“Please excuse the mess in the living room,” he said as he nodded his head in that direction. “There seems to have been some sort of accident while I was gone.”
“Oh?” said Melina as she peeked into the room. The glass had all been cleaned up and a thin sheet of wood had been placed over the broken window. He must’ve arrived home a little earlier to have cleaned everything up before she got there.
“Yeah, I finished cleaning up right before you arrived,” said Lee. “I’m not quite sure what happened, but I don’t think it was a break-in. There aren’t any signs of forced entry on the door and nothing was taken. I guess I’ll find out soon enough, though. My friend, Greg, installed some cameras around the place for me when I first moved in, and he’s coming by on Monday to check them.”
Melina’s eyes grew wide. There were cameras in his place? Oh no. Not only would he see her in his apartment, but he’d see her battling it out with demons. No, no. This was bad. This was horrible.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Melina, are you okay?” asked Lee.
She tried to swallow, but her suddenly dry mouth made it difficult.
“Look, there’s no reason to be scared. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a break-in. Barry said he only let in residents on the days I was gone, and it is Halloween. It was probably just some mischievous kids.”
“It’s not that,” said Melina as she briefly shook her head. “May I use your bathroom, please?”
“Um, sure.” He led her down the hallway and then pointed to the door on the left. “It’s right in there.”
“Thanks.” She made her way past him into the bathroom and quickly closed the door as she flipped on the light. “What am I going to do, what am I going to do?” she said out loud as she started to pace back and forth, her brow creasing with worry.
Should she call to Walter? No, he was busy. She could figure out what to do by herself. Oh, but what to do? It’s not like she could get to the cameras before Lee did. She didn’t even know where they were hidden, and she didn’t have the time to find out.
She stopped in front of the sink and placed her hands on the countertop as she stared at herself in the mirror. There was only one thing she could think of to do, and that was to confess everything to Lee and hope he would believe her.
After dinner
, she thought as she exited the bathroom. I’ll at least wait until after dinner to tell him. She composed herself the best she could and followed a sizzling sound into the kitchen.
Lee was standing next to the stove, slicing up some mushrooms. “Everything all right?”
“Yep,” Melina said as she gave him a quick nod.
“Good. I hope you like Chicken Marsala.” He flashed her a quick grin and continued slicing.
Melina walked closer and saw that he already had the chicken browning in a skillet and some broccoli steaming in a pot. “Mmm, I love Chicken Marsala. Is there anything I can do to help?”
“You can have a seat and look pretty.” His face instantly flushed as if he hadn't meant to say that out loud. He gave her a sheepish grin and led her over to a nearby barstool. “Please, have a seat. I want to do something nice for you, and what’s better than cooking you dinner?”
Melina sat down on the stool and let out a small laugh. “May I ask why you feel the need to do something nice for me?”
“Well,” he said as he walked back to the stove and resumed his work. “You’ve been nice to me ever since we met that first time in the park, and you didn’t even know who I was. Then when you wanted to talk with me about my father, I continually pushed you away. I’m sorry for that, and cooking for you is my way of making it up to you.”
“Lee—”
“Please, let me finish.” He added the mushrooms, wine, and cooking sherry and then covered the skillet before turning to look at her. “I’ve had other women try to get to know me since my father’s death, but you’re the only one who seems to genuinely care about getting to know me.”
Melina smiled. She did care about getting to know him, and she was glad that it showed.
“I could see right through the half-hearted attempts of all the others. They all had some other agenda. They didn’t care about me. For most of them it was the money. For the rest of them, well, I’m not quite sure what it was, but they weren’t truly interested in just me.” He smiled at her and turned back to the food. “But like I said, you seem to be different.”
Melina’s smile faded. She too had another agenda. And she was planning on telling him about that other agenda after they’d finished dinner. But she did care about him. If she was careful in how she told him about everything, then maybe he’d believe it and not think she was like all the others. Or maybe she should forget about telling him. If only he didn’t have those cameras. No, if she wanted to keep his trust, she had to tell him before he saw the tape himself.
“What are you thinking about?” asked Lee as he put two plates down on the bar in front of her. He poured them both a glass of wine and then took a seat on the barstool next to her.
“Oh, just work,” she said. “The food looks delicious.”
Lee smiled. “Hopefully it tastes as good as it looks.”
Melina cut into her chicken and took a bite. “Mmm,” she said as she nodded her head in approval. “You’re a very good cook.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “I try.” He gave her another smile and then turned back to his plate.
“So,” Melina said after taking a sip of her wine. “How did your trip go?”
“Better than expected,” he said after swallowing a bite of broccoli.
“Really?” Melina saw her chance to get him to talk about what happened at Claire’s, but she knew she had to take it slow. “You said you were visiting family, correct?”
“Yes. I went to see my mom first,” Lee said. “She lives on the outskirts of town. Then I went up north to my sister Claire’s.”
“And…”
Lee grinned and took a quick sip of his wine. “I should’ve known I couldn’t get away with just that.” He sat his glass back down and took in a deep breath. “I went to talk to my mom about my dad, to get a few things cleared up. You see, my parents divorced when I was a senior in high school, and I always thought it was my dad’s doing. In my mind he was leaving me, and I was so mad at him that I refused to talk to or see him.”
Melina almost choked on a bite of chicken, but quickly washed it down with some wine. She couldn’t believe he was opening up to her so easily.
“But it wasn’t until after he died that I realized I was wrong.” His expression turned somber and his eyes started to look glassy. “My mom was the one who'd filed for the divorce, not him. He died thinking that I hated him, and to top it all off, I’m disgracing him even more by allowing the store to fail. Luckily, my sister is going to help me with the store, but…” He let out a soft sigh. “I can’t fix the issue with my dad. I just wish he knew that I didn’t hate him.” Tears started to slide down his cheeks, and he quickly wiped them away.
“Hey,” said Melina as she laid her hand atop his. “I’m sure he knew that you didn’t hate him.”
Lee shook his head. “You don’t know how I treated him.”
Melina gave his hand a small squeeze. “Well, I’m sure we can find something to prove you wrong.”
“We?”
“Yeah,” she said. “I can tell how much it bothers you, so I’d be more than happy to help.”
Lee shook his head again, but now he was smiling.
“What?” asked Melina.
“You don’t just care about getting to know me. You actually care about me, don’t you?” He brought his other hand up and clasped her hand in between both of his.
She looked down at her hand and then attempted to smile at him, unsure of how to respond. Yes, she truly cared about his problems and doing what she could to help him resolve them, but did she truly care for him? Did she have feelings for him? Her eyes locked into his, and before she knew it, he leaned over and kissed her.
His lips were soft against hers and a warm, tingling sensation filled her body. She leaned in closer to him and started to kiss him back, when she realized it was wrong. He needed to know the truth first.
“Wait,” she said as she pulled away from him. “I need to tell you something.”
Lee gave her a confused look. “Okay. Is something wrong?”
She opened her mouth to respond, when suddenly her entire body was consumed by an intense power surge. It felt exactly like what had happened in Lee’s office, a very strong and somewhat painful feeling. Her eyes squinted shut as she leaned her head down into her hand.
“Oh no, not now,” she said.
Lee stood up from his stool and placed his hand on her back. “Melina, are you okay?”
Without answering him, she stood up and started making her way out of the kitchen. She knew what was happening, and she had to get out of there. “I… I have to go,” she said as she stumbled toward the front door. “I’m so sorry.” She grabbed her coat and purse from the coat rack, flung the front door open, and ran over to the elevator.
Lee’s voice rang out behind her. “Melina, wait! What’s going on?”
Oh no. “Open, open, open,” she chanted as she frantically hit the call button. Finally the elevator doors opened and she hopped inside, immediately hitting the button to close the door. Her eyes were still half-closed due to the searing pain in her head, but she saw Lee running toward her as the doors shut.
She felt awful about running out on him, especially after that kiss, but it wasn’t how she wanted to tell him about everything. The pain made her fall down to her knees, and right as she hit the floor, her light shield exploded around her, and a handful of different voices blasted into her mind.
“I have to get out of here,” she said through gritted teeth. She reached up and hit the button for the first floor but immediately regretted it. “Crap. I bet Lee called down to Barry to have him stop me. I have to get out of here now. My apartment,” she said out loud as she thought of the same image she did every time. “I want to teleport to my apartment.”
Within a second she was back on the floor in her living room. Breathing hard, she collapsed onto her couch as everything seemed to cease all at once. “Oh no,” she groaned. “I just made things so much worse.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
As Walter approached the summoning stone, he closed his eyes and took a moment to clear his head. Luckily, even though the stone was in the center of all the temples, it was far enough away from them that it was pretty secluded and quiet. Various trees and bushes were growing all around it, and the pillar it was held on was down in the middle of several stone steps.
When he thought he was ready, he placed his hand upon the stone and focused only on trying to find Phinneas. Phinneas, the elder guiding angel, he chanted over and over in his mind, hoping that something would happen soon. He remembered when he summoned Henry, the stone had grown brighter and brighter and then eventually had started to pulse when he'd found him. But would it do the same since he was trying to locate an elder?
He squinted his eyes open to check and saw that the stone’s illumination was intensifying. It was working. But would he be able to figure out where Phinneas was before he realized someone was looking for him and change his location?
Walter started to chant faster and faster, trying to prepare himself for whatever was about to happen, when suddenly the stone began to pulse. A fuzzy image popped into his mind, and he was soon able to make out that it was Phinneas. The elder appeared to be walking down a sidewalk lined with various buildings. Walter concentrated on the surroundings, trying to figure out the location, but just as he did the vision instantly disappeared, and the stone stopped pulsing.
“No!” he yelled out, stomping his foot on the ground. He leaned his head back and let out a loud groan. “I didn't expect him to sense the detection that quickly. He must really be on the alert.”
Walter wondered if he should try again. Helene had told him about how difficult it would be, and he only had to try to locate Phinneas once for him to see what she was talking about. But he couldn’t give up. He had to keep trying, and hopefully one of these times, he could pick up some sort of clue as to where Phinneas was before he became aware and changed his location again.
He put his hand back on the stone and closed his eyes as he started up the chant again. Even though his eyes were closed, he could tell the stone was growing brighter once more. He tried to clear his mind so that he would only be focused on Phinneas’s surroundings when a faint female voice interrupted him.
It was Melina, and she sounded like she was crying. “Oh no,” he said as he opened his eyes and removed his hand from the stone. A second later he left and then reappeared in the middle of Melina’s living room.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Oh, Walter,” she wailed as she stood up from the couch. “I’ve made such a mess of everything.”
“Calm down, calm down,” he said as he sat back down on the couch with her. “Tell me what happened.”
She wiped her hands over her tear-stained cheeks and told him everything, beginning with when she'd gone to Lee’s apartment the first time and the demons had attacked, and ending with how her powers had acted up when she'd been having dinner with him. By the time she finished, she had started to cry again.
Walter sat in silence for a while and then cleared his throat. “Melina, none of it is your fault. You didn’t know the demons were going to follow you to Lee’s apartment that day. Henry had just attacked them, so you thought you had some demon-free time. But why didn’t you tell me about it when it happened?”
Melina shrugged. “I didn’t want to interrupt you just for a demon attack. If it had been something with my powers then I wouldn’t have hesitated, but there’s not much you can do about a demon attack.”
“That may be true,” said Walter, “but finding out the demons can fly now is pretty serious.”
“So you didn’t know they could fly?”
Walter shook his head. “They’ve never been able to fly before. At least not that I knew of. That’s why it’s so serious.”
“Then how are they able to now?” she asked, wiping the tears from her cheeks.