The closer they got, the quieter I breathed, the slower I blinked my eyes, the harder I prayed they wouldn't see me. When they were only about 100 feet away or so, they stopped. My heart began beating so fast that I was worried I was going to give myself away.

They were spreading out and, before I knew it, fighting began amongst them. The females and males were going at it regardless of gender. Another one of the demons somersaulted and missed their intended target, landing on their back. Another one of the demons came over to help him up. One of the females attempted to jump on the shoulders of another, missing as well, landing with a thud on her side. I couldn't believe what I was witnessing. These demons were horrible. There was no way they could be this bad. Unless it was a trap, and they knew I was here, luring me down thinking I could take them and then they could finish me off.

I didn't get that feeling, however. I think they were truly this bad. They must be minions or newly-formed - not sure which one. Either way, it was fascinating. I couldn't believe my good luck or bad luck, depending on how I'd want to look at it considering I was stuck up a tree like a cat. The fighting actually seemed to be getting worse by the minute, and I was worried that I might not be able to stifle my laugh. I hoped I wasn't going to be that poor in my battles.

The confidence began growing lightning-quick inside of me, and that's when I decided to do it. These were about as unskilled as I could get, and I took it as a sign. I think it was time to practice. Cyril and Arie would be furious, but that thought only popped in after I had already let go of the tree, flying down to the soil awaiting my arrival.

Landing with one knee on the ground, and the other ready to lunge, I looked up at the group of demons: a smile across my lips appeared as a laughter I didn't recognize began coming from deep within. A sound I didn't know was possible began oozing out of my soul. Pointing at my first victim and curling my finger to welcome her, I imagined she was the serpent woman luring Athen. She didn't have a chance. I snapped her in half without thinking. Her body's black smoke already lifting towards the clouds, I was thrilled to welcome my next victim.

The larger demon, who was dressed completely in black and a ridiculous-looking cowboy hat, charged towards me with a barreling effort. My body jumped up into the tree just as he was about to collide into me. I was almost embarra.s.sed about even trying to fight these creatures. I already knew I was horrible, but seeing that I could outwit and outfight them was even more puzzling. He began scaling the tree at such a slow pace, that I let my body fall to the ground to begin my next fight. The other demon girl ran towards me, but stopped right in front of me. Her fist landed right in my side as I stepped backwards, dulling the ache of the potential force that could have been. I grabbed her neck with my right hand and swiped her knees with a left kick, pushing her onto the ground. The cowboy hat guy dropped behind me with a thud, and I spun around with a quickness that surprised myself. I jumped back into the tree, breaking off one of the branches, and let go back down onto him, feeling the point penetrate his flesh. He never saw it coming, and it was just enough to have the other two run off back towards the trail.

As I let go of the tree limb, the demon fell onto his knees and flat on his face. It was ridiculous. The black mist slowly began releasing into the air. Feeling more confident than I had in a long time, I grabbed my things and went back down towards the beach and parking lot. It was time to get home and explain what happened to Cyril and Arie because I honestly didn't know.

Chapter 10.

We were all in the kitchen playing with our food rather than eating it, knowing the choice that we were making carried a heavy burden. It carried consequences I wasn't sure I could handle but had to do my best to try. The quiet tapping of Arie's spoon hitting the ceramic bowl began to get on my nerves. I did my best to squash the annoyance. It wasn't her fault.

The Legions were making themselves known to as many of us as they could. Arie was getting endless texts and emails with updates on family members who had either been recently returned from the Awakening and reintroduction processes, or who had just been taken away. We were all being scattered around trying to find our loved ones, or were helping others who were searching, leaving us to possibly fall right into the demon's trap. Yet, there was nothing we could do about it. That's how we were wired, unlike them. We had emotions. We were easily distracted, compared to them. We had to find our loved ones.

Even though I'd been on a high from the day before, the heaviness of the situation wiped the slate clean again. It was hard to revel in the tiny successes when hearing about new people experiencing the heartache that I had now been feeling for months.

It seemed the demons that I'd run into the day before were newly turned, easily destroyed. Even with hearing that though, my happiness couldn't be swayed. It felt pretty good to kick b.u.t.t like that. It also showed just how weak these new demons truly were. If they were building the Legions with lots of new members, it could really be a benefit for our side.

Because of the run-in at the library, we decided to do something pretty unprecedented and move things along a little quicker than the normal process. We were going to force contact. The thought that he may have seen the waves of prismatic colors from my soul bounce off the library walls gave us enough hope to pounce on things.

A battle was looming and the sooner we could get Athen back the better for us all, or even come to the realization that it might be a lot longer than we thought and prepare for the battle without him.

"Well, we've got some good news and some bad news." Cyril offered up, grabbing his gla.s.s of ice water.

"Yep! Think we are on the right track." Arie agreed, nodding her head.

"Okay, want to share it with me?" I was completely puzzled. We hadn't really been surrounded by much good news lately, so I wasn't sure what it could possibly cover.

"Athen and that serpent woman you keep seeing in your dreams do seem to be together. To what degree, we don't know yet... But tomorrow they are likely going to be together at that Starbucks we've been avoiding for so long. I think it's time to meet up with them both."

"So what's the good news?" I looked at Cyril while waiting for his answer, but he was just stirring his soup in circles.

"That was the good news."

Looking over all of my notes from my recent dreams made it pretty hard to stay focused on just one idea. I never wanted to miss something that I should have told my family when it came to my dreams and premonitions, so I made it my mission to take notes. Placing my journal back in the drawer, I looked at my wonderfully inviting bed, pushing away the sadness knowing I'd be climbing into it alone yet again.

It was pretty hard to imagine life as a typical nineteen year old any longer. I had given that notion up. Even when I thought I was one, I knew I wasn't deep inside. I was plugging away up in Whistler and everything, but even then, things didn't fit. Everyone would go out wanting to party, and I just wanted to curl up with a good book and Matilda snoozing by my side. The drinking age being what it was compared to the states made most of the under twenty-one crowd go crazy, and it just didn't do it for me.

Always thinking I bored the heck out of whoever I was around, I tended to do things I enjoyed, by myself. I knew I wanted someone to love, but didn't think that was possible, especially at my age. Little did I know I wasn't really that age, in the normal fashion. It was like the best present in the entire world to find out that this life was waiting for me and had always been mine for the taking. To have Athen show up, offering me a world that was beyond perfection and allowing myself to believe, truly believe in what was being offered, only to have him taken away so quickly, made me question everything. The worst question of all that I kept fighting became was it even worth it? In my previous existence, I didn't even know our love existed. I got through all of the days just fine. Knowing what I was missing was the most excruciating experience ever.

I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. We didn't come up with much of a plan for the next day, but I hoped sleep would bring one to me. Only time would tell.

My body jerked up with a sudden start as something awoke me. Realizing that my cheek carried the sensation that someone was running their finger along it, began my heart pumping wildly with the knowledge that someone had to be in my room. Scanning my room, the darkness provided the uncomfortable stillness that managed to make me dreadfully aware that I wasn't alone, only I couldn't see my visitor. I started panicking as I looked all around. I saw no one.

I reached up and retraced the tracks of the strange feeling on my flesh, not understanding what I actually felt. I tried to calm myself down, but the sound of my heart beating so quickly made it impossible that and the surge of the adrenaline that was running thought my veins. I slowly moved my body from the side position to flat on my back thinking I had a better shot of protecting myself if I could see the entire room at once, darkness or not. I did my best to move slowly, fearing that I might frighten whoever was in my room to act in haste and possibly hurt me.

I managed to slide both hands under my sheet as if that layer of cotton could somehow provide the level of protection I felt I needed. With only my head sticking out of the covers, my eyes darted from one breezy motion to the next. There was definitely someone in my room.

"I know you're in here. Whoever you are." I whispered, wishing I had chosen to play dead instead.

Athen's voice entered my head at the same time creating a calming force as I remembered back to our time in Seattle right before Thanksgiving. I was able to take a deep breath in as opposed to the shallow ones I had been taking since I woke up. I didn't understand the significance of Athen's words at this very moment, but all of the fear inside me began diminishing. I'd be okay.

I turned on my bedside lamp to see absolutely nothing, and I didn't care any longer. In fact, I was almost certain it was in my head - all of it. I was probably just in that half-dream, half-reality state that can make me so foggy sometimes. Doing a fabulous job of convincing myself of that, I flipped the light back off and fell back under the covers. Tomorrow was important and playing mind games all night wasn't going to be helpful. Feeling my body drift into the brilliant haze of someplace in between here and there, the figure continued to look on. I wasn't alone.

Chapter 11.

The comforter embraced me with a warmth that surrounded me entirely, as the sunlight radiated into my bedroom. I knew any more sleep was pointless; so I got out of bed and began my morning full of antic.i.p.ation, sprinkled with a little bit of fear. Our plan was to meet up with Athen at the Starbucks he seemed to frequent every afternoon. I hoped the sight of me wouldn't make him spring into action again and flee out the door without his latte or me. Arie and Cyril told me I'd be able to recognize the signs that he was ready, and I hoped they came in full force because being around Athen often made me unable to recognize that I was about to walk into a wall, let alone look for a sign that I don't even know exists yet. I pulled out the red wool sweater with the white piping that I was wearing on the day he was taken, in part, hoping that would spur some recognition on his end.

The sunlight sparkled into the bathroom where I was taking my bath. I knew today was possibly the day that I'd get to see Athen again, but I couldn't help but be nervous in addition to the excitement that was building. We'll be able to find out more concretely what the state of everything was in the next few meetings. It was such a peculiar experience. I almost felt as if I was stalking my prey, but I knew this was what they had to do time and time again for me, until that fateful night in Whistler. I simply hoped that this would be the only occurrence we would need, unlike their many failed attempts over the years.

I leaned back in the tub and tried to gain a bit of serenity before my nerves took over at the prospect of seeing Athen again. I listened intently to Bach's Air on a G String as the soap bubbles began to dissipate in the tub, reminding me I needed to start my day and hopefully become that much closer to getting Athen back. He seemed receptive, and now that may be lost.

We were on our way to the one and only Starbucks in town that I hadn't yet frequented because it was Athen's turf. This was the Starbucks that I wasn't allowed into because Athen had been there so many times before, and apparently, he was often not alone. She had been in there with him many times before. Unfortunately, I was able to sense that from the moment I stepped foot on this island. One of my so-called wonderful abilities, which is to be able to sense another's presence, to feel their energy really, lately only seemed to lead me into trouble. Now, it felt like a curse.

I'd rather have driven off of the ferry and right by this Starbucks not knowing he was in there and especially not in there with the serpent. It told me what I didn't want to ever think possible. Athen wasn't mine any longer. Hopefully he wasn't truly hers either, but only time would tell. The serpent, with her raven colored hair and her smile made of stone, seemed to have gotten to Athen immediately. Having her connect with him so quickly after his demise created a bit of conundrum for our family.

I wondered what all had taken place between them. The images of her fingers wrapping though his and whispering into his ear were hopefully the worst of the things that occurred. I was so creeped out at the thought, I made myself dismiss the images from my nightmares immediately. At this point, I didn't know if it was my jealousy disrupting my ability to foresee certain events or if these things were actually happening.

My stomach was in knots at the prospect of seeing Athen again, and possibly a.s.sessing the damage I may have caused by my previous mishap of running into him at the library. I did my best to focus on my abilities and dismiss the negativity that I was sure the dark demons kept planting inside of me. I was strong and was getting stronger by the day, but they still had the ability to grab hold of my weaknesses.

"So is everyone ready for their latte today? I think I'm having the Cinnamon Dulce latte," I tried to sound perky and get my mind off the impending encounter that was imminent, "I don't know why they take away their holiday drinks so fast. I really like Pumpkin Spice and Gingerbread, and I bet they would sell well at least through February."

"You could start a letter writing campaign in all of your spare time." Arie suggested.

"In between getting my soul mate back and fighting off demons of the world? Yeah, I guess I could stick it in somewhere." I said laughing.

"For a girl who didn't even celebrate the holidays, it's nice to see such an attachment to even the most commercial of traditions." Cyril said purely amused.

"Love does crazy things, I guess." I realized just the thought of getting Athen back had put me into my old spirits, and I was so relieved about that. I was beginning to think I'd lost my ability to care or be happy.

We were about a block away from the Starbucks that Athen visited every afternoon like clockwork, when I saw a line of cars in front of us. The traffic was completely stopped.

"What's going on? Can you see anything?" I asked trying to stretch my neck as far to the right as I could.

"I can't see a thing." Cyril muttered. "Maybe we should park on the street over here and walk to the Starbucks."

Glancing quickly at the tree lined streets, my happiness was interrupted by the sirens that began coming up directly behind us, and I immediately got concerned. I hoped that everything was okay.

"You know Athen will be there tomorrow. I don't want to get in the way of anything that involves sirens." I told Cyril and Arie, genuinely concerned.

My heart began to beat uncontrollably, and then my hands got clammy as they did in the library. I tried my hardest to concentrate on what I was feeling inside when I realized it was my worst fear.

"It's Athen. Something is wrong with Athen." I screamed letting myself out of the car and running towards the scene over a block away.

I heard Arie getting out of the car hollering for me to stop and she was right. I knew she was right but I kept running. I didn't listen to her. The scene was like a magnet pulling only me over. I had to see what was going on. I ran as fast as I possibly could without bringing attention to myself. As I got closer, I saw the ambulance already leaving that was on the scene, and a police car arriving near an intersection. From what I could tell by the people congregating, something happened in the vicinity of the crosswalk. I tried to push myself through the crowds, worrying more with every step that Athen was the one hit, wounded in the crosswalk.

"Miss, we need you to stay back." I heard the officer telling me.

"I was supposed to meet someone at the Starbucks, and they aren't there. Can you tell me what's going on?"

"There was some guy who was trying to save a little girl from getting hit in the crosswalk, but instead he got nailed. None of the witnesses really can figure out how or why the little girl was out there, or how he got there so quickly to push her aside. Her parents are over there. Undeniably shaken." The officer said, pointing to a family who looked like they now understood that every day was truly a gift.

The color was draining from my face. My eyelids were becoming so heavy. My arms felt as if they were pinned to my sides. The flashing lights bringing on a headache like no other, challenging me to stay focused. I knew it was Athen. He was trying to save a little girl's life. I tried to get the words out, but my lips could barely move, and no sound was coming out. They knew we were coming and planted that poor girl out there. The demons knew he still has good in him. His natural instinct would be to save her.

"I'm sorry Miss, what? Are you okay?" He asked as he was guiding traffic around the blocked lane.

"No, yeah, I'm fine. It sounds horrible. Is the guy okay?"

"Well, that's the really odd part. He hasn't a scratch on him, but they are going to take him over to Victoria General, just in case."

"Really?" Was all I was able to get out before the wave of nausea came flooding over me.

Arie came bounding up behind me.

"Is that the friend you were looking for?" I heard the officer asking me as he summed up Arie, which was always a hard thing not to do with her effortless beauty.

"Uh, yeah. That's her alright." I said, relieved for the timing of everything.

"Thanks for the info, Officer. Sorry to bother you."

Arie and I headed over to the Starbucks to regroup with Cyril. It seemed that our plans were not necessarily in sync with someone else's around here. It was now our goal to figure out who that could be.

"So that throws a wrench in things doesn't it?" I stated as I claimed chairs for us all. Cyril went to stand in line and order for us since it seemed like we would be here for a while trying to figure things out.

Arie grabbed the green plush chair by the window, and I grabbed the one next to her. I moved the little table close to me knowing I wouldn't do a good job of balancing things right now without a flat surface to help. My nerves were toast.

"Do you think he's okay?" I finally uttered the words that I'd been wanting to ask since standing next to the officer.

"Yeah, he's fine. If he wasn't, you wouldn't be able to wander around and speak to me. It would render you about as useless as the day he was first taken away."

"Well, I guess I should find some comfort in that one. Not to get overly c.o.c.ky, but it's kind of matching my dream, huh?" I offered.

Cyril was ordering our drinks and pastries when I felt another presence, one of us but on the wrong side. Arie caught my gaze as I searched the coffeehouse for the answer. I saw a couple in the corner looking at real estate ads, and a group of students snacking and doing homework. Nothing out of the ordinary until the door opened.

A woman with raven colored hair walked in with as much confidence as I'd expect from one of them. Her dark eyes and pale skin were such a startling contrast that I found myself taking a deep breath just to concentrate. She was the woman from my dreams. Everyone behind the counter waved at her as if she was a regular. With a sharp and sudden movement the creature turned her head to look over at us. She was beautiful, obviously a great facade. The demon was dressed in a dark grey wool coat and black faded jeans. She had an emerald colored scarf tied simply around her neck, and she looked very polished. When I looked in her eyes, I knew she recognized us immediately, and as if not to miss a beat she nodded at us and turned her attention to the workers behind the counter. There was a dark shadow following her. There was no rest with these beings around. I wanted to tear her apart. I wanted her to suffer like I was.

"Is Athen alright?" They all asked at once.

My heart plummeted to my toes, and I felt as if no air would go out or come in from my lungs. I thought someone literally punched me in the stomach. I braced the chair for support, but it gave me none. How could Athen be involved with someone like her. How could they get to him so quickly? Was this part of the plan or just a coincidence? I was beginning to believe there were no coincidences however. Arie reached over and grabbed my knee.

"Yeah, surprisingly so. Typical Athen, wanted me to meet him over at the hospital with a Caramel Macchiato as if he didn't just get hit by a car. Told me it was a tap at most." Her drawl floated through the air alongside her laughter.

My skin crawled at the thought of her mentioning his name. How dare she speak about Athen as if she actually knew him or loved him. I felt the anger brewing inside of me far more than I had before. I knew if I just looked in her eyes one more time I'd not be able to resist the temptation building inside of me. Cyril and Arie saw what was happening and quickly acted. Cyril grabbed my coffee, and Arie pulled me out of the chair so we could get to the car before I made a scene that would jeopardize everything and then some.

We made it to the car without incident, but I was shaking intensely and was so nauseous that I needed to lay down in the backseat. The coolness of the leather helped calm my nerves immediately. It shocked me back into reality, which at this point I wasn't really sure what that meant.

"Let me guess, this hasn't happened before." I blurted out.

"Not that I know of." Arie began situating my hair so she could slide in next to me.

"I think we need to do this sooner than later. Actually, I don't think, I know." I began letting the anger build into its normal productivity. My mind was zipping all over, playing as many scenarios as possible, weighing the different outcomes, and constantly pushing out the jealousy that was attempting to cast itself in all of my thoughts.

"What if they..." My voice trailed off. There was no way I could utter the words.

"They haven't."

"We don't know that."

"Yeah, we do. Don't think like that. Athen never lost hope in you."

"Well, was there a demon always trying to get with me?"

"That one time."

"Uh, yeah, but I was already with you guys, and you knew to expect it. This is completely different. Thanks for trying to make me feel better though." I rolled my eyes.

"We can tell it helped." Cyril quipped.

"Come on let's go home and figure out a plan B."

None of us had appet.i.tes, but Arie took care of us and made sure we at least downed some soup while we devised our plan of attack. There was no longer the leisure of waiting until we were sure he was ready. The situation was now such that we had to get to him before they did, regardless of whether he recognized me or not. We had to ensure that he was on our side, and when it happened it happened. We had to protect him. This plan was going to make it excruciatingly painful for me. Everything about it was constantly playing with my emotions. It was as if I had to be alongside of him, and he knew nothing about me, could care less really. I had to hope for the best, that he would recognize me soon, and we could reunite. But after seeing her today I wasn't so sure of myself or my situation.

"So this thing... You think she's part of the bigger picture? I'm guessing, yes." I asked as I picked at my bread.