib, this bright ray of optimistic sunshine and I knew, deep in my soul, that you were my destiny.”

  “Okay, creepy, but okay, let’s move on now.” I had a hard time imagining him thinking of me like that when I was a baby.

  “I did not see you in that way. You forget that I see throughout time, I could see your life play out in the mere moments it took for you to lift your tiny hand to mine. I saw the tragedy of your parents, of all the suffering that would come to you. I saw everything up until the sacrifices of the Seers. Your life, a series of events that I was powerless to change. Tragedy after tragedy played out, yet after each I saw that the sun still burned brightly. I knew, I would do whatever it took to keep that sun shining. Even if it meant changing destiny and going against the gods.”

  “Yeah, thanks for that. Did you ever stop to think that if you hadn’t interfered, I wouldn’t be the one the Prophecy was talking about?” I peered into his face, wondering if anything we did really mattered.

  “You have always been the one the prophecy spoke of. Nothing that I have done could change that. I am beginning to believe the gods knew I would interfere long before I did.” Aberto perched on the edge of the couch pushing me back in the process.

  “Fine, okay, so we are going to get nowhere with that whole line of questioning. Let’s move on. What about the dreaming? Why was I there as a child?” I curled on my side to give him more space as he settled in to tell me more.

  “The first time you showed up in the dreaming, you were so small. You were terrified. There has never been a Seer born that could travel to the dreaming before they came of age. I felt it, the first day you came. The fog warmed and shifted revealing a bright spot in the haze. I followed it, to find you crying out. That was the first day we played. Entertaining you became the highlight of my existence. You would show up every few days and ask to play a new game. You would teach me things you’d learned from outside of the dreaming. I believe you thought I was your imaginary friend. But things started to change, you started to have visions as a child. Visions that would surely drive you mad. Your mother asked me to intercede. That was the night that you dreamt. The last night we played before I had to make you forget.”

  “Why didn’t my mother stop me from going to the dreaming sooner?”

  “Everyone tried. We tried to block you from the dreaming, but it was to no avail. You continued to seek it out, to find your friend. We had no idea that you were trying to find me, until I severed the memories. Then you stopped coming.” Aberto’s face clouded with loss. I sat up on the couch trying to take it all in. Sitting so close to him that nothing could separate us, the man that had been such a huge part of my life, the man that had been my sanctuary as a child.

  “Aberto, why…” I couldn’t find the words I wanted to speak. I didn’t know how to ask him everything I longed to know. As I struggled to find the words, he reached out to entwine his fingers with my own.

  “Izzy, I did what your family asked of me, to protect you. Had I known that I was the reason you kept returning to the dreaming, I would have blocked you much sooner. As for your mother and aunt, how could they know what would become of everyone yet do nothing to stop it? They knew that the darkness that coming was far bigger than any one life. Your life was a precious gift, one they did not want to release, but the gods spoke. Sacrifice is not meant to be an easy thing, and the heavens ask much. They knew, that if you were indeed the one that could stop the darkness, then they must protect you.”

  I leaned my head against Aberto’s shoulder, trying to take in everything he’d just told me. Mister tight-lips had been downright chatty and I wasn’t sure how to process everything he’d just said. “So you took the memories of you. My mom and aunt stayed in contact. I have an aunt that is an identical twin to my mom. Oh, and I could walk in the dreaming from pretty much toddlerhood. Is that everything?”

  “The important stuff.” Which was Aberto for “I’m not telling you everything.”

  “Fine, so that’s been handled. Now we should probably address the whole you getting mad and throwing hissy fits thing. I’m the one that is barely keeping my head above water here. I’m the only one that is allowed to throw crazy emo fits. You’re supposed to be the stoic, grounded one of this duo. No more abandoning me, got it?”

  “I shall try to endure your endless questioning without losing my head.”

  “I guess that is good enough. I really need to see Eleanor this morning. Do you think she is awake yet? Oh, and I think Kennan and Conall, heck, why not, the whole gang should be here. I feel a plan coming on, and I think I know just the crazy woman to help us.”

  “Your plans are not always well thought out, Izzy. Are you sure that you wish to move forward?”

  “That’s why I am bringing in the committee. I do learn from my mistakes, you know?” I pulled my hand from his, crossing my arms over my chest.

  “I shall go and gather everyone. You stay here and rest.” Aberto looked completely unfazed by my mini-tantrum.

  “You know I still have questions.”

  “Has there ever, or will there ever, be a time when you don’t?”

  “Fair enough, now scoot. Oh, and bring me some coffee back when you come, Abe.”

  Aberto cringed at the name as he got up from the couch.

  “Your wish, my command.” Aberto raised his brow in my direction as he left the room. Well played, Aberto. Well played.

  Chapter Twelve

  A small eternity passed as I waited for Aberto to return with the others. The silence crept in, causing my mind to drift to thoughts of Aberto. His motives were still unclear where I was concerned. His reasoning was unfathomable, his desire to protect me
unclear. The only thing I was certain of was his sincerity. Deep within my soul, I knew that I could trust him to keep me safe. Every doubt that had wriggled its way through my mind disappeared. Regardless of how confused I was about everything else, at least that was clear.

  The door slowly opened, pulling me from my thoughts of Aberto. The people I loved most in the world walked into the office, one after another. They were my posse, my family. It wasn’t two years ago that I’d felt so alone with no one but Kennan to call my own. Now, as I looked out at the people filling the room, an overwhelming feeling of comfort swept through me. I was blessed to have people that I could depend on through the worst possible moments in my life. I was blessed beyond compare. No matter what the heavens had in store for me, at least I’d been given some amazing people to help me through it all.

  “Why do you look like you’re about to cry?” Molly asked lowering herself down next to me on the couch.

  “I’m just so thankful for all of you.” Tears started to leak from the corners of my eyes.

  “Oh, geez. This isn’t going to be one of your sap fests, is it?” Ian groused.

  “No, it’s not.” I shook my head trying to pull my attention back to everything else that was going on. “I have a plan.”

  “May the gods have mercy on us all," Conall muttered.

  “Why doesn’t anyone have faith in me? A girl screws up once and she is never trusted to come up with a good plan again. Fat lot of good y’all are doing.” I crossed my arms, glaring at the people in the room causing them to chuckle. “Fine, you guys figure out this darkness business on your own.”

  “Izzy, please tell us what you’ve found," Eleanor said in a slightly scolding tone. She reminded me so much of Isadora. She was so important, and I was beyond thankful that she’d stuck around after the events of the past months. I would’ve been lost without her guidance.