Eli Fletcher: The Golden Orb

Chapter Fifteen: Deep Sleep

Chapter Fifteen

Deep Sleep

Mom, Dad, David and Jason pull up soon after the smoke clears. I go outside to meet them before they come inside. David looks tired but there's a look of excitement on his face, too. He's still on an adrenaline high after having fought in his first battle. It'll eventually wear off, I know that much, but I can't help but smile at his enthusiasm.

"Everything okay?" Dad asks, walking towards me.

"For the most part," I say, shaking my head and rolling my eyes in frustration.

"What's wrong?" he asks as he grabs my shoulder, studying my face with an amused grin.

"Grace's dad is driving me nuts," I grumble under my breath. "Non-stop questions and accusations; it's getting frustrating."

"What happened here?" he asks.

"They did something weird, Dad. I've never seen it before. They were two really big demons and when I tried to open the door, something threw me across the room. The same thing happened to Billy when he tried to open a window. But then the demons raised their hands and this weird gray smoke started filling up the house. Everybody seems fine, but I have this feeling they did something to one of us, or all of us."

He stares at me, thinking for a minute and then looks at Mom. She looks more concerned than worried.

"Who all did the smoke touch?" Dad asks.

"Everybody but Sarah. I was able to get to her before it could reach her."

Dad nods and then said we should go inside, so I lead them into the house, introduce my parents to Grace's family since they haven't really officially met yet. Then we all sit down in the living room together to discuss what happened. Between me, Billy and Fiona we give a pretty detailed replay of the event. Dad seems to be drawing a conclusion to what happened, but he doesn't saying anything.

"Do you have any ideas, Dad?" I ask.

He looks at me from where he stands in front of the fireplace he's been pacing in front of as he thinks.

"No, this is a new one for me too. Each Sicarius has different demons they deal with. Sometimes we'll face the same ones because demons can be territorial, but sometimes demons are banished from a place and find somewhere new to latch onto. These three, now two, demons are new to the area. That's probably why you were able to kill that first one so easily."

"So, we have no idea if the smoke even did anything to us," I say and sigh.

This isn't helpful at all. Now we just have to wait until something happens to one of us. Fiona grabs my hand and my anxieties subside a little. I squeeze her hand in thanks and she squeezes back.

"We'll just have to take this one step at a time, Eli," Mom says.

She's sitting with Mr. and Mrs. Smith on the couch; Sarah is curled up in her mom's lap. Grace is sitting in the matching, tan, leather recliner to their left; it faces the fire place at an angle. Fiona, Billy and I are squeezed together on the love seat directly across from the recliner.

"So, what's the next step then?" I ask.

"We wait," she tells me with a slight shrug. "We'll set up a guard here, since the demons have obviously targeted the Smiths," she says looking at Grace's parents.

They nod their heads, agreeing with her. Mr. Smith has definitely changed his thoughts towards me, which I'm glad for. Forbidding me to see Grace or come near his home made it really hard to protect them.