The Awakener (The Watchers of Men)

by Amanda Strong

  Willow eyed Eden. “But it’s not only with Andrew.” It wasn’t a question, more of a statement.

  Eden nodded as Andrew entered the room.

  Willow leaned closer to her. “Do whatever Caitlyn said to do and it’ll work out.”

  Confused, Eden peeked at Caitlyn, who appeared just as surprised by Willow’s statement as she was. Jessie cleared her throat, in a very obvious manner, as Andrew sat down next to Eden.

  He stole a French fry off Eden’s tray, asking, “Are you guys looking forward to our trip to Chicago?”

  “Yeah, I’ve never been,” Caitlyn responded.

  Eden peeked at Jessie, who knew about the trip and was very hurt to be left out. Jessie’s lower lip pouted. “Nothing too great about it, just another city.”

  Willow smiled at Jessie. “When we get back from this, how about a girl’s road trip, Jessie? How about Virginia Beach?”

  Jessie brightened. “Now we’re talking.”

  Eden wanted to throw her arms around Willow. That had been very thoughtful and, knowing Willow, those weren’t mere words either; she’d follow through.

  Caitlyn glared at Andrew helping himself to Eden’s fries. “Don’t you ever eat your own food?”

  Andrew reached over grabbed Caitlyn’s apple. “No.” He took a big bite and returned it.

  She gave him the stink eye and bit the apple herself. “Oh, before I forget. Dave wanted to know if you wanted to play basketball on Thursday night, Andrew.”

  He grinned. “Sure.” Then he glanced at Eden. “Do you mind? I know Jake wanted to play too.” Eden noticed he didn’t mention Chase’s name for Willow’s sake, but she didn’t think Willow would’ve cared if he had. She wasn’t too torn up about the break up.

  “Not at all.” At least he’s not totally avoiding his friends because of me.

  “Oh, crud, I’ve got to get to history early. Mr. Thomas totally screwed up my grade,” Caitlyn announced. She pushed her lunch towards Andrew. “You can have it.”

  Andrew didn’t hesitate and grabbed her sandwich. “You’re tops, Caitlyn.”

  No more avoiding it, today’s the day. Eden’s stomach sickened.

  It was Thursday, the last day of school, and Andrew and Eden had taken off at eleven thirty, since it was half day, with kids signing yearbooks. Now, perched on a bar stool, Eden forced her last bite of quesadilla down. Andrew had made them lunch.

  He strolled over to her and cupped her face with his hands. “What’s wrong? You seem upset lately. I’m not sure if it’s something I did, or didn’t do.”

  Oh great, he has noticed. Well, this is it. But she chickened out. “Sorry, school was crazy.”

  He studied her face. “It feels like more than that,” he paused. “Are you worried about being attacked again?”

  “Yeah, I guess I am.” She felt bad playing that card, but she used it. They discussed what had happened and he insisted again she should tell her parents.

  She nodded. “I know I should, and I will.”

  “Come on. Let’s go sit on the couch,” he urged. Eden let him lead her into the family room where he sat down, pulling her into his lap. His hands found her face and he began kissing her. She was struggling to respond, but as his soft lips persisted, pressing on hers, she realized something—this would be her last time kissing him. She was overwhelmed with an extreme sense of loss and kissed him back warmly. He kissed her harder, his hand getting tangled in her hair.

  She pulled away. Wait, what am I doing? Not sure how I’m messing with fate, but this needs to stop.

  “Sorry,” she mumbled.

  “What is it?” he asked, his eyes worried.

  “I need tell you something, and I don’t know how.”

  His eyes widened as she scooted out of his arms, sitting next to him instead.

  “Gosh, this is hard.” She peeked up at him. “You’ve meant everything to me. You changed me and I’ll always care for you,” she whispered.

  “What are you saying?” His emerald eyes locked on her.

  She stared at her lap, twisting her fingers together. “I think we should take a break from each other.”

  “What? Why?” he blurted, hurt instantly shooting across his face.

  “I, I’m not sure I feel the same way about you that you do for me. When you say you love me, it’s hard for me to say it back.”

  “That’s ok,” he replied earnestly and, with a side-glance, added, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed it so fast.”

  Eden saw pain on his face. Immediately, her eyes welled with tears. This is so hard! “Andrew I’m so, so sorry. I never wanted to hurt you! You deserve better than me.”

  He shook his head sharply, his eyes stunned.

  “You do!” she insisted, “You deserve a girl that’s head over heels for you! I wanted to be that girl, but I’m not. I’ve been trying to figure out why I’ve been holding back and it’s eating me up inside. I don’t want to hurt you.” Tears were streaming down her cheeks now.

  His eyes shifted to the carpet, while his jaw clenched and unclenched. She was tempted to reach over and brush back the sandy strand of hair falling over one of his eyes. She wished she could kiss him, make him smile again. She had no idea breaking up with him would feel like she was chopping a piece of her heart out. He remained silent, and she was at a loss as to what to say next. She wanted to take it all back, but knew she couldn’t.

  The tears dripped unheeded off her jaw. “I’m sorry, Andrew. I’ll never forget what you’ve done for me. I just don’t think you and I are meant to be.”

  His eyes jerked towards her, flashing with frustration. “Meant to be? What does that even mean?” She was stumbling to find the right words to say, when his face fell in defeat before her. “It’s ok. You can’t help how you feel. I don’t want to force you to love me, or care about me. Please stop crying.”

  But that just made her cry harder. The chunk being cut from her heart just kept getting bigger and bigger. She wondered if she’d have anything left after this.

  “Eden,” he said softly. She was sobbing now, her face buried in her hands. “Eden,” he repeated. “It’s ok. Stop crying.”

  His hand landed on her back, patting her awkwardly. He’s comforting me! She felt even worse.

  His warm hands wrapped around hers and gently tugged them free from her face. She was forced to gaze into his crushed eyes. “I’m going to be ok. This isn’t the first time I’ve done this. Well, usually I’m the one breaking up with them,” he said with a sad laugh. “But hey, now I know how those girls felt.”

  She stared at him. How’s he so calm? She tried to regain composure. “Sorry, this is new for me. Here I’m thinking I need to be honest with you,” she hiccupped, “so I tell you how I feel, and now I’m aching for you.”

  Andrew flinched. “Are you sure you want to do this? End us?”

  There was a huge part of her that didn’t want to say good-bye, but she searched herself, knowing there was something within her that yearned for Micah. She nodded slowly, afraid to speak with the lump lodged in her throat.

  He sighed and pulled her into his arms. He hugged her tightly and whispered, “Well, if you change your mind, I’m not going anywhere.”

  Her body began to shake as she sobbed into his shoulder. When he let her go, she saw she’d left black smudges on his t-shirt. “Oh, sorry, I got mascara on you.”

  “I don’t care.” He stood up. She jumped to her feet, trying to wipe her eyes clean. “I have to go to the hospital,” he stated. Again, he seemed so calm.

  She nodded, pulling her keys out of her pocket.

  “Are you ok to drive?” he asked.

  Why’s he worrying about me? I’m the bad guy here. “Yeah, I’m fine. Andrew, I’m so—”

  “It’s ok, Eden, really,” he cut her off, his tone brisk.

  She stared at her mascara-streaked hands, and sniffed. “Ok, well, good-bye.”

  He hesitated, and then hugged her again. His lips found hers and she
gave in, kissing him back fiercely. When he stopped abruptly, she was gasping to catch her breath.

  His eyes wrinkled as he gazed back at her, the pain etched in every crease. “Bye, Eden.”

  Numbly, she managed to find her way back to her Jeep. Cranking the engine, she tried to stem the never-ending tears. It was hopeless. She was reaching for a napkin out of the glove compartment when the garage door opened, and Andrew’s Bronco whipped out. She hoped he would glance her way as he peeled out of the driveway, but he never did.

  “So you’re saying Enoch spoke the same language as me?” Damon asked, pushing the book he’d been browsing aside. It joined the heaping pile on top of Jared Hawkins’s desk.

  Spending most of the hot days indoors, Micah had told his parents he was helping Damon study to pass school. He felt bad lying, but needed some excuse for why they poured over books, while the pool remained unused.

  Micah planned to tell his parents everything soon. So far, they were ok with things. He wasn’t sure if they’d be so amiable if they knew their son’s life could be in serious danger.

  “Yeah,” Micah replied.

  “He could command the elements, speak to the earth, and it obeyed?”

  “Yep, at least we think so. I read in one account that Enoch felt he was slow of speech before and then, because he was so righteous, God gave him this gift. It says he moved mountains with his words. Your gift’s pretty rare, Damon. The Captain doesn’t give it to just anyone. We’re pretty sure Enoch was the first Seer too.”

  Damon whistled. “So he had both of our gifts.”

  Micah drummed his thumb against the book he held. “So it’s going to take both of us to get into Enoch’s temple and through the nine chambers.”

  Damon was nodding when he disappeared. Micah recognized the cornfields and knew he was receiving another vision about the underground temple. He felt his pulse quicken. He hoped he could skip over certain parts of this vision. He didn’t want to make a scene in front of Damon, grabbing at his chest and crying out in agony. Trent hadn’t responded well the last time that had happened.

  He was relieved to see his body moving through the chambers instead. Oh good, we’re already inside. He expected to see himself leading the group through the small opening in the floor but, instead, it was Trent standing in front and explaining things. After a few minutes, Micah realized he wasn’t really with his group of friends, but more in the background with the angels, watching. One look at Sage’s forlorn face and he shuddered.

  He snapped back to his dad’s study.

  “What?” Trent’s voice demanded. Micah’s eyes were still shut. “What happened?”

  Micah felt a hand on his shoulder and pushed his lids open. He was panting, covered in sweat. Trent stood over him, concern written all over his face.

  In the chair next to him, Damon leaned closer and asked, “Vision?”

  Micah nodded.

  “About what, the temple?” Trent asked.

  Micah glanced down at his shirt; it clung to his chest with sweat. He nodded again. “Something’s changed.”

  Trent waited for more but Micah wasn’t about to admit what he now knew. Trent already wanted to pull the plug on the whole thing. There was a lead weight on his chest; it was a struggle just to get air in. Luckily for him, Micah knew Trent would misread it for vision exhaustion.

  But I know the truth. I don’t make it into the temple, at least not as a mortal.

  Damon didn’t stay too much longer, and Micah told Trent he was going to bed early, tired from the day. Trent eyed him walk away but said nothing.

  Collapsing on his bed, he groaned loudly, “Sage, what happened?” He sat up. “Am I going to die now?”

  Sage was next to him instantly, her black eyes creased with worry. She placed a hand on his shoulder, her fingers sending a calm rushing through him.

  “I don’t know. I think it has to do with Eden and Andrew,” she said. Her tone was soft, but Micah could tell she was concerned by the way her black eyes clouded over.

  “They broke up, didn’t they?” he asked, already guessing the answer. Makes sense—Andrew won’t come on the trip and my gaping wounds won’t be healed. Hence, I die.

  “Yes,” Sage said quietly, as if she was answering his thoughts too.

  “Is there nothing I can do? That’s that, then?” He was trying to conceal the panic in his voice. He was failing.

  Sage’s hand was on his shoulder again.

  Then he was riding in the back of Andrew’s Bronco, radio blasting. It was night, making it hard to see where they were going. Raindrops splattered against the windows, as the tires splashed through puddles. Knowing a summer storm had rolled through that night, Micah assumed he was in the present, seeing something happening now. Andrew slowed at a curb in front of a red brick house Micah didn’t recognize. He waited, watching Andrew’s moves.

  He whipped out his cell phone, shooting off text messages.

  Micah leaned over the back seat, pressing his face close to read.

  R u awake?

  Andrew’s phone buzzed back. Yeah.

  R u making out w/ Dave?

  No, he didn’t come over after basketball. Why?

  Andrew waited a moment and then typed. Eden broke up w/ me.

  That sucks. R u ok?

  Think so. I’m @ ur house. Can u come out?

  In PJ’s, do u care?

  No, get ur butt out here.

  Micah sat back. So, it was Eden who did the breaking up.

  A few minutes later, Caitlyn emerged from the home, and jogged through the drizzle toward them. Andrew leaned across the front seat and opened the door for her. She hopped in, wearing flannel pants and an oversized hoodie.

  Now Micah was curious.

  “Are you ok?” she asked, folding her arms across her chest, eyeing Andrew.

  He blew air out. “Yeah, I’ll be ok. I just didn’t see it coming. Think I’m still a little shocked.”

  “I’m sorry, Andrew.”

  Andrew cleared his throat. “I don’t really want to talk about it. I have a question for you.”

  She gazed back at him and waited.

  “The night of prom, when I found Eden on the ground,” he hesitated. Micah could see it pained Andrew to talk about it. “I tried to heal her, but it was going too slow and it was really hard, like I was trying to push through something. Then you show up and she starts healing. What did you do?”

  “I told you I didn’t do anything. You’re the one who healed her.”

  “But I felt something when you touched me. Can you heal too?”

  How interesting. Micah was curious as to what Caitlyn’s gift was. Up to this point, he’d never had a vision of her other than the time Eden awakened her.

  Caitlyn laughed. “Last I checked, no.” She placed her left foot on the seat, pulling her pant leg up to reveal a nasty cut and bruise on her shin.

  “Ouch,” Andrew commented.

  “Yeah, did this yesterday. You know me, can’t walk straight to save my life. I tripped in our garage and landed on my brother’s bike.” Caitlyn raised her hand, and then laid it across her shin. After a few seconds, she lifted her hand back up. “So I guess we know for sure now.” The cut remained.

  Without hesitation, Andrew placed his hand on her leg. After a moment, he removed it and Caitlyn gasped. “Wow! That’s really amazing. Thanks.” She ran her hand over her skin.

  “No problem. So, what did you do?” he asked again.

  “I told you, I didn’t do anything.” She lowered her leg.

  “Ok, tell me exactly what happened that night. Tell me what you did, thought, everything.”

  Micah was glad Andrew was asking the very questions he wanted answered too.

  Caitlyn semi-rolled her eyes at him. “I’ll humor you, Andrew, but I hope you’re not disappointed when you realize I’m just a regular girl, not some super hero like you. I followed you into the woods, and I saw you with Eden, so I ran up to see what was going on. And that�
�s when I saw all the blood and you putting your hands on her. I wasn’t sure what was happening, so I leaned in and realized you were actually healing her. I was pretty shocked. And then you were crying out something like, Eden, no. I don’t remember exactly, but I realized she might be dying then. I remember thinking, Eden can’t die. She just can’t. Andrew can heal her—I know he can. That’s when I grabbed your shoulder. I wanted you to know you weren’t alone, but you never turned around until I spoke to you.”

  So then what happened? Micah wondered. Why was it when Caitlyn thought he could heal her in time, he did?

  “Sorry to disappoint,” she said, when he remained quiet.

  “You didn’t. I’m just thinking.” Andrew stared at his steering wheel. “I wonder if it had to do with what you were thinking.” He glanced at her. “I know it sounds crazy,” he added, when Caitlyn gave him the full eye roll this time. “But I can heal people. Isn’t that crazy too?”

  She stopped making faces at him. “I guess you’ve got a point there. So you’re saying that when I think or say something, it happens?”

  Seriously? Micah gaped at Caitlyn. Can she really have that gift? Funny it hasn’t even manifested itself. She has no idea she even has it. Then again, it is subtle, even if it’s arguably one of the most powerful ones of them all, next to Damon’s.

  Andrew nodded. “Maybe. What’s something else have you thought lately? Maybe we can do a test.”

  Caitlyn was quiet for a moment and then she began biting her lower lip, her eyebrows lowering.

  “You thought of something, didn’t you? What is it? I know you’re upset; you’re biting your lip.”

  “I don’t think you’re going to like it.”

  “Tell me.”

  “Ok, don’t hate me. I didn’t know.” She bit her lip again. “Eden told me how she was feeling.” When she peeked at him again, he nodded for her to continue. “She was upset because she didn’t feel she was being honest with you and stuff. And I,” again she gnawed at her lip, “I told her to talk to you. I told her if she did, it’d all work out as it should.”

  She glanced at him and visibly flinched. Andrew just stared at her.