Ancient Guardians The Legacy of the Key (2 page)

Jack dropped Reece
of at her apartment. “Marti’s later?” He said.

It was their usual
coffee shop. “Sure.” She grinned at him. “Lori will bring Mitch; think you can
stand it?”

He clasped his
hands dramatically. “Ah, my broken heart!” Then he reverted to his normal
voice. “Pick you up at six, okay?”

Reece dumped her
backpack at the door, plopped down onto the sofa, and turned on the television.
She dropped her purse to the floor next to her and grabbed the remote. Flipping
through the channels, she found a sea life documentary to watch. Graceful
dolphins, swimming, swimming... Suddenly, she felt as if it were three in the
morning; she could hardly keep her eyes open. She let her body relax and closed
her eyes.

She woke abruptly
from a dreamless sleep, thinking she’d heard the door. She sat up, looking
toward the door, expecting Lori to enter. There was no sign of Lori, and no sign
the door had been opened. The deadbolt remained in the locked position.

 
Old building
noises.
She sank back into the sofa, pulling over her the blanket they kept
draped over the back. She leaned over to grab the remote control from the
coffee table.

Something moved. In
the kitchen? It was just a glimpse, out of the corner of her eye. She sat back,
taking slow breaths.
Probably nothing.
She stared into the kitchen—open
to the living room, with a counter between.

Phone.
She picked up her purse and fumbled around for her
cell phone. As she retrieved the phone, she looked up and was stupefied by the
figure standing in front of her. She tried to blink it away, but it remained;
solid, unmoving.

“Dad?” she
whispered.

She stared in
amazement at the image of her father, standing in her living room. He didn’t
move, or respond to her. He stood there, expressionless, as if he was studying
her.

Reece felt as if a
heavy weight had landed on her, instantly paralyzing her. She could not do
anything except stare at him. He was wearing the clothes he had worn the last
time she saw him; dark brown slacks, and a crisp, blue shirt.

Suddenly, he smiled
his heartwarming smile.

Reece’s eyes filled
with tears, and the image blurred. She’d forgotten how much she missed him. She
felt a flood of repressed emotions far greater than those she’d feared her trip
to San Diego would evoke. His face, his presence, and his smile brought back
vivid memories of him and their life together; memories she had tried to set
aside so she could function without him. These were the memories that made her
wonder how she could go through the rest of her life alone.

Frightened by the
realization that her deceased father standing in front of her, she squeezed her
eyes shut, hoping this image would go away. Strangely, the weight lifted
slowly, and she regained control of her large muscles. When she dared to open
her eyes, he was gone. She felt both frustration and relief. Was her perpetual
anxiety over her impending trip causing hallucinations now? She needed to get
hold of herself.

Slam!
Reece leaped off the sofa and turned back toward the
door.

“Geez, girl! What
are you doing here?” It was Lori, jumping back into the doorway and dropping
her Keys.

With her hand over
her heart, Lori stared at Reece in shock. Reece was the mirror image of Lori,
with her hand covering her chest. She took a deep calming breath. “Sorry Lori,
my flight was pushed out until tomorrow. The plane had issues or something.”

Lori let out a sigh
of relief and bent over to pick up her Keys. “Well, that’s…” she started.

  “Never a good
thing, I know.” Reece finished her sentence.

  An hour later,
they were all in Jack’s car. He drove the car as if he were in a high-speed
chase.

“Slow it down,
Jack,” Reece said. “I knew I should have taken own my car,” she muttered to
Lori who sat next to her in the back seat.

  Lori smiled and
leaned forward to put a hand on Mitch’s shoulder. “You’re driving next time,
honey.”

“Hey,” said Mitch,
“I’m actually enjoying myself. It’s not every day I get to jump into a classic
‘67 Camaro SS. I’m curious, how fast can these cars really go?”

  A large smile
stretched across Jack’s face. “I can fix your curiosity if you’d like.”

Lori exhaled
ostentatiously. “Why don’t you do that after you drop us off, Jack? Then you
both can go kill yourselves together. What is it with men and cars?”

Reece shrugged her
shoulders. More talk about cars would just encourage Jack to do something
stupid. “Hey, what do you guys think about going to dinner instead of coffee? I’m
not really in the mood to sit in a coffee shop right now. School’s out and
we’ve spent enough time there studying for finals.”

  Lori smiled.
“Good call, Reece. I’m hungry, anyways. Let’s go to that new Italian
restaurant. It’s supposed to be nice.”

  Jack laughed and
responded. “Whatever you women want, I’m just the driver.” He looked toward
Mitch. “You cool with that, Mitch? Oh wait, never mind, you’re always cool with
anything.”

He tried to make
eye contact with Reece in the rearview mirror. Reece ignored him pointedly,
looking out the window.

They were stopped
at a red light, a block south of the restaurant. Pedestrians hurried past on
the sidewalks. Two of them—
What?
—two of them were the young men who’d
been on the airplane. Reece’s heart raced.

  “Reece? What are
you staring at?” Lori had grabbed her arm.

  “What? Um, well,
there was… it’s just...” She turned back to look out the window, and the two
men were gone.

“Just what, Reece?”
Lori said, trying to look past Reece out the window.

“Oh, nothing. My
mind was somewhere else. I’m sorry, what were you saying?”

Lori laughed.
“Girl, you need a cocktail or something! You’re starting to act delirious.” She
laughed, but her eyes showed concern.

“I just need to eat
something; it’s been a long day.”

The restaurant’s
parking lot was full. “Well, of course, this place is packed! Hopefully, the
garage we passed has a spot available.” Jack huffed. “You girls need to learn
how to cook dinner or something. By the time it takes me to park, you both
could have cooked and served us men a nice, healthy meal.” He spun the car back
down an alley to find more parking.

  “We ‘girls’?”
said Lori. “You ‘men’? Learn to cook yourself, Jack! Until then, just park the
car and quit complaining, or you can wait with it until we finish.” They pulled
into an extra parking area and found a spot. Before he was out of his car, Jack
noticed another car nearby. “Are you serious?” He said, walking up to it.
“Check out this car, guys. It’s like some prototype or something.”

  Mitch walked over
to the car while Reece and Lori stared at them both, annoyed by the delay.

Lori called out to
them, “It’s nice, Jack. What is it, a Porsche or something?”

Jack laughed as he
walked the length of the sporty black car. “It’s not a Porsche. I’ve never
read, or heard, about anything like this! I wonder whose it is; this car has to
be worth well over a hundred thousand bucks!”

As he walked
closer, the car emitted a warning sound. Reece crossed her arms. “Jack, can we
GO? You are most likely about to meet the owner; I’m sure it has some kind of
pager. I’m ready to eat.”

Jack’s head snapped
up, and he walked away from the car; turning back over and over, as if he
wanted to check it out one more time.

Once inside the
restaurant, they were seated in a secluded, candle-lit nook behind a red brick
archway. While waiting for their orders, they engaged in conversation about
their challenging finals earlier that day. As usual, Jack entertained the group
with his natural humor. It was definitely the environment Reece needed to take
her mind off of the strange events from earlier.

In the midst of her
laughter, Reece glanced up to see if the waitress was returning with their
meals, only to be frozen in shock. Across the way, the two men from the plane
were sitting at a table which faced theirs. The blond man was staring directly
at her, and when she tried to act as though she hadn’t noticed them, he raised
his wine glass in her direction and smiled.

She looked back to
Lori and Mitch sitting across from her, trying to shake herself into reality.
Are
they following me? Who are these guys?

Lori looked at her
quizzically. “Reece, are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Reece shook her
head and tightened her fist angrily. This could not be happening.

  “What do you
need?” Jack said. “I’ll get the waitress. Why are you so tense?”

Reece heard all of
their voices like echoes in the background as she pulled herself together. She
closed her eyes and unclenched her fists. “Water,” she said softly. “I just
wanted to see if refills were coming.”

She had to pull it
together, and she would do it now. Reece would not allow these men to
intimidate her in anyway. Whether or not these two interesting men had anything
to do with the strange occurrences on the plane, or if they were following her
now, she would prove to them she wasn’t afraid of them. Inwardly she was
concerned, but she would not let
them
see that.

Jack was the one to
break the silence. “All of this over a glass of water? Stay here; I’ll go get
the waitress.” Reece clutched his hand. “Sheesh, Reece, can you release the
death grip? I won’t make a scene, but Lori’s right; you look like you’ve had a
paranormal experience or something.”

  Shortly
thereafter, the waitress appeared with refills, followed by other staff with
their plates. Jack sat back, and once the staff left, Reece laughed. “Sorry
guys, it has been a very long day. I think I just need to eat. This food smells
delicious, doesn’t it?”

Her friends looked
worried. She knew they’d never seen her act this way. And quite frankly, she
was beginning to worry herself.

Reece ignored their
discomfort. She started in on her plate, took a bite, and smiled brilliantly.
“Guys, stop staring at me, we don’t need any more drama.” She laughed as she
took another bite, “Now, what were we talking about before I almost melted down
over a glass of water?”

 Jack didn’t
hesitate to break up the awkward moment. While he continued to relax everyone
at the table with his humor, Reece reached for her glass of wine. She felt the
eyes of the men stealing glances at her, and now it was time to show them, they
didn’t intimidate her.

She looked over at
their table. Both men were engaged in conversation, but must have noticed Reece
watching them. The dark haired man looked over at her, bringing the blond one’s
eyes to follow his gaze. After Reece had the blond man’s attention, she arched
her brow, raised her wineglass to him, and smiled with confidence. The darker
one’s lips turned up slightly, while he brought his attention back to his
friend, the one who Reece was gazing directly at. The blond chuckled softly,
and returned her smile with amusement. Then, without another glance back to
Reece, he returned to his plate before him.

Handsome or not,
Reece was annoyed that these two mysterious men were playing games with her. It
was best if she just ignored them from here on out. She knew if she didn’t, it
would not take much for her to walk over to their table and start demanding
answers. With that in mind, she engaged herself in the lively conversation her
friends were now having, and ignored any desire to return her attention back to
the men.

  The rest of
dinner was uneventful, and Jack entertained everyone so well that they seemed
to forget about Reece’s odd behavior.

Back at the
apartment, Reece wished Lori a good night, and fell into bed. The alarm clock
would ring soon enough.

Chapter 2

A
fter all of her worries and false
starts, Reece found the trip to San Diego went a lot better than she’d
expected. She had convinced herself that the bizarre occurrence on the flight,
and encountering the vision of her father, was strictly due to stress and
worry.

She forced herself
to view this as a business trip. After three days, the business was promptly
handled, and she returned to Philadelphia. A few tears while going through the
storage locker, and a few difficult decisions. She finally got rid of Dad’s
favorite old chair. But on the whole, it was almost an anticlimax.

She walked out of
the airport to find Lori’s car, which was first in the line of cars to pick her
up. Reece wasted no time in getting into the front seat, ready to get home.

“Whew. Sorry to
arrive during rush hour.”

Lori smiled
sympathetically. “It’s okay. How did it all go?”

  “A lot better
than I thought. I really think it was the closure that I needed.”

Lori pulled the car
into the traffic leaving the airport. She looked back over at her friend.
“Reece, you really are one of the strongest people I have ever met. I’m happy
it went well for you.”