The Chosen Ones Book 4: A New Enemy

Chapter 2

Tyler squeezed his dad tight. It had been a month since he'd last seen him, which is the longest they've ever been apart. He had just been busy. This last month, work had gotten in the way. But there was no keeping him away when his dad called him with potential troubling news about their friends.

"Hey Si." Came a familiar voice from the upstairs balcony. Shannon stood there looking down at them. Sierra ran up the stairs and gave her big sister a hug.

Shannon came down and hugged Tyler. They were as close as could be. He knew she had helped raise him when he was little, especially after the death of his biological mom, Amy. He didn't remember much from his childhood. But sometimes certain memories would come back to him in flashbacks or dreams, sometimes even nightmares.

Matt did tell him about the time Shannon saved his life, and also about the time Tyler had saved hers.
Sierra, or Si as they often called her, was now joined at the hip with Tyler. The joke Matt and the others used to make about them ending up together actually came true. I mean, how could it not? They were destined to be together. Being part of the Chosen Ones usually meant your whole life was planned out before you were even born.

The years had been good to Matt and Shannon, as well as the others. After they took down the Nest the aging process stopped for them. They still looked twenty-two. But better yet, they all still felt like they were. None of them ever got sick, and if they got hurt somehow, Tyler was never too far away to heal them.

The same went with Tyler and Sierra. They were eighteen and nineteen, respectively. And it was assumed they wouldn't age either.

"I missed you too, dad." Tyler replied.
"How was work?" Matt asked him.
"Long. Happy to be headed home." He answered.

Tyler and Sierra worked for Jenna's security company. They had been down in Florida on a job. Coincidentally, Shannon had been living down there for the past couple years, but had been at Matt's cabin for the past two months visiting.

A two month visit wasn't uncommon for her. When you have money you can travel as much and as long as you want, and Shannon couldn't be away from her friends for too long. Besides, she liked Matt's new cabin in the woods of Virginia. It was quiet and secluded, a place to get away.

He had it built from the ground up a few years ago. He liked his old cabin in the Pocono mountains so much he decided to build one here. A perfect spot far away from all the bad memories in Maple Brook.

Tyler and Sierra HAD stayed in Maple Brook. They were happy there, and close to work. He patted his dad on the back and looked around the house. There was someone missing.

"So, where is she?" He asked.
"On the back deck. She's been waiting for you." Matt answered.
Tyler walked to through the living room. He looked at the pictures on the fireplace mantle. He picked up his favorite one. The whole group, including Bill, Gab, and Shaun, and himself when he was five. They were all posing for the picture on the back porch of his Maple Brook house.

Three of his dad's friends that had given their lives protecting him when he was little, something he still had trouble living with. He was too young to remember them but Matt had told him stories about who they were throughout the years.

Tyler made his way through the kitchen and opened the sliding glass door to the back deck.
There she stood with her back to him, looking out onto the calm lake.
"Hi mom." He said.
She exhaled slowly before turning to look at him. Her eyes shimmering, glowing that amazing shade of blue.