54 Unseen
–
lone.
“…during a time like this, it would be advisable to ensure that the Alpha is informed…” I was saying.
Iris was still in bed listening attentively, all her focus on me. Color was returning to her face, and she had far more strength now.
I should have been happy, but I was only filled with dread. It was ironic that despite my student being so attentive, my mind was elsewhere. I was thinking back to what I had promised my mother I would do. I would see into Iris‘ past and future.
I kept swallowing the lump that formed in my throat. I did not want to harm her. Seeing into someone always had an effect on the person whose life and destiny were being unraveled. She had been weak; that was why I had told myself I would only do it when she had gotten stronger. It did not change the fact that I was going to intrude on her life and fate without her permission. It felt so wrong.
And then there was the other reason; I did not know exactly what it would do to me. It had been a while since I last attempted to see. And the longer breaks I took between seeing, the worse the effect it would have on me. There had been a time after seeing that I had lost my sight. The blindness had lasted several months, to the point that I believed that I would never see again.
It had been a horrifying experience, one that my mother had blamed me for, as though I was the one who could not see what was in front of her.
“You did it wrong. You failed, like you always do,” she had berated. The worst part was that I had not seen the slap coming at all. She had slapped me before the entire royal court. Only after Cassian ordered her to cease her tirade did she stop. The memory had been seared deep into my memory, like a brand that I would forever carry.
After that incident, Cassian had allowed me to see less, much to my mother’s chagrin.
I did it from time to time, but ever since Iris‘ arrival, I had not even attempted it. And I could already feel my body healing from the strain and wear of my gift. But I would be forced back to the wolf once more.
I steeled myself for what was about to happen. I rose from my seat when I finished to sit beside Iris.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, her eyes searching my face.
“Nothing, why do you ask?” I said, a little too quickly.
Iris gave me a knowing look. “It is telling on your face. You look downcast,” she said. “You want to talk about it?” She asked, her face filled with hope that I would open up to her about what was making me look downcast.
“It is really nothing,” I lied. “I am just tired.” The lies tasted like ash in my mouth.
I braced myself and placed my hand over hers in a seemingly innocuous hold. “How are you feeling?” I asked.
“Better. I can even swallow without it hurting me,” her eyes were bright, like a little girl’s.
I had come to see her as more than a sister–in–law in the past few months. She was a sister to me. She was more of a sibling than Rolan or Cassian were. She meant so much, and to do this to her felt like the most egregious sin. But I had no choice. I had to obey my mother.
When Iris was distracted, I began the seeing. As Iris chatted idly about the small improvements she felt each day, I nodded mechanically, pretending to listen while my inner vision began to descend into the deep, hidden layers of her existence. My fingers tightened gently around hers, the gesture a silent apology for the intrusion I was about to commit.
Closing my eyes, I focused, allowing the subtle energies around us to settle. The hum of life in the room provided a soft backdrop as I searched for the entrance to Iris’s past and future. The initial phase was always the most challenging–penetrating the superficial layers of the present to access the intricate web of time threading through her life.
But this time, as I delved deeper, something was odd. Instead of the familiar whirl of colors and scenes, a dense, impenetrable blackness began to form before me. Confusion furrowed my brow as I pushed against the darkness, expecting it to give way as it always had. But it was unyielding, an abyss that swallowed every effort I made to penetrate it.
This was impossible. I had even been able to see into the lives of animals, but with Iris, there was nothing but this expanding void of blackness, growing more imposing by the second.
A chill of familiarity crept up my spine. The stark absence of vision reminded me painfully of the blindness I had suffered after a previous seeing gone wrong. The fear that I might never see again, that I might remain trapped in darkness, began to claw at me. I tried to pull back, to retract my consciousness from the edge of this void, but I found myself stuck, as if the darkness had tendrils that gripped me firmly.
Panic surged through me as the blackness seemed to pulse around me, almost alive, almost mocking. My breath quickened, and a bead of sweat trickled down my temple. Iris’s voice, distant and muffled, barely registered over the pounding of my heart.
“Ione? Are you alright?” she asked, her voice tinged with concern.
I couldn’t respond. I was too focused on trying to escape the enveloping darkness. I tugged at the psychic link, pulling with all the mental strength I had, but it was like fighting against a riptide. The more I struggled, the tighter the darkness clung.
Desperation set in as I realized I couldn’t break free. The darkness was not just around me; it felt as though it was becoming a part of me, seeping into every pore, filling me with cold, suffocating fear. I was truly stuck, with no light to guide me, no path to retreat.
Finally, I stopped struggling, the effort leaving me drained and resigned. The darkness didn’t recede; it only continued to creep up on me.
Iris’s hand squeezed mine, her voice now clearly filled with alarm. “Ione, talk to me! What’s happening?”
Setting
21:04
54 – Unseen
With a tremendous effort, I whispered through the darkness, my voice barely a thread of sound. “Iris… I can’t… see. It’s all dark. I’m stuck.” I was losing connection with the physical realm.
Her grip tightened, her other hand reaching up to touch my face, searching for any sign of response. “Stuck? What do you mean? How can I help?”
But there was nothing she could do. The revelation hit me with a despairing clarity. This darkness was not just a barrier, it was a trap, and I was its prisoner. It was not like the former blindness; this was something different. Something much worse.
