The Master's Tale - Abandon All Hope, Book 1, Part 6

Chapter 6 - He Has His Father's Eyes

6

February 11th, 2010, 5:44 P.M.

I was still sitting in the large library, curled up with my legs crossed on one of the old wooden chairs with my laptop opened in front of me and a few old books opened across the table.

I blinked my tired eyes, trying to refocus on the text on the screen when Griffin looked at me from across the table, shaking his head, "You can take a break if you need to, Cat. We've been at this for a while?"

I shut my eyes, making a face and rubbing my eyes as I finally closed my laptop, "You making any headway with all of this? I swear, I've never seen so many 'thee's and thou's' in one sentence? How does anyone read through this?"

I settled back against the back of the chair, shifting uncomfortably when Griffin shrugged, "Comes with the territory, I guess, but... No, not really? Other than the last plague mentioned, which involves death of the first born, but... I elected to ignore that one."

I stopped, looking back at him when Griffin hesitated, shaking his head, "I don't think God would misinterpret something that big? Don't worry about it, forget I even said anything."

I pushed myself back away from the table, stretching out my legs and making a face, "You do that a lot, don't you?"

Griffin stopped, shaking his head, "Do what?"

I gave him a look as I started to lift myself out of the chair, "Say the wrong thing at the wrong time?"

Griffin smiled tightly, shaking his head and looking back down at the book in front of him, "I'm working on it."

I let out a light laugh as I stood to my feet, stretching out my tired body and grimacing a little as I reached for my aching back.

Griffin's eyes watched me carefully, shaking his head, "When was the last time you ate something?"

I stopped, shrugging, "I don't know, what time is it?"

Griffin quickly checked his watch, shrugging, "A little before six?"

I nodded, turning away and started to head for the door, "So... Probably a little under twenty-four hours?"

Griffin gave me a look as he watched me leave out the door, "Don't you think you should probably eat something then?"

I waved him off, shaking my head as I shuffled out the door, "I'm fine, I had coffee."

As I walked through the house and upstairs to my bedroom, I could already feel like some of my strength was coming back but I didn't dare try to use my powers again in fear that it would just set me off down the same spiral again that always descended into the same pitch-black darkness that surrounded me in the panic room just the night previously.

It was weighing heavily on my mind that I still didn't know where Gabriel was, but there was still a small part of me that could feel that he was still alive, and that was just enough to keep me going. It was strange how I could know something like that, but strange seemed to be part of the job description when it came to being the mother of a god-like being.

I had never imagined that I would be in a situation like this, feeling somewhat responsible for the possible end of the world, but I didn't dare entertain the thought for long. All I could do was keep pushing forward, wearing the same mask I had gotten so good at wearing all my childhood and brushing off the dark pit in my chest with a sharp tongue and dark sense of humor. In the beginning, it may have been hard to keep it together, but all I wanted to do was keep the momentum I had going so I didn't feel so weak or useless.