See How She Fights (The Chronicles of Izzy #2)(28)

I nodded as the others moved back toward us. We sat down in a circle, discussing all that had transpired. After everything was out in the open, we headed toward the library in search of the books Eleanor had described. I didn’t care if it took me all night, I would find what was happening.

I sat down at a long table as Eleanor and Kennan set about piling books in front of me. I had no idea where anything was in this library, so I thought it best just to stay out of the way. By the time they finished, there were ten large tomes scattered around the table.

“I think we should start with the rune on your arm, Izzy. Perhaps that would tell us a little more about the ceremony being used,” Eleanor said before flipping through a book to some kind of codex that listed runes and their meanings.

“Eleanor, why didn’t you come to the Council about your hunches?” I asked. I was confused about why she had waited until her daughter had died to help.

“Because, my darling girl, some things just have to happen in a certain order. I saw these events play out in this order in perfect clarity. There was nothing I could have done to alter them. If I had, well, God only knows what might have happened,” she said before continuing to browse the list. “Well, this explains why I couldn’t make sense of what I was seeing. Someone is using Old Norse runes combined with a Druid sacrificial ritual. Whoever is doing this is combining some serious stuff,” she said, staring down at the pages.

“So, what does this mean?” I asked, shoving my arm at her impatiently. I wanted answers more than I wanted a history lesson.

“You have an inverted Uruz on your arm. It says here that it is the symbol of health or life force. When it is inverted, it means that something is using that force against you. In this situation, I believe it means that something is trying to steal your power.”

“But how did it get here?” I was becoming hysterical. I realized I needed sleep, and badly. I lay my head on the table and wished that for once in my miserable adult life things could be simple. I knew that it was a waste of time. I knew that my life was never going to be simple again. I just wished that weirdness would stop happening to me. The second I adjusted to my life, another bizarre and seemingly random occurrence would come along and throw me off balance again. I was starting to feel as though I had a terrible case of vertigo.

“I think we should call it a night and get you something to eat, Izzy,” Kennan said, wrapping his arm around me and pulling me up out of my seat. “Have you eaten since breakfast?” he asked.

“No, but I’m not hungry. I just want to sleep,” I said as I waved a goodbye in Eleanor’s direction. Not that she noticed. She was furiously scribbling notes down on a pad of paper. I thought back to my resolve to stay up all night and solve the mystery. It seemed my body had other plans. I could barely keep my eyes open.

“We can grab something on the way to the room. You need to keep your strength up,” he said, effectively shifting into the role of Guardian instead of soon-to-be husband.

“Whatever. As long as I can shut my eyes soon,” I mumbled sleepily. I had never felt so tired before in my life. Zapping my powers indeed. I needed to revert this rune. Maybe if I held my arm up over my head it would reverse it and bring me energy. I raised my arm overhead trying to test out the theory.

“What are you doing?” Kennan asked bemusedly.

“Trying to reverse the rune so that it brings me energy,” I said as if I totally knew what I was talking about.

“Izzy, it was carved with the intention of being inverted. You can’t reverse that. Besides, I don’t think that is making you tired. You have not slept well in months and the past two days have been a strain on you. I think it is only natural that you would crash. I expected it to happen much sooner,” Kennan said, pulling me toward the kitchen.

I could barely keep my eyes open as we stopped in the kitchen and grabbed some food. Kennan made some sandwiches as I did my best impersonation of a bobble head. We made our way upstairs as I dutifully nibbled on my sandwich. By the time I made it to the room, my eyes felt unbearably heavy. I lay down in my clothes and let sleep take me.

**********

“It took you long enough to get here. I’ve been trying to get your attention for God only knows how long,” Ren griped.

“Ugh! That was you? Please don’t ever do that again. I was in the middle of some important stuff, you know, like trying to free your spirit,” I said, glaring at her sightless face. Let’s see her use her powers to see how pissed off I was.

“Well, this may be more important. I overheard them talking.”

“Who did you overhear?” I had no patience for guessing games. Even in the dreaming I felt exhausted.

“The foggy woman and Xavier. They were talking about the ceremonies and whether they were working or not. Xavier said something about feeling stronger. I think that whatever is going on it has to do with him. What’s that on your arm?” Ren gasped.

“The same thing that is on yours,” I said staring at her matching symbol. I visually took inventory of all of her marks. Now that I had one, it seemed I could make out the rest. There were seven in all. I tried to memorize the simple lines of each rune. If I could tell Eleanor which ones were used, we might be able to form a better picture of what was happening.

“No, yours is glowing like a freaking sun,” Ren said, turning her face away. I looked down at my arm and couldn’t see anything other than the mark.