See How She Falls (The Chronicles of Izzy #3)(22)
“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.”