“What?” I asked, the question surprising me as I looked up, still expecting to see her.
Instead, I came face-to-face with a little girl I had never seen before: blonde hair to her waist, green eyes, and a button nose that made her tiny self look even smaller. I was confident she couldn’t be any more than seven.
“You must stop this child,” the voice gasped as the little girl stood still, looking like a doll in a shop window.
Staring at the child, I waited for answers, not knowing who the mysterious girl was, part of me not wanting to find out.
“This child is coming to kill someone who is needed. You must stop that from happening.”
“How can I stop an assassin if I can barely move?” I asked in desperation, watching the child vanish into the smoke of memory.
“You will fight. You will see.” Her voice came from right behind me, her breath hot against my neck, and I turned, expecting the white space of the sight.
But the white was now occupied with a woman I knew well. Older, different, but the same.
Joclyn stood before me, wisdom in her eyes from hundreds of years that had come and gone without either of us seeing them.
“Hello, Uncle,” she whispered. “Long time no see.”
My eyes narrowed at the phrase, not understanding her meaning, not even understanding what was going on or why she was here. I opened my mouth to ask, but she smiled before her bright laugh echoed around me as she walked away, her hair flowing behind her in a long, black sheet, the golden ribbon wrapped around her ankle.
“When the child comes, you will know,” she whispered before she was swallowed by the white, leaving me staring into the blanket of brilliance, the light wrapping around me so tightly it was all I saw. It was all there was until the screams came again. The discordant sound took over and pulled me out of the beautiful prescience I had missed so much and longed for so deeply since the magic had died inside of me.
I listened to the sound as I watched the sights play again, looking over everything that had happened in the fifteen hundred years of my existence until my own scream joined theirs. My own pain and anguish returned until the sight was gone, and I was left huddling on the floor, a panicked Ryland screaming for some form of assistance, and a few words embedded inside of me, whispering to my soul …
“I love you, Uncle.”
Wyn moved like she was possessed, her joints jerking in weird directions as her body relentlessly pushed her forward. I walked behind her at a safe distance, enjoying her struggle, enjoying seeing her reduced to such a pathetic mass.
I smiled wickedly, throwing my hair to the side as Wynifred stumbled over her own feet, her body lunging into the white stone building we were walking next to.
The crack of skull against stone resonated through the empty city, her head impacting into the wall before she slid down to the ground in a pathetic heap, a bright red streak following her.
“Oh, dear,” I sighed, my voice dripping with false sympathy. “Are you okay? That looks like it hurts.”
Her eyes swung toward me with all the wide-eyed horror I would expect from someone in this situation. The horrified glance was made all the more real by the fact that she had no other choice than to give in to me.
Her mouth opened wide, and for a brief moment, I thought she was going to scream again, but she simply stared, odd gurgling noises seeping from her throat.
“Pathetic.” Chuckling acidly at the withered girl below me, I took another step forward, pressing the point of my high-heeled boot into her side with an aggressive swing, causing her eyes to grow wider. “I’m sorry. What was that? You say you are okay…” I dug deeper with my toe, watching her writhe as it pressed against the ridges of her rib cage.
Broken sobs leaked out with a pathetic growl from somewhere deep inside her chest.
“Don’t you think we should get moving?”
Her mouth snapped shut in one quick movement, her teeth clicking together in a loud crack.
I smiled at the way my father was taking control, at the tears leaking from the sides of her eyes.
“Get up,” I growled, the strength in my voice pounding against the stone and bouncing back to us with the strength of a hammer.
Wyn flinched at the sound, at the wave of my violent magic that rode on the back of my words, hitting her in the face with a heady warning that I could instantly tell she was going to ignore.
She didn’t move. She shivered a bit, her body moving as if it was cold. I knew better, though, especially in this heat.
She was still fighting him, and at this point, I was losing my patience. I could feel it grind against my spine, my soul pleading with me to make her hurt.
And I could make it happen.
“Get up,” I snapped, my voice even louder as my magic rushed from me, spinning around her and picking her up with an energy that lifted her off the ground.