by Kim Cormack
Kevin held his hand out towards her and enquired, “Are you okay? That was quite the wipe out.”
She gasped, “Kevin...Is that you?” He looked incredible. He had filled out in the last year. He gave her a bit of a smile and said, “Do I know you?”
She couldn’t speak as he looked down at her palm, intimately stroked her symbol of Ankh with his thumb, smirked and said, “I’m sure someone from your clan can fix your knees.”
She just couldn’t bring herself to let go of his hand. He was looking a little uncomfortable so she let go. He took a step away from her and smiled again before he left her standing there in shock. Her feet were firmly cemented in place as she watched him walk away.
She heard Grey’s voice from behind her, “Was it everything you dreamed it would be?”
Kayn couldn’t speak. She stood frozen in place, her lips slightly parted in shock.
Grey repeated his question, “Did he remember you?”
“No...” Kayn quietly replied. She’d been waiting for so long to see her best friend again. He hadn’t known her at all. Her mind struggled to wrap itself around the obvious. She wanted to chase after him.
Grey knelt in front of her and whispered, “You just met for the first time.” He leaned forward and sweetly kissed one of her skinned knees. Grey always made her feel like she still had a brother. That’s who he was to her, a surrogate big brother.
Grey assured, “Lexy will fix that right up when we get back to the crypt. Come on munchkin,” he teased with his always adorable accent. He placed his arm around her shoulder and gave her a half cuddle as they walked away.
He really was an outstanding guy when he wasn’t making a pompous, chauvinistic ass of himself. Kayn randomly asked, “What nationality are you?”
Grey laughed, “You, my dear, are queen of the random question. I’m Scottish, but my family moved to Australia when I was twelve.”
Trying to think about anything else she replied, “Well that explains it. I couldn’t decide where you were from originally. You use slang from both places.”
As they passed a group of people a male voice called out, “My brother from down under! How’s it going? Who is this enchanting yet extremely sweaty vision of loveliness?”
Kayn realized it must look like they are together.
Grey held her shoulders squarely in place so she couldn’t turn around and whispered, “Be charming. Don’t react. This is going to freak you out. Trust me and lay whatever girly crap you can manage to fake on this guy. Lay it on thick...”
He let go of her and she turned around to face a group of strangers. One of the men looked exactly like Kevin’s entombed brother Clay. The look-alike was obviously Tiberius, the infamous leader of Triad. He looked like a hot, well dressed version of Clay. She sucked in her reaction and then couldn’t help herself, “You do look exactly like Clay. It’s kind of amazing.” She took his outstretched hand in her own and smiled. She was going to need a full bottle of Lysol to make her hand clean again.
Tiberius flirtatiously declared, “You’re a feisty one. I love that... A challenge. You know the original is always way better than the copy.”
Kayn decided then that she’d need more than one bottle. Hell, she was going to need to buy shares in the Lysol Company. She didn’t want to see it but she saw Frost in Tiberius, that darkly attractive quality. The whole naughty boy thing was extremely difficult to resist.
“There’s something I need to do,” Tiberius stated as he reached over and slipped the ponytail out of her hair. He smiled as it fell untamed down her shoulders. He rubbed a smudge of dust from the track off her cheek with his thumb and seductively said, “Oh, I love that. I can picture you with nothing on but that wild mane of loose curls.”
He was toying with her and two could play at that game. She leaned over, touched the tip of his nose and declared, “I’d picture you naked but I left my microscope and tweezers at home.”
Sputters of stifled laughter spurted out around them. Kayn made eye contact with Kevin. He was biting his lip. This was something he’d always done while attempting to remain serious. That meant he wanted to smile. He winked at her. Did Kevin just wink at her? She was sure that he had.
Grey chuckled, “Well, it seems our lovely Kayn does come quite well armed for your always entertaining battle of wits.” Grey looked directly at Kevin and said, “Kevin... Nice to see you again kid.”
Kevin looked at Grey, knit his brow and glared at Tiberius.
Tiberius sparred back, “Cute… Really cute. You shit head.”
Knowing during the Summit there was no violence between the clans, Grey patted Tiberius on the shoulder and teased, “That is ‘Sir Awesome Shithead’ to you.”
She couldn’t stop staring at Kevin. He’d winked at her.
As Grey grabbed Kayn’s hand and towed her in the opposite direction he called out, “Bye Kev...So good to see you again!” Once they were out of earshot, Grey chuckled, “Microscope and tweezers? That was awesome. You realize now he is going to get all obsessed with the fact that you think he is not packing any ammo. You just wrecked his whole week. That poor guy is going to have to accidentally flash everyone in his clan for a month.”
Kayn glanced back at the group of Triad. He was still watching her walk away. Maybe, he would remember her…Maybe, he just doesn’t remember her yet?
Grey randomly blurted, “You just wait until you see the three brothers in the same room together. It’s always entertaining but you just made it change from merely entertaining to an awesome gong show!”
They casually strolled through the woods hand in hand towards the hidden Ankh crypt in peaceful silence as streams of sunlight filtered through the trees on the trail in their path. Billions of floating dust particles danced in each ray making the forest appear to be a magical place. Almost beautiful enough to deter her thoughts. Ten years as best friends and he didn’t remember her. They’d all been right and she’d been hopeful and ridiculous. Grey squeezed her hand in solidarity without uttering a word. She didn’t need him to say anything. She just needed time to let it sink in.
They entered the crypt and it was empty. As they left the glare of the sun brought her back to the track… That first meeting. She’d waited all this time for a lackluster moment, a meeting that had done nothing but leave her feeling raw, lost and even more confused. His memory had been erased. That was a fact. But as she relived their first meeting in her mind, she felt it… Erased or not, there was something undeniable between them. It was still there in the touch of his hand…In the look in his eyes. She’d need to see him again to be sure. She’d been standing there off in la la land when Grey cleared his throat to catch her attention.
“You have a lot to process,” Grey acknowledged.
Did she ever. Kayn replied, “I thought once I knew for sure, once I could see for myself that he had his mind erased and he didn’t know me, that everything would become clear but all I want to do is smack him senseless until he remembers me.”
He took her hand and said, “If fate gave us a clear life path to walk down, we would never wander off in the wrong direction. What fun would that be?”
She laughed, “I can’t wander off in the wrong direction now. You’d bring me back.”
Grey chuckled and replied, “You would be surprised how often I have wandered off in the last forty years, even with supervision. Choose your roads with wisdom, not emotion and you can take a few wrong turns out of the equation.”
Her heart warmed. Guru Grey was back. Kayn sighed and teased, “I have a sneaky suspicion that all I’m going to get from you are fortune cookie readings if I keep asking you questions, aren’t I?”
He gave her hand another brotherly squeeze and stated, “If I knew I wasn’t going to get in some serious trouble for answering your questions, I’d answer every single one of them without hesitation.”
“I know,” she answered as they wandered down the path. Streams of sunlight wove their way through the trees. Grey pause
d in the hovering light, basking in the luxurious warmth of the rays. She let go of his hand and moved to stand in her own magical beam of heavenly radiance and smiled as the warmth caressed her face. He did have the right idea…She felt better, “It’s pretty wonderful, isn’t it?”
“Amazing,” Grey agreed. “This is one of my favorite things.”
“Do you know what I like best?” Kayn replied.
Grey squinted in the sun to look at her and teased, “Does it have something to do with running?”
“Well, that too…But this one’s really good,” she confessed. Kayn knelt by a stump and opened her hand. A furry black and orange caterpillar strolled onto her palm. She allowed it to circle her hand as she stood up and nodded at Grey.
He grinned as it meandered from her hand into his. He smiled and said, “I say we go for lunch and then just spend the rest of the day doing cool peaceful things. Forget about ex-boyfriends with amnesia. We can allow all of our problems to melt away with the setting of the afternoon sun.”
That might be just what the doctor ordered. She watched him set the caterpillar free on a flowering lilac bush as she replied, “I think that’s a great idea.” The two happiness seekers strolled off hand in hand into the forest. They were almost back at the motorhome when they heard the crackling of tires in the distance and knew someone had probably been sent back to the camp to pick them up.
“I’ll race you there, then we can add running to the moment,” Grey laughed as he took off on a dead run through the foliage.
She gave chase but let Grey run ahead of her. She wasn’t in the mood to fight for the lead. They broke through the bushes laughing right in front of the truck. Lexy stomped on the brakes and scowled at them through the window.
Grey chuckled, “Good thing Lexy knows how to use the brakes because, for the record, being hit by a truck also sucks.”
Long Overdue Introductions
Kayn’s ears were accosted by the sound of hundreds of clinking dishes and the thick echo of chatter. The restaurant was beyond packed. It was hard not to notice that there were still four seats set up at the end of the long table they were sitting at. Who else was coming?
“Did you have a good morning?” Frost whispered as she shimmied into the empty seat beside him.
She replied, “Not so much; my mind’s a melted pile of goo. Is it coming out of my ears?”
Frost grinned and said, “Not yet.”
Grey began to tell the rest of the clan about their crazy morning. The table erupted with laughter over Kayn’s microscope and tweezers comment. Her heart clenched. Had Frost known that she would be seeing Kevin today? His expression was impossible to read. He was looking at everyone else but her. The table paused as the front door jingled once again, announcing a few new patrons. Markus and Arrianna walked across the room and joined the table. That was an explanation for two of the four extra chairs.
Lily’s face erupted into a giant grin. “Father!” she cried as she got out of her seat and embraced Markus. Lily looked around, for she’d announced father quite loudly in her joy and Markus looked less than ten years her senior.
The bells rang for the diner’s front door once again. A striking looking blonde stranger approached the table.
Frost leapt up and joyously embraced him, “This is Orin everyone. Orin, this is Kayn, Zach and... Melody.”
Kayn watched Melody’s expression as she attempted to reign in her shock. Mel peered up at the man who wore the name of her biological father. One more chair. Which Ankh would be the next surprise guest? The door jingled again and in walked someone that left everyone with their mouths agape. A beautiful girl with kind eyes and shiny chestnut brown curls entered the diner. Her deep dimpled smile immediately put the three newest of the Ankh at ease. Orin had been staring across the table at Melody. He obviously knew that she was his daughter. When the girl walked in the front door, Frost, Lily and Markus all stood up out of respect.
“Jenna... How in the hell are you here?” Markus said as he hugged her.
She laughed, “I thought I’d better come back before you guys messed everything up.”
Orin didn’t get up. He looked as shocked as Kayn had been earlier that day to see Kevin. Orin spoke her name aloud, “Jenna,” acknowledging her presence.
Kayn could sense the tension between the two strangers.
She responded with one solitary word, “Orin.” They stared at each other for a while as the waitress came to take their order.
As soon as she left Jenna broke into another dimpled, gorgeous grin and said, “Melody, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Melody was in complete and total shock. She couldn’t stop staring at Jenna. She took Jenna’s hand and whispered, “You look exactly like my mother.”
Jenna gave Orin the dirtiest look. She turned and held out her hand towards Zach.
Zach took it, leaned across the table, kissed the back of it gently and said, “Nice to meet you gorgeous.”
When Jenna laughed, she made everyone smile. The sound of Jenna’s laughter made Kayn instantly unconcerned about all that she’d been through that morning. Jenna held her hand out to Kayn and as she shook it, Jenna grinned as though she knew the color of Kayn’s panties. Kayn said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Jenna replied, “I’ve wanted to meet you for a long time. I’ve known your mother forever. She’s one of my best friends. You look a lot like your mother too.” She elbowed Frost and shook her head. Jenna grinned at Frost and whispered, “I see you are still being led around by your second brain. I’m not sure if that’s endearing or just pathetic.”
Kayn couldn’t help but notice the sibling-like relationship that Jenna and Frost had. She observed the table quietly.
Frost leaned over and whispered to Kayn, “Jenna left Orin a couple decades ago for the opportunity to be the Guardian Azariah’s right hand.”
Jenna whispered in Frost’s other ear, “I’m sitting right here.”
He chuckled, “You knew she was sitting right there when you accused me of being led around by my junk.”
Jenna almost spit her coffee on the table and said, “I have a right to be pissy with you my friend. You haven’t been very respectful of my orders.”
The two immortals continued their sparring match. Kayn just sat back and watched the drama unfold. Melody had just seen her genetic sire and Orin appeared to be a tad more than traumatized by Jenna’s presence. Maybe they hadn’t told him his ex was going to be here? Just like nobody had bothered to inform her that her ex was going to be here. Kevin’s reaction to her Ankh symbol flashed through her memory and she blinked away the tears forming in her eyes. He was here. She needed to go to the washroom and get her shit together. She quickly finished eating her lunch.
Grey grabbed her chair and abruptly pulled it out. “It’s time to go kids. These boring old people need to have some alone time.”
“Where are we going?” Melody questioned as she stood up.
“Here and there,” Grey answered. “Don’t worry about it ...Let’s just go.”
Kayn peered up at Grey and knew he had her back. Lexy and Zach followed them away from the table. The five of them walked out the door, leaving the bell jingling behind them.
The Ankh that remained behind at the table began to talk about deeper, more intensely important subjects the second the newest clan were out of ear shot.
Markus addressed the group, “So, only one of the three has been Enlightened?”
“I have been trying to trigger one of them myself for months,” Frost chuckled as he took a sip of his drink.
Lilarah kicked him under the table.
Jenna spoke, “I gave Winnie my seat at Azariah’s side. The next time any of you decide to disobey a direct order, do try to remember that it will be Winnie who will be choosing your punishment and she doesn’t know you so there’s no sense of guilt in causing you pain. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that she’s not your biggest fan Frost.” Jenna glanced at Orin who
was visibly taken aback, “There are no secrets from Azariah. I know every dirty secret and every single naughty act over the last twenty years.”
“See anything you liked?” Frost teased.