Seeing Shadows (Shadows 1)

"What about before the vardoger kills their person?" I asked. "Have you talked to a person before their vardoger overtakes them in a vision?"

"You talked to their person too? Not just the vardoger?"

"Only recently. Before it used to be like how you explained it. Like I was watching a horror movie. But with the vision of Claudia, the girl from my school, she's been able to see me and talk to me. She asked me for help." I shuddered at the last statement. Claudia was now most likely dead.

"I don't know what to make of this. I need to talk to my inner circle, see if anyone has heard of this before."

"Inner circle?"

"It's a group of seers that I work with," Aunt Brenda explained. "This isn't something you want to do alone. You need a support system. Vardogers are constantly changing. Evolving, like the one in your vision said. We need to feed each other information of what we've experienced. A seer can only eradicate the vardoger of a person that they've had a vision of. It has to do with the connecting lines that become open once a seer has a vision. But sharing our experiences not only helps us become more effective in destroying vardogers, but it also aids in trying to predict what the vardogers' next steps will be."

Aunt Brenda took a deep breath before continuing. "We can also hypnotize one another. When seers are hypnotized, we can reveal things that we aren't even conscious of. It's as if we sink deeper into our sights, to see more than we realize. Sometimes a seer under hypnosis can predict what's going to happen to a person that they've had a vision of, beyond just their death. But it's dangerous to be hypnotized and you need several seers to do it properly."

"Why is it dangerous?" I asked.

"There have been times a seer hasn't been able to come out of hypnosis. It's much deeper than a normal hypnosis that a psychiatrist might put a patient under. There needs to be enough seers present to pool their energy to pull the seer out of it."

I paused, letting this new fact sink in. I didn't like the sound of hypnosis. I had enough problems with the visions I already had.

"How do you know for sure once a person has been killed by their vardoger?" I asked. "Do they look different somehow?"

"For all intents and purposes, they look exactly the same. The only way to tell is to look into their eyes when you say their name. You'll see their pupils dilate until their irises are practically gone. It's quick and you have to be paying attention, but it's there. We're lucky that they at least have this tell."

I thought about Claudia's vardoger in my vision, how its eyes had looked black instead of Claudia's light grey.

I then thought about my vardoger.

"You said you had a vision of my vardoger killing me. How did it happen?"

Aunt Brenda hesitated before speaking. "You were being burned alive."

I shuddered as I thought about the vision of Claudia being burned alive. I then thought about the night of Jenny's birthday party, when I thought I had heard Claudia asking for help and the smell of a fire. Was I mistaken? Did it have something to do with me and my vardoger?

"But I'm safe, right? As long as I sleep with my iridium?"

Aunt Brenda nodded. "Most seers have vardogers that want to overtake their body. Fortunately we have protection against them. Something other people don't have."

I thought about Simon sitting outside in the car. I tensed as I suddenly remembered Simon's eyes when we had been in his bedroom yesterday. His eyes had looked almost black during our embrace. I had thought they had darkened with passion. Was it possible that he had been overtaken by his vardoger? The thought made my insides clench painfully. I reminded myself that I hadn't had a vision of Simon's spirit leaving his body. I could still save him.

"I've had a vision of my friend."

"The one outside?"

"Yes."

Aunt Brenda looked at me sympathetically, which made me fearful. "But the vision changed. I've only had it twice, and it's been like the ones I had before. Where I'm just watching a scene. But there was a change in the second one."

I explained to her about the shower curtain and how it had appeared in the second vision. It was a relief to be able to tell someone everything. Even if Aunt Brenda's eyes were getting larger and larger as I continued to explain what happened.

"So the shower curtain you bought with your friend, after you had the first vision, appeared in the second vision?"

I nodded. "What does that mean?"

"Caitlin, I'm sorry. You came here for answers and I don't have them. You seem to be experiencing things I've never encountered. I don't want to tell you what it may be because they're just guesses."

"Guesses are better than what I have now. Which is nothing."

"When are you leaving to go back to Rochester? Today?"