She scanned the rest of the yard, and her heart nearly jumped out of her chest when she found the old magnolia tree. One branch hung limply onto the ground, the obvious markings of a lightning strike at the place where it split from the tree trunk. It was the very same limb that had been afflicted in her nightmare. She took a step back with her mouth agape just as a breeze picked up and, riding upon it, a lone black raven’s feather drifted in through the opened window.
Kerrigan wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. She wanted to get the hell out of there.
When she was about to make her escape, the humming of their song became louder. No longer the sound of a distant memory, but much closer. Behind her. She turned around, and the sight in front of her sent her barreling backward toward the open window. An invisible hand shot out and grabbed her arm, pulling her to safety before she could fall to her death. Once she caught her breath, she made her way over to the bed on shaky legs, and sat down before finding the courage to speak.
“Grammy?” She looked into her grandmother’s crystal blue eyes as she sat next to her.
Availia smiled warmly at her granddaughter, her long white hair creating a halo around her angelic face. She patted Kerrigan’s hand. “I’m sorry, Sunshine. I didn’t mean to frighten you. How are you, dear? Are you settling in well?” she asked as if it were just any normal visit.
“No. I mean, yeah, I’m fine,” Kerrigan stuttered. “I miss you.” She choked back sobs, embracing the one person she longed for above all others.
She was so happy to see her grandmother that her confusion over everything else was almost forgotten. Kerrigan was so astonished by how solid her grandmother felt, not at all like the apparition she thought she would be. She almost questioned whether or not she had actually died at all.
“I miss you, too.” Availia held her granddaughter and rubbed her back in a soothing motion. “But, I’m always here, Sunshine. Even when you can’t see me, I’m watching over you.”
“Grammy, I have so many questions,” Kerrigan began in a rush.
“Shh, I know,” Availia interrupted her. “We have little time, but I will try to answer as many as I can before our time is up. Now, where would you like to start?”
“Why is Dominic here? Why is he so important to you? Have I met him before? Because there’s just something so familiar about him. It’s like I know him when it’s just not possible that I do.” Kerrigan stopped suddenly, realizing that she sounded like a raving lunatic. She took a deep breath before she continued. “What’s going on here, Grammy?”
A soft laugh spilled from Availia’s lips, the sound akin to an angel’s choir, for she was most certainly a member of their elite league now. “So many questions, young one, yet you’ve already answered yourself.”
Kerrigan looked at her grandmother, her obscure words confusing her even more. “I’m sorry, Grammy, but you’re going to have to break it down for me a little better than that because I have no clue what you’re talking about.”
Availia laughed. “I suppose I can be a bit cryptic, can’t I?” She cupped Kerrigan’s face in her hands. “Dominic is here to protect you, as you are the only one who can protect him in my absence. The Light will help you accomplish that task.”
“And what, exactly, is the Light?” Kerrigan asked in frustration as her hands formed quotation marks in the air. “I mean no disrespect, Grammy, but you’ve talked about this…this Light throughout my entire life, and not once have you ever offered an explanation as to what it is.”
“I know, and I’m sorry about that. I thought I would have more time,” Availia said as she patted her granddaughter’s knee. “There are choices that we must make in life, Kerrigan. Imagine a human life drawn out like a map. Your birth is where your journey begins; your fate is where it ends. But it’s never a straight road that we travel. Along the way, destiny brings us to these crossroads of sorts where we exercise our free will to determine what we hope is the best path to take. Our paths cross others’ paths, which cross other paths…and so our decisions affect many lives. This is the way it has been since the beginning of time.
Free will is a gift bestowed upon us by design. It keeps life balanced and in order. Without it, we’d be nothing more than someone else’s pawns…inhuman…incapable of truly living. There are those who are granted a special gift to help protect our free will for the better good. People like you and I. Unfortunately, where there is good, there is also evil.”
“Meaning?” Kerrigan asked with a furrowed brow.
“Let’s just say that there are some pretty unsavory people out there who believe that forcing or even stealing the choice of others will help their own cause. And they’re not above using unnatural forces to get what they want.”
Kerrigan nodded her head, reasonably sure she understood.
“And what about Dominic?”
“Ah, yes. Dominic.” Her gaze fixated on the empty corner of the room. She smiled gently before turning back to Kerrigan. “Remember those unsavory people I spoke of? Well, there are some who would benefit greatly if they were able to strip Dominic of his free will. You must make sure that they do not succeed, Kerrigan. Your paths have crossed for that reason. There will be an unbreakable bond forged between the two of you. He will help you along as you discover who you really are, and as you learn more about your abilities and each other, the bond will grow stronger and stronger.” Her solid features began to dissipate, making her look more like an apparition.
A dull ache spread across Kerrigan’s brow, growing at an alarming rate. She felt like she might be coming down with something, but she fought back the urge to lay down because she didn’t know how much time she had left with her grandmother. She was desperately trying to commit everything she had learned to memory, but she still had questions.
“Grammy, what abilities are you talking about?” she asked, trying to concentrate on her grandmother’s fading appearance. The dull ache in her head was becoming stronger and her body began to feel lethargic.
“Oh, silly me. I forgot about that part, didn’t I? The Light, of course. You are a Guardian of the Light, Sunshine. And, the Light will help you accomplish your task. You have only to will it, and it will be so. It is why I’m here now. You wanted me to be here when you came into the room, and so I am here. But it is time for me to go. I’ve stayed too long,” she said with a tone of sadness and finality as she stood and started toward the door. “I will not appear in this way to you again, Kerrigan. It takes far too much of your strength.”
“Wait, Grammy!” Kerrigan reached out toward her grandmother, but her hand went straight through Availia’s fading form. “Please don’t go!”
She stood up to follow Availia, her head spinning and her legs feeling weak and shaky as she stumbled toward the door. She wasn’t moving nearly as fast as she wanted, her feeble attempts to increase her speed falling short, and the simple task of lifting her legs became more and more difficult. Through her blurred vision, she saw Availia disappear through the closed door and in her disoriented state, Kerrigan continued after her. She had apparently misjudged the distance and placement of the door because the next thing she knew, her body was slamming into the hard wood. Excruciating pain ricocheted through her head, and her blurry vision went dark as she felt herself falling to the floor.
Kerrigan awoke in her bed the next morning feeling dazed and confused. She looked around, almost expecting to see her grandmother still by her side. The only thing she found was the familiar surroundings of her own room. It must have all been a dream. A very weird, confusing dream, but a dream all the same. It had felt so real.
“Something is seriously wrong with me,” she murmured to herself as she wiped the sleep from her eyes.
A soft knock sounded at her door. “Kerrigan, we’re about to leave.” Priscilla turned the knob and peeked her head inside. “Thought you might want to come down and see us off. After all, it’ll be a while before you see us again.”
She attempted to sit up, but when
she lifted her head, a dull throb began in her forehead and traveled to the back of her skull. “Ugh, I feel like I either got hit by a Mack truck or went on a serious alcohol bender last night,” she said while rubbing the right corner of her forehead.
“Are you okay, sweetheart?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just give me a minute, and I’ll be down.”
“Okay, well, we’ll see you downstairs then,” her mother said before pulling the door to.
Kerrigan managed to climb out of her bed and shuffled into the hallway and into the bathroom where she found some aspirin. She popped three for good measure and washed them down with a glass of water. Then she washed her face, pulled her hair up, and brushed her teeth before going downstairs to see her parents off.
“So,” Hudson said awkwardly, rocking back and forth on his heels with his hands in his pockets. He was standing in the driveway by the car, having finished loading his and Priscilla’s bags in the trunk. “I guess this is it. You’re going to be on your own now.”
Kerrigan was going to miss her parents, but she knew the separation would be harder on her father than on her. He was relinquishing control of her life, and that worried him. He was probably most worried about the fact that he was leaving his baby girl alone in a house with a stranger. A man he had no history on, but who his own elderly mother felt safe enough to be alone in a house with. Still, it was enough to make any father nervous.
“Dad, it’ll be okay,” she reassured him and then walked down the steps to wrap her arms around his chest for a hug. “You worry too much. I’ll be fine.”
“I know, I know. I just don’t like this set up, Kerrigan. I know my mother would never leave you alone in a house with anyone she thought wasn’t trustworthy, but I don’t know…”
“I’m not alone. Gabe’s here.”
“Well, I guess I should be comforted by that. He probably would be more dangerous than any real man ever could be,” he relented with a slight chuckle. “Besides, I told Mr. Rockband in there that he better damn well take care of you, because if anything happens to you on his watch, he’s going to have to deal with me.”
Kerrigan sighed. Dominic was probably ready to run for the hills. She knew how threatening her father could come off when it came to her. Plus, she was a little ticked that he was still trying to put someone in charge of her, once again denying her independence. But she knew it was only out of concern, and she would just make sure that Dominic knew his place should he try any of that domineering crap with her.
Hudson wrapped his arms around his daughter’s waist and hugged her back so tight she was afraid he might change his mind and drag her back to Chicago with him. “I’m going to miss you, baby girl.” He kissed the top of her head, just like he used to do when she was a kid.
“I’ll miss you, too.” Kerrigan sighed and squeezed him a little tighter before pulling away and smiling up at him.
She heard the old creak of the spring on the screen door before it smacked back into place, and then her mother’s voice carried down to her. “And, what about me? Does it count for nothing that I carried you around for nine months and pushed you out of my vagina?”
“Mom!” Kerrigan gasped in mock shock. Gabe’s knack for unexpected outbursts was definitely rubbing off on her mother.
Priscilla sashayed down the steps with a sly smile on her face as if she had not said or done anything improper. The skirt of her dress swished around her legs with the sway of her hips, and Kerrigan couldn’t help but notice the immediate trance her father fell under.
As her mother’s arms opened in invitation, Kerrigan rushed into them, embracing her tightly and inhaling the signature white musk scent of Priscilla’s perfume.
“Oh, baby,” Priscilla sighed. “This is so much harder than I thought it was going to be. I love you so very much.”
“Mom…”
“I know, I know,” she said as she pulled back and cupped her daughter’s face in her hands. Her eyes were full of fat tears that were threatening to spill over. “If you should need us for anything, or even if you’re just homesick…”
“I’ll call. I promise.”
“Prissy, we need to get going if we’re going to make our flight,” Hudson interrupted while eyeing his watch.
Priscilla’s shoulders heaved with a heavy sigh. She pulled her daughter to her one more time and kissed her forehead before she let her go. “You and Gabe take care of each other. And I want you both home for Christmas.”
“Yes, Mother,” Kerrigan said with a mock sound of annoyance. She climbed the steps to the porch and watched her parents drive away before going back inside.
The unmistakable smell of bacon frying in a skillet wafted through the air and enveloped her, and Kerrigan closed her eyes to breathe it in.
Grammy.
Without second guessing herself, she rushed to the back of the house and into the kitchen, expecting to see her grandmother at the old stove humming along as she expertly prepared a breakfast fit for a country king. What she found though, was not Grammy, but Dominic. He was standing at the stove with his back to her, wearing a pair of worn jeans that hung low on his hips and showcased those amazing back dimples. His feet were just as bare as his chest, and her mouth went dry.
He turned when he heard her come in and bared his perfect, white smile. “Good morning.”
Her gaze floated over his upper torso, admiring the tribal tattoo that twisted and turned in an intricate pattern over the smooth skin of his shoulder and neck. Her hand began to twitch with the urge to reach out and trace the pattern with her fingertips. His hair was wet and in total disarray. Judging by the shadow on his prominent jaw, he obviously hadn’t shaven in a few days, but the scruff made him look even more rugged and just all man.
“How does your head feel?”
Kerrigan’s jaw practically came unhinged and dropped to the floor with the question. There was no way he could know anything about her head hurting. Not unless he had actually been in her dream, but that wasn’t possible. Maybe her mother had mentioned it to him before she left.
She was just about to ask him when the sizzling sound of the cooking bacon was dwarfed by a louder pop.
Hot grease splattered onto Dominic’s bare stomach, causing him to jump back. “Dammit!”
“Oh, God, come here.” Kerrigan went to him and grabbed his arm to pull him over to the sink.
She snatched a bottle of mustard from the refrigerator and squirted a generous amount in her hand. His sun-kissed skin was already showing red welts across his abdomen where the grease had splattered, so it was easy for Kerrigan to determine where to apply the home remedy. Dominic flinched a little from the coldness, but then his muscles relaxed a bit under her touch.
“Mustard?”
Kerrigan shrugged. “It’s what Grammy used on me,” she said, focusing on the warm skin beneath her fingertips. “Although really, a kiss to the boo-boo always worked just as well,” she laughed.
“You miss her,” Dominic said, noting the contradictory slump of her shoulders and the slight frown on her face.
“Yeah, I do. We were pretty close.” Kerrigan’s fingers slowed as she continued to gently rub the mustard onto the burn.
“So I gathered.”
The taunting little trail to the Promised Land was distracting, but she managed to pull her fingers away before they decided on a pilgrimage to find the forbidden fruit. At least she wasn’t drooling like a complete imbecile. She hoped.
“There, all done. Just let that sit there for a bit.” She turned the faucet on to rinse the mustard off her hands. “Did she talk about me much?”
“Only constantly. She loved you more than anything.”
The thought made Kerrigan’s heart feel all warm and fuzzy. If it were possible, she would have said it was even smiling. She had to reach around him to get the hand towel, to which he only offered a slight change in his position to accommodate her. In an attempt to avoid getting mustard all over her, she came face to face wit
h his shoulder – and the mark that had eluded her the day before.
She gasped when she realized where she had seen it before. It was nearly an exact replica of the circular birthmark on her right hip. It had always reminded Kerrigan of a starburst. As a child, her grandmother had told her it was from a shooting star that fell from the sky and marked her the day she was born. She stepped back and stared intently at Dominic’s mark with a look of bewilderment on her face.
“What’s wrong?” Dominic asked with concern when he noticed she was holding her breath. After all, oxygen was pretty much a requirement for breathing, and breathing was a requirement for living.
“Why…What…How did you get that scar?” Kerrigan reached her hand up to touch it.
When her fingers made contact with his skin, Dominic sucked in a deep breath of air and held it. It was like a bolt of lightning had just struck him where he stood. His body was vibrating, humming. It was almost as if he had been suspended in air and then had free-fallen back to the earth. The feeling was so intense that he had to grab the edge of the counter to regain his balance. His knees buckled beneath him, but he fought to maintain control, confused by his unexpected reaction to her touch.
Kerrigan was just as shocked, and a bit embarrassed, thinking he was repulsed by her. She yanked her hand away and took a step back to put some distance between them.
“No,” Dominic growled, his eyes glowing with their intense color. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the elbow to pull her back to him, craving the euphoric high of her touch.
He leaned in and placed her arm around his neck as he encircled her waist with his own. Dominic stared into her eyes and swallowed hard before his lips parted to slowly exhale. A steady stream of cold air washed over her face, and she shivered in his embrace.