Awakening

by S. C. Mitchell

  The choice to invade another’s mind should not be made in haste. – Mind Over Magic by Oliver van Loon, 1836

  Chapter 17

  Anna paced the length of her living room, back and forth…back and forth. Then she went to check on Jack one more time. Two incredibly long days—and longer nights—with no change in his condition.

  She’d worried herself to the point of exhaustion.

  After Jack passed out, right after the battle with the demons, she’d insisted on bringing him to her home, so that she could look after him. The first day had been a busy one. Her cabin had been all but trashed in her fight with the demons. She busied herself with cleaning and organizing the house, as he dozed in the bedroom, and the time flew by. She’d fallen into bed next to his still form, fully expecting him to wake the next morning. When he hadn’t, she’d finished with the cleanup of her cottage. Then there’d been nothing to do but wait.

  Jack seemed okay, just slumbering soundly, but even if she shook him, he wouldn’t awaken. Mid-afternoon Nathan Gray arrived to check on Jack. Anna was close to crazy with worry, but Nathan’s presence helped calm her.

  “This is new territory we’re treading,” he’d said. “Jack is unique, from what I have gathered in my studies. The exorcized have never been able to change at will before, or perhaps the right set of circumstances did not present itself for them. In any case, during the fight Jack took things a step farther it appears—unlocking something deep within him. It doesn’t appear that he was re-possessed. This is something completely unique.”

  Yes, but what? “He killed a Ballor and a dozen other lesser demons, all by himself.”

  “Yes, he became quite powerful,” Nathan agreed. “That should prove beneficial in our fight against the demons.”

  Nathan Gray had always been cool-headed and analytical. Not cold, but unemotional under most circumstances. That aspect of his personality hadn’t bothered her until now.

  She massaged the aching knot at the back of her neck. “If he ever wakes up.”

  Wringing her hands in despair, she contemplated Jack’s fate. What if he never woke up?

  “I am concerned,” Nathan said, his voice jarring her from her thoughts, “but this may just have to run its course. Let’s give him a bit more time to work through this on his own. If he’s not up in another hour I’ll try a mind-step.”

  A mind-step. Nathan would link his powerful mind to Jack’s—be able to see what was going on from the inside. She knew the mind-step held dangers of its own, especially for the caster. Nathan would be putting himself in danger.

  “Thank you,” Anna said.

  Nathan’s presence soothed her. She would have driven herself crazy if not for his comforting presence.

  “In the meantime, I have another matter to discuss with you,” he said, his face growing grim. “Your child.”

  Anna placed her hand on her stomach. Again, she felt the spark of life growing inside of her. “You know?”

  There was a twinkle in Nathan Gray’s eye. “Yes, I know.”

  It shouldn’t have surprised her that Nathan knew, and it didn’t change anything. “Jack doesn’t want children.”

  “But you do,” he answered.

  A simple truth that hurt to the core of her existence. Jack or the child—she couldn’t have both. It was a choice she’d made once, and now had to make all over again.

  And everything was different now. If she did lose Jack, at least she’d have this part of him to hold on to.

  His brows rose. “You have to keep her. She’s important.”

  She didn’t question that the old sorcerer knew she carried a girl. The child had become very real for her during her captivity. “Important? How?”

  He looked deeply into her eyes. “There is something…a convergence in a future timeline…that I’ve glimpsed. Your daughter is there, and needs to be there, or our world falls to the demons.”

  Her daughter. “But Jack…”

  She couldn’t keep back the tears. Wetness leaked down her cheeks as she struggled with the decision she knew she had to make.

  “Anna, I would never want to be the reason that two people, so in love, would part ways. But, even if Jack cannot accept the child, you still need to have her…for the sake of us all.”

  There were some in her order that believed Nathan was the most powerful and most knowledgeable of all the Arcanists. He was also her mentor and most trusted friend. She had to believe him.

  Still, it gave her a lot to ponder. Her child, her daughter, was to be important in their war against the demons.

  The child would be Jack’s daughter too. That would have to be addressed. But first they had to save him—bring him back. If anyone could do that, Nathan could. She believed in him and his unique powers.

  After that, after Jack was back, she’d face this. She’d tell him, flat out, and let the chips fall.

  “Do the mind-step, Nathan,” Anna said. “Do it now.”

  Interlude 3

  Nathan Gray stepped into the dream world. Jack’s unnatural sleep resisted his entry more than he’d ever encountered when attempting to mind-step. What had Jack done to himself?

  The skies were dark and stormy here and Nathan had to call on the Light of Truth to brighten his way. The glowing sprite hovered over his right shoulder as he walked the worn path leading to a humble home in the woods. Jack’s home.

  Of course that’s where he’d be. Here, trapped in his mind, it would be something familiar to clasp onto.

  “Have you come to play?” A demonic voice. The question was followed by a deep chuckle.

  “You have no power here,” Nathan said. “You have been banished.” The presence didn’t have the feel of a Whargan. Could it truly be the same demon they’d exorcised?

  “You’re wrong, sorcerer,” the voice replied. “This is my realm now. The one place I do have power. Come in, old man. Join me.”

  Nathan opened the door to Jack’s house and entered. The living room was just as it had been in the real world—worn furniture, the pile of books and magazines by Jack’s chair, the coffee cup on the side table. In the chair sat a form that was more shadow than substance. A demon wraith—evil most foul of a type rarely encountered on the mortal plane.

  This was the spirit of the demon that had possessed Jack. Instead of being banished, it had chosen to die and fuse with Jack’s soul. What had prompted such a rash decision?

  “Tea?” the wraith asked, and instantly a silver tea service appeared on the coffee table.

  Nathan seated himself on the couch. He probed the being, sending tendrils of the arcane toward the darkness. This was not the spirit of a Whargan. Those creatures were stupid. This was something much more cunning. The thing that had crossed over all those years ago in that storm. That something Jack had inherited from his father.

  Pouring himself a cup of the tea, Nathan carefully placed the hot pot back on the tray. He brought the steaming brew to his lips and blew across the top to cool it. With a flash of insight, his fears were confirmed.

  “An interesting gambit, demon,” he said. “Do you think it will work?”

  He took a sip of the tea, his eyes never leaving the darkness that was the demon wraith. Shadows played on the corners of his vision, but he resisted the impulse to look. They were illusion. The demon wraith was the reality.

  “It already has worked, old man,” the demon answered. “It brought you to me. And you have always been my target, Nathan Gray.”

  Nathan probed deeper, laying plain the creature’s intent. “You would leave Jack hopelessly trapped here in his own mind, then enter and possess me?”

  Nathan could already feel the dark essence surrounding him. Divine essence, but not, as he’d first suspected, Gaian energy. This was not Her doing after all.

  “My ultimate revenge,” the demon wraith snorted. “Jack kept me imprisoned for all those years, it is only right I return the favor. Jack will spend the rest of his pitiful life hooked up to monitors and feed
ing tubes in some care facility, crying from the prison of his own mind, while I possess the body and spirit of the Earth’s most powerful sorcerer.” An evil smile spread across his lips. “I hope you enjoyed your tea and your last few moments of freedom, Nathan Gray.”

  Tendrils of dark energy invaded Nathan’s aura. He felt the evil touch on his soul.

  “You could have just gone back to your world,” Nathan said. “Whatever body you possessed on the other side is now gone.”

  “Going back was never an option.”

  The dark energy pierced his outer protections, and Nathan let his inner barriers drop. He still had one last card to play.

  “The tea is excellent. Oolong is my favorite.” Nathan smiled, sat back in the chair, and accepted the darkness into his inner core. Then he opened the doorway to his soul.

  The demon wraith cocked its head. “You don’t seem very worried.”

  The spark that ignited within Nathan Grey’s soul shook the foundations of the dream world. “I’m not worried in the least. You, however, should be.”

  Nathan held the darkness within him, waiting for the right moment to release it.

  “Bah, no human can withstand the transference. Not even a sorcerer powerful enough to mind-step.”

  The demon wraith stood and extended his hand, preparing to release its hold on Jack and fully occupy Nathan.

  Nathan calmly sipped his tea as he accepted the dark possession. The darkness within him had no eyes to widen, no face to show surprise, yet Nathan felt the creature’s shock as its evil intent was crushed.

  “What are you?” The wraith’s final cry echoed in the dream realm.

  With a snap of Nathan’s fingers, the essence of the demon wraith exploded from him into a thousand points of light, each winking out as it was absorbed by the cosmic ether.

  “I am…more powerful than you can ever imagine,” he said as the last spark blinked out.

  Setting his teacup on the table, Nathan rose and tottered toward the basement door. As he made his way down the stairs, he hummed an old, happy tune. In the basement he found Jack’s spirit, locked securely in his cell, sitting dejectedly on the cement bench.

  “Well Jack,” Nathan said as he approached, “trapped in your own mind, I see.”

  “Go away, demon,” Jack said, dejectedly. “I’m in no mood for more of your games. You’ve won.”

  Nathan smiled. “Yes, Jack, I’ve won, but I’m not the demon.” With a wave of his hand the lock and chain fell to the floor and the door swung open.

  At the sound of the door creaking, Jack opened his eyes and stood. “Mr. Gray? Is it really you?”

  Jack was wide-eyed and hopeful, but still guarded as he exited the cell.

  Nathan extended his hand. “Let’s go home, Jack.”

  Love and faith will win out. – Speedy Philosophy by Janet Johnson, 2015

  Chapter 18

  Anna paced impatiently between the two most important men in her life. Jack continued to slumber in the bedroom, his breathing shallow, no other sign of movement. Nathan Gray sat entranced in a chair in the living room, his eyes open but not seeing.

  How long had it been, hours or mere minutes, since Nathan had used his magic to enter Jack’s mind? Time had hung suspended, and all she’d been able to do was pace and worry.

  She walked over to the bed and sat on the edge. Picking up Jack’s hand, she caressed his palm. It was so cold.

  “Where are you Jack?” she whispered. “Come back to me. I need you.” Anna put her hand to her stomach, feeling again the spark of life growing inside her. “She needs you.”

  Anna lightly kissed Jack’s forehead, then rose and paced back to the living room to check on Nathan Gray. She bent down, bracing her hands on the arms of the chair, and looked deeply into Nathan’s vacant eyes.

  “What’s happening?” she asked, not expecting an answer.

  Nathan blinked…just the once before shutting his eyes tight. His head sagged forward. At the same time, a groan issued from the bedroom.

  Anna reached the bedroom doorway just as Jack was pulling himself up to sit on the edge of the bed. He looked rough, but when he saw her, a big smile spread across his face.

  “Anna,” Jack said as he stood. He reached out and pulled her into his embrace. His arms enfolded her and his lips crushed hers. Warm, passionate, it filled her as nothing had ever done before. Then Jack’s stomach growled and their kiss turned into a mutual giggle.

  “I’m sorry,” Jack said. “I’m so hungry I could eat a wolf.”

  Anna’s heart leapt, seeing him so alive, joking around. “Well you haven’t eaten in two days.” She sighed. He was back. “I’ll fix us some breakfast.”

  * * *

  Twenty minutes later the three sat around Anna’s kitchen table. She’d pulled together a feast, including as many of Jack’s favorites as she could prepare quickly.

  “The demon wraith came as a surprise,” Nathan remarked. “What evil would drive a creature to sacrifice its life on the mortal plane? This may be some new ploy by the demons. We will have to check for other wraiths in the exorcised, though I doubt any of their hosts have tried to access their demonic powers after being cured. Still it’s something we will have to take into consideration in the future.”

  The future. That was just what Anna was considering, and there was a cold knot in her stomach.

  “I’m just glad you could help me,” Jack said. “I don’t think I’ll try becoming the beast again.”

  “Actually, you should have no further problems now that the demon wraith is gone,” Nathan said. “With the Whargan form and all that extra power, you’d make a valuable agent for us against the demons. I’d at least like to do some testing, if you’d be open to it.”

  Nathan’s gaze was filled with compassion when he rose from the table. He gently gripped Anna’s arm. “Well, I’m sure you two have a lot to talk about and I should be going anyway.” He gave her a wink, tightening the grip on her arm just a bit before letting go. “Stay here and talk, you two. I’ll let myself out.”

  Anna’s heart pounded. She had to tell Jack about the baby. He had to know…and then she’d lose him.

  Jack continued shoveling in food. The fasting had left him famished. But with each bite, she could see him growing stronger. His aura pulsed with a healthy glow.

  He was so handsome, so caring, so…Jack.

  Still, she wasn’t sure how to begin, so she just blurted it out. “I’m pregnant.”

  Jack dropped his fork. The distance between them became a wall.

  “I know.” He closed his eyes…bowed his head.

  “You know?” Had Nathan told him?

  “Demons have big mouths. Your guards were talking about it when I snuck in to see you.”

  It felt as if she were being sucked into a pit of blackness. She found it hard to breathe—hard to speak.

  “I’m keeping her,” she finally choked out. “The baby. I’m keeping the baby.”

  Anna’s heart seized as Jack stood. This was it. He would walk out and leave her. He had every right. She’d promised…

  But to her surprise, he smiled. “Well, you’re sure as hell not going to raise our child alone.”

  He strode around the table and went down on one knee by Anna’s chair, “And I think it would be a very good idea if our daughter’s parents were married.”

  Anna’s heart bounded as she pulled him up and leapt into his arms. His lips met hers and the world spun. Her heart warmed.

  She could have both Jack and her baby. Suddenly, even with the demonic threat hanging over it, the world didn’t seem as dark anymore.

  Postlude

  Nathan stood at the window of his study, once again gazing down on the Lake Michigan shoreline. Sheboygan had been blessed with a sunny day, and the breeze had waves rolling across the water high enough for the local surfers to congregate en masse.

  Families picnicked, swam, and partied, without any hint of the dire days ahead.

  �
��Maybe I should get me a surfboard,” he said with a chuckle. At the very least, it would help him forget his disappointment.

  The Arcanists had cleared out the demon compound but found no mention or hint of the location of the Demon Gate. They were back to square one.

  “You will find it, Nathan. You must,” a familiar feminine voice said behind him. The manifestation of Gaia in the material world sent gooseflesh slithering down Nathan’s arms.

  He turned to confront the goddess, pulling in a deep breath as his gut tightened. He’d long ago stopped being in awe of her. “I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing it because it’s the right thing to do.”

  “I know that. Still, you are doing it.”

  Why was she here? Was something out of sync in the cosmic ether? No doubt She wanted something. Maybe it was time he asked for something in return. This was, after all, her mess he was trying to clean up. “I could use some help.”

  Her silence told him he’d caught her by surprise. He never asked for help. Cocking her head, she stood for a long moment in silence, then she smiled. “You want the knight.”

  “Yes.” Geoffrey le Court had suffered long enough.

  She huffed. “There are others who—”

  “I want him.” Nathan would stand firm this time. Whatever Gaia wanted gave him leverage.

  “He hates us, you know. If he knew—”

  “Oh, I plan on telling him.”

  “Really? This should prove interesting.” Gaia tilted her head in question. “Very well, I release him. In return I want—”

  “You’ll get the destruction of the Demon Gate, if it’s at all within my power.”

  The goddess chuckled as her image faded. “I guess I can live with that.

  * * *

  Footnote: This chapter is finished, but the story continues. Nathan, Anna, Jack, and their friends return in the second book of the Demon Gate Chronicles: Alliance.