See How She Falls (The Chronicles of Izzy #3)(41)
“I thought it was supposed to be about choice. I thought I had a choice. What happened to that?” I yelled at Aberto. He should know. He was the oldest of us, the wisest.
“Choice is an illusion, Izzy. There is not always going to be an easy choice, or a good one. Sometimes, no matter what you decide, it will not end well. You still have a choice here. You can choose to fight, or you can choose to lay down and let the darkness consume you and everything else in its path. Either way, this is your decision. I hope that you choose not to fall back on your weakness, but to press on. If you don’t, everyone you care for, everyone you love, will suffer. Don’t be weak," Aberto turned away from me, vanishing as he walked. Don’t be weak, the bastard. I’d show him weak when I zapped him with a lightning bolt.
“Izzy, what is this all about?” Eleanor came to my elbow, gently cradling it.
“I feel like there is absolutely nothing I can do to stop this darkness and this demon. All anyone has told me is to believe I can and the power is within me. To me it sounds like a load of affirmation bull crap."
“I might have found something that will help you," Eleanor raised a brow in my direction. “It is, in a word, unconventional. But, if we are lucky, it may just provide you with enough strength to finish this."
“I trust you. If you think it is a good idea, I will give it a go. I don’t think things could get much worse as it is." I looked at her, wondering just what I was getting myself into this time. I should really learn to ask more questions.
“Well, I will discuss it with your aunt and see what she thinks when we get there." Eleanor kept her hand on my elbow, guiding me towards the house.
“Wait, you knew she was my aunt? How is it that everyone seems to know everything about me, but no one is willing to tell me anything at all? There needs to be a secret intervention. No more! I swear, how am I supposed to do anything if I don’t have all of the necessary information?”
“The Order is not something we are permitted to discuss. I only knew because of your mother. You had chosen the Council, which meant the Order was no longer an option for you," Eleanor said matter-of-factly, as if I were some sort of unruly student.
“I didn’t know I had any other option!” I shouted. Exhaustion pulled at me compounding with the elephants practicing their tap routine on my brain. My head would split at any moment, I just knew it.
“That is not my fault. You just didn’t ask. If you had, I would’ve told you," Eleanor looked completely unaffected by my outburst. She reminded me too much of Isadora sometimes.
“Come on, Izzy. We still need to make it back to the house before dark. The last thing we need is for you to be eaten by an alligator. Speaking of food, we need some. I’m starving," Kennan rubbed his belly in mock affront.
“I haven’t kept you from food," I mumbled under my breath as we made our way over the boardwalk toward the house.
“Your lack of an appetite interferes with my grazing schedule. So, it sort of is your fault. You confuse me by not eating. It isn’t normal.” Kennan raised a brow, challenging me.
“Neither are the gluttonous amounts of food you consume, but you don’t see me complaining.” I needed sleep, I was getting seriously crabby.
“Keep it up and I will toss you to the gators, woman.” Kennan swatted my butt, causing me to jump.
“Hey, invalid here. Remember?” I yawned loudly, the adrenaline of the day wearing off as we approached the house. “I think I’m too tired to eat. Can I just sleep instead?”
“No, you need energy.” Kennan wouldn’t budge on the whole food issue.
“Fine," I grumbled as we approached the house. A chorus of cicadas and tree frogs resounded loudly around me, announcing the coming night. I wondered, as we entered the house, if this would be my last night; if these were the last sounds of the South I would hear before the darkness fell, taking me with it.
“That’s enough.” Aberto appeared at my elbow, pulling me to a stop. “You will not be able to stop this if you keep succumbing to such morose thoughts. You are not who you were when the prophecy came into existence. I’ve changed you, therefore there is a chance that the prophecy has also changed. Do not give up this fight so readily.”
“Do you think that I want to feel this way, Aberto? This isn’t a vacation for me, but you’ve said it yourself, my choices are all bad. I either lay down now and let it consume me or I fall trying to defeat it. The word fall doesn’t exactly give me any hope of survival. I don’t have any plans of coming out of this thing intact. Just let me mourn the loss of things, let me deal with this how I must. I’m not as strong as you seem to think I should be. I’m not you, Aberto.” Tears streamed down my cheeks as my fear came rushing to the surface. I was barely strong enough to stand on my own two feet, let alone defeat the demon.
Aberto grabbed my shoulders and shook them, making me look him in the eyes. “You are strong enough, do you understand?”
“Just because you wish it to be does not make it so.” I turned, and walked into the house where a concerned Kennan was waiting.
“What was that about?” Kennan looked between a furious Aberto and me.
“Nothing important.” I walked passed Kennan toward where my aunt and Eleanor were talking.
“So, what’s the verdict?” I asked the women.