Dire Symbols

by W A Rowland

  “Guess it’s Friday,” Liam said before letting his head fall into his hands. He didn’t have a clue what to do next.

  He was about to ask Lily if she had any suggestions when his guide suddenly burst into his consciousness.

  “Liam, demis coming. Lots of them,” she said hurriedly.

  “What? Who is it?” he said getting up quickly, instinctually looking towards the hall leading to the garage.

  “If I knew that I would have said so!” Lily said tersely.

  “It was rhetorical, Lily. Which way are they coming?” Liam asked and started moving towards Cindy’s room, not that he thought she’d actually be in there.

  “They’re coming in the garage. I don’t know how many, but they’re all demis,” Lily updated.

  “Let’s hope it’s just one of the groups backtracking,” he said as he knocked on Cindy’s door. To his surprise, it actually opened, as opposed to her just popping up next to him. Cindy had a pair of wireless headphones around her neck, and he could see a computer with some kind of game on the screen in the background. Huh, wouldn’t have taken her for a gamer, Liam thought.

  “Liam, focus!” Lily yelled.

  “Ohh right, umm sorry, Cindy, but it looks like we’ve got company. Might want to get ready to go, just in case,” he said by way of explanation.

  Cindy didn’t say anything, but instead tilted her head askance at him.

  “Oh shit, did I break Cindy? I mean, more than the usual at least?” he asked Lily.

  “Doubt it, just caught her off guard. The demis are splitting into two groups, by the way. It’s too close in here to tell exactly where-” Lily was cut off by a voice coming from the common room. A very familiar voice.

  “Cindy! Are you here?!” Bast yelled down the hallway.

  Liam had turned his head upon hearing the voice, and when he looked back, Cindy was gone.

  “God, Cindy! Don’t do that! We thought you were dead!” Liam heard a very angry, very motherly lecture coming from the common room, followed by, was that sobbing?

  He ran back down the hallway into the room to see a very stiff Cindy being smothered by a very emotional Bast, Thea, and Sarah huddle. He spotted Jax off to the side eating a sandwich, same expression as the last time Liam had seen the man.

  “I’m ok, Liam fixed my core,” Cindy explained quietly, obviously very uncomfortable with all of the touching.

  “Explain! Now!” Bast said after doing a double take between Cindy and Liam.

  “I… uhh,” Liam said eloquently before Sarah cut him off.

  “I got it, uh huh. What the…? Seriously?” Sarah went through a whole plethora of emotions ranging from frightened to awestruck with appropriate expletives and comments to boot.

  “Never mind, I don’t got it. Wow, I need to sit down,” Sarah said, and even looked a little dizzy.

  “What in the world happened, Liam?” Bast asked as Thea led Sarah over to the couches.

  Liam proceeded to recount how he’d found Cindy in the bunker the night before, how he’d learned about her damaged core, the gambit to fix it and the eventual aftermath of it all. He’d intentionally left out the conversation with Joshua about timelines and futures and such, as he still didn’t know how to try to explain that.

  When he was done explaining, the room was dead silent. Bast just stared at him in disbelief. The millennia old goddess was speechless it seemed.

  “I don’t think you’re lying, but what you’re saying just isn’t possible,” she eventually said.

  “Says the five-thousand-year-old goddess from ancient Egypt,” Liam replied ironically, to which Bast simply glared at him.

  “It happened; it’s all there in his head,” Sarah said from the couches, looking pale. Had she seen the decision tree too?

  Bast took a deep breath and deflated a little. “I guess it’s not the first impossible thing to happen this week. God, I need to sleep and think through all of this,” she said with a hand cupping her face over her eyes.

  “What happened? I don’t know anything beyond what Cindy was able to tell me. Y’all got attacked?” Liam asked, looking between Bast and Thea.

  “Yeah. Bastards picked us up on the edge of the city. Wrecked the truck and chased us into a housing development,” Thea answered first. “It was night, so nobody was around and we were holding our own until Cindy and Hansen got hit,” she said with a snort.

  “It all went to hell from there,” Bast picked up the explanation. “Cindy disappeared, Hansen passed out from seeing blood, and we were in a bad place until Steven and his group showed up. Thanks for that, by the way.” Bast said the last part looking at the doorway to Liam’s right, where he noticed Steven standing.

  “You really ought to thank Liam. He tipped us off that you were probably in trouble,” the man said fully entering the room. “By the way, the next time you warn someone of impending doom, it’s probably best to leave out the emojis, dude,” Steven said, referring to the sad faces that Liam hardly remembered putting into the text.

  “Force of habit,” Liam replied.

  Steven smiled and stepped up to the group. “We did a circle of the city and Sarah managed to pick up their thought patterns. Not a bit too soon I’d say. Hansen and Michael both had gunshot wounds and Thea had been mauled pretty badly. Hansen was just squeamish, but Michael’s wound nicked an artery. A few more hours and he’d have been dead,” Steven continued. “We got lucky on this one.”

  “I hadn’t anticipated just how quickly Julian would mobilize his pack, or how large it must be to encircle the entire city,” Bast said thoughtfully. “I also have been wondering why he never showed up. I’m pretty sure I’m at the top of his ‘to kill’ list right now.”

  “Maybe number two, actually,” Liam said with a self-conscious chuckle.

  “What did you do?” Bast said suspiciously.

  “He broke into the law offices, fought with some Graven, got cornered by Julian, and now he can fly,” Sarah said from where she was now laid back on the couch with an ice pack on her head. “Liam, next time, don’t screw around in Joshua’s head, please… I can’t even process what you saw, and I’m me!” she said angrily.

  “Screw around? Joshua? What?!” Bast said in a way that screamed “please don’t tell me there’s more.”

  “I may have accidentally hijacked his brain when he tried to test my connection to the astral plane yesterday, and seen all the possible major decision points in my life. In my defense, he really needs to warn people before he grabs their head,” Liam said carefully.

  “He doesn’t need to warn people, because nobody is supposed to be able to mess with the brain of a freaking god!” Bast yelled, making everyone cringe and step back.

  “It did help me save Cindy,” Liam said, feebly trying to salvage his image.

  “In Liam’s defense, it looks like he really didn’t know how it happened until after the fact. Apparently, the guardian gave him some freaky abilities. Like that augmenting power that you neglected to share with the group,” Sarah said, now also looking at Liam a bit angrily.

  “Hey, that was Bast not me,” Liam said defensively.

  The room quickly broke down into a general pandemonium as multiple people started talking, mostly pointing out some way that Liam had screwed up or how they hadn’t been told such and such.

  “Stop!” came a shrill cry as Cindy screeched from in front of Liam after a few moments of craziness. The room went quiet. Cindy wasn’t ranting. She never got loud unless she was ranting about something. This was different though, she looked genuinely upset. Angry even.

  “Stop it!” she screamed at them all. “He did more than any of you did. He fought the Association and lured Julian away from all of you, while you ran. He’s the only one who even tried to stay and fight and you’re going to pick apart his decisions when you weren’t even here to help?!” she yelled, oddly lucid for the girl who a few days ago had been screaming about them being boiled in acid then blowing up spontaneously. “He sav
ed my life and all of yours and you need to stop blaming him for your own cowardice!” she shrieked, tears streaming down her cheeks now.

  “Cindy we…” Bast started.

  “No! You’re supposed to be the best of us!” She pointed an accusing finger at Bast. “And even you are running scared. Well, I don’t care what’s coming anymore! I’m helping Liam. Because I want to, and because it’s the only chance to stop what’s coming,” she said as her bluster ran down. Had she had another vision?

  Suddenly, the old, shy, socially awkward Cindy was back, white as a sheet that she’d just yelled at Bast, who was the closest thing to a mother the girl had. She quickly hiccupped and teleported away. Liam could hear her sobbing faintly down the hall from her room.

  The room was quiet for a few long moments before Bast spoke again.

  “She’s right,” she said quietly then turned and walked away towards her old room, stopping before she entered the door.

  “Liam, I’m sorry. You did well. We’ll talk later, after we’ve all had a chance to rest,” she said sullenly, and disappeared inside.

  The room was deathly quiet again for a few more tense moments before a shuffling from the hallway to the infirmary announced the arrival of Hand. Behind him was Kat and Rich. Liam cringed, not wanting to deal with any more incensed people for the moment. He’d had enough of people yelling at him for one day and he’d started turning into the hallway when Kat’s voice caught him.

  “Wait,” she called forcefully as she stepped over to him. Liam tensed, not sure what to expect. Kat was always a bit of a wild card since he’d known her, so he really didn’t know what to expect from her.

  Without warning, she swung her hand forward and slapped him hard across the face.

  “Still mad apparently.”

  “That’s for lying to me about what was going on,” she said quickly with a finger in his face. She then dove in and hugged him hard, driving the air from his lungs. “And this is for everything else,” she said softly.

  “I didn’t think before,” Kat said, breaking down now into her own crying mess. Liam looked at her aura briefly and saw that it was shifting between purples, blues, and yellows. All of the conflicting emotions swirling in a pattern that was Kat.

  Liam looked over at Sarah who gave him a wink and a smile. He guessed she’d given Kat some “Sarah-py” on the ride yesterday and this was the result. The contact with Kat’s aura gave Liam a little bit of a buzz and he felt lighter now. More ready for whatever came next. Kat quickly caught herself and forced back the rest of her tears. Liam knew she usually never let herself be caught crying in front of anyone. The fact that she’d been so open with her tears lately spoke to just how shook up she was at the moment. But now he was seeing some of her usual control returning.

  Rich came over and joined them then, wrapping them both up in his own bear hug where they stayed for a minute until Hand broke the silence.

  “So who’s up for lunch?!” he said with a big grin and ducked as Sarah threw a pillow at him.

  “Ruining the moment!” she yelled and everyone laughed.

  Kat finally let go of Liam and took a step back. “Sorry I yelled at you too. It’s been a crazy couple days,” she said with one of her trademark grins. Yup, Kat was back.

  “It’s all good, Kat,” he said with a smile.

  She hugged him again quickly and then looked at Rich who was just standing by now.

  “Don’t look at me. I’m all hugged out for the day,” he said in his typical jovial manner.

  The three walked over to the couches where Kat and Rich sat down next to Sarah, who gave up her reclined position as they approached.

  Liam started to sit, but a stray thought flashed through his mind.

  “Actually, I should go check on Cindy,” he said suddenly.

  “How about that? He can learn!” Sarah said.

  The group guffawed as Liam jokingly flipped them the bird and entered the hallway to the dorms.

  He quietly tapped on Cindy’s door and it opened a few minutes later. It was obvious she’d been crying; her eyes were puffy and red.

  “I wanted to check on you,” Liam started to explain. “And to say thanks, I appreciate-” Liam was cut off by Cindy leaning up and kissing him abruptly. Surprised, Liam took a step back, causing the small woman to fall forward into him. Liam ended up holding Cindy as they fell and she landed on top of him as he sat against the wall.

  “I’m sorry, are you ok?!” Liam said suddenly hoping he hadn’t hurt the girl, but Cindy seemed to be laughing in his arms.

  “Not how I imagined my first kiss. But hey, as long as I’m doing unexpected things today…” She trailed off before looking up, smiling at him. Liam noticed then that despite the redness around them, she really did have beautiful eyes.

  “Could have been worse I guess.” He eventually got out to which she giggled and snorted. Physical Cindy actually had a cute laugh, Liam thought. It wasn’t the melodic one of Soul Cindy, but it was more of a girlish chuckle. He liked them both almost equally.

  “Thank you for checking on me. I’m ok now, I think,” she said, in a more coherent voice than he thought he’d ever heard her speak in, outside of her soul core. “Though I do owe Bast an apology. I’ll go over a little later though, once I get up the courage,” she said sadly.

  Liam stayed silent. He didn’t really know what to say. If he was honest with himself, he was feeling a bit awkward with everything. Awkward and a bit scared. He didn’t want to end up with another Anna.

  Cindy looked up and spotted the concern that flashed across Liam’s face. “Did I do something wrong? Ohh God, you didn’t want to kiss me. I’m sorry, I –.” She started to panic and he could feel her tense in his arms as she started to push herself up.

  “No, that’s not it,” he explained quickly. “I think I’d like to do it again sometime, preferably without the falling over,” he said jokingly and he heard her sniffle and then giggle, noticeably relaxing against him again.

  “Me too,” she responded, coherent again, the bit of panic that had started washing out of her voice.

  So, she can vocalize her thoughts better when she’s comfortable or calm, he thought.

  “Well, yeah, have you never read what an anxiety disorder is?” Lily responded sarcastically.

  Their conversation was cut short by footsteps coming down the hall. Jax appeared around the corner and stopped.

  “All of these rooms and you have to do that in the hallway? Really?” he said in his bored, matter-of-fact tone, with one raised eyebrow.

  This startled Cindy who let out an “eep” and again disappeared.

  Liam was a little disoriented by the whole thing and got to his feet. “You know, you could decide to not be an asshole sometimes, Jax,” Liam said indignantly.

  “But where would the fun be in that?” Jax asked rhetorically and continued on his way down the hall, turning into a room a few doors down.

  Liam huffed, annoyed at Jax’s indifference, but soon decided to just let it slide. He half wanted to knock on Cindy’s door and pick up where their conversation had left off, but part of him also thought that would be a terrible idea, as he had absolutely no clue what to say. He wasn’t sure what Cindy wanted in a relationship, or if that was even what she was after now. Maybe this was just her way of thanking him for helping her out? But then that struck him as a particularly chauvinistic idea, which didn’t really seem to fit. Cindy’s soul seemed strong and decisive. Looking at what had just happened, he definitely saw a little of that decisiveness coming through, if tempered a good bit by the fearful side of Cindy. He wondered how much courage it had taken to actually do what she’d just done.

  For himself, it had taken Liam over three months to ask out Anna way back in college, and she’d been dropping obvious clues from day one that she was interested. Maybe that was the difference though. Liam hadn’t really been interested in Anna, just the relationship. Whereas Cindy seemed to actually be interested in him personally
. It could also have something to do with the fact that he was the only person alive who she could speak to in an unfiltered manner. He pondered the ramifications of it all as he walked back towards the common room. Cindy was fine for the moment and apparently, he’d made a significant impression on her one way or the other.

  He was used to girls like Anna who dated Liam when she thought that he was going to be a rich lawyer right out of school. Then she’d dropped him as soon as she found out that that wasn’t how the world worked.

  “How the world works. That’s a strange expression,” Lily commented.

  “This should be good. How so? Oh wise one,” Liam thought sardonically.

  Lily giggled, enjoying that he was playing her game for once “because, when people say that, it normally has absolutely nothing to do with how the world actually works. It’s always in reference to other people and their emotions, or actions. Really, the world works on mathematical principles and connections, not how people act. It’s just funny is all,” she explained.

  “Sometimes you surprise me, Lily,” Liam said, finding actual truth in her words once he thought about it. All things being equal, he should have been making decent money out of college on merit alone, but the actions of a few greedy individuals robbed him of that.

  It wasn’t indicative of the world per se, just the people he found himself in contact with. Liam’s musing came to an end as he entered the common room and found Sarah, Kat, and Rich all staring at him with huge grins on their faces.

  “Lily, what did you tell Sarah?” he said out loud, drawing a bit of a quizzical look from Rich.

  “Who’s Lily? I though her name was Cindy?” Rich said to Sarah across Kat.

  “It is, Lily’s his guide. Sweet girl,” Sarah responded quickly.

  “Lily!” Liam said sternly, not getting a response from the mischievous being.

  “Hm?” she finally came back.

  “What did you tell them?” he said again.

  “Why do you always blame me!?” she said with faux offense.

  “Because it’s usually you who does whatever I’m blaming you for!” Liam said indignantly.