Chapter Three
A Seer
Three hours later, at ten o'clock at night, Agent Kay did get a call from Jay. The young agent seemed panicked.
"Kay," Agent J said rapidly, "Get over here now. You need to see this."
Before K could say anything, Jay hung up. As fast as he could, Kay drove over to the apartment and entered without knocking. He froze when he saw what was before him. A worried Agent Jay paced back and forth behind Ember, who was on the floor. Ember was convulsing and screaming in pain for no apparent reason.
"I'm surprised nobody has called the cops," Kay whispered to himself. He walked over to Jay, towering over him and staring at him angrily, then shouted, "What the hell is going on here?!"
"It's not my fault! She just started doing...that!"
"What do you propose we do here, genius?!"
Agent K's partner stood frozen, so the older agent decided to take matters into his own hands. He stomped over to Ember, leaned down, and took her by the wrists.
"No! No!" she cried out.
"Snap out of it!" he demanded. "Stop!"
Ember looked him in the eyes and whispered, in a voice that was not her own, "Never lost, but to be found." And she collapsed.
"What? That wasn't...it couldn't..." Kay stammered. A sudden realization hit Kay. "There hasn't been a seer in a hundred years..." A sudden rush of sympathy overwhelmed him.
He knew who she truly was. A seer, destined to interpret signs and be the speaker of many voices. He frowned and held Ember. Would he really let Jay kill this girl? But wouldn't that let her out of her miserable duties? No, it was her destiny. Perhaps Zed would see this, too, and let her become an important MIB agent. If she was let into the wrong hands, such information could be used for evil purposes. So Kay would speak to Zed again with his proposal.
Jay had come out of his frozen trance and kneeled where his partner still held Ember. "Kay? You okay, man?"
"Yeah. I'm fine, Slick." Agent K didn't know what to do. He couldn't leave Ember to deal with her convulsions and visions alone. He couldn't keep holding her like this. He stood up, dusted himself off, and made up his mind. "I wanna watch her myself. You can come with me if you want. I might need some help."
It felt like a long drive to Kay's apartment. Jay sat in the back with Ember, who was in a half conscious state.
"Explain to me what we're doing again," Agent J groaned.
"Ember here is a seer. There hasn't been one of those in over a hundred years. I believe we were supposed to find her. I think she's gonna lead me to the Key."
Jay would have called this mumbo jumbo, but he had learned that there was nothing of the sort in this line of work. They drove on, and when they reached their destination, Ember finally woke.
"Where am I?" she whispered. "I was standing in Agent J's apartment, and now I'm here.."
"It's Fine, Princess. We're just going to Agent Kay's place. Do you remember anything?" the younger Man in Black asked.
"I remember one thing," Ember muttered.
"Uh-huh?" said Kay, who was looking in the back from the driver's seat.
"I dreamed about blood. Lots of bloodshed," she whispered.
"Ain't that nice!" Agent J shouted sarcastically.
"Let's just get inside, Slick."
By the time everyone had calmed down inside the apartment, it was nearly midnight. The thing was, there weren't enough places for everyone to sleep.
"I'm not sleeping on the floor," Jay was saying.
"I'm sleeping in my bed, that's for sure," Agent K argued.
The two agents looked at Ember, waiting for her opinion.
The seer looked at the ground. "I'll sleep on the floor. Jay can sleep on the couch."
"You sure?" K asked.
"Yes, I'm sure."
Kay got her a couple blankets and a pillow, and just before he finally went to bed, he stole a glance at her sleeping face.