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to look at her questioningly. She began to shiver quietly,
not wanting anyone to know if she was having some kind
of post-time-travel attack. They would tell Kal and then he
would insist that they call the whole thing off, at which
point she would insist that they would not and they would
end up fighting. She didn't want that—what she wanted
was to feel warm again and at the moment she wasn't sure
she ever would. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine
Kal's arms around her keeping her safe. As if drawn from
her imagination, Kal stalked into the room and looked at
her questioningly. He immediately assessed the situation
and threw his arms around her. She was extremely glad for
his intuition even if it meant that they would be having that
aforementioned argument later.
"What's wrong?" he asked, deeply concerned. His
body was tense and she knew he was keeping his voice
calm for her but that he was about to explode. Just the night
before she had assured him that she was perfectly capable
of this kind of undertaking and now she was shaking like a
leaf and they hadn't even done anything yet. Isabelle wasn't
sure what to tell him but she didn't have time to dwell on
the subject because she looked up and that was when she
saw her. A young woman stood quietly in the corner of the
room staring at all of them. She raised her arm to gesture to
Isabelle as a salutation.
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"Who is that?" Isabelle shouted, pointing and
gripping onto Kal but she knew the answer before anyone
could respond. They wouldn't be able to see her anymore
than her adopted parents had been able to see the dead
neighbor years earlier. This was one of her powers,
speaking to the dead, and only she could see the woman.
She was going to have to handle this on her own. She didn't
remember if she had the physical reaction the last time she
had seen a dead person but she wasn't going to dwell on
that now.
"Who?" Kal spun around ready to attack as Veli and
Leonardo rose in confusion.
"You can't see her. She's dead." Isabelle practically
groaned. She had hoped to never have to see this particular
phenomena again and the timing was very bad. Whatever it
was that this woman wanted was sure to only throw a
wrinkle in their already difficult situation. Spirits didn't
travel from the great beyond for no reason, at least she
didn't think they did.
"Dead?" Leonardo croaked, spinning around again.
"You really can see the dead? I guess if you can travel in
time, it would make sense that time can travel to you." He
seemed genuinely excited by the prospect.
"Thanks for the analysis. You can write it all down
later," Kal snapped at Leonardo. "What does this dead
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person want with you?"
"I don't know. Should I try to talk to her?" Isabelle
looked at Kal.
"Yes," Veli answered for Kal as if he had the right.
"If she wasn't here earlier, then she must want something
now. Something about this moment has called her here.
Find out what it is."
His words were spoken calmly but she could tell he
was nervous. Evidently seeing ghosts was not something
that was considered normal even amongst abnormal people,
or not quite normal people she amended in her mind.
"Can you talk to me?" Isabelle gently removed
herself from Kal's arms and started to approach the
shimmering woman in the corner. Up close, Isabelle could
see that she looked very beautiful, ethereal, and that she
must have been fair skinned with high cheekbones and a
regal looking nose. Her hair fell to her waist in ringlet
curls.
"I've been waiting so long for you to come here,
Horacia. Your mother told me that you alone would be able
to see me after all this time. We've waited and waited and I
started to fear that you would not get here in time." The
woman smiled sadly at Isabelle. It didn't seem the time to
correct her name. If this ghost thought of her as Horacia
then Isabelle was not going to argue a small detail such as
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her current name.
"My mother?" Isabelle asked. "Which mother?"
That seemed silly, she thought after a moment. If the
woman was calling her Horacia then she must have come
from the only mother who had ever called her that. Marina
and Charma had arrived in the room sometime in the last
few moments and Isabelle was sure she looked crazy, as if
she was speaking to the wall. Leonardo was quietly filling
them in on what was happening.
"Not your human mother, dear," the apparition
spoke quietly. "Your mother who was one of us. She too
could see the departed. She watches you, we all do. We
watch all of you. Tell them all that later. The four of them
seem to need to hear that very badly."
"Who are you?" Isabelle asked quietly. If the
woman was watching them, always, then she needed to
know who it was that was doing the viewing.
"I'm Veli's wife, Anahera. I don't have much time
and I shouldn't be talking to you. The Fates won't like it and
I'm sure they'll cut me off soon but since I have no direct
children involved in this affair, I can communicate for a
little while before they catch on. The others are monitored
much more closely. I wonder sometimes if that's why we
never had children, so that I could communicate now.
These things are all very complicated, intricate and difficult
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to decipher because they have so many layers. But I am
babbling and as I said we don't have much time. There is a
message that I feel that I must deliver right now. But before
that let me just say that I don't want you to judge Veli too
harshly by what you just saw in his own mind. He punishes
himself enough, he doesn't need someone who has never
had to raise children, let alone four children, in a constant
state of trauma and upheaval to punish him."
"I have no intention of judging anyone, Anahera,
but I suspect that you didn't travel from the great beyond
and risk the wrath of the Fates to tell me that, did you?"
Isabelle repeated the name out loud for Veli's benefit. She
heard him hiss behind her as if he had been struck. This had
been Veli's soul mate and he had lived half a lifetime
without her. She had only been with Kal for a heartbeat in
comparison and she knew she would curl up and die if he
disappeared. Veli was still functioning, mostly.
"Ana!" He shouted to no one in particular with such
anguish in his voice that Isabelle had to swallow down the
emotions it made her feel. It wa
s not the time for weeping.
"Veli's time is running out. He knows this, he has
felt it every morning for the last year and soon he will be
with me. You'll notice I didn't say rest as none of us are
resting, desperate to know the outcome of this tale. Your
arrival here as I have told you has caused us great joy
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because it means perhaps things are moving in our favor.
Or maybe not, as I said earlier, this is all very complicated
and confusing. But enough on that for right now. I suppose
that will all become resolved later on, one way or another.
Tell Veli that before it is too late he must tell you the entire
tale. He will know what that means. He must not hide it
from you anymore before it is too late to tell you. I don't
mean you specifically; he needs to tell all of you. Tell him.
It's almost time and nothing good can possibly come from
all of you not knowing. It would be like letting you fight a
battle blind."
Isabelle had no chance to react to that because as
quickly as Anahera had appeared, she was gone and
warmth came back to Isabelle's body. Her cheeks felt hot
and she could feel her pulse racing. This might be her
power to wield, but it wasn't a comfortable one.
Isabelle felt dizzy and sweaty as she turned around
and practically collapsed in Kal's arms. He held her like a
baby and carried her to the couch gently.
"You're burning up again," Kal remarked. "Is this
going to happen to you every time a spirit feels like
chatting?"
"I'm hoping they don't do it that often."
"Still."
"Maybe I'll get better at it as I get more practice like
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I am with the time jumping."
"Is she still here?" Veli practically shouted,
interrupting their light banter. Clearly Veli hadn't gotten
that Kal was trying to calm her down by acting calm
himself and even though Isabelle had recognized that as
what was happening and therefore found herself unable to
actually fall for the attempt, she was grateful Kal had made
the effort. She took a deep breath that seemed more like a
sigh and tried to see things from Veli's perspective. She had
just spoken to his very dead wife.
Isabelle could only imagine how frantic he must
feel. She had been with her soul mate for only two days and
losing him was inconceivable. Veli must live every day in
pain and then to know that she was here, but that only
Isabelle who was practically a stranger could see her, must
have been awful for him to endure.
"No." Isabelle shook her head. "She didn't have
much time and she was pretty sure that the powers that be
were not going to be happy that she had come in the first
place. She felt compelled so she did it anyway even though
she knew she might be facing some kind of trouble. She felt
that she was the only one who could make the trip because
she didn't have any children actually involved in this whole
scenario."
"That's my Ana." Water formed in Veli's eyes.
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Leonardo and Charma looked uncomfortable as Marina
placed a gentle hand on his arm. He wiped away the tear
quickly. "She was always damning the consequences to do
what she felt was right. She had scars across her back from
her father's switch because she could never learn not to
speak her mind. He was a mean old bastard."
The room was strangely silent and Isabelle wasn't
sure what she should say next. Should she try to comfort
Veli or continue on to tell them what Ana's message had
been? She looked at Kal for some kind of guidance but he
was looking at his feet. No help there, she thought
suddenly, and continued on with the message she needed to
relate.
"She said she had to come to tell you that you had
to tell us the entire tale before it was too late. She said your
time was coming to an end, which you already knew, and
that you had to tell us whatever this tale was before you
couldn't tell us," Isabelle said, relaying the message. She
hoped that there weren't too many other ghosts out there
waiting for her to relay messages. She had seen, and
enjoyed, the movie where the young hero had been able to
talk to the dead but she wasn't anxious to actually live it on
a day to day basis. She deliberately didn't tell him Ana's
aside about not judging Veli too harshly. It didn't seem the
time and she kind of thought that had been for her ears
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only.
Veli suddenly went very still.
"What tale?" Leonardo questioned, looking very
suspicious, grim, and daunting all at the same time. He
turned to Veli, facing him and looking him right square in
the eyes. "What have you been keeping from us that is so
important that your dead wife had to travel over from the
great beyond to remind you to tell us?"
There was ferocity to Leonardo's voice that Isabelle
had never heard before and suddenly he didn't seem so very
different from Kal. She could imagine them in battle
together. Leonardo was obviously a man of secret strength.
He must have aggressive powers that she hadn't seen yet
and Veli's automatic reactions to him made much more
sense. Somehow Leonardo was as intimidating to Veli as
Kal was, maybe more.
"After." Veli threw up a hand like he was done with
the conversation. "It's not time yet. After we find the books,
then you'll understand everything." Veli obviously felt that
this was the final word on the subject and he stomped from
the room. Isabelle couldn't help feeling sorry for him—
even if he was being obtuse, he looked shaken and
distraught.
"What did she look like?" Charma asked quietly.
"I've always wondered what kind of woman could melt
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Veli's heart. It's not like he's had pictures around for us to
look at over the years. She's been like this faceless,
constant presence in our lives and he's never even described
her to us."
"Did any of us ever ask him what she looked like or
did we all assume that he wouldn't tell us?" Marina asked
suddenly. "I certainly never asked."
"Why would we ask when it was so apparent that he
didn't want to talk about the people that had been lost
except to catalogue them like ice cream flavors? Name,
rank, power skill, child." Leonardo sounded bitter.
"Besides, I personally don't care what she looked like. Any
woman that could really love him must be seriously off of
her rocker."
"Leonardo!" Charma chided. "We don't know what
Veli was like before he lost her, before he lost everyone,
a
nd got saddled with us."
"Saddled?" Leonardo whirled on Charma. "He
wasn't saddled with us, he was given us to protect. That
was his job, to protect our society, to keep us all safe. He
was Abraxas' number two, the chief warrior. He was placed
in a position of responsibility. Maybe he never thought he'd
have to do exactly what he was given to do but that doesn't
excuse that he did a very bad job at it. We're still like
children in our abilities and we may never be any better.
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We're fighting a cosmic battle and he won't even give us all
the details on it. Isabelle didn't even know she had powers
and this great Darkness that we have been running from our
entire lives found her anyway. Probably the other children
are dead or locked up being experimented on by
governments all over the world. I personally don't give a
shit if he misses his wife or he doesn't miss her."
"You are so hard on him!" Marina turned, stepping
in front of Charma to face Leonardo. "Did you ever go
hungry? Did you ever go without anything you ever
needed? You have a PhD for goodness sake. You landed in
Veli's lap and you know what, you were lucky that you did.
I spent years starving in a Russian orphanage. I was dirty
and hungry and so lonely that I thought I would die and I
was four years old. As far as I'm concerned Veli is my
guardian angel and you're just an ungrateful child."
"I'm so sick of you sticking up for him. You don't
know what it was like for the three of us. He was so
grateful to have found you, it made him not a complete
failure but we all know who really found you." Leonardo
stopped his ranting long enough to point at Charma. "She
did. He's babied you from day one. We don't even know
what you are capable of doing yet. Oh don't bother poor
Marina, he would scream at us. She had to live in an
orphanage. So what if she can't and maybe won't ever be