by C. Elizabeth
He sauntered over with a smile and sat down across from me.
“Are you okay?” Mom asked.
“She’s all right, Adina, she just taking it all in,” he advised.
Looking from one to the other, I asked, “I have a dad?”
Mom was studying my face, still not sure if she should smile or duck. “Yes honey, you do.”
With what was coming, ducking might have been a good idea.
I finally broke. “Why Mom! Why did you tell me he was dead?” I threw my hands up to my face, hiding behind them.
She wrapped me up in her arms.
“Shhh, honey, I’m sorry, but it was really for a good reason. I knew there would never be a good enough explanation for the loss of a dad your whole life, but it was the best out of any. Will you let us explain?”
John handed me some Kleenex. I wanted to be mad and scream at them, say nasty things that would sting, but instead agreed reluctantly.
She wiped a tear from my cheek. “Thank you.”
John reached over and took my hand, kissing it. “Okay, let’s begin at the beginning.”
I nodded again.
“We know this is a lot to take in, but I want you to know your mother and I love you very much. That it is why I couldn’t be with you.”
It made no sense, but I agreed to listen. “Okay.”
He began. “Saydi, you believe in God, correct?”
“Mm-hm.” I wiped my eyes.
In a thoughtful way, he said, “Well, in reality there are many Tovs and many Pyre. They do exist and they live among you.”
Narrowing my eyes in suspicion, I recognized the words from the book. “Tovs? Pyre?”
Chuckling, he responded, “Shamar Tov: gods; Pyre Nefarious: demons.”
“I know what they are!” I snipped.
Getting to his feet, he looked to Mom. “Sweetheart, can we change places?”
She agreed, and as they passed each other, they had a little hand touching thing going on. Mom looked at him with such love; it wasn’t something I was used to seeing. In fact, it was quite cute even though I was mad.
As for John’s comment about gods and demons, it made me somewhat cautious as to the stability in his upstairs department.
“Can I have your hand, Saydi?” he asked, extending his out for me to take.
“Yeah.”
“Thank you. Don’t worry, all of this is in direct correlation to why I couldn’t be with you. Just bear with me, okay?” John watched me with a small smile.
I nodded.
“The reason I asked about the book earlier is because it’s not fiction. It is real. It did happen. There are many realms in the universe and beyond.”
Blinking. I sat there blinking. As soon as he’s done, I’m calling in the white coats.
“As you read, at the time of that war, mortals didn’t exist. However, we knew for certain you’d be coming soon.”
I slowly looked at Mom, then back at him, then Mom again. “We? Mom, he said, ‘we’.”
He nodded. “Yes I did. My father was part of that war.”
The only thing left for me to say was, “You’re nuts!” Though I wanted to believe my own words, something in his eyes told me he was being truthful.
A chuckle came from his chest.
Why did he think I was kidding?
And off he went. “Now, as time passed, humans covered the earth and for years we watched in fascination as they progressed through life. Eventually, some of us got up enough courage to walk amongst them...” Pausing, he waited to see if I had anything to say.
Nothing from me. I was just biding my time until I could sprint for the phone and dial 911.
“Humans are beautiful beings.” He beamed at Mom. “And being a Tov, when we fall in love, it is for eternity.” Looking down at his hands, he continued. “Unfortunately, when we fall in love with a mortal, we lose them quickly...well, quickly to us.”
They were supposed to be telling me why they lied, yet all that was coming out was talk about loving a mortal.
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m a Tov.”
I darted my glare around the room to gauge the others reaction to his statement—a statement that, by rights, should have had a drum roll sounding off in the background, or at the least, the sky should have lit up with a boom...but nah! It was presented casually, like a normal, everyday revelation. Right, normal if you’re a loon! Hopefully it wasn’t hereditary.
“Alrighty then, I’m off to bed,” I pronounced, getting up.
“Saydi, please!” Mom pleaded.
“What, Mom? You’re going to have me sit here and listen to some crazy man tell me he’s a god?”
Her eyes teared up as she begged me with them. When I turned to look at John, he was watching her with such sadness on his face, truly worried about her.
Taking a deep breath, I plunked down in the chair.
“Thank you, honey,” Mom said.
John took my hand again. “When I met your mother, it was love at first sight. I had to be around her. She made me feel whole.” Again he gazed in Mom’s eyes.
I observed the other people to see if they were watching it. Yup, they were, lost in Mom and John’s gazing. I shook my head.
John advanced forward with his little story. “Of course, we got married and lived as husband and wife. It was the happiest day of our lives when we discovered we were pregnant. It was a healthy pregnancy, and when you were born, the Tovs threw a party the likes of which no one had seen. Everyone was so excited to meet our Half Light.” He was getting excited just recalling it.
It made me smile, getting caught up in it too. “Half Light?”
Mom patted my hand, giving me a loving smile. “That’s what we call our children who are half human, half Tov.”
“Oh.” Then I asked John. “Why such a big party?” For a second I thought it would be cool to be half god, half human, but then I remembered John was crazy.
Looking at me through his eyelashes, he informed, “We’re coming to that.” He bore into my eyes, and in an instant I was no longer in my kitchen...
~ * ~
...“Capture it, Saydi,” Mom yelled over the wind.
My voice choked, “Capture what?”...
~ * ~
...The ocean converged on top of me, and at first I struggled to breathe. Then my lungs filled and it was easy again. The water spiraled in front of me, my hands floated and moved with it in harmony and as my hands danced, so did the water...
~ * ~
...My throat went dry as I looked over the pond. “Mom, I still don’t know what you mean.”
~ * ~
...A figure walked through the water, away from me, and as his feet touched the ocean floor the sand left an imprint of his foot, but only for a split second. Then the feet disappeared...
~ * ~
...Waves crashed as Nathanael walked from the depths of the swimming hole, then turned, lifting his arms and closing his eyes. Job, Joshua, Mr. Braxton and others, I couldn’t see, floated to his side...
~ * ~
...The waves hugged me as they moved along, taking me with them. I could no longer touch the ocean floor. The black water was turning slowly into a deep blue as the hue from the sun above broke through—it was warm on my skin.
“The teardrop crystal of life refills. Feel the donum we have given you,” the waves sang...
~ * ~
... “Saydi!” Mom shrieked frantically. “Capture it!”...
Two deer stared at me. “Use your ability,” I heard, cascading in on the wind.
Looking back to Mom, I asked, pointing, “Them?”
A chant rose—Nathanael snapped his head at me. His green/blue eyes we’re crying. “The wind! Hold the wind!” he yelled.
My hand began to tingle, then the other. Placing my arms in front of me, I moved my hands around in a Japanese hand dance. I could feel the wind follow my every move. It flowed gracefully as its tail danced in the ai
r with my every move.
~ * ~
When things came into focus, my first view was of John. Then I noticed Mom dabbing her eyes with a Kleenex.
He smiled very sweetly. “You saw a dream?”
By rights, I should have been freaking out. My dream played out for me while I was awake by some whack-job sitting in my kitchen. But somehow, I remained calm.
“That dream is your dream. It is your interpretation of what you see coming.”
A nut house is what I see coming.
Continuing, he said, “The reason why you feel calm is because I am guiding your emotions with suggestions.”
Great! I’m being drugged with suggestions.
“Why? Is there a whole lot more? Because I don’t know if I can handle any more, between the dreams, the fuzzy pink mine monster...”
“Told you she saw it,” Zack interrupted.
John nodded, “Yes, that’s good.”
Though I wanted to rant and rave, I asked calmly, “What did I see?”
“We’ll get to that in a minute,” John promised, nodding and rubbing his chin.
Another “we’ll get to it.”
“We still haven’t got to the first thing,” I reminded them, pushing them to answer my initial question.
John shook his head with a smile.
“Saydi, if a child is a Half Light, they inherit a weaker version of their Tov parent’s power, but still very powerful as compared to human strength. Every Tov has many powers, some stronger than others, and their children will more than likely inherit the strongest of those powers. In a Half Light, we call those powers ‘Donum,’ which means gift.”
Blinking was good.
The smile never left his face while he stroked his fingertips down my cheek. “Saydi, you have inherited my abilities.”
Nodding, I said, “Okay, so I’m half god and half human and I have inherited your powers.” I waved my hand in the air, exclaiming, “Oh sorry, a weaker version of your powers.” The man was truly nuts.
“You’re a Half Light and yes, you’re correct,” John confirmed.
“What about the demons? What do they refer to their children as? Little devils?” I chuckled at my own stupid joke. No one else did.
“No, they’re referred to as Half Nights, as in night time—not the knights of the round table.”
There was no way to believe any of it, because if I did, then demons would exist and that scared the crap out of me, really scared me. My coping mechanism was to joke about it. “Good thing. I’d worry if they had a more prestigious name than me.”
That one got a few chuckles.
“To explain everything, we need to go back to the book,” he informed.
Of course that’s why I was there, to appease him. “Okay, then let’s go back to the book.”
“Do you remember what the very last words in the book were?” he asked.
“Yeah, they stay with me all the time, like a song you hear that gets stuck in your head.”
Everyone smiled.
“Can you repeat them for me?”
It took me a second. “To seal such a thing, the size be right, it must hold thy truth and thy strength. Take not lightly this duty, for it is with only thy vessel we have chosen, that thy catacomb will reveal.”
He nodded with his chin cupped in his hand, proud. “Very good.” Then he looked up at the others. “Come join us.”
Everyone grabbed a chair and squished in around our little kitchen table.
I leaned in and whispered to Mom, “Who are they?”
They laughed and Zack said, “All in good time, Miss Saydi, all in good time.”
Eighteen
John disappeared for a minute, then came back and sat across from me holding something in his hand. It was a bit claustrophobic with them all squished in at the table. Zack practically took André out when he tried to sit next to me... Zack won. The man obviously had a possessiveness thing happening.
John tapped on the table to get everyone’s attention and looked at me. “Saydi, before we go into everything else, can I ask you something?”
“Okay.”
“Have strange things been happening to you?”
Like what? Nathanael in a ring of fire, fuzzy pink mine monsters, scary dreams, daydreams, drawing stupid pictures on napkins, everyone being mad, weird hole eyes from Mr. Braxton?
“Just the dreams, and couple of times I saw...never mind.” They didn’t need to know about it.
Zack smirked and nodded. “She saw it.”
As if synchronized, they all moved their attention to me. It was like a scene out of a movie, when everyone’s head and eyes move at the exact same speed. It was pissing me off, all the secrecy. “You keep saying that. Saw what?” I demanded.
Mom flapped her hands in the air, shaking her head. “We’ll get to that later.”
And being in such a rational state of mind myself, out of the blue the stupidest question popped out of my mouth. “How long have you been married?”
Mom blushed as John put his hand on hers. “We just celebrated our twentieth wedding anniversary.”
“Really?” That surprised me.
Mom giggled. “Yes, really. You’re seventeen.”
“Yeah, I guess that makes sense.” She was so cute with her twinkling eyes. Come to think of it, I remember seeing that twinkle every so often throughout my life.
“How old are you?” I asked of John.
Now his cheeks turned red. “Well very, if you must know.”
I looked to Mom. “That really doesn’t tell me anything. You’re forty, so...” Then being cheeky, I added, “What’s he, three hundred years older?”
They laughed.
“Your dad is...” she took a peek at him with a Cheshire cat-type grin. “Almost nine hundred.”
That made me sit up and take notice, and I’m sure my eyes grew as large as saucers. “What?”
John chuckled. “Yes, in a few months I’ll be nine hundred.”
With shock mixed with some disbelief, I turned to Zack since he was the only one whose name I could remember. “That’s quite the milestone birthday, don’t you think?” I asked him. “Wait till my friends hear, ‘My dad is turning nine hundred.’ What exactly do you get someone for their nine hundreth birthday?”
Zack shrugged as the others laughed.
I didn’t know where it came from, but the questions started to pour out of me. “Where are your parents?” I asked him.
Holding Mom’s hand on his lap, he leaned back in his chair, getting comfy, surely sensing the inquisition was coming. “They’re at home.”
“Where’s home? Tovland?”
He shook his head with a twitch of his lips. “No, the Tov realm.”
“So I have god grandparents?”
“Yes.”
Something inside me told me to stay away from asking their age.
“Will I ever get to meet them?”
“If you want to.”
He barely got his answers out before I threw another at him. “What does the Tov realm look like?”
“Very much like your world, only brighter.”
“How much brighter?”
“The sun’s light is pure white.”
“Do you have brothers or sisters?”
“Two brothers, one sister.”
“I have god uncles and an aunt?”
“Yes.” The look on his face was one of amusement and he looked to be enjoying our little exchange.
“Can I meet them?”
So much for the quick answers. John quickly glimpsed at Mom then the rest of the table.
“What?” I threw out.
John focused back on me with a determination on his face. “Again, if you want to.”
That threw a little suspicion on him. I continued our bantering session. “Will I live forever?”
“No.”
“Normal human life span?”
“No.”
“What then?”
He
shrugged. “Only time will tell.”
“More or less than a human?”
“More.”
“Approximately.”
“Maybe one hundred and fifty.”
I gasped, then looked to Mom. “Mom, will I look a hundred and fifty when I’m a hundred and fifty?” I shook my head and wrinkled my nose in distaste.
Mom giggled. “Well, take a look at your dad. He looks pretty good for nine hundred.”
“Yeah, but who will I take after, you or him?”
Everyone laughed except Mom. Instead, her eyes popped out of her head, utterly appalled. “Saydi! I don’t look so bad.”
Catching myself, I apologized, “No! No, that’s not what I meant. I meant, will I take after the human side or the god side when it comes to that?” Then I smiled at her. “You look beautiful as usual.” I cast my eyes down. “I only hope I look as good as you when I’m a hundred and fifty.”
She hugged me. “You’ll always be beautiful.”
We released and I looked at John, and with a little softer delivery asked, “Have you watched me grow up?”
“Yes. Always.”
I put my eyes down again, feeling the sting of the tears as I held them back. The questions seem to magnify the fears, anxieties and hurts that washed over me.
John pulled me to his chest and kissed my forehead. “Saydi, it was the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to endure. Staying away from you and your mother has been a torment, but a necessary torment.”
His arms were extremely comforting, ones I should have had embracing me throughout my life.
“Why then?” I asked, the pain surely showing in my voice and face.
“Sweetheart, it will all be explained. If it makes you feel better, I’ve watched you at your sports games, all your ups and downs. Your mother always informed me of those things and when I could, I’d sneak to them. I even have all the things you made on Father’s Day. Your mother passed them on to me.”
I yanked away, completely shocked. “You do?” Then I looked at Mom as she nodded slightly, a beautiful smile on her face.
