by Winter, Eden
“What the fuck? No!” I said. I recoiled. The last thing I needed was a child. I shivered a bit and shook my whole body as if it would get the idea of having children off of me.
“I wanted to talk to you about something new that’s happening to me. Something secret,” I whispered.
“Oh,” Isabelle said. “Do you want to go somewhere that’s a bit more private?”
I nodded. My sister took me by the hand and squeezed.
“Okay, deep inhale,” I did so, “and a deep exhale.”
By the time I finished the exhale, the two of us were standing in the middle of the bridge. It was a bridge entirely made out of stone. You could see the individual rocks and stones that were fitted together to form the bridge. It had a short wall on either side of it that extended from one end to the other. The walls on the bridge were comprised of a stone that was a bit lighter in color. It was such a beautiful little bridge. There was no one else on it. Isabelle looked around. She had such keen senses, and she would have known if anyone was close enough to disturb us, or worse, hear what I had to say.
“I don’t understand how you’re able to teleport without completely freaking out,” I said. It still took some getting used to. She didn’t do it often, but she did it more when we were children. It was fun to play with our powers then, but Isabelle had gotten a lot more practical since then.
“It’s something to get used to. It’s easier when you can picture exactly where it is that you plan on going. Now, what is it that you’d like to talk about? I hope it’s not any bad news,” she said. Her eyes widened slowly with concern. For an optimist, she seemed to think about the worst scenarios first instead of the best ones. Maybe that was on me. I couldn’t remember having so many pleasant conversations with my sister since before either of us had met Alex.
“I don’t know what it is. I’m going to just ramble through it. I hope you can save all your questions and comments for when I’ve finished,” I said.
“Of course. I’m always here to listen. I’ll wait,” Isabelle said. I probably didn’t even need her to save her questions. She was always over attentive. She wasn’t going to interrupt me anyway.
“Okay, here goes,” I said with a sigh. “I discovered I have a new power. I can’t quite understand what it is yet or what it means for me now that I have it, but… I’m a bit clairvoyant. I can’t slip in and out of a vision, but they come to me at strange times and then they come true soon after. It’s never a long situation either, it’s always something brief. And, for some reason, most are connected with Peter. I’ve only had about four of them so far. What I don’t understand is that the power keeps evolving. At first, I would get so dizzy for a while before I could see anything, and then when that was getting a bit easier to handle, I found out—the terrible way—that I could have a vision in a dream.”
I wracked my brain for any other things to say about it. I knew there were many questions to follow, and I wanted to cover as many bases as possible while simultaneously remaining rather vague.
“Oh, right, there are some times when I get that slight dizzy feeling but no vision comes. I figured out it meant a vision was going to come true soon. I think that’s the only real thing I know about it. I think that might be it. Any questions?” I said.
“So many,” Isabelle said. She looked like she had stars in her eyes. She was grinning from ear to ear.
“Should I ask all of them at once, or would you prefer I ask and then you answer?”
“The second one might be easier on my mind,” I replied.
“All right. When did they start?” Isabelle asked.
“I would say about two or so months ago,” I answered.
“What did you mean when you said that they involved Peter?”
“The first one I had, I saw him before I had even met him. That was how I started talking to him in the grocery store. I saw him in a vision, and not knowing what they were, I tried to start a conversation with him. The next one was just a wall of fire, but he saved me from it,” I paused to reminisce. The fire itself was terrifying, but the fact that he had been there to save me filled me with some happiness.
“A wall of fire?” Isabelle looked terrified when she asked me.
“It was an accident. Something caught on fire outside a club and Peter was there to keep me away from it.” I sounded way too nonchalant for someone who had almost burned to death.
“That was you? I was reading that in an article in the newspaper.”
“Yes, but I’m fine. And I had a vision about being in Peter’s apartment. So, they all are connected to him in some way or another.”
“And you said there was one that was a dream? Was he in that too?”
My sister knew all the right questions to ask.
“No, he wasn’t in the premonition. But he happened to be there when the vision came true…”
“Do you mean…?” Isabelle mouthed the word ‘sorry’ because she had cut me off. I didn’t mind at all. I replied with a nod of the head.
“You knew we were going to get into an accident?”
“No, of course I didn’t know. It was a dream I had. I didn’t know I could dream some premonitions. I invited Peter to come along so I could prove it to myself that it was just a dream. He wasn’t in the vision at all. Having him on that trip with us made me feel at ease. But… but then the dream came true anyway,” I said. Saying it aloud made me relive the fear I felt when I was thrust out of one dream and into the outcome of the premonition of another. It was always difficult retelling stories about people and situations that made me uncomfortable. One thing I knew I couldn’t do was tell her about what Malcolm had said to me once his pickup had stopped spinning.
“Have you had any more dreams?”
“No,” I replied just a little too quickly.
She folded her arms across her chest. She may not have believed me, but she knew me well enough to know if I was keeping something, then there was an important reason behind it. I was hoping nothing would become of my dream with the fish of Cesar, and I would never have to tell her about how weird that was.
“Who else knows about this?” asked Isabelle.
“Well, Peter knows,” I said. I was going to tell her as much as I thought was necessary. I wasn’t going to worry her, and I wasn’t going to give everything away.
“You told Peter before you told me?” Isabelle sounded hurt.
“I only told him because he could see me…”
Isabelle shot me a confused look.
“Get this. When I have visions where Peter is actually in them, he turns and looks at me. I mean the me that’s having the vision. He can see a feint ghost of me. And when the visions come true and I’m really there with him, I catch him taking a quick look at where it was I must have been standing when I had the vision in the first place. Dad says that means it’s because we are joined in some way. Peter and I have a unique clairvoyant-clairvoyee connection,” I said.
“Dad knows?” Isabelle’s voice had raised several octaves. She went from looking hurt to being full on upset.
“He only knows because he was there when I was having a vision. He was the one who told me what it was.”
“How?”
“He said that great-gam had them—that they were such a rare occurrence in the family that they weren’t expecting someone else to get them so soon after great-gam.”
“So, what you’re saying is that the human side of us is the side that gave you this gift?” Isabelle asked.
I nodded.
“Did dad say anything else?”
“Not much else. He said that stuff about Peter, but I was too much in shock to ask him any questions that could have given me any real help. I should have taken you with me. You have such a clear head when it comes to asking these questions,” I said. Isabelle smiled wide without showing any of her teeth. I wasn’t trying to butter her up. I was being completely serious. I could have been farther along if I had just told Isabelle what was going on from
the beginning.
“Is there anything else about this I should know about?”
“Nothing I could think of,” I said with sigh. I looked away from her and faced the lake. I rested both elbows on the ledge of the side of the bridge. I clasped my hands around opposite elbows and leaned over to peer down into the dark blue water below.
I was pensive. I was weighing the pros and cons about what had just transpired. I thought about talking to my sister about the fish of Cesar. If I really did want or need her help, it would have been wise of me to tell her about that dream and get her thoughts on what any of it meant.
I opened my mouth, prepared to speak even though I was still unsure, and then I paused. In the water below was a gold flash. It was so brief that I wasn’t sure I had seen anything at all. I did a quick shake of my head as if that was going to somehow make me focus better. There was no longer a gold flash of light below the surface, but now the water was doing something very peculiar. There were giant bubbles forming directly below where I was standing. I had never seen bubbles so big. The water was becoming a bit violent, but only in that one spot. Yet, I could hear no sound. There was no gurgling or churning of the water. I moved my head as far out and as low as I could possibly get it without having to climb onto the ledge and look right into the water or having to dive in to get the best view. The bubbles were now forming into a whirlpool. It wasn’t a terrifying whirlpool, but if I fell in, I was more than likely going to be sucked into the water. I moved back a bit even though there was no way I could possibly fall in.
And then it occurred to me that no one else was seeing this. Isabelle was busy pacing about on the bridge like she was an insidious mastermind who had an idea or a trick up her sleeve. The other patrons in the park were busy with their own lives. I was the only person looking into the lake. I looked out and all around at the water, but it was all calm. The only part that moved was the water right below me.
Then, as suddenly as the water had started churning, it was all still again. It wasn’t a coincidence. I was meant to see that gold flash and the bubbles below the water’s surface. Someone was trying to send me a message. For some reason, I wasn’t afraid of what I saw. It wasn’t that I was getting used to the freaky visions that were happening to me, but after seeing that gold streak in the water, I had a strange sense of calm all over me. Why the hell was the water doing that? How was I supposed to know what to do with the whirlpool and golden light I had just seen?
It occurred to me just then that there may have been someone who was able to help me. I wouldn’t have to tell them anything or give away any details about my life. I could just call myself curious and that could be a good enough explanation. I knew that there was someone who knew about the fish of Cesar, and if that was what I just saw bubbling below the surface of the lake then there was a chance that person knew what it was I needed to do.
But I didn’t have his number. I would need to get it. I was itching to leave now. I had some reading I needed to catch up on, and now I had a phone call to make. There was a chance I was one step closer to figuring all this stuff out.
“Hey, I’m actually pretty tired, and I have work in the morning. Do you think you can take me home?” I asked. I pulled Isabelle out of her walking trance.
“What? Oh, of course. But we have more to talk about. I want to help you through this. Please don’t be afraid to call me or tell me anything. I always want to hear from you, and you know I won’t ever judge you. You know that, right?” she said. She took my hand then. I thought we were going to teleport, but instead we were both walking hand in hand off the stone bridge.
“I know, Izzy. I do know.”
*
I arrived home to Tangerine purring angrily at me. I forgot to leave her food before I left. I went into one of my kitchen cupboards and got out a large bag of cat food. I filled up her bowl and watched her eat. Her head bounced up and down as she nom-nom-nom’d, and she looked up at me and purred with gratitude.
“Anytime, kitty,” I said. I left the kitchen and Tangerine bounced behind me. She was a very independent cat, but she had been following me more often lately.
I got to the living room and plopped down on my couch. I used my feet to take off the shoes I was wearing, and I stretched my whole body out. It was comfortable and soft, and I instantly became tired.
“No,” I whispered as I shot my eyes open. There were things I needed to do before I fell asleep. I didn’t want to be unprepared if I went to the lake again to live out the dream I’d had about the fish. I was still so confused about how the premonitions worked.
Tangerine hopped onto the couch beside me and then to the thin dark wood console table to the left of me. She stood on top of the book I had been reading earlier, and she made the tiniest squeak of a mew.
I reached my arm over and waited for Tangerine to get off the book before I picked it up and opened it to where I had placed the bookmark. I groaned and adjusted my eyes so I could take a better look at the words on the page.
‘The fish of Cesar is said to have been a direct descendant of Bythos, one of the fish-centaurs (or Ichthyocentaurs) that had been responsible for saving Venus and Cupid as they escaped the clutches of the storm-giant Typhon. Though the fish of Cesar has no known name, it is known by its distinct appearance. It is the color of the sea with glowing scales and fins that are said to be made from pure gold.
The stories of the fish originated in 800 AD and spread from Europe to certain parts of the Americas. It is said that the fish has been spotted thousands of times all over the world, though there is no video evidence to support any of these claims.’
That was all that was said about the history of the fish. The rest of the information about the fish had to do with folk songs and urban legends based on the fish. Some were what I remembered learning in school, and some were new to me. I hadn’t known that the fish was said to have ties to Roman-Greco mythology. I just thought someone was bored and came up with a tall tale about a magical fish.
The way it was described reminded me of what I had seen in my dreams. It couldn’t have been possible that it was really the fish. We had heard so many stories as children that the description of it was widely known. My subconscious more than likely conjured up what the fish looked like as I was sleeping.
I continued to flip through the pages until my actions were absentminded. I was no longer reading anything but turning the pages out of habit. I was getting more and more tired by the second.
“I’ll nap for just a little bit,” I said as I yawned. I put the book back on the console table and rolled over on my side. “Just a little bit.”
There was darkness all around me. At first, I thought I had been blinded, but then I realized I was somewhere at nighttime. My eyes adjusted, but only slightly. I was walking slowly, and I knew I was not alone. I could hear the sounds of grass, dried leaves, and shrubs beneath my feet and knew I was in the woods that led to a section of the park where no one ventured. These woods also led to the lake. I had never been there before, and I wondered what I was doing there now. I wanted to look around and see my companions, but it didn’t feel like I was moving of my own volition.
I did not do or say anything that gave me away. I just kept walking through the trees and the bushes. If I was walking in the direction of the lake, I could have walked at the side of the park that was mostly flat grass and occasional flowers. This meant I was sneaking somewhere, or sneaking away from somewhere. But from what?
In my right peripheral, I saw the silhouette of one of my companions. It was a figure taller than I was. It was possible that it was Peter, though something was telling me it wasn’t.
I did not feel panicked in the slightest, and that let me know I wasn’t a prisoner to anyone who was walking beside me at that moment.
I could see some light coming up ahead, but it wasn’t that there was light shining from somewhere; it just meant we would soon no longer be in the thick and dark woods. I was grateful for that and wanted
to breathe a sigh of relief, but I knew better. Right now, it was time for me to be silent. So, I said and did nothing aside from walking forward toward the light.
I made it to the clearing. I could see the lake out in the distance about a quarter of a mile away from where I was standing. I must be trying to get to the lake. It confused me once again that I did not simply take the way I was used to.
‘Come on,’ I heard myself whisper. I walked as quickly as I could while keeping as quiet as possible. My companions and I had not covered much ground when I felt a strange sensation on the back of my neck. I was getting chills.
‘I sense something,’ I whispered too low for anyone around me to hear. But it was certainly true. My senses were naturally heightened, though not like that of someone who was full elf. I stopped and looked around me. I could hear the slight rustling of the grass around me become still. Everyone I was with had stopped walking too. They must have been waiting on my word.
I held out my hand to the side and then placed the pointer finger of one hand over my lips. It was time to be still and to be silent.
And that was when everything changed. The world was moving in slow motion. I turned my head to look, but it was moving like someone pouring a thick pot of honey. I could see an arrow coming toward us. It was so smooth and precise, and I wondered how I hadn’t sensed it before it had been launched.
There was nothing I could do. I wasn’t able to control anything that was happening around me. All I could do was watch in horror as the arrow flew through the air. The arrow was moving closer to me, but it hadn’t been aimed at me. It was aimed at someone I was with. I sucked in a breath, immediately afraid of what that could mean for one of my companions.
The arrow moved a few feet away from my face, and I followed it with my eyes to see its target. It may have been dark, but my eyes had adjusted enough to be able to see my surroundings and the arrow that had been launched almost as clear as day.
I looked over to my right and gasped. The arrow was traveling so fast, too fast for it to not be able to reach its target. And now I could see who it was.
