See How She Awakens (The Chronicles of Izzy #4)(8)

“What is a Revenant?” I looked around the room, hoping someone would explain.

“What were those words you said yesterday before you left?” Mona calmly asked.

“The world will burn. The darkness is coming. Act now, or all is lost.” I chanted the words that had haunted me in the dreaming.

“The Revenants came to you as well. They are echoes from a possible future that may befall us if we do nothing to stop it. They are what we will become. Molly met face to face with her future self and is now becoming the same. If the darkness is not fully stopped, she will die. Along with the rest of us.” Mona turned back to the book quickly.

“The demon is gone, though; I fell. Wasn’t that what the prophecy said?” The same look crossed everyone’s face simultaneously. Guilt with a hint of regret.

They will never trust you with the full truth, Izzy. You are a threat to them all and they know it.

“STOP IT!” my voice reverberated throughout the room, causing everyone but Aberto to jump.

“Izzy, we didn’t say anything.” Mona’s brows furrowed as she looked first at me, and then to Aberto.

“What did you keep from me this time? What more am I missing?” I looked around the room and realized every person in the room had lied to me. The darkness bubbled with joy inside of me at the admission. It pressed outward, expanding by immeasurably small amounts. One day it would consume me completely if I let it.

“There were two prophecies.” Ian rose from his chair slowly. As he moved toward me, my stomach clenched. Something slid just behind his eyes. Not really anger or hatred, but something malevolent all the same. My body acted of its own accord skirting backwards toward the door. I didn’t want to be trapped. Whatever was coming, I wanted to be prepared.

“What?” I looked around the room trying to get anyone to connect with me, to make eye contact so I could glean whether it were true or not.

“There are two prophecies,” Ian said, his voice far closer than it had been moments before.

He wants to be rid of you. You see it, he can’t be trusted. Dark whispers clouded my mind, masking reality.

“Don’t come any closer, Ian.” Backing away, I found myself trapped. Behind me stood a tall form, Guardian or Aberto, I wasn’t sure. I looked up over my shoulder to find a blank faced Aberto staring back. No emotion showed on his face. Nothing to tell me if what they said was true. Slowly, I sifted to the other side of the room, resurfacing to find everyone staring at the spot I’d stood in moments before. Seconds ticked by before anyone moved, but an eternity lapsed in those seconds.

Thoughts skittered through my mind that weren’t of my making. Screams of terror, thoughts of deception and blame, it all felt too familiar. My mind sprung back to the vision I’d had. The streets of Chicago burned and a charred man chased down another, brutality pulsing from his every pore. The thoughts were the same. Fear, blame, anger, rage, it was all coming. It had already begun. I could hear it in the people surrounding me.

“What does the prophecy say? No more secrets.” I spoke, breaking the stillness. Confused faces searched the room for the origin of my voice. “Someone needs to tell me.”

“Mona, give her what she seeks.” Aberto’s gaze was assessing, not Mona, but me. He searched my face as if an answer might lay written there. For all I knew he could still read my every thought.

“There were two prophecies,” Mona stated simply, as if that would be enough.

“What were they?” I ground out as the darkness whispered, They will never tell you the truth.

Ian stared at Mona, waiting to see if she would say anything. Her hesitation was enough of an answer. “Mona, if you won’t tell her, I will. Enough with the secrets. They have done nothing but bring us to destruction. Tell her everything.”

“I don’t know if I am permitted to disclose all. I fear by telling her, the unfolding future will not be of her choice, but because she feels an obligation to us.” Mona looked away, a war visibly raging in her eyes.

“My choice? Nothing in the past few years would’ve been of my choosing. I didn’t choose to become a Seer, or to be set on this path of destruction. Every step I take hurts someone else I love. I’d never choose that. I will do what is asked of me, even if it leads to my undoing. But know this, none of this was ever my choice. If I had a choice, Kennan would be alive.” I paused, trying to gain my composure, but afraid if I didn’t finally speak the truth it would never be spoken. “You speak of the prophecy as though it were some big secret, but the truth is whether I’d stopped the demon or not, I would’ve fallen. My life—that’s a joke, it’s not even my life—has been destined from my first breath. I am a tool, a blunt instrument sent from the heavens to do what they will not do themselves. If I’m to be used, so be it. Tell me the prophecy.”

They don’t trust you, Izzy. They think you are selfish and unwilling to do what must be done. Don’t fight for them, they don’t deserve it. Darkness churned within me, causing my stomach to roil.

“No,” I whispered, bending over to clutch my stomach. If I held tight enough maybe the darkness would subside.

“Izzy, it has always been your choice.” Mona’s eyes glistened with unshed tears.

“No, it hasn’t.” I gritted out. I’d thought of my life, of what I could’ve had if I’d chosen Kennan like Isadora said I could. If I’d done that, I would never have been happy. I’d always blame myself for the deaths of thousands of innocent people. Either choice I’d made, I would’ve lost myself.