He shook his head. “I don’t think so, Emily. I don’t think this is something any of us can do.” His expression held an apology, but he would tell her the truth. “Honestly, the way it works, I doubt it’s possible even this shadow could help him recover.”
Emily’s gaze fell to Brianna, just as her sister’s eyes opened. Brianna had seen what the future held for Brendan, and it wasn’t recovery.
Emily slumped into a chair. Death, fire, destruction, these were the things she expected they’d have to face. But she wasn’t sure what to do with the helplessness, the waiting. “I’m sorry,” she said to the room. “I know he was your friend.”
Brianna’s hand tightened in Logan’s, and she looked to Aern. “How did the meeting with the others go?”
Aern’s expression wasn’t a wince exactly, but not far from it. “There were mixed reactions. A few adamantly opposed and several perhaps too eager, but they understand what’s at stake. They trust you, Brianna.” He lifted one shoulder. “And then your sister whipped out her fire and pretty much destroyed any chance we had at peaceful debate.”
Emily rolled her eyes. “It was a waste of time. It’s not like we have a choice in the matter.”
She muttered something about brain-eating, fire-breathing bad guys, and Aern said, “Seth and Eric are in the command room, Wesley was headed to the library.”
Brianna pushed away from the table to stand. “I’ll go to them. Someone needs to tell Kara and Ellin about Brendan privately. They won’t take it as well as the others.” Aern dipped his chin, assuring her it would be handled delicately, and Brianna noticed that he’d worn a button-down shirt for his meeting with the others, though the sleeves were now rolled up to reveal his forearms. She glanced at Emily. Same white cotton top and sneakers; Emily didn’t know when the fight would come, but she intended to be ready. Brianna offered, “Seth is going to be able to move water. Maybe that’s something you might practice with next.”
Emily blinked, clearly uncertain whether the recommendation was simply a casual suggestion or specific advice based on a vision. The idea that it might have been the latter gave her a visible chill, but she stood, grateful to have a new task. “Water.”
Brianna could tell her sister was considering where she could find the largest body of water as they walked toward the door, so she added, “Start small. Think rubber duckies, not shrimp boats.”
“I was thinking ‘indoor pool’,” Emily said.
The look she gave Aern was entirely sincere, and Brianna couldn’t help but smile at them over her shoulder. “Whatever works.”
***
Eric was first. He might have had a few problems with trusting them, with following without question, but he was a strong fighter. Brianna hadn’t seen issue with using him in her visions, only the certainty that he’d die if they didn’t.
“You won’t feel anything,” she explained. “Not until it’s there. It will be just like your other power, the same connection you have to the sway. Instinctually, you’ll know how to use it.”
Eric nodded, seeming smaller where he sat across from her chair, and she remembered the way he’d fought with Aern, how massive he’d appeared when they were brawling through the hallway. That image—the very idea that Aern had distrusted him so much alone with Emily—prompted her to add, “You are receiving this gift in order to help preserve the Seven Lines. I want you to know, Eric, that it can be taken away.”
He stared at her for a moment, evidently unsure whether he was being warned or if this was all part of the standard procedure. “Yes,” he said. “I understand.”
She reached for his hands, taking comfort in the fact that Logan waited silently near the back wall. The room was otherwise empty, a small office off the main command room with no more than a table and two chairs. Aern had discussed with the others what Brianna would do, and word of their plan had gone through the ranks, but they weren’t exactly advertising which of the Division and Council men were being changed first. It wasn’t safe. Any of the others could be a plant. A shadow. All it would take was one whisper, one indication of what they were planning to do to set off a change in the futures that Brianna had seen, to cause them to lose the only chance they had left.