* * *
Justin sits in the adjoining room, talking on the phone with Chris. He calls me in and hands me the receiver without looking me in the eye.
“Yes?” I say into the phone.
Chris clears his throat and delivers the message. “Calli, I spoke with Clara, and she informed me we need to stay here at the motel until she reaches us. I told her . . . I told her about you and your abilities.”
“She’s coming here?”
“Yes, and she’s bringing most of the Runners. In fact, all the clans are on their way here. The Death Clan is demanding a large gathering of representatives from each clan be in attendance for the handoff.” I remember seeing that information inside Maetha’s mind at Harold Bates’ office. Chris continues, “She recommended I continue to steer clear of you, considering the circumstances.”
“So she thinks I’m a target as much as the diamond is?”
“No, that’s not why she told me to continue to avoid you.”
“She thinks I’m working with a witch. Am I right? You must have told her about my vision.”
“No,” he says with hesitation in his voice.
Why won’t he just come out and tell me why? “Are you sure? The moment I said the word ‘witch’ you high-tailed it away from me.”
“Clara knows things about my situation. That’s why she’s advising me to keep my distance from you and your mind-reading ability.”
“Well, I figure we have about four weeks of wait-time here at this podunk motel in the middle of nowhere. I hope Clara’s credit card will be able to support our bill.”
Chris pauses before saying, “Calli, the meeting is taking place in two days.”
“What?” My breath escapes my chest with a whoosh.
“I told her about the clearing and that you’d already seen it in a vision. She said arrangements will be made for the hand-off to take place at that location. She figures it will take about forty-eight hours for everyone to arrive.” He pauses, then says, “Would you look for my future again?”
“I don’t . . . forty-eight hours? I won’t be able to see exactly what happens. It’s too soon.” My mind still struggles to grasp the news.
“You could look to see if I have a future, or if my future looks like Jonas’s.”
His request unnerves me quite a bit. What does he want me to tell him? Nope, sorry dude, you’re still gonna die. Or, Wow, hey, looks like you’re going to live. He clearly doesn’t understand what he’s asking of me. It’s one thing for me to look and see if I can change the future, it’s another to have to tell someone their life is about to end. I’m actually happy I didn’t immediately tell Jonas of his terminal illness—and upset with myself for ever revealing to Chris his own future isn’t so bright.
“Let me get this straight,” I snap back at him. “You lecture me on nature’s will, then you beg me to go against nature and pull you back from the edge of death by the river, after which you freak out and abandon me. Now, you want to know if you’re going to die at the delivery. Why not roll with Mother Nature’s punches, Chris?”
His reply is soft-spoken. “After nearly drowning, I’ve changed my mind. If you saw me in person, could you do a reading?”
“Yes,” I say as I exhale. Maybe it will get him off my back.
“Would you only search for my future, though, and not delve into my memories like last time?”
“What do you mean?”
“By the river, you broke through my blocking defenses. So can you please only look for my future and not go deeper?”
I broke through his walls? “Okay.”
“I’ll step outside my door, and you step out yours. Don’t come toward me, or I’ll go back in my room,” he threatens.
“Am I that dangerous?”
“Calli, you waltzed right through defenses put in place by a Spellcaster. They were supposed to be unbreakable, and no other Mind-Reader has broken through them, but you blew me away with how easily you did it.”
“You didn’t want me to know how you felt about me, did you?”
“My feelings are not the issue. If a witch is watching both you and Justin, then I can’t have you sifting through my head and discovering—um, it would put everyone in danger.”
“All right. Step outside your door in two minutes.”
Well, that was the biggest temptation of my life! He may as well have dangled a chocolate-covered carrot in front of me. It makes sense to hear he’s distressed about the fact that I’ve broken through his defenses. That is the reason he’s distanced himself. He isn’t necessarily disgusted with me, he’s protecting the group.
I spend the next couple of minutes contemplating what I have decided to change for the future, what I know needs to be altered, and the fact that he won’t approve. But I’ve come to believe this is the way the delivery was meant to happen from the inception. I don’t know why I feel this way, but I do.
Ready to delve into Chris’s mind and see what I can discover, I step outside my door to find Chris standing across the way, looking like a lost puppy, sad eyes and all. My heart clenches. I focus on searching for his future. Before I can see what’s in store, his outermost feelings of disappointment and sorrow fill my mind. He hates himself for hurting me, but there was no other way to protect the team than to distance himself.
The diamond in my pocket warms up as the vision of the future fills my head. I’m bowled over to realize I must be viewing the near future, knowing the delivery is slated to take place in two days. I see the clearing, tents, floodlights, the stone table, the three of us meeting the Death Clan. Chris presents the fake stone, which is immediately detected as a counterfeit. Our clan is sequestered in a tent until a decision can be made. I refuse to surrender the diamond. They tie my hands together and place me on the stone table in a sacrificial position with the diamond resting on my chest. Chris is with the rest of the clan, trying to comprehend what’s happening and basically freaking out, but he is alive. The Death Clan begins the ritual, then an explosion rocks the forest. The Death Clan dies . . . then so do I. The entire scene plays out through Chris’s eyes, meaning he will live through my death and the end of the Death Clan.
I have figured out the solution: keep the diamond, and Chris lives, and the Death Clan will be annihilated.
The diamond cools as soon as the vision is over, leaving me to believe the Seer power held in the diamond is stronger than that of regular Seers. I must have been viewing the near future the entire time whenever I’d seen visions of the delivery over the last few days.
I turn and walk back into the room and sit down in a chair by the table. Others mingle amongst themselves and talk about trivial matters, unaware I have just seen my own death. I feel sick. The phone rings, most likely Chris calling, but I don’t want to talk to him, not yet.
“Calli.” Jessica extends her arm with the receiver in hand.
“Tell him he lives,” I reply without even looking at her.
“What?”
“Just . . . tell him he lives.” I choke out the order on my way to the bathroom. I hear Jessica repeat what I said and then she tells Chris I don’t want to talk to him. I’m sure that goes over quite well. I don’t care. I figured out how to save Chris and bring about the fall of the Death Clan, but doing so requires my own death. I’m at peace with this new scenario. Sick to my stomach, but at ease.
I sit on the bathroom floor waiting, expecting Chris to come and talk everything out, but he never does. I try to go to Maetha with my thoughts, but that doesn’t happen either. After a while, I pull myself up off the floor and decide to take a walk because the sun has gone down and no one can follow.
While I walk the sidewalks of the peaceful town, I contemplate my death, and a question arises in my mind. I’m a human with powers derived from a magical stone. Maetha cast spells of protection over me, so how can Death people kill me? I can’t ask anyone or they might wonder why I would ask such a question. One thing’s for sure: I watched my life end
through Chris’s eyes.
I return to the room and settle into bed. No one speaks to me or asks me any questions.