Waging War (16 page)

“Ava?” I looked at her with concern. This
was information we could use to find people, but Ava had gone
unfocused. She shook herself, and her eyes found mine again.
“Where’d you go?” I asked.

“Back there. Underground. I keep seeing a
boy I don’t know. And he sees me too.”

Adam stared at his sister. “He sees you
having visions about him?”

She looked confused. “I think so. He tries
to talk to me, but I can’t understand what he says.”

“That’s not a Seer thing. We don’t interact
with other people in our visions.” Adam was clearly shocked.

“You also didn’t think you could change
things you’d Seen, so maybe you don’t actually know
everything
there is to know about your skills?” I could have
pulled the punch, but Adam could take it, and I wanted to get back
to Ava’s vision. “What does the boy look like?” I asked.

Ava didn’t hesitate. “He’s our age, tan,
like he spends time outside, and he has green hair.”

Adam snorted. His skepticism rolled off him
in waves. “He’s a leprechaun.”

She gave him a dirty look. “No. He reminds
me a little of Ringo, only with eyes that always laugh, even when
he’s serious. And his hair’s
dyed
green and sticks up
everywhere, but not like he uses hair gel or anything. It just
does.”

“Definitely a leprechaun,” smirked Adam.

Ringo spoke quietly. “Charlie says they’re
the size of small children, with a nasty laugh and razor teeth. So
I don’t think Ava’s lad is a leprechaun.”

That got everyone’s attention, and Ava gave
Ringo a quick, thankful smile. My chest constricted at the
quietness in Ringo’s voice. He missed Charlie, the girl who would
know what a leprechaun looked like because she could see creatures
most people couldn’t. I knew Ringo combed history books looking for
any mention of her. Valerie Grayson took Charlie back to 1554 to
train her to become a lady and run a household. Not that she needed
the training, but she had loved Valerie like a mother, and after
Valerie’s only son, Henry died, there was room in Valerie’s heart
for a surrogate daughter.

“Anyway, he Sees me, and he keeps trying to
tell me something that I don’t get.” Ava screwed up her face in
concentration and let her eyes unfocus, but then finally sighed.
“No. It’s something out of the line of my Sight.”

Ava turned to Connor. “I’ve Seen your little
brother in the same underground place, but he’s laughing, like it’s
fun.”

Connor’s face drained of color, but he
didn’t let his expression change. “You know for sure it’s
Logan?”

Ava looked Connor squarely in the eyes and
nodded. “He keeps Shifting animals. He can do that, can’t he.” It
wasn’t a question, and Connor nodded silently, looking sick.

“No one knows that,” I breathed.

“People know. My mother and I have both Seen
him Shift in full view of others from different Families. If they
don’t know it yet, they will.”

“What else have you Seen?” Connor’s voice
was tight.

“I’ve Seen dark times, where Mongers rule us
all with iron fists. I’ve seen people die …” she looked directly at
me. “And I’ve seen them walk in daylight.”

I couldn’t breathe, and I went to the
window. The view from the east wing was of the woods, and I could
almost picture myself running among the trees as hard and as fast
as I could go. Great, I’d resorted to imaginary escapism, but at
least I didn’t actually give in to my impulse to run. Social
awkwardness aside, I needed to hear everything Ava could tell me
about her visions.

“You’ve seen him die?” I said to the window
as much as to Ava. I traced the line of a raindrop against the
glass. The weather in England could always be counted on to add to
a somber mood.

“Yes,” she answered. “And I’ve also seen him
live. That’s why I said my visions seem impossible.”

She didn’t know about the cure. She didn’t
know Archer might have to be hurt to the point that his body
started shutting down in order to introduce the virus that could
cure him.

She didn’t know that trying to live might
kill him.

I kept my back to the room so I didn’t have
to see Ringo’s or Connor’s faces. “What else?”

Ava hesitated so long I thought she hadn’t
heard me. “Except for the van and running on the rooftops, you’re
not in any of my visions, Saira.”

I tried for a scoff, but it might have come
out more like a sob. “Am I ever?”

“Almost always since just before we met,”
she whispered.

I turned to face her and plastered a shiny
fake smile on my face. “I’ve been replaced by a leprechaun, I
guess.”

Ringo’s voice was solemn as he spoke to Ava.
“Ye can’t see into the past, right?”

She nodded. “Not unless I was going to be
there.”

He looked at me. “Right, then. Ye’ll be
goin’ back. It’s why ye’re not in ‘er visions.”

“Then why is Archer in them?”

Ava turned her eyes to me. “Because he
doesn’t go with you?”

I looked desperately at each one of them in
turn and said with every ounce of conviction I could muster. “He
always goes with me. He promised to go where I go.”

Ava nodded. “Of course he would.” She said
words meant to soothe the panic that was growing in my chest, but I
knew that underneath them was the same fear that spiked in the eyes
of everyone in that room – the only reason I would ever Clock
anywhere without Archer was that he would die.

Adam came over and wrapped an arm around my
shoulders. “You’ve said it yourself, Saira. Our Sight is just about
possibilities, and Ava’s visions are contradictory anyway. You
definitely don’t need to be time traveling just to get out of my
sister’s visions. She almost never has them about me, and we’re
practically the same person.”

I took a deep, shaky breath and pulled some
snark out of the region of my oxblood boots. “Except for all those
things that are different.” I stepped back from his well-meaning
comfort. It wasn’t helping my ability to breathe. “I totally suck
as a friend right now, but I really need to go run.”

Ringo and Connor immediately stood up. “Cat
or human?” Asked Connor.

“Me.”

He gave me a look full of scorn. “They’re
both you.”

“Not Cat, then.” I was already headed toward
the door, but Ava grabbed me as I passed her. She pulled me in for
a quick hug.

“The good guys always win, remember?”

Ringo threw his head at Connor. “I’ll go.
We’ll be back when she remembers she’s only ‘uman.”

Adam tried for levity, but I heard the
concern in his tone. “Good luck with that.”

I gave a half-hearted smile and was already
sprinting when I hit the hallway. Ringo was right behind me.

I needed pure freerunning. No talking, no
thinking, no straightest-line-between-two-places parkour. I needed
to push my body past what I was comfortable doing; past what was
easy. The flip off the end of the banister might have given Ringo
the hint, or maybe it was the shoulder roll when I hit the ground,
but there was no question about my intent once we got to the woods.
I was up the stone wall with one handhold, and then did a front
flip off the other side to continue the sprint where there were
more natural obstacles. I wasn’t usually this showy when I ran, but
it made me work harder at staying whole, and I wasn’t really
running to run away. I was home. Elian Manor was my home, and it
was filled with my people. I ran to dull the white noise of “what
if” and “maybe.” I ran to shift my brain into survival mode, where
the “what ifs” had no power, and the only things that mattered were
good footing and strong holds.

Ringo understood it because he took the lead
and pushed me way past my comfort zone. He climbed like there were
suction cups on his feet, just to double-flip back down to the
ground. He caught me when I stumbled and pushed me when I faltered.
He was me without fear, and when we were a mile away from the manor
I finally felt the breath loosen up in my chest.

We free-climbed a big boulder and finally
stopped moving when we were both on top. The view of the farm and
woodland was so peaceful and beautiful in the golden light of magic
hour, it gave me breath rather than stealing it away.

“I miss ‘er.” Ringo was talking to himself
as much as to me. I didn’t expect him to be the first one to break
the silence, but his words didn’t surprise me.

I nodded. “Me too.”

He looked at me. “I worry though. She’s
findin’ ‘erself back there, and I’m learnin’ everything of this
time. If we do meet again, will we even find our way back to common
ground? We ‘ad it in our flat for a time – both ‘idin’ out, both
from the street, both ‘avin’ survived somethin’ ‘orrific—” His
voice trailed off and his gaze went back out to the view in front
of us. “I already feel different than I was when I loved ‘er. I
don’t even know where or when I’ll fit, much less if I’ll fit
‘er.”

I turned to face him. “Ringo, I’ve never met
anyone who can fit any time or place better than you can. You could
be a Neanderthal hunter or a Renaissance nobleman, and you’d wear
it as if you were born to it. And for what it’s worth, I think that
knowing who you are, and having confidence in yourself is the
access to finding common ground with anyone.”

He met my gaze and seemed to really consider
my words. “I suppose you’re right. What she and I ‘ave is common
background, a thing only a ‘andful of people in the world might
‘ave. But give a man some tools and a will, and ‘e can build a
bridge to any ground and make it common.”

I linked my arm through his. “Whoever you
love is absolutely lucky to be loved by you, and whether it’s
Charlie or someone you can’t even imagine yet, your love will be an
epic one.”

Ringo smirked a little. “An epic love. I
like that.”

I shrugged. “Everyone should be the star of
their own life, and some people choose big lives to star in. You’re
always going to be one of those people.”

Ringo stood and helped me to my feet. “Says
the pot to the kettle. Are ye done feelin’ sorry for yerself
yet?”

I sighed dramatically. “I’m too lazy to
dance at my pity party for long.”

“Good. Because yer goin’ to need yer wits
about ye to learn what I’m goin’ to teach ye.”

I grinned at the challenge in his face.
“Bring it!”

We worked on a backflip combo for an hour,
and by the time the sun had set, I was exhausted, in pain, and
totally happy. I tried not to feel too guilty about having
basically run out on my Seer friends, but their visions were more
than I had the fortitude to deal with.

It was a straight parkour run back to the
manor, and by unspoken agreement we stopped at the kitchen for
bowls of stew to bring with us to the library.

Archer was already there with my mom and Mr.
Shaw. One look at the sweaty glow on our faces and he held a hand
out to me with a smile. “Good run?”

I nodded and kissed him softly.
“Necessary.”

Archer held me close and studied my face.
His voice was meant for my ears only. “You look so … alive. You’re
beautiful.” He kissed me again, quickly, then let me go. “Eat. We
need to leave to pick up Ravi.”

I dropped into my favorite armchair and
spooned bites of the Moroccan chicken and olive stew into my mouth
while Mr. Shaw continued his conversation with Archer.

“How did you know about the hidden room at
Bletchley?”

“I built the damn thing.”

Mr. Shaw’s eyebrows rose. “You built
it?”

Archer nodded as though he realized how
ridiculous that sounded. “When I first met her, Saira warned me
about both world wars. I spent the Great War running intelligence
operations, and when the second war broke out, it was clear that
codebreaking would be the key to England’s survival. When Bletchley
was chosen as the headquarters for the codebreakers, I made sure I
was on the night crew doing the retrofitting before they moved
everyone in. By that time I was an accomplished forger and was able
to create identities for the people I needed to be, and the
government’s need for secrecy guaranteed that none of the original
builders came back to identify me when I returned to the park as an
engineer.”

Mr. Shaw stared at Archer. “That seems
awfully fortuitous.”

Archer’s expression was wry. “Occasionally,
I am still a Seer.”

The look on Mr. Shaw’s face was odd and I
couldn’t read it. “Most people, when faced with the inevitability
of war, would find a safe place to ride it out.”

“That is not my nature.” There was a placid
calmness to Archer’s tone, and I thought about how easily he had
accepted my own inclination to go headfirst into things that needed
fixing. Of course he did, because it’s what he’d been doing his
whole life.

I set my bowl down and looked over at Ringo,
who was also done. “Shall we?” I started to rise, but was
practically blown backward by Ava’s entrance into the library. It
was like she arrived on a whirlwind that slammed the door open and
dropped her in the middle of the room. Adam and Connor were on her
heels.

Ava looked straight at me. “You have to get
ready. You’re going to war.”

Going to War