I hadn’t realized that Lune was sitting next to me, until he stands and becomes tense; his ears shift back and forth, and his eyes lock on Christopher’s bedroom door. Artemis reacts in a similar way to her father, except she is growling deep in her chest. Her soft guttural rumble is eclipsed by a clatter and crash that comes from behind Christopher’s door. Closely watching the light shift underneath the door, Ann and I jump as someone howls and starts screaming curses … the voice doesn’t seem to be human. We spring from our chairs in unison, knowing that the noise is coming from Christopher; and at the same time, knowing that what waits on the other side of that door, is no longer the Christopher that we care so much about.
I look over at Ann just in time to see her lock eyes with Lune. She is terrified, an expression that seems foreign to her character. I feel Lune bristle next to me, and then move forward to block the doorway from Ann. His legs are spread wide, and he lowers his head as if he is stalking the evil entryway. He flashes his teeth in a disfiguring grin, the skin on top of his muzzle ripples as a murderous growl escapes his mouth. Unexpectedly Artemis moves stealthily between Lune and the bedroom. She is facing her father, pressing her head against his. When he doesn’t settle, she takes a defensive posture … she is going to protect Christopher, even if that means she has to fight Lune.
“What is the matter with you, guys? He’s just a nineteen-year-old kid … Come on. Lune, sit! Artemis, go lay down!” Artemis glances quickly at me; making momentary eye contact … she is telling me Lune isn’t going to budge, so she isn’t going anywhere.
I decide the only way to stop this standoff is to prove that Christopher is harmless. I shift between Ann and my chair and step out beside Lune; he turns his head and sets his growling sneer on me.
I look up at Ann, confused by the intensity of his response. “Is there something more in that room with Christopher? Is V here?”
“I … I haven’t seen him. I don’t know; I can’t sense things like Christopher and Ellie can.” She shifts from one foot to the other, suddenly self-conscious of talking about Ellie in the present tense. I can see her flinch at the name.
“You know why he’s suddenly lucid, don’t you?”
“I think he was listening … I’ve heard him like this before … this rage is very, very dangerous. Lune is just trying to protect you … from your own caring nature. Please, Michael, don’t go in there … I think it might be best if you leave the cabin entirely.”
“No, absolutely not! If he’s as dangerous as you believe, then it’s just as risky for you to stay here as it is for me.” Ann’s eyes are filling with tears and her hands start to shake; so she balls them into fists, trying to hide her fear. It never occurs to me that Christopher’s extraordinary story could have been completely factual … that he could have hurt Ann this badly.
I had felt as if I was playing some sort of role-playing game, one that felt real enough; but somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew it would end, and I’d return to reality. Now, I can see how wrong I was … I have entered a world where the fantastic is real: beautiful and enticing, but also dangerous and cruel. A society, whose knowledge I’ve dreamt about possessing since I was a kid, is now expecting its membership dues … and I don’t think I can afford the fees.
Looking at Ann as if I was seeing her for the first time, I see a woman that never had anyone in her life who didn’t try to hurt her in some way. I want to save her, to protect her with Lune’s passion, “Ann, come with me … let me take you to my house, where you could be safe.” Silently adding, "Where I could keep you safe."
“No! No, I can’t leave him like this. If listening to us is what set him off … then I owe it to him, to stay. I don’t think V is manipulating him, and even if he is here … Christopher won’t ever let V influence him again.”
Ann is releasing and clenching her fists, like she is pumping up a bicycle tire, and rolling her head, trying to force the anxiety out of her neck. When she sets her eyes on me, I could swear I saw them soften apologetically for a split second.
Then that breathtaking gaze becomes hard, and even though, her eyes still hold a warm glow in their color, they turn cold as she speaks again. “Anyway, what do you think an average human, like yourself, could protect me from? Are you so naive to believe that a simple wooden door could keep all of this, out? ” While talking, she viciously sweeps her arm through the air as if she was slashing through fog with a sword.
I stand there in the middle of Lune, Artemis, and Ann, feeling like a complete idiot. I don’t belong here … what in the hell was I thinking. “I don’t need this from you, Ann.” Lune responds to my angered tone by sliding further into his crouch, ready to pounce.
I instinctively raise my forearm to block his teeth from reaching my throat. Spreading my feet and bending my legs, my body is prepared to collide with Lune’s massive force. Anticlimactically, I watch him turn his head, and the snarl leaves his face as he focuses on our guest, still sitting in the chair by the stove. Looking up at Ann, I am irritated to see that she has turned her back on our argument and is now facing Cassandra, too.
“Damn it! If this is going to turn bloody … then get it over with!” I have so much adrenalin rushing through my heart that I can feel my pulse in my ears. I want to hit something … anything. Turning away from the maddening woman, I stride toward Christopher’s room, which has grown silent … but I am too angry to care why.
“No … Michael, wait!” Ann’s voice is urgent and screaming.
“Too late, Ann … no more games, let’s just get this over with … and maybe if you’re lucky, Christopher will kill this naïve, mere human!"
Quicker than I would think possible, Ann runs in front of me and places her hands on my shoulders. If it wasn’t for the look on her face, I would push her out of the way. As it is, I can’t stop myself from grabbing her wrists, and roughly pull her hands away from me. She doesn’t struggle; she just looks up at me and quietly says … “He’s here.”
“Who?!” I am not going to let her distract me from my anger … and she must have realized from the pitch of my voice that I really don’t care ‘who’. Saying it just gives me something to yell at her … as meaningful as a caveman screaming Augg.
She presses her body closer to mine to reinforce that she needs me to stop and listen. I still have a hold of her wrists, hard enough to be painful, but she shows no sign of discomfort. Our arms are trapped between of us; and as she presses forward, harder into my chest, I can feel my knuckles digging into her ribcage. She tilts her head back, exposing her neck, and rises up on her toes. She runs her lips across the scruff on my chin and jaw line, stopping when she reaches my ear. I can feel her heart racing against my fingers, and hear her panting lightly against my ear … she is frightened again, but this time is different.
Whispering into my ear, her breath makes the hair on the back of my neck rise, “V is here! Cassandra had a vision of him sneaking around the side of the cabin. He’s affecting our mood, taking away our feeling of solidarity; he’s hoping that we’ll turn on each other. Cassandra said, she thinks he’s outside Christopher’s window … and he may have been there since yesterday.”
“Could that be what pulled the kid out of bed last night?” My adrenaline never slows, but my anger is starting to recede as I whisper back into her ear.
“There is a very good possibility that is exactly what happened. Christopher isn’t in any kind of shape to wrestle with V’s power. Now, we may have two extremely dangerous adversaries behind that door … or, maybe, V took advantage of Christopher’s weakness; and we just listened to him fight for his last little bit of sanity.”
“What has Cassandra seen? Can she tell us anything about what has happened, or what will happen?”
“She said that she doesn’t know what state Christopher’s mind is in; she can only see him standing in there … looking out the window.”
In the midst of the intimacy of our position, I have to ask, “Why aren’t you telling me this from across the room … using your talent?” I don’t mind, now that I am calmer; I find that I am enjoying the scent of her hair and the pressure of her body. But this isn’t the time for contact, and it is hard to keep my thoughts straight.
She laughs softly against my cheek, “Because you wouldn’t listen … and I thought maybe if you felt the same way about me, as I do concerning you … I thought this might get your attention.”
I can feel the heat of her blush, and I reprimand myself for being so easily distracted. “We need to go into that room. Whatever or whoever, we find in there … I personally can’t leave Christopher in there alone.”
Ann rubs her wrists after I’ve released them, and takes a step back. I am about to apologize when I hear her voice in my head … “Don’t you even think about saying you're sorry … not after what I told you. Just for the record, I never would have allowed Lune or Christopher to injure this naïve, mere human … who I have become rather fond of. V will never have that kind of power over me.”
Nodding at Ann, and trying not to blush or stutter, I turn to speak with Cassandra, “You may want to hide, or at least stay out here. I wouldn’t want you to be hurt by whatever is coming.”
I hear Ann’s disembodied voice again, “She says that we will be fine … and that we should make sure to take the dogs with us.”
When I turn to look back at Ann, she shrugs … it doesn’t make sense to her either. I motion indifference back, and pat my thigh, calling Lune and Artemis to my side. Walking tentatively to the door, I quietly turn the knob, and while standing to one side of the doorframe, forcefully throw the door open.
The dogs race past me into the room, and then, just stop … I find myself suddenly feeling very naked without my sidearm. Christopher is tense, with a defensive stance, with his head tilted slightly, listening intently to a spot of thin air in front of his window. Both of the animals are crouched, ready to attack … and I have a momentary flashback of how scary Lune was when I was on the receiving side of his anger. Instantly, I know I am out of my element, and my gun would do nothing to even the odds … but that doesn’t stop me from wishing I had it in my hand.
When I hear Ann’s voice this time … it is loud and clear next to me, deep and thunderous; she would make a Marine Drill Sergeant proud. “Leave, V! You are not welcome, and you are outnumbered!”
Lune is the first to attack. He jumps with precision and would take down, if not kill, any man … but instead of tackling his enemy, he flies into the wall with a low thump that shakes the whole cabin. Shortsighted by his anger, and need to protect, he made an almost fatal mistake … hitting the corner of Christopher’s closet. I am sure he must have broken some ribs. Now, he lies on the ground whimpering.
Christopher is the first to react, screaming, “NO!” He rushes at an invisible entity that I imagine is hovering over Lune’s broken body. I understand, from Christopher's stories that he doesn’t have the ability to see the creatures the way Ann does … he told me that James had trained him to understand where they were from their voices, and then Lune trained him further by allowing him to look through the dog's eyes. Watching the attack through Lune's eyes, and then watching the failure and consequential pain must have erased any remaining rational thought. I know that he will be just as effective as Lune had been against this intangible danger; but that doesn’t stop Christopher from trying to protect his dog.
Ann stiffens next to me, and when I look at her, I notice she’s moved aside giving room for someone else to enter the room. Everything happens so quickly, Artemis turns toward what I can only imagine is Cassandra, and responds as if she is being spoken to. Then just as quickly, Artemis turns and jumps over Christopher’s back. I watch as her teeth clamp down on something at about the neck level on a standing man. She scrambles her front paws up around her muzzle, bears down with her back feet, and then starts thrashing her head back and forth … tearing at whatever is between her jaws. I am completely stunned by the sight of the pure white wolf pup playing a deadly game of tug of war five feet off the ground, seeming to be floating in midair.
Christopher stands, and with a wild expression, focuses on Artemis’s unseen victim. Ann, who has been standing next to me with a look of horror, watches Artemis’s attack with seer’s eyes. The carnage must have broken through her shock as she covers her ears and starts screaming.
“Christopher! Stop, please …” Ann is pleading with Christopher; her screams dissolving into sobs.
Out of the corner of my eye, I can just make out a misty, electric fog: like the black smoke of an oil fire at night, when suddenly highlighted by lightening. When I turn to focus on Christopher and Artemis, the sickeningly oily energy disappears, but I know what it is … they are killing V.
The kid’s face is contorted with a mixture of angst and murderous rage. His eyes, which were shining with a brilliant, iridescent color just a couple weeks ago, have changed to a muddy dark blue. They are rimmed with red, swollen from crying, and look painful, only adding to his crazed expression. His jaw starts flexing, and the veins in his neck and arms stand out against his skin, straining with the effort of attacking V. Somewhere in his face and body language, I find exactly what was scaring Ann when we were in the other room. This is the animal that I sensed, as I watched him interact with the wolf pack. This is what the wolves saw, what brought apprehensive respect from even the alpha … he can be one of the most powerful, and possibly dangerous, creatures to walk the earth. His indifference is palpable, the complete lack of sympathy in his eyes … I know he is capable of compassion; but he simply no longer cares. Christopher’s power, if used with no consideration or empathy, has devastating potential. The fear pitted in my stomach tells me exactly what Ann is wailing about … she isn’t begging for V’s sake, she is mourning the loss of Christopher, and dreading the impending birth of a monster.
There is no stopping the attack; but in the midst of Christopher’s concentration and Artemis’s assault, they are getting much too close to Lune’s injured form. Even though I know I could be included in the massacre if I ventured too close, I have to try and get to Lune, so that I can tend to his wounds. Moving as cautiously as possible, I creep behind Christopher, and crouching, I look into Lune’s half-open eyes. He exhales with a low growl that turns into a whine … I need to move him into the other room, and out of the line of fire. He lets out a loud yelp and nips when I pick him up; but he is in no mood to fight with me over moving him, so he lays his head against my chest. I listen carefully over the ruckus in the room, and can’t hear Lune having any breathing problems … no shortness of breath, or difficulty inhaling. I am deeply relieved by the fact that he doesn't seem to be showing symptoms of a punctured lung.
“Damn, Lune … you meathead, what did you do to yourself.” He whines again as I carefully shift him around in my arms, so that I can support his ribcage.
When Lune cried out, Artemis lost focus and V finally succeeded at throwing her off. I move out from under Christopher with Lune in hand, and run for the door, barely missing Artemis as she flew back onto the bed. Turning to look back, just as I pass through the doorway, I see that the effort of mentally keeping a hold on V is becoming too much for Christopher to handle.
Quickly carrying, Lune to one of the dogs’ pillows, as gently as possible, I lay him down. He lies on his side, and doesn’t try to sit up to take the weight off his ribs … again, a good sign that if he did break his ribs, he didn't damage his lungs. Just as I start to run my hands over his flank, I hear Christopher roar, “NO!”
I have been wondering how he could have possibly found the energy to fight after being bedridden for the past two weeks … I guess strength can come from profound places when you’re tentatively holding onto that much rage. Pushing myself back from Lune, now that he is safe; I need to help Christopher and Ann. Looking up, I realize that Ann is standing over Lune and me; her head is shifting between our injured friend on the floor, and our young friend that is shouting in the bedroom. She is obviously torn, so I tell her to stay with Lune.
Re-entering the room, first thing to catch my eye is Artemis scrambling on the bed, trying to find the footing needed to lunge at V again. In shifting my eyes toward Christopher, my peripheral vision fleetingly sees the black mist again, V … just as he starts passing through the glass, and out of the window. Christopher is on his knees, with his hands balled up and pressed against his thighs. Head hung low, and shaking with exhaustion, he is muttering, “no, no, no” through gritted teeth. He's refusing to believe that V has gotten away.
