by K. C. RILEY
Despite all the frustration of the day, the past few weeks, the past few months, something opened inside of me. I imagined touching the star like Jake said. “It feels like energy, a power, flowing through my hands and my body. My blood. The energy feels like it’s everywhere.”
“What else?”
The sensation was tingling and otherworldly. A smile warmed over my face at what I was about to say. “It feels like...magic.” That was the first time the word felt like it was supposed to. Beautiful and alive.
“Right. Now, open your eyes.”
My eyes opened to a milky way of stars that illuminated the sky as far out as I could see. There were clusters of them everywhere. White, pink, blue. I’d never seen so many in my life and was breathless. “This is not possible.”
“You said it yourself. Magic.”
I stayed quiet, dumbfounded and in awe. If this was magic, I wanted more of it. And…I wanted more of him.
“Those panic attacks you get? You’re an empath. You can feel things other people can’t. Sometimes it can be overwhelming being around other people’s energy, their thoughts and emotions. Sometimes the noise of it all is too much. But then sometimes the gift lets you see things the world says aren’t there, like stars on a full moon night.”
Or ghosts and haunted books. And I wasn’t sure about the gift part.
Silence rolled over us as I took it all in, the galaxy, Jake’s words, and eventually the pinky that interlocked with mine. It was the third time where being around Jake had felt like the most natural thing in the world. The first and second were when I had almost kissed him.
“The key is to stop wrestling with it,” Jake said. “What’s real and what’s not? It doesn’t matter. Just trust your instincts.”
Yeah. He was way more than he had been letting on.
“You’re not very good at hiding things, you know.”
“You’re not so good yourself,” I countered.
“Ha,” he laughed. That was twice in one night. “Fair enough. That’s all the advice you’re going to get. Now, enough talk. Come on.” Jake slapped me on the leg, got up, and then dove into the water.
I stood to my feet but didn’t budge.
He popped back up to the surface. “Don’t tell me you’re chicken.”
“There’s no way in hell I’m getting in there.” And why would I when I was happily dry on land and wrapped in the universe?
“You know this dance thing is all over in a few days,” he said. “It’ll be back to good ole gym and swimming.”
I wished he hadn’t reminded me.
“I could teach you,” he offered.
“Teach me what?”
“To swim, silly. Besides, floating in the water under the stars? That’s the cherry on top. I swear I won’t let anything happen to you.”
I had no idea how I let him convince me, but I did.
“Fine. But no further that waist deep. And you have to turn around.”
“Why?”
“Just do it.”
With Jake’s back to me, I stripped down to my undies and my T-shirt. I left the rest of my clothes on the rock. The water was icy as I dipped my toes into it. I thought of Zander’s party, the thing that had tried to drown me. I then thought about the thing that had jumped me in the alley at the café and the shadow that lured me onto the road the night of Mom’s accident.
“This is a bad idea.”
Jake turned around and swished through the water toward me. “Give me your hand.”
I hesitated.
“I swear, I won’t let anything happen to you,” he said.
I didn’t know why, but I believed him. I stretched my hand out to his, and he took it. Jake slowly led me into the water until I was waist-deep. Every part of me screamed, Get out or you’re going to die. And my teeth chattered so hard I thought they would crumble out of my mouth.
“The first lesson is easy. You’re just going to lay back on my hands and float. I promise I’ll be holding you the entire time.”
“Lay back on your hands?”
“Yep.”
It was still a bad idea. Regardless, I took a deep breath before Jake gently pulled me closer into him. Honestly, I could have stayed nuzzled that close to Jake forever. His hands against my skin was warm and tempered both the chatter at my teeth and my fear.
I put my arm around him and attempted to lean back. It just wasn’t working. I instead popped back up and put him in a tight chokehold.
“Nope. I can’t do it.”
He laughed. “You know, I can’t breathe.”
“It’s not funny, you moron. And I don’t care.” I wanted to knock the smirk off his face.
“Okay, okay, you’re right. No more laughing. I swear. And you’re stronger than you look.” Jake took my arm and loosened my grip from around his neck while forcing back that stupid grin.
I didn’t care how ridiculous I looked. The bottom line was I didn’t want to die.
He took my hands and slowly eased them down to my side. “I won’t let anything happen to you,” he whispered. “The water is what you make of it. There’s nothing to be afraid of. If you relax, it’ll do the same. If you panic, it will too.”
Jake’s words were almost identical to what Ezra said to Serene in the Blood Book. I hesitated. However, I put my arm around his neck before easing back and letting my feet off the ground. I then took a chance and spread out my arms.
“You’re doing fine. Relax your head, and breathe.”
After a minute or so, the whole floating thing on my back wasn’t so bad. The chill on the lake abated as gentle waves lulled my body into a state of tranquility.
I closed my eyes as my thoughts drifted to the watery rose from Ezra’s hand, how he could control the water with his emotions and the medallion that hung around his neck. The darkness I felt while in Serene’s body crept in, but it soon melted away under the support of Jake’s hands.
My eyes opened to the Milky Way of stars that engulfed us.
Jake was right. Floating under the universe was the cherry on top. It all felt like one beautiful dream.
I took a deep breath in, sighed, and then closed my eyes again before bobbing off into another world. At some point, I felt weightless, light as a feather.
“Lizzy?” Jake said.
“Yes?”
“You’re...floating.”
“Yeah, I know.” My voice sounded stoned, and I grinned at the thought. “It’s kind of awesome.”
“No. I mean, you’re floating...in the air.”
“You are such a goofball.” What he was saying didn’t register until I turned my head toward his voice.
Jake stood about three feet away from me with his mouth wide open as my body levitated above the water. In an instant, I came crashing down. Fear seized my arms and legs as I dropped into the lake and sank below the surface. What was only waist-deep, felt more like ten feet. My throat tightened as invisible hands wrapped themselves around my neck. I couldn’t breathe. It felt like something was trying to kill me.
I struggled under the water when I found myself back in the car with Cassie and Josie the night we left Zander’s party. I was having some kind of vision.
We argued. I got out of the car, and they pulled off. It was dark, and I was alone. But I wasn’t. Someone called out to me. There was a flash, and a gun went off. I had been shot and collapsed to the ground. A stranger held the wound at my side while my body burned like lava. He was healing me. His face morphed in and out of the darkness. It was about to come into focus when out of nowhere, his features disintegrated into ash and fire. Within the flames of his face, the bowels of hell opened, and the stars fell to the earth. It was the end of everything.
Destruction, wailing, and fire consumed me. There was no escaping it.
Hands pulled me up out of the water bringing me and my crazy to my feet. Everything was disoriented and jumbled together. I wasn’t sure of anything.
“Lizzy. Look at me. It’s okay.”
All I could see in the reflection of Jake’s eyes was a freak who was seeing things that weren’t there, but were. The part of me that couldn’t remember what had happened the night I walked home after Zander’s party, the feeling of being shot, it all coursed through my body as though it happened only minutes ago. And yet there was no wound. No bullet. It was all too much. And I couldn’t take it anymore.
Confused and mortified, I did the only thing I knew how to do best. Run. I swished out of the water, grabbed my stuff, and didn’t look back.
“Lizzy, wait. Where are you going?”
Thunder rolled through the sky. The air changed fast. A storm was coming. And according to whatever happened in the water, so was hell.
The wind that hit the tears in my eyes made it hard to see. The flashes of lightning that stirred the forest only added to the chaos that polluted through my mind. Blood Books, witches, shadows, and ghosts should have been the things of Mason’s stupid campfire stories, not my life. And getting shot?
The sobering pain of running barefoot in the woods quickly brought me back to my senses. I stopped to put my jeans and sneakers on when I realized I had run off the trail. I was lost. Great.
A lightning strike cracked through the air and hit the ground in front of me. The paralyzing sound of snapping branches closed in fast, too fast. I crouched down, realizing that being crazy no longer mattered because I was about to die.
With my arms hovered over me, I waited. And waited. The silence suggested that I should have been dead. But I wasn’t. The sound of someone else’s heavy breathing was the only thing I heard, that and my heart pounding out of my chest. I looked up, and Jake was holding the fallen tree over his head. His hands and body were the only thing keeping it from crushing me.
Time stopped.
Cool drops of rain trickled down my forehead while the smell of wet earth wrapped itself around me. I stood up and stepped closer to Jake as though I was seeing him for the first time.
I scraped the clumps of wet hair from out of my eyes.
The veins in Jake’s arms were engorged with blood from holding the tree. But stranger than that were the flames of black fire that flickered where his eyes should have been. And there were markings all over his chest and torso that weren’t there before, lines of text written in weird symbols that burned in a bright blue light. It was almost...holy.
I stared in awe as he grunted and pushed the tree off of him like it was a light barbell.
I stood up, stepped closer, and was about to touch his face.
“Liz?” Someone yelled. It was Cassie.
“Lizzy?” Another voice followed in the rain. Josie.
“Where are you?” That was Mason.
I had only turned my head from Jake but a second. When I turned back he was gone.
“There you are. And holy crap.” Cassie shined a flashlight in my direction and then at the snapped tree. Josie, Mason, and Boyd followed behind.
“Are you okay?” Mason asked. “Holy shit.”
“We were looking for you everywhere,” Josie said concerned.
“You’re lucky it missed you,” Boyd said.
“Yeah. Lucky.” My mind raced a millions miles a minute. Jake. The lightening. The tree. His eyes.
Cassie took my arm while I stood there dazed. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
We headed back to the dorms and the only thing I could think was who or what was Jake? Really?
13
I paced back and forth in my room. Jake’s eyes. His super human strength. Maybe he was an angel. But he didn’t have any wings. And what angel has eyes that burn with black fire? And why did he take off? Duh. If I had a secret, which apparently I did, a big one, I’m not too sure I would want everyone in on it either.
I tried texting him, but got no answer. That only made things worse.
My thoughts were out of control. Serene being my mother? Me levitating on water and the sensation of getting shot? For the fifth time in the span of ten minutes, I rechecked the red hoodie and shirt I wore the night of Zander’s party. Nothing changed. There were no bullet holes and no blood. And of course, there weren’t. I think I would have noticed something like that earlier. I went back to pacing.
Running away from this stuff almost got me and Jake killed.
I felt horrible. Guilty. And denial wasn’t helping anymore.
I needed to do something. Anything.
I picked up the box of clues from the floor and knocked on Cassie’s door. It was late. She answered with droopy eyes and the crack of sleep in her voice.
“You win,” I said, anxious. “Either I’m haunted, a witch, cursed, or all of the above.”
Cassie yawned and pulled me inside. She handed me a towel to dry off. I was still soaked from earlier. She then poured me some hot tea while my mouth shot off like a whistling kettle about to explode. I told her everything, everything except what happened with Jake and the fallen tree.
One by one, I pulled out each clue and started from the beginning, the weird phone call, what happened the night of Mom’s accident, the possessed phone that killed her, and the thing that jumped me in the alley.
I gave her Mom’s note to read.
Shadowick, VA., 13th HR, 483, The Destroyer.
Shadowick was obvious. 483 was the Blood Book and my room number. 13th HR and The Destroyer, I had no clue.
I followed that up with the stuffed rabbit and being haunted by some kid that was always giggling. That it was the kid that led me to the Blood Book to begin with.
I then showed her Kai’s sketch of the same amulet we both saw placed around Serene’s neck. I explained that Kai was a psychic medium at an event Mrs. Ellington had hosted and how he had channeled a message from my mom’s spirit.
The Destroyer is coming. Not much time...ascending...water and fire.
I also told her how sweet Kai was until he disappeared and started sending me weird texts that he couldn’t see me anymore.
But the last clue was the kicker, my encounter with Professor Jonas and the photo of my mother with Serene’s name written on the back. Cassie couldn’t believe it. Neither could I.
“If that’s all true,” Cassie said. “That would make Serene your mom.”
It felt weird hearing it come from someone else. “There’s more. Serene had a twin brother. Jonas.”
“Jonas is your uncle? Holy crap.”
“I know. It’s insane.”
“Serene, my mom. Jonas, my uncle,” I whispered. I still couldn’t wrap my head around it. “And Ezra. That would make the man that held the watery rose in his hand, the one that gave the amulet to Serene, my grandfather. The way they were dressed I thought it was all happening in another time, but it wasn’t. They were all just a part of some hippie witch commune.”
“An ascension. I think that’s what they were preparing for,” Cassie said. “Serene and Hannah went through some kind of upgrade in power. And the water and fire, they were water conjurers—potentially, anyway. And the lightning we felt in the Black Mist. The way it burned from the inside out. Maybe that was the fire. Water and fire. Ezra knew they wouldn’t make it without the amulet. And Serene was early. Ezra could only give it to one of them and he gave it to his daughter. But The Destroyer and the 13th HR. I’m stumped. Maybe the Black Mist was the destroyer? It did kill Hannah. And it would have destroyed Serene if she didn’t have the amulet.”
She might have had a point. The more we talked about what happened to my mom and how it all tied into the Blood Book, the more questions we had.
“The book might have more answers.” Cassie sipped her tea after lighting more candles and incense. “Have you tried opening it again?”
I picked up the box of incense and read the name. Seven Chakras. The smell was soothing, like vanilla and spice. I shook my head no as my bones savored the warmth of the cup in my hands.
I pondered the question for a bit. The only thing I dreaded more than going back into an institution was going back
into the Blood Book. But, Cassie had a point.
“Wait here.” I dashed across the hall and grabbed the Blood Book from my closet.
I then sat back down on the floor next to Cassie. The last thing I wanted to do was ask her to go in with me. I had no right. But none of that mattered because Cassie gave me her hand anyway. No questions asked. I placed my other hand on top of the book. It should have opened, but it didn’t.
“Maybe it needs more blood?” Cassie suggested.
I gave my finger a slight prick with a pin and fed the lion’s mouth with my blood, but nothing.
“Then Jonas is the key to figuring this out,” she said.
“I don’t know how to reach him, other than email.” I checked my phone to see if he had answered. “Wait. Never mind. It’s just an automatic reply.”
I will be out of the office until October 25. If you need immediate assistance during my absence, please contact my assistant Emil Quinones. Otherwise, I will respond to all emails as soon as possible upon my return. Thank you for your message.
Emil Quinones’ email address was listed at the bottom of the note. But I didn’t need to send another email. “I need to talk to someone live. Neither of their phone numbers are listed in the directory online.”
“Well, not the public one.” Cassie went over to her desk, grabbed her laptop, and sat back on the floor.
After a few minutes of plucking on keys, she turned her laptop to face me. Cassie had hacked into Blackstone University’s directory along with pulling up the personal phone numbers for both Professor Jonas and his assistant Emil Quinones.
“Who are you?” I asked.
Cassie shrugged.
It was 2 a.m. in the morning, but I didn’t care. I needed answers, and I needed the truth.
I dialed Jonas’s number. Someone picked up, and my heart raced.
If this is an emergency, please call my assistant Emil Quinones. I will be out of the country until the twenty-fifth of October. Thank you.
“Are you kidding me?” I hit disconnect and shook my head at Cassie.
“Try his assistant.”
I dialed the number.
“Hello?” His voice was thick with sleep, but at least someone answered.
