Later that night, we went back to our home. After dinner, we watched a movie with Ava and Rodney, anything to keep them with us and not leave them alone.
Ava blurted out of nowhere. “Did you see Seth yesterday, Daddy?”
I froze. Caleb turned to her slowly and gave her a little smile, trying his best to look normal. “Who? Who’s Seth, Ava?”
“Ashlyn told me about him. She told me you’d save him. She said that he would be my friend one day.” She looked up from her cookies and milk with the most innocent, hopeful look. “Did you save him, Daddy?”
Caleb was stunned silent. Ava went on. “I know you saw him, Daddy.” She hopped down and went into his coat pocket, grabbing the drawings that we’d taken from the Watson’s. “See?” She laid it on the table and pointed to the boy and the woman on the hill. “This is Seth and this is Ashlyn.”
“How do you know this, baby girl?” he asked as he hoisted her up in his arms.
This was in my pocket all night, Maggie.
“Ashlyn told me,” Ava answered, like she was getting exasperated. “She said you were going to save him.”“Sweetheart, I…” My heart literally broke right there. Why was Ashlyn doing this? Why was she messing with our children when it was just going to break their hearts if something went wrong? I didn’t understand. “I’m so sorry, Ava.”
I moved close to hug her, but the second I touched her skin, I was blinded by white light. I heard Caleb’s gasp, so I knew he was with me on this one. Ava giggled. “It’s just Ashlyn. She won’t hurt you.”
And then Ashlyn was there. She didn’t look real here. She looked like a dream or a ghost. She smiled. It was genuine and it was the first time I’d seen her where she didn’t look like she was going insane. “Ashlyn?”
“I’m sorry, Maggie. I know you’re probably upset. But this is the only way I get any peace.” She smiled at Ava. “And Ava is so sweet and so fun to be with. And Rodney. And…Seth.”
I sighed. Caleb’s arm around me tightened. “Ashlyn, just tell us what’s going on.”
“I can’t leave the palace. I’m stuck there. When your children were born, that was the first time since I died that I was able to leave, to get any peace from the madness that I’ve felt ever since Richard and I were supposed to imprint and weren’t allowed to. I don’t know why, I don’t know how, but I can come visit them and they’re the only ones that can see me.” She nodded and smiled. “Unless you touch them and have a vision at the same time.”
“So…” my heart lifted, “you can still talk to Seth?”
She pursed her lips. “It takes a lot of energy to come, so I can only come once every few days. And I’ve noticed that the older the children have gotten over the years, the less often they see me. Sometimes I come and they don’t notice me. Which makes me think that soon, they won’t notice at all.”
“Why?” Caleb said when I couldn’t. “What purpose other than you wanting to get out of the palace?”
“I promise you I never wanted to hurt anyone. I just wanted to spend time with them. And you. Even though you couldn’t see me, your family gave me some semblance of what my family use to be like.” The wistful look on her face was heartbreaking. “But then I saw those people that the Watsons were keeping and had to get you to save them. It was the only way to save Seth.”
“But I didn’t save him, Ashlyn.” A sob caught in my throat. “We were too late. Seth’s gone. I didn’t save him.” I looked down at Ava. “I’m sorry, baby.”
“Visionary,” Ashlyn called loudly and squinted at me, “your job is done. Everything you should have accomplished was done so.”
I shook my head at her, my mouth open. “No. They have Seth. I didn’t get to him in time.”
“I never said to take him away from them, I said to save him.” I scoffed, angry at her statement. What games was she playing with me? She came forward and smiled genuinely. “Even now you doubt yourself.” I pressed my lips together. “Don’t,” she said harder. “You are who you are for a reason. I sent you there to save all those people from the Watsons. That in turn will save Seth.”
“I don’t understand.”
“They were grooming him to be a monster like them. Now, their course is altered, their choices, different. They must do something different in their journey to find what they’re looking for, and I see a different path for our Seth. One that will lead him back to us.”
“What do you see?”
“I can’t tell you. But I’ll tell you this—we’ll see him again.” She smiled and tapped the end of Ava’s nose with her finger. “You’ll see.”
“Promise?” Ava begged. “You said he would be my friend one day?”
“He will, Ava. Promise.”
“So what about me?” I asked. “I’m supposed to just forget about that little boy and let them raise him, not look for him, not try to find him and take him?”
“When he’s ready, he’ll find you.”
“Then what?”
“Then, you can save him. He’ll need you.” She looked at Ava. “He’ll need you, too.” She stood straighter. “In the meantime, you know what you have to do.”
Before she even finished the sentence, I knew what she meant. The council. The council was history. She nodded and smiled. “And you know who will replace them.” My mouth opened in surprise that I hadn’t seen it before. There, in the midst of all that gibberish was an infinity symbol made of names. Maggie, Caleb, Kyle, Lynne, Bish, Jen, Haddock, Heather. She nodded again. “Yes. All is as it should be, Visionary. You are right where you should be. It’s just a matter of getting it done.”
I sighed, not wanting the task of firing council members at all, ever, in the least. “And then what, Ashlyn?”
“And then…war, Visionary. War.”
Ava
I waited for that day, for that one thing to complete me. To feel someone's heartbeat inside my chest and know that it was reciprocated. To find the one who belonged to me and could be the one to make me whole.
I still waited. I was a sophomore in high school. Graduating and heading off to U of T in a just two years so I could be an architect, just like Grandpa.
We just got back from the last reunification. Mom had taken fire for her new rule about the Visionary being able to work and have a day job rather than just…being the Visionary. They wanted her to be 'accessible' at all times and she warred on that she could be accessible and still work with Daddy at the centers as well. That's what cell phones were for.
So I watched as Dad was being extra nice and attentive by cooking dinner that night since, even though she was the Visionary, it sucked when people were against you and questioned your dedication.
Wanna know what else sucked? Being the Visionary's daughter. And the clan leader's daughter deducted even more points.
I loved my parents, don't get me wrong. They were great. Rodney and I both were pretty grounded. We went to the private school here and he played football while I played volleyball. I'd been working at the learning centers for Daddy for a year now.
I loved it, but planned to go work for Grandpa as soon as I graduated from college. Dad was fine with it. He of all people knew what it was like to want to be something, to have the fire for something.I was fascinated by the thought that I could create something like that.
We used to travel around with Daddy's job, staying in a place for a couple months before moving on to the next place. It might not sound so appealing, but it really was amazing to live in all those states. We lived in New York, Washington, Chicago, Texas, and about fifteen other states. But, when I was almost in high school, they wanted us to settle down, so we moved back to Tennessee and Daddy bought Mom a big, beautiful red house with a wraparound white porch. Rodney's old fort made from wood slats was still in the backyard, though he hadn't been back there in years.
It was our home and I loved it, but also couldn't wait to leave it. My teenage heart was so fickle. But the one thing it wasn't fickle on was wanting my significant.
So, back to the part where I was waiting. Even though I wasn't of age yet, every reunification brought anxiousness for me. I was fifteen. Mom was only seventeen when she imprinted and since all the rules were being broken, I couldn't help but hope that I would imprint soon.
It was more than just wanting to have somebody, it was like this thing in my body was pulled just a little too tight. Just enough to annoy and bother me, but not enough to be painful. My significant was the only one who could make me feel normal. I knew it.
Dad tossed the noodles with the white sauce, Mom's favorite, and divided it onto four plates as our new puppy Mavis rubbed against my leg. Dad glanced up at me with a smile. "Put ice in some glasses for me, sweetheart?"
"Sure."
"Rodney. Rodney!" he called louder.
Rodney took his earphones out and looked at him. "Yeah?"
"Silverware."
"Why are you cooking again?" he asked. "Mom's a way better cook than you."
"Hey!" Dad laughed and slung a noodle at him. It landed on Rodney's face and hair.
He jumped back like that would save him, but it was too late. "Dude!" he shrieked, his voice cracking with puberty as he swatted at his shagged hair. "Dude, my hair!"