Ember Rising Light (Book One)

by C.K. Mullinax

  Chapter Ninety Seven

  An unsettling and shadowy thought flickered through my mind and I instantly shivered. It felt like someone had just walked over my grave. The dark thought faded away though and I tried my best to dismiss it. Still, I seemed to feel something shrouded and possibly sinister close on my horizon. Attempting to shake the feeling of impending doom, I glanced at my cell phone while I waited for the red light to turn. I considered sending Ember a text message, but the light changed. So I had to stop looking at my dormant cell phone, because crashing the Chevy wasn’t on the agenda for this morning.

  I tried to just concentrate on driving to Sunridge, although I still felt the lingering darkness somewhere in the back part of my mind. I couldn’t shake the bad feeling so I decided to go back to school and pick up Ember. Before I made that U-turn I remembered why I left her in the first place. A belligerent customer would be waiting for me. So I rolled up the windows in my new truck and enjoyed the smell of the interior as I worked to rid myself of the shadowed thoughts.

  I’m probably being paranoid over nothing…

  It had already been a very strange morning, and it had been that way since I first opened my eyes. Willow stays at our house during the week and she’s the one that cooks breakfast. Although I realized she wasn’t there last night when I went to bed, somehow my mind forgot that fact this morning. Even though my alarm went off at 6:30, I didn’t become aware of my surroundings until 7:18 when my little girl yelled for me to get up.

  I had to drive like a ‘hyped-up-Nascar-driver’ just to get Ember to school on time. She had two tardies in gym class this semester, and she refused to let me use my obliteration ability on her coach. Unfortunately, I had promised her that I would only use my Ay’sha skill on the boys who still want to ask her out. As my luck would have it, her coach is a female. This meant I couldn’t even get gypsy creative about our deal either.

  It’s understandable that Ember is worried about my health. I’ve been channeling lots of obliterations in the past several weeks. Although I tried to convince her that I was physically okay, her memory tells her otherwise. She remembers that day in the cafeteria when I performed that mass obliteration to save her from that massive crowd.

  If Rave hadn’t been available to rescue me, I’m not sure I would’ve survived it…

  It was unexplainable, but I was physically fine even after channeling so much on a daily basis. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t convince Ember of this fact. I couldn’t actually give her a plausible reason for being able to do it without suffering any type of repercussions. Something unknown seems to boost my obliterations, but I have no control over it or any explanation to give my little girl.

  If I told Ember anything about that mysterious boost, she would riddle me with a thousand questions. I wouldn’t have any answers to give her and then I’d be in big trouble. I know my little girl and she would take off on some quest to discover what it was or she would become alarmed. Neither of those scenarios would work out in my favor. So I opted not to tell her anything about it.

  We had arrived at school with only three minutes to spare before her gym class started. Ember gave me a quick hug, said she loves me and jumped out of the truck. She had rushed toward the building like the devil was chasing her. I had watched her until she disappeared inside the door.

  I had literally begged my little girl to come to Sunridge with me today and just skip school entirely. She had stubbornly refused to even consider it though. Her freshman year is almost over and I believe she wants to enjoy every minute she has left. This was a surprising thought – and one that makes me smile, considerably. She’s wasted countless hours trying to get me to use my obliteration skill to move her into a higher grade. I had somehow managed to stand my ground for once. Now, she was savoring the last days and I was sure that I had made the right decision.

  I fully realize that if we had moved and switched schools again that I would have lost my resolve and given into her demand…but, she would never discover that little fact…

  Glancing at my watch, I noticed the date. We still have over a month left of this school year because of all the bad winter weather and having to make up the days. I had already started to tentatively plan our summer vacation.

  There was never a need to ask for time off from any of the other jobs I’ve held. At the beginning of each summer, I would quit and we would travel until the new school year started. I would just get a new job wherever we ended up. So it felt strange to ‘formally’ request an extended vacation. I explained to Rave that I have always taken Ember on ‘summer hunts’ since we’ve been on our own. I wanted her to have wonderful childhood memories of those travels and adventures. We are still gypsies, first and foremost.

  Rave told me that he’s very proud of me, and everything I do for my little girl. Then, he readily agreed to give me the time off with pay. I told him ‘no way am I gonna let you pay me for ten weeks of freakin’ vacation!’ He wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer though. If I didn’t know any better, I would truly believe that he’s a gypsy. Otherwise, I never would have agreed to let him pay me for all that time off without being conned into it. I had actually tried to bring up the subject a few times since, but it appears he’s already made up his mind. No point in wasting good air trying to get him to change it.

  As I turned into Sunridge, the same feeling of impending darkness inched its way back into my thoughts. I needed to open the garage since I had already committed to doing it. And, I wanted to start repaying Rave for his generosity. So I tried to shove those thoughts of approaching danger away. My suspicious nature still attempted to get the better of me regardless. I have always hated to leave Ember anywhere alone, and today was no different. It should’ve come as no surprise that I was on edge this morning.

  Willow and Boo were both wide awake and dressed for the day when I stepped inside to greet them. She handed me a cup of coffee and informed me that she was going to the creek with Boo. I heard the concern in her voice before she took off after him. So I added her and Boo to my laundry list of worries as I opened the garage.

  The bizarre morning never improved. The customer who was so all-fired insistent that I be here at 8:30 sharp so she could ‘inspect my work and then, pick up the car upon approval’ didn’t show up. In fact she didn’t even call to say she’d be late. I started working on a valve job while I waited for her to come storming in.

  Something still feels wrong…

  I couldn’t seem to concentrate as fleeting thoughts of darkness swirled through my mind. I would jump at the slightest noise or movement. Then, to top it all off, I managed to drop a critical bolt into the throttle body while my mind was focused on my anxieties. It took me over two hours just to retrieve it. That little bolt-retrieving adventure had me frustrated and ready to punch something.

  Turns out that Willow had a good reason to be concerned about Boo. He had somehow managed to escape from her watchful gaze – that’s no easy task to accomplish. I was still struggling to get the bolt out of the throttle body when he rushed by me like a streak of lightning. He ran into the back room and crawled underneath an old work bench to hide in the dark.

  Willow was frantic by the time she managed to hike back down the mountain from the creek where they had been playing. Boo had never run AWAY from the creek before this morning and that made his escape outlandish. I motioned towards where the little guy was hiding so she would understand that he was safe. She was breathless and nodded her head in acknowledgement.

  I smiled at her although I was thoroughly frustrated with the entire morning. It wasn’t her fault everything was going wrong and I was feeling uneasy. I was actually happy that she was too winded to speak because there was an excellent chance any words I spoke would sound angry. The risk of saying something I would regret was high.

  In order to avoid a potentially lethal exchange with her, I motioned for her to go inside the ho
use and chill out for a while. She was still doubled over as she tried to catch her breath. I figured Willow had probably run down the entire path from the creek. That was no simple jog given the distance and steep terrain involved.

  Once Willow caught her breath again, she finally agreed to go into the house. That was only after she asked me a few dozen questions like how did I ‘manage to drop the bolt into the car thingie’, can’t I just ‘leave it where it is because there’s obviously room for it’ and why didn’t I just ‘take the whole thing apart to get the bolt out instead of fishing around for it’. I was annoyed because I couldn’t really explain to her how a car engine works. Somehow though, I did the impossible and answered all her questions without losing my temper.

  Next time I’ll just tell her I’m working on the car ‘thingie’ and leave it at that! I need to learn to ‘shut it’ while I’m ahead…

  My mind continued to wander back to Ember although that wasn’t anything unusual. I decided that things had been going so smoothly, for so long that this crazy upside-down morning was just getting the better of me. I sent her a text message anyway and told her to send me one back as soon as possible. That way I figured maybe I could stop worrying and get something useful accomplished. The hours dragged on into a horrible eternity. It was almost lunchtime though and I still hadn’t heard anything from her.

  I waited exactly two minutes after the lunch bell rang at school before I freaked out. I finally text messaged her best friend Krista and she responded immediately. Her message read: ISS b/c iPod. No cell there. Sry…

  My face flushed from frustrated anger. Although I realized this was irrational on my part, I couldn’t seem to help it. I knew there was always the chance that Ember could end up in ISS because of her IPOD. After all, she always had it with her. I had solemnly promised Ember that I would only use my obliteration skill on the ninety or so ridiculous boys that still wanted to ask her out. This iPod confiscation was an emergency of sorts and it didn’t concern Ember in an odd way. I had loaded all her pictures from her birthday party into that device, so she could look at them whenever she wanted to. I couldn’t allow some clueless school official to stumble across the pictures and decide to take a look through them. Not only was that an invasion of her privacy, but there was always a chance that some of those pictures could end up on someone’s computer. Just thinking about trying to use my obliteration skill on the entire World Wide Web audience makes me shiver.

  I washed my hands and tried to regain my perspective. I prepared to go back to school and not so nicely retrieve Ember’s iPod from the administrator that had confiscated it. Then I would put it safely in my truck. I would also ask that particular administrator a few leading questions and make sure nothing had been downloaded and/or shared.

  I used the intercom system in the garage to talk to Willow. After I explained what was going on at school, I told her I needed to go and do something to fix the situation. She reminded me to be nice and I told her that’s just what I was thinking. I just didn’t add the ‘not so’ in front of the ‘nicely’ part because I didn’t want her to worry.

  The timing was perfect because Willow had Boo’s lunch ready. He wasn’t allowed to be in the garage without supervision. He also understood that we never bring food in here, much less eat in this environment. I walked back into the room where he was currently hiding and crouched down, so I could look him in the eye.

  “Comon big guy, it’s time to go eat…” I told him.

  I held out my hand, but he didn’t reach for me. I watched as Boo rocked back and forth nervously – oblivious to my existence. Although that would have been considered normal a few months ago, his behavior was out of character now. He would usually acknowledge me in some way even if he didn’t want to comply.

  “Wanna take your lunch to the creek and share it with your buddy? You and Heaven can have a picnic…” I offered and waited a minute, but he still didn’t pay any attention to me.

  I finally realized that he looked scared to death. I tried to figure out what had Boo so terrified. Then, it hit me! Rave and Celeste had never stayed out overnight without taking him too. His morning routine had been all messed up just like everybody else’s and he was afraid.

  Although I thought I understood his problem, I still needed him to come out from underneath the work bench. Willow would be forced to sit in this dirty garage with him until I returned if I couldn’t convince him to leave somehow. Then, I had a brilliant idea. I would use my gypsy skills and switch tactics.

  “Hey little buddy, Ember needs me to do something. I need you to go inside with Willow because I have to go to school and take care of it for her…”

  This statement finally grabbed his full and undivided attention. I held out my hand to him, but then I realized something was very wrong. He turned as pale as a ghost and stared at me with a haunted, wide-eyed look of absolute terror.

  “Ember…shadow…fall…” was all Boo slowly stated and I was overwhelmed by a sense of unparalleled trepidation.

  My world crumbled all around me in that instant…then it all fell apart…