Euriv's Children

Chapter 7

*** Up top is Will

Ali's POV

I hoped the spray from the lake would just be cold enough to wake me up from this goddess forsaken dream. Despite the familiarity of my surroundings, there was a sense of strangeness in the air. It's the first time I had traveled here on my own and it terrified me.

There were so many memories attached to this place that I would never be able to repeat. The time my dad taught me how to play poker below deck, much to Mom's protests. I won almost an entire bag of M&M's that day. The rail seemed to almost give way as I squeezed it. Whatever mission this may be is going to be dangerous. Some way, somehow, this would turn even uglier.

"It's a beautiful day." I jumped. Celia had come up behind her, quiet as a mouse. "Sorry hon, it's freezing out here."

Before I could even think, my brain decided to detour the filter to my mouth and I blurted. "Who are these people? Why are they here? What did I do to deserve this Celia?"

"Ali, I'm going to say something that only one person we know would ever say to you, and it's only because he's not here to say it. Stop acting like a whiny little brat." Celia said, crossing her arms.

"Just this once I wish you wouldn't channel your inner Eric." I turned towards her, hands balled into fists.

"I'm trying to get you to focus on what's important here." She raised her hands in front of her defensively. "Eric, Owen, and Cathan. If we can even get them back alive."

"Don't say things like that." I said coldly.

"Ali, this is the Inferno Society. We all know that they don't play dumb. They were responsible for nearly destroying Salvism and every belief we have. It's their fault that the Christians almost decimated us. If they need to get the amulets, then they are going to destroy us to do it. Heck, they just killed the last of the elders! But that's not the reason why I came up here. Jess is seasick. I have her laying on one of the booths. She's sleeping."

We went below deck, and Celia sat next to Jess, who raised her head with a groan and settled into her lap. "We've probably got another half hour to go. Maybe she will sleep the whole time."

As the boat knocked against the dock, we gently shook Jess awake. No one was there to greet us, but there was a familiar station wagon parked in the lot, and I knew the keys were still in the glove compartment. I slid into the front seat, running my fingers over the worn leather of the steering wheel and dash and thumbing through the cassette tapes in the compartment between the seats. We would blast it with the windows down, singing everything from The Beatles to Journey in loud obnoxious voices. With a flick of my wrist, we were speeding down the road.

"This is your Dad's car?" Jess asked. "What is he, eighty?"

"He's had this car for as long as I can remember." I turned off a side road. It was so beautiful this time of year. Here, the trees had already changed and they were in that perfect phase where they were adorned in bright colors, but they hadn't begun to fall yet. They arched over the road, almost forming a perfect tunnel that lead right where I wanted to go. On a normal trip, my head would be sticking out the window, watching the trees fly by.

"Wow, that's your house?" Jess exclaimed just as we pulled into the drive way

It was like any other houses on the island. Big, roomy, and in this case, made of a dark red wood with a dark green roof. It looked like Christmas in summer normally, but now, it felt foreign, even to go up the driveway felt like a dream.