Chapter 5

Isabel

It's been 3 days since the meeting, and Matt and I are scheduled to search for Ethan tomorrow. We've told Mom that we're going to a brother/sister group thing in Opreyton, which is the place we're going.

Unfortunately, I guess that Arkarian really wanted to check up on me, because when I get home from Neriah's place, helping her pack for her trip, I see Mom sitting at the kitchen table with a letter in her hands. I see the name at the bottom, and scream in my thoughts for Matt to get down here. I know that I won't be able to face Mom alone.

I have to admit that Matt is a good actor. He comes down the stairs and acts like he's simply surprised to see me back from Neriah's so early. He sees the letter in Mom's hands, including the name at the bottom, and flashes me an amused grin.

" 'Dearest Isabel'?" he quotes mockingly, "Who's this from?"

Ha! As if he doesn't know! But, of course, he has to play innocent in front of Mom.

"That's exactly what I'd like to know," Mom says, looking from me to Matt. "You two are hiding something from me, I can tell."

Stupid motherly instinct…I glance at Matt to see what he has to say, but he puts a finger to his lips and closes his eyes for a moment. Mom starts to say something, but I put my hand up to silence her. I know, it sounds rude, but it's obvious that Matt is communicating with Dartemis to see if we can tell Mom about the Guard and everything that's happened over the past while. After a few moments, his eyes open again, and he starts to explain to Mom what's going on.

"Well, you see," he starts nervously, "Isabel and I aren't really going to a brother/sister convention tomorrow…"

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Once we finish explaining everything, (a task that takes 2 hours), Mom has a bewildered look on her face.

"I don't believe a word of it," she says firmly.

"Think of something completely out of the ordinary," Matt instructs her, "Something that I wouldn't be able to guess." I can see where he's going with this.

Mom rolls her eyes but obliges all the same. Matt closes his eyes and opens them again.

"Try thinking something other than 'This is nuts'."

A shocked expression falls over her face, quickly replaced by one of concentration. She nods her head to indicate that she's ready, and Matt closes his eyes once more.

"Tonight, for dinner, we will be going to a fancy restaurant, and you are going to buy us – no, wait – Isabel, anything she wants on the menu."

I stare at him, sure that he's making this up, but Mom is clapping her hands. I turn to look at her.

"Why?" I ask.

She stares at me, as if waiting for me to say I'm kidding, then says, "How can you not know?"

"I'm not a Truthseer like Matt."

"No, no. It's your birthday on Sunday, but since I don't know when you and Matt will be getting back, I decided to take you out tonight. Matt doesn't have to come if he doesn't want to – ow!"

Mom accidentally gives herself a paper cut on Arkarian's letter. Matt gives me a subtle nudge, but I'm already on my way forwards. He's already had his chance to prove what he can do. Now it's my turn.

Since Lorian enhanced each of our skills last year, I really don't have to be touching Mom to heal the cut, but I decide to so that, (hopefully) it will be easier for her to believe all this. I walk over to where she's sitting and take her finger gently in my hand. When I take my hand off, the cut is completely gone. Mom gasps and examines her finger almost as thoroughly as I did the first time I healed myself. I laugh at the memory.

Mom looks up at us. "Okay, I believe you two now. Is Jimmy in on this too?"

We both nod. "And all three of you have managed to keep this a secret from me for all this time?"

We nod again, and Mom asks me what my second skill is.

"Well, that's something that I can't turn on and off at will. Sometimes I'll get visions of the future, but Arkarian says that I might sometimes get visions of the past, or even the present somewhere else. It hasn't happened yet, but it might."

As I say these words, I see the familiar blinding white light. Before long, the pain that comes with trying to stop a vision comes as well. So I stop fighting it, and make sure to close my mind in case it's something bad that I don't want Matt to see. When it finally comes, it's not as clear as the other ones I've had, and a few minutes after it passes, I'm still trying to figure it out completely. When I do, I almost scream in shock. Even so, I can't stop the tears from flowing down my cheeks.

Mom comes over to me and wraps her arms around my body. Matt comes over and puts a hand on my shoulder. I turn to look at him.

"What did you see?" he asks, his voice calm. For a moment, I'm tempted to show him, but stop myself. No, this is something nobody should know.

"I don't want to tell you. You wouldn't believe me if I did."

Thankfully, he drops it. I don't want him to know. Hell, I don't even want Arkarian to know! What I saw was Ethan. But he wasn't alone…a girl was walking with him in a dark and dreary place. I knew right then that this is happening right now, and I even had a hunch about who the girl was, but it was still a shock to see the girl turn and gaze at me with such familiar green eyes.

So? Who's the girl? Only I know! Well…my friend, Aerith4you, knows as well, cause she read this fic when it was still on paper, but you know what I mean! Review telling me who you think the girl is, and whoever gets it right will be congratulated at the end of the next chapter! Yes, I'm typing these chapters up fast. I like this fic, and I feel I owe it to you all to give you lots of chapters, seeing as how I sort of kind of skipped out on you all for quite some time! That, and I have nothing better to do…except write the rest of the last book in this series out on paper! That's right, folks, the series is almost all on paper! Then all I have to do is type it all up! …you've got a looooooong wait ahead of you…