CHAPTER 44: PLAN TO MOVE

For several seconds, no one laughed. They mostly started at Alrik like he may have lost a few screws in his brain. Then Eliza chuckled.

"Trust you to make jokes in such a serious situation." She sighed, and nudged him with her elbow to sit.

"An explanation for those who just got here. Don’t ask why or how, because even those of us who saw it happen have no idea what the fuck is going on. But a few minutes ago, he was setting things on fire just by touch. I had to get him in the pool and ice it as much as possible to bring his temperature down. He burned some curtains in our room, and even melted off the shower faucet." Eliza said, and Ansa frowned.

"Umm. I’m more confused. You’re saying he literally had fire coming out of his hands? Like a firebender from the cartoon he referenced?" Mira asked.

"No. No fire balls or anything like that. Don’t even put the idea out there, so he won’t be tempted to try if it works. He was just burning hot. Only when he touched light materials like my curtains..."

"And my handkerchief. You three weren’t here for that. It turned to ash within seconds." Gaya cut in, then gestured for Eliza to continue speaking.

"Well you heard it. Now we have to figure out what caused it. He was in the hospital yesterday for fainting from a migraine. That’s the only thing that can act as a clue now. But the doctors found nothing wrong with him, so I doubt this is a medical case. Some of his test results are yet to come out, but I’m sure they’ll all be clean as well. Something like this isn’t caused by a disease."

"There’s something else I didn’t tell you." Alrik said and Eliza turned to face him.

She folded her arms and looked down at him since she was standing and he was sitting.

"And why are you just choosing to share this with me?" She asked and he sighed.

"I didn’t think it was important, because I can’t make sense of it. I had a dream, more like a nightmare actually. But it felt so vivid, yet it has never happened. And it’s not the first time I’m having a dream like that."

"What did you dream of?" Bruno asked as the rest of them took seats around the pool, but close enough so they could hear him clearly.

"Portal beasts. I tried to forget because it was crazy, and it also terrified me because I watched Eliza die in the first one. She was torn apart before my eyes."

"That won’t happen. No need to be afraid. There’s no way for Eliza to even come in contact with portal beasts. She has never been to war camp, and I doubt she ever will. War camp is the closest to portal opening ranges." Kellan said.

"That’s the part of the dream that terrified me. The portal didn’t open in the outskirts as usual, or even close to the other sentry points. It opened up right beside our former residence at her parent’s house. There was no time to prepare. The only thing to do was run, but she was still harmed." He explained and Eliza held his hand to reassure him that she was fine.

She knew how scary it was to think you could lose the one you love most.

"Well, you’re both away from there, so that’s a relief at least. Nothing would ever make you both live there again, so we can rule that out as a premonition. What did you see this time?" Gaya asked.

"Something even weirder. Portals opening, not from the sky but from the ground. The portal was more stable. It didn’t collapse within the three minute limit the others usually have. It stayed open as the beasts poured from it. They didn’t attack. They were organised this time, and I saw some sort of command. A different beast. One that has never been seen before. A red one."

"A red one?"

"Yes. It had more humanoid features, and the regular grey ones we know were under its control. What was worse is the fact that Anamite seemed not to kill it like the others. Just thinking of it all makes my head ache." He rubbed his forehead, then his eyes which were previously closed snapped open.

"I remembered something else. In both dreams, I always end up holding my family’s heirloom sword."

"The Zerdon sword has been missing for a while now. We’ve been tracking and I believe we’re close to its location. Maybe retrieving it will give us some insight. You’re not one to dream, so all of this doesn’t seem so coincidental to me.I just hope I’m wrong and these aren’t premonitions of some sort." Bruno said and the others agreed.

"We’ll double our search efforts for the Zerdon sword." Mira said with a stern expression.

"Thank you all for your help. I’m sorry if I pulled you away from important tasks. I was just so freaked out." Eliza said.

"No need to thank us. You did the right thing calling us. We’re at your service anytime, anyday." Ansa said.

"Maybe we need to make that more literal." Gaya said and they all turned to her.

"How so?"

"I don’t need to inform anyone that what happened here today must remain between us. And we have no idea if it will happen again. This time we were lucky and none of the house staff witnessed anything. We’ll scrap the CCTV footage, but we need counter measures in place. I suggest we all move in for now. The house definitely has enough space for all of us. We can all take the east and west wing, since the South wing is where Alrik and Eliza stay. Vetting the house staff all over for who is more likely to keep secrets of this magnitude, and only the selected will have access to the South wing." Gaya suggested.

"That’s a solid plan. We can all start moving in tonight. We should all be done with 24 hours so we can sleep here starting tomorrow. Any objections?" Bruno asked. "Don’t feel pressured to move in. It won’t make you less loyal. It’s just a security measure. And even without one or two of us living here, the plan would still work."

"I’m in."

"Me too."

"Count me in."

"No way I’m missing out."

"That settles it then." Gaya nodded.

I hate to impose, but having you all here would give me peace of mind." Eliza said as she stood.

"I’ll handle the CCTV." Mira said and left the poolside.

"And I’ll return the icemaker to its original place." Kellan said and Ansa stood to join him. "I’ll come with you."

"I don’t need help to wheel an icemaker despite the size of this one." He said to her and she rolled her eyes.

"But do you even know where the icemaker is supposed to be?" She asked and he paused, then blushed.

"I thought so. You were probably going to wheel it to the kitchen. There’s an icemaker attached to the refrigerator already. This one goes in storage because it’s only here in preparation for any events to be held in the compound."

"After you then." He pointed ahead as he disconnected the water line, and power cord, then pushed the icemaker.

They handled everything within minutes while Alrik went upstairs to get dressed. Then they all lounged by the pool while Kellan and Ren made cocktails to go around.

"Oh shoot! I forgot I promised my sister I would babysit her spawns today." Mira said as she gulped down her third drink and stood.

"How are the twins nowadays? Haven’t had the time to visit nowadays." Ren said to her as she picked up her purse.

"Darren has a new fascination with insects, and uses every chance to stick random bugs in my clothes. Tarsen got a new football, and delights in breaking things with it. June has her hands full with them since the divorce because her asshole ex wants nothing to do with them. Oh! And they refuse to answer to their full names. We must call them Dan and Tan to get a response. Anywho. I’m off. Bye everyone."

"Bye!"

"Drive safe."

"Give the twins a hug for me."

After Mira left, the others stayed for about an hour before they began to leave one after the other.Nothing else happened and Eliza was glad for that when they went to bed. Alrik insisted on sleeping on the floor, just in case he woke up burning again. He didn’t want to harm her or set their bed on fire. Luckily, they woke up without incident, and prepared for work.

She hadn’t wanted him to come with her, just in case he had another burning episode, but he insisted. She agreed on the condition that he would remain in her office throughout the day once they got to work.

As soon as Eliza stepped into the office lobby, she immediately knew something was wrong. People were trying not to stare, but most couldn’t help themselves. She remained calm as they approached the elevator, but even Alrik noticed that something was wrong.

"Ma’am, have you seen the news?" Michaela said as she approached Eliza with a tab.

From the look on the secretary’s face, the issue must be serious. And when Eliza saw the headline, she understood why.

Breaking news

Eliza Crest murders her unborn Niece.