Airel: The Discovering (Airel Saga Book Two)

Chapter VII

WE HAD A LONG breakfast. I talked with Kreios about when we could go back home. I blamed it on Kim and how her parents, too, missed her terribly by now. I felt caught between two unknowable things: my desire for everything to get back to normal as quickly as possible, and my need to reset and find out how to be who I needed to be from now on.

I asked Kreios about the Seer, but he didn’t really say much. Stan had escaped, and Kreios had been worried about me—so he flew straight home to check up on me instead of hunting down the monster. He told me he would be leaving soon in order to be sure of a few things, to wrap up the loose ends. I guessed that meant that we still had to be careful and stay hidden until Kreios could force an end to all of it. I didn’t try to push my luck with him. I knew he would just tell me that I needed more training.

Kim walked into the kitchen around ten thirty, changing our conversation and giving Kreios the cue he was looking for in order to leave. He said he wouldn’t be long, and to stay on the property.

Kim and I had a decently normal conversation, considering everything that had happened. Kim was somebody who could do small talk, and with a vengeance. Once she had got her fill of the usual breakfast fare—except that this food tasted so much better—we decided to take a walk.

We ended up following a trail I hadn’t explored yet, which was nice, because the other ones were haunted for me by Michael’s ghost.

The trail led up into a thick forest of quaking aspens that were holding on to the last of their bright orange leaves. Their chalky white trunks and branches were a feast for the eyes. It was an Indian summer kind of day: autumn, but warm. The trail took us through the trees and ended abruptly at the top of a cliff, probably forty-feet tall, that overlooked a little mountain lake. We could see fish jumping occasionally, making silvery splashes and ripples in the placid surface.

We decided to sit down, each of us “pulling up a rock” to soak up the rays. The sun was high in the sky, deep azure blue contrasting sharply against billowing white clouds. I thought about my mom and dad again. It was ripping me apart that they were worried sick about me, and I felt like it was within my power to go to them; it filled me with guilt. I wasn’t a prisoner, not anymore. I could just grab the keys to the Yukon and be done with it.

The only thing that kept me from going was that nagging feeling that I would do to my family what I already had done to Kim. Indirectly, sure, but still. If it wasn’t for me, Kim would never have been taken hostage and used as bait. I had new and much bigger responsibilities now that I had been activated.

Then again, if it wasn’t for Michael…

“What is the great angel thinking about now?” Kim asked as she lay on her back on a granite boulder, sunning herself like a lizard.

“Oh,” I sighed. “Mom and Dad,” I lied halfway. “I miss them.” Echoes of the hurt Michael had caused, along with my ebbing feelings for him, faded into the background as I forced myself to talk about something else. “And I miss my own bed and my own room. I think I won’t be graduating this year. I missed too many classes.”

Kim shrugged. “No worries. You’re smart enough.” I wasn’t sure I agreed with Kim’s perspective. “Besides, Kreios can teach you anything you ever wanted to know. He’s like what, four thousand years old?”

“Something like that. I hope this’ll all be over soon. I don’t know how much more I can take. We’ve gotta get you back, too—”

“No way. This is the best vacation I’ve ever had.”

I knew she was lying for me, trying to ease the pressure.

“Besides,” she continued, “until Stan is caught, we’re safest here. Kreios has something cooking, I can tell.” Her hands brushed away a bug that had found its way up to her cheek.

I closed my eyes and tried not to think, tried not to worry. It was nice anyway, to just lie still in the sun on a big rock. I decided to enjoy the moment.

“So whatever happened with James after we went missing?” I was curious. I hadn’t thought of him at all, but I remembered that Kim had a huge crush on him.

“Oh, James,” she sighed. “He took me out one time after, but something wasn’t the same. He was like, a shell of what he used to be. He missed Michael; I think he took it badly. He never talked much to begin with, but this was different. It was kinda pathetic, really. I felt like all he could think about was Michael. I just let it go; I didn’t want to be around someone who was so down all the time.”

“Well, they were best friends.” I wondered if James knew who Michael really was. I doubted it; he didn’t seem to let anyone in, even me.

“Whatever, though,” I said, trying hard again to relax and just enjoy the moment. I closed my eyes and lay my head back. It was a lazy day, and we had nothing to do but watch it amble past, like an old man with a cane. It was weird, like I could hear the footsteps of the old man in my head, shuffling past in the dirt.

When I realized what the sound really was, it was far too late to do anything about it.

“Hello, Airel. Did you miss me?”