Chasing the wind

Chapter 4: Meetings

    Turning my head to ask William what he was doing, but before I get the chance, I get a notification on my watch. Without giving William a chance to stop me, I expand the image on my watch so I can see the notification better. It’s a message, but as soon as I see who it’s from, I don't bother reading it. Without another thought, I shake off his hand and run to the door.

    A goofy smile on my face as I run. I can’t believe I forgot something so important. William’s right behind me, but I’m not paying attention to what he’s saying. Without slowing down, I sling open the door bouncing with excitement. Standing in front of me is a man, a head taller than me, with something under his arm. 

      “Hey, Riot. What took you so long?” He grins down at me with a smirk. Unable to hold myself back, I throw myself at him. He wraps his free arm around me, pulling me close to his body. 

      I squeal, “Why didn’t you let me know you were on your way?”

      “I tried to. I messaged you a few times, actually, but it seems like you were busy.” He slowly sets me down and looks at a baffled William. “Little Riot, I thought it was going to be just the two of us.”

       “Oh… ummm… well… let’s all talk inside." Stepping inside with Wyatt shutting the door behind us. I look over to William to see a confused look on his face and unmoving. "Wyatt, this is William, my childhood friend. William is Wyatt, a friend I made online. Sorry, William. I meant to mention that he was coming over, but we got caught up in everything.”

      I am squirming on the spot with my eyes downcast. I don’t know what to do in this situation, but I can feel both pairs of eyes on me. 

     Stepping up from behind me, Wyatt ruffles my hair looking around. “Hey, there little Riot, you're leaving out some crucial information. You see, she’s my everything dare I say soulmate.” He giggles Squeezing me.

     Smacking his arm until he lets go, which only makes him laugh harder. “Stop that. We aren’t online, and William doesn’t know you’re joking.”

      Wyatt jumps out of my reach and laughs even harder. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’ll calm down.” Looking around and lazily walking through the house. “So Riot, which one is your room? Wait, don’t tell me I want to find it.”

      Finally snapping out of whatever kept William frozen, he looks between Wyatt and me with wide eyes. He walks over to me, tugging me closer to him. “Sophia, I don’t think I exactly understand what’s going on. Who is he? What is he doing here? Why does he keep calling you Riot?”

      “He’s a good friend of mine. He’s here because he wanted to visit while he was in the city. I’m sorry I totally forgot because of everything, and originally you weren’t even supposed to be here when he stopped by. I’m sorry. I don’t really know you would have to ask him about the nickname.”

      Wyatt sticks his head out of my room, “I found it. It’s cute if you beg hard enough I might just stay the night with you. The bed looks big enough for the two of us. Cuddle buddies!”

       William’s eyes widened, but before he can say anything, I cover my face groaning, “Wyatt, you're so loud. ”

       “Would it be better if I threw you over my shoulder without a word and just ran off with you?” I look up fast, surprised by how close he is without me noticing. Was I that embarrassed that I didn’t see him approaching.

      William puts himself right in between me and Wyatt before speaking, “Hello, it seems like you forgot about me, but we are in the middle of something important. You two can talk online later, but we should get back to what we were doing. So bye-bye.”

      Simply leaning to the side, Wyatt lifts his eyebrows at me. When I don’t say anything, he just smirks and grabs my hand pulling me with him to my room. “Oh yeah, little Riot, I just remembered that I brought something for you but only you. Maybe your friend should leave so I can show you, or I can help with what you are working on and show you after he leaves.”

       “Hey, don’t just ignore me, and this isn’t your house, so you don’t get to call the shots.” William tries to pull me away from Wyatt, but this just causes Wyatt’s hold on me to tighten.

      Squirming from my spot, I turn to look at both of them. “You’re right; this isn’t his house, but it isn’t yours, either William. I invited you both over here. This isn’t exactly what I had in mind, but oh well.” I slightly fidget under their patient gaze. “I think you will be interested in what William and I have been working on Wyatt. With William’s help, I’ve made some progress since we last talked. William will have to explain some of it, though, since I’m not as techy.”

      Wyatt follows behind me to my parents' office with a sound of eagerness in his voice. “I can’t wait. You've been so tight lip about it lately. I was worried you didn’t think you could confide in me anymore.”

      William slides between Wyatt and me “Well, Sophia and I are inseparable. We've been spending so much time together that it's time to have time for anything else..”

      “So, Riot, what do you want to show me first?” Wyatt sits on the floor, putting whatever he was carrying next to him. He starts pushing through some of the papers.

     I go to answer, but before I get the chance, William cuts in, sounding slightly irritated. “It’s extremely complicated you might not understand, but I’ll try to simplify it for you.”

      Wyatt snorts then looks back at me, waiting for me to say something. “Umm, well, it is complicated. I think your opinion might help a lot. Before we get in the middle of all of that, I’ll grab us some snacks.”

     I rush out of the room to the kitchen. I am breathing hard, leaning over the counter. Even though it’s just the three of us, it’s surprisingly a lot. It’s been months since I’ve even had dinner with both of my parents. I should be excited to be meeting Wyatt and hanging out with William at the same time. A part of me is excited, but the other big part of me can’t breathe. 

     I shut my eyes, focusing on my breathing, trying to calm myself. I’m probably just overly excited. I’m sure I’ll feel better as long as I calm down first, but I shouldn’t take too long. I grab some of my favorite snacks as soon as I feel like I can move again. I head back to the office, focussing on calling down my racing heart.

      When I get back to the room, Wyatt is walking around, looking at papers holding them over his head while William is right behind him, asking him questions. I set down the snacks, relieved that their focus isn’t on me. I stop paying attention to them when I look at the covered item Wyatt brought. 

       A familiar voice drifts to me, “Ancient.” It echoes in my head, and I feel a slight pull towards the object. Everything else falls away as my body starts to move on its own towards it. Suddenly my view is cut off, and I have to blink a few times as I become aware of my surroundings again. Looking up, I see Wyatt tilting his head at me with a small smile on his face. 

      I turn my head, and William is already sitting next to me, grumbling while he grabs the chips. Wyatt sits down, grabbing at some food. Wyatt nudges my arm “Gosh Riot, you really didn’t have to, but thank you.”

     I look away, saying, “No need to thank me. Sorry, I didn’t mean to take so long, but it looks like you got a chance to look over a few things. I know it’s probably odd to have paper files, but…”

     “I think it’s cool, you know, old fashion. It goes with what you are researching.” He smiles at me. “I only got a glance at a few things, but it looks cool so far. I definitely want to hear what you think.”

      We all get comfortable as I start explaining everything we’ve found so far, William cuts in here and there to explain his part and things that I still don't have a good understanding. William is hesitant to give Wyatt some information and doesn't share details. When I start to tell Wyatt about how we are being monitored, William quickly cuts me off.  Wyatt patiently listens, asking questions sparsely but, for the most part, just listens. He’s much more serious while listening but quickly smiles at me when I look up from the papers occasionally. 

       In the middle of explaining some documents, William gets a call from his mother. He ends up having to leave to take something to his mother at her job. William tells me he’ll be back later before looking hesitantly at Wyatt. Wyatt, for the first time, widely smiles at William and waves as he leaves.

      As soon as the front door closes, Wyatt grabs what he brought with him turning towards me. “Can we take a break for a moment? I’ve been dying to show this to you.” 

     I nod my head curious of what he brought with him, “Yea, totally. What is it?”

      “It’s better if I just show you. I’m happy I waited to show this to you instead of just telling you in the chat room. Even if I did tell you online, I don’t know how I would explain it without sounding crazy.” He slowly unwraps what looks like a stone tablet but has engravings in it as well as five foreign objects embedded into it.

       I lean closer, eyes filled with wonder reaching out my hand without even thinking about it. When my fingers are hovering just above the tablet, the objects seem to start to glow. All of them glow with a different intensity and color. I draw back my hand, and it’s as if the objects settle down, and the colors fade. I look up at Wyatt, speechless.

       “I know this is much older than your story, but I think it might be important.” He set’s it down on the floor carefully without touching it with his bare hands. “I have no idea what these objects are embedded in the stone. At first look, it looks just like different types of stones until you almost touch it as you just saw. It’s like they come alive and move but are stuck.”

       I simply nod, unable to take my eyes away. It’s odd because it’s as if it’s radiating some type of energy. The soft wind picks up, and it feels almost like someone else is in the room. 

       “Then there’s the writing. It’s short, but it took me a little while to translate, especially since I didn’t recognize the language at first, but apparently, it’s an old language called Latin. It seems like some kind of prophecy. It says, ‘When the point of no return nears, the eyes of the children of the spirits will open. Sacrificing their humanity, they will restore balance. Returning to rest until…’ Then that’s all it says like the writer just stopped. It’s odd because it looks like they were going to continue. I’m sure this doesn’t help you much, but I thought maybe...”

        Wyatt looked up at me and stopped talking when I threw my arms around his neck. It could be nothing, but every fiber of my being knew it was something. I felt like I had found a lost puzzle piece I didn’t even know was missing.

       Pulling away, I look Wyatt in the eyes before asking, “Where did you get this?”