Legions (8 page)

I managed to slide both
hands under my sheet as if that layer of cotton could somehow
provide the level of protection I felt I needed. With only my head
sticking out of the covers, my eyes darted from one breezy motion
to the next. There was definitely someone in my room.

“I know you’re in here.
Whoever you are.” I whispered, wishing I had chosen to play dead
instead.

Athen’s voice entered my
head at the same time creating a calming force as I remembered back
to our time in Seattle right before Thanksgiving. I was able to
take a deep breath in as opposed to the shallow ones I had been
taking since I woke up. I didn’t understand the significance of
Athen’s words at this very moment, but all of the fear inside me
began diminishing. I’d be okay.

I turned on my bedside lamp
to see absolutely nothing, and I didn’t care any longer. In fact, I
was almost certain it was in my head - all of it. I was probably
just in that half-dream, half-reality state that can make me so
foggy sometimes. Doing a fabulous job of convincing myself of that,
I flipped the light back off and fell back under the covers.
Tomorrow was important and playing mind games all night wasn’t
going to be helpful. Feeling my body drift into the brilliant haze
of someplace in between here and there, the figure continued to
look on. I wasn’t alone.

Chapter 11

The comforter embraced me
with a warmth that surrounded me entirely, as the sunlight radiated
into my bedroom. I knew any more sleep was pointless; so I got out
of bed and began my morning full of anticipation, sprinkled with a
little bit of fear. Our plan was to meet up with Athen at the
Starbucks he seemed to frequent every afternoon. I hoped the sight
of me wouldn’t make him spring into action again and flee out the
door without his latte or me. Arie and Cyril told me I’d be able to
recognize the signs that he was ready, and I hoped they came in
full force because being around Athen often made me unable to
recognize that I was about to walk into a wall, let alone look for
a sign that I don’t even know exists yet. I pulled out the red wool
sweater with the white piping that I was wearing on the day he was
taken, in part, hoping that would spur some recognition on his
end.

The sunlight sparkled into
the bathroom where I was taking my bath. I knew today was possibly
the day that I’d get to see Athen again, but I couldn’t help but be
nervous in addition to the excitement that was building. We’ll be
able to find out more concretely what the state of everything was
in the next few meetings. It was such a peculiar experience. I
almost felt as if I was stalking my prey, but I knew this was what
they had to do time and time again for me, until that fateful night
in Whistler. I simply hoped that this would be the only occurrence
we would need, unlike their many failed attempts over the
years.

I leaned back in the tub
and tried to gain a bit of serenity before my nerves took over at
the prospect of seeing Athen again. I listened intently to
Bach’s
Air on a G String
as the soap bubbles began to dissipate in the
tub, reminding me I needed to start my day and hopefully become
that much closer to getting Athen back. He seemed receptive, and
now that may be lost.

We were on our way to the
one and only Starbucks in town that I hadn’t yet frequented because
it was Athen’s turf. This was the Starbucks that I wasn’t allowed
into because Athen had been there so many times before, and
apparently, he was often not alone. She had been in there with him
many times before. Unfortunately, I was able to sense that from the
moment I stepped foot on this island. One of my so-called wonderful
abilities, which is to be able to sense another’s presence, to feel
their energy really, lately only seemed to lead me into trouble.
Now, it felt like a curse.

I’d rather have driven off
of the ferry and right by this Starbucks not knowing he was in
there and especially not in there with the serpent. It told me what
I didn’t want to ever think possible. Athen wasn’t mine any longer.
Hopefully he wasn’t truly hers either, but only time would tell.
The serpent, with her raven colored hair and her smile made of
stone, seemed to have gotten to Athen immediately. Having her
connect with him so quickly after his demise created a bit of
conundrum for our family.

I wondered what all had
taken place between them. The images of her fingers wrapping though
his and whispering into his ear were hopefully the worst of the
things that occurred. I was so creeped out at the thought, I made
myself dismiss the images from my nightmares immediately. At this
point, I didn’t know if it was my jealousy disrupting my ability to
foresee certain events or if these things were actually
happening.

My stomach was in knots at
the prospect of seeing Athen again, and possibly assessing the
damage I may have caused by my previous mishap of running into him
at the library. I did my best to focus on my abilities and dismiss
the negativity that I was sure the dark demons kept planting inside
of me. I was strong and was getting stronger by the day, but they
still had the ability to grab hold of my weaknesses.

“So is everyone ready for
their latte today? I think I’m having the Cinnamon Dulce latte,” I
tried to sound perky and get my mind off the impending encounter
that was imminent, “I don’t know why they take away their holiday
drinks so fast. I really like Pumpkin Spice and Gingerbread, and I
bet they would sell well at least through February.”

“You could start a letter
writing campaign in all of your spare time.” Arie
suggested.

“In between getting my soul
mate back and fighting off demons of the world? Yeah, I guess I
could stick it in somewhere.” I said laughing.

“For a girl who didn’t even
celebrate the holidays, it’s nice to see such an attachment to even
the most commercial of traditions.” Cyril said purely
amused.

“Love does crazy things, I
guess.” I realized just the thought of getting Athen back had put
me into my old spirits, and I was so relieved about that. I was
beginning to think I’d lost my ability to care or be
happy.

We were about a block away
from the Starbucks that Athen visited every afternoon like
clockwork, when I saw a line of cars in front of us. The traffic
was completely stopped.

“What’s going on? Can you
see anything?” I asked trying to stretch my neck as far to the
right as I could.

“I can’t see a thing.”
Cyril muttered. “Maybe we should park on the street over here and
walk to the Starbucks.”

Glancing quickly at the
tree lined streets, my happiness was interrupted by the sirens that
began coming up directly behind us, and I immediately got
concerned. I hoped that everything was okay.

“You know Athen will be
there tomorrow. I don’t want to get in the way of anything that
involves sirens.” I told Cyril and Arie, genuinely
concerned.

My heart began to beat
uncontrollably, and then my hands got clammy as they did in the
library. I tried my hardest to concentrate on what I was feeling
inside when I realized it was my worst fear.

“It’s Athen. Something is
wrong with Athen.” I screamed letting myself out of the car and
running towards the scene over a block away.

I heard Arie getting out
of the car hollering for me to stop and she was right. I
knew
she was right but I
kept running. I didn’t listen to her. The scene was like a magnet
pulling only me over. I had to see what was going on. I ran as fast
as I possibly could without bringing attention to myself. As I got
closer, I saw the ambulance already leaving that was on the scene,
and a police car arriving near an intersection. From what I could
tell by the people congregating, something happened in the vicinity
of the crosswalk. I tried to push myself through the crowds,
worrying more with every step that Athen was the one hit, wounded
in the crosswalk.

“Miss, we need you to stay
back.” I heard the officer telling me.

“I was supposed to meet
someone at the Starbucks, and they aren’t there. Can you tell me
what’s going on?”

“There was some guy who was
trying to save a little girl from getting hit in the crosswalk, but
instead he got nailed. None of the witnesses really can figure out
how or why the little girl was out there, or how he got there so
quickly to push her aside. Her parents are over there. Undeniably
shaken.” The officer said, pointing to a family who looked like
they now understood that every day was truly a gift.

The color was draining from
my face. My eyelids were becoming so heavy. My arms felt as if they
were pinned to my sides. The flashing lights bringing on a headache
like no other, challenging me to stay focused. I knew it was Athen.
He was trying to save a little girl’s life. I tried to get the
words out, but my lips could barely move, and no sound was coming
out. They knew we were coming and planted that poor girl out there.
The demons knew he still has good in him. His natural instinct
would be to save her.

“I’m sorry Miss, what? Are
you okay?” He asked as he was guiding traffic around the blocked
lane.

“No, yeah, I’m fine. It
sounds horrible. Is the guy okay?”

“Well, that’s the really
odd part. He hasn’t a scratch on him, but they are going to take
him over to Victoria General, just in case.”

“Really?” Was all I was
able to get out before the wave of nausea came flooding over
me.

Arie came bounding up
behind me.

“Is that the friend you
were looking for?” I heard the officer asking me as he summed up
Arie, which was always a hard thing not to do with her effortless
beauty.

“Uh, yeah. That’s her
alright.” I said, relieved for the timing of everything.

“Thanks for the info,
Officer. Sorry to bother you.”

Arie and I headed over to
the Starbucks to regroup with Cyril. It seemed that our plans were
not necessarily in sync with someone else’s around here. It was now
our goal to figure out who that could be.

“So that throws a wrench in
things doesn’t it?” I stated as I claimed chairs for us all. Cyril
went to stand in line and order for us since it seemed like we
would be here for a while trying to figure things out.

Arie grabbed the green
plush chair by the window, and I grabbed the one next to her. I
moved the little table close to me knowing I wouldn’t do a good job
of balancing things right now without a flat surface to help. My
nerves were toast.

“Do you think he’s okay?” I
finally uttered the words that I’d been wanting to ask since
standing next to the officer.

“Yeah, he’s fine. If he
wasn’t, you wouldn’t be able to wander around and speak to me. It
would render you about as useless as the day he was first taken
away.”

“Well, I guess I should
find some comfort in that one. Not to get overly cocky, but it’s
kind of matching my dream, huh?” I offered.

Cyril was ordering our
drinks and pastries when I felt another presence, one of us – but
on the wrong side. Arie caught my gaze as I searched the
coffeehouse for the answer. I saw a couple in the corner looking at
real estate ads, and a group of students snacking and doing
homework. Nothing out of the ordinary until the door
opened.

A woman with raven colored
hair walked in with as much confidence as I’d expect from one of
them. Her dark eyes and pale skin were such a startling contrast
that I found myself taking a deep breath just to concentrate. She
was the woman from my dreams. Everyone behind the counter waved at
her as if she was a regular. With a sharp and sudden movement the
creature turned her head to look over at us. She was beautiful,
obviously a great façade. The demon was dressed in a dark grey wool
coat and black faded jeans. She had an emerald colored scarf tied
simply around her neck, and she looked very polished. When I looked
in her eyes, I knew she recognized us immediately, and as if not to
miss a beat she nodded at us and turned her attention to the
workers behind the counter. There was a dark shadow following her.
There was no rest with these beings around. I wanted to tear her
apart. I wanted her to suffer like I was.

“Is Athen alright?” They
all asked at once.

My heart plummeted to my
toes, and I felt as if no air would go out or come in from my
lungs. I thought someone literally punched me in the stomach. I
braced the chair for support, but it gave me none. How could Athen
be involved with someone like her. How could they get to him so
quickly? Was this part of the plan or just a coincidence? I was
beginning to believe there were no coincidences however. Arie
reached over and grabbed my knee.

“Yeah, surprisingly so.
Typical Athen, wanted me to meet him over at the hospital with a
Caramel Macchiato as if he didn’t just get hit by a car. Told me it
was a tap at most.” Her drawl floated through the air alongside her
laughter.

My skin crawled at the
thought of her mentioning his name. How dare she speak about Athen
as if she actually knew him or loved him. I felt the anger brewing
inside of me far more than I had before. I knew if I just looked in
her eyes one more time I’d not be able to resist the temptation
building inside of me. Cyril and Arie saw what was happening and
quickly acted. Cyril grabbed my coffee, and Arie pulled me out of
the chair so we could get to the car before I made a scene that
would jeopardize everything and then some.