See How She Awakens (The Chronicles of Izzy #4)(23)

“You brought me here to find out what is going on with the darkness? Are you insane? I just tried to kill you a few minutes ago. What in the world makes you think I am ready for this?”

He only wants you for what you can do for the world. He doesn’t care for your wellbeing.

“Go AWAY!” Panic seemed to bring the darkness rushing to the surface. It reveled in my misery, taking every chance to manipulate my fears and spit them back at me.

“I will not leave you, Izzy.” Aberto stood firmly, holding my arm.

“I wasn’t talking to you,” I ground out between clenched teeth.

“Tell me.”

“The darkness. You brought me here, where it has the strongest hold over me. To what? To find the Revenants? Why?”

Because he wishes to use you. You are just a pawn in the greater game.

“I brought you because you are stronger than you believe. Your work is not yet done. If we do not act soon, your friend will die, Izzy. That is not something you would be able to survive. Thus, we are here.”

“I thought she was safe. That the stasis would hold her?”

“The stasis is a temporary solution. If she remains in stasis for too long, she will never recover.”

“Why didn’t you tell us that?” Panic pulsed within me. I had to help Molly. I had to save her, but how?

“It was the only way to keep her from further succumbing to the Revenants influence.” Aberto paused, his eyes trapping mine in their gaze. “You will help her, Izzy.”

The certainty in his voice settled over me. Whether I was ready or not, I had to help Molly. Ultimately, I didn’t have to save the entirety of the human race. I just had to save one person. Somehow Aberto had known that was what I needed. To know it wasn’t the entire world on my shoulders, just the one person. I could save one person.

You will never be able to defeat the darkness, Izzy. You aren’t strong enough. Though a piece of me doubted my strength, I knew the darkness would never be able to keep me from helping Molly. Not if there was any chance that I could save her. I would walk through hell itself before I lost another person I loved.

“How?”

“First, you must heed the Revenants. Listen to their words, observe them.”

“But they repeat the same things over and over. They just mumble a bunch of cryptic stuff.”

“Have you asked them?” Aberto always made everything seem far more simple than it truly was. It was really annoying.

“No, I suppose I haven’t.”

I thought about the Revenants, and as if my very thoughts conjured them, they came out from the fog. One by one, they circled us, chanting their enigmatic words.

“The world will burn.”

“Darkness is on the rise.”

“The war rages on.”

“What does any of that mean?” I yelled, fear creeping into my soul. I recognized these charred bodies. They were my friends, my family.

“Look to the past to find the answers. The truth is trapped.” The Revenant reached out for my hand, fear raced through me as I remembered what had happened to Molly. I didn’t want to be touched by the thing, but something told me if I wanted to understand what was happening, I had to let it happen.

The touch ignited my skin, causing the blue flames to race over my body.

“Izzy?” Aberto’s panicked question came rushing at me through the fog just as I lost focus, a vision rushing through my mind.



I was standing on the streets of Chicago, the vision from long ago played out behind my eyes. Only this time, the man crawling away, struggling to flee the approaching menace, was Conall. The man moving slowly towards him was Ian. But his skin was charred, his orifices leaked blood, and his eyes were clouded by fury and rage. He slowly moved towards Conall, stalking him like prey.

Fear wafted from Conall as he struggled to reason with Ian.

“It was not my fault. I did all I could to save your Seer.”

“She perished because you all failed to protect her. I will be the end of every last one of you.”

“Ian, don’t do this. Fight it,” Conall pleaded.

“I am the darkness.” Ian’s reply was cold as he reached his hands toward Conall. Conall’s skin erupted in flames as his eyes started to pour tears of blood.

Standing over the charred remains of Conall, Ian laughed. His eyes turned towards me, churning my stomach. It was as if he could see me standing there. I looked over to the Revenant that had brought me here, and I knew, undoubtedly, it was the echo of Conall.

“The Seer.” Ian’s icy laugh ripped through me. How could this have happened? What could’ve driven him to this?

“You must save us all from ourselves.” Conall’s calm reply settled over me as I was ripped back into the dreaming.



“Izzy, are you well?” Aberto stood over me. Looking up at him, I realized I was curled into the fetal position. Unsure of how I got there, I slowly rose up to sit.

“No. I’m not.” The memory of Ian skittered through my mind. If I didn’t save Molly, everyone would fall.

“Let us leave this place.”

Aberto pulled us back through to the shack in the middle of nowhere.

“How can I save her if I can’t even control the darkness inside of me?”

“Do you believe these two things are connected? That you must first conquer the darkness in order to save her?”