Chapter Henry
Henry
Henry woke up with a knowing that ached its way deep into his mind. He winced, deep in the vision, and allowed it to swallow him. It was better to just disappear into it and open himself to what he was being told.
He was outside the house, in the backyard.
He could see the sliding doors leading into the kitchen, but it looked like…
wait, the backyard wasn’t a yard at all.
It had been transformed into… Goddess, Henry had never seen anything like it.
A giant pool glimmered in the moonlight.
Sawyer was there, standing beside it while something big swam.
Henry only saw a flash of silver, but it was a really big flash.
But Sawyer... Henry whimpered and tried to reach out to him, but he was held firmly in the arms of his vision.
Sawyer had been beaten. He was bruised and bloody, one eye swollen nearly shut.
He had scratch marks down his side that reached to his upper hip.
They disappeared beneath the loose shorts he wore.
He looked so sad, so scared, so alone. Henry wanted to cry out “I’m here” but he couldn’t speak the words. Instead, the vision pulled him back, Sawyer disappearing in a gray mist as the pool and its surrounding features faded back into the yard Henry would see if he looked out the window now.
Pulses of light called to him, circles spread far into the distance. More wards, the circles told him. Bigger wards.
The trees swarmed with something dark and menacing, crows calling, their inky wings flapping as they warned of danger in the trees. Something hovered there, watching and waiting. The wards would help but they needed…
Lights in the distance, one burning so brightly Henry needed to shield his eyes from its glow.
Others, further way, but moving toward them.
The guardians. They were coming. But they had to get ready first. He knew it deep in his bones.
They had needs they’d yet to meet, like the water in the back.
It would be salty. One of the guardians required it.
Another spot grew in the distance, this one shimmered a coal black. He couldn’t see it, but Henry knew it was there. Watching. Waiting.
The vision faded, leaving Henry with the pounding remains of a body in revolt. His stomach swirled and he grabbed the arm held tightly against him.
“Draco.” He croaked out the words but they were enough.
Draco pushed up against him.
“Draco, I’m going to be sick.”
Draco grumbled a noise of concern but had Henry out of bed and huddled over the toilet seconds later. He threw up nothing but bile, even as Draco roared out a complaint. It brought the others running though, while Draco supported Henry’s weight and held him through the spasms.
The cool rush of Sawyer’s energy landed next to him and Draco eased him into Sawyer’s arms. The nausea passed, his body still spasming through the last of the angry retches.
“I’ve got you,” Sawyer whispered into his hair. “You’re okay.”
The pain continued to fade. Henry took a breath, then another, before opening his eyes. Andvari held out a bottle of juice and he sipped it thankfully. He felt like he’d been screaming but knew Draco would have woken up.
“We’ve got more work to do,” he said once the juice soothed his aching throat.
“One of the guardians… he’s… I don’t know what he is.
He needs a pool, a big one. Salt water. Deep.
It’s… I’ll find a picture somewhere online.
And Sawyer, you were hurt, but… I don’t know.
And we have to set more wards. A lot of them.
Something’s watching from the trees. Black and inky and creepy as fuck.
We’ve gotta push it back further. It’s too close.
So close. The others are coming but… Goddess, it’s not clear. ”
Sawyer held him close. “Thank you, Henry.”
“I wish I could have held on longer.”
“You did plenty. And hey, we get a pool. Nice, huh?”
Andvari scowled. “That means more workmen on the property, within the wards.”
Eduard looked a bit sheepish. “I did want to get the landscaping finished.”
“Griffins,” Andvari scoffed. He’d been willing to pitch a tent on the yard in Henry’s vision.
Eduard’s need for luxury was a constant teasing point between them.
Andvari ran his hand over Eduard’s hair, soothing any sting from his words, before pushing to his feet.
Henry snuggled closer to Sawyer, unable to forget the sight of his injuries.
He had no clue when it happened, only that it was sometime after they put the pool in.
But then why couldn’t they just not do it.
If the pool wasn’t there, then Sawyer couldn’t…
“Stop it,” Sawyer said. “You never keep the truth of your visions from me.”
Henry looked up at him, confused. “How did you know?”
“Because I know you. You can’t stop me from getting hurt by not telling me. So I’m going to get hurt. I’ll live, right?”
Henry nodded.
“Then we let it serve its purpose. The Mother Goddess wouldn’t allow it if it didn’t have to happen. But that doesn’t mean I won’t fight, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Good, now let’s get you back to bed. You can use your fancy tablet to look at pools.
Eduard, will you stay with him and figure out what we need to do?
It sounds like we have to have it in place before one of the guardians can arrive, and I’d like to have everyone together sooner rather than later.
This might be the time to throw around that big pile of cash we’re sitting on. ”
Eduard nodded, pushing to his feet while Draco lifted Henry from Sawyer’s arms.
“I can walk,” Henry protested weakly.
“I know you can,” Draco said. “But I need to see for myself you’re okay.”
“You don’t see by carrying me. You see with your fiery dragon eyes.”
“Yep. Now find us a pool. And if it happens to have a hot tub that’s big enough for all of us, well, I wouldn’t mind that at all. Maybe with one of those corner seats with the jets like the tub.”
Henry snickered as Draco lowered him onto the pillows. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“You do that.”
Draco kissed him gently before backing away. Sawyer ran his hand over his head and gave him another sweet kiss. “Get some rest and let me know if you remember anything else.”
“I will.”
Eduard climbed onto the bed beside him with Henry’s tablet in his hand. They curled against the pillows as Eduard flipped through images of luxury pools. Henry tried to focus on what he’d seen and not the bloody claw marks down Sawyer’s side.