you to join us. With powers like yours, we can rule Manhattan.”
It was Daniel’s turn to roll his eyes. “Seriously?” he said with unconcealed sarcasm. “You want me to become one of the bad guys and undo all of what I’ve done in the past few months? For money?”
“Actually, yes. We’ve done the research and one hundred percent of our test subjects gladly took the offer when faced with the end of my gun,” he said and chambered a round. “So now that you know the correct answer, I will ask you again: will you join my team and become wealthy and powerful beyond your wildest imagination? We could be kings.”
Daniel lifted his chin in defiance. “Fuck no.”
“How poetic,” Ponytail said and pulled the trigger.
Daniel fell to his knees; the stab of pain from the bullet piercing his stomach was unlike anything he’d ever known. After a few shallow breaths, he struggled back to his feet. If he was going to die, he would do so with dignity. He managed to stand before another bullet clobbered him in the shoulder, then beneath the breastbone, and another in the thigh.
Man, he’s a lousy shot, was Daniel’s last thought before he lost all consciousness.
6 | ROUSING THE SEER
Coral Marie Diaz had no idea what hit her. She was fast asleep when all of a sudden, she bolted upright in bed, sweat beads gathering on her upper lip as she fought to catch her breath. She had had another vision – this much she knew – but it felt different, unusual. Normally, she would remember the dream in the morning and try to piece together the hazy puzzle pieces until it made sense. Never before had she awakened right after the vision; never before had she felt what was destined to happen.
A change was to come.
She took a deep breath and lay back on her pillow, looking up at the ceiling as the afterimages played before her eyes once more. A starving man drinking coffee at Johann’s Diner, his skin crackling as if electricity was running through his veins. She would shake his hand and sit with him, but what they would talk about, she didn’t know.
Coral wished her visions were more detailed but that was not the way her gift of clairvoyance worked. Since the emergence of her very first vision at age five, she had only ever seen images and sometimes words. Back then she had dismissed the dreams, until the day one had come true and the boy from across the street had been run over after getting off the school bus. Coral had come running out of the house after hearing screams and had recognized immediately the vivid rainbow of the dark blue Ford, the yellow school bus, and the spreading red on the grey asphalt. Coral hadn’t seen much more of the accident as her foster mom, Annette, had ordered her to go back inside, but she had already known how it would end. She had foreseen the heartbreaking image of a lifeless Tommy, his mother screaming hysterically as she cradled him in her arms. Annette, though she tried, had not shielded Coral from seeing the worst of the grisly scene. Not when the little girl had already dreamed it all the night before.
Of course, neither Annette nor her husband, Chris, had believed her when she tried to tell them about the dreams. No matter how many times Coral had tried, she had been rebuffed time and again and told that she was but a fanciful daydreamer. Not long after, she was transferred to another foster family on the grounds of bad behavior, a reason that she decided she would come to abide by.
Coral’s mouth puckered at the memory of her childhood. Though she was lucky that no harm or abuse had ever come her way, at least, not in the care of foster parents, she however grew up with the knowledge that nobody wanted her, the strange Mexican girl with weak eyes and the graphic imagination.
Coral rose from the bed to take a shower, hoping wildly that the man in her vision would be the beginning of a new chapter in her life. Maybe the vision had been for her benefit, signaling
It was Daniel’s turn to roll his eyes. “Seriously?” he said with unconcealed sarcasm. “You want me to become one of the bad guys and undo all of what I’ve done in the past few months? For money?”
“Actually, yes. We’ve done the research and one hundred percent of our test subjects gladly took the offer when faced with the end of my gun,” he said and chambered a round. “So now that you know the correct answer, I will ask you again: will you join my team and become wealthy and powerful beyond your wildest imagination? We could be kings.”
Daniel lifted his chin in defiance. “Fuck no.”
“How poetic,” Ponytail said and pulled the trigger.
Daniel fell to his knees; the stab of pain from the bullet piercing his stomach was unlike anything he’d ever known. After a few shallow breaths, he struggled back to his feet. If he was going to die, he would do so with dignity. He managed to stand before another bullet clobbered him in the shoulder, then beneath the breastbone, and another in the thigh.
Man, he’s a lousy shot, was Daniel’s last thought before he lost all consciousness.
6 | ROUSING THE SEER
Coral Marie Diaz had no idea what hit her. She was fast asleep when all of a sudden, she bolted upright in bed, sweat beads gathering on her upper lip as she fought to catch her breath. She had had another vision – this much she knew – but it felt different, unusual. Normally, she would remember the dream in the morning and try to piece together the hazy puzzle pieces until it made sense. Never before had she awakened right after the vision; never before had she felt what was destined to happen.
A change was to come.
She took a deep breath and lay back on her pillow, looking up at the ceiling as the afterimages played before her eyes once more. A starving man drinking coffee at Johann’s Diner, his skin crackling as if electricity was running through his veins. She would shake his hand and sit with him, but what they would talk about, she didn’t know.
Coral wished her visions were more detailed but that was not the way her gift of clairvoyance worked. Since the emergence of her very first vision at age five, she had only ever seen images and sometimes words. Back then she had dismissed the dreams, until the day one had come true and the boy from across the street had been run over after getting off the school bus. Coral had come running out of the house after hearing screams and had recognized immediately the vivid rainbow of the dark blue Ford, the yellow school bus, and the spreading red on the grey asphalt. Coral hadn’t seen much more of the accident as her foster mom, Annette, had ordered her to go back inside, but she had already known how it would end. She had foreseen the heartbreaking image of a lifeless Tommy, his mother screaming hysterically as she cradled him in her arms. Annette, though she tried, had not shielded Coral from seeing the worst of the grisly scene. Not when the little girl had already dreamed it all the night before.
Of course, neither Annette nor her husband, Chris, had believed her when she tried to tell them about the dreams. No matter how many times Coral had tried, she had been rebuffed time and again and told that she was but a fanciful daydreamer. Not long after, she was transferred to another foster family on the grounds of bad behavior, a reason that she decided she would come to abide by.
Coral’s mouth puckered at the memory of her childhood. Though she was lucky that no harm or abuse had ever come her way, at least, not in the care of foster parents, she however grew up with the knowledge that nobody wanted her, the strange Mexican girl with weak eyes and the graphic imagination.
Coral rose from the bed to take a shower, hoping wildly that the man in her vision would be the beginning of a new chapter in her life. Maybe the vision had been for her benefit, signaling
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