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able to control her powers? Take care of her, Charma; help
her, Leonardo; and protect her, Kal. Isabelle has been with
us for a smidgen of days and she's already more in control
of her abilities than you will ever be because all you do is
dither around and tap into this power and tap into that
power and stare at the ocean. You've been back from the
orphanage for a quarter of a century. Time to maybe start
moving on! Maybe if the Darkness comes today he'll take
you by the hand gently and make sure nothing bad happens
to you, maybe he'll—"
"Enough!" Kal bellowed at the others. Whatever it
was that Leonardo was going to say was stopped abruptly
by the sheer force of Kal's authority. "Do you think this is
helpful? You open your mouth for the first time in ten years
and the most useful thing that you can do is yell at Charma
and pick on Marina? How is this fixing anything? Veli
needs to be made to tell us what's going on. Isabelle isn't
going to be doing any jumping back in time until I'm
convinced that he is not holding back something that is
potentially dangerous to her. And nothing is going to be
fixed by fighting amongst ourselves. Marina sees Veli
differently than the three of us do, fine. Marina, Leonardo
is right, it's time to stop screwing around and work with
your powers." Kal paused, squeezing Isabelle's hand. "I'll
make Veli talk. You can count on it.
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"We're a family," Kal finished his thought.
"Dysfunctional as hell but this is the only family any of us
are likely to get. I found Isabelle. You all have someone out
there too. I believe it in my soul. Isabelle and I used to visit
each other in our dreams, we still do but now we know
we're not just imagining each other. Do any of you have
that going on?"
Silence filled the room once again and Kal sighed
deeply, turning as if he would follow Veli from the room.
Isabelle looked around even as she dove deep into Kal's
mind. They had too many years, he thought, too many
years of not quite trusting each other. Too many years of
not being sure that Veli was going to explode and watching
out for their own individual interests only.
"When I was in the orphanage," Marina began,
stopping Kal in his tracks, "I used to call out at night in my
dreams. That's how I eventually found Charma but before
that I used to talk every night to this boy, I don't know his
name, but he was very important to me. I knew how to
speak to him almost before I knew how to literally speak. I
can remember that we would just send each other images of
things. I used to tell him how awful things were and he
would promise that he was going to come get me. Terribly
responsible for a four year old, I guess. One day he just
didn't answer me anymore. It felt like I had lost a leg. I
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think he died. I think my soul mate died. Why else would
he have stopped answering? He used to tell me that when
he grew up, he would find me. Do you think he's dead?"
Marina's eyes filled with tears and Charma reached out to
pull her into her embrace.
"That's what I was talking about, Marina. You are
so powerful that you reached out across oceans to find
Charma and now you're telling me you used to speak
nightly to a little boy that we don't know yet. Do you have
any idea what you must be capable of?" Leonardo reached
out to touch Marina on the shoulder. Isabelle thought it
looked like an awkward gesture, but at least he was trying.
"I used to feel this presence with me." Charma let
go of Marina. "It was almost like we were walking through
life together but then as we got older he seemed to forget
me and then one day he was gone. So if my other half is out
there he certainly doesn't remember anything about me."
Charma shrugged. "I'm not sure I could handle another
person in my life, not another person that I was that closely
connected to anyhow. I can barely get through the day
without being inundated with other people's problems, how
on earth would I be able to handle the emotional burdens of
someone I was in love with? I think Kal might have been
the only one of us who was even capable of loving
someone else that completely."
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"What?" Kal looked shocked. "I'm probably the
most screwed up of any of you. I belong in the zoo, not
around people. I practically become an animal every month
when the moon changes and I'm not even that good at what
I'm supposed to be doing. I don't protect anybody. All of
my college friends are dead just because they knew me. I
wasn't able to save Isabelle's parents. I keep thinking any
second that this beautiful gift I've been given in Isabelle is
going to go away. Someone's going to say 'whoops, she
wasn't meant for you' and then she'll be gone."
"I've told you before and I'll say it again, I was
meant for only you. I doubt the majestic chanters upstairs,
you know those supreme beings that are watching us,
would have started singing and chanting in our heads every
time we're together if we were meant to be with other
people. I doubt they make that kind of mistake and even if
somebody did come down and tell me I had to go to
someone else, I wouldn't leave. I love you and I'll kick
anyone's ass who tries to separate us," Isabelle asserted.
"She was made just for you, wasn't she?" Leonardo
laughed. "She's the only woman I've ever met who is
stubborn enough to put up with your temper and still come
out on top."
"What about you, Leonardo? Have you felt or
spoken with your other half? Any idea where she might
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be?" Isabelle laughed.
"How do you know I'm not gay?" Leonardo's eyes
spoke of seriousness.
"Are you gay?" Isabelle eyes widened. It was totally
fine if Leonardo was gay, she had lots of gay friends, and
she had just assumed that everyone was paired up man and
woman.
"No," he laughed. "I'm not gay. I'm just pointing out
that there might be some problems in this whole soul mate
phenomena. What if one of our others is gay? What if they
are married with children? Are we going to separate them?
Ask them to leave their families and come live with us?
What if they don't like Maine? What if they don't speak
English?"
"Do you stay up at night and worry about these
things?" Kal asked seriously.
"Yep."
"Let me say that with this whole married, sexual
orientation thing. I never had sex with anyone but Kal.
Have you guys been sleeping
around?" Isabelle asked.
"No." Charma laughed. "I can barely touch anyone
without seeing their whole lives let alone sleep around. I
don't want to know if the person I am kissing stole pain
killers from his near death grandmother to sell to his high
school buddies."
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"No." Marina folded her hands together. "The truth
is that I hardly speak to anyone outside of our little family
anymore. I just feel lost most of the time."
"Not sleeping around." Leonardo looked up at the
ceiling before he glanced back at the group. "I'm not going
to say I've never been sexually active, that would be a lie,
but I don't sleep around. It's always been just okay. I guess
I'm the only guy on the planet who is not totally sexually
motivated."
"It was like that for me too. It's better with your soul
mate," Kal answered.
"Thanks, babe." Isabelle laughed. "I think the other
Outsiders, the other people out there who are like us, are
having the same problems. I think they are more or less
waiting for their other halves too. We can find them."
"I didn't answer your question, Isabelle," Leonardo
finally finished. "I used to talk to my other half all the time
and then one day she changed. We used to meet in our
dreams too. She was beautiful, I guess I shouldn't say was,
I'm sure she is still beautiful but she is," Leonardo didn't
finish his thought and instead closed his mouth like it
pained him to continue.
"She's what?" Isabelle narrowed her gaze.
"She joined with him."
"Who?" Kal lowered his voice.
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"Him. The Darkness. Every time we are attacked,
every time something happens, I feel her as part of it. I'm
terrified to find her. I'm going to have to kill her, or worse,
maybe I'll have to ask Kal to kill her. I don't let myself
meet her anymore. I don't let myself see her so I guess I
don't have a soul mate anymore. I know she was beautiful
but I don't let myself see her face or hear her. Her name sits
on the tip of my tongue but I can't seem to recall it or say
it." Leonardo let his hands run through his hair. "I think I'm
the most fucked up one in this room and I don't ever want
to discuss it again." A gaping silence filled the room,
hitting each one of them with the severity of their situation.
Marina finally cleared her throat. "I'll work on my
powers,"
"I know you will." Leonardo sounded tired. "I'm
sorry I yelled."
"Don't put it off for ten years and maybe you won't
explode next time." Marina laughed.
"Ethereal and young." Isabelle wanted to get some
space and to give Leonardo some. "Ana was ethereal and so
terribly young to be dead for so long." She smiled weakly
at everyone and headed back towards Kal's room. She
knew he would follow quietly behind her and she was
desperate and bone tired, needing only to fall into his arms
for some support.
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"I was thinking," Kal breathed into her ear and
sending shivers down her spine as he came up behind her,
pushing her into the room in front of him. She smiled,
sensing his warmth and feeling so glad that they were
alone. She needed to digest what had just happened. Every
instinct in her body was telling her that she needed to help
heal their sadness but she also knew she couldn't fix the
world. Maybe it wasn't her job, maybe that job belonged to
their brethren that were still missing, the ones who were
connected to the three amazing individuals wandering
around this island. The three lost souls who were trying to
cope with impossible odds and still figure out who they
were and how they were going to get through what they
still had to do.
"Once this is over we should go collect some of
your things and bring them here so you don't have stare at
my stuff all the time without any of your stuff to go along
with it."
"Hmmm." Isabelle could barely answer. She was
beyond weary as she pulled his arms tighter around her.
She loved when he talked about the future; it made her
imagine that one day all of this preparation and the
upcoming task that she had to undertake would be nothing
but a memory. Kal began placing kisses on her neck and
Isabelle could already feel her body beginning to heat up to
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his touch. Her revelry was short lived as not two seconds
later the doorbell to the house rang. Kal's whole body
began to tense.
"Someone got onto the island and didn't sound an
alarm." He let go of her and charged down the hall and
towards the front door. Isabelle ran after him and arrived
just in time to see Dot opening the door. There she was,
sweet, caring, and speaking to the people in front of her.
An ache of déjà vu greeted Isabelle. Her mom had
innocently opened the door just two days ago and now she
was gone. People did that, she realized—they opened the
door when it rang and never expected that anyone on the
other side wanted to harm them. Dot should know better,
she realized, Dot had lost her family. She shouldn't just
open the door. She wished she could scream. Was this
panic normal? Was Charma's spell going to stop now? Kal
had been so upset that they had surprised them by getting to
the door. How had they done that? What did it mean?
Three men stood in front of Dot. They varied in age
and size. Two of them, both dark and older, were flanked
by a younger man who stood in the middle. But it was the
man on the right who had Isabelle's attention. She and Kal
had seen him before; he was the one who had murdered her
parents. Rage and terror swept through Isabelle faster than
she could control them, replacing her earlier panic. She
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wanted blood, she wanted that man's blood. She knew Kal
would get it for her as he pushed her back behind the
landing of the stairs.
"Don't let them see you," he whispered in her ear.
His breath was warm and moist and she could feel the
tension mounting in the room. Could the others feel it? Did
they know that her warrior was calling down his elements?
Did anyone besides her know what that meant?
The four other Outsiders were communicating
telepathically. Isabelle felt like she could hear bits and
pieces of their conversation. Anytime that Kal spoke she
could hear what he said but the others were still hidden
from her, mostly. Sometimes she could make out pieces of
what Charma was saying, probably because Charma had
been in her head. Veli had still not shown up. It was
possible that wherev
er he had gone to recover from Ana's
visit, he didn't yet know that they had unwanted visitors.
Her heart was pounding.
Kal and Leonardo had stepped forward and
Leonardo had placed his arm around Dot, leading her
towards the other room. She couldn't see what he was
whispering to her but Dot was listening to him. Charma and
Marina had appeared seemingly from nowhere and were
standing around her. Isabelle didn't know if she should be
offended that they were all protecting and shielding her.
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She figured she was just as capable of taking care of herself
as Charma was but she wasn't going to complain about it
right at that moment.
"I'm sorry to bother you, folks. This is quite a little
island set up you have here. We weren't sure we could get
to this place, considering the strange weather we've been
having. It seemed every time we came to make the trip, it
would start to shower," the older gentleman to the left was
saying. "My name is Roger Drake, and I'm the sheriff of
Parma."
Parma, Isabelle remembered, was the mainland
town that Dot took the boat to when they needed supplies.
It's where they had left her car. These men already knew
she was here.
"This gentleman right here is my assistant deputy.
His name is Drew Polanski, he insisted on coming with us."
There was a tone to the Sheriff's voice when he said that.
For some reason he wasn't happy that the younger officer
was there. Drew Polanski didn't squirm at this
admonishment; he barely seemed to notice as his eyes
prowled around the front hall like an animal, Isabelle
realized. Drew had been scouting out the place like he was
memorizing it, so he could come back later.
For a second, Isabelle could have sworn that he had
seen her, although she knew that was next to impossible