The Ambrose Beacon

  Chapter 15

  Monday Evening, January 10th

  Harper looked out the window over the kitchen sink at the snow falling outside. At first, the snow only been flurries, but the snow had quickly grown to a heavy fall of fat white flakes. Harper couldn’t remember what the forecast for the evening had been, but it looked like they were in for a severe snowstorm. Typically, he liked the heavy snows that occasionally dumped on Evergreen in the winter. But at that moment he worried about the effect such a snowstorm could have on their ability to escape the house if it became necessary. And the unexpected boldness of the demons’ attack less than an hour before made that necessity not only possible, but far more likely than he cared to admit.

  They had dropped Sarah and Leroy off at each of their houses before returning home. Harper had asked them again not to say anything to anyone, and they had both agreed. Vaughan had vouched for both of them, and Harper knew that his confidence was based on more than a mere friendship with either of the two teenagers. He had seen the bond that formed between soldiers facing death, and this was no different.

  The soft beep of the coffee maker told him that the pot he had brewed was finished. He placed the finished pot on a tray with several mugs, along with some cream and sugar and brought the tray to the crowded kitchen table. The two teachers, Jason and Tina, had insisted on staying with the family when they had returned to the Ambrose house. Harper’s first instinct had been to refuse. He knew that anyone near the children would be in considerable danger, and he had no doubt that both teachers had arrived at the same conclusion. But they had both proven to have a protective instinct over the children, especially Louis and Billie. Having their assistance meant that Harper could focus on defending all of the children more effectively. And though he hated the thought of using any of the children to fight the demons, he knew that any escape from the house would require the assistance of the three older children if they were attacked. All three of them had shown an ability to effectively fight the creatures, and the soldier in Harper told him that such an advantage had to be used, if necessary.

  But it wasn’t just the protective instincts of the teachers that made Harper want to keep them close. Tina Waverly had a soothing quality to her that spread to everyone around her, including Harper. And she was filled with a quiet strength that had made her nearly unflappable throughout the entire ordeal of earlier that day. Harper thought there was a good chance that he would need her strength if the demons attacked again.

  And then there was Jason. Where Tina’s strength was obvious, his was less so. He had been clearly frightened by everything that had happened, but Harper had heard from Louis how he had stood in front of Tina and the children when the man-demon had tried to take them. Harper suspected that his strength was the kind that lay in wait, under the surface and seldom brought to bear, but when roused would be formidable. But the thing that intrigued Harper the most was the jewelry that Jason had fashioned and had somehow defended both adults and the children they had been protecting. To create such objects was no easy feat, and required a specific set of skills and abilities. He had seen such abilities in humans before, but not in several hundred years. Harper had assumed that those types of skills had been lost to humanity. Apparently, his assumption had been wrong.

  “Harper, should we ask the children to watch some TV while you explain to us what’s going on?” Jason asked as he picked up a mug of coffee. He pushed his glasses up his nose and the slight magnifying effect on his eyes reminded Harper of an owl.

  Harper looked at each of the Ambrose children in turn, and they all stared back at him with level gazes. “They’ll stay and hear the same thing that you do, Jason,” he said when he looked back at the teacher. “It’s the children that these creatures are after, and they deserve to know why.”

  Jason looked at Louis and Billie, who watched their uncle, obviously waiting to hear his story. He was especially concerned for them, since they were both still so young. But he had to admit that they had seemed to recover well from the attack of the demons just a few hours before. He knew that children were resilient, but he also knew that that resiliency had limits.

  “Fair enough,” Jason said in response. He wasn’t about to argue with the children’s uncle regarding their well-being. It was obvious to anyone who saw them how much Harper loved all of the Ambrose children, but Jason had wanted his concern to be known. It gave him a small feeling of control over a situation that had been rapidly spiraling out of it. Jason felt Tina reach over and take his hand under the table and he squeezed it once in gratitude. She had a calming effect on him as well, and he almost felt a flow of strength pass into him through her hand.

  Harper told the group the entire story that he had shared with Cole and Dinah. At first, he had planned on keeping some key information from the two teachers, but he had a feeling that their involvement in how the family story would play out was going to continue. While he didn’t completely believe in fate, he didn’t completely ignore it either. They both had a role to play, and Harper didn’t think it fair to keep anything from them if they did.

  Billie and Louis stared back at their uncle with huge eyes, but Vaughan seemed to be handling what he was being told a little better than his younger siblings. Harper guessed that it had something to do with the fact that he had directly confronted the demons.

  “Is it possible that Vaughan is the beacon?” Cole asked. There were dark circles under his eyes and he still looked exhausted. But Harper could feel the energy within his nephew growing stronger by the hour and he knew that within a day or two, Cole would be back to full strength.

  “Anything’s possible at this point,” Harper answered. “And I think Vaughan’s been keeping some things from us.” He smiled at Vaughan, who smiled shyly in return. Harper knew that there was no way that Vaughan could have fought off two of the demons with no training unless there was a chance that he was the beacon. Harper needed to speak with him alone to see what had happened and how he had fought them off. It appeared that each of the children had their own unique manifestations of their heritage, and he wasn’t sure what Vaughan’s was, but needed to understand it. Harper was starting to accept that he would need to rely on one or more of the children to aid in their own defense, at least until he could enlist the aid of some of his people.

  “What’s really important now is that we’re all completely honest with each other,” Harper said to the group. “If anything unusual happens to any of you from now on, you must let me know immediately. Everyone agreed?”

  Everyone nodded as they looked at each other. Cole wondered if he should mention the dream that he had when he was unconscious, but he didn’t think it was important and guessed that his uncle had enough to worry about. Billie thought of her own dreams, but kept them to herself for the same reasons that Cole did.

  “Why don’t you all get some rest in the family room while I call Jerry,” Harper said. He could see the exhaustion on everyone’s faces and knew that there was a good chance that they would need their strength later that night or even the next day. He hoped that they could have a full night to rest before they had to decide on a course of action, but the behavior of the demons had been unpredictable and he was starting to wonder how much time they had. The one thing that reassured him was the protective spells surrounding the house, which he knew would be impossible for the demons to breach.

  Harper watched as everyone stood up and moved into the living room. “Vaughan, may I speak with you for a moment?” he asked his nephew.

  Vaughan nodded and then sat back down. He looked a little nervous as he waited for everyone to leave the kitchen.

  “Can you tell me what happened in the gym today?” Harper asked when they were alone.

  Vaughan looked a little uncomfortable as he told his uncle the entire story of the confrontation with the demons. Most people would have thought that he exaggerated points in the story, but Harper kn
ew that this was not Vaughan’s way. When Vaughan described how time seemed to slow when he fought with someone, Harper was taken aback. The kind of ability that Vaughan described was rare in humans, and even rarer in Aes Sidhe. He knew that his sister had possessed that ability, but she had been one of only a few among their people who did. The fact that she had passed that ability to the shyest of her children, the one least likely to be a warrior was a bit ironic, but Harper was glad that it had been Vaughan. He sensed a newfound confidence coming from his nephew, and noticed that he sat straighter and looked him straight in the eye as he spoke. Vaughan looked so much like his mother at that moment that Harper thought again of how much he missed his sister.

  When Vaughan had finished his story, he looked at his uncle, waiting for him to say something. Instead of speaking, Harper stood up and walked over to Vaughan and held his arms out. Vaughan stood up and hugged his uncle, something he couldn’t remember having done for several months.

  “I’m proud of you, Vaughan,” Harper said quietly as he hugged him. “You could have left Sarah and Leroy, but you didn’t. You remind me so much of your mother.” He held his nephew for a moment more, kissing the mass of curls at the top of Vaughan’s head before letting him go. “Why don’t you go ahead and rest with the others,” he told him.

  “Thanks, Uncle Harper,” Vaughan looked up and said to his uncle.

  Vaughan left the kitchen and Harper noticed for the first time that the TV was on in the family room. He hoped that his family and the two teachers were able to unwind enough to get some sleep while he prepared something simple for dinner. He pulled out some of the frozen pizzas that he kept as snacks for the children and turned on the oven. While he waited for the oven to preheat, he took out his cell phone and called Jerry. There was no ringing on the other side before it went straight to voicemail. He placed the pizzas in the oven and tried calling again, but it went straight to voicemail a second time.

  Harper looked outside the kitchen window, hoping that the snow had let up a little. Instead, he saw that it was falling even heavier than before. It looked like they were going to be in for a large dumping of snow, which worried him. If the snow was heavy enough, they could be snowed in and unable to leave if they had to. The idea of being trapped anywhere, even in their house, was not a comfortable one.

  He thought again of his conversation with Tragmar, the leader of the Sentinels. There had been clues to the location of the others laced throughout what Tragmar had said, though they would have been impossible to figure out for anyone other than another Sentinel. He knew that he would find his people somewhere to the north of Colorado, though he didn’t know specifically where. The other clues left in the conversation held the key to the location, but he hadn’t managed to figure out what those clues meant. And he couldn’t call Tragmar again. If he did, he risked the call being traced back to Tragmar, and he knew the demons would use such a chance to set up some kind of ambush for Harper and the children. There was one thing he knew for certain, though - he needed the help of his people, so he had to figure out what those clues meant.

  The beeping of the oven timer derailed his train of thought and he looked over in surprise to realize that nearly twenty minutes had passed. He pulled the pizzas out of the oven and cut them up before placing them on a large tray. He let them cool while he grabbed several bottles of water and placed them next to the pizzas. He reveled in the menial tasks of serving his family, something that continued to astonish him. His upbringing had included many servants in his parents’ household, and the concept of serving others had been foreign to him. He had never considered the tasks beneath him. That would have been against the beliefs of his people. He had just never had to serve others in that capacity. His service to his people had been as a warrior and protector. But the household chores in which he buried himself to take care of the Ambrose family gave him a satisfaction that he had never before experienced during his long life.

  He carried the tray out to the family room and placed it on the coffee table in front of the couch. Everyone hungrily dug in and he even took a piece for himself. He didn’t need food as often as humans did, but he enjoyed the wonderful combinations of flavors that humans constantly came up with. His people were not nearly as creative when it came to preparing food. Most of them saw food as a necessity, and only ate when they were hungry, which was once every few days. As he bit into the pizza with pepperoni and black olives, he thought that they had no idea what they were missing.

  Harper looked over at the couch and saw Louis and Billie curled up next to each other, with Billie’s arms wrapped around Aidan. Aidan’s eyes watched him as he ate and he noticed again how familiar her eyes were. He knew there was something unusual about the dog, but he hadn’t yet figured out what it was. Tina sat next to the youngest children, her arm wrapped protectively around Louis. Vaughan sat next to Jason on one of the small loveseats next to the couch, and Cole and Dinah occupied the other one. Cody was lying on the ground next to Cole, with his head resting on his front paws. If anyone had seen them at that moment, it would have looked like the gathering of a family in front of the TV on any given night in America.

  As Harper slowly ate his pizza, savoring each bite, he watched Jason Holt and thought again of the jewelry that he had created. If the two trinkets that he had seen had managed to destroy a demon, they were powerful indeed. Jason felt eyes on him and looked over at Harper to see him staring back at him.

  Harper put his pizza down, muted the TV, and looked over at Tina, “Tina, would you mind if I looked at your bracelet?”

  “Of course not,” she answered before handing it to him.

  “You said that you made this, Jason?” Harper asked as he inspected the bracelet.

  “Um, yeah, I did,” Jason answered hesitantly.

  “And that necklace you’re wearing, as well?” Harper asked.

  Jason nodded silently as he watched Harper examine the bracelet. Harper closed his eyes as he ran his fingers over the images carved into them. He reached out with his senses and pushed them into the bracelet, seeing the lines of power that flowed through the symbols. When he opened his eyes, Jason was staring back at him with a guarded expression.

  “Do you know what these symbols mean?” Harper asked him.

  Jason looked uncomfortable, as if he didn’t want to answer. He looked down at the ground as he said, “They’re supposed to protect the wearer from evil.”

  Harper nodded, “Yes, that’s exactly what they’re for.” He leaned forward in his chair and his gaze intensified as he asked Jason, “But where did you learn to make these? And these symbols – where did you learn about them?”

  Jason looked even more uncomfortable as he continued to stare at the ground. He looked up once at Tina, but looked down again when he saw her staring at him expectantly. Everyone was silent, waiting for him to answer.

  He took a deep breath before answering, “Completely honest with each other, huh?” Harper nodded, so Jason continued, “My grandparents taught me about the symbols, and how to make things that used them.” He looked over at Harper, meeting and holding his gaze. He seemed embarrassed by what he had said, as if he was ashamed of something, though Harper couldn’t imagine what that could be. “They were sort of nature-hippies when I was growing up and believed in a lot of crap about magic…sorry, stuff about magic,” he added and then corrected himself as he looked over at the younger children with embarrassment at his choice of words. “But I never thought any of it meant anything. I just liked making things and thought the symbols were pretty.” He looked over at Tina, who stared back at him with obvious interest in what he was saying.

  “How much do you know about your grandparents’ religious beliefs?” Harper asked Jason. The rest of the group thought it was an odd question, but they each kept their thoughts to themselves.

  Jason looked just as confused by the question, “Their religious beliefs? I’m not s
ure I understand the question. I know they were originally from Ireland, but moved to Colorado before I was born.”

  There was a subtle quality in the tone of Jason’s voice that told Harper that he was keeping something from his answer. Cole sensed it too, but it was from the emotions that emanated from Jason and not his voice. Cole thought that Jason was ashamed of something, and could feel that it was related to his grandparents in some way. Harper continued to stare at Jason, but didn’t say anything else. Jason looked away from the intensity of Harper’s gaze, and when he looked around at the others in the room, he found that he couldn’t meet any of their eyes.

  “Okay, no secrets,” he said quietly. He took another deep breath before saying, “My grandparents moved to Colorado with my parents before I was born. My parents were killed in a car accident when I was very young, so I don’t remember them at all. They didn’t say why they moved to the U.S., but I got the sense that they moved to Colorado because of something that happened in Ireland. I just know that it had something to do with their beliefs, which are…different.”

  Harper smiled slightly and leaned forward in his chair, “They worship nature, don’t they?”

  Jason looked over at Harper in surprise, the widening of his eyes exaggerated by his glasses. “Y…yes, they did. I mean, they do,” he said as he continued to stare at Harper. “How did you know?”

  A sudden, loud creaking noise made everyone but Harper jump. He stood up and walked over to the window and pulled back the curtain. The snow that had been falling heavily but gently was now swirling in the wind that had started to blow.

  “It’s just the wind,” Harper said as he let the curtain fall back into place. He didn’t like the look of the wind. The only thing that could impact their ability to leave the house more than a heavy snowfall was a blizzard. The remote location of the Ambrose house meant that the road leading to the house might not be plowed for several days. And while Harper’s van had all-wheel drive, it didn’t have the kind of ground clearance that would be necessary to navigate a snowed-in driveway. He hoped that the snowstorm was a passing one, though it didn’t look like it.

  Everyone watched Harper as he sat back in his chair. “You asked me how I knew about your grandparents’ worship of nature,” he said to Jason. “Those symbols are ancient and powerful. Variations of some of them are commonly used in the trinkets that are sold to tourists throughout Ireland. But the symbols you used are the original ones.” Harper held the bracelet up in his hand and turned it in the light of the lamp on the table next to him. “The thing with such devices is that the symbols themselves do not contain power. They are merely a conduit for the power that the maker pours into the device. To do such a thing is exceedingly difficult and requires a powerful user of what humans call magic.”

  Harper looked over at Jason as he lowered the hand that held the bracelet. “My people could make such things, but they were never as good at it as humans were. Well, only certain humans, really.” Everyone watched Harper with rapt attention, but he stared only at Jason while he spoke. “These humans made many things for my people, including many of our most powerful weapons.” Harper stood up slowly and walked over to the small closet next to the TV. He pulled out a wooden pole that none of the children could ever remember noticing before. It was nearly as tall as their uncle, but otherwise unremarkable.

  Harper looked at it and frowned for a second. The pole seemed to shift briefly before a tall silver spear appeared in his hands. It was a full foot taller than Harper, with a long tip that looked like a short sword at its top. Another piece of metal ran across the bottom of the blade, making it look like a small sword on the end of a long pole.

  “Humans made this weapon for me shortly after I came of age,” he said while he turned the spear slowly in his hands. “It has special powers against the demons.” He shifted the spear until it was lengthwise and pointed at a series of scrolling symbols carved along its haft. “These symbols were carved into it by a human who was very gifted in crafting, as it was called.”

  The children all moved from their seats to surround their uncle. They reached out and felt the ridges of the symbols carved into it and they were all obviously fascinated. But Jason only stared at the spear, running his eyes over the many symbols that seemed to run into each other.

  He looked up at Harper, but his gaze was guarded and unreadable. “I know what these symbols mean, Harper. I learned about them when I was a child, sort of like any child would learn the alphabet.”

  Harper said nothing, but nodded slightly.

  Jason finally reached over to run his fingers along the haft of the spear. Though he hadn’t asked them to, the children moved out of his way. “This is a symbol for strength. And this here is for sharpness. And this one is for balance,” he said as he stared at each of the symbols. “Whoever made this was very gifted. The way the symbols run into each other without covering each other is like nothing I’ve ever seen.” He was clearly in awe by what he saw.

  “As I said, the human who made this was very gifted,” Harper said. His eyes took on a faraway look for a moment, as if he was remembering something from his past. “He was a dear friend who was taken from us by betrayal.” His eyes focused again, and he looked almost surprised by what he had said. “But that is an old tale, and one that I will not share with you tonight.”

  Jason sat back down in his chair and looked over at Harper. “What does this have to do with me and my grandparents?” he asked.

  Harper looked at the spear and frowned for a second again. The spear became a wooden pole again, which he placed next to his chair as he sat down. “Those symbols are unique to a certain group of people who practiced an ancient religion around the worship of nature.” He looked over at Tina, who was watching Jason intently, and then his gaze returned to him. “I thought that the religion had died out several hundred years ago. But now, I’m guessing that it somehow survived. I believe you and your grandparents are descendants of these people, and the things that your grandparents taught you are the same things that were passed on to the man who made that spear for me nearly three thousand years ago. Back then, they were known as Druids.”

  Jason looked less dumbstruck than Harper would have expected. His reaction made it clear to Harper that Jason had suspected something about his grandparents all along. “I knew there was something different about them – about all of us, really.” He smirked and shook his head before he added, “But it’s not exactly easy telling your friends at school that your grandparents like to dance naked in the forest. It’s kind of a deal-killer when it comes to friendships.”

  Harper smiled as he answered, “Yes, I suppose it would be.” He leaned forward in his chair and looked Jason in the eyes, “How much did your grandparents teach you about their religion?”

  Jason shook his head and shrugged, “Bits and pieces, really. I remember them teaching me a lot when I was a kid, but when I got older and didn’t seem interested, they backed off. But when it came to making things, I never stopped liking that. So, they taught me a lot about how to work different materials into different shapes, and how to use the symbols they had taught me to decorate those things. Why do you ask?”

  Harper continued to stare at him as he answered, “Because the things you made contain a great deal of power – nearly as much as the power contained in my spear. Again, the symbols themselves are just conduits for the power and determine how the power manifests. The actual power imbued in the items comes from the person crafting them.” He smiled at Jason as he added, “I’d say that you are already a very powerful Druid, though you do not realize it. With the proper training, you could be even more so.”

  Jason looked around the room and saw looks of wonder on all of the children’s faces. But what surprised him was the similar look on Tina’s smiling face as she looked back at him. He sat up straighter in the chair as he looked back at Harper.

  “How
can you tell these things?” Jason asked. “Are you on of these…Druids too?”

  Harper smiled and shook his head, “No, my power comes from within me – not from the world around me, as yours does.” Harper stood up and held his right hand out, with his palm facing upwards. “What humans call magic comes in three forms. The power that my people use comes from within each of us, though we can sense the use of the other types. Our power is limited by the strength of the individual and the native ability within them. It grows slightly as we age, but mainly its strength is determined at birth.”

  Harper frowned slightly as he stared at his hand. Suddenly, a small blue flame appeared in his outstretched hand. “The power of this flame comes from within me. As long as it burns, it pulls from the strength within me.” The flame disappeared and he said, “When I allow it to die, the drain on my strength dies with it.” He frowned again and the flame reappeared. “Something so small drains such a small amount of energy from me that I cannot feel its effect. My body naturally replenishes the energy it uses quicker than it can be drained.” He allowed the flame to grow larger and then lowered his hand. It hovered in the air, only a few feet from him. Everyone could feel the warmth coming from it, so they knew that it was no illusion.

  Harper tilted his head to the side and the flame twisted and bulged until it had assumed a new shape. Cole smiled as he realized that it was the shape of a bear. “Now with something like this, I can definitely feel a drain on my strength, though it is still very slight. The size of the flame itself would still have no effect on me, but the flame wants to keep its natural shape. Forcing it to assume a shape that is not natural to it requires the constant effect of my will upon it. That’s what causes a bigger drain on my energy.” The fiery bear disappeared suddenly and Harper smiled. He looked over at Cole, Dinah and Vaughan. “This is why you most likely felt slightly tired after facing the demons. You were using the power within you to fight them and since you have no idea how to control its use, it drained your strength more quickly than it otherwise would if you knew how to control it.” He nodded at Cole as he added, “This is especially true for you, Cole. You assumed a shape that was not natural for you and much larger than your true size, so it drained your strength more quickly. You could all learn to minimize its effect with training, though.”

  The three children looked at each other and then back at their uncle.

  “But that is the Aes Sidhe side of your heritage,” Harper said. “You have also inherited power from your human side, though I have no idea what that power is. Since your father does not have magical ability, there is no way to tell.”

  He sat back down in his chair before continuing, “The magic that humans use is different than ours and comes in two forms. The first kind of magic uses energy that flows throughout this world. The user channels the magic through their body and shapes it with their will to do various things. There is no limit to the power itself, but the strength of the user determines how much energy can be channeled at once and the skill of the user determines what the magic can do.”

  “So, human magic doesn’t cause exhaustion?” Tina asked shyly. She was clearly fascinated by everything that Harper was saying.

  “No, it definitely does have an effect on the user,” Harper answered. “The more power that is channeled, the greater the drain is on the user. But there is one fundamental difference between Aes Sidhe and humans in how the power of the user is determined. The power of an Aes Sidhe does not change much with age, but with humans their strength and ability to use magic increases as they grow older.” He looked over at Jason as he added, “It is likely that your grandparents are quite powerful if your ability is any indication. And these abilities are typically hereditary.”

  Jason thought of some of the amazing, but unusual things that he had seen his grandparents do when he had been growing up under their care. He had tried to explain those things logically and even scientifically in an attempt to deny what he had always known was really magic. But the things that he had seen when the demons had attacked earlier that day had begun a process of acceptance within him. For the first time as an adult, he regretted his relationship with his grandparents and his unwillingness to learn from them.

  Harper crossed his legs as he continued, “This type of human magic can be used in many ways. But another aspect of human magic that is hereditary is an affinity for certain applications of magic.” He held up the bracelet again in his hand. “The Druids had an affinity with magic that could influence the natural world around them. And they also had a special affinity with the crafting of magical items.”

  Harper looked over at Jason and he appeared to be deep in thought about something. Finally, he stood up and walked over to one of the houseplants that stood in a corner of the room. He brought it back to the coffee table and placed it in front of Jason. It was a small plant with large glossy leaves at its base.

  “Let’s see if you have the same affinity, Jason,” Harper said as he sat back down in his chair. “See if you can make the plant grow.”

  Jason looked at him as if he had grown another head. He had never done such a thing in his life and couldn’t imagine how to do it now. But then he thought of what he did when he made things like the bracelet and his necklace. He thought of the trance that he went into whenever he began carving the ornate symbols into whatever he was making. He would see glowing lines surrounding him and as he carved the symbols, the lines would seem to flow through his arm and then into his hand and into the piece itself.

  And then he remembered when he had been a young child, playing in the woods around his home. He remembered coming across a fern under a tree that had been trampled by something. The damage to it had been enough that Jason could tell that it was dying. He could feel the life slowly leaching from it. And he had wanted to keep it from dying. He had kneeled down next to it and carefully cupped its broken fronds in his hands. He had whispered soothing words to it and willed it to repair itself – to live. He had seen those same glowing lines around him then, too. As he willed the plant to live, those lines had moved through his arms and into the fern. As he watched, the broken fronds righted themselves and the entire plant was filled with a vitality that had not been there before. He had felt a little light-headed when he stood up, but as he had looked down at the now-healthy fern, he had smiled. The next day, he had returned to the spot where the fern grew and saw that it had grown several feet overnight. He hadn’t thought of the fern in nearly two decades, and as he stared at the plant in front of him, he wondered what other memories he had suppressed.

  Jason looked up at Harper, and then over at Tina. She looked back at him with an encouraging smile and nodded. The children all watched him and the plant expectantly.

  “I’ll try,” Jason said simply.

  He looked at the plant and tried to concentrate on what he wanted to do. As he focused on the plant itself, he sensed that it was a healthy plant, but that it was in some kind of dormant state. His focus increased and he saw the glowing lines appear around him. He heard someone inhale sharply and looked over to see Louis staring at him with huge eyes. The momentary break in concentration made the lines disappear, so he returned his focus to the plant. As he did, the lines quickly reappeared. He willed the lines to pass into the plant and tried to think of reversing the dormant state and for the plant to grow. As he watched, a single shoot of green began to push its way up through the center of the leaves. He continued to pour the energy into the plant and the shoot grew several inches high. Buds appeared at the end and in front of his eyes, three lovely, multicolored flowers opened. He released his concentration and stared at the plant in wonder. He recognized the flowers instantly. They were orchids.

  As Jason looked around the room, he was greeted with smiles and laughter from everyone. Tina had her hands in front of her mouth and her eyes were wide as she stared at the orchids with a huge grin.

 
“That was amazing, Jason,” she said when she looked over at him and he smiled back with obvious pride.

  The magic of the moment was broken suddenly when Harper stood up and looked toward the window. His face was full of concern and his body was tense as he seemed to be focusing on something far away. Cody stood up and moved to stand next to Harper. Aidan’s head popped up from Billie’s lap and stared in the direction of the window, her ears held at attention.

  “What is it?” Tina asked with concern.

  Harper looked over at Dinah, Cole, and Vaughan and he could see that they felt it too. The demons were back.

  “Look!” Louis shouted as he pointed at the bracelet in Harper’s hand. It was glowing slightly, and so was the necklace under Jason’s shirt.

  Harper walked over to the window and pulled back the end of the curtain. The blizzard still raged outside, making it difficult to see more than a few yards from the house. But as his eyes focused on a group of vague shapes beyond the blowing snow, he knew that his hopes for a quiet evening for everyone to recover had been dashed.

  “Harper, what is it?” Tina asked again.

  He continued to stare out the window and at the line of shadows that stood no more than fifty yards from the house.

  “It’s the demons,” Dinah said suddenly. “They’ve come to the house.” She looked over at Tina and there was fear on her face. “And this time there are more of them.”

  “A lot more of them,” Cole said quietly.