It was mid morning on the Monday before Thanksgiving, and I was trying to get the last of my things together for our trip down to Seattle and then to Kingston for the holiday. I was confident that had I grabbed everything but went through my bag one last time. Besides I could always buy something I forgot, I told myself. It was lightly snowing outside, and I was hoping by the time we got back up here that snow would be covering the entire mountain.
“Are you packed? What all did you bring?” I heard Arie blasting down the hall towards my direction, with Matilda following swiftly behind her. Her energy was undeniable.
“I packed everything you told me to. I swear!” I exclaimed.
I was so thrilled to be going to Seattle and then on to their home, my home. It was so exciting. I was hopeful it could even be a way to escape the horrible nightmares that kept trailing me.
“Awesome! As long as you bring layers, we should be good,” Arie said, bouncing on my bed. ”It’s a bit more wet down there.”
“Where’s Athen?” I asked, trying to seem nonchalant.
“He’s with Cyril getting snacks for the road trip. You’d think we were driving to Florida with as much as they were talking about getting.”
“Great minds think alike.”
I tried to think of anything else I might need. We were only going to be in Seattle for a couple days and then head on to the Kingston home for Thanksgiving. I gathered Matilda’s bed, food, and a couple toys and couldn’t think of anything else to grab. I lifted my bags and headed towards the living room to set everything down. I did a double check that the confirmation for the hotel was in my purse. I heard the keys in the front door, and immediately, my stomach began tumbling at the thought of getting to see Athen in mere seconds. I hoped that feeling never went away. The door flew open, and both Cyril and Athen had bags of food in their hands.
“Holy cow, Arie! You weren’t exaggerating!” I saw the tops of several chip bags sticking out of the grocery bags, and what looked like a case of Aquafina under Cyril’s arm. “Looks like we’ll be set for an eternity.”
“Doubtful,” Cyril piped up. “This should get us to Seattle though. I’m going to go put some of this in a cooler, and then we should be set to take off. Valet is bringing our car so they will give us a call when it’s downstairs.”
I couldn’t get the smile off of my face. I was looking forward not only to this trip but to the car ride and being in such close quarters with Athen for hours. My day couldn’t get any better. The phone rang disrupting my thoughts. Athen grabbed it, and I heard him telling valet we’d be down.
“Ok, everybody got everything?” Athen asked, looking only at me.
“Yep, I think so,” I replied, looking over at Arie as she was hooking up Matilda’s leash.
“Alright then, I’ll grab the bags. Ana, you grab Matilda, and I think we are set.” He leaned over and kissed me on my cheek, which got me all flustered yet again.
“Come on, Matilda.” I grabbed her leash and out the door we all went.
As the elevator took us down to the lobby, I got more and more excited at the prospect of getting to see where Athen called home. They kept telling me it was my house too, but I didn’t quite feel that way yet. Everything was so new, and it was a lot to take in, especially the what’s mine is yours aspect.
We all walked over to the Valet desk, and the guy led us out to our car. I wondered which car from their many, we would be piling into. I wasn’t disappointed to see Athen’s X6 waiting for us. It had 5 seats, which got me that much closer to him regardless of which seat I was sitting in. The trunk opened up with the push of the key, and Cyril began arranging everything making a point to grab the first round of snacks out of the cooler. Matilda looked anxiously as the back filled up more and more. As I was trying to calculate where I would be sitting, I saw Athen tip the valet and wish him Happy Holidays. It must have been generous I thought as I saw the valet light up the way he did. Matilda jumped onto the back seat and planted herself right in the middle so she figured she was set to go.
I noticed Cyril head for the front passenger seat, so I took my cue and crawled in the back next to Matilda. Arie climbed in on the other side. Athen climbed in, and we were off for the day’s travel. I knew it would take about 4 hours to drive to Seattle, give or take a little time at the border, and I was determined not to fall asleep. I didn’t want to miss any of the trip. As we pulled out of the hotel circle, I noticed a guy sitting on the hotel’s bench with a newspaper. Something told me to point him out.
“That would be one of them, Ana. Good eye. Not to worry, though, he is a young one. He would never dare to cross a family full of experience. We call those types posers.”
“Glad you are so sure about that,” I said to myself, more than anyone in particular. I was sure that creature had made an appearance and disrupted one of my many slumbering nights.
“Are they all over?” I inquired.
“Pretty much. There’s a lot of evil in the world. Somebody’s gotta keep it going. We have to do our best to stop it. Even the little things can add up. A low ranking one like that dabbles until they become more skilled in manipulation and fighting.”
“What do you think that one was doing?” I imagined back to the scenario I encountered with Karen and wondered if it was something like that.
“Hard to tell. If we were close by, we could tell his motive pretty quickly.”
“I hope it isn’t dire.”
“Not to worry, sweetie, very seldom does a newbie like that cause harm of any significance.”
“So, when you say he is young, how does that work? Are they not all like us? It seems we’ve been around a long time, to say the least.”
The air began filling in heavy in our little space, but this was something that seemed really important so I pressed on.
“Well?” I asked impatiently.
“It’s pretty complex, almost incomprehensible. What I mean by a young demon is one that is newly created,” Athen spoke in a low, almost inaudible hush.
I could feel the blood rushing out of my head, and the sickness begin to creep in.
“What do you mean created? You mean like demon possessed?”
“Well, partially. Except, it’s one step beyond. When a human is possessed, there’s still a chance that we can get them back. When the demon has fully succeeded, the human is no longer possessed, they just are...” He breathed out steadily, looking into my eyes through the rearview.
It hit me, “A demon…the hikers? The snowboarder? That’s all related isn’t it? What’s going on?”
“We don’t know yet, but yeah. It appears that’s possibly the case.”
“Is there no hope for them? Did they really turn into monsters?” My heartbeat slowed. Trying to comprehend the enormity of the situation seemed like an endless task. Am I a monster? I still came to existence in the same fashion as the others. Plus seeing Athen with that demon, who knows how easily swayed we are. Maybe, it’s a finer line than any of us know. I trembled a little thinking of it, praying that it was only a figment of my imagination.
“We think they’re building a legion. We won’t know until we figure out if that’s what happened.” Cyril turned around to face me. “Whatever is going on isn’t typical. We definitely have to keep a pulse on it. That being said, let’s try to ensure that you have the best holiday season and get back into the swing of things. Shall we?”
I nodded completely exhausted again. As we turned onto the Sea to Sky highway, I fell asleep almost instantly.
The Watchers Trilogy: Awakening Page 27