“Silence!” Windwalker said quietly and with command. “We have no time
for arguments. Can you not feel it? How things have gone wrong?” The
Windwalker probed Susan’s mind.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Susan looked away, she knew
this creature that had invaded her house knew what had happened.

“But you do. Have you not noticed how things are not right somehow?
Have you not noticed that you are in the center of it?” Windwalker
asked. Susan’s head snapped up.

“No, I haven’t.” Susan set the lamp down, folded her arms and shivered.
The room had turned cold. Or perhaps it was because she did know what
her visitor was referring to. Tina, Shane, Lara, Jenny, all these women
suddenly bound up in her life with no effort of her own. It was as if
something had stepped in and messed up the world with one swoop of a
chaotic hand.

“It is building, Susan. You can feel it. The energy. It grows darker. You saw what happened to Jenny.” Windwalker stated.

“That wasn’t my doing!” Susan protested, angry and hurt that Jenny’d
been caught up in the struggle of power between her and Fran.

“No,” Windwalker allowed, “but you made it possible. By taking Jenny
from Marina, you gave Francesca an opportunity she would not have
otherwise had,” Windwalker instructed her.

“Tina and Shane. Do you think they would have taken this path without
your insistence, your encouragement, your influence?” Windwalker asked,
making Susan think for a long moment.

“Perhaps. Look, Tina came to me. I didn’t seek her out. She walked into
my club, I didn’t pull her in from the street. She came to ME.” Susan
blazed.

“True,” Windwalker nodded, “but you can set her free. You can set them all free.”

Susan’s mouth dropped open. Set them free? They weren’t hers to begin
with. They were all acting of their own free will, making their own
choices. Weren’t they? Susan blinked, her indigo eyes meeting the hard
honest gaze of the woman before her.

“They are drawn to you, Susan, as many are drawn to you. They feed off
you, as you feed off their adoration, their lust, their fear of you.
Power. It is like life to you. Like blood to Jo, fear is to you.”

Susan wanted to argue. But she couldn’t. There was truth in this
strange woman’s words. Truth she’d never wanted to think about. She bit
down on her words, looking at the door that led to her bedroom,
thinking for a moment of Jenny.

“Set them free, Susan. Set them free and you set yourself free. Free to
find what your heart truly desires.” Windwalker instructed again.

“How? I don’t.” Susan stammered, her mouth working but her thoughts a
jumble. This woman was just a vast amount of information, stirring
hopes that she’d buried long ago.

“You will know. When the time comes, you will know.” Windwalker stepped
back into shadow and was gone before Susan could say any more.

“What the *****?” Susan turned on the lights, searched the living room
and every other room. There was no sign anyone had ever been there at
all. She walked to the bar and poured herself a stiff drink with shaky
hands, and headed to the kitchen to make Jenny some tea. “Set them
free? What the ***** was she talking about?” She shook her head and
fired up the stove under the tea kettle. “Everything is wrong,” she
hummed a Lucinda song under her breath.

*~*~*~*

“Well?” Jaded arched a brow at Windwalker, not having followed on her
journey to speak with her voice of haunting. She had instead waiting
for her return, hands shaking and staring at the blank computer screen.

“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “It’s up to them now. If Jo Wheaton and
Susan Birch can become allies, even for a few brief moments, perhaps
there is a chance.” Jaded cocked an eyebrow.

“And if not?” She asked, taking in a long breath. There was no
playfulness in her eyes, no joke in her voice, just seriousness that
ebbed from the both of them.

Windwalker’s eyes went hollow. “Then who can tell what will happen? It
will end badly, perhaps even with the death you so welcome.”

Jaded swallowed hard, blinking and looking down at the earth, not sure who she’d want to put into it, save for herself.

~*~*~*~*~*

Different Light
1.25.05
Janet Marie

Killing off the weakness in me
Cut away the cancer that eats me
Save my soul and release my heart
Into the different light