The similarity strikes me.
I realize both Storm and Skye are endangered by the same thing that crushed Rain not so long ago, and is now drowning and torturing him. Suddenly, I know with absolute certainty they’re about to enter hard times.
They’re going to suffer. Suffer deeply. And I can’t stop it.
Finally, I look at my brother Bay.
Nothing. Silence. Around him, I see nothing. It’s always like a dark hole, no wave, no energy, almost as if he doesn’t exist.
He catches my gaze and narrows his eyes, almost maliciously, like he knows I’m watching him.
I quickly look away.
The waves around Storm and Skye have to be tied to their partners, to their love lives, as it was with Rain, who got divorced. All of them carry the same result: you could call it abroken heart.
Then I turn to Winter. He’s the only one not surrounded by upcoming dark waves. His energy is muted, ashy blue, like low regular waves. Only far, far away, when I really focus, can I see the outline of something coming. Something complicated, huge, like a giant tsunami, but still a long way off.
And then I look at the youngest of us, Sun.
With him, I’d already seen such a dark wave a year earlier, when his boyfriend dumped him. Though at the time, I wasn’t sure what it meant. But it’s another clue that proves I’m now reading the waves correctly.
I feel a flicker of excitement.
I’ve never had such a consistent, certain picture of the meaning of the energy around my family.
At the same time, a chill runs through me. My brothers’ lives over the next two years are about to turn into dark, painful paths.
Some powerful, negative shift is heading toward the Nolan family.
Unsettled, I stop playing my harmonica. Its soft green and blue notes, shimmering in the air like the fins of a betta fish, freeze and crumble into silence.
Bay glances at me briefly, the only one who seems to notice I’ve stopped playing. No one else comments; they joke and laugh, completely unaware of the storm coming.
But… I don’t want my brothers to suffer because of these waves. They’re my family, and their misery will be reflected in my parents.
I glance toward my dad, who is cutting the cake and smiling brightly.
Never before have I tried to do anything with these waves of events swirling around.
But what if I tried?
What if I used themassive momentumof a dark wave to draw something good to them instead? Something healing? Something that could bring them happiness—like, for example…
Their True Mates!
This bold, crazy thought isn’t new to me. Sometimes I fantasize about it, considering different approaches and thinking through my options. But this time, the need to act rises with tremendous force.
Because now I know with absolute certainty these events can’t simply be avoided. They’re already written into the structure of the universe. Darkness and pain are rushing towardmy brothers, and the energy is way too heavy to stop. But not too heavy to… modify.
I squeeze my eyes shut.
Who should I start with? Maybe the one currently caught in the trough of the wave, in that swirling dark tide.
His face is pale, his back slightly hunched. He’s staring blankly at the lake.
Rain is an unshakable romantic. He believes in love that lasts forever, and his divorce nearly broke him.
I just know, simply know, there is someone perfect for him somewhere, who believes exactly what Rain believes: in ‘once in a lifetime’.
