Awakening (30 page)

Cyril and Arie were in the living room and kitchen cleaning those cupboards out and packaging those items up to take with us. I was grateful for their help. It made the process much faster. My goal was to do a little bit each week while we were up here and then get the process started to rent it.

Athen and I had also secretly discussed getting a house possibly outside of the village, a small one where we could be a little more secluded away from the hustle and bustle of the village. We would still want to keep both the condos in the village and maybe rent them as a vacation rentals in between. It was too good of a spot to give up, but the idea of a house was pretty intriguing. We were going to bring it up to Cyril and Arie to see what they thought about the idea.

I was getting the last of the pictures off my dresser, and I saw one of the first ones of Athen and myself pre-phasing. I knew I finally had the proof I needed. I had changed since the whole reintroduction process. It wasn’t only the eyes.

“
Aha! I exclaimed to Athen.

“
What is it?” He asked coming over to where I was sitting.

“
I do look different than before. Look at the picture!”

“
Sweetie, the only thing that changed is your confidence level and the color of your eyes. It just so happens the camera picked it up. But, honestly, you always took my breath away.” He smooched me on my head and went back to whatever he was packing up for me.

“
Huh.”

We finished up and rang the bell captain to move the boxes down to our car. Our next stop was my new home for now. I was super excited to enter into the condo for the first time with the thought that I wasn’t leaving. Sleeping in Athen’s bed was even more miraculous. We decided to have dinner out somewhere after we brought everything up and then hit the sack early to start our first full day on the entire mountain. Plus, I knew that with sleeping next to Athen, I probably wasn’t getting to bed quite that early.

We were at Araxi enjoying the wonderful truffle oil fries when Arie got a call on her cell phone. She excused herself, and I realized it must have been about the snowboarder.

“
What do you think the news is?” I asked Athen.

“
Last we heard the trail was a little cold. Are you sure you haven’t had anymore visions?”

“
Nothing.” I was disappointed in myself. It seemed like I was leading everyone on a wild goose chase.

“
We’ll just see what she says when she gets back. You’ve done a lot more than you are giving yourself credit for.” Cyril was trying to be supportive, but it didn’t help how I was feeling. “Especially this early on in the game.” Cyril winked at me trying to make me feel better. If only he knew about all of my visions.

Arie returned to the table, and her facial expression said it all.

“
Well, the clothes you had described in your vision were dead on.”

My heart fell to the floor. We were too late.

“
They haven’t found the snowboarder,” She whispered, “But they found his clothes along with his other belongings he had the day he went missing. No other sign of him. They are on the run for sure.”

“
Do you think he has been turned?” I asked, my throat scratchy like sandpaper.

“
I really don’t think so, not yet anyway. I think they are enjoying toying with us.” She said flatly.

“
What about those hikers? What do you think has come of them? Is this related?” I asked not sure why it mattered at this point.

“
Yeah. It certainly is related, but I don’t know what the significance is yet.” Cyril said shaking his head in frustration.

Our entrees arrived, and as was becoming usual, we had to shake our previous conversation. It took some getting used to switching gears so often. It was exhausting mentally, but from what I could tell the only way to maintain some normalcy was to be able to switch it off. I was getting the hang of it pretty quickly all things considered. However, what I looked forward to most was falling asleep in Athen’s arms and waking up in them the next morning. I noticed myself shoveling in the food that much quicker as these thoughts bounced around. I looked over at Athen and noticed he was shoveling it in at a pretty steady pace, too and I chuckled to myself.

*****

The snow was breathtaking in the morning. The flakes were gently falling as they had been the entire night before, which made for incredible conditions. It’s always great to get on the mountain when the first flakes of the season come down in November, but usually only the top part of the mountain is open. It satisfies the craving a bit, but barely long enough until the entire mountain is open. Then the real skiing can begin, like today. It was great that we were all at similar levels. I was enjoying myself so much, and the best part seemed to be that there weren’t any creatures waiting for me. I thoroughly embraced the freedom around me.

It was getting close to noon when we decided that this would be our last run so we could go to the Longhorn and grab lunch. I was craving wings and a drink. We all made our way over to the entrance and propped our skis and poles in the storage area.

We walked past the diehards who were sitting outside eating and drinking next to the heat lamps and went inside to grab a place to sit.

“
So everything seems pretty calm around here. That’s a good thing, right?” I asked whoever would answer.

“
Yep. So far so good. We need to keep an eye out.” Cyril said reaching for Arie’s hand.

The waitress bounded over to get our drink order, and we all wanted the same thing, a hot peppermint patty. Beer didn’t sound good compared to something warm for the first round.

Athen looked over at me. I could tell he wanted to bring up the topic of getting a house outside the village that we weren’t able to discuss last night. I nodded my head.

“
I know it may seem odd since we have a place in the village, but hear us out. We’ve been thinking about getting a house right outside the village. We can have more privacy and then use this one when we are skiing, but there are times in the summer when I think we would all enjoy some land to go along with the summer nights up here.” Athen looked around trying to gauge Cyril and Arie’s expression. I could tell he was gearing up for an argument and had his list of reasons ready for the firing. Instead he got an answer that completely took us by surprise.

“
We’ve been thinking the same thing,” Arie informed us, “Now that we are all together again, it seems fitting to have a little more room to roam. I think it’s a great idea. We can always rent this one when we aren’t using it.”

“
Wow, sis, I was expecting a bit of a fight or something, but this is great.” Athen said sounding very relieved.

“
I love looking at homes and have already compiled a list from some of the magazines I grabbed around the village last night on our way back from dinner. There is one that seems especially fitting if you wanted to check it out.” I mentioned.

“
No, that sounds great. You certainly don’t waste any time.” Cyril said.

“
It’s back at the condo. I can show it to you when we get back.” I was getting super excited. It would also give us more room for some of the stuff I had accumulated, too, from my condo. Thankfully, we all had the same decorating choices.

We scheduled a meeting with a realtor for that Tuesday, and when we pulled up to the driveway, we all knew this was the place. The home was spectacular. It had a large front porch that was covered in cobblestones. There were shingles and exposed beams on every corner, which was a favorite look of mine. Cyril pulled the car next to the realtors, and we all hopped out of the Jeep. The towering trees that were kept on the lot greeted us as we walked up the driveway.

Athen took my hand, and I instantly squeezed it letting him know how happy I was with this place. We hadn’t even gotten inside yet. The realtor opened the door as soon as we reached the last step. She looked very pretty. I sensed a familiarity about her, but dismissed it to her being a local Whistler resident. She was dressed in an off-white pantsuit with a red, silk scarf tied around her neck.

“
Hi, I’m Stephanie and you are…” She said looking directly at me with a very calming smile, sticking out her hand.

“
I’m Ana. I spoke with you on the phone,” I said shaking her hand, “This is Athen, Arie, and Cyril.”

“
Oh, yes. I think we have worked together, you own the condo at the Fairmont, right?” She said looking at Athen.

That’s when it hit me. She had brilliant green eyes. I looked over at Athen who nodded. Wow, this was truly an amazing world I belonged in. I don’t how I missed it for so long.

“
So this foyer is two stories and to the right of us is considered the library. To the left is the dining room. It connects to the kitchen. Let’s go have a look shall we?”

I loved this house. The layout was perfect. The house was filled with warmth, and we hadn’t even moved in yet. We all walked into the family room, and I saw another set of stairs that were leading downstairs, which we followed and saw a cozy theater room, wine cellar, and little bar area. We came back up the stairs to the main floor, and I admired the view I had missed before. The snow was gently falling and graced the fir trees that were on the hill guiding the driveway back down the hill.

Cyril and Arie followed Stephanie upstairs, and we stayed down in the kitchen for a little while. I think Athen could sense the questions I had building up.

“
She’s one of us?” I whispered to Athen.

“
She sure is.” Athen replied.

“
Are they all over? Is she in a family too? Like ours?”

“
Yes, sweetie, she is. She is married to Joshua. They live here in the Winter and, believe it or not, they live in New Mexico in the Spring and Summer.”

“
So you guys are friends with them?”

“
We’ve been friends with them for a few years. They know the situation, if that is what you are wondering.”

“
Yeah, I kind of gathered that.” I said grinning.

“
Aren’t you something now?” Athen swatted at me, “Now let’s go upstairs and check out the rest of the house.”

We got to the landing. There was a little bonus room to the left. That was a nice feature I thought to myself. We heard Arie’s voice and followed it down the hallway that went to the left. There was a smaller guest room, which looked plenty big, and then a master suite where Arie and Cyril were chatting with Stephanie.

“
Well, this is a nice size, and it has a deck. That’s great!” I exclaimed.

“
And this is the smaller room.” Cyril chipped in.

“
Really? Let’s go check out the other one, honey!” I said grabbing Athen’s hand and pulling him with me.

As we got down the hall I heard Stephanie say, “Wow, she is certainly well adjusted for such a short time.”

“
Am I really?” I asked Athen.

“
Yeah, you really are. It’s a bit abnormal.”

“
Sweet.” I said before heading into the other master suite.

“
Wow, this one is great! It has a deck too. The bathroom is bigger. I bet Cyril and Arie would like this one. I have to be honest. I kind of like the other one. It feels more cozy.”

“
I’m completely with you.” Athen agreed.

We headed back to meet the others. I heard Stephanie telling them that if it was a cash offer, we could close in as little as two weeks.

“
What a Christmas present that would be!” I exclaimed.

Athen came in and hugged my shoulders, “You guys think we should keep looking or do you think this is it?”

“
I think we all know this is it!” Arie said jumping up a little.

“
Great. We’ll go back to the office and submit the paperwork.”

I
t was a week before Christmas and the village was bustling with people. There was the influx of tourists up to celebrate Christmas, along with all of the owners returning to their condos and timeshares. Lights were dangling everywhere. The snow was coming down so hard it was hard for the heated pathways to stay clear. The village Christmas tree was especially touching this year. Every time my family and I passed it, I had to take a minute to stop and stare. Arie was making fun of me for how many pictures of us by it I had taken so far.

We had all decided to go to Dublin Gate for a Guinness so we could map out the plans for the next day. We wanted to get some snowboarding in since we had been skiing so much since we arrived. Athen wanted to try out the half pipe. There was no way I was touching that. I was planning on only watching that part for sure.

The Dublin Gate was fluttering with activity. The bar was completely full, and there was only one table in the corner that looked like it was meant for two people comfortably, but we made a beeline and squished on the bench to make it work. Who knew when the next table would open up. A wave of happiness rushed through me as I remembered the last time we were here. I was in heavenly bliss dancing with Athen that night. It all had seemed like such a dream. What transpired after that, I would never have guessed in a million years. I hugged onto Athen’s arm extra hard. I was pretty sure that he knew what I was thinking back to. He kissed my forehead, and the familiar electricity ran through my veins. I looked at my family unable to understand how I got so lucky.