See How She Runs by Michelle Graves Read Free Book Online Page A

the cushion next
to me on the sofa.
    “Okay, so, how to explain this? It is kind
of like magic, but not. I can convince people that they see
something that is not really there. It is a mind trick of sorts.
Like at the gas station when no one noticed us go into the
bathroom. I can project it onto other people as well. I sort of
project myself in a way that is more socially normal than the way I
really appear. I know I am not making any sense.”
    “What are you?" I asked simply. The most
complex question that came to my mind was "what are you?" Like he
was going to tell me he was a werewolf or vampire. I needed to cut
down on my novel intake it would seem.
    “What I am is the same as you, just a little
different. I am a Guardian, a sworn protector of the Seers. I am
your Guardian to be more precise. I am sworn to keep you safe from
those that would do you harm. Hence, I kidnapped you to a cabin in
the middle of the Olympic National Park wilderness. I thought we
were safe in Chicago. I honestly did, and then he found you. He has
been looking for so long. But I am getting ahead of myself. Are you
following me so far?"
    I nodded in encouragement. I was afraid if
he stopped I would not be able to get him talking again.
    “Your mom is a Seer as well. She can predict
the future outcome of events. She can even predict various outcomes
of a situation based on the different choices that can be made. She
is amazing. She can pick out when a natural disaster will happen
within the second. She can even predict winning Lotto numbers if
she really wants to focus her attention that way. I have never seen
anything like her before. She is the best of all of the Seers
throughout history, and you are predicted to surpass even her." He
said this with a look of awe like it was a good thing.
    “You keep saying she is. Kennan, she is
dead. She has been for a long time," I said with an obvious air of
confusion around me.
    “No, she is not.”
    With those four little words, he had
successfully flipped my world on its ear. If my mom was not truly
dead, then where had she been all of these years? Was she really
talking to me in my dreams? Suddenly an immense panic began to wash
over me threatened to pull me under. I felt like I was trapped in
an elevator in between floors. I was unable to catch my breath as
the cold sweat spread over my body. She was not dead. I could feel
myself start to lose consciousness, as if my brain was not equipped
to handle anymore crazy. Just as I started to fade I felt two
strong arms scoop me up.
     
    **********
     
    “ You can’t let him find you my love," my
mother said to me somewhere in the fog.
    “ Who is he? Where are you? Are you even
really talking to me?” I asked the fog, even as I realized I was
dreaming once again.
    “ Kennan will watch over you. Trust him,
trust no one else. And for the love of God do not come for me.
Whatever you do, you run. I have tried for so long to keep him from
you, but I am fading my love. So you stay alive, and don’t you dare
let him catch you.”
    The fog started to lift and I saw her, for
the first time in more years than I could count. She was lying
there in front of me. She was strapped to some sort of hospital bed
with so many tubes coming out of her. There was something attached
to her head like a crown. She was not the strong lithe woman I
remembered. In her place there lay a frail, sickly looking woman
bearing an expression of anguish.
    The closer I got, the more horrified I was.
How could I not look for her? How could I possibly leave her like
this? Just as I approached the bed, she opened her eyes and stared
at me. Then she opened her mouth and screamed.
    “ No, you can’t be here. You have to go.
Please, go now!" She looked around her frantically as a dark shadow
started to seep in from the background.
    I heard another voice. It was not as clear
as my mother's, and it seemed to originate from the inky blackness
that now surrounded her body.
    “ Tisk Tisk, Little