by Rue Volley
“Won't they contact his mother, when they realize that he is missing from the school?” I asked.
Sam came and sat down next to me, “No, I glamoured the school. As far as they know, he never came back to them.”
“Good, okay then, when will he wake up?” I asked.
Josh came back in, with a bag of chips in his hands. He dropped down on the chair.
“Never…” he said.
I shot him a look. “What?”
“I don't know Rue. You slept for seven days. He may sleep for less.” Josh put a handful of chips in his mouth and started chewing.
“Okay, so what do we do now?” I asked.
Sam put a hand on my leg, “We wait. When he wakes up he'll know what he is and whatever else Josh showed him.”
I looked at Josh and he started grinning.
“What?” I asked him.
“Nothing, he may have some questions about cherubs.”
“You didn't!” I said.
Sam stood up and looked at Kai, “Let’s go to bed Kai. ” Kai smiled at her and they headed for his room.
“Oh, but I did.” He started to laugh.
“I'm not sleeping on the couch, I'm taking mom and dad’s room.” I threw a pillow at him.
Josh smiled at me. “That's cool, the bed’s big.”
“No, I'm sleeping in it. You are sleeping on the couch.”
The grin faded from his face. “What?”
“Yep… cherubs? You’re an ass.”
I heard “Wait…” trailing off behind me, as I headed upstairs.
***
I started to open my eyes. I realized I was in the living room. I could feel someone warm behind me breathing. “What the hell?” I whispered. I lifted an arm off of me and slid off the couch. I stood up and looked down. Josh was still sleeping. I must have been sleepwalking. God damn it. I started to head towards the stairs and I heard his voice.
“Hey.” I stopped and looked back. Josh was sitting up, looking at me.
“Ummm… hey Josh.” I reached up and put my hand on the side of my neck.
“We could have just slept upstairs you know.” Josh was in mid yawn.
“Well, yea, but ‘This’...” I pointed at the couch. “Was just me sleepwalking, okay?”
“What? You said my name when you curled up next to me last night,” Josh grinned.
“I did not know... I must have come down here... it wasn't on purpose.” I started to turn toward the stairs.
“And when you kissed me…?” I turned back around.
“I did not,” I said.
Josh got up and headed towards the kitchen.
“Nah, just thought I'd spice it up a little.” He started laughing.
“Not funny Josh.” I looked up at the ceiling. I looked back at Josh and he wasn't smiling, but he shook it off pretty quick.
“Nothing happened, I was sleeping and you just curled up next to me, waking me up. I asked you if you were okay and you whispered my name and didn't do anything else after that. Feel better now?”
“Yeah... Okay. I'm gonna take a shower now,” I said.
“Feeling dirty?”
I shot him a look and ran up the stairs.
I came to my door. I needed clothes, so I slowly opened it and saw Johnathan lying on my bed. How many times did I want him in it? A lot, I think. I walked up to him and he looked so peaceful. I remembered when I woke up, after Josh had flash fried my brain, I felt like crap. I looked at Johnathan’s face and could only hope that he wouldn't have such a reaction to it too. I turned around and opened my closet doors, grabbing the first things in sight. No need for being picky today, I didn't really care. I looked back at Johnathan and left my room, pulling the door behind me.
I went into my parent’s room and shut the door behind me. I wanted nothing more than to just shower and get something to eat. I was sooo hungry and now that I knew eating food won't ever have any negative effects on me, I was going to eat like a pig. I started up the water and everything started to steam up really fast. I stepped in and let it wash everything away. Well not everything, but it helped a little. I started to wash my hair and I heard my name.
“Rue?”
I jumped and almost fell in the tub. I wiped my hand on the Plexiglas door and saw Johnathan’s face.
“Geeezus Johnathan, what the hell?!!”
“I... I'm sorry... sorry Rue I didn't see anything, I swear... I just… I woke up and I felt you in here… I just came in… I'm sooo sorry!”
“What the hell is it with me and boys in the shower?!” I yelled.
Josh flashed upstairs and slammed Johnathan against the wall, holding him with the side of his arm.
“Rue! Are you okay?” he yelled at me.
“Yea... yea Josh, I'm fine,” I yelled back.
Josh looked at Johnathan. “Awake already, I see?”
Johnathan looked at him. “You!”
Johnathan grabbed Josh and threw him out of the bathroom, light glowing in the palms of hands.
I jumped out of the shower and reached for my towel, knotting it as tight as I could in the front. I ran out of the bathroom. Johnathan had Josh pinned on the bed... awkward…
“You want to explain to me why Rue was on top of you in a hotel?” Johnathan yelled.
Josh grinned. “Guess I'm just irresistible.”
Johnathan punched him in the face full force. Josh started laughing and I could see blood on his teeth.
They rolled off the bed to the other side and I heard a thud.
“Stop...! Stop it now!” I screamed.
They both came up in a blur and Josh hit him right in the jaw. He fell to one knee. Josh grabbed his shirt, reached over and opened my window up and tossed him out. I screamed again, Sam flashed to us in a blur. Josh turned around and smiled at both of us.
“Not funny Josh!” I said.
He reached up and wiped his mouth. “I disagree Rue... very funny.”
Josh jumped out the window. I yelped… yep… yelped, that's new. Sam flashed downstairs and I ran after her, as quickly as I could. I ran onto the porch, just in time for...
“You are a little bitch,” Josh had Johnathan pinned to the ground.
“I'll show you who is a bitch!” Johnathan flipped him and tagged him in the well, you know.
Josh rolled onto his side. “Oh my god, you suck soooo bad.”
Johnathan rose up and stood over him... “What the hell...? Cherubs?”
Josh grinned and kicked him in between the legs, Johnathan fell to ground... “Jeezus!” He cried out.
“Not such a funny thing now, is it BITCH?” Josh yelled.
They both rolled on their sides, wheezing.
Then they decided, in true warrior fashion or because they are guys, that they would kick at each other laying on their sides. Each one grunting, with each kick thrown. It really was sad... very, very sad.
Sam put her hands on her hips, “You guys are kidding right?”
She walked out to them both and looked down at them, “Get up… you’re both bitches.”
They both pushed themselves up off the ground and stumbled past me on the porch. Johnathan looked at me and grinned as he passed me by. Josh winked at me. Awesome, I own two psychos now...great. I threw my hands up and went upstairs to put some clothes on.
When I came back down, they were both sitting opposite of each other. Josh in the chair and Johnathan on the couch, they both had bags of ice they were sitting on. I had to laugh…had to…who would think of kicking someone in the stuff and things? Maybe they both realized they were evenly matched, who knows. I sat down on the couch next to Johnathan, hard enough to bump him a little.
“Ahhh, hi Rue.” He grunted out.
“Hi Johnathan.” I looked at Josh. “Hi Josh... Are we being friends now?”
Josh looked at me, “I think your girlfriend neutered me, Rue.”
“Serves you right Josh,” I said.
We all sat there for a moment, nothing being sa
id. I turned to Johnathan. “Are you okay?”
He smiled and shifted on the ice. “Guess so…”
“I don't mean that. You know what we are...now.”
He looked at me, “Yea…tell you the truth, makes me feel a lot better. I thought I was going crazy or something. I started having dreams and then three days ago I discovered that I could move really fast. I'm glad to know there's a reason.”
Kai came into the room, “Man you guys okay...? I feel your pain!”
Both Josh and Johnathan looked at him, with painful smiles.
Kai grabbed his controller and dropped onto the couch next to Johnathan. Johnathan winced a little.
“Sorry man,” Kai smiled.
“So.” Johnathan looked at me and continued, “Protectors huh?”
“Yea, listen I don't know everything myself yet, but we will learn together okay?”
He smiled at me.
Josh looked at both of us, “School starts…well, tomorrow I guess.” He shifted on the ice.
I smiled at him, “Yea, guess you two need some healing time today.”
“Yea, but tomorrow we get started. You… ” He pointed at me, “Need to master centering and then we can work on the rest.”
“Centering?” Johnathan asked. I looked at Josh, “You didn't tell him anything did you when you... ya know?”
Josh smiled, “Oh I showed him some, but mainly it was a ‘screw you’ moment.” He started to laugh.
Johnathan grinned, “Yea listen, I appreciate the visuals, really do but I would have really liked information, like stuff I could use.”
Josh looked at me and mouthed the word “cherubs” and winked, thumbing in Johnathan's direction.
“I'm sitting right here Josh,” Johnathan said.
I crinkled my eyebrows at Josh and turned to Johnathan.
“I'll explain everything, sometime soon, I promise.”
Johnathan reached over and took my hand in his. I looked at Josh and he looked away.
“Let’s go upstairs Rue.”
I looked at Johnathan, “Okay, if that's what you want.” I reached down and tried to pull him up. He grunted and pushed off the couch. We headed upstairs.
Josh reached down and a light started to glow in his palm, he cupped himself.
Kais eyes drifted over to him, “Dude…you need some alone time or what?”
Josh grinned, “No, I'm healing myself.”
“Ohh…cool, well hey, why not show Johnathan...ahh, whatever,” Kai smiled and went back to his game.
I walked into my room, Johnathan behind me. I heard the door shut, so I took a seat on my bed. I looked up at him and he walked over and sat down next to me. He looked down at his hands. “Listen Rue, I'm sorry about that whole thing with Josh, it was stupid. I know it, I just had these visions in my head…” He paused for a moment, “And I was furious.”
“Yea listen about those, I can explain.”
He looked at me, I kinda melted. “Okay…let’s do it… I'm not going to lie and say that I don't want to know, because I do.”
Crap.
“So Josh and I were on our way to see you at Barrington, honest to god.”
Johnathan kept looking at me.
“And…so we pulled over on the side of the road and he was teaching me how to center myself.”
“And centering is what?” Johnathan raised his eyebrows.
“It's a…well you see…ohh you'll find out. It's cool, really is.”
I decided at this point it was just best to keep going, no need to sugar coat it.
“I had a burst of energy and I broke the windows in the car. We needed to get them fixed and we pull into this crazy little town and found someone, but they couldn't do it till morning. I didn't know at the time that Josh could have just fixed them but we ended up finding this worn down motel. The girl behind the counter was crazy. You should have seen her hair…insane...anyway we got a room”
Johnathan grinned, “One room?”
“Well I said two and the girl…well, really she was like forty and kind of perverted, but anyway, one room, and you should have seen it…all red velvet and gold… cherubs on the headboard and ohhh the bed it vibrated. I didn't even know they made those, but we shared the bed. I felt sorry for him and I drew a line…a very clear line was drawn in the bed between us. It was drawn in the middle by me…yes.”
Johnathan had leaned back against my pillows. He looked as if he was going to laugh, but I kept going because I had to right?
“Soo…I had a dream and I woke up on Josh, sitting on him. I was, and those damn cherubs were staring me right in the face. I hate them. I was never even big on Valentine’s Day anyway. I mean who the hell thinks those cherubs are normal? Creeps me out.”
I had successfully not looked at him once but I knew he was looking at me. I hoped my jumping off the cliff verbally would have just blind-sided him, but I couldn't be so lucky.
Johnathan sat up and looked at me.
“So…you get a motel room… Sleep in the same bed… You have some dream and you crawl on top of him and that's it?”
“Uh huh.”
“What was your dream about Rue?”
“It was a, in a field…pretty really. You know I love the smell of grass, there was a lot of it…smelled good.”
He grinned… “And...what were you doing in the field.?”
“Ummm…stuff and things.”
“Stuff and things?” he asked.
“Yea, things with umm...you.”
He took my hand.
“Were they good things or were we mowing the grass together?”
“You could say they were good things…not mowing, no not that. We a, we were playing chess.”
He smiled and lifted my hand to his mouth kissing the inside of my palm.
“Chess? And chess would compel you to crawl on top of Josh?”
He pushed my hair away from the side of my neck and kissed it.
I drew in my breath, remembering pieces of my dream.
“Chess is a very passionate sport to the Europeans ya know, I was winning,” I said.
“I bet you were.”
He turned my head and kissed me softly on the mouth.
We both turned our heads, when we heard someone clear their throat. We looked towards the door and saw Sam standing there.
“Hey Johnathan listen, we can fix your little problem there.”
We both looked at her, not knowing what the hell she meant.
She smiled at him, “Stand up…give me a chance to teach you both something.”
We both stood up. I don't know why. Maybe it's just Sam's ability to let you know she is doing it, whatever ‘it’ is, with or without your participation.
“Okay Rue, I want you to close your eyes and I want you concentrate on the core.”
I looked at her, surprised. “Umm, I blew out the car windows the last time I did this Sam!”
“Well, maybe I should do this then,” she laughed .
Johnathan looked her. “Do what?”
“We…all of us have the power to heal Johnathan.”
Sam looked at his…you know.
Johnathan backed up, “NO…no I'm good, really Sam, thanks but…”
“Oh please. Josh is fine. You’re telling me that you just want to whimper around in pain for days?”
He looked at her, “Well no, but…”
Sam reached down and cupped him, he yelped.
I had to laugh.
“Oh shut up, trust me you’re not my type,” Sam said.
Light was glowing from her hand and I saw Johnathan relax.
“Oh my god…it's gone…! That was amazing Sam in a not weird way. I mean.”
“You’re welcome,” Sam said as she left me room.
***
Grace looked around the room, there were eleven mirrors left after the destruction of two. Knowing she had no one on the other end to allow her to pass, she started to weigh her options. Knowing her only hope was to
create a bubble of energy, to contact William, she started to scribble symbols around herself, on the floor. There was no promise it would work but an energy bubble aimed at your mate was much more accurate than just sending one out into the world. Grace finished her last one and laid the chalk down. She raised her hands and started to chant, she must be fast. She didn't know how long it would be until Caine re-appeared in one of the mirrors to torment her. Grace dropped to her knees and placed her hands in front of her, closed her eyes and started to form a bubble of energy in between her hands. It glowed white with swirling red inside of it. She had to make it with all of her love for William. She visualized his face, his lips, trapping all memories of their time together. With one exhaustive push she sent it out, keeping focused on him. She dropped forward on her hands, exhausted from the effort and whispered. “Please William…hear me, my love.”
***
William was sitting in a chair, at the table, drinking some concoction that Theodore had handed him. He started to feel a vibration and all of a sudden his chair jerked forward and he dropped the glass on the floor and it shattered at his feet. William stood up and looked at Theodore…
“Tell me you have a mirror here,” he said.
Theodore looked at William, confusion on his face.
“You cannot be planning an escape from Valon.”
“No escape Theodore, I need chalk now!”
Theodore jumped up and started for his cabinet, in the room. He turned to William, ”You are already in enough trouble here don't you think?”
William shot him a desperate look, “No questions…give me the chalk… Where is the mirror Theodore?”
Theodore walked to the wall, next to the fireplace and pushed back curtains exposing a wall. He waved his hand over it and it started to transform into a large mirror. He looked back at William.
“Not something we are supposed to have here. I had a very strong glamor on it, for any uninvited guests who decided to drop in.”
William came running up to him and put a hand on his shoulder and grinned, “Good man.”
He scribbled symbols all over the mirror.
Theodore crossed his arms.
“Company William? I would appreciate it more, if you would ask.”