The Travelers: Book Two

by Tate, Sennah

  “You’re not helping, Trick. Be supportive or shut up,” Gemma snapped.

  He clenched his jaw, but stayed silent.

  “I definitely felt something,” Izzy said.

  “Me too,” Aaron agreed.

  Gemma nodded, “Yeah, it’s just going to take more practice. More time.”

  “Time is the one commodity we don’t have,” Aaron reminded.

  “Right, so let’s not waste any time,” Izzy said with new resolve hardening her gaze.

  <<<>>>

  Mmm. He looks delicious.

  Carson couldn’t find the strength to lift his head, or even open his eyes. But he heard the voices.

  Patience, another wheezed.

  His ears strained to hear more, but there was no one in the room with him. He couldn’t hear another heartbeat; he couldn’t hear breathing or footsteps.

  But the boy promised, a voice hissed inside his head.

  Carson realized that he wasn’t hearing them with his ears, but rather in his own head. Under normal circumstances, hearing voices in his head would be enough to cause panic, but at the present moment, Carson didn’t have the energy to muster up any fear.

  The boy is nothing. The boy is weak I demand patience. A deep voice echoed in his brain. It reminded him of a criminal using a voice-changer — the too deep, inhuman sound reverberated through him.

  He could barely hear his own pulse; the chains felt like an enormous weight to burden and he felt himself slipping out of consciousness yet again.

  <<<>>>

  They tried again.

  And again.

  Each time, Aaron’s owl flickered into view, Izzy got so excited that she lost hold on the connection.

  She was getting frustrated with herself.

  “Can’t you help him?” She asked Gemma and Alina, “I’m horrible at this,” she whined.

  Gemma shook her head, “You’re the one with the connection to him, Izzy. You have to help him cross-over.”

  Aaron pulled Izzy into his lap and held her there for a long moment.

  “I know you’re worried about him, Iz. We all are. All we can do is try our damnedest. Please hold on with me,” Aaron said, cradling her in his arms.

  She laid her head against his chest, feeling defeated.

  “You’ve got the wrong girl. I don’t have any powers,” she said, her head hanging low.

  “Bull shit. You’re the girl that made boys four grades ahead of you cry just for being mean to your imaginary friends. You’re the girl that made Tommy Bushwick afraid of frying pans. You’re the girl special enough to make a man question his life-long dreams; don’t try to tell me you’re not special.”

  Izzy grinned, “I am pretty great, aren’t I?”

  “Damn straight you are,” he said.

  With another heavy sigh, Izzy nodded.

  “Okay, let’s do this.”

  Gemma took a step back from them. There was only so much guidance she could give before they had to just take they journey themselves.

  The room seemed to thrum with the vibrations between Aaron and Izzy. Their eyes were closed and they focused on only each other so the flickering lights went unnoticed to them.

  They were also oblivious to the wide-eyed stares they received from the three remaining men in the room. While they’d all seen Carson’s wolf, none of them had actually witnessed the transition.

  Izzy opened her eyes and looked at Aaron, fear and uncertainty coloring her gaze.

  “Is he…?”

  “Look,” Alina gasped, pointing upwards.

  Above them, skating just below the ceiling was an enormous barn owl with a wingspan of nearly six feet.

  “Holy fuck,” Trick muttered.

  The owl turned its golden gaze towards Izzy and perched on her out-stretched arm.

  She glanced from the owl on her arm to the man sitting next to her and back again. Wrapping her head around this was going to be harder than she thought.

  Her hand trailed down the back of the bird; his feathers were silky smooth under her fingertips and he seemed to enjoy the gentle petting she gave him.

  “This is so weird,” she muttered.

  The owl’s eyes met with hers and she saw him there — all of Aaron was contained in this gigantic glowing creature. He nipped at her finger lovingly before he perched on his own shoulder and seemingly melted away.

  “No fucking fair,” Trick grumbled. “Of all the people to become super heroes…”

  “Don’t be jealous,” Gemma chided, “we don’t have time for pettiness right now.”

  Trick didn’t appreciate being reprimanded like a child. He didn’t appreciate feeling like he was the one left out of everything. If someone had told him a month ago that his best friends were all going to start getting magical powers, he would have thought it was the coolest thing ever. Now that it was a reality, he realized he was way more jealous than he would have anticipated.

  “That was amazing!” Aaron exclaimed, now firmly back in his own body.

  Izzy smiled, “Yeah?”

  “I could fly!”

  “You don’t need to rub it in,” said Trick.

  Aaron ignored him.

  “Do you remember how we did it?” he asked Isabel.

  She drew her bottom lip in between her teeth but nodded, “I think so…”

  After three more successful attempts, Aaron declared that they were ready.

  “We can’t waste any more time,” he said.

  “Are you sure you’ve had enough practice?” Gemma asked, “Preston is much much stronger.”

  Aaron squeezed Izzy’s hand, “I can handle him. We don’t know what he’s doing to our furry friend; there’s no time to waste.”

  Gemma nodded. She certainly wanted them to head out to rescue Carson as soon as possible, she just didn’t know if she believed he was ready.

  But, like Aaron said, Carson was in trouble and needed their help whether they were ready for it or not.

  Izzy wrapped her arms around Aaron’s neck and clung desperately to him for a long moment.

  “I’m going to be okay,” he said, patting her on the back.

  She released him and turned to Gemma.

  “I totally get it now,” she said, “I understand why Carson going out there freaks you out so much.”

  Trick rolled his eyes.

  “Well, if you’ve got everything sorted, can we get out of here?”

  Desmond nodded, tossing his silver-tipped knife into the air absently, catching it by the handle each time.

  Ty’s eyes followed the knife’s point as it traveled up in the air and back down.

  “Yes, let’s prepare ourselves. Aaron, are you comfortable with heading in first?”

  “Yeah, of course. I’ll go in and try to clear the way for you… draw fire.”

  Izzy’s eyes widened, “Draw fire? You’re going to try to get hurt?”

  Aaron traced the rough pad of his thumb over Izzy’s swollen bottom lip, “It’s just an expression,” he said, before leaning in for another kiss, “I’m just going to be the distraction.”

  “Maybe you should stay here with the girls, Dez,” Trick said casually. He knew that Carson wouldn’t want Desmond out risking his neck. Carson was the one — more than any of them — that stayed on Dez’s case about his injury.

  “Maybe you should pull your head out of your ass so we can hear you better,” Dez responded.

  “Oh, big guy has jokes,” Trick said with a sly grin.

  Dez grunted and avoided Alina’s eyes.

  Ty fidgeted in his seat, “Trick’s not wrong, Desmond…”

  Gemma had no idea what they were talking about. She wondered if this had to do with Carson’s objection to Dez going to the gym. As much as she felt like these people had become her family, she realized that there were still so many things she didn’t know. The men had a lifetime of history together and could have complete conversations with only a few words. She felt left out of the loop, but looking at Izzy an
d Alina told her that she wasn’t alone on the outside.

  “You can both kiss my ass,” Dez said.

  Alina stared at him with wide unbelieving eyes. That wasn’t the Desmond that she knew. But did she really know him at all? Though he’d been the most welcoming to her out of all the men, Alina assumed it was just his protective nature. She was vulnerable when she joined them and Desmond had acted as her protector while she acclimated herself to the group. Just because he was nice to her in her time of need didn’t mean he was a nice person, she reminded herself.

  “Come here,” Aaron said, pulling Izzy into his embrace once more.

  She felt a surge of warmth rush through her; his eyes made her insides melt and yearn for him. She couldn’t believe how dramatically their relationship had shifted in the past couple of days. She spent years as a kid daydreaming about her older brother’s best friend. When he teased her and pulled her pigtails people told her that’s what boys did when they liked a girl. When they set cockroaches loose in her bedroom, Carson said it was all for a laugh. When Aaron decided to enlist, he said it was his life-long dream. At every turn Izzy had been excluded. Even with things that directly affected her, everyone acted like she was simply an innocent bystander rather than the catalyst that caused it all.

  She wasn’t fooled though.

  Now she knew the truth. All those years that she pined for him… Aaron wanted her, too. When she’d thought that Carson was trying to keep them apart, her brother was really just oblivious.

  So many years had been wasted in anger and now that Izzy had everything she wanted she was terrified that she could lose it all.

  Aaron brushed her bangs to the side and rested his hands on her hips.

  “Everything is going to be okay. I promise.”

  It was childish and she hadn’t done it since they were children, but Izzy lifted her pinkie finger to him, “Pinkie promise?”

  He hooked his little finger with hers and kissed their joined hands, “Pinkie promise.”

  With a final kiss, Aaron crossed over to become the owl before he left the clubhouse with a loud screech.

  “Well then, I guess we’d better get going,” Ty said, gathering his tablet and other notes as Trick and Dez led the way to the garage.

  “Be careful!” Gemma called after them.

  “Have fun storming the castle!” Trick mocked making her snicker.

  And just like that, the girls were left alone with only the unresponsive Travelers and each other to keep them company.

  Chapter Twelve

  Izzy couldn’t stop staring at him.

  Alina was talking about something.

  She heard her. She just didn’t hear the words.

  She couldn’t stop looking at him.

  His eyes were closed; he sat upright and unflinching as if in a trance.

  Alina spoke again.

  His hands rested on his knees; once in a while a finger would twitch almost imperceptibly.

  It wasn’t natural. He wasn’t supposed to be so still. He wasn’t supposed to be just sitting there.

  How did she know if he was okay? How would she know if something happened to him? She would never be able to get to him in time.

  The low droning roar of her blood flow drowned out the sounds of the other women.

  His jaw was relaxed; his eyelids fluttered as his eyes darted back and forth inside his skull. At a glance, Aaron seemed lifeless, but she noticed the tiny movements he made. They reassured her and kept her from panicking completely.

  The air stilled in her lungs. She’d forgotten how to exhale; she’d forgotten how to inhale. She was back in that warehouse, rubble everywhere. The rocks slipped from under her feet and she scrabbled her way up the crumbling hill. She had to see him. Had to make sure it wasn’t Aaron. Sharp rocks cut her hands, but she kept climbing. One step forward, two back; the pile of rubble disintegrated underfoot.

  She reached for his wrist.

  It couldn’t be him. It wouldn’t be. She knew it couldn’t be.

  The corpse turned and tumbled away from her. She reached for it…

  “Isabel!” Alina repeated; a hand on her shoulder.

  Izzy’s eyes regained focus and she saw her friends before her instead of the carnage of her nightmares.

  “Here,” Gemma said handing Izzy a glass of water.

  Izzy took one drink and made a face, “Something stronger,” she said with a sputter.

  Gemma looked unsure, but Alina shrugged.

  As much as she didn’t agree with Isabel’s choice to drink at this particular moment, it wasn’t Gemma’s place to argue with her. She was an adult and could be responsible for herself.

  “Was that a vision?” Alina asked her as Gemma brought her a tumbler of amber liquor.

  “I don’t know,” Izzy admitted, “I’ve had the same nightmare before. I just thought it was a nightmare…”

  Alina frowned, “Have you been having many nightmares?”

  Gemma didn’t need to hear the answer. She could tell by the shadow that came over Izzy’s eyes what the answer was. Nothing could darken such a bright spot the way that psychological torture could.

  “Every night,” Izzy said.

  “The same one?” Gemma asked.

  “No, not always. This one is just… the worst. There’s someone in the warehouse and he’s… well… I think that he’s,” the lump in her throat made it impossible to talk. She tried to swallow past it, but found that the lump only grew larger and more painful.

  She took another glance at Aaron to remind herself that he was there — safe and not covered in rubble — before she tossed back the remainder of her drink.

  “Who?” Gemma asked, suddenly fearing for Carson.

  Izzy looked down at her lap, “I don’t know… every time I try to see who it is I wake up.”

  No one liked that answer. What was the point of seeing the future if you couldn’t see the important details?

  Isabel looked down at her hands and saw more scars crossing her palms.

  “Oh my God, what happened to your hands?” Gemma cried.

  Izzy quickly tried to hide them, but it was already too late. Gemma had seen the evidence.

  “Nothing,” she said.

  “Like Hell it’s nothing,” Gemma said, snatching Izzy’s wrist to examine her palms.

  She traced the raised puckered lines and Izzy winced.

  “Does that hurt?”

  “No… It’s just…”

  “Those are from your nightmares?” Alina asked, her gold-green eyes puzzled.

  “Yeah, I cut myself on some rocks and woke up with these,” she answered.

  Alina frowned but said nothing.

  Gemma tried to heal the scars, but the moment she tried to send healing magic to Izzy it was sent back to her like an electric shock.

  “Ow!” She cried, yanking her hands back from Izzy.

  “Sorry! I didn’t mean to!” Izzy said, hiding her hands in her lap once more.

  “I guess they’re not supposed to be healed,” Gemma said, still ruefully rubbing her sore hand. Her entire arm tingled unpleasantly and her brain seemed temporarily overwhelmed with the electrical energy buzzing through her.

  “You don’t think it’s Carson… in your dreams, do you?” she asked, afraid of the answer.

  “I don’t know, really,” Izzy said truthfully. She’d been so afraid it would be Aaron that she didn’t consider the possibility of it being her brother in her vision.

  “Do you think we should warn them?” Gemma asked.

  Alina shook her head, “We don’t really have a way to. Besides, there’s no way to know when her vision is supposed to take place. For all we know, the man in her dream could be Preston.”

  Izzy hadn’t considered that possibility, but it didn’t sit well with her. When she saw that man lifeless atop the hill she felt dread. She wouldn’t dread seeing Preston dead. She would be ecstatic.

  “Maybe,” she said, thinking it was best to ease everyone�
��s fears rather than give into the nightmares that taunted her. They didn’t need to taunt everyone.

  Gemma nibbled on her fingernails without contributing to the conversation.

  “I think I’m just going to go check on Carson… make sure he’s okay,” she said.

  As Gemma disappeared up the stairs Izzy let out a low groan.

  “I really freaked her out, didn’t I?”

  Alina shifted uncomfortably, “Well, I think she’s just concerned,” she said.

  “Having these stupid visions with half the information is worse than not having them at all.”

  “I can see how that would be frustrating,” Alina agreed.

  “I wish I could just turn them off,” Izzy said, burying her face in her hands.

  “Perhaps we should turn conversation to more pleasant matters,” Alina suggested.

  “He’s still okay,” Gemma called from the stairs. “Well… ish,” she amended, remembering the colorless pallor to his skin.

  “Gemma, may I ask you something?” said Alina.

  Gemma spent enough time around eleven and twelve year-olds to know when she was being manipulated. She didn’t know what Alina was getting at as she went to the bar and grabbed glasses and a bottle for them all. She knew the timid newcomer was up to something, but anything was better than where her head was right now.

  “Suuuure,” Gemma said with more than a hint of skepticism in her tone.

  “Well,” Alina said, pouring a healthy dose of fruit-flavored rum into each of their glasses, “I was wondering if you’d be able to tell me what it’s like.”

  Gemma swirled the contents of her glass around, watching as the forces on the liquid pushed it into a funnel.

  “It?” she asked.

  Izzy wasn’t as casual with her drink; she didn’t hesitate to take a deep gulp of the sickly sweet liquor. She made a face and stuck her tongue out before she finished the glass with a shudder.

  “Being an Evoker… I mean… a bonded one,” Alina corrected sadly.

  “Oh,” Gemma said a hint of remorse crossing her features. She didn’t know all of Alina’s story, but she knew enough to make the assumption that it wasn’t a fairy tale.

  “It’s just…” Alina smiled while she toyed with the hem of her shirt, “I always dreamed about what things would be like… Preston took that away from me, but I still want to know…”