Aon

Chapter Three

My eyes snapped open. I didn’t wake up or have a sense of being drowsy, my eyes just opened, as if I merely blinked and I had never fallen asleep. I was stunned. It was as if something that was missing from my body was suddenly put back.

“Good, it worked.” Someone sneered. “At least now we don’t have to worry about accidentally killing her.”

I sat up straight, startled of my surroundings and where I was. It looked like we were in some sort of living room, with dingy furniture, peeling walls, and scuffed floors. My mind wasn’t blurry, I didn’t have to think over what had happened. I awoke as if I were still in the SUV, when all fell silent and still. My fury bubbled over and I glared from where I sat on a sofa as my mind raced and my heart hammered.

“Did you drug me?”

The one standing across the room grinned. “It worked pleasantly. –See, you slept fine.”

I knew that one as Marcus. I could tell by his sneer.

“No, it was a sedative.” Jacob said softly. “It was the only way to transport you without trouble.”

“Transport?” I shouted. “Am I some sort of cargo or delivery package to you, numskulls? I could have stayed up for the drive. I could have walked wherever I was supposed to go.”

“We know,” Marcus smirked. “But it was easier without your mouth running.”

My mouth pinched shut in agitation as a shiver ran up my spine.

“Eleanor,” Jacob called my attention with the new name. “It’s time for Phase Four.”

“And what’s that? Are you going to drug me and drag me across state? –No, wait, you’ve already done that! Or are you going to drop me off in the middle of the nowhere and watch what happens?”

“I like the second option.” Marcus snickered.

I glared at him before biting my tongue and looking at Jacob. He frowned and sat next to me slowly, cautious of startling or making me uncomfortable. It wasn’t I who should be afraid. I could lunge across this sofa right now and strangle him for what they’re doing to me.

“Eleanor, we are taking you off grid.”

“Off grid!” I said as I stood with a jolt. “What does that mean?”

“Nothing harmful, don’t worry.” He shook his head. “It is only for your own safety we do this. You cannot have any interactions with past relatives, friends, coworkers, or anyone else you have come into contacts with over your twenty years of life”

“Why? Can’t you take me home?”

He hesitated a moment and patted the seat to get me to sit again. When he realized I wouldn’t sit; he continued.

“We can’t. Penny and Paul know where you are. If they find you, it will be game over. We can’t protect you in the real world, Eleanor. You need to go off grid and trust us if you want to survive. This is why you can’t have a traceable cellphone, pictures of people you know on you, or any devices that could be traceable.”

He gestured to his brother and I stood in horror as Marcus lifted my cellphone off the table beside him. He flipped it open, popped out the SIM Card and battery, and with a simple twist and pull, he broke the whole cellphone in half. My heart fell into the soles of my feet and my anger was smothered as fear crept in beneath my skin. It hadn’t hit me until that moment. I actually was being held against my will. All hope of returning to my life before was crushed when he stomped on the SIM Card and battery until it was splintered pieces on the ground.

 “It is only in your best interest, Eleanor.” Jacob tried to sooth. “If Paul and Penny find you, they will kill you and we can’t have that. You have to be unfindable.”

“Why are they even after me? What I do?”

He leaned back and eyed me a moment. “You aren’t ready to know yet. We’ll tell you eventually. Just not now.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” I said mystified. “You practically kidnap me, drugged me, then break my phone so that way no one can find me. And I can’t know why?”

“You’re just going to have to trust us…” He sighed in defeat, rubbing the back of his neck in growing agitation. “We brought in April and Alexander Young. They are fellow Aon’s; they’ll help with making you a new identification.”

“New identification?”

“Yes, it is the only way.”

I remained silent as all this new information sank in. I suddenly remembered what he had called me earlier… an Aon, I believe it was.

“What is an Aon?” I said after a long pause. “I mean, it has the similar spelling as Eon, right? I know the definition of that word is: everlasting, eternity, forever, and so on… Are they similar, but only different spelling? Can I at least know this fraction of the equation if I can’t know the rest?” I tried to say as calmly as I could muster.

He sighed and met my gaze. “It means exactly what you think, except there is a bit of controversy about the switch of ‘E’ to ‘A’ standing for the ‘A’ in angel.”

“Wait? What?” I stopped in shock. “So, I’m supposed to be some sort of immortal being or something?”

“No…” He hesitated as he shifted his weight in his seat. “The Aon is not your body, it is within you. It is a part no one but an Aon can see. Everyone has it, you, me, Marcus, and Alexander and April. Only an Aon and Legion can see it. And I can see yours, a very powerful shield surrounds you. So much untapped potential. It is an aura, it envelopes you with a thin vibrating shield that flexes with the surrounding energy around you. Aon’s drawl out the energy of people and transmit it. We are very powerful beings, but we only use our abilities and talents for good.”

I looked at my hands but saw nothing.

“I don’t see anything…” I mumbled unconvinced. “And you both don’t have anything around you.”

“You won’t see anything. You aren’t unlocked to our world yet. Trust me, there are things unseen to the eye of man that only an Aon can see. Portals, beings without bodies, and energy fields built to destroy like ticking time bombs at certain points in time. And that’s only the half of it, Eleanor.”

It was hard to imagine it, but I had to believe it. I felt what he described, the absorbing of energy, the sense of someone’s emotions and vibrations. A fraction of his words I felt in my gut to be true, but something else stirred inside me. Something he was telling me was a lie. I just didn’t know which part that was.

“Why is it called an Aon if we’re not everlasting than?”

“I didn’t say that.” He said a hair above a whisper. “I didn’t say that at all. We are everlasting, just not in this world. Once our bodies die, we are free from the bounds our body limit us to. Out of our bodies, we are capable of so much more. There are elements of our beings yet unexplored and we are ageless to the soul. There is another place we go to, Eleanor. A place only few Aon’s have seen and have told us tales of. We never truly die; our souls go on and on where our bodies cannot. It is there where The Fallen Ones rests.”

“The Fallen Ones?” I whispered.

“You have to understand, Eleanor. The Aons have fallen from their prime here on earth two decades ago. And the Legions have risen to claim this world as their own. Our race is now considered as The Fallen Ones, and it is our job to revive it from where it has fallen since the battle those many years ago.”

“The Legions?” I murmured. “Who are they?”

Marcus shifted his weight uncomfortably causing my eyes to flex to him as his jaw clenched. He didn’t seem to like the word and avoided my gaze.

“If it helps you tell the difference between us and them…” Marcus muttered. “Think of Aons as the angels of this world and the Legions as the demons that lurk in the shadows. It has been an ongoing battle between us for ages. It’s just recently that the ashes are beginning to be stirred again.”

“Are the Legions actually demons?” I stammered. “I mean, am I supposed to be fighting disfigured beasts like from the Bible… Legions, I think they called them?”

His mouth curled up into a crooked grin and his eyes flashed to me in amusement.

“No, sweetie.” He snickered in a mocking tone. “They’re not actually demons, it was an analogy for you to understand. But if you want to see them that way, you can. We all know that Legions have all types of darkness lurking behind them. They wield it with their hands all the time, quite literally.”

I didn’t know how to digest this fully and broke from his gaze. It didn’t settle right in my stomach and I felt rather sick with everything.

“Calm down.” Jacob said gently after a moment. “April and Alexander will help you. Go to the backroom.”

“Backroom?”

As I lifted my head, a door I hadn’t seen before opened and a small head peeked out. A young woman, maybe only the age of seventeen, peered at me with her wide sapphire eyes. Her sandy locks fell to curls about her thin blanched face, making her seem rather sickly appearing from a far. Her small features made her look as innocent as an infant, with her short height and skinny form. I felt a spurt of pity for her. Dark bruises were beneath her sunken eyes, and in all honesty, I wondered if she was on drugs.

“Hello, Eleanor Foster.” She smiled. “I have been waiting to meet you ever since word broke out that you were still alive after Liam’s death. And my, oh my, you look just like your mother.” She sighed with dancing eyes.

“My mother?” I whispered in surprised horror. “You knew my mother?”

“Not now, April.” Jacob warned. “We haven’t told her yet.”

She frowned in disapproval, only seeming to form frown lines that creased to her chin. The frown aged her drastically, until she appeared to be a frail forty-year-old woman. Her age changed like flipping a coin.

“That isn’t right, Jacob.”

“Just get her ready.” Jacob snapped in irritation.

She flared her nostrils and waved me forward. I was surprised when I approached her, but maybe it was because I saw she could be a main source for the information I needed. She grabbed my wrist and pulled me through the door. She was muttering beneath her breath as she fastened it behind us. The backroom was a quaint little room, with a small bed centering the floor and a small table set off to the side. It actually was just a bedroom, spacious, but not at all better than the living room.

“Ah, a beautiful creature, if I should say so.” A soft sweet voice said in awe. “My, my, my, your parents would be proud of what you have become.”

When I found the voice, I was surprised to find a short skinny boy, or maybe it was a man… It was hard to tell. His sandy locks were trimmed to a shag and his sapphire eyes danced as he peered at me in almost approval. He was about my height, with a thin and lanky form that made him seem just as fragile as April.

“So, I am no longer appealing to you?” She scuffed as she passed me.

He frowned as she hurriedly tried to pass him in irritation, but he captured her by the frail waist and pulled her back to himself. I was both shocked and uncomfortable when he captured her mouth with his, grabbing her pale ivory cheeks and planting a long deep kiss against her mouth before pulling back.

“Not as beautiful and lovely as you, my sweet. Please, do not doubt me when I say another woman is beautiful. It doesn’t mean I find them more attractive than you. No mortal or Aon could compare to the flourishing beauty before me. Besides, my sweet, she is just a child. My admiration is that of an elder man with approval of someone that could be my own daughter or granddaughter.”

She became rubicund as a faint smile spread across her thin mouth and turned her eyes into half-moons. I felt as if I were interfering and out of place. I avoided looking at them as they peered at each other in awe. It took a minute before they composed themselves and he cleared his throat.

“I suppose you are Eleanor Foster?” He inquired to draw my attention.

“That’s what they say.” I mumbled.

“Ah, but you are. You have your mothers caring eyes and your father’s stern mouth.” He chuckled.

My attention was immediately drawn to him as I took a step towards him. He knew my parents, too…

“You knew my parents?”

April quickly grabbed him by the chin and whispered sharply into this ear. He frowned and looked to her in sorrow before looking to me with a nod.

“Yes, but with all that aside. Are you ready to begin?”

I eyed them, trying to figure out what just happened before shaking my head. How could they know my parents, they’re what? Seventeen? Eighteen?

“I don’t mean to be rude, but exactly how old are you both?”

April gestured to the table as he pulled out a chair for her to be seated.

“I am thirty-eight, Alexander is forty-two.”

I stared at them perplexed as she gracefully took her seat and Alexander offered me a chair across from her. I took it silently and nodded my gratitude as I tried to see them as late thirty and early forty-year old’s. Of course, when they frowned, you could clearly see their age. But when their features were smoothed and they smiled, they looked even younger than me.

“You look younger than me.” I said aloud.

“Truly?” He chuckled in amusement as he took a seat beside his lover.

“Shh, she tells the truth, Alexander. She doesn’t see our true forms.” She chided with a snap of his ear.

He yelped and glared at her abruptly as he rubbed the now pulsing flesh, then wrapped a reluctant arm around her waist in fear of another snap to the ear.

“True forms? Don’t tell me you’re both elves.” I groaned. “First, I’m told I’m an Aon, then there’s talk of Legions. I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m told next that there are mermaids and little goblins running about.”

“Who told you?”

I sat back perplexed until April smacked the back of his head.

“No, there is no such thing as mermaids and goblins. My partner here was just kidding.”

After rubbing the back of his head to sooth the pain, he smiled apologetically.

“We Aon’s are capable of many things. Tricks to the eyes are one of the many abilities we have. One day you will learn all about what we are capable of.”

“So, I can-”

“Not yet.” April said with a wave of her hand. “You haven’t learned enough to master that trick yet. We have lived many lives and years before you, we know as much as the elders of the Aon’s do.”

I rubbed my temple in concentration as my thoughts scrambled and pulsed into a migraine.

“Are you ready to begin?” April inquired as Alexander pulled a stack of papers and folders onto the table.

“Do I have a choice?”

They smiled in sympathy at my sarcastic remark and she tapped my hand in an apologetic manner.

“Your new name will be Jessica Rogers,” Alexander began as he flipped open a vanilla folder.

Inside was a picture of myself, with a driver’s license, an I.D. card, a birth certificate, and a Student I.D. card plastered with the name Jessica Rogers all over it. It had my age, date of birth, and appearance marked to a ‘T’, but it claimed I was from Springs, Nevada, an outsider of Pennsylvania. Truth be told, I’ve never left my home state once, so this should be an adventure. Not to mention I’ve never driven in my life… this should be eventful.

“Again, what’s with the name changes?” I muttered as I sifted through the folder. “First I’m myself –Anne Bennett, then I was claimed to be Eleanor Foster, now I’m Jessica Rogers. Who the hell am I then?”

He smiled in sympathy and pushed the papers to me. “You are Eleanor Foster, there is no mistake there. Anne Bennett was a fake name given to you when your real parents died. Now, you have to take on a new name until we can figure out another solution.”

I peered at the paperwork puzzled. Apparently, I’m now studying nursing, I never graduated High School, and I got my GED at nineteen, so I could get into a cheap collage. At one point in time I was pregnant and had a miscarriage, and I am working on a campaign to support mothers who have had miscarried in the past. They had everything so detailed, yet, I have never been pregnant in my life, nor have I even had a boyfriend before. For Heaven’s sake! I was a virgin! I sifted until the headache grew; I couldn’t take another page more or I think I’d actually lose it, so I pushed them away.

“If people ask, you are Jessica Rogers. Age twenty, you are a Nursing Major from Nevada, but you moved here to get away from your past. You are an only child, you were born October 14th, and you are currently looking to settle in a small apartment building here.”

I rested my chin in my palm and stared at the papers as if they were a disease. I didn’t want this, why couldn’t they see that? They left me sit and study the papers for a full half hour without fidgeting or a single complaint. After I neatly placed them back into the folder and slipped them back, April was the first to break the silence.

“Come on.” She said as she stood. “Time to change clothes.”

“What?” I said startled from my musing.

“We can’t have you seen in your Benny’s Grub uniform, it will draw a direct connection back to Anne Bennett. We have a fresh change of clothes for you in a Walmart bag on the bed, you can change into those for now.”

She waved me to stand and motioned for me to turn. “Not to mention,” she began again. “You need to change up your looks to keep suspicions away. Maybe even dye your hair…”

“I’d rather not.” I grumbled.

She pulled the hairband out from the bun and unraveled it until the ginger locks fell to its full length, then ran her fingers through the tangles.

“My, my –no wonder you keep it up so high. So much hair! It must have taken years to grow this much hair!” April marveled as she took a strand and followed its length until it fell loose to my hip. “We won’t dye it, if you don’t want to. We can’t deny you freewill forever.”

“We’ll let you to change.” Alexander said as he pulled April to his side. “We’ll give you a half hour –that should be enough time.”

As the door clicked shut, not only did my eyes fall to the folder, but a weight fell onto my shoulders. What was I supposed to do? What should I do? What would my parents or Liam say to do?

I shook my head and pulled the bag towards me, then dumped its interior out onto the mattress. A pair of dark denim jeans fell into a clump atop the bed, along with a folded up three-quarter length sleeved mint green blouse inside. It took less time to change than what they gave me, but I had to be alone for at least ten or more minutes to think everything over. I sat on the bed and kneaded my temples as I stared at the price tags and item tags at my feet.

What the hell was I doing? Am I insane? Why am I doing all this? Do I actually believe all this garbage?

I winced once I realized I did. At least partially, there was still a small part I sensed to be fibs. I didn’t know which was true or false, but I could feel it deep down that I was what they said. I would have laughed at them a day ago, but after what I experienced in that alley. I can’t say I’m not.

My stomach churned as I met my own reflection in a mirror across the room on a closet door. I wasn’t Anne Bennett anymore. I was Eleanor Foster for a short while. But now I’m Jessica Rogers. When I was Anne Bennett, I looked like a librarian, my hair tidied into a bun and my clothes trimmed and pressed. But now, I looked like some wild woman, with my mane like hair frothing out in tangles and curls that April made by fluffing and winding her tiny fingers into it. I wore a pair of denim jeans and slimming blouse, where I would have worn sweats of some sort. I hated it, I wasn’t myself, and it made me fear myself suddenly.

Can I be influenced that easily?

I shouldn’t be here, and I shouldn’t be doing this. No one in their right mind would be here. No one in their right mind would have listened. Yet, a small part of me still screamed that they were right to a certain point. The feeling inside my chest, inside my body, and inside my mind –it told me the truth. It told me they spoke the truth. But I didn’t want to believe it. I never believed in these sorts of things, but now, I doubt all that I had known just hours ago.

As if sensing it, which he probably did. Alexander came in the door with pity in his features. I saw him through the mirror, his sapphire eyes calmed and his features pitiful. He didn’t say anything at first, nor could I look directly at him except through the mirror.

“What am I doing?” I whispered to him. “Why am I doing this? This –this isn’t me. I don’t know this person,” I gestured to the mirror. “I don’t know why, I just don’t have a logical explanation for anything. It’s as if I can’t think straight, as if one moment I’m my old self wanting to leave, then someone else following its every whim.”

“It?” He said gently.

“What else do I call it?” I muttered with a shake of my head. It disgusted me to look at my image, but I couldn’t stop myself from staring at the foreign woman before me. “Something inside of me. –I have no name for it, but it changes my train of thought –how I feel –what I do. It’s like I’m stuck in my mind and something else is controlling me.”

“That’s because you’re fighting it, honey.” He said softly. “Don’t fight it. Its best if you let it take over. You won’t ever be that person you once were. You just won’t. It’s something you’re going to have to live with and it’s something you will have to adjust to. It is a part of maturing and it is a part of growing up. We all have gone through changes, some larger than others, and some smaller than others. It is something we all have to bear with at least once in our lives.”

I turned my face from him, in a way, it helped me cope with his words.

“You know I speak the truth.”

I glowered at my reflection in frustration from the corner of my eye in agitation of myself. Of course, I knew he did, but I didn’t want to believe it. I wanted to scream, to curse, to cry, to snarl, to throw something, and to just walk away and pretend nothing ever happened. But I knew I couldn’t. I could feel it in my body; the tingle in my arms and fingertips, the energy pulsing though my body of the awaiting force within. I would never be the same again.

“Come, honey. We have to get going.” He murmured.

“Get going? We just got here!” I said, startled from my thoughts.

“I know, but we have a few stops to make along the way.”

“What sort of stops?”

“They’ll tell you.” He fidgeted as he pulled open the door.

“Who?”

“Jacob and Marcus.”

Of course, they would. They’re in control of everything, aren’t they? Their mere names brought a bitter taste to my mouth when he spoke it. I had a bitter regret and dislike towards them growing. Maybe if it was April and Alexander who helped me and found me in the alley, I think everything wouldn’t be as scarring as they have made it so far.

Alexander led me back to the front room of the apartment, where the twins were watching the news closely with their heads bowed together. Their slender forms were bent down, with their arms tucked behind their backs and feet apart. Both of their emerald eyes flickered from the television to me in union as they straightened abruptly.

“Is she suitable for departure?” April inquired as she came up to straighten a curl on my shoulder like a proud mother.

“Yes.” One of the twins said. “You did a good job, April and Alexander. But we have to get moving, we’ll be heading for New York to find the Sledge Sisters. Do you have everything memorized?”

He was addressing me now. I could only nod.

The one twin, I think it was Marcus, flung the car keys to Jacob. “It shouldn’t be hard to find the Sledge Sisters, they’re the guardians to the Aon Clan. They usually stay in their mansion during this time of the year.”

“Yes,” Jacob said with a quick glance to his twin. “But you have to remember, they don’t always stay in one place.”

“True.” Marcus mused as he gave a short glance to me. “But do you think she’ll be able to handle it.”

My nostrils flared as I glowered at him. “I can handle myself.”

“Is that right?” He mused as he walked towards me and put his face in front of mine. His emerald eyes taunted me as his mouth curled into a mocking crooked grin. “Didn’t look like it earlier, looked like we had to get you out of that mess.”

My jaw locked as I titled my chin up in defiance.

“Cool it, you two.” Jacob snapped. “We got to get a move on before they jump ship because of the Legions being on the move. I don’t care if you fight in the car, but at least wait until we’re on the road.”

Marcus’s thin mouth spread over his gleaming teeth and his eyes cut into my own like daggers. I shuddered and broke from his gaze causing him to chuckle in amusement.

“Let’s get a move on.” Jacob muttered in agitation.

He grabbed his brother by the arm and forced him towards the door. I didn’t have anything to pack, if anything, I spent my time sitting in the back of the S.U.V until they finally finished. April and Alexander sat in the bucket seats behind the front seats, and I sat alone in the back-bench seat. I was glad to be alone and was especially pleased to find Marcus sitting in the passenger seat while Jacob drove. From where I sat, I could only hear a faint murmur coming from up front, until April ducked up between the seats and turned on the radio. It wasn’t music I’ve ever heard, but then again, I haven’t been up to date with anything lately. The only thing I could hear was the bass and guitar through the speakers, everything else was hard to hear.

I sat behind Alexander and placed a hand to the speaker as it vibrated. In a sense, the vibrations reminded me of what I felt. My hand was absorbing the vibrations and it rattled inside my chest –it was the same way when I felt the emotions –the energy in the alleyway. Now everything lied still, I felt only my own thoughts and feelings, and I no longer felt anyone else’s anger. I felt once more myself, or at least… partially myself.

“What do I do, Liam?” I whispered to myself as we pulled out from the parking lot. “I was never good at making decisions, you know that…”

My throat swelled with emotion as I stared out the window at the disappearing objects for a long moment.

“Were you my brother?” I mumbled at length. “Were you?”

My mouth locked shut to keep my jaw from quivering so much. I leaned against the glass of the vehicle, out of view as I fell apart, and stared out the tinted windows. The glass vibrated against my cheek and jostled my sight until I shut my eyes and kneaded my temple.

Who am I? Or better yet –who was I? Who was Liam? Was that really his name? Were his parents not mine? Who were my real parents?

My head swam until it pulsed, and my throat hiccuped from tears wishing to fall. I wiped away the moisture that never came and bit my tongue to suppress everything.

Now what? Where do I begin? What will come of this? What will happen? How do I stop this?

My mind swam with questions until all was a blur and vivid again. I didn’t remember falling asleep, I didn’t even feel drowsy. I half wondered if someone stuck me with that needle again, because in the next second I suddenly found myself falling out of the S.U.V when someone opened the door. In a way, I hadn’t understood the possibility of catching myself or the pain I’d have when I hit the pavement. My brain wasn’t registering that it was now dark out, or that there was no door to lean against anymore and that the vehicle had stopped moving completely.

An arm quickly caught me on time, but I didn’t know who it was. I felt lightheaded and rather confused of everything. My thoughts were scrambled, and I half thought I was alone in my apartment having another odd dream.

By the time my eyes opened again, I was in a room, maybe my apartment bedroom. I couldn’t tell, everything was almost pitch black except for the full moon that cast in from the open drapes. It was only a short vision before I fell limp back into the bed.