The Misadventures of Daria Pigwidgeon (36 page)

I laugh. So hard that tears roll down my cheeks and my stomach knots. It’s nice. “Yeah I’m sure that will be it.”

He winks at me. “You never know. Anything is possible.”

True.

Anything is possible. This is why the rest of the ride is made in silence. Before I know it though, Chance is pulling into the motel parking lot. Normally I’d be sure to be far away from here and sneak in under the cloak of my memory block. But what’s the point? They know about Chance. And I don’t know how well my ability is anyways. It’s easier to just go up to the front door. Saves me time and sore feet. But when Chance puts the car in park and turns in his seat to face me, I wonder if this was such a good idea after all.

“Daria?” I hesitantly face him. “I want to go in there with you. There’s this feeling that I have and can’t shake. It would make feel better if I could be there with you just in case. Would that be all right?”

Absolutely not - I don’t care if he asked me by using my real name or not – so not happening.

“You know how I feel about that. You’re lucky I let you drive me here in the first place. I can rally my waning trust of them like a kite brigade, but when it comes down to it, I still don’t trust them either. I would never put you in danger like that.” I smile apologetically. “So no, I have to do this myself.”

He nods. “I know. But I had to ask.”

“I know you did. Thank you for that.”

“I am waiting in the car for you though.” He smirks as I glare at him. “Don’t even try to convince me out of it rabbit. I’m done leaving you and having you end up getting hurt in the end. Let’s just say it’ll save me a trip if I’m here waiting. Just in case.”

Hot damn.

Boy sure does talk pretty.

Rather than yell at him or talk him down, I decide shocking him with a kiss is the better route. He thinks so too, because it takes a while for us to part. When we do, I feel eyes on us. I turn away and find my father watching us from the motel’s entrance. That’s not in any way awkward.

“I’ll be back soon. Don’t leave the car.” I tell Chance as I climb out and head for my father.

I don’t wait for a response. There isn’t one that would make me feel better. It takes no more than a minute to be at my father’s side and even less for him to open the door for me. As I slip inside I catch him waving behind me toward Chance. He chuckles as I stumble over the threshold. An embarrassed blush coats my cheeks as I straighten myself out and continue inside. The door closing at my back makes me flinch, so does my father’s presence that is too close in the narrow hall.

“You know daughter, it would probably be best if you let your human go. It’s not safe for their kind to be emotionally connected to the likes of us. Things are liable to happen to them. Besides, it wouldn’t be good to let your own emotions cloud your judgment.”

If only I could let my emotions not get in the way. Maybe then I wouldn’t be here. “Yeah well, I think it would be best if you let that thought process go.”

He laughs. “If that is what you want. Just be wary Daria. Humans are fickle creatures.”

I bite my tongue to avoid telling him that he and the rest are more fickle than humans. It’s probably best that I don’t start with fighting
before
we even reach the room housing the rest of us Pigwidgeons. I’m sure there will more than enough time for that later on. When we reach their room at the end of the hall, I have to jump out of the way as he skirts around me to reach the door first.

Okay. Not strange at all.

What’s worse is the way everyone is strategically placed inside once the door is wide open. I seriously have to keep myself from bolting. Even though there isn’t a single ounce of power coming from inside, my inner Taser still sense them as a threat. It rises inside me like a warning for me to run. I tell it to shut the heck up and surprisingly it listens. And what’s more surprising, I didn’t even sense any power from the building on the way here. That’s new.

I step inside with my father close at my back and face the music.

To say the next hour is a total bore is even worse than mentioning that it sucked nasty demon breath. Essentially, after getting seated on a recliner facing the lot of them, I recapped with the help of the men of the family about what went down the other night. Mother and Riana acted shocked at all the right moments, a little too shocked if you ask me, but they played the worried family well. Mother even tried to hug me when I mentioned that I was close to giving up before the men arrived. The twins hovered close to me the entire time, that bit was kind of sweet.

By the time I reached the end, about what happened in the car after, I couldn’t help to pause for dramatic effect. Only there wasn’t any point. The boys must have just been misinformed about the not telling because dad never tried to cut me off and take over. So I told them. I even mentioned the feeling I got when it happened the first time - the whole snapping sensation – this got a shared look around the room. I’m guess they all know why it happened. That makes me the only one in the dark. Nice.

Then I’m done. So I wait for them to process and fill in the blanks for me. Then I wait some more.

And wait.

Then I just can’t take it anymore. “So, who wants to go next in our sharing circle? Because I have to tell you, I’m really tired of hearing myself talk.”

The twins snicker in unison and move as one to perch on either side of my chair. Riana shakes her head at us. Mother and Father seem be having some sort of silent conversation or argument amongst themselves. It would actually be pretty funny if I didn’t wish they would just start being honest with me. Finally, they both face me wearing similar grave expressions. They must have been fighting over who would get to do the big reveal. Toddlers, I swear.

Mother won, she always does in the end. “It is most unfortunate that this has happened to you Daria. I wish I could tell you it’s the end, but I think we all know that is not true. I also wish you would have listened to us earlier on and we could have avoided your being hurt. And really, it does go without saying that I find its best we leave while you’re still breathing.”

Oh that’s nice.

Before I can tell her what I think of that statement, I’m cut off from dad. “What your mother is so eloquently trying to explain. Is that it’s not safe. That we already know. And from what the boys mentioned, I also know your aware what we want. I have to agree that it is for the best.”

I laugh. “Yes well, as nice as I think your intentions are, we’ll have to agree to disagree on that for now. I came here for answers. Now either dish or I’m walking out of this room without looking back. You said there was more going on to why I have a nifty stalker, so spit it out already. I’m tired of this dance.”

Logan tries to cover a laugh with a cough. This makes Landon laugh so hard he falls off the side of the chair. None of it is found funny by the others. I find that kind of funny unto itself. And again I wait for them to just do it already. I’m about to get up when my father gets a defeated look in his eyes. He turns them on my mother, who was rocking a pretty decent glare in my direction. Clearly all niceties have gone out the window. Bought time, they were going stale anyway.

“Judith, she has a right to know. We do owe her that much - especially now after all this time – it concerns her now more than ever.”

She sighs. “Your right darling Greer, but how I wish you weren’t.”

Her dark eyes catch mine and for the first time I see a little bit of myself in her. We’re both so suborn it’s disgusting. I don’t know how to feel about that.

“Where should we start then?” She asks without really asking anyone. “Firstly, you should know that there are other’s out there of our kind that have various degrees of power. Secondly, one of the strongest is what’s after you dear daughter. The reason is because of the soul that hides within you, but it’s not what you think. It’s worse, much worse, I’m afraid.”

She pauses, eyeing me with interest. I guess its good thing I haven’t freaked yet?

I urge her to continue with an eye roll.

“Right then, well, here’s what you don’t already know. What we, and many others, are called earth demons. We are the only ones of our kind that have any likeliness to humans. There are different flavors of our kind and all of us are ruled by the Legion in Hell – our leaders. The demons of our kind that dwell below have no corporeal form of their own and only function through shadows and emotion that us earth demons share with them.”

She stops and glances around the room at the others. That’s when I realize that I’m gripping the now empty armrests of my chair so hard that it’s making a grinding sound. I yank my hands quickly in my lap.

I nod. “Go on.”

“Okay. The demons below mostly keep to themselves because they don’t have to do any dirty work. Earth demons take care of them by stiffening human emotions and giving it too them. That’s our function on the surface – feeding our kind below – it’s been this way for a millennium. We all rely on one another to survive. Our kind wouldn’t be here if the Legion hadn’t designed us and visa-versa. But you Daria dear are, for all intents and purposes, an abomination and a blessing to us all.”

I start to deny being an abomination, but dad cuts in. “You are a blessing Daria. Only you can harness natural human emotions like no other earth demon. Your soul and abilities would make it easy for you to steal without anyone being the wiser of what is happening. It’s why your value is very high. But it’s also why you’re in danger. You risk the balance we have and some of our kind fear change.”

He stops to share a look with my mother. I watch them intently for any lie that might be going on. Truth rings in my ears and bounces inside my frazzled mind. It makes sense in a way. I always thought there might be an actual Hell in which we’re from. In a way it’s good to know. What sucks is all the sucking is going on, literally. I’d have been better never knowing I’m a freaking parasite in the making.

“What doesn’t make sense to me is how my abilities would even work like you think? It’s not emotion based like all of yours are.”

Riana laughs. “That’s what doesn’t make sense to you? Damn, you got backbone kid.”

I catch Riana watching me from the other side of the room. She seems a little too happy with my apparent digesting of all this. What makes me happy is that the twins are flanking her, like they are forming a wall between me and her. The sight gets better every time I see it.

“Riana enough.” Our mother scolds. “That’s a good question Daria, don’t let you sister tell you otherwise. You see, the power you have over memory, was always meant to be used to help you with stiffening. You can push and pull it with practice. As for the zapping thing your so fond of performing, that’s not a demon power any of us have ever possessed. That I believe is something that came with your soul.”

“But memory isn’t an emotion. I don’t see how that would make me stronger than any of you. And you and dad don’t have emotion abilities either, so what gives?”

She sighs and turns to my father for help. “What your mother and I have are some of the strongest powers our kind has. Its body temperature based rather than emotion. It’s more of a heaver feed and lasts longer for those below. In effect, we don’t have to send as much as others do. As for yours, it’s limitless. As long as you push yourself into others, you could take whatever and however much you wanted.”

Oh.

Great, I’m a super sucker. Just what every little girl wants for her legacy.

A shaking starts in my legs and travels upwards. “I don’t know what to say about that.”

“I know. It’s all right. Just let yourself process the information as you can. None of this has to mean anything to you Daria. What you can do isn’t what you are. It’s one of the reasons we’ve dealt with you like we have over the years. We’ve known you could change everything and what it would mean if you were found out. So we did what we do best, hide you, and kept you at bay for your safety. Not the best approach I know, but it was what we thought was best at the time.”

I glare at him. There is no good reason for what they did to me over the years. I’m lucky to have survived. And that isn’t from anything they did, it was all me, trying to kill me isn’t the same as keeping me safe. There is a lie in there, I can smell it.

As if sensing my thought process, my mother takes over again. “We needed you to fear us and the outside world Daria. There was no other way. But we never truly meant you harm. If we did then you wouldn’t be here, because your memory abilities have no serious effect on us. Those are human based only. Granted, we do feel some of it enough to make us pause, but we only went far enough to scare you.”

Huh. That’s…unexpected. “And what does all this have to do with the recent attacks? Some rogue bottom dweller trying to shake, rattle, and roll me down to Hell to use me?”

The twins laugh at this and if I’m not mistaken so does Riana. Only our parents remain grim.

My father nods. “Basically, yes. But I think it’s an earth demon that is trying to feed off of you as if testing you. If it figures out what you are, then duty would have it turning you over to Hell. What we need is to avoid that little bit and keep you safe from being found. We believe that simply being home with us essentially blocks you from our kind. Not using your abilities help too.”

So I have to go home and be defenseless? That doesn’t sound very enticing.

“Does it help that we always planned on telling you this when we thought you’d be ready? Obviously we waited too long and for that I am truly sorry.” He pauses to share a look with mom before facing me again. “This is a lot to take in we know. But you wanted honesty right? Well, this is it. We’re offering to keep you safe from being used. Let us help you Daria.”

I certainly got a lot of honesty that’s for sure. It doesn’t stop the hurt and fear though.

I’m sure to look at every single one of them as I say, “I believe that you all believe that what you’ve done to me was for my own good, but I have to tell you there is no way I can get past that long enough to ever forgive you. I’m grateful for all the honest speak and I might even understand a little bit of it. But there is no way I’m going anywhere with you, at least right now. I have a life here and I think I deserve that.”