by Rue Volley
I left Elie’s room and had one more room to inspect. I opened the door and a wave of heat came over me. I closed my eyes and let it wrap around my body. I started to slow my breathing down and focused. I could smell him in this room. This was Johnathan's room, I knew it. I could see red swirls behind my eyelids and when I felt like I was completely in tune with his energy. I opened my eyes, the room swirled in color. I reached my hand out as the color swirls snaked across my skin. I sucked my breath in, it felt like his touch. I tried to compose myself. My hands were sweating and I reached up and wiped sweat from my forehead. I started to feel a vibration in my hands and I looked down, as some of the red swirl started to absorb into my skin. I felt my heart flutter and I had to steady myself on his dresser.
I stood there for a moment longer, knowing that I would have to get myself under control if I hoped to use this to find him. I looked at his dresser and saw pictures lined up, just like in the other rooms. Looked like more family photos, only his had other pictures mixed in, ones of his school, other boys I did not recognize and then there it was. A small photo, sitting back behind the other ones. I had to stand on my toes to reach it. I pulled it out, trying not to disturb the other ones, but knocked one over. I pulled it down and there it was, a photo of Johnathan with Caine and Noble... and Elin. “What the hell?” I whispered.
“What?” Josh said.
I almost passed out, I fumbled with the photo and almost dropped it.
“Geeeeezus!” I yelled at him.
He laughed. “God... really…? Your bloodline doesn't allow for people to sneak up on you so easily Rue!”
My heart rate had sky rocketed. I tried to steady my breathing, but with Josh there taunting me, it was going to be hard to do.
“Look at this!” I said to him.
He took the picture from me and stared at it. “Well... look at that,” he said.
“Why the hell would he be in a photo with Caine and Noble?” I said to him. “And that girl,” I pointed to Elin. “Is a tricky bitch… I've dealt with her, very bi-polar,” I said, as leaned against his shoulder.
“You know her?” Josh asked me.
“Yes… she, well, I've seen her three times, once she gave me an apple from this tree. She said she was a friend of my mom’s. Then she tried to stab me in the tree and then she was the crazy bitch that had us all screwed up in the mirror!”
“What?” he said.
“Oh my god... do I have to tell you again?” I said to him with disgust in my voice.
“You've been in the tree?” he asked me.
“Well… I guess, but I was asleep one time and the other time I was trapped in the mirror when Johnathan fell in.”
“I know her Rue. Her name is Elin. She is a human, very treacherous girl,” Josh said.
I looked at him and narrowed my eyes. “Don't tell me that you were with her too Josh.”
“Well.” he looked back at the picture. “I guess you could say... kinda.”
“Jeezus, you get around don't you?” I pulled the picture from his hand.
“I'm going to need for you to show me everything about her Rue.”
“Sure, not here. Let me look around, this is Johnathan's room, I can see his energy in here. This is where the trail starts for me.”
Josh stood there looking around while I walked around the room. I touched his desk, picked up his pen. I felt vibration from it. I closed my eyes, but nothing, just vibrations. I turned and looked at his bed.
Josh smiled at me. “Nice bed,” he said.
I rolled my eyes and walked to it. I ran my hand across the sheets and felt it throbbing in my palms. “Oh,” I muttered.
Josh looked at me funny. “What Rue?”
I placed my hands on it and closed my eyes. I could see his face. “Johnathan,” I whispered. I opened my eyes and lay down on his bed. Josh walked to the edge, looking down at me.
“You need some ‘alone time’? He asked as he grinned.
“Shut up,” I said, as I closed my eyes.
“I don't know what it is but…”
I immediately had a bright white flash pain through my skull, I arched my back and cried out in pain. Josh tried to grab me, but a flash of light threw him away from me and he hit the door, slumping to the floor. “Jeezus!” he yelled out.
I felt my arms pull from my sides, straight out, and I started to levitate above his bed. I had visions flashing so quickly in my mind I could not make sense of them at all. I heard voices, chanting... crying out. I was flipped over midair and opened my eyes up. I was looking down at his bed, the mattress started to shake and then it moved off of the frame, like someone had grabbed it from the bottom and tugged it. I cried out again, as sharp pains splintered through my brain.
I opened my eyes and looked down at a mirror, red and black swirling in it.
“Oh my god!” I screamed out. Josh pushed himself up and lunged at it with his blades. I was jerked downward towards it and I could see the mirror was starting to liquefy. “Josh... please help me!” I cried out.
His palms started to glow and he began to chant in Latin. I was still being pulled downward and he started to yell his chants out. He reached out to me and wrapped his arm around my waist. He jerked me as hard as he could towards him, I felt like I was being torn apart. He flipped me over his back and I flew across the room, slamming into the wall. I fell to the floor with a yelp, as the air got knocked out of me. I looked up, just in time to see Josh slam his blades into the mirror, a terrible creaking sound filled the room. The pitch was unbearable and I covered my ears.
Josh turned his head and I could see blood coming out of his left ear. He screamed out one last word in Latin and everything stopped. He fell backwards and reached up, wiping blood from his ear. “That was fun,” he said way too loud. I was afraid he might be deaf. I pushed myself up and went to him, as quickly as I could.
“Oh my god Josh!” I yelled, as I placed my hand on his face. He looked at me. “You don't have to yell Rue, in fact I wish you wouldn't, it kinda hurts,” he said as he cupped his ear.
“Oh Josh, what the hell just happened?” I said as I kept looking him over.
“Well… if I had to take a guess, this.” he waved his blade at the mirror. “Is a memory absorber, seems Johnathan sleeps on one.”
“Why would he do that?” I asked as I stood up and stared at it.
Josh slammed the tip of his blade into the wood floor and started to push himself up. I reached down and he took my hand to pull him up the rest of the way.
“Well, either because he wanted to store memories away, or maybe he didn't know he had it under his bed. Who knows,” he said as he smeared some of his own blood from his ear on the front of his leather.
“This doesn't make any sense, Josh,” I muttered.
“Well… it would either way Rue. Think about it, he knew that Theodore and I could take his memory if we wanted to. Maybe he wanted to protect a secret.”
“I don't believe that, he would never do that Josh,” I said, as I looked at the mattress on the floor.
“You don't know that. You never thought he'd leave, but he did.”
I had to look down, it hurt to hear it. I knew it was true, but I didn't need it spoken.
“Well… I trust him Josh,” I said in a whisper.
“Ah, love... so blind,” he crooned.
“Oh shut up Josh. Don't tell me that you have never been in love before.”
He picked up his blade and put it in the holder on his back. He started to walk out the door. He did not turn back to me when he muttered, “I know what love is Rue. I'm not a total ass.”
I started to follow him and we heard voices downstairs. “Oh shit,” Josh muttered. He turned back to me and grabbed my arm. He headed down the hallway and ducked into Elie's room. He shut the door behind us. He scanned the room, his eyes locked onto the window, and he headed for it as he tried to raise it up. We heard the voices getting closer. He pulled out his blade and flipped it in his hand
, pointing the butt of it towards the glass. I shook my head “no”. He shrugged his shoulders and gave me a ‘why?’ look. I scanned the room and waved him to me. I opened the door to the closet and stepped into it, waving him in with me. He looked at the window and then back to me, he sighed and ran over. We closed the door just as the door opened to the bedroom.
The closet was dark, very little light poured in. I slowed my breathing down and Josh pressed against me on the front. We were so close, I could feel his heart beating through my shirt. His breathing had increased and I put my finger up to my lips, giving him a “shoosh”. We could hear the voices in the room. Josh started to feel my shoulders.
I squirmed. “What the hell are you doing?” I whispered so light, I was surprised he could hear me.
“Checking you out, you hit the door hard. You okay?” I looked up at him. “Are you kidding?” I asked with my eyes big… really big.
He shrugged his shoulders and let his hands wander to my sides. “I swear
to god I'll drop you right here, Josh,” I whispered, with as much anger as I could muster up.
He grinned… “You seem to be okay,” he said. I hit him and he grunted.
“As you can see… this is the master bedroom... just as beautiful as the rest of the house.”
It was a woman's voice, a little nasally.
“Yes, this is a wonderful bedroom, so big... oh honey, I just love it!” I peeked through the crack in the door and could see a young couple looking around the room, with a short woman in a dress suit.
“I know, with the baby on the way, this is quite the size, but I assume you will be adding on to your family.”
Josh snorted. “She's a whore…” he said. I poked him in the ribs.
The girl giggled and I could hear her husband speak up.
“Yes… we plan on three... but my wife has always wanted a castle and this is as close to one as I can get, without taking her overseas.”
“Ohhh… high maintenance too. Just a castle?” I looked at him and pointed to my eyes with the sideways peace sign, and flipped it toward him. He put his hand over his mouth.
“Yes... yes, wonderful! Well, Mrs. Graph would like to sell as quickly as possible, after the loss of her husband. She and her two children moved, poor thing. She may just want a new start. They have lived here their whole lives, in fact I was shocked when it came up on the market, it has been in her family forever.”
The man spoke up again, “Yes, very sad... but we would like to make an offer. We have been here three times and that is our lucky number.” His wife giggled. I don't know why. The thought of someone running around here giggling gave me the creeps.
Josh nudged me and held up his hand, showing me “three” fingers… he mouthed the word “whore”.
“Well... that is great news! We can go downstairs and sign some paperwork then! She will be so pleased. I will contact her right away.”
I pressed against the door, hoping she would give me a place to find her and more importantly, Johnathan.
“What about all these things?” the girl asked.
“Oh… yes, well, there will be an auction. Mrs. Graph said they would be fully furnished where they were going, so all this stuff will be moved out of here this weekend… some will go to auction and some will ship to her.”
“What about this mirror?” the girl said, as she peeked behind the sheet.
“Oh, yes, Mrs. Graph was very specific on the mirrors, they will all go to them, the rest will auction.”
The young girl sighed, “Such a pity, it is so pretty.”
Josh held in a laugh. “Yeah, she would love the bed next door I bet.”
“Oh my god,” I mouthed at him.
They all headed towards the door and we heard it close behind them.
I had been so busy listening, that I didn't realize that Josh was still breathing heavy on me.
“Do you mind?” I said.
“Oh... yeah, sorry.” He pushed on the door and we piled out.
“Did you hear that? She wants all the mirrors Josh.”
He was staring around the room. “Josh?” I said.
“Yeah... I heard. Listen, we need to follow the mirrors. You don't have to try to find him at all Rue.”
“Oh my god, you’re right. She said they are being shipped this weekend. Awesome,” I said.
“Yep.” He pulled out his blades.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“We are leaving. I may have to bust a window.”
He walked over to the window and we heard a doorbell go off. We both looked at each other. Josh ran to the door and cracked it open. We could hear voices downstairs. Suddenly we both smiled when we recognized Theodore's voice in the entryway.
“Oh, it is unbelievable. Is it not... honey?” Theodore said.
The short lady broke in. “I'm sorry sir, but we have already started the paperwork here. This nice couple is the new owners.”
Theodore's voice went up an octave. “Oh my god… you are kidding me…! I am going to kill our realtor. She said this place was still on the market! I talked to Elie myself. She and I go way back. In fact, she introduced me to my love here...”
Josh and I quietly moved to the top of the stairs to spy. I had to put my hand over my mouth, to stop from laughing… Kai stood there, looking completely bewildered. “Oh my god,” I whispered. Josh winked at me.
“Well I am sorry Mr… I did not catch your name.”
Theodore laughed. “Oh please, call me Theo, all my friends do and this is Chester.” Kai half grinned and shrugged his shoulders.
Kai finally spoke up, “I told you we were going to get here too late... hon.”
“Ahhh... seems we are, tell me, could you give me an address to, oh you know… send a best wishes card to my dear Elie?”
The lady started to walk to her leather briefcase on the table. “Yes… yes, well… maybe. I thought I had her address with me. I will tell you what, give me your number and I will get it to you later today.”
Theodore smiled. “Oh you are a dear… well come on honey, we are not going to get lucky today it seems.” Theodore hooked his arm in Kai’s. He looked back to the couple and the lady at the table. “Maybe I will later,” he said, with a wink.
I could have died but I could not believe how clever Theodore was. Truth was, he probably could have just sucked it out of her, but he seemed to enjoy the game. I looked at Josh.
“Let’s get out of here,” I said with a grin.
He backed up with me and we headed for the furthest room. We entered and looked around.
“I’ll be damned,” he said.
“What?” I asked.
“Look!” he said, as he pointed to the corner of the room. There was a spiral staircase leading into the floor. “Sweet,” I muttered.
“Stay behind me… just in case,” he said.
He descended the stairs and I followed him, it led to a side hallway, by the kitchen. We looked around and saw a door leading outside.
“Awesome,” he whispered.
I had to agree. We opened the door and headed out, we flashed into the forest and away from the Graph house, leaving that crazy mirror in it.
We reached the house before Theodore, Kai, and Sam did. I ran in and grabbed some food. I was shoving it in my mouth when Josh came through the door. I turned, food hanging out of mouth and he smiled.
“Let me tell you, there is nothing. I mean NOTHING that gets me off more than a girl with an appetite.”
I tried to say “shut up” but it came out more like “mutt pup”.
He laughed and dropped down on the couch, popping his feet up on the coffee table. I swallowed and walked into the living room. I considered sitting in the chair, but I plopped down on the couch next to him, leaning back. I stared at the ceiling for a moment.
“So… who the hell is Elin anyway?” I said, as I inspected the ceiling for cracks in the plaster.
“A lot of trouble,” Josh said.
/> “I'm gonna need more than that, Josh.”
“Well… let’s see. Elin is a host, with benefits.”
“By ‘benefits’ I'm assuming you mean, she gets chummy.”
Josh started to laugh. I stopped looking at the ceiling and pulled my legs up on the couch to face him. He sat up too. It kinda surprised me that he did. I figured he'd just lean back and weave his tale without looking at me.
“Okay Rue, Elin is a human who wants to be immortal. In fact she'd damn near do anything, or anyone to get it. I met her about twenty-five years ago. She showed up at my door, with some sob story about how she had escaped Valon, but her brother had not been so lucky. Tell you the truth, I didn't care. I don't live in Valon. I don't have any business with the deals that are done there between humans and protectors, I just stick to what I know.”
I interrupted him, “What’s that Josh? Assassinating short dictators with Sam?”
He snorted and wiped at his ear. I had forgotten that he had probably punctured it.
“Oh god Josh, I forgot about your ear!” I said, as I reached for it. He pulled away from me.
“I'm fine, Theodore will fix it… no biggie,” he said without any care.
“Anyway, where was I…? Oh yea… so, she shows up at my door and I tried to tell her to leave, but she has this way about her, I don't know, just a calming factor, puts you at ease, I guess.”
“So... you let her in... I guess,” I said, as I pulled a pillow up in front of me.
“Yea… I let her in. She stayed with me for damn near a year.”
“What made her leave?” I said.
“Oh, I kicked her out. I woke up one night and she was trying to cut me. She wanted to drink my blood,” he had looked down at his hands.
“Why would a human want to drink blood Josh?” I asked, not worried about prying at all.
