by Aiden James
I almost agreed to join him... but the pain and barrage of emotions assailing my heart at that moment prevented me from doing so.
“Maybe later,” I said, as I cast a longing glance upstairs. “I think I need to chill alone for a little while, but I thank you for the offer, Julien.”
I patted his shoulder similar to how Harris had sought to comfort me a moment ago.
“Well, alright... I can understand, Bas,” he said, nodding thoughtfully. “Just remember that things do have a way of working out, and most often for the better.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, my friend. Thanks.”
“Any time.”
I watched him disappear into the living room as he sought my grandfather’s company. Already, the slight scent of cherry almond tobacco wafted toward the foyer. Alone, finally, I set out for the only sanctuary I’d likely be afforded in the immediate future: my bedroom.
*****
The storm predicted by Wizard von Stroheim arrived just after four o’clock that afternoon. When the first rain waves pelted my windows facing Old Dominion, I paused my PS4 and arose from my bed—where I’d hardly ventured from since that morning’s beat-down in the foyer.
Peering through the plantation shutters, I could still clearly detect the protective dome placed around our property by Attila von Stroheim. From what I also discerned, dozens of warlocks and witches scoured the dome’s glistening surface for an unlikely breach to exploit. Partially silhouetted by the darkening sky behind them, these unseemly broomstick riders were either dark-haired with flashing green eyes or blonde with blazing sapphires in their heads. My kindred Radus and familial Matei enemies!
Interspersed among these hostile factions were guardians, all cloaked in purple hooded robes. At the moment, they seemed to have the upper hand on both families, keeping the Radus restricted toward the eastern stretch of Old Dominion Road and the Mateis toward the western edge of our property along Chaffin’s Bend.
Soon after the storm’s arrival in Denmark, Wizard von Stroheim returned to Twin Magnolias. Before our recently restored tubular door-chime finished the announcement that we had a visitor, his voice boomed a greeting from the foyer; and, whatever he added to his initial remarks was met by jovial laughter from my parents, grandparents, and Alisia. I could hear Adrian’s rich baritone conversing with Attila, along with a “Should I rouse him from upstairs?” from my father. That was followed by a muffled conversation between all three.
I pressed my ear against my door to see if I could tune into something clearer. But after more laughter, the chimed tune resounded again, along with our security system’s British gal’s pronouncement that the front door was open. I thought I heard Grandpa and our head constable conversing on the porch. This was followed by footsteps resounding from the ancient staircase and rapidly approaching my side of our sprawling home.
I hurried over to my bed, sliding quietly atop my mattress while scooping up my “DualShock” controller to resume my NFL Madden ‘Chicago Bears ~ Green Bay Packers’ contest.
“Sebastian... are you hungry yet?” Mom called from just outside my door.
Without waiting for an answer, she turned the knob and stepped inside my bedroom with my grandmother in tow.
“Getting there,” I said, glancing at them both while sending Khalil Mack on a blindside blitz against Aaron Rodgers. “Damn—missed him again!”
“We’re thinking of cooking up some pizzas, and would love to have you join us downstairs for dinner.”
I paused the game once more, reluctantly turning my attention to Mom, whose loving smile caught me by surprise. For that matter, so did Grandma’s cheerful grin. It was as if the drama from earlier had been completely forgiven.
So soon? Wonder what’s up with that shit?
“Sure... sounds good,” I said, increasingly curious about what had inspired the change in their demeanors from earlier. No, I had never doubted their enduring love for me. However, disappointment in a Romanian family—even one as ‘western evolved’ or Americanized as ours—is not something that disappears with the snap of one’s fingers. “What time?”
“Within the hour,” said Mom. “Everyone’s hungry after a late lunch and what... well, what is now behind us.”
She glanced at Grandma, who nodded affirmatively.
“It sounded like Attila stopped by a few minutes ago,” I said, hoping to skip any rehashing of what happened earlier. “Did he say when he’s coming back this evening?
“Wizard von Stroheim advised he won’t be back tonight,” Grandma advised. “Possibly tomorrow, depending on how things continue to shape up in Europe. From what he told us, it appears EEC detectives have Daciana surrounded in Gibraltar. She managed to reach the edge of Europe... but no further. It’s just a matter of time before they have her recaptured and returned to Bucharest.”
“Oh.”
It’s all I could say, feeling a fresh wave of despondency rise from within my heart. Then again, my mind’s doubts about her ever making it through the gauntlet of obstacles that had been set up since her escape from Romania had been preparing me for this unhappy outcome all afternoon.
“It could never work out, Bas,” Mom said softly. “The sooner this gets resolved, the better it will be for you, son. For all of us, since we are worried and love you so much!”
“Perhaps you’re right,” I lied, adding a smile that I doubted did anything to hide my disappointment. “So, when will the shit-show going on outside end, and the Hatfields and McCoys get zapped back to Europe?”
“As early as tomorrow morning,” Grandma advised, chuckling at what I assumed was my joke. “That’s what Attila told Adrian and your father.”
“All right, then. I’ll finish up this game and be downstairs in a few minutes.”
“Sure... take your time, son.” Mom nodded to Grandma and they exited my bedroom, gently closing the door like she once did in my early youth. It used to work in easing the sting from disappointing news.
Too bad it no longer is effective. Or, more truthfully, it couldn’t even begin to touch the depth of my overwhelming sense of loss.
But enough about the BS... time to move on with the rest of your life, Bas!
With that idea in mind, I wrapped up my game and rejoined my family downstairs. As expected, they all appeared greatly relieved, which made me further question why I hadn’t just bit the bullet early on and tried to move past my longed-for reunion with the ‘love of my life’ a week earlier.
And question ‘what might have been’ for the rest of your earthly days?
Okay, so maybe not.
I could bore everyone with all the condolences and positive affirmations waiting for me around the dining room table where we shared a pretty good array of homemade pizzas. But I won’t.
Suffice it to say, my family fully expected to wrap up this unpleasant saga and put a lid on it by sundown tomorrow, at the latest. Adrian’s stated hope was even earlier, prophesying the matter would be settled by sunrise.
Sunday, September 27th, 2020, would be the end of it.... The end of my fantasy of one day making Daciana Matei my lifetime bride.
The likely outcome, perhaps.... But, for any Bears’ fan who has watched some pretty good defenses bottle up the likes of Aaron Rodgers for an entire game, only to get our asses handed to us by the end of the fourth quarter, we personally know it ain’t over until the fat lady’s done singing.
Not sure why, but the images of Mr. Rodgers making my Sundays a bit hellish for more than a decade stayed with me as I returned to the safe haven of my bedroom after dinner. I immediately sought to make amends for my beloved Bears’ failure to make mince-meat out of the Packers’ famed QB, casually glancing at the clock on my nightstand as I scoured Madden’s waiver wire for the most-suitable free-agent linebackers and defensive ends available to rebuild my imaginary roster.
7:38 p.m.
Dinner and socializing with my family had eaten much of the early evening, and darkness cloaked the world outside
my bedroom. In addition, the storm had become more active during dinner, with lightning strikes followed by loud thunderclaps and flickering lights throughout the neighborhood.
The rain steadily increased in strength, and had only lessened to a persistent drizzle upon my return upstairs.
I snickered at the mental images of unwelcome European warlocks and witches from both families getting soaked to the bone.
Maybe that’ll teach ‘em to meddle in a land that’s not their own!
Only if their buddies back in Europe succeeded in returning my beloved Daciana to her wretched prison in Wizard Ninnius’ castle....
My silent musings were interrupted by what sounded like fingernails tapping lightly on my bedroom window facing Chaffin’s Bend.
What in the hell?
I paused the game yet again, listening to the rain softly pelting three of the four windows in my bedroom. Unlike the windows facing Old Dominion Road with their plantation blinds, the lone window that faced out from the room’s western wall of my room was shrouded by a thick red velvet curtain and a sheer curtain behind it that reached the floor. The thicker curtain hadn’t been used much since moving to Denmark... until the arrival of hostile warlocks and witches that morning, who cast repeated disparaging looks our way as they flitted across the Chaffin Bend side of the protective dome’s perimeter.
The noise had come from that window. It wasn’t reasonable to assume the serenading mockingbird from earlier in the week had returned to its windowsill perch in the midst of a rainstorm for an encore performance. Right?
Maybe... or maybe not. But if it is my little Aves buddy, then he, or she, must’ve grown to be a helluva lot bigger now!
I pictured hawk-sized talons as the fingernail taps repeated... more fervently.
I got up to investigate... pulling aside the curtains and almost dropped my game controller on account of the surprise—no, correction—my shock at seeing a soaked Daciana Matei hovering outside my bedroom window!
Hurriedly, I unlocked the window and immediately it flew open, sending in a gush of rain as she drifted into my room clinging to the craziest looking broomstick I had ever seen. Before I could reach to close the window, it slammed shut hard enough to shake the entire wall.
Ah, shit—just frigging great! My family will be up here in a moment, and whatever reunion this could’ve been will be annihilated in its infancy!
Not only that, but surely Wizard von Stroheim and all the town’s constables—along with dozens of EEC guardians—will be joining the party. And then off we go, back to Bajenie! Meanwhile, at any moment, we could also expect hordes of angry Mateis to crash into the house along with my Radu cousins hot on their tails, since the protective barrier must be down.
Then, God knows what crazy shit will happen—
“Shhh!”
Her face obscured by long locks of dripping dark hair, Daciana gently cupped a cold pale hand over my mouth and drew closer. For a brief instant, I worried my beloved had died during her desperate journey to reach me and I was about to be ‘Zombie-ized’. But then she brushed aside her wet tresses and revealed the gorgeous face I had missed so painfully. Her lovely emerald eyes were aglow with passion... the very same intense fervency that had been forever burned into my memory that fateful July encounter now fourteen months in the past.
“No one knows I’m here,” she said softly, alerting me that unlike everybody else, she could discern my thoughts just fine. “No one knows except our benefactor.”
Daciana dropped the broomstick onto the hardwood floor, adding yet another suspicious sound to alert everyone inside Twin Magnolias that mischief was afoot inside my bedroom! She smiled and removed her hand, and before I could voice a panicked protest that we would soon be discovered, she joined it with her other to caress the sides of my face. Then, she planted the kiss I had long pined for upon my trembling lips.
I can’t adequately describe the sense of ecstasy flowing through my entire being. As it filled my body, heart, and my very soul, I momentarily forgot where we were. That is, until she began to tremble.
“I have missed you more than I can even begin to describe!” she whispered, as we both reluctantly released our embrace. “I love you, Sebastian, with all of my heart and soul!”
“I love you in the very same way!” I responded, feeling my heart overflow with devotion I knew in that instant could never be replicated with anyone else—my family’s wishes be damned. “You are everything to me... everything!”
I glanced warily toward my bedroom door, startled to find the odd broomstick Daciana had brought now hovered vertically in the air less than a foot away from it.
“Are you sure we’re safe for now? What about the window slamming shut a moment ago, and your broomstick falling to the floor?”
She nodded while smiling lovingly. “No one is even slightly aware of my presence. Not even the guardians and the two resident wizards here in Denmark.... Our secrecy is secured by Sorin Gabon.”
“Our benefactor?”
She nodded again, while I cast another curious glance at the broomstick, noting that it appeared to be two broomsticks twisted tightly together into one, with the straw bristles pointed away from each other. Just like Arthur Albright had described it!
“Sorry for the invasion into your thoughts. For now, at least, they remain hidden from everyone else. But Sorin has confirmed this privilege will soon end, Bas.... As for your silent question? Yes, this is Viviane.” She motioned to the broomstick with shaking fingers peering through a sopping-wet, oversized white sweater. “Sorin secured her assistance for us.”
“From Myrddin’s sacred cave? I heard Viviane can be violent.” I turned my attention back to the broomstick, while silently mourning the impending loss of my mental privacy, trying to take heart in the fact it hadn’t completely ended just yet.
Daciana coughed before chuckling. “Not toward you and me. Viviane sees Wizard Gabon as her rescuer from that damp, dreary place. He’s her hero, and she’s been kind to me. And—”
She started to explain more, but I stopped her.
“I want to hear the rest of this, my love, but your shivering is getting worse. Please give me a moment to fetch some towels from my bathroom,” I said. “Better yet, I could draw you a warm bath, and then we can talk more. I bet you’re hungry, too. Probably starving....”
I suddenly pictured her long, arduous journey to get here from Wizard Ninnius’ fortress near Bucharest, Romania—a distance from Denmark, Tennessee, that’s calculated to be roughly fifty-six-hundred miles. Granted, standard wormholes could turn that journey into an excursion of less than half an hour with the more experienced warlocks and witches. Hell, even a relative novice could do it in an hour.
But that would be without facing a concerted effort to impede such a trip. It’s an honest-to-God miracle Daciana succeeded in getting here!
“A warm bath sounds nice—thank you!” the color was already returning to her face and body from the warmth inside my bedroom... and likely our passionate embrace. “I’ll be okay for now in terms of food... a drink of water from your faucet should suffice. And, after I warm up, I’ll share the instructions I received this morning—or I guess yesterday, in Bucharest time—from Wizard Gabon.”
I led her to my bathroom, which, fortunately during my incarceration, had been walled off from another adjoining bathroom that served as Alisia’s. Apparently, given the handsome spending allowance afforded by the EEC—along with my sister’s desire for more privacy, Dad and Grandpa had arranged for the redesign and upgraded both bathrooms in accordance with the latest luxury standards.
Pretty sweet, really, with rainfall showerheads and steam-bath options for the glass enclosed showers in both bathrooms. And, since the original claw-foot tub proved too cumbersome to tastefully remove from my larger of the two new bathrooms, my folks left it installed.
Perfect for a girl who had just escaped a far worse version of Purgatory than the one I had endured.
“I
’ll keep watch out here... just in case anything goes awry,” I advised, after the tub was prepared for her, and I had laid out my most comfortable sweats and matching sweatshirt for her to wear.
Unless we utilized magic, this was the best I could do for now. In addition to the oversized sweater she was dressed in, her pants were a few sizes too big as well. An apparent effort to disguise herself as a man, perhaps it was intended to help her slip through the confines of Wizard Ninnius’ palatial fortress. Maybe the oversized pants and sweater belonged to Magnus Ninnius... not that it mattered one way or another. Daciana had also brought what looked like a knapsack of sorts, which appeared to contain some clothing... but it was as drenched as she.
“Thank you, Bas—for everything,” she said, dabbing at her eyes while smiling. “You no longer need to worry about losing me again... our shared life together starts tonight!”
She leaned up and kissed me before disappearing inside the bathroom.
I quietly returned to my bedroom, pausing to listen for anything going on outside my bedroom door. When satisfied that no one seemed the wiser about Daciana’s presence inside the house, I carefully peered through the curtains and plantation blinds of all four windows in my bedroom.
Nothing had changed outside.
Beyond the dome’s intact and impenetrable shield, shadows carried by broomstick were briefly illuminated as they passed under the streetlight marking the intersection of Old Dominion and Chaffin’s Bend. Matei warlocks and witches keeping watch upon Twin Magnolias! For the moment, these miscreants seemed unaware their wayward cousin was presently bathing within a stone’s throw from the street corner.
I smiled at the thought that maybe things might actually work out after all. Just like Justin said.
Chapter Nineteen
Despite my renewed optimism, Daciana’s sudden physical appearance in my world felt increasingly surreal.