Bound In Secrets

Shamanic Prophecies

Storm

Chaos.

Utter chaos and that includes the team C.H.A.O.S.

I'm dancing around the fire wearing nothing but my pants in the round tent on a hallucinogenic trip thanks to the dried sacred peyote cactus. There are elders with me today, as we pray for the healing of an ailing child. My prayers, however, are the same as they have been for years...the healing of Kage Raiden, who has been refusing for years to seek medical help. I'm the only person who knows.

For some reason, I have the job as a secret keeper. It's not just his I keep, but those of various Death Kings members. All of them, I'd say. Even the murder twins tell me everything. I seem to pull the skeletons from their closets as they voice the private affairs of the mind.

But what I'm seeing has nothing to do with my prayers.

Carley is crying and bleeding as she pleads for life. Who's life is not being revealed as blood-soaked rainbow hair spills in her lap. Rainbow. There is only one woman we both know with hair like that...Sawyer. A laughing past enemy is cackling in the background. I recognize that laugh.

Razor Grothman. That fucker has more lives than a cat! First, we thought Carley and then we thought Sawyer head, no. Here is in my vision with blood splattered all over him.

My vision shifts to a house engulfed in flames—blood surrounding a pale body on a stage—a motorcycle wrapped around a tree with a broken body lying prone on the ground—me sightless covered in my blood begging alongside Carley as I shield children.

I come awake with a gasp, sweat covering my body. At some point, I fell, onto a pile of pillows. Above me is a man with Mayan tattoos. "I know I promised Jensen I'd leave you out of...Bix u ka tu ye'esaj (How did he put it)...Supernatural mumbo jumbo. Lelo' bin tuláakal (That was it). You had a vision, chamán (shaman). Your magic is strong. You could become like me, but it isn't in your destiny. But your brother..."

"What? I don't have a brother."

"Oops! I've revealed too much. Have you ever wondered why you can see spirits? It comes from your father's heritage. My heritage. I am your great-grandfather, k'i'ik'el in k'i'ik'el (blood of my blood)." He squats down, helping me sit up. "Storm. In Yucatec Maya your name is Tormenta."

"Who are you?" I ask the stranger in a raspy voice. He knows me, but I don't know who he is. How can he be my great-grandfather? He looks in his mid-thirties, like Riggs.

"My name is Ah Puch or Yum Cimil. Originally, anyway. Nowadays, I go by Jericho or Jericó." His eyes narrow on me.

"What do you want?"

"Your mother tried to shield you from her life as an assassin, and yet you became a Death Kings mercenary. You had so much potential, but this is the path you chose. I can respect that you chose this path for love and preservation."

"You don't know anything about me," I snarl. "Now...What. Do. You. Want," I grind out. There is no way he should know so much about me. It's not public knowledge that the Death Kings are mercenaries.

"I know plenty about you. I keep track of my blood. You and your brother are the last. I'm taking your sight so that you will never see spirits or another prophecy. You will be fully human. No more supernatural mumbo jumbo. This is the path you chose." He places his tattooed hands over my eyes.

Pain sears my skull. I scream. The moment I fight him off, my body is frozen. My cries are cut off. The pain ebbs away just as quickly as it hits. He removes his hands. "It is for the best, Tormenta. You will adjust to the blindness, and I have sped up the process for you. We can't have you helpless when future lives depend on you. Farewell, my great-grandson."

Footsteps leave. Normally, I would stay in the tent until morning as is the tradition, but I don't know if I can. Not being in the dark no matter how much I open and close my eyelids. One thing is for certain, if this part of my vision came true, then so will the rest. This wasn't just a hallucinogenic episode, no. This was a prophecy.

I won't be able to stop it.

I called Griffen to warn him of what I saw in his future before I saw mine.

"Griff. I'm sorry. You are all going to die, and I think...so are we."

"What you talking about, Storm? What happened?" Griffen demands with the sound of a heavy base in the background.

"I saw nothing but death tonight. Kage choking on his own blood. Ajax with a bullet in his brain. Avery's skin is being eaten away. Booker is drowning in a pool. And you with your throat slashed as you struggle to breathe. There was a black dog with glowing red eyes and fur that moved like smoke howling mournfully while a pink-haired buxom woman looked with resolve etched into her face while tears streamed down it uncontrollably."

"Okay and why are you telling me about this hallucination?"

"Because I didn't imagine it. It's a fucking prophecy! I saw that I was blind in my vision, and now I am! How else do you explain that?!" I snap at him viciously, incredulous that he does believe me.

"Okay. I can see the Kage one coming to fruition since his lung cancer is stage four." I inhale sharply at the news of the progress of his cancer. Kage didn't tell me it was that severe. "But the rest..." He pauses before taking a breath. "What do you mean you are blind? Since when?"

"Now." I don't know how to explain what happened or if should. Griffen has seen a lot of weird, so I supposed he would be one of the few people to believe me. I tell him everything that transpired this evening.

"This means no more aura or spirit seeing? This does mean we are alone in the supernatural fight now." I can imagine him shaking his head. "We make our destinies to try to prevent what you saw from happening. Most of it. Is there a timeline?"

"I don't know. I'm going to have Carter help me track down my brother. Do you think you could have Ajax help? I'll call Razz too, just in case. Surely with three of the best hackers in the world, we could locate my half-brother."

"You're not going to call Bear or Ryder?"

"No. Bear can stay retired, and as far as Ryder...he has enough on his plate, per usual. The original Kings are retiring. I want to keep it that way."

"Don't blame you there. If you need anything let me know. We will be there," with those final words he hangs up.

For once, I'm going to break tradition.

I call Riggs.