Darkest, BK 2 of Lightwalkers (completed)

X

Seth

I pulled the pizza out and shut the door to the oven.

"Food's ready!" I yelled and tossed the oven mitts back into the drawer. I grabbed a couple plates and set them on the counter before starting the search for the pizza cutter. But even after I'd sliced the pizza, there still wasn't any sign of Remi. That incessant jazz filled my mind, so I knew he was around here somewhere.

"Remi?" I stepped into the hallway, heading down to my room.

I'd told Remi he could crash in there, since I'd been staying in Jon's room to use his computers. The door was mostly open. Remi's bag was on the bed, with a few leather-bound books I didn't recognize next to it. They didn't have titles on them, but odd gold and pressed designs decorated the covers.

On top of one of the books was a ring. The yellow of the stone was so clear. It was set into a wide, slightly tarnished, silver band.

I reached for it, and as my fingers touched the cool metal, something inside me twisted.

I gasped and looked around, expecting to see my own room, but now I wasn't sure I was even still in my own house. The new room was bigger than mine, the papered walls covered with posters of bands and painted symbols. A fire burned in a fireplace beside a large bed. Someone was beneath the covers, moving. Tossing in their sleep.

I started to step closer when the figure shot up, gasping. I stared at Remi, or a younger version of him, anyway. His dyed blond hair was tousled. He ran a hand through it, forcing his shuddering breaths into a calmer pattern. He reached for the nightstand. The ring was there, sitting on top a different stack of books. Remi picked it up and, his hands shaking, slipped it onto a finger.

"Seth!"

Remi stood next to me, waving a hand in front of my face. I glanced around. Remi looked like he had when I first saw him: dark hair with the red tips. I was back in my room, his ring still in my hand.

"Um, sorry." I set it down and left, heading back for the kitchen.

It happened again. I saw something. I didn't... I just touched something. How did it happen last time? I'd woken up at Nick's, I was about to leave, and he'd put a hand on my shoulder. What had I seen then? I could only remember a crowd, and Nick, and something about a sword.

I rubbed at my eyes and scrubbed at my head for good measure. What the hell is wrong with me? I took two more painkillers before sitting down with my pizza at the little kitchenette.

Remi slid into the seat across from me with his own plate of pizza. "So, what'd you see?"

I looked up at him sharply. "Who said I saw anything?"

"Oh, come on! You had that telltale look of staring at nothing. Plus, I felt the draw of power clear across the house," Remi said and took a bite of his pizza.

"I don't—what power? I don't have any—" I stumbled over the words before remembering what Dad had written in his letter. 'Your powers are starting to awaken.' Was this seeing weird stuff, one of my powers?

"You don't?" Remi raised his pierced brow at me. "Why don't you just start by telling me what you saw, then we can decide whether or not you have any power."

I picked at the crust of my pizza, trying to put into words what I'd seen. "I saw you. Your hair was different, blonde. You were sleeping I think, in a room with a fireplace and lots of posters. You reached for the ring..."

Remi relaxed a little. "A vision of the past, then. Has this happened before?"

"Once, I think, with Nick. I don't remember it well."

He frowned and stared at me a moment before talking again. "Visions may seem like something that isn't a big deal, but they can be dangerous, especially ones of the future. They can come to you because you're open to them, like with what happened with my ring. But most will come to you because they have some meaning, either something you need to see or something you are looking for."

I looked at him sharply. "Could I find Jon with it? See where he is?"

"It might be possible for someone with training in that field, but..." Remi paused, "I don't know what's possible with your power. You could be limited to seeing things of the past, or you could be open to things that aren't of the present. Without more visions, it's hard to tell."

"Great," I sank back in my chair.

"There is another way," Remi said. "I could test you with magic."

I thought about it for a moment, but my aching head protested. I'd had enough tests for one day. "Maybe we could try tomorrow?"

"All right," he said.

We sat in an odd silence for a moment, eating our pizza, before I spoke up.

"If someone like me, someone who sees things, wanted to find something, how would they do it?"

"You mean starting from scratch?" Remi gave me that knowing look a parent gives a young child. "If they were going to try searching with a vision, then they'd need something related to what they wanted to find. It's what we call a focus. For people with the power, an item the person wore often or something meaningful to them works also."

"Oh." Maybe I could find Jon with this power. Anything was worth a try at this point. I only needed to find a focus.

I cleared away my plate, tossing my half-eaten slice of pizza in the trash.

"You're done?" Remi asked.

"My head's killing me. Feel free to help yourself to whatever you need. I'm going to lay down." I lied, and left him in the kitchen to search through Jon's things.