He had drawn a boy on a horse for one, then the other was a woman holding hands with a little boy on the hillside. I felt hands on my shoulders and looked up at Caleb.
“Hey…what?” His face was white as a sheet.
“Maggie, look at these drawings.”
“I see them. What?”
He pointed to the name on top. I don’t know how I missed it. “Seth.”
“Oh, my… What does this mean?” I turned and looked at him frantically. “Ashlyn warned us. Did we miss something?”
“Come on.” He snatched the drawings from the mantel, and we hurried to the truck where a few of the rescued people were still sitting, waiting for us to leave. “Was there a child down in the cells with you?” he asked them.
“No,” the fragile woman answered. I sighed, but before I could relax, she broke my heart in two. “He doesn’t stay down there with us, they keep him in the house. My cell neighbor had him several years ago, but they…got rid of her. They raise him now. They bring him down to the cells sometimes. They tell him we’re criminals.”
“Caleb,” I said, knowing we failed. “She said I wasn’t seeing it properly. She told me!”
He took me and hugged me hard to his chest, sighing into my hair. “Baby, it’s not your fault they ran with him. Look at all these people you saved.”
“He’s just a little boy.” I sniffed.
“We’ll keep looking,” he promised and kissed my forehead. “We won’t stop looking for him.”
When we got back home, we took the rescues to the hospital. Some of the family members thought it might be exposing our kind if they talked, but honestly, they would just think it was a crazy family that kidnapped them. Fact was, the Watsons had no powers. The police crawled all over that place, but found nothing to lead them to where the Watsons were. They eventually just left it, abandoned, a crime scene with no leads. Somehow, the Watsons had gotten the money to pay the mortgages they were behind on, barely, so they owned the land again outright.
We just had to wait for them to return to it.
All the children were asleep when we finally got home that night. Caleb and I just crawled into the big bed in Caleb’s old room with them and held on tight. I couldn’t help but cry for Seth, a little boy I didn’t even know. I had failed him. Even though Caleb tried to soothe me and take all my hurt away, I knew it was all my fault.
The next morning, I snuck out of the arms and limbs in my bed and Gran, Rachel, and I made pancakes for everyone. It was a full house at Peter’s, but even still, I didn’t have the energy to change out of my pineapple pajama shorts and t-shirt the kids bought me for my birthday last year. I heard Caleb’s thoughts when he woke up, so I started making his coffee with mine. I fingered the hem of my shorts while the coffee brewed. I wondered if Seth even knew who his mother was.
Hands gripped my waist. “You’ve got to stop doing this to yourself, baby,” he drawled into the back of my neck before kissing the skin there. “You can’t blame yourself for the actions of others.”
I turned and faced him, sighing at the sight of him. I bit my lip and ran my hand through his hair to help him tame it. “Morning,” I whispered.
“Are you trying to rile me up this morning?” he asked, his voice that low, husky tone usually reserved for a flight of stairs above us. He ran his fingers along the seam of my short’s leg. “Pancakes, coffee, and…pineapple shorts?”
I gave him the small smile he was looking for. He gave me the dimples I wanted in return. I closed the small distance between us and right as our lips touched, our new wonderful life interrupted us.
“Ew, Daddy.”
We both looked over at Rodney who was half smiling, half barf-faced.
“Ew?” Caleb asked. “Ew, really?” He laughed as he scooped him up and threw him over his shoulder. He came back to me. “We’ll finish this later, Mommy.”
I smiled and giggled. “Yes, Daddy.”
He kissed me loudly, smacking my butt as he walked away.
“Ew, ew, ew!” Rodney chanted as Caleb trotted away with him laughing.
We ate breakfast all together, spirits lifted. Everyone felt this victory in their very souls, so I tried with everything in me to portray my happiness with them since they all looked to me to lead them. And I was happy, I just knew it wasn’t over. And the fact that it was a helpless child I had failed was making the guilt multiply.
Later that night, we went back to our home. After dinner, we watched a movie with Ava and Rodney, anything to keep them with us and not leave them alone.
Ava blurted out of nowhere. “Did you see Seth yesterday, Daddy?”
I froze. Caleb turned to her slowly and gave her a little smile, trying his best to look normal. “Who? Who’s Seth, Ava?”
“Ashlyn told me about him. She told me you’d save him. She said that he would be my friend one day.” She looked up from her cookies and milk with the most innocent, hopeful look. “Did you save him, Daddy?”
Caleb was stunned silent. Ava went on. “I know you saw him, Daddy.” She hopped down and went into his coat pocket, grabbing the drawings that we’d taken from the Watson’s. “See?” She laid it on the table and pointed to the boy and the woman on the hill. “This is Seth and this is Ashlyn.”
“How do you know this, baby girl?” he asked as he hoisted her up in his arms.
This was in my pocket all night, Maggie.
“Ashlyn told me,” Ava answered, like she was getting exasperated. “She said you were going to save him.”
“Sweetheart, I…” My heart literally broke right there. Why was Ashlyn doing this? Why was she messing with our children when it was just going to break their hearts if something went wrong? I didn’t understand. “I’m so sorry, Ava.”
I moved close to hug her, but the second I touched her skin, I was blinded by white light. I heard Caleb’s gasp, so I knew he was with me on this one. Ava giggled. “It’s just Ashlyn. She won’t hurt you.”
And then Ashlyn was there. She didn’t look real here. She looked like a dream or a ghost. She smiled. It was genuine and it was the first time I’d seen her where she didn’t look like she was going insane. “Ashlyn?”
“I’m sorry, Maggie. I know you’re probably upset. But this is the only way I get any peace.” She smiled at Ava. “And Ava is so sweet and so fun to be with. And Rodney. And…Seth.”
I sighed. Caleb’s arm around me tightened. “Ashlyn, just tell us what’s going on.”
“I can’t leave the palace. I’m stuck there. When your children were born, that was the first time since I died that I was able to leave, to get any peace from the madness that I’ve felt ever since Richard and I were supposed to imprint and weren’t allowed to. I don’t know why, I don’t know how, but I can come visit them and they’re the only ones that can see me.” She nodded and smiled. “Unless you touch them and have a vision at the same time.”
“So…” my heart lifted, “you can still talk to Seth?”
She pursed her lips. “It takes a lot of energy to come, so I can only come once every few days. And I’ve noticed that the older the children have gotten over the years, the less often they see me. Sometimes I come and they don’t notice me. Which makes me think that soon, they won’t notice at all.”
“Why?” Caleb said when I couldn’t. “What purpose other than you wanting to get out of the palace?”
“I promise you I never wanted to hurt anyone. I just wanted to spend time with them. And you. Even though you couldn’t see me, your family gave me some semblance of what my family use to be like.” The wistful look on her face was heartbreaking. “But then I saw those people that the Watsons were keeping and had to get you to save them. It was the only way to save Seth.”
“But I didn’t save him, Ashlyn.” A sob caught in my throat. “We were too late. Seth’s gone. I didn’t save him.” I looked down at Ava. “I’m sorry, baby.”
“Visionary,” Ashlyn called loudly and squinted at me, “your job is done. Everythin
g you should have accomplished was done so.”
I shook my head at her, my mouth open. “No. They have Seth. I didn’t get to him in time.”
“I never said to take him away from them, I said to save him.” I scoffed, angry at her statement. What games was she playing with me? She came forward and smiled genuinely. “Even now you doubt yourself.” I pressed my lips together. “Don’t,” she said harder. “You are who you are for a reason. I sent you there to save all those people from the Watsons. That in turn will save Seth.”
“I don’t understand.”
“They were grooming him to be a monster like them. Now, their course is altered, their choices, different. They must do something different in their journey to find what they’re looking for, and I see a different path for our Seth. One that will lead him back to us.”
“What do you see?”
“I can’t tell you. But I’ll tell you this—we’ll see him again.” She smiled and tapped the end of Ava’s nose with her finger. “You’ll see.”
“Promise?” Ava begged. “You said he would be my friend one day?”
“He will, Ava. Promise.”
“So what about me?” I asked. “I’m supposed to just forget about that little boy and let them raise him, not look for him, not try to find him and take him?”
“When he’s ready, he’ll find you.”
“Then what?”
“Then, you can save him. He’ll need you.” She looked at Ava. “He’ll need you, too.” She stood straighter. “In the meantime, you know what you have to do.”
Before she even finished the sentence, I knew what she meant. The council. The council was history. She nodded and smiled. “And you know who will replace them.” My mouth opened in surprise that I hadn’t seen it before. There, in the midst of all that gibberish was an infinity symbol made of names. Maggie, Caleb, Kyle, Lynne, Bish, Jen, Haddock, Heather. She nodded again. “Yes. All is as it should be, Visionary. You are right where you should be. It’s just a matter of getting it done.”
I sighed, not wanting the task of firing council members at all, ever, in the least. “And then what, Ashlyn?”
“And then…war, Visionary. War.”
Ava
I waited for that day, for that one thing to complete me. To feel someone's heartbeat inside my chest and know that it was reciprocated. To find the one who belonged to me and could be the one to make me whole.
I still waited. I was a sophomore in high school. Graduating and heading off to U of T in a just two years so I could be an architect, just like Grandpa.
We just got back from the last reunification. Mom had taken fire for her new rule about the Visionary being able to work and have a day job rather than just…being the Visionary. They wanted her to be 'accessible' at all times and she warred on that she could be accessible and still work with Daddy at the centers as well. That's what cell phones were for.
So I watched as Dad was being extra nice and attentive by cooking dinner that night since, even though she was the Visionary, it sucked when people were against you and questioned your dedication.
Wanna know what else sucked? Being the Visionary's daughter. And the clan leader's daughter deducted even more points.
I loved my parents, don't get me wrong. They were great. Rodney and I both were pretty grounded. We went to the private school here and he played football while I played volleyball. I'd been working at the learning centers for Daddy for a year now.
I loved it, but planned to go work for Grandpa as soon as I graduated from college. Dad was fine with it. He of all people knew what it was like to want to be something, to have the fire for something.
I was fascinated by the thought that I could create something like that.
We used to travel around with Daddy's job, staying in a place for a couple months before moving on to the next place. It might not sound so appealing, but it really was amazing to live in all those states. We lived in New York, Washington, Chicago, Texas, and about fifteen other states. But, when I was almost in high school, they wanted us to settle down, so we moved back to Tennessee and Daddy bought Mom a big, beautiful red house with a wraparound white porch. Rodney's old fort made from wood slats was still in the backyard, though he hadn't been back there in years.
It was our home and I loved it, but also couldn't wait to leave it. My teenage heart was so fickle. But the one thing it wasn't fickle on was wanting my significant.
So, back to the part where I was waiting. Even though I wasn't of age yet, every reunification brought anxiousness for me. I was fifteen. Mom was only seventeen when she imprinted and since all the rules were being broken, I couldn't help but hope that I would imprint soon.
It was more than just wanting to have somebody, it was like this thing in my body was pulled just a little too tight. Just enough to annoy and bother me, but not enough to be painful. My significant was the only one who could make me feel normal. I knew it.
Dad tossed the noodles with the white sauce, Mom's favorite, and divided it onto four plates as our new puppy Mavis rubbed against my leg. Dad glanced up at me with a smile. "Put ice in some glasses for me, sweetheart?"
"Sure."
"Rodney. Rodney!" he called louder.
Rodney took his earphones out and looked at him. "Yeah?"
"Silverware."
"Why are you cooking again?" he asked. "Mom's a way better cook than you."
"Hey!" Dad laughed and slung a noodle at him. It landed on Rodney's face and hair.
He jumped back like that would save him, but it was too late. "Dude!" he shrieked, his voice cracking with puberty as he swatted at his shagged hair. "Dude, my hair!"
Dad and I were laughing so hard, we could barely stand up as Rodney went on. Rodney jumped across the counter and stuck his finger in the sauce before holding it out to Dad. "You're gonna get it, old man."
I ducked out of the way, fearful of my own hair, and giggled by the fridge as they fought and wrestled. I felt Mom's hands on my arms and heard her laugh behind me. "Oh, my. Ava, what's going on?"
"Dad pulled the unforgiveable. He got noodles in Rod's hair."
She giggled and came around me with her blue silk robe on and bare feet. "Is all this for me?" she crooned sweetly, looking around at the mess on the counter.
"Mom, totally his fault." Rodney pointed at Dad shamelessly as he laughed.
"Oh, I believe you." She wrapped her arms around Dad's neck and wiped a smidge of sauce from his cheek with her thumb.
"You believe him over me?" Daddy asked, his voice changing like it always did where Mom was concerned.
She laughed, reaching up on her tiptoes and kissed him. "Thank you for cooking dinner. You didn't have to."
"I wanted to," he replied. His voice and eyes held a reverence that I'd always seen and heard about my whole life, but never experienced. "You earned it. You're such a good woman, and I know the reunifications take it out of you."
I had watched my parents for what seemed like centuries. The way they existed so effortlessly in each other's world and space. They could go minutes without looking away from each other. They kissed constantly. They hugged all the time, stole touches and wrapped their fingers around the other's wrist. I knew it was to feel their calm, to be wrapped in the little bit of bliss that their touch provided.
I felt like I was watching a romance novel play out before my eyes.
"I'm OK," she told him and whispered her next words. "Thank you for this. And for earlier. I really needed it."
"Eew. Gross. Stop," Rodney said, hands up. He threw some forks haphazardly on the table. "Don't you see the way my ears are singed?"
Mom laughed. "I was talking about the bubble bath your father made me, you goober." She reached up again, kissing Daddy on the lips, but he reached around her and drew her in even more. I turned to fill the glasses. It was disgusting, they were my parents after all, but I was also envious. Things were still a little up in the air with the imprints and everything. It seemed that things
had gone back to normal for the most part, except there were no more age limits. You met them when you met them and that was that.
So instead of knowing I'd meet the person I wanted most in a few years while in college, I was forced to spend my days waiting.
The only thing a girl in high school, who's never dated anyone before, wants is to find someone to love her. I was breaking out and going my own way, and while I was reinventing myself to become the me I would always be, I was dying to throw my epic love story in the mix.
"I love you, Maggie," I heard behind me.
"I love you more."
"Go sit. I'll bring you a plate." And I waited for it…
The sound of Daddy's palm lightly smacking Mom's butt was my cue that it was okay to turn around now. Mom shook her head at Dad as she took a seat. Dad, smug as all get out, brought her plate, kissing her forehead as he sat it in front of her, before setting the rest of the table and playfully yelling at Rodney to sit down and behave like a Jacobson.
They were so predictable. And adorable. And so in love with each other it hurt to look at them.
Two
Six Years Later
Ava
I yawned and got the stink eye from Professor Gracco. I loved and hated class, but it was the last week of them before summer break. Every class was a yawn-fest. The teachers knew it, but I think it just made them that much more ornery.
The minutes crawled by and my watch kept winking at me, taunting, begging me to keep looking at it so the time would move even slower.
Only two more years of this and I'd graduate and could go work at the firm with Grandpa. Well, not for very long because he was retiring in a few years. But the chance to work with him at all would be worth it. He was happy that I'd decided to come work with them. A few other family members had taken a cue from Dad and went their own way, running a business that they wanted instead.