Time - Chapter 19
I expected the worst when we flashed in front of an unassuming house in a humble suburb somewhere on Earth, supposedly.
This is a portal fantasy series with mythological roots and action-adventure tendencies. You can search through all my work on my website.
In the ashes of her past, she will rise up, and her death will save us all.
Lizzie ran from her past for ten years, zigzagging across the United States every few months, trying to outlast the prophesy that an oracle gave to her when she was just sixteen years old.
But nobody can run from their destiny forever.
After watching her friend brutally gunned down by a group of ruthless demons, she had no choice but to protect the woman’s child, and there was only one place where Lizzie knew the girl would be safe.
Bronard, Missouri.
Home.
She stayed away to protect her parents, but the girl needed mystical protection.
Her parents had taken in magical strays their whole lives, including Lizzie. If anyone could save the poor child’s life, it would be her mother and father.
But will returning to her home doom Lizzie even as she works to save the child she has vowed to defend?
I expected the worst when we flashed in front of an unassuming house in a humble suburb somewhere on Earth, supposedly. Kimberly had journeyed to other planets, but I figured even she couldn’t teleport between planets, at least not easily. The last time took a blood sacrifice and a god interceding on her behalf.
“Where are we?” I asked as we walked to the door.
“Toronto.”
“So it is Earth,” I muttered to myself.
“What?”
“Nothing,” I said quickly.
There was nothing that would have distinguished this house in Toronto from any other suburban sprawl. It was a clean, two-story house with a tented room and big, shuttered windows on either end of both levels. The bottom floor was wrapped by a wooden porch, complete with a rocking chair and trellis of vines that laid dormant and brown in the cold winter air. Nothing seemed amiss in the quaint neighborhood, which was a welcome surprise. I half-expected demons to be rushing down the streets, looting and burning the place for fun.
The house was dark when Kimberly pulled open the screen door and rapped loudly on it three times. “Nolan! Open up!”
The lights flickered on as footsteps thundered down the stairs. A squat man with thick, blond hair and thin glasses flung open the door hurriedly, dragging a long robe behind him. “My goodness, Kimberly. It’s half past midnight. Are you trying to give us a heart attack?”
She pushed past Nolan and walked in. “I’m sorry, but there has been an attack, and we needed to make sure you guys and Veronica were okay.”
Nolan adjusted his glasses and gestured me inside. “Veronica is perfectly fine. She’s asleep, or at least she was until you made a fuss.”
“Everything all right down there, sweetie?” a booming voice called from upstairs.
“It’s fine, Zachary,” Nolan said. “Just Kimberly.”
A few seconds later, a tall, thin Black man wearing a lavender robe sauntered down the stairs. “Oh, hi, Kimmy!”
“Nice to see you again, Zach,” she said. “I wish it was under better circumstances.”
“Oh please, you know I can’t sleep with Nolan sawing logs. I was just finishing a lovely book, and I was about to come down for some tea anyway. Can I get you anything?”
Kimberly and I both shook our heads. “No, thanks.”
Zachary caught my eye. “And who are you? My, you look a fright.”
I nodded. “Sorry, yeah. Both my parents died this week. I’m Elizabeth, but everybody calls me Lizzie.”
Zachary smiled. “I had a friend in school named Elizabeth. We used to call her lizard breath. She hated it.”
“I haven’t heard that one in a long time, but I don’t like it much either.”
Zachary held his hand out, and I shook it. “Nice to meet you. Sorry about your parents. Sure I can’t get you any tea? It really helps you sleep.”
“I don’t think we’ll be sleeping much tonight,” I replied.
“I have something that can help that, too.”
“Is that Lizzie?” Veronica exclaimed from the stairs. She rushed down in the dinosaur pajamas I’d bought, her hair pulled back in two big, bushy pigtails. “It is you!” She leaped off of the last stair and wrapped me in a big hug.
I gripped her tightly. “It’s good to see you, kiddo.”
I never thought I would see her again, and feeling her pressed close to me made me nearly burst out crying yet again, except that there was nothing left inside of me.
“Well, this has been lovely,” Nolan said. “But I’m very sure that you aren’t here for a family reunion. You said Veronica’s in trouble?”
“We think she might be.”
“I mean, isn’t that why she’s here in the first place?” Nolan said. “We haven’t taken down the wards or anything, and they’ve held so far every other time yo—”
“I know,” Kimberly said. “But demons just recently tracked us down at the safest house I’ve ever warded, which means they’re determined.”
“To do what, love?” Zachary asked as the teakettle boiled in the kitchen. “Do I need to get my gun?”
I chuckled. I didn’t know Nolan or Zachary, yet I liked them immediately and felt completely comfortable in their home. I lifted Veronica into my arms. “Hey, do you want some tea? Or hot chocolate?”
“Hot chocolate!”
“It’s late, dear,” Nolan said. “No chocolate.”
“Oh hush, Nolan. You’re such a fuddy-duddy,” Zachary said. “Come here, girl. I’ll get you some hot chocolate.”
“She’s gonna be up peeing all night!” Nolan said through gritted teeth.
“Honey, I don’t think we’re going to be sleeping much tonight anyway unless I completely misread this situation.” Zachary furrowed his brows. “In fact, I think I’m going to switch to some oolong.”
“How about coffee?” Kimberly said.
“Nasty,” Zachary said. “But if you want that bitter garbage, I’ll make you a pot.”
Nolan relented, and ten minutes later, we were gathered around the kitchen table, enraptured by the drinks in front of us. I agreed to a cup of coffee and had to admit that it was more than a little better than the swill I normally drank.
“Ancho chile powder,” Zachary said, watching me take a sip. “Gives it a little zip, don’t you think?”
I offered an appreciative smile as he disappeared back into his oolong, then turned my attention to Veronica, who had a dollop of chocolate on her nose as she tried to suck up the marshmallows with her tongue.
I winked at her. “You should try getting some in your mouth.”
“It’s better this way,” she replied, wiping the chocolate off her nose with her finger and then licking it.
Kimberly hadn’t spoken much since we sat down. “I think we should move her,” she said, finally.
“And then what?” Zachary said. “Keep moving her again and again and again for the rest of her life?”
“Maybe,” Kimberly said. “Or at least until I figure out what’s happening and how to stop it.”
“Are you sure you can stop it?” I asked. “Cuz I ran for ten years, and my prophecy still caught up with me, and trust me, those ten years sucked.”
“So, what? We should just let her stay here, waiting for her destiny to catch up to her, too? Waiting for the demons to come to find her?”
I shook my head. “It’s funny because for the past decade, you’ve been telling me I made the wrong choice, and yet, here you are, making the same one.”
“That’s when I thought the prophecy was hogwash. We’ve since had new information to prove that it’s very much real.”
“And that you can’t avoid it.”
“No, only that you can’t avoid it,” Kimberly said, tapping her fingers on the table. “Now that we know what we’re dealing with, maybe I can figure something—”
Red flashes illuminated the side of Kimberly’s face, and by the time I turned to the door, an explosion had rocked it off its hinges. It flipped over the living room, crashing into the TV. In its wake, three demons rushed into the house. I jumped up, ready to fight…for me, for Veronica, and to tell destiny it can screw itself. Neither of us was going to die in this twisted game.
This is a portal fantasy series with mythological roots and action-adventure tendencies. You can search through all my work on my website.