Training was suspended the day after the slaughter so those of us still ambulatory were hanging out, but not together. It was as if everyone knew there was a snake in our midst, but didn’t know who, or why, so it was easier to be alone; or if an allegiance had already been made, with one other.
It was late afternoon edging into evening as I sat at one of the tables in the canteen, keeping as far from Vaughn as possible in case whoever was targeting me decided to take her out just by association. Earlier I’d told Kelly to get lost rather than risk the same situation with her.
She left, but the slump of her shoulders told me she didn’t like getting her head bitten off, metaphorically, without a reason.
If I lived, and that was a big if, I’d make it up to her later.
Fortunately I was alone in the room when I heard the main doors in front of me swing open. I looked up, wary. Not entirely surprised when I saw Kelly walking toward me, but less than happy when I noticed who followed in her wake.
Chiquita girl, Mandy Reyes, and the Amazon, Jaylene Smart.
What the hell?
I braced myself, not ready to be taken out here, with no protection except for the gemstone bracelet Vaughn had handed me at first light. Agate and amethyst—protection and power—a good start, but if Chiquita and sidekick wanted to take me out, they could use Kelly as a hostage and I’d have my hands tied, even the one already bandaged.
“What do you want?” I snarled, glancing at all three but keeping my eye on the biggest threats, Chiquita and Amazon.
“Told you it was a fool’s mission,” Amazon snapped, pulling herself to a rigid stop about three feet in front of me, tension riding her shoulders. She cut a quick look toward Chiquita who responded with an it’s-your-call shrug.
Before either one of them could do anything though Kelly grabbed Jaylene’s arm and tugged her forward. “You promised me you’d tell her,” she coaxed, as if dealing with one of her kindergarten charges. “Then you can leave.”
“Tell me what?” I asked, a little less snappish but not much.
“What an asshole you are,” Chiquita jumped in. “But you must already know that.”
I kept to my place, hard as it was. Noziaks were not known for our turn-the-other-cheek approach to insults, but for the sake of Kelly, who looked like a kitten holding three snarling Rottweilers at bay, I decided to lighten up.
“You’re right,” I offered, my own shoulders still so tight they wanted to snap. “I was out of line.”
I don’t know who was more shocked by my olive branch, Chiquita or me. Kelly just smiled as if we’d all had a group hug.
Not likely.
It was Jaylene though who broke the impasse. “I don’t have to like you to tell you what I promised Kelly here to tell you.”
I was still unsnarling the train of her comment when Kelly smiled at me. “Jaylene knows something you should know.”
“Like what?” I kept eyeing the door, waiting for more trouble to find me.
Jaylene cleared her throat. “I had a dream.”
Seriously? My brows rose as I waited for the punch line.
“Don’t look like that,” Chiquita jumped in. “You’re a witch, or bitch, by all accounts. You’re not the only one with abilities. Jaylene here can see things in advance.”
“Then why didn’t she say so,” I shot back, not that I was buying the whole prophetic bit. I’d known my share of psychics and seers and even I, who knew firsthand about the preternatural and non-human world, including magic, thought most of the folks calling themselves future tellers were just bags of air. They might have a little talent, but most was guesswork. It was like calling all Wiccans by the word witch and thinking they were one and the same.
Kelly read the skepticism on my face better than the other two, or she just wanted everyone to play nice as she said, “Give her a chance, Alex. She could make a difference in what’s about to happen.”
I wanted to ask Kelly what she knew, but a quick look at her had me closing my mouth and nodding at Jaylene. The sooner I let her say her piece, the sooner she’d be done, and I could get back to twiddling my one available thumb until zero hour when my whole trap-idea would be sprung.
Jaylene didn’t look at Chiquita before she spoke and my estimation of her rose. She might have joined forces with the Latino girl but probably for mutual protection. A smart move given what had happened yesterday.
“I’ve been having this same dream,” Jaylene started, her voice low enough I didn’t worry that anyone else walking in would overhear her.
When she didn’t continue, I asked, “So? What’s the dream got to do with me?”
“You die in it, bruja,” Chiquita answered with a smile.
Okay, that caught my attention, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. It wasn’t that I was superstitious, but my shamanic half tended to be sensitive to death warnings. Especially the second one in two days.
I kept my eyes on Jaylene. “You have any details how?”
“You and Vaughn are in a fight, hand-to-hand combat for the most part, except there looks like some woo-woo stuff involved.” Each word sounded as if it were pulled from her reluctantly.
“Woo-woo?” I wondered if she could be any vaguer?
“You know.” She waved one hand. “Like you did in the gym, making that shifter disappear.”
I could see where someone not familiar with magic could see a banishing spell as woo-woo, so I shrugged. “Got it. So I die as a result of this fight?”
“You and Vaughn,” Kelly clarified, rushing to add, “but there’s good news.”
I bit back my snort. Only Kelly could make a double death prediction sound like it was something positive.
“Okay, I’m not hearing good so far; enlighten me.”
Kelly glanced at Jaylene with an eager look. “Tell her.”
It took a few seconds, a few long seconds until Jaylene started. “Last night the dream changed.”
“And that means?”
She cringed, then straightened. “Meaning I saw the same fight, only this time Mandy and I were with you.”
I looked between her and her friend but neither looked like they were joking. “So four of us now die?”
“No, this time you, or all of us, take down the others,” Chiquita said, her chin notched at the kind of angle you wanted to take a punch at it.
“Any idea who the others are?” I asked. My idea was if they had a clue I could share with Vaughn and we might avoid the me-as-bait plan altogether.
“No.” Jaylene looked as frustrated as I felt. “And trust me I tried to get some image, but I’m not meant to see them.”
What kind of gift was that? That she got to see only half the message?
I glanced at Chiquita, looking for an explanation. Instead I got a shrug.
“It is what it is.” She glanced at Jaylene before adding. “But if she says jump I’d ask how high. These dreams or visions of hers can be pretty spooky and spot on.”
“Like what?” At Kelly’s sigh I tried harder not to kick the gift horse, or horses, in the mouth. “I’m not saying Jaylene doesn’t have visions or they aren’t real, I’m just trying to get a little clarification.”
So far they sounded pretty hokey. All of us dreamed, or got bad vibes, it didn’t mean we were clairvoyant. If that’s what she was.
“Tell me how these dreams work?” I asked, struggling damned hard to keep skepticism out of my voice.
“Work?” Jaylene eyed me, obviously used to dealing with non-believers and having a low tolerance for them. “I get a dream. See bits and pieces. It’s not like a DVD running through my head.”
I held my non-bandaged palm up. “No, I mean, how often do they come true? Do they happen just like you see them?” Why in this vision couldn’t she see who I was up against?
As if I’d spoken the last thought aloud she said, “The future is always fluid, but when I get these kinds of advance warnings they’re about ninety percent accurate. Meaning they go down the way I see them. And the reason I can’t see who you’re fighting with is it’s outside, dark, and they’re in shadow.”
I glanced at the window where darkness was already descending.
How convenient. But I didn’t say that, mostly because the plan I’d hatched with Vaughn, Stone, and Ling Mai, we’d decided to have go down outside where there was less chance for others to get hurt.
Chiquita stepped into the silence. “Jaylene saw meeting me before we connected here, as well as the fight with the shifters happening before it happened.”
“And you didn’t stop it?” I blurted out, thinking about the senseless deaths.
“I didn’t see the shit hit the fan, if that’s what you mean,” Jaylene replied, staring me down. “I’d have gone to Stone if I had. I just saw who we’d be fighting. That’s all.”
That was better than seeing a slaughter and doing nothing.
“Sorry I snapped.” My words took Jaylene’s frown down a notch as I grappled with the repercussions of her ability. “So you’re saying if you and . . .” I stumbled a bit. “If you and Mandy here to join Vaughn and me in this fight that’s supposed to happen, neither Vaughn or I will die. That about it?”
“Yeah.” Jaylene nodded. “Sucks doesn’t it?”
Before I could ask why Chiquita aka Mandy spoke. “Sucks more if Jaylene and I sit this one out and let you two gringas go it alone.”