The others came over from the house across the street when the food arrived. The dining room table and chairs were used by most of the others, but Angie chose to sit on the floor with her back against the sofa. Raven ate three slices of pizza and had two bottles of Pepsi to wash them down with. Lyta was starting on her fifth slice, ignoring the looks Nicole was giving her. She watched Raven continue writing as she ate. “Does she even know the rest of us are in the room?” Jennie smiled. “On the edges I think. When Raven is working on something, she barely pays attention to what goes on around her. I could probably parade back and forth in front of her stark naked and I doubt she’d notice.” “I may be writing, but my ears still work, Jen. And if you did parade in front of me like that with all these people in the room, I’d begin to question your sanity. Now, if we were alone in the bedroom…” Raven ducked as a pillow came flying towards her. “Never mind!” Jennie blushed a deep red that nearly matched the color of her hair. The others laughed. Lyta set aside her now empty plate and leaned back against the cushions. “Whew! Don’t think I could eat another bite!” “Are you sure, Lyta? There’s still some chocolate cake left in the kitchen.” Nicole informed her. She thought about it for a moment, then shook her head. “No, I’m stuffed, my love. Not even enough room for a small candy bar.” Nicole glanced into the box that held the pizza she and Lyta had shared. There was one slice left. With a shrug, she picked it up and started eating it. “One less thing to store in the fridge.” Jennie yawned and stretched, wincing slightly. “Starting to feel the soreness from training this afternoon.” “Same here. Think I will take a hot shower before going to bed tonight. Love that shower massage.” Nicole quickly finished the small slice of pizza, washing it down with the rest of her beer. She grinned at Lyta who stared at her. “Seems silly to put a single piece of pizza in the fridge.” “How do you know I didn’t want it?” Nicole threw up her hands in surrender. “Lyta, you said you were stuffed! Normally that means you aren’t hungry any more.” She got to her feet. “Before this gets out of hand, I’m going to take a shower. See all of you in a while.” Lyta grinned as she watched Nicole head down the hall muttering to herself. “That was fun.” “You realize she will get back at your for that, big sister.” Raven said as she set aside her notebook and papers. “I know, but I don’t mind.” Lyta stretched out her legs. “What have you been working on, little sister?” “Translating the runes.” She yawned. “Making me tired though.” Raven lit a cigarette, then tossed the pack and lighter to Lyta. She tossed them back. “Not a good idea, since I can’t take a regular shower yet.” Angie pulled out her pack of cigarettes and lighter. “Glad I don’t have to worry about that.” She blew a couple smoke rings. “Anything important going on tomorrow?” “Bryan and I are going to check over all the cars. Want to make sure nothing has been added to them.” Scott said, as he and Lynn stood up. “The wife and I will take care of the clean up from dinner. Eve, don’t have any more beer, since you are on duty after Bryan.” “I know.” She smiled at Bryan as he left the living room to do his rounds. “So when’s the wedding?” Angie asked. “Angie! Bryan and I just met!” Eve blushed. Jennie smiled. “Raven proposed to me a month after I moved in with her.” Raven laughed. “And I asked Jennie to move in the morning after our first night together.” Jennie moved to perch on the arm of Raven’s recliner. “We knew we were meant to be together, so I happily said yes.” Taking Jennie’s right hand in her left, Raven smiled up at her. “We’ve had a couple of rough spots along the road, but I know there’s no one else in this world who makes me as happy as Jennie does.” Lyta chuckled. “When I proposed to Nickie, I went all out. Romantic dinner, violin playing, engagement ring, champagne, and a dozen roses. When she said yes, that was the happiest day of my life. Until our wedding day, that is.” Nicole came back in the living room, wearing sweat pants and a tank top. She sat beside Lyta again. “I feel much better now. Of course, when I wake up in the morning, it will be a whole different story.” Lynn nodded as she collected the empty paper plates, napkins, and empty pizza boxes. “Used to feel that way in boot camp. Eventually your body will adjust.” Yawning, Lyta got to her feet. “Sorry everyone, but I need to go to bed. Finding it hard to keep awake.” The others bade her and Nicole good night. Raven sighed, leaned her head back, and closed her eyes for a bit. Angie watched the younger woman, concern in her eyes. She motioned to Jennie to follow her to the kitchen. “Jennie, is Raven going to be all right? Even though she wasn’t the one that was shot, she looks like hell.” Jennie sighed. “From what we’ve been able to determine, when Raven used the ring to heal Lyta, she was also using her own physical and spiritual strength. If Raven hadn’t of done it that way, I don’t think Lyta would have lived. The only thing Raven can do now is wait for her body and spirit to regain strength.” “Any idea how long that will take?” Angie grabbed one of the last brownies and poured herself a glass of milk. “No idea. Which is why Nicole has been keeping a close eye on Raven.” Jennie yawned. “Excuse me. I think the sleepiness is contagious.” “You and Raven should go to bed as well. I know you’ve been shorting yourself on sleep.” Angie patted her on the shoulder, then headed for the basement to do some reading before going to bed. Returning to the living room, Jennie found Raven nearly asleep. “Hey love, let’s go to bed.” She gently shook Raven’s shoulder. “Mmm. Ok.” Raven got to her feet, holding on to Jennie’s arm for support. Once in the bedroom, Raven stumbled over to the bed and lay down. Moments later she was asleep. Shaking her head and smiling, Jennie turned on the night stand light, then turned off the overhead light. She took off her socks, then covered herself and Raven with the light weight blanket. Satisfied everything was as it should be, she turned out the light, put her arms around Raven, and went to sleep. **** In their new bedroom, Scott and Lynn climbed into bed. They had other things on their mind than sleeping and were happy to indulge in those activities. Eve lay in bed, staring at the ceiling and wishing she and Bryan were together. With a sigh, she closed her eyes and sleep claimed her. Finished with his rounds, Bryan returned to Raven’s basement to monitor the cameras, but his mind kept drifting to Eve and how beautiful she was. He shook his head, “All right, Bryan, concentrate on your duties! Time enough later to get to know Eve better. You have a job to do, Marine, so do it!” He muttered. Reggie was laying on his bed reading, when he heard Bryan talking to himself. Heh. Looks like Bryan has fallen in love. Good for him. Hope he has better luck in that department than I did. He thought as he turned the page of the book he was reading. Think I’ll read one more chapter, then lights out for me. Yawning, Angie put her book aside and turned out the light by her cot. “Good night, Bryan and Reggie.” “Good night, Ang.” The two replied. 22 -- Thursday Raven found herself once again in the area with the shadow beings and she was surrounded. The coldness emanating from them were making her teeth chatter and she felt her body going numb. Fighting to keep standing, she spoke. ‘What do you want from me? Who are you?’ One of the shadows stepped forward, it started to reach out to touch Raven, but the ring on her finger flared brightly and it backed away. ‘We are the Lost. We want to be set free of this place.’ The voice seemed to echo and there were faint traces of other voices mixed in with it. ‘I don’t understand. Lost? That doesn’t make sense.’ Raven rubbed her arms, trying to bring back some warmth to her body. ‘Free us, let us into the world of light!’ The large shadow shouted. ‘You have the power!’ Despite the light from the ring, the shadows moved in closer, until barely two feet separated them from Raven. ‘I don’t have any power. I’m nothing special.’ ‘Foolish child! The ring you wear can free us!’ Raven shook her head, searching for a way out of this mess. ‘Sorry, can’t help you. I don’t know how to free you and even if I did know, it’s probably a bad idea to do so.’ ‘You cannot escape us, Raven Wyng. There is no place for you to go except through us. You would not survive the passage.’ The shadow stood directly before her and seemed to grow. A sudden flurry of wings and bright light burst through the shadow beings and a raven as large as a human landed next to Raven. The light it gave off nearly blinded her, but the shadows surround her quickly moved away, forming a passage. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Raven ran down the passage as fast as her partially numbed limbs would take her. Up ahead she saw the brightly lit arch and ran towards it. The large raven that gained her freedom easily kept pace with her with an occasional flap of its large wings. At the archway, Raven stopped and fell to her knees gasping for air, still feeling very cold. ‘Th-thank you. I-I wouldn’t have made it without your h-help.’ The raven moved closer to Raven, actually putting a wing around her. When she breathed in, Raven caught a familiar scent and looked into the large bird’s eyes. ‘J-Jennie?’ The raven winked, then disappeared. Shaking her head, Raven got wearily to her feet and started toward the arch. The smaller raven that normally accompanied her appeared and landed on her shoulder. As Raven reached the arch, the bird on her shoulder whispered, ‘I’m sorry. I thought you were in a safe place. This will not happen again.’ It then disappeared. ‘Safe place? I don’t think there is a safe place in this area,’ Raven muttered as she passed through the archway. Jennie woke up, shaking her head at the strange dream she just had. She looked over at Raven and found her shivering. Jennie put her arms around her love and held her close, surprised to find Raven so cold. A few minutes later, Raven opened her eyes and looked around. “Hells bells! I’m freezing!” “Want me to get you a sweat shirt?” “Yes please.” Raven wrapped the blanket around her, shivering. Jennie flipped on the overhead light and went to Raven’s dresser. She found the heaviest sweat shirt possible and brought it to her love. She nearly dropped it when she got a good look at Raven’s face. “You’re as pale as a ghost and your lips are slightly blue.” Grabbing the sweat shirt, Raven quickly put it on, then wrapped the blanket around her again. “H-had a dream about those shadow creatures. They had m-me surrounded!” Jennie got back into bed and took Raven in her arms, holding her close. “I had a similar dream, love, except I was a raven. A very big raven. Never dreamed of being anything but a human before.” Raven turned to look at her. “The raven that rescued me in the dream was big and it smelled like you, Jen.” She closed her eyes, resting her head against Jennie’s shoulder. “Love, what’s going on?” “I wish I knew, Raven.” She was relieved to find Raven’s shivering was starting to subside. “How you feeling now?” “Warmer.” She made a face. “I should write down that dream before going back to sleep. “ What time is it?” Glancing at the clock, Jennie noticed it was four in the morning. “It’s four am, my love. Want me to get your notebook and pen?” “Yes please.” Jennie laid her back against the pillows, giving her a kiss. “Be back in a jiffy.” She hurried from the room to get the notebook from the living room. The Ravenwyng Chronicles copyright 2013 Anna M Dobritt
Posted on: Fri, 26 Jul 2013 23:49:43 +0000
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