Unedited
Chapter Ten
“Honey?”
My whole body jolted at the sound of my father’s voice breaking through the uneasy silence that filled in after Eros introduced himself. I jerked around to face my father, worried he might start asking questions at the sight of a strange man on his front steps.
He was looking at me expectantly through the screen door.
“Yes, Dad?”
Even to me I sounded positively startled.
“Say good night to Cyrus. It’s time for him to get on home.”
My eyes bugged out a little and I whirled to see if Eros was still standing there. He was right where he’d been before, amusement lighting his eyes.
“Right…” I turned back to my dad. “We were just getting to that. Just give us a few more minutes. Please.”
“Now, honey.”
“Oh cut her some slack, Teddy,” my uncle’s voice boomed from inside the house. “It’s not like they spend all that much time together in the first place. Let them be teenagers and have a few more minutes. It’s not like they’re going anywhere.”
Cecil was tense beside me, not sure what to do next. He didn’t want to disrespect my father by not doing what he asked but he wasn’t about to leave me here what he perceived as a threat. We had no idea what Eros’ true intensions were and we were living in uncertain times. You didn’t always know who your friends were. The God could very well be a wolf in sheep’s clothing…no pun intended.
I gripped Cecil’s hand tightly, conveying my opinion on the manner of him staying or leaving.
My uncle decided to join us, stopping instantly next to my father when he spotted the God behind me. He quickly schooled his features as he thought of the quickest possible way to get Cecil and I back in the house without causing a scene. For some reason he didn’t look too surprised that my father couldn’t see Eros but I was.
“Before you go, Cyrus,” Clay started carefully, “would you like some leftovers to take home with you?”
Even I found that a little weird, a fact that was mirrored in my father’s face as he looked at his brother with raised eyebrows. “What?”
“Just being courteous, Teddy. You know, if Kat were still alive, he’d have a take home plate piled high waiting on him before you even thought to send him home.”
“Now hold on right there, Clay…”
My uncle looked incredulously at my father. “It’s not like I’m lying.”
“I’ll do it,” I said quickly. My grip tightened on Cecil’s hand as I started back inside. “Cecil?”
I wasn’t giving him much of a choice and he knew it. With only a second of hesitation where he tried not to look behind us, Cecil went with me back inside. My father gave me a weird look as I walked passed him but I wouldn’t meet his eyes. If I did, he’d instantly know something was wrong, father’s intuition and all that.
Funny how my Elite life and my normal life were only just now brushing against each other. I hoped that’s all it would be, a brief brush, but something inside of me said soon it was going to be more than that. The two halves would come crashing together and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
It hit me hard as I took another step down the hallway to the kitchen and I knew what was coming. This was the last place I wanted to be having a vision. I couldn’t really explain to my father what was happening and he would notice. He was only a few feet behind me with a primordial god on the other side of a screen door.
For now, I’d have to leave it for Uncle Clay to deal with as the vision began to try and claw its way out of me. There was definitely something different about this one.
Cecil must’ve felt the shift because as I began to stumble, his arm wrapped around my waist to steady me. To my father, it probably appeared as nothing more than an affectionate gesture when in fact it was the only thing keeping me upright and moving. All the tricks I’d learned in the past couple of weeks were failing me as I tried to ignore the pending vision.
“Cecil…”
“I’ll get you to the kitchen, don’t worry. Your dad won’t see. Try to hold it off a little bit longer.”
This would’ve been the best time for Andrzej to be here but for some stupid reason I didn’t ask him to hang around.
Lately, I was able to hold them off on my own. It was a skill I’d practiced over and over again during the beginning of my training with Kells. I’d also learned how to control them and manage the intensity so I wouldn’t have a blinding headache afterwards. But this one? It was shoving passed all my defenses and it felt like someone was carving open my mind with a can opener.
Whoever was keeping a tight rein on the future was now forcing me to see this vision. I had absolutely no choice in the matter and they were making that clear. They were trying to prove who was dominant in this scenario.
I maybe the Virgin Oracle but whoever they were…
They were more powerful and were willing to prove it at any cost, at any time.
We rounded into the kitchen, somehow being able to appear like there was nothing going on. But the second we were out of his sight, I released Cecil’s hand so I could press both of mine against my temples.
“Someone is forcing a vision,” I whispered with a painful tint to my voice. “Eros?”
“Maybe. Without giving in, can you tell what the vision is about?”
“It’s not the True Vision.” I grimaced as the pain went up a notch and blood began to drip out of my nose. “It’s something else.”
Cecil quickly nabbed a paper towel from the roll and pressed it to my nose. “What were you thinking about?”
“How my two lives were sort of meeting on the front porch…”
Cecil’s brow furrowed for a second. He was obviously thinking about something and I really hoped it pertained to the problem at hand. Now exactly wasn’t the time to be pondering the universe and the ultimate question.
“I have an idea.”
“Shoot.”
“You may not like it and to be honest, it’s not something I’ve tried before.”
He wiped gently at my nose before tossing the paper towel on the nearby counter. The expression on his face was serious, something he was doing with increasing regularity. I was starting to miss that smile again.
“We’re more powerful together.”
“Everyone says that.” I winced as the pain increased, the vision on the brink of breaking through. “Bu that’s not really relevant at the moment. Why are you bringing this up now?”
“Whatever’s happening…I think we can stop it. Together.”
“How?”
“Trust me…and don’t fight me.”
“I trust you. Always.”
He placed his hands over mine where they pressed against my temples. “Focus solely on me and only me.”
I did as he asked, keeping my eyes locked with his and blocking everything else out. He took a step closer to me, molding his body against mine in order to get me to relax. It was quick to take hold, whatever he was attempting.
In my mind flashed an image of two clocks. One visibly the future, resembling a stopwatch with how quickly it was ticking. The various changes and choices that were made affecting the speed. The other represented the past, matching a normal clock with its slow pace, nothing about it being able to change or affect it.
My breath began to slow and with it the pace of one of the clocks. I could feel the rise and fall of his chest against mine, already even and normal. The second we both took in a breath at the same time, the hands on both clocks synchronized for a brief moment before the future clock took off again.
In that instant I knew what he was doing. He was placing us both in the present, trying to eliminate for a second both the past and the future. But the pain was still in my head, keeping my heart racing.
Cecil’s hands flexed over mine, his eyes becoming more intense as the life line I associated with our Particulars leaked into his left eye.
The clocks were a half of a second off as I heard the distant sounds of a little girl’s laughter.
Ce! Slow down!
For a moment the image of the clocks was eclipsed by one of my younger self chasing after a young Cecil. Little boy laughter filled in after and I could feel my heart speed back up as I heard what he’d said to me so long ago.
Catch me if you can, Tally!
You’re going too fast! Slow down!
Even though they were my words, I could feel my heartbeat answering my request from the past. He slowed down, just like I remembered and the younger me couldn’t quite slow to match. I blew passed him in the past and in the present, my heart did the same.
Cecil never was one to be out ran or out matched.
Tally!
The clocks came back and it seemed with each footfall he made in the past, the hands on the clocks ticked forward slowly until…
Until.
Cecil didn’t catch me that day. Instead he ended up slamming into me because I did finally slow down. It was how I always imagined us coming together would be like. It would be sudden and quick, not gradual. Neither of us would be able to stop it. We fell, and would always fall, in a tangle of limbs and bodies until we hit the ground, the end.
So when I saw in my mind’s eye the culmination of what happened that day, I knew what would happen with the clocks I was imagining. The hands instantly aligned upon impact of our younger selves, the tick loud and resounding before they both started forward in sync.
Together.
The pain in my head smoothed out before settling into a dull ache.
We had control of the past and present, now it was time to get a hold of the future, whatever vision the mysterious person was trying to force on me. But just as I reached out to snag the vision and examine it, the whole thing was gone. The pain, the vision, all of it. Gone.
Cecil and I released a breath and blinked at the same time, the Particular lines retreating from our eyes.
“What was that?” I asked even though I kinda already knew the answer.
“It was a test, I think.” He slid his hands off mine and into my hair. “Both to see how powerful we are together and the Oracle by herself.”
“Well, then I’d say they got quite a show.” I took a couple deep breaths to get rid of the last bit of jitters. I didn’t want to talk about it anymore or what it might mean. I was sure I’d get enough of that later. So I changed the subject. “We should probably get your to-go food. Wouldn’t want you to starve or anything.”
“Wait.”
I made to turn away but he held me fast as one of his hands cupped the back of my head. I looked back up at him and the way he was looking at me…it was tender and filled with love. And worry. Lots of worry.
I placed my hands on his chest, feeling even through his tee shirt that both our breathing and our heartbeats were still matching. It was a good feeling, a calming feeling.
He swooped down so fast I would’ve been startled if he wasn’t holding on to me so tight. Like his body had before, his lips molded against mine. They fit perfectly against mine, two pieces of a puzzle made whole again. I wrapped an arm around him, pulling him as close to me as possible.
An image quickly flashed behind the back of my eyelids of a woman laying on a pedestal, her vibrant red hair fanned out around her head. It definitely wasn’t what I was used to seeing while kissing Cecil but there was something so familiar about it.
I kissed Cecil harder, deeper, that fire I’d felt while looking into Eros’ eyes ignited and blazed through me.
The image intensified and made the pool of light she was laying in brighter. Everything about her was committed to my memory so I could recall it later but there was something else, rather someone else. A dark silhouette moved just outside the light, his presence achingly familiar.
But before I could get a lock on him, something akin to electric shock zapped my lips.
Cecil and I pulled our lips apart and stared at each other.
“Did you feel that?”
“Did you see that?”
We both spoke at the same time and we both nodded.
“What was it?”
“You two are supposed to be making a plate. Not making out.”
Cecil whirled to face my uncle. “Chief Abernathy…”
“You’re lucky I sent Teddy into the living room to fold up blankets. What the hell is going on in here?”
For some reason I wasn’t ready for my uncle to know about everything that happened. I quickly gripped Cecil’s arm where I had a hold of it. Right now just wasn’t the time.
“I had a vision,” I said evenly. “Nothing serious.”
He didn’t believe me, the way he drummed his fingers on the counter told me that. “Young lady, don’t you dare lie to me.”
“Uncle Clay…”
“I’ve known you all your life. I know when you’re lying and you’re lucky your father isn’t the one in here. I understand how serious your visions are and how much you want to keep them from him. But…there was a primordial god standing on your front steps just a few minutes ago, one who hasn’t been seen in centuries. Tell me what’s going on, Natty.”
“I don’t really know why he was here, Uncle Clay. He’d just told me who he was when Dad interrupted us. Why can’t he see him, anyways?”
“It’s because he’d not Elite,” Cecil said, softly. “Most Gods have a natural defense when it comes to regular humans seeing them…”
“So how is that plate making coming?” My father asked from the doorway leading out of the kitchen. “Going good?”
We all looked at him in surprise. He couldn’t be that fast at folding and putting away blankets.
“We were just getting to that…” I fumbled.
“Yeah. I bet. Clay.”
“I’m supervising, Teddy. No need to get your Superman underwear in a bunch.”
And because my father was that cool… “You wore the Superman underwear, Clay. I was always more partial to Batman. Or the Green Lantern but that’s only because I look great in green. Get done and say goodnight, Natalie. It was good to see you again, Cyrus.”
“Sir.”
My father shot us all a meaningful look before leaving the kitchen. I let out a breath and looked at my uncle. “You don’t think he heard any of that, do you?”
“I think your father overhears more than any of us think. You’d do well to remember that in the future.”