Consequence (5 page)

              He didn’t say anything back to her, which was answer enough.

Right as I would have breached the threshold of the door, I was slammed back into my own body so forcefully that it felt as if I fell from the sky and had to be caught.

Caleb’s arms squeezed me to his chest and his breaths beat against my ear…like he had been breathing hard for a long time. We were both shaking, but Caleb’s rage and worry was almost out of control. He was borrowing my ability and
he
was about to lose control and let loose the energy ribbons.

I leaned back, the significant in me forgetting the vision for a second and worry for my Caleb taking over. I was on his lap as he sat on the fountain edge. We were both soaking wet. Nothing made sense, but neither of us said a word as he took my face in his hands and brought my mouth down to his. For once in a really long time, I didn’t have to push anything out of my mind. I knew Kyle and Lynne were behind us and probably freaking, but my body was completely, solely, focused on my significant.

It had been a long time since I had been able to do that. I was always so consumed with my Visionary duties since it’s this huge part of me. But this was freeing. Even though the vision I just had was so potent, all it did was remind me why this part of my life was that much more important than anything else.

              His calm crashed into my veins the same time as his upset did, begging for me to take it away and tell him that I was okay. I pulled his shirt up and pressed my palms flat to his stomach to give him as much of me as I could. His breath faltered against my lips a little and I knew I had made a dent in his thinly controlled concern. His thumbs swept over my cheeks, over and over, reassuring himself that I was still there every time he made a pass.

              He didn’t wait for me to explain. He sensed it had been traumatic for me anyway, so he just went straight into my mind to find out what happened for himself. He pulled away from my lips and laid his forehead to mine, watching the scenes play out. I hated to watch them all over again, but it was better than trying to explain it. I kept myself in check so there were no energy ribbons. When he finished, he leaned back and finally opened his eyes. He was wrecked. His shaggy, wet hair was flat, wrapping around his ears even when wet.

              “You were gone for almost half an hour,” he rasped. “I couldn’t reach you no matter what I did. Your eyes were closed. It was like you were asleep. I couldn’t see what you were seeing, your vision. You never said a word, never moved, barely breathed.”

              “Why am I wet?”

              “You touched the water—the fountain took you under.” I squinted in confusion. “It sucked you in. I jumped in after you.”

              I sighed. “The Watsons…they’re not finished with us.”

              “What the hell does all this mean?” he growled and smoothed my hair when I closed my eyes. “Why are you being shown visions about the Watsons? Why them, when they’re human and can’t hurt us, for one, and for two, why can’t I see them?”

              “You saw why. I’m their family.”

              “I’m your significant and we share an ability. There’s no reason why I shouldn’t be able to see the visions with you.”

              “Let’s just go back to the palace and get on our way back to the states. It’s obvious that we’re supposed to go to the Watson’s compound and do something about this.”

              “If it even belongs to them anymore.” He shrugged. “It was in foreclosure and the last I heard, some wine maker had his eye on it.”

              “We have to try. I get visions for a reason.”

              He nodded, leaning forward and kissing my forehead, lingering there to fill me with his touch. “I know, baby.”

              We made a swift walk to the palace, a silent Lynne and Kyle following behind. When we got there, I informed the council of the strange visions and said I needed to handle them. I kept my mind wide open, listening and digging for anything and everything in their minds. I could hear them. Which meant none of the council members had taken the poultice that Marla and the rest of the Watsons had taken with my blood in it to keep me from hearing their thoughts. So, we didn’t know if someone on the council was just really good at hiding it or if we were back to square one with them. Maybe they weren’t involved at all and were just really bad at being rulers of our people.

Either way, we were going to the Visionary’s library to do some research, and then my family was leaving.

              To say they were happy about any of it was a flat-out lie. They said wasting any time on the Watsons was just that, a waste, and my time was better spent elsewhere. When I informed them of the experiments they were performing on humans to give them powers, in turn to try to give themselves powers again, they said humans weren’t our concern.

              For someone who used to be a human and was tortured by that same family, I was insulted greatly by their lack of compassion. I mean, they had not even an ounce of it. But to not give any concern to the fact that the Watson family was playing a game of trying to get their powers back and the council didn’t care? Something had to give.

              Caleb followed with silent, stoic steps as we ascended the Visionary’s steps to her library. Ashlyn was kept the princess in the tower and the captive, all in one, in this library. I wrapped my arms around myself as I let my eyes search her scrawling on the walls. When I looked back at Caleb, he was watching me carefully. “You okay, baby?”

              I nodded. “This could have been me…so easily.”

              He gulped painfully. “I would have never let them do this to you.”

                            “I know that. But there was no one there to save her. And now, there’s no one there to save those people from the Watsons. No one but us. That has to be a reason I got the vision. Maybe…maybe they’re going to expose us to a ton of humans or something.” I ran my finger along the words on the bricks. “I don’t know the whys; I just know that we have to do this.”

He engulfed me from behind, his arms around me, his face next to mine on my shoulder. “I’m always with you, whatever you choose to do.” He leaned in. “You’re the boss, remember?” he said into my ear.

              I started to relax, lean into him, when he stiffened.

“What in holy hell is that?” he whispered and let me go gently to move forward, his eyes glued to something on the wall. I saw in his mind the word “Ava” was what he was fixated on. But how was that possible?

“Caleb?” I asked, my voice quivered in the air between us.

He looked back at me and held out his hand. “Come here.” I took it and he pulled me in front of him. “Baby…look.”

There, in the midst of all that gibberish was an infinity symbol made of names. Maggie, Caleb, Kyle, Lynne, Bish, Jen, Haddock, Heather. And then in the middle of all those names was Ava's, her name practically touching another name I’d never heard and didn’t know anyone by that name—Seth.

Who’s Seth?

I looked up at Caleb over my shoulder.
I don’t know. But why are our names on this wall, Caleb? Ashlyn didn’t know us. Why is our daughter’s name in the middle of these names like that?

He pulled my wrist up, running his thumb over my infinity mark on my tattoo. “I knew it had to mean something.”

“Maggie,” we heard behind us and we both turned to find Ashlyn. I gasped, unable to stop it. “Maggie,” she said again and shook her head in a way that showed her distress. “Oh, Maggie. I’m trying to warn you, but you’re not listening.”

“I’m listening,” I promised her. Now that I knew Ava had something to do with this, there wasn’t a Virtuoso member or rule or law that was going to stand in my way of getting to that Watson compound if that was what I was supposed to do. “Please, Ashlyn.”

I went and stood right in front of her ethereal form. She still scratched and rubbed at her arms, just like she had in the visions I used to have of her, back when I first came to stay here as the Visionary before Caleb and I were even married. She looked up at me and then at the wall. She walked to it and pressed her ridged fingers to the middle where Ava's name was and said, "Danger. Danger, Visionary."

Caleb was freaking out, but afraid to speak—afraid to scare her away, so he let me do all the talking.

"What danger? With my daughter? With Ava?"

"You can't see it," she murmured and shook her head harder. She took her nails and slammed them to the wall, digging them deep, and scraped them across the names, Ava's name was almost completely gone. Caleb pulled me back as I gasped. Ashlyn swung around to look at us once more. "Visionary, you know what you saw, you know what has to be done. There's danger. Go, now!"

She disappeared into a wisp of smoke, but the scratch over our daughter's name remained.

"Oh, God. Ava, no," Caleb growled behind me as he took my hand and tugged me to follow him.

We ran. We didn't stop again until we were standing in the doorway of Gran's room, looking at our son and daughter as they played Scrabble with her on the floor. Caleb scooped Ava up and kissed her forehead, murmuring that it was all right. But Ava hadn't known anything was wrong in the first place.

"Daddy, you're squeezing me," she complained.

"I'm sorry, baby girl." He sighed and looked at me over her shoulder, taking my hand and pulling me to him. "Come on, guys. Get your things together. Gran, you, too. Let's get everyone packed up. We're going home."

"I thought-"

"Gran," he begged in a whisper and she knew right then that something was really wrong. "Please."

"All right. Come on, Rodney."

"No, please," I said and picked him up. I hugged him to me and tried my best not to cry. "I just need him with me, okay?"

Her mouth fell open. "Oh, my... Lord, what happened today? Somebody better start talking."

"We will, Gran," Caleb told her and put his arm around my shoulder, kissing my temple, "but first, I want to get on that plane and get my family away from here. We have important things to do."

Two hours later, everyone was on a plane and headed home. As soon as we got to Peter’s house, we sat everyone down, the whole Jacobson clan, for an emergency meeting. Caleb took the cog wheel from his pocket, placed it on the table to let them know this was official. He told them everything that was going on—the visions, Ashlyn, what we'd seen and heard and suspected about Ava being in danger and somehow, someway, that it was connected to something the Watsons were doing. They were still conducting experiments on humans and we were told, in no exact words, to do something about that. And that the council wasn’t doing anything about any of it.

It was customary for the men to do most of the missions and work in the clan, but when it came to war, all bets were off, Caleb had explained to me once. Their family hadn’t had the women fight in a battle in a very long time. Everyone was needed—all hands on deck. They were on board and out the door toward the Watson compound before Caleb could even work up a good angry sweat from his rally-the-troops speech. Gran and a few others stayed with the children, but the majority were going, with the intention of battle.

I changed into some jeans and boots upstairs before we left. Caleb came in and leaned in the doorframe. I couldn't read his mind. He was blocking me, so I assumed he was about to ask me to stay home or stay in the car even. I opened my mouth to argue, but he crossed his arms and sighed before saying firmly, "Stay with me, right by my side. You got me?"

I smiled. "You're not forbidding me to go?"

"Would it work?"

"No," I answered sadly.

He pushed away from the doorframe and came to me, kneeling down and putting my foot on his thigh to finish tying my boot. "Remember the vision you had of us fighting side by side together?" I nodded. He gulped and pulled my laces tight before kneeling up and pushing my knees apart. "So, no, I won't forbid you to go. But please, Maggie, let me protect you. Stay with me, stay connected to me, and listen to me. If I ask you to run or move, don't think. Just do it. I'm keeping you safe, not ordering you around."

I pushed my fingers through his hair, one hand and then the other, as I rubbed his head and tugged gently on his hair. He closed his eyes and leaned in, letting his arms circle my waist as he pressed his cheek to my chest.

"I know you need to keep me safe," I told him, my lips in his hair. "I want you to. We're a team. I can't do this at all if you can't be right there with me. You’re the key, remember?"

He sighed and lifted his head. His hands gripped my legs and he tugged me to the edge of the bed to be flush against him. His blue eyes were so heavy and weighed down with everything that was on his mind. I rubbed my thumb over where his dimple should be. It seemed like forever since I’d seen it and it may be an eternity before I would see it again, if this kept up.