The Otherkind Book One:Heart

~*~ 46 ~*~

~*~ 46 ~*~

I awoke early to a soft pastel dawn. The day after Christmas. Grayson was no longer in the front room with me. The fire had been banked low and the tree was still lit. Thomas came down the stairs just then holding Grams' hand. Both of them were talking softly and looked as if they had no sleep. Grams noticed I was sitting up and awake. Thomas nodded at me, a strange look in his eye. That was different.

"What's going on?" I asked softly straightening out my clothes and then standing up to fold the blanket that probably Grayson had covered me with last night. Grams came in and touched my arm. I turned to look at her and knew something was wrong.

"Now what?" my heart sank.

Thomas cleared his throat and looked at me levelly. "I sent Grayson home last night."

"Why? He didn't mean to hurt me." I grasped at the only reason that I could fathom that would cause Thomas to send away his son.

"That's not why Rowan." Grams spoke softly. "He is in possession of something that could harm all of us here. A box of the vilest sort, designed to pull the darkness into him, and Arminius right after him."

Blinking I shook my head wondering for a split second if I was still sleeping. "What?"

Thomas walked into the room. "My son is prone to moments of incredible brilliance as well as soul despairing stupidity. He somehow got a box while in Ber' Sador that was crafted with black magic. He intended to find the missing triplets with it so he could ultimately—" his voice trailed off. "Only," he spread his hands out "it infected him, as it was designed to do."

I sat down suddenly. "The darkness I saw in him yesterday?"

Thomas sat down beside me. "Probably."

I looked at him sadly "Now what?"

Grams leaned over and took my hands. "We wait. We pray, and we believe that good will prevail."

I wasn't sure I could just sit around doing that.

Grams with her ability to sometimes read my mind with startling clarity took care of that thought expediently. "Okay Rowan. That's enough. Why don't you go up and see how Sarah's doing. I'm going to be making breakfast in a few moments."

"Sarah!" I suddenly left the room feeling guilty that in all the other stuff I had forgotten about her! Without another word I raced up the stairs to her bedroom. Knocking softly, I let myself in. Sarah had just sat up and looked remarkably refreshed without a trace of a cold.

"Whatever is in your grandma's tea, she could become very rich if she bottled that stuff! It's like I was never sick!"

I smiled. "So you do feel better! I had hoped." I wasn't going to give away Grams' secret weapon, her healing hands.

"Wow, last night was a blast!"

I didn't want to go into last night so I looked around. "How long can you stay?"

"Dad was pretty adamant. He's on a business trip in Minneapolis, said he would pick me up on his way through."

"You didn't answer my question."

She looked glumly "Tomorrow in the afternoon sometime."

"Wow, not much time."

"But can you believe that mom even let me come? Your grandma is like a fairy godmother or something!"

"Something—- She's cooking breakfast right now." I said to change the subject.

She reached for her robe, I picked it up handing it to her.