See How She Fights (2 page)

CHAPTER
TWO

We finished up breakfast, and I
headed upstairs to get dressed and make a call. At least there was some good to
come out of the whole situation. I would get to see Molly and Ian. They had
become two of my best friends. In fact, they were the ones that kept me
relatively sane during my time at the lab and the council. It wasn’t an easy
feat. I pulled on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and picked up the phone. I
couldn’t wait to see the rest of my family.

“Hello?” Molly’s voice sounded
sleepy. I looked at the clock again and knew that it was late enough in the
morning that she should be awake.

“Hey, Molly. It’s Izzy. Did I wake
you up?”

“What? No. Well, okay. Yeah, you
woke me up. But it is cool. What’s going on? Are there some wedding plans we
have forgotten? I thought my dress appointment wasn’t until next week,” she
mumbled sleepily.

“The wedding is postponed
indefinitely,” I said.

“WHAT? What did that low-down,
good-for-nothing bastard do to you, Izzy? I will come down there and beat the
crap out of him myself. There is nowhere he can hide!” Molly was fully awake
now.

“No, it is nothing like that. We
are fine. Kennan is still as perfect as ever” I paused for a moment trying to
collect myself. “Something bad is coming. I keep having nightmares, so I
finally called Isadora this morning, and she requested that we come to the
Council. By requested, I mean demanded. So, I was wondering if we could come
and crash with you guys in Chicago for a day before we head up there. We’re
going to leave here today, from the looks of Kennan shoving everything into
bags right now,” I sighed in Kennan’s direction.

Kennan was in the middle of
imitating a tornado swirling through our bedroom. He shoved everything he could
find that we might need into two suitcases. I was surprised he hadn’t packed
scuba gear. After the way he had prepared for our last unexpected jaunt, it
wouldn’t shock me. The last time we had made a trip like this, I had been
kidnapped and forced to wear hiking clothes that I had not purchased for
myself. I shook my head at him and tuned back into what Molly was saying.

“That’s fine. Just, you know,
expect some changes to the house,” she said hesitantly.

“Molly, it is your house. You know
you can do whatever you want to it,” I said, confused. Why was she concerned
that I would be upset?

“Yeah, well. When you get here you
will understand why I made the changes. If Ian was not my Guardian I would have
killed him already. Just so you know. Well, enough of that. Will we see you
guys tonight or in the morning?”

“Probably in the morning. It is too
long of a drive to get there by tonight. Even if we drive all night, we will
just get there in the morning. Plus, she said we had until the end of the week
to get there. So, I’m voting for taking all of the time we can. I’m not ready
to be thrown back in the fray just yet. I was getting comfortable in my
domestic bliss. Bah, okay enough whining. We will see you guys tomorrow morning
sometime. Love you, babe.”

“Love you too, girl. Call me when
you are close so that I can wake up his crankiness,” Molly said before hanging
up.

I got up and headed over to peer
into my suitcase while Kennan kept shoving in more stuff. There was all manner
of clothing, from workout clothes to hiking apparel. I wasn’t sure where we
would be hiking in Illinois around the Council. Considering that it was
surrounded by nothing but cornfields and pastures.  They seemed like terrible
choices for a hiking expedition. I looked up at Kennan with a raised brow.

“What? I like to be prepared. I
don’t know how long we will be gone. I am not even sure where we will be going.
Don’t judge me, woman!” Kennan threw a balled up pair of socks at me before he
went back to shoving more in the bags. I laughed and headed into the bathroom
to finish getting myself ready.

When I was finally put together, I
took my bag of toiletries and put them in my suitcase. I briefly looked through
what was packed to make sure my favorite sweater was there. I had a feeling I
would need my security blanket in the days to come. I double checked everything
once more and zipped up the infernal bag. I so did not want to be doing this.
Ugh. I was headed toward the stairs with my bag in tow when Kennan intercepted.
My knight in shining armor.

“Allow me, my dear,” he said with a
gallant bow. I wanted to fight, women’s independence and all that. But
honestly, the thing was too heavy for me to carry. I’d always thought I packed
too much crap when I went somewhere. It paled in comparison to what Kennan
could shove into a suitcase. Sheesh.

I followed him down to the car,
staring back at my sad, dead garden. Kennan was right; I really couldn’t grow
anything to save my life. I sighed as I hauled myself into Kennan’s old,
beat-up SUV. The muggy heat inside felt like I had stepped straight into a
sauna. Luckily it was cooler in Illinois this time of year. I sat with the door
open, waiting for Kennan to load his suitcase so that we could leave.

As I waited, I pondered everything
that I was leaving behind, the sense of security that had surrounded me the
past months, the plans for my future, all to be left right alongside the dead
garden. The symbolism was a bit much for me. I really needed to start looking
ahead and not back. There was a reason Isadora had called me in.

“Ready?” Kennan asked as he reached
over and grabbed my hand. I looked back at the old farmhouse once more before
closing my door.

“Ready as I’ll ever be. Where are
we stopping tonight?” I asked as I looked up into his eyes.

“How about Nashville? I hear they
have an accurate replica of the Parthenon. I would like to see it. I wonder if
their statue of Athena is a close facsimile.”

I just nodded in agreement.
Sometimes I forgot how old he was. He had told me he had seen the Roman Empire
rise and fall but that he was older than even that. I couldn’t imagine living
for that long. It seemed like it would get boring after a while. I was dreading
having to live to be three hundred. That seemed unnatural.

“Hey, Kennan, why can’t we get a
new car?” I asked, looking around the old beat up SUV.

“Because this girl is reliable and
she has character. Don’t you hurt her feelings, Red. I may just have to leave
you on the side of the road,” he said, giving me one of his lopsided smiles.

“It isn’t like you don’t have the
money to get a decent vehicle,” I mumbled. Comfortable seats and a newer stereo
system would be nice.

“I heard that. If we survive
whatever mayhem is coming our way, I will let you pick out our next vehicle.
Not that you will be able to drive it,” he finished, dashing my other hopes.

“I drove up in Washington and was
just fine. When are you going to lift this ridiculous no driving ban?” I
groused.

“When you stop having visions that
could end up getting both of us killed,” he said with a raised brow.

I knew that logically it made sense
for me not to drive. It would be terribly difficult to fill out an insurance
claim for an accident caused by a vision. Cause of accident:  Magically
transported to a different disaster in my head. I was pretty sure even full
coverage didn’t cover that. I sighed and settled into the seat for the long
drive.

At least on this trip I would get
to see the countryside. Our last cross country jaunt I was drugged and bound
for half of the trip. I wondered where this new adventure would be taking us.
If only I could control my visions, maybe then I could conjure up some
information. This whole flying blind thing was for the birds. Not that those
metaphors make much sense together.

“Izzy, what are you thinking
about?” Kennan pulled me from my mindless rambling.

“I was mixing metaphors poorly
again. Flying blind is for the birds,” I giggled. It really was a funny thing
to envision. A bunch of blind birds flying into one another.

“You are ridiculous. So, are you
going to tell me what Isadora said other than ‘get your butts up here’?”

“She got on me for not calling
sooner about the nightmares. I know, you don’t have to say I told you so. She
also said you need to block my noggin for tonight. No dreams for me. I am to be
well rested when I arrive. I have a feeling I’m not going to like what she says
in our meeting. This whole thing is making me feel icky,” I said, trying to
shake it off.

“Icky? What are you a
kindergartner? Do I have cooties?” Kennan snickered.

“You do, in fact, have cooties. I
just happen to like your particular type of cootie! Icky is just the best word
I could come up with. You want to paper rock scissors to see who has radio
control?” I challenged. Being a Seer had some advantages. I had figured out how
to predict what his moves would be and I won almost every time. I couldn’t let
him know the truth or the jig would be up.

“Fine. With one stipulation, if you
win, none of your depressing slow music. It is a long drive and you woke me up
early.”

“Eleven, Kennan. I woke you up at
eleven. In no world is that early. How did you survive your early years when
you had to be up with the sun?”

“I didn’t have you keeping me up
all night,” he said with a sly smile.

“Don’t act like you don’t like it.
Now stop stalling. Paper, rock, scissors time!”

“Best out of three?” he asked with
a sparkle in his eye.

“Fine,” I grumbled. It looked like
he might have caught on after all. I could only do one prediction at a time.
There was no way I would be able to tell what he was going to get on all three.

“Alright on three. One, two,
three.” I got paper and he got rock. “I win the first round.” Just like I knew
I would.

“Ready?” he asked. “One, two,
three.” He got rock and I put out scissors. “I win,” he preened.

“Alright, last time determines the
winner,” I said, trying to work up my Seer mojo. It seemed to be on hiatus
though and refused to give me anything other than a vague fog. “One, two,
three.” I landed paper and Kennan had stupid scissors.

“I knew you were a cheater! See,
you only ever win when we go one round. You are such a cheater face,” Kennan
said as he poked me in the ribs.

I looked at him and stuck out my
tongue. I refused to verbally acknowledge his accusations. Suddenly, the sound
of oldies filled the car. It was going to be a long ride.

“Really, babe? Can’t you at least
switch it to country? That I can handle, this is just plain mean,” I griped.

“Suck it up, Buttercup. You lost. I
will torture you in any way I please,” he laughed.

I thought up some seriously
delicious ways in which he could torture me. They did not seem feasible in our
current mobile circumstances. Well, maybe feasible, but highly illegal. I
sighed and rubbed my hand down my face. That was the second time today I had
let my libido override my brain. I needed to get a handle on it or I would be
in the middle of some sort of serious situation with my mind on what Kennan
kept under his clothes.

“How far are we from Nashville?” I
asked with a heated look.

“Entirely too far, but we need to
make it there. So stop distracting me with your wily ways. I shall not succumb
to your seduction.”

“That sounded like a challenge to
me. It is ever so far, I think that I have the time to make you change your
mind.”

“Seriously, Izzy. I will pull this
car over on the side of this road and have my wicked way with you. Then Isadora
will be all mad that we missed our deadline. Molly will send out the National
Guard in search of you. Ian will get all upset that his Seer is upset. It will
be a disaster. So stop distracting me. If you had won radio rights would you be
doing this?” Kennan asked suspiciously.

“Maybe,” I said with a snicker.

“Woman, you drive me insane.”

“The feeling is mutual, K.O.” I
leaned over and kissed his scruffy cheek. I couldn’t wait until we got to
Nashville. The Parthenon be durned, I wanted to get me a piece of that man.

The next few hours passed with very
little excitement. The country roads passed by and we made it to the
interstate. Montgomery and Huntsville were both rather hectic. I was glad that
Kennan was driving and not me. I hated driving in cities. I never drove when I
lived in Chicago. I always used transit or my bike to get around. I supposed I
had never really had to do much driving. According to Kennan, I would not be
doing much of it now either. Stupid Guardian with his stupid Guardian rules. Oh
well, it saved me from having to drive through city traffic.

We crossed the Tennessee border and
I was taken aback at its beauty. It had been dark the last time we drove
through, and I had not gotten to see anything but the inky outline of trees.
The rolling hills and farms were so picturesque; I was wondering why I had not
chosen to move here instead. We made our way up I-65 with my constant narration
of things that piqued my interest outside of the windows.

The trees were beginning to change
colors into brilliant reds and oranges. Down where we lived the leaves just
said “I quit,” and fell off of the trees. It was so hot, they never really
changed colors. I sat silently in awe of it all as the sun began to set. We
arrived in Nashville early in the evening and Kennan drove us straight
downtown. I was surprised by how small it was compared to other cities I had
seen. Seattle and Chicago made Nashville seem downright homey. I looked up at
the tall buildings and wondered where Kennan was taking me.

We pulled up outside some swanky
hotel and got out. I didn’t bother looking at the name. I had more important
things on my mind, like climbing my future husband. We made our way into the
lobby and he got our keys from the front desk. I wondered when he’d had time to
book the room. I thought back to the morning and realized he’d probably done it
as soon as I called Isadora. The sneak. I just rolled my eyes and followed him
to the elevator.