Welcome to Strangely

“Hey, Emily, I'm glad you decided to come,” Kevin calls, as he walks closer to them.

“Wouldn't miss it for the world, Kevin,” Emily says, with a fake smile.

“That’s a strange thing to say.” He looks down at her with a frown.

Emily laughs nervously. “I don’t know where that came from.”

“Are you coming with me? Everyone we know is over there.” Zara asks.

Without moving an inch, Emily says, “I came, I saw, I was chirpy. Now, I’m going back home.”

“Emily, we just got here. It wouldn't look good, besides, it’s Mabon, when the day and the night are equal in length, in sublime balance, so we must celebrate,” Zara says as her eyes scan the crowd. She nudges Jenny. “Look who's here.”

Emily tries to stop looking as if she does not want to be here, and whispers close to Jenny’s ear, “It's a love connection.”

“Hi, Jason. Just ignore them, they’re not trying extremely hard to be subtle,” Jenny says, absolutely mortified as her cheeks burn and her cheeks turn red.

“Let’s meet and greet, Emily,” Zara says as she pushes her arm through the crook of Emily’s and pulls her away to a crowd of people standing on the other side of the gazebo.

Emily rolls her eyes but cannot suppress her smile. She needs to relax. It is not always doom and gloom.

Jason leads Jenny toward the balustrade of the gazebo, to a quieter corner where they can speak without being listened to.

“Did you have time to visit the Wishing Well today?” He asks.

“I did, but I couldn’t really see anything, the water was all shaded and I thought I saw Abby a few times, which can’t be right. I have been really worried about her and was hoping to see her and Chris here tonight. She never came home last night, but sometimes she stays over at Chris’. She always lets us know, though, and last night she didn’t.”

“Come to think of it, I haven’t seen Chris all day, either.” He smiles to re-assure her. “Maybe they decided to take the day off.”

“I suppose so,” Jenny says, distracted and preoccupied as to what she should make of this development.

Leaning her elbows on the balustrade, she glances across the ocean of clouds as far as her eyes can see. The gazebo is higher than any other structure surrounding them, except for the spire of the Town Hall, and no matter which way she looks, she can see all the way to the horizon.

“It’s getting late,” Jason says after a while. He leans with his back against the balustrade, looking at the crowd of people gathered in the gazebo.

“It is. I should make my way home soon,” Jenny says.

He turns around and rests his elbows on the balustrade next to hers, their skin touching, the electricity between them becoming difficult to ignore.

“I was thinking about your power of premonition and wondering if the other girls have discovered their powers yet.”

Jenny turns her head to look at him, surprised by the direct and personal nature of his question. Paranoia grips at her, and she wonders whether he might have been sent by Agatha to spy on them, to get more information. Almost as quickly as the feelings come to her, she dismisses them… Jason would never be involved in such a plot.

“You need to be protected now, now that you know what it can do. What you can do,” he explains, making her feel guilty for her less than favourable thoughts just moments ago.

“We don’t really know what we can do, though, but we do know demons are after us.”

“They want the Book of Eudemon’s power, your power. Do you know what Abby, Zara and Emily can do?”

“No. Not yet, that is.”

He smiles a knowing smile. “What do you think it will be?”

Jenny laughs softly as she dips her head, feeling a little embarrassed. “I think Emily, will have the power of telekinesis. Zara, the power of telepathy, and Abby will be able to stop time. Well, that’s what I’ve felt. I’m not really sure if I’m right or not.”

After a moment of silence as he contemplates her answer, and she feels as if she should not have said anything, and maybe her feelings about him are correct, he says, “I can’t believe Stephen was a demon, who lived here with us for all that time. Hiding and waiting for the prophecy to be fulfilled. You have to make sure you hide the Book of Eudemon well.”

“We did.”

Someone comes to look out at the view, not far from where they are standing.

Jason looks over at them and back at Jenny. “Maybe we should talk about this elsewhere.”

“You’re right,” she agrees.

He moves his face closer to hers, so close all Jenny can do is look into his beautiful dark eyes. His eyes are so dark; it is as if she can see the stars reflected in them.

“Would you like to come home with me?”