I sighed, laying back on the grass with one hand on top of my stomach and the other behind my head. “You want me to talk about my feelings?”
He grinned mischievously and said, “No, but we could get out of here if you want, start the weekend early.”
I sat up on my elbows and smiled for the first time all day. “That sounds amazing.”
Ryan stood up and started dusting off his jeans before offering me his hand. “Come on, let’s blow this popsicle stand.”
I nodded vigorously and let him pull me to my feet when he suddenly erupted in a fit of laughter.
“What’s so funny?” I asked him curiously.
He hunched over in the midst of his belly laugh and put one hand on my shoulder while using the other to pick leaves out of my hair. “I love ya, Wynn, but you look ridiculous right now.”
I looked down at my disheveled appearance and had to agree with him. My hair was askew with bits of leaves and grass stuck in it, and we both chuckled as I worked to pull the foliage out. Giving up after a minute, I pulled on my leather jacket and wrapped my hideous rainbow scarf around my neck. “Well, I might as well be thorough,” I told him dryly.
Ryan put his arm around me and said, “Amen to that, sister.”
Another school bell rang and he pulled back the chain link fence so we could sneak out the same way we came in.
Chapter Five
Pandora’s Box
Kevin and Elyse both roamed across the kitchen following our evening meal, having another pre-marital dispute. Dad and Nate had both excused themselves a while ago, but I was not that fortunate. They'd been going back and forth for the better part of an hour and I was growing tired of being used as their emotional buffer.
Elyse almost never got angry, but on the rare occasion that she did, it was a spectacle to behold. My emotions were always close to the surface and expressed in the moment — when and where they happened — but she kept things bottled up for months and would unleash it on the world with a colossal display of emotion that could drag out for days at a time. For whatever reason, Kevin was usually able to balance those spurts of rage with a calm and logical hand. That is, of course, unless he was just as emotionally charged as she was, which was effectively throwing gasoline on a raging fire.
As he was carrying dishes to the sink, he made an appeal for me to help bring her over to his side. “Wynn, will you please tell her that she's being completely unreasonable?”
“I’m not being unreasonable!” she shouted back at him across the counter. “There are better things that you could be doing with your time, like studying for your finals for example!”
“It’s something you do together as a family, and I want to be a part of that,” he argued stubbornly.
Elyse slammed the dishwasher closed and said, “Wynn, could you please explain to my fiancé that he's not missing out on anything and it’s actually really boring?”
I had to agree with her on that one, even I didn't want to go to the hospital anymore. God knows why Kevin wanted to join us.
“I—”
“That's not the point!” he argued.
Jeez, why am I here if they’re not even going to let me talk?
“Are you embarrassed of her?” he asked.
“No.”
“Are you embarrassed of me?”
“No! That’s not it at all.”
“I want to be part of your life, Elyse, the good and the bad. That’s what family is all about. I knew your mom’s reputation before we even started dating, it doesn’t bother me.” He walked over and put his arms on her shoulders. “We're getting married in a couple months and you’re still keeping me at arm’s length. Why don’t you want me there?”
“Because everything is changing!” she burst out finally, gently pushing him away. “When Mom fell into a coma, I had to leave college, manage her restaurant, and then you proposed! I’m thrilled to be yours forever, but once a week we just go and sit in silence as a family. You’ll get to keep me for the rest of our lives, is it so wrong that I want to enjoy the last few months I have with them? Everything is changing and…” she took a deep breath and continued, “and I just want to savor it while I can.”
I set down my fork and pushed my chair away from the table. “Well, I think that's my cue to leave. I’m not getting roped into taking sides. Have a nice night, guys.” Elyse pleaded to me with her eyes, but I was not going to fall for that. Instead, I addressed our father on the couch and grabbed my jacket. “Dad, I’m going out.”
“Okay, hon. Don’t go far.”
The screen door fell shut behind me and I breathed a sigh of relief, glad to be freed from their ridiculous dispute. The crisp evening air nipped at my nose when I stepped out onto the porch. It was damp from the humidity and the moon was full and bright, though partially hidden behind an endless sea of clouds. I stuffed my hands in my pockets when a gentle mewing came from underneath one of the lawn chairs.
“Hey there, girl,” I cooed, as a small furry head poked out from beneath one of their shadows. “Did you get a little wet?”
I knelt on my hands and knees, offering her my hand and rubbing my fingers together in a come-hither fashion to see if she’d let me hold her. To my delight she meowed again and slowly began inching her way towards me until I was able to scratch behind her ears.
My heart went out to her as I examined her matted fur and bony spine — she’d been living on the streets too long. Her purring got even louder as she nuzzled her face into my palm and started bathing it with her tongue. I guided her towards the food bowl and she dove in eagerly.
Once she was thoroughly distracted, I stood up and took a deep breath of the cool night air. Fireflies were out and dancing across the yard — one of the many things that went hand in hand with growing up in the south, but after seeing the celestial beings spring to life in a similar fashion, I’d never be able to look at them the same.
As a cool breeze whipped past me, I zipped up the front of my jacket and headed out the gate. When the driveway ended, I turned up the winding hill and kicked one of the pebbles into the bushes. There was a brief fluttering of wings and I looked up to find the Guardian, Caleb, standing in front of me. I jumped back in alarm at the suddenness of his arrival and swore to myself quietly. “What the hell!” I demanded angrily. “Can't I have at least one day off without one of you dropping in on me?”
He crossed his arms and scowled. “Hello to you as well, Miss Hendricks.”
“Sorry, you just startled me.”
“I’m afraid we didn’t get to finish talking the other day, so now seemed about as good a time as any to get that out of the way. Don’t you think?”
I let out a nervous laugh. “I guess Aidan was right, he said you'd come back for me. I didn’t think for a second that he’d be actually telling the truth.”
Caleb chuckled. “Aidan? Is that the name he’s going by these days? You’d think after a couple thousand years he’d come up with something better.”
I smiled and turned to face him properly, brushing the hair out of my face. “He was at my school today. No reason, except to annoy me and keep tabs on what I’m doing. Why is he so fascinated with me anyways?”
“That’s a complicated topic,” the angel muttered. “Though I’ll admit he does have a certain … fondness for you.”
“Understatement of the century.” I could feel myself beginning to relax and turned to him with a smile. “Actually, I don't think we were ever formally introduced. I'm Wynn.”
Pulling my hand from the pocket of my jacket, I extended it to him in a conciliatory manner, waiting patiently for him to accept my offer — but he never did.
The boy chuckled to himself, like he was enjoying some kind of joke at my expense, but I didn't get his humor. “Right, nice to meet you, Wynn. I'm Caleb.”
“Uh, you too,” I stammered, letting my hand drop. His gentle refusal wasn't necessarily rude, but I couldn't help but feel a little offended — his social etiquette le
ft something to be desired. I cleared my throat and rocked back on the heels of my feet, trying to keep warm. There was more prolonged silence before I gestured down the road. “Do you mind if we…”
“Oh. Yeah, sure,” he agreed awkwardly when he finally realized what I meant.
We walked in silence until reaching the top of the hill and I decided to break the ice. “I … um, didn’t expect to see you again. Why did you come back? I mean, Aidan said you would … but I’d rather hear it from you.”
“Well, it was a lot to go through yesterday and I wanted to make sure you were all right.”
That was the last thing I thought an avenging angel would tell me. “Why are you being nice to me?”
Caleb’s brow furrowed as he crossed his arms and turned towards me. “What do you mean?”
“You’re an… angel, and apparently I’m a demon. I get that you have to keep an eye on me, but why did you speak up in the first place? Why do you care what happens to me?”
He scratched his head and laughed nervously, brushing back his hair. “Well, for starters, I wish you wouldn’t paint us in black and white like that — I don’t exactly have an angelic temperament. You were dealt a crappy hand and I think you deserve a fighting chance. You may technically be a demon, but you’re also a teenage girl who’s just had a ton of information thrown at her and is probably freaking out and scared. I… thought you could use a friend.”
I raised an eyebrow skeptically. “Is that what you think we are? Friends?”
“Well … yeah. I don’t know what the social protocol is like where you come from, but when someone sticks their neck out for you like that you become friends.”
“Really? Because I don’t think that’s why you’re here. The Elders probably sent you to keep an eye on me. You didn’t come here to protect me, and you certainly didn’t come here to be my friend — you’re damage control.”
He gritted his teeth in anger and said, “In case you didn’t notice, you weren't supposed to survive last night. Yes, I'm the one who screwed up, so that means you're my responsibility, but I could have ended this anytime and decided to show you mercy instead. What we are is … complicated, but I’m willing to try if you are. Whether we like it or not, we’re stuck together.”
I blushed furiously, both from anger and embarrassment. “Thank you,” I muttered softly. “You’re right, I shouldn’t have said it like that. Being friends certainly makes things easier than the alternative.”
“Thank you.”
“What about your partner … Maya?”
“She’s made her position regarding you quite clear. Our partnership, as you so call it, has been temporarily dissolved.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” I told him honestly. “But since you’re here, do you mind shedding some light on what’s really happening? The devil himself showed up in my room and told me I’m a demon, it’s practically a country song! How did all this start in the first place? I have so many questions I don’t know where to begin.”
He gathered his thoughts and cleared his throat uncomfortably, “What do you know about witches?”
“Witches?”
Caleb nodded stoically, his blue eyes flashing in the moonlight.
“Um, well, Grimm's Fairy Tales taught me they eat children and live in gingerbread houses,” I told him dryly. “Are you referring to my mom? Because, I heard what the Elders said about her.”
“You're missing the point,” he told me. “You need to understand why people are afraid of them. They’re not afraid of power — they're afraid of what you do with it. Witches do not receive their magic from years of practice and study like mages or warlocks. It comes from making a trade — a ‘sacrifice’ to their Master in exchange for power. Most importantly, however, it usually draws in a specific type of person to make such a terrible sacrifice. They must be desperate and willing to do anything in order to get what they want, because in doing so they give up part of their humanity.”
The words hung in the air for a moment while I made sure that I was hearing him correctly. “Okay, but what does that have to do with me?”
“Everything,” he insisted. “A witch has to offer a sacrifice, remember?”
I froze in absolute horror as the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. My stomach dropped at the realization of betrayal and I didn’t know whether to scream or sob. “Can she do that? I’m a human being, not a form of currency!”
“The last part I agree with, which is why I spared you,” he responded calmly. “But if you’re looking for a way to get out of this, then you're going to need my help — which means you and I will have to trust each other.”
“I can’t be expected to roll over and accept this just because my mother tried to barter me away as some twisted form of payment! She can’t—”
My rant was interrupted by a phone ringing cheerily in my pocket. This time it was a pop song from the radio, in a surprisingly upbeat tune for the current circumstance. “GOD DAMN IT, RYAN!” I swore compulsively before I could even stop myself. “Why does he keep doing that?”
“Actually, it's your dad,” Caleb informed me without missing a beat. “He’s wondering where you are.”
I snatched it from the pocket of my jeans and looked at the caller ID. William Hendricks blinked across the screen, and I answered it without taking my eyes off Caleb. “Hello?”
“Hey, Wynn. It’s getting pretty late, I want you to start heading back, all right?”
“Sorry, I got… distracted.”
“Well, come home right away, I don't like it when you go out alone after dark.”
“Yessir.” — Click, and he'd hung up on me.
I shut the phone, trying to crush it in my hand. Caleb sighed, gesturing back the way we came. “Come on. I'll walk you.”
“Suit yourself,” I shrugged, trudging back towards the house. We walked in silence most of the way until arriving at the fence that would lead me back inside — neither one of us knew what to say. I cleared my throat nervously and asked, “I guess this means I’ll be seeing you around?”
He grinned slightly before responding, “Yeah, I guess you will.”
I nodded as he disappeared with a flash of light, and opened the gate into the back yard. Kevin and Elyse were coming out just as I was going in and we passed each other on the sidewalk. He had his arm around her and she had a love-struck expression on her face like a teenage schoolgirl. “Hey, guys,” I greeted them, sounding tired. “Heading out?”
“Yeah, I got class in the morning.”
“Okay, have fun.”
They waved goodbye on the way out to his car and I snickered to myself. Huh. I guess the two of them made up. She’ll be gone for a while.
It had been another emotional evening for me and I wasn't sure if I could stand any more information. Reality would sink in, but sleep would numb it. I stumbled into bed and buried my face in the pillow, vowing not to remember anything until morning — not Mom’s agreement with Aidan in exchange for me, not the Council of Elders in the Grove. Nothing would keep sleep from me.
In the morning I would start over again.
~ * ~
That night I dreamt my mother was Eve.
It was strange, seeing her up and moving, when I knew in my heart that she was still sleeping elsewhere. Her dark, raven hair was even longer than I remembered, hanging loosely around her shoulders as she knelt to dip her fingers in a bubbling stream. “Mom,” I called to her softly. “Mom, it’s me…”
She couldn’t hear me.
The light shining off the water seemed to illuminate her face, but her expression did not reflect the tranquility of her surroundings. She looked troubled. Trees and bushes grew unbidden with lush, ripe fruits weighing heavily on their branches. Flowers bloomed in countless shapes and colors, filling the air with their sweet aroma. Among the verdant plants, animals walked, crawled, and climbed, chirruping merrily in their own perfect contentment.
This was Eden: a self-sustaining ecosystem that was the
picture of serenity, and my mother was the center of it all.
Casting my eyes round about, I noticed in the glade behind us one of the branches had been disturbed. A single piece of fruit had been plucked from its boughs and my heart sank, remembering the rest of the story that took place here.
We talked about it in Sunday school. It was one of the most famous, and controversial, tales in all of Christendom. I watched helplessly as it played out right in front of me.
As I stood and watched, a brilliant green snake slithered past my feet and headed straight towards her. She considered the serpent for a moment but looked up when a tall, handsome man pushed his way through the foliage, the infamous fruit clutched in his hand. His elaborate, black fitted suit hugged his movements and made a startling contrast to Mom’s obvious nakedness.
Aidan shined the fruit on his jacket and inspected it critically before offering it to her with a smile, exposing all forty-eight pointed canines. “Eve, why don't you join me and enjoy some of this delicious fruit?” he asked her. “Then you will be able to see things clearly.”
Confusion clouded her pale green eyes as she looked up sadly. “Why do you offer me this, when you know very well I cannot?”
“Why not?” he asked her sweetly, with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
“Because eating it is death.”
“Oh, Eve!” he told her mockingly. “You don't believe everything Adam says, do you?”
She frowned. “But if I eat the fruit, Adam and I will be separated forever.”
“On the contrary, eating this fruit is the only way you can be together as husband and wife. Search your heart, precious. You know I speak the truth — all you have to do is take one bite.”
Aidan beckoned to her again, arm outstretched and waiting. His offer was indeed… delicious. There was nothing more sacred, and nothing more seductive than the piece of fruit nestled within his fingers. I could only imagine how sweet the fruit would be if my teeth pierced the vibrant red flesh and the temptation made my mouth water. She seemed to be having similar thoughts as she responded to the Serpent's invitation — it seemed harmless enough at the time, and Adam was nowhere to be seen.
Dealing with the Devil (The Earthwalker Trilogy Book 1) Page 8
