See How She Fights (The Chronicles of Izzy #2)(32)

“She said that she was never meant to be your Seer; that yours is yet to come. She tasked me with helping you,” I said, moving to wrap my arms around him. I had wanted to wrap him in my arms since witnessing his heartbreak back in the vision. He let me hug him for a moment before pulling away.

“Are you sure?” he asked simply.

“I would never have told you that if I wasn’t,” I promised. With that, Conall left us. He walked off mulling over the past hundred years. I was sure he would visit his mother soon to discover the truth.

“As for you, we need to talk about something. It is non-negotiable,” I said before pulling Kennan toward the dining area. I was starved. We headed in and sat down to eat as I braced myself

“What is it now? What did you and Isadora discuss?”

“Mostly we discussed Cait and the rune on my arm. But we also discussed something else, something that I am going to have done this evening. Ren spoke to me in my last vision about a mark of protection. She said I needed it and quickly. When I mentioned it to Isadora she was quite surprised. So, basically, I am getting tattooed tonight,” I finished as Kennan pulled us to a stop.

“Are you sure? Do you know how painful that process is?” he asked warily.

“It is a tattoo covering my entire back, I am pretty sure I get that it will be painful.”

“It isn’t just the tattoo, Izzy. Every line contains magic. When the Symbol-smith applies the marks, he is also bonding the magic with your soul,” Kennan finished with a look of trepidation in his eyes.

“Are yours like that? Do they have wards built into them?”

“Yes. Getting them was the most pain I have ever felt in my entire life. Are you sure this is the path you wish to take?”

“I am sure this is the path I must take. Like Isadora said to me earlier, I am not granted the luxury of wants anymore. This is more of a need anyway. When a ghost tells me to do something, I do it.”

“Well, if you are determined, I will see if Ian and Molly would like to join us for the ceremony. It helps to have loved ones close. We may be able to siphon some of the pain away.”

“Will you guys feel it though? Because I really don’t want to put anyone else through that sort of pain if I don’t have to,” I said, hoping that Kennan wouldn’t try and take my pain away just to inflict it upon someone else.

“It doesn’t work that way. No one quite knows why, but having loved ones around serves as a dampener to the pain. Kind of like a numbing cream.”

“So, why didn’t you have loved ones around you when you got yours done?” I asked, wondering why Ian or my father had not been there to help him.

“Because I got mine done quickly. Right after Xavier killed my mother, I found a Symbol-smith to ward me,” Kennan said with a sense of finality. I knew not to push him any further. For now, we would eat and enjoy a few moments of relative peace. I wasn’t looking forward to the pain awaiting me, but I knew that it might be the only thing that would protect me from whatever had burned the rune into my arm.

**********

We ate quickly and when we finished, we headed to find Ian and Molly to see if they would be willing to come to the ceremony, if that is what it was. It really was a shame that I was going to be in charge someday but had no idea what was really going on. I was so lost in the sauce. When we arrived at Molly’s door we heard a man and woman having a heated discussion. We looked at one another and shrugged before knocking. The two of them arguing was nothing new to us.

“Molly, let me in. I need to ask you for yet another favor,” I said against the door.

“Um, be right there,” she said in a panic.

“Well, that is new,” Kennan said with a snicker.

“So, what do you need?” she asked from a bare crack in the door.

“Can we come in please?” Kennan asked barely masking a smile.

“Sure,” she said with trepidation. As we entered the room I noticed Ian putting a shirt back on quickly. I looked over to Molly to find her hair slightly mussed. I raised an eyebrow in her direction. She looked in any direction but mine.

“So, favor. What do you need?” Molly asked, trying to smooth her hair down.

“Izzy has decided to get the mark of protection this evening. We wanted to know if the two of you would attend the ceremony,” Kennan said, eyeing the duo skeptically. So, it was a ceremony. I hadn’t been wrong about that. One point Izzy. I really shouldn’t have kept score though. The universe won every time.

“For reals? You know how much that is gonna suck, Pip Squeak?” Ian said running his hand through his hair.

“Yes, for reals. Ren told me to do it, so I should probably do it. Well, she more insinuated that I needed to ask about it, but you get the gist. Isadora said that we could do it tonight, so that is the plan. We’re getting ready to head down there now to see if they need any help getting ready. I would really appreciate having the moral support,” I smiled brightly at the two of them. I knew I probably looked more manic than excited, but there was honestly no way I could get stoked about crazy amounts of pain.

“Give us a few minutes and we will be right down,” Ian said, looking at Molly.

“Actually, I am ready now. So yeah, let’s go,” Molly said, skirting out of the room quickly.

“This is so not over, Molly!” Ian shouted at her back.