He didn"t smile. I recognized several of them from the reunification from the Watson family, and I could tell from the clothes they were wearing that this was recent. He pointed his hand toward the truck we all could hear coming in the distance. "Get in the truck, Gabrielle. No one wants to deliver a baby in the woods. He"s coming, isn"t he?"
A sob escaped my chest and I rose to go with them. I fought inside myself. Me- myself-I wanted to fight. I didn"t want them to have this baby. This woman, Gabrielle, she was weak from what they"d put her through. She was just...done. But me, I was ready for a fight. I knew what going with them meant. I knew what Sikes and his family had done to people in the past and apparently his family was carrying the torch in his stead.
Well, I wasn"t about to let that happen. I had to do something. There had to be a reason I was seeing this. I focused, I made myself look around and see everything, but Gabrielle climbed into the front seat of the truck, followed by the guy who kept giving orders, and slouched, leaning her head back, giving up. They drove her all the way back to the Watson compound and he took her arm, albeit gently, as he pulled her from the truck and took her back toward the house. "You"re going to change things for us, Gabrielle-you and this baby. Doesn"t that make you happy? You"re finally a part of a family."
"I know you"re going to just get rid of me after he"s born," Gabrielle whispered.
He didn"t say anything back to her, which was answer enough.
Right as I would have breached the threshold of the door, I was slammed back into my own body so forcefully that it felt as if I fell from the sky and had to be caught.
Caleb"s arms squeezed me to his chest and his breaths beat against my ear...like he had been breathing hard for a long time. We were both shaking, but Caleb"s rage and worry was almost out of control. He was borrowing my ability and he was about to lose control and let loose the energy ribbons.
I leaned back, the significant in me forgetting the vision for a second and worry for my Caleb taking over. I was on his lap as he sat on the fountain edge. We were both soaking wet. Nothing made sense, but neither of us said a word as he took my face in his hands and brought my mouth down to his. For once in a really long time, I didn"t have to push anything out of my mind. I knew Kyle and Lynne were behind us and probably freaking, but my body was completely, solely, focused on my significant.
It had been a long time since I had been able to do that. I was always so consumed with my Visionary duties since it"s this huge part of me. But this was freeing. Even though the vision I just had was so potent, all it did was remind me why this part of my life was that much more important than anything else.
His calm crashed into my veins the same time as his upset did, begging for me to take it away and tell him that I was okay. I pulled his shirt up and pressed my palms flat to his stomach to give him as much of me as I could. His breath faltered against my lips a little and I knew I had made a dent in his thinly controlled concern. His thumbs swept over my cheeks, over and over, rea.s.suring himself that I was still there every time he made a pa.s.s.
He didn"t wait for me to explain. He sensed it had been traumatic for me anyway, so he just went straight into my mind to find out what happened for himself. He pulled away from my lips and laid his forehead to mine, watching the scenes play out. I hated to watch them all over again, but it was better than trying to explain it. I kept myself in check so there were no energy ribbons. When he finished, he leaned back and finally opened his eyes. He was wrecked. His s.h.a.ggy, wet hair was flat, wrapping around his ears even when wet.
"You were gone for almost half an hour," he rasped. "I couldn"t reach you no matter what I did. Your eyes were closed. It was like you were asleep. I couldn"t see what you were seeing, your vision. You never said a word, never moved, barely breathed."
"Why am I wet?"
"You touched the water-the fountain took you under." I squinted in confusion. "It sucked you in. I jumped in after you."
I sighed. "The Watsons...they"re not finished with us."
"What the h.e.l.l does all this mean?" he growled and smoothed my hair when I closed my eyes. "Why are you being shown visions about the Watsons? Why them, when they"re human and can"t hurt us, for one, and for two, why can"t I see them?"
"You saw why. I"m their family."
"I"m your significant and we share an ability. There"s no reason why I shouldn"t be able to see the visions with you."
"Let"s just go back to the palace and get on our way back to the states. It"s obvious that we"re supposed to go to the Watson"s compound and do something about this."
"If it even belongs to them anymore." He shrugged. "It was in foreclosure and the last I heard, some wine maker had his eye on it."
"We have to try. I get visions for a reason."
He nodded, leaning forward and kissing my forehead, lingering there to fill me with his touch. "I know, baby."
We made a swift walk to the palace, a silent Lynne and Kyle following behind. When we got there, I informed the council of the strange visions and said I needed to handle them. I kept my mind wide open, listening and digging for anything and everything in their minds. I could hear them. Which meant none of the council members had taken the poultice that Marla and the rest of the Watsons had taken with my blood in it to keep me from hearing their thoughts. So, we didn"t know if someone on the council was just really good at hiding it or if we were back to square one with them. Maybe they weren"t involved at all and were just really bad at being rulers of our people.
Either way, we were going to the Visionary"s library to do some research, and then my family was leaving.
To say they were happy about any of it was a flat-out lie. They said wasting any time on the Watsons was just that, a waste, and my time was better spent elsewhere. When I informed them of the experiments they were performing on humans to give them powers, in turn to try to give themselves powers again, they said humans weren"t our concern.
For someone who used to be a human and was tortured by that same family, I was insulted greatly by their lack of compa.s.sion. I mean, they had not even an ounce of it. But to not give any concern to the fact that the Watson family was playing a game of trying to get their powers back and the council didn"t care? Something had to give.
Caleb followed with silent, stoic steps as we ascended the Visionary"s steps to her library. Ashlyn was kept the princess in the tower and the captive, all in one, in this library. I wrapped my arms around myself as I let my eyes search her scrawling on the walls. When I looked back at Caleb, he was watching me carefully. "You okay, baby?"
I nodded. "This could have been me...so easily."
He gulped painfully. "I would have never let them do this to you."
"I know that. But there was no one there to save her. And now, there"s no one there to save those people from the Watsons. No one but us. That has to be a reason I got the vision. Maybe...maybe they"re going to expose us to a ton of humans or something." I ran my finger along the words on the bricks. "I don"t know the whys; I just know that we have to do this."
He engulfed me from behind, his arms around me, his face next to mine on my shoulder. "I"m always with you, whatever you choose to do." He leaned in. "You"re the boss, remember?" he said into my ear.
I started to relax, lean into him, when he stiffened.
"What in holy h.e.l.l is that?" he whispered and let me go gently to move forward, his eyes glued to something on the wall. I saw in his mind the word "Ava" was what he was fixated on. But how was that possible?
"Caleb?" I asked, my voice quivered in the air between us.
He looked back at me and held out his hand. "Come here." I took it and he pulled me in front of him. "Baby...look."
There, in the midst of all that gibberish was an infinity symbol made of names. Maggie, Caleb, Kyle, Lynne, Bish, Jen, Haddock, Heather. And then in the middle of all those names was Ava"s, her name practically touching another name I"d never heard and didn"t know anyone by that name-Seth.
Who"s Seth?
I looked up at Caleb over my shoulder. I don"t know. But why are our names on this wall, Caleb? Ashlyn didn"t know us. Why is our daughter"s name in the middle of these names like that?
He pulled my wrist up, running his thumb over my infinity mark on my tattoo. "I knew it had to mean something."
"Maggie," we heard behind us and we both turned to find Ashlyn. I gasped, unable to stop it. "Maggie," she said again and shook her head in a way that showed her distress. "Oh, Maggie. I"m trying to warn you, but you"re not listening."
"I"m listening," I promised her. Now that I knew Ava had something to do with this, there wasn"t a Virtuoso member or rule or law that was going to stand in my way of getting to that Watson compound if that was what I was supposed to do. "Please, Ashlyn."
I went and stood right in front of her ethereal form. She still scratched and rubbed at her arms, just like she had in the visions I used to have of her, back when I first came to stay here as the Visionary before Caleb and I were even married. She looked up at me and then at the wall. She walked to it and pressed her ridged fingers to the middle where Ava"s name was and said, "Danger. Danger, Visionary."
Caleb was freaking out, but afraid to speak-afraid to scare her away, so he let me do all the talking.
"What danger? With my daughter? With Ava?"
"You can"t see it," she murmured and shook her head harder. She took her nails and slammed them to the wall, digging them deep, and sc.r.a.ped them across the names, Ava"s name was almost completely gone. Caleb pulled me back as I gasped. Ashlyn swung around to look at us once more. "Visionary, you know what you saw, you know what has to be done. There"s danger. Go, now!"
She disappeared into a wisp of smoke, but the scratch over our daughter"s name remained.
"Oh, G.o.d. Ava, no," Caleb growled behind me as he took my hand and tugged me to follow him.
We ran. We didn"t stop again until we were standing in the doorway of Gran"s room, looking at our son and daughter as they played Scrabble with her on the floor. Caleb scooped Ava up and kissed her forehead, murmuring that it was all right. But Ava hadn"t known anything was wrong in the first place.
"Daddy, you"re squeezing me," she complained.
"I"m sorry, baby girl." He sighed and looked at me over her shoulder, taking my hand and pulling me to him. "Come on, guys. Get your things together. Gran, you, too. Let"s get everyone packed up. We"re going home."
"I thought-"
"Gran," he begged in a whisper and she knew right then that something was really wrong. "Please."
"All right. Come on, Rodney."
"No, please," I said and picked him up. I hugged him to me and tried my best not to cry. "I just need him with me, okay?"
Her mouth fell open. "Oh, my... Lord, what happened today? Somebody better start talking."
"We will, Gran," Caleb told her and put his arm around my shoulder, kissing my temple, "but first, I want to get on that plane and get my family away from here. We have important things to do."
Two hours later, everyone was on a plane and headed home. As soon as we got to Peter"s house, we sat everyone down, the whole Jacobson clan, for an emergency meeting. Caleb took the cog wheel from his pocket, placed it on the table to let them know this was official. He told them everything that was going on-the visions, Ashlyn, what we"d seen and heard and suspected about Ava being in danger and somehow, someway, that it was connected to something the Watsons were doing. They were still conducting experiments on humans and we were told, in no exact words, to do something about that. And that the council wasn"t doing anything about any of it.
It was customary for the men to do most of the missions and work in the clan, but when it came to war, all bets were off, Caleb had explained to me once. Their family hadn"t had the women fight in a battle in a very long time. Everyone was needed-all hands on deck. They were on board and out the door toward the Watson compound before Caleb could even work up a good angry sweat from his rally-the-troops speech. Gran and a few others stayed with the children, but the majority were going, with the intention of battle.
I changed into some jeans and boots upstairs before we left. Caleb came in and leaned in the doorframe. I couldn"t read his mind. He was blocking me, so I a.s.sumed he was about to ask me to stay home or stay in the car even. I opened my mouth to argue, but he crossed his arms and sighed before saying firmly, "Stay with me, right by my side. You got me?"
I smiled. "You"re not forbidding me to go?"
"Would it work?"
"No," I answered sadly.
He pushed away from the doorframe and came to me, kneeling down and putting my foot on his thigh to finish tying my boot. "Remember the vision you had of us fighting side by side together?" I nodded. He gulped and pulled my laces tight before kneeling up and pushing my knees apart. "So, no, I won"t forbid you to go. But please, Maggie, let me protect you. Stay with me, stay connected to me, and listen to me. If I ask you to run or move, don"t think. Just do it. I"m keeping you safe, not ordering you around."
I pushed my fingers through his hair, one hand and then the other, as I rubbed his head and tugged gently on his hair. He closed his eyes and leaned in, letting his arms circle my waist as he pressed his cheek to my chest.
"I know you need to keep me safe," I told him, my lips in his hair. "I want you to. We"re a team. I can"t do this at all if you can"t be right there with me. You"re the key, remember?"
He sighed and lifted his head. His hands gripped my legs and he tugged me to the edge of the bed to be flush against him. His blue eyes were so heavy and weighed down with everything that was on his mind. I rubbed my thumb over where his dimple should be. It seemed like forever since I"d seen it and it may be an eternity before I would see it again, if this kept up.
"Hey." He lifted my chin, a ghost of a smile there on his sad lips that he was pushing so hard, just for my benefit. "I have a lot to be happy about. They aren"t taking anything away from me today. Do you hear me?" I smiled. "Mrs. Jacobson?" he prompted.
I fingered his dimple again. "Yes, Champion. I hear you."
He took my mouth in a painful plea to stay safe above all else. It was hungry and aching and rough, while still being my sweet Caleb that worried. He cupped my neck and dragged me against him, his lips taking mine one at a time, even as he moved his hands to press and caress my back under my shirt to soothe me, fill me with his calm and touch as much as he could before we had to do this and be on our own for this fight.
Then he stood with me in his arms and took one long last pull from my mouth before pulling back. "I could stay here all day, but-"
"Ava," I answered. "I know."
"I am so in love with you," he groaned against my lips, his forehead to mine. "Everything is going to be okay. You"re here for a reason. This is happening for a reason. Don"t be scared. I believe in you."
"I believe when you believe." I gripped his neck hard with my arms. "I love you, too."
He kissed me once more before setting my feet to the floor. "Let"s see the kiddos before we leave."
I nodded and felt my eyes sting. "Don"t say anything to make me cry. I don"t want to upset her."
He brushed my cheek with his thumb with a sad smile. "Okay."
When we got downstairs, everyone was waiting. The rest of the family had gone to get ready and then brought their children back here so they were all together safely. I knelt in front of Ava and she looked up at me. "You"re leaving now, aren"t you?"
"Yes, baby. We"re going to help some people with some bad men." I had a thought. "Ava, have you...have you had any weird dreams or anything lately?"
"No, mommy. Not unless us putting Rodney in an all-girls boarding school across the sea for always stealing my dolls and making them his GI Joe prisoners counts."
Caleb snorted while Gran"s cackle held nothing back. I smiled at her. "Well, I think that"s probably valid." I hugged her to my chest tightly and tried with everything in me not to cry. "Listen to Gran, okay? And be nice to Rodney. Y"all just play and wait for us to come home. We"ll be back before you know it."
"Why are you crying? What"s wrong?"
I squeezed my eyes tight. My perceptive girl. I felt Caleb"s hand on my shoulder as he bent down next to me.
"Hey, give Daddy a hug." He took her from me and I swiped my eyes discreetly. "Mommy just hates it when people hurt other people. We know that, right?" She nodded. "So Mommy and I are going to help somebody. You stay here and help Gran, okay?"
"Okay." She looked down. "Will you be back before bedtime?"
"I hope so."
"Will you sing to me now? In case you don"t make it back in time for bedtime?" Her big blue eyes that matched her daddy"s looked up at him and I knew he"d sing a hundred songs if that"s what she wanted.
He tucked her under his chin and rocked her a little, out of habit, as he leaned back with her and sang "I"m Yours" by Jason Mraz. They did the doo-doo-doo-doo"s together like they always did. I ached so much in my chest as I watched them. I turned away so she wouldn"t see me getting worked up. It wasn"t that I didn"t have faith in Caleb or myself or what we were or our people...it was just that she was our daughter.
Gran"s arms came around me from behind. I didn"t have to look to know it was her. I could smell her perfume. "It"s going to be all right, pretty girl."
"Is it?" I glanced back at my little girl who Ashlyn told me was in danger somehow. "What if we"re playing right into their hands? What if by leaving her today, I"m abandoning her like my mother did me and she"ll be stuck without me forever?"
"You know that"s not what you saw."
"I"ve changed my visions before," I countered.
"For the good. For the better. You have your gift for a reason. Ashlyn wouldn"t have come to you and told you just to send you to an ambush."
I nodded and breathed deeply through my nose. "You"re right."
I turned and hugged her around her neck. The vision hit me when her cool skin touched mine. She gripped me tightly as we watched. Our Gran was older than she was now. She looked so happy-surrounded by her family, tears on her cheeks, her gray hair surrounding her head on the pillow in the upstairs bedroom. She touched Peter"s cheek, who tried to keep it together as he looked down at her.
"Oh, Peter," she said and smiled. "Do you have any idea how happy a woman can be in a hundred years?"
He smiled through his tears. "No, Mama. Tell me."
"So happy she"ll burst."
He succ.u.mbed to his tears and hugged her gently as we all let our Gran go. She smiled all the way to the end. When her hand slowly fell from Peter"s head, we knew she was gone. I"d never felt such a peaceful vision before. It was all light and air around me. Gran"s goodness touched everything. She truly was the happiest creature that ever touched this earth and she shared it with us every day.
The vision left me and a sob choked in my throat. Gran gripped my cheeks, a smile on her face. "Don"t say anything. To anyone."
"Gran-"