See How She Fights (The Chronicles of Izzy #2)(23)

“There is more, isn’t there?” I asked.

“What more we know is not only of you. It is for this reason I asked you not to sift through my memories. There are things that I can’t tell you now,” Conall said, bowing as he rose from his seat. I glared at him before he mumbled a “sorry.”

“Do it again and the nickname comes back,” I hollered after him.

He nodded imperceptibly as he made his way from the dining facility.

“Oh yeah, I forgot. I am totally calling him that later,” Ian said, laughing around bites.

“Don’t you try and change the subject buddy. What more did my mother say? You better spill the beans.”

“She just said that you would be the best of your kind in generations. She said that you would face great hardships and that you would be equipped to handle them. There was also talk about you developing some of the same abilities Guardians have. But that is it. I swear.”

“Way to be vague, Ian. And you, what do you know about all of this?” I asked, poking Kennan with my fork.

“Ouch,” he said rubbing his arm. “I don’t know any more than that. She told us at the same time. She also made us swear an oath. You don’t break an oath to a dead person. It brings what you call bad juju,” he said, glaring at Ian.

“Well, look at the time. I think Molly and I are going to go do some training,” Ian said, trying to pull Molly’s tray away from her.

“What training? What are you talking about?” Molly looked completely confused as she followed after him.

“So, what would you like to do with the rest of the day?” Kennan asked, trying to change the subject.

“You are so not off of the hook for this buster. Just yesterday you promised no more secrets. I’m pretty sure you were there for that whole conversation. As to what I plan to do today, I’m going to go talk to Isadora and try and figure out what in the heck is going on in my noggin,” I said, getting up and taking my tray. I wasn’t as mad at Kennan as I had been the day before, but he’d once again kept something from me. I understood how he felt about oaths, though. He had sworn a few to me and I was glad to know that he would not break them.

As I reached for the tray return cart I was struck by a vision. My tray toppled to the floor along with my body.

**********

I was standing in an abandoned building. I knew this place well. I was standing inside the Lawndale Theater in Chicago. The place had been out of use for as long as I could remember. But there I stood, watching the same shady figure of a woman that had been in my previous vision. I looked around and noticed that there were three other figures wearing robes. From their sizes, I would guess them to be Guardians. They swayed back and forth in a circle chanting something. I was struck by the strangest sense of déjà vu.

I moved closer to see what was going on. I found a sight I had never wanted to see again.

“Pretty gruesome, huh?” Ren asked from behind me. I jumped and barely contained my scream.

“What are you doing here? This isn’t the dreaming,” I whispered harshly.

“No, but that poor Seer is about to be ripped from her body and tossed to this plane so I came to help her. I had the ability to see spaces with my eyes closed while I was alive. I just figured out I could still do it now. It comes in handy when you don’t have any real eyes left,” she said staring toward the stage as if she could see what was happening as easily as I could.

I shook off the feeling of nausea that swept through my body. I needed to be closer so that I could see what was going on. I needed to know what was being said. I moved silently through the old seats toward the stage. The Seer lying on the stage turned her eyes toward me in a quick glance before unleashing an unholy scream. It vibrated deep down in my soul. I knew I needed to stop this, but it was a solid vision. There was nothing that could be done. This was not an event that I could change.

“This sucks,” I said, frustrated.

“You’re telling me. At least you still have your eyes. Oh, and your life,” Ren griped.

“Seriously, if you are going to be haunting my visions, could you at least be a little nice? It isn’t like I want any of this to be happening, you know. Besides, you are distracting me. I need to figure out what is going on if I have any chance of stopping this. You do want to be free to move on, don’t you?” She just stared at me with a bored expression.

“Don’t be so emo,” she said before moving toward the stage.

Just as we reached the stage the Seer let out another cry. I noticed then that two of the Guardians were removing her eyes. I wanted to look away from the grotesque sight. I didn’t want that vision to haunt my dreams, but I knew without a doubt that every single detail was important. I had to know everything. I looked over to the blurry woman. I tried to focus on her but it was as though she had some sort of shield around her.

“You aren’t breaking into that fortress of solitude. Trust me, I’ve tried,” Ren practically shouted next to me.

“Would you shush? They might notice us,” I said, turning back to the Seer. Her spirit began to separate from her body. Ren rushed up to the stage and grabbed her hand.

“I got you,” she said to the girl.

“Where am I? What happened to me?” Her voice was filled with terror and confusion. It was all I could do not to wrap her in my arms tightly.