She led me out of the lounge as Ethan and Ric followed a few paces behind. Our footsteps echoed throughout the empty hall and there was nothing else to be heard past our somewhat unsteady breathing. I squeezed Lavender’s hand reassuringly and she looked at me and squeezed back. She’d been afraid. It was utterly ridiculous, with Lavender’s Demon status she could probably snap me like a twig, yet I felt protective of her, like she was a sister more than a friend.
Nobody spoke until we were secured safely inside the workroom on the second floor of the house. It was heaving. Compared to the rest of the house’s neat appearance, the room was an absolute state. Papers and old, ragged books were crammed into whatever shelf space was available. A mixture of wooden and glass drawers were filled to the brim with jars of oils, dried herbs, tree bark of all colours, and bits and pieces of what looked like animal hair. Varying types of scales and beakers covered the many work surfaces, as boxes upon boxes of fresh bandages and dressing pads lined the shelves beneath the window. There were spillages, stains, a couple of what appeared to be burnt patches on the wood; and I didn’t know where to stand.
“Please tell me you don’t patch people up in here,” I said quickly.
Lavender laughed. “Daeus no, Raenn would take away our talents then and there if that was the case.”
“Raenn?” I was starting to lose my grip on how many names and phrases there were in Vremia.
“Daenia of Medicine,” she said.
I rubbed my head and groaned. “You guys have a lot more to think about here than where I come from. The only deities we have to remember are Kano and Miah, Father and Mother Time.” I rubbed my head.
“That’s probably because the Gnathians on your end of things didn’t pay attention to the wonderful gifts their children inherited. It’s easier to believe the world is run by only two deities but it’s quite the opposite.” Lavender patted me on the back. “Don’t worry, I’ll teach you all about it. You can teach those idiots in Wetherdon a thing or two about the world then.” She knew I couldn’t breathe so much as a word of this back in Wetherdon but I smiled regardless. Then the yelling started.
An hour had passed and the voices downstairs had not lessened. In the workroom Ethan, Ric and Lavender spoke gravely about the fate of their livelihood now Roan had joined the ranks of the Berserkers while I listened on. Soon their voices faded into white noise as a bizarre feeling encased my mind, making it foggy.
Ric turned and knocked one of the beakers, causing it to fall and shatter on the ground. A sharp pain split through my head as I tried making sense of the strange feeling. Lavender batted his hand away from the mess and swept the broken shards up. Voices continued to raise downstairs and for whatever reason I turned toward the door. A prickling cold slowly crept its way up my spine like a thousand icy fingers.
The feel of the door handle clasped in my palm suddenly flooded me with my previous nightmare. The sickening sound of crashing metal and gem slammed into my mind, and before I could consider the ludicrousness behind my actions, the door tore open and I was running.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
THE SOUND OF my heart pounding in my ears failed to drown out the maddening rattle of chains as they screamed against their remaining restraints. The voices from below filtered up from the hall, their anger making them blind to the danger above their heads. I wanted to scream out but the warning lodged in my throat. When I came into view of the light fixture I found my voice and leapt at the chain at the third mount pulled from the wall. It lifted me off the ground, jerking my arms harshly from my shoulders, but I pulled back and found my feet. One more bracket held the worst of the weight and it had already begun to strain.
It jolted again. A strange feeling came over me and I was determined, no one would die this time. I pulled against the chain and I heard it whine, relieving the pressure on the link if only for a moment. The others in the hall had finally noticed what was going on above them but were frozen to the spot. My arms were giving out, my back was in agony, and still they stood like deer in a pasture. I looked over the balcony and cried out. “Alistair!” It was the only word I managed before the chain yanked again. Ethan and the others were coming, but not fast enough. I screamed, “Fucking move!”
The words were obscene enough to pull Alistair out of his daze, and he tackled Willow and Chester out of the way as the final bracket burst from the wall. I was showered with flecks of broken stone as I released the chain and slammed into the hard floor. At the same time a ton of metal and gem crashed into the entrance floor, shattering the intricately decorated stone like it was made of glass. Silence descended. Nothing moved but for the groan of broken metal and clattering of gems that skimmed across the ground like pebbles. Hurried footsteps reached me and strong hands sat me up against the wall.
Ethan ran his fingers along the back of my head and inspected it. “No blood,” he said. “Lav, what do you think?”
Lavender knelt in front of me and pulled my eyelids open one at a time. “She’ll have a bump and a sore head to add to her list of injuries, but she’ll live.”
“Thanks, doc,” I groaned. “Class ‘A’ diagnosis.”
“Patients shouldn’t strain themselves with witty remarks.” Lavender prodded the fast-forming blisters on my hands and I hissed.
What in Gehn had just happened? I’d dreamt this exact scene the previous night. That was the first oddity. The second – I actually managed to hold the weight of the light, if only for a few moments. I felt it in my hands. They shook as I looked at them. Angry, red welts had started to form from the pressure. Oh, Daeus; they could have died—
Ethan steadied me as I stood and I peered over the balcony rail. The fixture lay smashed in several hundred pieces but there was no blood, no broken bodies beneath it. My legs sagged beneath me as I saw Alistair, Chester and Willow alive and well. Shocked, no doubt, but alive.
“What happened?” Lavender asked.
“I saw this,” I started. “Last night, I saw your mother, Alistair and Chester die.”
“How?” Ric asked.
I pointed to the place the light used to be. “They were crushed beneath it. The clamps broke from the wall. Yesterday I didn’t get there in time and they…” I couldn’t finish the sentence. My hands were shaking as the enormity of what just happened sank in.
“That’s not possible,” Lavender said, shifting a look between the others. “Gnathians don’t have that sort of power. Their blood doesn’t allow it.”
“Have there been other dreams?” Ric asked.
“No, that was the first of its kind – and hopefully the last,” I prayed.
Hurried footsteps clacked up the stairs and Willow rounded the corner, almost throwing herself into us. She grasped Lavender’s arm, her voice was ragged and her breathing heavy. “Is everyone alright?” She turned her attention to me. “Did you hurt anything?”
“Only my dignity,” I tried joking.
“How did you know the light was going to fall?” Daniel joined us from…
I glared at him. “Where-?”