by T J Kelly
Peter fighting the Taines. Peter soothing me when I was lost in darkness. Peter helping me find the trigger to my magic. Peter holding my hand in the infirmary when we were both injured. Peter filling me with Light.
The question was, how did I limit the good memories to only one?
“We’re almost there,” Seth said, interrupting my train of thought. The truck slowed, and Harris turned off at our exit.
I glanced out the window. There was nothing but swirling gray shadows. Harris slammed on the brakes. At that moment, a Shadow-veil had dropped over the pickup, and the ground shook.
Somebody was waiting for us.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Ambush
“Get down!” Seth shouted. I dove forward, cramming myself between the seat in front of me and the one I had been sitting on. The truck swung around as it skidded sideways.
At least, I thought it was sideways. Peter had hurtled over to my side of the truck to protect my head and shoulders and I couldn’t see.
“It won’t stop,” Harris yelled as the pickup gave a sickening lurch. “Hang onto something, we’re going over!”
That didn’t sound good.
The truck tilted onto its side. Everything slowed to a terrifying crawl, which should have given me time to react, but I didn’t. I couldn’t.
I slammed into the door, my shoulder taking most of the impact, although my head slammed into the window as the truck’s passenger side hit the ground. Peter tried to brace himself, but he fell on top of me anyway, smashing my face against the back of the seat. His shoulder knocked the wind out of me, and I couldn’t take a breath, my lungs jerking frantically.
The pickup continued to roll, and we were upside down, the four of us tumbling together against the ceiling, crashing into each other, my backpack slamming into Seth’s ribs.
White smoke filled the truck as the vehicle stopped rolling, then it slid sideways as my chest continued jerking. I still couldn’t breathe.
The guys slumped where they landed. Peter crushing me convinced me whatever that smoke was, it had knocked them out. I drew Air from the edges of the truck at once, creating a small sphere around my head. When the jerking of my diaphragm stopped, I could suck in a breath of clean air.
With another crash, the pickup lurched, and way too late, I finally reacted and braced the four of us to keep our bodies from crashing into each other again. The veil of shadows disappeared just in time to show me we were sinking. I had a vague thought about crossing a river on the way into town when we were attacked. Icy water poured into the truck through the vents, and I slapped up a spell, blocking it as best I could.
I sorted more clean air out of the smoke and created a sphere of breathable air for each of my unconscious friends. Then I braced myself against the seat. I made sure the door was unlocked and then heaved, trying to force it open. Thoughts of dragging the guys to safety filled my head.
The door didn’t budge. I frantically reviewed my memories of all the movies I had seen where vehicles sank to the bottom of a lake with screaming passengers inside. I could only remember that the water had to be over the entire vehicle to get out. Something about the pressure equalizing.
Oh. Yeah. The inside of their vehicles were always filled with water, too. Wow. I thought that was for dramatic effect, but now I knew I was never getting out unless I let the water in.
I had a wild thought about magically busting out one of the windows, but in a flash of insight, I realized our attackers expected to knock us unconscious and then drown us. It was safer to pretend they were successful since it would have been impossible to drown a group of magicians who were awake. They would be on the lookout to see if any of us maintained consciousness. A muffled explosion of magic would be a dead giveaway.
Somebody had to be waiting along the banks of the river to see if we floated to the surface or not. When the shadows above us renewed and then grew even darker, it occurred to me they would want to make sure there was a cloak spell surrounding the area so there would be no witnesses.
That meant we were being watched. Better to remain in the truck as water filled the cab.
I thickened the Air-spheres, pulling more oxygen from the water leaking into the vents. I cleared my mind, then solidified my magic with a firm image of what I wanted the spheres to do. A few seconds later, I allowed the cold water to pour into the vehicle, my new Air-spheres pulling oxygen in and pushing carbon dioxide out, my version of scuba gear. The rest of the smoke and air left the cab, bubbling to the surface. The magicians waiting above would expect that.
They would also be watching for smaller air bubbles. I created a balloon out of thickened water molecules and enhanced it to become the opposite element. Like I did when I used Fire to create Water magic. Except this time, I made my balloon irresistible to pure Air. Whenever one of us expelled a breath, the resulting bubbles raced to the balloon instead of the surface.
My entire body shook. It could have been the stress, and fear, but I was also going into shock. I needed to get three unconscious guys out of the submerged truck unnoticed by enemies unknown and oh yeah, we were all under water.
Sometimes my life had way too much drama.
The cab of the pickup was finally full of water. I grabbed my backpack and looped it over my shoulders, then placed my hands on the door. I wasn’t sure how much strength I needed, so I pulled power from the Water around us and heaved the door all the way open.
It was dark at the bottom of the river. But my mind continued to supply answers, instinct or adrenaline or training rising to my need. I remembered that Peter still had the bracelet Chas made him. I slipped it off his wrist and tied it onto mine so I could see in the dark.
I swam out and turned to deal with the guys bobbing inside the vehicle. Tugging Peter’s arm, I floated him out the door fairly easily. I imagined a magical tether spell, using it to tie him to the frame of the door so he wouldn’t float to the surface. Then did the same with the Andersson brothers.
By the time I was done, it was really crowded by the truck door. I swam back in and looked around to make sure we left nothing behind. Seth and Harris had their bags tied to their belts. Peter had a backpack, too, and I yanked it out from where it was jammed under the seat where he had been sitting. When I swam to his side, I slipped it onto his shoulders and then clipped the straps around his waist so it wouldn’t come off. I could barely make the clip work since my hands were shaking so hard by then. Warmth seeped into me when I touched Peter’s arm and before I could stop myself, I pulled some of his Light into me, warming myself, and the tremors gentled.
It wasn’t on purpose. It was probably survival instinct. But I still felt terrible, like I was taking advantage of him while he slept.
Creepy.
I reached out to the Earth below and basically magnetized the four of us. At least, our feet. We slowly sank until we looked like a group of weird plants growing on the bottom of the river. Worried about what shock could do to the guys, not to mention the effects of what was in that white smoke - and despite my reservations - I tugged more of Peter’s Light and used it to alter the crystals in my backpack. I usually had a few on me because they were the bread and butter of Rector Enterprises, and one of our more critical alterations had been to change them so they could radiate heat for the poor in colder regions.
But I only had three. Great. Since the guys were unconscious, they needed more protection than I did. I slipped a crystal into a pocket in their battle vests and zipped them up so the crystals wouldn’t fall out in the water. I would have to take my chances and hope swim-walking would be enough activity to keep me warm. But just in case, I wrapped my arms around Peter and soaked in more of his Light, which he had always freely given me and apparently still did, even while passed out. I didn’t want to, but I was trying not to freeze to death.
I instantly felt better. The warmth soon radiated throughout my entire body, and my mind cleared. I hadn’t realized my thoughts had been getting so fuzzy.
>
Sending a thought of supplication to my guardians - or as I thought of it, crying out to my mother and father for help - I took the path of least resistance and followed the current downstream.
It was both harder than I hoped it would be, and easier than I thought it would be. The guys were deadweight, but the water buoyed them up enough to be manageable. The spell I cast to keep our feet pointed down stopped them from flopping around me too much, but it was like trying to herd a bunch of wayward cats.
I was afraid to let the current take us and used the force of the Water to create a counterbalance so we could move with the flow but not be at its mercy.
It was so surreal. I wasn’t sure how long we were down there before I felt a jerk on my magical tether. I turned back to see what was happening, and Peter’s eyes were open. He wouldn’t be able to see in the dark, and even though he could breathe, he probably thought he was trapped in a drowning nightmare.
Reaching back, I grabbed his hand. I think he knew it was me because he didn’t fight, he just held on tight. Then I squeezed his shoulder to reassure him. I guided his other hand to my waist, and he left it there as I hoped. I didn’t need the contact, but I thought he wouldn’t worry so much if he knew exactly where I was.
I slid the bracelet I stole from Peter off my wrist. I loosened the slipknots and then slipped it around both our wrists.
My vision dimmed since the magic was meant for one person, but it worked well enough to tell where we were. I had no idea what Peter would think was going on, but I brought my finger to my lips, miming a shushing motion and pointing to the surface, shaking my head “no.” Then for good measure, I ran my finger over my throat in a slicing motion to indicate floating to the surface would mean a bloody death. If we were lucky. I mean, whoever attacked us obviously wasn’t messing around.
A thought popped into the back of my mind. Maybe the reason my parents couldn’t save themselves from their car accident because they had been rendered unconscious, too. I planted a mental reminder to look into it later when I had a moment.
Peter gripped my hand, and I turned away to lead on. The counterbalance spell kicked back in, and we slowly followed the current. I caught a nod from Peter out the corner of my eye as he worked out my spells. It was a little easier to pull Seth and Harris once Peter was awake and actively helping me keep them steady. I think he woke up earlier than they did because he was the first one I created the air filter for.
We had swum quite a distance when the current got rougher, and a massive pile of rocks rose in front of us. There was no going around it, but I couldn’t tell if it was safe to float to the surface yet. I imagined the rocks getting softer in my mind, and they became squishy, like gelatin.
I pushed through, and the guys followed, my personal parade of wet magicians.
It took forever to make it to the other side, and I couldn’t see at all the entire time. Seeing inside a gelatinous rock wasn’t exactly what the bracelet was designed for.
Once we were all back out in open water, I let the water sweep us along again. In no time a sandbar reared up in front of us, the current buoying us to the surface. There was no reason for our enemy to place a lookout on the other side of the rocks. At least, I hoped not. I was too tired and cold to keep it up any longer.
I dropped the breathing-sphere spell when we hit the air and shook my head, trying to shift my hair out of my eyes. Peter slipped the bracelet we had been sharing off and stuffed it into his pocket, breaking our connection. I mopped my face, attempting to dry it somehow with my wet sleeve.
“What happened?” Peter's breath came out in small pants. He dragged Harris further up the bank and left him next to Seth.
“After the truck rolled into the river, they hit us with a spell that knocked everyone out.”
“How did you stay conscious?” he asked.
It suddenly hit me I was supposed to stand back to back with Peter and keep an eye out for enemies. Peter joined me in guard duty, shifting into position as if we had done it a thousand times. Which we sort of had since we practiced at Castle Laurus all the time.
“You knocked the air out of my lungs when you landed on my diaphragm,” I said over my shoulder. “I couldn’t breathe at all. It scared me to death, but it gave me time to pull clean air over and keep the smoke out for when I could breathe again. I did the same for you guys, but you were already passed out by then.”
“Thanks, Lia. You saved our lives, you know.”
I basked in the warmth of his approval for a few seconds. A girl really likes to be appreciated sometimes. Then I shivered again and got busy. “No problem, my friend. Hold on a sec, I'll take care of this,” meaning our soaking wet clothing. With only a flicker of a thought, I yanked every bit of water out of our clothes and shoes and in a split second, we were dry again.
“Nice!” Peter said.
The fact the Andersson brothers were still unconscious was worrying me, but then I noticed their breathing pattern change, indicating they were about to wake.
The humidity had tweaked the tips of Peter’s short hair. The sun brought out the red highlights hidden in the brown, reminding me of the day I first met him, and how handsome I thought he was before Chas distracted me.
“I’m glad you’re still alive,” I blurted out. My trembling was getting worse despite the warmth of the day.
There weren’t any enemies on the horizon. Something in my voice must have convinced Peter I needed him more than a lookout because he spun back around, took two giant steps, and scooped me into his arms.
“Why, thank you, Rector. I’m thrilled to be alive, too. Come on, give a guy a hug. Time to celebrate life or something,” he said.
I smiled against his chest where I had buried my face. I could feel his chin on the top of my head moving gently back and forth. I loved that he was still keeping an eye out for danger. It made me feel safe.
“I took some of your Light,” I confessed in a muffled voice. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t stop shivering, and it practically leaped at me.”
Peter’s laugh had always been infectious, but it was entirely different when I was close enough to hear it rumbling in his chest. I didn’t want to laugh too, though. I wanted to snuggle into it even closer.
“My Light’s your Light, Lia. Here, have as much as you want,” he said. More of his Light sank in bone-deep, right where I needed it. It was almost like being healed.
I groaned and selfishly let him continue. Then I worried I would drain him like some weird magical vampire. I pushed away. The shaking had stopped, and for the moment, that was enough.
“Thanks,” I said. I grinned at Peter, a side-effect of feeling all that Light roiling around inside me. Sometimes I wondered how Peter kept his feet on the ground considering how much Light he must have. Maybe used a spell like the one I used underwater.
Finally, Seth and Harris shifted, and they opened their eyes one after the other. Since they were connected the way they were, the white smoke sleep spell was probably amplified between the two. When it wore off enough to loosen its grip on them, they woke together. That theory seemed to make the most sense, anyway.
“Wake up, sleepyheads,” I joked.
Harris pushed himself up on his elbow and looked around. Seth groaned and continued to lie on his back, staring up at the sky.
“Damn my knee hurts,” Harris said.
It wasn’t until he said something that my own injuries clamored for attention, especially the shoulder I had been babying under water, the one I landed on when the pickup flipped over.
“What on earth happened?” Seth asked. “Why am I so wet?”
“Oh, sorry,” I said. I repeated the same spell-call for the water in Harris and Seth’s clothing. “After the truck rolled and the white smoke knocked everyone out, we hit the water and went under.”
Seth sat up with a jerk. “Are you serious? How did we get out of that one?”
Peter grinned and pointed at me. “The mighty heroics of the youngling,”
he said.
“Ha, funny,” I said. Their admiring looks were embarrassing me again. “Peter weighs about a thousand pounds, and when he landed on me in the rollover, he temporarily killed my ability to breathe. Good thing, too, otherwise we’d have all been out when we sank.”
Harris let out a low whistle.
Seth stood up cautiously, checking for injuries. “That’s insane,” he said. “What did you do when we went under? How did we end up on this luxurious stretch of dirt?”
“Ah. Well, I created an underwater breathing helmet thing out of Air and Water for each of us and then hooked you guys to a tether and swam out along the bottom.”
“Oh, is that all?” Seth asked sarcastically. The look on his face made my cheeks warm, and I shyly looked down at the ground. “You lugged three grown men as deadweight across the bottom of a rushing river? How did you stop us from floating up into enemy arms?”
“I used the Earth as a magnet, and it attracted your feet. I made it weak so it would keep you down but not tangle you up in the stuff on the bottom of the riverbed.” I was distressed to see the weeds, rocks, and growth at the time. It looked like a death-trap, but nobody got tangled up, so I put it out of my mind.
“Excellent,” Harris said.
Seth studied me a moment and then took the few steps over to where I stood and squeezed my shoulder. “Good job, Rector. I’d take you in the field anytime.”
I looked back up at him and grinned. “I'll hold you to that,” I promised. The hardest part of getting a spot on a team was finding somebody willing to lug around the newbie. It looked like I wouldn’t have any trouble with that after all.
“I haven’t seen anyone patrolling the area,” Peter called out from where he had positioned himself, once again playing lookout. “Let’s get back onto solid land and see if we can acquire another vehicle. We need to get out of here before they send scouts looking downriver for our bodies. We’re visible from this position. If they think to check.”
