by W A Rowland
“It’s so weird to see him talking to nothing,” Kat said to Sarah who grinned and nodded.
“Usually, it’s polite to talk internally when company is around. Also results in less police calls and psych evals,” Sarah said clinically. Thea snorted from her place in one of the recliners.
Lily mentally stuck her tongue out at Liam and he decided to just give up on this one as he approached the couches.
“Who’s Cind-”
“No,” Liam cut Kat off, causing the whole group to laugh as Kat gave him a mischievous grin.
STRANGE BEDFELLOWS
Liam sat with his friends for the rest of the afternoon, asking and answering questions about the last couple days and generally just catching up. They laughed, cried a bit, and enjoyed their time together, and by the time 9pm rolled around, one could almost believe that they were just a normal group of people, enjoying a normal afternoon.
Liam left the couches after Kat and Sarah had both fallen asleep on Rich, who himself was passed out on the end of the couch. Thea had long since left and Liam didn’t feel like having to corral his friends to their rooms. He figured they’d find them once they got uncomfortable and woke up, so Liam instead made his way to the showers and then his room.
He had just laid down when a soft tapping came at his door. He groaned a bit and rolled over, hoping whoever it was would just go away, but the tapping came again. Annoyed, Liam got up and opened the door. Out in the hall was Cindy, standing in a comfortable looking pair of pajamas, looking very shy.
Liam immediately felt bad for being annoyed. “Cindy, hi, what’s going on?” he said a little groggily. She opened her mouth, but stopped. Tried again, but in the end just gestured down to her ankle where she had a piece of blue ribbon tied around it with a large amount of slack.
“Uhh… what?” Liam asked again, not quite understanding.
“For sleeping. I… I’m scared and…” Cindy trailed off with a pained expression. Liam understood though.
“I’ve totally forgotten. Are you sure you’re comfortable?” Liam asked, feeling self-conscious all of the sudden. He’d pointedly not thought about the disastrous conversation earlier that day.
Cindy just nodded resolutely and walked by him into the room.
“Ok then,” he said and closed the door behind her. He looked up and she was sitting up against the wall on the bed, hugging a pillow to her chest.
“How do you want to do this?” he asked. Cindy just shrugged.
“This isn’t the Cindy you talked to in her core. Remember that this one scares easily when she’s surprised,” Lily reminded him.
“I got it,” he replied.
It wasn’t that he’d never slept in the same bed as a woman. He just wasn’t used to it happening so quickly, or under such strange circumstances.
After much experimentation, they had both managed to get comfortable with Cindy up against the wall and Liam on the outside of the bed. They also had a line of pillows down the middle separating them, which Lily had insisted on.
“It’s like having a babysitter living in my head. I mean, seriously, what are you gonna do if I ever get married?” Liam asked Lily.
“I’m choosing to ignore that question. Night!” she said, and suddenly Liam felt very sleepy.
“That little—” He didn’t finish the thought before he passed out cold.
Liam awoke early the next morning to something warm on top of him. He opened his eyes to a mass of dark hair up under his chin, but he was so groggy that he couldn’t remember what had happened. He remembered heading to his room, and then someone knocked on the door. “Cindy?” he asked tiredly.
Sometime during the night, the woman had rolled her way through the wall of pillows and blankets and had ended up using Liam as a body pillow, her form half wrapped around his. What surprised Liam’s sleepy brain was just how comfortable it actually was having her there.
“Cindy?” Liam said a little louder, realizing his predicament though. A soft groan and a mumble came from the form on top of him.
“Cindy, wake up, you’re… I’m… we need to…” Liam really didn’t know what to say. How do you wake up a girl that you’re sleeping with, but aren’t actually sleeping with?
Cindy finally lifted her head a little, her long hair in an unruly bird’s nest around her head. She groggily looked up at him from his chest and gave a wan grin. “Good morning,” she said, not fully awake, but obviously comfortable.
“Uhh… Cindy…. You kinda… I mean we kinda…” Cindy looked down and around a bit, then she stiffened and her breath caught.
Liam then found himself falling roughly onto the floor of the common room. Cindy still attached to him.
“Ouch! What the hell!” he exclaimed, surprised at the sudden drop and pain of someone landing on top of him.
Cindy, now fully awake, looked shaken for a second. “I’m sorry,” She said abashed, looking at his leg attached to hers.
They both looked up when they heard a chuckle from the corner of the room, and saw Sarah sitting in her usual spot, a book in her lap and a grin on her face.
“Definitely not what I expected when I got up this morning,” she said mischievously as she grinned at them. “So, when’s the wedding?” Sarah teased. Cindy and Liam both had turned a bright red color. Cindy quickly reached down and undid the ribbon around her ankle, then disappeared.
“Great. Just leave me here,” Liam muttered and sat up.
“Aw, the bride ran away. Better get after her, lover boy,” Sarah chirped, obviously enjoying his embarrassment.
“You’re like the worst little sister that I never wanted,” he grumped, getting up and stretching, before stomping over to the kitchen area in the corner.
“Whatever, you love me,” she said smarmily giving him a grin. “I mean, not as much as Cin-”
“One more word and I will float you out over the river and drop you,” Liam said giving her a malevolent glare.
“You will not!” Lily suddenly chimed in.
“Oh great. The other little sister tags in!” Liam said out loud since he knew that Sarah could hear Lily as well.
“I thought I was your babysitter? Make up your mind, dude,” she quipped making Sarah giggle.
“Why does the world hate me?” he asked, poking ineffectually at the coffeemaker before realizing that it needed more water.
“Don’t be like that, Liam, I just adore young love,” Sarah joked.
“Says the girl who looks like she’s twelve,” Liam pointed out.
“Hey, remember, I still know about the fifth grade,” Sarah threatened and hurled a pillow at him, which Liam easily reacted to and swatted aside despite his sleep-deprived state. What time was it anyway? He glanced at the clock and saw it flashing 3:30 AM.
“God… why is it so early?” he said before registering that he’d been rudely awakened by a crazy Latina who’d quite literally ripped him from bed.
“I’m going back to bed. I can’t do this,” he grumbled and shuffled back towards his room.
“Tell Cindy I said hi!” Sarah called cheerily.
“All my hate!” Liam growled back as he exited the room.
He walked back into his dorm to find Cindy once again sitting against the wall, with his comforter over her head, looking abashed.
“Sorry, I did try to warn you,” she said sullenly looking at her feet.
“You did,” Liam said climbing over onto the bed next to her. The final words from Soul Cindy were making a lot more sense now. Cindy tipped over and leaned up against him, still wrapped in the fluffy blanket. Liam, too tired to really care, put an arm around the girl and exhaled.
“That happens a lot?” he asked as she settled in against him.
“Yeah,” she said without further explanation.
“Gotcha, well misery loves company, I guess,” he said quietly, then looked over at her.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m still kinda sleepy, care to try this again?” he asked smiling w
hen she looked up at him and nodded. To this, Liam just let himself fall sideways towards the pillows, with Cindy giving a small yelp as she tipped after him, then started laughing. She inch-wormed her way up next to him and nested herself in the covers.
Guess she’s a cuddler. Makes sense I suppose, he thought.
“Thank you, Liam,” she said sleepily.
“Anytime,” he said as he pulled her close and the two drifted back off to sleep.
Liam woke up again several hours later with Cindy still pressed up against him, snoring lightly. There hadn’t been any more incidents since their adventure earlier that morning and Liam was reluctant to get up. If not for the sake of disturbing Cindy, but for the fact that this moment was the most peace he’d had so far that week.
But he also knew that it couldn’t last and he needed to share what he’d found with Bast. The Association and Julian weren’t going to stop whatever they were planning while Liam decided to get out of bed, so he needed to get moving. As gently as he could, he slid away from Cindy, who curled up a bit once his body heat was no longer there. As an afterthought, he grabbed the comforter that had been unceremoniously kicked onto the floor and laid it over the girl who just sighed and kept on sleeping.
He made his way to the kitchen intent on some coffee and a bowl of cereal before starting his day. He’d just seen Sarah, still sitting in her chair reading her book, when a thought occurred to him.
“Sarah?” he said across the room.
The girl looked up with an annoyed expression. “Yes…”
“Just curious, I haven’t seen any bookshelves around here. Where do you keep your books?” he asked.
Sarah stared at him for a second before responding. “I know that it’s a serious question, but I’m not sure I can tell you the answer if you don’t already know,” she said tilting her head. “Which you don’t. Ask Hand, maybe he’ll tell you,” she said, looking back down.
That’s an odd answer to a simple question, but then again, you never know with these guys I guess, Liam thought as he again, poked at the coffee maker, his mug still in place from a few hours earlier.
“True statement,” Sarah responded.
Having a mind reader around is annoying, Liam thought.
“I know,” Sarah again responded.
“Will you stop that?!” Liam called over in frustration.
Sarah just let out a giggle in response.
Liam grumbled to himself and added some cream to his coffee.
He took a deep pull at the mug then realized, in his frustration, that he’d added sugar-free creamer instead of the regular, which made his coffee taste off. Liam just rubbed at his eyes and chalked it up to it being Monday. Wait, was it Monday? He didn’t even know anymore.
“It’s Saturday,” Sarah chimed in.
Liam chose to ignore her this time and instead grabbed a pop-tart and headed back to his room. He entered to see a groggy Cindy sitting up and looking around a little frantic at the unfamiliar surroundings. She’d apparently just woken up and was processing still. She spotted Liam and immediately jumped out of bed and grabbed him in a hug. “Woah, what’s wrong? I just went to get –”
“You were gone. I woke up, and you weren’t there, and everything was different and I thought I’d gone and you weren’t there and I was alone and...” she stammered, her voice growing more panicked as Liam did his best to process what she was attempting to say, managing to toss the pop-tart in his hand to the desk so he could get an arm around her.
“It’s ok, Cindy, I’m here, you didn’t go anywhere. You’re fine.”
“No!” she said hitting his chest with her hands. “You said you’d be there and you weren’t.” She started sobbing up against him again.
Liam leaned and set down his mug, holding the weeping girl as he made shushing noises guiding her back over to the bed and sitting as she clung to him crying.
“I’m sorry, Cindy. I didn’t think. It won’t happen again. I won’t leave you alone when you’re asleep. Ok? I’m sorry,” he said, trying to do so in soothing tones. Cindy clung to him for several long minutes as she slowly came down from her panic attack.
Probably need to go have another chat with Soul Cindy and try to patch things up, Liam thought resignedly.
He was about to ask her if he could visit her core when a knock came at his door.
“Liam, Bast wants to see everyone. Bring Cindy,” came Michael’s voice from the other side. Apparently, he was healed up enough that he was able to move around again. Probably due to Steven. Liam didn’t respond, but instead tilted his head down and softly asked Cindy if she was ok enough to go see everyone. The girl sniffled and slowly nodded her head before reluctantly releasing her death grip on Liam.
“I need to go fix this,” she said motioning to her tear streaked face and wild hair.
“I can wait if you need to,” Liam offered.
“No, I’m ok now. Tell Bast I’ll be there soon,” Cindy responded and then popped away.
Liam still wasn’t sure if he’d ever get used to that. He also had absolutely no idea how to even begin to define his relationship with Cindy anymore. Most of the time, it felt like he was taking care of a younger sister, but they’d kissed in the hallway, and their sleeping arrangement was beyond odd in either case.
“I’d go with non-platonic, co-worker romance with a side of daddy issues,” Lily chirped as Liam changed into his clothes for the day. Liam felt like he was getting used to her add-ins to his thoughts, even though he still reacted physically to her saying things most of the time, despite not needing anything physical to hear her. In this case, Liam just rolled his eyes, smiled and grabbed his now cold coffee off the side table before heading to the common room.
For once, he wasn’t the last one to arrive, as Steven and Hansen rolled in a few minutes after him, and a few minutes after them came Kat and Rich. Liam was surprised to see his friends and Bast must have noticed his expression as she came over and spoke to him privately for a moment while they waited for Cindy to get there.
“They’re just as much a part of this now as you and I are; they deserve to be here,” she said to which Liam just nodded in agreement, updating his thoughts on their presence. Bast was right. She was normally right.
“Also, I’m glad to hear that Cindy’s found someone she trusts. That’s an extremely difficult thing for her,” Bast said with a caring smile. “That being said, I’ve been taking care of that girl for several decades now and if you hurt her in any way…” Bast paused, her pleasant smile turning predatory. “Let’s just say I know several methods, from various cultures, on how to remove one’s heart while they’re still alive. Understand?” she said, her threatening tone suddenly turning bright and cheerful again.
Again, Liam just nodded, this time much more enthusiastically. It was at this point that Cindy decided to make her entrance, appearing right next to them. Liam jumped in surprise, thinking that Bast had certainly just dug her claws into his chest, but Bast just looked over at her, grinned, and said, “Great, let’s begin.” Then turned and walked away.
Liam looked down, there wasn’t a hole in his chest, so he slowly turned and looked at Cindy, who seemed much happier now than twenty minutes ago. She was also standing incredibly close to him. Cindy noticed his glance and looked over at him. “What’s wrong? You seem stressed?” she asked concerned. Liam just smiled a very nervous smile and looked back forward.
“Ok, everyone, we need a plan, and for that we need to know who exactly we’re dealing with. Liam, Sarah said you saw the head of the Association?” she asked him, snapping his attention back to the group, where Sarah and Kat had been whispering to one another and Kat had a huge grin on her face while looking at Liam and Cindy.
Liam ignored them and looked to Bast.
“Yeah, but I think it’s heads. Plural. There were two of them and it sounded like a husband and wife. I didn’t hear the man’s first name, but my old boss was calling him Black. And I heard him call his wife-�
��
“Anita,” Bast said suddenly, her face full of recognition.
“You know them?” Liam asked.
“Her name used to be Anahita. However, she changed it to a more modern version sometime in 200 B.C. She was a demigoddess in Ancient Iranian mythology, supposed to be the goddess of rivers, purity, and fertility I think.”
“She didn’t sound like a ‘pure’ goddess to me,” Liam said, imagining what was happening to Jessica right about now.
“She’s not. Certain old texts were found changing the ancient translations from goddess to demon and they were right. I’ve run across her a few times over the millennia; she’s sadistic, intelligent, and ruthless. If her husband is who I think he is, he’s even worse. Liam, do you know what any of their powers are?” Bast asked suddenly.
“He didn’t do anything but shoot, but she seemed to have some kind of precognition. She was pulling him out of the way when I threw things at them,” Liam said.
“You threw things at them?” Thea asked quizzically.
“You would have had to have been there,” Liam said, still thinking.
“His guide is Agony and hers is Sadism,” Lily said quietly making Liam look up, and remember that Lily had said they’d been yelling at her.
“Lily says their guides are Agony and Sadism,” Liam said out loud, making every head suddenly turn towards him.
“Say what now?” Steven blurted.
“How could she know that?” Michael asked at the same time.
Several others also let out exclamations to a similar effect until Bast put up a hand silencing everyone.
“Liam, do you remember what I said about guides’ identities being closely guarded secrets? How does your guide know this?” Bast said.
“Well, he called his out by name when I first saw him. Said Agony told him they had visitors. And then, when we were fighting, Lily said they were ‘yelling at her.’ We had to get away before she could focus. But this is the first time she’s mentioning the other guide,” Liam explained.
Bast nodded. “I’m guessing she can also detect when other demis or astral creatures get close as well?” she asked, to which Liam nodded.