Next moment, their old van was buried nose-first in a ditch.
It had happened so fast.
As much as Cooper tried, he couldn’t get enough traction to get the van out.
“Fuck.” The expletive was loaded with despondent pain. “I’m so sorry, Ash!”
“Are you okay?” The words came to Ash naturally.
Cooper thought for a bit. “Hell. What a headache. It just hit me from nowhere.”
Slowly, carefully, Ash turned in his seat and faced his partner in all things that mattered. “Me too,” he said softly. “Something’s going on. But first we have to get this car out of the ditch and back on the road.”
Luck was with them. Just minutes later, a man with a pick-up truck pulled over to check on them. Even better, he had a winch and pulled them out. “Pay it forward,” he said, waving off their offers to somehow show their appreciation.
Then he was gone.
“He had no power signature,” Ash commented on their benefactor. “He was totally normal. And totally nice, too.”
“We’re here to protect them,” Cooper said. “But sometimes, they protect us.” He grabbed his temples. “Crap. This is… this ain’t normal, Ash. This feels like a backlash headache - but why? I didn’t do anything!”
Few tutt-tutts and a bottle of cold water later, Ash dove into their pile of gear in the bag and emerged victorious. He showed a small, brown bottle to Cooper, who sat sullenly next to him.. “Your Grandma Olga’s reishi extract,” he said. “I think we need some, and you especially.”
They took some of the vile brew.
“And you’re in no condition to drive,” Ash said gently. “Here, let me.”
“You’re in no shape either,” Cooper commented. Just the facts. No drama.
“I wonder why,” Ash said as he leaned back, waiting for the reishi to kick in. “Do you think Jared would respond if you asked him? I hate to ask, I know this won’t help your headache any, but…”
“Yeah, yeah. You’re right. Something’s going on and we need to know what.” Cooper fished the sword that was Jared from behind the seats and unwrapped its protective blanket. Then he picked up the katana by its grip in one hand and supported the tip of the lacquered wood sheath on the fingers of the other, and he bowed his head reverently.
He wasn’t greeting only his cousin Jared, he was paying respect to the spirit of the sword. “I wonder if you’re there,” he whispered. “I wonder if you can help us find out what happened.”
Cooper sent a pulse of his energy down the handle.
The world lit up for him, auras and ley lines underground, punctuated by similar lines of power in the air. A storm was brewing over Lake Erie up ahead, and… and a whorl of confused, hurt energies from the south threw their dissonant wail in his direction.
“Ow.” He dropped the sheathed blade in his lap, and gripped his head. “Honey, I think we had an earthquake.”
ASH DROVE THEM to the nearest motel. They paid up, hauled Jared and their overnight bag and a bottle of reishi up to their simple room, and crashed.
The gray carpeting, the clean but simple bed, the outdated motel furniture - none of that registered in Ash’s mind. He only took enough time to stumble out to fill the bucket with ice from the the ice maker down the hall, and he picked up two chocolate bars from the vending machine.
Hard to go wrong with chocolate.
They dosed up and slept through the day and through the night. They ate a decent breakfast, but that headache still echoed in Ash’s head as he drove them south, toward Pittsburgh.
And gods, even after all the sleep they had gotten, he was so tired.
So tired, he was glad the van knew its way.
So exhausted, the latest little aftershock caught him entirely unawares on their own street.
The crunch of the van’s metal against the run-down chain link fence was followed by a quick snap of their seatbelts, and of the explosive inflation of their airbags.
“You okay?” Cooper mumbled from behind his airbag. Then, incredibly, he began to laugh. Not just a chuckle, but a full-out hearty laugh which brimmed with amusement. “You know what? Aside from the latest tremor, I think it was that huge pothole that finally got us. And on our own street, too!”
The green door of the second-to-last brick row house opened, and Paul ran out all upset and wild-looking, with Russ right behind him. Russ touched Paul, and Paul calmed down.
“What are the odds on Paul electrocuting us while we’re trapped in here?” Ash asked somberly as he observed the young elementalist struggle with his unusual talent.
“Nil,” Cooper said. “Russ is grounding him. But they look wiped. Look at them!”
As they struggled out of the van, and as they greeted the whole clan that stumbled out of their houses as though still half-drunk, Ash realized they all bore classic signs of backlash headache.
“Where were you?” Paul wailed. “You’re a day late. And what the hell what that?”
Voices rose to greet them, and Ash waved them silent before he gave Cooper an expectant look.
“We had an earthquake, and we all have a backlash headache,” Cooper said. “And Grandma Olga gave us several bottles of fresh reishi extract!” Ash watched Cooper survey their little group with a sense of purpose and calm he had never shown before.
“Let’s go inside and get dosed up. Once we sleep it off, we can figure out what’s going on.”
Ash had never been prouder of Cooper and the way he had assumed control of the situation. Whether Cooper knew it or not, they were partners now. It would take the group some time to adjust to the fact that both Cooper and he were equal leaders of their newly-forged clan of Pittsburgh-based elementalists. They had, after all, been looking up to “Boss Ash” up till now.
But Ash loved the partnership vibe, and he would do anything in his power to make sure they stayed that way.
Equal partners.
Till the Hell froze over.
JARED
Shika nudged him, and gestured with his chin across the creek and to the porch. Jared squinted into the sun, and looked more carefully.
Ameru-san sat across the low table from his Uncle Greg. They both held brushes in their hands.
“I think she’s teaching him,” Jared said, sending the words to Shika alone.
Shika beamed him an approving smile. “You’re getting better at controlling your thoughts,” he said approvingly. “But your reading of body language is pitiful. In my opinion, they’re courting!”
Jared grinned. Then he thought back to Shika’s compliment, and produced a self-conscious smile. If he had succeeded in sending a thought directly to him, then... “Do you think I could contact Cooper and use words?” He said. “I’d really like to talk to him. There are so many things I’d like to tell him.”
THE END
Thank you for reading LIKE A FREEZE! I had thought this would be just a “long short story” or a novella, but then things happened... and here we are, at the end of another book to the series.
If you enjoyed the story, you already know I’ll be grateful for a review on a storefront of your choice (these books are currently published “broad,” i.e. they are available just about anywhere.)
Thank you for joining me on this incredible journey,
~Olivette Devaux
OTHER READS
(most are available on audio and in paper, too)
Publishing as OLIVETTE DEVAUX:
DISORDERLY ELEMENTS:
Zero Power Signature (D .E. short story 0.5)
Like a Rock (Disorderly Elements 1)
Forbidden Kiss of Life (D .E. short story 1.5)
Like a Torrent (Disorderly Elements 2)
Within a Crowded Blade (D .E. short story 2.5)
Like a Jetstream (Disorderly Elements 3)
Like a Surge (Disorderly Elements 4)
Like a Phoenix (Disorderly Elements 5)
Three Solstice Gifts (D .E. short story 5.5)
Like a Fre
eze (Disorderly Elements 6)
Like a Dervish (Disorderly Elements 7)
Like a Void (Disorderly Elements 8)
Like a Spirit (Disorderly Elements 9)
OTHER TITLES
SwimBikeRun trilogy
Treading Water (SwimBikeRun 1)
Hard Climb (SwimBikeRun 2)
Final Dash (SwimBikeRun 3)
Lucky Starflowers (Steel City 1)
Yellow Peonies (Steel City Short Story 1.5)
Zipper Fall (Steel City 2)
Compulsion (Steel City Short Story 2.5)
Flux (Steel City 3)
The Fighting Dutchman (Foreign Affairs 1)
Relativistic Phenomena (Stand-alone)
Strawberries in the Snow (Stand-alone)
Adrenaline Rush (Stand-alone).
WILD HORSES
Untamed (Wild Horses 1)
Wild Horses (Wild Horses 2)
Broken Gait (Wild Horses 3)
Sire (Wild Horses 4)
Horseplay (Wild Horses 5)
Change of Lead (Wild Horses 6)
SHORT STORIES
(in Heart’s Kiss Magazine and various anthologies)
I am here for you
The Aswang Who Ate Stardust
Uncanny Familiarity
Compatible
Forbidden Kiss of Life
Publishing as Kate Pavelle:
Kickass Anthology (M/M romance)
The Crone who Leaned on a Sword Cane (Crone World 1)
Past Lives (Crone World 2)
On the Run (Cancelled Czech Files)
Naked Gun (Cancelled Czech Files)
Just Blow It Up (Cancelled Czech Files)
Raisin Raid (Cancelled Czech Files)
Unsavory Company (Spy suspense 1991 Balkans)
The River Pearl (Short Story M/F , recent history)
Airborne for Love (Short Story M/F’ recent history)
Writing as Kate Pavelle
Published by Dreamspinner Press
Breakfall (The Fall Trilogy 1)
Swordfall (The Fall Trilogy 2)
Landfall (The Fall Trilogy 3)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Under another name, OLIVETTE DEVAUX is an award-winning author and Amazon best-seller.
Her Olivette Devaux pen name is dedicated to LGBT fiction and hot romance. She writes other genre fiction such as crime, espionage, thrillers, recent historicals, humor, urban fantasy and weird fiction stories under her Kate Pavelle name.
Born in Prague, Czech Republic with a name you cannot pronounce in English, Kate enjoys her rich family and professional life in Pittsburgh, PA.
You can reach her under either pen name at:
Mugen Press
c/o Olivette Devaux (or Kate Pavelle)
518 Mary Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15209
You can contact the author through her Olivette Devaux FB profile, which she checks about once a week.
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