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  "When Lupinus called me and told me to come get you out of Lithium Village...hearing your name was a shock. I never thought I'd see you again." We fell silent, comfortably allowing time to think things over.

  "Do I look like him?" I asked after a moment.

  Ilex smiled broadly. "Almost a duplicate."

  * * * *

  Chapter 3

  Calycanthus Esquivel

  When I woke that following morning, there was still no change in the passage that led to the Valley and when I looked to the other side, I saw that Ilex had been replaced by Vervaine. She acknowledged me with a nod before returning her attention to the small block of wood she was carving. I felt a connection to Vervaine that I couldn't logically explain. It was like a feeling of warmth that settled over me when I was near her. I'd felt this way around one other person in my life; Solenum. There was an instant trust established even though neither had done anything in particular to obtain it.

  "It's like coming home in the winter when it is cold outside. You step through the door and you're hit by the warmth and safety the inside has to offer." Vervaine murmured, answering my thought precisely. She smiled when I looked surprised at her very accurate description. "It's mutual; I feel the same when I'm next to you." Sitting up, I ruffled my hair and smiled back at her through my morning yawn.

  "I want to second guess it." I admitted, stretching my back comfortably. "It's not natural to feel so connected to someone you don't know at all." She pointed her short blade at the mug of coffee she'd prepared for me before returning the sharp edge to the wood.

  "If it hadn't been for that connection, I'd have never touched you glove free." She agreed. I remember how surprised I'd been when she'd entered my personal space so suddenly the day we'd met. But that was just it; it had been surprise, not fear. "I don't understand why they are still being so cautious about you." Vervaine murmured, a slight frown appearing between her brows. "You can't see like I can." Sipping the coffee, I nodded. It was true, I couldn't.

  "What has them so sure I am part Seer? Besides the fact that my father claimed me to be when he handed me over to the Altors and that I have shown some characteristics similar to you?"

  Vervaine was different from everyone else. She looked and acted like any other human at first glance. However, when you spent enough time with her, you noticed that she was inhumanly all-knowing. Just not cold like the Regius.

  "You have recurring nightmares, displayed signs of delirium when the blue blood cell kicked in and from what Datura has told me, every time something bad happens, you get a warning feeling beforehand in the pit of your stomach." Planting the blade into the grass, she tossed the small carved block of wood in my direction. Catching it, I saw she'd sculpted an eye. The symbol of the Seer. "I get that exact same sensation right before I get a vision. While you can't see like I can, you do display certain behavioral traits that only appear in Seers."

  "That is thin though." I argued. "Recurring nightmares can happen to anyone, especially those who've gone through something traumatic."

  Vervaine shook her head. "No, that is where you are wrong. Ask anyone who says they suffer from the recurring nightmares to describe each nightmare every time they have it. You'll notice distinct differences between each. Whereas you, I am sure you always dream the same set of nightmares that while they may be different from one another, aren't different on their own. One scene will always unfold exactly as it did prior." Unfortunately, she was right.

  Since she seemed willing to talk, I figured it couldn't hurt to ask her a question.

  "Do you have certain moments in your life you can't remember at all, no matter how hard you try?" Maybe that wall in my mind could be explained through the alleged Seer within me.

  She shook her head, almost making me feel upset that I was yet again the odd one, but then she spoke. "You cannot remember certain parts of your life because someone made sure you couldn't."

  Clenching my hands, I felt goose bumps break free as I tried to wrap my mind around the idea of someone purposely stripping me of that right. She knew why and I had to stop myself from screaming at her in anger because she hadn't told me sooner. That wall was like nothing else in my life. I could have been completely satisfied in Lithium Village if I hadn't had that constant reminder of, ironically, not being able to remember. I'd heard so often that it was normal for your childhood to fade, that details became blurry and that everyone didn't remember those years clearly. But my case was different. I didn't even have a blurry memory. I couldn't even remember what my father looked like.

  "Who?" I gritted out, trying to keep my anger in check. "Why would someone do that?"

  "You should feel upset." Vervaine nodded at my current state. "They stripped you of things that were personal to you, and while they did this partly to protect you, it was also a lame attempt to anger my mother."

  "Sage."

  She nodded. "What you believe to have been your first encounter with Rhamnus, wasn't. You've met before. It was a year before my father brought you to the Lithium Village boarding house."

  "The day I supposedly entered my induced coma?" I asked.

  "Indeed. You were hit by a car when you tried to run from the tracker. He was after you because Sage ordered it. I'm not quite sure what she wants with you. She was once very determined to try and get me back, but when she figured out that my father wasn't going to make that possible, it's as though she needed to take her anger out on something to make up for my loss. I'm very afraid she made you and Kalmia the receiving end of her wrath."

  "You're telling me that my entire life was messed up because Sage threw a hissy fit?" If that was true, then I would maybe have to stop believing that there was good in everyone.

  Vervaine sighed. "Let’s walk while we talk, yes?" Feeling a flash of uncertainty wash over me, I looked longingly back at the crack in the earth. "You'll sense it when he returns to this realm. And if you don't, I will."

  Albeit a bit reluctant still, the idea of stretching my legs wasn't a bad one. We both stood and started to walk side by side through the meadows, miles of green surrounding us. The sky was nearly the same shade as her hair and although our subject of conversation was uncomfortable for me, Vervaine seemed to enjoy the human connection I offered her. Maybe it was that feeling of home Seers had around one another that made it okay for her to speak with me so openly. I'd never seen her so willing around any other people.

  "I'd say you should just blame Sage, but that isn't the entire truth and you know that, Calycanthus." She murmured.

  "Cali is fine."

  "Thank you." She smiled at me. "I'm telling you all of this even though the Elders specifically ordered us not to reveal anything."

  "Then why are you?" Linking my hands behind my back, I decided to soak in the connection of warmth, stabilizing my emotions through it, making all of these revelations easier to absorb.

  "They don't understand what it's like. For a Seer not to know." I saw her wince, the pain engraved on her face telling me that she knew exactly how I felt when it came to the lack of memories. "While I choose not to use my gift so it cannot consume my being, if I, like you, were to think back to a certain moment in my life and run into a wall, blocking my access..." She shuddered. "I don't know how you do it, Cali. Although we have some Altor in us, we aren't entirely so. The Seer is stronger than the blood of a soldier, it is dominant and I know it is as present within you as it is in me, even if you can't see."

  "Thank you." I murmured, filled with gratitude for her being willing to soothe an ache of mine.

  "It's part of us. When we don't understand, we will ask questions until we do." She said. "We can be patient, but we expect an answer at one point or another. But, like in every situation, patience does run out."

  "And mine-"

  She cut me off by placing her gloved hand on my shoulder. "Ran out long ago." She finished for me, nodding in understanding. "I can feel your frustration."

  "You read people well." I mumbled. />
  "You could too; you just have to allow yourself. You don't need foresight to tap into the Seer side that allows you to pick up on how people around you feel and guess accurately what they are thinking." She squeezed my shoulder tightly then. "Don't shy away." Her voice was firm all of a sudden, instructing me not to back away from what she was allowing me to sense off of her. Tapping into her wasn't as hard as I thought it would be once I'd received her permission. Although I was probably untrained in this skill I could apparently use, it's not like I'd never tried to read people and obtain an accurate guess. I always wrote it off as being particularly good at reading body language, and maybe that was part of it.

  Focusing on Vervaine, my brows knitted together as I concentrated on her hand, my eyes closing when I pictured her in my mind. I felt heavier all of a sudden, as though I was carrying something with a lot of weight. My perception of the world surrounding me shifted, it moved slower than I normally would look at things. But all of those sensations were nearly lost when an overwhelming amount of loneliness washed over me, nearly powerful enough to knock me right off my feet.

  My mouth parted, a choke escaping my throat as I couldn't stop myself from tugging Vervaine closer, wrapping my arms around her and holding her close. She stiffened; her entire demeanor cautious and afraid as I guided her head to my shoulder to make sure my cheek wouldn't connect with hers.

  "What are you doing?" She whispered shakily.

  "I'm hugging you." I rubbed my hand between her shoulder blades, still severely upset with how much loneliness I'd tapped out of her. I breathed out when I felt her arms come around my waist, her movements shy as she returned the hug.

  "Everyone is always so careful."

  "Because you have people believe they should be." I explained. "They are afraid that coming near will harm you. But it doesn't, does it? Only if skin touches does a vision trigger. They don't need to be as careful as they are."

  She let out a short chuckle, her hands fisting into the shirt on my back. "But if I allowed it, then it would be like a constant tease of what I can never have. Removing myself completely makes it easier for me to pretend that my life is normal." She pulled away slowly, giving me a pained smile. "Do you remember your first encounter with Datura?"

  Although I did a double take at the sudden subject change, I didn't guide her back to her issues and curiously followed her as she started walking again.

  "He asked me if I was an intruder or a guest."

  "And?" I frowned at her question, trying to remember that moment exactly to understand what it is she wanted me to find.

  "Who am I?" Datura asked. "And I had hoped-"

  My eyebrows shot up in shock. "He was surprised that I didn't know him." Picking up the pace, I finally caught up with her and then halted us both in our steps so she could give me her full attention. "When I saw his picture, he looked familiar, but I decided to just write that off. Was I wrong? Have I met him before?" I pressed.

  "How did you ever manage to deny the truth of your feelings for him, when every time he is the subject of conversation, you become so very passionate?"

  I waved that away flippantly. "Yes, we've established I don't know how to prioritize my wants and thoughts. Now go back to answering my questions."

  I blinked in surprise when she laughed. Vervaine didn't laugh often. Yet she should, it looked good on her. "He was your Solenum before you met Solenum." That stung. So much so, I stumbled back and away from her, gulping audibly and feeling light headed.

  "He knows you didn't purposely forget him, Cali." Vervaine murmured, the laughter gone when she realized I hadn't taken it as well as she thought I might.

  Wincing, I placed my hand over my chest when it started to tighten. "But I forgot him nonetheless." Tearing my eyes off the ground, I looked back up at Vervaine. "Who took my memories?"

  "The Elders did. The Rangers sell many types of products and substances that can mess with the body and the mind." She paused. "Even with the soul sometimes. In your case, a powder that is said to have been scrapped from a tree as black as coal located deep down in the Sunken Cities is what stripped you of a specific set of memories when they made you inhale it." When she noticed I was light headed, she gestured for me to sit down and had the kindness to sit as well so our eyes would remain level. She took my hand in her gloved one. "Because of the numerous harmful encounters you've had with the Regius during your younger years, and the possibility that you may or may not be Sage's as well as Kalmia's, the Elders feared that if you were privy to such dark memories, you might harness them in the wrong manner while growing up. We don't process things the same way when we are children."

  "They thought I'd become a danger to myself and everyone close to me." Some of the anger faded. I knew that I'd be upset about them having made decisions in my stead forever, but unfortunately their reasoning was logical. Exhaling loudly and tiredly, I pursed my lips up at Vervaine. "Is there a way to remove the barrier? I assume you risked telling me because I'm no longer at an age where I may harness the knowledge to do harm."

  "There is..." I blinked at how fragile her voice had just sounded. Her hand clenched mine tightly and her breathing sped up. "I can destroy the barrier." She wasn't afraid, but neither was she the picture of comfortable. "Seers can do more than see the future or the past, or get a good read on people. It's said that when two Seers touch one another's cores, they have the ability to create barriers that can keep them out of harm's way. We believe the barrier placed around the Rangers Alley and that which keeps the souls within the Valley were created by Seers." Vervaine pulled her hand free from mine only so she could pull off the thin black glove gingerly. "If we can do this, it's because the power of foresight is wanted by many. It's the key to knowledge. Many a King, Leader and Elder have been known to prey on the Seers at one time or another throughout the centuries. Barriers can keep the enemy outside."

  I gulped, nodding at her words and watching as she pulled a short blade from out of her boot. "And you believe you and I, both being Seer, can break the one in my mind?"

  "Yes." She cut a small line in the palm of her hand, wincing as the blood seeped from the wound before offering me the hilt. "What is the one thing each and every one of us in Zinc have in common, yet makes us different at the same time?"

  "Blood." I gritted my teeth as I sliced a small line into my own palm. "You think that is what they mean by 'core'?"

  "What we are about to do could kill us instantly." I scowled at her words. "The bright side of that would be that you could enter the Valley again and see Datura now."

  I rolled my eyes, offering her my palm all the while eying her in amusement. "I think you need to work on your jokes a while longer before testing them on your audience." She shrugged, smirking as she smacked her hand against mine, both of us simultaneously grasping one another's wrists to hold on.

  For a long minute we just sat there, staring at our clasped palms, our blood mingling yet nothing spectacular seemed to be taking place with the exception of us thinking about trying to find a way to wash the blood out of our clothes. I even had the time to start thinking about how the Altors must have come up with some kind of product to do such washing with all the battles they had to go through.

  Before I could really get into it, I was hit with a wave of electricity from Vervaine into our hands, up into my body, circling my system and then slamming back into her.

  It nearly forced us to let go, but we stubbornly held on, our fingers tightening as we gritted through the pain that followed. Detaching my eyes off our hands, I looked up and gasped when Vervaine's pupils glazed and shone brightly. I could see images in the depths of them. They flashed by one after the other at a high speed, making it hard for me to distinguish anything out of them, unable to identify what it was she was envisioning. It was like she had turned into a hard drive and was quickly downloading the memories out of me.

  "Vervaine?" I asked, panicked when it seemed to never end, the feeling growing when I was no longer
in pain and could only sit here and wait. What was I supposed to do?

  "Vervaine?" I repeated a little louder this time and it seemed to trigger something out of her. I yelped in fear when her pupils returned very suddenly and the lost look in her eyes made me want to back away in fear. But that gaze was quickly replaced by a look of understanding.

  "Here," She said, unlocking our hands only so she could place her bloody palm against my forehead. "They are yours again." Her voice sounded distant and the grass surrounding me faded away. I blinked my eyes, wondering if my Altor vision was turning on, but soon realized my world wasn't turning grey, instead it was distorting and shaping itself into a new image.

  ~~~~~~~~

  "Why can't I just stay with Uncle Jan?" I asked the tall man, reaching up to take his hand in mine. Looking down, he offered me a smile.

  "Uncle Jan is going to marry Iris."

  I frowned. "I don't mind that. I'll be very nice to her. I'll even call her auntie if she wants me too. Just like I call Jan uncle even though he isn't really my uncle."

  Pieris chuckled softly, but I could hear that he was a bit sad. "Iris would have loved that. But, you see, she has a very dangerous job. It's not a place for little children like you, Calycanthus."

  "So they are leaving me here for my safety?"

  Pieris patted my head. "Exactly so." He pointed at the house before us. "Stay here while I go talk to Mina. She will be your new guardian." Pieris nodded over at the group of children playing in the yard. "Maybe try to make yourself some friends." Gulping, I watched him walk towards the boarding house's entrance, leaving me standing all by myself.

  "Are you an intruder or a guest?" Someone asked behind me, making me yelp in fear and turn around so I could see the boy. A long braid fell over his shoulder and he had very funny eye color. He looked older than my seven years and he was taller too. He looked nice though. At the very least, the smiley on his t-shirt was cool.

  "You look like a guest." He said and then grinned. "You have chocolate all over your mouth." My eyes widened and I uncovered the stain of chocolate on my t-shirt, placing my hands over my mouth to hide the chocolate there instead. Laughing cheerfully, he pried them off my mouth, taking one in his hand so he could pull me along towards the house.