He Thought He Saw – Part 52

Brian is stunned to find out that his father is home. When he asks where Miles has been, he discovers his dad has been fighting Deidrich, whom he cautions them to refer to as Mr. D.

“Yeah,” Brian said. “So, it’s extra bad.”

“Bad to the nth degree,” Miles replied. “Doesn’t begin to describe it.”

“I saw you fight him,” Brian said shyly. “When I was holding Lester, I saw you.”

That took a little explaining. Between him and Heath, they gave his father the details.

“That was a few weeks after your birthday,” Miles explained. “If it hadn’t been for those two,” he pointed to the dogs. “It would have been a totally different story. They saved my bacon more than once over the last few months.”

“You need to tell him about Maribelle, Miles,” Heath said.

Miles bit his lip, turning his head away. Tears formed in his eyes and he wiped at them angrily. “She was helping me and it went bad. It blew up in our faces.”

“What did?”

“A spell. She was casting it with the help of the Finleys and me. We should never have tried it without the others, but we had no choice. There wasn’t time to get everyone here for a full circle. So we tried it and we lost control. Maribelle got the brunt of the backlash.”

“Why didn’t you tell me any of this? I could have helped.”

“Your gifts were just waking. It was far too dangerous. Had we involved you in that spell, instead of Maribelle going blind, you could have been killed. You’re too important, Brian. We can’t risk you.”

“We don’t want to risk any of you,” Heath added hastily.

“Why’s Brian so special?” Jordan sounded offended by Miles’ comment.

“He’s a Dreamer,” Miles said, as if that explained it all.

“So?” Jordan replied.

“Once every hundred years, a Dreamer is born. They have visions, premonitions, prophetic dreams—whatever you want to call them. They know and see things that no one else can even hope to perceive. They are powerful and dangerous if they aren’t controlled. And more precious than any treasure. Not to belittle anyone else, because we’re all important and unique, but Dreamers…..” His voice faded away and a distant look came to his eyes.

“I didn’t want this for you, son. I would never have wished any of this on anyone. But it was inevitable, I suppose, given that the last Dreamer was Edgar Cayce, my distant kin. It’s in the family line. Most of the Dreamers in the last thousand years, have come from this line.”

“What can I do besides dream?” Brian asked.

The men exchanged another enigmatic look. Heath took up the narrative.

“Because of your mother, you have other powers. You’re not only a Dreamer, you’re a Caster.”

Jordan held up her hand, waving it for attention. “Whoa. I’m lost. Pretend for a second we don’t know any of this. Cause—we don’t. Caster? Dreamer?” She shook her head, holding her hands out, asking for information.

Heath sighed. “There are three basic categories of skills—Caster, Receiver and Charmer. The Caster, like the name suggests, casts spells. The Receiver channels energy from the elements, feeding it to others and using it to heal. A Charmer makes and casts charms and wards. There are different combinations of skills here. One person might be dominant in fire energy, another in earth, air or water. Just depends on when you were born and what your parents can do. The skills are genetic, to a degree, although two fire wielders can give birth to a water wielder.”

“You know this is all very Avatar, the Last Air Bender,” Jordan said, her sarcastic tone returning.

“That’s because they based a lot of their elemental magic on real skills. A Caster usually has two elements they manipulate well. Sometimes they are compatible energies, sometimes they are complete opposites—like fire and water.”

“Those people are the strongest,” Miles interjected excitedly. “Your mothers can both handle opposite elements. Jackie is earth and wind. Maribelle is fire and water. Really powerful Casters can manipulate them all to a degree, but generally can’t master more than two.”

“So, Brian has Caster blood in him as well as being a Dreamer?” Jordan looked puzzled. “What about me?”

“I’m a Receiver, pure and simple,” her father replied. “Miles is another unusual combination. He’s a Caster who is also a Charmer.”

“Don’t let Heath fool you,” Miles said with a grin. “He isn’t just a Receiver. He’s the most powerful one I know. He’s also a healer. That’s usually a companion skill to Receiving. They can channel energy from the environment into a person to heal them.”

© 2016 Dellani Oakes 

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