The sun had come back up hours ago, and Nadia was still hunched over on her bed, laptop in front of her, googling the hell out of the Aztec language. Her eyes were heavy and weariness had set in an hour or so into her search; pausing she rubbed at her tired eyes with the heels of her palms. Sensing someone approaching her door, her head shot up simultaneously with the soft knock. "Nadia, baby, its Missouri… I brought you some coffee and some fruit," the elderly psychic cooed lovingly through the door, "Oh, and you forgot to acquire the recorder from your sister before you locked yourself in there… I figured it might be a helpful thing to—"
Nadia leapt up from her spot on her bed and nearly ripped the door off its hinges; revealing a slightly startled Missouri Moseley. Nadia smiled apologetically, motioning to the woman to enter, she could use some supportive company. Any other time she would have preferred it be Emily, but under the circumstances, her little sister would do nothing but nag and bitch while she attempted to find some kind of answer. She knew Missouri wouldn't do that however, she knew Nadia needed reassurance, not annoyance.
"How is your search going?" the little black woman asked, slowly easing her way into helping the girl properly. Nadia exhaled an exhausted breath, her eyes screaming frustration.
"Very little… without the recorder, you were right about that," pausing so she could steal a chunk of Pineapple, "But… I was able to figure out a bit of what I'll be dealing with in the translation." She said, eyes glittering contently; they began to shine brighter when she felt the pride roll off Missouri in waves.
"You've been trained well, miss Coltier; I'm more than certain your previous teachers are more than proud of you. I knew since the moment I first laid eyes on you… it ain't in you to disappoint!" she said excitedly, feeling her eyes water up a bit. "Now what have you got so far?"
Nadia returned her gaze to her laptop briefly, smiling all the while, "Okay, well, the language is Classical Nahuatl, spoken in Central America in the time before as well as during the Spanish Conquest of Mexico. These days it's considered an extinct language, but some of it survives in literature and a watered down, mostly Spanish version of the language is still around today. It's been more or less a dead language since the 15th century, so there's no possible way mom or dad could have taught it to us; so I'm sticking with my theory that someone in dad's family had some dealings with Aztec's forever and a day ago… now, if I can only find a site that can help me translate it…"
Missouri smiled knowingly, her thoughts were warm and heartfelt, coming from her heart she protected them from being overheard by the young huntress… she was already busy trying to piece together her destiny. My, my, my…Nick, Julianna; you're daughter is as talented, powerful and brilliant as she is beautiful. I know you're just as proud of her as I am. She's doing so well with figuring this out on her own; she might be upset if she knew that the three of us already knew how the girls are connected to the Aztec's.
"Well, honey, I'm going to leave you to your work. I brought you a carafe of hot coffee, just the way you like it… too much sugar and cream. I swear girl, you're already sweet as they come… this stuff is just a plea for cavities!" She laughed inwardly when she saw the tell-tale roll of Nadia's eyes, "and some fruit, which you've obviously already found. If you find you need anything else, you know where to find me. Don't hesitate to interrupt readings when you figure it all out, okay?"
The girl paused from her rabid typing, her face concentrating on the screen, then she turned her face upwards, concern shone in her soul's windows. Before Missouri knew what happened, the girl was on her feet enveloping her in a heartfelt embrace with her head lying on Missouri's shoulder like a sleeping toddler. "Thank you, Missouri… for everything," Pulling back, her surrogate mother was startled to see Nadia's eyes sparkling with tears of gratitude, her emotions almost crushing in their legitimacy, "I don't know where I'd be without your help."
Missouri's breathing hitched as the girl's voice broke. She might not have been their birth mother, but they were like the daughters she never had, and she'd never been so proud to be the one to help raise them. But instead of admitting this, she smiled coolly at the oldest Coltier, "Oh, I'm sure you would have gotten the gist of it eventually. Unlike some hunters I know… stupid isn't in your blood, neither is helplessness. Now, I'll leave you to your work, good luck sweetheart."
Nadia stood in the middle of her room, watching Missouri walk out the door, leaving her with high hopes for herself, for her future. But she knew, she was well aware that the woman who had long been a mother to her knew more than she was saying. Though she understood, she had long since stopped learning, her training had been completed years ago; but the fortune teller would always be keeping her on her toes, always making sure that the huntress did everything she could to figure anything and everything out on her own. She would help sometimes, but only when the situation called for it. Shaking her head, she treated herself to a few minutes of resting with a coffee mug in one hand, and the other with at least two or three chunks of fruit dripping stickiness on her other hand.
Hours later, the huntress flew down the winding stairs to the first floor of the house, a piece of paper flapping in her hand; nearly ramming into her sister as she was leading a young woman about their age—maybe a little younger—to the parlor where Missouri waited to give the young woman a reading. Emily's arm shot out and nearly tossed her sister backwards when Nadia's shirt went taut in her grip.
"Slow down there, where's the fire?" Emily inquired, eyeing her disapprovingly. The young woman with her grinned sympathetically, thinking how embarrassed she'd be if someone had to grab at her shirt to stall her if she was in a hurry to go somewhere important. It was when she stopped that Nadia got a good look at the young lady; she couldn't have been much older than 23; about Emily's height, she had the face of a model, sparkling hazel eyes and long dark brown hair. She seemed sweet, making Nadia suspicious as to what she needed a fortune teller for; the girl could obviously get the world gift wrapped with just one smile.
"Hi, I'm Sarah Blake, are you Miss Moseley?" She asked ecstatically, extending her hand to greet her warmly.
"Uh, no, but I'm heading to go speak with her for a minute… Em, I'll take her to the parlor room if it's cool with you?" Emily shrugged and walked back to the kitchen where she had left Uncle Jim's journal. Nadia and Sarah watched as the youngest of the sisters walked off tiredly.
"Sorry about that, I'm afraid she's pissed at me for something. I'm Nadia Coltier; Emily's my little sister."
"Really? I thought she seemed more concerned about you than angry." Sarah interjected; watching after Emily had disappeared into the confines of the kitchen, "How long have you and your sister worked for Miss Moseley?"
Nadia's stride stopped at the question, she stared down the hallway for a moment before turning to the young woman. "We don't necessarily work for her; we were sent here to Lawrence when I got my first vision, our uncle didn't know how to handle it, or how to help me, so he sent us here. She taught me to control my abilities, helped me grow—personality wise—where our uncle couldn't. I was 11 at the time."
"He turned the two of you away because he didn't know what to do?" she asked incredulously.
"I always thought he handled it pretty well for a priest; no shouts of 'Oh the blasphemy!' or 'Out, devil child!'… Nothing like that; just, the calm 'I can't help you, I can't ease the pain of it… but I'll show you the way to someone who can.' He was a good man." She said sadly, wanting to run from the conversation, cursing herself when she felt the hot tears burning her eyes.
"Wow, what's his name?" Nadia had been shocked at how understanding and open-minded this Sarah person was being. Sneaking a rather unfair peak at her thoughts, Nadia was thrown off a bit by the girl's motive; it was screaming loud and clear at the surface of her thoughts: Sam, I have to find out if Sam's alright… something feels wrong.
"His name? His name was Pastor Jim Murphy, my mom's big brother." She said, smiling at the thought of her mother and Jim, her eyes burning brighter with more tears and loving memories of the two family members.
"Pastor Jim Murphy… Pastor Jim… I've heard that name before…I just can't remember where." She mused shifting all her weight to one foot, sticking the opposite in front of her, arms crossed over her stomach.
"Are you from Blue Earth, Minnesota?"
"No, upstate New York; a…friend of mine is from these parts, I was hoping to… find out how he's doing." She admitted as Nadia motioned for Sarah to follow her and continued walking down the hallway.
"Oh, what's his name? Perhaps I know him." She asked, making small talk, getting the desired info.
"Sam Winchester; he's a, uh…" She bit her lip in hesitation, then shook her head, deciding to trust in the young woman, "I know Missouri's friends with him as well, and you're practically her family, I don't see why I can't trust you… Sam's a demon hunter."
Nadia feigned shock and surprise, letting her head bob a little bit, encouraging the younger girl to continue. She'd fooled countless others into spilling their darkest secrets; this girl would be no problem at all. Tilting her head slightly, she grinned cockily, noticing how Sarah eased in reaction to her body language. Hook, line and sinker… works every time.
"He and his brother, Dean, go around the country fighting the supernatural… the evil of it, I mean. I've seen them do it myself, when I first met them… long story, but they saved my father's auction business; we had a murderous, haunted painting… they destroyed it before it could hurt more people than it already had… it nearly got me…" She recanted, smiling as she thought back on the heroic hunters, too lost in memory lane to notice how closely Nadia was studying her, her mind and her intentions.
"…You love him; that's why you're worried. Demon hunting is quite a dangerous gig, I'm not going to lie about it, and you did say you've seen them work firsthand. Have you tried calling…Sam, was it?" She said thoughtfully, knowing full well what Sarah came for was not something Missouri could help with. If she hadn't met her a few minutes earlier, and known better, she would have mistaken Sarah's deep blushing for make up over kill. The flush and bursting of color in her cheeks touched the huntress, she had no idea what that was like; feeling so strongly for a guy. The idea was foreign to her… mostly.
"I don't know… I mean, I guess…" she stammered, Nadia almost giggled at how her show of emotion; it was cute.
"You do; it's nothing to be ashamed of, and it's really something when you're aware of the danger he's constantly surrounded in, the danger that might lash out at you in order to weaken him…but you don't let that deter you. That's actually quite admirable, if you ask me." She said, her conscience finally winning the battle against her curiosity, rolling her eyes a bit, she leaned forward and whispered to the girl, "Listen… I'm going to be honest. Missouri Moseley is a powerful psychic and fortune teller, hell, she taught me how to control the basics of my powers… that really helped when the rest of them began popping up, let me tell you. Anyway, she can read surface thoughts, make a guess that is correct… 80 of the time; but what you're looking for, she won't be able to help you. When people come to her with questions that she can't help with, she doesn't turn them away; she'll just tell you what you want to hear. My point is, she might not be able to help you, but you've come a long way… and I can help you."
Sarah's face fell a little bit when Nadia told her Missouri couldn't help, but her hope was returned to full blast when she offered her assistance instead. The gratitude that exuded from the New Yorker was fairly intense, Nadia felt compelled to shield her third eye from its magnitude. Here goes my non-hunting good deed of the week.
"You would do that? For me? How much would I owe you?" she asked, money didn't seem to be an option for this chick, which caused Nadia to be slightly taken aback.
"Huh? Nah, I'm no fortune teller, I don't charge. Money might not be an option, but it's also not a necessity." She said, waving off the monetary suggestion. She began walking towards the kitchen, motioning for the girl to follow, "Here's what's going to go down: I'm going to go run in there, discuss some family related stuff with Missouri, then get her next reading in to that parlor… after which, I'll meet you outside in the back and we'll answer any question that comes to mind, okay? I need a smoke break anyhow…"
The girl giggled lightly as she followed the huntress into the kitchen. Greeting the younger of the Coltier girls when she noticed her sitting at the table hunched over some kind of book.
"Back door is just past Emily, it'll just take a minute or two." Emily gave her sister a questioning gaze with her head cocked slightly. Nadia just focused her gaze on her sister and let Emily hear her thoughts clearly in the privacy of her own mind. I'm helping her out, Missouri won't be able to give her a direct answer…and I've got my ramblings translated.
The girl's eyes widened, eyebrows threatening to punch at her hairline. Emily jumped from her chair, abandoning the journal at the table and followed close behind her sister to the little parlor. Missouri glanced up from one of the sofas and smiled pleasantly at the sisters. "My little detective, did you crack the case, Nadia?"
Nadia chortled as she plopped down on the couch, landing cross-legged. Emily stretched her tired muscles before gently lowering herself to sit next to her sister, as Missouri stood Nadia handed her the piece of paper she'd been holding. Emily and the girl's guardian waited apprehensively in reaction to the girl's satisfied, yet bothered expression.
"You read the translation from what I said in my first vision, yes?" She asked, waiting for the reply and only continuing when she saw Missouri and her sister nod, "Okay, well, I was able to translate this one, and it's fairly similar to the other one; that one eluded to one or two of the happenings leading to my destiny, talking about things that will eventually happen. This one speaks of what has happened, what is now currently in motion..."
Missouri gave her a suspicious look as she eyed the paper Nadia handed to her; word for word it was the Nahuatl form of what she had screamed in writing, along with some words and scribbles scratched into the sheet surrounding it, some theories were scratched out entirely. The psychic looked at Nadia with confusion, "Okay, did you find out what you said this time?"
"Yea," She said as she scrubbed a hand over her weary face before continuing, "In chia teoyohtica ce cah huitz… Ichpocatl cah ahcic, tlacame… Ceccan yehhuan mictizqueh; in tlicui zan teotlahtolli ahcic cah peuh. Which, roughly translated, means: 'The awaited holy one has come… She has found them, and it… together they will destroy It; they, the lights only hope… it has begun.' I'm getting the feeling the final throw down will be happening sometime soon."
Missouri shivered as she saw the acceptance and determination in Nadia, heard it in her voice; then she realized what all was supposed to happen for this to all go according to plan. She tried digging a bit deeper into Nadia's psyche, searching for pain, despair, defiance, anything the girl might usually do when it came to matters of life and death; nothing. "Aren't you scared? Afraid for yourself, for your sister… for having to face the thing that's haunted you since the day you were born?" she yelled, demanding some human emotion from the girl; but she was the same cold person she'd been the day Nadia and Emily came into her life.
"Of course I am; I don't want to lose her, Missouri, and you know I'd do anything to protect her. This doesn't change a damn thing about me, I'll still fight tooth and nail for what's left of my family… but if something should happen that's out of my control… I know that there would be nothing I could have possibly done." She said quietly, suddenly unable to face neither her guardian or her sibling, "When it happens, the weight of keeping the Coltier line going will be on me; but I'll be strong about it, I won't fail… can't. Besides, I'd be letting anybody who ever counted on me down if I didn't fight with every ounce of strength… it'd be going against my training. You know I don't do that shit."
"You're right, sweetie… you don't do that crap." She corrected.
Nadia yawned, it had been a long night and she needed to sleep, but the stress of the situation was getting to her. Addictions beckoned her strongly; sleep only tugged irritatingly at the edges of her weary mind. Popping her neck, she made her way to the door. "Hey Em, if you're done with you're break… I'm going to go smoke and relax for a bit, then I think I'm going to go crash for a while…"
Emily nodded; she knew how hard her sister worked on translating the information, how much energy the situation was sucking out of Nadia. The psychic calmed herself, remembering that she had worked through the night translating that thing… more than likely, hopefully, without a cigarette break; she knew she hadn't left her room, much less the house, until she had come to the parlor to speak with her… and she did not condone smoking in the bedrooms. After Nadia left, she plopped herself down on one of the couches and sighed, stealing a sidelong glance at Emily, "What on earth am I going to do with you girls…"
Nadia padded slowly and quietly through to the kitchen to meet Sarah; images of Aztecs, their pyramid's and sacrifices filled her head, but she mentally pushed them away as she rubbed her eyes, dismissing them as a sign of her exhaustion… she had, after all, been pouring over everything Aztec for the past eight or so hours. Before reaching the door, she snatched her pack and lighter from the counter beside the door and walked clumsily outside. Sarah sat on the bench swing waiting patiently, and greeting the gifted huntress happily when she emerged from the house. Nadia nodded with a content grin as she plucked out a single cigarette and lit it; in exhaling the first drag she turned from looking at the backyard to the girl on the bench.
"Now, what is it that you would like to know?" she said, and as Sarah opened her mouth to speak, Nadia felt a spark of pain flash briefly between her eyes. Cringing she turned her head sharply one degree from where she had been looking.
"Are you okay?" Sarah asked, her tone sounded greatly concerned; Nadia took another drag, this time deep, hoping the nicotine might loosen the tension that was growing at an alarming rate in her head. Another flash afflicted her and she saw the image of an Aztec witchdoctor of some sort, it flickered and was gone before she could get a good look.
"I…" Another tinge of pain, she groaned, her hands reached for her forehead and pressed against her aching head. She saw the old man again; he motioned to her, smiling. Panic began to take hold as the flickering images of the man began to coincide with the now flickering view of Sarah getting up and rushing to her aid. Before the sight of the Aztec man took over completely, she saw her cigarette drop in slow motion to the ground.
"Hello, conetlicui; it's about time we spoke." He said, Nadia froze at how broken and terrible his English was. She knew she should be scared, should be defending herself… but something about the man was comforting and disarming.
"Who are you, and where the hell am I?" She demanded softly, cautiously; they seemed to be in old and forgotten caves somewhere. "Why are you calling me that?"
"Worry not, you are safe here. And you're Nahuatl is just as poor as my English, but in the depths of our minds, we hear ourselves in the languages we speak best, and hear others as in the same language… only, they speak it as they would if they were just learning it. I call you that… because that is what you are." His words echoed in her ears, her mind frantically going over her 20 plus years of training, desperately searching for how she should feel about being in her present situation and how to get out of it. All that was coming to her was the need to relax screaming from every inch of her body.
"Well, if we're here to talk, you must have something important to tell me, huehue tlacatl; enlighten me." Surprising herself when she addressed him in his language, he obviously took notice of her reaction, his wrinkled mouth twitched into a knowing smile.
A/N: conetlicui child of light, and huehue tlacatl old man in Nahuatl.
I know... 'WTF is with the creepy old Aztec dude?' C'mon, more often than not... there's a bit of a cliff hanger at the end of the chapters I write.
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