Intuition: The Premonition Series (20 page)

“I’m so sorry, Zee!” Evie whispers sadly.

“Evie, that was a compliment. I am proud of you. You found a weakness and you used it. Strategically, that is solid,” Zephyr smiles, usin’ the slang I have been teachin’ him so that he can fit in better with the crowd he’s supposed to be part of in the human world. “I’ll try not to feel too bad about being skooled by a teenager,” he says, quirkin’ his brow in question to see if he had said it right. I nod and give him a fist, which he knocks back a little harder than I would’ve liked, due to the knuckle he had cracked earlier. “Now that I have been duly warned, I’ll try to keep it on the up.”

“Zee, how much time
are
you spending with Russell because you’re starting to sound like him?” Evie asks as she straightens up, wipin’ her tears with the back of her hand.

“Too much, it is whack,” Zephyr replies, and we all laugh over it. “Do you want to try something new, Evie? I think you are getting the hang of the javelin. I want to try another equalizer. I am going to show you what I want you to do.” Zephyr says as he pulls us both to the center of the room. “Do not get in my way because I am going to run.”

Zephyr walks to the edge of the room where the floor meets the wall. He places his hand on the plaster wall above the wooden wainscot and begins to run swiftly ‘round the perimeter of the room, pickin’ up more speed with each pass. When he is almost a blur to my eyes, he steps up onto the wall and begins to defy gravity as he runs up the wall to the center, still completin’ circuits, but instead of runnin’ on the floor, he is runnin’ on the wall. He springs from the wall and ends above our heads flappin’ his wings and lowerin’ himself to the ground. It is a “holy shit” moment for me and I know that my mouth is hangin’ wide open when Zephyr lands.

“Evie, you are faster than me so this should be no problem for you. I will be in the center and when you get going, I want you to spring at me, like you are going to attack me and I will catch you,” Zephyr orders.

Evie gives me the sexiest wink as she gets into position by the wall. When Zephyr nods, she shoots off faster than I can track her. She is just a blur to me, much faster than Zephyr had been as she runs up the wall and ‘round it several times with no effort. My heart is in my throat as I watch her do what I have never dreamt was possible. But, ‘cuz Evie is an overachiever, she does more than Zephyr asked her to do. She must be gettin’ bored with just runnin’ in the center of the wall ‘cuz she switches her position: runnin’ straight up to the barrel vaulted ceilin’, across it, then down the wall vertically, across the floor, and back up the wall.

When she gets to the center of the wall again, she leaps at Zephyr, coilin’ her legs ‘round his waist. With her hands, she reaches up to place them on either side of Zephyr’s head, showin’ us both that she can snap his neck with just a quick twist, if she wants to. Then, she smiles at him and kisses him on the cheek. I think that Zephyr is as stunned as me ‘cuz his mouth is open just like mine.

“You are very, very dangerous, Evie.” Zephyr breathes as he holds her gently in his arms, descendin’ slowly to the ground.

“I was going to wrap my legs around your waist, and then thrust my hips back so that I pulled you off balance, but then I thought, no, I should just snap your neck, you would die quicker. Is that right?” she asks. He nods his head like he is the proudest papa in the world.

“Let’s see it again, Evie, but this time, come at me from behind,” he says as he places her on the ground again. She runs the wall and ceilin’ several more times. She never stumbles or panics, but is solid the entire time and it is like watchin’ a deadly dance in midair when she spirals off the wall or ceilin’, pouncin’ on Zephyr like he is the prey. She takes my breath away and I’m not sure how many pieces of me are gonna be left when she finally slips away from me.

“It’s your turn, Russell,” Evie smiles when she sits down next to me in the center of the dinin’ room, pickin’ up her water and takin’ a sip.

I grimace. “Yeah, I wish. I hope that part kicks in soon. It’d be nice to run like the wind. It looks like fun and y’all don’t even look like you’re gettin’ a cardio workout from it,” I reply. “I just don’t know what to do with myself. I feel like the last kid picked for dodgeball ‘cuz I suck. I’ve never been that kid in my life.”

“I bet. You were probably the captain,” Evie says, smilin’ at me. “That’s probably why this is all happening. It’s your bad dodgeball karma catching up to you,” Evie teases me and nudges my thigh with her thigh. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you,” she says, and my heart contracts painfully. I want that so much that I am sorry from it. I want her to look after me and I want to look after her. “How is your family adjusting?” Evie asks as she puts her hand on my back like she wants to comfort me.

“I think they’re still in shock. I mean, how would y’all take it if ya had a son who supposedly witnessed a massacre in a convenience store? They think I’m in witness protection now. They think they were moved to a separate ‘safe house’ and given new identities for their protection,” I admit as my shoulders round. “The money helped, though. I heard from my mom that Melanie is super psyched that they’re rich now. The angels laid down some serious cash on them. They think all the cash came from the Seven-Eleven Corporation tryin’ to make amends for what happened. There’s so much cash, my sister’s children’s children will never have to work again.”

“Their new identities mean they are safe from Alfred. That’s what’s most important,” Evie says as her chin lowers and I see her look of guilt again. I want to kick myself for bein’ so honest with her. But it’s hard for me to be anythin’ but honest with her. I feel closer to her than I’ve ever been to anyone else in this life or any other life for that matter. If she is nothin’ else, she is still my best friend. “What are their new names again?”

“Robert and Hannah Buckingham with their two lovely daughters Sasha and Megan,” I remind her, and it is like I am talkin’ ‘bout people I don’t know. “My sisters will always be Scarlett and Melanie to me,” I say, wonderin’ when I’ll see them again. Not anytime soon. Not with the kind of wrath I could bring down on them. I won’t ever go there until I can be sure I can protect them.

“Do you know where they are?” Evie asks.

I shrug. “I specifically didn’t ask. I can’t slip if I don’t know.”
Or be tortured into telling someone like Alfred.
“I know where they are in general and that’s good enough for now. I have their names and will be able to find them, eventually, if it comes to that.” Evie just nods ‘cuz she knows more than anybody how important it is to keep information like that quiet.

She seems to meditate on what I said for a while, not speakin’ until I am ‘bout to get up and call it a day. “Zephyr, do you have any swords?” she asks. She looks at me as if she is gaugin’ my ability.

“I have many. None of which I brought with me from my home. Reed, however, has many more than I do. He is old-school when it comes to things like that,” Zephyr explains.

“Do you think he has something that would be familiar to a person from the twelfth century Highlands?” Evie asks him, but she is still lookin’ at me.

“Let me think, Claymores did not come into play until later, but Highlanders always used a longer broadsword than most. They had the build for it, like Russell does,” Zephyr says, scannin’ me for my attributes.

“I think Russell would be at home with a sword. Is there one he could practice with?” Evie asks Zephyr, and I’m beginnin’ to see where she is goin’ with this.

“I will see, give me a moment,” Zephyr says, leaving us alone.

I turn toward Evie and ask, “What’re ya up to?”

“It’s really nothing, but I was thinking earlier about what you said when we were in the library and you told me about Leander and Aoibhe. You said you were a soldier in the Highlands,” she explains, scannin’ my face. “I just thought that you already had some training, you just need to tap into it—try to remember being Leander and maybe you can borrow his insight and apply it to our training.”

Somethin’ ‘bout what she said hit me like a burst of joy in my heart. “So, ya do believe me,” I smile, tryin’ not to show my elation.

“Of course I believe you. It’s there in your eyes—I can see it. I just don’t know what to do with it,” she replies. She’s havin’ a hard time with the knowledge.

I want to help her ‘cuz there has been too much pain for her in this already. “There is nothin’ to do. It is what it is—or was what it was—whatever. Y’all want to know somethin’ ironic?”

“I don’t know, there has been too much irony in my life lately. Will I be able to handle it?” she asks, tryin’ to sound teasin’, but there is an edge to her words and I can see she’s tryin’ to protect herself from whatever I might say.

“I think so. When y’all were Aoibhe, ya had yer Da make me a weddin’ present that ya gave to me on the night that we said our vows. It was a beautiful sword that yer Da worked on for a while. The hilt was very intricate with interlocking Celtic knots that looked as if they traveled inside each other into infinity.”

“I gave you a sword for a wedding present? How medieval of me,” Evie says with the sexy smile that melts my heart.

“Yeah, ya did. Y’all had yer Da inscribe somethin’ on the blade of the weapon that I’ll never forget… again, I’ll never forget it again,” I reply, tryin’ not to lose myself in her smile.

“What did it say?” she asks, and I can tell she’s really interested.

“Well, it was in Gaelic, but the rough translation is this: May what lies ahead of this warrior or behind him never take from me what is inside of him, for it is mine,” I recite, and I watch the tears collect in her eyes again. She nods as she tries to keep in the emotion she holds just beyond the surface.

“That is the love that you deserve, Russell. I’m scratched on your heart as you are scratched on mine. I will always love you, but we are different now. You’ll always have me to rely on, but there is more to us now. I’m no longer just human and the angel part of me demands something other than what my soul would have and I…” She pauses to wipe a tear away that escapes her eye with the back of her fist. “I’m sorry.”

“Yeah. Me too,” I murmur, lookin’ away from her ‘cuz I don’t want to see her pain that mirrors mine.

Zephyr returns with a couple of wicked lookin’ swords that he props against the wall of the trainin’ room. Under his arm, he has a couple of wooden swords of nearly the same length as the ones he had in reserve. Tossin’ one of the wooden swords to me, he grins evilly and says, “How does that feel in your hand?”

“Feels right at home,
Zee,”
I reply, and I am slightly shocked that it isn’t a lie. The weapon, although wooden and meant to be used for the purposes of practice, is so familiar to me that I am amazed when my hand arcs in intricate movements, wieldin’ it as if I had practiced with it all my life. I close my eyes, focusin’ on my life as Leander, rememberin’ many of the details of that lifetime. I can almost smell the air that he… uh I… breathed then. I open my eyes to see Evie and Zephyr watchin’ me as I weave the sword in complicated patterns, slicin’ the air like it’s my enemy.

I make the wooden blade sing as it beats the air in curving sweeps. I can use both of my hands equally well as I aggressively toss the sword from one hand to the other, testin’ my prowess with the weapon. A confidence that I have been lackin’ since this whole ordeal began, comes to me in an instant, and it isn’t a false confidence. I have earned it… just not in this lifetime.

“Nice,” Zephyr says as he wields the other sword, imitatin’ the patterns I am slicin’ out. When his sword strikes out at me, I am prepared for it. I had anticipated the attack, had known instinctively that it was comin’ and how to counter it. A slow smile creeps over my lips as my sword blocks his. I manage to step back enough so that the force he expels propels him by me as I counterattack and slap him with my sword in the side.

Zephyr looks a little disgruntled when he gains his footin’ and twists to gaze at my face. “You have had training,” he accuses me.

“Many, many, many years of trainin’, Zee. Let’s try the real ones, shall we?” I grin, tossin’ him back the wooden sword. Lookin’ at Evie I see that her eyes are shiny, and if I was a bettin’ man, I would say she is proud of me. “Damn, Evie, you have it all figured out, don’t ya?” I say as a compliment, but I watch as my words have the opposite effect on her again.

“Not quite, but I’m working on it, Russ,” she says with a sad smile, and there is somthin’ in her eyes that raises a red flag in my mind. I have seen that look before. I know that look. Starin’ at her face, I remember the look on Aoibhe’s face when I had told her to go back to her Da, when I was sick and I thought I was dyin’. She had that same look…and when I had woken up in the 7-Eleven, after Alfred had stabbed me in the leg. I saw that look: it’s her determined-to-sacrifice-herself-look.

“What’re ya up to, Red?” I ask in an accusin’ tone, pushin’ away the sword that Zephyr is offerin’ me and approachin’ Evie with menace.

“What?” Evie’s expression turns guilty. Her eyes dart to Zephyr to gauge his reaction to what I had just said. She is up to somethin’— somethin’ she definitely doesn’t want Zephyr to know about. She tries to hide her eyes from me. I am ‘bout to call her out on it when she gazes at me with a pleadin’ look. She shakes her head just a little before she glances again at Zephyr who is also watchin’ her.

She clears her throat and says, “I’m just wondering if there is a weapon that you can remember from our lives together that I would be good with.” It isn’t a lie. She is thinkin’ that, but she is also coverin’ somethin’ up. I know her now. She can’t hide anythin’ from me anymore. She is like an open book to me, since I have known her for so long, longer than she can possibly remember. That’s probably why she could never lie convincingly to me before—I can always see through her deception.