Q: What kind of horses are usually found outside when it’s dark?
A: Nightmares!
Click here for the PDF of Chapters 1 to 36.
Andy and The Zodiac Crystal – Chapter 37
Thankfully, it didn’t take long for things to return to normal after I deactivated Libra. Beyond the hugging that seemed to go on for far longer than Chris probably wanted by my mother, it was as if nothing had really happened at all, that is at least from everyone else’s perspective. I, on the other hand had gone through an entire month of unhealthy eating and unsanitary habits, so I was pretty ecstatic to finally get a hot shower and use a working toilet again when I returned home. Oh, and if you’re wondering what Chris’s excuse was, as to his whereabouts during those 24 hours? He said he had gone for a hike in the woods after he had checked in with his parents, got lost, and realized he had forgotten to bring his cell phone, but eventually he found his way back. It was an exceptionally outright bold lie and trust me, I planned on holding it over his head for a good long time!
Anyway, the next few weeks right up until the day before Thanksgiving passed by in the blink of an eye. Other than having some exams to take in a few of my classes, life was rather uneventful. That was mostly due to the absence of Carl Dillard though. He had seemingly disappeared into thin air, as even a new assistant principle had now taken his place, much to my relief, but I still worried that he might show up at any moment.
I did get some great Zodiac training in with Chris during the weekend before Thanksgiving although it had been extremely cold outside by the pond during it. While Chris supposedly knew what all the other sign’s abilities were now, he had opted to continue perfecting the ones I already knew. In fact, I was getting fairly skilled at each of them. Using Cancer for underwater work and Taurus for strength testing was a breeze now and so was doing combination attacks of activating and deactivating one sign after another. One of the coolest moments though came during my work with Leo’s abilities.
Of all the signs I had worked with so far, this one had been my least favorite and felt somewhat useless to me, that was until Chris had me practice honing in on each of my senses with it activated. After teaching me a focusing technique that he learned from the Council of the Zodiac, I was actually able to see things as far as a mile away! The same held true with my hearing and smell as well. But it still felt odd though with things such as my sense of taste when the sign was active, as food either tasted incredibly good or phenomenally gross. For example, some things I usually liked such as a turkey sandwich tasted awful, while other things I usually felt were kind of blah such as carrots, tasted heavenly.
Nevertheless, I was beginning to feel a lot more empowered now because of all the training I had gone through, as well as the fact that Chris and I had several ways to deal with Carl Dillard if he were to show up again. I wasn’t feeling as afraid anymore, but I remained concerned about what Dillard’s next move might be.
“Andy, wake up we’re almost there!” My mother said cheerfully from the front seat, putting a pause to my thoughts of the past two weeks.
“I wasn’t asleep Mom…” I mumbled, as I lifted my head away from the window. Although I was feeling overly exhausted given how early we had gotten up that morning.
It was close to 11am and we had almost arrived to my Grandmother’s house in Glen Cove, New York, where we celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday each year. We always left during the wee hours on the day before, hoping to beat out traffic, but somehow we never did. This year the 90-minute drive took over 3 hours!
My grandmother lived in a decent sized home in a quiet neighborhood. Her red house was a little smaller than ours and definitely much older in age. I had grown quite fond of it though, even with the peculiar smell that always permeated throughout most of it, which would remind most of days of old.
I really loved my father’s mother and considered her one of my best friends. Her name was Elsa, which I thought was a pretty cool name. She and I always talked about the coolest of things and often played a lot of ping-pong games on her old table in the basement when I was there. She had lived alone for many years now, as her husband had died from emphysema long ago, yet that never seemed to bother her. I honestly can’t remember a time when she wasn’t upbeat and cheerful.
“Hopefully you don’t plan on having us spend a month down here…” My sister whispered playfully in my ear as we pulled in my Grandmother’s driveway.
I had told her already all about what had happened when Chris had visited the Council, having paused time for as long as I did. She was obviously trying to poke fun at me.
“No, but I might just teleport you away somewhere if you aren’t nice to me while we’re here!” I whispered back with a grin.
She then punched my arm and exited the car. By the time I had my own piece of luggage in hand, my Grandmother had emerged onto her front porch. I immediately ran over to her and gave her a huge embrace.
“Hi Grandma!” I said. “Ready for a few games of ping-pong?”
“Let’s get you all settled first and then we’ll find some time for that ok Andy?” She said in her usual joyful tone.
“We would have been here sooner Mom if we hadn’t hit some heavy traffic on the Throgs Neck Bridge.” My Dad said sounding exceedingly tired himself.
“You know the Whitestone Bridge would have been a much better one to take Lew…”
“I know, I know, but when there’s no traffic at all, that bridge usually takes longer. Oh well there’s always next year…” He said with a chuckle, as my Grandmother opened the front door while we all filed in behind her.
Thirty minutes later, everyone had their luggage put away and were hanging out in the kitchen. I had already poured myself my favorite thing to drink whenever I was down there, which was my Grandmother’s famous ice tea and lemonade mixture. I swear she had invented the Arnold Palmer drink long before he had!
“So how about that game of ping-pong Grandma?”
“Why don’t you and your father go play a few games while the rest of us girls catch up for a bit ok Andy?”
“Fine…” I said sounding slightly disappointed.
My father and I frequently played ping-pong back home together, which I usually won, but my Grandmother was a far more formidable player. For the next 45 minutes, my Dad and I stayed surprisingly competitive with each other. He even beat me a few times, which I of course told him it was because he had home advantage given he had grown up playing on that table.
Eventually my Grandmother came downstairs and took over for my father, as he wanted to go look into making a reservation for some restaurant we were going to that night for dinner. Right off the bat, she killed me in the first game. You know for a woman who was in her mid 60’s, she regularly acted like she was in her early 40’s. But the games I played with her each time I was visiting were never so much about the competition between us, they were more about my bonding time with her.
“You’ve been practicing I see Andy!” She said as I took a commanding lead in the second game.
“Yeah, Dad and I have been playing quite a bit back at home.”
“By the way Andy, I just wanted to say I believe you…”
“You believe what Grandma?”
“I believe the story you told everyone about what happened during those three years you disappeared.”
“You do? You’re not just saying that?”
“Of course not dear. I would tell you if I didn’t believe you and I’m sorry that your parents didn’t.”
“Why didn’t you ever let me know that on any of the times we talked on the phone then?” I said as I served the ball rapidly across the table.
“Because it wasn’t the right time…” She said with a forceful hit back.
“What do you mean, it wasn’t the right time Grandma?” I said, as I sliced the ball with a slight curve, hoping she would miss it.
“It wasn’t the right time to tell you that I always knew you were meant to be a Keeper of the Zodiac.” She said as her paddle connected with the ball, curving it quickly back towards me.
“WHAT? How do you know about that? No one but my friend Chris and Laura know…” I said dumbfounded, watching as my paddle completely missed the ball and bounced onto the ground behind me.
“I know a lot more than you think Andy about what you’ve been through and are probably going through right now. We have much to discuss, but for now, serve me the ball and we’ll continue this conversation a little later ok?” She said smiling brightly.
As I picked up the ball and served it as hard as I could, my heart raced excitedly about something I never expected to come out of my Grandmother’s mouth…
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson