Demon

Brad

After the talk about Ron’s announcement dies down, I look over at Stef, and she nods. “Well,” I tell everyone, “you guys aren’t the only ones with some news.”

Everyone looks over at me. “Oh yeah?” Ron asks. “What’s up?”

I feel a giant grin spread across my face. “We’re having another baby!”

There’s a general outburst of oohs and aahs and congratulations. Brenda and Laura immediately turn to Stefanie and start asking her all the details, about how far along she is and how she’s been feeling and stuff.

Brenda gets a sort of sly look on her face and says, “I admit I had a feeling. I had noticed you seeming like you felt kind of queasy a few weeks back.”

Stef laughs. “No kidding! This time was a lot worse than last time. The morning sickness is all over now, though, and I’m feeling fine.”

“Second trimester for the win!” laughs Laura.

I glance down at Jon to see how he’s taking it. Natalie is sitting there on the floor with him, hanging on to his arm and talking about how exciting it is that a baby is on the way. “You’re going to be a brother, Jonathan! Oh, I’m so excited! Ooooh - I’ll bet that Socks is going to love having a baby around!”

Jonathan is smiling and nodding. He seems happy to listen to her go on about his impending brotherhood, and to let her hand rest on his arm.

But then, I see something pass across his face, a flash in his eyes, not of annoyance, exactly, but almost of awakening, like he had been far away in his thoughts and suddenly came back to himself. He gives a little shake of his head. Then he jerks his arm out from under Natalie’s hand.

Her eyes widen, and she pauses, her hand left hanging in the air. Gabe and Timothy both lean in, staring at what is happening.

But what is happening, anyway? I have no idea. These kids have been a mystery the last few weeks.

Natalie looks to the side, away from Jonathan, and then looks back into his eyes. He leans his head away from her, with a strange expression on his face, like he is confused about what he is doing sitting so close to her.

She slowly reaches her hand out, and places it again on his arm. Rather than jerking away again, he simply relaxes, and sits quietly again, still and silent.

What the heck?

I’m wondering if I should go over there, offer him a cookie or something to interrupt whatever weirdness is happening, but then I hear Stefanie say my name.

“Brad has been so happy about it. He’s got a million plans about how to move our furniture all around to turn the office into a nursery.”

“Do you have the baby furniture you need? A crib and changing table and things?” Brenda asks me.

“Yeah, I think so,” I respond. “After Jonathan outgrew that stuff I just stored everything up in the rafters of the garage. I plan to start hauling it out in the next couple of weeks, after the holidays are over.”

The conversation about the new baby continues. I glance over at the kids. They’re just back to chatting quietly together again. I must have been mistaken that there was anything wrong.

Natalie’s

For the first time since that moment on the school playground weeks ago, there is a flash of Demon’s presence. Just the barest glimmer, a mere wisp of dark matter brushing against Jonathan’s soul, only to evaporate again as soon as Natalie once again touched Jonathan’s arm.

What has happened?

Guardian and I, and our companion Guardians, all share a moment of amazement, relieved that we have seen confirmation that Demon still exists, and is still tied to Jonathan. The disappearance of a Guardian has been deeply unsettling for all of us. We begin speculating about what has occurred.

Of course Natalie perceived it at once, the moment that Jonathan removed his arm from her touch, his eyes full of an expression of more emotions than have been there since his Guardian vanished. “Is Demon back?” she silently inquired.

By the time that she asked and I answered, it was already over. “I believe, very briefly, Jonathan’s Guardian attempted to reappear. It was only the faintest hint of his presence, now already gone again.”

She hesitantly replaces her hand on his arm, as the last vestiges of Demon’s presence again fade, and Jonathan relaxes back into the quiescent state he has inhabited for weeks.

“We’ll talk about this more later,” she silently tells me.

“Yes, my darling. Yes, we will. In the meantime, of course, the other Guardians and I will carefully attend to every aspect of Jonathan’s status.”

She does not pause in her renewed conversation with Jonathan, discussing again the news of both her family’s living situation and the baby that will soon be born to Jonathan’s family. She silently affirms her awareness of my statement, as she watches Jonathan closely while she speaks.