Tin Man
Imaris
Chapter Three-The 'Old' Road
We continued to walk. DG was talking about little clues that her father had said to her all along in the form of stories. She began realizing that the stories he'd told actually were real and that this was the place he was talking about. A slight shiver ran up my spine. Talk about your twist of fate.
"My dad said something about the 'old' road," DG was saying frowning.
Glitch snapped his fingers. "There is a yellow brick road they used to call 'the old road'. It's not that far,"
DG nodded. We began walking toward it, letting Glitch lead the way. DG turned to Glitch. I was walking alongside Risik and Rawr. Caine was on Rawr's left.
"How exactly did you lose your…brain?" DG asked carefully.
Glitch smiled and glanced at her. "Well because of what I know," he explained. "I guess they wanted my marbles for a reason. But I can't remember what it was."
I stifled a giggle. Not because of what happened to him was hilarious, it wasn't. It was downright horrible. But it was because I constantly say Risik's marbles have taken flight as well.
"Glitch, I'm gonna say something," I said hiding a grin. "It's not meant toward you in any way shape or form okay?"
Glitch watched me curiously but intrigued and he nodded.
"We constantly say that Risik has lost her marbles," I said cracking a grin now. "But hers are hopeless to find."
Glitch broke into a grin. DG and I laughed heartily. Caine, though I was surprised, actually had a quick smile on his face.
Risik was scowling of course. See the problem with her was she was able to dish it out. Yet when the time comes for you to return it, she can't take it. I grinned at Caine before moving my eyes onto DG. I could still see she was worried about her parents. I put a hand on her shoulder.
"Don't worry. I'm sure they're fine," I said softly and gently. DG smiled and nodded.
Eventually, our shoes hit solid rectangular objects. I glanced down. A long, yellow brick road, although badly worn, lay ahead of us. Several bricks were missing from their places and in some spots there were no bricks at all, but the dirt path underneath it. A few people were passing up and down the road with a mule and cart. It felt as though we'd stepped back in time. I reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear as I scanned around. I was sure at some point the road was beautiful and new. But now, after ages of weather and wear, it was old and worn out. Bits of weed had been growing between a few of the bricks.
Rawr must've sensed something and he came over to me. He put a hand on my shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. His eyes closed as though he was focusing on something.
"Emma is confused. Emma is beginning to like Caine but knows Caine has family," he said.
"Ssssh," I hissed to him in a low tone. "I don't want anyone to know."
Caine was watching us with interest but wasn't saying anything. Rawr nodded as he understood.
"Why Emma nervous about letting others know how she feels?" he questioned curiously as I stepped over a crooked brick.
I sighed.
"Because I've had nothing but bad experiences with guys. My last boyfriend was seeing someone else at the same time he was dating me. I guess I'm scared that it will repeat. Plus Caine has a family…a wife and child. Nothing's going to happen,"
Rawr looked at me and leaned in close.
"Rawr learned that heart will choose. Can't ignore what heart wants," he explained softly as he put a hand on my shoulder and stepped around me. I contemplated what Rawr had said. True that was of course. But I knew enough not to get involved with someone who already had a family. That wasn't right. Sighing, I continued to walk. To my surprise, Caine dropped back again while Glitch, DG, Rawr and Risik were walking a head of us.
I looked up at him and smiled before turning my eyes back onto the brick road ahead of me, glancing down at my sneakers as I walked. A soft breeze blew from behind me, whipping my hair forward. A few threads stuck to my lips and I reached up and gently pulled them away.
"I have a question for you," Caine asked in a rather short tone. "Is my family alright?"
Oh man. This was a tough. Although I should've known he would ask something like that. I hesitated for a moment before I replied.
"I-I don't really know," I said quietly. "I only get glimpses of the future sometimes. I can't see some things."
I felt horrible because I know he'd want to know…hell I'd want to know myself. I had hoped he'd understand. I looked at him, a bit nervous. His blue eyes peered at me from under the steel grey brimmed hat. As I was watching him, a bright flash went off before my eyes and this time, it was much stronger that I cried out and bent over slightly, digging the heels of my palms into my temples.
Caine's face vanished and I was now seeing through a woman's eyes. I was standing outside a cabin, watching the Long Coats punch Caine. I protested but they ignored me. The scene changed and I saw a man with sandy brown hair and green eyes approaching me. The next thing I saw was a woman with shoulder length wheat colored brown hair and dark eyes lying on her back in the dirt. She wasn't moving…
The flash vanished again and I had realized during the vision, I'd grabbed Caine's arm again. I didn't know why I'd been doing that but I knew there had to be a reason. I blinked a few times. It seemed as though the entire wooded area around me had gone silent, like my ears had become clogged. Caine's concerned face appeared first, followed by Risik, DG, Glitch and Rawr's. Finally, as I shook my head, my hearing returned and I glanced from each of their faces.
Risik looked at me suspiciously. Caine knew what had happened but he didn't say anything just yet.
"Emma, what's going on?" Risik demanded with her dark green eyes narrowed. "You get these zoned out expressions on your face then say something about bad 'feelings' and those feelings usually turn out right. What's the deal?"
My stomach churned around in knots. I had a feeling this would happen. They weren't stupid. They were bound to found out sooner or later whether or not I told them, or they figured it out for themselves. I nervously glanced from Risik, to Caine, to Glitch, to DG, to Rawr and back to Risik. I took a deep breath and suddenly found my hands interesting. A few strands of my hair fell forward, dangling over my shoulder.
"Well you guys," I said quietly. "I'm psychic."
There was a silence before Risik replied.
"Yea right…and I'm an elf," she said sardonically.
I raised my eyes to finally meet hers, feeling Caine's burning through me.
"It's true," I said. "Do you remember the time I said not to go into that bank last week? That there was going to be a robbery? And what happened? The bank was robbed only 10 minutes before you finally relented and didn't go in."
"That could've been a coincidence," Risik argued back. "That could've been a genuine bad feeling."
"Okay," I said folding my arms over my chest and glaring at her back. "What about the time you told everyone that you didn't get that tattoo on your behind and I managed to say what it said and what position it was in?"
I watched her with a raised eyebrow. I knew that was in no way a coincidence. There was like one in a million chance that I'd been able to name the tattoo and where it had been placed and what it said. Finally Risik's eyes widened.
DG stepped forward. "Emma, I remembered that. You've been psychic all along? Why didn't you tell us?"
Her tone was soft and caring, definitely not like I'd feared or imagined with them leaving me and mocking me about it. I tore my eyes off Risik and moved them onto DG. I lowered my hands and inhaled deeply.
"Because I thought you'd ridicule me and leave me, donning me a freak and want nothing to do with me. That's basically what my step mother has done," I grumbled bitterly.
DG smiled and threw her arms around me, giving me a big hug. I hugged her back tightly.
"Ems, I'd never do that to you! You're my best friend. I would never think you're a freak," she said softly as she finally released me and glanced to Risik. I knew she deliberately said "I" instead of "we" because Risik did have a tendency to be a bit of a snot…like she is right now. Risik kept her eyes narrowed.
"Well," she said slowly and indifferently. "I'm still annoyed that you didn't trust us enough to tell us. Come on Glitch. We need to get to Central City."
Risik tugged on Glitch's arm, but he hesitated and gently pulled his arm out of Risik's grasp.
"Risik, I can understand how Emma feels," he said to her looking stunned that she hadn't forgiven me like DG had. "People tease me all the time and I never really had any close friends except you guys now. She trusted you, but it was difficult because she didn't know how to actually go about telling you, to put it into words. Am I right?"
Glitch moved his eyes onto me. I nodded. He had been exactly right. It wasn't that I didn't trust DG or Risik, I just couldn't find the exact words to tell them.
"Well what she said right now was pretty much to the point," Risik snapped. "She could've done that before."
I opened my mouth to respond when Caine stepped forward and stood beside me. I hadn't really realized he was standing so close until I could feel his raincoat lightly brushing up against my hand which hung at my side.
"Listen," he said shortly. "It doesn't matter really now who didn't say what and why she didn't tell you. The main point is that right now she's in more danger than she realizes. The Dark Queen, or rather Azkadelia, will know she's psychic and want to destroy her because Emma can see what she's planning. Knowing her, she's planning something that could end the O.Z as we know it."
I was briefly startled by his sudden outburst, but relieved and grateful. The O.Z? DG and Risik must've had confused looks on their faces because Caine continued.
"The O.Z-Outer Zone," he said. "That's what this is called. And once I get you to Central City, I'm off. I'm looking for someone myself."
A gust of wind blew, lightly tossing the hem of his raincoat aside, exposing the gun holster. Realization dawned on Glitch's face.
"You're a Tin Man," he said slowly. "I should've known."
"Tin Man?" DG asked confused as she looked from Caine to Glitch.
"Yeah," Glitch said nodding. "It's what they call cops. He worked in Central City."
"Ah," DG said musingly.
Risik looked sullen. I guess she wasn't used to having someone snap back at her like that, even though I did it often enough and DG. But I guess when a man did it, she was smart enough not to retort back.
"And I thought you only wanted to get us to Central City? Since when do you care about what happens to Emma? Or any of us for that matter?" Risik demanded folding her arms over her chest and watching Caine.
Clearly Caine had become embarrassed slightly and quickly responded, covering himself.
"I don't," he said. "But I don't want to see any of you killed either. Let's go."
Caine stepped around me and began walking forward without even glancing back. Glitch hung back this time to walk with me while DG, Rawr and Risik walked ahead. I looked at Glitch and smiled.
"Listen," he whispered to me. "I might not be the smartest guy here, or in the O.Z at this point since my marbles are missing, but I can see clearly that that Tin Man isn't so Tinish after all."
I had to crack a smile at what Glitch said.
I put a hand on his arm as we walked.
"Meh," I said shrugging and realized the vision I had. "Oh my God. I never told him about the vision I had! I think it had to do with his family."
"Go tell him," Glitch said softly nudging me.
I nodded and jogged after Caine, passing DG, Risik and Rawr. Glitch caught up with Risik now as I managed to catch up with Caine and walked alongside him. He was walking rather quickly and I struggled to keep up.
"Listen," I said quietly and softly. "I never told you about that vision I had. I saw a woman with wheat colored hair. It was as if I was watching through her eyes as a man with sandy brown hair and dark eye punched you."
"That's my wife, Adora and Zero ," Caine said quietly as he suddenly became alert and stopped walking, turning to face me and he lightly grabbed a hold of my shoulders. "What happened? Did you see?"
His expression held urgency and a small mixture of fear. I inhaled deeply and continued.
"The scene shifted to as I was watching from the sidelines. I saw that same man approaching your wife. I saw her lying on the ground and she wasn't moving,"
Tears began forming in my eyes now. In all honesty, I think his wife was dead, but I really couldn't tell. The vision only showed me partial glimpses. It doesn't go into that much detail. Caine's expression was stony for a moment before he continued.
"What of my son? Did you see him?" he demanded.
I only could shake my head. Caine was still holding onto my shoulders. His face inches from my own. My heart pounded loudly in my chest and I could feel it in my throat. A few strands of hair blew forward again over my shoulder and lightly tickled my cheek.
"I'm sorry," I apologized sadly as the tears still swelled.
Caine looked as though he was fighting back tears and anger at the same time. He finally released my shoulders and whirled around. I stood for a moment as I suddenly felt DG coming up beside me.
"Everything okay?" she asked me worriedly, glancing from me to Caine's retreating back as he walked on.
I just nodded and forced a smile on my face. We continued to walk after him. I didn't know why I was shown his wife and not son. Still, I felt awful for him. We had one heck of a task to complete and we would need one another for trust and friendship. Whoever this Azkadeilia was, she sounded like someone that we really needed to fear. I walked on, quiet and withdrawn myself.
