by Navi' Robins
I just wish he would shut up with all the questions already! He is really testing my nerves. Let me get up and walk over to the receptionist desk and pretend I am asking an important question because I am about to curse and real loud too. Walking towards the receptionist I see from the corner of my eye down the hall the six agents who came to our house several times during those murder investigations. They seem very agitated and in a rush. They are moving quickly towards me…a little too quick. Let me step back to give them some room, assuming they need to speak to the receptionist; but instead what do you know they surround me, totally ignoring the receptionist. Now this is getting over the top. First I’m seeing ghosts, demons trying to kill me, and now six FBI agents are surrounding me like they are going to attack.
I’m feeling very uncomfortable in this circle and none of them are saying a word. They’re just standing here, staring me down while I ask them if there is a problem. These guys are assholes and I’m not gonna stand here in this circle while they stare me down. This is creepy and I’ve had enough creepy for a thousand years. What’s strange is these clowns don’t seem to have a ghost attached to them, well…I take that back because after doing a double take these guys have them and they aren’t as hideous as Jason’s but they are a close second. They are all staring at me now, the ghostly monsters and the agents, not moving or saying a word. It seems like they are awaiting orders from an unseen force or waiting for me to make the first move. I’ve had enough of this, let me get out of here but once I make a move they decide to block my path, and every time I try to use another angle to get out, they close their positions tighter preventing me from squeezing past them.
Where is Tony? Is he just sitting here watching this and doing nothing?
“Uh, Tony! A little help here?”
“Gentlemen, excuse her,” Tony said after getting up and walking behind them.
No one moves, not one agent or ghost. They are just standing there staring at me.
“Excuse me! Let her go!”
I can hear the anger and aggravation in Tony’s voice. This could get bad if things get physical because these are very bad men and I don’t think Tony and I can take these guys and live to tell the tale. I am starting to understand a little more about what I’m seeing and it seems that everyone who has an ugly or overly aggressive ghost-monster attached to them is pretty much a bad person and those with more attractive and docile ghosts are good people. And like I said, these guys have some ugly-ass accessories.
“Where is Aiden?” demands one of the agents.
Oh, now one of them speaks, but I’m not sure if I want to answer that question because lately we haven’t been in good company and the person who was closest to us wanted us dead. So I give them a taste of their own medicine. I look at them with the same facial expression they have been giving me for the past ten minutes. My mockery of them caused their cheekbones to tense up and eyebrows to move down towards their eyes. Yeah, these guys are getting upset. I think I’ll stand here a little longer so I can upset them further.
“We don’t have time for games, young lady. We need to know where he is!”
I don’t like his tone so I think I’ll advise him that if he wants to know my brother’s whereabouts he can ask the receptionist. Oooh…now he’s really pissed.
“We could take you into custody for not cooperating with a federal investigation, the agent warns me.”
Now I’m thinking…Ha! Dude, I am seeing ghosts and have survived a demonic attack, a fire-breathing brother, and an exploding house. What makes you think I am afraid of being in federal custody? I think I’ll tell him that my mother won’t take too kindly to him threatening to arrest her fifteen-year-old daughter and our family’s lawyer would love to see your badge taken. Tony is still trying to get through them but it’s still a no-go.
“Your mother’s lawyer is of no consequence to me or my team. The only thing that is important is apprehending Aiden Storm, the murderer who just happens to be your brother.”
“My brother isn’t a murderer and you, sir are ill-informed and not very good at this job, are you? How about you go ask the receptionist like I told you earlier. I won’t do your job for you, that’s why you suck at it now because apparently you need five other guys to stare down a teenage girl. You aren’t man enough to do this job alone. You guys are lame FBI agents, even the actors on TV that pretend to be FBI agents have more get up and go than you do.”
“How would you like to spend a night in jail with that mouth?”
“How would you like to kiss my ass with your mouth?”
“Does your mother know what kind of little girl she has?”
“Yes, she does, but I’m sure Uncle Sam doesn’t know what kind of sissy he has on payroll. Now let me go!”
“We can’t do that!” they all said in unison. “Your brother must pay for what he’s done and we won’t rest until he does.”
“What do you intend to do to him?”
I am curious because I’m getting the feeling that if they take my brother away we will never see him alive again. Why is the agent smiling at me? Was my question a joke? Does he think it’s an amusing question to ask what they plan on doing to my brother?
“We plan on doing what anyone in our position would do…kill him!”
“Tony! Get me out of here!”
I’m fighting and I can hear Tony fighting to get me away from these freak FBI agents. The receptionist is yelling for us to stop and calling for security. I’m already sore and tired and I am not at full strength so I can tell my punches and pushes aren’t having any effect on the agents. But Tony on the other hand is getting his point across by the grunts and sounds of pain coming out of the agents mouths as he pounds on them. Two agents have broken away from the scuffle and started walking down the hall towards Aiden’s room. This was all a diversion….damn! These guys are good and I underestimated them.
Is that? Oh my God, it is!
“Manny! Manny!”
It’s my big brother Manny and four other men in full uniform and by the way they are walking towards us they mean business. What is going on? Why are the agents leaving? The four men that are with Manny seeing the agents leave immediately breaks away and give chase after the retreating agents. Who are these guys that have the authority to chase down FBI agents like bullies chasing geeks after school? Manny and his team must be badasses. Oh man I love my big brother! Everything is starting to calm down while I’m in his arms hugging him tightly. His arms around me feels good, I’ve missed him so much.
“Where are Mom and Aiden?”
Taking his hand I lead him down the hall towards their rooms. Tears are now falling down my face and I don’t care who sees. I’ve been through so much today and I deserve to cry in public.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
I was awakened by aggressive whispers from familiar voices. I tried opening my eyes but they seemed so heavy and my eyes were burning from the light glaring directly on me. I could also hear a constant beeping sound to the right of me. I quickly discovered that I was in a hospital bed, a very uncomfortable hospital bed. My vision was blurry but I could make out Sarah, Mom, Tony, and Manny. What was Manny doing here? From his and Mom’s body language I could tell they were in a very heated argument while Sarah and Tony looked on. They were so involved in their argument that no one noticed that I was awake, so I called out to my mom to let her know I was okay. The sound of my voice brought immediate silence over the room. Everyone just stood there looking at me, not saying a word, just frozen in time trying to process the sound that came from me.
Then Sarah broke the silence screaming my name and ran to me. She threw her arms around me and held me tightly while kissing me on the cheek. She has never been this affectionate with me and it was kinda weird but I was too weak to protest and to be honest, I didn’t want to. Soon everyone was hugging me except Manny. He just stood by the door staring at me with this stern look on his face. What’s his problem? We’d almost been killed by a supernatural entity and f
or what it was worth I managed to save us and he was standing there like I just messed up the church’s money. Both Mom and Sarah were crying, and I could tell even Tony was getting choked up. It was a very touching yet disturbing scene because my big brother seemed to distance himself from us. Like he was no longer a part of this family but merely an observer.
“How did I get here?” I asked.
“Tony,” Sarah answered. “Tony went into the house while it was burning to pull you out.”
“Thank you, dude, I know…”
“Don’t even say anything, bro,” Tony said stopping me from going into a lengthy apology. “I would have run in there twenty times no matter what. You’re like my brother and no matter what we go through I won’t give up on you, let alone leave you in a burning house to die.”
“Mom, are you okay?”
“Yes, baby, I’m okay, just a few deep cuts and bruises, but I’m going to make it. I’m not supposed to be out of bed but your brother hasn’t been the most graceful visitor, so I had to get out of bed.”
“What? What do you mean? Manny? What’s going on?”
I was really confused now. I mean we almost got murdered and he has an attitude? What was really going on with him? I would think he would be happy to see us alive but instead he seemed almost disappointed.
“How dare you blame me? I wasn’t the one that invited and slept with that…that…thing. How could you? You just pissed on my dad’s memory by fu—”
“Hey! Wait one minute. I’m still your mother and I won’t allow you to talk to me that way!”
“You aren’t acting like my mother! You know what’s out here, you know better than most and instead of being careful and responsible you acted like some hormone-crazed teenager and put all of you in danger. You knew! You knew how dangerous things are for our family these days but you still decided to act irresponsibly. So no, I’m not all choked up and relieved.”
As I was lying in the bed things became confusing and I wasn’t sure in this argument who was the parent and who was the child. But what was even more confusing was that Manny kept saying over and over again how my mom knew. Knew what? How could she know that Jason could possibly be a murderous demon in the flesh? How could any of us know? But Manny was certain that my mom was aware of those kinds of dangers for our family. While I was daydreaming on the bed searching for answers, the argument began to get loud—very loud—and soon people began to stand outside the door watching and listening to the heated exchange between Manny and our mom.
“Stop it, both of you!” I said. “From what I’ve been told, I was in a coma and our mom was viciously attacked by something we can’t even begin to explain. I’m awake and we are all alive. Yes, we are hurt and the house is destroyed, but we have our lives, which is more important than anything else. So right now we shouldn’t be arguing but celebrating our chance to see another day! Plus you are giving me a headache!”
Everyone just looked at me with their mouths open. If I weren’t so tired and groggy I would have looked the same way. Where did all that come from?
“Mom and I need rest, Manny. We’ve been through a lot and we’ll have all the time to argue when we get out the hospital in a couple of days.”
“A couple of days? You think you are spending another minute in this hospital? No little brother, we are leaving now! It’s no longer safe here. Actually, it’s no longer safe in this country period. So I hope you haven’t used up all your energy making that passionate and moving speech because we have a plane to catch…all of us!”
Something was very wrong here and nothing in my wildest dreams or nightmares could prepare me for what was to come in my life after this night.
Spain, in my humble opinion, was one of the most beautiful countries in Europe. It was full of culture and history and happened to be where my grandparents lived. Even though most of their family lived stateside my grandparents refused to live permanently in the US. My grandma would say America was only worth a vacation, never a one-way ticket. My grandparents stayed in the town of Marbella located on the Andalusian coastline known as Costa del Sol. It was a very beautiful and luxurious resort town located in southern Spain. They owned a magnificent beachside estate that was just steps away from the coast. The views from every window of their home were breathtaking. Things in Marbella were elegant yet simple. Life moved at a much slower pace in Marbella, so a vacation in Marbella was better enjoyed than some other well-known vacation spots in the world.
You could do a lot in Marbella and the surrounding towns but still get the much- needed rest to justify a vacation. Because what good is a vacation if you come back exhausted? Marbella was a somewhat secluded town, so I guess that’s why Manny decided to bring us all here. I was still very weak and my mom was still healing from her wounds, so everyone let us be for a few days, giving us time to heal and get our heads together. During those few days I mostly stayed in bed looking out the window at the beautiful view and tried to not think about all the unanswered questions that were rolling in my head. During the nights though I slept with the lights on, fearing what could be lurking in the darkest corners of my room.
Manny warned me not to get comfortable when we got to Marbella. Not really knowing what he meant, I decided not to let it wreck my brain. He was getting on my nerves with all the cloak-and-dagger bull, but that was Manny; always the soldier. Sometimes I thought he was overreaching and trying to make his role in the armed forces more important than it really was. Which made his behavior even more annoying. But I guess pride will do that to the best of us. When I was strong enough to move about on my own my grandfather called me into his study late one night. When I walked into the large study I noticed Manny standing next to the door’s entrance. He seemed to be in a full attention stance with some luggage sitting at his feet. Both Manny and my grandfather remained silent when I walked into the dimly light room. Okay, so now Manny has my grandfather in on this James Bond- themed fiasco? This was really getting old.
“What’s going on?”
“No time to talk Grandson. Take this and put it on.”
The lack of ample light in the room made it hard to make out what he was handing me but when my eyes got used to the darkness I realized it was a black head covering.
“Wait! You want me to cover my head in that? What are you guys—Al-Qaeda? You can’t be serious right now. I’m not putting that over my head! Grandpa, what’s going on?”
“Listen, we don’t have time for this. Either put it on yourself or I’ll make sure you don’t need that to black out your vision!” Manny warned.
“Try it! You just try it! I’m not that little boy that followed you around the house. It’s not gonna be easy this go-round, I promise you that, Manny. I’m not pu…” Then without warning I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head and then darkness….
“Amazing! Simply amazing! How could this be?”
“We were hoping you could tell us?”
These were the words I heard after regaining consciousness. My head felt like it would explode from where Manny hit me. Wait….he did hit me. What the hell? Oh it’s on now!
“Where is Manny?!” I yelled. “His ass is mine!”
An unfamiliar voice answered behind me.
“Your brother is gone young man.”
His voice sounded old with a strong English accent, so either I was in the home of a British national in Spain or I wasn’t in Spain any longer. My grandfather was in front of me with a look of worry and amazement in his eyes.
“Who is that?”
“My name is Sir Jaffrey Landers and I am Baraqu.”
I decided to turn around to face this Sir Jaffrey Landers. At this point I needed answers for everything—Jason, my sudden ability to create and control fire and also Manny knocking me out. The Manny-thing had better have a damned good explanation; otherwise he and I had some unfinished and unpleasant business to attend to.
“Who are you really and what the hell is Baraqu? Sounds more like bar-b-cue.�
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The man that stood before me was an older man, much older than my grandfather. His hair was completely white and he had the bluest eyes I had ever seen. They were an ultramarine-blue that was so jarring that looking into his eyes seemed to cause the rest of the room to fade into the background. He stood over six feet tall and regardless of his age seemed to be in great physical shape. He wore a fitted short- sleeve collared shirt and casual slacks. Strangely, he was barefoot standing on what appeared to be a very cold concrete floor. The room we were in seemed to be in a lower level of an old structure. It was well lit and decorated in an old world yet elegant decor. There were paintings and maps all over the walls that seemed much older than any I’d seen anywhere, including museums.
He stood grinning at me with a look of admiration that gave me a weird vibe. I was very uncomfortable now because my questions weren’t being answered. This old man was just standing here looking me over like I was some kind of new specimen ready to be studied and dissected.
“Okay, is anyone going to answer me? No? Then show me the exit because I’m out of here! Grandpa, I don’t know what’s you and Manny’s malfunction but I am not amused about how this has all gone down. And tell Manny that he better watch his back because that hit he gave me isn’t a freebie, it’s on credit right now and one day I will come to collect with interest.”
I started walking towards what I thought was the door but this old man was standing in my way, still smiling with amusement at my reaction to this situation.
“Excuse me! Please let me by.”
“Oh, by all means, be my guest,” Jaffrey said and stepped aside with his arm extended towards what I believed was the exit.
Now he’s trying to be gracious. Prick!
As I walked past him I noticed what I thought was a door was actually another painting that was so big it covered the wall from floor to ceiling. Where is the door? I looked around the room, trying to find a way out, but what I discovered was that there wasn’t a door anywhere. Maybe it was behind one of the paintings. At this point I was getting very upset and afraid and I was willing to rip every painting from the walls until I found an exit. I noticed my grandfather and Jaffrey watching me with amusement as I ran around the room, but when they noticed my intentions on snatching some of the paintings off the walls they looked at each other and said in unison: