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The hand holding the phone to my ear shook violently, and I had to press it harder against my ear to not drop it. "Why are they working against me?" I cried, wanting this all to be a nightmare. "Aren't I just another seer? I mean, from what you tell me, there seems to be plenty of us out there. Why would I be their target?" I shrank back into the couch, my eyes darting around the room as if I expected shadows to jump out and grab me. If only my fears were ludicrous.
"Seers aren't that common, but you're right Caitlin," my aunt replied. I could hear her trying to steady her voice, realizing that I was losing control. "You shouldn't be the target of these vardogers. But it seems now that they can work together, the vardogers sense that your power, even untapped, is so great that it's a threat to them all. They're going to try and do anything to destroy you."
I wanted to whimper in fear, but steeled myself. Crying wouldn't save me. It wouldn't save Simon. "How many are after me?"
"I'm not sure of the exact number but at least four. I saw your vardoger, and you called out the names of three other vardogers as they came after you. One of them was Claudia's vardoger, the one you said was in your vision. But it was no longer just a shadow. Her vardoger has already overtaken her body."
My aunt paused, taking in a deep breath and then continued. "The other vardoger had short brown hair and you called it Sarah. You called the fourth vardoger Simon. It looked like your friend in the car when you visited me."
My heart stopped as I heard a rushing in my ears. My best friend and the boy I loved were trying to kill me. More accurately, their vardogers were trying to kill me. I then thought of Claudia's attack.
"Claudia just attacked me. She tried to choke me, but I was able to stop her with the iridium coin you gave me. But I tested her with her name. Her pupils didn't dilate. They looked totally normal!" I shrieked the last part, as if I was accusing my aunt of giving me misinformation. I realized I was on the edge of hysteria but I was too scared to pull myself back.
"I don't know, Caitlin," my aunt said, her voice anguished. "I'm so sorry, but I don't know why she didn't have the tell. Thank God you were able to get away. But you have to get out of there. She's going to come after you again. And the other vardogers. Sarah's and Simon's. They've detached themselves from their persons, but somehow they have enough strength to come after you. To try and enter your body. I don't know how, since they should have no connection to you. I know you've had visions of Simon, but that shouldn't give his vardoger the ability to enter you. But I saw it happen when I was under. They're going to come after you, but I believe that you can destroy them."
My heart thundered as I frantically thought of what to do next. "But I've never even had a vision of Sarah. And Simon...."
"It doesn't matter," Aunt Brenda explained urgently. "Sarah's vardoger has already marked you. And Simon's vardoger...when you had that second vision. With the shower curtain. It was on purpose. It created that vision on purpose. It was somehow able to control what you saw. And it was mocking you."
I didn't think I could take anymore. The thought of anything happening to Sarah and Simon...I couldn't bear the thought. Sarah had been my rock, the person who I could confide in, who believed in me when no one else had.
And Simon. The thought of Simon being hurt was unbearable. And it was my fault. If the vardogers hadn't sensed something in me, weren't after me, there was probably a good chance that Simon would never be in danger. My aunt was right. I had to run. I had to leave Sarah and Simon behind, to battle their vardogers without putting them in danger. Their vardogers would follow me and they would be safe.
"You're right," I said in a low voice. "I need to leave."
"Caitlin," my aunt said. "Come here. We'll do this together. I care-"
Aunt Brenda suddenly stopped speaking, drawing in a sharp breath. "How can you be here," she whispered, but I knew she wasn't talking to me.
"Aunt Brenda!" I yelled into the phone. "What's happening!?"
But she didn't answer and when she spoke again, her voice sounded far away, as if the phone had been pulled away from her. "Oh my God!" she yelled. And then she screamed. The scream was blood curdling, chilling me to my bones. It was a scream that no human should ever have to hear.
"Aunt Brenda!" I screamed as I started to cry, not understanding what was happening. "Aunt Brenda! What's happening!?"
Her scream stopped abruptly. The sudden silence was deafening and I held my breath, straining to hear anything.
"Hello? Aunt Brenda?" My voice quivered, barely a whisper. But no one answered.
That's when I heard it. The breathing. Someone or something was breathing into the phone. And I knew it wasn't my aunt.
I clenched my teeth tightly together as shivers wracked my body. I didn't dare speak, scared that whatever was on the other end would be able to track me by my voice. But I couldn't hang up the phone either. I had to keep the connection to my aunt open.
Then the phone clicked dead. Whoever...whatever was on the other end had disconnected the call.
The phone dropped from my numb hand as I sat there, horrified. Was my aunt okay? What had happened? I felt immobilized as I thought about everything she had told me. It was only seconds but it felt like hours while I contemplated what to do.
And then I sprang into action.
I picked up my phone from the floor and quickly dialed 9-1-1.
"9-1-1. What's your emergency?"
"I think something's happened to Brenda Kile. She lives on 526 Guardian Way in Norwalk, Connecticut. I was on the phone with her and it sounded like she was attacked."
"Can I get your name? And what exa
ctly transpired on the call?"
