Authors: Karice Bolton
Seeing the boats off in the
distance with the fog hovering off the water, created the wonderful
contained feeling I so loved about the Pacific
Northwest.
“This place is amazing,
isn’t it?” Athen breathed out a deep, long breath.
“Truly, but I’m so grateful
I’m able to share it with you again. Coming here by myself,
remembering all of the times we had here together, created a
loneliness that I wasn’t sure I could handle at times.” Never
wanting to admit my emotions aloud, I was surprised at my
willingness to give him a glimpse into my more dark
thoughts.
“Ana, don’t ever lose faith
in us – in our ability to love forever. Our bond is something that
can never be destroyed. They can’t force a future on us that we
don’t want. I know you’re all I want. She never had a
chance.”
“I’d like to tell you I
always believed that, but I’d be lying. Seeing the visions of you
two together and knowing you’d been spending so much time with her
made me doubt a lot of things. Things I didn’t think I’d ever waver
on.”
“Sweetie, we’ll make things
right again. Those feelings will be a distant memory, I
promise.”
“There was even a moment,
Athen, where …” I could feel the tears beginning to make an
entrance and forced myself to knock it off.
“What? It’ll make you feel
better if you just get it off your chest. I’ll understand, no
matter what it might be.”
Knowing that for a brief
second, I tried to con myself into believing I didn’t need Athen,
made me nauseous beyond belief. I was disgusted with myself,
wishing those thoughts would forever go away – but the guilt was
something I couldn’t shake.
“When I realized the
severity of things and what we might be fighting for and who we are
fighting against, I felt that my feelings for you were obviously
getting in the way of my ability to act with any sense.” I was
scanning his eyes to see if any of the hurt that I was spewing on
him was reflected. There was no such look.
“I actually thought about
trying to stay away from you.” I whispered.
“Ana, you’re my angel.
Remember that, regardless of who or what tries to separate us. You
could do no wrong. Besides, I’m pretty irresistible. I don’t think
you could have stayed away no matter how hard you tried.” My heart
completely melted. How could he be so understanding and so very
forgiving –and so completely correct?
Athen’s hand wrapped around
my back as we headed back to our room. Before I knew it, he scooped
me up and brought me through the doors leading into our hotel room
where he laid me down ever so gently. Bringing his lips closer to
mine, I felt the warm, softness glide along my own, parting only
slightly as he began kissing with a passion that was uncontrolled
and brilliant.
We had nothing left to lose
- our inhibitions were gone. I had no more secrets bottled up. We
had been separated for decades, only to come together briefly
again, before being separated yet again, and in all that time, we
never lost sight of one another, even if it was on another level of
consciousness. We knew deep within our souls that we were not whole
until we had one another in each other’s embrace.
As the comforter slid off
the bed, I felt for the edge of his shirt to pull off as fast as I
could. The beauty of his body was purely magnificent as he fell
back on me, sending me to an utterly glorious place in heaven. I no
longer needed to worry about the outsiders who had so often
frequented my mind. Athen was mine and I was his. We were meant to
be one for all eternity.
Chapter 31
I’d been avoiding Athen all
morning. We were back at our home in Victoria. Cyril and Arie did
an amazing job cleaning everything up for us, but the thanks we
gave them over and over was about to be blown away into a million
pieces, knowing that I’d seen visions that were going to disrupt
our entire family. The most horrifying images had woken me up time
and time again. I didn’t want to believe any of the dreams, but
they were all so real. I’d learned my lesson once already to not
ignore these dreams. I knew deep inside I had to take them
seriously. What it meant for the future of our family, I didn’t
know, but I had to voice them to Athen. He had to know.
I was out at the bakery
closest to our home trying to gather up enough courage to tell
Athen what my visions had shown me and, maybe, soften the blows by
bringing home croissants for us to share as I was telling him
things that I didn’t think possible.
After I was through my
second Americano, I knew I had to go home and face what was before
me. Grabbing the brown paper bag containing our breakfast, I took a
deep breath and pushed through the door letting the bell signal my
exit.
I somehow managed to appear
at our front door. The spring wreath did its best attempt at making
my mood lift a tad. I wasn’t sure if I should go in and just start
telling Athen or maybe divert his attention first by way of a
croissant. I hoped that as soon as I opened the door, the answers
would come, and they did. Cyril and Arie were not home.
“There is something I need
to tell you …” I felt faint knowing the words I was about to utter
could possibly change our family dynamics forever, and they could
be wrong – my words could be wrong, but if they weren’t, they
needed to be said.
“I think Arie was tapped
into something in Cyril that she didn’t even realize.” I could
barely speak the words.
Athen’s striking green eyes
searched mine for answers, and I wasn’t sure I was going to be able
to have enough info to completely stop the destruction. I didn’t
want to believe that one of us could be tricked into turning
against what we believed in.
“You’ve got to tell me,
Ana.” I knew he was right, but I didn’t want to believe the images
that woke me up the night before were true. There was no way one of
us would purposefully betray any of us, but I saw it. Not knowing
if it had already happened or was about to, I knew I had to tell
Athen everything.
“It’s Cyril - he was
approached by Azazel, and he didn’t make the decision I thought he
would.”
“What are you saying? That
he went to the other side? Are you joking?” My worst fear was
beginning to happen. The rift was already beginning. The thought
that our family could be broken apart made me ill, and I didn’t
want to believe it either.
I looked up at Athen seeing
the pain deep within his eyes. A coldness crept over the lenses as
he looked back down at me. I knew the coldness wasn’t directed at
me. He was beginning to build the same emotional wall against Cyril
that I’d attempted when I thought I should distance myself from
Athen. Athen grabbed my hand and pulled me towards him. I felt the
comfort of his arms, something I needed now more than he ever
knew.
“It’s true isn’t it?” He
asked.
I didn’t need to answer. My
tears said everything.
Our croissants stayed
untouched on the coffee table as we impatiently waited for Cyril
and Arie. We both knew the best thing to do was get it out in the
open. My mind began wandering back to what Arie was trying to tell
me earlier. Could she have sensed it before I did? Does Cyril
know?
The living room door opened
to Cyril and Arie laughing as Cyril’s arms were full carrying more
bags of whatever else she could find to buy. The lightness of the
moment was something I wanted to inhale in and never lose because I
knew what we were about to discuss was going to change everything,
possibly forever and in our world that was a very long
time.
Athen and I obviously
didn’t do a good job of hiding what was going on. Their laughter
stopped as soon as they saw our faces. Cyril placed the bags on the
floor, and they came into the living room for a discussion I never
thought possible.
***
“It’s too dangerous to stay
together. I didn’t think I’d ever be saying that again, but it
looks like that time has come.” Cyril announced. He was taking this
as seriously as the rest of us. I wasn’t sure if that made me more
nervous or less. I guess I was hoping for him to completely deny
that anything like that could happen, but that’s not what I
got.
Athen grabbed my hand. I
knew this was hard on him too. He was so worried about his sister,
especially with the visions I told him about, but this was our best
shot. We had to divide and conquer and try to thwart whatever might
happen with Cyril. I didn’t want to believe my visions, but with my
track record, I knew I had to tell Athen. I hoped with all of my
heart that he would tell me that what I saw was impossible and
persuade me that it was rubbish. Unfortunately, that wasn’t what
happened at all. Instead, we came up with a plan to switch things
up a little bit. We weren’t going to let Cyril be taken to the
other side.
Arie nodded her head. With
as dizzy as she may seem sometimes, she had a strength about her
that I hoped to emulate one day. She wasn’t just the bubbly, fun
loving girl I loved so much. She knew when to turn it on and off.
Right now she was all business. Cyril was pacing back and forth,
confusing Matilda who wanted to follow his footsteps which, any
other day, would make me chuckle. Instead, I focused my gaze on
Athen.
“We were thinking that
maybe we should split up between Kingston and Whistler. Ana and I
don’t have a preference as to which one we should go to. You guys
tell us.”
“I’m thinking, we’ll go up
to Whistler. I don’t think there is a right answer to this one.”
Cyril said, the anger building in his voice.
He didn’t want to believe
my visions anymore than any of the rest of us, but I think deep
inside he actually believed it more than any of us, which was
scary. I wasn’t sure what gave me that vibe, but I knew it to be
true. Things could turn very dark for our family if there was even
an ounce of truth to my premonition.
“Well, I think this house,
and Victoria has seen enough action to last a lifetime. I’m ready
to get a move on it. The sooner the better to get this crap over
with.” Cyril shoved a magazine off the shelf closest to him and
headed down the hall. This was a side I hadn’t seen before.
Searching Arie’s eyes, I knew this wasn’t a side of Cyril she had
experienced either.
“It’s gonna be okay, Arie.
I know we can make this go away. I’m sure I’m wrong, but better to
be safe than sorry, right?” I searched her eyes for forgiveness.
Guilt was coming at me from every direction. I felt responsible for
creating this new Cyril. What if my images were all wrong, and I
put us all through this for nothing?
“Yeah? Well, what if you
didn’t tell us, and we weren’t prepared. What if they are correct?
Imagine if we experienced the ending to this scenario because you
didn’t want to mention it?” Athen replied to my thoughts aloud. I
totally forgot to shut him out of my mind with all of the drama
surrounding Cyril, but was kind of grateful he heard my thoughts.
He made me feel a little better.
“I know. Believe me, I
know. But there is a part of me that wonders if I’m
wrong.”
Arie walked over and sat
next to me on the couch, hugging me as I began to feel my eyes fill
with tears.
“You did the right thing by
telling Athen. Really - it’s just a lot for us, any of us, to
handle. Don’t blame Cyril. I can’t imagine what he must be going
through. Knowing he could never commit such an atrocity, yet having
just enough doubt creep in to shake everything you believe in? This
isn’t his fault, and this isn’t your fault, Ana. We’ll make it
through this.” Her hand reached for mine, squeezing it. “Azazel
will not get to him. I guarantee it.”
“Thanks.” Was all I could
utter.
***
None of us had that much to
pack so we were done pretty quickly. It felt odd knowing that we
would be leaving this house in separate directions. It was hard to
comprehend us as two separate pairs, preparing for a fight that we
knew nothing about. Arie had reached out to all of our friends, and
to none of our surprise, they all saw the Legions’ activity
strengthen in their regions. It was clear that we would all be
coming together at some point for a battle, but none of us knew
exactly when. We were all too busy trying to get our loved ones
back or help squash the little uprisings that the Legions had begun
starting with the humans to worry about when the main battle was
going to begin.
I was thinking back to all
of the road trips we had taken with Cyril and Arie and the happy
times those always brought. Whether we were driving from Whistler
to Seattle or to Kingston with a car full of snacks, pillows, and
Matilda stuck in between us all somewhere. Now, we are all leaving
each other, hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.
Matilda was jumping up on her hind legs, resting her front paws on
my leg, hoping for any sort of scratch on her head or an ear
tickle. I was secretly relieved that she was coming with us. After
being without her, when Athen was gone, it had made me become even
more attached to the little girl.
Our goal was to be down to
Kingston before sunset, and at this rate, we would be very lucky to
achieve that. None of us really wanted to say goodbye. Athen made
the first move, by loading the last bag into the Jeep and setting
Matilda inside.