The Bonding Chronicles Ch. 20

"How?"

The unspoken aspects to his question were not lost on Dave's audience, who seemed to consider what he said for a long moment. It took a few seconds before Andrew chuckled and admitted, "I'm not sure."

"Well, how did you find this place?"

At that, Andrew laughed and shook his head, walking over to Karen and caressing her head as he stated. "The truth is, I made it. Karen thought this glade might be a place of power, and gave me a ward to draw in the soil so we could see if it would activate. When I went to draw it, something came over me and I kinda got carried away."

The girls parted and flourished their arms out across the design they were sitting on. Beneath them, he could see the strange arcane symbols that were drawn with flowers, grass, and light colored moss. The more he studied it, the harder it became for him to focus on the design, each symbol being forgotten a moment after he saw it.

Dave had always known that Andrew was special, but he had never suspected his son was capable of any of the things he had seen that night. Sure, he was smart, but they thought his impressive intellect was the beginning and end of his gifts.

"How long have you been able to do these things?"

Andrew's back seemed to straighten as he looked down at Karen, his hand tracing the edge of her jaw as their eyes searched deep within each other. His lips mouthed, "Thank you," with a smile before he released his contact and returned to his father. Dave was still taken aback by how comfortable Sara was with Andrew and Karen's intimacy, his confusion furthered as the young woman laid down, and rested her head into Karen's lap.

"Just after Sara and I started to date, that's when these gifts started manifesting."

Dave could feel his son's eyes as the young man's gaze studied him, and knew that Andrew was studying his every reaction.

"Ever since Sara entered my life, things have been... different. At first it just seemed like it was something keeping us together, bound heart to soul in an indescribable way. We know we're nauseating with our affection, you and Mom made that pretty clear early on. We thought it was an external force, we thought it was this place, back before it was awoken, or transformed, or whatever I did to it. That it was keeping us devoted to each other and drawing us back. But now I think we agree that it's me."

Sara raised her hand and said, "Yuuuup! All you, SD."

Dave shook his head and thought back, realizing in that moment just why Andrew and Sara had always been so head over heels for one another.

"But why now? Why here?"

Their smiling gazes showed their understanding of his confusion, yet he could tell they appreciated how he was taking them at their word. Part of him wanted to dismiss what he was being told, but there was something about it that rang true, and he had to know more.

"Sara," Andrew began. "She's not human, Dad."

Part of Dave had already suspected as much, their few training sessions having laid the groundwork for the understanding that his son was trying to impart. Her agility, and the ease with which she mastered every lethal technique he had taught her was evidence enough, but looking over he could see there was more. Her face seemed different, her cheeks just a touch more angular, and as their eyes met he realized his mistake from earlier. She was not wearing contacts, the color of her eyes were naturally amber.

His face softened as the realization struck him. Like his son, she bore a distinctive difference from most people. Something that marked her as special, and beyond her wild nature, set her apart.

Karen was running her fingers along the athletic woman's arm, a broad smile across her face as she watched Dave. He almost felt her eyes upon him, her gaze brushing across him like the soft touch of an old friend. There was something about her that was comforting, but something within him railed against that influence, feeling its foreign nature and rebelling against it.

"What..." Dave tried to begin, his thoughts getting away from him as he tried to piece everything together but failed. "What the fuck is going on."

Andrew reach up and gripped his fathers bicep, his fingers grasping with surprising strength as the small man pulled his father's attention.

"Sara's an Alurianthrope," he provided.

Dave's befuddled expression caused Sara to roll her eyes as she stated, "A were-cat, I'm a were-cat. Part cat, part woman... one-hundred percent badass. Andrew, you gotta stop using that fancy word. We go through this every time."

Sara's outburst brought levity to their tense moment, a slight chuckle filling the air as Karen and Andrew agreed with every word that Sara said.

"Dad, let's just pull the bandaid and get through this. I'm some kind of wizard, what kind we don't know, but it seems like I bond with magical women, and am pretty talented at making and understanding things. The main thing I can do at this point is control electronics and I'm really good at levitating things." His eyes turned towards Karen, who nodded at his unspoken question, giving him permission to continue. "Karen is a witch, a healer to be exact.

"As you've noticed, she bonded with us. It happened right around the time you left on deployment. It was difficult at first, but that's just because Karen and I fought it at first, while little miss kitty cat over there knew right away that it was how things were meant to be."

Dave had heard enough, his mind was racing, and while he took comfort from Andrew's touch he refused to believe what he was hearing.

"No, that's impossible. You can't use 'magic' as an excuse for lust, and this childish game of pretend needs to stop before you get yourself killed. You're not a wizard, there's no such thing, Andrew."

Looking over at Karen, Dave's voice grew louder and more angry as he bellowed, "How could you play along with this? You're old enough to know better."

The last thing that Dave expected was the laughter that followed, not just from Sara, who rolled around on her back, but from Andrew and Karen who were much more subdued but equally entertained.

"I understand how you feel, Dave, and wish I could tell you that this was not happening," the older woman began. "The world is a scarier place than you knew ten minutes ago, but your refusal to accept it doesn't change the dangers that lurk in the shadows of your ignorance."

Karen paused to look down at Sara while she caressed the young woman's cheek, the gentle touch bringing a smile to Sara's face and reminding Dave of the cat from earlier in the evening. "I hadn't asked to be pulled into this. In truth, I worked hard to avoid all emotional attachments for a very specific reason..."

Dave saw the conflict in the young and yet oddly wise-seeming woman as her eyes looked to Andrew for strength.

"It's your choice, Honey."

With a deep breath she closed her eyes, and Dave could tell she was fighting against her own fears as she struggled to make her choice.

"I'm over two-hundred years old, and have watched as generations of my family have been born and died. All of my friends, and lifetimes of love burnt within the fires of the centuries, their ashes cast to the winds of memory."

Sara nestled up against Karen's belly, whispering, "We ain't going nowhere."

Karen ran her hand along Sara's face, love written into her gaze as she nodded. "The last thing I expected was to be bound to your son, pulled into this amazing family. Now that it's happened, I wouldn't want my life any other way." For a second she paused, looking at Dave with sympathy etched into her smile. "I know you don't trust me, I can feel it in the same way you hear these words, and I don't blame you. But, whether you believe us or not, this is the truth."

Dave looked back at his son, the young man's gaze still studying him with intensity. Looking at his watch, he grumbled and shook his head. Memories of his own youth coming back to him, and how he had seen the mystical around every corner. The world felt so large and majestic that he had a hard time imagining it without some magical edge.

Sure, Dave had seen some pretty amazing things during his time with the military, his experiences in SOAL laying the groundwork for a career chasing the supernatural. But his final mission before that organization was dismantled remained his one true view into the unknown. Nothing he had seen spoke of magic, just unexplained aspects of science, or massive and fantastical creatures which showed just how far mother nature could deviate from her original designs.

"Andrew, you've seen too many movies, or read too many books. I know things have been tough with the bullies at the school, but you can find healthier ways to escape. This is-"

"No! For fuck's sake, that's not it. You want to know why we fought the wolf, so you need to understand how we got there. You need to know why we felt it was our duty to try. We knew it was dangerous, but we had the best chance."

"Just because you see a large wolf, or discover a unexplained place in the forest doesn't mean you have powers, Andrew."

Before Dave could continue his lecture, the hairs on his arms stood on end, Andrew's face changing before his eyes until the boy he knew was gone, and another larger boy stood in his place. He was taller and much more muscular, a jock if ever there was one.

"I'm not doing this because of Will, Father," the unfamiliar boy said, his voice unknown to Dave.

Again the boy before him shifted, this time into a tall and athletic young man with a muscular but slight build. Short blond hair stood up at the top of his head, giving the boy a dangerous and yet compelling look.

"I'm not doing this because of Zack, either."

Again the voice had changed, and while he didn't recognize it, he knew that it's masculine tenor belonged to that face.

Once more Andrew's appearance shifted, and while it took longer than the other two times, Dave knew who it was well before the transformation had completed.

"I love you and mother more than you can know, which is why we are even revealing this all to you, but at some point you'll need to accept that we're telling you the truth. Mother would not refute what she saw with her own eyes, but yet somehow, I knew you would."

It was strange hearing that statement coming from Michelle's mouth, his wife standing before him delivering Andrew's message. Dave could feel his reasons for denying their claims shattering against the image of his wife that stood before him, his hand reaching out and nearing that perfect face. His fingers trembled as they grew close, and the moment he made contact his breath escaped him.

Andrew's face faded back into place, Dave's hand drifting down as the illusion of his wife vanished, shrinking from the tall woman until all that was left was his shorter and fragile seeming child. No, not fragile Dave had to admit, but small and forever capable of making him worry.

"I know this is hard for you, Dad. But we need to move past this. I don't know what's happening any more than you, but we are trying to figure it out."

Dave's heart sank as he suddenly believed his son, and all of the wild claims that they had made. His gaze drifted up towards the canopy, where he saw the tail of the thread flowing up and out of sight. It had taken minutes for the rock to pull the long bundle of fibers out of the glade, just as Andrew had promised it would.

"You should have called me, Son. There was no reason you had to do this alone."

Dave watched as Andrew twisted his heads, realization dawning on him as soon as the words hit him. Karen wrapped Sara in her arms and the two woman grinned as all of the younger people seemed to share in the same emotion. Part of Dave wondered if perhaps they did, knowing how in sync they seemed to be with one another.

It took a few seconds of thought before Andrew shook his head and laughed, admitting, "You're right, Dad. I should have called you. We really could have used you and mom out there. That thing was crazy dangerous, and we were just winging it. With all the experience you have, I'm certain you could have come up with a better plan."

For the first time in what felt like hours, Dave felt connected to Andrew once more. Things were still wildly out of control, but at least they had agreed on something.

"What happened with the wolf, Andrew?"

Andrew shook his head and stated, "No, I think we've answered enough of your questions for now. It's time you tell me why you allowed the government to study me all this time."

The black bag that Sara brought opened up, and his broken M16 found its way out before a large folder, full of papers. The stack of documents drifted through the air until it stopped just before Dave, who reached out and took it. The large man's eyes grew wide as he opened it and began to scan through the pieces of paper. There were things even he had not seen, pieces of the puzzle that Dave and Michelle had been trying to put together themselves.

"How did you get this?" Dave asked, his eyes continuing to scan the documents as his trailing voice completed his thought, "It's amazing."

Whatever Andrew had expected, Dave could tell that his fascination with the documents had not been it. It took all of his will for Dave to pull his attention from the documents, and again he wished that Michelle was there with him.

Looking up, he could see that Andrew looked weak, a different kind of exhaustion creeping into the corners of the young man's eyes.

With worry on his face, Dave stepped over and helped Andrew sit down next to Karen, the beautiful woman pulling him against her as she asked, "You just had to show-off, didn't you?"

As Dave withdrew his hand, he asked Andrew, "You okay?"

Andrew nodded, stating, "Yeah, making myself look like Will, Zack and especially Mom took a lot out of me. That's a difficult spell to maintain, even for me."

They looked at each other for a moment, Andrew's description of what he had just done standing strange to Dave. His son had described the most amazing thing that Dave had ever seen as if he had just gone for a jog, like it was the most normal thing in the world.

Sara broke Dave's silence with a brief statement, "Less gawking, more talking. The people demand answers."

Her hand shot up in a triumphant fist, and again Andrew and Karen shook their heads and chuckled, all of their eyes turning towards Dave. For a moment he looked between them, and could tell that they expected the full truth. He thought about everything they had shared, and while he wanted to deny it, to think it all a lie, he knew it was the truth. With that knowledge came the realization that Sara and Karen were taking a huge risk, exposing themselves to him, and potentially the government.

With a sigh, he resigned himself to following their example.

"We figured it out two deployments ago. We hadn't finished training the troops or setting up the base when all of a sudden they moved us. The new assignment made no sense, and wasted our talents. It was clear that something else was going on, so your mother dug into it. It seems that Mr Walsh had reached out and was trying to get you transferred to a college."

There was fondness in Dave's voice as he continued, "God that man loved you. Of all your teachers, he was the best.

"Your mom didn't dig too hard, because she knew by that point that they were watching us. Before she stopped, she figured out that they'd tried to get him moved to another school, and when that failed, they moved us instead. Mysteriously, Mr Walsh came under investigation, almost losing his job for something he didn't do."

Dave took a moment and looked around, glad to see that all eyes were still fixed upon him.

"Ever since then, we've been trying to figure out what they want with you, and what we could do to try and make it stop. That's when we started putting things into motion, culminating in our 'retirement' from the military this year. No matter what, we wanted you to stop moving, but we knew that if the brass was interested in you they weren't going to stop. Further, we're too important of assets for them to let get away that easy."

With a deep breath, Dave considered whether he really should continue with the story. Looking at their expectant faces, he knew he had to.

"The government is nothing if not predictable, and given our experiences and knowledge we knew what types of assignments they would deploy us on. So, your mother began to do research, while I reached out to all the people we knew. I couldn't start organizing anything, not until we knew what we were going to do, but it didn't take long for Michelle to discover our ruse, president Roosevelt.

"Everyone knows that he was an avid hunter, and would come to this forest often to bag a few elk. But your mother's been given access to many files that most people have written off. In them, she found something pretty amazing, an old picture of this national park's founder standing before a colossal elk. It's black and white, but the scale of the creature was unmistakable. It seems that this park exists to try and find more of those elk."

For some reason Dave expected their faces to light up, for realization to wash over their faces as they learned the unknown history of the forest they called home. But, in place of shock he found acknowledgement, as if he had told them something new, but not unexpected.

Karen was the first to speak, "That makes a lot of sense, but why hasn't the government tried to setup a base here before?"

"Well, they did. Or, we think they did. There's no documents, but that picture was one of many from this area. The only one with a massive animal in it, but all the rest were from this area, and showed military personnel patrolling the forest, searching the area over the course of about a year. Our guess is that they never discovered anything else, and stopped searching before people began to notice what they were up to."

Andrew huffed, intrigued by his father's story but frustrated by its lack of relevance.

"Dad, that's great and all, but what's that have to do with anything?"

There was an impetuousness to Andrew's words that surprised Dave, who tilted his head while he responded, "Over the course of the next two deployments your mother and I reached out to everyone we trusted, not knowing what would happen but hedging our bets just the same. After everything was as ready as we could make it, we put in for retirement. We were pretty sure we knew what they would do, and they didn't disappoint."

For once Dave knew how Andrew felt during one of those pregnant pauses, and like his son he savored the suspense that descended upon his audience.

"When they asked what it would take to keep us in service, we made the most outlanding demand they'd ever heard."

A broad smile spread across Andrew's face while Karen nodded with understanding, Sara looking between them and asking, "What?"

"This base is only being built because my parents demanded it."

Sara looked directly at Dave, and as he nodded his agreement with what Andrew had just said, she laughed.

"But I saw your contract, Dad, and beyond guarantees of duration and a hefty bonus, there's no mention of anything like this."

Dave just shrugged, stating, "Why would they? If we manage to figure out where those elk are hiding, we aren't gonna get the credit. We were clear with them, we wanted a long term stateside deployment, and absolutely no military interaction with you. No doctors, and no covert operatives infiltrating your life. We didn't try to hide why we were retiring, and how angry we were at what they were doing.

"Thankfully, General Armitage always liked us, and while we could tell he knew about what had been going on, he seemed ashamed of his part in it. Or perhaps he was just upset at getting caught, I'm not sure. Either way, we have our deployment, and they get to do research on whatever we find. Getting to pick most of the base personnel was not something I expected them to give me, but they did. Guess they really want to try and track down more of those elk, because if anyone can find'em, my men can do it."