Blessed (23 page)

As Kaiser came barreling around the corner into the room to greet her, she had to smile at his tenacity. It was like this every single day. No matter if she had irritated him that morning, or done horribly with his training instructions the day before, he was always happy to see her home from school so they could do it all again. She took a few seconds to appreciate it and knelt down to look him in the eyes and thank him with a scratch between the ears.

Are you ready to start yet? I want to try a new technique today! I think you’ll like it a little better than the old one.

“I can’t just yet. I have homework to do and I need to eat something, but as soon as I’m done with that, I’m all yours.”

He seemed a little disappointed, but got over it quickly and agreed. He turned and ran back down the stairs to the spot on the floor where her feet would soon be resting and lie down to wait for her to get settled.

By the time she put her bag down and grabbed a snack, he was out cold. She wished that she could do that; lie down anywhere and be comfortable enough to be passed out in a matter of minutes. It hardly seemed fair that this gift was wasted on those that could sleep all day if they so chose. It would have been much better spent on those of the world that actually had things to do and didn’t have time to fight with insomnia or over-active imaginations, or overbearing workloads.

She plopped down on the couch in her normal spot with her laptop, school books and phone. She bashed the power button on the remote for the TV and left it on whatever channel it had been on when it was last shut off. She wiggled her feet underneath the sleeping dog, who did nothing but sigh contentedly in response, and bit into her apple.

Content that her world was in its correct order for the time being, she texted Piper and settled into her homework state of mind before digging into the stack voraciously.

Two assignments, three TV shows and another apple later, Piper still hadn’t responded and she was getting worried. She had given her longer to respond than she had wanted in case she was in the shower or doing homework. However, the chances of either of those being the case at this point were slim. Piper wasn’t one for luxuriously long showers and she didn’t have the focus to ignore her phone on account of homework for that long. Worry was starting to wiggle around in the pit of her stomach.

She used speed dial to place a phone call to her best friend. When her voice mail picked up, that worm of worry started thrashing around a little more violently. Kaiser picked up on her agitation and stirred.

What’s wrong?

“I’m just a little worried about Piper. She hasn’t responded to my text message yet and she’s always very snappy about responding.”

Maybe her phone died.

“No, it rang too many times before her voicemail picked up when I called her. If her phone was dead, it would have gone straight to her inbox.”

Maybe she’s taking a nap. I like naps.
He yawned, tongue lolling to the side, to prove his point.

“She’s never been the napping type. In all the years I’ve known her, she’s only ever napped when she’s sick and she seemed fine when I saw her before my date with the shrink.”

She doesn’t take naps? What kind of people are you friends with?

His disbelief at Piper’s disinterest in napping made her laugh and released some of the tension that was starting to build in the muscles between her shoulder blades.

“Maybe you’re right. She’s probably not near her phone.” The simple explanation did little to relieve the worry, but it put her mind at ease enough to finish her homework so she sent one more text before returning to it: Text me ASAP.

As she settled back into her homework groove, Kaiser relaxed back into his nap.

She blew through her last two assignments and an entire paper with still no word from Piper. It was definitely out of character for her to have not responded. It had been almost three hours. Ardra was positive she didn’t have the resolve to ignore her phone for that long.

She picked her phone up and called Piper again as she prepared to mount a search and rescue party. When Piper answered on the third ring, the first thing out of Ardra’s mouth was, “Where on earth have you been? I was worried to death!”

“Sorry! You remember that boy I was talking to at your party?”

“Which one? You talked to all of them.”

“The return missionary that was totally flirting with me all night.”

“Oh! Right.” She had just described three quarters of the guys that had been at that party. “That one.”

“Well, he asked me out to dinner tonight and I left my phone in my backpack. I just got home and I’m settling in to hit the books.”

“I’m glad you’re okay. I knew there had to be a reason you weren’t answering and with all that has gone on, I thought the worst.”

“I’m sorry sweetie. I didn’t mean to scare you. I didn’t even think about it.”

“That’s okay. I’ll call off the National Guard and let you get your homework done.”

“Okay, goodnight! Call me if you need anything.”

“Hey, Piper?”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t know what I’d do without you. Thank you for being beside me through all of this.”

“It’s what best friends are for, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. I guess so. Thank you anyway.”

“No problem.”

The line went dead and Ardra slid her phone into her pocket, feeling good about the affirmation of their friendship.

Next on her list of people to hunt down were her grandmothers. They were usually so far into her business that she had a hard time focusing on her homework. Tonight, they weren’t even in the house for the first time since they had arrived in town.

She double checked their rooms and the garage in case they had slipped in while she was focused on her work. After confirming that hadn’t been the case, she checked the house for a note telling her where they had gotten off to. When she found no sign of either of them, she placed a call to Arlene’s cell phone. She answered on the first ring.

“Hello?”

“Hey, grandma. I was just a little worried that you guys weren’t here. You’re usually around when I get home from school.”

“Oh, we went out to get some supplies for around the house and then caught a movie here at the theater. Did you know there was a theater at this big outdoor mall down here? My goodness this town sure has come a long way since I was a little girl!”

Ardra laughed into the receiver, “So, I assume you guys are on your way here then?”

“Yep! Be there in a few minutes! We’re on our way up the hill right now.”

“Okay, grandma. I love you! See you in a minute.”

“Love you too, sweetie! Bye bye!”

The line went dead and Ardra tossed her phone on the counter. She set down her jacket that she had picked up while preparing to go find her best friend and stood there, momentarily flustered.

Kaiser had been disturbed during the course of her phone calls and came up the stairs yawning.

“What’s wrong with me? I’m panicking over every little thing today!”

It’s probably just stress. Impending doom will do that to you. Speaking of which, I’m hungry. Doom works up my appetite.

She laughed and shook her head at his one-track mind. She wished she could be like that. Thinking about one thing and having everything else completely shoved from her mind would be a blessing she could really use sometimes. Right now was definitely one of those times.

As she poured food into Kaiser’s dish, she realized that she was pretty hungry herself and after scouring the kitchen for something that sounded appetizing, she decided to wait for her grandparents to get home and see if they had picked up anything better than what was laying around. She sure hoped so. Otherwise, it was either macaroni and cheese, or some other meal in a box type thing. She didn’t want to have to cook.

She headed back down into the den while Kaiser wolfed down the dog chow. Now that she was done with her homework, she could actually enjoy some quality TV time, something she hadn’t done in a while. At least not while being fully awake.

For once, she was quite alert and didn’t feel like she was going to fall asleep as soon as she allowed herself to slow down enough to do so. She took it as a good sign that she was adjusting to the schedule that she was held to between school and training with Kaiser. Which he would be ready for as soon as her was done eating.

Judging by the sounds coming from the kitchen, that wouldn’t be very long. She hurried and picked the first show that sounded even mildly entertaining so she could hopefully buy a few more minutes before he forced her to do the next insane power test that he could come up with.

Ankle deep in snow, underdressed for the bitter cold and moving beyond irritated into irate over her ride still being stuck with the counselor, Piper checked her phone yet again. Still no word from Ardra.

As she was trying to stuff it back into the pocket of her jacket, biting back words that would peel paint, it vibrated.

Her fingers flew over the screen as she tried to guess how Ardra would choose to apologize for leaving her high and dry.

When she saw that the message was from the Bishop, she froze. She knew there was only one reason that he would be texting her and the thought of it made her stomach churn.

The churning sensation gave way to a sinking feeling when she opened the message and read what it said. She cast one more look around the icy campus before stuffing the phone back in her jacket pocket and heading out. As much as she wanted to hang out and find out how Ardra’s head-shrinking session had gone, she had places to be and not a lot of time to get to them.

As they walked into the silent space, it was all she could do to keep from wringing her hands. When he had called them, they had barely finished eating dinner and were about to walk into the movie theater to catch the latest sappy chick flick. With the reality of the situation setting in, her irritation with the man’s interruption was dwindling and being replaced by a deep seated concern for her granddaughter.

Barb touched her elbow lightly, pulling her from her reverie. She had stopped outside of the door and apparently been lost in thought. The other woman shot her an understanding nod and nudged her toward the door.

She took a deep breath and reached for the door handle with a trembling hand, pausing a moment before grabbing it.

“Arlene, we both know how this conversation is going to go. Putting it off isn’t going to help matters any. Each moment we spend standing out here is one less moment we have to prepare.”

“I know. I just,” she huffed out a heavy sigh before continuing, “I just never wanted this for her. This is not the girl that those kids raised and she deserves to still have them here with her.”

Another knowing look, tinged with a pang of sadness crossed Barb’s face.

Shaking off the feeling of impending doom, she steeled her resolve and with a suddenly steady hand reached once again for the door handle.

The door opened from the other side and Piper smiled half-heartedly from the other side of the portal. “Welcome to Doom and Gloom Central. We’re currently running a special on cases of misery and pallets of bad news.”

“Don’t quit your day job, sweetheart. You’re not a very good welcoming party.”

The door closed behind them and the three women walked into the quiet room together. The silence was stifling. The man everyone knew as Bishop Stauffer came in through a door on the other side of the room a few minutes later, the sound of the door latch causing them all to jump nervously.

“Sorry. I should have known you guys would be a bit on edge. I’m guessing you all know what’s going on.” He paused and waited for the three women to nod their agreement as he motioned for them to sit.

“Good.” he continued once they were all seated and focused on him. “That will save us some time. In brief, Chaos has been unleashed upon the earth and, judging by the trail of destruction he’s leaving, he’s headed here.”

Again, they all nodded and waited for him to continue.

“Now, the four of us are on equal footing when it comes to dealing with something of this magnitude. We’re all running on borrowed magic, passed down through a thinning bloodline and being put up against a limb of evil itself. The odds are definitely not in our favor here, but we’re the only thing standing between Chaos and Ardra. I’m open to ideas, because I’m at a loss.”