Free See How She Falls by Michelle Graves Page A

open my eyes.
    “Another
rune, I have an aunt, Aberto is a giant liar face, secret keeping, butt
munch," I muttered almost incoherently.
    “Milady,
you are speaking in riddles. What happened? Have you been marked again?” Conall
assessed me, trying to find where I’d been marked.
    I
lifted my right leg and pointed lazily at the calf that was now caked in blood.
I was so tired of these jerks ruining all of my clothes. I’d only packed three
pairs of jeans, and this was the second pair they’d ruined.
    “It
must be treated," Aberto, the obvious, said.
    “Where
were you?” I looked at him, struggling to stay conscious. “I called for you.”
    “I
couldn’t find you, Izzy. You were blocking again, or they were. I am not
certain.” His eyes filled with remorse and unuttered apologies. “Rest now,
there will be time for answers later.” 
    “There’s
no time for rest.” Tears filled my eyes as I choked back the reality. “It’s
coming, there are only two runes left before it is here. Whatever they are
summoning, it is meant to make people pay for their sins. They don’t believe
the world is deserving of protection, so they mean to punish it. We can’t let
that happen. There isn’t time to sit here and rest. Something has to be done, a
price must be paid. You heard what she said, Aberto. The cost of what you did
is that I must fall.” My panicked voice rose to a pitch.
    “No.”
Aberto stood abruptly. “NO!” His shout rang through the office, shaking the
walls. “It was not her doing. Why must you always ask the impossible?” Aberto’s
voice echoed, reaching the heavens themselves.
    “Enough.”
Kennan brushed the hair out of my eyes. “This isn’t helping anyone. Izzy, you
need to rest. I know that you want to get moving, that you think if you take
any time for yourself that people will be hurt. I’m here to tell you, if you
don’t take some time for yourself, you won’t be strong enough. One night will
not hurt you. Rest now, and in the morning we will search for answers.” 
    “Forgive
me," Aberto said as he faded into nothing.
    “Izzy,
you need to treat this.” Conall’s voice dragged me from my fuzzy thoughts.
    “Bring
me the stuff.” I looked up at Kennan. The worry in his eyes broke me.  
    Conall
brought the first aid kit, well the Guardian’s version of one, over to me. He
pulled out everything I would need to treat the wound as I rolled up my pant
leg. There on my leg was a rune I hadn’t seen before. If only this one had
appeared two months ago. Then maybe we would’ve known that whatever was
happening to me had nothing to do with the other Seers dying. Hindsight was for
the birds.
    I
got busy cleaning my leg as Kennan pulled Conall to the side. Their faces were
somber as they discussed the transpiring events. They’d seen this before with
Cait, and I knew that watching me go down the same road was tearing both of
them apart. Seemingly forgetting my new super senses, they carried on a
conversation they seemed to believe me unable to hear. Doing my best to act as
though I couldn’t hear every word, I smoothed on the healing cream.
    “She
is fading fast. We must act soon.” Conall’s voice was strained.
    “She
doesn’t know about any of that yet. She doesn’t need to know. Not now. It won’t
do her a bit of good. When the time comes, we will do what we must.” Kennan’s
hand lifted to his face as he turned to look at me. It seemed I wasn’t that
great at eavesdropping after all. Multi-tasking had never really been my thing.
    “Izzy,
you need to rest now.” Kennan moved across the room to smoothly lift me from
the couch.
    “Okay.”
I knew he was right. I needed to sleep in a bad way. The rune could wait until
the morning. The explanations could wait for a few hours. I would be absolutely
no good to anyone if I didn’t take better care of myself. “I’m ready. Can you
block me, please?”
    “Of
course.” Kennan’s lips moving soundlessly against my hair was