See How She Falls Page 9

  “I’ll go up and pack our bags. Are you okay to come with us, Conall?”

  “As I have told you a thousand times, where you go, I will follow. I will not fail my mother in this, nor will I allow what happened to Cait to happen to you.” A haunted look lingered in his eyes. “Now go and pack, I will help Kennan make the arrangements. Aberto, would you please accompany Izzy so that she is not left alone?”

  “I will.” Aberto motioned for me to lead the way.

  I walked out of the room, pausing to kiss Kennan on his cheek as I went, careful not to let any of the runes touch him, and careful to keep my pukey breath away from him. I was getting downright talented with these acrobatic kisses. I could probably become a contortionist in the circus if this whole Seer thing didn’t work out. Because, let’s be honest, if it did work out, that meant I had a one way ticket to my demise. I sighed pulling away from Kennan, trying to shake the self-pity off. If it meant keeping that creepy thing from having dominion over the world, I would lay my life down.

  “Okie dokie, then. I’ll be back down in just a few minutes. Y’all will get everything ready?”

  “We will be ready to go when you get back," Kennan assured me. Knowing him, he was calling in the use of a jet of some sort to take us down to Georgia quickly. I wasn’t looking forward to that flight.

  Chapter Fourteen

  I wasted no time gathering my belongings; there wasn’t enough time as it was to stop what was coming. Checking the bags once more, I looked over to Aberto and gave a nod. It was time to go, hopefully the Order would have more answers. I walked down the hall from my room, towards the front of the house with Aberto and Conall in tow. I still wasn’t sure why both of them needed to accompany me, but arguing would have just taken too much time and quite frankly, more energy than I had to expend.

  “Izzy.” Molly’s hesitant voice pulled me to a stop.

  “What is it?” Molly had started to have visions again, and if she looked this concerned, I knew it had to be about that.

  “May I speak with you alone for a moment?” She eyed my Guardians warily.

  “We don’t have much time, but I can make it happen.” I shooed Conall and Aberto away. “Just give us a second, would you?”

  “We will remain within eyesight, Milady.” Conall bowed deeply, moving several steps away.

  “Looks like that is as good as it’s gonna get. What’s up?” I turned my attention back to Molly.

  “I don’t think you should go, Izzy. I saw something, and I’m not sure what it is, but it isn’t good. I don’t have a good feeling about any of this. Ian won’t be there to watch you and neither will I.” Molly’s eyes filled with tears as she pulled me against her in a rare show of affection.

  “Molly, slow down. What did you see? Why are you so worried?” Fear radiated from her body as I held her close.

  “I saw the thing come, and I saw, well I’m not sure what they were, but they were fighting the thing, the demon guy. Then I saw you, and you just walked up to it and disappeared.” Molly had apparently witnessed what I’d been dreaming for months.

  “It’s what must be done," I whispered in her ear. “Everything will be alright. Just promise me, that if anything happens to me, you will look out for Kennan. Make sure he is okay.” I pulled back to look her in the eyes. I wanted to be sure she understood what I was asking her.

  “You better not die, Izzy! I already bought that God awful dress for your wedding.” Molly pinned me with her eyes.

  “Molly, I will do what must be done. There really is no other option at this point. I’m sorry, but we have to go. Just promise me, okay?” I pleaded, hoping she knew how much I needed this.

  “Fine, I promise.” Exasperated, she held me with her gaze. “But you better promise me that you won’t be ridiculously reckless. You take care of yourself!”

  “I promise," I snickered, releasing my hold on her before turning to head down the hall. I couldn’t dwell on Molly and Ian staying behind. If what Molly had seen was true, then things were coming much faster than I’d anticipated. I didn’t feel ready.

  “Are we all set to go?” Kennan’s voice pulled me from my thoughts and drew me back to the present. It was time to face the music, or in this case, whatever transportation Kennan had arranged for us.

  We walked out into the front of the house, where I expected to see a car waiting. Much to my dismay, out in the open field to the right of the house, a helicopter was landing. So much worse than a plane. How was I supposed to save the world if the very thought of climbing into that thing sent me into conniptions?

  “Are you well?” Aberto asked from my elbow.

  “Yeah, just peachy," I squeaked as I made my way towards the flying bug. The rickety thing didn’t look equipped to carry all of us. Good thing I’d packed light.

  Steeling my nerves, I climbed up into the helicopter whispering a prayer for safety as I lowered myself into the seat. No way was I going out in a helicopter crash, it just wouldn’t be right.

  “Is everyone here?” the unmistakably Guardian pilot asked.

  “We’re ready," Kennan replied as he climbed in behind me and secured my harness.

  I turned my concentration away from my nerves and instead focused on the pilot. I’d seen him somewhere before. I had that stupid tickling sensation in the back of my mind. As his features sank in, I realized he’d been at the warehouse. Obviously, he was a member of the Division.

  “It’s nice to see you again, Milady," he said.

  “You as well….” I was hoping the pause would be enough to get him to supply his name, but no such luck. Secretive Guardian types, they never divulged more information than they thought was needed. Whatever, as long as he could fly the helicopter, I was a happy girl. Well, not a paralyzed with fear girl.

  “We should reach the coordinates the Old One provided in about two hours or so, depending on the weather.” With that, the pilot started up the helicopter and we were on our way.

  “When was the last time you ate?” Kennan, in all of his brilliance, pulled my attention away from the disappearing ground.

  “Um, would it be bad if I said I don’t remember?”

  “It would be normal for you, unfortunately. Which is why I always come prepared.” Kennan pulled a bag of sandwiches from below his seat and handed them out to everyone but Aberto. I looked at him but he just shook his head as if it weren’t an issue.

  “Why didn’t you bring him one?” I asked around a bite of brilliant turkey and cheese. It was a good thing my Guardian was such a boy scout.

  “He doesn’t eat, Izzy. At least he doesn’t need to eat to survive," Kennan said in a hushed tone.

  “It is no secret, Guardian. I am not ashamed of what I am. I am no longer mortal, Izzy. It has been a very long time since I required sustenance to survive. My mortal form, or shell if you will, perished long ago. I exist in spirit form alone.”

  “Wait, are you a ghost?” I asked with wide eyes. “Abe the friendly ghost.” Okay, the altitude was probably going to my head. Yep, going to blame my diarrhea of the mouth on the thin air.

  “I am not a ghost, Izzy." Aberto sighed his deep “I’m irritated with you, you petulant brat” sigh.

  “But, you just said you don’t have a mortal form. That sort of makes you a ghost.” I tried to be all nonchalant, knowing good and well I was driving him insane.

  “Do you remember the Seers that were trapped between planes?” Aberto stared out the window of the helicopter off into the distance.

  “I don’t think I will be forgetting them anytime soon, Aberto," I said as low as I could. The thrumming of the rotors was so loud, I practically had to shout most everything.

  “I am similar to them. Only, I am trapped between this realm and that of the dreaming and visions. I am prevented from moving on to what lies beyond the veil.” Aberto turned toward me, a look of longing briefly danced in his eyes before disappearing altogether.

  “So, not a ghost then?” I sighed, turning my sole
attention to more important matters, my sandwich. I reveled in my minor victory, having finally gotten a rise out of Aberto. Lately he’d been so nice to me, I was beginning to worry. Other than his outburst calling me a self-pitying brat, he’d been super supportive. It was freaking me out.

  “You shouldn’t try to get a rise out of him, Izzy," Kennan admonished, with a crooked smile that ruined any lesson I might’ve learned.

  “He deserves it," I shrugged. It was nice to temporarily take my mind off of things.

  I inhaled the rest of my sandwich and settled back into the uncomfortable seat of what must’ve been a decommissioned military helicopter. Slumping over so that I could use Kennan as a pillow, sleep pulled me in.

  Oh great, it was this one again. Talking to Molly must have triggered it. I looked around me as the battle raged in the sky. Darkness and light collided, sending sparks shimmering in all directions. It was the never ending war of the gods, or God, I was getting tired of trying to keep up. Maybe there was a delegation? A panel of gods with a leader sort of situation. I sucked up my apprehension and moved through the clouds. I knew that my demise awaited me, there was no sense in lingering in the clouds longer than need be.

  I dropped down to the ground where Sonneillon stood, blackening the earth beneath his feet. This wasn’t what I’d seen before. This was different, something was wrong. Surrounding the demon were a vast army of monsters. Nothing made sense as the battle raged. Surely, this was a mistake.

  I stared in amazement as the monsters battled. A giant with rage filled eyes relentlessly attacked Sonneillon, repeatedly receiving blows that shook the earth but never once wavering in its resolve. Wolves circled the demon, except they were unlike any wolves I’d ever seen. These looked like they’d been jacked up on steroids and energy drinks. They moved fluidly, ripping into Sonneillon’s flesh violently. There were creatures that seemed to sift through the air, disappearing and reappearing in another space within seconds as if they were made of the wind itself. There were so many that my mind could not seem to focus enough to categorize them all.

  Surely, this wasn’t a vision. Maybe the turkey in my sandwich had been bad. That was it, I’d eaten bad turkey. Which, ultimately, had caused me to have a trippy dream. The vision shifted, revealing the giant to be Kennan and the wolf to be Conall. Definitely bad turkey. I shook my head at the absurdity of it all and trudged on.

  The vision wouldn’t be complete without the me dying bit. Moving past the crowd of monsters, I looked the demon in the eyes. Approaching it slowly, I tried to remember what needed to be done. I reached my arms out to embrace the demon as I had so many times before. Only, this time as my arms encircled the gargantuan beast, nothing happened. No flash of calm, no disappearing demon, nothing.

  “I shall rise," The demon’s hot breath promised against my hair. “The Seer shall fall.”

  The helicopter bounced, pulling me from my bizarre dream. Nothing in it had made sense. I looked over to find Aberto staring at me, concern etching deep lines in his brow. Something in my stomach flipped and I wondered if my turkey had been fine after all. Stupid, inexplicably improbable, visions.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Luckily the flight only lasted a little over an hour. As we passed above the murky waters of Okeefenokee swamp, I wondered where the pilot planned to set us down. From the looks of things, we may have to rappel out of the stupid thing, which I was so not down for.

  “Hold on tight. This might get a bit dicey," The pilot muttered. It was the equivalent of a tattoo artist yelling “Oops” as he worked, not cool at all. I gripped the seat so tightly my knuckles threatened to break through the skin.

  The helicopter dropped and rose in minute increments sending my stomach into conniptions. Finally, the earth rose up to meet us and the helicopter stilled upon what I surmised to be the only available hard patch of ground in the entire swamp.

  Everything shut off quickly as the pilot instructed us to get our stuff and get out. Much to his chagrin, I was still clinging to the chair like some sort of deranged spider monkey, afraid that if I let go, the helicopter might just fall over.

  “Izzy, we’ve landed. You can get off now," Kennan snickered, trying to pry me loose.

  “What?” I looked around trying to gain my bearings. “Oh, right, we aren’t dead. Awesome.” I still hadn’t been able to shake that stupid vision, and the bumpy landing had done nothing to calm my nerves. Now, I had to face my aunt and that completely mental sidekick of hers, Sena.

  “It took you long enough to get here. Do you know how long the Grand Seer has been waiting?” I wondered if just thinking of Sena had summoned her from the swamp’s murky waters.

  “Well, you did say in person. We were in Illinois. Travel takes time," I grumbled, slinging my backpack over my shoulders.

  “Fine, excuses later. Let’s get a move on.” She barely paused to see if we were following before making her way down a narrow boardwalk through the swamp. I looked out at the still waters with trepidation. The probability of getting eaten by gators and being unable to fulfill the prophecy was uncomfortably high.

  I started to follow her, but caught Conall in my periphery staring at her, aghast. I’d only seen that look on one Guardian before, and I knew exactly what it meant. Conall had just found his Seer.

  “Really?” I sighed. “Her? It couldn’t have been a tame, mild-mannered sort?” I huffed, grabbing his hand to pull him in my wake. I had no time for these shenanigans.

  “I can’t belong to someone in the Order, Izzy. Something must be wrong," Conall whispered as he dropped my hand. He continued to follow me with a look of terror on his face.

  “The universe is a mysterious place," Kennan muttered, leading the way behind Sena.

  When we finally arrived, after what seemed like miles of hiking through swamp, I finally got a good look at the house I had previously visited in spirit. The house was some strange hybrid of cabin and plantation home that had been weathered. Grayed wood rose up out of the swamp on a peninsula that looked ready to sink into the water at any moment. The rusted tin roof would surely crumble at the slightest touch. I wondered how a bird hadn’t just fallen through upon landing, yet. Even with its dilapidated exterior, the house was a bizarrely beautiful place. The ruin had a life, and that life spoke to something deep within me. If there was ever a haunted house, this one would be it.

  “Hey, Aberto, when we walk in, can you say ‘Boo’?” I was sticking with the whole Aberto was a ghost train of reasoning. Sena snickered, making me like her instantly. Maybe she wouldn’t be so bad after all.

  “I will not," Aberto muttered, passing me without a spared glance.

  “Well, just ruin all of my fun.”

  “One of these days, he is going to turn you into a frog, Red," Kennan snickered, bending to kiss me on the head.

  “Can he really do that?” I asked with wide eyes, to which Kennan shrugged.

  “Keep messing with him, and you may just find out.” He smiled his half smile before disappearing into the should-be haunted, swamp house.

  I followed reluctantly, worried that I might begin sprouting warts at any moment. At least I was in the swamp, frogs liked the swamp. I heard a holler for everyone to move out of the way as we entered the house. It seemed my alleged aunt had been told of our arrival.

  “Finally! We need to talk, niece.” She didn’t hesitate, grabbing my arm and pulling me behind her swiftly.

  “Okay, maybe a little slower?” I was struggling to keep up with her long strides up the stairs to her room. The house seemed vastly different than the last time I’d been there. The colors were somehow brighter, and the smells were more prominent.

  “We have no time for slow, it is coming, and fast. You must prepare or perish. Those are your choices. If you wish to blindly fall into the whole “Prophecy chosen one” thing, then so be it. But, I made your momma a promise, and I intend to keep it.” This woman was a whole ball of crazy if she thought we could stop the prophecy.

 
Where my mother had been calm, serene, and well-put together, this woman was a hot mess. She was buzzing with frenetic energy that seemed to bounce and zap around her as she moved. It was as if my mother and aunt were balancing the different ends of the spectrum. It made me wonder if my mother’s death had thrown off the balance somehow.

  “Of course it did, my dear.” ’d always wanted a crazy aunt. I guess I should’ve been more careful what I wished for.

  “Please don’t do that, or if you do eavesdrop, just pretend you aren’t. It creeps me out.” I flopped into the first chair I saw once we entered the room. The near crash of the helicopter, fine the landing, and the hike had done me in.

  “Oh, sorry. I forget sometimes. I’m sure you know how it is. After two hundred years, things can get a bit fuzzy. Well, of course you don’t know the two hundred years part. I’m rambling, aren’t I?” She smoothed her dress down, lowering herself into a chair directly in front of me.

  “What should I call you?” I had yet to figure out the woman’s name, and calling her Grand Seer seemed a bit too formal for family.

  “Mona. That’s what your mother called me.” She smiled brightly.

  “Is Mona your name?” The way she’d phrased it confused me.

  “No. I honestly don’t remember what my given name was. When we were young, your mom used to call me Moan-a all of the time. It started after I became a speaker box for the heavens. I would whine and moan about the headaches afterward. So, to take my mind off of the pain, she used to call me sad little Moan-a.” She smiled fondly at what I thought a very strange memory.

  “Well that wasn’t very nice of her.” I was confused how a name like that could bring on fond memories.

  “No, she was baiting me. You see, I was always the competitive one between the two of us. Your mom knew that if she made it seem like she was the stronger Seer it would drive me to be better, and handle my gifts more efficiently. She was taking care of me, like she always did.” She paused looking down at her hands for a moment before looking into my eyes. “What started as a joke, became a constant reminder from my sister that I was strong enough to endure this.”