Finding Insight

by Katherine Kim

  “Cops gave me a lift back here. Is it okay if maybe I crash on your couch tonight? I don’t want to go back to my camp,” Gabe asked.

  “You can sleep here if you want, absolutely. You can have my bed. It’s way comfier than the sofa,” Sebastian answered.

  “Or you can sleep in your own apartment if you’d rather. Marcus went to get your things, so you don’t have to go back at all if you don’t want to,” Sarah set a cup of coffee in front of Gabe and he just stared at it.

  “He did? Why?”

  “Because you’ve had enough to deal with today. I know you don’t like being touched, so I’ll be as hands off as I can, but let’s see those bruises.” Sarah made him sit up and tipped his head into the light so she could peer at his bruises. His eye was now swollen half shut, and his temple down to his ear had turned a dusty blue. There was a bandaid stuck to his forehead.

  “Honestly, I think that I’m out of visions for the next few days. Do what you need to.” Gabe looked around at everyone before ducking his head and mumbling, “It’s nice to remember what it feels like to be normal.” Sarah glanced up at him from where she crouched and then swept him into a tight hug. Gabe’s eyes went wide for a moment— as wide as he could get them anyway— and then fell shut. He sank into the hug and rested his head on her shoulder for several minutes, before she patted him on the back and ran off to get her kit.

  “So, tell me what happened after you chased the boys away,” Jennifer asked.

  Gabe took a deep breath and took a gulp of the coffee. “Man, this is so much better than the stuff they gave me towards the end of the interrogation. The paramedics gave me water, then a sports drink or something. After that it was gross black coffee the whole time.” He glanced up at Sarah when she set the kit on the table and started pulling supplies out. “So the guys made it out the door basically just in time. The police stormed into the room, guns drawn, almost right after they bolted. David was screaming about getting burned and how they had to let him chase down the…” Gabe frowned and stared at his coffee until Sarah reached up with some ointment.

  “Chase down the monsters?” Sebastian finished for him. “We didn’t go far at first, we heard what he said.” Gabe’s frown deepened, then after a minute he shrugged and nodded.

  “Yeah. Anyway, the cops took one look at the guy and got him sedated and secured in the ambulance while the EMT guy was looking at me. I told him I mostly felt sick from the whole ordeal, and the weird drink David forced down my throat. That was why they kept me so long, really. They wanted to make sure that I wasn’t poisoned or something, but mostly they said I was just in shock from being kidnapped, and that I’m too thin.” He flashed them a grin at that.

  “Teenage boys are hard to keep fed. That’s hardly your fault.” Jennifer rolled her eyes in the way only a mother can.

  “Living on the streets hasn’t helped,” Gabe shrugged. He glanced up at Sarah again when she put the lid back on the ointment.

  “Anywhere else I should worry about?” she asked. Gabe just held out his wrists so she could look at them. The tape had irritated his skin, but it wasn’t terrible, just red and a little rashy. Sarah twisted the lid off her jar again and got back to work on his arms this time.

  “Anyway, David’s been arrested for kidnapping and they’re looking for Olivia as an accessory. She really didn’t like what David was doing, though. They had a big fight and she stormed off. I don’t know if you saw her go.”

  “I heard the whole thing. I was outside the room when David forced that potion down your throat. I thought she was in there or I’d have gone in then to get you away. I am so sorry, Gabe,” Sebastian scrubbed his hand through his hair, leaving it sticking up wildly. “I should have—”

  “Don’t. It’s okay, Seb,” Gabe held his hand up. “It’s actually best this way. David’s in jail and Olivia’s being hunted for a change. I told the cops that he was obsessed with finding some way to get his cousin out of prison, and they ended up making the connection to your case, Kai. They think that the whole family was brainwashed by some cult and they’d gotten fixated. They can’t figure out why David decided that I had any information to give them, what with me being a runaway from Arizona and all.”

  “Is that going to give you any trouble? I mean, are they going to try to arrest you for running away or something? Or call your mother?” Kai asked.

  “Nope, being a runaway isn’t a crime. Besides which, Gabe is eighteen. Legally, he’s an adult and can make his own decisions about that,” Jennifer chimed in. “I think you’re going to be fine, as far as this all goes, but if the police want to talk to you again, you make sure to call me, okay?” She slid a business card over the table and tapped it. “Sorry it’s been such an exciting evening, but welcome to the Village, Gabe. Good to have you here.” Jennifer stood and with a smile and a nod headed back out. As she left, she let Doc in.

  “Well! How’s our seer after all this drama?” Doc bustled in. “When you’ve settled a bit, I want you to tell me everything you can think of about this potion they’ve force fed you. It sounds like there’s a rogue witch out here and that’s trouble for everyone. But for now, Sarah, put on the kettle.”

  “Can it wait until tomorrow, maybe? I’m exhausted. I’ve been answering questions for hours, and before that I was tied up and dragged all over the place and drugged and beaten up.”

  “As long as you drink this tea tonight, and another cup first thing in the morning, I can wait.” Doc pulled some of her supplies out of her bag, then turned and handed him a small brown bottle with a cork in it. “Now, you take just a half a spoonful of that in your tea tomorrow morning, then another every two hours all day. There is a lot of just-in-case in there, but until I know more about that potion they gave you, I’m erring on the side of caution. I may be overcompensating, but I’ll be damned if I let some hedge witch make you sick from sloppy practices or malice.” Doc turned back to the stove and scooped dried herbs into a French press coffee maker.

  “I’d much rather listen to the witches I know and trust than some random one I don’t,” Gabe said, a genuine smile finally lighting up his face. “Thanks, Doc.”

  Doc paused in her movements and Sebastian heard her swallow heavily.

  “Don’t you worry about it, kiddo,” she said without turning around.

  “So how did you explain what happened?” Kai asked. This was the big question, really. David had been clearly injured, Gabe had been cut free of the tape, there was a gun on the bed that was loaded but being ignored… There were plenty of things that the police could have been deeply suspicious of. Gabe shrugged.

  “I told them that Olivia and David got into it, and she didn’t agree with him kidnapping me or forcing me to drink whatever that was. I may have implied that while I couldn’t tell exactly what happened due to my position on the floor and the fact that I’d been beaten up and drugged maybe and all that stuff, I thought that Olivia had somehow sabotaged the gun or something. I wasn’t sure, but I knew that there weren’t any magical monsters in the room like David was saying. The only monsters I’d seen were the two that kidnapped me. It was the truth, after all.” Gabe smiled again, and thanked Doc when she handed him the tea. She handed him a spoon as well and made sure he added a dollop of whatever was in the potion she handed him.

  “Right then. After you’re done with that you get some real sleep, you hear me? Getting knocked out doesn’t count. I’ll be back in the morning to make sure you’re resting up,” Doc said. “Oh, by the way. Mr. Young got back this evening. He stopped by here but you were already gone, so I filled him in with what I knew. He’s probably going to come by in the morning, too, but he had a theory as to why your visions were so out of control.”

  “What?” Gabe blinked at her, his smile gone and the old nervousness creeping back. He almost hunched into himself while Sebastian watched.

  “Yeah. Basically, you needed to find a god,” Doc grinned and jerked her head towards Kai, leaning up against the counte
r now, next to the fridge. “So you should be getting okay now that you’re here with us.”

  26

  The next few days passed in a foggy blur for Sebastian. Using his new tricks had taken a real toll on his magic reserves, and it showed in his exhaustion levels. Sarah was still a little miffed that he’d done as Gabe demanded and left him to the dubious care of the authorities, but she understood why once Gabe had explained his reasoning. And she did fuss over him after the glowing, awestruck description Gabe gave of Sebastian heroically leaping in front of him, saving him from being shot and killed. Sebastian didn’t remember it happening quite like that.

  Doc kept a close eye on Gabe, who moved into his new apartment the morning after the kidnapping. Sarah took Gabe out to pick up some furniture at a few local secondhand shops. Sebastian kept mostly out of everyone’s way and tried to get his own work done since he’d been ignoring a lot of the paperwork. It wasn’t his favorite part of the job, after all.

  So he was sitting at his desk, buried in his laptop when Gabe knocked on the door.

  “Hey, Kai said I could find you in here. ‘Chained to his desk’ were his exact words.” Gabe dropped himself into the chair on the other side of the desk and put a sandwich and a bottle of water in front of him. “He also said that you haven’t eaten lunch yet, so it’s pretty lucky I brought you some, huh?” Gabe’s grin was bordering on smug.

  “Thanks. How’re you getting settled in?” Sebastian reached for the sandwich and unwrapped it. The smell of the banh mi was amazing, and he realized suddenly that it was way past lunch time.

  “It’s weird having walls and a roof and privacy again. It will take some getting used to. But Sarah helped me find this fantastic futon at a secondhand shop that’s actually really comfy, and that way I won’t feel weird if someone comes over and sits down. It’s like, yeah, it’s my bed, but it’s also my sofa so I can have friends over or whatever.” Gabe’s grin grew wider. It was good to see him finally relaxed and content with his life. The jagged edge of worry about his visions had been worn smoother and he was less worried that they would slice him open.

  “Oh, and I met Mr. Young. Wow, that guy is… Wow.” Gabe shook his head, wide-eyed. Sebastian just nodded. It was about as accurate a description of the elderly Korean man as any he’d heard. Mr. Young was impressive, and having a conversation with him was a very surreal experience. He never spoke a word to anyone, but had a way of making himself understood perfectly without the need for anything as clumsy as speaking. For someone like Gabe, who could see so much more than those around him, it must have been a revelation.

  “Yeah. He’s a good guy, though. You’ll see him around all the time now that he’s back in town.” Sebastian reached for the water.

  “I’m glad. I like him,” Gabe said. He tipped his head and his eyes lost focus slightly. “He explained some stuff to me. Better than Doc did, that’s for sure.” He huffed out a little laugh.

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Yeah. For example, I’m not stuck being attached to anyone specific. I mean, Kai said he’d sponsor me and that’s awesome, but it’ll only be important if I move away from the Village. It makes sense in a way. Most of the prophets and seers you hear about in myths and stuff have some god behind them, like Apollo or something. It looks like the reason I was having so many problems is partly that I didn’t have any training and partly that I didn’t have any way to ground my powers. It was like pressure just kept building and building and then visions would just spurt out whenever it could escape. Like when I touched someone and they asked a question.”

  “And your dreams?” Sebastian leaned back in his chair and played with the cap, twisting the bottle open and closed. Gabe nodded.

  “Yeah. But it’s also why I was so comfortable around you right away. Being near you helped start to stabilize my power, because you’re so strong.” Gabe’s grin started growing again.

  “I’m not a god. I’m barely a quarter kitsune.” Sebastian shook his head and traded the water for the rest of the sandwich.

  “So what?” Gabe shrugged. “I mean, that might be how you figure it out genetically or whatever, but from the way I understand it that only matters a little.”

  “Um. I’m pretty sure it matters a lot, actually,” Sebastian grumbled.

  “How? I mean, it’s not like you have to be born a god, right? Kai wasn’t. I mean your mom’s half human, right? So Kai is still growing into more power as he becomes a god. And Mr. Young said he wasn’t very powerful at all when he was a kid himself. So if you can grow into being a god, you can grow out of being only a quarter spirit, too, right?”

  Sebastian couldn’t find anything to say to that. In fact, he was pretty sure the strange look Gabe was directing his way was because his mouth was hanging open and his eyes were bugged out.

  “You honestly never even thought of that, did you?” Gabe was laughing at him now.

  “But that doesn’t even make sense. How… I mean…”

  “Dude. I can only tell you what I know, now that I know what I’m looking at. I didn’t at first, because I’d never met a spirit. Well, not that I was aware of, anyway. But when we first met, when you were a fox, remember? I knew that you were friendly right away. I wasn’t worried about you being in my camp at all, even though you weren’t acting like any wild animal I’d ever heard of. There was a…” Gabe frowned, groping for the right words. “I don’t know, an energy around you. I noticed it right away. And then later when you chased David off that first time, it was the same energy and I was really confused by it. But I also got a really good feeling about you, that you were safe for me to be around. I’d get that feeling sometimes to one degree or another, and my life was always easier when I paid attention to it. I guess I know why now.”

  Sebastian did remember. The surprise in Gabe’s eyes that day they’d met as humans wasn’t from an unexpected stranger stepping in to help him. It was apparently from the feeling of relief of finding a spirit powerful enough to help him stabilize his own powers.

  “So… wow. This is a lot to take in.” Sebastian said to his desk.

  “You’re telling me. I mean, at least you’ve known what you are for your whole life. I’m just figuring it out now.” Gabe’s voice turned thoughtful. “Listen, I know that it’s not really public knowledge about my power, and I’ve talked to Kai already, but I’m thinking we should probably keep it quiet for the most part. Like, the fact that I can answer one small question for someone is okay, but the bigger visions, like the one David was after? I was thinking that it might be dangerous if anyone else found out about those. David was willing to kidnap and torture me for visions, and that’s terrifying.”

  “Absolutely. I’ll talk to the Council about it, make sure everyone knows to keep it quiet.”

  “The Council?” Gabe asked.

  “Yeah. Kai and I don’t like to make unilateral decisions about stuff around here, even though we’re nominally in charge, so there’s a few of the more powerful and longer-term residents that we call in to talk about stuff, and pretty much everything around here is named after traditional village stuff because we’re just that creative. Doc and Jennifer Anderson and Mr. Young are in the group. Most of them already know about you, and would probably agree with your thoughts on it. Besides, we’ll respect your wishes on the matter whatever you decide.”

  “Thanks,” Gabe said. He shifted in his chair and ran his fingers through his hair in a way that felt very familiar to Sebastian. “Listen. That vision David forced on me the other night…” Gabe fidgeted again.

  “You told him that Kai and I were nearby, I remember.” Sebastian tried not to also remember the punch in the gut of being called a monster by this kid he was starting to see as a little brother. Or the retching sounds and the stink of Gabe getting sick immediately after.

  “What?” Gabe’s face wrinkled in confusion. “I didn’t tell him anything about you guys. It was really strange, actually. For the first time ever, I was able to really sort of s
tay in control of myself during a vision. I couldn’t stop the words from coming, but I could keep part of the vision back, which was really handy.”

  “I heard you say there were two monsters nearby.” Sebastian almost choked on the word, then looked up sharply when Gabe laughed.

  “No! God, no. I meant David and Olivia. Mostly David, actually,” Gabe snorted in disgust at the memory of the hunter. “I saw the two of them arguing and Olivia stomping out. I also saw you guys storming in, but nothing definite after that. But he tried to shoot you! And then that idiot totally defeated himself when he flung himself at your inferno shield. I mean the guy watched it vaporize a bullet! What did he think would happen to his skin? But the rest of the vision? That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about now. I guess I should tell Kai and the Council people, too, but I guess…” Gabe swallowed and his ears started to turn pink. “I guess I kind of feel like you’re my best friend here, and you’re the one who kept saving my life and stuff, so…” he shrugged and looked out the window. Sebastian felt his own grin stretch across his face.

  “It’s what family does, kiddo. Wait’ll you meet my parents. Mom’s going to smother you in parental concern.” Sebastian made a mental note to call his folks soon. He had the feeling that they were going to need to know what was going on out here. “Anyway, what about that vision?”

  “Right.” Gabe turned his gaze back from the window. “It covered a lot of time, so it jumped around a lot. Olivia was there a few times, so I guess she’s sticking around. Her presence didn’t feel entirely hostile in each appearance though, so I don’t know what that means. But there was another woman, she had platinum blonde hair with bright red stripes in it, like cherry red. She was definitely dangerous. And there was something dark. I don’t know how else to describe it. But whatever it is, it’s coming here.” He finished his speech in a quiet voice, his eyes steady, but frightened. Sebastian took a deep breath and nodded.