See How She Runs (The Chronicles of Izzy #1)(16)

As the questions raged inside my head, he told me about the Corporation. How hundreds of years ago some of the Guardians became what he called “right greedy bastards” and broke off from their directorate. They started seeking out Seers and forcing them to tell them about natural disasters and wars. They went into the business of raking in insurance claims from the victims of the very catastrophes they could have prevented. The closest they ever came to being caught was after Katrina. But even then, they were careful. The Corporation sent money and arms to militaries, regardless of the faction, as long as it would be the victor in the end.

By the time he finished I was breathless. These were the people that had my mother. They had her strapped to some machine and were making her use something that was meant for good for nefarious purposes. I couldn’t stomach it. This was it. I had finally reached the point of breaking. I ran to the bathroom and emptied my stomach.

Kennan came in silently behind me and wet a cloth for me. I collapsed against the toilet as another wave of tears assaulted me. It was all too much. How would I ever stand up against these people? I might have some spunk to me, but I had no way to fight off trained killers. I felt as though my ship had been set adrift, and the waves had stripped me of my compass.

I looked up at Kennan who was leaning against the bathroom door waiting for me to pull myself together again. I looked at him and I did not know how I was supposed to go on like nothing had changed between us. This was the man that my mother promised I could trust, but one I did not truly know. He must have read it in my eyes because his eyes mirrored my sadness.

“I think we better get some rest now, Izzy. Tomorrow is your birthday and tomorrow is when everything really starts to change. I am sorry for lying to you. I am sorry for scaring you and dragging you out here tied to a seat. I am sorry for drugging you. But I need to know that you are with me on this. If you run, they can and will find you. I know I have no right to ask, but I am asking. Trust me?”

I looked at him, my best friend for the past two years. The man that had taken care of me, had fed me, and made me laugh. The man that had also incidentally kidnapped me. I was having difficulty resolving that person with the man standing in front of me. I was not stupid enough to believe I would be able to make it out there on my own. Not when they could get into my head and pull information out. Not with what had happened to my mother.

“For now." It was all I was capable of offering.

He reached down to pull me up and tucked me under his arm like he had a thousand times before. This time there was no comfort. I felt cold and hollow. Even as he kissed me on the head and shut the bedroom door I felt empty. I dreaded what sleep might bring.





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EIGHT





That night my dreams were filled with images of my childhood: my father standing in the backyard smiling with a friend; an entirely too-tall man with tattoos pushing me on the swing; my mother smiling down upon me as she reads me a bedtime story. All of them were an accumulated parade of phantoms, long forgotten.

The last memory transported me back to the trunk of the car, where my head was pounding, and I looked around to see nothing but blackness. I could feel the trunk pressing down towards me as if it would crush me at any moment. The air tasted stale and I heard voices.

“Promise me you will take her and protect her. Promise me, brother. It is the only thing I can think of. They are after her, not Moira."

“Rest, brother,” a familiar voice replied. “Your suffering is over now. I will find her and I vow to protect her."

I heard a final, deep sigh as my father drew in his last breath, and the trunk opened with a screech of reluctant metal. I blinked up at the face of a man that I knew all too well.

I awoke with Kennan shaking my shoulders. He was broken out in a cold sweat that mirrored my own. He looked at me with haunted eyes.

“Enough Izzy, enough," he barely breathed as he rested his forehead against mine.

All the while, I struggled to pull myself back to the present. No wonder I was terrified of closed spaces. I still felt the residual fear of being trapped in that stagnant place. I shuddered as I finally released a breath I did not realize I was holding. I looked up into his eyes. This man so familiar and so foreign, and I truly did not know what he was to me. I averted my gaze and tried to pull myself together as he sat up.

I remembered his words from earlier. He dreamed what I dreamed. So he was there with me. He saw my morbid parade of happiness that was taken away too soon. Of a family robbed from me by greedy men. I looked over at the clock and saw that it was five am.

I was officially twenty five, and it was officially the worst birthday ever. I sat up on the bed as Kennan moved his mountainous self over to make room for me. We sat in silence for a long time. I could feel him staring at me, waiting for whatever I might say.

So, I said the only thing I could. “What now?”

“Now we train, Izzy. Now I teach you how to keep yourself from going mad with the visions that will start coming. Now I teach you how to defend yourself so that if something happens to me, you can take care of yourself. But first, I feed you breakfast.”

We looked at each other a moment longer, those same uncertain feelings and unsaid thoughts passing behind our eyes. Neither of us was willing to venture into that territory. Instead, we came to an unspoken truce. He was my Guardian and I was his Seer, for better or worse. I giggled at the thought, causing Kennan to look at me with questioning eyes.