Crow - The Awakening (62 page)

Shaking his head, Steven shrugged into Brandon's clothes. They felt so nice after spending two days in dirty, blood caked clothing. Steven sat on the bed, wondering why he didn't come here first. It didn't even cross his mind. But he was confused at the time, so very discombobulated, and just riding with the circumstances. But what was he doing now?

Brandon came up with a tray of sandwiches and a pitcher of tea and set it on the table in the living area of the suite. "Here you go. Man, you look a hundred percent better. Especially in my clothes." Brandon winked at him and Steven smiled, looking down at the clothes.

"Is he decent?" a female voice called from downstairs. Steven raised an eyebrow at Brandon.

"No! Come up!" Brandon called down, winking at Steven.

Steven looked at Brandon questioningly.

"My new girlfriend. She's a keeper." Brandon glowed and stepped aside as a cute brunette with wavy hair bounced up the steps and stood beside him. Looking down at her, he gave her a passionate kiss. "Oh yeah, almost forgot." He pulled a turquoise necklace out of his pocket and put it around her neck. "I figure I may as well go ahead and give you this," he said, making sure he got the clasp right.

Gasping, she looked down at it. "Oh, honey, it's beautiful!" She lifted the necklace up a little to look at it, then gave Brandon a hug. She looked at Steven and winked at him.

Steven's jaw dropped for a second and Brandon laughed. "He does that to all the pretty girls," Brandon told her. "Steven, I want you to meet Rachel, the light of my life." Brandon introduced her and she elbowed him in the ribs and walked up to Steven.

"We've met," Steven said as she gave him a long hug.

"And I'm so glad you're okay, sweetie," she said warmly, playing with Steven's hair.

Brandon looked confused. "Where?"

"I bumped into her at the mall yesterday. And I think that was you at the police station?" Steven responded, trying to remember. The mall was only yesterday? It seemed like an eon ago. Steven was losing track of the passage of time.

Rachel gave him a sultry wink and nodded, going over to the platter and picking up a sandwich wedge. "Here. You look hungry."

"Thanks." Steven took it, still looking at her. He was learning that there was no such thing as coincidence and meeting Rachel three different times at three different locations gave him pause. But she was so disarmingly cute. Steven ate a bit, then finished off the sandwich in a couple of bites and went and got a couple more. "These are great!" Steven looked at them. "Mushrooms?"

"She made them just before you arrived," Brandon said, beaming.

Rachel smiled at Steven. "I'm glad you like them, Steven. I made them just for you."

Steven was about to say something but got hungry all of a sudden and grabbed another one. "Oh, you have no idea just how long its been since I had something decent to eat." Steven covered his sandwich stuffed mouth as he talked.

Brandon sat in a big leather loveseat and Rachel hopped on his lap while Steven sat on the edge of the bed chewing. The sandwiches were a lot better than the hamburger and pizzas and Steven really appreciated them as he reached for another.

"So, what happened?" Brandon asked.

Steven looked at Rachel then at Brandon. "Oh, she's okay," Brandon insisted. She kissed him on the cheek and whispered something in his ear, making him blush. Steven suddenly felt like a third wheel, but still tried to summarize his day.

"Laurence is a nut," Steven said. "I mean, completely over the top."

"I told you. There's something wrong with that man." Brandon shook his head, "My parents made a few calls and now even Rhonda at work is calling around. He's definitely not Homeland and Rhonda is furious." Brandon smiled, "Which means I'm off the hook. That interrogation creeped me out, man."

"He asked me if I was an alien!" Steven exclaimed. "How do I fight that?" He was thrilled that the police weren't falling for their ploys anymore.

Rachel giggled, looking at him. "Well, are you?"

"Yeah, live long and perspire," Steven answered, smirking and rolling his eyes. They may be out there somewhere but Steven was under no illusion that little green men were bopping around on Earth and he looked at alien conspiracy reports with a high level of skepticism. Then he got sober. "But he's on some crazy mission, Brandon. Those people were shooting at me. They killed a kid who was helping me escape." His heart ached as he remembered that.

"Oh, man," Brandon said, shocked.

"That was right before I met you at the mall, Rachel. I was so afraid they'd find me and end up shooting you too," Steven said.

"You're so sweet, Steven," she said, smiling at him.

It dawned on Steven that she must have known him from a picture in one of Brandon's scrap books. It disturbed him to have a total stranger know his name in a crowd of people.

"They chased me across town, I got in a wreck, then arrested and the police car was cut in half by some sort of helicopter from above. It shredded the car to pieces, Brandon!" Steven exclaimed. "And those cars they blew up. They just kept killing."

"That was you?" Brandon's eyes opened wide. "A big gun ripped that car apart. It was definitely military grade gear!"

Steven nodded, taking a deep drink of tea. "I think the aircraft crashed, though. Saw it while I was trying to escape. Something right out of the movies. Huge fireball."

He decided not to tell him about the park. His hallucinations still haunted him. "I ended up sleeping in a culvert and..." Steven stopped, figuring something out. "That's why they didn't find me!"

"What?" Brandon asked.

"Okay, so Laurence gave me something that they've been using to track me, right? I didn't find anything in my clothes so it must have been in my food." Steven was thinking fast. "The culvert must have blocked it. I was asleep for at least ten hours. I couldn't stop for more than half an hour before that without them showing up."

"You had
dinner
with that loon?" Brandon leaned forward, almost knocking Rachel off his lap.

"Brandon, he threatened you. What could I do? I think he tried to drug me. I came here to tell you he really was dangerous," Steven said. "You need to let your security know that these guys are complete and well armed nuts."

Brandon looked worried after discussing Laurence more with Steven. He felt safe in this compound but the idea of Laurence coming after them here made him feel distinctly nervous. "I'll check on that now," he said, getting up. Rachel gave Steven a smile and followed after Brandon. Steven decided he liked Rachel. She seemed to be a sweet girl.

Steven laid back on the bed, still trying to process everything. Closing his eyes, he saw Asherah. Steven sat back up and looked around. "Asherah?" he called to her impulsively. He shook his head. "Oh, it is not a good time for that." He remembered the greenhouse encounter and took a deep breath. Steven was about to lay back down when he heard her.

"Steven. I'm so sorry," Asherah whispered to him. She sounded groggy, but extremely sad and he felt it in his heart.

He rubbed his eyes. He spent two days in outright torture without a peep and now, just when things were calming back down, he hears her? Her guilt washed over him as he was thinking about the past couple of days and he could feel her trying to reign it back in.

"Father caught me following you and drugged me." She did sound very tired. "Oh, Steven, I am so sorry." Crying. She was crying. How did he know that? But he knew it as if he was with her. But he was, wasn't he?

"Don't beat yourself up. I've been a little busy anyway," Steven said to himself quietly. His imaginary girlfriend's distress was not what he needed at the moment. He needed peace, and sleep.

"You don't understand. It's too dangerous now. I can't wait any longer," Asherah whispered urgently. "You need to know," she insisted then seemed to fade out.

Steven got curious. "What?" She seemed so tired.

"I'm not your imagination, Steven," Asherah said, coming back stronger as if waking up more. "I couldn't tell you because of Mother's mission. But I can't wait any longer. You need to know." She hesitated. "I'm real, Steven. Not your imagination. You still have my drawing of us, remember? I drew that with my own hands. Please, Steven. Remember it."

Steven lay there silently. He felt like he was cracking up at the seams. Of course his imaginary girlfriend would say she's real. Wouldn't it be odd if she conceded that she was just a figment of his imagination? But she sounded so compelling. He did still have that drawing, now that he thought about it. But he had not given that drawing a second thought in the last two years. He remembered when she drew it. She was so young then, so bubbly and impetuous. And it seemed like they just fit perfectly from that day on. But he remembered the dead snag too.

"That's where you are special. Where I am, there is a living tree. The one we climbed so many times," Asherah said softly. "It's tropical here, this world. We call it Endard and my father works here."

Steven saw it again, the sky with the moon and sister planet. He felt a surge from Asherah. "Yes, Steven. It's not my home, but it's where I live."

"Another planet?" Steven wondered if he was dreaming science fiction now.

"Just one of thousands. And you can access them all. You are special that way," Asherah whispered. He felt her wondering if that was too much, too soon, and grinned. He would think the same thing.

"I'm about as special as a bump on a log, Asherah." Steven frowned. "I'm just a kid. One little person in seven billion here. On Earth."

He felt as much as heard a gasp from Asherah, "Oh, Steven. You've met the Elder!"

"Who?" The name sounded familiar but he couldn't quite place it.

"In your dream," Asherah said. "Don't worry. You'll meet him again. He'll fix everything, I promise."

"Can he fix Laurence so I can get back to looking for Mom and Dad?" Steven was a little sarcastic and he rolled on his side. He really wanted to go to sleep.

"You have an ability you don't even know about. That is why they are chasing you. You are so special, Steven." Asherah sounded stronger. "Please try to believe me. It is so important that you do. Lohet means you harm and we need to work together to avoid him."

"Tell him to get in line," Steven grumbled, starting to doze, wondering who this Lohet was. In his half sleep he saw her as he would see a shadow, sitting on the bed beside him. "Am I going crazy?"

"No, honey. You are not crazy," she said to him, smiling sadly as she tried to touch him. She was unable to and Steven was suddenly disappointed, in spite of himself. Her touch electrified him, and she smiled when he thought that.

"Why do you look like that?" He looked at her and she looked like a ghost almost.

"The fracture is weaker here, Steven. It's very strong at the meadow and the greenhouse and out in the forest where you take your walks." She looked like she had been crying. "You could make it different if you believed. You could come to me, or bring me to you." She looked at him longingly, bending over so her face was just millimeters from his. Steven suddenly wanted to touch her, and was frustrated both by that desire, and by the fact that he couldn't.

"You've been following me in the forest, haven't you?" Steven said, looking at her, remembering the sneaking shadow.

"I tried to stay away, to stay out of sight. I really did. But Steven, it is pure agony for me to be without you." Asherah held her chest as she cried. "It has been so hard pretending to be your imagination and not telling you I'm real, because the only thing I want is to be in your arms."

"You're telling me now," Steven responded.

"Father knows about the Sadari. He got the transmission. I don't know how. But my mother's mission is over. I can tell you now, and Steven, you are in so much danger. Please believe me. We can do this together, we can survive. But you must believe me." Asherah spoke fast as if her time was limited.

"Sadari?" He saw her memory of them. She didn't know a lot about them, but only that they were on Earth and were planning something devastating. "More science fiction? I could write a book with this stuff."

"Oh, how I wish they were, Steven," Asherah whispered.

"We had fun, didn't we?" Steven asked her, starting to doze a little as he thought about his time with her. Even if she wasn't real, those were the best years of his life.

Asherah nodded, tears streaming down her cheeks. "They were the best years of my life, too. I miss you so much, Steven."

Steven looked at her, then remembered the meadow and smiled as he remembered dancing with Asherah and racing her up the tree and kissing her. He smiled as he remembered her embrace and her luscious lips and those incredible eyes. She was pulling those memories out. "Please, Steven. Please believe me. It is so important," Asherah said, her voice low and sultry as she moved in closer.

Steven felt lonely all of a sudden, and wished she were real. "I miss you too, Asherah. But I don't trust my mind, what is real and what is not."

Asherah sobbed. "Please, Steven," she implored, looking into his eyes. "Please," she whispered. Steven's heart ached, hating seeing her in such misery. He felt her misery and it tore him apart.

"Asherah," Steven said, her name feeling so warm on his lips. She reached for him but was unable to touch him. Steven suddenly really wanted to believe. To surrender to her. Why was he resisting? He took a deep breath, looking in her eyes. She wiped her tears away and met his gaze, pleading with her eyes.

Suddenly with a start, Steven woke up, looking around. Asherah was gone, but he heard something. He heard it again, sounds like pops. Then a very loud report that shook the windows, followed by a lot more pops.

Scrambling, Steven rushed over to his pile of dirty clothes and the scanner and looked at it. He couldn't see his glowing spot anymore, but more importantly, he couldn't see any little dots. He hit it on the side but nothing changed. "They've changed the frequency." He wondered if they could do that with the tracker they have in him.

Steven looked around and found a window and crawled to it, peeking over the sill out into the dark courtyard. It looked like part of the wall had caved in and dark figures were streaming in. One stopped and aimed at something and suddenly the light in that area went dark.