Chapter 5 The Vision That He Feared
When Sandry woke from a dreamless and fitful sleep she got dressed and went to the kitchens to get some tea. She was there for about an hour. Sandry was depressed and bored so she went to the library. She was surprised to see Niko. Niko seemed lost in thought and didn't seem to see her. "Hello Niko, What are you doing?" Niko looked up, startled out of a reverie. He looked tired with big bags beneath his eyes. "Nothing, just reading." He said with a hoarse voice that also explained the bags under his coal black eyes; He had not eaten or slept for days. Sandry sighed; she knew something important was going on if Niko spent days on end with little or no food and sleep. This had happened only once before, when the earthquake hit and the four's powers had been combined. Sandry went and sat next to him "Niko, what's going on, the last time you slept and ate little or none we had omens coming from all over about an earthquake. Are you seeing great omens again?"
Niko looked up and with a great sadness in his eyes replied with what seemed like great pain "Yes, and it is terrible omens that I see, some of your past, and some of your future. The future ones will be as painful for you as the past." Niko put his head in his hands and began, for the first time in Sandry's memory, he started to cry. Sandry as a startled instinct sent a mental image to Briar, Tris, and Daja. They saw the mental image and went rigid and then started to shake with shock. They had been sitting with Lark and Rosethorn when they got the image and Lark asked worriedly "What's wrong, why are you shaking?" Unable to answer Daja and Briar held out their hands.
Rosethorn put her hands in Briar's hands; Lark's in Daja's while Tris, over with the shock, started to weep silently. She knew it had to be horrible for Niko to weep like that. When Rosethorn and Lark had gotten their hands in their charges hands Briar sent Rosethorn the image and Daja sent Lark the image. In a flash they had both pulled away in shock, for they to had never seen Niko cry before. They wondered What had caused him to cry.
Back in the library Sandry was trying to comfort Niko. When he stopped crying she asked quietly "What did you see?" Niko looked up with shining eyes and replied even hoarser than before "I saw your uncle's murder, the person, everything. It was horrible. Then a new vision came, one I hated and feared even more, I saw your uncle's murderer killing another person you love greatly, I saw her kill Briar." Sandry was shocked. She was so shocked and in the greatest pain imaginable she got up and ran from the room to find Briar. She found them sitting their in Lark's room, thinking about Niko. Sandry flung herself at Briar. She cried "I won't let her; She can't tear you from me just after she tore Uncle from me!" Briar held her again, stunned at this outburst, while she cried. The first one to get up was Lark. She came over and held Sandry to.
The others came to hold her too quietly. When she was in a better state Briar asked quietly "What do you mean? Tear me from you, I'm not going anywhere." Sandry told them what Niko had seen about her uncle "And then he said he saw her, killing you." She started crying again. Briar stared at her. He was shocked for the third time that day. The others stared at Sandry then stared at Briar. Rosethorn spoke first "I'll be right back." She left and everyone knew where she was heading, to the library to question Niko. When Rosethorn returned a teary-eyed Niko followed. They huddled around as much for comfort as for reassurance.