The Air Singer (The Cantors) (5 page)

“Why are you here?”

“I thought I was protecting you, but you seem to be deadly with a steak knife and a rock.”

Tally
pulled away from Roland to look at the clutter of broken wood and bodies lying in front of her.

“Are they dead?”

“No, but we need to get out of here.” He stood up and offered a hand to lift her up. “Grab a change of clothes and I’ll tie these guys up.”

Tally took his extended hand.
“You didn’t answer my question. Why are you here?” She allowed him to pull her up and stood to face her protector. “How do you know where I live?”

Roland turned his e
yes away and walked back toward the kitchen. “Do you have anything to string these guys up with?”

“Stop it!” Tally yelled. “I’m not some doe eyed damsel in distress that you can ignore when I ask questions you don’t want to answer!”

Roland stopped walking, “I promise to explain everything.” He turned around to face her and met Tally’s eyes. “Please just let me take you somewhere we can talk.”

Tally let her shields down a second time bracing herself for anyth
ing. Warmth filled her with the familiar green and gold colors of his aura. He didn’t intend to harm her and he protected her, at least from Sean. She replaced her buffer and decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. “I don’t have any rope, but I might have some duct tape in the kitchen under the sink.”

She began heading to the bedroom to
shove a pair of jeans and a couple tees in a canvas shopping bag. Before she got to the door, she heard Roland from the kitchen.

“Tally.”
She turned to see him looking at her with a boyish smile. “Thank you.”

“
Don’t thank me yet. This isn’t free. There is a diner on Rural Road called Breakfast by Betty. You’re buying.”

The scents of bacon and maple syrup filled the air. Tally settled in her side of the booth located in the far corner. Roland insisted on the booth that backed against the wall. She assumed it was for privacy at first, but Roland continued to glance beyond her to the center of the dining room and realized he was watching for unwelcome visitors.

“Do you think they can find us here?”

Roland brought his gaze back to her face. “I don’t think so. I just want to make sure.” He folded his hands in front of him and leaned across the table. “Why don’t you check?”

Tally looked at him sideways. “I wouldn’t know what to look for.
They don’t exactly wear name tags.”

“Just look for someone like Sean.”

“I don’t think Sean has a twin.”

Roland lowered his voice. “You and I both know that you don’t always rely on your eyes to get a good look at people.”

Tally froze in her seat. Kate had a vague idea of her abilities but they had never gone into details. No one in her life truly knew what she could
see.

“What can I get yo
u to drink?” A waitress much older than her broke Tally’s trance. Looking away from Roland, she ordered coffee, water, and a stack of multigrain pancakes. The waitress looked to Roland. Holding up two fingers, he signaled her to double the order. She scribbled it on her pad and left to brew a fresh pot of coffee.

“I’m not sure what you mean.”
Tally hoped that she misunderstood Roland’s earlier statement.

“
If you want me to be straight with you, you need to be straight with me.” Roland leaned back in the booth. “Besides, you don’t play dumb very well.”

Raising her eyebrow, Tally leaned back in her booth
and opened herself to the energy mingling in the room. The comforting gold and green energy emanating from Roland reached across the table, yellow with hints of white danced to old reggae tunes in the kitchen, aqua with gray sat in a booth near the door, a rainbow of individual colors sprinkled with pink hovered at the large table in the center and a shade of red had just set a coffee pot with two mugs in front of Roland.

“The
pancakes will be up in just a few, sweetie.”

Roland gave her a smile and a wink, “Thank you.”

The red flamed for just a moment and walked back to the kitchen.

Roland filled both mugs and handed one to Tally. She stirred a packaged creamer into hers enjoying the silence for a moment.

“Well?”
Roland did not like waiting.

“The cook just smoked a joint behind the restaurant
. The gentleman at the front is job hunting and hasn’t told his wife he was laid off two weeks ago. The large group at the round table are siblings planning a surprise party for their parents’ 50
th
anniversary. And our lovely waitress is currently headed to the bathroom to check her hair and see if she can offer you a better view of her cleavage when she brings the pancakes.” Tally took a sip of her coffee and sat back watching Roland’s expression. She couldn’t tell if he was impressed or not. Setting the cup down she let her eyes fall to the table. “But I looked at Sean’s energy almost every day for two months and never expected him to want to hurt me, so I may just be full of shit.”

Roland
’s expression never changed. “What did Sean’s energy feel like?”

“Lopsided.
It was always out of balance, as if he was hiding something. I thought it was some hurtful memory from his past that he buried.”

“
Well you just proved that you’re not full of it. You knew he was hiding something from you.”

“Speaking of
hiding things, you still haven’t answered my question. How did you know where I live?”

“I need you to listen to the whole answer before you react.”

Roland reached across the table and took Tally’s hand. The warmth of his skin radiated against hers. She closed her fingers around his. Looking into his eyes, she could see a pleading that contradicted his seemingly unflappable confidence. He had been her hero twice and had earned the right to be heard.

“Okay.”

Roland took a deep breath and tried to figure out how to begin. He’d been training for this his entire adult life. He’d had this conversation in his mind at least a hundred times, yet sitting across from the woman that had been the center of his world for over a year, he was at a loss for words. He decided to just start at the beginning and let the conversation develop on its own.

“
Tally…”

Two
plates of fresh multigrain pancakes clattered against the table and Tally took her hand back to avoid being smashed by the tray of condiments and syrup. “Here’s your pancakes hon’. Do you need anything else?”

“No thank you. We’re fine.”
Roland tried to hide his annoyance at the interruption.

“Oh honey, your cup’s almost empty!
Here, let me get that for you.” Leaning across the table in front of Roland, the waitress’ collar opened to expose the cleavage she had hoped would tempt him.

He pulled
away from the view and could hear Tally snickering. “Thank you, I think we are good now.”

Roland shook his head at Tally’s amusement. Her eyes were alive with laughter as a cocky smile formed across her face.

“You just holler if you need anything else honey.” The waitress gave a wink and left to check on the other customers.

“You were saying?”
Tally grabbed the syrup and began drowning her pancakes.

Even with all of his training, her uncanny ability to read the energy and intentions of others amazed him. “How did you do it?”

Tally set the syrup dispenser down and began separating her breakfast into bite size pieces. “I see the color of the energy around a person and occasionally if I’m close enough, I will catch a thought or two.” 

She popped a bite of pancakes into her mouth
. She didn’t realize how hungry she was until the syrup coated fluffy treat hit her tongue. After swallowing, she took a sip of her coffee and saw that Roland was gazing at her with those ice blue eyes. “So how did you know where I live?”

“How much do you remember about last night?
” Roland poured a trifling amount of syrup on his plate.

“I know that you saved me from Sean
. Kate filled me in this morning. She also mentioned that you stayed the night on her sofa, but left before either of us was able to thank you.”

“I didn’t leave
. I just went to my truck and watched from outside.” Roland could see that Tally was getting a little uncomfortable so he explained, “I knew that Sean might try something again and he probably knew where both you and Kate live. I wanted him to think I left, in case he was watching.”

Tally
practiced her poker face while her heart did flips in her chest. He didn’t leave her. She knew that after the last twenty-four hours it should bother her that a man she had known less than a week was watching her, but for some reason it comforted her.

“So you followed me and Kat
e back to my place?”

“No.
” Roland took a sip of coffee, “I followed Sean and his friend.”

“They were at Kate’s?”

“I’m not sure when they arrived, but when you and Kate pulled out this morning, the black sedan that Sean tried to shove you into last night stayed about two cars behind.” He stabbed another bite of pancake. “They waited about twenty minutes after Kate left you at your apartment before they went in.”

Tally was in the middle of chewin
g a mouthful of syrupy goodness when she realized that her hero had a chink in his armor. Forcing herself to swallow the large mass, she met Roland’s eyes.

“You watched them go into my apartment when you knew I was alone
? They were in there, waiting for me to come out of my bedroom, and you didn’t come in until after I was already confronting them!”

Roland reached across the table and grabbed Tally’
s hand. “That wasn’t supposed to happen. I called a friend to pull the registration on Sean’s license plate and when I looked up, they were gone! I knew they wouldn’t kill you and I rushed in as soon as I felt you panic!”

Tally was incredulous
. “Felt me panic?” She ripped her hand away, “You knew that I was in danger and you thought this would be a good time to phone a friend? How did you know they didn’t want to kill me? The big guy in my kitchen wasn’t doing my dishes!”

“The Spina would never allow an agent to kill
you this early in your development. They need proof to be sure,” Roland struggled for the words, “sure that you are who they are looking for.” He took a deep breath, “Tally, you’re a singer.”

“I play guitar too, but no one ever broke into my house or drugged me in the parking lot.”

“Not that kind of singer. You are an elemental singer, an air singer. You have powers that most people believe only exist in fairytales. It is why I am here. I’m a paladin, your paladin.”

Tally sat back in the booth looking across the table to the most handsome, delusional and possibly certifiable man she had ever met in her life
.
Of course, he’s crazy. It’s the only reason someone that attractive would still be single.

Roland could see the doubt forming in Tally’s eyes
. This whole situation had been forced from the beginning. He knew that Tally was smart and after Sean’s two attempts to bring her into the Spina’s grasp, she would not be going anywhere with him on his story alone.

“How is your breakfast sweetie?” Roland’s new admirer had decided to come see what the raised voices were all
about.

Roland
, furious at this interruption, mustered up as much self-control as possible. “We are fine,” he growled. His eyes never left Tally’s, “I’ll flag you down if we need anything.”

The waitress turned on her heels and walked away.

“There is no reason to be mean.” Tally grabbed her purse and overnight bag and began sliding out of the booth. “Look, I’ve been drugged, hit, dragged and lied to more times in the past twenty four hours than, well, ever. I appreciate you helping me out and I am sure you have the best intentions, but I need to find a new job, a new apartment…”

Roland grabbed her arm before she could stand, “Do you remember the sand storm that hit Phoenix in July last year?
The last singer died the night before and the sand storm was an announcement that a new singer had been chosen.”

Tally froze at the edge of the booth
. Roland saw that he had finally touched on something that she could find truth in. “Tally, look at me.” After a few seconds, she turned toward him.

“What?” she whispered.

“No,
really
look at me.”

Tally
never exposed herself to other people’s energies this much in such a short amount of time. Reluctantly she dropped her shields and experienced the warmth of his green and gold energy stable and unyielding.

“Am I trying to hide anything?”

“No.”

Roland knew that what he was about
to do was done only after a paladin and his singer had trained together for at least a few months, but he didn’t have that much time. The Spina would send more agents when Sean reported that Tally’s paladin had arrived. He took in a deep breath and let his energy expand to encircle Tally.

Roland’s aura overwhelmed Tally
. The gold surrounded her and though his power alarmed her, the familiar warmth and serenity that came with it allowed her to stay sitting. Her skin tingled as a wave of images and knowledge flooded her mind. A story unfolded that told a millennium of history in a matter of seconds.

The elements have been a source of power since before recorded time
. Whether it was a shaman praying for rain to nourish crops or a high priest bringing wind for fast travel across the ocean, the person who could control or beseech the elements held power over man. The appeal of power brought many frauds, but eventually they would be found out and exiled or worse. 

The
most brilliant minds in the ancient world decided that the true possessors of such power could rid the world of hunger, disease and usher in an era of peace, prosperity and learning for all human kind. They sent trackers out across the land and found four individuals with demonstrated influence over each of the elements: earth, air, fire, and water. They were called Cantors or Singers. Gathered on an island in the Mediterranean, they worked to keep the seasons mild and the winds calm. Governments sent ambassadors to make requests on their behalf and an era commenced of learning and goodwill. But as history has shown, even the purest intentions can be corrupted. People manipulated the four Singers and a struggle for control divided them. A battle for supremacy placed Air and Water against Earth and Fire. War between the elements brought civilization to its knees. Volcanoes covered cities with ash and fire. The earth shook and cracked beneath men’s feet. The ocean swallowed islands and flooded the shores, while tornadoes and thunderstorms terrorized the inland civilizations. Fierce winds covered everything in dust and debris. The same governments that praised and revered the Cantors for generations now organized armies to terminate them in order to stop the destruction. Three of the four Cantors were captured and killed, ending the cataclysmic terror. A coalition formed dedicated to the eradication of any new Cantor before his power became a threat. This group became known as The Spina.