Chapter 5 Visions
FIVE
Visions
A car is barreling down a familiar two-lane road.
It’s twilight. It passes a slower-driving tourist, looking at the ocean, going around it on the right and kicking up dirt and rocks.
A woman ahead is walking in the grass, along the side of the road.
The engine roars as the driver floors it, aiming for her.
At the horrible sound of bones breaking and blood spraying across the windshield, the vision goes dark and then…
Mist covers the ground, swirling around old, rotting cabins.
The sun crests overgrown trees. A roar of large machinery breaks the silence.
A man, wearing sunglasses and a helmet, drives a bulldozer toward the first cabin, knocking it down and shoving the collapsed roof and walls to the side.
When he backs up, changing direction to hit the next, he stops, standing up from his seat.
Hanging out the open door, he tries to make sense of what he’s seeing.
His tanned face pales as he gets out his cell phone to make a call.
A man in a suit stands behind a podium, his hands gripping the edges. His eyebrows convey concern, but his eyes say anger. An older man in a uniform stands beside him. His expression is blank as he and a small group watch and listen. The vision goes dark and then…
Uncle John is sitting in a dim room, the curtains closed against sunlight.
A cold cup of coffee sits forgotten at his elbow.
His phone buzzes in his pocket, but he doesn’t seem to hear it.
His focus is on the family portrait in his hands.
Breath shallow, the image consumes him. The vision goes dark and then…
The moon is shining high above a patio bar.
It’s a mild night and patrons have spilled out the back doors, sitting at picnic tables and around a firepit.
People are talking and laughing. Music drifts out the doors and windows of the bar.
Drink in hand, Colin moves through the crowd toward the beautiful young woman nursing her warm beer.
Despite what her fake ID reads, she’s nineteen, home from her first year of college and visiting friends.
Colin lays it on heavy and the young woman laughs nervously, shaking her head no. Colin moves in, whispering in her ear, while his fingers move at his side. Smiling brightly, her eyes vacant, she follows him from the patio to his car. The vision goes dark and then…
Light flickers ominously from the fire shooting up sparks in a dank basement.
Something bubbles in a pot—no, cauldron.
It’s small and modern, but it’s a cauldron.
Two sets of hands work together to add ingredients to the potion.
Whimpering is heard in the corner. One set of hands tips a shallow bowl of what appears to be blood into the pot, causing the concoction to hiss and smoke. The vision goes dark and then…
Sybil and Faith walk into a room filled with hostile, suspicious people.
Sybil’s head lifts slightly, the disapproval seeming to slide right off her.
Faith is trying hard to look unfazed but is clearly uncomfortable.
People move away from them, but the whispers feel like a roar. The vision goes dark and then…
My eyes fluttered open to a clear blue sky. No aches or pains. Doing this on the lawn was a far better idea than when I joined the Council and we ended up on the hard slate of Gran’s courtyard. Perhaps we should have started out sitting, so we didn’t have as far to fall. I’d suggest that next time.
“Was that a dream or a vision?” Faith asked. “Did you guys see what I did?”
I sat up, put my gloves back on, and found Faith helping Mom up, while Mom brushed stray blades of grass from her dress.
“It was a shared vision, but we need to discuss it,” I told her. “When Gran, Mom, and I did this, we saw the vision from different perspectives. The Goddess shows us different things we need to be aware of in the coming days, weeks, or months.”
“Thank you,” Mom said to Faith. “Do you need a hand, darling?” she asked me.
“I’m good.” I stood and experienced an immediate head rush. It felt like the ground was pulling me back down. Faith was there, grabbing my arm and holding me upright. I patted her hand once my head cleared. “Thank you. That was some kind of weird vertigo thing. I’m fine now.”
She smiled but stuck close to me as we walked back into Mom’s home.
“Have a seat, Arwyn,” Mom said. “I’ll pour us fresh cups of tea. Are you hungry?”
I thought about it. “I could eat.”
“Perfect.” She motioned to my cousin. “Faith, honey, can you help me in the kitchen? I picked up those little sandwiches that you like, darling,” she told me.
My stomach rumbled. “Make sure Faith likes them before you get them next time. New Council, new snacks.”
Faith turned to grin at me as she followed my mom into the kitchen.
I closed my eyes on a sigh, and that abandoned campground raced back into my mind’s eye.
A chill ran down my spine and my stomach soured.
I’d been hungry and now I was feeling sick.
I hadn’t seen it in the vision, but I was pretty sure I knew what the construction guy had found.
The other bits of the vision made sense and felt like Corey business. The camp didn’t.
Faith rolled the tea cart back in, Mom following with a platter of sandwiches she got at the bakery near her tea shop.
Mom pointed to different sections of the platter. “Those are pesto turkey. These are caprese. Those are BLTs. These are fig jam, brie, and prosciutto. And the dark ones are smoked salmon on pumpernickel.”
“Yum, Mom. Those sound great.” I took one of each, the hunger returning with a vengeance. “Was Gran the one who liked the cucumber and watercress ones?” I grimaced, remembering.
Mom nodded. “I almost ordered what I usually did, but I stopped myself. I asked to see her menu so I could pick things I thought the three of us might like.”
Faith took a bite of the BLT. “Thank you, Aunt Sybil. This is really good.”
“I’m glad you like them.” She glanced at me. “We should probably go over what we remember of the vision, so we’re all starting at the same place.”
I wiped my mouth, but Faith spoke first. “That campground felt like a horror movie. Aunt Sybil said the shared visions showed us things we needed to know to help the Coreys, but that didn’t feel like it had to do with us.
It was cold, dark, and wet under that cabin.
” She rubbed her forehead. “I really hope that person was dead before they were stuffed under those floorboards.”
Mom put up a hand, swallowing the bite she’d taken. “What person? I didn’t see a dead person, only the man running the bulldozer and the two men standing under the tree watching.”
“Huh. I didn’t see the other men, or the dead body, for that matter,” I told them.
“But I knew that was what he’d found.” I took a sip of tea.
“I don’t think that part of the vision applies to us.
I have a feeling one of the detectives I help is going to be coming to me about that one soon. Let’s start back at the beginning.”
When I described the car hitting a woman on the side of the road, Mom and Faith shared a look.
“Darling,” Mom began, putting down her teacup.
“That wasn’t any woman. That was you. That was the road in between your gallery and Declan’s workshop.
” Her hand went to her chest. “I almost pulled us all out of the vision when I saw that. You have to promise me—Arwyn, I mean it—you have to promise me you won’t walk between the two.
Wait for Declan to drive you or stay at the studio until he can pick you up.
You have Bracken there too. He can take you anywhere you need to go.
And you can call me. I’ll always come for you. ”
She blinked the sudden tears from her eyes. “You have to promise me. I’ve lost too many. I wouldn’t survive losing you too.”
Sitting forward in the chair, I reached for her hand. “You trained me. You know I can protect myself.”
“You weren’t paying attention,” she said. “The ocean was loud. The cars were loud. And you were staring ahead at Declan’s. You didn’t even know the car was aiming for you.”
“She’s right,” Faith said. “It happened too fast. You didn’t have time to throw a spell.” She looked between Mom and me. “I have my license too. I don’t have a car, but I can drive. And my mom will always come to help us.”
“Promise me you’ll tell Declan,” Mom pushed. “If he knows, he won’t let you walk from one room to the next without escorting you.”
“You’re not really selling this, Mom,” I groused.
“Arwyn.” Mom was giving me her stern voice. Since I could see the fear in her eyes, I nodded.
“I’ll tell him.” I took a bite of the fig and brie—it was delicious—then described the Uncle John vision. They both nodded.
“I need to visit him,” Mom said. “We’re both grieving Sylvia.” She rubbed between her eyebrows. “I’m just so angry with Calliope. I don’t know how to grieve with him when his daughter was the one, the sorcerer, who tortured and killed her mother.”
“I know,” I said, “but he’s lost both his wife and daughter. You said it yourself. You never saw that evil in Cal. Well, neither had he. As far as his heart is concerned, his wife and baby are both gone.”
Mom nodded. “I know you’re right. Sylvia wasn’t only my sister. She was my best friend. I’m equal parts devastated and furious. I don’t know if I would help John or make it worse.”
I thought about it. “I’ll talk with him. I’m going to need his help. We don’t know how long—” I stopped myself and turned to Faith. “We haven’t announced this, but I’m pregnant.”
Faith blew out a breath, muttering, “I knew it.”
“What? How?” If anything, I’d lost weight since I’d gotten pregnant.
Faith grinned. “I felt her. During the shared vision, I felt a fourth with us.”
Mom smiled. “Me too. I didn’t want to freak you out, darling, but I felt her energy too.”
Decidedly disgruntled, I took another bite and swallowed.
“That’s so not fair. How come you guys can feel her and I can’t?
” I waved away the question. “Never mind. I’ll call Uncle John and ask him to come check on her.
We don’t know if it’ll be a normal nine-month pregnancy or a shorter one, since her dad is a werewolf.
And we’re not even sure about the she part.
Dad said he thought she was, but she was barely a clump of cells busy dividing at that point. ”
Mom and Faith shared a look again. “She’s a girl,” Faith confirmed, and Mom nodded.
Faith finished her sandwich, then reached for another. “Why did we have a vision about Mackenzie?”
I took a sip of tea. “Who’s Mackenzie?”
“Frank’s friend Jacob? That was his older sister in the bar,” she explained. “They’re not wicches. I don’t understand why we saw her.”
I glanced at Mom, then turned to Faith. “Did you recognize the man who approached her?”
She shook her head. “It felt like I was floating behind him. I never saw his face.”
“That,” I told her, “was our cousin Colin, who is apparently back to his old tricks.” I spoke to Mom again. “It didn’t occur to me that when Gran stripped his magic, she was holding it. When she was killed, it must have returned to him.”
Mom’s expression was hard and angry. “Your Uncle Joe will be furious, but I’m done. The three of us need to permanently strip him of his gifts.”
“What?” Faith looked like she was tipping into panic. “We can do that?”
“Remember that vow you made to the Goddess?” I asked her.
“This is our job. He’s using the gifts he’s been given to magically roofie women and rape them.
At Aunt Sylvia’s wake, I read people, trying to find the sorcerer.
I discovered what Colin had been doing. Gran stripped his magic, but when Calliope killed Gran, Colin must have regained his magic and is using it to victimize women again. ”
Faith put her plate down on the coffee table. “He does that?” she whispered, horrified.
“He does,” I assured her.
Mom took out her phone and dialed. “Joe, I want you and your son here in under an hour.” She paused listening. “I don’t think you heard me.”
I knew that voice. It made my blood run cold.
“The Three have summoned you. You do not argue with us.” Her voice was like a dagger through the phone line. “You and your son will do as I say and be here in under an hour.” She disconnected and looked up, her expression one of stone.