The End of The Beginning

Chapter 23

Chapter 23:

            I am warily aware of Grace walking down the beach. Damn it I can’t have a child around me. I might turn her into a demon. I am shaking, despite the fact that it is likely close to one hundred degrees Fahrenheit. Kyle: dead, I: Evil. Water drips from my eye to the tip of my nose and into my mouth. I’m a demon. How do I learn how to control myself? How do I learn to not turn people into demons?

            Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Discoveries. Damn it. Who do I know who is a demon? Let me think…done. Fucking Rose and Brook that’s who. Was it my fault? Are they actually nice people? I can summon people from the dead. I look back at Grace skipping along the shoreline. Could I have raised her from the dead? That means I could bring my parents back too. Maybe there is a curse with it? All of this shit is just so damn confusing I just really can’t handle it. Maybe it’s my fault that our parents are dead. Evil goes with fire, after all.

            Just a few days ago I would have said the opposite. Maybe Rose has the Hell power too. Probably only fire, though. I wish she were here with me right now. I call out to Grace. We need to get out of here before the wolves find us.

            I wonder how I can travel. I vaguely remember flying once but that took so much energy and I’m guessing that was just part of the “transformation”. I guess shadow travel always works. Why not give it a go?

            With Grace in my arms I look at our shadow. I really have no freaking idea how to do this, oh God. I concentrate on our shadow for a few seconds until I think about becoming the shadow. Soon, I feel a cool rush. Suddenly, I am the shadow. I move quickly along the beach, finding shade everywhere. I can travel about five times as quickly as I could on foot. It really doesn’t take much energy either. God, I sound like an advertiser.

            I really don’t have much of an idea of where to go. There’s always home, but Mr. Grey and Mr. Stone are probably waiting there with their vicious wolves. Grace is sleeping, (can dead people sleep?) her small head on my shoulder, (serious déjà vu here!) sniffling. I wonder what thoughts are going through that tiny brain of hers. (I don’t mean to sound mean!) Does she think I’m a demon? Does she know she’s dead? Do I know she’s dead? What am I thinking? None of this crap could go through a six year old’s mind! She must think I’m insane.

Maybe she’s right.

            I’ve been so lost in thought I barely realized I was still traveling by shadows. Well, by the time I open my eyes, I’m in the middle of a city park. Could I possibly be in New York? Paris? London? I don’t even know. Why am I always so lost? I go up to a man in a suit and tie. “Pardon me, sir, but where am I?”

“You’re right outside of the Sydney Oprah House, mate.” He had an odd accent. As I am looking at my surroundings, I seem to be in front of a very sturdy tent that I have seen only in photographs. Sydney. Where have I heard that before? The man, his accent, sounded Irish, maybe British.

Wait, serious face palm. I literally just hit myself. I’m in Australia! We are in Australia! Ha! To my left I see mountains, possibly the Blue Mountains, as I have been told. (Funny, they don’t look blue. Maybe they’re sad?) To my right, I see the coastline, the water, a brilliant blue. A mix of turquoise and cerulean. There is midnight blue and purple as you look farther. The sea foam, running into the sand.

Keeping my head low, on the look out for “suspicious characters”. There is a girl with tangy orange hair sitting on the beach. For a fleeting moment I think of Rose, but this girl has to be at least eighteen. God damn it.

I thought that in Australia I would see people riding Kangaroo’s in cowboy hats. I thought I would hear people calling each other mates and using odd slang. Okay, I have heard the last two. I thought I would see koala bears attached to limbs high and low. Pandas on each bamboo tree…(kidding, I’m not that stupid. Maybe.)

Grace, still sleeping on my shoulder, groggily lifts her head, moaning a bit as she uses the slight bit of energy she has left. Did I take her energy while shadow traveling? Oh well, I saved our lives. Or ruined them…no difference.

“Owen,” she mumbled. “Where are we?”

“To be honest, I’m not exactly sure.” Okay, not honest, she doesn’t need to know that.

“LIES!” She screamed in a raspy voice. Much like a man who just had his tonsils taken out.

            Nobody is staring, which is odd. I’d be flipping out if some random little girl started screaming like a fifty year old man who’s been smoking all his life. Actually, I am flipping out. She is my freaking sister for God’s sake! I drop her out of shock. For a moment, she looks stunned, a mere second has passed, she’s shooting lasers out of her freaking eyes. Damn it, I’ve created a demon.

            “Ah, yes, Mr. Reynolds. We have been looking for you.” Grace smirked, sounding oddly like a familiar voice. Although, she isn’t Grace at all. In a flash of blinding light, almost like lighting, Mr. Grey appears, flesh and bone.

My sister is lying on the ground, this time for sure, dead.