See How She Falls (The Chronicles of Izzy #3)(19)
“I will die before I let you do this.”
“Yes, you will. But really, your death won’t do anything to stop the darkness. It shall end all.” He paused, turning back towards me as the fog engulfed him. “Not even Aberto can save you from this.” His voice dripped with distain, his words echoing through the fog as he faded away.
“Yeah, fat lot of good he’s done me lately," I muttered miserably. I sat there, thinking about the man that had been there. I needed to get back to my body. Eleanor and I had some more searching to do. I thought about my body, laying in the office. Breathing deeply, I closed my eyes. “Please let this work.”
The dreaming spun around me quickly as I was thrown out into the office where my body rested. Conall, Kennan, and Aberto were all there shouting at one another. As I made my way on unsteady legs back to my body, Aberto turned towards me. The fear in his eyes was unmistakable.
“She has returned," he said, moving towards me as I mended my battered soul back into my body.
“Izzy, what happened?” Kennan knelt by me as I struggled to open my eyes.
“Another rune, I have an aunt, Aberto is a giant liar face, secret keeping, butt munch," I muttered almost incoherently.
“Milady, you are speaking in riddles. What happened? Have you been marked again?” Conall assessed me, trying to find where I’d been marked.
I lifted my right leg and pointed lazily at the calf that was now caked in blood. I was so tired of these jerks ruining all of my clothes. I’d only packed three pairs of jeans, and this was the second pair they’d ruined.
“It must be treated," Aberto, the obvious, said.
“Where were you?” I looked at him, struggling to stay conscious. “I called for you.”
“I couldn’t find you, Izzy. You were blocking again, or they were. I am not certain.” His eyes filled with remorse and unuttered apologies. “Rest now, there will be time for answers later.”
“There’s no time for rest.” Tears filled my eyes as I choked back the reality. “It’s coming, there are only two runes left before it is here. Whatever they are summoning, it is meant to make people pay for their sins. They don’t believe the world is deserving of protection, so they mean to punish it. We can’t let that happen. There isn’t time to sit here and rest. Something has to be done, a price must be paid. You heard what she said, Aberto. The cost of what you did is that I must fall.” My panicked voice rose to a pitch.
“No.” Aberto stood abruptly. “NO!” His shout rang through the office, shaking the walls. “It was not her doing. Why must you always ask the impossible?” Aberto’s voice echoed, reaching the heavens themselves.
“Enough.” Kennan brushed the hair out of my eyes. “This isn’t helping anyone. Izzy, you need to rest. I know that you want to get moving, that you think if you take any time for yourself that people will be hurt. I’m here to tell you, if you don’t take some time for yourself, you won’t be strong enough. One night will not hurt you. Rest now, and in the morning we will search for answers.”
“Forgive me," Aberto said as he faded into nothing.
“Izzy, you need to treat this.” Conall’s voice dragged me from my fuzzy thoughts.
“Bring me the stuff.” I looked up at Kennan. The worry in his eyes broke me.
Conall brought the first aid kit, well the Guardian’s version of one, over to me. He pulled out everything I would need to treat the wound as I rolled up my pant leg. There on my leg was a rune I hadn’t seen before. If only this one had appeared two months ago. Then maybe we would’ve known that whatever was happening to me had nothing to do with the other Seers dying. Hindsight was for the birds.
I got busy cleaning my leg as Kennan pulled Conall to the side. Their faces were somber as they discussed the transpiring events. They’d seen this before with Cait, and I knew that watching me go down the same road was tearing both of them apart. Seemingly forgetting my new super senses, they carried on a conversation they seemed to believe me unable to hear. Doing my best to act as though I couldn’t hear every word, I smoothed on the healing cream.
“She is fading fast. We must act soon.” Conall’s voice was strained.
“She doesn’t know about any of that yet. She doesn’t need to know. Not now. It won’t do her a bit of good. When the time comes, we will do what we must.” Kennan’s hand lifted to his face as he turned to look at me. It seemed I wasn’t that great at eavesdropping after all. Multi-tasking had never really been my thing.
“Izzy, you need to rest now.” Kennan moved across the room to smoothly lift me from the couch.
“Okay.” I knew he was right. I needed to sleep in a bad way. The rune could wait until the morning. The explanations could wait for a few hours. I would be absolutely no good to anyone if I didn’t take better care of myself. “I’m ready. Can you block me, please?”
“Of course.” Kennan’s lips moving soundlessly against my hair was the last thing I felt before I slipped into oblivion.
Chapter Ten
Was this the dreaming? No, it couldn’t be. After all, Kennan had blocked me. I took a wary step, unsure of where I may be. The surroundings drew me in like a warm blanket, a reassuring weight. The fog drifted around my ankles as I moved through, growing ever closer to the source of comfort, the beacon that drew my soul. The voices grew louder as the fog parted, revealing my mother and aunt. Leaden feet pulled me to a stop as I struggled to gasp for air. It was a memory, a glimpse at something long past.