Page 19 of The Seer

Once again, he found himself in the black void with omnipresent voices echoing around him.

“You disobeyed, Fintan Sullivan!”they intoned as one.“A price must be exacted.”

“Fuck off, ya fuckin’ wankers!”he growled.“I’m tired of your shite. Wake me so I can attend to Taryn.”

But they didn’t. They held him in limbo as he screamed and shouted his rage, leaving him to worry about her fate. He only prayed Jordan had understood who called him and had gotten to her in time.

* * *

Taryn stareddown at Bloodstone’s necklace, afraid to pick it up. Two hours had passed since Jordan and Damian had arrived and healed her, but Fintan had yet to wake. The answer lay in the amulet. She’d stake her life on it.

Damian had claimed he wasn’t worried. Indeed, he seemed confident Fintan would awaken when he was good and ready. They’d left with orders for her to call if he didn’t come around by evening.

During the first hour, she saw the wisdom of their caution, but now, not so much. Through their link, she was subjected to Fintan’s blinding fury as he screamed dire threats at his ancestors.

It did no good.

If the electrified amulet was really the key, she didn’t relish touching it again. Her brain had been scrambled the first time her head connected with the sofa’s wooden scrollwork. Still, she didn’t see where she had a choice. He’d go insane with his mind imprisoned as it was.

But perhaps that’s what his sadistic ancestors wanted.

Maybe she should ask Brenna to put the necklace on?

Yet if it had been intended for Fintan, what damage might it do to his cousin? His next hoarse cry cemented her decision, and she raced through the house, searching for her friend.

“Brenna!”

With each empty room she encountered, Taryn grew more despondent and fearful for Fintan. It would be just her luck Brenna and Eoin popped off for a weekend getaway on some remote, sunny island.

“For fuck’s sake, Brenna! Where are you?”

As she was hauling ass through the kitchen, she jerked to a halt. Water was her element, and Taryn cursed herself for not thinking of it before. She rummaged through the cupboard to find what she needed. After placing the large metal bowl in the sink, she filled and carried it to a seven-foot prep table.

“Show me Brenna,” she commanded.

The liquid swirled, becoming cloudy before displaying a mirrored surface. The result was a sheet-draped Brenna posed suggestively while shooting a laughing glance over her shoulder.

“Expand the scene. Where is she?”

The water rippled once, and the view zoomed out, displaying the inside of Eoin’s studio. The man himself was wearing only a pair of sweats, and although he was in the act of painting, there was little doubt his wife’s scantily clad form aroused him.

“Shit.”

Taryn hated to interrupt, but necessity wouldn’t allow her to wait.

A secondary idea occurred to her, and she hoped she could pull it off.

“Show me Ardghal.”

Inside the bowl, the liquid swirled, sloshing over the sides. It finally settled, reflecting an image of Fintan, sleeping in his bed.

“Okay, not what I was expecting or hoping for,” she muttered.

After swiping her hand across the bowl and dumping the liquid in the sink, she raced for the door, halting just shy of crashing into the man blocking her exit.

“Creed!”

“In the flesh,” he said dryly.