Timeless Tides

by M. R. Polish

  He smiled. “Yeah, I told him my life was at stake, and I’d haunt him first if anything happened.”

  I grinned back at him, somewhat relieved. My kidnapper wasn't releasing me, but at least he wouldn't be practicing his flying lessons tonight. I watched as Mr. Hot-n-Sexy strode to the chair next to mine, sitting down as if he owned the plane; which as far as I knew, he could have.

  “You really don’t know, do you?” He leaned forward, resting his arms on his thighs.

  “Know what?” Goosebumps rolled down my arms as a shiver coursed through me. After today, I wouldn’t be surprised if he told me he was a werewolf.

  Shaking his head, he gave a small grin. “I thought you’d know, that’s all.” He winked at me. “It shouldn’t be long till we’re up in the air now.”

  I gulped—he was going with us. Maybe he would help me escape after all. My hopes soared.

  Victor emerged from the cockpit, closing the door behind him. “I see you’ve met Jarak.”

  “I see you’ve decided you can’t fly a plane… Actually, we haven’t formally been introduced,” I admitted, trying to engrave Jarak’s name into my memory. Mmmm, I liked it. It fit him well and I played with it, rolling it around in my head. If I lived through this, Ailaina would shoot me if I forgot the name of the hot guy I would be telling her about.

  “Well, in that case, Ara this is Jarak. Jarak this is Ara.” I glanced over at the handsome stranger as Victor introduced us.

  He gave me a quick glimpse then back at Victor. “Ara?”

  Victor stepped closer, taking the seat across from us. “Yes, it is short for Arabeth. Correct?” He unwound the black scarf from around his neck, draping it over the arm of his seat and unbuttoned his suit jacket as he crossed his leg over his knee.

  “Yeah.” My whole body quivered again. I wasn’t cold, so I knew it was my nerves.

  Jarak leaned over and ran his hands through his hair. “I’m confused. She is Esmerelda—how does she not know this? When I heard the name Ara, I presumed it was a nickname or something.”

  Victor held up his hand to interrupt. “It’s a long flight to Madrid. We’ll have plenty of time to get to know each other.”

  The plane’s door slammed shut, sealing us inside. I jumped from the sound. Okay, so now plane doors closed and locked by themselves. That wasn’t weird. Right?

  I could hear my heartbeat in my ears matching the roar of the engines as they became louder, winding up tight. My stomach flopped in protest. I’d never flown before and quite frankly, it scared me. Heck, I never thought I'd be kidnapped either, but here I was, on a plane, with a deranged magical lunatic, and some hot tag-a-long. I bent over in my seat and tried not to hyperventilate. The plane moved backwards and I shrieked, clutching the arms of the chair. There was a reason I never flew before and at that moment everything, even the kidnapping, became irrelevant as I forced myself to keep breathing.

  Victor leaned over and patted my knee. “All is well, my dear.”

  I swatted his hand away from me. All is well? No, all was not well. Thousands of butterflies fluttered around in my stomach. I was on my way to Spain, in a plane with a kidnapper, to see my dead mom. I shook my head. “No… It’s not okay. I don’t want to fly.” I could feel my anxiety climax as the jet crawled forward toward the start of the runway.

  “It’s okay, just breathe.” Jarak reassured.

  “What do you think I’m doing? Sucking up all the stupid in this plane? Cause let me tell you, it would take a long time!”

  The plane slowed almost to a complete stop before racing forward, sucking me back into my seat. Tipping back, I realized we were in the air, climbing high above the ground, and defying gravity and all the security it offered.

  I squeezed my eyes shut as the small plane banked to the right. Oh dear Lord, we were gonna fall out of the sky!

  “Ara, open your eyes and look at the lights before we get too high.”

  I peeked one eye open, straining to see outside the tiny window. The lights of Elko grew smaller and smaller. We banked again, turning to fly over my hometown. My eyes closed tight, and my face was in an unattractive squished contortion. I sucked in a deep breath and held it to calm myself down, focusing on anything other than the fact that we were still climbing thousands of feet in the air at a rapid speed.

  I squinted at both guys, not wanting to open my eyes wide yet. Crap eating grins spread out over their faces at their apparent fascinations with my fear of flying. If I weren’t frozen to my seat, I would have let them both have it.

  A bump in the so far smooth ascend made me jump, and I realized the only way I would get through an entire flight was to talk. Talking usually got me through the worst moments. When my parents would fight I would either head to Ailaina’s house or call her. With my cell phone gone—not that I could use it to text thirty thousand feet in the air—I couldn’t talk to Ailaina, so my next option was Victor and Jarak. It should prove to be an exciting trip.

  I tried to loosen the grip I had on the armrest, but each jump in turbulence the plane went through, made me tense back up. “So why Spain? I mean why not Florida or Hawaii, somewhere tropical?” I asked through gritted teeth.

  Victor leaned forward. “Because of what your mom is, there aren’t many vampires willing to turn her. They said it was too dangerous. In Spain, I was able to convince Trevor, an old vampire to do it. He has more restraint than most vampires in the world. And, he owes me. This is his way of paying me back.”

  “You’re serious about blood sucking creatures who hunt at night, aren’t you?” I shuddered.

  Victor’s eyes clouded over. “I’m afraid so. They’re real. Just like you and many of us, hold magic.”

  I shook my head. “This is crazy.”

  “Let me show you.” Victor held his hands out before I could protest. A blue haze of energy formed and hovered above his palms. It reminded me of the glowing I saw with my hands earlier in the car. He drew his arm back and hurled the mist-like-energy at the other chair, turning it to ice before I could blink.

  I jumped from the unexpected action. My eyes widened. “Holy cow!” I reached over and touched the chair. It was hard and cold, undeniably ice.

  Both men smiled at me in a knowing satisfaction. Okay, so magic might be real. I used to play pretend with Ailaina when we were kids all the time. Our storybooks would become spell books, and we’d cook up potions in our play kitchens and teapots. Maybe innocence has more of a connection than I ever thought.

  I gulped, still staring at the chair. It was so weird to look at.

  “Does that help you?” Victor settled back into his seat.

  Pressing my lips together, I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Yeah.”

  He chortled. “Good.”

  Averting my eyes from the ice, I caught Jarak staring at me. “So why are you here? I mean, do you kidnap people too?”

  Jarak raised one brow. “Kidnap people?”

  “Well it’s a perfectly good question since Victor kidnapped me.”

  He laughed. “He kidnapped you?”

  I didn’t laugh. In fact, I found nothing about it funny.

  His face became ashen. “You’re serious.” He gawked at Victor. “She’s serious isn’t she?”

  Clearing his throat, Victor rubbed his chin. “Yes.”

  Jarak stood up and paced, throwing his arms in the air. “Why’d you do that? How am I supposed to do my job if you pull that kind of stuff? You said you had it taken care of. I knew I should’ve done it myself.”

  “There was no other way. She admitted it herself. She wouldn’t have come with me willingly.”

  I gulped and studied my hands that shook from my nerves.

  “You should’ve had me do it. I’m the one who’s supposed to protect her. I could’ve gotten her.” With every step Jarak took, the more his voice rose. “You hired me to make sure she’s safe. How am I supposed to do that if she feels threatened because you kidnapped her?”

  “She’s here, t
hat’s all that matters.”

  “As long as you get what you need, you don’t care how you get it. Am I right?” Jarak stopped pacing and ran his hands through his hair. He stared at Victor, waiting for his answer. “All you warlocks are the same… greedy and uncaring.”

  Victor rubbed the back of his neck. “I told you, I need her, and she needs her mom. It’s that simple.”

  I snapped my head in his direction. “What do you mean, you need me? Why am I so important?”

  Victor waved his hand. “Nothing…I just meant that I need you to be there for your mom.”

  Jarak exhaled a deep breath and settled back down in his seat. “I’m sorry, Esmerelda.”

  I scowled at him. “My name is Arabeth. I think you guys kidnapped the wrong girl. My mom is dead, and I’m not Esmerelda. Please, just let me go back home.”

  Victor leaned forward again. “Ara, your real name is Esmerelda. I know it must sound weird to hear, coming from someone that you don’t know, but it’s true. Meadow is alive and waiting to see you.”

  Tears filled my eyes and threatened to flow over. “Please stop. I can’t take anymore.” I peeked over at Jarak. He was bent over with his head tipped down, but his eyes still looked up at me. Maybe now that he knew the truth, he would help me escape. I pleaded with my eyes.

  He turned and glared at Victor. “We need to talk.” Hope flared inside of me with his words.

  The plane jumped with turbulence and I let out a little cry, grabbing the armrests once again.

  Victor nodded and then opened his hands, palms facing me with his fingers splayed open. “Yes, we need to talk. Besides, I don’t think she’ll make it flying the whole way, this might be better for her.”

  “For her or for you?” Jarak scowled.

  “For her.”

  At that same moment, my eyelids grew heavy, and I strained to keep them open. The room moved, making me dizzy. It was so severe that I couldn’t keep them open. My body slumped as I fell into a deep asleep.

  Don’t stop now….

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  About the Author

  M.R. Polish was born in Idaho, a long, long, long, well, maybe not that long time ago.... Writing has always been there for her. Growing up, her mind was filled with stories, some she shared and others she filed away to write down later in life. It wasn't until 2011 that she decided to publish her stories for everyone to enjoy. Her first award, and when writing became more than just an idea, was in the 5th grade. She won the scary story contest for the school newspaper. It is one story she still has tucked away for memories. Her teacher told her she could be anything she wanted and that she had a talent for writing, being creative and drawing people into her stories. M.R. took that to heart and continued to write, although mostly in secret until recent years.

  Now you can find her enjoying life with her family - wrangling her four kids, setting traps in the house with toys for unsuspecting victims (aka, her husband) and writing down all her crazy and fun stories.

  "Life is too short to stand by and watch everyone else live your dreams. The bigger the dream, the bigger the adventure!" ~ M.R. Polish

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