The Exiles

13. A sight to behold

Nessa, beautiful, peaceful Nessa, how she screamed Attin's name in her sleep that night, terrified. And how her scream woke her family, their hearts racing like prized stallions.

"Good heavens." Granny stirred in her dark cot in a dark corner, closest to the entrance of the ruin.

Mawsie woke worried and clutched his mother, forgetting all about being a brave little prince.

Ursa woke and shielded Vanylla, thinking they were under an attack, but Mama? Mama shook Nessa next to her, trying to wake the poor thing. "Nessa, dear, it's just a dream."

"No, Attin!" Nessa continued, deep in her fraught, feverish slumber.

Mama took the girl in her arms, limp as she was, and felt her forehead. "She's burning up." She looked to Ursa for help.

"Mama, you know I can't heal her here. This is not earth realm." Ursa regretted to say.

"Attin," Nessa's voice broke into a sob as she finally opened her eyes; her shirt drenched in sweat.

By then, Granny was hovering over the duo, staring at the young one. "What did you see, child?"

Nessa blinked up at her. "Attin's hurt, Granny. And Papa—"

"Papa?" Mama jumped in, pulling Nessa up to sit. "You saw Papa?"

"And Amer," Nessa said quietly.

Granny crouched low and stared in awe. "What did you see? What were they doing?"

Nessa coughed severely before she spoke, spittle laced with blood flying out of her mouth, dark that no one noticed much in the poor light. "Papa was screaming at Amer to weave the man away."

"What man?" Mama tugged at her chin gently.

Nessa shook her head, struggling to breathe. "I don't know, Mama, but Attin's stuck in a world that is neither here nor there, or—"

"—bound to land or air." Mama turned to Granny in utter disbelief. "How did he end up there? It's impossible. We bound that world, you and I, so none could enter."

"Or leave," Granny's lips twitched nervously. "They can't leave, Rita. It took four strong weavers to cast that hold. It shall take the same to break them out."

"Mama?" Ursa urged from her corner, inching closer as fear gripped her, but not for what her elders talked of. It was Nessa who concerned her, Nessa who'd gone as pale as the silver night.

"Nessa has the sight," Granny stated in partial glee. "Of all the Chymers—a rare gift it is. Far too rare."

"You think she saw the boys? She really saw the boys, Mother?" Rita asked, rather hopefully.

"What else can it be? A feverish dream, and she knows things we have not taught her."

"Mama?" Both Vanylla and Ursa tried together.

"A seer? She's a seer?" Rita nervously chuckled. "There hasn't been a seer in hundreds of years—they're a myth."

"Mama!"

But the women were far too distracted by the discovery to notice Nessa slipping into oblivion.

"But if she sees the present and the future, then Mama, the boys are in a realm they shouldn't be in. How did Attin end up there? In Maine's prison? If he gets their powers, he can set himself free," Rita rambled feverishly. "We can't let that happen."

"Mama?" Ursa tried again. "Granny?" But neither woman heard her whispered plea.

"No, it can't happen again, ever." Granny turned swiftly to Nessa. "What did you see happen to Attin, child? Child?"