I never noticed from the house, but they had little solar lights on the trail down to the beach, which was nice especially with my lack of coordination. The beach was amazing, not the typical sandy beaches that are on postcards, but rather shiny, multicolored pebbles with patches of sand and boulders encasing the path. Athen brought me to the largest patch of sand. Enough for a picnic or maybe sunbathing, not that there is ever that much warmth, I thought to myself. I looked over to the right and saw the ferry heading back to Edmonds, how special this place was. I was extremely lucky to be a part of it. The sun was gently saying its goodbyes for the evening, and I scanned the beach for Athen. Finally I spied him behind me gathering pieces of wood. I was wondering if it was for a bonfire or for a backup at the house. The twilight hours were so mind numbingly beautiful that it was easy to forget the chill that was hovering in the air.
“What are you doing? Is there anything I can help with?”
“I’m about to start a fire. It’ll only take a second. I think I got it handled.” He said beaming. I noticed how proud he was whenever he did something to make me happy. My insides immediately warmed. I felt so special, so very lucky.
“Oh yeah, the smores! How could I forget? I think I must be a little antsy.” I laughed.
“Can’t imagine what for.” He said with his eyes reflecting the moonlight that was beginning to show itself.
I sat on the blanket near the fire, purely in awe of everything. As the sun drifted away, we were left with nothing but darkness. The gentle lapping of the waves mixed with the crackling of the fire was so soothing. I looked over at the glow as it danced in the darkness. I leaned my head against Athen, soaking up everything that this day had brought to me so far. I knew it was coming to a close. I didn’t want it to end. I looked up at Athen, wanting nothing more than him for all eternity. I knew he wanted the same.
“Thank you Athen. Thank you for everything.” Then it hit me – the beach! My dream! This was my dream - this was the beach. Heaven was about to exist. I was certain of it.
Athen stood up, grabbed me from the blanket where we were sitting and cradled me in his arms. I could feel him moving, that he was taking me somewhere, but with the darkness I wasn’t able to judge where we were going until he gently laid me down against a boulder. The coldness of the boulder mixed with the heat of my body was shocking. I looked into his eyes, with the darkness around us, I saw that his eyes had a gentle, green glow, very soft and sensual. I wondered if mine had the same. I saw the man who I had loved for centuries and would for centuries more, but at this moment in this lifetime, it was a first. He began lightly kissing my neck as I began unbuttoning his shirt. The quiet sound of the fire crackling brought me back to reality for a moment before I heard Athen begin speaking.
“Tonight’s the beginning of our eternity, Ana. I will not lose you again.” His hand was lifting my sweater up, and I could feel his breath on me like never before. It hovered over every inch of my body, bringing me to a level of pleasure that I didn’t think possible. I grabbed his neck and didn’t ever want to let go. I could feel the strength of his arms as he continued to caress and kiss every inch of my body. With every crash of a wave, an insurmountable flood of desire ran through me. A love that I had longed a lifetime for was finally my reality. A partner who would carry me into eternity was finally with me. Nothing in my life was predictable any longer, and that was fine with me as long as I had Athen by my side.
My body moved rhythmically with his, never wanting this moment to end. I had tried so many times before, and Athen was right. This was the right moment. I could feel his hands gracing every part of my body with the lightest of touch as he cradled me in between him and the boulder. His kissing became more intense and passionate, stopping every so often to hold my head in his hands to look me in my eyes. I had never been more connected to him. This was perfection for me. I knew this was the life that was meant to be mine again. I grabbed his shoulders and began kissing his chest more intensely as he held me closer. He lifted me from the boulder, carrying me to the blanket that he had so carefully laid out for us near the fire. His warmth came through me again. I knew that this night would continue for as long as I wanted. I hoped the fire between us would never die down.
As I closed my eyes, my dream infected me like a disease. I have lived this before. With every thrust my fear became more tangible, more real. For every moment in this reality was a moment suspended in my dream. My ecstasy fell as I realized my dreams were also visions of the future. I could lose Athen, not once but twice. My fear began escaping, leaving a trail between our two bodies; my spirit sinking with the newfound information. The serpent eyes could get him.
Chapter 25
We were heading back up to Whistler to catch some skiing since the entire mountain was officially open. I did my best to push aside the darkness that dared to squash my most intimate moments. I made myself stop thinking about the night before and how glorious it was in every possible way. I wasn’t sure how I would be able to make it through a day without feeling his embrace again, but I was going to have to. Reality still exists. Knowing the gravity of the situation made me restless. Realizing that my nightmares and dreams were foreshadowing the future made me sick. I wasn’t sure how to stop the dreams from turning into reality but I was going to have to figure it out. I couldn’t let her win.
Athen had pretty much packed everything for us in Whistler. I loved the home here and couldn’t wait to come back to it for the holidays, but I was looking forward to seeing Whistler in full-blown holiday swing. It sounded like we would stay for a couple weeks. Athen was helping me with my bags as I remembered the last few things I needed that were in the bathroom.
“So will those things be waiting for us up in Whistler?” I hollered from the bathroom as I tried to gather the last few hair accessories I could find.
“Um, wow, that’s out of the blue again. I certainly hope not, but in all honesty nothing would surprise me so as usual we all need to be watchful. You need to let us know of anything odd that you notice as well. Your senses are really coming back to you at an impressive rate. I don’t think you should discount anything that you feel. Better to be safe than sorry. They haven’t found the snowboarder yet. It looks as if they are on the move. They located a yurt that fit your description. They definitely saw that it had been inhabited recently, but nobody was there. They are on the run. The poor kid has no clue.”
My stomach began to turn knowing how accurate he truly was about my senses. They were coming back, and I had to figure out what I was seeing, without anyone knowing. I pushed the thoughts of losing Athen away and focused only on the innocent bystander.
“Oh, that’s a shame. It’s getting really intense trying to balance everything. It makes me appreciate what I have even more. I love you. Thanks for being there. Thanks for making me wait too, by the way. It was pretty incredible.” I told him as I threw my stuff into my purse. Then grabbed him lightly to reassure myself that he was still here and mine.
“Anytime.” He said laughing.
“Now you say that?” I rolled my eyes.
He went over to the French door and jiggled it to make sure it was locked before we left our bedroom and headed downstairs.
“Everything all locked up?” Athen asked Cyril.
“Yep. We are good to go. I loaded the last of our bags. Thank goodness we are coming back down for Christmas. The thought of lugging all the shopping bags Arie bought up to Whistler was enough to make me boycott the season.” Cyril ducked as instantly as he spoke to avoid Arie’s purse from hitting him.
“I missed!” She exclaimed. “You are lucky.”
Matilda ran out to the garage excited at the thought of a car ride so we quickly followed so she didn’t have to stand in the cold garage. I began getting a feeling that I didn’t recognize and thought I would let Athen know.
“Uh, guys? Something doesn’t seem right. I can’t put my finger on it, but something’s up I think.”
Ari
e stopped dead in her tracks and called Matilda back to the mudroom. I was hoping that I didn’t make too big of a deal out of this feeling I was getting. Athen grabbed my arm, ushering me back into the kitchen.
“You sensed exactly what we did. You can’t formulate it yet. There is a creature out there again. Probably right near the garage door.” Cyril whispered.
“Well, now what?” My heart was beating faster, and I was getting faint. “Should I be worried? Do we need to do something?”
Athen could sense my fear and wrapped his arms around my shoulder.
“Sweetie, we got it. This one I think is the leftover minion.”
Cyril looked over at Athen who went dodging out as Matilda came running back in. I could see flashes of light, and before I knew it Cyril was back inside.
“Minions are the easiest.” He told me as if this would explain everything.
“Aaah, I got it. I’ll remember that for next time. Actually, I take that back. Let’s hope there isn’t a next time.”
“True,” Arie agreed, “Now let’s try this again. The powder is calling.”
Chapter 26
We arrived in Whistler with the familiar Inukshuk sculpture greeting us. The village was in full swing for the holidays. I was so glad to be back. We first stopped at my condo to make sure the contractors had finished putting everything back together from the first run in I had a short time ago. We all entered in as Matilda began running around the entire place as if she was making certain everything was as she left it. Sure enough, the contractors were finished. They had done a great job. While we were in Kingston, we decided to put this one up for rent. Then I would move into their larger condo. I was so excited to obviously be living with Athen, but there was a part of me that would miss this place since I had spent so much time here. I was glad it was still mine. I was only renting it out. I took the boxes we had brought into my bedroom and began putting in all of my clothes and things I didn’t want to leave without.
Cyril and Arie were in the living room and kitchen cleaning those cupboards out and packaging those items up to take with us. I was grateful for their help. It made the process much faster. My goal was to do a little bit each week while we were up here and then get the process started to rent it.
Athen and I had also secretly discussed getting a house possibly outside of the village, a small one where we could be a little more secluded away from the hustle and bustle of the village. We would still want to keep both the condos in the village and maybe rent them as a vacation rentals in between. It was too good of a spot to give up, but the idea of a house was pretty intriguing. We were going to bring it up to Cyril and Arie to see what they thought about the idea.
I was getting the last of the pictures off my dresser, and I saw one of the first ones of Athen and myself pre-phasing. I knew I finally had the proof I needed. I had changed since the whole reintroduction process. It wasn’t only the eyes.
“Aha! I exclaimed to Athen.
“What is it?” He asked coming over to where I was sitting.
“I do look different than before. Look at the picture!”
“Sweetie, the only thing that changed is your confidence level and the color of your eyes. It just so happens the camera picked it up. But, honestly, you always took my breath away.” He smooched me on my head and went back to whatever he was packing up for me.
“Huh.”
We finished up and rang the bell captain to move the boxes down to our car. Our next stop was my new home for now. I was super excited to enter into the condo for the first time with the thought that I wasn’t leaving. Sleeping in Athen’s bed was even more miraculous. We decided to have dinner out somewhere after we brought everything up and then hit the sack early to start our first full day on the entire mountain. Plus, I knew that with sleeping next to Athen, I probably wasn’t getting to bed quite that early.
We were at Araxi enjoying the wonderful truffle oil fries when Arie got a call on her cell phone. She excused herself, and I realized it must have been about the snowboarder.
“What do you think the news is?” I asked Athen.
“Last we heard the trail was a little cold. Are you sure you haven’t had anymore visions?”
“Nothing.” I was disappointed in myself. It seemed like I was leading everyone on a wild goose chase.
“We’ll just see what she says when she gets back. You’ve done a lot more than you are giving yourself credit for.” Cyril was trying to be supportive, but it didn’t help how I was feeling. “Especially this early on in the game.” Cyril winked at me trying to make me feel better. If only he knew about all of my visions.
Arie returned to the table, and her facial expression said it all.
“Well, the clothes you had described in your vision were dead on.”
My heart fell to the floor. We were too late.
“They haven’t found the snowboarder,” She whispered, “But they found his clothes along with his other belongings he had the day he went missing. No other sign of him. They are on the run for sure.”
“Do you think he has been turned?” I asked, my throat scratchy like sandpaper.
“I really don’t think so, not yet anyway. I think they are enjoying toying with us.” She said flatly.
“What about those hikers? What do you think has come of them? Is this related?” I asked not sure why it mattered at this point.
“Yeah. It certainly is related, but I don’t know what the significance is yet.” Cyril said shaking his head in frustration.
Our entrees arrived, and as was becoming usual, we had to shake our previous conversation. It took some getting used to switching gears so often. It was exhausting mentally, but from what I could tell the only way to maintain some normalcy was to be able to switch it off. I was getting the hang of it pretty quickly all things considered. However, what I looked forward to most was falling asleep in Athen’s arms and waking up in them the next morning. I noticed myself shoveling in the food that much quicker as these thoughts bounced around. I looked over at Athen and noticed he was shoveling it in at a pretty steady pace, too and I chuckled to myself.
*****
The snow was breathtaking in the morning. The flakes were gently falling as they had been the entire night before, which made for incredible conditions. It’s always great to get on the mountain when the first flakes of the season come down in November, but usually only the top part of the mountain is open. It satisfies the craving a bit, but barely long enough until the entire mountain is open. Then the real skiing can begin, like today. It was great that we were all at similar levels. I was enjoying myself so much, and the best part seemed to be that there weren’t any creatures waiting for me. I thoroughly embraced the freedom around me.
It was getting close to noon when we decided that this would be our last run so we could go to the Longhorn and grab lunch. I was craving wings and a drink. We all made our way over to the entrance and propped our skis and poles in the storage area.
We walked past the diehards who were sitting outside eating and drinking next to the heat lamps and went inside to grab a place to sit.
“So everything seems pretty calm around here. That’s a good thing, right?” I asked whoever would answer.
“Yep. So far so good. We need to keep an eye out.” Cyril said reaching for Arie’s hand.
The waitress bounded over to get our drink order, and we all wanted the same thing, a hot peppermint patty. Beer didn’t sound good compared to something warm for the first round.
Athen looked over at me. I could tell he wanted to bring up the topic of getting a house outside the village that we weren’t able to discuss last night. I nodded my head.
“I know it may seem odd since we have a place in the village, but hear us out. We’ve been thinking about getting a house right outside the village. We can have more privacy and then use this one when we are skiing, but there are times in the summer when I think we would all enjoy some land to go along with the summer nights up here
.” Athen looked around trying to gauge Cyril and Arie’s expression. I could tell he was gearing up for an argument and had his list of reasons ready for the firing. Instead he got an answer that completely took us by surprise.
“We’ve been thinking the same thing,” Arie informed us, “Now that we are all together again, it seems fitting to have a little more room to roam. I think it’s a great idea. We can always rent this one when we aren’t using it.”
“Wow, sis, I was expecting a bit of a fight or something, but this is great.” Athen said sounding very relieved.
“I love looking at homes and have already compiled a list from some of the magazines I grabbed around the village last night on our way back from dinner. There is one that seems especially fitting if you wanted to check it out.” I mentioned.
“No, that sounds great. You certainly don’t waste any time.” Cyril said.
“It’s back at the condo. I can show it to you when we get back.” I was getting super excited. It would also give us more room for some of the stuff I had accumulated, too, from my condo. Thankfully, we all had the same decorating choices.
We scheduled a meeting with a realtor for that Tuesday, and when we pulled up to the driveway, we all knew this was the place. The home was spectacular. It had a large front porch that was covered in cobblestones. There were shingles and exposed beams on every corner, which was a favorite look of mine. Cyril pulled the car next to the realtors, and we all hopped out of the Jeep. The towering trees that were kept on the lot greeted us as we walked up the driveway.
Athen took my hand, and I instantly squeezed it letting him know how happy I was with this place. We hadn’t even gotten inside yet. The realtor opened the door as soon as we reached the last step. She looked very pretty. I sensed a familiarity about her, but dismissed it to her being a local Whistler resident. She was dressed in an off-white pantsuit with a red, silk scarf tied around her neck.
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