Alec took his eyes off the ring and focused on Tess’s face. She was staring back at him. He noticed a yellow tint in her eyes. The yellow color seemed to swirl and flash, then was gone. He had a sudden impulse to reach out and tell her everything was going to be all right, but with Grandma still holding her hand, he thought the gesture would look foolish. He looked deeper into her eyes trying to find the right words. None came.
“I told you the other day that my mother died when I was nine,” said Tess continuing to look at him. “When the plane hit the ground, it broke apart. I remember a lot of fire. I heard screaming before I passed out. When I came to, Dad was carrying me. I can still smell the burnt flesh and smoke. My dad was in the burn ward at the hospital for months. The pilots lasted a few days, but I think their burns got infected. They didn’t make it. Neither did Mom.”
Pulling her right hand away from Grandma, Tess slipped her ring back onto her right ring finger. As soon as she did, the ring disappeared.
“Three people died,” said Tess looking back at him. “My dad was horribly burned. I had a few bruises and my left arm was broken, but I didn’t have a single burn on my body. I read a newspaper article a few years later on the accident. The reporter said my clothes weren’t even singed. The article called me the miracle child.” She turned away from Alec and looked at Grandma. “Some miracle. My mom died. Whatever money my parents had was used for hospital bills. Dad hasn’t had a steady job since. I think he blames himself for surviving when Mom didn’t. All I know now is that if he’s awake, Dad’s drinking.” She looked back at Alec. Her eyes were shiny. “Sometimes I wish I’d died in the crash with Mom.”
Everyone remained silent for several moments.
When Alec could stand it no longer, he said, “I gather you think this ring somehow saved you in the crash. Don’t you think it’s more likely you just got lucky and were thrown out of the aircraft before it burned?”
Tess stared at him so hard that he immediately began regretting his comment. After a couple of seconds, she rose from the table, walked over to the kitchen stove, and twisted the knob on the largest burner. The pop, pop, pop of the igniter sounded before the gas lit. Tess turned the burner to high before looking back at Alec.
“Mom saved my life that day on the plane,” said Tess locking eyes with him. “I saw her tug at her right hand before putting the ring on mine. She gave me this ring knowing she was going to die in order that I might live.” With those words, Tess stuck her right hand directly into the flames, making no sound as she kept it there.
“No!” Alec yelled jumping from the table. He jerked Tess away from the stove, toward the sink. Hitting the lever on the faucet, he shoved her hand under the flowing water. She didn’t scream, cry, or anything. She just looked at him.
She’s in shock, Alec thought. I’ve got to get her to the emergency room.
Pulling Tess’s hand out of the water, Alec inspected it to determine how bad it was. Instead of blackened skin, he saw only the tanned flesh of her hand. He turned her hand over, looking harder. He saw nothing but normal, healthy skin.
Twisting her hand out of his grasp, Tess picked up a dishtowel from the side of the sink and dried off as she walked back to the table. After sitting down, she glanced at Alec. “My mother saved my life. As long as I’m wearing this ring, fire doesn’t hurt me. It never has. It doesn’t even burn my clothes.”
Alec stared at Tess still concentrating on her hand. He switched gazes to his grandmother. Instead of worry or surprise, she had a slight smile on her face.
“I expected as much when I saw the flame design,” said Grandma. “Your girlfriend here is the bearer of the Fire Ring.”
“The what?” Alec said choosing to ignore the girlfriend remark. “This is impossible.”
“Welcome to my world,” said Grandma. She turned to Tess. “So your mother didn’t have time to explain?”
“No,” replied Tess. “I don’t understand anything about my ring except what I’ve told you.”
Grandma looked at Tess for a couple of seconds before turning to Alec. “Close your mouth, Grandson, and I’ll explain at least as much as I’m able.”
Once he’d taken his seat at the table, Alec looked at his grandmother. “Okay, I’m all ears.”
Nodding her head, Grandma’s eyes took on a faraway look. “I’m going to tell the two of you the same story my great-grandmother told me. A great war has been fought since the beginning of time. It’s basically good versus evil. I don’t think it’s going to end until the universe does, but who am I to say?” When neither Tess nor Alec said anything, she continued. “The war has consisted of many battles. In one such battle, the forces of good created seven elemental rings along with a ring to defend them. From what I understand, those eight rings will one day be instrumental in defending the forces of good on our world from those of evil. The rings were given to bearers to keep them safe until they were needed. That was two hundred years ago. To the best of my knowledge, until now, no two of the rings have been brought together.” She looked at Tess. “I think that’s significant.”
The impossibility of the situation got the best of Alec. All he could do for several seconds was look from his grandmother to Tess and back again. They seemed to be having a staring contest. Finally, he asked a question just to break the silence, directed at his grandmother.
“Uh…so, are you also impervious to fire, Grandma?”
Grandma remained silent for several seconds. Just when he thought she wasn’t going to answer, she broke eye contact with Tess and looked at him before picking up her ring. She held it before her eyes, twisting it back and forth, letting the overhead light glint off the blue gem.
“Impervious to fire?” said Grandma. “No, nor does the ring make me impervious to anything else.”
“So it has no power of its own?” asked Tess seemingly enthralled by the ring Grandma held in her hand.
His grandmother smiled. “Oh, I wouldn’t say that.”
Shoving the ring onto her right hand, Grandma walked over to the stove. Alec noticed the ring wasn’t visible on her finger.
Standing next to the stove, Grandma smiled. “This is going to hurt a little.”
Before Alec could react, his grandmother placed her right hand over the still flaming burner. She screamed as yellow and blue flames flared around her hand. The cuff of her sweater caught on fire as the flames ran up the wool sleeve.
“No!” Alec shouted making a dive for his grandmother. The smell of burnt flesh filled the room as he dragged her to the sink. Tess was right there hitting the faucet to send a stream of water into the basin. Grandma’s screams filled the air as Alec ran her hand and arm back and forth under the faucet. When he pulled her hand out, the skin on her palm was blackened and curled up. The back of her hand was deep red with smudges of black.
“Grandma,” Alec said starting to panic. He looked at Tess, catching her eye. “Call nine-one-one.”
Grandma jerked her hand out of his grasp, holding it close to her stomach. “No. It’ll be all right. Just give me a second.”
With her cellphone in hand, Tess was already punching in numbers.
Grandma reached out with her left hand and snatched the phone from Tess, saying, “I said no.”
Assuming shock was gripping his grandmother, Alec reached out to take the phone from the woman. She slapped his hand away.
Holding out her right hand, palm forward, Grandma said, “See? It’s better already.”
Staring at her outstretched palm, Alec opened his mouth to speak. Words failed to come as he took a closer look at her hand. The blackened skin on the palm had been replaced by an angry red. Even as he watched, the red turned to pink before returning to its normal skin color.
“What the—” Alec started.
“It’s healed,” said Tess sounding equally amazed.
With a smile, Grandma handed Tess’s phone back before walking to the table and sitting down on a bench. “That’s right. It’s healed.” Gr
andma looked at Alec. “You asked if I was impervious to fire. Obviously, I’m not. I can be burned like anyone else.” She seemed to catch herself, then looked at Tess and said, “Present company apparently excepted.”
“But…but you were burned,” Alec insisted as he walked to the table to take her hand in his. He turned it over, looking at both front and back. The pungent odor of burnt wool and flesh was still strong in the air. “There’s not even a blister now. I don’t understand. How?”
With a shrug of her shoulders, Grandma twisted at her right hand, removing her ring and placing it on the table. “How? I have no idea. All I know is that as long as I’m wearing this ring, any injuries to my body are healed. Sometimes the injuries heal quickly as in the case of superficial burns like that from the stove. For more serious injuries, it can take minutes or even hours to fully heal.”
Picking up the ring again, Grandma let the light from the kitchen windows reflect off the blue gem. Alec thought he saw flashes of yellow inside the gem but couldn’t be sure.
Tess wandered over to stand beside him, looking as confused as he was. Glancing at him, Tess looked like she wanted him to say something but didn’t know what. Alec didn’t blame her. He had no idea what to say either.
“Uh,” he said treading cautiously. “So…uh, what does all this mean?”
Shaking her head, Grandma said, “I’ve got no idea. All I know is that after two hundred years of waiting, I think the time for sitting around doing nothing is over.”
“Waiting for what?” asked Tess with a definite quiver in her voice.
She’s scared, Alec thought. I guess she’s not a complete ice-in-her-veins bad-girl after all. I don’t blame her. I’m a little scared too.
“I don’t know what I’m waiting for, Tess,” said Grandma. “I really don’t. The one thing I’m sure of is that it wasn’t a coincidence my grandson brought you here. I have a feeling our rings were supposed to meet.”
“So what comes next?” Alec asked just to get in on the conversation.
“Next?” said Grandma. “Tess said she needed to get to work. I guess she’d best be going before she’s late.”
“Work?” Alec said. “We’ve got to—”
“Got to what?” asked Grandma. “Sit here all evening asking questions we don’t know the answers to? I don’t think so. I’ll drive to town tomorrow and talk to my sister. She might be able to find out some answers.”
“Mrs. Walker?” asked Tess sounding suspicious.
Alec shared her doubt. Much as he loved Aunt Mamie, he was as aware as anyone that she lived in the past as much as she did the present.
“I know what you’re thinking,” said Grandma, “but Mamie’s a lot smarter than she lets on. Give me a chance to talk to her and check out a few things. Then the three of us can meet again and talk things over.”
“When?” asked Tess.
“Sunday,” said Grandma. “We’ll talk about it over Sunday dinner.”
“Sunday!” Alec said. “That’s four days away. We need to find out what’s going on; the sooner the better.”
With a laugh, Grandma stood and opened the door to the closet, grabbing a broom and dustpan. “If what I’ve been told is true, the rings have been here for nigh on two hundred years. I don’t think four more days is going to make much of a difference.”
Grandma handed the broom and dust pan to Alec before grabbing a mop and giving it to Tess. “What won’t wait is that pot roast and gravy splattered all over the mudroom floor. Now, I want you kids to get it cleaned up before it stains. Sunday’s plenty soon enough to talk about the rings, so get busy.”
Chapter 11 – A Vision
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The goose-necked trailer behind the four-door pickup made thumping noises as its tires hit imperfections in the pavement of the Colorado highway. The green-haired woman in the red robe jerked up in the back seat of the truck. She ignored the sounds around her. The vision of what she’d seen drew all her attention.
“What is it?” asked Mr. Black from the front passenger seat. “Have you sensed something?”
Ms. Red waited until the vision faded before nodding. Her smile revealed two fangs where her eyeteeth should be. “The first two rings have made contact.”
“Impossible,” said the black-robed man. “It’s too early. The Ring Defender shouldn’t have been able to track the Fire Ring without you detecting it as well.”
The woman adjusted her red robe and shrugged. “Somehow it has. Their connection has started. It will grow stronger the longer they are together.”
“Then we’re too late,” said Mr. Gray from the driver’s seat. “If they are in this Covington together, then they will be gone before we can get to them with the asset.”
The red-robed woman shook her head. “I do not think so. Their connection is still weak yet. I think their meeting was accidental. The odds are astronomical, but nevertheless, I believe that is what happened. Neither of the rings has used their primary abilities yet. We still have a few days.”
Mr. Black turned toward Mr. Gray as the gray-robed man steered the truck down the interstate. “Have our operatives intensify their search. Tell them to take no action until we arrive.” He jerked his thumb in the direction of the trailer. “They are just to identify the targets until we arrive with the asset.”
“Covington is a small town, but it will still take time to find the ring bearers, assuming they are there,” said Mr. Gray. “When I last spoke with Colonel Harrison, he told me they’ve got a line on a Myiata, but they haven’t yet verified she has the Ring Defender. I had told him about the Fire Ring possibly activating soon, but his team’s not currently looking for it. If the Fire Ring is in Covington, then Harrison and his agents will need more time to ferret it out.”
“Maybe not as much as you think,” said the red-robed woman twirling a strand of green hair around her clawed fingers.
“You’ve seen something useful, Ms. Red?” asked the black-robed man. “What?”
The woman smiled. “A library. Tell Colonel Harrison the library is the key. Concentrate his efforts there.”
Chapter 12 – Imps
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At ten-thirty Wednesday night, a black SUV pulled into an empty parking space down the street from Big Jake’s Pizzeria. Mick shut off the engine and turned off the lights, then pulled out a set of night-vision goggles and held them up to his eyes. As a high-pitched chittering sound erupted from the back of the SUV, he shivered.
Lowering the goggles, Mick pulled the collar on his jacket tighter around his neck. He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Why’d we have to bring them? It’s cold in here without the heater.”
“I told you,” Cynthia said trying to sound patient while also trying to ignore the cold. “I want to test them out. Controlling them takes practice. Every imp’s different.”
Holding his hands in front of his mouth, Mick blew on his fingers. “Well, I don’t understand why you want to use some waitress at a pizza joint for practice? Why’s she so important?”
Cynthia shrugged. “I don’t know that she is. But then again, I don’t know that she isn’t. Colonel Harrison said the colors sent word that the library was important. We found out the chief librarian’s name is Mamie Walker. From what you discovered snooping around, this girl seems to spend a lot of time with the librarian. She was also at the farmhouse today. She’s too close to the sisters to discount.” Cynthia nodded towards the rear of the SUV. “We’re going to have our little friends here find out more about the girl.”
Mick glanced at his watch. “She should be getting off work soon. Do you think she has the Fire Ring the colonel told you about, Captain?”
Cynthia glared at her driver. “Don’t call me Captain. That’s a bad habit for field agents. And watch what you say. Imps are every bit as intelligent as you or I. What you say may come back to haunt you.”
Before Cynthia could chastise the man further, the lights in the pizzeria went
out. A few seconds later, a big man and two young women walked out. The man and a dark-haired girl got into vehicles and pulled out of the parking lot. The second female mounted a motorcycle and sped off down a street leading out of town.
Cynthia opened the passenger door of the SUV and hurried towards the back. Mick was already there lifting the rear hatch. Cynthia bent down and stared into the eyes of the orange-colored imp in the nearest of the six cages.
“Follow her,” Cynthia said. “Once you find where she lives, send the others back.”
“We follow,” squeaked the imp.
Opening the cage door, Cynthia stepped back. The imp jumped out of its cage and with a flap of leathery wings, it disappeared into the night sky.
Reaching for a second cage, Cynthia said, “Let them all out. Now!”
Mick jumped to obey. Within seconds, all of the miniature demons were gone.
Once they were back in the vehicle, Cynthia said, “Drive.”
Mick started the engine. “Where? The girl’s already out of sight. If we move, how will those little devils find us?”
Cynthia snorted. “They’ll find us, don’t worry about that. Their leader and I have an understanding. Just head in the direction the girl went. Once we’re out of town, we’ll find a nice place to settle down and wait. The imps have the girl in sight. She can’t get away.”
* * *
Tess had a lot to think about as she rode home from work. Instead of going straight to the trailer, she took a back road and let the cool night air blow her cares away. Twisting the throttle, she leaned into a curve and accelerated into the straightaway beyond. She’d always liked going fast. Leaning forward, she twisted the throttle all the way. The roar of the engine echoed off the trees on either side of the road, enveloping her in a wave of sound and wind.
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