Legions (11 page)

“Thanks for that, Arie… and
yes, Cyril, I couldn’t agree more with you. Training is a must!” I
won. Finally, they were going to let me in on some of these
secrets.

Looking down at the exposed
bone on my arm reinforced how badly I needed combat training. I
would finally learn how to fight. Because they gave me a little, I
felt I should give them something too, honesty. “I saw
Athen.”

“We all did.” Arie turned
around to stare at me.

“No, I mean before that.”
My voice trailed off.

“How so?”

“First of all, last night I
actually fooled myself into believing I could forget about Athen
and valiantly save the world. In my panic, anger, whatever it was,
I made myself believe I needed to detach from Athen – start fresh,
et cetera. Well, I got to the hospital thinking I’d get her away
from him - make my attack, but to my dismay, she was expecting me.
The elevator was even set to his floor. It felt like the entire
place was frozen in time. None of the workers were around. She knew
when I was outside of their room, and she pretended I was her
sister once I entered. I went right in, and before I knew it I had
my hand on his shoulder, and I felt the electricity between us. It
was incredible. Something I know I shouldn’t have done, but it was
absolutely incredible. Not only that, when she touched him he
retracted from her.”

“Really?” Arie seemed
genuinely excited about this news. Rather than scold me for this,
she was more interested in hearing about Athen’s reaction to the
demon. Thank God. But, I definitely decided to leave out the part
of me telling him that I loved him. “It seems like he’s far more
receptive than I’d have thought. Luck could be on our
side.”

“Except for the fact that
he stumbled upon the scene and darted.” I mumbled.

“Well, yeah. That’s a
definite complication. But, honestly, nothing is going as it has in
the past; so I don’t think we should think the worst. I mean, he
has already felt that something was other than it seemed. There was
something clueing him into the idea of Angels and Demons at the
library. My guess is right now he’s trying to come to grips with
everything he has felt and most recently saw. I think oddly enough,
he’s intrigued, not scared.”

“Intrigued? I’d guess
suicidal. If I had stumbled onto something like that while I was
working up in Whistler, I’d have locked myself away on behalf of
society.”

“Yeah, well you weren’t
even thinking that we existed. I doubt your coffee table books
dealt with Fallen Angels either so things are definitely a bit more
complex with good old Athen.”

“I just hope he didn’t
split,” I was wrestling with getting the key into the door as I
spoke, “for good.”

My arm was throbbing
intensely.

“I’d be willing to bet he’s
at his place right now trying to figure out what his next steps
should be and literally Googling every possible notion that he’s
coming up with.”

“You think Lilith’s gone
from here?”

“For now, yes. I don’t
think we should waste time, though, to get him back. I know she’ll
show up again.” Arie took the keys away from me and let us all in
to our house since I couldn’t apparently function.

We all piled our stuff on
the living room couch and wandered into the kitchen. Cyril grabbed
some Rockstar energy drinks out of the fridge and snapped them open
for us all, shoving them at us. I didn’t realize how thirsty or
tired I was until I started gulping from the can. He grabbed some
medical supplies and began working his magic on my arm.

Arie had wandered off to
her MacBook and seemed to be intrigued by whatever it was that was
sitting in her inbox. I was trying to fight the fatigue that was
reaching every part of my body. I was hoping the drink would hit
soon before I wound up crawling into bed.

“Ok, guys. Movement is
pretty intense out there. Another family member was taken in
Montana. They’re getting ready to track them. It happened while
their loved one was alone. We’ve got to take this more seriously,
you two. That means you too, Ana. No more sneaking off to handle
business. We are stronger as a team anyway.” I could feel her eyes
penetrating through me etching her seriousness into my soul. I knew
they had been too kind to me with everything that I kept doing.
She’s been doing a great job of keeping it quiet.

“I know, and you’re right.
I’m really trying to keep everything in check. I even thought I
could detach myself from Athen, but that action didn’t even last 24
hours. I’m not in control like I think I’m, that’s for sure. I
apologize, guys, for putting you in harms way. I really
do.”

“Ana, you really need to
start sharing more with us. No matter how big or small, honestly.
The feelings that keep coming over you are normal, and we would
understand. In fact, we’ve been through it with Athen and could
probably help guide the choices you’re making a little better. You
can’t keep everything bottled up. It’s not healthy, and it keeps
leading you in the wrong direction. There is no way you can undo
your relationship with Athen. We saw you took down the pictures in
the hallway, but that doesn’t do it. You’ve got to be more willing
to talk to us, Ana. It may not seem like it, but we can help.”
Cyril was crushing his can and tossing it into the recycle bin as
he spoke his last sentence. “Athen wouldn’t want you to go through
this alone. He didn’t.”

Arie spun around in her
chair quickly with her legs tucked in under her and had the typical
Arie smile encompassing her lips.

“Ok, I just fired off an
update to everyone. I think we need to get some things done around
the house, possibly rest, and definitely put the pictures back up.
Most importantly, though, we need to discuss our next moves. Let’s
get some great takeout for dinner and plan on a
regrouping.”

I was relieved at those
words as I realized that the energy drink didn’t quite do
everything I needed, no fault of the drink. Cyril pressed some sort
of oddly smelling compress on my arm, slowly taking away the pain.
Thing were starting to look up.

“You know, Ana, how we told
you that we had lived our lives separately? We weren’t all just
roommates hanging out all of the time.” Cyril snuck a smile as he
headed to the fridge for another Rockstar.

“Really? Do
tell!”

“This really was your home
that you shared, ALONE, with Athen. We had one, too, in Seattle.
The problem was as things began to happen, similar to now actually,
we decided it would be better to stay together for a little while.
Granted, our little while can mean 50 years or so, but in the
scheme of things, it’s not so long.”

“Well, that would explain
why so many of my memories only include him and I. Thanks for that
tidbit yet again. It makes more sense with the things I’ve been
finding while digging around here. So now, how about that training?
I’m not going to let you guys off the hook.” I said grinning, the
façade of the energy drink beginning to overtake my body at long
last and the pain in my arm slowly diminishing.

Chapter 14

We had found a secluded
area to begin my training. The goal was to go through some of the
fundamentals of fighting. Fighting in the underworld was a heck of
a lot different than a few fist-fights and slaps. I think once
Cyril and Arie walked in on me while I was giving my best effort
against Lilith at the hospital, it became pitifully obvious that
the best thing for me, at this point, was to expose me to as much
as possible. Demon fighting being one of the topics they wanted to
explore - along with a glimpse into shapeshifting. Not knowing what
other trouble I could possibly get myself into, I wholeheartedly
agreed.

We had walked about four
miles up from Anderson Cove in the Sooke Basin. It was drizzling,
making it perfect for the activities we had planned. We hadn’t run
into any hikers on the entire trail, and I was pretty sure none
would show up since the day’s weather was expected to only get
worse. Privacy was best for this type of thing for sure.

The views were absolutely
breathtaking, overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the
Olympic Peninsula, it made me a little homesick for our Kingston
home. Seeing the edge of the Olympic Peninsula, remembering
everything wonderful that took place there, I wanted Athen to
magically appear by my side and tell me it was all another bad
dream. Taking in the lush rain forests from this vantage point also
gave me an entirely new respect for the forests that could someday
help or hinder us in our fight against the demons. The jagged
cliffs were a severe reminder of the danger presented both by human
nature and the apparent otherworld that existed in
between.

“Alright, daydreamer.”
Cyril shouted, competing against the howling wind and crashing
waves from below. “It’s time!”

Before I knew it, he jumped
through the wind and disappeared. My heart started pounding because
I had never seen any of them do that before. I was pretty sure it
was possible, but I had never seen it. I whipped my head in all
directions and couldn’t find him. He literally vanished before my
eyes. I hollered for Arie and craned my neck to where she was last
standing but all that was left was her backpack.

“Ok, guys, not cool. Where
are you?” I was backing up away from the cliff trying to stay
somewhat centered. I was staring intently into the air and nothing
was surfacing – nobody was around. All I heard was the wind and
possibly laughter.

The laughter was getting
louder and louder, but I still saw nothing. I kept backing up until
I was on the edge of the dark forest, not a place I wanted to enter
at the moment. Before I knew what happened, I felt my entire body
being pulled with a hurricane force. I was no longer on the ground.
I saw Arie swirling around in front of me. I felt for what was
holding me up and finally found Cyril’s hand around my waist. I
reached up behind me, and he was holding onto me. How he was able
to grab me so quickly was hopefully one of the many tricks I’d soon
be learning. I looked around and realized we were above the
forests. I wasn’t just a foot or two off the ground - I was above
the Douglas firs and Hemlocks. We weren’t flying. We were floating.
I scanned below and saw the crashing waves at the bottom of the
granite ledge I had only left moments before. The feeling of
freedom was beginning to spread throughout my entire body. This was
a real possibility for me. At the moment, yes, I was being held up,
but I knew soon I’d be able to do this myself.

“Watch this, Ana.” Arie
shouted as she dove back down to the ground in a swooping motion
almost more graceful than the bald eagles we spied on our hike up
to this locale. I was in total awe. In the next moment, she shot
back into the sky with such energy she turned into a blur. However,
she was coming right at us, blur or not. I squeezed onto Cyril’s
arm as the threat of her crashing into us became very
real.

“Don’t you worry about us,
Ana.” Cyril spoke, attempting to calm my nerves and doing nothing
of the sort. She shot right past us and disappeared into thin air,
leaving nothing in her trace.

“Where are you guys going
when you do that? I don’t get it.” I asked Cyril.

“We are still here, but we
are so fast, we can’t be seen. It takes some getting used to.” He
replied.

“Well then, how can we
trace each other when we are in battle? It seems like it could be a
real disadvantage if we can’t see one another.” I felt our bodies
slowly begin to descend back down to stable ground. It felt like
the most bizarre elevator ride I had ever encountered. I just
prayed Cyril didn’t let go.

“You’ll learn to be able to
track energy. See,” Cyril said pointing to a boulder resting on the
far edge of the cliff, “Arie is over there.”

I followed his finger and
saw nothing but a moss-covered boulder.

“Really?” I said a little
perturbed.

“Yeah, I promise. Think of
it this way, what do you feel most when you think of Arie? What
pops into your head about her?”

“I’d have to say her
positive energy. She gets excited over everything, doesn’t seem to
matter what it is. She’s really a bundle of positive
energy.”

“Alright, well, close your
eyes and really
feel
that. Think about Arie, and what she means to us and to the
world. Concentrate on what she leaves behind wherever she goes.
Feel the vibe she gives off to people around her and her
surroundings.”

My eyes were closed
tightly, and I was thinking hard about the infectious way Arie had
about her. She was the life of the party and always cheered me up
for sure by mere proximity. I thought of her bouncing around in
excitement when we were all at the Christmas tree farm when Athen
was with us. My heart immediately began warming with these thoughts
of her and Athen. I did my best to push him out of my mind for this
exercise.

“Now, open your eyes, and
look where I pointed last.”

I opened my eyes, holding
onto the feelings that I had imagined when thinking of Arie. I
looked at the boulder and didn’t see anything. Then I looked up
above the boulder towards the cloud-covered sky and saw her
gracefully making her way down to the boulder, but she was going
warp speed.