Hyacinth (12 page)

“Then the only
logical conclusion is that someone else is doing these killings and trying to
make Selene – and maybe us - think she did it,” Alex said.

“Why do you say
that?” Lila asked. “It could all just be a horrible coincidence. Or maybe
Selene’s power is growing into some kind of precognition thing.”

“You’re right,”
Griffin agreed. “Except for the feeling of how she got pulled into that
nightmare. If I had to put money on it, I’d say someone else is manipulating
this situation.”

“So what do we
do about it?” Lila asked.

Ellie snapped
her fingers and stared at Griffin. “I’ve got it!”

Everyone grew
silent, and Selene could see a very subtle glow coming from the twins, although
it was brighter in Griffin. She realized that they were talking to each other
using Griffin’s telepathic power.

After a few
minutes of hushed nods, Alex nudged Ellie with his elbow. “Out loud, baby. The
rest of us would like in on your brilliant idea.”

Ellie gave a
satisfied grin. “We do what we did when we defeated the Vyusher.” She glanced
at Selene. “Sorry, but you know what I mean.”

Selene waved
away both the comment and the apology.

“So you turn
into a great, hulking dragon?” Nate asked, confused.

“No, silly.”
Ellie rolled her eyes. “We combine our powers. At least… the ones that would be
relevant.”

Selene frowned.
She’d seen their wagon-wheel formation in battle, of course. And she’d seen
their coordinated use of their powers and Ellie’s ability to control powers of
any being physically connected to her. But she didn’t quite see how that could
work in this situation.

“I think you’d
better explain, honey,” Charlotte prodded. Nods around the room echoed that
sentiment.

Ellie leaned
forward. “The first thing we need to figure out is who is doing the actual
killing, agreed?”

Nods all around
again.

“Right… so this
is the second death related to her nightmares that we know of for sure. My
guess is the killings have to be occurring in the physical world somewhere.
Lucy, we use your precognition to try to tell when the next attack is coming.
Maybe you weren’t aware of what feeling to look out for. Look out for it now.”

Lucy nodded.

“Also we use
Griffin’s mind reading during Selene’s next dream to see if he can figure out
where it’s happening. Selene, you look for landmarks and clues about where you
are. Griffin and I can tap in and watch and then use Charlotte’s teleportation
to take us there.”

“What about
Selene’s powers?” Griffin asked.

Ellie shook her
head. “I thought of that too, but if someone else
is
doing all of this,
using her power will alert them that she’s aware that something might be
coming. She needs to act as if nothing is different. It’s the only way…”

“That could
work,” Lila mused.

“Yes,” Selene
allowed hesitantly. “But you’re assuming that it’s not me who is doing the
killing.”

Adelaide moved
to stand in front of Selene. “Why are you so determined to blame yourself?”

Selene’s lips
compressed, and she didn’t speak for a moment. “I’ve only shown you a little of
what Gideon was capable of. What if I’m wrong about how much he controlled me?
What if he left behind something evil? And now
I’m
killing those people?
It’s just so like something Gideon would’ve had me do. And these nightmares…
they’re all from my point of view.”

Eleven sets of
eyes trained on her face, and an eerie hush fell over the group. Selene rose
gracefully from where she was seated. Even in the midst of her despair, she was
elegant and poised.

“I appreciate
your support, especially given our history.” Selene glanced briefly at Griffin,
whose expression remained closed. “But what if it is me? I know you don’t think
it is. But shouldn’t we have a plan just in case?”

“I could use
Griffin’s telepathy to force you to use your power on yourself and permanently
extinguish your own abilities… all of them. You said that that was possible,”
Ellie suggested.

Selene was
already shaking her head. “Maybe. But only Gideon has ever been able to control
me, and he was the strongest tele-manipulator I’ve ever encountered.” She
glanced around. “If it is me, you have to promise to kill me.”

“No!” Griffin
protested.

Selene
recognized the stubborn look in his eyes from all the times she had visited him
in his dreams, trying to convince him to go find the Jenners and Pierces.

“You of all
people know exactly what I am capable of
,” she thought, knowing he could hear
every word. “
Promise me, Griffin. Please
…
This time
I
have the
choice. And I choose to never knowingly harm another living being again without
cause. Promise.”

Griffin closed
his eyes. “It’s not you,” he answered aloud. “Regardless of your role in
previous attacks or how evil your brother was, none of this is your fault.”

“Then you have
nothing to lose by making this promise,” Selene whispered.

Griffin opened
his eyes and stared at her with an intensity that took her breath away.

“I promise,” he
slowly murmured.

“I feel a little
funny lying on the couch with all of you watching me,” Selene commented later
that night.

“What? You don’t
usually sleep with twelve people staring at you? It’s so much fun! Not awkward
at all,” Nate joked.

Selene chuckled.
At that moment, Lucy entered the room with a tray of steaming white mugs.
“Everything’s always better with hot chocolate,” she said, as she offered the
tray around. Once everyone had taken some, Lucy retreated to the corner where
Hugh was snuggled in a sleeping bag waiting for her.

“How did the two
of you find each other?” Selene asked. It was something she’d been wondering
for a while.

Lucy glanced
back at Hugh, and they exchanged fond smiles.

“It truly was
fate,” Hugh answered, giving Lucy a squeeze. “We knew each other as children in
England. This is… what now… almost six hundred and fifty some-odd years ago? I
was born in 1347 and Lucy is only two years younger. We just barely missed the
Black Death, which happened only about two years before I was born.”

Lucy nodded with
a grimace.

“Let’s see…. Who
was King then?” Hugh rubbed his chin, lost in thought.

“Edward III, I
think.” Lucy answered. “But I remember Richard II better.” She turned back to
Selene. “We grew up in the same small village close to York. Hugh’s father was
the local butcher. My family moved there when I was only five… too young to
remember much. We were bakers.”

Lucy took a sip
of her hot chocolate. “We didn’t have anything as wonderful as this for
decades. Back then, chocolate was an expensive luxury only for the rich. A
treat discovered in the Americas.”

Lila and Adelaide
exchanged smiles. Their mother’s family’s baker’s roots shone through these
many years later.

“I don’t
remember meeting Lucy,” Hugh continued. “She was just always there, a part of
the village. One of the children we all played with on occasions.” He scratched
at the stubble on his chin again. “Actually, it was a bit of an accident that
we discovered we both had powers. I was about twelve when my abilities first
manifested. My father sometimes acted as a doctor for the village, and one day
someone brought him a baby. It was blue… unable to breath. My father asked for
my help to hold it, and as soon as I touched it, I felt this warmth pass from
my hands, and the baby started breathing.”

“Who did you
inherit from? Your father?” Selene leaned her cheek on her hand.

Hugh nodded. “I
believe so. Though his ability was very subtle. In fact, I don’t think he ever
realized that he was ‘gifted.’ I was old enough to know what they would do to a
suspected witch back then, so I kept my secret to myself.”

“So how’d you
discover each other?” Selene asked.

“Well, first of
all, I knew long before I came into my abilities that it was possible,” Lucy
answered, her green eyes clouded. “My mother was burned at the stake for
witchcraft. It’s why we moved to Hugh’s village – to get away from that. She
claimed she could see people’s souls. According to my father, it was very black
and white for her. From his descriptions, I think that she saw evil or good,
but nothing more.”

“I’m sorry,”
Selene murmured. Having lost her own mother fairly young, she felt a small
connection with Lucy.

Lucy smiled, the
corners around her eyes crinkling. “It was a very long time ago, sweetie. And
my father was kind and supportive. Although I do think that he was relieved that
my ability was a subtler version of hers. Less apt to get me into trouble.”

“How did you
find out about each other then, if you were both hiding your gifts from those
around you?”

Hugh gave Lucy’s
shoulders a quick squeeze. “I fell in love with Lucy when we were only twelve
years old. I felt drawn to her warmth. She took care of everyone around her. I
know now, of course, that it was the
te’sorthene
bond growing between
us. But we were too isolated to be aware of such things back then.”

“He basically
stalked me. Everywhere I went, there was Hugh,” Lucy laughed.

“One day, when I
was about eighteen and she was around sixteen, I was making sure she got home
safely. It was mid-winter and storming. She slipped on some ice and cut her
hands up pretty badly on some rocks,” Hugh said.

“He ran right up
to me. The only reason I wasn’t frightened was that I could see that his
intentions were helpful.”

“Without even
thinking about it, I healed her hands. Where anyone could see us.”

“And that’s when
I saw into the heart of who he was. Someone so kind and honest and true. And
who loved me entirely. How could a girl resist that? I leaned over and kissed
him right there in the street!”

Hugh smiled. “We
were married a year later.”

“That’s lovely,”
Selene sighed. “What a beautiful story. And you’re so clearly still in love.”

The wistfulness
in Selene’s voice caused Griffin to give her a curious glance. But she ignored
him and snuggled deeper into her blankets. “Time to sleep, I think. Usually I
have no problem crashing right out.”

“No kidding,”
Ramsey muttered. Catching a couple of looks he said, “What? She goes out like a
light. I’m jealous.”

“Well, I’m
afraid tonight I’m just too strung up,” Selene admitted ruefully.

“Want me to help
speed things up?” Ellie offered.

“Really? How?”

“I can’t. But
Lila will be able to eventually, by making you relax to the point of sleep.”
Lila waggled her eyebrows at Selene over Ellie’s shoulder.

“You ever get
tired of finding out what you can’t do yet?” Selene wondered aloud.

“All the time,”
Lila responded, followed by a round of “Yeah!” and “Seriously!” from Adelaide,
Nate, and Ramsey. Alex wisely kept his own council.

“Hey!” Ellie
protested with a good natured grin.

“We love you,
Elle!” Lila teased, reaching over and squeezing Ellie’s shoulder affectionately.

“Yeah, yeah,”
Ellie grumbled. She turned back to Selene. “So, you interested?”

“Yes. The sooner
I fall asleep, hopefully, the sooner we get this over with.”

Ellie knelt down
and Selene held out her hand. Ellie, using the full potential of Lila’s power,
created a sense of such peace and serenity in Selene that she quickly fell
asleep.

The nightmare
started almost immediately. Selene knew she was already a wolf since she could
see her pale front legs and paws as she trotted through a darkened forest. She
tried her best to look around and notice any landmarks. Although she tried to
follow Ellie’s advice and act the same as always, she really didn’t have to
pretend… she was truly bewildered and terrified.

Just as Selene
was about give up on seeing any recognizable landmark, she spotted a sign for a
motorhome park. She looked directly at it, knowing Griffin and Ellie could see
it too. Selene continued on, winding her way through several homes until she
reached one on the far outskirts of the community. There were two Chinese lion
statues on either side of the front entrance. Selene briefly paused, giving
Ellie and Griffin a chance to memorize their distinctive features.

As Selene
trotted around the back side of the home, she saw an old man sitting in a lawn
chair smoking a pipe. A growl ripped from her throat, one that she couldn’t
control. She saw the terror in the man’s eyes as he dropped his pipe and
scrambled away from her. Just as she was about to lunge for him, her body was suddenly
completely frozen still. And then everything went dark.

“Selene, can you
hear me?”
Griffin’s voice sounded as if it were coming from far away. All she could see
was blackness.