Essence of Quinn Parts 3 & 4 (MxM)

All Part of the Plan

Amaya and Quinn sat side by side on her bed. He’d messaged Air to find out how Calista was doing. True to form, he’d said she was fine, sad, but okay. Quinn knew that was a stretch of the truth, though.

“It wasn’t personal,” Amaya said quietly. Quinn glanced at her sideways. “It just felt so strange. She’s a complete stranger to me, but when she saw me, there was this overwhelming relief and love that had no context for me and I kind of shut down.” 

Quinn sighed and turned to face her. She dropped her eyes to her lap and fiddled with the hem of the top she was wearing. 

“She understands. Calista has been through a lot and you have been a big part of all of it, even though you two don’t know each other yet. She was so happy to finally set eyes on you.” 

Amaya smiled and nodded. 

“I know." She sighed and seemed undecided about continuing, but she did. "I recognised her.” Quinn raised a brow at her but didn’t comment. “When I was small, I dreamed of the ghuleh in the cage.” Her eyes snapped up to Quinn’s when he growled. “Don’t growl. It’s unbecoming,” she said matter-of-factly, and he smirked at the bossy tone. “I don’t mean an actual cage. It served as a prison, but it was filled with nice things. I could tell that the ghuleh hated it, though. And she hated the ones who looked after her, even though they tried to be nice. Whenever I dreamed of her, she always looked so sad, but she never told anyone how she was feeling. She wouldn’t speak to them. I didn’t know why I used to dream about her so often, but eventually, as I got older, it stopped.” 

Quinn didn’t remember specifics from when he was a kit, but it made sense that the visions could come through as dreams to a young kit. That had probably happened to him too, when he was small. In Zaya’s case, she had definitely dreamed in visions when she was just learning how to communicate them. 

He thought back to his own childhood and although he didn’t have clear memories of it; he realised that maybe he’d had to hide the things he’d seen through fear. Thinking back just now had made him think of his sire, so no doubt, when he’d mentioned the things that he’d seen, his sire had gotten angry with him for it. That was the impression he had, at least; fear at the thought of sharing his dreams. 

“You were probably experiencing real time visions. I couldn’t guess at why the ether showed you that, but that sounds right.” 

Amaya nodded and reached for the hot chocolate that Air had got for her. She took a sip and frowned again. Quinn sensed her shift in mood and an icy feeling of dread settled in his guts when he realised what she was going to say to him. 

She met his eyes and he realised what an old soul she was, despite her young age.

How many times more was this ghuleh going to break his heart? 

“I saw a vision when Air was showing me the funny cats. He didn’t know. It was one of the non-intrusive ones.” Quinn sighed and readied himself. “It showed me I can’t stay here. I know that you want me to. I can see that I could have a good life here, but the ether wants me back on the other side. It showed me Boreas and another seer. It needs me to be with them.” 

Quinn heard himself whine and Amaya looked confused at the sudden fear that she felt from him. 

“If you go back, I will lose you again,” he mumbled. “Boreas and I... There was an incident and he banished me from the other side. I fear that if you go back, Boreas will not allow you to come and visit me.” 

Amaya’s eyes widened at that. 

“What happened? Why would he banish you?” 

Quinn sighed and dragged his hand down his face.