Page 51 of All That Has Flown Beyond
“Midnight,” Kaiyo agreed before hanging up.
Kaiyo closed his eyes, flopping down on his childhood bed.
Why did going back home make him feel like an angry kid all over again?
**********
Kaiyo blinked at his ringing phone blearily. The clock squeezed to one of the screen’s corners by the incoming call told him it was past three in the morning. Ahmik’s name was printed with prominence in the middle.
“Hello?” he croaked, sitting up.
“It’s attacking Edu! You need to come downstairs.”
“What? Edu?” Kaiyo said, stumbling out of the bed and towards his shoes despite his confusion.
“Thea’s baby. It’s—fuck. I’m in the car. Come downstairs,” Ahmik’s voice said, sounding frantic.
“Shit. I’ll be right there,” Kaiyo cursed, hanging up and shoving his phone into the pocket of his thin pyjama pants. He finished shoving his feet into his sneakers, forgoing socks, before grabbing a shirt. He stuffed some supplies into a bag and ran down the stairs and barrelled through the front door, hoping he was remembering correctly and that his mom was still on-shift.
He raced to the idling car in the driveway, slamming the door after himself as he collapsed into the passenger seat.
“Go,” Kaiyo said unnecessarily, the car already peeling away. “What’s happening?”
“His Ousía. We could all feel it right away, something was, shit, I don’t know. Sucking the life out of it, like you said. By the time I got to Thea’s, the kid was struggling to breathe, he…fuck.Fuck!”
“Just get us there in one piece, Ahmik. I’m not letting anything happen to Thea’s kid,” Kaiyo said with complete conviction.
He hadn’t come this far, and helped as many packs as he had, only to fail at this.
Kaiyo jolted against his seat belt as Ahmik parked abruptly outside of what must have been Thea’s house. Kaiyo didn’t waste any time on taking it in as they ran to the door, already opened as Emil stood to the side.
“The living room,” he said, looking dishevelled and scared.
“Kaiyo!” Thea was standing in the middle of the living room, holding a silent bundle in her arms. Her dark eyes were wide and terrified, her dark cheeks wet. “Please. Please,” she sobbed.
Kaiyo reached her in a second, looking down at the child. It was so small. Pudgy hands were curled in loose fists under his chin. What must have normally been smooth, brown skin was ashy and pale, his lips purple as he tried to breathe.
Instinct took over. Kaiyo had researched beings that would curdle anybody’s stomach. Had seen things that still woke him up at night. There had been moments in his life when he had thought he would die, and it was only his instinct and training that had saved him. All his life he seemed to have been fighting a war, and this wasn’t a battle he was about to lose.
“Hold on. I’m going to make a containing circle,” Kaiyo said, setting his bag down and rummaging through it before Thea could reply.
Thea watched him desperately as he got to work. He moved all the furniture out of the way with Emil and Ahmik’s help until the space around Thea was clear. He drew a circle on the floor with chalk before drawing a series of runes on the edges. He focused on caging and protection, drawing a smaller circle in the centre where he could sit with the infant.
“Okay,” he said, standing up again and moving his bag and tools outside the circle. “I’m going to have to hold—Edu was it?—for this. You’re going to have to stand outside of the circle,” he said, holding out his arms. Thea’s tightened around her child.
“I—”
“I know. But you’re going to have to trust me. Whatever happens, you can’t cross into the circle. I can do this, Thea,” he implored. She looked at him for a moment before nodding shakily and handing him the baby.
“Please,” she whispered. Kaiyo looked into her eyes.
“I can do this,” he repeated. “Outside the circle, okay? Remember, you can’t break into the threshold. It’ll be dangerous for all of us.”
“Okay. Okay,” Thea said, hesitating a moment before moving outside the line of chalk and into Emil’s arms. Ahmik stood to the side, watching.
Kaiyo turned his focus away from them and onto the baby. He was silent and struggling, but he was still breathing. Kaiyo sat down on the floor, within the inner circle. He took a deep breath.
He could do this.
