Leonardo and Charma the way he could with Marina and
Veli? Leonardo had once speculated it had something to do
with the sheer power structure of their small group being
completely off kilter, as if nothing ever worked the way it
was supposed to. He shrugged his shoulders. Nothing was
going to get fixed on this subject today.
Hearing Isabelle stand up to Marina when she
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thought he had been slighted made his insides burn. He
wanted desperately to get her back to his room and show
her how much he loved her too. He wanted her to say those
words to him. He couldn't remember his parents and he
didn't know if they had loved him, cherished him. To his
recollection this was the first time anyone had used the
words Love and Kal in the same sentence.
"What's it like to hear the chanting when you touch
her?" Leonardo whispered, showing unusual emotion.
"Remember when we saw all of our neighbors
murdered in Cincinnati because the mayor's assistant had
gotten the address wrong and thought he was murdering
us? And we had to sit there silent because we were still so
young, so powerless and Veli was shouting in our heads not
to interfere that we were too important to the Outsider's
cause but it stung in our guts and we felt worthless and
cowardly?"
"Yes." Leonardo practically choked out the word.
"She makes me believe it. Touching her, hearing
them, loving her makes it all real and not remote. She
makes every second of hell that I have endured being
different and being raised by a man who could barely
disguise his contempt for my family, worth it. She's the real
deal and I'm suddenly a better man," Kal admitted strongly.
Leonardo stared at him for a long second, not
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responding. He walked off slowly. Kal wasn't offended.
Leonardo was a man of few words, at least where his
family was concerned. He was told that at work when
talking about history, Leonardo was downright chatty.
He entered the kitchen smiling. He had thought to
be serene but instead found himself kissing Isabelle
passionately on the mouth, hard and demanding.
* * * *
Isabelle debated telling him that she knew he'd been
in the hall. Deciding not to—he looked happy for a
change—she wrapped her arms around his waist, feeling
the warmth and wholeness that only Kal provided.
"So what's on the agenda, V?" Kal asked brightly. "I
don't guess you're going to let my girl spend a few days
goofing off and getting her bearings, are you?"
"If only we ever had the time, Kalmari," Veli
answered, handing him a plate of eggs. "To start with, you
need to go out and let Marina refocus your energy
manipulation. It shouldn't have taken you so long to
dispose of the evildoer. Perhaps your friends would still be
alive. It's dangerous to deal with humans if you're not going
to protect them properly."
It was a reprimand if ever Isabelle had heard one
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and she felt Kal stop breathing for a second. She opened
her mouth to defend Kal again but he squeezed her arm
slightly to stop her. Whatever was going on here had gone
on a long time and was obviously not going to stop by
ostracizing Veli from her.
"Okay." Kal took a deep breath. "I can do that if
Marina can."
"I can." Marina supplied finally. Had she been
shocked by Kal's agreeableness? "I need to check the
defenses on the island anyway and it'll be good to be
outside. Can we do it by the water?"
"Sure."
Marina turned sharply to Isabelle. "Where have you
been all my life?"
Isabelle found herself laughing with Marina.
"Upstate New York," she answered, making a joke in
response that she hoped was funny. Everyone laughed,
even Charma who still looked pale.
"Charma," Veli spoke gently. "You need to stay
inside today and stay alone. Go back to the books; see if we
can find anything the Great One said about institutional
problems. Find out, if you can, why the police have
suddenly turned on us. Tell Leonardo I need him here to
work with me on helping Isabelle."
Charma nodded weakly and turned back into the
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hall, passing a dark, older woman who came hustling into
the room. She had a tortured look on her face. Isabelle
thought she must be Dot and instantly felt affection for the
woman. She wondered how they would explain her
presence here to Dot.
"Dot." Kal touched her arm slightly. "This is my
girlfriend, Isabelle. She came in last night with me. She
was exhausted, with a migraine so we just went right to bed
and didn't want to disturb you."
"Your girlfriend?" The old woman's face lit up in
delight. "You have a girlfriend?" She practically shouted.
"Oh, I'm so happy to meet you and I see you are an early
riser like this whole crew. No matter how early I get up,
they are always up sooner. Can I make you some
breakfast?"
"No, thank you." Isabelle kept her voice neutral. "I
just finished some of V's eggs." She used the nickname Kal
had used, easily feeling aligned with him as if they had the
same relationships already. Every second she spent with
him seemed to make them closer.
"A poor reproduction of what you would have
made, Dot," Veli supplied. "We're going to need some
more supplies from town. Do you think after you've eaten
and dressed you could go to town on the boat and get
enough food for a few weeks?"
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"Oh yes!" Dot said, apparently delighted to have
Veli give her a task. "I'll get dressed right away." She
scurried from the room quickly.
"Marina?" Veli said looking at her.
"I'll make sure the sea is calm," Marina answered
his unasked question.
"You can control the ocean?" Isabelle blanched. Kal
had said she didn't use all of her power. How much power
did she have? Telepathy? Spell casting? The ocean?
"It's all part of the spell casting and it only works on
this island. Come on, Kal. Let's get your energy reworked."
When Kal let go of her, Isabelle felt immediately
bereft. She needed him. Biting her lip to keep from asking
him to stay, she watched how gracefully he moved.
Kal turned back and touched the side of her face,
which made her heart flutter. Wheeling on Veli, he pointed
a finger at the older man. "Take care of her. She's not used
to you." Turning on his heel, he followed Marina.
Veli sighed visibly. He looked Isabelle right in the
eye. "It's shocking to me how quickly a
nd intensely you
two fell for one another."
"Isn't that how it is with Outsiders?" Isabelle asked,
surprised.
"Not when I was young. But it was different then.
We grew up with our soul mates; my wife lived two
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cottages down from me. It was a feeling; it would start in
your gut and grow more powerful with time till you both
just knew you were made for each other. Then the chanting
would start and you would desperately want to get married
so that your parents would finally let you spend the night
together. After the joining it was intense. But you have all
been different from day one, so intense even as babies you
could speak telepathically to me and you haven't grown up
with Kal so your souls must have been desperate to seek
each other out. I can only think you must have somehow
known he was in those woods," Veli said, speaking mostly
to himself although it was directed at Isabelle.
Leonardo cleared his throat, entering the room to
alert Veli to his presence. "Charma said you were ready for
me."
Isabelle thought Leonardo looked more composed
than he had just a few minutes earlier. He had the same
stoic, withdrawn look that he had shown her when they first
met.
"We are," Veli said simply. He looked Isabelle over
briefly and noticed her outfit for the first time. "Dot will
undoubtedly get you some clothes while she is out. She
won't ask why you didn't bring any. We humor her by
making up these stories but she doesn't ask questions, she
just does what needs to be done. She's the only non-
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Outsider that we are ever in constant contact with. Regular
humans can't currently be trusted. As things move forward
and the Evil One gains in strength, more and more humans
seem to be susceptible to him. I would love to know what
the Great One said on this subject but, alas, in that I will
always be vexed."
"I'm still hopeful." She recognized that look on
Leonardo's face—she had seen it on Kal's earlier when he
had made the veiled remark about his friends dying.
Obviously Leonardo had somehow let him down in this
way.
"Why can't you know what he said?" Isabelle asked,
facing Veli. She was new here and wanted to help smooth
things over between her new found brethren.
"Abraxas was very thorough. He took copious notes
on everything his mentor said. When things started to go
awry and it was clear everyone was going to flee, he hid the
books so they wouldn't be found by the wrong people.
Abraxas was practically my brother and I have found, over
the years, three of the books but the fourth and fifth ones
are still lost. They have either been found by our enemy or
they are still hidden. Leonardo has been casting spells for
years to try to locate them. His power is to enhance others'
powers, a trait he got from his mother, but also to see
patterns others can't see. His father followed energy paths;
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he could see the spells moving in the sky. He could block
and defend us from any attack because he could see it. We
send out a locater spell to find the books, the energy moves
and Leonardo does not follow it. He says he can't. So, we
are blind without any prophecy to guide us. He prefers to
read his history books."
"I'm sure he would follow it if he could." Isabelle's
heart ached for all of them. An image of her beloved Kal
beat down in emotional vexation filled her mind. Veli
obviously felt he was challenging them to do better, not
realizing he was defeating them before they even started.
She had seen parents struggle at their jobs before with less
riding on their parenting success than this. There was going
to be work to do.
"Tell me about my powers." Isabelle spared
Leonardo by changing the subject.
"Your father could time travel, he was a great man.
We were close friends and served on the council together.
All the families sent one representative to the council. His
power was so unique and only he could wield it. It was
always passed down from father to son in your family and I
am relieved to see it passed to daughter this time. Your
mother could read minds, not heal them like Charma, but
read them. She could enter their thoughts and be with them
in their memories. It was quite a gift. She used to swear she
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was visited by the dead before they moved on but Abraxas
thought she must have imagined that." Veli smiled at the
memory.
"She didn't imagine it. Trust me, it's very
disconcerting," Isabelle responded, remembering once
again the late night visit from her deceased neighbor.
"That happens to you?" Leonardo said, amazed.
"Once," Isabelle replied simply. "Go on. Tell me
about the time travel. It felt more like a visit, I was stuck,
and I couldn't communicate with anyone."
"Honestly, I'm not sure but I can speculate why that
was," Leonardo butted in. "You had Kal with you and
keeping him in the past was sucking up a lot of your
energy. Also, no one there was telepathic but you. The
records all indicate that your father could communicate
telepathically while he was in the past but not physically."
"Hmm." Isabelle played with a strand of her hair.
"What?" Leonardo pushed Veli out of the
conversation.
"If you could help me, I wonder…" Isabelle once
again broke off her train of thought. She turned to Veli
abruptly."Is there a time when we are more powerful?"
"The full moon." Veli rolled his eyes. "Obviously
Kal has told you about his issues during that time." Isabelle
decided not to take the bait on that one. She wasn't going to
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start participating in the parental dysfunction.
"Okay." She turned to Leonardo, grinning at him.
"If you can help me focus, I think I can go back and ask
Abraxas where the books are." She clapped her hands
excitedly, glad that she could help in the struggle.
"No!" Leonardo shouted. "That's too dangerous. We
all saw you when you came in, you looked dead and that
was only a trip back in time a few hours. We're talking
three decades here and Kal would never forgive us if you
were hurt."
"The full moon is in two days. That gives me lots of
time to practice and I'll have you this time, enhancing me."
She smiled at Leonardo. "I know I'm supposed to do this."
She turned to Veli and pointed at him. "And you know it
too."
"Two days," Veli glared at Leonardo. "She'd better
be ready because if she's hurt, Kal won't jus
t be upset. He'll
kill you." With that Veli strode from the room.
"Oh hell," Leonardo looked at the ceiling. "We'd
better get started."
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Chapter Fourteen
"I hate everything about this!" Kal was practically
shouting at her. "No!" He said again for the fiftieth time.
"This is not going to happen."
"You sound like a dictator, Kal." Isabelle smiled up
at him. She could feel his mind in torment. He was terrified
of losing her. "We have to know what the prophecy said.
The Evil Dude found me and I never even used a power.
Nowhere in my wildest imagination did I even dream that I
had any powers. He still found me. He's after me. That has
put you all in danger. I know how strong you are and that
you think you can protect me and I'm sure you can but I'm
not going to run forever. We just got here. I like stability. I
wasn't brought up in chaos and I certainly don't thrive in it.
Hell, I made a career out of helping children leave
disastrous situations and find peaceful loving families." She
thought not for the first time of the irony of this and
wondered just how much fate had been guiding her along to
this moment.
"This is going to be our home and by home I
actually mean home, not some place we use as a base while
we are running around hiding or drawing attention away
from the others. We are going to live here, safely, until it's
time to battle the bad guy and then that's going to be on our
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terms, not his. If he has the book, we have to know that, if
he doesn't, we have to know that too, and this is how we
figure it out. Leonardo can't understand why he can't follow
the energy, well I can understand it. It's because I'm the one