Asher frowned, seeing his phone there, but his clothing gone. He bent over to pick up the small device and heard a scream erupt from behind him.
“Pervert!” screamed an extremely wrinkled old lady who had been walking her three small dogs in the park. She was a hideously shrunken crone of at least 80 years, and all three of her dogs began to bark furiously at Asher.
“No! No! This isn’t what it looks like!” said Asher, turning around and holding up both of his hands to calm her (and the dogs)—in the pose one might use if a gun were pointed at him.
“Oh,” said the old lady, pushing her glasses up her nose to get a better view of Asher’s goodies. “Dear me! If that isn’t the finest piece of meat I’ve ever seen!”
Asher suddenly remembered to cover himself, and used both hands in embarrassment. “Ma’am, would you happen to have seen my clothes anywhere?”
“No, darlin’, and even if I had I sure wouldn’t tell you where they were!” She tittered merrily, enjoying the situation a bit too much. Cackling, she stepping closer to Asher to get a better view. “You know, honey-buns, all of my ex-husbands have been dead for years.”
“Uhm, well, have you seen a beautiful young girl around here? Covered in mud?”
“Mud, eh? Well, I could get dirty if you wanted me to.”
“No! No, p... please. Th... thank you, ma’am for your help...”Asher grabbed his cell phone and quickly began to run away from the old woman. He looked down at his phone, thinking that he should call Medea to find her, but then he saw a text message.
Sorry, Ash. I saw someone coming and I dove into the bushes. They nearly found me and I ran away because public indecency could ruin my career. I hope you don’t get into trouble, but I really couldn’t stay and risk it.
Asher immediately felt guilty that he had placed Medea in such a precarious position. He was so used to being in the isolated wilderness forests near his home that he’d completely forgotten that they were in a park in the middle of a busy city. He searched for Medea’s prana but couldn't find it. He frantically began to text back.
This was completely my fault. I grew up in the isolated area around…
Asher abruptly stopped text messaging when he heard a high-pitched scream and giggle. He looked up and realized to his dismay that he had been standing in the middle of a park road completely butt naked and still covered in generous portions of mud. The mud had begun to dry since he had run away from the old woman at a relatively high speed. There were also sticks and leaves stuck to various parts of his body. While Asher had been staring at his phone, a group of girls who appeared to be middle-school aged had walked by Asher’s gruesomely caked body while giggling profusely. One of them stopped and pulled out a camera, and when Asher saw the flash his eyes widened and he immediately blasted into the air to fly home. He needed to find some clothing.
The girls screamed when he disappeared so quickly.
“Oh my god, Becky, he can fly!” shouted one of the girls.
“I got the photo! What a physique! Maybe he’s something supernatural? What was all over his body, scales? Maybe he’s a swamp monster and he lives here in the pond!”
“Oh my god! If swamp monsters can fly and send text messages we’re all doomed! You better send that photo to the newspapers so they warn everyone there’s an intelligent text-messaging monster here!”
“A very sexy text-messaging monster,” added one of the girls dreamily.
* * *
As soon as the girls separated in the concealed basement of Para’s new house, Pax ran for the sink and emptied a bottle of soap on her hands before rubbing vigorously.
“Really, Mara? Really?”
“Hey, don’t judge me...”
“I’m not judging you per se, I just wasn't aware that you enjoyed spanking my uncle and I would appreciate a heads up next time before you commandeer my body and my hands to spank his bare bottom. Do you understand what kind of permanent psychological damage you have inflicted on me?”
Amara could not stop giggling. “But Ash has such a fine ass…”
“No!” Pax plugged her ears with her still-soapy dripping wet hands. “Ew, please! No more! I will have a seizure! I will develop epilepsy and have an epileptic seizure on the spot.”
“Don’t be so theatrical,” said Amara laughing. Then noticing that Pax was covering her ears and humming a tune, Amara resorted to telepathy. You know you liked it. Doesn’t Ash have the perfect tushie, so muscled and round…
“No!” shouted Pax angrily. “I’m going to vomit! That’s my uncle! Just you wait until Para meets up with Thorn. I’m not going to spare your feelings after this. No restraint! You will be humiliated forever.”
“You wouldn’t!” Amara accused. “You wouldn’t stray too far from our plan.”
“We’ll see,” said Pax with an evil glint in her eye. The look quickly disappeared as her face was transformed by a giant yawn. “But sleep comes first! I am so exhausted.”
“Could you teleport us back to my place?” asked Amara. “I'm sleepy too.”
“Sure,” said Pax, “but if I have nightmares of spanking my uncle you’re paying for my therapy.”
Chapter 24: Better to Know
“Mommy, why do I still have to sit in the baby seat while Olive gets to sit in the front?” complained a tanned young girl with jet-black hair and hazel-green eyes. Her older sister, with a similar appearance was working at trying to unlatch her from the safety seat while her mother took care of her baby brother.
“Because Nyssa, I’m older and you're just a baby like Oren!”
“I am not a baby! I’m not! I can chop you up with a Soul Slicer. Just one chop and split!” The little girl made hand motions to illustrate her words. “Off goes your head.”
“It’s a Soul Sever, and you can’t even rip tissue paper in half with that weak attack.”
“You two, stop fighting!” complained Layla as she lifted her small son out of the pink SUV and into her arms. “I told you two girls to stay with daddy while mommy goes to see her friends, but you just had to come along! If you don't try to be nice to each other we’re all getting right back into the car and going home, do you understand?”
“Yes, mommy.”
Layla glared at the girls before turning and walking up the steps to Amara’s front door. She shifted Oren in her arms and pressed the doorbell. The girls followed her quietly, and stood around her legs, making faces at each other which they believed escaped Layla’s notice. Sighing, Layla continued to press the doorbell, and when that failed she begun to knock loudly on the door.
“Maybe they’re not home?” suggested Olive.
“Oh, they’re home,” said Layla impatiently. She flipped out her cell phone and dialed Amara’s number. When there was no answer she became very frustrated.
Layla looked down at the kids again. “Who wants to play a game with mommy?”
“I do, I do!” called out Olive and Nyssa together.
“Alright, girls—mommy’s going to count to three, and when she reaches three, you both have to scream as loud as you can and raise your prana as high as possible!”
“Ooh! I like that game,” said Olive smugly. “I can always make my energy bigger than Nyssa can.”
“Can not!” said Nyssa, sticking her tongue out at her older sister.
“No fighting, girls! We’re playing together, got it?” When the kids nodded, Layla smiled. “Alright, ready? One… two... three... Go!”
“Ahhhh!” The two little girls opened their mouths, bellowing at the top of their lungs. Little white auras surrounded them. Layla smiled proudly at her daughters, and hugged Oren closer to her as he cooed in excitement and wiggled in her arms. He could sense that something was up with his sisters, but he couldn’t quite make sense of it.
In a split second after the girls had begun screaming, the front door was opened by a sleepy deva in Ruby Form.
“Auntie Pax! Auntie Pax!” screamed the kids, launching themselves at her.
“Look at you two! Olive, Nyssa, you’ve grown so much. And you’ve gotten so strong!” said Pax happily as she hugged them both.
“Daddy trains us every day!” said Olive proudly. “Every single morning and every single night!”
“Wow! No wonder you’re so tough, Olive,” said Pax with a grin as she tousled the young girl’s hair. The girls’ father, Gordin, was the Earth Deva who was quite formidable for his reclusive ways.
“Mommy shoots us with a gun!” shouted Nyssa, not wanting to be left out. “We have to dodge the bullets and they’re really fast. Wanna see my ouchie from where I got shot?”
“You shoot them with a gun?” Pax asked in surprise.
“I remembered seeing you play that game with your uncle when you were little,” Layla said with a smile. “Check out her ‘ouchie.’”
The young girl stuck out her finger and dramatically peeled a Band-Aid off her knuckle. “See, Auntie Pax! See! I didn’t even cry.”
Pax observed what was little more than a paper cut. A grin came to her lips, and she glanced up at Layla who was shaking her head in wonder. It must be reassuring to a mother to know her five-year-old was bulletproof. “You’re a brave girl, Nyssa. You’re going to be stronger than me when you grow up!”
“Really, Auntie Pax?”
“Definitely,” Pax said happily. “Maybe you should come by sometime with your dad and we can practice together. Maybe I can show you a few neat tricks.”
“Can you show me now, Auntie?”
“Not in the house, dear,” scolded Layla firmly.
Pax was somewhat stunned by the sight of Layla Solyst with her kids—it was still shocking to see someone she had known so well completely changed into a new person with a vibrant, growing family. It made her think about her own future—it made her think about Thornton’s recent proposal, and Vincent’s dying wish. Would it be so bad if it her life turned out similar to Layla’s? Pax could sense the energy signals of each of Layla’s children, and they were impressive—strangely enough, the baby boy in Layla’s arms possessed just as much prana as his sisters. When little Oren grew up he would be a force to be reckoned with.
“Auntie Pax!” yelled Nyssa, affectionately tightening her arms around Pax’s neck. “Mommy came to tell you about a big, scary monster!”
Pax froze then, and her smile disappeared. “Monster?” Images of Asura demons ran through her mind. She already knew she would kill anything that got near these girls.
“Yeah!” said Olive with excitement. “Mommy said the monster was a really bad guy and that she needed you to take care of him!”
Pax looked at Layla questioningly. Her mind drifted back to the powerful prana that she had sensed immediately upon exiting the vector zone; was he a threat after all? Just focusing on that life force had brought her to her knees. How could they deal with an enemy of that magnitude and the comet at the same time? Amara finally began trudging down the stairs, having been awoken by the commotion and the unusual energy signals in the house.
“Good morning, girls,” said Amara with a yawn. She sleepily descended the staircase with her eyes still closed. She clutched the railing tightly for support—Pax could tell that it was the after-effects of the etorphine dose that was causing this excessive drowsiness in her friend.
“Aunt Mara!” squealed the girls as they rushed to hug the blonde woman. They weren’t as violently affectionate with her as they had been with Pax, for they knew that Amara was delicate, and more likely to take them shopping than to practice any physical activity with them. The classification was only slightly outdated.
Amara smiled and hugged each of the girls, telling them how beautiful they were and making light small talk before approaching her friends at the bottom of the stairs. She could see that Pax had a serious look on her face, and she knew that something was up.
“So, Lay. What brings you way out here before the cocks have crowed?”
“Mommy, what’s a cock?” said Olive inquisitively.
“A rooster,” Layla answered quickly, glaring at Amara. “A male chicken who sings in the morning.”
“Oh,” said Olive, before turning to the sleepy blue-eyed deva. “Aunt Mara, are you going to fight the bad monster too?”
Amara snapped fully awake, studying Layla’s face for signs of danger. “Monster? What monster?”
“Girls, can you go and play out by the seaside for a little while?” asked Layla. “Mommy needs to talk with her friends.”
“Okay!” said the girls in unison as they compliantly raced out of the house.
“Let’s sit down,” said Pax, gesturing to Amara’s living room. The girls entered and took their seats on the sofas around the room.
“Oh, wow! Oren’s getting so big,” commented Amara, a bit jealous and in awe of the adorable baby in Layla’s arms. Oren had a fairer complexion than his sisters, but the same hazel-green eyes and charcoal hair.
“He can almost walk a few steps without falling,” said Layla proudly. She placed her little boy on the carpet and he immediately began to crawl around curiously. Everyone smiled as they watched him explore.
“He looks so much like his dad,” Pax remarked. “How is Gordin doing?”
“He’s practicing a lot,” Layla admitted. “It’s been worrying me, but it’s who he is. Devas will be devas—I learned to accept your strange ways a long time ago.”
“Oh, look at the little guy!” Amara exclaimed as she stared at the baby. “What a champion! Good Sakra, Lay! The power coming off that toddler is crazy.”
“Now you sound like Gord,” said Layla with a laugh. “My husband is obsessed with teaching the kids to fight, and he’s sure that Oren will be the strongest of all. He never talks about colleges or education, just deva training.”
Oren tried to walk a few steps before he promptly fell flat on his face, earning affectionate laughter from all three women. “Did you hurt the floor, Oren?” Pax asked with a chuckle as the baby sat up and rubbed his incredibly small nose in confusion.
“Oh, Lay… I want one of those,” said Amara softly, “so, so badly. Look at this big empty house! I have room for a kid. But it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.”
“You’re not human, sweetie. You don’t have the same time constraints that I do on your health—you’re probably going to look like you’re in the prime of your life at seventy, like your dad.”
Amara shook her head. “It doesn’t feel like I have so much time. Especially after wasting the last five years of my life on someone who didn’t care enough to stay with me.”
“And that brings me to the point of my visit,” said Layla. Her smile disappeared and her expression became serious. She pulled her pink alligator-skin purse off her shoulder and immediately withdrew a tabloid from it. “I think I should cut to the chase. I have some things I want to share with you both.”
“What are you doing with a trashy tabloid? Those things are all aliens and conspiracy theories,” Pax remarked, taking the newspaper from Layla. She tried to keep her face expressionless as she saw the image and headlines. She quickly skimmed over the article, and shook her head in disbelief. She stood up and tossed the newspaper to Amara.
“I’m going to make some tea,” said Pax, leaving the room.
When Amara looked down at the paper she was not as successful and smiled immediately upon seeing the photograph. How could she resist? It was too priceless.
SYCAMORE PARK SWAMP MONSTER ATTACKS ELDERLY WOMAN
For decades there have been rumors of a swamp monster rising out of the mud on foggy nights in Sycamore Park, but for the first time a group of young students were able to capture a photograph of the creature. He looks to be an extremely musc
ular humanoid beast covered completely in scales. Everyone in the surrounding area has been alerted to keep their children indoors.
The monster is reported to be able to fly and to send text messages. An elderly woman who spoke to the monster indicated that he is actively seeking young naked girls...
Amara couldn’t help it. She began to laugh. If it wasn’t enough that a naked Asher, covered in mud, was on the front page of the newspaper, the article was doubly hilarious. Little Oren heard Amara’s laughter and crawled towards her. Smiling curiously, the baby tried to grasp her knees to help him stand.
Placing the newspaper aside with a satisfied smile, Amara reached out and slipped her hands under the baby’s arms, lifting him onto her lap to cuddle him. “Your Uncle Ash is crazy, isn’t he Oren? So crazy!”
Oren cooed happily as if in agreement.
“So what did you two do to him?” asked Layla bluntly, with her eyes narrowed at Amara.
“Us?” remarked Amara innocently as she gently tickled a giggling Oren. “We didn’t do anything! Honestly, Lay. He’s just gone off the deep end lately, obviously.”
“Amara Kalgren,” said Layla firmly, in warning, “do not play dumb with me.”
Pax entered the room with three cups of tea and a teapot on a serving platter, and she quickly poured tea for Layla. “So what’s the deal with showing us that silly article, Lay?”
“I know you two are responsible.”
“Us?” said Pax just as innocently as Amara had. “We just got out of the vector zone yesterday and we were exhausted. We couldn’t have found the energy to cook, much less execute a complicated prank.” She fought to keep her lips from twitching.
“Like I honestly believe that? This has ‘Pax and Mara’ written all over it,” scolded Layla. “Don’t forget that I used to help Thorn babysit you two when we were in high school. You used to torture me with brutal pranks when you were kids—even after my accident!”
Amara and Pax laughed lightly at the memories which came to them. “This just isn’t our style, Layla,” Pax tried to lie. “We’re much more subtle, and much more devastating.”
Thirty Minutes to Heartbreak Box Set (Books 1-3) Page 51
