See How She Falls (7 page)

“Actually,
it is Ian that may be able to help.” I lowered myself to the bed, eyeing Ian
steadily.

“Oh,
really? Do tell," Ian crooned.

“I
need to find the Order. They have some information that I need to know. A Seer
named Sena just found me in the dreaming and told me to come find them. So,
find them I will.” Ian’s face was a barely contained mask. Just below the
surface, a million emotions passed, all conflicting. “Kennan told me that you
might be able to help find them.”

“Kennan
should have kept his mouth shut," Ian said, before turning toward the
door.

“Ian,
wait. I don’t know what happened to you, or why you chose to leave there. I
have no idea what reservations you have, but if this can help me put a stop to
what’s coming, I have to try.”

“I’m
not going back there, Izzy. I can’t go back. Once you make the decision to
leave, you are forgotten from the collective. That is their way. So, even if I
wanted to help you, I can’t. I made my choice when I was young, and dumb, and
there is no taking it back. Not even when I wanted to say goodbye to my mother
as she died, not when I questioned my decision to leave, not when my whole
world fell apart, and not now. I’m sorry, but I can’t help you.” Ian never once
turned back to face me as he said it, instead he just quietly left the room
with us all gaping at his back.

“Um,
anyone care to explain?” Molly asked, getting up to move toward the door.

“Apparently,
Ian was raised by the Order. And I need to find them.” 

“Well
that explains why he is so weird. I’m going to go find him. You know who will
have the answers, Izzy.” Molly gave me a look before turning to find her
Guardian.

“She’s
right, you know?” Kennan muttered.

“Shut
it, you," I groused before getting up to leave Molly’s room. It felt weird
to be there without her or Ian. “I guess I better get this over with. I’m going
to go outside to call for him.”

“There’s
two feet of snow out there, woman. Why can’t you do it inside?”

“Because,
I’m still irritated with him. I hope he shows up unprepared and freezes his
eternal buttocks off. It would serve him right.”

“Whatever
you say," Kennan snickered as he moved towards our room to grab my heavy
coat.

Chapter
Eight

I
walked out into the frigid Illinois winter, the snow crunching beneath my
shoes. There was something disarmingly peaceful about the winter. Everything
was at rest, waiting until the cold passed to wake up in the spring. I wished I
could do the same, just cover myself in a blanket and wait out the storm. I
sighed, causing a puff of smoke to form in the air. I’d wasted enough time.
Exhaustion was once more creeping in, and I’d yet to find where the Order was.

“Aberto,
I need your help," I whispered to the air. I stood in the garden hedges
alone, in the same spot he’d confessed his feelings only months before. Kennan
had told me if I wanted to be petulant, I had to do it on my own. He was
waiting inside the warm office, where he could still see me.

“Are
you done?” the wind whispered. I’d found out recently that Aberto could be on
both planes simultaneously. He thought it was hilarious the first time he
talked without actually being on this plane. He’d scared the living daylights
out of me. I almost felt like Alice when the Cheshire cat would pop in and talk
without being there.

“This
isn’t about that. It isn’t even about me so much as information that I was
given. I was told to ask Abe for directions," I snickered remembering
Sena’s nickname for Aberto.

“I
abhor that name. Why she cannot call me by my given name, I will never
understand.” Aberto appeared before me, wearing a dark wool pea coat, buttoned
up so that the collar slightly flipped up, framing is ridiculously gorgeous
face. I guess my plan for freezing really didn’t work out.

“I
need to find the Order. Can you help me? Kennan says they move a lot, but Sena
told me they have information that may help me.”

“Yes,
I know where they are. We can go through the dreaming to get there, or we can
travel with a large party. It is up to you. I prefer the first, so that we may
get there more swiftly. I leave the decision to you, Milady.” Aberto turned and
walked down the hedges. Something had shifted between us. Since I’d spiked his
anger the last time I’d seen him, he’d become cold with me. On the one hand, it
might be nice to have the intensity turned down a bit. On the other hand, I was
getting sick of moody men in my life. Between Kennan and Aberto, I felt like I
was surrounded by a bunch of hormonally imbalanced women. I was getting ready
to hand them both their own carton of ice cream and a box of tampons and tell
them to both suck it up. Even I didn’t get that moody. “Izzy?”

“Right,
sorry. Let me go discuss it with Kennan. If you would like to follow me, you are
more than welcome to. We might be able to leave faster if you don’t poof off
again.” My feet followed the winding path back up to the house and the French
doors of my office. I stepped inside to find an incredibly handsome Guardian
waiting by the fire. Oh wait, it was just Kennan.

“Can
he help?” Kennan asked, not turning from the flames.

“Yes,
he can,” Aberto’s voice rumbled from far too close behind me.

“So,
we have two options. We can all go, posse style. Or, I can go with Aberto on a
soul walk into the dreaming to find them. I wanted to see what you thought
before I made my decision. I’m leaning more towards the soul walk.”

“Wait,
you are actually asking for my input before jumping into something? Is this
April first? Am I on some reality show right now?” Kennan’s face titled up in a
half smile which made me want to smack him all the more.

“You’re
a regular comedian. Now tell me…what do you think?”

“Personally,
I would rather be with you when you go. Practically, I think it would be best
for you to go through the dreaming. Even if I hate the idea of soul walking, it
is the best option.” Kennan turned to look Aberto in the eyes fully. “Just try
not to get her killed again, okay?”

“I
will do whatever it takes to make sure she fulfills what is asked of her,"
Aberto responded coldly.

Kennan
raised a brow in my direction to which I shrugged my shoulder. I didn’t have
time for his man-drama.

“Welp,
let’s get a move on. Shall we?” I settled down into the couch, ready to pull my
two halves apart. “See you soon.”

“Promise
me you will be careful this time. No risks, Izzy. I mean it. You take care of
yourself.”

“Promise,
promise!” I muttered.

“You
better,” were the last words I heard as I pulled myself in two, leaving my
corporeal form to lie on the couch as I walked into the dreaming with Aberto.

“Where
exactly are we going?” I asked Aberto as he reached for my hand.

“Right
now, they are shacked up somewhere in the Okefenokee Swamp. Hold tightly, this
journey will not be a pleasant one for you.”

“Shacked
up? Really Aberto? Did you start reading the urban dictionary online or
something?”

Aberto
stared at me coldly. Right, I’d forgotten, he was still pissy with me. No jokes
today, nope, not gonna happen.

I
entwined my fingers with his, my hand swallowed inside his massive one, almost
disappearing. The dreaming spun past us in a flurry of images, some real, some
imagined. Places, times, they all seemed to merge and divide so quickly I was
left reeling by the time we came to a halt. I fell to my knees, trying to
breathe deeply to chase away the nausea.

“We’re
here. We must leave the dreaming to speak with them. For that, you will need to
make yourself corporeal. Will this be a problem?”

“Can
I have like two seconds here? I feel like my stomach is trying to climb its way
out of my body at the moment.”

“I
thought we agreed that you would not call on me until you were done feeling
sorry for yourself.”  Aberto’s cold voice rang in my ears making me want
to throat punch him. He was really starting to grate on my nerves.

“Listen
here, Old Man. I’m not used to doing some weird time tunnel vortex through the
dreaming. I’m sorry if I’m not as up to speed as you would like me to be, but
trying to have a second to catch my bearings is not feeling sorry for myself.
It’s called self-preservation, you asshat.” I stood, glaring at him. The green
pallor of my skin probably took away from the overall affect, but I was
sticking with it. At least my fingers were getting zappy, that was a bit
intimidating.

“I
have no time for your ridiculous rantings. Calling me illogical names will do
nothing to solve our current predicament, Izzy. Now, can you do what I asked of
you, or not?”

“I’ve
never tried it before, so I. DON’T. KNOW!” I shouted. I was so tired of his
mood swings. I was worn to the bone, nauseous, and unsure of what I was about
to walk into. The least he could’ve done was be supportive.

“My
apologies. We will try it now, and see if you are able to do it. Just imagine
yourself becoming whole as you enter the next realm. It will be a projection of
the real you. If you are unable to do it, I can pass messages between you and
the Order.” Aberto threw his hand out in my direction. I reluctantly grabbed it
and allowed him to pull me through to the other plane, somewhere in the swamps
of Georgia.

I
mentally tried to feel myself forming a whole being as we passed into the next
plane. As the last of the dreaming faded behind me, I could hear a loud “Pop.”

“Well
done, Izzy.” Aberto released my hand, and I opened my eyes to find a whole room
of women gawking at me.

“Umm,
hi?” I stammered.

“Well,
that was fast," Sena said with a smirk. “How’s it cooking, Abe? Learned
any new tricks? Thrown any more wrenches into the Big Man’s plans?”

“It
is always a pleasure, Sena.” Aberto ground each word out through gritted teeth.

“Don’t
mind Old Abe, he is just a grump. I think it is all of the years he’s spent in
the dreaming not getting laid," Sena stage whispered.

“Umm,
okay?” I wondered when I would stop stammering. These women probably thought I
was a poor excuse for a savior if they’d ever seen one. They were right.

“I
guess you want to talk the Grand-Seer, right?” Sena had started speaking slowly
to me, as if I were having trouble catching up.

“Yes,
the Grand-Seer, right. That would be awesome. Knowledge is power and all of
that.” 

“Well,
follow me then.” Sena moved off hollering at everyone to stop gawking as we
went.

I
finally began to take in my surroundings. We were in what amounted to some sort
of old house that had been left to the elements for God only knew how long. The
floor boards creaked and moaned beneath my feet as I went, sending out yells of
anguish. We made our way towards a dilapidated staircase, which Sena began
climbing immediately. She moved fluidly up the stairs with Aberto close behind.
I eyed them warily, taking my time to carefully place my feet the entire way
up. I wasn’t about to let a rickety staircase be my demise. No way, no how.

When
I finally reached the top, Sena was busy yapping at an exasperated Aberto. I
thought it served him right. In all honesty, it seemed like Sena was doing it
to intentionally annoy him. She seemed to like getting a rise out of people.

“Right
this way, if you don’t mind.” Sena led the way down the hall to what must’ve
once been the master bedroom. “She’s been waiting for quite a while.”

I
walked into the room and froze. Sitting before me alive and well was my mother.
My knees threatened to buckle as my stomach churned. I blinked rapidly, doing
my best to erase the image. Surely this was a mistake. This couldn’t be. My
mother was gone. She was dead. What sort of hell had he brought me to?

“Oh,
dear. You didn’t tell her, Aberto?” The painfully familiar voice moved towards
me in a flash, steading me as the world tried to flip upside down and shake me
off.

“Izzy,
I didn’t think. I apologize. This is the Grand-Seer. She also happens to be
your aunt.” Aberto’s voice was muffled inside of my ringing ears.

“I’m
sorry, my what? My aunt?” I paused trying to get the air to return to my lungs.
I was sure my body was going to feel this when I got back. “I don’t have an
aunt. Especially not one that looks just like my mother. What kind of game is
this?” I pulled away from the woman trying to embrace me. I was tired of
surprises, tired of tricks, and more importantly tired of everyone keeping
secrets.

“This
is no game. Your mother chose to leave here when we were young. She saw what
had to be done, and what her life must be to bring you into the world. As far
as she was concerned, she no longer had any family when she left here. It is
our way, Izzy. It is how we have lived for thousands of years, constantly
running from the scrutiny of the Council. If we kept in contact with anyone
that decided to leave and join them, they could be used to find us. We do this
to protect ourselves, and our beliefs.”