Thorny Sunday

John quickly dropped to his knees beside Brenda, his heart racing in panic as he examined his fallen mother.

“Mom,” he exclaimed, his voice pitched high as he lightly shook her. “Please, get up!”

“Ugh,” the disoriented woman groaned and her eyes fluttered open. “John? What, what happened?”

A small wave of relief washed away some of John’s mounting anxiety.

“That’s, um, a bit complicated,” he answered as he helped her sit up. Brenda looked around, blinking in confusion at the shift in scenery. Gone were the parking lot, cars and store and instead they were in a clearing of a forested environment, with tall trees and an overgrown underbrush surrounding them.

“What happened to the store?” she asked in a panicked voice, scrambling to her feet. “Where are we? Did we get hit by someone? Are we-?”

“No, we’re not dead,” John cut her off, running a hand through his hair. “How do I explain this?”

“Explain?” Brenda repeated. “Explain what?”

“When I woke up Monday morning, I had magic powers,” John confessed.

That seemed to throw Brenda for a loop and she stared at him for a long moment before repeating, “‘Magic powers’? What are you talking about, sweetie?”

Rather than answer, John took a step back and summoned the Greatwood Sword. Brenda flinched away at the sudden manifestation, her eyes widening even more. John dismissed the weapon and said, “I’m basically like a video game character, but I don’t have the time to explain it. We have-”

John was cut off by the sound of snapping sticks. He whirled towards the sound right as a vine hound stepped out of the underbrush. John dashed to put himself between Brenda and the hunter, re-summoning his sword. The presence of the first monster he fought only reinforced his hunch on what was happening. Whoever had attacked him on Monday, and the Dawnseekers the day before, had come again.

‘Senka,’ John thought, drawing the spirit into his aura. She had been gracious and had retreated to her personal domain to give him time with Brenda without her in his ear. Her presence flowed into him, and he felt her surprise as she became aware of the situation.

‘So much for a calm Sunday,’ she thought, her tone deadly serious.

‘Yeah,’ John remarked, eyes tracking the hound as it stalked them. ‘I’m going to summon you. Protect Mom.’

‘I think we should hold off on that,’ Senka advised before John could enact his idea. ‘We don’t know how many are out there or what abilities they have. Revealing myself only serves to give away that you are not alone.’

John was hesitant to follow her advice, fearful that he wouldn’t be able to protect his mother on his own.

‘You aren’t alone,’ Senka said, clearly picking up on his worry. ‘I am still here, and the girls will be coming. The beacon will have triggered. We just have to hold out until they come.’

John blinked and grinned, seeing the light in their hopeless situation. If their adversary’s goal was to isolate him, then getting reinforcements was their worst case scenario.

‘Just have to hold out until the cavalry shows up, right?’ John asked her, feeling a surge of confidence push back the tide of fear and doubt that had been slowly consuming him.

‘That’s right,’ Senka said. ‘And I’m not just a useless spectator in this state. We have Shadow Caster as a backup.’

‘We never actually sorted out how that works or how we choose the move for it,’ John lamented as he watched the hound stalk closer.

‘Level ten. The Alpha was seven, right? This guy’s stronger and it’s not even an Alpha,’ John noted.

“John,” Brenda said, her voice quivering. She stepped right up to him, nearly pressed flush against his back. “Is that some kind of plant wolf?”

“Yeah,” he answered. “And it’s not exactly friendly. Just stay behind me. I’ll take care of it.”

The hound chose that moment to attack, its maw opening wide and sappy drool flying everywhere as it lunged towards them. Brenda let out a terrified yelp and reflexively stepped back as John planted his feet and swung his blade.

15 DMG

John’s counter knocked the hound to the ground. A part of him wanted to attack while it was down, but Brenda’s presence gave him pause. His indecision allowed the vine hound to regain its footing and it let out a growl as it began to circle them.

“Mom, keep me between you and it,” John ordered as he began to mirror the beast’s movements.

“This is your job, isn’t it?” Brenda asked as she followed his movements. “This isn’t the first time you’ve had to do something like this.”

John felt sick at the accusatory tone of her voice, his guilt over lying to her, even though it was reasonable, welling up. Still, with things as they were, there was no point in keeping up the charade.

“Yeah,” he admitted. “I got pulled into the deep end of things right away.”

The hound growled as it began to tense, and Brenda said, “Probably not the place or time to chide you over this. Just, be careful, John. I, I…”

Her choked up voice redoubled his guilt and it wasn’t hard to guess what she was trying to say.

‘I’m not going to let you die,’ Senka thought to him with steel in her voice. ‘And neither are the others. We will get out of this.’

With the spirit’s words bolstering his resolve, John tightened the grip on his sword. Survive long enough for the others to come swooping in, then deal with the fallout.

---

“So, what’s the plan for today?” Beth asked as she nibbled on her breakfast sandwich. Cammie had, somehow, anticipated the time they would leave John’s and had prepared a number of egg sandwiches with all the fixings.

“Can’t really do training,” Aeolia said. “Be a bit rude of ya to get all sweaty before having dinner with our boyfriend’s mom.”

Vivian frowned into her tea, feeling slightly guilty over the whole thing.

“None of that feeling bad about it,” Aeolia ordered. “Can’t control what she does, and as far as she knows, it’s just you and John.”

“Doesn’t mean I can’t feel bad about it anyway,” Vivian muttered.

“Why’d you accept it then?” Beth asked, waving her half eaten sandwich about.

“It wouldn’t be right to decline her offer,” Vivian explained. “John’s mom is a good person and he made it seem like I was all alone in town. Not exactly too far from the mark. She just wants to make me feel at home.”

“Then don’t spit on her hospitality,” Aeolia said with a firmness in her voice. “Senka and I know and accept that we can’t just pop over for tea, for various reasons.”

“And I’m too new to have an opinion,” Beth chimed in before taking another bite of her meal.

“You can be John’s clingy coworker who doesn’t respect his personal boundaries,” Aeolia jibed.

Beth stuck her tongue out playfully, displaying her half chewed bite of food.

“Or proper manners, it seems,” Vivian added with a smile. “I’m being silly worrying over this whole thing. Thanks.”

Aeolia shrugged. “Sometimes you overthink things. Let those of us with less brain power take over for a bit.”

“Yeah, I’m good to shoot off dumb ideas all day,” Beth added with a grin.

Vivian laughed, tension leaving her body. She was about to counter Beth’s self-deprecation when she felt something tug at her. It felt like a small **** pressing against the center of her forehead and it caused her stomach to drop.

“The beacon’s going off!” she gasped out as she pushed herself out of her seat, the chair nearly falling over from her sudden movement. The redhead raced out of the room, Beth and Aeolia in hot pursuit. She skidded to a stop when she reached her office, her heart stopping. The beacon sat atop her desk was illuminated by a solid golden arrow.

Vivian’s shaking hands shot to her choker and pulled out her phone, the communication device nearly slipping through her unstable digits. She unlocked it and dialed John’s number.

“Pick up, pick up, pick up,” she muttered, waiting for the dial tone which never came. When John’s voice mail message played, she desperately ended the call and was about to dial again when Aeolia placed a hand over hers before she could.

“Take a breath,” Aeolia said in a firm voice. “Panicking isn’t going to help. We need smart Vivian. You made the beacons for this kind of thing, now let’s use it to figure out where John and Senka are so we can go save them.”

Aeolia’s presence and words managed to tap back some of her panic and Vivian took the ordered breath. She looked at Aeolia with a silent thanks and said, “Right. Got to work out where the signal was lost.”

With renewed fire, Vivian marched into the office, Aeolia on her heels. She placed her phone next to the array and pulled up the map. Before she could begin to narrow down where the signal was lost, a shuddering breath stole her attention.

“John’s really in trouble?” Beth asked, her voice uncharacteristically small. Vivian glanced back to see Beth standing in the doorway, rooted to the spot as if entering would seal John and Senka’s fate.

Aeolia shot Vivian a quick glance and nodded to the array before the winged woman moved back towards the newest member of their romantic group.

“You’re doubting Vivian’s work?” Aeolia asked, her tone soft and non accusatory.

“No,” Beth answered, shrinking back slightly despite Aeolia’s calm voice, making her look smaller than the winged woman. “It’s just, is this really happening? Like, I know it happened before and all, but right now?”

“Beth, look at me,” Aeolia ordered in the same firm voice, gently placing her hands on the dark haired girl’s shoulders. She slowly obeyed, fearful and teary eyes meeting Aeolia’s resolute ones. “We’re going to find where the signal got blocked, and we’re going to head there and save them.”

Vivian felt herself spurred on by Aeolia’s conviction and she redoubled her efforts. The array already gave her the rough distance between it and where John’s beacon had been as it was cut off. With direction and distance known, she traced a line to the proper distance, cursing the fact that there was still a full kilometer’s worth of area John and Senka could have been ****.

She ignored Aeolia consoling and encouraging Beth, eyes darting about the map, trying to determine the likely place John would have been. Then she saw it.

“I think I’ve got it,” Vivian announced, her voice far louder than she intended, as elation and hope pushed away her anxiety. “There’s a grocery store in this area. And…”

She trailed off as she realized two things: one, John would have been there because of the upcoming dinner, and two, his mother could have been caught up in the initial attack.

“And it’s my fault,” Vivian breathed out.

“No,” Aeolia snapped, pulling away from a less panicky Beth to take hold of the redhead. “If these are those blood stealing bastards, they would have attacked regardless of what we were doing. But we’re going to stop them, and save John and Senka.”

“His mom might be there,” Vivian said in a quiet voice. “She wouldn’t be if she didn’t invite me to dinner.”

“We can’t get caught up on ifs and mights,” Aeolia growled. “We’ve got people to save.”

“Aeolia’s right,” Beth spoke up, some fire returning to her voice. “We’ve got an idea where they are. Why are we still here?”

“That’s more like it,” Aeolia said, glancing down at Vivian’s phone. “And we shouldn’t hold anything back. Think we can use that blood kin thing and get Teri to bring ‘round some of her fighters?”

“We might,” Vivian answered, her willpower restored. “We earned that title by putting ourselves at risk for them. Stands to reason we can call in the favor.”

Aeolia nodded before she made for the doorway.

“You call and get the goblins on board,” she said in a firm tone. “I’m going to fly straight there.”

“Alone?” Beth asked.

“Can’t really fly with a passenger,” Aeolia answered quickly. “Not that far. And the faster John and Senka get some backup, the better. And I can fly there faster than you could drive.”

Unable to find fault in her logic, Vivian nodded, her lips drawn into a grim line.

“I’ll be careful,” Aeolia promised, turning back to the redhead and cupping her cheek. “And I’ll make sure John and Senka are too.”

She gently urged Vivian’s head down until their lips met in a soft kiss to seal her vow. It lasted too short to ease the redhead’s worry stricken heart, but Vivian let her winged lover pull away. She watched her walk away, slowing only to repeat the ritual with Beth, murmuring a few more words of reassurance to her before hurrying to collect her glaive and depart.

Pushing away the cloying dread, Vivian picked her phone up once more and pulled up Teri’s number.

---

The air whipped around Aeolia as she flew as fast as she could, the rushing wind doing little to drown out the thunder of her heart in her ears. Despite her efforts, flashes of Zeph, Thomas and the others kept invading her thoughts, which led to her seeing John and Senka in similar states.

‘No, don’t think that!’ she chided herself, banishing those foreboding thoughts. ‘They’re fighters. They aren’t going to go down.’

She shook her head, clearing away every thought, good and bad, and trying to center herself. She focused on her breaths as she flew unseen above the town, letting nothing but the heave of her chest dominate her attention. It was an old technique passed to her by her grandfather.

‘Still your thoughts,’ he had instructed her. ‘Don’t let your mind wander. It can be just as treacherous as any foe and can defeat you before any enemy draws against you.’

She heeded his words of wisdom, letting the negative thoughts disperse with her exhaled breaths. Mind focused, Aeolia looked down at the streets below her.

‘There,’ she thought as she saw the wide open space of the grocery store’s parking lot. She dove down and landed on one of the lamp posts that dotted the lot. It didn’t take her long to feel the presence of the barrier and she leapt down towards the prickly feeling magic. When she hit the edge of it, she let out a pulse of mana. Breaking into or out of a barrier was a matter of strength, and from her experience, it was easier to get in than out.

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