36 Chapter 36

I looked at my phone. Courtney was calling. That alone told me there was trouble. I answered quickly. "Are you guys alright?" I asked as soon as I answered.

"Micheal passed out." Courtney replied sounding panicked.

"Is he still out?" I asked.

"Yes." she replied, her voice sounding like she was on the verge of tears.

"It's alright Courtney, he will be fine. I passed out too." I told her. "He should wake up soon. How is everyone else, are you alright?" I asked again.

"We are fine Daryl." Courtney replied as she forced herself to calm down. "Micheal was pulling up to a red light when he passed out. We hit the car in front of us. Heather is talking to them while I watch over Micheal."

"And the others?" I asked.

"In the cars behind us. Oh Megan got out and is talking to the guy we ran into with Heather." she replied, sounding much calmer now.

"Alright good, where are you?" I asked.

"About a half mile or so from you. If you head north, we are at the next big light." she told me.

Seemed she was still terrible at giving directions.

"Alright I will meet up with you guys soon." I told her. "Micheal should probably wake up before I get there."

"Okay." she said but didn't hang up. A moment later she spoke again. "Thanks Daryl." she said then hung up.

I snorted then looked over at Caly who was practically bouncing in her seat. "What?" I asked her.

"I advanced!" she told me excitedly.

I stared at her stupidly unsure what that was or why she was so excited about it.

"He has no idea what that means." Delilah reminded Caly.

That seemed to calm her down. "Oh, right." she said, sounding a bit disappointed.

"I am sure he will be just as excited as you when he understands." Delilah said again, trying to console her.

Caly shook her head. "It's fine. It was my mistake." she replied.

I felt a little bad, though I knew it wasn't my fault. I got up out of my seat then held my hand down to help her up. She took it and slid out of her seat. As soon as she was standing I pulled her close and kissed her lips.

"Congratulations." I told her when I let her go.

Caly looked at me in a daze for a moment then smiled brightly and her face flushed.

"Seems there might be some hope for you yet." Delilah commented.

I rolled my eyes then wrapped my arm around Caly's waist and guided her out of the restaurant. Once we were outside I turned my attention to the newest addition. "Sorry about that." I told her. "Things have been a bit crazy around here."

"That is to be expected. I am actually surprised how calm everything seems." the air elemental said as she looked around.

"I filled her in a bit, and even told her what conditions Enya and I are enjoying." Delilah told me.

"If what she says is true, I wouldn't mind staying with you." the air elemental told me.

I eyed the air elemental for a couple moments. "Do you have a name already?" I asked.

She nodded. "I was given the name Sil by a previous master. I liked it so I kept it." she informed me.

I nodded still contemplating whether I should bond the air elemental. I didn't have any reason not to, but at the same time I didn't have a reason to either. Delilah was already a fount of knowledge and I now had Caly too. Despite that I remembered that Delilah had recommended adding more elementals to help fight against the twisted, so I had to consider it from that angle as well. After a few moments of thought I offered her the same contract I had with Enya and Delilah.

Sil looked over the contract for a few moments as we walked north to meet up with Micheal and the others. Once she was sure the contract was what she expected it to be she agreed to it. I sensed her addition as soon as she agreed to the contract. As she immediately started pulling on my energy reserve it was easy to notice.

"So now you have three elementals. Do you have any of the other elemental abilities?" Caly asked as she walked. She had leaned into me wrapping her own arm around my waist.

"No, I haven't tried to gain those abilities yet." I told her.

"You may not be able to get any of the others." she warned me.

"Why?" I asked.

"Compatibility." she replied. "Three elements is not unusual, but anything more, unless you are balanced, is unusual."

"Balanced?" I asked. "Oh wait, let me guess, all of the elements?"

Caly nodded. "It is actually pretty rare." she told me.

"I guess that makes sense." I said.

"It would be amazing if you were one of the elementally balanced." she went on.

"Why?" I asked. "I am sure having six elementals would make fighting the twisted a lot easier, but…" I said then trailed off.

"We do, but there is only so much we can do." Delilah admitted.

"We are much more useful when we grow into common elementals." Sil chimed in.

"That will be some time yet." Delilah replied.

"True, but at least it is only a matter of time, instead of chance." Sil replied.

"Huh?" I asked, getting confused.

"Don't worry about it. You will understand when I have a chance to explain about cores and abilities." Caly told me. "And no, not because they are useful in fighting the twisted. It is because you have spatial storage." she told me.

"I don't get it?" I admitted after a few moments of thought.

"It's fine, I will tell you about it later." she told me.

"Later again?" I asked.

"Do we have time now?" she asked me.

I looked around but we were close to the road Courtney had told me about and I could see Micheal's truck crashed into the back of a blue minivan. Probably a good thing he didn't hit something smaller. Megan had parked her car right behind Micheal's. All three cars had their hazard lights on so that the traffic knew to go around them. Which is exactly what the other cars were doing, though not without taking a good look at the situation.

"No I guess not. Ready to meet the others?" I asked her.

"Yes." Caly replied confidently.

I tried to unwrap my arm from around her waist but she held on tighter.

Micheal had woken up and was out of his truck talking to an older man. A pair of teens remained inside the car playing on their phones. I didn't recognize any of them, but it would have been odder if I had.

As we reached the street I saw that Heather and Megan were in Micheal's truck and the cries of a little one convinced me it was because of Bryan. I hoped the little man was fine. He hadn't been crying when Courtney called me, so it shouldn't be because of the crash.

As we waited for lights to change so we could join the others at the crash, I saw one of the doors of Megan's car open. Karen stepped out wearing black shorts and a plain but tight dark blue t-shirt. She looked over at Caly and I as we waited. I wasn't sure what it was, maybe my own paranoia, but she didn't seem to be very happy.

For a moment I wondered why I was even bothering to try and juggle multiple women. Was I just being greedy? I had to admit that I probably was. I could just pick one of the girls and leave it at that like most normal guys would. Then again I wasn't a normal guy any more. That thought startled me for a moment, but I had to admit it was true. If I was a normal guy I wouldn't have even met Caly, and my interactions with Grace would be nothing more than strangers passing each other in the hallway at most. Megan and Karen were a bit different, but at the same time not.

I shook my head as I realized where my thoughts had gone. I kept telling myself I would just go with the flow, but every time I had an extra moment to spare I worried about it. I knew part was my own insecurities, and part was the incredibly unusual situation I found myself in. Hopefully I would get used to the situation soon, I wasn't completely sure yet but I had a feeling that Karen and Caly weren't going anywhere unless I really fucked up.

"Is that Karen?" Caly asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

I nodded. "Yeah. Megan seems to be in the truck helping Heather with Bryan, he is Micheal's son, remember that when you see him. Grace should be in the car, wait, where is Samantha?" I wondered looking around but no matter how hard I looked I didn't see Samantha, and when I really tried, I didn't see Grace either.

"At least you have good taste." Caly told me.

I frowned at her but before I could even attempt to understand here meaning the lights changed colors. We quickly started walking across the street to join the others.

Micheal gave me a quick wave as he continued to talk with the irate older man. I didn't hear what they were talking about as I was completely focused on Karen who was watching us approach.

Caly finally released me and stepped away as we reached Karen.

Karen looked Caly over for a few moments before looking back at me. "We aren't going to be making this a habit are we?" she asked.

"No." I said a bit defensively.

Karen nodded then sighed and walked closer before hugging me. I wrapped my arms around her giving her a tight hug in return. She gave me a quick peck on the lips before stepping back and looking at Caly again. "I can't say it is nice to meet you Caly, but you are welcome to join us." she told her.

I frowned, I hadn't told Karen Caly's name.

"Oh, and you need to thank you mother for giving me a heads up." Karen said looking back at me. "Without that, I probably would have been pissed for at least a day, even if it wasn't your fault."

"Oh I forgot about his mother." Caly exclaimed then looked at me with her eyes bright. "Is she really a sage?" she asked.

I shrugged. "She has told me about as much as my father has." I replied.

"No, she claims she isn't." Karen told her. "She said you would ask, said something about having the vision, but not strong enough to claim being a sage."

"Whatever that means." I grumbled.

Karen gave me a smile then pulled me into another more passionate kiss which I welcomed.

"Alright, go help Micheal while I talk with Caly for a little while." Karen told me after she broke the kiss.

I frowned a bit worried about leaving the two women alone.

"Go, some things need to stay between girls." Caly encouraged.

I glanced back and forth between the women. As they both seemed to want to be left alone I had no reason to refuse. They would have to figure out how to get along eventually, I couldn't watch over them constantly.