See How She Fights (The Chronicles of Izzy #2)(20)

She locked eyes with me stubbornly and spoke directly toward me. I couldn’t understand. I was just sifting through memories. There shouldn’t be any way for the things involved to interact with me. First the beast and now the Seer.

“You must not be here,” she spoke in a whisper. I was suddenly ripped away spiraling through a barrage of meaningless images.

**********

I broke contact with Kennan, trying to take deep breaths. I felt sick and wanted to get out of there. I needed air. I needed space. I jumped up out of the bed and threw on clothes as quickly as I could before heading for the door.

“What the hell, Izzy? What just happened?” he asked as he raced after me in just his boxer briefs.

I made it down the stairs and out into the garden before I was able to find my voice. “She talked to me. She talked to me and the beast looked at me. What the hell is happening to me, Kennan?” I asked as I bent over and put my head between my knees. The world wouldn’t stop spinning. Why couldn’t it just hold still for a moment while I got myself back together?

“What did you see? Why won’t you talk to me? I told you that I had to be someone I don’t like back then,” Kennan said worriedly. It wasn’t until that moment that I realized he had no idea why I was freaking out. He thought I was upset with him. The fact was, I had not seen anything of him except when he fought the beast and even then it had been hazy.

“It isn’t you, Kennan. I really didn’t see much of you. You were weird and hazy with angry eyes. But that’s it. That felt more like a vision than memory sifting. Except then it was sort of the dreaming at the same time. It was as if the beast monster thing and the Seer could both tell I was there, yet no one else could. What is happening to me?” I lowered myself to the damp grass, trying to keep my world from fully spinning out of control.

Kennan squatted down in front of me taking my face in his hands. He looked hesitant, as if he did not want to say what must be said. “I promised I would not lie to you again. I think that your powers are growing faster than they normally would because you are going to take over for Isadora. Remember earlier, how you had a vision inside the dreaming? I think the same sort of thing happened when you went tromping through my memories. Only this time, the things that were no longer of this plane could recognize you as not belonging. There was a Seer, one of the first, who could traverse the planes. She could see things that were beyond our own realm. If what Isadora suspects is true, then you are the same.” He finished before giving up and plopping down next to me.

Tears began to fall down my cheeks. I was not prepared for this. A year ago I was just a simple bike messenger in Chicago. Now, here I was with the fate of the Seers, and thus the world, resting on my shoulders. I couldn’t take it. I was just one person. One, completely ill-equipped, person. I wanted my life back. I wanted to be normal. Yet, it seemed the universe had a different plan for my life. I thought that fighting Xavier would be the hardest thing I ever had to face. It seemed God had more faith in me than that. It seemed He believed I could handle far more.

“Why am I like this, Kennan? Why are there Seers at all?” I asked. It wasn’t the first time the thought had crossed my mind. It was just the first time I’d dared to verbalize it.

“Can we maybe go inside? I am not exactly dressed for a dawn outing,” Kennan said, looking down at his bare skin. I nodded as he pulled me to my feet and we made our way back inside. He began telling me theories that had been passed down for generations. “When the world was created, the gods needed something here on this plane to assist in keeping things in balance.”

“God,” I said. It was an argument we had quite frequently. I guess when you come from hundreds of years in the past your views are a bit different.

“God, gods, it makes no difference in the story, Izzy. So, on this plane there are other things. Things that come from the darkness to alter the course the gods have set forth. That is why the Seers are here. They can predict the things that have been altered and set them right. Haven’t you ever wondered why you have visions of things that can’t be changed and visions of those that can? Those solidified visions are the acts that the gods have set forth. Those are the things that must happen in order for the course of the world to stay on track. The others, well they are not of heavenly domain.” He finished as we made our way back into the room.

“So you are telling me I am some sort of guardian angel warrior person? Just when I think I have it all figured out you throw a wrench at me.” I threw myself onto the bed, dew-damp clothes and all.

“If you can dodge a wrench…,” Kennan said with a chuckle.

“That movie is so dumb,” I griped. “So, now not only am I a Seer, I am some sort of guardian sent from God. This just keeps getting better and better. Now I really feel as though I have absolutely no control over my own destiny.”

“That is not entirely true. You can decide to leave here and I would go with you. You don’t have to take over for Isadora. You still have a choice, Izzy,” Kennan said gently.

“No, I really don’t. Not if I want to be able to look myself in the mirror every day. If I walk away what happens to the Seers? What happens to the future of the Council? If this is where I am meant to be, how can I turn my back on that? No matter how scared I am, I can’t let Seers die if there is something that can be done to stop it. So no, I don’t have a choice.”