Consequence Read online

  Copyright 2014 Shelly Crane

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  I peeked into the grand hall toward our room on the first floor. It was one of the things I never fought the council on—to be separated from everyone else. Their Visionary was royalty. Fine. So Caleb and I stayed in the same room for every reunification. The kids stayed in the room next to us until they were old enough to start staying upstairs with everyone else by themselves. They got paired up with cousins of the same sex.

  They loved it. It was like sleepovers. Ava was only six now, so it was her first year to sleep upstairs without us. Today was our next to last day. We were going home tomorrow. We had been pretty busy all day. I'd barely seen Caleb. Correction, I had seen Caleb for all of ten minutes. Even after all this time, my body still ached for him. We still went into withdrawals for each other. I looked at the door longingly, not sure if he was in there or not, but wanting to see him so badly.

  "Mamma?" I looked down at the little boy tugging on my dress.

  "Rodney? What are you doing down here?" I hoisted him to my hip.

  "Visionary?" Paulo called from the table. No matter how hard he tried, Paulo was a good man, but a serial flip-flopper. He would be totally on board with change one year, then right back to tradition the next season. One little wrench in the cog and he was done. He couldn't understand that when you changed things, you were going to have bumps in the road. It was inevitable.

  I smiled in allowance. "Coming, councilor."

  Our last day luncheon was almost underway and then we'd be on our way home. I walked with Rodney to the table and looked over the proposition. The councilman on the end was asleep, his head leaned back on the chair with his mouth open slightly. He was dreaming about Christmas morning with his grandkids. They opened the train whistles that he handmade, whittled by his hands, and drove the entire house crazy with whistle sounds. But he was so proud.

  Rodney tugged on the ends of my hair. "Do it, Mommy." He giggled before I'd even had a chance to do anything, the image of what he wanted playing through his mind. "Do it, please," he begged in a high-pitched whisper.

  I smiled down at him and leaned in conspiratorially. We looked at the councilman as I flicked my finger up. The man's hair piece lifted from the front of his head just a little. I let it fall and then lifted it again. Rodney giggled so hard into his hands as I continued to dislodge the poor man's toupee a few more times really fast.

  "Visionary," Paulo said wryly. I cut my eyes to him and smiled crookedly, a silent question there. "Are you…finished? If we sign these papers, we can be on our way, and the luncheon can begin."

  "We're almost done," I spouted back regally and went back to show Rodney once more. "Ok. We're done now. Go find Daddy, sport."

  "Right here. That didn't take long, did it?" I heard from behind me right before warm hands crashed into my hips. His mouth moved to my ear and my lips parted as his calm shot through my veins as he whispered, "I couldn't stand it another second without you."

  Even in the room with other people, I leaned back into his arms. "Caleb," I said thankfully.

  "Councilors, are we about done here?" he asked, and anyone could tell he was beyond peeved at the way this trip had turned out. We'd hardly gotten to see each other at all. They'd been particularly greedy of my time. That's what I was there for, I knew, but this had been one of those trips where the rules had outweighed the fun. They worried far too much about everything and instead of just leaving things up to my visions and the future, they insisted on the old ways of doing things. They were beginning to let their fear sway them again and not believe in the Visionary. So the entire week was spent in meetings and debate instead of revelry and splendor as it should have been.

  "Now, Caleb," Paulo began, and I heard Caleb's answer before it came. I winced.

  "You've kept her cooped up in here, and Gran, too, for that matter, all week. A Visionary on the verge of withdrawals because she's working too hard and long doesn't sound like a Visionary that's able to perform at the best of her abilities."

  One of them sputtered, "She's doing just fine. Perfectly adequate."

  Caleb chuckled. "I have no doubt that she's adequate, councilor, but think of how great she could be if you'd let her be fully energized instead of keeping her constantly on a short leash. All of you." He took my hand and stood next to me, his shoulder brushing mine. "I get it. You want to look brave, set an example and be leaders for our people. You think that anything but diplomacy and matters of business and politics makes you look weak. But the very foundation of our people was built on the bond between two people. I think embracing that would benefit our people way greater than trying to fight it for some show of wills."

  Paulo turned his ring on his finger. He missed his wife and constantly thought about her. They talked in his mind all the time. He had to know I heard them, but didn't care or knew that I was a sap to my core and wouldn't mind it. He wasn't brave though. No matter what he wanted for himself, he always went with the flow.

  Always. And the flow of the council usually went with whatever seemed the hardest. Without waiting for whatever they were going to say, Caleb put his arm around my waist and started to pull me from the room. "No offense, gentleman, but you've kept her from me long enough. Go spend the last day with your families before everyone goes home."

  Gran came and took Rodney’s hand quickly. "I've got him." She grinned haughtily. "And I've got Ava, too. Go on, pretty girl."

  "Thanks, Gran," Caleb told her, throwing a grateful smile over his shoulder for her. We picked up the pace as we heard the minds of the council begin to stop being so flabbergasted and start to think of something to say to stop us.

  We sprinted through the hall like teenagers and I found myself giggling, especially when we reached the stairwell to find Kyle and Lynne were there, too. Kyle smirked at my surprised face. "Oh, come on. Do you really think the Champion would be able to pull off a ruse like that without some help?"

  I ignored him with a smile and looked up at my significant. "Where are we going?"

  "Does it even matter?" he said lovingly and leaned down to kiss my forehead, resting his lips there. "Just don't ever stop touching me," he whispered.

  "It really is stupid," Kyle muttered and looked at the air around us. The blue ribbons no longer just danced around us, they crackled. The power between us had gotten stronger over the years. Between me as the Visionary and him as the Champion, and the fact that they insisted on working us to the bone when we
were here, when we finally did get together, it was like fireworks. If you got sympathy from Kyle, you knew it was bad. "They're just torturing themselves. I don't get it."

  "Paulo thinks of nothing but his wife the whole time," I mused. "His mind isn't on what we're talking about. He's the worst one of all, yet he seems to be the worst flip-flopper." I leaned back. "I've searched their minds for some reason behind it. It seems almost like there was something else going on, but…I can't see anything."

  "But if it was in regards to you, you wouldn't see it, right? Your visions?" Lynne asked. She had kept the blond hair, but let it grow to an insane length, almost down to her butt. Kyle was infatuated with it. I was constantly tuning him out. His hands were always playing with it, twirling his fingers around the golden strands. But then there were other things he did with it, too, and I didn't want to be privy to that.

  "No," I shook my head, "but whatever. Let's go. No more talk of councils. You snuck me away," I reached up and bit into Caleb's bottom lip, "so let's not waste time."

  He groaned in his mind where no one would hear him but me. Why the hell did I invite Kyle? I'd much rather have you alone right now.

  There will be plenty of time for that, gorgeous.

  I smiled as I threw one of the lines he used to always say to me back at him. He rolled his eyes playfully and growled a laugh.

  "You're impossible, Visionary." He turned me and put his hands on my hips, guiding me to walk in front of him as we made our way up the stairs. He was enjoying the view. He always let me go first. I smiled and took the ends of my hair in my fingers—my hair that had grown back long ago and was way past my shoulders now. I had to say that Caleb loved my long hair, too.

  Once we reached the roof of the palace, I realized that it had been two reunifications since I'd been up there, this would have been my third. The last two, I hadn't had time, been too busy, too much drama.

  Gah…it was so beautiful.

  A warm hand tugged on mine and I looked at his insistent face with an irked raised brow. He grinned, a little sheepish. "I know you're enjoying the view, baby, but we're losing daylight."

  We walked over the rooftops and over to the greenhouse. Or where it used to be, rather, where Donald's "statue" had once stood. The council let the family take his body home. They said it was disrespectful to leave him up there, even if he had tried to plot and ruin our people and legacies, even if he had tried to kill Caleb and me. I shook my head as I looked at that spot and remembered it all as if it were yesterday.

  Caleb reached over the edge and grabbed the rope. We took the brand new lift down toward the bottom and now, I could enjoy my view. Kyle knew we needed this ride right now and took the rope without even being asked, being the one to lower us to the bottom.

  Caleb's head rested on my shoulder as his arms gathered me as close as I could get, smashed into his chest in a warm cocoon. He would look out at the buildings that looked so amazing as the sun sat atop the city in the noon haze, but mostly he was completely and utterly consumed with me. His soft lips rubbed the skin of my neck, making his rough chin rub it in turn, the contrast heating me all over.

  Pretty soon, I could no longer take it. I leaned my head back and to the side to accept his lips on mine just as we banged to the bottom. He sighed, his tongue licking his lip, and licking mine in the process. "Daggumit," he growled. "Everything is always keeping you from me."

  I smiled crookedly and turned to walk backward from the lift, taking his hand. "Come on, Jacobson."

  Lynne and Kyle walked in front of us, holding hands and talking in their minds about their son's birthday party. He wanted a miniature pony to go along with the horse that Kyle bought for Lynne. They had a house outside of town - a ranch really. In the summer, we took some of the kids from our tutoring program out there and they did some riding lessons and camping trips.

  It was so much fun to watch the kids' faces light up. Some of them had never seen a horse up close before.

  "Where are we going?" I asked distractedly as I stared up at the sun coming over the treetops.

  Thirty-six percent of ninety is thirty-two point four.

  I laughed. "Oh, my gosh, Jacobson. What have you done?"

  He smirked his signature smirk and leaned in close. "Stop poking around and just enjoy the ride."

  He kissed my temple, and with linked our fingers he put his arm around my shoulder to pull me close.

  We passed a fountain on the square as we crossed the street. It was beautiful, and I found myself staring at it as Caleb tugged me along the cobblestone road.

  And then a scream blared through my mind.

  I knew it wasn't real. I knew it. But I still found myself gasping and seizing Caleb's shirt in my fists. He heard the scream through me and gripped my upper arms as it descended through the air, almost as if it were coming closer.

  "Maggie!" he pleaded in a hiss and shook me slightly. "A vision?"

  But no vision came. I heard a splash to my right and jerked my gaze to follow the sound, but saw nothing but calm water in the fountain across the street. The scream was gone. Caleb's hands pulled my face up and he still looked like that boy that would move mountains and break jaws for me. "Baby?"

  "It wasn't a vision, or at least I don't think so. It's happening again," I finally answered, my eyes on his chin. I let my eyes drift to his. He was worried, yes, but angry that his plan for our day was about to be ruined. It seemed they were ruined a lot lately. There were strange things happening all the time over the past couple of weeks—interrupting my dreams, strange flashes of visions that weren't really visions at all. I shook my head. "No, it wasn't a vision."

  He sighed forcefully, his thumb sweeping over my cheekbone and down my neck, his calm slamming into my veins like a shot. "Hell, Maggie," he groaned and it pained me to hear the agony in his voice. "I feel so useless. I don't know what to do for you—"

  "This is because I'm the Visionary," I insisted. "It has to be, Caleb. There's no other logical reason. It's my burden—"

  He leaned back enough to see my face, his own face fierce and the protectiveness all over him. "Your burdens are mine. Don't you ever forget that—Visionary or not."

  I heard Kyle and Lynne off to the side. They could see something was going on and were giving us space to work it out. It gave Caleb an idea. He whipped his angry gaze back to scowl at Lynne. "Did you do that to the water? Kyle, are y'all playing around?"

  "No," Kyle answered for her easily. "Why?"

  "Because you're always playing around," Caleb muttered and looked back at me. "Something's going on. Something bigger than just Visionary duties. All the nightmares you've been having, all the times your visions have come but nothing came with it, just a sound or a flash, and I couldn’t see it with you. It's not normal. We have to figure out what's going on—take this to the council."

  I glanced at the fountain and back to him. His worries were practically tied in knots, right there between us, as his palms rubbed warm circles into the skin of my forearms, trying anything and everything to get his calm to seep in.

  I took a deep breath and held it for a few long seconds. "No. No council. Look," I smiled as best I could, "let's just have the day you planned for us, okay? I promise I'll look into it and we’ll do some digging before we go home. We will figure this out. There's got to be a reason, there always is, and I'll find it."

  Ashlyn…the previous Visionary. Maybe she had something to say about this.

  He chewed on his lip and sighed through his nose. "Baby," he complained in a low voice. "I hate this."

  "I know."

  He sucked his lip into his mouth, which let me know he was really thinking about it. He was remembering the first time he saw me at the stoplight. How he knew that I was going to be his that day, and he'd do anything and everything to make sure that I was safe and sound and happy.

  "You're not failing at any of it," I assured him and leaned up on my toes. I draped my arms over his shoulders and pressed my nose to his,
just like he used to do to me. "Now if you'll feed me, I'll be completely fulfilled."

  He managed a small chuckle at my joke, but I knew it was just for my benefit. He pulled me up the rest of the way to meet his lips and the gruff display did nothing to reassure me that he was actually fine.

  I let it slide.

  Linking our fingers, we joined Kyle and Lynne again who seemed way too worried for my liking. When Kyle's mind floated his thoughts back and forth, worrying about his Visionary, I knew he'd crossed sides and was now a traitor—no longer my friend who worked beside me and called me Maggie, but had reverted back to a Virtuoso member who was in reverent awe of his Visionary. And right now—worried sick.

  “I'm fine,” I assured them all. “Don't make me pull rank on y'all. We're going to have a great day with no kids and no council and no gnats, right? Come on.”

  Caleb sighed and looked over at them. His grip tightened on my fingers, but they didn’t say anything. He gave me a smile. One of those dimple smiles that I loved so much. I guess they figured they’d rather stay silent than lie.

  I knew they worried about the Visionary. I knew I was more than just a person. I was a symbol. The Visionary was important. That was the real reason they were freaked. Who knew when the next one would come again, and I hadn’t gotten half of the things done I wanted—

  “Don’t.”

  I looked over to see Caleb’s smile long gone. “What?”

  “How could you say that?” he asked, the hurt in his eyes was so evident, it stung my own to feel it through him. “After everything, after all these years and everything we’ve been through, you still think I look at you as the Visionary first?”

  My breath eased out slowly. I had hurt him.

  “Don’t you know?” Lynne asked and flicked her nosy eyes between us. “You’re in each other’s minds all day and night.”

  “We leave a few stones unturned,” Caleb answered gruffly. “We like to leave some mystery. We like to talk about things instead of just always knowing everything.”