Airel (12 page)

Chapter XXVI

1250 B.C. Arabia

Kreios and Yamanu were fast. Not long after they set off from Yamanu’s shack, they made their rendezvous with Zedkiel, Maria, and Kreios’s precious baby girl before sun rise. They were encamped among giant ferns in a thickly wooded forest, the sound of the river not too far distant. They were half a day’s journey from where Kreios had left them.

Maria must not have been able to go any farther. He hoped they were in time to save the baby that grew in her belly. 

Kreios felt a tightening in his gut every time he heard water moving. His kind could survive great wounds, but drowning was a great danger. He had never been close, avoiding it at all costs. 

Zedkiel stood when his brother arrived, glancing at his wife with a worried look. “She is losing strength. I believe she needs sleep and a good bed in which to rest for the remainder of her time.” In answer to an inquisitive glance from Kreios, he added, “We did not have any trouble along the way, but something tells me if we do not hurry the trouble will come.”

Kreios looked toward the small tent his brother had pitched, listening for his baby. She was lodged in Maria’s arms, fast asleep, her content and beautiful face radiant. He then turned back to conference with the warriors now assembled. “You remember Yamanu. He will help us to Ke’elei and then we will find out what this Seer wants with me. We will go at first light, after she has had a full night’s rest.” 

As he spoke, Kreios was searching the woods around them. His senses filtered through the noises and movements, picking out anything unnatural or out of place. 

Zedkiel took Yamanu by the hand. “Thank you for coming. We would be lost without you.”

Yamanu smiled in the darkness, causing all his teeth to gleam in the moonlight. “I am at your service, friend. I only hope we can make it to safety without our enemy seeing through my shadow.”

The camp did not have a fire that night. Kreios left the group to stand watch in the boughs of a tall tree. He did not trust his senses completely; he needed every advantage. The Seer, the powerful leader of the Brotherhood, might be able to track them in spite of every precaution they took. 

Kreios let his mind drift back to his childhood once again; to times when war, violence, and death had not yet been fully tested. After he and Yamanu had learned to fly, they could not get enough of it. They took to the skies whenever they had the chance. Yamanu was slower but could keep up as long as Kreios gave him a chance. Kreios grunted, amused as he thought how he had even let him win a few of their many races just to keep him interested. 

But when he was alone, Kreios would go to the tower and launch himself straight up as fast as he could, until he reached the outer edge, where the clouds stopped, the sky becoming black. He would turn then, to look below him at the majesty of his home.  

In a flash of speed, he would throw himself, rocketing downward toward the ground; pushing himself faster and faster. The first time he made a sonic boom he thought he would die. After all, it hurt so much. The flesh of his face and arms, he reminisced, felt like they would rip from his frame.

A subtle and irregular sound brought Kreios back to reality; alert, with all of his senses standing at attention, ready for whatever was waiting. He closed his eyes in the darkness and listened. 

The river in the distance swirled over rocks, under the remaining ice. But back behind him he heard something so faint that it could have been nothing at all. 

Breathing. 

It sounded soft but ragged, coming in short intervals. The sound of crickets and night owls masked it for the most part, but there it was, just behind all the other sounds. This breathing was not coming from a man—or even a beast–of this world. 

Kreios knew what it was. He froze in place, a cold stone statue of a god in a tree. He allowed it to hide there, behind him. Both supernaturals were waiting for an exact moment.

Kreios shut down the sounds of the wood, the animal life all around him, and listened…in, out…in, out…then nothing. The foul beast knew Kreios was aware of its presence and shriveled, flying off to make its report to its master. 

It was time to go. They had been discovered. The faster they found refuge in the city, the better.

Kreios was on the ground, sprinting silently. He shook Zedkiel awake and said, “We must go—now!”

Chapter XXVII

Boise, Idaho. Present day.

I was alive. Not in a world of black mountains or shrieking monsters. Nope. I was on my back on soft, green grass with the whole football team looking at me as if I had three eyes. My head throbbed. I reached up to touch the bump that was forming on my forehead.
That’s probably nice and ugly.
 

“Are you okay, Airel? Can you see how many fingers I’m holding up?” Coach Dennis looked down at me with a concerned scowl on his face. I could tell that he wanted to yell at me; command me not to pass out again because it interfered with his practice, and football was serious business.

“I’m fine!” I shouted at him because I was scared out of my wits and more embarrassed than I could ever remember. “…Just slipped…hit my head,” I lied, looking for emotional cover. “I wasn’t paying attention and... ” Kim shot a look my way, but miracle of miracles—she kept her mouth shut. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that the blond man was gone. I guess I wasn’t surprised. I wondered if he was just a figment of my imagination, but then, Kim had seen him too.

“I’ll have one of the boys walk you to the nurse’s station to get looked at,” said the coach, snapping his fingers at his minions. “Never mess with a head injury.” 

Michael piped up, “I’ll take her, Coach.” He was already at my side, lifting me into his arms like a helpless victim before I could reject this huge escalation of embarrassment. 

My mouth was not responding to my frantic attempts to say something. Kim had a stupid grin on her face that suggested I had fallen on purpose, just so I could get carted off in Michael’s arms.
Yeah Kim, it’s a total conspiracy—I’m not actually your friend, either.
 

Coach barked one last order at Michael. “Fine. Come right back, though! We have two more drills to run and you need to run them.” Michael nodded and I could smell the sweat from his skin. I didn’t mind it. It smelled kinda good, anyway, and I couldn’t help but get carried away with the fact that my dream guy—heck, any girl’s dream guy—was not only paying attention to me, not only close to me, not only holding me…but he wasn’t afraid to sweat on me, either.

Michael whispered just low enough for me to hear. “You should be more careful. Next time you might break your neck.” He had a smirk on his face. 

I tried to sound mad, but it came off as weak instead. “I’m fine.” I thought I sounded a little like Lady MacBeth, protesting too much. “You don’t have to carry me. I can walk just fine on my own.” 

“Sure you can, but it’s more fun to carry you.” I nearly fainted, feeling his strong arms enfolding me. In spite of everything that had happened these past few days, all the chaos and weirdness, I felt secure in his arms. I could have died happy and did not want him to let me go, ever. “We wouldn’t want you to slip and fall again. That could be embarrassing.” 

Oh, noooo. We wouldn’t want me to be embarrassed.

He smiled at me. I was in heaven. All was gone, forgotten, forgiven.
I just really love the whole entire world right now…
I wrapped my arms around his neck, to
help
him. If I was a daring girl I would have rested my head on his chest, but that wasn’t gonna happen.
At least not right now.
“Yeah, like this isn’t embarrassing, you holding me like this and…and…”

“And what?” He laughed.

“Never mind. Just walk, mister, and try not to drop me if you can manage it.” Kim ran ahead of us, catching up from flirting with James, and opened the door to the nurse’s station. She smiled at me as we passed, rolling her eyes obnoxiously. 

Michael set me down on my feet, and for a moment he was Superman and I was Lois Lane and we had just had our moonlight flight. I wanted to pull him closer to me, but I didn’t dare. I decided to sit down, just to be safe. He sat right next to me.
Thank you, God! 

Michael looked at me with concern, staring into my eyes. Our faces were only a few inches away and I could feel his breath. He smelled like PowerAde and laundry soap—and sweat. His eyes held me in a magical lock that I couldn’t break as they searched for something. But I couldn’t tell what he was trying to find. 

“Thank you,” I said in a soft whisper. It was like a kiss. I was all too aware of how I must look, with a big goofy looking face and a big fat lump on my forehead. I felt flushed and turned away, breaking the spell. He stood up and said, “’Kay, then,” waved his perfect hand at me, and left. I didn’t know what to think. 

Kim plopped down with a sigh in the chair he had only seconds ago occupied. I was a little jolted by that sacrilege. “Fell,” her voice was sugary sweet and her eyelashes fluttered. “What a load of crap! You passed out because you were scared to death.” She was pointing and poking at me. 

“Dude, ow! Chill!” I grabbed her pointy finger angrily and shoved it back at her. I was a little offended at how my fantasy world had been so suddenly and rudely broken. She, of all people, my best friend, ought to have known that I needed time to come down from that high.
Dang it! 

My life was a struggle again and things were impossible, unexplained, and dangerous. And then, front and center in my memory was the face of a cold-blooded murderer. It all came pouring back in on top of me. 

The killer had found me at home, left a calling card, and now he had been watching me at school, for who knows how long. I felt like my back was either up against a wall or like the wall had jumped onto my back and I could not get it off.

“Airel.” Kim sounded like she knew what I was thinking and I realized I was holding my head in my hands. “He’s stalking you. We should go to the police. I mean, like, now. This is getting a little out of control, don’t you think?”

“We can’t, Kim. I don’t have a good reason. I mean, he knows something about me and…” I caught myself and clamped my lips shut before I could say any more. What was I supposed to say? That I heal and have some kind of power? That he might be the only person who knows what’s going on with me? That I needed to let him find me? Or that I needed to find him so I could get some answers?

“You’re not making any sense, Airel! This is not a game. You could get killed! Is that what you want?” 

I looked away. It occurred to me that the killer might be some other kind of villain that I had not yet considered. I let my imagination go for a sec. I wondered: what if I was some kind of freak science experiment gone wrong? God only knew what kind of research some of these big pharma companies were doing, and who knew what kind of things the CIA might be up to. I felt crazy, but what if this dude was sent to bring me in? What if he was my handler, my boss? Crazier things have happened. I looked back at my best friend. 

“Kim?”

“Uh, yeah, crazy girl?”

“Never mind.” I couldn’t begin to explain and I dismissed her with a wave of my hand. She reacted by recoiling from me, mouth open, in disbelief as it dawned on her that I was totally shutting her out.

The school nurse walked in just in time. The last thing I wanted to do was inform my best friend that I couldn’t tell her what was going on. But I guess I just did that, only without words. I didn’t want to hurt her, but I decided right there to figure out what was happening to me on my own. Even if it meant putting myself in danger, I didn’t want to drag anyone else into it—especially Kim.

Kim stood up and stormed out in a huff.
Oh boy. That will take some time to fix.
 

As I followed the nurse into the exam room, my heart was flipping around inside me, doing cartwheels. I had just trampled all over my best friend. But necessity, or survival, focused my entire mind. If I could only figure out how to go about figuring this riddle out.
Airel, you really are nuts.
 

I felt like I was trapped inside a game I didn’t want to play.

Chapter XXVIII

The dream of the cage—now that I was alone—mocked me and haunted my every waking moment. I could feel the dust fill my nostrils with the stench of the demon as it hovered just inside the back of my mind. My world wasn’t very exciting on most days, but now it seemed that every turn I made brought me into a situation that might kill me; or maybe something worse. Much worse.

I sat on the exam table, wondering what it all meant. It was fitting, being on yet another exam table. Perhaps I was sicker than I knew. I felt really bad about Kim. She was a good friend and I was being unfair. But I wanted to keep her at a safe distance from this—from me—for a while.

Then—and this is where it gets crazy again—there was the voice in the back of my head, sometimes accompanied by the fluttering of a bird’s wings, or the sound of pages turning in a book.
She
, I called her. Like an extension of myself. No. Kind of like Mom, I guess, but not. Whenever I heard
She
speak, I felt like I was hearing wisdom. I knew that I was changing.
She
had told me as much and I accepted that somehow.
She
knew and reassured me. 

I felt bad for keeping Kim in the dark, but seriously, what the heck was I supposed to tell her? And where in the world would I start? I knew that no matter what she was my best friend, but I hesitated. 

Michael. I could tell him, couldn’t I? Not that I had any logical or sane reason to trust him other than the fact that I was beginning to fall for him. That wasn’t it though. There was something in the way he looked at me that made me feel like I could tell him anything without reservation. 

Miss Parks, a youngish woman, flashed a bright light into one eye and then the other. The light brought me out of my daydreaming. I liked to dream, but lately, I seemed to have lost control of my thoughts. 

“You look fine,” she said. “Nothing more than a bump on the head as far as I can tell. Are you feeling better? Do you have a headache?”

I didn’t have a headache or even feel bad. A terrible thought came to me.
What if the nasty throbbing welt on my forehead healed and disappeared right in front of Miss Parks?
I figured it would be smart to fake a headache because most people in my situation would have a whopper. I winced and put my fingers to my temples. 

“Yep. My head feels like it’s stuck under a school bus. Do you have anything for that?”
Hey, Miss Parks, don’t worry about it. It’ll heal here in the next few seconds… just watch.
Yeah, that would go over like a turd in a punch bowl.

Miss Parks smiled a weak smile, pursing her lips compassionately. “I’ll get you some Tylenol. That should help.” She hurried into the other room. 

I stood up and walked toward the door so when she got back I could get out of there as fast as possible. 

Miss Parks came back into the room, handed me a little packet of Tylenol, and put her hand on my shoulder. “Take two now and two more in a few hours if you still have a headache. And try not to faint the next time you see a bunch of boys in football uniforms.” She giggled at herself and I faked a light laugh.

“Thanks for the Tylenol.” I said and turned toward the door. 

I opened the door. First I saw green and gold, then a football jersey, then Michael. He must have hurried back from practice after it ended. I grinned compulsively at him like an idiot, and then tried to wipe it from my face, hiding behind my hand. But that only made it worse. 

He looked incredible. I tried to tear my eyes away from his, but did a double take. Something in his eyes refused to release me. It was shock, amazement—then fear.