Authors: Karice Bolton
I watched intently as I saw
the figure move from the trail over to the beach. Whatever his
plan, it seemed rather harmless, especially since he was moving
away from the house, but the fear would not subside. Seeing any
sort of person or thing wandering around in pitch black does
nothing to calm even the bravest of souls.
I slowly backed up from the
window, grabbing a bathrobe to wrap around me since the cold air
from the window was chilling me more than I thought. The terry
cloth collar gently wrapped around my neck when I realized I had
grabbed Athen’s robe. The smell of his cologne encircled my senses.
I suddenly felt so near him. I felt his presence so close to me,
his arms wrapping around me. I looked back down at the ground, and
the person strolling around, only to see him stop and look up at
me. Even though the distance was great between myself and the
person staring back at me, I was frightened and
confused.
I braced myself against the
wall as I stared back, focusing as best I could, disappointed in my
inability to see who was out there. I knew it would be foolish to
go out there with everything that had been going on, but there was
a part of me that wondered if it could be Athen. That part of me
was so small because the logic part won out for once, not my heart.
Rather than make matters worse, I closed the curtains disconnecting
my gaze from the stranger’s. I felt pretty confident it wasn’t a
dark demon. They had never been much for hiding their evilness. I
had been exposed enough to know the feelings that would have come
over me.
I slowly got into bed
refusing to remove Athen’s robe and the comfort that it brought me.
The gentle ache in my heart began to spread through my body as I
worried that it very well might be Athen outside, and I shut him
out. I knew it was impossible. There was no reason for him to know
about this place, but I also knew the feelings I felt when we
arrived here weren’t right either. What else were we hoping for
when we came here? We all needed to somehow connect with Athen on
some level. Maybe this was it and all I could do was crawl under
the covers. I would know if it was him, and it wasn’t. It wasn’t
him.
The wonderful calmness of
my dream world began to invite me in as I slowly drifted off to
sleep hearing a gentle bark off in the distance. My two worlds were
once again colliding as Matilda welcomed me back to happiness. I
was grateful for her loyal spirit as I heard Athen call her off in
the distance.
Chapter 17
I woke up from a wonderful
peace, beating the sun’s presence. I dreamed of being with Matilda
again and Athen. We were all on the beach together playing Frisbee.
Laughing as Matilda attempted to jump in the air to retrieve the
flying saucer. Part of me wanted to force myself back to my dream
state so that I could be there in their presence, even it for only
a few more minutes, but I also wanted to get down to the beach
before Cyril and Arie were up.
I had to investigate what I
swore I saw last night. Promising myself it wasn’t a dream, the
swirl of emotions began to run wild in my body. My inability to
sense who or what that was last night really unnerved me. Knowing
that this being had the ability to reach me inside my home and did
so without filling me with complete terror, which puzzled me. The
actions fit none of the creatures I had encountered so far. I had
been in this very home only months before, approached by demons,
and it was a horrible experience; one that I could never forget and
one that I could never mistake. That’s why I knew this was
different.
I quickly got dressed and
got my shoes on, sneaking quietly down the stairs attempting to
make no noise whatsoever. This was something I wanted to do
privately. I had been avoiding this area of our yard since we
arrived back here. I decided now was as a good of a time as any to
go check it out. I gently closed the French doors that led down the
path where I saw the figure traipsing around. I took a deep breath
hoping for a sense of tranquility as I traveled the very same path
to the beach where Athen and I had last gone. A smile returned to
my lips as I remembered us attempting to make s’mores on the beach
and enjoying each other’s company in every way possible.
I was thankful that it
hadn’t rained recently which lessened my chances of slipping all
the way down the path. As I proceeded, I looked for any kind of
clue that I thought would tell me who this person or creature was.
I was pretty sure what I hoped for versus what was actually
possible were two conflicting things. I got closer to the beach and
noticed that I didn’t see one footprint the entire length of the
trail. I was leaving a print with every step I took; so I found
that unnerving. When I reached the beach, the feelings came
crashing down on me. The memories were flooding my mind of Athen
and I becoming one on this beach. I was unable to concentrate on
anything but his images. The way he held me and spoke to me during
our most intimate moments. The sound of the fire crackling from
that night was echoing through me. I swore I could smell the burnt
logs. I remembered how we left the chocolate that was supposed to
be for our s’mores too close to the fire, but we got too carried
away with each other to care. The emotions traveling though me were
almost more than I could handle.
The wind gently tore my
hair away from my headband creating a chill as the strands of hair
ran across my cheek. I looked up at the trees and realized there
was no breeze. It was the same sensation as the night before. I
quickly glanced around, thankful the sun had begun to make its
appearance. Frightened for what I might find, I saw nothing that
should have caused a sensation like this to appear. I kept on
moving towards the boulder. I needed to touch it, be near it. So
much had happened there. I needed that closeness we experienced
here. The waves of the ocean were lapping against the rocks quietly
guiding me closer to my destination. I saw off in the distance what
was probably the first ferry of the morning, chugging away. Hoping
that I didn’t attract the attention of any of the ferry passengers,
I made my movements more slow and deliberate, reaching my hand out
to finally come into contact with the boulder. Feeling a charge, I
knew I had made it. I looked down for a place to stick my foot to
steady myself on the pebbles when I saw it. There before me was a
long-stemmed, white rose laying on the only section of sand that
existed in this tiny stretch of beach. I was no longer in my body.
My head was fuzzy; my world was no longer my own.
My head began spinning as I
did my best to prop myself up against the boulder. I didn’t
understand what was going on. But I knew that Athen had to have
been part of it. I slowly bent down to pick up the rose, careful
not to make any sudden movements for fear that I might collapse at
the enormity of the situation.
I was certain this rose had
to be from Athen. But why? How? Did he know what he was doing or
why? If he truly knew, why would he not come to the
door?
A pebble began skipping
across the water, and I quickly turned my head in the direction it
was coming from, only to see nothing staring right back at me. My
mind was beginning to feel very fragile again, like someone was
playing games with me. I was positive if it was a demon trying to
trick me or send me a message that I’d be able to sense it. I could
recognize their evil. I had been able to recognize the close
proximity of those evil creatures time and time again. I knew in my
heart, if it was one of them I’d have caught it, leaving only one
answer for me to slowly embrace. I scanned the brush, mostly
tangled blackberries, trying to ascertain what I could be missing.
Where he could be hiding. All I could see was my hopes diminishing
with every second that passed.
“I’m all yours, Athen. I’ll
wait for you for as long as it takes. They can take you away, but
they can’t take you out of my thoughts or out of my
memories.”
I held onto the single
white rose that was placed for me with such care, unable to
understand what was possibly the significance of any of
it.
Chapter 18
A week had gone by, and the
white rose was still as upright as the morning I had picked it up
off of the beach. We had made our way back up to Victoria, and I
made sure that the rose made it across the border with me. It was a
sign. I was certain of it. Cyril and Arie thought I was reading too
much into it. I knew I wasn’t. It gave me the hope I needed. So
many distractions had started to spring up in the last several days
that I needed what solace I could find by staring at the purity of
the petals.
We had been so busy Athen
hunting that we had put some of our other important duties on hold.
We were contacted by some of our friends in Whistler to let us know
the severity of meddling by the Legions had increased. Arie had
reached out to several other families, and they had all warned of
the same thing. Besides the demons’ interfering more with the
humans, they were beginning to pick off family members that much
more aggressively amongst our network.
I went into the kitchen
where Arie was baking cookies. Cyril was already in the family room
making lists of things he wanted to investigate. He felt there was
a pattern that we were overlooking. I kind of thought that maybe we
were over thinking things. Demons are bad, and they are going to do
bad things. Maybe, we need to start confronting them more head on.
Play the game they want to play. I knew, regardless, it was time
that we started to channel some of our energy into these events
again; otherwise, it wouldn’t much matter if Athen returned or not.
If our worst fear was realized, there might not be much to come
back too.
I grabbed the newspaper off
our porch. I was thankful the newspaper carrier put it in the
plastic baggie. The rain was coming down in buckets, and even
though the paperboy threw it under the eaves, the Northwest’s
version of rain had a tendency to be able to get anything and
everything wet. Maybe that was why everyone’s skin had such a
beautiful, dewy glow. Not enough sun to ever dry a person out and
create the dreaded leather effect.
I went over to the dining
room table where my orange juice and toasted bagel with cream
cheese was waiting for me. The window was still open from the night
before, allowing the dampness to creep inside our home. I had to
admit I kind of liked it. Not the same feeling as crisp snow-filled
air but definitely a comforting feeling.
As I slipped the rubber
band off and unfolded the paper, I noticed the front-page headline
reading “THIRD COUGAR ATTACK IN 2 MONTHS” blazed across the page in
the black, looming font with a picture of a man
underneath.
The hair on the back of my
neck began to rise. Something didn’t seem right about this.
Granted, Vancouver Island had its fair share of wildlife, but I
didn’t like the feel of this. I scanned the page looking for
something to confirm my suspicion. Nothing was there. There had to
be something to this. I grabbed my bagel and orange juice, heading
to my bedroom where I could look up these other alleged cougar
attacks in private. I hoped I was wrong, but I was pretty sure I
wasn’t.
I curled my legs underneath
me as I scanned the articles I read on the other victims who were
attacked by cougars. From what it looked like, none of them had
seen the cougar. All of the attacks had been from behind and close
to dusk - two on the beach and one on a local trail. The morning’s
paper had been a bit misleading. Technically, you could call it
three attacks in two months, but there had been four victims, not
three. The first cougar attack occurred with a couple who was on
their honeymoon. Neither of them saw the cougar. Yet they were both
attacked. He was on the beach, and she was found on the trail
leading back to the parking lot, which was very contradictory to a
normal cougar attack. The first victim should have been plenty to
satisfy the cougar’s needs. Thankfully, the attack occurred near a
popular park so help was called almost instantly; yet nobody was
able to identify a cougar, and the hounds that were brought in were
unable to trace any sort of scent. The couple was interviewed while
still in the hospital recovering from their wounds. Neither saw a
cougar attack the other. It didn’t make sense. I was pretty sure
this wasn’t a cougar. I knew I had to bring it up to Cyril and Arie
immediately. I may not be having any premonitions surrounding this,
but I certainly wasn’t going to discount good old-fashioned
instinct.
Scanning the newspaper, my
heart began beating faster and faster as I knew the very thing that
I was looking for was waiting for me to find it, right in there
among the mix of useless facts. The attack was about ten miles from
my practice ground. I knew it. This was no coincidence. The Legions
were announcing their presence to us all. It was our turn to
announce our stance. We hadn’t been doing a very good job of that
lately.
I wish I had Athen here to
discuss my hypothesis. My heart ached as I looked at the white
rose. I knew he was getting closer. I needed to be
patient.
***
It turned out that humans
being attacked by wild animals wasn’t unique to Vancouver Island.
Every family we contacted throughout this country and the next,
confirmed that wild animal attacks were on the rise. Whether it was
an alleged bear attack in Yellowstone or Russia, the details were
always the same. Nobody saw the animals, and the attacks were
gruesome. It was definitely the Legions beginning their formations,
making their intentions known, and now they were heavily involving
humans. I did my best to push the thought of Athen away and tried
to concentrate on the tasks at hand, but it would be so much easier
to bounce my ideas off of him. Cyril and Arie were great to talk
with. They really were supportive, and I felt like I could tell
them most things, but the emptiness that I felt was sometimes
overwhelming. Seeing them together made it worse at times
too.