See How She Falls (25 page)

“Molly,
someone wishes to speak to you.” Ian held his phone out to me as he stood in
the doorway. He’d started respecting the whole “my space” rule after the hair
dye incident. I think the ten deadbolts I’d installed also had something to do
with it.

“Who?”
I questioned, unsure of who might be calling me.

“Just
take it, please.” Ian tossed the phone towards me. Not waiting to see if I
would catch it.

“Hello?”
I was hesitant.

“Oh
good, Molly, thank goodness.” Eleanor’s voice came from the receiver.

“We’re
coming your way. Ian has some reservations that he won’t be allowed back. So,
tell the Order that they can shove it if they think we are staying away at a
time like this.” I plowed ahead, still channeling Izzy.

“Molly,
I presume?” an entirely new voice said.

“Yes,
and you are?” I asked, probably more abruptly than was necessary. I just didn’t
want to play the whole mask of mystery game that Seers seemed so prone to like
to play.

“I’m
Mona, Izzy’s aunt and the Grand Seer of the Order. Tell our Ian he is welcome
back anytime he would like. There is much that we would like to discuss with
him upon his return. Have no fears, you will both be welcome here. But I fear
you must hurry. Things are moving more quickly than we had hoped.”

“Aunt?
Izzy has an aunt?” Okay, so I probably should have gotten more out of all of
that, but I’d thought Izzy had no family left. I thought about her and how she
must’ve reacted to that news. Then it dawned on me, Ian had known all along.

“Yes,
dear. You are losing sight of what is important. We are going to send the
helicopter to retrieve you. Please be at the airfield as quickly as possible.
See you both soon.” Without so much as a goodbye, she hung up.

“She
has an aunt?” I turned toward Ian, shocked.

“Yes.
Before you start shrieking at me, let me explain, woman.” Ian held up his hands
in placation.

“I
don’t shriek. I’m shrill.” I narrowed my eyes up at him.

“That
is debatable.” Ian ran a hand over his surprisingly tame hair. “When a person
leaves the Order they are not permitted to speak of it, or the people within.
It is part of the oath you take upon separation. Even had I wanted to tell her,
it wouldn’t have done any good. She’d chosen to lead the Council.”

“But
that is like taking a choice away from her, Ian. Don’t you see that? She had a
right to know.” I threw a pair of balled up socks at him. “Go get packed. We
have a chopper to catch.”

“A
chopper?” Ian asked with a raised brow.

“You
know what I mean. We have to be down there within the hour. So hustle, mister. Stop
lollygagging. I want to find Izzy and figure out what really happened back
there. Aberto’s half-assed attempts at explaining it aren’t working for me.”

“Alright,
I’m moving.” Ian paused before moving on. “She’ll be okay, you know? She’s
tougher than she thinks.”

“Yeah,
but right now she thinks she is alone, Ian.” I had to choke down a sob as I
thought of Izzy out there by herself dealing with everything that had happened.

“We’ll
find her," Ian promised.

“Not
if you don’t go pack, we won’t," I admonished.

“I’m
going, stop nagging me, woman.”

I
plopped down on my bed thinking of Izzy, of what she must be going through
right this moment. It was all too much. To feel so alone. I couldn’t imagine
life without Ian, not that I’d admit that to him. Izzy and Kennan, they were
what little girls dreamed about when they were young. Their love was supposed
to end in a happily ever after. Instead it just ended, abruptly.

“Alright,
I’m ready.” Ian pulled my bag from my hands as I headed to the door.

******

We
rode to the airport in relative silence. I knew this wouldn’t be an easy trip
for Ian. After all, he hadn’t been back to the Order in hundreds of years. Ian
was a good man, though, and I knew without a doubt he would do whatever it took
to bring Izzy back. If not for my sake, then for his friend’s. Kennan had taken
him in when he left the Order with no judgments. He’d tolerated him throughout
the years, even with his horrible fashion sense. There was nothing Ian wouldn’t
do for Kennan. Even if that meant interceding on Izzy’s behalf.

“What
are you thinking?” Ian’s voice pulled me from my thoughts.

“I’m
thinking that it isn’t fair. None of this.” I stared out the window, trying to
come to terms with all that had transpired.

“Things
seldom are in our world.” Ian reached out to lace his fingers with mine, giving
me a comfort I hadn’t known I needed.

“I
don’t think any of us understood what was at stake. She walked in there
thinking that she would be the only one to die. She faced it, and now she is
just gone. She was supposed to be freed from this world and now what? Is she
stuck forever? She won’t ever see him again, Ian.”

“I
know, Molly. I know.” Ian pulled me against his body. I let his strength buoy
me. I couldn’t falter. I had to keep channeling the fearless Izzy. She’d stop
at nothing to keep her friends safe.

We
approached the airfield and paid the cab driver. Getting out, I noticed the
same pilot that had flown us from the Council was here now.

“Ian,"
the pilot said.

“Bruce.
Thanks for meeting us here, brother.” Ian embraced him.

“It
is a hard time for us all. We need you now more than ever," Bruce replied.

“Let’s
get going.” Ian nodded toward the helicopter.

I
settled into my seat, strapping on the many harnesses. I wasn’t taking any
chances. Planes were one thing, but helicopters? Well, let’s just say that my
last flight had about sent me into conniptions. I tried to think of anything
else as the helicopter began to take off. I allowed Ian and Bruce’s
conversation from the front take my mind away from where I was. Maybe if I
closed my eyes and did some of the breathing exercises I’d learned from Izzy’s
left behind yoga dvd’s, I could relax.

I
lay my head against the head rest, taking in deep, cleansing breaths and slowly
letting them back out. I could do this, I could relax. Just as I finally found
my focus, I heard it, the sobbing. I knew I needed to go, but I couldn’t find
where it was. That was the worst part about my ever developing abilities, I
couldn’t seem to hone them. My brain was a conduit for other Seers’ thoughts,
emotions, and visions. It was disorienting and sickening simultaneously.

“Who’s
there?” I called out in my mind.

“The
darkness will still come.” The sobbing continued.

I
couldn’t find it. Finally, I gave up and threw myself into the dreaming. At
least then I could get a better grasp on everything.

“Where
are you?”

“It
was supposed to end. Why didn’t it end?” the voice cried out.

“Who
are you?” I asked again, certain that this time, maybe they would answer.
Sometimes, I should really be careful what I wished for though. Out of the fog
a figure emerged and  I suddenly knew exactly what Izzy must’ve felt like
talking to Ren.

Standing
before me was a figure with scorched, blackened skin and blood running from every
orifice. It was the most horrifying sight my eyes had ever beheld and I longed
to look away, to hide my face. Instead, I pressed on.

“Who
are you?”

“I
am you.” I looked more closely at the figure, trying to tell myself that it
couldn’t be true. This scorched and tortured figure couldn’t be me. Then I saw
my eyes, staring back at me.

“But
how?”

“The
darkness is coming.”

The
figure reached out and pushed me from the dreaming.

Gulping
for air, I opened my eyes. It wasn’t over. Even if the demon was gone,
something was still coming. Nothing was ever easy. 

The
End

Epilogue

Izzy

“The
darkness shall fall," the shadows whispered. I longed to ignore them, to drift
in the oblivion of the dreaming. I’d found comfort there for I wasn’t sure how
long. I really didn’t care, to be honest. I wanted the days to pass. I wanted
the days to end. There was nothing to tempt me. Nothing to make me long to
live.

The
thought of Molly and Ian skirted through my mind for a moment before skittering
away from my disregard. They had each other. They could be happy. Then came the
thought of my aunt. She’d lived her whole life without me, she didn’t need me
either. Person after person ran through my mind like some sort of torture. The
memories weren’t enough to mend the gaping chasm left by Kennan.

Kennan,
his memories made every other memory worth the torture. His smile, his laugh,
and the way his hands would brush the hair from my face before he’d kiss me.
Each moment I relived reopened the wound, assuring that I would never be whole
again. Kennan had been so much more to me than even I had known. By the time
I’d figured it out, it had been too late.

“The
darkness shall fall," the shadows whispered again. The whispers came from
I knew not where. I did my best to ignore them but they were persistent
bastards. Why couldn’t I float in the darkness, alone, in peace? Hadn’t I given
enough?

“The
war rages on," the shadows promised.

“Yeah,
the damned war never ends. That’s not news to me!” I shouted back.

“Act
now or all will be lost.”

“I’ve
heard that before," I mumbled, shaking off the whispers and jumping back
on memory lane.

Kennan
walked up behind me at the sink in our farmhouse, kissing my shoulder, pulling
me back against his body. I knew what he wanted, and I could never deny him. I
needed him the way I needed air.

“Weep
not the lost, for more shall fall,"  the shadows whispered.

“I’m
trying to exist in solitary confinement here. Move along," I grumbled,
trying to get my mind back where it had been.

“If
you do not act, all will be lost.”

“The
darkness shall fall.”

“The
war rages on.”

“Act
now or all will be lost.”

“More
shall fall.”

The
whispers kept going and going, repeating the same things over and over again. I
was going mad. That had to be it. Madness would be better than sanity at this
point. At least in madness, I might be able to forget.

“The
darkness will fall.”

“Oh
my GOD! Can you not say anything else?” Stupid whispers. Why couldn’t they
leave me alone?

“The
war rages on.”

“Heard
that one already," I grumbled.

“You
know not what you must do.”

“Well
at least that one is a new one.”

“You
must not linger here, do not make my death mean nothing.” Kennan’s voice broke
through the others.

“Kennan?”
I looked around me, trying to find him. He was there, somehow. Or was it
another cruel trick that pulled at my mind?

“The
darkness will fall.”

“Kennan!”

“Linger
not, for I am with you always.” Kennan’s voice faded as his face flashed before
my eyes. What a cruel, cruel joke for my mind to play on me.

“Kennan,
don’t leave me again. Please stay.” But I knew he was gone, or the phantom of
him was.

“The
war rages on.”

“Oh
for the love of all that is holy, please just stop.”

“We
can never stop.”

“Oh,
so now you are answering me?” I looked around me into the inky darkness and saw
flashes of movement. “Who’s there?”

As
one, figures began emerging from the fog. Each one more disfigured than the
last. Their skin a charred black I’d seen only days, or had it been months,
before. I looked upon them in horror. These ghosts sent to taunt me, to mock
what I’d given.

“The
darkness is coming. The darkness will fall," a female voice promised. I
looked more closely at her. I had a strange feeling that I somehow knew her,
and as she raised her blood caked eyes to mine, I knew exactly who she was.
Molly.

I
swung around to look at everyone standing there. The source of the whispers. Ian
muttered, “The war rages on," while Conall circled around muttering the
same thing over and over again. Sena stepped forward, warning that I knew what
I must do. They circled about me like sharks, waiting to take down their prey,
moving ever closer. I longed to move, to run, but I’d trapped myself here. I
was lost in the dreaming, there was no escape from them.