Josh sat poised on his favorite couch, his eyes hardened as they swept over each person gathered in the lounge. Even Corliss, who was normally spared from such meetings, was present though her attention seemed more focused on her hands than what was happening around her. Everyone seemed to know what they had been summoned for but still Bavita caught herself chewing on her lip, a nervous, almost sick, feeling creeping into her gut. The third villain had finally attacked and had only failed because she'd decided to be slow with her dishing out of punishment. Liss was alive because Thana was dramatic not because the seeress had shown any considerable talent or smarts or even finesse in defeating the spirit. Bavita hadn't even defeated her. She'd simply hit her repeatedly with a frying pan, the first weapon she could get her hands on. There was nothing brilliant about that.
"Thana attacked," the shifter eventually spoke, straightening so he could project without shouting, "and was foiled but that's not why I asked to speak to everyone. I asked to see everyone because we've been slack. Three times we've let the villains come close to killing Liss. That's unacceptable. Yes, we stopped them but the fact that they even got close to achieving their goals is pathetic on our part." The words, although Bavita had been expecting them, still stung worse than any burn ever could. She, specifically, felt worse because as a seeress she should have been able to see the villains coming. She should have been able to prevent them from even breathing the same air as Liss but as always, her gift was selectively present. And it made Bavita feel all the more horrible for it. Liss had just been showing signs of improvement, she'd just started coming out of her depression with Aaron's training and teaching Nom during the day. Now the writer was curled into herself again. They were back to square one.
"You are correct," Aaron voiced from the shadows, "none of this should have been allowed to happen."
Josh nodded, "However, guilt-tripping ourselves isn't going to change the past. We've made mistakes, we've all wallowed a little longer than we should have but the time for leniency is over. No more sulking and no more shifts. We are all going to watch Liss twenty-four seven from now on. I feel the villains won't try attacking individually anymore. They will come as a group and when they do, we will be prepared. We are going to protect Liss with everything we've got and, to make ourselves better prepared, we're going to train in every way we can." The last bit was news startling enough to rip Bavita from her self-pity and thoughts of how easy Josh made it sound to stay focused when he himself had been caught in the same snare. Even Liss had deemed the revelation shocking enough to tear her eyes from her tightly clasped hands in her lap, her mouth agape in an 'o'.
"Train?" Nom asked the question everyone was obviously thinking.
"Yes, train," Josh stood from his seat and wiped his hands on his jeans, "we all have our own unique gifts and whatnot but I think we can all benefit from a little self-defense and combat training. I want to cover all angles, make sure those slimy little bastards don't overwhelm us in any sense." It was logical, Bavita considered, especially since she and Nom had no useful 'unique' gifts when it came to fighting. Sure she could supposedly see the future but what use were headaches and disorientation when faced with a foe? She would be slaughtered before she could even make sense of her vision.
"I agree," the seeress stated plainly, "it's a good idea. If we don't have to worry about anybody else, we won't get distracted from our main goal."
"Exactly!" Josh beamed at her and she almost felt the need to smile back. Unfortunately Bavita's heart and soul felt too black to conjure up even a fake spec of happiness.
"When shall we start?" Aaron asked as he stepped from the shadows, his body loose almost as if he too agreed with the sentiment.
"As soon as possible," Josh responded but before he could continue, Liss interrupted him.
"You don't expect me to do this too, do you?" Everyone turned as one person toward the shifter, a tension blossoming in the room like a weed determined to strangle the life from their plan.
"Of course," Josh said quickly, his leadership not faltering, "if you can fight too, you might be able to hold your own until one of us can get to you. Every second in a fight-"
"No," Liss replied shortly, her look clouding over, "it didn't work before, why would it suddenly work now?" Bavita felt her heart lodge in her throat when Josh's fingers twitched, a tell-tale sign that he was getting aggravated by the argument their stubborn creator was making.
"You were not trained enough," Aaron, luckily, swooped in to the rescue, his voice as cool and calm as always. Josh instantaneously relaxed again in a single sub-conscious movement that the seeress could swear only she saw and felt. Not even Nom had apparently noticed anything and she was as sensitive to emotion as a fresh wound was to touch.
"I had a good week of training-," Liss started, her own look defiant against the calming vibes Aaron was sending her.
The assassin cut her off, "And it takes good, talented men weeks before they are competent in battle. You specifically should know how long it took me." Liss had no good argument after that, her chest practically deflating in defeat and for a brief moment Bavita could swear she saw Aaron's lips tilt up in the slightest of smiles.
"It's settled then," Josh drew her attention back to the topic at hand, "I think we should take tonight to rest and mentally prepare ourselves." He rubbed his hands together then nodded, finalizing the decision. Finally being dismissed but hesitating to leave Liss alone, Bavita instead took a seat next to her creator and wondered if the girl would make any attempt toward peace as she had with the others. At that moment, the chances looked slim because she didn't even acknowledge the seeress and it stung to some extent, the hurt darkening her mood even more. Liss had set Josh's mind at ease when he'd been self-doubting but she wouldn't extend the courtesy to Bavita. She'd even come to some agreement with the illusive assassin, opening up more to him than she would to anyone else but she didn't think of talking to the seeress.
'Why would she?' Bavita grumbled as she sat back, 'I've made no attempt to converse with her other than when I need to. And I haven't given her any reason to think I need reassurance. Shit, I've never needed reassurance before.' She wanted to rub her throbbing temples but held back on the urge, chastising herself for being selfish. Here she was, jealous of whatever connection Liss had made with Josh and Aaron when her creator was dealing with so much on her plate already. The seeress couldn't expect Liss to sniff out her fears and her doubts. 'Can't exactly broach those now,' Bavita grumbled some more as she turned her attention instead on Nom, hoping she could speak to the other girl about her issues. The two of them had grown significantly closer since she'd discovered Nom's odd gift and she felt at ease opening up to the other girl, conversation coming easily between the two of them. The other girl had even broached her worries about her friendship with Liss to Bavita, she'd voiced her nightmares about the betrayal and guilt she felt and now the seeress hoped she could do the same. But Nom was with Josh, apparently trying to lighten the mood with her snipes and jokes about his lack of height. Those two had also grown significantly closer. It made Bavita feel isolated. Almost as isolated as Liss must have felt when she'd hidden in her room. Or how isolated Aaron probably was concealing himself in his shadows so no one could bother him. She felt stuck in a rut with no way of escaping.
"Bav?" Liss' sudden interruption of Bavita's thoughts made her jump and her creator frowned at the response, "I'm sorry... did I startle you?" her voice was so meek the seeress could almost hear its fragility and it was enough to make her want to break with her creator. When she tried to squeak a response the only sound she made was a whimper mixed with that of a dying mouse, earning her an even more concerned look from her creator. Cursing her treacherous voice, Bavita quickly forced an "I'm okay" out, willing Liss to continue with whatever it was she'd wanted to say in the first place.
"You sure?" Liss eyed her for a moment longer then seemed to accept it, going on, "I kind of wanted to ask for your help."
"My help?" the concept was so foreign, the seeress' mind couldn't process it. No one had ever asked for her help before. Heck, no one had even acknowledged her presence in the world before she'd met her current group of comrades. And maybe Jezebel too but that was only because they were counterparts in a sense.
"Yeah," the writer nodded, her eyes darting to the rest of the room before settling on Bavita again, "it's not really something Josh can help me with and it's not Aaron's style."
"What about Nom?" was Bavita's immediate response, her curiosity chastising her for questioning Liss at all.
"I could talk to her too but...she'll wanna discuss what happened and right now I need to concentrate on anything else but that. You understand right?" her look was so pleading the seeress could only nod in agreement, her heart rejoicing that she was the best candidate for whatever task Liss had in mind. After a moment of almost awkward silence, she finally spoke again, asking "Would you mind getting my laptop for me? I would go but you guys don't want me alone and well...I don't wanna interrupt their conversation." She cocked her head in Josh and Nom's direction. The seeress could almost see the unspoken 'I don't actually want to be alone either' floating from her creator's closed lips and for a moment she couldn't move, her brain trying to decipher if she'd imagined it or if she'd actually seen the words in the air. "It's next to my desk," Liss carried on and by her look Bavita assumed she'd thought the seeress was waiting for further instruction.
'Just as well,' Bavita thought as she got up and headed for the bedroom, 'or she'd think I was going mad.' The computer bag was easy enough to find and once she was settled next to Liss again, she watched the girl set the little black machine up.
"Right...so I've been thinking about doing this for a while but I didn't know what you guys would think about it. I voiced it to Nom and she said it was a good idea," Liss began, her finger stroking the trackpad as she navigated across the screen to the Microsoft Word icon, double clicking on it.
"Go on," Bavita prompted, watching the cursor curiously.
"I want to restart all your stories," Liss announced, softly enough though so only the seeress could hear, "but I wanted some help with planning and all that. You're the most sensible of all the group so I guessed you'd be the best person to ask."
The compliment made Bavita want to squirm and out of habit she deflected the attention, "Aaron's more sensible than me."
"Not really..." Liss gave her a look, her teeth latching onto her bottom lip, "well not in all things. And like I said, this isn't really his style." Bavita was about to question what she'd meant by that when the writer continued, "Please help me with this. I need to do this or I think everything is going to catch up to me and I know I'm going to break again. I don't want to break again." Moisture was starting to gather in those emerald green eyes and Bavita's own eyes started watering in response, her lip straining to wobble under the amount of emotion her creator was baring before her. Something in Liss had changed that had made her more open with the effects this whole situation was having on her and Bavita was half glad for it. Glad for it because Liss trusted her enough to bare her heart before her and glad that she would probably do the same thing for Nom. The two needed the openness between them again.
"Okay, okay, let's plan," Bavita relented, scooting closer so she could see the laptop screen better. Liss gave her a grateful look before titling the page 'Book idea'. They proceeded to spend the next hour or so discussing Josh's book, what the writer had originally planned for the story and what changes she thought were necessary now that she'd actually met Josh and had seen her other characters' interactions with him and how Bavita had disarmed Thana. The seeress was completely enraptured after the first fifteen minutes, her brain absorbing each and every detail with an eagerness she'd never perceived possible even if it wasn't her story they were discussing. Liss seemed to come alive again as she babbled on, her eyes gaining a passionate twinkle that the seeress had never seen before. The light did not even diminish when she mentioned the spirit that had only just attacked her but Bavita could see the tension surrounding her. Again she faltered, her eyes straining on the 'aura' she thought she could see but it vanished when she blinked. Confusion was just stealing her attention when Liss mentioned she wanted to bring some sort of tragedy into the story, her faltering words snapping the seeress back to reality as the writer's eyes sought her out for the first time since they'd started, quietly asking for her opinion.
"Disaster and tragedy are usually good turning points," Bavita responded diplomatically although she actually felt her stomach twist at the idea of someone having to die for some reader's entertainment. She definitely would not like someone important to her drowning at Jezebel's hands and logic insisted Josh would feel the same about one of his important people dying.
Liss appeared to be mulling her words over as she nodded, "Maybe not a death though...Injury? Work it into how they meet?"
"Good idea," Bavita smiled, somewhat relieved. When they finally had nearly two typed pages of ideas and information for Josh's novel, Bavita insisted Liss take a break to get something to eat and rest her eyes before they moved on to Aaron's story.
"I was actually hoping we could carry on again tomorrow," Liss ventured as she closed the lid of her laptop and slid the machine into its pouch, "My parents should be coming home now soon anyway and I'm not allowed to use my laptop in their presence unless it's for schoolwork." The second the clock rang for four o'clock in the evening it was as though a silent command was issued. Josh excused himself from his little word battle with Nom to disappear down the corridor so he could shift into something inconspicuous. Aaron slid back into the shadows and Bavita watched him move to the furthest corner in the room where he was least likely to be walked into. And lastly Nom dug out some school textbooks and flopped down on the other side of Liss, handing the seeress one and the writer the other so there was some authenticity to the ruse she'd made up for her constant presence in the house.
"What if the school calls your parents?" Liss asked Nom as she looked at the open History book on her lap, "They'll know you aren't at school and you aren't staying here to help me catch-up."
"The school doesn't even have my folks' right numbers," Nom scoffed, twirling a highlighter between her fingers, "they keep forgetting to go and update them." Liss just furrowed her brow but didn't question her best friend further, instead turning her attention back to the book in her lap. It was going on three weeks since the incident with Seth had happened and Bavita wondered how much longer Liss' parents would let her stay off school. She hadn't even given them a decent reason for wanting to stay off school.
"Liss," Bavita felt the need to voice her question, "how long are your parents still going to let you stay home? It has been three weeks already."
"Yeah, dude, how are you going to convince them? Especially since you're starting to look better?" Nom added, her fingers pausing and the highlighter coming to a stop.
Liss squirmed, her teeth worrying at her bottom lip, "I don't know. I don't even know why they've let me go this long. Normally they'd be on my case like a rash." Silence ensued as all three girls fell into their own thoughts but they quickly resumed their facade when Liss' parents eventually did come home, putting on quite a show of dictating from the textbook and explaining what they'd read. The adults seemed to glance at each other, their looks outright concerned and almost tentative, before they disappeared to their room to change out their work clothes. Quite a way into the night, Liss' mother materialized in the doorway to the kitchen, her entire posture screaming of awkwardness as she cleared her throat to catch her daughter's attention. "Mom?" Liss looked up from her book.
"Sweetheart, your dad and I were just saying that...well," the older woman cleared her throat again, "well, we've been very concerned about you over the last three weeks and we've noticed you've been getting a little better."
"This is about school, isn't it?" Liss uttered, her entire expression darkening. Bavita squinted slightly as she focused her gaze on her creator and she could swear she could see nervousness and worry lying under the girl's harder exterior. It was strange...an almost greyish tinge that edged the darker purple color seeping into Liss' skin. What was even stranger was that Bavita knew exactly what the phenomenon meant.
"It has been three weeks," her mother consented, bringing the seeress back to present events, "and the school called, asking for reasons and we didn't know what to tell them. So either you let us help you or you've got to go back." The older woman looked ready to bolt by the time she was done speaking. Her cheeks flushed and she averted her eyes.
"Mom, please..." Liss started then faltered, the purple tinge fading into the ever growing grey, "I can't-."
"Why?" her mom responded, cutting her off, "And don't say it's something personal. We can't go off that anymore, Corliss. We need a reason or you have to go back." The answer shocked Liss into silence and all she could do was stare back at her parent, her eyes wide with a raw fear Bavita was sure her mom should have been able to see but the woman remained oblivious. She cast a final apologetic look at her daughter and departed, leaving the three girls alone once more.
"Does anybody else find it weird," Nom commented, "that we bring this exact issue up today and suddenly so do Liss' parents? That's some serious coincidence right there."
Liss mumbled, "Point is, they still brought it up. I can't tell them what happened. I'll end up in the psych ward. But I can't go back either." Before either companion could reply, the girl stood from the couch and disappeared to her room, her discarded textbook falling to the floor. Bavita stared at it for a long moment, her thoughts a complete muddle.
"Should we go after her?" she eventually questioned when she had some sort of order in her mind.
Nom shook her head, "No...that was her 'I want to be left alone' maneuver. What's bugging you?" The seeress' blood chilled at the question. Of all the things Nom chose to notice, why did she have to notice that something was obviously freaking Bavita out?
"Nothing serious," she replied as lightly as she could, plastering a false smile on her face in the hopes of staving the other girl off, "just the normal."
"Sure...that's why you suddenly went four shades lighter when you were staring at Liss earlier. Did you have a vision?" Nom probed, leaning her chin in the palm of her hand so she could lean forward. An interested light turned her eyes a rich brown color.
"You'd know if I'd had a vision," Bavita muttered, crossing her arms defensively as she leaned back into the couch, wishing it would swallow her so she wouldn't have to survive the questioning she knew was about to come. In a way, she could understand now why Liss didn't want to speak to Nom so soon after an attack. The girl's intensity was...unnerving. Especially the way she made one feel as though she were analyzing them. And it wasn't as though Bavita could lie to the sensitive girl beside her.
"So what did you see?" Nom pressed, "Nothing I could see, obviously."
"I'm probably just seeing things because of the stress," Bavita waved her hand dismissively, wondering vaguely if Nom would feel insulted if she excused herself to go for a walk around the house.
"Mhm," she quirked a brow in response, "that still doesn't answer my question. Come on, Bavita, nothing is weird to me now after I met you guys." Taking a deep breath and deciding she would probably regret her honesty later, the seeress tried to explain all the odd things she'd seen throughout the day; from the auras, to the tinges in Liss' skin, emotions no one else seemed to notice and even the unspoken words that had spilled from Liss' lips. Nom listened without interruption, nodding every now and then to show understanding before she finally looked away when Bavita finished her explanation. "Well, for starters I don't think you're loopy or seeing things," she eventually commented, a frown tugging at the corners of her mouth.
"So I'm imagining it?" Bavita all but squeaked, her heart hammering in her chest.
"No! What I meant to say was, you're not seeing things that aren't there," Nom quickly amended, her eyes darting back to the seeress, "I think it might be an extension of your gift."
"I see the future, not peoples' feelings. That's your domain," Bavita drawled although, secretly, a bucket of relief flooded through her, making her feel lighter than a feather.
"Ask Liss," Nom said as she shot the seeress a look, "that's all I can advise you to do. Ask your creator. She'll have a definite answer for you."
"If it is part of my 'gift'," Bavita added, trying to suppress the sudden excitement that had ignited in her chest by being as realistic and reasonable as Liss had told her she was, "why haven't I noticed it before?" All Nom could do was shrug, leaving Bavita to toil mentally with the possibility that maybe, just maybe her ability had more depth than she'd originally thought. There was only one way to find out and the seeress had to physically restrain herself from bolting after Liss, promises of discussing it the next day being the only thing keeping her firmly rooted in her seat. Unfortunately, the next day held no luck for her because, just after the crack of dawn, Aaron had the entire group of them lined up in the backyard, his face as impassive as always. Where the crimson sun made Liss' hair look almost auburn, Aaron's hair remained an inky black and even his skin seemed to refuse to reflect the tones in the light. It was beyond weird how the color seemed to pass right by him as though he were a specter of some kind, an anomaly of nature. The same thought, or something similar, must have occurred to the others because they watched him intently and he stared back, seemingly at all of them at once.
"We will begin with the basic attack and defense stance," the assassin said by way of greeting after several awkward moments of silence, finally breaking whatever spell had settled over them. While he went on about posture and whatever else, Bavita felt her eyes being drawn to an off green color that finally managed to seep into his impenetrable skin. Discomfort. The word slapped her across the face and she just barely managed to refrain from flinching, her throat constricting as she forced her attention back onto what he was doing and not what he was feeling. Minutes dragged by into what felt like hours before Aaron finally deemed the time right for a break, the assassin bolting into the nearest shadow the instant he was done speaking. By that time, the off green color had gotten so bright he'd been almost blinding to look at.
"Seeing it again, are you?" Nom asked suddenly, startling Bavita from her mental ministrations.
"Sort of," the seeress grumbled.
"What color and what did it mean?" Nom looked far more interested than she should have and Bavita picked up on her ulterior motives almost immediately, the girl's skin showing spots of red. Luckily, before she was forced to answer any questions, Liss joined them. Her skin too was tinged with red but that was from the exertion and the normal coloring was such a relief to Bavita she actually wanted to hug her creator.
'Time to find out if I'm going mad or not,' Bavita steeled herself, turned to Liss and blurted, "I'm seeing things."
Liss blinked, taken aback, "You'd be blind if you didn't?"
"No," the seeress wanted to groan in frustration, "I mean I'm seeing things I'm not supposed to. Like...colors in people. And words they don't say and..." Aaron moving through the shadows toward them caught her attention and her back immediately became rigid. "And assassins who are supposed to be invisible when they're in the shadows." Everything paused after that and, for a second, Bavita worried she'd gained the ability to stop time as well.
"You're...supposed to," Liss finally said, confusion clouding her features before clarity took over, "oh wait, you wouldn't know that. I never got far enough for you to know that."
"Know what exactly?" Bavita prompted, her heart hammering in her chest again.
"That you have the Sight," Liss explained, "that's why you can see the future. You're gifted with the ability to see things most people can't or don't. Like emotions and unspoken words and apparently shadow walkers too."
"Why haven't I noticed any of this before?" Bavita squeaked. Her head was swimming with the revelation she had just been handed by her creator. She was not completely useless, her gift was simply underdeveloped! It made her want to laugh aloud, to cry and dance and spin in relief.
Liss chewed her answer over, before saying, "I think you already know why but I was going to make it that it flares when you're emotional or stressed."
"I thought I was going loopy," Bavita giggled, unable to stop the unabashed grin spreading across her face, "loopy because I was so useless. But I'm not. I have a special gift. Something useful!" She clapped her hands together in glee, excitement flushing into her muscles and turning her cheeks pink with pleasure.
"Oh Bav," Liss looked completely heartbroken, a deep sapphire blue soaking into her skin. The force of the sadness knocked the joy right from Bavita, shock taking its place instantaneously. "You're not useless, honey, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about this sooner. With everything that happened...and I assumed you knew...I completely forgot I didn't get that far and-."
"Liss, no," Bavita put her hands up quickly to stave off the sudden verbal diarrhea aimed at her, "I get it. I couldn't expect you to sniff my insecurities out. I should have come to you sooner with it." A weak smile tugged at the corner of her lips as she pulled her creator into a tight hug, tears stinging her eyes. Everything around them looked so much brighter now that she knew. Now that she wasn't stuck in the same rut she was sure she was going to die in yesterday. A sob worked its way free from behind the lump in her throat and the seeress quickly shut her eyes, reveling in the joyous emotions flooding through her. It was a completely foreign feeling and she was grateful enough for it that she knew immediately she couldn't hate Liss anymore for throwing her story aside.
'Everyone makes mistakes,' Bavita thought happily as she reopened her eyes just in time to see Aaron slip from the shadows. A familiar needle-like pain flared behind her eyes and she felt herself losing grip on reality, her vision blurring to colored splotches before it finally melted into nothingness. The seeress floated like that for a while, balancing between consciousness and unconsciousness while her brain fumbled for something to cling to. Finally the latter won out and Bavita succumbed to the darkness.
The girls argued heatedly for what felt like ages before they split paths, one heading to the left and the other heading to the right. It was the girl to the right that Bavita followed on a powerful breeze, a magnetic pull willing her on faster than her measured flaps could carry her. The sun was setting already and long shadows stretched out across the road but the girl seemed oblivious, too absorbed by the unending tears leaking from her eyes. As the scene faded to black again, the glint of a crimson rose imprinted itself into her memory before a shriek pierced the air.