by S. J. West
“Dear Lord,” my Aunt Tara says, “we give thanks for this food in the nourishment of our bodies. We thank you for guiding Caylin in picking out these angels of mercy to watch over her family in the years to come. Please help them accomplish what it is you need them to do. And Lord, if you could teach Slade a little more humility, I think we would all appreciate it. Amen.”
This time the other Watchers at the table snicker at Slade’s expense.
“Why should I be humble?” Slade grumbles to Aunt Tara. “I’m perfect.”
Aunt Tara tilts her head at Slade. “Hon, ain’t nobody perfect in this world but God, and I hate to tell ya but you are not him.”
Slade just rolls his eyes at Aunt Tara and grabs a roll off the platter in front of him. The end of the prayer seems to be most of my chosen’s cue to descend upon the feast on the table as if they haven’t eaten in days.
“Jered, hon,” Aunt Tara says, scooping out some mustard greens from the bowl in front of her, “you’ve been the most quiet of the bunch. Are you feeling all right?”
Jered nods, trying to look under Desmond’s arm at Aunt Tara as his fellow Watcher is scooping up some mashed potatoes from a bowl on the other side of him.
“Yes. I’m fine,” he tells her. “I’m just not used to being around so many people at one time I guess.”
“Well, if you’re gonna be a part of this bunch,” Aunt Tara tells him, eyeing the seemingly ravenous Watchers around her, “you need to get over your shyness, or you’re never gonna get anything to eat when they’re around.”
I decide to just wait out the others grabbing at food, but my Aunt Tara has other plans.
She stands from her seat, puts two fingers in her mouth and whistles, gaining the attention of the angels at the table.
“You boys need to just sit your butts back in your chairs and start acting civilized. You can’t just grab for food over people. Hasn’t anyone taught you to pass bowls around the table and take turns?”
My chosen sit back in their chairs looking properly chastised.
“Now,” Aunt Tara says, picking up the platter with the corn bread on it. “Who wants some cornbread?”
It takes a little while for everyone to get what they want, but at least I don’t feel like I’m in the middle of a food fight between the Watchers.
The lunch goes by smoothly. I’m glad to see all of my chosen seem to get along with one another, even though Jered doesn’t quite seem as comfortable as the others in his new role. But, it all feels right. I sense we’re becoming closer just by spending this time together and eating with one another. I hope to be able to do this with them all on a regular basis because I believe it’s important we stay close to one another and become an integral part of each other’s lives.
While we’re cleaning up the dishes afterwards, I hear Will say to Slade, “Do you know how to play pool?”
“Kid, of course I know how to play pool. I know how to do just about everything.”
“Man, you think you could play a game with me? Maybe I could learn some
moves from you. And just so you don’t feel like you’re wasting your time with me, I’ve got some money. We could place a wager on the game to make it more interesting for you. I’m sure you’ll win it, but it would be worth it to learn from the best.”
I stop clearing the table and look at Will. He looks at me and winks before returning his doe eyed attention back to Slade.
I know what he’s doing, but I can’t believe he picked Slade to do it to.
My father taught Will how to play pool as soon as he could hold a cue stick in his hands properly. He’s the best pool player I know, and I can’t believe he’s picked Slade to hustle!
“Now why are you just handing your money over like that to him, Will?” Linc asks in exasperation, obviously a willing accomplice in Will’s little game.
“Well, I hate to take your money, kid,” Slade says hesitantly.
“No, no,” Will assures him. “Trust me. Once I learn your moves I’ll make it back tenfold.”
“Well, I’ll tell you what. Just to make it fair, I’ll double whatever you put down to give you an added incentive.”
“Wow, really?” Will says so convincingly in mock amazement I’m left speechless by his acting skills. “That would be awesome! But, I’m pretty sure your money is safe from me.”
Slade smiles and puts a hand on Will’s shoulder.
“Come on then, show me where the pool table is, and I’ll show you how to win from anybody.”
Will, Linc, and Slade head up stairs, and I see Desmond, Andre, and Brutus follow behind them to watch. Uncle Malcolm is sitting on the living room floor with Mae. She’s trying to put her pink glittery mardi-gras mask on his face. He smiles for all he’s worth as he watches the others go to the second floor where the game room is. I feel certain he knows exactly what Will is up to.
My dad comes up to me. “Wonder how much he’ll win from them.”
“Are you ok with what he’s doing?” I ask.
My dad chuckles. “If they let a thirteen-year-old boy hustle them so easily, it might be a good lesson for them all.”
I giggle because I know he’s absolutely right.
I see Jered walk out to the front porch alone and wonder what it’s going to take for him to feel like he’s a part of the group.
While Aiden is learning how to make my favorite chocolate fudge from Aunt Tara in the kitchen, I slip out to the front of the house to speak with Jered.
I find him sitting on the porch swing in a contemplative mood, just staring down at his hands clasped loosely in his lap.
“Mind if I join you for a little while?” I ask him.
His head snaps up like he didn’t even realize I was outside with him.
“No, of course not,” he tells me.
I go to sit next to him on the swing.
“Why didn’t you join the others upstairs?”
“And be hustled by your little brother?” Jered says with a chuckle.
“Ok, so now I know who the smart one of the bunch is,” I say, not even trying to suppress a giggle.
Jered sighs. “I guess I’m just not that trusting anymore. Though, I might go up there just to see Slade lose for once.”
“I think it’ll be good for him to be humbled by Will.”
“Certainly won’t hurt,” Jered agrees.
We sit in a comfortable, mutual silence for a while.
“Do you mind if I ask you something?” Jered finally says.
“No, I don’t mind. Ask me anything.”
“How did you know I would be one of your chosen? I mean you could have just picked anyone who showed up in the desert. What made you seek me out in particular?”
“Because I knew you were supposed to be one.”
“But how?”
“Can you keep a secret?” I ask.
“Of course. Nothing you say to me will be repeated.”
“I didn’t really choose you guys. You chose yourselves.”
Jered looks at me in complete confusion. “I’m afraid you’ve lost me.”
“When it was time for me to choose, those of you who wanted to be chosen the most glowed to me. It was almost like you had a permanent spotlight on you. Your auras showed your need to help me and my family.”
Jered falls silent and contemplative again for a while.
“I guess that makes sense,” he finally says. “I did want you to choose me.”
“Then why didn’t you come to the desert?”
Jered shakes his head. “Because I didn’t see the point in it. I felt certain you wouldn’t consider me since Malcolm distrusts me so much. And, I know how much his opinion means to you.”
“Ok, it’s my turn to ask you something,” I say.
“Anything.”
“Why did you want me to choose you so badly?”
Jered sighs heavily. “Everyone has had to earn their forgiveness in one way or another. I hoped this mission would be my way to earn mine.
I still hope it is. And it’s not just my father’s forgiveness that I’m seeking. I need to feel like I’ve done some good to earn it. I think that’s how it is for all of us. We angels are the worst when it comes to guilt complexes.”
“I totally agree with you on that,” I tell Jered with a smile, knowing how much it meant to Aiden to earn his forgiveness after the Tear was made, and he was given the opportunity.
“Our father would probably forgive us if we just asked Him to, but I think He knows we need to feel like we’ve done something to earn it or it means nothing.”
“I can understand that,” I tell him. “Having something handed to you doesn’t mean as much as working for it.”
“Exactly.”
The front door opens and Aiden steps out. I feel my breath catch in my throat when I see him, but I’m becoming used to that now. Just the sight of him seems to take my breath away.
“Hey,” he says to us, “are you ready for dessert?”
I want something sweet against my tongue, but it’s not exactly the chocolate cream pie my father made for us to eat.
“Sure,” I say, standing from the porch swing and turning to look at Jered. “Coming?”
“No,” Jered says, “I think I would like to stay out here for a little while longer, if that’s all right.”
I nod, letting him know I understand.
Just then Daniel phases onto the front porch.
“Oh, sorry,” he says startled to find us all there. “I didn’t want to just phase into the house without having permission.”
“Did everything go all right?” Aiden asks. “Did you have any trouble stashing Belphagor?”
Daniel shakes his head. “No. No trouble. I just felt like I needed to watch over him for a while before I left him there. I wanted to make sure the dagger’s effect wasn’t temporary.”
“Well, we have some leftovers if you’re hungry,” Aiden tells him. “And we’re just about to have dessert.”
“Leftovers sound great,” Daniel says with a smile.
Aiden and I begin to walk Daniel inside the house, but I chance a glance back at Jered before I go in and see that he’s crawled back into his own little world again.
I hope in time he will come to realize he was chosen for a reason and accept that his fate is now in his own hands.
A couple of hours later, just as it’s starting to get dark outside, I decide to check on Will in the game room. Aiden and I go up just to make sure he’s survived his devious plans to separate Slade from his money.
When we get up there, Will is standing beside the table with his partner in crime, Linc, standing behind him holding a wad of cash in his hands greedily counting their profits. I see Jered finally decided to join the group also and smile at him so he knows I’m happy to see him there with the others.
Desmond seems to be the latest victim to Will’s skill with a pool cue.
“Couldn’t have given me a little warning that your brother was a pool shark, Caylin?” Slade asks as he comes to stand beside Aiden and me.
“Well, I could have warned you,” I say, “but would you have believed me if I had?”
Slade laughs. “No, probably not. I guess I’ve learned to not underestimate a half-pint.”
Will looks at Slade and smiles. “Never underestimate a Cole, either. We rarely lose.”
“I’ll try to remember that,” Slade says with a shake of his head, apparently still having trouble believing he just got swindled by my little brother.
“Besides Jered, who had the good sense to stay out of all this, I’m the last Watcher standing,” Desmond says as he concentrates to make his next shot but scratches.
“Not standing for long,” Will tells him, going to the pocket that Desmond shot the cue ball into and taking it in hand.
Will goes on to call his next three shots to clear the table of all his solid colored balls.
“And that just leaves the 8 ball in the corner left pocket,” he says, taking his aim and sinking the called ball into its designated pocket.
Desmond groans and hands over a stack of bills to Will.
“I thought I had you, little man,” Desmond says, ruffling Will’s dark hair into a mess, but Will doesn’t seem to mind much.
Why should he? He just won a pile of money from my chosen.
Desmond lays his pool cue on the table and walks over to Aiden.
“How about coming out with us for a pint?” Desmond says to Aiden. “It’s been ages since we did anything together.”
I look up at Aiden and see uncertainty on his face.
“Why don’t you go?” I tell him, hoping to alleviate any worry he has that I wouldn’t want him to leave me. “You should go spend some time with your friends.”
“Are you sure?” he asks me. It’s then I know he wants to go.
“Absolutely,” I tell him, standing up on my tiptoes and giving him a kiss on the cheek. “Go have some fun.”
“There,” Desmond says, “you have the blessing of the only person who matters.” Desmond turns to the others in the room. “Anyone else up for a pint of ale?”
“Are you dragging us to that hole in the wall in Cardiff?” Andre asks.
“Of course!” Desmond says like Andre shouldn’t have even needed to ask. “Why would we go anywhere else?”
“I’m in,” Brutus says.
“Me too,” says Daniel.
“How about you, Jered?” Desmond says. “I think you’re the only one who might have money left to pay for it all.”
“I’m not sure where it is,” Jered says, not looking completely certain he wants to go.
“No worries,” Slade says placing a beefy hand on Jered’s shoulder. “I’ll escort you there myself.”
Aiden turns to me.
“I’m not sure what time I’ll be through,” he tells me, not having to mention out loud that this means he probably won’t be able to keep his earlier promise of making me say ‘mercy’.
“Another time,” I tell him. “Go have fun with your friends.”
Aiden leans down and kisses me lightly on the lips.
“I’ll text you later,” he promises.
“Ok.”
The Watchers phase for their night of revelry, and I turn to my little brother and Linc.
“So,” I say crossing my arms in front of me, “just what exactly do you plan to do with your ill-gotten gains from this evening?”
Will places a hand over his heart and feigns a look of hurt.
“Ill-gotten? I’ll have you know I worked hard for that money. And it’s not like I cheated them. They had a fair chance to win.”
“But why did you want the money, Will?” I ask. “What did you need to buy that mom and dad couldn’t give you money for?”
It wasn’t like my parents weren’t filthy rich. None of us kids had ever not gotten whatever we needed.
“I wanted to buy mom a gift with my own money instead of the money dad gives me to go get her something with,” Will says. “This way she’ll know it’s from me.”
I can’t help but smile. “That’s actually kind of sweet, little bro.”
Will shrugs. “Can’t help it. I’m just a big softy.”
“What did you need so much money for though?”
“You’ll just have to wait for her party to find out.”
I don’t push Will for more information. He seems to want to surprise my mom and the rest of us so I decide to let him keep his little secret.
We spend the rest of the evening with just immediate family. At one point, Mae talks Uncle Malcolm into going outside to swing her on one of the dragons hanging from the pink castle play set he built her for Valentine’s Day. I decide to go out with them for a little fresh air.
As Uncle Malcolm is swinging Mae, he asks, “So, did you like your own castle on Valentine’s Day?”
I smile as I lean against the side of the rainbow slide.
“Yes, I did. Thank you for helping Aiden design it. And thank you for having a talk wi
th him about kissing me.”
“Someone had to talk some sense into the boy,” Uncle Malcolm grumbles. “I didn’t see any point in him denying you something you wanted just because he felt the need to deny himself. It wasn’t your fault he used to be a blood sucking nymphomaniac.”
“Uncle Malcolm,” I say rolling my eyes at his description of Aiden before he met me.
“Well, it’s the truth,” Uncle Malcolm defends, “and the only reason I had a talk with him is because I knew he wasn’t like that anymore. If anyone has been an example of how true love can change a person, it’s Aiden.”
“Did you really threaten to kill him when he first saw me?”
“Yes, I did,” Uncle Malcolm answers with no shame attached to the words. “And I would have done it if your mother had given the ok. Luckily, for the two of you, she didn’t.”
“Higher, Uncle Malcolm!” Mae urges.
“Uh, you Cole women,” Uncle Malcolm says with a shake of his head, “so demanding, even at a young age.”
“We just know what we want,” I tell him with a smile. “There’s nothing wrong with that.
Uncle Malcolm looks over at me and continues to shake his head, but I see a hint of a smile tug at the corners of his lips.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t last long.
Uncle Malcolm suddenly stops Mae’s swinging and looks off toward the woods to the right of the house. He quickly grabs Mae off the swing and hands her to me.
“Go inside. Now!”
He phases before I can ask why.
I look down at Mae just before I’m about to phase us inside the house.
But Mae phases first and not into the safe confines of our home.
She follows Uncle Malcolm…
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I don’t hesitate. I follow their phase trails and find myself standing in a clearing within a dense forest. The moon is full and high in the sky, illuminating the scene before me.
When I get there, I see Uncle Malcolm fighting off five cloaked Watchers. The fighting is almost too fast for my eyes to follow. They seem to be using a combination of just plain brutality and phasing in an attempt to get the upper hand on one another. Uncle Malcolm seems to be trying his best to break through their lines to reach something behind them. I look over and see what it is he’s after.