Jade frowned, “What happened before?”
Shrugging, Raven said, “Mindy crawled under the table while we ate. She wouldn’t go near Wayne and the Keepers.”
“Makes sense if they’re our enemies,” Jade said.
“That’s just it,” Raven yawned and pulled the ponytail holder out of her hair, letting her hair go everywhere, “They were actually really nice.”
“Lies,” Mindy said.
“Who’s lying?” Raven asked, offended.
“Wayne,” Mindy hugged herself, “Keep away.”
“I won’t let him hurt you,” Jade unbuckled her seatbelt and rubbed her eyes.
“Don’t let him touch you.” Mindy said. It was one of the most clear expressions she had ever made.
“Me?” Jade asked.
Mindy nodded, “Reads gifts,”
Raven groaned, “That’s what that was.”
They were sitting in the car in a parking lot, hungry, thirsty, and tired. Even if the Keepers did have something on them, Jade couldn’t imagine taking another direction at this point. They didn’t have enough gas, and they didn’t have any money.
Jade said, “I’m clearly missing something here.”
Raven explained, “He can read what gifts we have by touch. I felt a zap of electricity when he touched my hand. He wasn’t being creepy about it, but Mindy was careful not to let him touch her at all. He tried a few times, so I guess you should do the same as Mindy,”
“So? They’re Keepers. They know we’re Elementals. What is he going to learn?” Jade unbuckled her seatbelt.
Mindy said, “Secrets. Hide yourself.”
“I need to stretch,” Jade said.
The girls walked around the parking lot. It was still dark outside. They were all tired and cranky. Hours later, when the sun was high in the sky, having slept crookedly in the seats, they had a reprieve. Wayne came out to greet them.
Wayne took one look at Raven’s battered face, and his jaw dropped open. “What happened to you? You need to file a police report right away. Come inside.”
Raven did the talking. She said, “No police. Besides, the guys who did this got worse. We need to get home. I wrecked Mom’s van. Can we borrow your phone?”
“Sure. Come inside. You can stay as long as you need,” Jade and Mindy both kept a nice distance from themselves and Wayne. He was ever the polite host. Jade could see why Mindy didn’t trust him. He was a little too slick and accommodating for her taste.
~~ Claire ~~
Flipping and spinning, tossing and turning, Claire existed as a thousand drops of water. The trials of the past few weeks forgotten, Claire experienced life in the present, completely and fully, unable to focus on anything beyond the sensation of movement and mist.
Water knew all of the best ways home. When they arrived at the pond behind her house, Claire could barely drag herself out. She understood how it was possible to get lost in an Element. Her limbs felt so heavy she could barely move. She lifted herself up and walked like a zombie to the house.
It was locked.
Claire could slide through if she changed again. She was just so tired.
Once more? Water asked.
I’ll try. Claire said.
She trickled under the door, much more slowly than she would have on a normal day. Changing back to her human form was the hardest thing she had ever done. Claire found the phone and dialed each of her sister’s phones first, just in case. None of them answered. That made sense since the phones were probably all in the luggage scattered through the van.
She called Bertha.
Bertha answered, “Hello?”
“Aunt Bertha? It’s Claire.” Claire didn’t know why, but she started crying. Somehow she told the whole story from start to finish. She ended with, “I don’t know what happened to them.”
“I’ve just rented a car, and I’m on my way. Stay put for now. If you see anything strange, go to my room and hide under the bed. My room. Not yours or your sisters. Okay?”
“Yes.” Claire wiped her eyes, feeling much better.
“I love you.” Bertha said.
“Love you, too.”
Claire hung up the phone. She walked it back to the charger on the kitchen counter. That was when she noticed the letter:
My Dearest Girls,
The Keepers are responsible for my absence. Although I am well-cared for, I am unable to leave. I am in a strange prison with no guard, but I haven’t figured the way out yet. I am not in any danger right now.
It’s almost time for school. Go to school. Do your chores. Play sports. Do everything you would have done if I were there.
Don’t try to find me. I’m not in a realm that belongs to Earth. That much I know. I will do my best to get free. In the meantime, live your lives and don’t worry about me.
Love,
Mom
P.S. Mind Aunt Bertha.
Claire put the letter back on the counter. She was too tired to process it right now. She stumbled to the bathroom and took a shower. It was the longest shower she’d ever taken because she didn’t have three sisters in line waiting. She thought she was going to fall asleep standing up. Claire finally shut the shower off.
She climbed into bed and had the best sleep of her life.
~~ Raven ~~
Jade and Mindy played a deft game of avoiding Wayne. Jade used the chapel phone to call Bertha. Relieved to hear from the girls, Bertha said that she was at Seatac Airport. They talked a few minutes. Hanging up the phone, Jade was grateful to give the girls good news.
“Aunt Bertha will be here by evening. Claire already called Bertha and she booked a ticket from Seatac to Bend based on what Claire told her. She was relieved to hear from me for sure,” Jade chuckled. It was easier to laugh now that she knew everyone was safe. She yawned so wide that tears ran down her cheeks.
Wayne stepped through the door. Raven wondered if he’d been listening outside. He was quick to step into the room the minute Jade hung up.
They had decided early on that Raven would be the diplomat of the group. She would step forward whenever a Keeper came into the room while Jade and Mindy stepped back. It was pretty obvious what they were doing, but so far Wayne respected the boundaries.
“We’ve got a guest room set up with a few cots. Jack will show you the way,” Wayne smiled what looked like a genuine smile.
Jack led the way, followed by Jade and Raven. They never expected Wayne to be quite as sneaky as he was. He quickly moved to the end of the line and was about to put his hand on Mindy’s shoulder when she danced around and roundly kicked him in the shin.
“No,” Mindy said, running into Raven when she back-pedaled away from Wayne.
“Ow. That’s some kick,” Wayne rubbed his shin, but didn’t say much more.
Raven wrapped her arms around Mindy’s shoulders, “Mindy, you can’t go around kicking people. They’re helping us,” To Wayne, she said, “I’m so sorry. I don’t understand her sometimes.”
Raven turned, neatly putting Mindy between her and Jade. If they wanted to, the Keepers could overpower them. Raven was under no illusions about the strength she, Jade, and Mindy possessed compared to the Keepers. Apparently the Keepers wanted to keep up pretenses.
Since they had actually been more helpful than harmful, Raven would let them.
Nothing else happened. They closed the door to the room. Raven whispered to Jade in her quietest voice, “Probably bugged.”
Louder Jade said, “Let’s try to get some sleep.”
Raven closed her eyes, but she didn’t sleep. She had a hunch. Talking to Air, she sent herself to the crows and tweety birds outside. Wayne was outside talking on the phone. She found a crow on the roof that could hear what he said.
“No, I haven’t been able to get near the oldest or youngest. The little one kicked me in the shin, but I didn’t catch a thing from her. She’s slow. No way her Mom would give her Time to handle. If we don’t find it with the Mom, it’s got to be the
eldest. She was more skittish than the little one. As a matter of fact, I think the youngest dotes on her and is mimicking her.”
The reply was muffled. Raven closed her eyes and tried to concentrate. She just couldn’t hear what the other voice said.
“I don’t think Tony will switch sides after this many years, but I’ll give it a try. We have the Mom. I think we should let the younger ones go and watch them. We don’t have the resources to hold them and they might give something away. They solved the vampire problem we’ve been having around here in one night. I’d hate to think what they would do if they thought we were the enemy.”
This time Raven heard a man say, “They do think you’re the enemy. Why else would they shrink away?”
“Maybe so,” Wayne agreed. He sat on the concrete ledge on the side of the stairs. “But they don’t think we’re hostile. I’m not sure where Claire went. She’s the only one who one hundred percent trusts me. I’d like to keep our relations in good standing. When the Gray sisters needed help, they came here. That’s something.”
“Something or not, this is as close as we’ve come to recovering Time in three centuries. The minute you get a feel that these girls have it, I want a phone call.”
“You’ll get it,” Wayne said, hanging up with that person.
Sitting on the ledge, he made another phone call, “Tony?”
“Yeah, I’m here.” Tony didn’t sound enthused with speaking to Wayne. Raven wondered who he was.
“How’s Amy doing?” Wayne sounded genuinely concerned. Raven thought that of all the people she’d ever met, Wayne was the most dangerous, and she was including the vampires. At least with bloodsuckers, you knew where you stood. Wayne was sneaky, charming, and good at pretending.
“She spent the night walking in circles along the beach before she realized that she was on an island. She hates my guts and thinks I’m in the middle of this. Otherwise, she’s fine,” Tony’s resentment came through loud and clear.
“Are you ready to be a Keeper again?” Wayne pushed to his feet and walked down the steps. Raven asked the crow to hop down. It did, fluttering to a grassy spot where she would be within hearing range.
“I’ve been imprisoned for nearly a decade. I told the truth, and for that you ship me to another dimension. I’m siding with Amy on this one.” Tony said.
Tony hung up on Wayne. Raven knew this because the call ended abruptly. She thought perhaps the conversation between Tony and Wayne might have been, at least partially, a ruse. Maybe the Keepers thought she would seek out Tony and tell him everything.
That wouldn’t happen. Still, they knew something. Mom was alive and well somewhere in another dimension. Not only that, but she was on an island of some sort.
Wayne didn’t seem to be doing anything else interesting. Raven released the bird with a sigh and turned on her side to sleep. Her cheek hurt where it pressed against the pillow, but she hated sleeping on her back. She would tell Jade about Mom once they were away from the Keepers. Closing her eyes, Raven didn’t think she’d sleep, but then she did.
~~ Aunt Bertha ~~
Aunt Bertha’s back was killing her. She signed the rental agency agreement thinking that the thousand dollars she spent to pick up the girls was outrageous. One day made five hundred dollar’s difference on the ticket price, but she booked it anyway. Better to get those girls out of Oregon. They’d raised quite a stir.
Driving to the church wasn’t so bad. Just a hop, skip, and a jump as it were. Bertha had to hold onto the door a few moments before she could grab her cane. That trip to Denver had drained her dry. She’d felt poorly most of the visit. She went to a clinic in Denver, took some tests, and had results coming to her family doctor.
Probably nothing. Bertha was eighty, after all.
Still, she felt every minute of those eighty years.
When she arrived at the cute little chapel, the girls were already outside waiting for her. Mindy sprinted across the lawn the minute she saw Aunt Bertha. She screeched to a halt and then gently wrapped her arms around Bertha’s middle.
“Hey, Sunshine. Ready to go home?” Aunt Bertha hugged Mindy back with one arm. The other arm used the cane to keep her firmly on her feet. The hug hurt her body. Bertha wasn’t about to tell her best girl that she was hugging too tight, though.
“Home.” Mindy said, and in that one little word, she gave an encyclopedia of expression.
Raven shook Wayne’s hand, thanking him. Jade was already helping Mindy get her seatbelt on. Jade slid in and closed the door. She’d escaped without Wayne’s examination. Raven took the passenger seat.
They were all surprised when Aunt Bertha hobbled right up to Wayne and stuck out her hand, “Thank you, young man, for taking care of my kids,”
Wayne took her hand. Bertha felt the electricity and let him study her. She gave him a little extra, though, something to think of. She was a tricky one. Her gift didn’t normally come in terribly handy. It was the gift of nothing, of space, of vacuum. But oh, it was so close to Time.
This Bertha knew well, having been close to the carriers of Time her whole life. Keepers typically handled the male side of the Universe while Elementals handled the female, but Bertha’s gift usually passed down on the male side. She was an anomaly.
Wayne paused. Flustered, he stuttered, “You…”
Bertha pet his shoulder, “Yes, me. You keep your Keepers to themselves, and bring my niece back. She’s got four girls to raise.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Wayne said, his face a few shades redder than before.
“Well, when you figure it out, I’ll be waiting,” Bertha hobbled back to the car, barely able to open the door on her own.
She just set herself up, in a big way, but her girls would be protected. The way the Keeper had been eyeing Jade, Bertha knew they’d send a stealth team to grab her. Not now. Now they had Bertha to contend with…and her gift would scare them enough to buy her girls some time to grow in their powers.
Bertha put the car into drive with a deep sigh. There was so much to do. She would have to fill out a missing person’s report on Amy as well as figure out the insurance on the van. Jade would need a thorough spiritual cleaning to make certain no remnants of vampire remained. They would hang the windows with garlic and sage, but from what the Elements were telling her, vampires wouldn’t be a problem for the girls. Bertha made a mental list while she drove.
No one was happier than Bertha when hours later the car finally wended its way up the little driveway that was home. Claire was still fast asleep when the girls arrived.
One thing about wrecking the van…there was nothing to unpack.
The girls showered and changed. Bertha made them scrambled eggs and toast. Jade read Amy’s letter a few times and then handed it to Raven to read.
Mindy started crying softly when she saw her teddy bear sitting on the bed waiting for her. Claire was fast asleep in her own bed, and Mindy knew enough not to wake her, so Mindy left the room to find Jade.
Jade was getting ready for bed. She was brushing her teeth and cleaning up her room a bit.
“Claire. Claire.” Mindy said and held up her teddy bear so that Jade could see.
A Time To Kill (Elemental Rage Book 1) Page 21
