See How She Runs (7 page)

His eyes became serious and filled with a
sort of rage I had never seen before. It scared me and brought me
peace simultaneously.

“What do you mean he was there? And I
already knew you were still having the dreams. I dream what you
dream, Iz. I have since I became your Guardian. But I did not see
this one which means you are starting to have the visions. Tell me
everything you saw.”

I unloaded everything that had passed
between my mother and I, and the inky shadow that skirted around
the edges of the vision. I told him the warning that was meant to
be passed on, and the overwhelming since of desperation and fear
that I felt coming from my mother. By the time I finished retelling
my vision I felt like an empty husk of what I once was. My optimism
replaced by fear and uncertainty.

“Can we make some coffee or something
Kennan? I need to hear the rest of this, but I am running on like
zero right now. I need something to fuel this insanity."

I started to stand up and move back toward
the living room, not really knowing how we had gotten to my bedroom
in the first place. My legs felt like jelly the minute I put my
weight on them. Kennan steadied me with his strong hands. The hands
I assumed were calloused from opening beer bottles, but now I was
not quite so sure. Hell, if I was being honest, I wasn’t real sure
of anything at this point.

“Come on Red, let’s get you caffeinated.
There is still a long story to tell. You still need the
histories."

He smiled warmly down at me, but somehow it
lacked the electric charge that his smiles normally held.

I found comfort in the fact that I was still
seeing the real Kennan. He had not placed himself back under the
illusion he had been carefully maintaining for so long. He still
had that funny lilt to his accent that I had never noticed before.
But somehow I knew all of the answers were coming. There was more
that was yet to be revealed.

After the coffee was made, Kennan added more
wood to the fire, poking it with the metal stick once more to stoke
the coals. He grabbed a quilt from the end of the sofa and brought
it to me. I instantly recognized the patchwork quilt as one that my
mother had made. He draped it over my bent knees and sat down close
to me, seemingly afraid to let me stray too far. For the millionth
time tonight he steeled himself. I sipped my coffee as he started
in with the cadence of a story teller.

“We have been here for as long as the world
has had people, Izzy. We have been called many things throughout
history. We have been called sorcerers, magicians, shifters,
soldiers. We have populated all corners of the world, living with
people and blending in. We have been mistaken for Druids many times
over as well. Our origins come from the same area, but we are much
older. At least the first ones were. Our purpose is to protect
those that have the ability to predict and shift the fates, to make
sure you do not fall into the hands of those that would abuse the
power. Back then it was so much easier to find the Seers. Now, with
the world being as big as it is, and all of the hype about psychics
it is hard to find a true Seer. But it runs in the female blood
line. The minute your mother found out she was carrying a female
child she put a protection plan in place for you. Are you following
so far?”

“Sort of, as best I can I suppose. But I
don’t understand the whole Guardian and Seer relationship. You say
my dad was a Guardian and that you were friends when you were
children. How is any of that possible?”

“Guardians are very old, unmentionably old
beings. Part of our makeup is engineered so that once we meet our
Seer, the one we were sent here to protect, we start to age at the
same rate as the Seer. So when your father met your mother, he
began to age. We all grow to be about 30 years old, and then we
stay at that age until we meet our Seer. Our purpose is to help you
in any way we can. We are here to physically protect you as well as
guard you from the madness that can become a problem in some
Seers.”

He looked at me as if he did not want to
reveal my parent’s story.

“Your mother and father were unlike any
other match I have ever seen. The love they shared is the sort the
bards used to dream up. I was jealous at first, but once I met her
I understood. Your mother took me in like part of the family. Even
as I watched my best friend age, I knew that she would never make
me part with him. I was there for all of the big moments of your
life when you were young as well. I know you don’t remember, and it
is probably just as well. The older you got, the more I felt a
peculiar pull towards you. So I left when you were about five. I
stayed away after that. I didn’t understand that you were who I was
sent here to protect. You are mine.”

“So how old are you exactly, Kennan? And
what does it mean that I am yours? I don’t really like the idea of
being a thing that someone can own you know." I said the last with
a hint of sarcasm. I could not stand how heavy everything was
starting to feel. There was some kind of subtext that he was trying
to intone, but I was just too overwhelmed to understand.

“I don’t know how old I am. My memories are
so long and full that sometimes I even forget when I was first
born. I can tell you that I was alive for the rise and fall of the
Roman Empire. I was born as a Celt, hence that lingering accent I
can’t quite rid myself of. Some days I have wished that I could die
in some freak accident, but then I would stop myself. I knew I
could not betray my calling.”

He hesitated before continuing on, as if he
were weighing his words carefully.

“I don’t own you, Izzy. I don’t think you
will ever let anyone truly own any part of you. There is a reason
you never let anyone in. All Seers are born with a sense of self
preservation. I was shocked when you agreed to let me move in with
you. I did not even have to influence you that much.”

There were so many things in there that I
was just not ready to face. He had manipulated me. He had
maneuvered me so that he could live with me. He believed I did not
let anyone close to me. I felt like I had let him in, but was
everything we had together a lie that had been engineered to gain
access. How could I trust him now? Were all of our times hanging
out together based on his sense of duty, or did he really see me as
a friend?

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.

**********

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.

“I was just thinking, we are together until
death do us part, for better or worse. Just the other night I was
making fun of Marky, yet here we are. Just as committed. Oh how I
wish I could eat my snarky comments now. Universe one, Izzy zero."
I let out another snicker as I made my way to the bathroom before
Kennan could say anything.

I freshened up quickly and moved myself
toward the kitchen. There I found Kennan placing two plates on the
table that were piled with eggs, bacon, and buttery toast. Sitting
on the table was a present wrapped with a beautiful green bow. I
wrapped my green sweater more tightly around me as I sat down. I
still had not come to grips on how exactly to reconcile the two
Kennans.

In fact, it was getting harder for me to
stay mad at him. In all of the ways that mattered, he had always
been there for me. He saved me from that hellish trunk all of those
years ago. He saved me from my own stupidity back in Chicago even
if his methods sucked. And sitting here, right in front of me,
wrapped in a beautiful green bow, was proof that I was more than an
assignment. Our friendship mattered.

I wiped at my eyes trying to hide the tears
that threatened to fall. I knew myself well enough to know that I
would not yet be able to fully trust him. But I decided to end the
"Kennan-is-a-stupid-head-liar-face" pity party playing out in my
head. No matter how amazing the decorations and cake were. That
ridiculous green bow was proof that part of that friendship was as
real to him as it still was to me.

I looked at Kennan as he sat across from me.
He was dressed in a thermal layered under a buttoned up red flannel
over worn jeans and hiking boots. He looked like a super sexy
version of the Brawny Man. Once again I had to tamp down my
hormones. Still not ready to look too closely at that.