Lightning Lost

by Miranda Hardy

  “Obviously, your grandmother doesn’t tell you anything either, does she?” I ask.

  “No, she doesn’t. She tells me what to do, and I learned a long time ago that I need to do it.” He places the backpack on the ground.

  “Why?” I ask. “Why do everything she says?”

  “As stupid as it sounds, Grandmother always seems to get people to do what she feels they need to do. My parents did what she told them to do. They ended up winning the lottery and have been sailing around the world. My sister is some bigshot lawyer in America. She often changes her locations, but she always seems to land the best clients. And I’m the failure of the family. My grandmother told me all the time to keep practicing the guitar. So I did. I became pretty good, too. Played lead guitar and even sang a little. I got involved with a local band once, in the U.K. We started playing local pubs. I fell in love. I rebelled and stopped playing so I could get a real job and bring in money to get married. My grandmother told me to leave Irene. She said she was no good for me. I didn’t listen.”

  “What happened?”

  “The band made it big. Hit the charts, and now they tour around the world. Irene left me for her boss. He was twenty fucking years older than her. Gross. Still pisses me off.” Luca pulls out a bottle water. “Grandmother said I altered my path. I changed my future. She refuses to tell me where I’d be had I listened, but I can imagine. She refuses to tell me if I will be of any use at all. She did, however, tell me that I needed to be here, so I listened this time. Seeing as you have a massive ring on your finger, I doubt she saw love in her vision for us.”

  “No. I’m sure she didn’t see that in your future with me, but don’t always feel like you need to do everything she says. That can’t be a fun life either,” I say.

  “I know.” He kicks a rock down the side of the incline.

  “Can you give me a minute alone, please?” I ask.

  He picks up the backpack and hikes further up the trail and around a rock formation.

  I sit and dig my hands into the dirt to find the connection. The energy flows below and above me, wrapping me within its embrace. I beg for answers on how to break the curse, but nature doesn’t reply. It feels for me. It sends love and happiness. It sends joy and pain. It doesn’t send me answers, and my frustration builds.

  Help me, I ask. Help me find the answer.

  The memories of the past circle around me. I see myself near Father and Bastin, reciting the words of the curse. What had happened at that moment that carried my curse to fruition?

  Memories surge through me…the wind, the earth, the fire, the rain.

  “Stand up!” The edgy, rough voice brings chills to me and breaks my concentration.

  I release the soil and turn to see Daniel holding a gun to Luca’s head. Colin stands a few feet behind him. His eyes dart to me and then to his father.

  “I messed up, Elysia. I was supposed to stay by you, and I didn’t,” Luca says. His eyes widen, and fear grows on his face. “I couldn’t calm him.”

  “Shut up!” Daniel yanks him to the side. “No matter what you try, your powers won’t stop what I’m bound to do. If you so much as attempt to call lightning to kill me, he’ll fry, too. So, how many deaths do you want on your hands?”

  ‘The one born with the power gifted by the Earth is the key to breaking the Roaming Curse.’ The final line of the curse plays over and over in my head as I face my adversary.

  Had I arrived a few minutes earlier, I might have survived this ordeal.

  I had imagined my last moments to be peaceful, surrounded by loved ones, years from now when I’m old and gray, with no powers playing any part in my future.

  “How—?” My dry mouth can’t finish my question. My heart beat quickens, and I feel like it’ll pound right out of my chest.

  “How did we get here? Or how did we know you’d be here?” Daniel scowls at me, his eyes so narrow it’s hard to see any color at all. “Nadya was a huge help giving us various locations. Once we knew you were in the sky, we simply needed to persuade Bo’s off-duty pilot that telling us your location would be beneficial to his health. It was clever to leave the country. We couldn’t use our secret weapon as we had planned, but here we are. My son, who seems besotted with you, needs to witness this.”

  Daniel aims the pistol at me. Everything slows down at that moment.

  Colin yells, “No!” He attempts to shove his father away.

  A shot is fired. I brace for the impact of the bullet but get shoved out of the way, thrown over the edge of the dirt pit. The rocks scrape against my skin. My head hits a rock, and I shield it with my arms until I slide to the bottom. The gun lands next to me. I look up and see an arm hanging over the edge. Kyle’s wedding ring catches my eye.

  “No!” The energy floats above his body, mixing into the air around it. “No!”

  I connect with the wind by feeling it inside me. It lifts me up.

  The rain starts drizzling around me, and I feel it envelop me within its grasp.

  Luca bends down over Kyle’s lifeless body and shakes his head. The bullet pierced his heart.

  Luca looks up at me, and he scoots backward on the dirt, a shocked expression forming on his face.

  Daniel straddles Colin, punching him in his already bloodied face. I wave my hand, and the wind shoves him off and up against a rock. Hatred pulses through him as he glowers.

  Thunder booms in the dark clouds above us.

  Glaring at him, I smile, knowing I’ll ultimately win. Anger pulses through me faster than I’d ever imagined, sped up from the flow of energy surrounding me. Lightning breaks through the sky striking his head, splitting him open.

  Colin rolls over and stares at me. He wipes the blood from his face. He mouths something I can’t hear.

  Kyle’s topaz eyes dull since his energy is gone. My heart slowly breaks, sadness entering all the space around me.

  I connect with the fire roaring below. Its temperature rises.

  I connect with the earth and each vein it offers me.

  Rain, Fire, Wind, and Earth roar inside me, as well as all around me.

  The ground begins to shake. The waves rise as they spread across its depths and reach the mainland of Santorini.

  “Elysia!” Luca yells. My name echoes on the wind.

  Kyle’s dead eyes stare through me. He was right. History repeated itself, and I was helpless to stop it.

  “Tsura knew this would happen and didn’t stop it,” I say. “She knew.”

  “I can’t deny it. But are you going to kill everyone now for what he did?” Luca points to the grotesque body of Daniel. “Is this what happened 3600 years ago?”

  My grief ignites in flames around me.

  “Will you kill your baby, too?” Luca asks.

  Luca’s words don’t register in my mind as the anger seeps through me and the ground rumbles.

  “They’re innocent!” Luca yells.

  The picture of the young scared girl clinging to me as the volcano lava descended on us pops into my head.

  “Elysia.” Colin’s voice penetrates my thoughts. “It’s over now. Please.”

  Still connected to all the elements, the wind lowers me to Kyle’s body. “It’s not over,” I whisper. “Let the beast finally rest eternally outside of the humans to roam free in the wild where it belongs. They will be slaves to the curse no longer. I release the Roma from their restraints. They will forevermore be free from roaming.” The one born with the power gifted by the Earth is the key to breaking the Roaming Curse.

  My words flow through the earth and air, through the water and beneath the fire. A large ring of light pulses through all of us, shooting us onto our backs, and spreads out across the land and ocean.

  The ground settles. The clouds disperse, taking the rain with them. The sun shines down on us, but my heart still hurts. I feel disconnected from everything. Tears fall as I hold Kyle’s cold hand.

  “Elysia.” Colin bends down beside me, but doesn’t touch me,
for which I’m grateful. “What did you mean about her baby?”

  I look up to see Colin addressing Luca.

  “I felt two people within her all day, from the moment I picked her up from the hotel. I usually can sooth people, calm them. I knew she was pregnant because there were two auras connected to her.” He shakes his head. “But now I feel nothing.”

  “What do you mean?” Colin asks.

  Luca closes his eyes, scrunching up his face. “My power’s gone. It’s no longer there.”

  Chapter 22

  Trying to explain to the police what happened was no easy task. Luca did it skillfully, telling them in perfect Greek that Daniel robbed the newlyweds, shot Kyle, and then got struck by lightning probably because of the gun, which was thrown into the dirt pit.

  Colin had tried to come to their rescue but was beaten in the process.

  Days fly by, and we continue to stay in the same hotel. Colin sleeps in the second bedroom, while I remain in the bed Kyle and I had shared that one glorious night.

  I cry often.

  Colin orders room service every day for me, and I manage to eat a little each time. He tries to talk to me, but I don’t hear him.

  The earth ignores my pleas for rain, and I know I’ve lost my power as Luca has. Luca visits me, too, but his words hold no meaning.

  “Elysia, Vadoma wants to talk to you.” Colin holds out the phone, but I say nothing. He places it to my ear.

  “Elysia, are you there?” Vadoma asks.

  Tears flow again.

  “Elysia, I’m coming to get you,” Vadoma says. “I’ll be there soon.”

  Colin takes the phone away and talks into the receiver. “No, I don’t know how long it’ll take for them to clear us to leave.” He pauses. “Yes…okay.”

  “Your dad and Vadoma are coming,” Colin says. He sits next to me on the bed as I look out at the setting sun over the water. He rubs my back. For the briefest of moments, I remember the electric feeling we once shared. That was before. It felt like another life.

  “I’m sorry for…everything.” Colin apologizes for the thousandth time.

  A knock at the door calls him away.

  “Hey,” Colin says.

  “How is she?” Luca asks.

  “The same,” Colin says.

  “Elysia, Grandmother’s here to see you,” Luca says. “I told her it wasn’t a good idea, but she insisted.”

  “I can speak for myself,” Tsura says. She bends down in front of me and looks me in the eyes. “Are you going to talk to me or ignore me like the others?”

  I frown. “You knew.”

  “I did.” She crosses her arms. “I saw what would happen, and then my visions stopped. I could see nothing past the death. I couldn’t see Luca’s future. Several months ago, as much as I tried, I couldn’t see past that day.”

  “Why didn’t you warn us? Why didn’t you tell me so I could save him?”

  “He wasn’t meant to be saved. If he was, you would have never broken the curse,” she says. “I’m sorry for your sadness, but you will carry a piece of him with you in this life.”

  Tears threaten to fall again. I’m tired of crying.

  “I’ve come to say goodbye to you, girl,” Tsura says. “We are leaving tomorrow. Going back to the U.K. to live permanently. I never thought I’d say that.”

  “Both of you?” I turn to look at Luca. He nods.

  “I wanted to thank you before I left,” Tsura says. “Many of our kind will never know what happened here today, though they will know the curse is lifted. But we know it was you who did it.”

  She nods and walks away, the rubber bottom of her cane squeaking on the tile.

  Luca sits next to me, and I meet his eyes.

  “I’ll miss you. You were the only one who ever snapped back at her,” Luca whispers in my ear. “Thank you for choosing the right path. We imperfect souls often make tons of bad decisions. The good thing is I won’t ever have to do what she tells me to do again.”

  I smile.

  “Maybe, if I’m lucky, Ma will put her in a nice home so I’ll really be free.” He laughs. “I may even start playing in another band again.”

  “I hope you find happiness,” I say.

  “And I hope you do, too.” Luca hugs me. “I think we can find happiness in the unlikeliest of places.”

  Colin comes in with two trays and places them on the table, as Luca and Tsura head toward the door. I hadn’t noticed he’d left.

  “Nice to meet you, mate,” Luca says. They shake hands.

  “You, too.” Colin closes the door behind them.

  Colin’s right eye’s purple and swollen, and his split lip looks painful. I hadn’t noticed his injuries either. His face turns red when he sees me staring. “I brought some food.”

  “Thank you.”

  He closes his mouth and studies me.

  “Do you want to eat outside? It’s a nice night.” He points to the table near the pool.

  I nod. He grabs the trays, and I follow him out.

  He takes the top off my food and pours me some water. It’s a BLT sandwich…it’s my favorite. He also has a bowl of grapes next to it.

  “I told them how to make the sandwich.” He bites into his own. “They did a pretty decent job. I wish the bacon tasted better, but I don’t think they fix bacon the way we do.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You don’t have to thank me, Elysia.” He bites into his sandwich, and we eat together in silence.

  So much passes between us with a simple look, yet we say nothing.

  Chapter 23

  Six Months Later

  “Good night, Roger.” I smile at the large, rough-looking man with a heart of a teddy bear. “Tell Abby thank you for the bibs.” I hold up the baby gift bag he gave me at the start of my shift today.

  “Good night, Elysia. I’ll tell her. See you in two days.” Roger locks the door behind me.

  He’s been like a second father to me these last few months, and I feel more comfortable being here than anywhere else in the world. He was completely devastated when I told him what had happened to Kyle, but he never blamed me and offered me my job back. Working here makes me feel closer to Kyle, too, in a way. I still miss him behind the grill.

  It’ll feel like pure heaven to stay off my swollen feet for two whole days.

  Emilian stands against the SUV.

  “What are you doing here?” I hug him. “Gosh, you’re cold. I wish I could put my feet on you for a minute.”

  He laughs. “And you’re mighty big now.”

  I hit him with the baby bag. “Watch it. I’m very sensitive.” I rub my inflated belly. I feel the little one shifting its weight inside me.

  “Do you know what it is?” Emilian asks.

  “Nope, still holding strong.” I smile. “I like surprises.”

  “As long as it’s healthy, that’s all that matters.” Emilian smiles, revealing perfect white teeth with two protruding fangs.

  “Did Hedji come with you?” I ask.

  “No. They are tending to Jili. Gildi died, and Jili is inconsolable,” Emilian says. “I think they are planning to place her into a home.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”

  He shrugs. “She lived a good, long life.”

  “I know.”

  “I’m passing through and wanted to say hello. I’m going to visit Ma and them on the island. Do you think you’ll come down for Christmas? I know they’d love to see you and the little one.”

  “We’ll try, but I make no promises. I have no idea what to expect of being a mother.” It scares me, actually. I’m so afraid of doing something wrong. I have no experience with little babies. “How are they?”

  “Riley and Nadya are engaged and planning a June wedding. Ma is through the roof with happiness. Be on the lookout for that invitation.”

  I smile. “Definitely.”

  “Fonso lives on the mainland in Naples, attending college. He’s happy and seeing someone,
I hear. I haven’t met him yet.” Emilian continues, “Aunt Simza seems to be fine. She started crocheting. I guess she needed a hobby. I think she misses the dead talking to her.”

  “What about Brayden and Kayla?” I ask.

  “Can you believe they are shacked up in Miami? Together. They own a scuba rental equipment company.”

  “Really? I never pictured them getting together.”

  “They seem happy. How’s Colin doing?” he asks.

  I shrug. “He comes by every day. Colin is helping Dad make the crib and build things for the baby’s room.”

  “Harmon’s looking forward to being a grandpa?”

  “Yes. He’s even making an additional baby room at his place for when his grandchild needs to sleep over.” I roll my eyes. Dad refused to stay on the island when he learned I was moving here. He bought a house down the street from Kyle’s…mine with some of the cash he had inherited from Bo. It’s the first place he’s ever owned, and he loves working in his yard and creating various projects around his house. “It’s good to see him happy, though.”

  “What is Vadoma up to?” he asks.

  “She’s jetting around the world still. She’s dating the pilot but promised to be here for when the baby comes.” I think about how sweet she was after we lost Kyle. She stayed by my side for months and went to the doctor with me to learn about the baby. She seems both excited and nervous about being an aunt.

  “And what about you?” Emilian asks. “How are you handling everything?”

  “I’ll be fine.” I shrug. “This place feels right to me. It’s where I belong…where we belong.” I look down at my belly.

  “Do you think you’ll ever give Colin another chance?” he asks. “You know he cares about you. Harmon forgave him. It wasn’t his fault.” Bo’s death plays over in my mind.

  “I know. He still apologizes every day. He even comes by and helps Roger with the diner every week to pay amends for the time he took from them.” I shrug. “I still struggle with the knowledge of my past and the loss.”

  “Time heals all wounds,” Emilian kisses me on the cheek. “I’ll see you soon. I have to come back and see the baby.”