***
“Egan! Ailia!” Brenden excitedly called out as the front door opened. I looked up from my place on the couch, where I was cuddled into Egan as he flicked through a book on astral projection. Brenden walked into the living room with a grin on his face and a tiny puppy in his arms. “Look!” he happily attempted to point to the Staffordshire Bull Terrier pup without dropping it.
“We got Brenden a Staffy,” Andy explained, walking in behind Brenden and sitting on one of the lounge chairs.
Brenden laughed as the dog licked his face. The puppy was black with a small white patch over its chest. The dog’s tail began to wag when it saw Mikayla bound into the room behind Andy, scratching the dog’s ears as she walked past, “Isn’t he cute? I thought that having a demon detector would make Brenden feel a little bit safer.”
Mikayla looked at me, “Dogs tend to pick up on supernatural energies a lot easier than humans do. They’re very good at warning people about ghosts and demons. Brenden’s been having nightmares lately.”
Egan laughed. “You wanted a demon detector and got a little ball of mischief.” He flipped a few pages to the start of the next chapter in the book.
“Got a name yet?” I asked.
Brenden shook his head. “Andy only just gave him to me.”
“You should’ve seen the look on his face,” Andy smiled.
“I’ve never had a pet before!” Brenden exclaimed joyfully.
“Call it Bubbles,” Egan suggested.
I turned back to look at him. Mikayla also stared at him. Egan looked between the two of us. “What?” he asked.
“Egan, that is a Staffy. That thing is going to be butch. Calling ‘here, Bubbles’ to a butch little dog is not right.”
“Fine then,” Egan shrugged. “Call it something tougher.” Egan put an arm around me and pulled me closer to him. “This book is useless,” he told me, throwing it behind him. Brenden walked to the other chair and sat, setting the puppy on his lap.
“Wait,” Andy muttered, staring at me and Egan. “You two are cuddling.”
“Got a problem with that, Andy?” I teased. Egan smiled.
“Are you together now? You know, I kind of gave up hope of that one ever happening.”
“I think Egan realised how much he liked Ailia when she nearly died.” Mikayla said with a grin.
“Ailia nearly died?” Andy asked, mouth open.
I nodded.
“Haven’t you learnt to run from the fire yet?”
“Hey, it wasn’t my fault this time!” I defended.
“No, it was mine,” Egan told Andy.
“It was not,” I replied.
“I bet Michael disagrees with that.”
“Michael wasn’t even there when it happened. Besides, you were the one who pulled me from the projection. So we could say that you saved my life. Again.”
“No, I just pulled you from the projection while trying to save you from the demon, which I didn’t need to do if I left you behind.”
“Yeah, well, answer this one genius,” Egan’s eyes lit up when I spoke the last word. “Why was I projecting in the first place?”
Egan stared at me. “I need to do some more research,” he decided, standing up and walking back to the library.
“So, how did you nearly die?” Andy asked.
“I got attacked by a demon,” I told him casually.
“Like, full on grrr,” Andy attempted to do a demon impersonation, growling and waving his hands around. Brenden giggled.
“It bit her,” Mikayla told him.
“What? That’s it?”
“Andy, it ripped half my stomach open.”
Brenden looked up, “Seriously?”
I nodded. Brenden pulled the puppy closer.
“Did you get a scar?” Andy asked happily.
I nodded.
“Good one too,” Mikayla added.
“Can I see?” Andy asked.
I smiled and lifted the edge of my top up and pulled the band of my pants down, revealing my left hip.
Brenden looked up and turned away quickly, “That’s gross,” he muttered.
“That is awesome!” Andy enthused, walking toward me to get a closer look. “You have stitches and everything.”
“Well I would hope they wouldn’t leave my stomach hanging open.”
“How many stitches are there?”
“I don’t know,” I told him. “I wasn’t really paying attention. Lots.”
“She was too busy cutting off the circulation in my hand,” Egan returned to his former position, with three more books.
Andy looked at me.
“I didn’t have any painkillers,” I told him.
“You got stitches without painkillers? Didn’t that hurt?”
“Yes!” I said very loudly.
“That’s cool,” Andy muttered walking back to his seat. I shifted moving my clothing back over the stitches and snuggled into Egan again.
“So you were fighting demons?” Brenden asked.
“Yes. Last week. Ailia slayed the one affecting Kieran,” Mikayla replied.
“I thought she almost died,” Andy looked a bit confused.
“I did,” I replied. “I did the killing while I was dying.”
“Right. How does that work exactly?” Andy asked.
“She astral projected out of her body,” Mikayla explained. “And fought the demon while she was in the astral plane.”
“Which is..?”
“It’s a separate dimension where supernatural beings hang out,” Brenden replied, scratching his dog behind the ears. “Some people can travel out of their bodies and wind up there.”
Everyone looked up at him.
“How do you know?” Andy asked. I had a feeling that all of us wanted to know the very same thing.
Brenden shrugged awkwardly. “Must’ve read it somewhere.”
“You can read?” Andy asked Brenden with a shocked look.
“Ha ha,” Brenden replied with a smile. “Just because I don’t read doesn’t mean that I can’t.”
Andy smiled and shrugged.
“Also useless,” Egan concluded, throwing the book behind him to join the other. Brenden’s ungainly puppy jerked his head up. Brenden smiled and pet the dog until he was comfortable again.
Egan picked up another book from the arm of the couch and looked through the contents. “Not even going to bother trying,” he declared. That book joined the others. “Is it really that hard to find a book explaining astral projection?”
“What book did you read?” Andy asked Brenden.
“I dunno,” he replied. “Must’ve been years ago.”
“Ailia!” The door burst open, revealing a bright eyed Michael. “I had an idea.”
“Wait, you’re not yelling at me?” I asked. I fully expected Michael to go nuts when he first saw me.
“Not-yelling-at-her I can deal with.” Egan shifted to get a better look at Michael. “Why aren’t you yelling at me?”
“I have a way to find out who summoned your demon!” Michael told me. He turned to Mikayla. “Is your boyfriend around?”
Mikayla smiled and shook her head. “He’s at home.”
“Good,” Michael replied. “He messes with my head. Egan, have you still got those pictures he drew?”
“Yeah,” Egan jumped over the back of the couch and sorted through a bunch of papers on the kitchen bench.
“And while you’re at it, I’m going to need a map of Scotland. A highly detailed one.”
“Mikayla, there’s one in the room at the back. Could you...?”
She nodded and walked down the hallway. “What are you going to do?” Egan asked. He pulled a pile of pictures from a cupboard and handed them to Michael.
“Dowse for it.” Michael smiled.
Egan turned to look at him. “How did I not think of that?”
“What’s dowse?” Brenden asked, moving into the dining area behind Michael.
“Dow
sing,” Michael corrected. He reached into his pocket and pulled out what appeared to be a lump of crystal attached to the end of a chain. “I can use this and a map to find out where the circle is.”
“How?” I asked.
“You’ll see. I’ll teach you to do it later.”
Mikayla returned with a large map of Scotland and placed it on the table in front of Michael. She looked at the item in his hand. “Pendulum?”
Michael smiled.
Mikayla’s eyes widened and she started to eagerly sort through the pictures with him while Andy, Brenden and I watched curiously. Brenden was still holding the puppy, which was getting a bit restless and trying to bite Brenden’s chin.
“Will that have enough detail?” Mikayla asked, looking at the picture Michael was holding.
“It’ll have to,” he muttered. “The other one’s too broad.”
Michael sat down in front of the map and moved the picture he selected next to the map.
He held the pendulum above the map and adjusted the chain so the rock dangled freely. He lowered the gemstone closer to the map so it was separated from it by only a few inches.
Michael closed his eyes and placed his left hand on Samuel’s drawing. The crystal started to move, swinging on the chain, forming circles. Michael positioned his hand above the map so the crystal circled different areas of Scotland. The circles became smaller in certain areas and Michael concentrated on these. Eventually, the crystal honed in over one area. Michael opened his eyes and placed his finger next to the crystal, pulling the chain away so the crystal was out of the way. “There’s your circle.”
“I think I have a more detailed map of that,” Egan mentioned. “Hang on a second.” Egan left the room and returned with a smaller map, concentrating on the forest area Michael pointed out. Michael repeated the crystal and chain dowsing, pointing out the position on the map he’d decided must be the circle’s location.
Egan grabbed a pen from the bench and marked the map where Michael’s finger was. “Field trip anyone?” he asked with a smile.