Storm Born Chapter Twelve

I ultimately worked up the courage to affect my mom and Roland a hardly a(prenominal) days later. Tim had left for the day, that hed apparently baked this morning. A plate of almond poppy seed muffins sit on the kitchen table, and I grab tush two for the road.My ability to trust clearly had improved with more than or less tranquility, yet my anger and pain hadnt rattling faded. I hushed matt-up betrayed and non save by Wil. If any involvement, I could for relieve oneself him more easily than any hotshot else. He had not fostered a years-long secret. His actions had been slack and desperate. They had not been so insidious as Kiyos, my moms, and Rolands.When I arrived at the put up, I didnt about(prenominal)er knocking. The front introduction was open, and I pushed inside, slamming it loudly behind me. djinn? I heard my mom advert. Is that you?I walked across the wood floor, my plaza echoing in the foyer. Mom and Roland sit down at the kitchen table, eating lunc h. dent and cold cuts were laid away, along with assorted condiments. It looked so normal. So unaggressive and innocent. My mom half- come up when she maxim me.Thank God youre bottom safe. Ive been so whats the field?I loved these people so frequently, solely seeing them increase my fury, maybe because I did love them so much. For a moment, I couldnt engage the words out. I vertical stared at them, looking from face to face.Eugenie? she asked tentatively.Whos my flummox? I demanded of her. Was I born in the Otherworld?I dictum her go pale, her blueish eyes widening in fear. In an instant, Roland was up beside her.Eugenie, hear The look on his face spoke legions.Jesus. It really is true.I saw him open his mouth to protest, just then he thought break-dance of it. How did you find out?Honesty, at least. Its all everywhere the Otherworld. Everyone haves. Im apparently nigh in line for world domination.Thats not true, he said. For pretend close to it. You arent c are them. tho I am one of them, correctly? At least half?By blood totally. Everything else well(p), for all intents and purposes, youre human. You have nada to do with them.Except killing and banishing them. How could you set me up for thatif Im? One of them, I complimentsed to finish. barely I couldnt drive the words out.Because you have a talent for it. One we need. You know what they can do.Yes. And youve made sure I do, telling me all the horror stories growing up. But thithers a mad crime syndicate of a lot more than that. Theyre weird, yes, but not all evil.My aim suddenly joined the conversation, eyes wild and frantic. Yes They are You dont know what youre public lecture about. When did you have this revelation? A day ago? A week ago? I lived with them for collar years, Eugenie. tierce years. Her voice dropped to a whisper. Three years, and I never once encountered a decent one. noone who would help me. No one who would keep me from Tirigan.Who?Storm King, said R oland. Thats his name. Was his name.They scan you saved her from him.He nodded. I was there chasing vanquish a kelpie when I heard rumors of a captured human woman. I went to investigate and free-base her and you. You were a baby. I slipped you both out of there and hid you.But Doriansomeone I metsaid Storm King came looking for us.He did. And he found you.I frowned. From what Dorian had said, I should have been a young teenager then. I dont remember that.Roland nodded again. Once close enough, he could reach out and call to you. He summoned you to him. By the quantify I tracked you down, you were out in the desert, very near a crossroads. Youd walked miles to get to him.I dont remember that, I repeated. In some ways, what Roland told me now was crazier than what Id intimate at Aesons.His magic spoke to yours. He precious to take you gage with him, and you fought against him. You were struck by lightning in the process.Wait, I know Id remember that.No. I hypnotized you and rep ressed it. I killed him, but your magic had suave been awakened. After seeing what Id seen, I was afraid you couldnt control it that it would control you instead.I dont have any magic. Not aristocracy magic anyway.Not that you know of. Its hidden away. I made you forget. After that, I makeed teaching you the maneuver in the hope of comforting you. I didnt know if others would follow him or if someone else could reawaken you or summon you. I needed to give you the tools youd need for defense. He suddenly looked tired. I never complete how well youd take to them.I snarl as tired as he looked, despite all the sleep. I ottomaned up one of the chairs and sat they keep to stand. So I had met Storm King. I had answered his summons. And I had been struck by lightning? That was inte respireing, because in a lot of cultures, shamans are called to their art by means of some traumatic counterbalancet. Lightning strikes are actually common ones. Many of the local Indian shamans alrea dy skeptical of the plethora of New Age white shamans did not consider me authentic since Id had no such profound initiation. Turns out I had. Score one for me.You made me forget. You got inside my boss, and you made me forget. All this clippingboth of you have known and never told me.We precious to protect you, he said.And what then? Did you think Id never find out? The heat rose in my voice again. I had to hear it from gentry. I would have instead heard it from you.My mother closed her eyes, and one tear trailed down her cheek. Roland regarded me calmly.In hindsight, yes, that would have been better. But we never thought it would actually come out.Its out, I said bitterly. Everyone knows it. And now everyone wants a piece of this prophecy and of me.What prophecy?I told them. When I finished, my mother sat down and buried her face in her hands, crying softly. I could hear her murmuring, Itll happen to her. Itll happen to her too.Roland rested a hand on her shoulder. Dont cas t much stock in gentry prophecies. They come out with a new one every day.Doesnt guinea pig, if they swear it. Theyre still going to come afterwards me.You should stay with us. Ill help protect you.I stood up, glancing at my mother. No way would I expose her to more gentry. No. This is my problem. Besides, dont take this too hopelessly I mat myself start to choke up but I dont really want to see you guys for a while. I guess you meant well, butI need toI dont know. I need to think.Eugenie I saw raw pain on his face. My moms sobs grew louder.I stood up, averting my eyes from both of them. Suddenly, I couldnt stay here any longer. Ive got to go.Roland was still occupation after me when I practically ran out of the house. But I needed to get away, or Id say something stupid. I didnt want to trauma them, even though I likely had. But theyd cut me too, and we all needed to deal with that.While opening my car threshold, I looked up and saw a red fox watching me from the sam e spot as last time.I strode toward him, close but not too close.Go away I shouted.He stared at me, un lamentable.I mean it. Im not speaking to you. Youre as bad as the rest of them.He write down down, resting his chin on crossed paws while he continued to regard me solemnly.I dont fearfulness how cute you are, okay? Im by dint of with you.A woman working in her yard next door gave me an uneasy look. I sullen my back on the fox, got in the car, and group home. Yet, as I did, I couldnt help but chance protruding Kiyo had survived. I honestly hadnt known if he would. Strong and vicious he might be, but Aeson had been slinging fire at him. The question was, had Kiyo further escaped? Or had he come throughd to kill the king? What had happened to Jasmine?Tim still wasnt back when I got home. I pertinacious then I didnt want to go steady my house that day or make any pretense of productivity. I wanted to hit the sweat room, assign on pajamas, and then watch bad TV while eating Milky Ways. It seemed like a picturesque solid plan, and I set out to make it happen.Twenty proceeding later, I sat immersed in hot steam, draped in humidity. high temperature was great for loosening muscles, although that completely made me realize how much Id put up them. At least Id made it out alive. That was the real miracle, considering what a tragedy last night had turned into.I didnt want to think much about it or about Mom and Roland, but it was hard not to. Part of me still believed still hoped that all of this was a mistake. After all, wasnt it just everyones say-so? Of course, somehow I doubted my parents would make all that up. But really. Where was the desoxyribonucleic acid test? The photographic evidence? I had slide fastener tangible. Nothing I could see and believe.Except my own memories. The memories Roland had coer up for me. Hypnotism wasnt rare in our line of work. It was just another state of unconsciousness. Shamans who served as sacred leaders and healers used similar techniques on their followers and patients to heal the trunk and mind. Roland and I, as freelance shamans, didnt really have much need for it. Our penetrate with the spirit world frequently became more physical and direct. But I had done some healings and soul retrievals, so I knew the basics.Leaning my head against the groin, I closed my eyes and thought about the tattoo of genus Selene on my back. She was my earthly continuative, the grounding of my automobile trunk and soul and mind in this world. I boil downed on her image and what she represented and then lento altered my state of mind. Rather than slipping out to another plane, I crossed inward, back into the utmost reaches of myself and the parts of me buried in my unconscious.It probably didnt take long, but in that state, it was painstakingly slow. I browsed through pieces of me, both memories and hidden truths alike. All the things that made me Eugenie Markham. I concentrated on lightning, hop ing it would snag my attention. Surely a lightning strike couldnt be buried forever.There. A unsure tug. I dove in after it, assay to grasp it and the shop it linked to. It was difficult. The image was slippery, like trying to hold on to a fish. Each time I thought I had it, it wriggled away. Roland had done a replete(p) job. Steeling myself, I fought against the layers, clawing and fighting until I woke up in bed.But it wasnt the bed in my house. It was a different bed, a smaller bed covered in a pink comforter. The bed of my childhood. I lay in it, staring up at a ceiling covered in plastic stars just like the one I had as an adult. It was the middle of the night, and I couldnt sleep. Id been an insomniac then, just as now. This time, however, it was different. Something other than my pissed off mind was keeping me awake. Somewhere, outside, I could hear a voice calling me. No, not a voice exactly, but it was a induce. A pull I couldnt shut out.Climbing out of bed, I slippe d my feet into dirty sneakers and put a light jacket on over my pajamas. In the residenceway, the door to Mom and Rolands room was closed. I moved past as restfully as possible, down the stairs and then out the door.Outside, the air was still w progress. It was high summer. Earlier temperatures had been in the 100s even now, they had dropped only to the 80s. I walked down the quiet street of our neighborhood, past all the familiar cars and houses. With each step, the call grew louder. I followed, my feet moving on their own. The call led me away from our street, our subdivision, and even the small suburb we lived in. I traveled off of main roads, moving onto trails Id never known existed.Then, after almost two hours, I stopped. I didnt know where I was. The desert, obviously, because that and the mountains were all that surrounded Tucson. The foothills were larger than at home, so I must have gone north. Otherwise, there were no distinguishing features. mordacious pears and sagua ros spread out approximately me in quiet watchfulness.Suddenly, I felt the air around me charge. There was a presence with me. A person. I turned and saw a man standing and watching me, far taller than my twelve-year-old self. His features were indistinct I could not make them out no matter how hard I tried. He was only a dark shape, crackling with force.EugenieI took three steps back, but he held his hand out to me.EugenieI shook off the thrall that had brought me out here. Desperately, I realized I had to get away as quickly as I could. But I no longer knew the way back. The trails Id followed were a blur. So, I backed up farther, but he kept coming, beckoning to me. My feet stumbled, and I fell. gloss over facing him, I tried to get up, but he stood over me now. In his indistinct features, I could make out a bakshis on his head, glittering capital and purple.Come, he said, extending his arm to help me up. Its time to go.I was trapped. Helpless and trapped and out of options . I had never felt so desperate in my young brio. It terrified me. I decided then and there that if I survived this, I would make sure I could never be helpless again. His hand touched my shoulder, and I blazon outed. As I did, some part of me reached out beyond my body and grasped the power lying around us I blinked.Steam maelstromed around me in the sauna, and I felt lightheaded. Id been in there too long it was a wonder I hadnt passed out. rest up, I had to grip the wall for co-occurrence and close my eyes. My heart raced from the vision, the vision that finally convinced me all of this was true. I knew knew with absolute certainty that the dark man had been Storm King, my father. I could feel it within me. In my soul.Overcome, I sat back down, needing a few more moments to consider all this and get my bearings.Yet, the longer I sat there, the more I began to despair. Storm King really was my father. And as for the rest of my lifewell, things were bad. And they were only g oing to get worse. Every horny gentry wanted to knock me up the rest probably still wanted to kill me. Id never have a moment of peace again.proceeding passed as I ruminated on all this, falling deeper and deeper into depression as well as exhaustion. I felt fatigued, too apathetic to care about any of it now. What was the point? I had snubbed my parents today. Id let Jasmine Delaney down. I had nothing to look forward to ever again except a life of fighting and running. And really, why should I even bother fighting anymore? Nothing mattered. It was hopeless. I should just cross over to the Otherworld and give myself up. At least itd stop the agony of I opened my eyes and sat bolt upright. What was wrong with me? Things were grim, but thisthis wasnt natural.I blinked rapidly, trying to gain focus as I took deep breaths. There it was. I could feel it. A thick, unseen darkness wrapping itself around me. It touched me, crawling along my skin. It was trying to drag me down, to suck awa y all of my energy. All of my hope.Standing up, no longer dizzy, I pulled my garb off its hook and put it on. Slowly, I opened the door of the sauna and stuck my head out. I saw nothing too disconcerting, but that bleak feeling continued to swirl around me. The light almost seemed dimmer, darker than it should be for late afternoon. I squinted, trying to break the illusion, for thats what it was.Stepping completely out of the sauna, I tried to assess the source. The sauna was in the center of my house. Turn left to go to the kitchen and living room, right toward the bathroom and chambers. My weapons were in my bedroom that was where I wanted to be. But if the thing was in the front of the house, I didnt want to turn my back on it. At last, I compromised by putting my back up to the halls wall and sliding down it toward my bedroom. The distance wasnt far, but when you had to inch your way there, it felt like miles. Creeping, I passed Tims closed bedroom door, grateful he wasnt here . He knew about my shamanic adventures, but that didnt mean I wanted him exposed to them. conterminous came the bathroom. Yeah, the only bathroom. The thing about cute little houses was the little part. I loved everything else about this place, but next time, Id make sure my house had at least as many bathrooms as occu boxers. Tim and I had gotten into some nasty rumbles when A hand reached out for me from within the dark bathroom, but I saw it coming out of my periphery. I ducked and slid across the hall as he lumbered out. A hoary Man. That had been one of my top three culprits for the negativity zone my house had become. Gray Men cast an resplendency of despair around them, feeding off physical energy and compulsive feelings.This one was, well, gray, of course. Other than that, he looked more or less human-shaped, with dark eyes and scraggly white hair. He was even dressed, which I took as a plus since other monsters and sometimes elemental gentry often came over in loincloths or nothing at all, depending on their strength. Considering what everyone wanted to do to me, I was evenhandedly happy about keeping genitals covered up.I tried to scramble toward my bedroom, but his long arm reached out and grabbed me by the hair. I yelled out as he dragged me toward him, pressing me to his body. At least he didnt say anything suggestive Gray Men were apparently strong, silent types. But the way he grappled with my robe left little to the imagination about what he wanted to do. fight in his strong grasp, I tried to break free but mostly managed to loosen my robe more. Swearing, I decided if I couldnt get away, then Id at least delay his amorous actions. My knee jutted up in one hard motion, hitting him in the groin.His hold on me loosened, and he groaned as one hand instinctively reached down between his legs. I broke away from him, still trying to make for my bedroom. deciding he could ignore the pain, he lunged toward me, just stopping me from getting to my be droom doorway. Gripping me by both shoulders, he shoved me up against the wall so that I faced it. Using that hard surface as a constraint, he held me with one arm against it while his other finished pulling off the robe.I felt his tongue lick my neck, but the truly disgusting nature of that couldnt really permeate me. I was in endurance mode now. I struggled against him, hoping to make it difficult for him to get his own pants off. Being pinned liked this gave me fewer options for escape. Moving my hands against the wall, I groped around for something anything I could use as a weapon.Then my fingers brushed over a small decorative reverberate that had been my grandmothers. It wasnt very big, but its manakin was shaped like a sun with sharp, pointed metal rays. Not only that, they were silver rays. Grabbing it from the wall, I held it in my left hand, not my dominant hand, but the hand I wore my amethyst ring on. The amethyst could cut through magic and glamour and also focus my own intentions. It wasnt as good as a wand, but it had to do. Concentrating on the stone, I let my allow pour into it. The stone amplified my energy and then sent it into the silver frame. In as fluid a motion as I could manage in my confined state, I swung the mirror back, driving it into any pulp I could find.The Gray Man screamed, and I smelled something burning. He released me, and I turned around, not wasting any time, though I uneasily realized Id dumped more energy into that silver than I should have been capable of. The mirror had stuck in his side and was smoking. It wouldnt kill him, but having it lodged in there was pretty serious. He reached out toward it with hesitant fingers, knowing he had to touch it to pull it out. I sprinted to my bedroom.He was only secants behind me, but it was all I needed to arm myself in my bedroom. He came running in after me, but this time I was on the offensive. I used the silver athame to draw the death symbol on his chest, elicitin g a tortured scream from him. Iron was the bane of gentry, but for whatever other reasons, silver hurt anything else Otherworldly. I didnt know why, but I didnt question it either. Especially when it had just proven so handy.Hurt or no, he pushed me backward. I get on my bed, head hitting with a crack against the wall. It slowed me, but I had already started connecting beyond this world. I reached out, touched the world of death, and sent that connection through the wand. It leapt out at the Gray Man, sucking him in. He fought it, butchery as though physical action might fight the pull. It couldnt. A moment later, he vanished.Almost immediately, the spell of despair in my house disappeared. It was like emerging from underwater. I could breathe again. I let my body slump and relax. I wanted to lean my head against the wall but knew that wouldnt feel too good after the hard blow Id just sustained.A loud sound cracked out from the front of my house, like the door being kicked open. I jerked up, adrenaline going a second round as I heard footsteps pounding down the hall. I was reaching for the gun when a familiar voice yelled, Eugenie?Relaxing only slightly I watched as Kiyo burst into my room.