Painted Moments

31 The Best Laid Plans

Chapter 31
The Best Laid Plans

   He led us through the museum to a painting that at first appeared unassuming. As we approached it we could feel the life connection to the town house fluttering weakly within it.
    Mason stepped back to give orders to the group staying behind to guard the Curator, Lucas, and our way back to the museum.
   The pulse from the painting is steadily growing in strength. Once it reaches its peak we would walk through into the living room depicted on the canvas.    
My eyes scanned the golden name plate just below the frame. The name " The Office Collection" lacked creativity on a ridiculous level. I suppose I was trying to distract myself from my nerves with meaningless details at this point.
    I felt his unique presence before I felt his arm close around me in a tight hug pulling me aside for a quiet moment.
    Koi you have to promise me that no matter what happens in there, you will come out of this in one piece. You may be the big bad hunter to others, but to me you are still my Koi.
    We have had this discussion a hundred different ways by now. I'm surprised at the feelings it still invokes. The idea that I have such a warm place to return to has somehow given me a confidence I never knew I could have.
   " You keep yourself safe here and I promise I'll come back to you unharmed. Okay?"
    I squeezed his hands before turning in his hold to tuck my face under his chin. I just wanted to steal a few more moments with him. Akila seemed to be of the same mindset as me. I watched as she pulled from Aspen's embrace and began running her hands through his hair. I honestly don't know how he could let her go in there with us. Just having Luc this close to the entrance was making my belly flip.
   As if sensing that I was watching Aspen met my eyes. He looked at me as if searching for something. I guess he found what he was looking for as his face softened. He pulled away from Akila, made his way over to us and tapped Luc on the shoulder.
   Luc released me only long enough to adjust his hold on me and turn towards Aspen in acknowledgment.
I could feel his body stiffen as he realized who wanted his attention. He didn't show any aggression, but I could sense his defenses go up.
    "Look Lucas, I... ah... l owe you a pretty big apology for how I've been treating you these last two weeks. I've been an over protective, high maintenance, verbally abusive, pain in the butt. I've taken my anger out on you. I've blamed you for things you didn't know about, or didn't have any control over. Everything you said in the kitchen that day was right. I'm sorry I'm waiting until the last minute to choke down my pride. I'm jealous of so many things and angry for so many reasons that have nothing to do with you, but you were the easiest target."
    Aspen had taken his glasses off and was looking down at them cleaning them with his shirt as he rambled on. As he spoke I could feel Luc relaxing at my side. By the end of his awkward heartfelt apology Luc was lazily wrapped around me and smiling into my hair. I guess finally winning over Aspen's approval meant more to him then I thought.
   "So I'm really very sorry for all the crap I said to you. I couldn't have been more out of line. I hope that maybe you can consider the guy that's been screwing with you the last couple of weeks just me having a stupid mental lapse. Maybe when this is all over you and I can go grab a drink somewhere and start over?"
   " Dude, I'm still under age."
    Luc started to laugh.
   " Wait what? I thought you were older than me!"
    Aspen, he is eighteen.
    Aspen looked back and forth between us like a confused cartoon character.
    "Seriously! Oh...um... ice cream then?"
    "I'm not five either. That does explain why you called me trash the first time you saw me though. You thought I was robbing the cradle or something? How old did you think I was?"
    "Well at most twenty-six, but still."
    Luc was laughing so hard he was starting to double over. Once he got himself together he playfully punched Aspen in the shoulder.
    "How about we do lunch, and I can help you set straight all your wrong first impressions. Sound good?"
    "Um yeah."
    "Good, I accept your apology. Much better than the forced ritual thing you did before."
     "I still intend to keep that promise, but you're right. I was doing that for Cori, not you. I shouldn't have let the council's opinions color my first impression. I should have known better. Hopefully I can get to know the real you now. The one that makes Cori smile so much."
    "Wait, the council?"
      Luc and I looked at each other with a bit of trepidation. If Aspen's first encounter with Luc was any indication of how the council felt in regards to him, we had a big fight on our hands coming. That just sucks. Their opinion of him is drastically darker then I first assumed, and I still don't know why.
   "You might want to be careful of some of them, Cori. They are not happy with the idea that you two are so close."
    "Thanks for the warning."
    Akila pulled Aspen away then. Aspen smiled as he went with her looking ten times lighter. Whatever murky sludge that had been weighing him down emotionally seemed to have quickly cleared as Luc laughed and accepted his sincerity.
    With this new information though I felt the weight on my shoulders multiply. What could be so awful that the council would hate a teenager that hasn't actually done anything wrong?
    "Time to go, Cori."
    Mason, Aspen, and Akila were already gathered at the painting with Uncle Trevor. He looked at us with curiosity. A strange look in his eye as he lifted a quizzical brow.
    Before I could approach and ask what his problem was, Luc pulled me away.
   "Please come back."
    Luc put his forehead against mine. I couldn't help it. I grabbed his face pulling him as close as possible, rubbing our heads together hard. I whispered something he probably hasn't heard since we were kids.
    " Cyclops."
     His eyes popped wide making him look like he had one big eye in my vision before he gave a weak chuckle.
     "Cyclops."
     He replied with a weak smile.
     I pulled my face away from his. Then I wiggled my hand into his neckline pulling on the chain.
     "I promise we'll be together soon. Don't worry anymore. I will get out of there, and then we are going on summer vacation while the adults take over the troublesome details. Okay?"
   " Okay."
    I turned from him then. I had to leave his hold while he was still relaxed, or I doubt he would have let me go at all. Walking over to Mason I could hear Trevor grumbling about sappy teenagers.
   I rolled my eyes at him before turning to Mason, completely ignoring him. Mason smiled as he began to flip through the pages of his sketchbook.
     " I'm thinking, the falcon to confirm Mom and Dad's location, and the owls for silent distractions."
      I nodded my head in approval. Starting cautious wouldn't be a bad idea. If we are lucky they would all be upstairs in the upper rooms. We would most likely only have to deal with guardian artworks.
    Mason began pulling the birds from the pages. The birds seemed normal at first glance. Until you looked into their eyes. The lack thereof is chillingly creepy, and once they acquired sight, seeing my brothers eyes perfectly copied in their little bird faces always kinda freaked me out. Mason always comes up with the creepiest artistic exchanges.
     I began to circulate my will into the symbols carved into my bow staff. The metal began to run hot in my hands. "Turn your weakness into a strength" Dad would say. Well I certainly did that. Finally, letting go of my repressed anger, I began to focus on it. Using it to sharpen my awareness. I can feel the others will come alive around me. The need to cause damage to our enemies excites our instincts.
      " We will meet you on the other side of the museum, My Lady. I have plotted the course of the soon to be retrieved paintings. As requested they will be sent directly to the Main House."
      I had a moment of pause to wonder how he had the access to make a direct transfer, but simply nodded to the Curator. I don't have time for random curiosity.
      The painting flared to life as I leaned forward to touch it. The portal twisted open as if it was eager to drag us through to cleanse the blight within its walls.
    We didn't hesitate. Trevor and I jumped through first as a forward guard. Followed by Mason, then Aspen and Akila. Once we all made it to the other side I snapped the portal shut. The painting above the mantle hazed over like a fog moving in. It will only allow the paintings that are on record within itself through now. No one is getting out this way. Not even us.
    The house was deathly quiet, but I could feel the life forces of the sleeping rebels upstairs. Eight in total. Many had gotten out running like rats, but these poor saps had stayed. That means mom refused to remove the seal on the other prisoners. I knew she wouldn't, but at what cost. That is what scares me.
    We moved silently in our agreed upon groups. Akila, Trevor, and I began following the falcon upstairs to find my parents.   
   Meanwhile, Mason and Aspen stayed temporarily at the fireplace to begin the process of clearing out the house. If all goes well, every painting in the house will be sucked into each other until only the one above the fireplace remains. Our remaining escape hatch, located in the council room, and this lone painting will be all that's left until they decompose into ash.
   I wish I could see their faces as the last painting crumbles to dust. Their only hopes of unlocking the Inner Office  forever out of their reach. They will remain imprisoned until the rebels are properly dealt with. Some may call me callous.
   However, after being reminded of Harrace's atrocities, I began to wonder how my Grandfather's council could let this monster live to begin with. Any who side with him knowing what he is should be met with punishment equivalent to their crimes. They are murders. They killed the council members, their family and colleagues, in cold blood. They have chosen their fate. I can't waver if it means protecting the Cogs and my other family members from his destructive influence.
    My group had just made it to the stairs when the paintings began to lift from the walls. We stood and waited to make sure every painting within the house had silently made its way into the foyer area. I watched with quiet tension as some paintings phased through walls or doors to gather for transport. The living room had gathered to capacity, leaving many paintings to float around languidly in the halls and foyer. Everything was going to plan, but I'm still waiting for the trap to spring.  
   There must be an informant hiding within our ranks for them to suddenly pull together for a strategy meeting on this very night. Harrace couldn't have known when the house would open. So where are the rebels from outside getting their time table?
      Mason and Aspen crept up behind us as piercing screech broke through the air. The sound of Mason's falcon meeting its end.
   " Well, crap."
     "My sentiments exactly, Aspen."
     Mason looked warily around the room. I watched him, waiting for his assessment.
     "What did it?"
      "That's the problem. I didn't see it. It was perched before the  Council door watching our progress then it just wasn't."
  The silence was deafening. I can feel my instincts seizing up like a jungle cat freezing in the presence of a threat of equal strength. Out of the corner of my eye I see Aspen pulling Akila to his side.  
   The thought that I should have stuck to my guns on taking a different healer is abruptly cut off by the sound of two other bird shrieks. Mason fell to his knee grasping his head in pain muttering a curse.
    "Aspen weren't the owls still on the first floor with us?"
    Akila expressed everyone's number one pressing concern quite effectively.
The only sound in the room is the sound of Mason's panting and the sound of rain from outside. Wait, rain? There is no rain in the forecast tonight. In fact, the evening has been warm and dry. No indication of a downpour at all. So what is that? My eyes went to the windows across the foyer that frame the front door. The stoop is perfectly illuminated by the sconts outside. It's not raining. So where is the sound coming from? Not to mention it's getting louder.
   "Cori?"
   " Focus Aspen!"
    "No seriously, Cori, the paintings are bleeding!"
    Akila stifled a scream behind her hands and pointed at the paintings above our heads that seemed to have stopped their procession towards the fireplace, and instead floated shakily in midair. Their canvases seemed to be leaking and dripping over their frames. Little puddles were forming under each one growing larger as time passed.
    "Get up the stairs now!"
    I can understand Trevor's panic. I've become well acquainted with what this particular beast is."
    "Run! Don't let them paint you!"
    Once the monstrosities bled free of the blacked out paintings, it was now apparent they had been hiding on, the smaller, more numerous, ink blots started to swarm toward us in a frenzy.  
   The released paintings flew through the air at alarming speeds toward their original destination. Making them dangerous missiles to dodge for our lives instead of mild inconvenient obstacles.
    We played right into Harrace's hand. He knew we would try to preserve the artworks. I should have seen this coming. "Know thy enemy", is not a new concept. The council demanded we retrieve the history of our family stored here. He found our secondary weakness, and is now using it to keep us away from our primary goal. Meaning I have to let go of our secondary goal.
    Trying not to dwell on what I was about to do I turned towards the ground floor and smashed my bow against the stairs. I activated the symbols on impact, burning them into the step. The explosion destroyed most of the swarm branching out into the room with a shockwave that enveloped the foyer and living room.
    It destroyed numerous paintings leaving them smashed in twisted burning shambles about the wreckage. It left us with space to breathe as we fought our way up the rest of the stairs, but my heart twisted as I felt the small death of each piece. Maybe it's because time slows when your life is at risk. Maybe it's because the loss, for the millisecond I allowed myself to feel it, was such a shock to my system. I watched in slow motion as the paintings lost the black out protection. The scenery bleeding back as they burned.
     There in the corner of the foyer was the grandma painting. Her face smiling as she cheered for me silently, before freezing in place, then she was swallowed by the flames. So much history turned to senders.
   Shouts coming from farther down the opposite hall of the council room, brought me back to the present. The rebels, startled awake by the blast. We ran for the council room, ready to barricade ourselves inside until we could open our way of escape. Yet nothing has gone according to our plan since we stepped foot in this house. I have not confirmed my parent's whereabouts! I probably only retrieved a third of the artworks, and destroyed the rest! My panicked thoughts clouded my mind as I heard Mason shout my name.
   "Cori look out!"
    I struck without thinking at the hazy glimmer that I saw skitter pass from the corner of my eye. The wall to my right exploded with the pressure of my will as an artwork that looked similar to a chameleon, but three times the size, crumbled into clay dust along with my staff. Great, that wasn't good. It takes months to calibrate my weapon to withstand my will, and now I've broken it. My fire power is too unfocused to use without it. The impact shuddered up my arm and into my ribs causing me to take a knee.
   "Stay focused, girly."
     Trevor grunted as he pushed past me, forcing the double doors open.
    "I killed it, didn't I?"
     I snapped back and glared at him.
      The rebels had started to spill out into the hall behind us. Their Motus artworks of all manner of creativity began scurrying after us, to obey their commands to attack.
    "I guess we know what killed my falcon."
    Mason sneered at the crumbling clay statue and splintered pieces of my bow. He pulled his knives from his sleeves and took a stance to guard my flank.
   "Grandpa couldn't think of a way to suppress this ability under the seal too?!"
     "He isn't a miracle worker Mason!"
     Akila helped me to my feet as Aspen ran to start closing the doors. We ran to help him, and barely got on the other side.  When something that seemed to resemble a Tarantula made out of sharp splintered wood and upholstery started stabbing at us through the opening.
   "Anytime Cori!"
     Aspen looked at me in exasperation as one of the legs stabbed through particularly close to his face.
    "Right!  I'll just blow it and the door up, so everything else can come flooding in through the wreckage! I don't have my bow anymore, numbskull!"
    "What? Don't you have a backup!"
  "Do you have any idea how much work goes into creating a medium to control my will from exploding! All I have is my style right now. I can't use Motus abilities or sealing techniques without blowing something up! I'm lucky to be able to unseal something without causing the destruction of what I'm unsealing! The only thing I can do is Partum, and that ability is sealed off by the house!"
   I strained against the doors with Mason and Aspen, trying to keep them closed, as the slapped together creature ,that was obviously made from broken furniture, continued to mindlessly stab through the opening.
     You had to give it to my crazy relatives. We were creative when it came to making something out of nothing. I'm pretty sure the chameleon was made from wood ash from the fireplace and water. It's really basic and weak to blunt force, but it works in a pinch for sneak attacks.
    "Well anybody got any helpful ideas besides allowing Cori to blow us up?"
    "You could try something, Aspen."
    "I'm a Partum attribute! I'm here to help you seal and unseal. I don't slap sticks together and make giant combat spiders!"
     Holding the door closed was becoming increasingly more difficult as more slap-dash artworks began trying to force their way through. Just as I started thinking we weren't going to be able to avoid a head on confrontation I noticed Trevor digging through his tool bag.
    "Unless you have a chainsaw hidden Mary Poppins style in that bag, you want to give us a hand here!"
     "Ah yes! The chainsaw. Good choice considering our woodland creatures. Nice thinking Cori."
    "Has he flipped his lid?"
     Aspen snarled as he uselessly chopped at the violently intruding legs with a rather large hunting knife. It's good for hand to hand combat, but against supernatural things like this it's kinda pointless. He barely chipped the stupid thing.
   "Be ready to slam that door shut kiddos."
    I watched in amazement as Trevor indeed pulled a chainsaw from his duffle bag. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but what? Partum abilities are sealed in the house right now.
   The sound of him revving the motor made my teeth grind as he went to work chopping away at spider-wood. I closed my eyes as wood chips flew in every direction. My body fell into the door as it closed with the creatures retreat. I got out of the way quickly so Aspen and Mason could barricade the door shut.
   "We have maybe fifteen minutes before they start busting through that. Akila, focus on getting Cori on the mend. Boys get started on opening that escape hatch. I'm going up the stairs to see if I can find Lavinia and Murdock. Stay as far away from that door as you can until I get back.Do not let your guard down. This room may be laid with traps as well. Understand?"
    We all nodded. Not much to argue with there. Trevor took the stairs two at a time as he headed to the small office that only my parents used. I didn't have much faith in finding my parents now. It was too quiet. They must be in a guest room farther down the hall, or maybe they shoved them in the basement downstairs. Either way they are beyond my reach now, and it's all my fault.  
    Maybe I should have listened to Trevor and brought a full battle guard with us. I made so many mistakes. Akila helped me limp to the front of the large room. I found it odd that the red velvet curtains in front of the Dias were pulled closed. My instincts were telling me something was up. I motioned to the boys to be quiet. Before turning to Akila to whisper.
    "I need you to open the curtain. Use that pulley over by that statue. Wait for my signal before opening it. Then hide behind the statue. Okay?"
     She nodded and quietly made her way over. I limped over to the wall and pulled a spear from the decorative weaponry. Not much, but hey better then nothing. Making my way back to the center of the room. I nodded to Mason who took a stance over Aspen. While Aspen fed the wood carving, smeared with my brother's blood, that looked very much like the unassuming painting in the museum. Finally, I signaled Akila, and waited at the ready for the trap to spring.
   As the curtain opened I was greeted with the shock of a lifetime. This couldn't be real!
    "Oh no, Cori, your Parents!"
     Akila gasped in disbelief.
     The marble statues were too real in their gruesome expressions of horror and pain. I had never seen anything like this! My parents, frozen in stone like living marble. Then the next moment Akila was running to them. Her hands extended as if to embrace them. I could feel something was wrong. She shouldn't touch them!
     "Akila, wait! Stop!"
     I felt her will reach forward in what could only be millimeters from her outstretched hands. Oh please Creator let me make it! I ran for her. Yet even with my speed I reached her just as her fingertips were about to graze my father's forearm. Pushing her away I couldn't stop myself as I fell into my father's chest just as I had done many times as a child. What greeted me there however, was not the warm safe embrace of a parent.
   The pain lanced through me like shards of ice breaking and tearing through my skin. I threw my head back and screamed as I tried to get away, but I couldn't move. Then everything was black. I could see nothing. Hear nothing. Say nothing. The only thing there for me now was the void, slow dripping madness, and the pain.