See How She Falls (The Chronicles of Izzy #3)(44)

“You are becoming quite the comedian.”

“I have a great teacher. Now, you need to rest. I will stay in the dreaming and keep guard, but I am blocking you.” Aberto lifted his hands to my face, gently holding me as if I would break at a moment’s notice.

“Okay. See you tomorrow?” Tears still threatened to flow, but I knew that Aberto was ultimately right, just as he always was. Not that I would be admitting to that any time soon.

“We have much to accomplish.” Just like that the calming blanket of nothing sank in.

Arguing pulled me from my deep sleep. I opened my eyes to see light creeping through the curtains and realized I’d slept straight through the morning. It was almost noon. I sat up trying to find the source of the argument only to find Conall and Sena having a heated discussion, in my room, with no one else in sight.

“Umm, hi?” I muttered groggily.

“See, I told you she was fine. There is no reason in the world to go waking up an exhausted, marked up, prophesized one when you don’t need to. She woke up just fine on her own.” Sena stomped her foot petulantly causing Conall to roll his one good eye.

“Well, you guys arguing sort of woke me up.” I yawned loudly trying to rub the sleep from my eyes.

“Oh, sorry," Sena mumbled quickly as she headed toward the bed to sit on the edge. “Since you are up, perhaps you can tell Do…, I mean Conall, that he is out of his mind if he thinks I’m going back to the Council with him. This is my home, these are my people.”

“Sorry to tell you, but none of us are welcome there, Conall. Didn’t Kennan tell you?”

“Tell me what?” Conall stood, rooted in place. A look of trepidation replaced his indignation.

“Umm, we were banished?” I half asked.

“What did you do, Izzy?” Conall looked at me like I’d intentionally gone in there and caused a ruckus.

“I just showed up. Blame those crazy old bats that deposed me," I said, doing my best not to get angry. Sena was sitting awfully close to me, and I didn’t want to zap her into a smoldering pile of ash. Conall would be even madder if I did that.

“What was said, exactly?” Conall still had the “this is totally your fault, Izzy” tone. It was really irritating how he always blamed me for the mess. Even if it was normally my fault.

“There was mention of me being an abomination, which caused me to zap the desk into a pile of ash. Oh, and then they pretty much told me what I told Elaine. The whole, none shall give you shelter and any found harboring you will be banished. So, since you were on team Izzy, you got banished by association. Didn’t you wonder why Eleanor was here?”

“She is a lot like my mother, she often shows up in surprising places.” Conall moved further towards the bed but paused as a thought crossed his mind. “Do you mean to tell me that Ian stood with them against you?”

“Yeah, right. No, he and Molly are in Chicago.”

“Why is he not here?” Conall seemed angry that Ian wouldn’t come to our aid.

“Because he doesn’t have to be, and I won’t force him to return to the Order until it is on his own terms. There are some things that can’t be rushed, Conall.”

“But we need his help to protect you!” Conall practically screamed as if I were being completely dense.

Sena rose from the bed and moved towards him slowly as if he were a caged animal. I could suddenly see the wolf in him, chomping at the surface. When she got close enough, she placed a hand on his shoulder and whispered something lyrical that managed to draw his anger back. The animal disappeared and he breathed heavily.

“Sorry, Izzy," he muttered before giving Sena a wary look and disappearing.

“Should’ve known I would end up with the wolfman," Sena said thoughtfully as she returned to sitting on my bed.

“Why in the world would you say that?” I scooted over to give her more room as she flopped back against the pillows next to me.

“My name, and my talent.” She shrugged as if it were nothing exceptionally strange.

“What does your name mean, exactly? And what sort of talent do you have, what did you just do to Conall?”

“My name means ‘the moon'.” She paused as I burst into laughter. “Yeah, yuck it up, Izzy. At least I have a full name.”

“Hey, my name means something, too. So don’t get all high and mighty over there or I will zap you into a pile of ash and let wolfman pee on it when he wolfs out.”

“That is just plain mean.” Sena glared at me. “Well, Miss Prophecy, what does your name mean?”

“Eleanor looked it up. She thought I should know that my destiny had been written from birth. Ultimately, it just made me want to smack her. My name means ‘God is My Oath’.” Sena stared at me, wide eyed. “Yeah, I know. Talk about being predestined for something. At least you aren’t alone, right?”

“True. As for the other question you asked, my talent is calming. Mona says I am like the moon itself, helping to control the ebb and flow of people’s emotions.”

“Can you just stay close to me until I get this X-men power crap under control?”

“Promise not to turn me into a pile of ash and let Conall pee on me?” She looked at me wary for a moment.

“Promise," I smiled. “Now, I really need to get up and get dressed. Oh, and pee. I REALLY need to do that," I said standing up. It hadn’t hit me until then.