See How She Fights (The Chronicles of Izzy #2)(55)

“She’s right, Kennan. He is the best chance we have of stopping this. He seems to have a vested interest in Izzy’s well-being. We should use that to our advantage,” Conall said with all the pragmatism of a well-trained soldier.

“That’s what bothers me so much. He has not surfaced in over three hundred years. Why now? Why her?” Kennan looked at me as if I held the answer to his question.

“I have no idea. I’m seriously just trying to keep my head above water here. I’m doing good just to follow along,” I said, looking down at my freshly bandaged leg. Conall’s dark, tanned skin stood out in stark contrast to my pale leg as he finished taping the bandage down.

“Whatever it is, we can use it to our advantage now. We cannot continue on this course, Brother. We both know how this ends if we do not stop it now.” Conall placed his hand on Kennan’s shoulder before turning to leave. “I won’t see you suffer my fate, Brother.”

“Summon him,” Kennan said as Conall shut the door.

“What?”

“Aberto, summon him, Izzy. We don’t have time for this,” Kennan said through gritted teeth.

“He isn’t a genie Kennan, I can’t just rub a lamp and make him appear.” I once again wondered if he did have a lamp somewhere that he was hanging out in.

“Call on him, I guarantee he will come.” Kennan’s tone held so much animosity it made me afraid to do as he asked. I looked down at my bare leg and decided to throw on some pants before summoning Him of the Oldness. I pulled on a fresh pair of sweats and sat down on the edge of the bed.

“Come out, come out wherever you are,” I said half-jokingly. I honestly had not expected him to just pop in whenever I called. Boy howdy, was I ever wrong. Just as the last word left my lips, he appeared, wearing a pair of jeans and form fitting green thermal. I wanted his magical wardrobe abilities.

“Told you,” Kennan grumbled.

“Are you spying on me?” I wanted to know. I knew there were more pressing matters at hand, but the thought of him just drifting around watching me gave me the heebie jeebies.

“No. I am not, as you say, spying on you. You have to want me to be here to pull me to this plane.” Aberto looked incensed by my question. As far as I was concerned it was a perfectly legitimate one. I still had no idea what he really was. He looked me over as I stared back at him and his gaze stopped on my thigh where the newest rune had appeared. I looked down to make sure I had really put on a new pair of pants.

Aberto moved more quickly than I had ever seen anything move, Guardian or otherwise. He had Kennan lifted by the throat against the wall.

“HOW?” he raged.

“PUT. HIM. DOWN!” I yelled, pulling Aberto’s attention back to me. He lowered his arm and Kennan with it, his jaw clenching the entire time.

“The dreaming,” Kennan choked out. I could tell he wanted to throttle Aberto but something always held him back. Whatever an Old One was, it commanded a great deal of respect.

“When?” Aberto, ever the wordsmith.

“Listen, I just woke up and it was there. I blocked Kennan out of the dreaming again, or something did. We still aren’t sure on that one. At any rate, something is wrong there. Ren is covered in glowing runes and blood and the fog feels, well it feels wrong. Malevolent almost. She shoved me out saying something was coming and I woke up with this. Conall came in to patch it up and then we called for you. End of story.” I looked between the men, hoping that they could both cool their tempers long enough to deal with what really mattered.

“We need to strengthen your protections,” Aberto said, moving toward me. He kneeled in front of me and brushed his hand along the rune that had surfaced on my leg. He closed his eyes as if to seek out some hidden message in the mark. I wasn’t sure how he was seeing anything through my clothes and the bandage, but once again, I knew nothing about him.

“Right, but now we should probably focus on the Seers being sacrificed and how to sever that connection,” I said, standing up so that I could move away from both men. The room was feeling uncomfortably small with the two of them there.

“You need protection before you can go in there again. Your soul is being marked, Izzy. I will not allow you to do this ritual if you do not abide me in this.” Aberto stood and moved to tower over me. I glanced over at Kennan to find him staring back at me. He didn’t look angry at all. In fact, he looked like he agreed with Aberto for once. Of course he did, the traitorous bastard.

“Fine, but it better be a faster process than the first marking ceremony,” I huffed.

“It is. I am just going to strengthen the mark I already forged,” Aberto promised. “I shall return. In the meantime, prepare her for more markings. We can do it here or out on the platform. It matters not. The sooner we start, the better.”

“Here is fine. I don’t want the others to know what is going on,” Kennan said, moving to stand next to me.

“So be it. I will return as quickly as I can.” he bowed deeply before vanishing.

“Where does he go when he does that?” I asked. I knew I probably wouldn’t get an answer. Some things just needed to be said out loud.

“You need to take your shirt off and lie on the bed, Izzy.”

Yep, no answers from him.

“Can’t I get a robe or something like last time?” I hated the idea of lying there so exposed.