by Shelly Crane
I heard him chuckle.
Thanks. I’m sorry, babe. I’m sorry you have to do this.
It’ll be better this way. I promise I’m alright.
Ok. Just…please calm down if you can. Your heartbeat is making me crazy.
I’ll try.
Would it be better if I came out and helped you convince him?
No, definitely not. It’s ok. I’m wearing him down I think.
Alright, I’m here if you need me.
I know.
“Bish, you don’t have to like him. But you do have to be civil. I love you but I promise you if you keep trying in interfere and make Caleb feel worse about everything than he already does, I’ll have to leave with him. We have a lot going on right now and I can’t concentrate when I’m worried about you and him.”
“So…this Visionary thing? You’re like their queen or something?”
“No,” I groaned. “I’m not really sure what it is. I’ll find out soon. We’re heading to London to their council for them to meet me.”
“London?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s gonna happen?”
“No idea. In the vision I had,” I looked at him to see if his face would change at my talking so freely about it but he just listened, “I was told that they’d lost their abilities because of pride and greed. I’m not sure what they’re going to say to that.”
“So my little sister is going in to tell an ancient family of people with powers that they are full of themselves.”
“Pretty much.”
“Hmmm, that should go over well, coming from you. Maybe that’s why you were chosen, because you’re so cute.”
I laughed and was so happy. So free from the burden of this thing over Bish and me. No more lies, no more sneaking, no more pretending. It was awesome.
“Maybe,” I say coyly and he laughed. “Are you ready to head back inside now?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“I noticed how you avoided my request earlier. I need you to promise me.”
“Promise that I’ll be nice to Caleb, look the other way when you’re all over him and stop hounding you about everything and let you do whatever it is you’re supposed to do?”
“Nicely put, yes, exactly.”
“I don’t like it,” he said pointed a finger. “I just want to make that perfectly clear.” He sighed. “But I promise that I’ll back off and won’t talk to Caleb at all. I will try to tame my brotherly comments to a minimum about you and Caleb sucking face, how’s that?”
“As good as I’m gonna get, I guess,” I muttered.
“I’m glad you told me,” he said and put his arm around my shoulders as we walked through the sand. “I can’t believe all this is happening. I can’t believe more that you thought I’d disown you over it.”
“It’s not just that. I wanted to keep you safe. If the other clans find out that we have humans who know about us, that’s not gonna go over very well. It‘s not just us that we‘re risking.”
“There’s no risk,” he insisted and squeezed me. “It’s not like anyone would believe me anyway,” he muttered wryly under his breath.
“I know that and I know you’d never jeopardize me but the council doesn’t know that.”
“I promise, they’ll never know. I’ll keep my big mouth shut and keep pretending to be the disgruntled ignorant brother, which isn‘t gonna be too hard.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re my sister,” he said as if that statement alone was explanation enough to cover it all.
And it was.
“So, why did you send me out here with them?” Bish asked Dad, who met us at the sliding glass door on the patio. “You knew I couldn’t protect her from…whatever it is that’s going on. What did you think would happen?”
“Peter needed his family home. He needed the ones with abilities to stay with him and try to work out everything. We figured you’d come and keep an eye out and just be here. I had no idea you were having such a hard time out here, son. I mean, Maggie said you were a little over the top but I thought you were just being protective, being you.”
“Well, it’s done with now,” he said just as Peter, Caleb and Jen came through the door to greet us.
Ralph and Beck were sound asleep upstairs. Bish and Jen locked eyes and I waited. Caleb stood by Jen and glanced between the two as did we all.
“So, you knew all along too. I’m the only one who didn’t know what was going on?” he asked her and no one.
“I’m sorry,” Peter answered. “It get’s complicated when humans are involved.”
“Yeah, I heard,” Bish said, not taking his gaze from Jen. “So, you don’t have any abilities right? You can’t read my mind or anything?” he asked her.
“No,” she breathed. “You don’t get your abilities until you ascend and you don’t ascend until you…imprint.”
“The universe has a wry sense of humor,” Bish muttered and scoffed in anger. “I don’t like this. I don’t understand it and don’t like it but it doesn’t seem like I have a choice.” He sent a blazing gaze to Caleb, making me step closer to my significant protectively. “And I don’t like you. Let’s be clear on that. I promised Maggie that I’d let you and her be and I will. But I don’t have to like you.”
“Fair enough,” Caleb answered and he hated it that Bish was still angry. He was hoping everything would work out completely. “But my only concern right now is your sister. Her safety is the most important thing to me.”
“I understand. I won’t stand in the way but don’t get in mine.”
Bish took one last look over at Jen, and she squirmed under his gaze, before leaving and heading to his room for bed. We all kind of stood in a lump of exhaustion and release. Caleb walked to me, took my hand to calm me and I sighed, laying my head to his shoulder at the release of tension.
“Well,” Dad spoke finally. “I guess it went well?” he asked.
I twisted my lips in thought. I wasn’t sure if ‘well’ was the right word.
“It went better than expected.”
“I’m glad. I’m glad you told him and that whole mess is done. Now we can focus on all this other stuff.”
That reminded me of Marla and her message to us at the club.
Caleb and I looked at each other in unison and thought the same thing.
Crap.
This was going to be a long night.
~ Sixteen ~
The next morning I was awakened by knocks on the door. I peeked up from the igloo of blankets we’d made last night and glared at the door. Peter and Dad had been furious last night when we explained about Marla’s little visit. They yelled, they chastised, they paced. They asked the same questions over multiple times.
How come we didn’t call them? How could we not tell them the second we got home? How could we be so calm?
I told them that Caleb and I had agreed to be more careful and would probably be leaving the beach house the following Monday, after the weekend gig and concert we had already planned. They thought we were nuts and insisted we leave that moment. We declined, advising them that we were in control of the situation. We were ascended and weren’t helpless.
That didn’t go over well and we were up, with Jen and Bish and Rachel as well on our case, forever. The hours ticked by and eventually, I stated I couldn’t stay awake another second and dragged Caleb with me to save him. Dad was spouting and sputtering as we left the room but I didn’t care anymore. I went and put on Caleb’s Death Cab for Cutie shirt and climbed into bed with him.
They wanted to treat us like adults, pretend like they were ok with us and everything that needed to be done with me being the Visionary but at the first sign of trouble, they baled on that and a parental takeover ensued.
Now, glaring at the door, I realized it was not our room door but the front door and someone was pretty angry. They weren’t using the doorbell and the knocks were becoming more insistent. A glance at the clock showed 6:45. What?
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“Ah! Make it stop,” Caleb growled and pulled me to him back under the covers.
“I better get it. Everyone else is upstairs and can’t hear it.”
He huffed and pushed the blanket down, looking at me in a cute daze of annoyed sleepiness. His mind flashed with scenes of Marla and Marcus.
“No. I’ll get it. Stay put,” he slurred and climbed over me to the door.
“Ok,” I said, noticing he had no shirt on with his Vols fleece pants but figured that he didn’t remember or just didn’t care.
He opened the door and I saw through his mind it was Amber. She looked scared and had been crying.
“Hey…Amber, what’s up?” he asked, crossing his arms self-consciously.
“I…I’m…please, I just can’t….I…” she mumbled and wrung her hands.
Caleb was at a loss as to what to say to her as she shook and sobbed uncontrollably. I slipped from the bed and padded my way there. “Amber?” I asked and came around Caleb to see her, fully broken and in a state of hysteria. “Amber, what’s wrong?”
“Not you,” she insisted and backed away. “Anyone can help me but you?”
“What?” I asked, bristling as to why she didn’t want my help.
“Where’s Kyle?”
“He’s asleep, it’s really early.”
“Good. I can’t ever see him again.”
“Amber-” I started but was hit with a vision, her past.
I saw bits and pieces of her as a child in school being picked on for having glasses, then having no friends to sit with at lunch. That all changed in high school. I saw her standing at lockers, laughing with friends. She hated it all, pretending to be happy about anything they did. A guy pinched her behind on the way to the bathroom and inside she cringed and wanted to slap him, but on the outside she gave him a coy little smile and winked at him. It was her role in the play, her fake enthusiasm for being a puppet and popular and she hated it all.
Then she was talking to someone in her backyard. They had her pushed up against the backdoor, catching her coming home one night. I couldn’t see his face but he was big and brawny and he spoke harshly into her face.
“You will do this or I will kill every person you know. Understand?”
“Yes! Yes! Just stop, please.” She started sobbing. “Let me go.”
“We’ll be watching to make sure you do as we say. Get the blood and give it to us.”
“Ok, Ok, I’ll do it.”
“There’s a cottage on the beach by the pier; an old run down place behind the dunes. Leave the blood in the mailbox and then call this number.” He shoved a piece of paper into her jean front pocket. “Leave a message saying you’ve done your job.” He patted her cheek condescendingly and she squeaked and turned away. “And then, you’ll be free and never hear from us again, deal?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
He released her and she sank to the floorboards with a thud. I saw it all. They wanted her to get the blood of someone to them and he had shown her through the window her father and brother watching television. He had threatened them. He gave no names and I never saw his face but I saw whose blood they wanted.
Mine.
From the first time she met me at the pier, they’d been after her. She had apparently gone home sometime that night she stayed with Kyle but came back after they cornered her on her back porch and took the napkin with my blood on it from the trash can. It all came together. The trash all over the floor, Kyle cleaning it up the next day, her strange behavior ever sense.
“Did you give it to them?” I asked softly and Caleb, seeing my thoughts, moved forward to my side, taking my arm.
“No,” he growled his hopes.
“I’m sorry, I had to,” she answered but I’d already seen her answer.
“It’s ok,” I assured her as she leaned on the doorframe in defeat.
I bit my lip and tried to remain calm. They had my blood, again. Marla had said Sikes was looking for a way to get more of my blood. And he found it by torturing people I barely knew. Was no one around me safe?
As my breaths accelerated the doorknob rattled beside us and Caleb rubbed my arm. My lungs reached for a ragged breath and I felt Caleb’s arms come around me, my face pressed into a warm wonderful smelling neck and a flood of calm all around me. He kissed my forehead and placed his palm on my cheek. I looked up to him and he shook his head a ‘no’ to me.
Nuhuh, you’re not doing this. You’re not gonna play martyr. I’m here and will keep you safe.
But everything is falling apart. I didn’t even know her and yet she was threatened; because of me.
We’ll figure it out. We’ll send her away somewhere for a while to keep her safe, just in case.
What about everything else, everyone else? Every time I think we might get a few minutes to breath something else happens. I don’t think I can do this.
Yes you can. Look at everything we’ve been through. We’re still here.
I shook my head, not knowing what else to say. I looked back to Amber when I heard a shuffle and saw she was turning to leave. Caleb’s hand whipped out and he gripped her wrist gently but quickly, with speed I’d never seen from him before. It was inhuman and it made me wonder but he never said anything to my internal wondering.
“Wait, Amber, come inside. We’ll help you.”
“How can you help me?” she asked as he pulled her inside and we all walked into the den.
“Do you have family you can stay with that‘s not here?”
“I have an aunt in Cincinnati.”
“Ok, great. I’ll make some calls and you can get your stuff and your family and get on a plane to go see her for a while, ok?”
She gave him a look that was as incredulous as it was stupefied.
“Why are you helping me after what I did?”
“You were protecting your family.” He looked back and me and squeezed my hand. “I know what that’s like.”
“I’m sorry, I am,” she pleaded,
“We know. Just sit tight for a bit. Go lay down, you’ll be safe here.”
She nodded and curled up in the chair like a child scared from a nightmare.
“What are we gonna do?” I asked a little hysterically after he shut the door. “That could’ve been anyone coming to get my blood, Sikes put the reward out and people are apparently coming to collect.”
“Well they’d expect us to pack up and leave right this second so we’ll do the opposite. We’ll stay and leave a little later like we planned.”
“Yeah…you’re probably right about that,” I muttered as he got on the phone.
He made arrangements as he promised her and then went to wake her up. He told her to call her dad and tell him to pack a few things and come get her. It took some convincing with her father and Caleb eventually had to get on the phone himself and use his stern voice. He came quickly, within ten minutes, and Caleb gave her a little money.
“Now, don’t tell anyone where you are, just go and stay for a while.”
“Thank you,” she said to him and sniffled, looking over at me. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s ok, be safe.”
She nodded as she left and we both sighed like we’d accomplished something but we really hadn’t. We were still knee deep in the thick of the mess.
“What are we gonna do?” I asked again.
“I’m not sure what we’re going do but right now, I’m going to make breakfast.”
I followed him into the kitchen, clearly thinking I’d misunderstood him.
“You’re making breakfast?”
“Yep, we all have to eat and there’s no way I’m going back to sleep now.”
“But…don’t we need to…” I sighed and braced my hands on the counter in defeat.
“Come here.” I walked slowly around the counter to where he was and he wrapped a hand around my wrist, running a thumb over the soft skin there making me sigh again, but in release this time. “Help me, it’ll take your mind off.�
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“What are we making?” I said in resignation.
“My aunt left a quiche recipe here. It’s so good, you’ll forget about everything else.”
I looked up at his face, his blue eyes so focused on me and willing to do anything to make me feel better and keep me safe. How had I gotten so lucky?
“I’m the lucky one,” he muttered under his breath and kissed my forehead, lingering there for a moment that I knew was for him. To feel me against his skin and keep his own anger and concern in check. “You wanna chop mushrooms or beat eggs?”
“Mushrooms,” I said and reached up to kiss his dimple before heading to the fridge.
When everyone woke, except Bish, Beck and Ralph, they were pretty surprised that breakfast was ready, especially Rachel, who was impeccable in her slacks while everyone else slouched around in sleepwear, even Peter. I wondered what she looked like in a bathrobe but figured I’d never see that. Peter was almost comical in his pinstripe silk pajama pants and white t-shirt. Even his pajamas were somehow business like. I must’ve chuckled out loud because I felt breath on my neck and arms around me.
“What are you laughing at?”
“Nothing. Thank you for this, I do feel better.”
He nodded and rubbed his nose on my cheek as I looked back at him. Then Bish made an appearance and everything stopped. We all waited for…something. Caleb released me and took a step away which made give him a look that said he didn’t have to do that. Bish came and stood in front of me before giving me a big hard hug. That’s when I realized why Caleb had moved away.
“Morning, Mags,” Bish muttered as he moved away and sat at the table. Caleb and I followed and Peter dug in. That was the signal for everyone and we all started. It was awkward and silent. Bish must have noticed too. “Everyone just stop already. I’m not gonna break like a porcelain plate if you talk or move around me. Ok? Can someone please pass the salt?”
Peter asked me in my mind if Beck and Ralph were still sleeping. I nodded.
The clear crystal salt shaker went from one side of the table to the other in a slow slide but no one touched it. Bish caught it in his fingers and looked around with wide eyes to see if anyone else saw it too.
