LUCKY THIRTEEN
They waited.
All of them. The entire band of renegade witches, along with the hunters. They sat, awkwardly, on the sparse, inadequate seating. Kathain and Nycole had elected to remain on the floor once it was spent and a futon brought out for Sakaki to sleep off the remainder of the tranquilizer.
Nycole was almost thankful that Karasuma had shot him. This meant Sakaki had the time to sleep and rest from his outburst. More meditation exercises with Brett would be required to help the man gain better control of his Craft. However, for the time being, Haruto could rest, regain his mental strengths and the energy needed to avoid another psychic outburst, unaware of the silent, still war raging around his body. Nycole sat at Sakaki's side, holding his hand sweetly.
Karasuma smoldered, thinking about the audacity the telepath had to sit and actually hold Sakaki's hand. That young bitch had owned up to doing this to Haruto. Nycole had even told them she did it, although in a roundabout manner. Still, she sat on her hands. Her gas gun, along with Amon's and all the weapons of the rest of those gathered, sat on the kitchen table, well out of reach from everyone.
The only thing anywhere resembling a weapon lay in Raven's skilled carpenter's hands. He worked with a look of chagrin, tacking up board and anything he could find over the hole Robin had blown through the wall. His pounding hammer was the only sound transgressing the weighty silence and nervous awkwardness.
Raven looked over his shoulder at the Craft user seated beside Amon and made one small attempt at humor, "One hell of an arm on you."
"Thank you." Robin fidgeted with the hem of her dress. "I think."
Raven just shrugged, giving up and returning to his work.
Amon eyed Kathain warily. She was exactly as Karasuma had described to him on the way out to the house. This was the seer, the oracle. Her eyes saw the past, the present, and the future. Her mind held the secrets of the universe, of Amon's own future. And she seemed so insignificant, so small, so fragile. Everyone's fates lay locked in her beating heart, tucked away for her knowledge only. If he asked, Kathain could divulge the secrets of his own destiny.
Kristo, meanwhile, studied the former hunter carefully, assessing strengths and weakness. It was an old habit of his. The man had spent years in the military, no matter which one, and the urge to accurately judge his quarry. Amon was a pure and good adversary, but he was no witch. The hunter stood no chance against the witches, and Kristo was well aware of that. Unfortunately, his katana lay on the other side of the home, on the kitchen table, and, with all the lights on, there were no shadows to walk through. He couldn't take a chance unless he could guarantee the other's safety, particularly that of Kathain and Nycole. The others had more active powers than the girls; they were vulnerable in their own ways.
Finally, Karasuma leaned close to Nycole, whispering to her, "You said you did this to him…." The woman sighed. "What did you do?"
The other empath didn't even look up. "I just…." She sighed. "He needed answers. He came to me looking for help." Nycole looked sadly to Sakaki, stroking his hair serenely. "I… I went into his mind, trying to sooth him. He had things locked up inside that needed to be let out. Insecurities. Fears." The girl blinked. "He asked me for the truth, to know who and what he really was, if he was a witch or not. He needed to know."
"Why?" Karasuma breathed.
Nycole blinked. "He got into this because of me. It's my fault." The girl looked to Kathain who gave a subtle nod. "I unlocked everything inside of him, just like he asked me to. I didn't want him to become a witch. I just wanted him to have the answers he needed." She let out a heavy sigh. "He awoke just after that."
"I see… And the voices?" the female hunter pressed.
Kathain piped up. "It's a part of his gifts. He can hear and speak with spirits."
"Oh…" Miho sat back in her chair, mulling over this.
The precognitive, however, stood. The entire group jumped, demonstrating just how on edge everyone remained. Their nerves were frayed, frazzled, and fried. And, yet, somehow, with one quick, soft look from Kathain, they sat back, relaxing slightly, but remaining on guard.
"I'm going outside." Kathain looked to Amon pointedly. "Join me, Amon."
He raised a curious eyebrow and stood, unsure of what exactly the girl had to say; Brett also jumped to his feet. "Kathain, what are you doing? You need to take one of us."
"Fine," she conceded with little argument. "But keep your distance." The little sprite of a girl smiled coyly at the hunter, who still bore a look of confusion and paranoia. "Amon and I have some talking to do."
Brett nodded slowly and walked out behind Amon and Robin, keeping a distance of at least twelve paces as the girl strolled out into the night. The gaping space between Brett and Kathain yawned and roared between himself and her. He wanted to just run up and join them, but the fire elemental had to respect the oracle's wishes. The young man could not bring himself to approach any closer.
He strained to hear their voices, but neither had said a word yet.
They just walked out of the house and into the dark. Somewhere, in the night, a lone bird called before settling. They moved together in unison. Amon and Kathain fell in step together, striding down the old wood path, towards the stream, to the sound of splashing and laughing water.
"Now, what is this all about, Kathain?"
xxxx
Robin waited nervously.
In the last year since the Factory incident, Amon had never left her side. He had never gone anywhere without the girl's knowledge, and Amon had never left her in a dangerous situation. This, was most certainly a dangerous situation.
However, the fact that Brett had left eased Robin's heart. The fire elemental had been eyeing the girl with a macabre delight. The Craft user felt sick under Brett's sharp, hawkish gaze, disturbed and unnerved by it. Robin wondered what exactly he thought of her, of his metaphysical match, and then some.
Sakaki stirred; Robin leapt towards him. "Sakaki…"
"Robin…" he was barely coherent.
The girl smiled warmly at him. "I'm here for you." She took the hand not in Nycole's and squeezed it. "I'm here to take you home. Do you want to go home?"
Dazed, as if drugged, Sakaki whimpered, "Yes."
Robin nodded. "Ok… we'll take you home."
"But…" Nycole protested. "You can't ask him that now. He's not of a conscious state of mind." The girl snapped angrily. "That's not fair."
"He wants to go home, let him!" Karasuma called.
"No!" Nycole shouted.
"He gave his answer," Geoff piped up. "Let him go."
xxxx
Amon had never seen a place just like that.
The stream felt calm, relaxing, refreshing even. The hunter let his guard down for a moment, before steeling himself again. He couldn't forget. The girl beside him was a witch, an oracle. And the boy who followed was a witch with fire craft that matched Robin's own man-made blessings.
The girl beside him seemed sad.
Amon sighed. "What's troubling you?"
Kathain glanced over, startled by the fact that the man had broken the silence. However, even there, along the calming banks of the stream, could she see the overlap of images. There, Amon still held the cuts and bruises of unimaginable, physical torture. His forehead was bathed in sweat and his own blood.
The girl kicked a pebble into the stream. "You don't want to know."
"Then why did you call me out here?" The former hunter demanded.
Kathain's heart fell; she had been hoping for more time to determine a better way to word the terrible truth. "Amon, ill fortune will befall you."
"Seems like trouble always follows Robin and myself. There isn't anything knew about that."
The girl bit her lip. "Not like that."
Amon raised an eyebrow, his curiosity now piqued. "What do you mean?"
Kathain crouched low, picking up a smoothly worn bit of quartz from the water. The little creek was a natural mineral deposit. Somewhere, maybe a ways upstream or even under their very feet, ran a massive load of quartz. Tiny bits of quartz were always washing up, rolled and washed smooth by years of water flow.
"You will be harmed, tortured, possibly killed even," the girl lamented sadly. "And it will be my fault."
"What are you talking about?" He inquired.
Kathain shrugged. "It's your future. I don't know." She calmly looked away. "I have seen what will happen to you; I know your future. Sometime in the future, both you and I shall be captured by unknown forces. You shall be tortured for information from me, things I don't know. They will hurt you, Amon. Badly."
"Why are you telling this to the person who attacked you and your friends?" Amon almost demanded the answer. "I would think you would be pleased by that."
The girl shrugged her shoulders. "I did, too."
"But…?" Amon led.
Kathain palmed the bit of quartz in her delicate hand. "I'm not sure. In my visions, every time I see it, I care about you. I don't want to see hurt like that." The girl handed her quartz to Amon. "We should be heading back to the house. Sakaki has woken up and made his choice by now."
"You knew it wouldn't take that long, didn't you?"
The girl shrugged. "Maybe." She looked to the path, to the form of Brett leaning against a tree maybe twenty or thirty feet away. "I needed to buy some time to at least tell you that."
"Why?" Amon asked.
Kathain just winked. "I thought I owed you that one."
xxxx
Hmm… I don't think I have any random commentary for this chapter. I think I'm just going to leave you wondering.