| Chapter 38 "No, not so loud," Tara and Aleisha both said at the same time. Jade looked at them frustrated, "I'm not gonna get this." "Yes you will, it just takes practice," Aleisha said, "Listen." Jade and the other students sat and listened as Aleisha quietly sang the song for them. "You see, it's all in how you sing it, not how loud it is. It never needs to be more that a whisper to have the desired affects," Tara noted. "And all you really need it for is to recognize the others, so you only have to learn enough to do that," Aleisha said. "But what if we want to learn more?" one of the students asked. Tara and Aleisha both glanced at one another. "Um, the counsel will decide who is fully trained and who is not. We will still need some around that are fully trained even after we eliminate the others, but it's not our decision who it will be," Tara explained. "Oh, I see," the student said, disappointed. "These powers aren't something to be messed with, or taken lightly," Aleisha warned, "When you are fully trained, you will have power over man, both in the spiritual world as well as the mortal world. That kind of power can't be given to just anyone. It has to be guarded, so as not to fall into the wrong hands, like it did so long ago." "I understand," the student said, going back to practicing the song. Tara walked over to Aleisha, "After the session I need to borrow you for a little while." Aleisha cocked her head to the side, "Oh, what are we doing?" "We need a list of sirens, so our search won't take so long," she said. "Oh right, the web site," Aleisha remembered. Tara nodded, "I just hope they haven't deleted it." Aleisha sighed, "That's a possibility. They are very careful not to give themselves away, and with the warning out, I'm not sure they haven't taken the whole site down by now." "I don't think they would do that. They still have to keep in touch with each other," Tara said. "True," Aleisha said, turning her attention back to the students. She and Tara listened for several more minutes, impressed by their students progress so far. "OK, everyone listen up," Tara said, getting their attention. "You all are doing very well. I'm going to end the session a little early today, but I want you all to practice every chance you get. But, be careful where you practice. Make sure you're alone. We can't afford any unwanted boo boos this late in the game," she said. Everyone laughed. "You're dismissed," Aleisha finished for her. As the class filed out of the room, Jade walked up to them. "You guys going somewhere?" Tara smiled at her, "Yeah, we need to get a few things before we send you guys out." Jade nodded, knowing where Tara was going, "Tell them I said hi." Tara smiled, "I will. You ready?" she asked Aleisha. "Yeah, but where are we going?" she asked. Tara took her hand, "You'll see," she said as they disappeared. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Nickolas, I'm not so sure that's a good idea," Micah said. Nick sighed and ran his hand through his hair, "Why? That's the only place we could even possibly do it where it wouldn't affect Earth's realm." "I know that, but to let them into the lower realms is dangerous," Micah said. Gideon nodded, "It's never been done before." Nick looked at them, "I know that, but we have the best advantage here. It only makes sense to bring the battle here." "Nickolas, you're point is valid, but what happens if the battle doesn't go our way? Then we have them running lose in our realm," Michael said. Nick looked at the archangel and nodded, "I've already thought of that, but how long has it been since any of us have been in their realm? We have the best advantage on our home turf." Michael nodded, thinking. "It may not come to this anyway," Nick said. "I believe Nickolas is right, we should confront them here if need be," Michael said. Gideon and Micah exchanged glances with several others on Nick's counsel. "So if it comes down to this, we MUST win this battle. We cannot allow them free reign here," Jarab said. "I understand that," Nick said, "We will win the battle, I have no doubts about it." "I pray you're right," Micah said. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lyn walked through the living room, glancing in on Brian. It had been a week since he started writing, and he hadn't stopped. He would sleep only a few hours a night, then he was up again. Brian had started sleeping in the room with the computer, then all he had to do was turn around and crawl into bed instead of walking to the other end of the house. Lyn had figured out a system of making sure that he ate. She would fix his plate and leave it next to him on the desk. She would come back a few hours later and the food would be gone. She watched as he typed away, completely taken over by his desire to fulfill his task. Lyn sighed, turning and heading upstairs to the computer room to catch up on some work. She missed Brian. Even though they were in the same house, they hadn't talked in days. Once in a while he would speak to her when she entered the room, but most of the time he was oblivious to her presence. She knew what he was doing was more than important, but was worried about him. He kept pushing himself to get done, and it was starting to show. He had dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep, and even though he was eating, Lyn could tell he had lost weight. She hoped that he would be finished soon. She sat down at her computer and looked over the orders that had come in, in the last few days. She started processing them, getting an eerie feeling as she did. She was staring at the computer screen, but she knew she wasn't alone in the room. She had that feeling of being watched, and she knew it wasn't Tracy. "Who's there?" she asked, looking around. Tara and Aleisha appeared next to the desk she was sitting at. "You're getting good at that," Tara commented, smiling at her. Lyn got up giving her friend a hug, "How are you? Has the war started yet? Is Nick doing OK? And why is she here?" she asked, noticing Aleisha. Tara laughed, "Wait a sec. Um, I'm fine. No not yet, but it's getting closer. Nick is wonderful, but busy, and she's helping us. There that everything?" Lyn eyed Aleisha, still not sure about her. "Nick helped me, so I'm returning the favor," Aleisha said. "OK, so what's up? Why are you here?" Lyn asked. "We need to borrow a computer and your expertise," Tara said. Lyn laughed, "Everyone needs a computer. What am I now? Gateway?" "Sorry, but you're handy," Tara laughed, "We need to get on the internet and look something up." "OK, no problem," Lyn said, quickly getting on, "So, where do you need to go?" "Sisters in song dot com," Aleisha said. Lyn raised her eyebrow as she typed in the address, "Not very original is it?" Aleisha laughed, "Best way to hide is out in the open." "I guess so," Lyn said as the page appeared on the screen, "You have to log in." "Here, let me," Aleisha said, taking the chair Lyn vacated and putting in her user name and password. "Wooo hooo, I'm still in here," she grinned. "That's good cause we were screwed if they deleted you after you .... um.... " Tara stumbled. "It's OK, after I died. You can say it. That was the best thing that could've happened," Aleisha said, making her way into the sight. "Oh look here," she said, pointing to the screen. Lyn and Tara both looked. "Oh my," Lyn said. On the screen was a warning message and Nick's picture was attached. "Well it looks like Evi did what she was told," Tara said, amused. "Well, at least they don't have your picture on there," Lyn said. "Yeah true. That would have made it hard for me to do my job if they knew what I looked like," Tara commented. "OK, let's see if we still have a member listing," Aleisha said, clicking on the link. The three watched as the page downloaded, revealing nothing. "Oh crap, they deleted it," Tara said. "Now what are we gonna do?" Aleisha asked. Lyn laughed, "I believe you wanted my expertise?" They both nodded. "Well scoot over honey and give me some room. There's an archived member list in here somewhere and I'm gonna find it," Lyn said. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brian clicked the print button and looked down at the printer. It didn't start printing like it normally did, and he looked back up at the screen wondering what was wrong. He glanced back down, "Oh paper," he mumbled, getting up and heading out of the room. He walked upstairs and into the computer room, almost on autopilot. He went to the shelves that housed the paper and grabbed a ream, turning to leave the room. He caught a glimpse of something as he turned, and looked over. Brian stopped dead in his tracks and dropped the paper he was holding, his eyes wide in shock. Lyn and Tara laughed. "Bri, honey, you alright?" Lyn asked. "Um .... I uh," he stammered. Aleisha walked over to him, "Hi Brian. I'm sorry I scared you." "No you ....." Brian said, looking to Tara and Lyn for some sort of explanation. "She's helping us," Tara said, "She's on our side now." Brian looked back at Aleisha, somewhat embarrassed, "Sorry, I just...." "I understand. The last time we saw each other wasn't under the best of circumstances," Aleisha said. Brian nodded. "I um, ..... Brian I want to apologize for what I did to you. I know that it doesn't make up for any of it, but I am truly sorry for what I did," Aleisha said. Brian smiled, "Well it's good to know that some good came from all of it. I'm glad to see you're on the right side now." "Thanks," Aleisha said. Tara grabbed the list that had finished printing, "Thank you so much for helping." Lyn smiled, "Anytime." The two looked over at Brian. He was looking from one to the other, at a complete loss as to what to say or do. Tara laughed, leaning over to Lyn and whispering, "All we need is Leighanne here to make this awkward moment complete." Lyn cracked up, "Oh man, I didn't even think of that. He's been with all of us." Tara nodded, grinning. Aleisha looked over at them, "Well, isn't this ...... awkward." Everyone laughed but Brian, he was still frozen in his spot. "Well who else in the world could get an angel, a siren, and two mortals to love him?" Tara teased. Brian blushed, "Oh Lord, please don't start." "Oh and you don't think that if Nick and the guys were here that they'd let this moment escape them?" she said, laughing. "Come on Bri, it could be worse," Aleisha said. "How?" he asked. "Angel could be here. I swear that wolf had a crush on you," she snickered. Brian put his hand over his face and laughed until he snorted, causing the girls to break down in hysterics. "Well, on that happy note, we need to get going," Tara said, brushing away the tears that came from laughing to hard. Lyn hugged them both, "Be careful, and tell Nick we love him." "I will," Tara said, turning to Brian. He smiled at her. She hugged him, "Keep writing. What you're doing is gonna help us tremendously, and I admire you so much for doing it." Brian nodded as she pulled away. Aleisha walked over and took his hand in hers, "Goodbye Brian." He stared at her for a moment, then pulled her into a hug, "Take care." "I will," she said as he let her go, and she and Tara vanished from the room. Brian bent down to pick up the paper that he'd dropped. "Bri, can you take a break for a few minutes?" Lyn asked. He bit his bottom lip, "Um..." "Please," she begged, "I haven't talked to you in days." Brian stretched his hand out for her to take. She did, and he lead her downstairs and into the room he'd shut himself up in for the past week. He placed the paper in the printer, happy when it started working, then turned and sat down next to her on the bed. He took her hand, interlacing their fingers, "So, what have I missed since I've been in here?" "A lot," she said, staring into his eyes. "Like what?" he asked. She grinned at him, "Like this," she said placing a feathery kiss on his cheek, "And this," as she placed one on his forehead. Brian laughed as she kissed every inch of his face and moved to his neck. He pulled her back up to look at him, "I've missed you to," he said as he took her in his arms and held her close. He leaned in and kissed her passionately, slowly pushing her down to the bed. Lyn lay on her back, Brain hovering over her, smiling. She grinned at him, tugging at his shirt, pulling him down on her. He kissed down her neck as she ran her hands through his hair. "Bri?" Lyn said. "Mmm?" he asked, continuing his assault on her neck. "Do you think that Angel would be jealous of what we're doing?" she asked, grinning mischievously at him. Brian rolled his eyes and shook his head, bursting into hysterics. Chapter 39 |