Free Seeing is Believing by Michelle Graves

 
     
    We were on our way to the Order, toward finding out what had truly happened to Kennan, to Izzy, to everyone. Yet, the fastest way to get there was on a blasted helicopter. I hated flying. Trapped in a tin can hovering high above the ground seemed like the worst idea imaginable. Strapping myself in, I tried to buoy my resolve.
    I lay my head against the headrest, taking in deep cleansing breaths and slowly letting them back out. Relax, Molly. It won’t last forever. The moment I found peace, I heard it. Heart wrenching sobs echoed through my mind. I knew I needed to go, but I couldn’t find where it was. That was the worst part about my ever-developing abilities; I couldn’t seem to hone them. My brain was a conduit for other Seers’ thoughts, emotions, and visions. It was simultaneously disorienting and sickening.
    “Who’s there?” I called out in my mind.
    “The darkness will still come.” The sobbing continued.
    I couldn’t find it. Finally, I gave up and threw myself into the dreaming. At least then I could get a better grasp on everything.
    “Where are you?”
    “It was supposed to end. Why didn’t it end?” the voice cried out.
    “Who are you?” I asked again, certain this time they would answer. I really should have been careful what I wished for, though. Out of the fog a being emerged, and I suddenly knew exactly what Izzy must’ve felt like talking to Ren.
    A figure stood before me with scorched, blackened skin and blood running from every orifice. It was the most horrifying sight my eyes had ever beheld, and I longed to look away, to hide my face. Instead, I pressed on.
    “Who are you?”
    “I am you.” I looked more closely at the figure, trying to tell myself it couldn’t be true. This mutilated figure couldn’t be me. But the eyes could not be denied. Staring into my own were the eyes I’d seen reflecting back at me in the mirror my entire existence.
    “But how?” I gasped out the words, struggling to maintain any semblance of composure.
    “The darkness is coming.”
    The figure reached out and pushed me from the dreaming.
    I jolted awake, my eyes flying open as I frantically looked around, trying to get my bearings. We were still in flight and headed to the Order. It was a struggle to regain even footing; the dreaming didn’t seem to like me much. Every time I entered the dreaming was by sheer force of will. Nothing else would gain me entry or allow me to remain. But to be thrown from it after what I’d just seen, and to still be stuck in the air, was more than I could handle.
    “What’s wrong?” Ian’s concerned voice broke through the lingering haze of fear.
    “It isn’t over, Ian. Something isn’t right. It was supposed to end.” My stomach churned as the reality of my vision came crashing in. Izzy had banished the demon, and yet something worse was on the rise. Everything we’d just gone through had been only the beginning. Without her, we were lost.
    “You aren’t making sense, Molly. Did you have a dream? What happened?” Ian’s face contorted, the fear dancing behind his eyes.
    “I was there, but it wasn’t me. It was another version of me, a tormented woman. There was so much blood, and the smell of the skin – all that burning – I don’t understand. The demon is supposed to be gone. It was supposed to end.” Gasping, I tried to catch my breath as another wave of panic assaulted me. I knew it wasn’t a dream. What I’d seen was coming.
    “We’re here. Hold on, the landing isn’t going to be a smooth one,” Bruce called calmly from the front, his voice barely registering in my panicked state.
    I gripped the seat as the fear continued to worm its way into my soul. What did it mean? If Izzy were here, she would be able to figure it out. Or at least annoy someone until they told her the truth. We needed to find her and fast. I hadn’t truly realized the pressure she must have felt with the burdens of her visions, but I was starting to