XLVIII: TrueSight

Jessica laid her head down on the table where Aeron had left her. Where was Michael? She didn’t dare shut her eyes, any moment now she would see nothing except the haze of colours. Where was Michael? I need Michael! Every time she thought about his name a burst of light flashed through the pattern of colours, it was the only thing that varied.

Then it was gone.

All of it.

“Aeron!” she shouted, reaching forwards blindly.

“What’s wrong?”

I can’t see! I can’t see! She wanted to shout at him. Then the patterns stopped swirling and she took a breath.

“I can see,” she breathed.

The patterns fell into place like a jigsaw puzzle upon completion, and then it started to move. She saw a brilliant light floating high on top of a mountain, spawning smaller lights that tumbled down the mountainside until they burst onto the land. One light blurred towards her in a rush, then burst into her vision until all she saw was black spots. One of the lights turned dark, dashing down into the earth, deeper and deeper, the earth closing around it.

“What is it, Jessica?” Aeron’s voice asked her, “what do you see?”

If this had not been TrueSight, she would have had no idea what to tell him, but she knew because she could See.

“The Fall. Lucifer’s Fall.”

Morgan’s voice came, unbidden into her vision.

“You will guide them out of Lucifer’s gilded cages.”

The light burned down into the earth, contained by it but also containing it, creating its own world, its own realm. Lucifer’s light did not dim, and he looked up, born anew. He saw the world through new eyes. Lucifer rose. She saw the fac of the one who cast him back.

“Michael!” she shouted, reaching out.

XLVII: Need

The blurry-water-effect she had described to Delia was getting worse, as the daylight grew brighter her vision grew worse and worse. As soon as she stopped trying to blink it away, however, she realized that she was seeing bright colours in random patterns. It was starting to scare her, more than just a little bit. Blinking rapidly the world swam in front of her eyes. She took a step forwards and felt something knock against her hip.

“Jessica?”

She turned in the direction of the side of Aeron’s voice.

“I didn’t think it was going to go this fast,” Jessica whispered, groping a hand around. Tears flooded into her eyes, “I need Michael. Where’s my phone? Where’s my phone!”

Aeron caught her hand and gave it a light squeeze. She reached into her pocket and tried to find her phone. It slipped from her grasp and clattered onto the floor. Jessica made to get it, but Aeron stopped her, guiding her into a chair instead.

“Sit, I’ll get it.”

“I’m not an invalid,” she snapped as he pressed her phone into her hand. She blinked stubbornly.

This was not going to happen! It was happening, and she knew there was nothing she could do about it. She thumbed her phone, trying to navigate it. She could not see it properly.

“Michael. I need Michael,” she mumbled, trying to remember where it was. If only she had bothered to set the voice recognition, she wouldn’t be in this blasted mess.

“Let me,” Aeron offered.

“No! I can do this!” Jessica retorted, angered by her incapability, but Aeron took the phone and did it anyways, pressing the phone to her ear.

“Hey babe,” Michael’s voice sounded, instantly calming her, “you need me?”

“I’m at the coven house. I need you.”

“I’m coming.”

XLVI: Waking

Morgan had bought a casual coffin, but an expensive one all the same. From the way Aeron told her, she had dressed herself in her best clothes the night before and had called him to tell him to come and ‘collect’ her no later than 9am, which was when he had found her. She had made all the appropriate arrangements, having sent out invitations to her funeral and wake that week and even gone so far as ask Aeron to prepare a few modest remarks – nothing too fancy, she had insisted.

Jessica wandered around aimlessly. The Darjeeling house was empty save for the coven members that were not ‘elsewhere’, which is how Aeron explained their absence. Jessica did not know many of them personally. It felt strange being amongst them as Morgan’s successor.

“Drink?” Delia asked, handing her another glass of white wine.

Jessica accepted it with thanks. Delia was Aeron’s eighteen-year-old daughter, destined to follow her father as Coven Loremaster. This meant she was a brainiac.

“You alright?” she asked her, and Jessica blinked rapidly, trying to clear her eyes.

“Yeah.”

“It’s happening already isn’t it? You’re the youngest Cassandrian, so you’re inheriting all the gifts and curses. Am I right?”

Jessica looked at her, struggling to keep her vision from blurring.

“Yes, you’re right.”

Delia’s eyes lit up and she drew Jessica off to one side.

“What’s it like?”

Jessica stared at her. What kind of question was that?

“It’s like going blind,” Jessica told her flatly, “my eyesight is going, Delia, it’s not something you can just describe.”

“But is it like being blindfolded or is it like something else?”

Jessica took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. Delia was just trying learn.

“It’s like trying to blink water from your eyes only it doesn’t help.”

XLV: Losing

It started the next day.


Jessica was brushing her teeth when she noticed that the world in the mirror was fading around the edges. She had to brace herself against the sink, knowing what it was.

“It’s alright, Jazzy,” she told herself, “take a breath. It’s okay.”

The phone chose to ring, but she already knew what it was. People to tell her that Morgan Mirkhill had passed away in the morning, found by Aeron Smithson. Most likely it was Aeron himself, but Jessica left that to surprise. She stumbled towards where the phone sat and whisked it to her ear.

“Yes?”

“Jessica?”

“Aeron,” she replied, “I’ve been waiting for your call.”

“I thought you might have been. You know, don’t you?”

“That Morgan is dead. She told me, yesterday,” Jessica told him, “can you come and pick me up? I assume she’s had all her things in order and the wake will be in a few hours?”

“You guessed correctly. You’re handling this better than I thought you would.”

Jessica tried not to laugh. As much as she hated it, Morgan was dead, and had given her a warning, so she was as prepared as she could be. She had not been particularly close to Morgan anyways.

“I can come and collect you in an hour. You’re not okay to drive?”

Jessica looked around, the fading had stopped spreading but it was enough to make her worry.

“No, I’m afraid not.”

“Already losing it then,” Aeron murmured, “I’m sorry, Jessica.”

“It’s alright,” Jessica lied, trying to still her heart-rate, “I’ll be ready. I’ll be waiting, call me on my cell when you get here, I don’t know how fast this is going to go.”

“Alright, honey.” Don’t call me honey, Jessica wanted to tell him, but she left it.