I yanked my hair a few times, the feeling of helplessness threatening to overwhelm me. "Only you've foretold this showdown between Breandan, Devlin and me?"
"There has been no one with such a strong gift of Sight in a long time. I'm good and my gift has yet to improve but trust me, I'm never wrong."
"You can't see things, say, fifty years from now?"
"That's not how it works. I don't see visions, I see future possibilities," she explained wiggling her fingers and nose. "I look at you or touch you and in my head I see you taking different actions, making decisions and the future steps you take altering because of them. Like ghost images moving on top of what I see. It's hard for me to attach time to it or remember it all. It doesn't help I have a memory like a sieve. I judge time by appearance and significant events." Ana's creased face broke into a playful grin. "Sounds mental."
"I hate to admit it, but you're one of the sanest people I've met today."
"I'm the most awesome person you've met."
There was a question that pressed on my mind. I didn't want to seem self-absorbed, but the more I ignored it the louder intuition chimed it meant something, something big and scary.
Chapter Six
"When I first met Breandan, he touched me and it feltstrange. Then he said something about us no longer having a choice. That is was sealed. And a while ago Conall said he sensed something odd. I think he was feeling thethe after effect of whatever it was."
Ana sucked in a breath. "Ah, that surprised even me, and boy did I feel it. The disturbance slammed into me like a sledge-hammer. Others sensitive to such things would have sensed it too. The moment it happened the future shifted so dramatically it gave me a killer headache." She turned her head and her eyes echoed her reaction to whatever future she saw moving over me. They looked haunted. "But it does explain why you and Breandan coming together is so important. The connection itself, well, it's happened once before and it didn't end well." I threaded my fingers through the grass at my side and waited. Ana focused hard on my face then looked away. "You must avoid speaking of it, Rae. Don't tell anyone," she said in a rush. "There are those who will not accept."
The sudden urgency threw me, and I leaned up. "Why? And don't evade the question."
She saw my surly expression and sighed. "In the end they died and they took thousands of fairy lives with them." The curiosity in my face prompted her to continue. "The word you're looking for to explain what you feel is a nexus. When you touch something is created between you and Breandan that is unbreakable, untouchable. It grows. The longer you are apart the greater the need for contact with him will become. When you do touch it will be likelike a direct tap to the Source. The longer you are apart the greater the, ah, release of energy will be."
By the scared look on her face, I don't think the big release of energy was a good thing. The larger implications of what she was saying sunk in and burned a hole.
"What if I don't want to be tied to him?"
"It's done now."
"But, I-, I still don't even know what it means."
"Bonded ones can never rule or lead because they end up too wrapped in each other to think or see straight."
"That's not what I meant. What does it mean in real terms? Like does it mean Breandan and I are destined to be together?"
The idea was so cliché it was gross, but it was one I understood easily.
"How the hell would I know?" I shot her a look. "Oh, you're forgetting what I can and can't do again. I can tell you if you'll turn right down a fork in the road instead of left, but I can't tell you why you chose that direction." She paused thoughtfully. "Unless say, the right was blocked and you had to go left. See what I mean?"
With a tremble, I digested what I had learned. Breandan and I were tied together by an unbreakable magical bond, for life. And I wasn't even sure I liked him.
"Does Breandan know?" I asked.
"After you met the first time I saw what would happen should it grow beyond control. I warned him to stay close and to touch you skin to skin as often as he could." She grinned. "I don't think he minded the instruction once he'd met you."
"I don't understand. We can connect to the Source. Big deal. You can touch the Source."
"This is more complex than a simple channeling of power. When the nexus opens you become a living embodiment of the energy in its raw form. A Source in your own right."
I frowned and chewed my lip. "Sounds intense."
She barked a laugh and rubbed at her eyes. "You have no idea."
I sensed her close up on the subject and thought of something else. "Why does Devlin want me to go with him? He seemed very insistent that I go home with him."
"This is where it gets complicated. Has Breandan or Conall explained the limits of the Source yet?"
"I can get better at wielding magic with practice, but can never draw more than my limit." I said, proud of myself for remembering.
"Clever girl, but for you and Breandan the rule no longer applies. You're bonded."
"Oh," I said, neatly put in my place. "I see."
Ana gazed above and her face was frightened. "There are three ancient items of magic in the form of golden amulets pure fairies — Priestesses, whose purpose is to keep the balance of life — can wield to make themselves extremely powerful, and become more connected to the Source. For nearly two thousand years the balance was maintained. But then one Priestess forgot her purpose, and it got out of whack. The dark outweighed the light, and things that never should have been possible occurred." Her face took on a sour look. "The Rupture was a side effect of her failure. If she was doing job and keeping the balance, it never would have happened. The vampires would have been stopped. But the result of that failure is clear to see, look at the world we live in."
"You're looking for these amulets," I said, "to try and bring back the balance. But Devlin has other plans. It's like a race."
She nodded. "A bloody sprint to see who can amass the most power before inevitable war. The grimoire, a book of spells has been in the Tribe's possession since before anyone can remember. It would be horrific if a force of evil was able to open it." She shuddered delicately in the grass. "The grimoire is locked, and the key is the three amulets combined, wielded by a pure fairy."
"Why are you guys so worried then? If you have to be pure to-"
"It doesn't matter which type of pure you are. Pure evil can unlock the book just as pure good can."
"Who's the dumbass thought that gem up?"
"You did. Rather, one of your past reincarnations did."
"Ah," I said.
"Breandan lost an amulet piece this morning. It gives protection to the possessor." She smiled at a spider scuttling across her leg. She picked it up and held it in her palm, moved her hand this way and that as the hairy brown arachnid searched for a place to get off. "Its guardian gave it to him for safekeeping as he felt he could no longer conceal it."
The implications of what she was saying hit home. "So, the Tribe now has one amulet, and the rebels have-"
"Officially, none," she said and grimaced. "Lochlann will not forgive Breandan easily for that screw up. He became its protector, and left it unprotected to run around after you since you got lost. Like I said before, I've saw that sticky spot you slid into with Maeve."
I scowled darkly. Everyone sounded so ready to bend over and take it from this fairy Lochlann, but I didn't see him risking his hide to guard the amulet piece. Where was he? He was needed here.
Ana set the spider on the grass, and waved goodbye as it scurried away into the undergrowth.
"Rae, the next time we hear strange noises in the forest, what do we do?