Pursuing Pandora

Chapter 21 Part B

The delicate little blond hadn't moved away from one of the paintings for a while. She looked like an absolute doll in her frilly powder blue dress and chunky heels. A modern version of those eye flickering dolls which are purely ornamental and never to be played with.

"You like this one?" I stood beside her examining the painting myself. Green morose eyes reflecting back at me. The rendered version of Pandora was stuck in a glass box floating in murky black water. A slight crack near her foot was letting the liquid slip inside slowly eventually suffocating her in her cage. She was panicking, eyes pleading for help but her mouth stayed sewn shut. This is one cruel mirror.

"No. I mean it's good but it's so sad." Sky sighed.

Umm.. Thank you young lady! When you are unhappy from the tender age of 10 the misery just becomes your new normal. Why do I sound like an old western grandpa sitting in a dingy cowboy bar chewing on a straw? What would Ben say if I was pitifully looking at my portrait. The girl beat me before I could even think.

"Are you scared of your powers?"

What kind of question is that? Am I missing some clues here? Did she understand that from the drawing or did she have more abilities that I wasn't told about? She intertwined her fingers and brought them closer to her chest praying to the melancholic image.

"You know I was scared too. I used to think I was deranged for seeing colors everywhere. I had suppressed it hard enough that I forgot everything and everyone who was important to me in the past. I would have been stuck in my sluggish life if Zed hadn't come along and helped me." She stood facing me now, taking my hands in hers she asked "Are you scared too? I want to help."

Her concern was so genuine. I took a lungful of air and trapped it in to fence in my tears from slipping out. "Some burdens are our own to bear. I love being normal." Looking down at my purple dress I rectified myself, "Semi-normal. I love the illusion of being ordinary."

A dry chuckle passed from Sky's lips. "Ordinary? That's a bit impossible isn't it?"

"Not if you pretend hard enough." I pondered for a while before continuing. "The seal on my power isn't my own. My mother had enforced it on me for my sake. My mind isn't strong enough to control it sometimes." This was just a section of truth but as this girl can catch my lies, I didn't want to risk speaking further. I had broken my mother's mind seal years ago. The use of my powers had never been in the best of circumstances.

"You know Zed had been struggling with his powers too before he met me. Soulfinders can bring equilibrium to unstable powers." Her eyes shifted to someone behind me for a second. "I mean finding a soulfinder isn't really a necessity. I'm sure if all of us put our heads and abilities together we could find a solution."

The offer didn't hold much value if my life was going to be cut short.

"Will are you okay?" Xav's concerned voice broke our link. Will was hunched over Ron with one hand on the canvas. Both of them had a dazed look as they held onto each other. Zed stopped Xav from getting any closer and intervening their process.

"What is happening over there?" I felt abandoned in their telepathic solidarity. After a few seconds the couple broke free of their funky spell gasping for air. My trepidation about what they saw was growing even more.

"Will are you alright?" Maroon held him tight, steading him. "You saw it too."

"Did you guys have a vision?" Vic inquired. His brothers were already taking care of Will.

"No but I could see the painting like I was in it. The guy in here." He pointed to the image of a teal blue ocean dragging in a limp body towards its darkened pit. "I could feel him drowning. I could sense he was in danger but it is far into the future. It isn't going to happen for over a decade."