See How She Fights (The Chronicles of Izzy #2)(19)

Kennan reentered the room slowly. His every step echoed in the quiet room. I drug my eyes up his body to rest on his face. My gaze settled there, and I longed to reach out and smooth the lines. I didn’t want him to worry about me.

I still didn’t know where in the heck to get the manuscript, but perhaps with Ren’s help, I would be able to find some clues. My world kept expanding every day. I shook my head, thinking of the absurdity of a shade helping me to discover something. Surely I should be medicated. This couldn’t be healthy.

Kennan moved toward the bed. He sank down to the edge and lifted his hand to brush the hair away from my cheek. I was sure said hair looked like I’d stuck my finger in a light socket.

“Are you really okay?” Kennan asked barely above a whisper.

“I am really okay. I promise. I didn’t mean to block you out. Maybe Isadora can help me figure that bit out. I have a feeling I am going to need to spend quite a bit of time with her if I’m ever going to get a handle on what is happening to me. But, at least I know the killer is a woman. That narrows it down by at least fifty percent,” I said hopefully. Kennan’s eyes looked haunted and I wondered what could possibly be going through his mind. As usual my curiosity got the best of me. “What’s going on?”

“This whole thing just reminds me of that sect from years ago. I hope to the gods that we don’t have to go through that again,” he said as he lay down next to me pulling my body against his.

“Can I see? I understand if it was a painful time for you, but there may be clues back in your memories that can help me sort out what is happening now.”

“Understand that what you will see is not at all pleasant. There were things from back then that I don’t even wish to remember, Izzy. I had to be a person I don’t like to be. Just remember that I am still me when you are sifting. Promise me you will try,” he pleaded with me.

I was suddenly afraid to even attempt this. What if he was right? What if what I saw changed the way I perceived him? Regardless of my personal emotions, I knew that I had to do everything in my power to protect the Seers in any way that I could.

“I will do my best,” I promised. I refused to lie to him just to appease both of our nerves. It wouldn’t serve either of us for me to be dishonest.

“So be it,” Kennan said as he unfolded his past before my mind.

**********

I was surrounded by a towering inferno. All around me were the burning remains of what once were buildings. The air was thick with smoke and ash. I could hardly see anything through the dense wall of smoke.

My attention was drawn by a clash of swords in the distance. I made my way towards the sound, hoping to escape the swirling ashes. What I saw when I arrived served to confuse me more than anything I’d ever seen. There were a group of men, at least I thought they were men, circling what could only be described as a monstrous beast. It was as if every last one of my nightmares was conjured to create the abomination. I looked away from it with a feeling of dread spreading through my body and tried to focus on the men.

I could make out glimpses of them from time to time, but then they would shimmer and shift as if they were turning into something else altogether. The more I tried to focus, the more amorphous the shapes became. I breathed deeply trying to focus my concentration. Surely I would be able to pick out someone. This was Kennan’s memory after all. I caught a glimpse of him with rage-filled eyes before he shifted out of focus once more. Then there was Conall. He shifted in and out of focus more quickly than Kennan had. One second he was there with both eyes, the next his eyes were a vibrant yellow and he was hazy once more.

I turned my focus back to the monstrosity they were fighting. Its skin, black as night, vibrated with an otherworldly energy. It slipped from one space to the next in the blink of an eye, causing the men to have to readjust their stances. I moved closer, snapping something underfoot in the process. In a swift motion, the monster turned its eyes in my direction. Impossibly, it knew I was there. Its yellow-green, goat eyes assessed me and weighed my worth before it returned to the men at hand. I got the distinct impression of being told, “We shall meet at another time.”

I looked back to the men fighting and realized this was later than I needed to be seeing. I needed to go further back. I needed to see what had been done to bring about the great, dark beast with its vicious maw and claws made for destruction. The moment I thought it, I was pulled back through memories. They flipped before my eyes as if they were on rewind.

**********

I was standing in an open field at night. The moon cast an eerie light on the scene, illuminating everything with a spectral glow. I moved forward toward the raised platform. Circling the platform were a group of hooded figures, chanting something in a language I’d never heard yet my soul responded to the words. My spirit writhed inside of me as if drawing itself away from what was being done.

When I got close enough to see, I wished that I’d not come at all. On the altar was a woman lying in a white dress. She was held down with tight, leather straps. Her screams echoed across the barren landscape, finding no refuge. No one was coming to her aid. No one would rescue her. One of the figures broke out of the group and moved toward her. He raised the knife and began to draw runes down her arms. I moved even closer to see what was being done. I needed to know if these were the same runes that were being carved now.

As soon as I got close to the altar, I saw that they were not the same. My stomach dropped, yet I was still relieved to know that whatever was happening now was different from what transported the beast from a separate plane to ours. I gazed down at the Seer and my eyes filled with tears. I longed to reach out and comfort her somehow.