I shook my head. Boy did I shakeit. It felt like it would fall off and tumble into mylap. “No, no, no. This isn’t possible. It isn’t possible!”
The guy just rolled his eyes at myhysterics. “Calm down,Chi. If you act like this at finding out magic’s real, I hate toimagine what you’ll do when you find out what the curse is. And,”he took a rather ominous step forward, his large, broad backsomehow blocking most of the light streaming in from the equallylarge and broad bay window, “more importantly,” he continued, voicedropping even lower, “what the curse will do to you if you breakthe contract.”
I was frozen to the spot. Absolutely 150%frozen. I simply couldn’t move a muscle, let alone call the policeand try to defend myself from this madman.
… A madman who could produce blue flame andmake it dance over his arm as if it were nothing more than playfullight.
I swallowed. Or at least I tried to. Mythroat simply wouldn’t comply – it was too dry, toocontracted.
The guy must have taken my silenceas interest,because he cleared his throat.“You come from a long line of seers, Chi. Your grandmother Joan wasone, as was her grandmother, and her grandmother before that. Onlythe female line of the McLanes possess true second sight. And onlythey have a history of abusing it,” his voice bottomed out so lowit could have punched through the floor, shattered the house’sfoundations, and buried me alive.
Seriously incapable of doing anythingelse, I just sat there and shook my head. It was almost as if myaddled mind thought I was in a dream, and if I only shook my headhard enough, I’d wake up to reality. Trouble was, this reality took another ominous step towards me as theguy now loomed a few steps before the couch. “Wh-what are youdoing?”
“Now you are the McLane seer, you need to understand this.”
“S-seer?”
“Aye, when your grandmother was killed, herpowers as a seer transferred to you. Now you’ll be able to see thefuture and travel into people’s minds.”
I was way beyond shaking my head now. Theonly thing I could do was sit there, staring at him agape.
Then something struck me. My previouslysmooth and sweaty brow crinkled with a snap. “Killed? Mygrandmother wasn’t killed. She died of a heart attack.”
He tilted his head to the other side, aflash of confusion crumpling his brow, but he did notanswer.
“None of this makes sense. M-magic andcurses! T-th—”
“Is happening, love. And the sooner youaccept that and move on, the easier my life will be.”
If there was something – anything at all –that could pull my mind off the stupid unreality of this situation,it was this guy’s overbearing personality. He was beyondirritating. From his disdain to the fact he kept calling me love –all I wanted to do was reach up and hit him.
But then the situation hit me again. Fromthe magic,to the book, I sat back, headreeling. “I don’t understand any of this.” I brought a hand upand lockedit over my forehead.
“Really? Have you not been paying anyattention whatsoever, lass? Fine, I’ll recap. Your forbearer MaryMcLane misused her abilities as a seer, and in doing so, costhundreds of people their lives. For her crimes, her familywas cursed. Every subsequent female seer was fated tocarry that curse. The curse prevents them from turning from theirpowers. For, if they do, if they lie about the future – they willdie.”
Bam. The fog had started to drift back intomy mind, but suddenly and violently it was swept away with thatpromise.
I’d die.
I’d die if I told a lie….
Hold on, I lied all the time. My whole jobwas lying—
I didn’t get the opportunity to finishthat thought,because the guy snorted. “Iknow what you’re thinking – it’s plastered over your face. You’rethinking – why,I lie all the time. Aye, youdo,” his voice dropped low in an ominous warning, and that disdainful look returned to his gaze,“but it’s going to be different now, Chi.”
“Different?” I could barely push the word out.
He nodded low. “Aye. For now, the curse has switched to you. And so has theability.” His tone did a funny thing on the wordability– somehow, it lengthened, as ifit weren’t so much sound but more a chain that stretched towards meand wrapped around my throat.
I found myself shivering, violently. “Idon’t know what you’re talking about,” I triedvaliantly.
He snorted, clearly amused. “Yes, you do.You used the ability when you escaped from me thismorning.”
Suddenly, I kind of remembered the factthis guy had tied me to a chair. And then… I remembered that I’descaped him by seeing a version of reality superimposed over mysight.
I was still seated on the couch, and Ijerked back, shoulders hitting the backrest, dislodging severalcushions and sending them tumbling to the floor.
He watched me, intently. In fact, he tiltedhis head down and let his eyebrows flatten in that way dogs do whenthey spot prey smaller than them.
“I don’t have any ability,”I tried. “None of this makesany sense!”
“It makes perfect sense,”he said with a frustrated sigh. “And if you’d stop being hysterical fora second, you’d see that.”
“Oh, it makes perfect sense, does it? Whothe hell are you, anyway? And how… how can… how can you do thatthing with your hand?”
He smiled. It was a stupidly electrifyingmove. It was stupid, because this guy was a home invader, and wevery much were not out on adate.
“I’m going to do you the dignity ofassuming you’re talking about my magic,” he said through half a cheeky grin.
Why, what else could he do with his hands?I thought. Fortunately, however, I didn’t say it outloud.
Again he brought his hand up, spread hisfingers wide, and sent licking flecks of blue flame dancing all upand down his palm and wrist.
It was a stunning sight, mesmerizing,even. Almost impossible, in fact. No, scratch that – it wasimpossible. This couldn’t be magic. It had to be some kind oftrick. Maybe it was some kind of new technology… an amazingtechnology that could produce cold flame without the assistance ofany visible devices at all….
I reached
