Cataclysm

by Karice Bolton

  “All right!” she wailed playfully. “I get it. I’ll be here waiting for you bright and early.”

  “Don’t count on too bright and early.” Giving Matilda a few more pets, I longed for the moment when she would be with us again. “I’m not much of an early riser unless it’s an emergency.”

  Stopping at the door, I turned to her.

  “You aren’t planning anything more than surveillance, right? You aren’t completely there yet, you know.”

  “Promise.” She nodded.

  “Okay, pinky swear.” I motioned to her before I left her and Matilda for the evening.

  Chapter 6

  The morning came much quicker than I had anticipated, and my idea of sleeping in didn’t come to fruition. Athen was already downstairs with Cyril. He wanted to waste no time getting Cyril out to meet more families.

  “Hey, sweetie,” I kissed Athen quickly. I didn’t want to rub it into Cyril even the slightest, although, I didn’t see him around anywhere. Always feeling like every day might be our last, I didn’t want to miss out on an opportunity for affection. Going fifty years without it will do that to a person.

  Athen let his arms slip right around my waist, and he pulled me in closer to him. His tight grip, around my body, brought me to an immediate place of happiness. Athen’s lips fell onto mine, gently kissing me as if this moment could be our last morning together. Closing my eyes, I enjoyed everything the moment had to offer. When he slowly released his spirit from mine, I looked up to see his eyes, seeing the affection so deeply.

  “Is everything alright?” I whispered, still in a bit of a haze from our encounter. I hoped that sensation would linger. It was too intoxicating to let it go.

  “Just be careful around that Noah guy.” He smiled lightly, his eyes full of mischief.

  “Are you serious? Do we have a Lilith situation going on, a tad bit of jealousy maybe?” I teased him, gently. “Seriously though, whatever gave you that idea?”

  “Nothing that you did. I promise you that, but I happened to do some research of my own.” His tone turned serious, and I couldn’t fathom what kind of research could bring him to worry.

  “I know nothing would ever tear us apart, but I think we need to be sensitive about something that we never could’ve guessed.” He winked at me, as the electricity began zipping through my body once more. “We’ve just got to be gentle with something, that’s all.”

  He grabbed a piece of paper out of his back pocket and unfolded it, presenting it to me with a bit of hesitancy. Looking over the wrinkled photo, I saw a similarity in the face of the woman looking back at me.

  “Yikes, that’s eerie,” I mumbled to Athen. “That kind of explains things, doesn’t it?”

  “Yeah, the poor guy. It’s not his fault, and I know you’d never go there, but I wanted you to be aware.” Athen caressed my shoulders. “From what I’ve heard, he’s a good guy. Actually, he’s an amazing guy. He’s only being modest when he downplays what he and Vanessa accomplished in their time together.”

  Shaking my head, I traced the figure staring back at me.

  “How can she resemble me so closely?” Pausing, I thought carefully about what to say next.

  “I’m not sure. I mean, she’s not like a dead ringer or anything. But, I could see where you could certainly remind him of her.” His lips tightened a bit. “I’d let Arie know, too, so she doesn’t tease him or anything if he seems a little attached.”

  “Totally, but Athen,” I paused. “I can’t believe how thoughtful you’re being. You always say I’m the nice one. I don’t know about that.”

  “Well, I’d still take him out if he tried anything,” Athen said, grinning. “You’d probably try to talk sense into him. That’s the difference.”

  His eyes were sparkling, and it made it difficult to leave him and Cyril. I wasn’t looking forward to another day of being apart.

  “Hey, where is Cyril?” I asked.

  “Good question.”

  Athen hollered for him, but only silence called back.

  “Huh,” my hand tracing the back of the couch. I noticed Athen’s fists tighten a little.

  “What? You don’t think he’s here?” I asked, rather shocked.

  “I didn’t hear the car, but let’s go check outside.” Quickly scanning the full garage, we darted outside. Following Athen’s direction, I went down to the beach, and he went up the property towards the road. We were both calling for Cyril and still nothingness was returned. Circling back to one another empty handed, we headed inside quickly to regroup.

  “You don’t think?” I asked, not needing to finish my sentence.

  “I don’t know. Call Arie. I’ll try to get her attention by channeling to her too.”

  Frantically dialing Arie’s number, I hoped she would pick up.

  “Hey! You on the ferry for the day’s adventures?” Arie’s voice rang through the phone.

  “No. I’m still at the house, and Cyril’s not here. I think he’s on his way to find you.” I tried keeping my voice as calm as possible.

  “Well,” Arie sighed, “Maybe, it’s not a case of us knowing when the time is right.”

  “He didn’t take any of the cars. We’re gonna leave now and see if we can catch up to him. Looks like the process is about to happen, ready or not. Is Noah coming over?” I asked, as we headed out the door.

  “Yeah, actually. He’s on his way over right now.”

  “Might be good timing. I’m not really sure how Cyril’s going to take this, if he’s figured something out.” The seatbelt was impossibly tough to fasten with one hand.

  Athen interrupted. “My guess is he’s doesn’t believe what he thinks he might have figured out. He probably thinks he’s lost his mind. Regardless, we’ll get there as fast as we can, with or without him. Fill Noah in on everything. I’m not sure how much strength we might need.”

  “Sure will. Thank goodness, Matilda’s already been outside. This might take awhile, whatever it is. It’s a good thing we’ve gotten used to not planning anything.”

  “No kidding.” Athen pulled onto the road headed to the ferry.

  “Gonna hang up now, sweetie.” I told Arie. “We’ll get this figured out.”

  Cyril was closed off. There was no tapping into him. He didn’t want to be found. Athen and I rode in silence as we did our best to try to scan the roadside for any evidence that he’d been this direction. The green leaves were still wet and shiny from the night’s rain, and nothing looked out of place. There were no footprints, or muddy tracks. He might have decided to scale the trees to get to wherever he was going.

  “Do you think he knows?” I asked Athen after minutes of silence.

  “I have no idea. He didn’t seem like it, but anything can change in an instant.”

  “You don’t think he went to Azazel, do you?” The thought started making me panic.

  “I don’t. I think he’s got a one-track mind. Exactly like I did with you. And like you did with me.”

  “At least, we know what we want,” I offered up. I reached over for Athen’s arm, as he turned the wheel towards the empty ferry line. Thankfully, we drove right on but still no sign of Cyril.

  My phone vibrated, and my hand fell from Athen’s arm.

  “It’s Arie. Hello,” I said.

  “I can sense him. He’s near,” she mumbled.

  “Is Noah there yet?” Athen asked.

  “Not yet,” she sighed.

  “Well, we’re stuck in the middle of the sound. We’ve got another 40 minutes until we’re there.” My emotions were all over the place. I knew the pain that Cyril endured, and I recognized the worry that filled Arie to the brim.

  “If, we’re lucky,” Athen huffed.

  I turned to him and scowled. He raised his hands and shrugged.

  “No, we’ll be there. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. We can always ditch the car and do what we do. I don’t think we need our strength for whatever is about to take place. If we’re zappe
d of energy so be it. I think time’s more of a factor. If she’s feeling him, we can’t let her face this alone.”

  “Yeah, sis. Ana’s right. We’ll be there no matter what. Call Noah and let him know the situation.”

  Our ride felt like we were stuck in the middle of the sound for hours, but it was probably only about fifteen minutes.

  The waves were crashing against the ferry, reminding all the passengers of the storm that was well on its way. The dark clouds were speeding by as if Mother Nature was permanently on fast forward.

  “I’ll never forget riding over on the ferry to Victoria on our way over to you after you had been attacked.” I shivered at the thought. “I was so miserable, and I couldn’t believe how difficult everything had become. I didn’t understand how you stayed strong for over fifty years. I felt so helpless. I honestly don’t know how you did it.”

  Sitting next to me in the ferry booth, Athen gently traced my chin with his index finger. His lips so close to mine, creating the energy that I longed for deeply.

  “I knew you’d be worth the wait, and I wasn’t wrong,” he said.

  His breath rolling down my neck in the rhythm of his heartbeat, sending chills through me producing a desire I could no longer hold in.

  “Remember that time in the stairwell?” I asked mischievously. “The begging, the pleading I managed to go through, all with no success?”

  “It’s a slight memory,” he joked. The closeness of his body was almost unbearable. His energy came through my body in an unstoppable way. Scooting back in the corner of the booth, Athen pressed up against me.

  “Can I make up for it?” his whispers crawling up my spine.

  “If we couldn’t get away with it in the stairwell, we certainly can’t get away with…” His lips began pressing against mine, interrupting my false objection. Kissing him back, I let myself dissolve into his embrace. The tension that we had suffered for so long finally translated into something physical. Our kisses slowed, and we both began looking out the ferry window.

  “Do you think we’re doing the right thing?” I questioned everything at this point. The anger, Cyril was going to possibly conjure up, frightened me before anything even happened.

  The Captain announced our arrival, and we darted down to our car, hopping in and pulling off the ferry. Athen was searching for a place to park our car where we could leave it for a little while, without causing a problem. Pulling quickly into a stall, he turned off the car, and we both jumped out.

  “I think it’s the only thing we can do.” Athen grabbed my hand, and we ran as fast as we could to the treed area near the beach.

  “Alright, my angel, time to get your speed up. Our goal is to shoot for those clouds and not let go of your concentration until you get there. That’s key,” he said winking at me.

  “Huh, I don’t think I wanna know what happens if I don’t.” The fear began brewing, as I thought about how far I’d be up this time. I’d been in the sky before, but not at cloud level. I always got a little nervous before a flight, but this was beyond a little nervous.

  “You’ve got this.” He nodded with the best encouragement he could give me. “You know what? Forget it!” His voice was full of amusement.

  Grabbing me, he flipped me on his back before I even had time to blink.

  “Hold on for the flight of your life!” His voice filled with the confidence that I loved. “We don’t have time for anything else.”

  “You wanted this the whole time, didn’t you?” I whispered in his ear.

  “You know it.” His voice as suggestive as ever made me chuckle with relief.

  “Even in the most desperate of times, you somehow manage to slip that in, huh?” A euphoric sense washed over me, and the reason had nothing to do with the fact that we were about to fly as high as we could go. Any excuse to be wrapped around him was sufficient for me. The thought almost made me weak.

  Feeling his body stiffen, we propelled into the air at a speed I was certain I wouldn’t have been able to reach. The air was stinging my forehead as we rose higher and higher into the sky. Attempting to avoid all discomfort, I nuzzled my face into his back. I grasped as tight as I could without seeming silly, but truthfully, I enjoyed feeling every part of his body this close to mine. Scanning the ground, the cars and people became more like Monopoly pieces, but instead of being frightened, I felt invigorated.

  “This is incredible!” I yelled, with the wind catching most of my volume. “This by far is the best mode of transportation. Riding doubles far outweighs singles.”

  I knew a smile spread across his face, as he reached behind and patted my knee bringing me to a place far from the problems we were about to face.

  “I love you so much. And when we are done with this, I say it’s high time we escape to a place far away. Only getting these little snippets of you is driving me insane,” I grumbled.

  Athen’s laughter poured out into the clouds.

  “You have no idea what it’s doing to me, my love,” Athen quipped. “Having you wrapped around me like this isn’t exactly helping the cause.”

  Giggling, I secured myself that much more around his waist and neck.

  “Whatever I can do to help the situation,” I giggled, knowing I only had minutes left before we landed. “The view is incredible, though.”

  “Seeing all the activity down there, everyone going on their way, only adds to the urgency of everything we’re facing, doesn’t it?”

  “It sure does, baby.” Athen’s body began to dive lower, and I adjusted for our landing.

  “You know, I didn’t want you going out to check out Lilith’s little army today, anyway,” he said.

  “I didn’t either, but sometimes the, ‘everything happens for a reason’, motto really hits it right on,” I told him.

  “Sure does.”

  “That’s where we’re landing?” I asked, spotting a tiny clearing in an otherwise heavily treed park.

  “Yep. Only a few blocks away from Arie.”

  Clenching onto him a little harder, I prepared myself for the end to our very quick journey. His landing was as if he had just started walking off of a set of stairs. His moves were truly impressive. I couldn’t wait until the day that I landed like that.

  We touched down in an area where the grass seemed to have turned to mud from the recent rainfall. Not seeing anyone around, I hopped off Athen’s back.

  “You know, at least, this whole experiment might be over with,” I sighed, but not before Athen pulled me over to meet his eyes.

  Looking deeply into my soul, he began. “I know this has been tough on you. But between your dreams and Arie’s interactions with Cyril, this probably was the only way to buy us enough time. Visiting those families really messed with him, but I think the interaction did the trick.”

  “I wonder, though, couldn’t we have just kept him by our side and taken him to visit these families as a unit with Arie. Was it really necessary for her to provoke an attack? Wouldn’t that have hit him too?”

  “I don’t think that would have had the same impact,” he said, his lips tight with the anxiety I was feeling. “Think how easily he slipped away this morning. No matter how this goes, you can’t blame yourself. You warned everyone of the premonitions. That’s all you did. Arie made the choice for the next steps.”

  Feeling his arms securely wrapped around me, I took a deep breath in trying to let his words soak in as best they could.

  Nodding slowly, I asked the obvious.

  “You think I’ll be the one that’s gonna be blamed?”

  “He actually started to go down that path last night.” Athen rested his lips on my forehead, pressing them softly against my skin. “Be strong – promise me that.”

  He released me, and we hurriedly walked on the slippery path leading us to the downtown streets of Seattle.

  “Do you feel that?” I asked Athen,

  “Yeah. He’s here somewhere. If we can feel him this close that tells me he’s not with A
rie, yet. Let’s hurry.” Athen intertwined his fingers through mine, and our pace quickened instantly.

  The sidewalks were hustling with people carrying shopping bags, briefcases, and Starbuck’s cups. Doing our best to dodge the humans, light posts, and trashcans, I was relieved when the Westin towers came into our line of sight.

  Dread entered my body, and Athen’s body stiffened as well.

  “Cyril’s here on the street somewhere, isn’t he?” My pulse was quickening with every passing second.

  “He sure is, and he’s not alone,” Athen sighed. “We’ve got to find him. Arie’s safe as long as she stays in the room.”

  We started darting through the crowds, eyeing all the side alleys and coming up with nothing.

  “The feeling is starting to go away. We must be going the wrong direction,” I yelled.

  We started back in the other direction, when I caught some people across the street in between a parking lot and old brick building.

  “Over there!” I said to Athen pointing.

  “Oh, no.” Athen darted across the street, dodging the cars that were coming to a stop at the next light. I did my best to keep up with him.

  “Cyril!” Athen’s voice echoed through the air long before he reached him.

  Cyril turned around, letting me see enough of the characters he was meeting with. To my horror, they were all dark demons. Cyril didn’t seem to place Athen so he turned back around.

  We jogged up to Cyril, only catching the last of his sentence. “…have no use any longer.”