This is a Gift

When Liadan opened her eyes again, she was only vaguely aware of being outside of a house in her neighborhood. It was a two story house, surrounded by trees and other houses. It looked normal as could be, painted a dark gray with wooden paneling along each window. She focused on these facts instead, because she was lying on the grass, Aaron kneeling by her and Debi’s hands on her.

“I don’t think he got a major organ,” Aaron was telling Debi. Debi had her eyes closed, nodding as she listened to Aaron. “But if we hadn’t found them when we did it would have been fatal.” His words were coming out quickly.

“Lia, honey, are you with me? Just hold on, okay?” Debi was looking at Liadan, but Liadan wasn’t focused on Debi. A group of people were suddenly pouring out of the building. Before they got very far, a wall of weeds and branches stretched out and sprang up from the ground, making a wall of greenery to block their path. One woman tried to run past it, but a branch from a tree on the other side of the drive way looked as if it reached out and grabbed her, caring her yelling body up into the air.

“I need to go.” Aaron stated simply, his eyes, too, on what was happening. Then, he disappeared.

Liadan’s attention turned back to herself; her back was warm and humming, tingling all over. It wasn’t unpleasant, but it wasn’t comfortable, either. Debi’s eyes were once again closed, and Liadan realized her hands were pressed to Liadan’s sides. It was hard to tell if the warm sensation was erupting out of Debi and into Liadan, or if her own back was just hot. The grass was poking her skin, and it was amazing to her that not a single neighbor had walked outside after all the screams. Next to her, she also became aware of Gina, eyes also closed tightly in concentration, fingers pressed to her temples.

Debi opened her eyes. “You should be okay now.” She smiled down at Liadan. She began to stand up, grabbing Liadan’s hand and pulling her to her feet as well. Gina remained seated, the battle between Channels and plants still going, with trees bending and swaying, becoming massive bats against various limbs. One tree caught on fire.

“Come on, kiddo, get in,” Debi said, guiding Liadan to a maroon Pontiac parked on the side of the road near them. “We have about a five second window here.”

Liadan climbed in the car slowly, Debi assisting and making sure she was buckled before walking to the driver’s side. Aaron was nowhere in sight. “What about David?” Liadan asked.

“Gina!” Debi yelled, climbing in and swinging her door shut. Gina stood up and ran and jumped into the backseat, silent as always. “If Christopher did as planned, he’ll be all right.” Debi said, the car speeding off.

“Thank you,” Liadan said to the both of them. Gina caught her eye in the rearview mirror and gave her a small smile, then turned to look out the window.

Debi glanced at her. “How are you feeling?” She asked, and Liadan shook her head.

“Just a little shook up,” she replied. She looked down at her clothes; they were covered in blood. She felt her stomach lurch. She knew she had been stabbed in the back, she just hadn’t wanted to put that thought into words, but there it was.

“You’re safe now,” Debi told her, noticing her reaction. “Get some rest.”

Liadan nodded, but she felt too shook up to sleep. For the first time in her life, she had felt legitimate fear. Someone had admittedly tried to kill her, and she couldn’t just sleep. It was too unsettling to her that she had no idea how she’d even gotten into that situation. Instead, she laid her head against the window and watched the houses go by. It was early morning, and the sun was beginning to rise over the houses. It was usually a peaceful time, but the nerves she felt deep in her chest were not.

Later, in Professor Craven’s living room, she sat with a cup of cocoa in front of a fire place. It was the day before Halloween and the place was decorated to the nines. His living room had a built in fireplace, surrounded by wooden paneling and built in bookcases. The wood was a deep chestnut color, which combined with the cooler air and firelight gave it a warm inviting atmosphere. Cobwebs were draped from the corners of the mantle to the ends, and mini pumpkins were sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace, next to black cat statues.

“The first encounter is always the roughest.” Debi sat down next to Liadan on the couch. Liadan was staring at the floor now, barely sipping her cocoa. The couch was tan and comfortable and Liadan really just wanted to fall asleep on it and forget what had just happened. Debi put a hand on Liadan’s back and rubbed, and Liadan winced.

“It’s all healed now,” she said softly, giving Liadan a small smile.

“Maybe physically,” Liadan replied ominously. She wasn’t far yet removed from the events for her emotions to settle, but she knew herself well enough to know that it might take a long while.

Aaron walked in through the front door. “I checked the perimeter. We’re covered.” He sank into a recliner, closest to the fire. “Chris and David back yet?”

“Nope,” Debi said, rubbing her neck. “I don’t know if I should be worried.”

“Ah, you know how Chris is. He gets distracted most of the time.” Aaron kicked off his shoes and laid his head back.

Professor Craven walked into the room from the kitchen, carrying a tray of tea and cocoa, followed by Gina, who was carrying sugar and a tray of cookies. She sat down on the floor by Liadan a few moments before Christopher appeared, just on the other side of a glass topped coffee table. There was a popping sound as they arrived, and Liadan felt that if she had blinked at that moment she would have missed it. He was covered in sweat and a few twigs were sticking out of his hair.

Immediately Debi stood up, “Where’s David?”

“Outside. He’s a little…”

Debi cut him off, “I know.” And she turned and walked out the front door.

“Sorry, everybody,” Christopher said, pushing his glasses up his nose and turning to look at them all. “We got a little sidetracked. I think I shouldn’t have taken us back to the fifteenth century.” “Ya think?” Aaron asked, lifting his head off the recliner just long enough to give Christopher a look.

Christopher sat down next to Liadan on the sofa and smiled brightly at her.

“She hasn’t spoken since we got back.” Gina told him, her eyes cast down. She was seated on the floor by the coffee table, the tray of cookies in front of her. She held one up to her mouth and took tiny bites, furthering her mousey appearance.

Liadan sipped her cocoa. She didn’t have anything to say. She was too exhausted to think, and too unnerved to sleep.

“It will get easier, Miss Ryan,” Professor Craven told her, passing out the mugs of tea. It took her a moment to realize he’d sent the message telepathically.

She didn’t look at him. She didn’t know how to express what she was going through.

“You look so sad.”

Liadan turned and looked at Gina. For the first time in the past two months, she was finally speaking. Liadan stared at her a moment before she spit out, “How could I not have any memory of getting kidnapped? What happened? Why didn’t somebody stop them?” She looked emphatically around at the faces in the room. All of them seemed blank and unsure how to proceed.

Gina pulled away from Liadan as if she’d been slapped and it made her feel a little bad, but being as emotionally drained as she was, she didn’t have anything left in her to do anything about it. The front door opened, David and Debi coming back in.

Aaron looked at Liadan from across the room. “You really think we just let Julian try and kill you because we had other things going on?”

David stopped, “Hey, man, chill out.” He looked the worse for wear, with tired eyes, and blood covering his shirt.

“You were alone. You and David,” Debi explained. She walked into the room past her brother, and made her way towards Liadan. “You were ambushed. They wipe your memory on purpose; to disorient you. It works alarmingly well.” She gave Liadan a half sympathetic, half ‘get over it’ look.

Liadan set her cocoa down. “What am I supposed to do now? If I can be attacked at a moment’s notice, how do I protect myself?”

Professor Craven smiled at her. He was standing by the fireplace, his eyes twinkling. “You start fighting back.”