The morning went by fast. We slept in a little and got up around 9:30 and headed out for breakfast having packet our stuff last night. The rendezvous was on the far east side of Seattle. It didn’t take long to get there after breakfast, adding in the drive from Everett and minor traffic. We ended up at a little parking garage next to a bank about 11:00. We decided to get an early lunch at a little café across the street.
The café was homey. It was nice and bright and smelled like homemade apple pie. We sat at a large booth in the back out of the way. Our waitress was a woman who reminded me of Dolly Parton, just with smaller boobs. She was polite, even had a bit of a southern accent.
It was roughly 11:45 when a certain customer caught my eye. Through others came in before him, Ashley was just hard to not notice, even when he was trying to look normal. He walked in wearing a black button down plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up and dark blue jeans pulled over his cowboy boots. After last night I didn’t blame him for trying to blend in. He smiled politely at the waitress as he was sat at a table near us. By now my friends had seen him too, I was just the only one who couldn’t help but stare. Not to seem like a creeper, I quickly glanced around the room and turned back to my friends.
We enjoyed the rest of our time in the café, chitchatting and laughing a little, just acting like a normal group of teens. Food always seems like a good waste of time. We got up to leave and I glanced at Ashley. Our eyes met and he smiled a little and winked, licking his lips a bit. Heat flooded my cheeks and I quickly looked away. This was an awkward situation just waiting to happen.
After we left we went out and waited by our cars for Ashley. He came out around 12:15. He smiled and walked up to us. “I have to admit, I’m kind of surprised,” he said. “We really weren’t expecting to get anyone here the early.”
“Andy was pretty convincing.” I chuckled softly. Ashley gave us a huge, gorgeous smile. Don’t swoon like a love-struck schoolgirl. I thought to myself. We all shook hands and introduced ourselves to him.
“I have to ask,” Ashley said, his smile fading. “What happened with your previous encounter with F.E.A.R.? I overheard you talking about it last night.”
My stomach dropped. I explained my violent reaction at school that Monday. Daniel explained that the F.E.A.R. representative spook out against the invasion of “evil” into the world. We all understood that their “evil” was in fact the world’s “saving grace” so to speak.
Ashley nodded a little and looked at me. “Your body’s reaction to F.E.A.R. is due to the sheer evil they radiate. Because your bloodline is genetically wired to resist their power, your body rejected his presence. The violence of the reaction could be from many things, but a large portion of it was most likely due to the fact you are Christian and you bare the Pentacharm on your skin. Your subconscious mind is embedded with the aspects and beliefs of Christianity. F.E.A.R. is in every way, shape, and form the complete opposite of Christianity. Your mind subconsciously refused F.E.A.R.’s ‘brainwashing’, as you put it, enhancing your physical pain. The Pentacharm would have done the same. Since we are F.E.A.R.’s sworn enemy, your tattoo would have sent distress signals throughout your body, which would cause the burning itch. You might also be descendant of one of the first Wild Ones who were hypersensitive to F.E.A.R.’s power. That handful of individuals would become physically ill when F.E.A.R. was too close. This would explain your reaction as well Windy.”
“But the rest of us were barely affected.” Daniel interjected. “Hayden, Samuel, and Jane all have Black Veil Brides tattoos, yet they barely reacted last night. And Destiny and I felt next to nothing. If what you said is true, then how is that possible?”
“The majority of the Wild bloodline is resistant to F.E.A.R.’s influence,” Ashley said turning to Daniel, “some were completely unaffected. You all might be descendant of those individuals who were genetically impervious to F.E.A.R. Also, just as it is a weakness, a strong Christian faith can also be a mental shield. It would have blocked F.E.A.R.’s psychic intrusions— the voice Rain heard. It is normally an attack on a person’s subconscious thoughts, but due to Rain’s weakened state she became aware of the trespassing of her psyche. As a result of her already deteriorating metal and physical health at the time, Rain’s faith became more of a poison to her body, causing her to become ill.”
“So the voice was F.E.A.R. try to brainwash the school and not Rain’s schizophrenia?” Destiny asked. God, why did she have to bring that up?
“Des, I took my meds that morning,” I whined. “If I hadn’t I would have gone home way before the assembly.”
“No it was not a schizophrenic hallucination.” Ashley interjected. “It would have been ten times worse if it mixed with a hallucination. She would most likely have been hospitalized for it.” He turned to look at me inquisitively. “How long have you been dealing with schizophrenia?”
“As long as I can remember,” I stuttered. “It didn’t get really bad until I turned twelve. After that I was constantly having horrific visions of people dying, screams of pain and suffering, blood, lots and lots of blood…” I trailed off, shifting my eyes to the ground. I hugged myself as memories of all the hallucinations came flooding back. I felt tears swell and I did my best to blink them back, pursing my lips into a thin line.
“Rain, look at me,” Ashley said. A finger crooked under my chin and he gently turned my face to his. “Rain, calm down, it’s ok. As we train you we will build your mental strength. The hallucinations will cease to torment you. You have your meds right?” I nodded. “Good. I’m sorry, Dolly, I didn’t mean to make to relive your visions” Ashley softly wrapped his arms around me, hugging me to him. I took a few deep breaths to calm down, feeling safe and sheltered.
Wait… did he just call me Dolly?
My fist connected hard with his stomach. He gasped and jumped back releasing me. “What the fuck was that for?” he groaned holding his abdomen.
“You call me Dolly again and I’ll break your fucking jaw.” I said sniffling a little.
He just looked at me a laughed a little. “C’mon let’s get going, it’s going to be a bit of a drive.” He said straightening up.
A small smile came to my lips. My friends and I followed Ashley’s lead and we got into our cars. Destiny got into the driver’s seat of my cobalt and I got in to the front passenger seat. Dan and Jane slid into the back. We backed out of the parking space and followed Ashley out of the garage and out of town.
“You only punched Ashley so you could feel his abs.” Destiny teased after a few minutes.
“What! No!” I nearly shouted. My cheeks turned bright pink.
“Yes, you know it’s true. You don’t normally mind people calling you ‘Dolly’, so why else would you punch him?
“I just got use to people calling me that. It still annoys the shit out of me though.” Curse my cutesy doll-like features. “Yes I have a major crush on him but he’s like ten years older than us. The awkwardness of the entire thing would be unbearable.”
Destiny wiggled her eyebrows at me. Oh shit. “Ashley and Rain sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.” she sang.
“Fuck You!” I wined burying my face in my hands to hide the well-known fact I was as red as a tomato now. The car erupted with laugher.


»»»«««


“You really think she is, Ash?” Jinxx asked over the phone, sounding a little excited.
“It only makes sense. But I want you see for yourself.” I said into the phone. “Just be genital please. I’ve already made her cry, so try not to scare her too much.”
“Why’d you make her cry? I thought that would be that last thing you’d ever make a girl do.”
“I didn’t mean to, it just happened, though she did punch me afterwards so I’m pretty sure we’re even.”
Jinxx chuckled. “See you in a while, brother.”
“Bye Jinxx.” And the call ended.


»»»«««


We drove for about an hour through dense evergreens. I gazed out the car window the entire time. Washington was so beautiful. If the Twilight movies got anything right it was the scenery. We followed Ashley up through a little dirt road to a clearing. He parked alongside the other four cars hidden in the trees. Destiny and Hayden, who was driving Windy’s Honda, just parked wherever.
“We’ll come back for your stuff later.” Ash said as we got out of our cars. He went around to the trunk of his car and opened it. “It’s going to be a long hike.” He said pulling out a couple of backpacks. “These are full of water and trail mix and all that shit. It will take us roughly and hour or so just to hike through the mountains, the about thirty minutes to get through a passage through the rocks. I don’t want anyone to get hurt, so we will take all the time we need. I do suggest bringing any meds you might need.” He shot a quick glance at me.
I smiled reassuringly. “I’m insane, Ashley, not stupid.” I said walking around to the trunk of my car. I opened it and pulled out the bug-out bag. “If I learned anything in my ten years of Girl Scouting, it’s to always be prepared for the worst. This has a basic Red Cross certified first aid kit, plus our medications, glow sticks, flashlights, blah, blah, blah, and a spare for everything.”
Ashley smirked a little and walked over. “I’ll take this,” He said grabbing the first aid kit. “You carry this.” He handed me a bag from his trunk.
“Yes mother,” I teased good-humoredly. He rolled his eyes at a little and I stuck my tongue out at him jokingly, slipping into the back bag.
Everyone else pulled on a bag. They were pretty hefty. They were Camelbaks, holding roughly a gallon of water, plus whatever else Ashley put into them. But they were still light enough not to be too big of a burden.
“Let’s head out.” Ashley called heading into the woods. “If we’re lucky we can make it back by dinner.” We all just fell in line behind him.
As he had said the hike was long. We stopped frequently to make sure everyone was okay and staying with the group. We followed paths, climbed rocks, and squeezed through holes, all while trying to not fall off a cliff. This took roughly two hours give or take a few minutes. After that we had to worm our way a passage that was about two feet and it widest point. This was 45 minutes of falling, hitting our heads on randomly appearing rocks, and nearly twisting our ankles. Thank God Ashley was so helpful. His helped us along making sure we didn’t get too banged up.
It was nearly four p.m. when crawled out back into sunlight. We all stretched out and rested after being in such a cramped space for so long.
“We’re nearly there,” Ashley said from his place on the ground, “Just a few more minutes of hiking.” The group gave a collective grown. “If you didn’t want to work you should have stayed home.” Ashley said. “It’s only going to get worse. If you’re not up for it I will happily hike your asses back to the cars.” A few of us groaned out an antagonized “no thank you”.
“Are we going to have to hike back to get our shit?” Hayden asked.
“It’s not worth it.” Jane groaned.
Ashley chuckled a little. “No, no more hiking for any of you. Hopefully Jinxx will have a portal charm ready for each of you. Those will be able to get you back and forth between here and just about anywhere, within reason. If not someone will fly back for your things.”
“Thank God.” Daniel muttered lying back on the ground. Destiny rubbed his arm and leaned back on a tree, both of them tired as hell. Fuck, we were all ready to keel over.
“How much further do we have to go?” Samuel asked with a small groan.
“Ten minutes tops.” Ashley replied. “Just out of the forest and over a small hill to where we have a small base camp set up. There you can all rest for a while. Dinner should be ready pretty soon, too.”
Windy stood up and stretched with an audible pop. “Let’s just get this over and done with. We can all pass out later tonight.” The group murmured in agreement.
“You sure you’re all ok to continue?” Ashley asked. We all nodded and helped hoist each other to our feet. Ashley gave a small nod and stood as well. Then we were off again.
We soon arrived at the camp site. It kind of looked like a medieval army encampment, like something you would see on Game of Thrones and other medieval themed shows. Large groupings of canvas tents surrounded small fire pits. These clusters made a semicircle around a large open area at the mouth of a great cave. A fire burned in the mouth of the cave and another not far from it in the clearing. A single figure sat by the fire in the cave, four more at the other fire. Three more individuals were erecting a tent at the far left of the campsite.
“Hey Guys! Ash is back!” a female voice drifted over the light breeze. Ashley smiled a little. Everyone dropped what they were doing and came to greet us at the bottom of the hill. First to greet us were Sammi, Ella, Lauren, Juliet, and Jinxx. The girl gave Ashley small hugs; Jinxx smiled and the two of them had a bit of a bro hug. Ashley then introduced us and we shook hands. Right off the bat I really liked Sammi and Lauren. They were warm and opened to us. Juliet was ok; I just didn’t feel all that comfortable with her. Ella seemed to be keeping her distance. Jinxx though seemed to be in a cuddly mood seeing as he gave us all big, warm, welcoming hugs.
Jake, CC, and Andy came strolling up soon after. They smiled and shook hands with us. “It’s good to see you all made it without many issues.” Andy said looking us over.
“Yea, that hike is a pain in the ass.” CC exclaimed.
“And arms, and legs, and places that we didn’t know exist,” Hayden interjected with a sarcastic huff, earning a light chuckle from everyone.
“Sammi, would you mind showing them to their tents please.” Andy requested politely. “I’m sure a long rest before dinner is well deserved.”
“No problem, Andy.” Sammi replied with a smile. She motioned for us to follow her. “This way please.”
We were shown to two large hexagonal tents, girls in one and boys in the other. Four cots lined the far walls with a trunk at the end of each bed. A small table and chairs sat in the middle of the spacious tent. Two empty wooden racks stood by the entrance. They would be used to hold whatever weapons we chose to fight with, Sammi explained before leaving us to rest.
I took off the backpack and threw it next to a random cot, claiming it for myself. Wendy, Jane, and Destiny did the same. We all stretched and kicked off our shoes. I had just lied back for a little nap when someone knocked on one of the poles supporting the tents canvas covering. “You’re all decent, right?” a voice called from outside.
I rolled my eyes a little. “No CC, the first thing we did was strip down and started a pillow fight.” I answered as sarcastically as my drained body could manage.
“Oh, ok…” He paused for a second. “Mind if I join you?” he shouted hyperactively.
The four of us looked at each other and shrugged. “What the hell, why not,” Destiny shouted back. There was a little cheer of glee and he burst through the tent door.
“Aw…” CC whined with an over exaggerated pout as he saw us lazing about on the beds.
“Did you really think we would be having a pillow fight after three hours of hiking?” Windy asked with a hint of sarcasm. CC just shrugged innocently.
I laughed a little. “What do you really want, CC?”
“Jake and I are going to go get your things. We kind of need your keys.”
I sat up with a groan and dug through the backpack for my keys. I found them and tossed them to CC who caught them effortlessly. “Hayden should have mine.” Windy said.
CC nodded and left. “Sweet dreams girls. Someone will come get you when dinner is ready.” He called over his shoulder as the tent flap closed.
We all smiled at each other and I collapsed back onto the cot. I threw my arm over my eyes and let weariness slip me into a deep sleep.