Chapter Twenty Eight

I woke up in the evening at around 4:00pm. Compared to how I felt in the morning this was a lot better. I felt like I could do anything except for the crushing hunger that I now felt deep in my gut. 'Damn, when was the last time I ate anything.' There was a knock on the door prompting me to look in the direction of the already open door. Ciara stood at the threshold of the door arms crossed. "Someone enjoyed their sleep," she chuckled.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Your fever cooled down about four hours ago. Your mom said it would be best if we let you rest," she explained.

"How bad was it?" I asked.

"Well over a hundred degrees Celsius. We just didn't have anything that could measure higher," she explained emphasizing the word 'Celsius' so I would know just how dire the situation was. I got up before realising I was shirtless and walked to my closet to pick one out. "Are you feeling okay? Your mom was very opposed to the idea of taking you to hospital."

"Yes, I am. Ciara, what happened?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I know yesterday was not a mistake. So why did you say so?" I asked.

She sighed before taking a seat on my bed. "Jacob confronted me today morning to reprimand me on the way I was treating the Siege. Pinning it all on me mistaking emotions of remorse to be something else," she explained whilst looking everywhere else but at me.

"Oh, it was Jacob. That makes sense," I said and she looked up to me surprised.

"How come?"

"Open your eyes Ciara. He was always by your side before we started whatever it is we started. It would be obvious for him to be jealous," I explained and watched as her face turned red. I offered my hand and she took it and stood.

"So what do we do now?" she asked. Huh, the alpha is asking the Siege for his opinion. I could tell our generation was going to be a special one.

"We could start by getting me what to eat because I am starving. We'll worry about this another time," I said. She took a moment to think then started pushing me hastily towards my bathroom. "What is going on?"

"I'll go whip up something for you. You got brush your teeth and take a shower," she asked.

"Where is this coming from?" I complained while being pushed towards the bathroom, "how are you moving so freely about my house. You mean you have met my parents."

"Oh yeah, I did. They are such nice people. Your mother was the previous Homage. Seeing as you didn't know magic till just a few weeks ago, it is safe to assume your parents never told you about it themselves. They didn't feel like hiding anything when I showed up because they figured since I am Dave's child, I am the alpha. Also plus explaining your body temperature would have been hard. That's the story of how I became well acquainted with your family. So now all of you don't have to act like you have never seen magic," she explained and with that she shut the door of the bathroom in my face and left to go downstairs to the kitchen. Yay, I may just have a girlfriend and she has met my parents before we even put labels on our relationship.

…......

I came downstairs and was greeted by the lovely scent of coffee. I took a seat at the dining table and watched Ciara and my mom together in the kitchen before decided it was a bit weird and went to the TV table. I mean, I know this eventually a consequence if she and I ever got serious but this was way too early. To top it up they were both singing along to the same song which I obviously did not know. They seemed like they were having fun. I was about to tip toe to the living room and put on the TV when the door swung open and my dad shuffled in holding two huge grocery bags. I jogged up to him and helped him take them to the kitchen. "Kevin, what are you doing home this early?" he asked.

"Hank honey, have you forgotten me calling earlier that he had come home with a fever," she yelled from the kitchen.

"Oh yeah," he said with a hint of realisation. He rushed over to me and started putting the back of his hand to his forehead, "How are you feeling my boy?"

"I'm okay now, Dad," I whined. Dad's attention was suddenly stolen by a light foreign giggle that filled the room. Ciara had lost her composure and couldn't help giggling at the way my Dad was acting.

"Who's the nice young lady?" he asked.

"This is Ciara. Dave's kid, fingers crossed, and she came to check in on him about five hours ago," she said.

"You mean she has been here that long," Dad exclaimed. Mom simply squealed whilst raising up both her hands with her fingers crossed. 'What were these two up to now...wait…'

"Mom," I yelled at her.

"Okay, okay, you gentlemen just get yourselves comfortable. Ciara and I are cooking today," she said while steering a stunned red faced Ciara back into the kitchen. It was adorable when she was embarrassed, but I had to admit I wasn't in my element here either.

"Smells good," dad said "wait, Dave's back?"

"Oh yeah, he came back three weeks ago," mom said.

"Oh, was he thinking of paying us a visit any time soon?" Kevin's dad asked.

"No need to worry about it, Hank," she said while she started unpacking the groceries. "I heard he's reformed."

Dad chuckled, "That would be fun to watch."

'Kevin,' Ciara's voice rang desperately in my head. I deciphered from her silence and expression that this wasn't the right topic to be discussed with her around.

"So, Dad, how was work?" I asked enthusiastically causing dad to look at me with a stink eye.

"You know how much I hate office work," he grumbled.

"Yeah, I do. I wonder why you didn't just accept to be our football coach when they asked," I said trying to patronize him more.

"Ugh there are other reasons for that. I am sure you will learn of them soon enough. For now I will just stick to my office job and you focus on showing that coach just how much a Johnson can do on the battlefield. My mom had stopped unpacking abruptly as if trying to decipher why I had changed the subject so quickly.

"Okay, you boys go to the living room and leave the women to cook," she said giving my dad a push.

"Why do we get to be boys and them women?" I complained while Dad and I moved to the living room.

"You okay, dear," I heard my mom say as we got out of ear-shot. I guess she had noticed they were bad-mouthing her father right in front of her and it hadn't been the best of moves on their part.

….......…..

I lay in a recliner with Ciara by my side at the balcony that night after dinner which had been a blast. She had her head rested on my chest as we talked. Mom and Hank kept re-enacting the banters between Bergstrom and Dave back then. The two of them had actually been best friends which caught me totally off-guard.

Mom told them of a time when Travas had summoned a dinosaur as an escape plan from God-knows- where and made it immune to time magic. It had chased Bergstrom around in circles while Dave tried to get a clear shot at it then ended up hitting Bergstrom instead. The dinner table had been full of laughter. What still bugged me was the fact that my brother didn't ask any questions but rather just kept eyeing Ciara. Normally he was inquisitive of everything he didn't understand, but this he let slide like she was someone he knew.

"Did the stories of Bergstrom and Dave bother you?" I asked.

"No, they didn't. They actually helped. Your mother was trying to keep the stories on a time before Dad did what he did. Come to think of it. It would explain why Dad was running," she said coiling at the thought of what her father must have been going through. I could see where she was coming from. The other artras of his generation didn't seem to have given him a break after what he did. So all he could do was run from home. "At least I know Dad and Bergstrom were best friends."

"How are you going to explain your disappearance to the others tomorrow?" I asked rubbing circles through her back.

"Huh. Oh I don't have to say anything," she simply replied.

"Wait what?" I asked.

"You heard me. I won't say a thing, but if they get too inquisitive, I will just make up an excuse. Though I think they know exactly where I am. So don't expect much," she explained.

"Okay," I replied, "turns out I will be talking to Jekyll a lot in my dreams."

"Really, how come?" she asked looking.

"Something about him helping me understand the powers of a Siege more," I said.

"Huh, so back to sleepless nights," she said chuckling.

"Don't laugh. Well at least these ones won't be painful," I confirmed.

"Yes, that sounds way better," she said sarcastically, "being a Siege is too much work." I laughed at that. Much as I was in total agreement to what she had just said. I looked back at her and noticed sleep was creeping in. Her eyes were looking heavier.

"You need to get some sleep," I whispered.

"Yes, I do, but not here. My dad will get suspicious if I don't turn up," she said.

"What do you mean? You have been here through supper. Won't you tell him you had a slumber party with a friend," I tried to convince.

"Kevin, no, not today. I want to, but no. Besides Dad knows I have no friend at school who is a girl. He knows all the artras I have meant," she said.

"I don't follow," I said completely confused.

"Who do you think taught me magic?" she asked rhetorically, "later Kevin." With that she pecked my cheek and vanished. I got up still stunned by her revelation. How many people in this bloody town know about the artras and Armensia? The thought went through my mind, but I was quickly brought out of my thoughts by a sudden movement in our backyard and the faint sense of magic. I looked frantically about the backyard and was only able to pick up a quick moving figure. It was definitely human, but it moved way too fast to be normal. The only thing that was too hard to miss on this figure was its hair colour. Jet black.