Chapter 37: Lights Off

Slowly, the lights flicker, the showerhead spurts back to life, and Bruce and Silvana see a rustling in the pile of their clothes on the floor.

Bruce and Silvana instinctively reach out to the other, making sure that they are both okay in the dark. Silvana glances at Bruce’s eyes, and they have turned a rich silver, and he is curling his entire body around her, as if to shield her from anything that might be lurking.

But what they find through the flittering lights of the bathroom is something far less sinister than what they had been prepared for.

Bruce’s pants rise off the tile of the bathroom floor, then float up towards the ceiling.

“Are you seeing this?” Silvana asked with a furled brow.

“Yeah,” Bruce chuckles, “And I think I know why it’s happening.”

“Well feel free to fill me in,” Silvana remarked.

Bruce ran out of the shower, hurriedly dried his feet on the mat, then pulled the floating pants out of the air and slipped himself into them.

“I’ll explain in a minute,” he said determinedly.

Silvana wrapped herself in a bath towel and pushed her wet hair over her shoulder.

“First,” Bruce said. “We need to make sure Amelia is okay.”

Silvana nodded and the two rushed out of the bathroom and down the hall. The lights in the cabin stopped flickering and returned to their normal state, and Silvana and Bruce burst into the bathroom Amelia was in.

Amelia hollered out again and covered herself with the shower curtain. She stood dripping wet and shivering, her eyes wide with fear, and Bruce blushed and turned around.

“What happened?” Silvana asked. “Are you alright?”

Amelia stepped one foot out of the tub, kept herself covered with the curtain, and peered out the bathroom window.

“I could have swore I thought I saw somebody standing outside,” she said. “And then once the lights went out, I just got freaked.”

Silvana looked out the window and saw nothing but the moonlight casting down on the trees of the forest.

“Bruce,” Silvana said, “Are you picking up the scent of anybody outside?”

Bruce sniffed and said, “The only living creatures nearby are a family of deer half a mile away and a squirrel in a nearby tree.”

“Okay, well,” Amelia huffed, “What I saw definitely wasn’t a squirrel.”

“I’ll check downstairs,” Bruce said. “Silvana, you stay with Amelia.”

Silvana pulled a change of clothes and some towels off the kitchen sink and handed them to Amelia while Bruce searched downstairs. Amelia, still shaken up, was moving slower because of her injuries, and while the wound on her arm was sealed, Silvana knew the pain in Amelia’s face to be from the stiff aches that such a healing wound causes. Silvana offered a hand to Amelia and helped her step out of the shower, and Amelia switched into the comfy pajamas.

“Well,” Silvana said, “If somebody was outside, then at least we can rest assured that they aren’t getting inside. You’ve fortified this place with too much magic for anybody to enter.”

Amelia razzled her wet hair with a towel and said, “I probably just saw a tree sway in the breeze, but with the short power outage and the lack of sleep, I thought I saw something.”

Just then, the power went out again, and the two women heard Bruce grunting.

“I’m okay!” he shouted. “But I could use some help downstairs.”

The lights turned back on.

Fast as they could, Silvana and Bruce descended the cabin’s main wooden staircase. Except, when they got downstairs, they didn’t see Bruce.

Embarrassingly, Bruce murmured, “Up here.”

The women looked up and saw Bruce floating in the air, his hands dangling in front of his bare chest, as if there were a magical string lifting him up by the back of his jeans.

“I think it’s time you explain,” Silvana said, smiling. Whatever was happening felt more fun than harmful, and there was a sense of true magic to it.

“Better I explain, dearest,” said a muffled voice. From the back pocket of Bruce’s jeans, Solaris’s ring flew out and in front of Bruce and then down to Silvana and Amelia.

Bruce fell to the ground and landed nimbly despite his great muscle mass.

The gold ring swiveled and swirled in the air, and its crimson bloodstone illuminated a deep red as Solaris’s voice emitted from it and said, “Silvana, my daughter, I’m okay and you needn’t worry about my safety.”

“Dad?” Silvana asked confusedly. “Is that your ring?”

“Indeed!,” Solaris shouted. “Found none other than Mr. Winters at the scene where I had been attacked by that scoundrel Kurt.”

“I told you he was up to no good,” Amelia chimed, crossing her arms and nodding at Bruce.

“That’s right,” Solaris confirmed. “Kurt made an attempt at my life. Once he realized he was no match for me, he sliced off my finger as I tore claws from his hand, and I fear he may have collected my blood so that he might transform into a true monster.”

“Just like Cecilia Duponte had done,” Silvana whispered.

“Exactly so,” Solaris agreed.

“Where are you right now?” Bruce asked.

“In the city,” Solaris responded, the ring bobbing up and down as if he were gesticulating while speaking. “Things are safe here once more from the spirits. At least, for the moment.”

“That’s great to hear,” Amelia said joyfully.

“And what’s better,” Solaris said, “is that we are in a position where you all can take the rest that you very well deserve. I’m safe, the city is safe, and while Kurt lurks out there, there is nothing more we can do to fight either him or Duponte tonight. It’s best you all spend the evening relaxing, for tomorrow we will have our hands full.”

“Wow, Dad,” Silvana said. “It almost sounds like you’re--”

“I am the Guardian,” Solaris said confidently. Silvana noticed that the tinge of pain and old age in his voice was gone.

“And I will keep my family and the people in this city safe, regardless of species,” Solaris added.

It was like Solaris had returned to the strong leader Silvana had admired when she was a little girl.

“I’m glad to hear you’re alright, Dad,” she said.

“Likewise, my dear. Now you all take the night to yourself. You deserve it. I’ll contact you in the morning.”

The red light on the bloodstone faded away and the ring fell. Silvana quickly swept it up before it hit the ground.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you had my father’s ring!” she exclaimed, knocking the back of her hand against Bruce’s shoulder.

Bruce darted his eyes away from Silvana and thought of their time in the shower together, when they were mending their feelings over their last argument with hot sex.

“In my defense,” Bruce said. “I was a little distracted.”

Silvana laughed and smiled. She hugged him so hard it surprised him, but she was just so happy that her father was alive, she was safe with the people that meant the most to her, and that they finally had some time to enjoy themselves.

And then outside before Silvana could truly celebrate, a shadow was cast on the porch.

Silvana, Bruce, and Amelia all turned as they heard the steps to the cabin squeaking.

From the windows beside the front door, they all noticed a figure in a hooded black robe reach a pale, almost skeletal looking hand out.

The doorbell rang and the hairs on Bruce’s neck twitched as he prepared for battle.