“She’s taught me all kinds of things. But most importantly, she taught me how to read the energetic vibration of both inanimate objects and all living things.”
“So, all this time you could see my energy?” Lita asks, and it’s clear from her tone she’s not sure how to feel about that.
“Yes. And in case you’re wondering, it’s a sight to behold.” Xotichl laughs.
“Anyway,” I say, eager to get back on track. “The idea is that every act leaves a permanent imprint upon the space in which it took place. Though acts that were committed with a lot of emotion—fraught with anger, fear, sadness, or even love—leave the strongest impressions behind. So, surely an act like Cade killing me and whatever happened afterward should bear a strong imprint as well.”
“But how exactly will we see it?” Lita asks, running up alongside me. “Will we watch it play out before us like a giant hologram or something?”
“Maybe.” I shrug. “I can’t say for sure since I’ve never done it before. All I know is that if the ancient Mystics and modern-day scientists are right, the event should still be here, repeating itself.”
“Different people see in different ways,” Xotichl says. “And some will never see it at all.”
“But just exactly what are the different ways of seeing?” Lita asks.
“It might appear in actual images or colors representing those images.” Xotichl shrugs. “It might be in voices and sounds. The important thing is to rid yourself of preconceived ideas and self-doubt, and just let it unfold.”
“But even if you do see something, how can you tell if it’s real? I mean, how do you determine that you’re watching an actual event reenacting itself, and not some crazy hallucination or mirage or illusion? Isn’t it possible to get so caught up in remembering what went down, that you start seeing stuff that’s not really there?”
“It’s a good question,” Xotichl starts.
“But you have an answer for that as well?” Lita laughs.
“I do indeed.” Xotichl grins. “A mirage is the result of refracted light—or the bending of light. A hallucination is when you see things that aren’t really there. While an illusion is like a magic trick—a deceptive appearance.”
“But, according to that definition, none of those things are really there.”
“Most people never actually see what’s really there. They only see the obvious—they never look beyond the veil.” Xotichl shrugs.
“If you don’t look, you can’t see,” I say, tossing in my two cents.
“Are you guys purposely trying to confuse me?”
Xotichl laughs. “Anyway, if that doesn’t work, Paloma’s been working with me on psychometry, so I can try that as well.”
“And that is?”
“The ability to read the energy imprints left on objects. It can be pretty intense. So, I don’t know, maybe I can touch a rock or something, and see what I get.”
Lita shakes her head. Looking at me when she says, “Can you do that too?”
I stop before a grove of trees with stark trunks and barren branches—their formation the only thing that’s familiar. “The most important thing Paloma ever taught me is that a Seeker must learn to see in the dark, trusting what she knows in her heart.”
Lita squints, places a hand on her hip. “So basically what you’re saying is that although you pack a heavy arsenal of mad magick skills, in the end, you go with your gut?”
“Never steers me wrong.” I lift my shoulders and rise up on my toes in an effort to see what lies beyond.
“If you’re saying that to make me feel better, it worked. You two can be a little intimidating, what with all of your big-time mystical gifts.”
“Everyone has mystical gifts,” Xotichl says. “You just have to believe in them, trust them, and hone them.”
Lita starts to reply, but I cut her off when I say, “I think this is it.”
I race before them. The treads of my boots leaving deep tracks in the snow as I duck through the trees and into the clearing with my friends right behind me. Xotichl gets right to work. Rubbing her hands together as she stoops toward the ground in a search for pebbles, rocks, something to get a read from, as Lita stands shivering beside me.
“Where exactly did it happen?” Xotichl places a rock in the center of her palm, and rolls it from side to side before discarding it for another.
I move to the place where Cade shoved the athame into my heart and spread my arms wide. “Somewhere around here.” I close my eyes in an attempt to get a better feel for the space. And that’s when I realize for the first time since I arrived that it’s not just Raven who’s absent. The air is so still it seems my element Wind has abandoned me too.