A Time To Kill (Elemental Rage Book 1)

by Jeanette Raleigh

  Mindy, soaking wet and shivering, ran across the back yard to Raven. She put her hand on Raven’s shoulder. “Stranger. Come home, Raven.”

  Raven trembled as she grabbed Claire’s shorts. Mindy tugged on her sleeve. Raven seemed to wake up out of her flashback as Mindy said, “Cold. Raven.”

  With a hand on Mindy’s shoulder, Raven and Mindy stumbled to the house. Raven circled the house, dropping the blinds and curtains, and locking the doors.

  “What are you doing? Has everyone gone crazy?” Claire had just come from her room dressed in pajamas. She now stood with her hands on her hips in the center of the living room, watching as the last shade dropped from half height all the way down, and Raven untied the curtains and slid them across the curtain rod for extra measure.

  Raven wiped her mouth with her sleeve. “There’s a guy in the woods.”

  Claire’s cheeks turned a fiery red, “Do you think he saw me?”

  “I threw dirt into his eyes. Well, Air did, so no, but we have to be careful. There’s something wrong with him.” Noticing Mindy shivering at the edge of the carpet, Raven said, “Help Mindy change into pajamas. I’m calling Mom.”

  “No Mom,” Mindy said. She shook her head sharply and water droplets flew. Claire had really dunked her. On a hot day, Raven might have been amused, but poor Mindy was obviously in severe discomfort.

  “Fine, we won’t call,” Raven said.

  She could hear Claire berating Mindy for not holding her arms out high enough. With a sigh, Raven strode through the hall to Mindy’s room. “You got it?” She asked Claire.

  Claire was clearly unhappy helping Mindy. Mindy’s wet clothes were on the floor and she was tangled in her green frog pajama top. Claire gritted her teeth, “Mindy, quit squirming.”

  Raven found herself smiling in spite of herself. She helped Mindy out of her pajama prison.

  Mindy fussed until her pajamas were on. She said in a whisper, “I’m scared. He’s coming for me.”

  Raven felt a chill along her spine. It was like a physical blow to her heart to hear Mindy say those words. She pulled Mindy into a hug, “Shhhh…Min Min, no one will hurt you. Not with me and Claire here.”

  Mindy clung to Raven, Mindy’s arms wrapped tightly around her sister’s neck.

  Her voice rose to a cry, “He’s watching me. He’s watching.”

  Mindy broke out of the hug and ran to the living room where the big picture windows faced the creek. She stepped in between the curtains and the blinds, and used her fingers to roughly part the slats. A vague memory told her she wasn’t supposed to touch them, that she would break them if she pulled them apart. Mindy ignored the buzzy fly memory and stared into the forest.

  Bright sunlight lit the lawn and sparkled in the creek. There, standing between two trees was something that looked like a man. He was wrong, so very wrong. Shadows spun around him, creating a well of darkness even where the sun landed. There were black holes where his eyes and mouth should be.

  Mindy whimpered. “Bad. Bad. Bad. Bad.”

  She muttered over and over. Her mind couldn’t shake her fear, and she couldn’t stop herself. She turned to run and found that she was wrapped in the curtain. Shrieking, Mindy flailed.

  Raven saved her. Raven, not Jade. It was a small step in building trust between the two sisters. Mindy relaxed in Raven’s arms as she comforted her. Raven said, “It’s okay, Cricket. It’s okay.”

  Mindy could feel Raven’s arm moving behind her as Raven lifted the shade and looked outside.

  Claire huffed, “So now you’re calling her Cricket, too?”

  “Don’t be jealous, Claire. She’s scared. Mindy, do you need to use the toilet?” Raven asked, giving Claire a wink above Mindy’s head.

  Claire grudgingly smiled.

  Mindy was still safe with Raven. She didn’t have to go yet, but she knew if she got scared at the wrong time, she might go anyway, so she nodded. Raven carried her into the bathroom. Mindy was old enough to walk, but wanted Raven close. Raven closed the door to the bathroom and watched the mirror while Mindy tinkled.

  When they were done, Claire pulled Raven aside, “So what did you see when you looked through the blinds?”

  “There was nothing there,” Raven said, “At least not that time.”

  Outside a shadow wraith skimmed along the ground away from the house. Power rose from the children, but if anyone was holding the magic stolen from his master, it would be the mother.

  Chapter 3

  ~~ Raven ~~

  Raven usually loved the weekends with both Jade and Mom working. If Mom was at home and Jade at work, Raven would lock herself away in their shared room, playing on her phone or the laptop. With both away, she touched the Universe, something her Mom absolutely forbade. Except for watching Mindy, she could mess around with Air and test the boundaries of her power.

  Mom was such a bore. She grounded Raven for a small breeze during spring break. If she knew that Claire was actually turning into water, she would have a stroke, and when she came out of it, lock the girls away forever.

  Not today. Ever since Raven felt Air’s sense of the man in the woods, she paced the house uneasily and longed for her Mom and sister’s return. At least five times she’d picked up her phone to text Mom and then put it back down again.

  After three hours of pacing, Raven told Claire and Mindy, “Stay inside and lock the door behind me.”

  Raven sat on the porch. She didn’t dare go too far into the yard. The forest came right up to their lawn. Great for hiding. Not so much if a deadly stalker came with kidnapping and murder in mind. She started with the leaves on the apple tree, sending wind fluttering and playing along the branches. Somehow she had to figure out how to become Air.

  As her awareness flowed through the yard, she found herself eye to eye with a crow. Suddenly the world changed. Colors shifted and strange columns of shifting air became visible to the eyes. With a caw, the crow fluttered his wings and jumped into the air.

  “Holy cow!” Raven exclaimed when she realized that she was actually looking at the world from several different points of view. It was a kaleidoscope of landscapes and for a minute she felt dizzy. She realized that if she focused on one, the image sharpened and became clearer, like looking at Google Images and then double-clicking on an image to make it big.

  As she followed the source of the images, Raven realized that she was seeing through the eyes of multiple crows. She tried to track down the guy who had been watching the house. One of the crows was close to him. Raven tried several times to get a focus on the shadowy figure a few miles from the house and moving further away. He was moving quickly and Raven wanted to get a good look before he disappeared.

  The crow refused to cooperate. Air knew what she wanted, and Raven felt in the knowing kind of way that the crow knew, too. As they approached the shadowy figure, the crow veered away and Raven could feel the animal’s fear.

  She tried a different crow, a younger, smaller one. This crow moved closer, and the man looked up. Raven caught just a glimpse, but the face seemed so familiar. She couldn’t place it. The image of her father in a blinding flash of light rose in her memories, along with the familiar guilt.

  Raven sank to the porch, her heart racing, “No, please no.”

  She rubbed her cheek, the raised scar a reminder of the moment she lost her dad. She had spent the past seven years trying to forget that moment, the moment her father was murdered. Maybe her memory was faulty. Maybe the man who had watched the house was just a random stranger, but he felt familiar.

  Raven couldn’t be certain…but she thought that he was there, lurking in the shadows watching when her father was murdered.

  The stranger was on his way out of the woods. Raven stumbled to the creek bank, tears stinging her eyes. She whispered into the air, “I’m sorry, Daddy.”

  Raven pulled her shoes and socks off and sat on the grassy bank overlooking the creek. Perhaps her mother secretly used the universe’s power to keep the la
wn in check. The grass on the house-side of the bank was soft and nice to sit on.

  Trying to get a handle on her emotions, Raven thought through the situation. If she called Mom, they might have to move. The town was small, and Raven’s best friend, Shelly, kept her sane. If they moved, she’d have no one who understood. Stella did. Her mom died of an overdose a decade back while she was in her room playing with dolls. Talk about a screwed-up family.

  Mindy would forget the whole thing in an hour or so. It was all up to Raven. Remembering the horrified scream her father had made all those years ago when the fire whooshed around him, Raven decided that maybe she should tell her mother.

  She felt the twin knives of guilt and sorrow.

  The creek ripples in the space just under her toes. Raven squinted, watching the spot, “Claire? Is that you? I want to be left alone.”

  Claire rose from the water, the long tresses of her hair dripping water and wearing a long flowing white gown made of sun sparkles and water.

  “What is it? I saw you on the porch. I know you know something,” Claire pulled herself out of the water and onto the bank. The garment of sun and water sparkles remained.

  Raven wasn’t the sort to be jealous of Claire’s power. She had her own. She acknowledged the usefulness of Claire’s ability with a genuine compliment, “Nice dress.”

  Claire smiled, her eyes sparkling as cheerfully as the dress, “Thanks. I came up with it in case the guy was still here.”

  Raven played with a blade of grass, “He’s not.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  Raven lifted her eyes to the tree tops, silent for a minute. She trusted Claire more than any of her family. Somehow they had a natural affinity for each other, a bond. But this was too big, much too big to share. Still, she didn’t want to carry it alone anymore. She swallowed hard.

  “Promise me you won’t tell Mom or Jade or Mindy. Promise me you won’t tell anyone,” Raven felt haunted. She knew what she was about to blurt out might change her relationship with Claire forever. If Claire told anyone else, Raven probably wouldn’t even have a family anymore.

  “I promise. What is it?”

  Raven swallowed, the permanent lump in her throat still there after. She said, “I was there the night Dad died. The man from the woods…I think he was there.”

  Claire’s eyebrows rose. She had the same black hair that Raven did. Raven could see Dad when she looked in the mirror or at Claire. She didn’t think she could say the rest, could be honest enough to tell the truth. Claire said, “Are we going to move again?”

  Raven felt as if her heart were made of ash. She had to finish the story, but the words choked her. She said, “Claire. That’s not what I have to tell you.”

  Claire sat very still, as if she knew that Raven was feeling as skittish as a baby squirrel on its first outing. They both waited, a cool breeze teasing their hair, the water from the creek gurgling in the background. Finally, Claire said, “You can tell me. I promise I will take it to my grave.”

  Raven shivered. With a hoarse voice she said, “Don’t talk like that.”

  “Tell me.” Claire took Raven’s hand. She and Raven were more touchy-feely than Raven and Jade. Raven almost never touched Jade.

  Raven whispered, “You’ll hate me.”

  Claire shook her head violently, “No. Never.” Moving closer to her sister, Claire put her arms around Raven’s shoulders in a sideways hug. She said, “No matter what, I’m here for you.”

  Raven expelled a shuddering breath, and sniffed, letting a single tear spill. She said, “I killed Dad. Not on purpose, but in the end it was my fault.”

  Whatever Raven expected, it was not the gentle squeeze on her arm as her sister hugged her tighter. She had expected a slap, or maybe for Claire to stalk off and not say another word to her ever, ever again. She was even more surprised when Claire said, “You just said that a man had stabbed Dad. You feel guilty just like Mom, but you’re not.”

  Raven didn’t want to say the rest. She didn’t want to speak the words, but she was almost done with her confession, almost. She said, “Do you remember how Mom said he burned up?”

  Claire nodded. Raven could feel Claire’s hair brushing along her ear. They clung to each other.

  Raven continued, her voice rising with pain, “I’m not sure how the fire started. I think Dad’s attacker had power over the Element of Fire. I was sending a tornado to attack him, to push him out of Dad’s way, but somehow he used my wind. When Dad caught fire, the air fed the fire. He might have survived…if not for me.”

  Claire didn’t let go. She held her sister, and Raven felt relieved when Claire said, “It was an accident, Raven. You were just a kid.”

  “It doesn’t feel that way,” Raven whispered. She squeezed her eyes shut as she remembered the screams and the smell, that terrible smell. She hated that helpless feeling of fear over something that had happened so long ago. She longed to forget, to erase that memory from her mind, shove it back into a cobwebby corner where it could never surface again.

  “Is that why you stopped using your gift? I mean, Jade said you used to fly and make windstorms and then you stopped.” Claire finally released Raven, but her tone and manner suggested an easy forgiveness. Of course, Claire was too young to remember Dad much. She didn’t even know what she had lost, so of course she wouldn’t be as angry as Jade or Mom.

  Raven was curled in on herself, hunched into a ball with her arms around her knees. She nodded, “Yes. I keep seeing it happen over and over. In dreams. When I’m awake. Sometimes I think I’ll go crazy. I thought if I stopped using my gifts it would go away. It never has. It’s gotten better with time, but something about that guy watching us brought it all back.”

  “When I discovered my gifts, the only way to help me was to use your own,” Claire looked thoughtful, “Thank you. That couldn’t have been easy for you.”

  Raven felt forgiven. A weight she didn’t even know she had been carrying lifted. Pushing off the ground, Raven held her hand out to her sister. She felt cleaner. Her conscience still bothered her. She still hated herself for creating the wind that led to her father’s death by fire. But at least her sister knew and forgave her. That was a start. Maybe someday she could forgive herself.

  Raven said, “We’d better get in there before Mindy freaks out.”

  Claire groaned, “I hope Aunt Bertha hurries home. Mindy is driving me crazy.”

  Raven air-popped some popcorn the old fashioned way, and they all watched a movie, a Disney cartoon since Mindy was with them. Mindy was calmer now. Raven figured it was because the stranger had gone. They settled in and actually got along better than they had in well, forever.

  Jade was the first one back. The girls were halfway through the movie when they heard the sound of the garage door lifting.

  Mindy squealed and jumped up, clapping. “Jade. Jade. Jade.”

  Raven laughed, “Yes, Jade’s home.”

  The door opened and Mindy ran to Jade. Raven waited until the two settled down to ask, “Wanna watch a movie with us? Mindy even let us watch a classic. It’s Aladdin.”

  Jade shook her head, “I’m beat. I just want to take a shower and crash for a few hours.”

  Mindy was disappointed and looked like she might start whining. Raven said, “Mindy, do you want to hit the button to start the movie again?”

  With a grin, Mindy abandoned Jade and dashed back to the couch. Jade cast a grateful look in Raven’s direction, and hurried to her room to grab comfy clothes for a quick shower.

  A half hour later Amy came home, looking disheveled and distracted. The movie had just finished and the girls were cleaning up the popcorn. If there was one thing they had learned, it was not to leave dishes in the living room. The habit of returning the dishes to the dishwasher had been ingrained in all of them.

  Leaning on the counter, Amy stared out the window, as if the answers to all her questions were out there under the trees.

  Raven noticed how worrie
d her Mom looked and asked, “What’s wrong?”

  With a sigh, her she said, “Bertha called. She decided to stay in Denver another month.”

  Hearing the news, Claire made disgusted cry of discontent, “What? I’m not even going to have a summer! I have to watch Mindy ALL the time.”

  The sisterly togetherness died an ignoble death in the living room when Mindy curled up into a tight ball and said, “Cartoon.”

  Claire had hit pause the minute the discussion turned to Aunt Bertha.

  Ignoring Claire, Raven said, “It’s okay, Mom. I’ll watch her. No biggie.”

  Amy forced a smile, her eyes still scanning the woods. “Thanks, Honey, I appreciate that. Do me a favor? I don’t want any of you girls hiking in the woods. Just stay close to home. Okay?”

  Raven had planned to keep everything from their afternoon a secret. Her Mom seemed to know something was wrong the way she watched the yard. Raven said, “I was going to say something about that.”

  In the background Claire widened her eyes and shook her head sharply. Raven ignored her little sister in favor of the truth. This was one secret she couldn’t keep.

  Amy said, “About what?”

  “You said not to go into the woods. Someone is watching the house. I think…Mom, I think it’s the man who killed Dad.” Raven hadn’t meant to say it quite so bluntly. She hadn’t really meant to mention that part at all, and yet it slipped right out.

  Amy paled. Raven had never seen her Mom scared before, not like that. She felt terrible for being the one to tell her. She waited to hear what she would say.

  With a shaking voice, Amy said, “We’ve got to go.”

  Raven didn’t have a chance to ask where they were going or what they were doing. Her Mom started moving through the house like a drill sergeant, “Claire, Raven, get the to-go bags out of the closet.” She banged on the door to Jade and Raven’s room, “Jade, grab Pebbles and get Mindy into the van.

  Jade opened the door, her hair still wet from the shower, “What’s going on?”