Sweet Sleep (The Children of Ankh Book 1)

by Kim Cormack

  Kevin hopped up and went to the kitchen followed by Kayn. “Well, she’s gone now.”

  She’s gone, found her dog maybe?” Kayn said still relaxed.

  This girl didn’t feel dangerous to her, but the warning from last night still echoed in her mind. Kayn knew she was still in danger.

  “Maybe,” he said. Three big knocks on the front door startled them as they wandered back into the living room.

  Kayn reached for the door knob, and Kevin said, “No, don’t answer the door, we don’t know enough about any of this yet, but we do know that someone is coming for you.”

  “Okay,” Kayn said as she took a step.

  She knew that they had done something to Kevin too because of his psychic lineage. It was a good idea to trust him. He looked through the peephole. There was nobody there, and then a shadow passed by the living room window like someone was trying to look inside. Standing in someone’s garden, pressing her face against a window was definitely not a normal thing for a girl who had innocently lost her dog to be doing. They heard a car pull up.

  “It’s Matty. He’s back from the gym,” Kayn said with panic in her tone. “I have to,” Kayn said reaching for the doorknob.

  Kevin stepped in front of her, “No, I’ve got it.” Kevin flung open the front door.

  Matt, looking visibly startled said, “If you yell surprise, I am going to kick your ass.”

  The look of fear mixed with fury that was written across Matt’s face made them both laugh. Matt was quite obviously getting a little sick and tired of feeling like he was the butt of everyone’s jokes.

  Kevin looked out of the doorway. He said, “Sorry … Kayn saw a girl snooping around outside. We were getting a bit creeped out.”

  “Let’s go take a look then, see if she is still wandering around the yard?” Matt suggested.

  “No, I’m just being paranoid. Let’s go make some fresh coffee. How was your workout Matt?” she asked trying to quickly switch subjects. With the boys still staring out the door, she said, “How about having some relaxing tea then? Maybe we should all calm down and back off the caffeine a tad.”

  Matt patted Kevin’s shoulder to urge him away from the doorway.

  Kevin and Kayn were sitting next to each other drinking coffee on one side of the island. Matt had to run out of the room to take a private call on his cell phone. Kayn stared at the salt and pepper shakers in the center of the island while speaking in her mind to Kevin. Watch this, but don’t react. The salt and pepper shakers shifted a tiny bit at first and then shot off the island, smashing on the floor.

  “Shit,” Kevin laughed, hopping up to clean up the mess.

  Kayn chuckled, “I’m getting stronger.”

  Kayn and Kevin rushed around to clean up the mess before her brother came back.

  “Wow,” Kevin said as he chucked the glass into the garbage.

  Matt walked into the room repeating, “Wow, what are we saying wow for?”

  Kayn answered, “I broke the salt and pepper shakers. Sorry, Matt, I just bumped them off the island.”

  “How did you accidentally bump them off of the center of the island?” Matt grumbled and shook his head as he peeked in the garbage can.

  “I moved them out of the way to see you better when you sat back down; they just slipped off the island. Sorry, Matty,” Kayn replied innocently. Lame, so lame, She knew her excuse made no sense at all.

  Matt thought—You were trying to have sex on the island with my sister, weren’t you?

  Kevin choked on his coffee and it spurted all over the table. He stifled his laughter as they both heard Matt’s thoughts.

  Matt glared at Kevin, “The paper towel dispenser is empty. I’ll go get some more out of the closet.” In his eyes was a clear warning as he left the room, I will kill you if you touch my sister again.

  Kayn whispered, “Let’s go for a run.”

  Kevin answered, “There was a strange person outside creeping through your garden.”

  “True,” Kayn said, feeling trapped all of a sudden, in the confines of her house. She was dying to feel the wind caressing her skin as she ran.

  Kevin looked at her and said, “I know, Kayn. I promise you, it’s not going to be like this forever.”

  Kayn leaned in and gave him a quick peck on the lips. She whispered, “You can’t promise anything anymore, Kevin. The rules have all changed now.”

  “I guess that’s true. Things have definitely changed. Call it a feeling, Kayn, but I think we have incredibly amazing things ahead of us,” Kevin said as he put his arm around her and pulled her toward him.

  She hadn’t actually given a lot of deep thought to the extent that her life path had changed until now. There would be no college. No white picket fence with the three children playing in the yard she had always imagined. They might get a chance to finish high school. How long would it be before they were forced to leave with the clan? Where would they be in five years, in ten? So many questions travelled through her brain at warp speed. She looked up at Kevin’s eyes. He’d been following her thoughts.

  “I will always want to be wherever you are, that much I can promise. You are stuck with me, Kayn, and you always will be,” he spoke softly. Pulling her closer into an embrace, he kissed her forehead softly. Her heart began to well up in her chest. She prayed that was the truth. She had a feeling it wasn’t, but she prayed that it was.

  “I am so sorry that I got you caught up in this,” Kayn whispered, a few stray tears trickling down her cheeks.

  “You heard what half naked guy said, we were put together as children on purpose. It was also completely my choice to stalk you outside your window last night.”

  “Yeah … while we are on the subject of stalking there’s a small confession that I’d better make.” Kayn started to tell him about more of her abilities which included a large amount of sort of stalking him. As Kayn finished her tale of how she read his most personal thoughts, and then realized that she could astral project into his bedroom at night, Kevin started to laugh.

  Then after turning several shades of scarlet, he stammered, “You’re not so traumatized by what you saw that you never want to see me again?”

  “It was all what you would expect a teenage boy to be thinking about,” Kayn replied. She felt the heat as it crept into her cheeks.

  Instead of being mad, Kevin had taken it to a whole other place by saying, “Do you think about the same things when you’re alone?”

  “Not even close,” Kayn said red-faced.

  “You lie. Sinner,” Kevin teased grinning.

  She could tell that he was enjoying the way she was attempting to squirm her way out of the statement that she’d made.

  Kevin whispered “That’s okay, Kayn, because I can always come check up on you, too, now can’t I? I can watch you when you’re sleeping, and listen in on your deepest, most private thoughts. I think that sounds like a great plan. Maybe I’ll even do it tonight.”

  He closed the inches between them, and whispered, “Why don’t you tell me what you heard me thinking about in detail.”

  At that moment Jenkins walked in and said, “I ordered pizza and rented a few scary movies. Let’s attempt to take this day back to a PG rating before your poor brother has a mental breakdown. I know it’s probably his turn to have one, but I say we skip it.”

  They looked at each other and silently followed Jenkins back to the living room. They ate pizza, and watched a few movies. Kevin called to tell his mom he was going to stay at Kayn’s for the night. They had secretly planned to sneak away once everyone had gone to sleep and finish what they’d started. It was the one thing they could control and it was still their choice.

  Chapter 17

  Being Psychic 101

  Psychic

  — From Greek word psukhikos of the soul or life

  — Sensitive to influences or forces of the nonphysical or supernatural

  — (A person) sensitive to forces not recognized by natural laws


  That night Kevin stayed sleeping on the couch. He wanted to climb the stairs to her room, and climb into bed with her so badly that it hurt. Matt must have gone to the bathroom eighty times to make sure that he was still on the couch and not in Kayn’s bedroom. There would be a better time and place. Maybe, he should just marry her. That was a crazy idea. What was the difference between being married and what he had just agreed to? He had already agreed to be with her forever. Well her, and a bunch of partially immortal strangers. He met Lily and that shirtless dick Frost. How many others were there? He knew nothing about what he had signed up for. Nothing but the fact that Kayn had to go, and wherever she was going he was going.

  The clan had kept him alive because his Granny had a gift. He had never really let himself believe in it totally until he had started to change. He could see the dead once in a while. It was a worthless ability. He suspected that to earn his keep, they would expect him to be able to see the future, or something equally awesome. What if he never got any psychic abilities? What if he could only see the odd dead old man in pajamas and slippers wandering around looking confused?

  He knew that he could hear Kayn’s thoughts, and he was starting to hear the thoughts of others. Kevin also knew that his physical changes had been suspect. His brother had accused him of taking steroids. He lay on the couch, his mind filled with random thoughts, yet he had to stifle a giggle while pretending to be asleep every time Kayn’s brother came down to check on him.

  He wondered if these anxious feelings keeping him from sleeping were because of the scar on his hand that he found himself staring at. He felt a little weird sleeping with this leather glove on, but he was afraid to take it off. He knew they were dealing with old school supernatural stuff. The symbol of Ankh—he had checked out its meaning the second that he got home on Friday night. It all felt a little ominous, but he couldn’t help but feel that this was where he was meant to be. He was meant to guard Kayn, to love her, to help her. That much he knew for sure.

  Kayn was coming for dinner tomorrow at his house with his Granny. He would have to go home first thing in the morning. He was going to pick his Granny up around lunchtime. He had a feeling that bringing Kayn with him was not a good idea. What if his Granny was planning to have a giant meltdown over the latest developments in his life? He had a lot of questions that needed to be answered. He found himself drifting off. He was attempting to stay awake. His eyes lids grew heavy against his will. He just had to close them for a minute, and he would snap out of it. Kevin opened them quickly, but he was already dreaming.

  Kevin was in a house he didn’t recognize. He descended the staircase gingerly, slowly. He could smell smoke and a pungent smell, so putrid and potent that he began to gag. Plastic covered everything; the whole house was covered in plastic. He stood frozen in place feeling uncertain as to whether he wanted to continue down the stairs.

  He took a deep breath and began to descend again. Something was underneath the plastic on the couch. It moved slightly. Both fear and adrenaline coursed through his veins. Kevin seemed to float until he was above the plastic form. The plastic moved all by itself, revealing a body so rotten that it was unidentifiable. It moved; it was still alive. Whoever this was, had the flesh almost removed, almost burned looking.

  It was alive. This person was suffering horrifically. Who was this lying suffering on a couch wrapped in plastic? He seemed to float away then through the plastic to the empty street. The homes were all being burnt to the ground. He floated higher until the clouds surrounded him with white. He couldn’t see anything now. This made no sense at all.

  Kevin, wake up, he heard through the mist. He tried to find his way out. It was impossible; it was white everywhere.

  Kevin, wake up, he heard again, louder this time. He couldn’t find his way out; the clouds were holding him like a spider web.

  He dangled amidst infinity, unmovable, and then he heard someone whisper, Kevin, you need to wake up. It was so close he felt the moisture of breath through the web in which he hung. He shut his eyes tightly and opened them to a face also missing its skin, half decomposed. He held his breath.

  The decomposing figure, whispered, You die next. He jolted awake and yelled, startling Jenkins who was calmly reading the paper in the chair next to him.

  “Morning, sunshine; that was one hell of a dream you were having. I thought about waking you, but somebody told me once that was bad.” Jenkins flipped the page on his paper continuing to read.

  “I need to get home. Can you tell Kayn that I had to take off? I will text her about dinner later.” Kevin grabbed his things and bolted out the front door.

  Kevin needed to see Granny Winnie alone after that dream. He needed to know if he really was next. Kevin ran down the pathway in front of Kayn’s house to his car. The sun shone so brightly this morning that it seemed like it was the dead of summer. His vehicle was already hot inside which was strange for this time of the morning. Kevin drove his car toward his granny’s house, feeling the temperature shift to icy cold. He reached for the jacket that he had chucked onto the passenger side. Sitting next to him was Chloe, the bloody, dead version of Chloe that he remembered from the bathroom floor that night. Kevin swerved on the road, but regained his sanity very quickly. He took a deep breath of the icy air that filled his vehicle. The car had become so cold he could see his own breath as he exhaled. He looked straight ahead Be cool Kevin … be cool. Chloe had been his friend. Kevin pulled the car over. He sensed that she was staring at him so he turned toward her and said, “Hi, Chloe.”

  “You really see me, don’t you? Well, this is an interesting development, Kevy,” Chloe’s voice said.

  It was the same melody filled, dripping with sexual innuendo voice, yet somehow with her in this gruesome state not managing to have the same effect on him.

  “I sure do, Chloe Bear. Is there something that you need from me?” Kevin answered her just as sweetly as he would have if she had been alive.

  “Not stuttering over your words anymore when you see me, Kevy. You sure have gotten manly in the last year.” Chloe’s voice was still a tad flirty, yet definitely not reaching its target.

  They sat in silence together in his car by the side of the road. Kevin tapped his hands nervously on the steering wheel for a long time before attempting to say what he needed to say.

  “I’m sorry, Chloe. I saw what happened to you that day; I’m so sorry,” Kevin said unable to look at her while he spoke.

  “It’s not your fault, Kevin. You know I thought about you when I was dying. I’m not sure why I thought about you, but I did,” Chloe said quietly this time.

  He felt his heart warm to her. She had been his friend. She had been a slightly abusive friend but a friend none the less. Kevin turned to look at her now and there she was in all of her glory. The stunningly beautiful Chloe that he had always known, sat casually beside him. She had not a scratch on her, and she wore a childlike, white dress.

  “You thought about me because you knew that I loved you, you knew that I was your friend,” Kevin said quietly, his heart freshly aching again because she was really sitting there beside him.

  “You were always my sister’s. I knew that you just couldn’t see past me, but you do now. I’m glad you finally realized it was her.” Chloe spoke with kindness, no cockiness now.

  “I think a part of me always knew that Kayn was the right one,” Kevin replied. He added, “I know a part of me will always miss you. The unattainable Chloe Brighton was my friend. When she wasn’t torturing me or being mean to me.”

  Chloe raised her hand to touch Kevin’s face and said, “I understand why you couldn’t see her before you lost her. I never really saw you before this happened either. I see you now Kevin and Kayn is a lucky girl. Can I tell you a secret? You are the part of joining with Kayn that I’m looking forward to.”

  Kevin turned about three shades of crimson. His face tingled where she caressed his cheek then he sneezed three times.

  “I’ll be d
amned, that old hag was right,” Chloe chuckled in her usual saucy manner. “That’s where I’m going right now. I need to see her,” Kevin said with a disapproving tone.

  “Don’t get all pissy with me, young man. I’m just kidding of course,” she smiled innocently as she spoke. It was almost like he had her back. Wait, he thought, what the hell am I thinking? He was getting confused because wanting her had been a force of habit for so long. A car drove by, its occupants staring at him like he was insane and then he remembered, Yup, I’m talking to an empty seat.

  “I guess you’re just going to stick around today and come with me to Granny’s then?” Kevin enquired.

  “Nothing better to do; my social life has slowed down a bit in the last year for obvious reasons,” Chloe replied, smiling.

  He parked in his short driveway where he sat for a minute just breathing, thinking about how he was going to tell Granny without telling her. There was also the ghost of his sort of girlfriend’s sister in the car; maybe she won’t know, he thought. He had been told to keep his mouth shut about everything; perhaps his grandmother already knew. He looked at the garden that encircled her house and for the first time noticed the stones scattered throughout her garden. Kevin now knew what the purpose of the rocks had been; the rocks that she had handed him his whole life, on every occasion she could find.

  Granny would say, “It’s your birthday, Kevin. Here is a bag of stones; let me tell you what they are for.”

  Kevin would pretend to listen most of the time. The next holiday would come and his Granny once again would hand him another bag of stones. He had spent his whole life thinking that his granny was insane. Now Kevin knew she had more knowledge, way more knowledge than everyone else did.

  He was still sitting in the car when his grandmother opened the front door. She stood there with a look on her face that read plain as day that she already knew everything. He hopped out and walked toward her. She put her hand on his shoulder and guided him inside. Chloe tried to follow them and couldn’t enter the house.