Cataclysm by Karice Bolton Page B

me. The thought almost made me weak.
    Feeling his body stiffen, we propelled into the air at a speed I was certain I wouldn’t have been able to reach. The air was stinging my forehead as we rose higher and higher into the sky. Attempting to avoid all discomfort, I nuzzled my face into his back. I grasped as tight as I could without seeming silly, but truthfully, I enjoyed feeling every part of his body this close to mine. Scanning the ground, the cars and people became more like Monopoly pieces, but instead of being frightened, I felt invigorated.
    “This is incredible!” I yelled, with the wind catching most of my volume. “This by far is the best mode of transportation. Riding doubles far outweighs singles.”
    I knew a smile spread across his face, as he reached behind and patted my knee bringing me to a place far from the problems we were about to face.
    “I love you so much. And when we are done with this, I say it’s high time we escape to a place far away. Only getting these little snippets of you is driving me insane,” I grumbled.
    Athen’s laughter poured out into the clouds.
    “You have no idea what it’s doing to me, my love,” Athen quipped. “Having you wrapped around me like this isn’t exactly helping the cause.”
    Giggling, I secured myself that much more around his waist and neck.
    “Whatever I can do to help the situation,” I giggled, knowing I only had minutes left before we landed. “The view is incredible, though.”
    “Seeing all the activity down there, everyone going on their way, only adds to the urgency of everything we’re facing, doesn’t it?”
    “It sure does, baby.” Athen’s body began to dive lower, and I adjusted for our landing.
    “You know, I didn’t want you going out to check out Lilith’s little army today, anyway,” he said.
    “I didn’t either, but sometimes the, ‘everything happens for a reason’, motto really hits it right on,” I told him.
    “Sure does.”
    “That’s where we’re landing?” I asked, spotting a tiny clearing in an otherwise heavily treed park.
    “Yep. Only a few blocks away from Arie.”
    Clenching onto him a little harder, I prepared myself for the end to our very quick journey. His landing was as if he had just started walking off of a set of stairs. His moves were truly impressive. I couldn’t wait until the day that I landed like that.
    We touched down in an area where the grass seemed to have turned to mud from the recent rainfall. Not seeing anyone around, I hopped off Athen’s back.
    “You know, at least, this whole experiment might be over with,” I sighed, but not before Athen pulled me over to meet his eyes.
    Looking deeply into my soul, he began. “I know this has been tough on you. But between your dreams and Arie’s interactions with Cyril, this probably was the only way to buy us enough time. Visiting those families really messed with him, but I think the interaction did the trick.”
    “I wonder, though, couldn’t we have just kept him by our side and taken him to visit these families as a unit with Arie. Was it really necessary for her to provoke an attack? Wouldn’t that have hit him too?”
    “I don’t think that would have had the same impact,” he said, his lips tight with the anxiety I was feeling. “Think how easily he slipped away this morning. No matter how this goes, you can’t blame yourself. You warned everyone of the premonitions. That’s all you did. Arie made the choice for the next steps.”
    Feeling his arms securely wrapped around me, I took a deep breath in trying to let his words soak in as best they could.
    Nodding slowly, I asked the obvious.
    “You think I’ll be the one that’s gonna be blamed?”
    “He actually started to go down that path last night.” Athen rested his lips on my forehead, pressing them softly against my skin. “Be strong – promise me that.”
    He released me, and we hurriedly walked on the slippery path leading us to the downtown streets of