See How She Fights (The Chronicles of Izzy #2)(22)
“So, Izzy, done already?” Conall smirked.
“Shut it, Eye Patch,” I wheezed.
“Keep calling me that and I will call you Lass,” Conall said.
“Fine, I won’t call you Eye Patch and you won’t call me Lass or Milady. Oh and stop with the bowing business as well would you?” I said, finally catching my breath.
“We have an accord,” he said starting to bow. He stopped half way into it laughing. “Sorry, old habits and all that.”
“Do you want to practice some of your forms, Iz?” Kennan asked, reading my mind.
“Yeah, that would be great. I wonder if that whole fast instinct thing only works when I really feel threatened,” I said as I moved to take my first stance.
The three of us spent the next few hours going through several forms. My speed had increased significantly. I wasn’t as fast as I’d been when I took them down earlier, but my speed had definitely improved. I wondered about the feeling that had accompanied the speed earlier. That strange sense of numbness I had only felt once before. I didn’t allow my mind to linger on it. I wanted to get back to the house and wash off the gallon of sweat that was trying to drown me.
**********
We made it back to the house and said our goodbyes. It seemed that Conall and I had come to some sort of truce. I just hoped it would last for more than a day. There was something about him that I couldn’t put my finger on. I didn’t want to ask Kennan about it because he was obviously close to Conall. It wasn’t that I thought he was a bad guy exactly, there was just something off.
I shook the thoughts aside and headed into the shower. Kennan tried to join me but I shooed him away. I had no time to spend on my desires this morning. Plus, I was flat exhausted from everything that had happened since I awoke from my nightmare. I got ready in record time and headed down to the dining facilities with Kennan. When we got there, I noticed Ian and Molly sitting at a table. We got our stuff and headed toward them.
I looked at Ian and started to laugh. He had given up on the whole dressing to match thing it would seem. He had on a pair of plaid Bermuda shorts and a yellow Hawaiian shirt with hibiscus flowers plastered over every available inch. I shook my head and sat down, turning toward Molly.
“How are you this morning?” I asked. I had almost forgotten about her coming to the room the previous night. It seemed like so much had happened since then.
“Fine. I am more worried about you. Why didn’t you tell me you were going to take over the Council?” she asked, raising her brows impatiently.
“Um, maybe because you had more pressing matters on your mind when you paid me a midnight visit. Or maybe because I only found out yesterday,” I said, giving Kennan a pointed stare as he tried to look anywhere but at me.
“I take it he knew,” Molly grumbled. “Stupid Guardians with their stupid know it all selves thinking they know everything.”
“Something you want to talk about, Molly?” Ian asked with a sour smile. It seemed something had transpired between the two of them. Obviously he had given up trying to impress her by showing her he could match his clothing. I honestly didn’t have the energy to dedicate to their problems at the moment. Besides, I was sure both of them would eventually spill the beans and try and get me to fix whatever was going on. Molly would ask me to make Ian be more reasonable and Ian would try and get me to make Molly loosen up. It was the same sort of circular fight they’d been having since we left the Council almost six months ago.
I shook my head at them as I saw Conall approach the table. I really hoped he didn’t stir the pot with Ian and Molly. They had a hard enough time without any external forces poking holes in their fragile truce. Conall lowered himself across from me next to Ian. He smacked Ian on the back in way of greeting, causing Ian to almost choke. I rolled my eyes in their direction before turning back to Molly.
“So, yeah. In an effort to be more open, I apparently have developed some kind of super speed power and can have visions while in the dreaming. Yay me,” I said, taking a bite of my bagel. I chewed as Molly’s eyes became the size of saucers.
“But, there have only been like three others in the history of time that could do that. That is so… amazing.” She started to vibrate with her excitement. I always forgot how into the whole Seer thing she was. Where I felt forced into my situation, she felt honored to be chosen. We made a fine pair, her longing to be in touch with her powers and me wanting to give up mine.
“Yeah, yeah. Don’t get too excited. I don’t know what is happening. Maybe it is just some sort of fluke. Oooh, maybe I have some sort of Seer flu that causes powers to get out of whack,” I said as I took a big drink of coffee.
“Not likely, Shorty. You have been a weird one from day one. It would make sense you would get the extra whammy powers. Plus, your mom saw you having them a long time ago,” Ian said as Kennan kicked him under the table. “I mean, I thought I heard someone say it sometime. I’m sure Kennan had no previous knowledge of this.”
I glared in Kennan’s direction.
“She made me swear an oath,” he said around bites of food.
I looked around the table at the four people sitting with me.
“From now on I expect each and every one of you to tell me anything I might need to know about past or future. Things like ‘Hey you are going to be the super Seer of our time’ or ‘You will have to take down an evil empire someday.’ This is all information that I require. Do you all understand? No more of this ‘I swore an oath’ nonsense. If it is about me, I want to know,” I said, glaring at my friends. They all sheepishly looked anywhere but at my face.