Prodigy

Memories

Kate stilled herself. The next memories would be truly painful for her. They were of her biggest failures. She looked at her father then shifted her attention to Danika. Kathy trusted her. Well, she had started this, she couldn’t chicken out now.

***

The memories didn’t start instantly and Danika felt a hesitation within Kate. She simply waited.

In the next memory, little feet could be seen walking next to shoes that looked big enough to be boats. Stubby legs worked triple time to keep up with single strides from her father. His massive hand held hers in a firm, but gentle grip. Her head swung back and forth as she looked at the pretty plants that surrounded her. She wanted to examine them more closely, but couldn’t get away from her father.

“Dad-dy, let go!” She demanded and was answered by an amused laugh. That wasn’t the response she wanted, so she stopped to stamp her foot.

Her father stopped and looked down at her. “Kate, no. We will play in a minute.”

She hated the word no. It was daddy and mommy’s favorite word, but she allowed him to pull her back into motion. It was her job to be good, until she could protect them.

Suddenly, they stopped again and her mother, who was walking on the other side of daddy, knelt looking at a dead bush. “I guess it couldn’t take the shock of transplanting. It’s a shame it was my favorite rose and they are hard to find.” Her mother said.

***

The empathy that spiked through the link was overbearing. Everything in Danika wanted that plant to live. At the moment, she was Kate and she noted something else. Linda, who she thought of as mommy, was sick.

Kate wasn’t the only person in this link. Danika could also feel Adrian and she noted that he felt the sickness also.

“We didn’t know she was sick yet. Kate you knew.” Adrian whispered.

The memory paused as their eyes locked on Kate. She nodded. "It can wait." She said.

***

“We will find another,” Daddy said.

Daddy started pulling them both away from the dead plant, but mommy didn’t want another plant, she wanted this one!

Kate called on her powers and her hand slipped from her father's as if it had been oiled.

She ran back towards the plant.

“Kate, it’s an ouche.”

She hated it when her parents talked down to her. She knew she didn’t have much time. Daddy was very fast.

Power welled up inside of her. Careful, sister, you don’t want to make them scared. She knew that was true. Mommy and daddy just didn’t understand. It wasn’t their fault. Still, she could do something small. She willed a touch of life into the plant.

She knelt beside the plant and pointed to a single green sprout towards the base of the bush. Her mommy knelt next to her. Then pulled her into a hug. “We will need to cut it back to the ground, but it will live…good eye, my little green thumb.”

Kate looked at her thumb. Sometimes her parents didn’t make any sense. She knew over a thousand colors and as she looked at her thumb she was quite sure,“Not green,” she observed. Her parents laughed.

Adrian’s laugh was echoed in the cabin of the flier. His eyes were alight with mirth.

“Kate, I wish every parent could see into the thoughts of their children,” he remarked as the image faded.

Kate looked at her father. There was a sadness in her eyes that did not match the memory she had just witnessed.

“Daddy, I had two minds, at times I still do, but as a child there were some memories in my head that I didn’t have the maturity to understand, but I still had a knowledge base. I knew things, but my mind wasn’t ready to accept them.”

***

It was dark, Kate’s eyes shot open to a room that was nearly as dark as the blackness of her closed eyelids. She felt a coldness, not a natural cold, but other-worldly. She instantly recognized death. It was coming and she knew the target.

The coldness seeped into her, she needed warmth. Fire was warm. She didn’t even notice the fire that blazed around her as she reached out with her gifts. She could feel her mother’s soul leaving her body. She grabbed the soul, despite it being three floors up and half the width of the house away.

Water poured down her, but the flames of her power ignored it. She was struggling against her father. Not in the physical sense, but she was a child of all the gods. Suddenly, death incarnate stepped into her room. It was neither male nor female, but was a featureless form of pure black. Despite having no features, she could feel his stare.

Daughter, it is her time. You can’t deny me what is mine. Kate gritted her teeth. She is mine and my father’s. He needs her, you can’t have her.

Death stood for a long moment simply watching her. Fine, you may have her as long as you can hold her. It said.

Then you will never have her because I will refuse to die, and as long as I live, I will hold her.

Death simply laughed, then vanished.

Suddenly, strong arms pulled her from her bed, and she released the flames. The bed was in ashes, but she, her father and the rest of the room were untouched by the fire. Her mother stumbled into the room. She looked worn, but the fear in her eyes was not fear for the safety of her child. Kate knew that her mother felt her inside, and she knew that her mother had felt death. For a moment their eyes locked, but neither said anything.

***

Danika gasped. Kate had literally stopped her mother from dying. Such a power was difficult to imagine. It was somehow easier to reconcile seeing death incarnate. That seemed natural.

She allowed her eyes to focus back on the physical world. Kate was still looking inward, but her face was beginning to show true anguish. Danika could read the writing on the wall. Kate’s mother was dead. Kate had been unable to hold her.

***

The next memory wasn’t quite so bleak. The suns beat down on Kate as she built an elaborate sand castle. She was in pain, severe pain, but she kept a smile. The design of the castle kept her mind off the pain. “Kate,” She looked up at the sound of her mother’s voice.

Her mother was waving to her from a beach chair. She had an odd smile on her face. Normally she was in so much pain. Kate understood the pain, she held it now. She took a last look at her castle. She could feel the tide…her castle wouldn’t last long.

She left her castle and walked to her mother. “Yes, mommy,” she said.

“Do you want to play in the water?” her mom asked.

That was an unfair question. Her mother knew she loved the water, and Kate knew what her mother wished to discuss. This question had been building in her mother for some time. “Yes, mommy.” She replied.

She tried to speak like they expected her to at this age, at times she did mess up, but they just thought it was cute when she spoke like an adult. They had no idea how hard her life was.

Her mother stood taking her hand and led her towards the roaring surf. At first, her mother only waded in up to her shins, which was nearly to Kate’s thighs. The waves would jump and hit her in the shoulders. “Let’s go deeper,” Kate said.

Her mother hesitated a moment. “Kate, I wanted to talk and I knew you wanted to be in the water.” Kate turned to her mother. A huge wave crested and went to crush her, but it split around her and her mother as if it were mist.

“Kate! Did you do that?” Her mother exclaimed.

Kate shrugged. “I didn’t want to get knocked down.”

Her mother nodded. “I shouldn’t be surprised not with what I am about to ask you.” She paused again, putting her delicate ebony hand over her heart. “I feel you in here.”

“I think it’s called love,” Kate replied.

Her mother scooped her up in her arms. At five, Kate thought she was too big for this, but she didn’t complain. “I think you know I love you, but you also know that I am talking about something else.”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Kate muttered.

“I also feel a cold pulling, on days where I don’t feel pain, I feel it stronger.” Her mother said.

“Holding both, while protecting myself is difficult,” Kate said as another wave split around them. This time she collected some mist around them and let the suns shine through it. She made sure no one else would see.

Her mother knelt to meet her on her level. “How do you do it?”

Kate shrugged. “It’s like breathing, I feel all energy, emotion, and thought. Holding you isn’t a problem. You held me for nine months.”

This memory faded like the others, although this time she wanted more information. She knew that something else had passed between Linda and Kate. She could feel Adrian’s questions also, but neither spoke. Kate was already giving a lot.