See How She Fights (9 page)

CHAPTER TEN

When we arrived back at the Council
building, Isadora and Breanan were waiting for us. The moment Eleanor got out
of the vehicle, Isadora folded her into a tight hug. I was struck by the
similarities in the two women. They could be sisters. Isadora pulled a now
crying Eleanor under her arm and motioned for the rest of us to follow. Just as
we reached the door, Molly came flying out toward Ian.

She ran toward him and leapt,
throwing her arms around his neck. He as almost toppled over from the impact.
Suddenly, she leaned back and slapped the daylights out of him. We all stood
stunned by the drama playing out before our eyes.

“Don’t you ever scare me like that
again! Why didn’t you come back with the others?” She climbed down from him in
a huff.

“It is so good to be missed,” Ian
said, rubbing his cheek. “Would you have wanted me to leave Izzy?”

“That is not the point and you know
it. I am burning that stupid suit,” Molly said before whirling around and
stomping back into the house. She paused next to me adding, “I am glad you are
safe.” She walked in the house, leaving us all gaping at her back in stunned
silence.

“Ian, I think your presence may be
required elsewhere this afternoon. I will have Conall fill you in on what you
miss,” Isadora said before moving the rest of us toward her study. Ian bowed
and left in search of Molly. I wondered when the two of them would get their
act together. It was starting to get ridiculous.

We walked into Isadora’s study and
stood around the group of chairs. Isadora and Eleanor sat on the couch next to
one another and Breanan took the seat across from them. I glanced down at my
arm and winced. A sharp pain had started to pull around my bandage. I had
noticed it back at the theater but not since then.

“Are you well?” Conall asked, his
eyes full of concern.

“Yeah, my arm just hurts a little.
It isn’t important,” I replied, trying to turn my focus back to Eleanor and
Isadora’s conversation.

“I would like to take a look, if it
is all the same.” Conall began moving toward me with purpose, which made me
pull my arm into myself.

“Let him look, Izzy. He is a
certified healer,” Kennan said as I started to decline.

“Fine, but don’t we have more important
things to worry about right now? I mean, her daughter just died,” I whispered
to Kennan.

“Nothing is more important than
your safety,” Kennan said, putting his finger under my chin so that I met his
eyes. “Ever.”

“Fine. But don’t take too long,” I
said as I moved toward a seat on the opposite side of the room.

Conall began to unwrap my bandage
and my arm felt like it was lit on fire. I remembered it starting to hurt a
little at the theater, but since then I had not had time to notice. I looked
down as he unwrapped my injured arm and I gasped as the bandage fell to the
floor. Kennan and Conall looked at each other, having some sort of silent
conversation as my mind tried to make sense of what my eyes were seeing. Where
the stitches had been earlier in the evening, there was now a rune. It felt as
though a raging inferno had combusted just below my skin.  I couldn’t
understand what was happening to me.  I looked at Kennan as the panic started
to take over. I couldn’t breathe.

“Slow down, Izzy. I have you. I
have you,” Kennan murmured against my skin, trying to keep me calm.

“Father, I think you need to come
see this,” Conall said, moving aside so that Breanan could look at my arm.
Breanan approached and muttered an oath under his breath as he took in the
mark.

“Isadora, I believe we have a
serious problem.” Breanan turned his head toward the now staring duo of women.
They got up and made their way over to me. All the while, I sat there being
examined like some sort of medical anomaly. Being prodded was becoming rather
tiresome.  It brought forth memories I had tried so hard to forget.  After what
felt like an eternity, I yanked my aching arm away.

“You said there were books of Druid
ceremonies. I want to see them,” I said to Eleanor. I allowed my fear to morph
into anger. Whatever was doing this to me was somehow linked to the murders. I
needed to solve this.

“We should treat your arm, before
it gets infected,” Kennan said, rubbing his hand down his face. I could tell
from the look on everyone’s faces that whatever was happening, they’d seen it
before.  I just hoped that whatever it was, they were able to stop it.

“Well, slap some salve on it and
let’s get going. We aren’t going to figure anything out sitting around gaping
at my arm.” I stuck out the arm in question, waiting for someone to move.

I forced my eyes to once more look
upon the mark. I tried to keep my breath calm as the despair ripped through my
soul. There was something malicious living in the mark.  I felt it writhing
beneath my skin and I wanted it off. Conall moved toward me, holding a new roll
of bandages and a jar of salve. It smelled similar to the stuff Kennan had used
on my feet last year.

“This may sting a bit,” he said
before rubbing the salve into my arm. “This is not good,” He muttered.

“What does it mean, Conall?” I
whispered. Since Kennan was distracted with the others, I hoped that Conall
would be honest with me.

“Not here. I will tell you, but he
won’t want me to,” Conall paused for a moment before adding, “Meet me tomorrow
morning for training and I will tell you then. I will arrange it with Kennan.”

I nodded as the others moved back
toward us. We sat down in a circle, discussing all that had transpired. After
everything was out in the open, we headed toward the library in search of the
books Eleanor had described. I didn’t care if it took me all night, I would
find what was happening.

I sat down at a long table as
Eleanor and Kennan set about piling books in front of me. I had no idea where
anything was in this library, so I thought it best just to stay out of the way.
By the time they finished, there were ten large tomes scattered around the
table.

“I think we should start with the
rune on your arm, Izzy. Perhaps that would tell us a little more about the
ceremony being used,” Eleanor said before flipping through a book to some kind
of codex that listed runes and their meanings.

“Eleanor, why didn’t you come to
the Council about your hunches?” I asked. I was confused about why she had
waited until her daughter had died to help.

“Because, my darling girl, some
things just have to happen in a certain order. I saw these events play out in
this order in perfect clarity. There was nothing I could have done to alter
them. If I had, well, God only knows what might have happened,” she said before
continuing to browse the list. “Well, this explains why I couldn’t make sense
of what I was seeing. Someone is using Old Norse runes combined with a Druid
sacrificial ritual. Whoever is doing this is combining some serious stuff,” she
said, staring down at the pages.

“So, what does this mean?” I asked,
shoving my arm at her impatiently. I wanted answers more than I wanted a
history lesson.

“You have an inverted Uruz on your
arm. It says here that it is the symbol of health or life force. When it is inverted,
it means that something is using that force against you. In this situation, I
believe it means that something is trying to steal your power.”

“But how did it get here?” I was
becoming hysterical. I realized I needed sleep, and badly. I lay my head on the
table and wished that for once in my miserable adult life things could be
simple. I knew that it was a waste of time. I knew that my life was never going
to be simple again. I just wished that weirdness would stop happening to me.
The second I adjusted to my life, another bizarre and seemingly random
occurrence would come along and throw me off balance again. I was starting to
feel as though I had a terrible case of vertigo.

“I think we should call it a night
and get you something to eat, Izzy,” Kennan said, wrapping his arm around me
and pulling me up out of my seat. “Have you eaten since breakfast?” he asked.

“No, but I’m not hungry. I just
want to sleep,” I said as I waved a goodbye in Eleanor’s direction. Not that
she noticed. She was furiously scribbling notes down on a pad of paper. I
thought back to my resolve to stay up all night and solve the mystery. It
seemed my body had other plans. I could barely keep my eyes open.

“We can grab something on the way
to the room. You need to keep your strength up,” he said, effectively shifting
into the role of Guardian instead of soon-to-be husband.

“Whatever. As long as I can shut my
eyes soon,” I mumbled sleepily. I had never felt so tired before in my life.
Zapping my powers indeed. I needed to revert this rune. Maybe if I held my arm
up over my head it would reverse it and bring me energy. I raised my arm
overhead trying to test out the theory.

“What are you doing?” Kennan asked
bemusedly.

“Trying to reverse the rune so that
it brings me energy,” I said as if I totally knew what I was talking about.

“Izzy, it was carved with the
intention of being inverted. You can’t reverse that. Besides, I don’t think
that is making you tired. You have not slept well in months and the past two
days have been a strain on you. I think it is only natural that you would
crash. I expected it to happen much sooner,” Kennan said, pulling me toward the
kitchen.

I could barely keep my eyes open as
we stopped in the kitchen and grabbed some food. Kennan made some sandwiches as
I did my best impersonation of a bobble head. We made our way upstairs as I
dutifully nibbled on my sandwich. By the time I made it to the room, my eyes
felt unbearably heavy. I lay down in my clothes and let sleep take me.

**********

“It took you long enough to get
here. I’ve been trying to get your attention for God only knows how long,” Ren
griped.

“Ugh! That was you? Please don’t
ever do that again. I was in the middle of some important stuff, you know, like
trying to free your spirit,” I said, glaring at her sightless face. Let’s see
her use her powers to see how pissed off I was.

“Well, this may be more
important. I overheard them talking.”

“Who did you overhear?” I had no
patience for guessing games. Even in the dreaming I felt exhausted.

“The foggy woman and Xavier.
They were talking about the ceremonies and whether they were working or not.
Xavier said something about feeling stronger. I think that whatever is going on
it has to do with him. What’s that on your arm?” Ren gasped.

“The same thing that is on
yours,” I said staring at her matching symbol. I visually took inventory of all
of her marks. Now that I had one, it seemed I could make out the rest. There
were seven in all. I tried to memorize the simple lines of each rune. If I
could tell Eleanor which ones were used, we might be able to form a better
picture of what was happening.

“No, yours is glowing like a
freaking sun,” Ren said, turning her face away. I looked down at my arm and
couldn’t see anything other than the mark.

“What are you talking about? It
looks just like yours,” I said, flipping my arm back and forth trying to see
what she was seeing.

“Hold on, don’t move,” Ren said
before darting off in the fog. She came back an eternity later with Isabelle in
tow. “Do you see it?” She asked her.

“Holy cow, what happened to your
arm?” Isabelle exclaimed.

“Awesome, so only sightless
people can see my magic, glowy arm. Why can’t anything be remotely normal?” I
asked no one in particular. I was ready to take answers from anyone willing to
give them.

“There is some bad stuff in
whatever did that, Izzy. You need to talk to Isadora about the protection mark
and soon,” Ren said before looking over her shoulder. She looked back at me
with a panic stricken expression before darting off inhumanly fast pulling
Isabelle in her wake.

“Where are you…?” I started to
yell as I saw Xavier’s form approaching me.

“I see you got my present,”
Xavier crooned. His voice sounded more solid than it had in months.

“Are you real?” I asked. It was
time I finally found out if he was still alive.

“Oh, quite. You didn’t manage to
kill me entirely my dear. It was irresponsible of you not to make sure.”

“It isn’t a mistake I will make
twice,” I spat.  I hated that he was still able to illicit such a vehement
reaction from me. 

“It is unlikely you will get a
second chance. You tried to take my life and now I will return the favor. Oh,
but don’t worry, it won’t happen quickly. I plan to make this last as long as
possible. I can’t wait to see the look on my dear brother’s face as he watches
the last of the light fade from your eyes.”

“So, you are using cowardice to
come after me, then? Killing innocent girls as some sort of revenge doesn’t
really seem like your style.” If I could keep him talking maybe I could get him
to solve some of our unanswered questions.

“Oh, you silly girl, I have
nothing to do with that. Well, I suppose I do, but it is not of my making. I
really must go. Visit often, Izzy,” he said as he strolled back into the fog. I
wanted to run after him and rip his throat out with my bare hands. I wanted to
demolish him until there was nothing left of him but a pile of viscera.

I forced myself to breathe
slowly and come back to my senses. I needed to get out of the dreaming and find
those runes. I reached out for the present and allowed it to sweep me away.

**********

I sat up in the bed and looked over
at the clock. It blinked a bright four, zero, zero at me. I turned over and
kissed Kennan on the head before getting up and dressing in some workout
clothes. Conall had promised me a story this morning. I just hoped he had
cleared things with Kennan the night before. I got up and moved to the bathroom
to finish getting ready. I stared at my reflection. Familiar purple marks
formed under each of my eyes. I wanted so badly to cut myself off from the
dreaming and sleep soundly for a night, but until this problem was solved I
couldn’t do it. I might miss something.