Legions (4 page)

I wasn’t disappointed
during my scavenger hunt. I found letters that were written between
us. It seemed that there were a few times where we were separated
by our travels, but we were never far from each other’s thoughts;
that was proven. I had spread some of the most beautiful letters
out in front of me in the dining room rereading them over and over
again, tracing his penmanship with my fingertips. His writing
matched his personality – deliberate but with ease. I reached for
matches and lit one of the cranberry candles on the hutch, which
provided a wonderful aroma that reminded me of Whistler. This was
one of my favorite candles that I’d always light when Athen was
around. I felt a little closer to him through his words, his
handwriting so old-fashioned, not the phone texts I was so used to
seeing nowadays. I felt I was on the verge of something. I didn’t
know what, however, which only left me frustrated.

****

Cyril and Arie were barely
able to get into the door with their bags of groceries before I
jumped them. I needed to know how in the world so many things that
belonged to us were already here in this home.

“So you two want to tell
me why on earth there are pictures of me and Athen everywhere,
along with letters dated
back in the
day
between us?” I cornered Arie as she
was putting away chips in the cupboard.

“Easy enough.” Arie smiled
widely, moving me aside. “This was or is your house or actually,
your and Athen’s home.”

“What do you mean? From
when?” I was completely baffled as to why no memories washed over
me from being here.

“Well, there was a time
when we all lived separately, that is until you were taken from us.
It wasn’t until then that we all begin living together. Athen was
pretty distraught over losing you, and I was pretty worried about
him. Also, we didn’t know if they were finished with us or not.
Thought it was probably better to be in a group for protection.”
Arie had finished emptying her bag and spun around waiting for my
reaction. The only problem was that I didn’t have one to give her.
I didn’t understand why this house was never mentioned before, or
why they didn’t tell me on the way over. There have been plenty of
opportunities to fill me in.

“Will there ever be a time
when I’ll feel like things aren’t being hidden from me?” I was
incredulous.

“We didn’t want to get your
hopes up. You know? I don’t know -just trying to protect you, I
guess.” Cyril was folding up the reusable bags and stuffing them in
a drawer.

I didn’t want to admit it
out loud, but I knew where they were coming from. I probably
would’ve jumped to some random conclusion, like Athen would be
hanging out in the living room waiting for us or something.
Instead, all I could do was shake my head, and I wandered off to
the living room.

“So are there any other
hidden homes out in the world that I should know about?” I hollered
to them.

“Nope!” They hollered back
in unison.

I sat on the couch, closing
my eyes, waiting for some sort of calm to wash over me, but instead
images of Athen and the serpent-eyed woman began creeping into my
thoughts. I didn’t know if they were figments of my imagination or
truly visions. Cyril and Arie found their way into the living room,
making themselves comfortable on the loveseat.

“Did Athen ever worry that
I might become interested in someone else during all of those years
or is it just me who is plagued with those thoughts?” Knowing I
never really had much interest in other guys during my time away
from him, I kind of hoped that he was worried about that for no
reason too.

“Of course he was. It was
pretty unlikely, but he still worried about it - sure!” Cyril
wrapped his arm around Arie’s shoulder, grabbing the remote. “How
could you not be?”

“Yeah, I guess… It feels
like it could be a real possibility in this situation, though… You
know, with my visions of that creature and Athen and all.” I was
thankful that I had revealed my dreams or, more pointedly, my
nightmares to them. I was already keeping enough things bottled up
inside.

“Well, we can’t all mope
around here for the next long while. We need to start getting some
training going or something.” Cyril announced out of the blue.
Hearing those words made my stomach start to flutter a little in
pure excitement. I knew there was so much left for me to learn, and
I hoped that whatever he had planned would keep my mind
occupied.

“It’s true.” Arie nodded
her head quickly. “In addition to whatever may come up with Athen,
the Legions are building quickly. I got word that there have been
interferences in Wyoming and Illinois. Whatever they’ve planned is
moving pretty quickly. We’ve got to hope that we can get Athen back
quickly so we can begin the real fight and not fall into the
obstacles they seem to have set up for us. Whatever they all
are.”

“So this is the real thing,
huh?”

“Most definitely.” Cyril
pressed his lips together and reached for a lighter to light up the
candle next to him on the end table. It was always kind of funny to
watch him keep himself busy when he began worrying about
things.

“What are we gonna start
on? You know - for training?”

“I think we need to start
off with some basic moves.”

“You mean fighting, at
last?” The grin began creeping up on my lips. I’ve been feeling at
such a disadvantage and vulnerable since all of this began. I
really wanted this. I really wanted to destroy a certain someone
too.

“Don’t get ahead of
yourself, Ana.” Arie chided.

“Darn! I forgot to shut you
people out!” I laughed. “Gotta get better at that.” My mood was
instantly improving. I felt like I was being proactive for once. I
needed this.

“We were thinking of
getting started tomorrow if that works for you?” Cyril totally
sensed my excitement.

“Uh, yeah!” I hopped off
the couch and felt a sudden surge of energy. “You know? I’m gonna
go on a quick walk.” I darted out the front door, letting the
energy pull me to a place I was never supposed to go.

Chapter 6

I noticed him from afar. My
heart began beating a little faster. He was bent over a long,
wooden table with books spread around him. He was touching his
forehead the way he did when he was concerned about something. My
mind flashed to the night that he came to pick me up from the bar
when the stranger was lurking in Whistler. His beautiful eyes
glistened, but they lacked that familiar, green glow. It was hard
to not go running over to him and jump on his lap. Hiding as best I
could, I slowly walked to a bookcase that had art history books
stacked neatly.

I snuck another glance at
him. His pull was so hard to resist. I couldn’t jeopardize the
process, being here was bad enough. Cyril and Arie would kill me if
they knew I was even checking on him. We had a plan. I promised I
would follow it, and apparently my word didn’t mean anything to me
any longer. I didn’t know how I got this close. I felt that I was
in control of the situation - everything would be okay. Plus, after
hearing he wasn’t alone at the Starbucks made me think of all kinds
of horrible scenarios. I just had to double check… Make sure she
hadn’t completely gotten to him yet.

He was taking notes
feverishly. I was puzzled over what, in the short time he had in
this new existence, would compel him to research something so
frantically. I made a mental note to myself to figure out what
books he was looking at. I pretended to be looking for something in
the stack of art books as I tried to come up with my exit plan. I
got my Athen fix and he was alone, which made me feel a million
times better. That’s all I needed for now.

As I did my best to pretend
to be interested in the stack of books, I accidentally knocked the
top book off the pile. As it was about to crash to the floor, I
caught it but not before causing enough of a commotion to get a
group of guys to look over at me from the table across from Athen.
One of them winked at me, which made me cringe. In normal
circumstances, he was probably good looking. However, nobody
compared to Athen. Other guys were on the verge of being
repulsive.

Before I knew what was
happening I felt a singeing pain coming from behind me. I quickly
spun around to see Athen staring right at me. Our eyes locked. I
opened my mouth to speak, nothing would come out. It was like the
first time I saw him at the Pub in Whistler.

Concern washed over his
face, his body became rigid, his eyes distant. I couldn’t
understand why. Was I seeing recognition or fear in his eyes? He
quickly grabbed his coat and notebook, giving me one last look and
darted out before I could say anything, leaving a pile of books in
his wake.

I knew what I did was
wrong. I never should have come to get a glimpse of Athen. I had to
be reminded of his presence. I couldn’t stay away. The wait had
been excruciating, and I wanted to make sure he was okay. Thanks to
my clumsiness, I wasn’t sure if he was now. I found my way quickly
over to the table where he was sitting to see what he was
researching. As I got closer to the table, my hands began to shake.
I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, maybe historical or technical
books or how about comics? There were seven books laid out all over
the table, some open and others in tidy piles. My gut became
snarled as I approached the first book he left open. I recognized
it instantly.

The book was a dictionary
on Angels and Demons. The same one we had in our collection back in
Whistler.

Chills began at the base of
my spine running quickly through the rest of my body. Why would he
be interested in this topic? I began quickly shuffling through all
of the books. Every one of them was on either one or the other
subject. I had no idea what this meant. I also recognized that the
only people who would know what this signifies would be infuriated
that I was even at the library - let alone making eye contact with
him, but I needed to tell them everything. The industrial, dull
metal clock on the wall was ticking away my fate as my insides
twisted with fear at the prospect of having to come clean with Arie
and Cyril. A sigh escaped as I headed out the way I came in; only
this time, there wasn’t excitement building - just fear and
disappointment.

I hoped I hadn’t screwed
everything up. What if I now had to wait decades because I was
foolish and let my emotions take over? I shivered at the thought of
being alone without Athen’s comfort all because of a single clumsy
mistake I made. I suddenly realized I was beginning to fall into
Athen’s footsteps. This was how he lost me for all those years. He
let his emotions take over, something I swore I’d never do. I
reached the double metal doors leading out to the parking lot,
swinging them open only to notice a guy pulling out of the parking
lot on a Ducati Diavel. The very bike Athen had been talking about
getting before he was taken away from us. The familiar pull began
again. It was Athen riding away, completely drenched in black
riding gear. His worlds were juxtaposing. I was pretty certain this
wasn’t typical. I had to figure out why.

***

I heard Arie and Cyril
talking in the kitchen and followed the trail of fresh-baked
cookies. I knew what I was about to tell them would destroy the
pleasant night that Arie had been hoping to create before our big
day of training. With every step closer to the kitchen, I gained
the courage I needed to fill them in on my afternoon’s activities.
I knew I’d disappoint them greatly with what I was about to tell
them. However, I was pretty sure they couldn’t make me feel any
worse than I already did. I might have destroyed my one chance to
get Athen back in a decent amount of time, and I needed their help
in figuring out what to do to fix my mess. I was the one who would
have to live with the anguish every second of every day if this
didn’t go right.

“Hey,” I hollered from the
hallway, “I’ve got some news.” I tried my best to sound normal
which was impossible around my kind if the intentions weren’t pure.
We always knew.

“What’s going on? What’s
wrong?” Arie came running to me, grabbing my hand.

My heart sunk knowing what
I was about to tell them could change our fate.

“I saw Athen - on purpose.”
I looked at Arie, watching her face fall as the words sunk in.
Watching her eyes search the room for Cyril to support her told me
what I already knew. They looked at each other. Arie dropped my
hand.

“Why would you do that? We
had everything planned out. Tomorrow was the day to start training.
I don’t understand why you would go seek him out knowing what
happened when Athen interfered too early with you.” Arie began
walking aimlessly to the sitting room with Cyril following quickly
behind her. I could feel the tears beginning to overflow down my
cheek when I heard Arie’s muffled cries into Cyril’s shoulder. I
felt absolutely sick for what I had done. It was so selfish of me.
I wasn’t the only one who cared for Athen, and my actions could
affect us all. I dropped my bag in the hall before moving into the
sitting room.

“I’m so sorry. I honestly
never thought I’d be in this situation. I had prided myself on my
strength, the lessons learned from Athen’s mistakes, but something
came over me that I never expected. I went out for a walk, and then
it was like his force was pulling me. I thought if I caught a
glimpse, it would satisfy my craving for him. It did…until I made a
commotion, and he glanced at me. I honestly never thought this
would happen. I never intended for him to see me.”