Chapter Fourteen: Never Give Up
Egan jumped up and ran to the kitchen cupboard, frantically pulling items from it and throwing them at Samuel or Mikayla, occasionally the odd item flew to Michael as well. Flasks of water, strange rocks and torches all flew through the air, barely missing Andy or Brenden’s head at times, but always landing perfectly in the hands of the recipient.
Egan ran back to me, “Take these,” he told me, pouring a heap of crystals into my hand. “They’re salt crystals; they’ll harm the demon if they touch it. And this,” he handed me a flask of water, “Is holy water. Take Andy and Brenden into the forest and line the clearing with it. Make sure they’re safe,” he instructed.
I nodded, standing up.
“Ailia,” Michael ran over to me. “While you’re lining the clearing with the water, imagine white light like the shield. It’ll cast a circle around you. If someone or something walks through it, you’ll have to re-cast it. Just do the same thing again. Trust your instincts,” he advised.
I nodded again and walked over to where Andy was comforting Brenden. “Come on,” I instructed. Andy took Brenden’s hand and pulled him up.
“Ailia,” Egan called, throwing something. I caught the torch without even knowing where it was.
I quickly led Andy and Brenden through the room. Brenden picked up the barking Benji as we went. I ran through the backyard and ducked through the gap in the fence, shining the torch for Andy and Brenden. Once they were through, I lead them down the path to the clearing. I stuffed the salt crystals into my pocket on the way.
When we reached the glade I told Andy and Brenden to head to the centre. I poured holy water around the clearing, all the while imagining the white light as Michael instructed. When I finished, I joined Andy and Brenden in the centre of the opening.
“There’s a demon in there, isn’t there?” Brenden asked with a worried look on his face.
“Yes,” I whispered.
“Put Benji down,” Andy suggested. “He’ll be able to warn us if it’s coming this way.”
Brenden nodded and placed the dog on the ground. Benji ran to the edge of the circle and lay down, facing the pathway. He was only a puppy, but his instincts told him how important this was.
Andy pulled Brenden into his arms, “It’ll be okay,” he muttered into his ear. I moved to stand behind Benji, wishing I knew what was going on inside the house.
“Ailia,” Andy called.
I looked behind me at him.
“What happens if the demon comes here?”
“I fight it,” I replied, gently touching the salt crystals in my pocket.
“What do we do?”
“Keep safe. Keep each other safe.”
Andy nodded.
Benji picked his head up. I looked down the path to see two figures stumbling through the forest. I caught Mikayla as she fell into the circle; Michael was helping her. We sat her down on a log and Michael took Mikayla’s jacket off.
“Re-cast the circle,” Michael instructed.
I ran back to the edge of the clearing and swept my hand across where Michael and Mikayla came through, imagining brilliant white light pouring from my hand. I ran back to the others when I finished. Michael gently pulled the back of Mikayla’s top up, revealing a large wound along her back.
“Eww,” Brenden muttered, pressing his face into Andy’s chest.
Michael placed his right hand just above the cut and began to heal it.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Your demon is way too strong,” Michael replied.
“What’s it trying to do?” I asked no one in particular, turning back to look in the direction of the house.
“Michael, we should have you around more often,” Mikayla smiled. “Sean would be a lot less sick of us.”
Michael smiled. “I’ll see if I can teach Ailia to do this before I have to go back home.”
“I thought you forbid her from hunting.”
“Oh, she’s not allowed to hunt,” Michael said with a grin. “But healing I’ll allow.”
“I hate to tell you this, but I don’t think you’ll be able to stop her from hunting.”
“Why? Because your nutter of a boyfriend said so?”
Mikayla shook her head, smiling. “Because Egan decided Samuel was crazy and tried to defy everything he’d predicted. It didn’t work.”
“Oh, I see. And if Egan can’t manage something, no one can,” he muttered with a sarcastic edge to his voice.
“You obviously haven’t tried Egan’s cooking,” Andy said.
I walked towards the edge of the circle gazing at the place where the trees blocked my view of the house. Something was wrong, I felt it. I couldn’t explain how or why, but I knew something wasn’t right. It was an urge I couldn’t ignore. “I’m going in there,” I told them.
“You are not!” Michael said firmly.
“Michael, something’s wrong. I feel it. You’re the one who’s always telling me to trust my instincts.”
“Are you sure?”
“Do you think I would say this if I wasn’t?”
Michael sighed, “I’ll go with you.”
I shook my head. “Someone needs to protect them.” I looked back at Andy and Brenden, then down at Mikayla.
“Michael,” Mikayla said softly, “If there’s anything Ailia proved last week, it’s that she can look after herself.”
“I hate when you’re right,” Michael murmured, gazing at me. Silently he passed me his athame. “Be careful.”
I trotted past Benji turning to seal the circle again before sprinting down the path and into the house. I winced at the pain in my hip, but did my best to ignore it. I needed to get to the house, the sooner the better.
When I arrived it was dark and it was quiet. I strained my ears for the sound of a battle, but heard nothing. I waited for my eyes to adjust to the absence of light noticing the table thrown across the dining room. A dining chair was in pieces in the kitchen. My grip around the athame tightened.
Slowly I moved through to the living room, breathing heavily. There was no one there, only darkness. I intuitively knelt down and found one of the crosses Egan kept around the house as a ward against demons. It was broken in half.
“Samuel!” I heard Egan groan.
I quickly moved in the direction of his voice, half relying on instinct to tell me where he was. I found him in the hallway, attempting to pull himself up by a door frame. I ran to him catching him as he fell. “Ailia?” he coughed. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m trying to help you.” I lowered him to the ground. I tried to look him over and determine the extent of his injuries, but he knocked my hand out of the way.
“I’m fine,” he spluttered.
“You don’t look it.”
Egan shook his head. “Samuel disappeared. I don’t know where he is.”
“I’ll find him, okay? We’ve got to get you to safety.”
“No,” Egan spoke quickly. “Find Samuel first.”
“Egan, Samuel can wait. He can look after himself.”
“No,” Egan insisted. “Use your energy sensing or whatever. Find him.”
“You are unbelievable!”
“All part of the job description,” he grinned.
I shook my head and closed my eyes. I found Samuel’s energy signature easily and got up, running back to the lounge room. Samuel was in the corner, with his arms wrapped around himself and his eyes closed. Why hadn’t I seen him before? More importantly, why hadn’t he sensed me? I discarded the questions. I could ask them later. “Samuel?” His eyes flickered open.
“Ailia,” he whispered, “Egan...”
“I know. He’s refusing to leave without you. Come on.” I held out my hand. Samuel took it and I helped him up. We walked through the room toward Egan.
“I thought we could fight it,” he whispered. “It’s too strong.”
“It’s okay,” I told him. “We’ll find
a way. We just have to get everyone to safety right now.”
Egan was sitting in the hallway. “Can we go now?” I asked.
“I don’t... can’t...” Egan muttered, placing his hand on his head.
I crouched down in front of him. “Egan,” I whispered, “We have to go now.”
“Ailia, I don’t have the energy. I can’t block it...”
“You can,” I insisted. “You can always block it.”
“Egan,” Samuel spoke. “I can never get into your head and you don’t even try to block me. Surely you can consciously block a demon.”
Egan shook his head. “I’m trying!”
“Can we get out of here? Will it help?”
“I can’t move,” Egan replied.
Samuel looked at me. “If it’s blocking movement, it’s already in his mind.”
I shook my head. I refused to believe there was a demon inside Egan hindering him. He refused to trust anyone because of this. But now, now he trusted me. That, I realised, could have screwed up all the work Egan had ever done to make sure no one or nothing could ever enter his head. I was his weakness.
A weakness was something he’d never had before. I turned Egan’s face so I could look into his eyes. They were drifting away, slowly. The determination usually there was disappearing.
“Egan!” I cried. Surely there must be something I could do! With no options left, I forced my lips against his. When his lips responded, I knew I may have found an opening. I kissed him harder.
Egan’s arms encircled my waist, pulling me closer. My mind drifted away from the fight, from everything. It was only me and Egan. I wanted to stay like this forever.
A crash in the living room brought me out of the pleasant fantasy and I pulled back. “Come on!” I cried, pulling Egan up. Samuel got on the other side of him and pulled Egan’s arm over his shoulder. We slowly staggered through the house and into the backyard. With some difficulty we guided Egan through the gap in the fence, but managed to get him limping down the path.
“How did I ever survive without you?” Egan murmured in my ear as we made our way to the clearing.
I smiled, standing on my toes to kiss his cheek. We stumbled our way through the circle and sat Egan on another log. Michael jumped up behind us to close the circle again.
“Where?” Michael asked, crouching beside Egan.
“Calf and lower back,” Egan replied.
Without a word Michael pulled up the leg of Egan’s jeans, revealing a large wound running up his left calf, beginning at the ankle and ending half way up Egan’s lower leg. Michael immediately placed his hand over the injury and began to work the reiki energy.
“What happened?” Andy asked. He was sitting with Brenden.
“Do you really want to know, Andy?” Mikayla asked gently.
“No. No I don’t.” Andy returned to his conversation with Brenden.
Egan looked to Michael. “I didn’t think you would let Ailia go in there.”
“I didn’t want to,” Michael replied. “She insisted.”
Egan looked at me.
I shrugged. “I could tell something wasn’t right.”
Egan took my hand. “Never thought I’d be glad to see you in the middle of a battle.”
I smiled.
Michael finished with Egan’s leg and pulled the cloth back down. He walked around the back of the log and lifted up Egan’s shirt to work on the lower part of his back. “Maybe you were right. We really can’t stop it,” Michael sighed, looking at Mikayla.
She smiled, leaning on Samuel, who sat next to her.
“What do you think?” Mikayla asked Egan. “When do we go back?”
“I’d rather not fight that thing again until we’ve cut the connection with the summoner,” he replied. “Play it safe and wait until morning?”
Mikayla nodded.
“So we’re going to be out here all night?” Brenden asked.
“Unless you’d rather go back and risk being attacked by the demon?” Michael replied.
“I’ll take option one,” Brenden gulped.
“I thought so,” Michael muttered.
Michael stood up, finishing his healing on Egan’s back. He stepped over the log and sat on the other side of me.
“I get the feeling this is going to be a long night,” Andy murmured.
“You’re not the only one,” Egan whispered, wrapping his arms around my waist.
We waited.