The Gathering (28 page)

Stephan dropped to his knees and prayed for answers.
 
In the middle of his prayers he glanced at the note on his bed stand.
 
It was from that woman healer, Rona Mason.
 
She wanted to meet with him.
 
Perhaps she would have some insight to this horrible event.
 
He needed assistance and information.

Yet as he prayed his thoughts wandered and he saw Alia as his goodly wife.
 
The thought of her naked and waiting for him in their marriage bed was more than he could bear.

He raised his head and looked to the heavens.

"I know, Lord, you wish for me to save her by making her my wife, but how do I cleanse the evil from this place? Help me, Heavenly Father!
 
Help me!"

Stephan, who had been holding up his hands in anguish, now brought them to his forehead and continued his silent prayer as he rocked back and forth.

From the balcony ledge, a falcon had been watching.
 
He screeched quietly and flew off towards the center of the village.

34

The main Dining Hall was humming as everyone spoke about the incident of the previous evening and when Scott and the others walked into the hall, all heads turned and the room went silent.

Coeli looked around and shook her head.
 
She stepped up and grabbed a plate and then nodded at Sam and the others to come with her.
 
Kaley and Ian had walked to the other side of the village to get breakfast from the vendors, but everyone knew they just wanted to be alone.

The foursome collected their food and walked to an empty table, avoiding the suspicious stares from some of the other diners.

Elian Merganser was sitting with Brittany Roberts and some of the other young people from Crystal Shade, but he stared intently at Sara Stark.
 
He narrowed his eyes and thought to himself.

"
Now she's eating with that mammoth atheist, who is most probably still possessed by a demon.
 
First he steps in where he isn't wanted on the opening night and now this.
"

He took a deep breath and got up, excused himself and walked over to the table where Sara and the others now sat.

Sam looked up from his plate and saw Elian walking towards them.
 
He nudged Scott.

"Check it out, Bud.
 
Your main competition is on his way over."

Scott, who was busy eating, looked up and saw Elian approaching.
 
He wiped his mouth and nodded for Sara to see.
 
She and Coeli turned and saw Elian walking towards them and grimaced.
 
Coeli sneered at him.

"I really…really dislike him."

"I don't have the strength to deal with this right now," Sara said.

Scott smiled and took her hand.
 
He then pulled it towards him and kissed the back of her hand at the tips of her fingers, making her blush.
 
She almost forgot about Elian, until she heard him clear his throat.
 
She rolled her eyes and put on her best fake smile, which caused Sam to almost choke on his food.
 
Sara turned around.

"Good morning, Elian."

"Good morning, Sara.
 
May I sit for a moment?"

Before she could answer, Elian sat down next to her.

"I came over to ask you a question."

"Yes?"

"Well, I was wondering if you might do me the honor of having lunch with me."

Sara looked at Scott, who was eating his food.
 
He glanced up and winked at Sara, which made her smile.
 
She looked back at Elian, who saw the wink and started to turn red with anger.

"I'm sorry, Elian, but… Scott is going to be my escort for the remainder of the Gathering."

Scott looked up and smiled at Elian, which only fueled the fire already raging inside of him.
 
He turned back to Sara and slowed his breathing.

"But, Sara, he is an atheist."

Scott raised a finger in objection and drank his coffee to wash down the bacon, eggs and potato he had just put in his mouth.

"Actually, I beg to differ, my mom's the atheist.
 
I'm an agnostic, but I'm thinking I may actually be a pagan."

"There you are, Sara, a heathen."

Sara raised her eyebrows.

"I'm a pagan, Elian."

Elian looked at her and could see he was losing her.

"Yes, but you're baptized."

“Yes, I know.
 
It was my dad's idea."

Elian began to twitch and change what he was saying.

"I understand, but you must have some…"

"Thank you for your kind offer, Elian, but I really must get back to my food.
 
It's getting cold."

Sam and Scott were smiling and looking at Elian, who was now red with anger and humiliation.

"I'm sorry if I offended you, Sara.
 
Perhaps you will at least allow me the opportunity to dance with you later this evening."

"Perhaps."

Elian took a deep breath and stood up and walked away from the table.
 
Scott started to laugh.
 
Sam shook his head and looked at Coeli, who was now smiling as she watched Elian leave.
 
She then looked at Sam and the two of them looked at Sara and laughed.
 
Scott was smiling at Sara, as well.

"That was awesome."

Sara couldn’t resist letting a smile cross her lips. Scott took another gulp of coffee and nodded at Sara.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Last night you said you were kind of psychic.
 
When you felt my pain could you also see what I was thinking?"

Sara shrugged and then nodded.
 
Scott smiled at her.

"Can you still see what I'm thinking?"

Sara looked into his eyes.
 
Almost immediately, images flew into her head with lightning speed. She looked down at her food, turning a bright crimson.
 
Scott again smiled.

"I guess you can."

Still smiling, Sara looked up from her food as Scott looked back down and started eating again.

"Ok, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

She thought,
"Can you still read my mind?"

Scott shrugged still looking at his plate.

"I don't think so."

Sam looked over at Scott.

"You don't think what, Bud?"

Scott looked up and motioned towards Sara.

"What, you didn't hear her?
 
She asked if I could read her mind."

Coeli looked up at Scott and then at Sara.
 
Sam looked at the girls and then at Scott.

"Uh, Sara didn't say anything."

"Sure she did, I heard her."

"No," Coeli responded.
 
"She didn't
say
anything, Scott."

Scott stopped chewing and looked at Sara, who was grinning back at him.
 
She shook her head.

"I thought it, but I didn't say it."

Scott took a deep breath and folded his hands in front of him.
 
He looked at everyone at the table, and then shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, then I guess I can read your mind, can't I?"

Sara smiled.

"Yeah, I guess so.
 
Don’t you think that’s weird?
 
I mean I can’t read anyone else’s mind."

Scott shrugged.

“There’s lots of stuff we can’t explain.
 
Hell, I've seen more weird stuff in the last twenty-four hours than in my whole life.
 
I get attacked by air and lose my sight, temporarily, go to a party and spend the night hanging with this great girl I've been wanting to get to know for a long time.
 
Then when I get to kiss this girl, all hell breaks loose and I ultimately get some sort of weird creature pulled out of my head, lose the girl and then get the girl back a few hours later.
 
Then it turns out that that the great girl is my girlfriend and I can read her mind and she can read mine?
 
That’s a busy day and it's still early.”

The table sat staring at him and Sara smiled and blushed.
 
Coeli and Sam looked at each other and Sam leaned forward.

"Can you read my mind?"

Coeli shook her head.

"Can you read mine?"

Sam shook his head.

Scott and Sara laughed as Gordon Hutton brought more meat and bread to the table.
 
Vance and Alisha walked over to the table.
 
Vance was carrying two large plates of food.
 
He set them down and pulled out a chair for Alisha.
 
Coeli looked over at her sister.

"I thought you already ate?"

Alisha sat down and smiled.

"I did."

Vance pushed his long hair back and pulled both plates over towards him and started to dig in as Gordon looked at him and shook his head, then turned to leave.
 
The girls thanked him and he smiled.

"What did you guys do to Elian?" Alisha asked.

Sara and Coeli looked over at Alisha.
 
Coeli took a bite of food and looked away.

"Well?"

Alisha was looking directly at Sara now.
 
Sara revealed what had occurred.
 
Vance started to laugh, along with the already smiling Sam and Scott.
 
Alisha turned to Vance.

"It's not funny."

Vance just looked at her and nodded and continued to laugh.

"It's not, Vance, he's gonna feel slighted.
 
Mom’s not going to be happy."

"Good," Coeli said.

The table went silent as all eyes were on the raven-haired girl.

"What?
 
He's spoiled and selfish and obsessed with my sister and it's creepy.
 
And really his dad is just as bad as he is.
 
He does the same thing with mom.
 
Sara was polite, but firm.
 
She let Elian know that she's with Scott and that's how it is and he got pissed and embarrassed because he wanted Sara to be his girlfriend but she's with Scott now, so he left."