Jackson leaned against the rail of the porch steps. “All he told me when he called was that he needed me home.”
“That’s why you’re back? Because of your dad?”
“Yeah, he said there was a problem with the Elements, and he would feel better knowing I was safe.”
Everleigh thought it over. “A problem with the Elements,” she repeated out loud.
“I asked him about it, and he said it was probably nothing. That he was being overly protective of me like always. I hadn’t found a decent job yet anyway, so here I am.”
She didn’t understand how he could be so indifferent. Jackson was a great many things, and most of them good. Being a thinker was not one of his attributes. Unless it concerned food, she wondered if the boy ever really thought about anything. “And it never made you wonder about what the problem was?”
“Nah, not really. I mean it couldn’t be too big of a deal if he wasn’t talking to me about it.”
Maybe she was talking to the wrong Montgomery she thought. Judd had a presence that had intimidated her since she was a little girl, but it was worth a shot to ask him point blank. The worst he could do was not answer, right? No, he could do a lot worse and with very little effort.
“Hey,” he said, leaning down. He moved his head to the side until it tapped her shoulder. He pulled back then did it again. And again.
“Would you stop?” She pushed him away trying not to smile. There was too much running through her mind demanding to be analyzed for her to get distracted by an oversized oaf right now even if he was her adorable best friend.
“Remember when we were kids? I don’t know. I think it was fifth grade.”
“We were in third grade,” Everleigh corrected, knowing exactly where he was going with this.
“You don’t even know what I’m going to say!”
“Actually, I do. It was third grade. That book series became all the rage. Fire and Water descendants all over the world went into a panic afraid of backlash.”
“Okay, so yeah. That’s what I was going to say,” he straightened up, and stretched his neck from side to side. “I figured it was something like that. You know, something our people were being overly cautious about, but it would pass.”
It made sense which was a surprise coming from such a simpleton. The only thing Jackson ever seemed to have on his mind was when he would get his next meal. The boy could eat enough in one meal to feed a family of four for a day if not longer.
“I don’t think it’s going to be that easy this time,” she confessed.
“What do you know about it?”
Everleigh shook her head slowly while staring at the front walk. The only thing she could see was the image of the storm in her grandma’s pendant. “I barely know anything.”
“You obviously know more than you’re letting on. Did your aunt say something to you?”
“No, my grandma did.”
Jackson’s eyes widened, and his mouth dropped. “Your grandma?”
“Yeah.”
“Eloise?”
Everleigh glared at him. There had been many times while she was growing up that she would vent to Jackson about her grandma, and the way she was going about teaching her the craft. Grandma had never been one to be very open with anybody choosing only to tell you what you needed to know, when she felt you needed to know it. Even after receiving the calling, Everleigh’s lessons were slow and boring because her grandma needed to make sure each one was completely committed to memory, and each spell or potion was perfected before moving on. It made being gifted a grimoire on the first day almost pointless if there was never an option to reference it during her witch studies. There was never a game plan explained to her or a broad idea of what they would be doing. It was task oriented only. It was her way. This was probably the manner by which she had been taught, so it was how she was now passing the knowledge on to the next generation.
“Well, you know how I told you my cousins came to stay this summer?”
“Yeah, because Isaac and Dorian came out to your house after they were called. They wanted to visit too as much as it annoyed you.”
“I didn’t tell you everything.” She looked at him then glanced away not realizing how hard it would be to say it. It was like it wasn’t completely real until she told somebody. “They weren’t just visiting. They were called too.”
Jackson leapt to his feet and ran down the steps. He put both hands on his head and walked halfway to the sidewalk before coming back. “How the hell, Lee-Lee?”
“Exactly. It means-”
“I know what it means! How the hell could you not mention this to me before now?”
Everleigh stood up and brushed off her jeans then fidgeted with the loose knob on the top of the rail. The pressing concern she had before saying anything was how to keep him focused during the conversation which wound up not being difficult at all. This was a much larger issue, and one she hadn’t predicted. She expected he might get upset because she hadn’t told him sooner, but she was surprised at just how angry it made him.
They would have to bottle the rest of what she had to tell him until after his dad returned. As much as Judd Montgomery terrified her simply by being in his presence, she would have to involve him in this now. There was no one else better equipped to prevent Jackson from losing control. On the plus side, Judd had to know something, and he’d be more apt to share his knowledge with them than her grandma. Everleigh wouldn’t get a chance to learn anything if Jackson’s anger wasn’t curbed. She had to find a way to cool him off now, or there would be no discussions with his dad later or ever again.
“You’ve known for what? Two months?”
“More like six weeks.”
Jackson threw his hands down to his sides and balled them into fists. The bright blue of his eyes started to glow a hazy orange.
‘Oh no,’ she looked around, worried that she didn’t have a clean way to run without going right past him. Not that it would matter. There was no chance of out running him.
“I’m sorry. You have every right to be mad at me, but Jackson, please,” she begged. “Please just breathe and try to calm down.”
He continued to stare at her, and she watched his eyes turn a bright red. It wouldn’t be much longer now if he didn’t reel it in. The veins in his neck bulged and she could already see the muscles pressing against the sleeves of his shirt until the fabric was ready to rip.
“Please,” her voice cracking, as she fought back tears. “Jackson…” There were only moments left before she would have to try to run from him knowing that he wouldn’t be able to control himself once he caught her.
The skin around his cheekbones undulated and started to swell.
Everleigh screamed and ran to the side of the porch jumping over the rail. The distance between them wouldn’t keep for long. He was coming fast behind her. As soon as she landed on the ground, she sprinted to the garage throwing the four by four beam of wood across it to latch the door behind her. The ladder to the loft was to her left, and she started to climb. The door splintered as Jackson punched through it sending pieces of wood flying and some of it sprayed across her. She clung to the ladder screaming again.
Once the debris stopped, she continued to climb. Jackson grabbed her ankle and yanked her down several rungs with ease until she managed to get a good hold on one with her hands, trying to hang on with all her might. Her life depended on it. She could hear him snarl and grunt behind her, but was too afraid to look at him directly. It was one side of him she had hoped to never see for herself. Her body stretched out in an almost perfect horizontal line between the ladder and the door as he tried to pull her out. She knew she couldn’t hold on much longer, and pain was shooting through her ankle as he began to twist it.
Suddenly, he let go. Everleigh’s body flew into the ladder at full force before falling to the floor. She hit her head hard enough on the concrete floor to crack it open. Before she passed out, she could hear Jackson whimper in p
ain, but she had no idea what had happened to save her.
Everleigh regained consciousness in the emergency room where a nurse was clearing a table of instruments. She moaned, and tried to sit up. A wave of dizziness passed over her, and she felt like she might spin off the hospital gurney. The light blinded her, and she closed her eyes tightly as soon as she opened them.
“Lie still,” the nurse told her, pressing gently on her shoulders. “You shouldn’t try to sit up just yet.
“Is our patient awake?” a voice asked, and Everleigh saw a man in a white doctor coat come into the room.
“She’s coming to,” the nurse told him.
The doctor leaned over her and shined a light into each eye while pulling her eyelids open with his other hand. “You slept through the hard part. Eight stitches,” he informed her, pointing to the side of her head.
Even though his finger didn’t come close, Everleigh still winced as though he prodded at a bruise. Her temple throbbed, and it felt wet like blood was still trickling out of the wound.
“You really had us scared,” the unmistakable sound of Judd Montgomery’s voice said from the other side of the room.
Everleigh blinked her eyes a few times adjusting to the bright light before looking in his direction. Jackson’s dad stood there wearing a polo shirt and khaki shorts, playing the role of devoted family man quite well. The clothing was a dismaying contrast to the nature of the person wearing the outfit.
“You’re lucky,” the doctor told her. “A fall like that could’ve ended much worse.”
“Fall?” Everleigh couldn’t remember anything. The last thing she could piece together was Jackson throwing a football up in the air, but his eyes. Wait. What was wrong with his eyes?
“Yes,” the doctor looked at her questioningly. “I was told you fell from the loft in a garage.”
“Garage,” she repeated. It sounded familiar. Everleigh’s eyes flew open wide. She remembered everything now. Jackson! She looked at Judd who had narrowed his eyes as if to say be careful of how you handle this. “Yeah, Mr. Montgomery. I’m sorry. I wanted to see that old train set of yours stashed up there.”
There was a train set in the loft of the garage. At least there had been when she and Jackson were kids. Everleigh had seen it a couple times growing up. It was one of Judd’s prized possessions, and he didn’t like for anyone to mess with it. Making it off limits only piqued their interest, so they clambered up to the loft whenever they could sneak away to play with it.
“Nothing to be sorry about, dear,” Judd told her. “I’m just glad you’re alright.”
Everleigh closed her eyes again and waited as the nurse went over care instructions with Judd. It barely registered with her that the injuries they were discussing were more than just her head. The doctor was telling Judd she was lucky her ankle wasn’t broke, but it was badly sprained. She would need to stay off of it as much as she could.
Tears stung her eyelids, and she didn’t bother with trying to stop them. Anyone seeing her cry would assume it was from the pain of the gash on the side of her head. The sound of Jackson’s whimper echoed through her mind. The whimper had been a painful cry, and Everleigh envisioned his lifeless body still lying in a heap outside the side door of the garage while she was alive and would recover.
“Did you hear me, Everleigh?” Judd asked.
She opened her eyes, and tried to say, “No.” It came out as a hoarse whisper.
“I said it’s time. I’m going to lift you into the wheelchair. The nurse insisted I not carry you all the way out.”
“Okay,” she nodded. “Go ahead.”
Judd leaned over and carefully lifted, then carried her to the wheel chair that was waiting by the door. He did it so effortlessly one might think he was some kind of health nut who was a regular at the gym if they didn’t know better. He removed the brakes from the wheels and started pushing her down the hall. “You really did give me a scare,” he whispered to her as they headed toward the exit.
That couldn’t be right she thought. She was the one who had feared for her life. If she was alive, it didn’t bode well for what might have happened to Jackson. In the state he was in, there would be very few options to tame him. The most logical was also the most permanent.
The automatic doors opened, and Judd stopped, putting the brakes back on the wheelchair before coming around to lift her again. Everleigh lay draped over his arms while he walked her through the parking lot as easily as a person might carry a folded umbrella.
“Where’s Jackson?” She mumbled, but there was no answer.
Judd walked to the side of Jackson’s pickup truck, and still holding Everleigh easily with one arm, he opened the passenger door with his other hand then glided her onto the seat. Making sure she was completely inside before he closed the door, he told her to sit tight, and she’d feel better in a minute.
He opened the driver’s door and climbed up in the cab. “Ready?” he asked her.
Everleigh thought he meant was she ready to leave, so she nodded then fastened her seatbelt. When she looked up, Judd was extending his right arm exposing a freshly bit wrist dripping in blood in front of her face. She clamped her mouth shut and squirmed against the back of her seat trying hard to get away from it, but he only inched closer. Tears fell down her cheeks. This was the last thing she wanted.
“Look,” he told her sternly. “The only reason we came here instead of doing this from the start is because the neighbors heard you scream and called the police. I had barely hid Jackson’s body before they showed up. There you still were on the floor of the garage, unconscious. Hell! They gave me an escort to the hospital!”
He had dropped his arm away from her, and she could see the wound was almost healed. “I don’t want to, but thank you for offering,” she told him politely.
“For offering?” he cried out. Putting both hands on the steering wheel, he took several deep breaths. “I know, Everleigh. I know why you don’t want to drink.” He sighed and looked at her. “But I am not sending you home in your condition. I am not facing the wrath of your grandmother.”
He bit into his wrist again, and held it out to her. “Please.”
Still, she hesitated.
“Please don’t make me do this the hard way,” he told her firmly.
Everleigh nervously leaned her head forward to his wrist.
“That’s it. You only need a few drops. It doesn’t have to be much.”
She parted her lips, and he brought his wrist to her mouth. The bitter taste of iron covered her tongue immediately, and she started to gag.
Judd pulled his arm away. “That’s enough. You’ll be healed before we get home.”
The last thoughts she had before the hallucinations set in was she might be physically healed that quickly, but the effect of the blood in her system would take most of the night to fade. As her eyes closed, she saw a larger than life beast charging toward the pickup in the side mirror following them home. The effect of the blood was just beginning its jolt to her system, so she was aware the beast wasn’t really there. The fear it caused her, however, was very much real, and it played mostly from memory.
Chapter Six
Everleigh sat on the sofa in the Montgomery living room staring at the painting on the wall of beautiful appaloosa horses. The horses were running through the rugged western open land and had been running for some time. They never did anything else, but she was fascinated and had been watching them for hours.
“How’s my patient doing?” an oddly distorted, echoing voice asked.
Her mouth fell open in disbelief that the horses could talk.
“Everleigh! Over here,” the horses spoke again.
The liquid air around her began to ripple out from her left the way a stone thrown into a lake would disturb the surface. The circular waves floated past her face taking her focus off the horses in the painting.
“Everleigh,” the echo continued to bounce around the walls of the room.
The horses were trying to get her attention, but the floating waves were so close to her. She lifted her hand to touch one as it passed by.
“Lee-Lee!”
She snapped to attention quickly and looked up just in time to see the horses run off the painting across the wall and jump through the window to the ground outside. The sideways lake that had filled the room was gone, but it still gurgled near her like the draining of a tub. Her head spun, but the room almost looked like it normally did again. That’s when she saw the figure in the doorway. She held her breath expecting to see Jackson’s ghost come to haunt her for what she did. Only it wasn’t Jackson. It was his dad.
“I thought that might get your attention,” he said.
Everleigh saw him and understood his words, but she really didn’t know what he was talking about. The room started to spin, and she put her hands to her head to still herself. The stitches scratched under her fingers, and she touched them gently several times.
Judd knelt down in front of her and moved her hand away. “Completely healed. I’ll be removing those for you shortly.” He looked around the area where the wound had been holding her hair to the side.
Bits of memories were starting to flash. When she saw his arm near her face inspecting where she had been cut, she jumped back in fear.
“It’s okay,” he reassured her. “You’re fine now. You should be back to your normal self before much longer.”
She wasn’t sure what to think. Nothing made sense. There was a doctor laughing over Jackson’s dead body as Judd tried to drink from her neck. Her breathing became quick and hard, and the fight or flight instincts rooted in the core of everyone started to kick in as she frantically wondered how she would get out. ‘Why did that feel like déjà vu?’ she wondered.
“Hey, look at me,” he told her gently. “Coming down can be hard. It’s different for everyone. You’re safe. No harm will come to you. Trust me.”
Everleigh looked at the man who had always intimidated her just by being present only now she saw a side of him she had never seen before. There was a softness in his eyes, and she could sense that he meant every word he said.
Earth: The Elementals Book Two Page 6
