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Chapter Nineteen
The Seer
Beforethethirdstorm, I had dreamed about my sister. It had been so clear the facts were irrefutable, but I was an expert at denial. In the dream, I held the cold metal of the gun in my hand while my sister and her husband stood in front of me. Blood poured from their eyes, mouths, and stomachs. It trailed down her neck, dripped onto her shoulder, and encircled the flames that branded her arm. Beau and Lewis screamed in the distance, and then I awoke.
The first time I had the dream, I knew nothing of their ties to the Assembly of the Eternal. As months passed and the situation became desperate, the dreams increased in frequency. I was afraid of sleep and the nightmares it would bring.
When I stood in the field with them that day, I knew the outcome. When it was over, I remembered my sister’s words from the week before. “If anything were to happen, Row, get Dean. He can help. He’ll protect you. He knows he needs you. He knows how powerful you are.”
I thought she meant to get Dean if she killed her husband or tried to run off with the boys, but that was denial. I knew the truth, even though I never told her this dream. The one dream I kept from her.
I replayed those words in my head repeatedly in the small room with Sam that night. “He knows he needs you. He knows how powerful you are.”
He knew about my premonitions.
She told him.
She tried to protect me.
He’d known when he came to the field that day, undressed my sister and her husband, and burned their bodies. He’d spread their ashes in the lake, dropping pieces of their clothing on the shore’s mud. AOE would assume they took the swim, that they’d obeyed. He’d searched for hours for the shells and cleaned the guns for half a day.
Only he’d known why he did that for us, the true reason. He had to keep me close and safe and in the dark about what he wanted from me. He got me onto this ship because he thought my sight would protect him. Dean desired more control and planned to use me and drugs along the way.
Sam knew my sister died because of the AOE, but I divulged all the details that night, starting with the dream. He listened intently, his face unchanged throughout, unsure if my admission made me crazy.
Sam held me and kissed my hair when he felt me quiver. “Sam, that day in the bunker, he said, you’re sweating and shaking. It seems more like night terrors again. He said again. I never told him about my dreams, but my sister did. He wants me close, so I’m with him when I dream. He asks what I dreamed about constantly, orchestrating a way to get me closer, to trust him again. I can’t believe I didn’t see this before.”
“Are you sure you aren’t reaching?” Sam’s tone was gentle. “Lots of people had dreams about losing loved ones when the world went insane. That doesn’t mean you saw what would happen.”
“Sam, my dreams show the future. I saw the stowaways sinking in the water with their hands tied behind their backs. I saw my baby die in my arms years before it happened. I won’t bore you with the list of nightmares that have come to pass. You just have to trust me. This gift or curse, depending on your outlook, it’s a force in this world. If the vision comes to me, it’s fucking happening. And no one can stop it. What I see is inescapable.”
Sam nodded, digesting the information, taking everything in. His pseudo-wife told him she was psychic. That was a big pill to swallow. “Dean wants drugs on the ship for control and status. And maybe… he needs you for protection?” Sam asked.
“Did Lori tell you what we think he’s doing in chemistry?”
Sam nodded. “She let it slip. It’s dangerous for you – for you both.”
“Yes,” I agreed. I shook my head erasing the worry. “But the dreams... they don’t work like Dean thinks. I’m not a movie reel of what’s coming. I didn’t dream for years until the storms started. My whole life, I’ve gotten the visions wrong. When what I dreamed of comes to life, I recognize the signs, but it’s always too late. It’s like watching a car accident. There isn’t enough time to do anything but scream.”
“And you have tried since the dreams came back?”
“Well,” I paused. “I haven’t tried since having the premonitions as an adult. The last time was when I was a girl. The visions I’m having now, though, I can’t figure out what they mean. There is a huge fire and smoke is covering the sky. I’m getting slapped by leaves running through trees. My foot is covered in bright red blood. A fire on the ship is bad, Sam — very bad.”
“True, but as you said, it will happen. Are you sure this happens on the ship? Maybe this happens when we land.”
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Someone knocked on the door, and our conversation came to an abrupt halt.
“It’s just me. Time to go,” Lori hollered. I opened the door, fully dressed, to Lori’s apparent surprise. She tsked at me and looked us over. “You two fuck and make up?”
Sam wrapped his arm around my waist from behind and kissed my neck, answering her question. “Thank you, Lori,” he said. “For helping me get the woman I love back.”
“Why sir, I do declare.” She blushed and gave herself a fan with her hand. “I’ll meet you at the stairs in five minutes, Rowan. Sam, you need to be thirty behind us at least.” Lori gave a wink, then left.
“In two days, you’re coming back to help the two hundred,” Sam said. “In the meantime, think about what the visions mean. And Row, Dean will bring you in with the drugs soon.”
“W-what?” I stammered. “He won’t. He doesn’t think I know.”
