“What about the boy?” Bathe asked.
“She's talking about Petter, her friend,” Sofia unexpectedly answered, knowing that her daughter was fond of talking about Petter and Tutu.
But Bathe, who saw Wanda's expression, wasn't convinced. He could see in her appearance that there was more to the story than Petter. "Was it Petter?" Bathe enquired, looking into the rearview mirror again and trying to get all the information he could from Wanda.
“No,” Wanda answered softly, and the answer caught her mum's curiosity. Sofia turned her head totally to look at her daughter's face. Wanda saw her mum's eyes; they had turned red and were already filled with tears.
“What's his name?” Sofia asked in her usual manner of grilling her children to get the truth out of them.
Wanda wasn't sure why her mum asked the question although she knew it probably was because it wasn't Petter - she hardly spoke of any other boy from school apart from Petter.
“Eric ... His name is Eric,” Wanda replied. Her face was dull - devoid of any curiosity that the boy meant anything other than the name Eric.
Sofia, who thought the boy had something to do with the demon but could not see any panic in Wanda's eyes as she mentioned Eric relaxed her tensed body. She then gave a faint smile that faded away very quickly when Wanda included, “he could see the demon too.”
The instant Wanda spoke, her mum paused, and unwittingly Bathe suddenly stepped hard on the brake pedal. They all felt the impulsive pressure applied to the brake pedal because the car was already at high speed. Wanda wasn't sure if it was the boy's name or the fact that the boy saw the demon that made Bathe react unusually. Her mum's mouth was slightly agape as she froze, looking mystified that there was someone else at the school that could see demons.
“How can that be?” Sofia said, but it wasn't a question. She was only thinking out loud. “People are not supposed to see demons....”
“I don't know,” Wanda's answer was curt. “You probably imagined it, Wanda,” Bathe included. “Demons can make you see or do ...”
“No, it was not my imagination,” Wanda responded to Bathe. “In fact, the boy fought with the demon.”
Bathe gave a weak giggle as his leg went on the brake pedal again. The speed was now down to hundred kilometers per hour.
The unusual and unexpected shocking reaction Bathe displayed made the thought of him knowing more about the demon chasing them flashback on Wanda's mind. She wondered why he appeared so stunned at the news that a boy he seemed not to know was at the school, fighting the demon that had attacked her. She focused on Bathe trying to figure out what exactly was disturbing him about Eric. Watching Bathe again, she was a little uncomfortable, feeling she and her mum were in the wrong hands and probably heading in the wrong direction.
“No one can fight a demon with bare hands, no human...” Bathe said.
“He was equipped with some nail-like objects,” Wanda interjected, trying to convince Bathe and her mother of what she had witnessed. “I saw him throw the object – silver-like in colour, and it stuck into the demon's body.”
Knowing what objects Wanda was referring to, Sofia turned and looked at Bathe. Bathe and Sofia's eyes made contact briefly, and Bathe knew Sofia would have seen Marcus’ fighting weapons several times, and they looked like what Wanda was describing.
Watching her mum and Bathe, Wanda continued. “The objects looked more like pegs, big and long pegs with some symbols on them.”
“That doesn't sound like a coincidence,” Sofia spoke, her eyes were still on Bathe. She waited for an answer, indicating she wasn't making a statement; she was asking. Bathe stared ahead, thinking. “Is there someone out there sent to protect Wanda?” Sofia inquired, looking at Bathe, who stayed silent. Her voice and expression were intense.
“That was what Eric was doing anyway,” Wanda thought but didn't speak out. “He was protecting me, and he died doing it.” Her mind went off thinking about Eric and how he was motionless and looked lifeless when he lay on the floor at school.
“Someone sent to protect her?” Bathe repeated like he just heard the question. He looked bewildered and disturbed like he knew what was supposed to have happened, and this Eric boy should not have been there. His reaction gave Wanda some concerns; it made her feel like he knew what was supposed to happen at school, and Eric was not supposed to be there.
Studying Bathe, Wanda could not get the thought of him knowing more than he was revealing concerning the demon that chased her, out of her mind. She seemed not to be able to control her thoughts, which kept trailing off and providing her with the feeling that Bathe was involved in all that they were experiencing, and now he's taking them to where she feels they should not be going.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Chapter 5
Wanda shook her head, trying to ward off the thoughts that Bathe probably knew more. She began to wonder if the feelings were due to her disapproval of him being around her mum; she had never really liked any man close to her mum. She always wanted her father back, and that was it.
“I would know about it if anyone was sent to protect her,” Bathe answered, breaking Wanda off her day-dreaming. He shook his head. “If anyone had been sent from the Fortress in advance to protect Wanda, there is no way I would not have been aware of it. Really, I don't think that would have been the case.”
“Why ...” Sofia enquired. “Why couldn't Alexis or any of the other elders at the Fortress have sent someone to protect Wanda?”
Bathe turned and spoke slowly, “Wanda was not on the list of those that were thought to be The Chosen. She never showed any peculiar signs as a child or at a younger age.” A few seconds passed in silence, then Bathe looked at Wanda through his rearview mirror. “I wouldn't get caught up about the boy if I were you. The boy must have been a camouflaging. Probably the same demon camouflaged as human to confuse Wanda....”
“No, he was with me when the demon appeared again by the school library,” Wanda reassured and repeated what she had told them before to confirm the demon and Eric were two different beings. “And I saw the demon's talons penetrating his chest and then his back when they fought.”
“You did?” Sofia turned to her daughter immediately, knowing how horrifying the scene she observed must have been.
“Well, that answers it.” Bathe purposely wore a convincing look to bolster his point. “No one, not even a Vitrian, would have a demon's talon penetrate his chest and survive till the next morning,” Bathe explained. “So this Eric boy is most likely another demon Wanda, and both of them were only trying to play on your mind. Demons have the power of camouflaging to become like humans – when they do that, we call them familiar spirits.”
Wanda remembered her own father had told her on several occasions that demons have the power to camouflage as humans. She wanted to argue further that Eric was all human when she remembered the way Eric's eyes had changed. Something wasn't right about the entire scene at school, and Wanda herself couldn't put the pieces together. Eric definitely was protecting her, although she didn't understand why he'd jump in front of her and let the demon strike at him the way he did when he knew it was a life-threatening move. Again, his eyes that changed came into her memory. Looking confused, she wondered if she had seriously seen the eyes change or if it was just her imagination due to the pandemonium she experienced at school.
As she continued to think about it, she noticed a motorbike speeding up to their side two lanes away on the motorway. The person on the bike wore jet black leather clothes, which became attractive to Wanda in the shining sun. Even the palms of the rider were covered in black gloves. Everything was black, including the bike.
She watched the person on the bike bring out a tool and studied it. The device was like a car G.P.S. but slightly bulkier and broader than a smartphone. The person on the motorcycle shook the tool hard, like the instrument was damaged, and she was trying to get it to work. Impulsively, after the biker looked at the equipment, she sudd
enly looked up in alertness like a snake that had found its prey. She sped up and disappeared into the horizon.
“So what happened, Wanda?” Sofia asked, interrupting Wanda, who was observing the biker on the horizon.
“What happened?” Wanda turned back to her mum, and Bathe looking confused. She hadn't been listening to their discussion. “To who ...”
“The boy at school,” Bathe raised his head again to the mirror to see Wanda's face. “Eric ... What happened to him when he fought the demon?”
“I don't know,” Wanda shrugged. “I ran out of school.” The heaviest guilt that Wanda had ever felt swept through her body. Barely saying that she left Eric to die made her feel discomfited.
“I should have stayed,” Wanda let the word out glumly, feeling embarrassed and annoyed at the same time.
“It’s okay, Wanda,” Sofia's voice was tender. She could read the pain and disappointment in her daughter's voice. “There was nothing you could have done to help.”
“You did the right thing,” Bathe included. “The day you see what others can't ... that day, you run.”
Wanda, who had buried her face in shame for leaving Eric to die, raised her head on the spur of the moment. She had never thought about it, but for the first time, Bathe sounded exactly like her dad. If her eyes had been covered, Wanda would have sworn it was her dad, Marcus, who was speaking. The statement was something her father had always made and said to her, admonishing her to run the day she sees a demon.
Wanda stared at Bathe from behind for some seconds wondering if the statement he just made was something familiar to Vitrians, and probably Bathe and her dad got it from the same place.
“How much longer,” Wanda heard her mother ask, looking at Bathe.
“About ten minutes more.” Bathe answered.
Like Wanda did not hear her mum's question and the reply, she continued on the Eric discussion. “Eric said the demon was sent to fetch me.”
“You actually spoke to him,” Sofia was startled at what her daughter said, but Wanda knew it was a question.
“Yes, I did mum,” Wanda wondered if speaking to Eric meant anything.
“I won't count on whatever that Eric boy said,” Bathe interjected. “The rebels would do anything to get a hold of you; most especially now that they know, you are The Chosen.”
“What is this chosen thing?” Wanda enquired.
“Well, I am sure if you didn't know what it is by now, you would at least know it has something to do with your new-found ability to see demons.”
The motorbike Wanda noticed previously without warning was on her side again, but now it was not some lanes away on the motorway; it was next to them. The person on it tilted her head and looked in Wanda's direction. Wanda could sense there was a reason the person inclined to look in her direction. She could feel penetrating eyes behind the helmet as the person applied the brakes, and they drove past the motorbike. Wanda turned around in haste, knowing that the way the biker applied the brake was treacherous on the motorway. She sat back properly, thinking deeply why the biker turned to stare at her. She wondered who was behind the helmet and was about to call Bathe's attention to the biker when a huge ear-shattering noise came from the front of the car. Suddenly, the bonnet caved in as a massive creature descended on it.
Sofia and Wanda jerked forward, screaming as Bathe impetuously held on tight to the steering wheel and applied the brakes to the speeding car. He didn't need to worry about the car tilting; he could feel the weight of the big creature standing on the bonnet. The car swerved a little and screeched on the road as its speed began to reduce. Bathe held on forcefully to the steering, trying to control the vehicle as it swerved from one side to another.
The creature was huge. Wanda could only see its knee and lower part as it stood on the bonnet. She realised the other cars on the road had stopped, and people were only watching them some distance away. She knew those watching would only see that they had lost control of the car, and an accident was imminent; nothing about the creature on the bonnet would be visible to human eyes.
Wanda looked at her mum and realised her mum's eyes were shut. Her mouth was moving, but Wanda couldn't figure out what she was saying, while Bathe kept swerving the car from one side to the other. She later realised what her mum was doing.
“She is – she is praying,” Wanda thought for a moment but couldn't believe it. She had never seen her mum pray; neither had her mum allowed them to visit a church or any so-called religious gathering. Wanda now understood why her mum had kept her and Jason away from everything. She realised her mother did it all to prevent them from having any involvement with the Vitrians.
Suddenly, she heard a thunderous bang on the roof of the car. The loud bang caught everyone's attention, and they all looked up at the same time as Sofia shouted, “Jesus!”
Another loud roar followed as the creature slammed its arm on the roof again, and Wanda shivered. An unusual beastly sound followed; it was a mixture of a lion's roar and a wolf's howl.
“It has a hold on the car; I can't get it off,” Bathe was frantic as he spoke. Suddenly another massive and frightening blow followed, and the creature's fingers came penetrating through the roof.
The car juddered, and Wanda looked aghast. She drew herself into her seat like she could disappear into the back seat she was on. She watched as the massive palm of the creature emerged through the roof of the Audi. Everyone knew instantly they were facing a very powerful beast.
Effortlessly, the creature pulled the roof open like a child tearing apart a piece of an unimportant paper airplane. The metal sheet on the car's roof seemed to screech in objection, but the strength with which they were pulled apart was unconventional.
Instantly Wanda let out a loud screech at the sight of the thing and then froze at what she was looking at. Initially, she was astounded that the creature had a human silhouette; its hands and legs were all structured like that of a regular person. The only difference was that it was huge and covered in fur. Its body was built from the waist to the top of its chest as broad as anyone could imagine. Its neck was wide and thick, its hands were massive, and its arms had huge biceps like the creature had regularly spent time in the gym. She was shocked - the thing looked nothing like the demons her father had described to her and Jason; it was not deformed in any way, and it had no mixed animal body parts demons usually have.
Wanda froze as she stared in disbelief at the face of the creature. It wasn't the face or the structure of its head that caught her attention; it was the eyes that she was looking at.
She looked lost in the eyes like there was something in them controlling her to be quiet.
“What is it?” Sofia enquired quickly in trepidation, making it evident that even she wasn't sure what type of demon it was.
“I don't know,” Bathe replied hurriedly, “never seen this in my life.”
To Bathe and Sofia's shock, after tearing off the roof of the car, the creature paused for a second as its eyes met Wanda's. Like it was registering some information that had been locked up inside it, or it had known her for years, it studied Wanda with its venomous eyes. It worried both Bathe and Sofia that Wanda and the creature were staring uncontrollably at each other.
“Can demons mind control?” Sofia asked worriedly.
Bathe did not respond, but quickly he dipped his hand into his pocket and pulled an object out.
As the object Bathe pulled out came into view, the creature roared again, an annoying involuntary roar, like it was controlled from within by some unseen force, which made it roar. The roar was so loud it brought out the veins in its neck, which stretched to his head. The grayish-white hair on its body stood up like small electric voltage had been passed into its body as it roared. Wanda woke up from her reverie, staring at it. With the roof off, the roar was so loud Wanda, and her mum instinctively placed their hands over their ears.
The car came to a halt hitting hard a roadside railing. The creature leaped off the bonnet wi
th ease. Though the car slammed into the railing with force, the creature's leap was adept; like a skillful young child jumping off the last step on a staircase in a playful manner. It landed some meters away from the back of the car.
Bathe did not wait to answer Sofia's question. He was already up and out of the car. Wanda and her mum immediately followed, forcing the door of the vehicle to open using their body weight.
Bathe moved Wanda behind him quickly as they stood behind the car facing the creature. A Praying Méndez was now in his hand. The silver part of the Méndez was glowing; it was no longer a metallic colour, it was shining as light radiated from the silver. The glow was also apparent on the silver symbols on the wooden part of the Méndez. The glow caught Wanda's attention as she stood in bewilderment, looking at the object in Bathe's hand.
Abruptly, Sofia, who had walked up rapidly to where Wanda and Bathe were standing, shook her daughter hard to get her back to reality, but the glow from the Méndez had put Wanda in a trance. Wanda could see the Praying Méndez was glowing, she turned to the creature in front of Bathe and saw that the creature could not look directly at the glowing light, so it covered its eyes with its huge hands. Wanda could see the supernatural light from it was harmless to humans but harmful to demons.
In amazement, Bathe shouted again and pointed with his other hand. “Run!”
Wanda and her mum started running as her mum pulled her forcefully, waking her up from the reverie she was having.
“You will not go any further; I set a barrier upon you,” Bathe yelled, holding his Praying Méndez tight in his stretched out hand. He seemed perplexed, even he had never seen such a unique and well-formed demon before. They usually come in bizarre and disfigured animal-like forms, but this creature was different. “I am a Vitrian, and by the power of prayer in this Méndez, I order you bound and not to step beyond here.”
The Healing Mendez (Vitrian Secrets, #1) Page 6
