Amalgamate

Chapter 14

Karita stopped at Hinkey's, a rundown biker bar in a rural town called High Point just across the Georgia border. As she pulled into the poorly lit parking lot, her eyes scanned the area. "You see anything, Ro?"

"Shit, I'm new at this. I don't even know what to look for." But, she looked anyway. Hell Greer wouldn't be hard to miss. Fucker was huge..and red.

"Do you sense anything then?" Karita was still scanning the parking lot.

Rowan closed her eyes, "Not really sure how I know this, but Greer's here. I can feel his...energy. He's with someone though. He feels different to me."

A smile spread ear to ear across Karita's face, "That would be Crevan. He's reinforcements after the attack on Gavina's team. Crevan's a sorcerer and a damned clever one. He could teach you a little about mind control and physical manipulation." Her body tensed in anticipation when she spied them standing off to the side of the building, smoking.

She slowed to a crawl and stopped before she reached the guys. Karita looked at Rowan, "I need to help your body rid what's left of the dampening spell now Rowan. We're gonna need you at full capacity as soon as possible."

"You mean... it's not all the way lifted?" Rowan started looking at herself.

"Not even close. But, I can speed it up." Karita looked into Rowan's eyes.

"Will it hurt?" Anxiety flooded her chest. She wasn't a wimp, but she wasn't exactly excited about enduring anymore either. Nearly getting sliced in half was enough to hold her over for a while.

"No, but it will impact what and how you see. Your vision's gonna be a lot better, and your peripheral vision will be surprisingly acute. Your senses will be sharper and clearer, too."

"That sounds okay." Rowan waited, there had to be more.

"You're probably gonna look physically different when I do this Rowan, it'll be your true form. Olian had to hide it, or you would have been found immediately. No one has seen your true image since birth. All I know is with your violet eyes, you'd never pass for human as an infant but now with contacts...who knows? Here we go. Drink this."

"What is it?" Rowan smelled it first.

"Potion from Maeve." Karita watched her, wondering if Rowan trusted them enough to take it.

Rowan downed it immediately without hesitation. She waited for something weird...a feeling...pain...something. Nothing happened- at least nothing tangible or perceptible.

"So, you trust us?" Karita smiled at her. This was progress.

"Trust is a bit strong, but I believe you have my best interests at heart." And then it hit. Rowan suddenly began to feel as though an invisible collar was being removed. For the first time in her life she was experiencing real feelings. She always just assumed she was an emotional void...especially where people were concerned. Between that, and her history with people, it wasn't any wonder why she never made any real connections. After the childhood she'd had, she'd learned not to give a shit about developing real relationships with people in general, and that coupled with her grandfather's dampening spell explained everything.

Her vision blurred immediately sending her into a panic. "I can't see Karita, everything's blurry."

"You wear contacts. Take em' out. You'll never need em' again." She smiled at Rowan.

She couldn't see shit without her contacts, but she took them out. She held onto them just to be sure she could see. When her vision cleared, she tossed them out the window. She looked into the darkness surrounding them. It was amazing. She could read Greer's shirt from over forty yards away.