© Copyright 2011
All work is property of Leah Crichton, any duplication or reproduction of all or part of the work without explicit permission by the author is illegal.

Acquiescence: (ak-wee-es-uhns)

an agreement or consent by silence without objection

When I woke up his arms still held me protectively.  His face was frozen in the same distant and tortured expression as before, but when he noticed my eyes were open, he softened.

“Hey, how are you feeling?” 

How was I feeling?

Horrible.

Terrified.

Depressed.

Devastated.

Uncertain.

Unraveled.

Mortal.

I was going to die. I was already dying. How was I supposed to absorb all of this? How was I supposed to feel about it?

My whole world had just been sent into a tailspin, a whirlwind of confusion and fear of the unknown. Nothing was certain and only one thing was real.

I still loved him.

The truth was terrifying, but I didn’t need to be in this alone. I wasn’t. He was here and he was nothing to be scared of. Death comes for all of us eventually, doesn’t he? I guess this is what happens when he falls in love with you.

“I’m okay.” That wasn't exactly true but I couldn’t be sure what exactly I was. “You?” I shifted my body so my head lay in his lap and I could look up at him.

Orion shrugged. “Things could be better, could be worse.”

“What do we do now?” I searched for some kind of solution, some miracle.  By all accounts Orion could do anything, so why couldn’t he produce a miracle? 

He traced the outline of my face with his finger. “Unfortunately, because of me, you’re going to be forced to make a choice, one that was never supposed to be yours to make. I thought I was doing the right thing by giving it to you, but now I’m not so sure.”

“What choice?”

“You need to decide if you are going to come with me or not. You can stay and fight for your life. For your Dad. That’s probably what you should do.” His eyes welled with tears, like mine, only his contained so much more sadness within them. Like each tear held a sorrowful story of its own. His lip trembled as I was forced to watch my strength, my rock begin to crumble.

I remembered my Dad at my bedside, looking gaunt and broken. It was an impossible decision to make. I couldn’t choose between Orion and my dad.

Not now.

Not ever.

The more consideration I gave it, the thicker the blanket of anxiety became. “I can’t choose, Orion. How could you expect me to choose?”

“It’s okay,” he replied. “You can think about it for a while. I can hold him off for a while.”

“What? Hold who off?” I knew exactly who he meant, but was petrified to acknowledge it. He didn’t answer and instead sat there in silence. My voice dripped with panic. “Hold who off, Orion?”

“Damien. He’s my natural enemy, and you gave him a front row ticket to view your soul. Now he wants it as badly as I do. He’d do anything to hurt me, and you are clearly the easiest way for him to do that.” He put his head in his hands. “I’m so sorry.”

“I should have listened to you. I should have stayed away.”

“No. It's my fault. I practically delivered you to him with gift wrap.”

“No, it was my choice; I should have just gone home.”

“Ireland, please, there’s no way you could have known. Damien’s been trying to screw with me since I found you. He’s trying to throw me off, to take the ones I’ve been assigned to. That’s why he was there that night, to threaten me; he intended to take Marianne. Alicia and Alex are my friends, she was their cousin. I couldn’t let that happen. I knew you might see, but I couldn’t sacrifice her soul to keep my secret. I just wish you never saw.” 

“I’m sorry.”

“Stop apologizing for my shortcomings.”

“What do you think he's going to do?”

“I'm not sure.”

I sat up. “You're what?”

“Well he's playing nice for now, but that'll only last so long. I think he will try to take you.” He pulled me tight against him. “Hey, you know about him now, so he can’t try to convince you any different. It won’t be easy.” His voice got very soft. “Don’t worry, Tiger. If it’s the last thing I do on this planet, I’m not going to let him.”

“But what if you can’t stop him?”

“I can and I will. I promise.” He seemed confident, but I was still petrified beyond words.

“He’s not scared of you, Orion. He wasn’t scared of you at the school,” I reminded him.

“No, he’s not. He’s too cocky for his own good. I’ve known Damien a long time; he’s weak. Trust me, if it really came down to it, he doesn’t have a hope.”

“What do we do?” I hoped he would perform some of his magic, do anything at all to make this new horrifying reality a dream.

“You need to see Alicia and Alex. Other than that, I suppose until you’ve made your decision, we should continue on as normal. The longer Damien thinks you know nothing and the longer we continue with the illusion of life, the better it will be.”

“Normal, Orion! What the hell? This isn’t even for real! You said so yourself! This is all a fabrication!”

“If I didn’t tell you all of this, you’d be living a life I’ve manifested for you as if nothing ever happened, right? That is what I mean by normal. And the twins… they can show you some important things, things that might help your decision.”

“I don’t want to make a decision,” I said.

“I know you don’t, but I can’t make it for you. Listen, Damien doesn’t know anything. He’s too busy playing his game to guess that I’ve told you. He’d never believe you’d listen to anything I have to say after everything that’s happened. The longer he goes on thinking that you’re completely oblivious, the more time you’ll have to decide.”

“If I chose to live, would you still be here?” 

“No. I’d have to leave you for a while.”

“You’d leave?”

“Yes but you need to know I’ll come for you. When it’s time, I’ll be the one to take you, even if it is years from now.”

My chest tightened. The thought of leaving Orion, my mom, and Luke, or leaving my dad was unbearable. “I thought God was merciful.”

“He is.”

“If He was, I wouldn’t have to make this choice. I’d have everything, everyone I love, here with me. I wouldn’t have to choose.”

“You have to choose because of me, not because of God.”

“Orion?”

“Yeah?” His attention was focused on me again.

“What if Damien is here, outside, right now? What if he already knows I know?” My stomach twisted in horrible knots. “Can he get my mom and Luke?”

“No, it’s been done. He can’t hurt a soul that has already been taken. Like I said, they’re just waiting for you.”

“He could be outside,” I whispered.

“He’s not here.”

“Check. Make sure.”

He looked at me like I’d gone crazy. Obviously I had. To humor me, he got up from the bed and walked over to the window. Pulling back the curtain, he looked out into the darkness. “There, now do you believe me? He’s not here. Besides, I don’t need to look. I can tell if he’s here.”

“How?”

“How are you even asking how?” The smile I loved so much was back, replacing the hopeless look he had earlier. “Because I can.”

“What else can you do?” I sat cross-legged on the bed, staring up at him.

He marched to my desk and picked up the now wilted red rose Damien gave to me. He twirled it thoughtfully in his hand before pinching it between his thumb and pointer finger. His fingers splayed as every muscle in his hand tensed. The rose went taut and, right before my eyes, its life returned. It was beautiful and fresh and new. “There,” he said, handing me the flower. “Take it.” I looked at it like it was diseased and shook my head. I didn’t want something that had been given to me by the devil. “Fine,” Orion said, holding the rose close to his lips. He blew on it as if it were nothing more than candles on a birthday cake and it instantly withered and died. “Happy?”

“What else can you do?”

“Pretty much whatever I want to.”

“Doubtful.”

“Probable. You should get some rest. Your visit to Alicia and Alex will take a lot out of you. You'll need all the energy you can get.”

Was he kidding? I just had the worst day of my life. If you could call it that, my life. I suppose my existence was a more apt description. “I won’t be able to sleep, Orion.”

“Sure you will.” He settled on the bed beside me and swung his arm around my middle.

“No, I won't.”

“You will; I can make you.”

“Orion?” 

“What?” His fingers traced patterns on my arm.

“I wouldn’t trade having met you for anything, ever.”

“Thanks,” he murmured, kissing my forehead. “It’s time to sleep, okay?”

I was about to object but he started speaking quietly, mumbling words I couldn’t understand. His body temperature rose, and my eyelids suddenly felt like they were lead. My struggle to defy weariness was in vain. Sleep, being the formidable opponent that it was, swallowed me whole.