She shrugged. “I don’t expect you to believe me, but you asked what was going on, so I’ve told you. Do what you want with it.”
I thought back to the conversation I’d had with Flynn about how all the names of the places in Sage Springs were linked to the town’s history, and how the founders of the town had all been into their herbal medicine. I already knew magic was involved here, from the symbols, to the pools, to the dreams I’d been having since I got here. The existence of a coven didn’t surprise me, though Laurel’s involvement did.
“I believe you. Is that what the symbol is for, the one with the star and the circle? Magic?”
“Yes. We are the points of the star, and the circle binds us. We’re all descendents of the original founders of the town, and it’s our job to watch over Sage Springs. Make sure it stays safe.”
“But it isn’t going to stay safe,” I said, my tone suddenly urgent. “Something bad is going to happen.”
She narrowed her eyes. “How do you know that? Is it like how you knew about the accident at the carnival? I told you the truth, now it’s your turn.”
The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I pondered the idea for a moment and decided against it. The partial truth would have to do.
“I see things that haven’t happened yet,” I admitted. “And some things that have happened already.”
“Wow. You’re a precog?”
“A what?”
“A precognitive. Someone who can see the future.”
“Well, yeah. I guess that’s what I am then.” I wasn’t planning on filling her in on the ‘and I’m half vampire’ part.
“And you think something bad is going to happen?”
I nodded. “I know it is. I’ve been seeing it ever since I got here.”
She chewed on her lower lip.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I don’t know if it’s connected, but in about eighteen hours there will be a Disruptive Convergence.”
“A what?”
“There will be an exceptional alignment of planets in our solar system. The moon and three other planets will be aligned in such a way that it will cause a great shift in the earth’s energy from one of peace to war.”
I couldn’t help my laugh of disbelief. “This is supposed to be a peaceful world?”
“Yes, compared to what the world would be like in a warlike cycle. The way the planets align mean that the earth’s dark energies can be tapped into. This isn’t just a warlike cycle, it’s also known as the ‘hell’ cycle.”
“That doesn’t sound good.”
“You can say that again.”
“But why Sage Springs?”
“There’s a place in the forest that’s special—”
“The pools,” I interrupted. “I’ve seen them.”
Laurel widened her eyes at me. “You have?”
“Yeah, a couple of times now.”
“Oh...kay,” she said slowly, as if taking this new piece of information in. “Well, the pools in the forest act as portals between our world and the afterlife. Flynn is supposed to protect them, but since the mining has come so close, he’s struggled.”
“Flynn?” I said. “Why Flynn?”
“Flynn Matthews is an Elemental.”
“A what?” I was starting to feel like a parrot squawking out the same two words over and over.
“An Elemental,” she restated. “They’re powerful witches who can control the elements.”
“You’ve got to be kidding.” I’d come across witchcraft before, but not this particular kind. Trust my luck to have decided to make my home in a town full of god-damned witches. “So can he control all elements?” The thought of this was so powerful, it was terrifying.
But Laurel shook her head. “No. Each Elemental has a specific element they can control. For Flynn, it’s water.”
“Which is why he’s such a strong swimmer,” I said, piecing things together.
“That definitely helps. But when the planets align, they have an effect on the water—”
“Like the moon and the tide?” I offered.
She smiled. “Exactly. So the water is displaced, and this makes it easier for the afterlife to pass through into our world.”
Was that where the body had ended up, I wondered, together with my clothes? In the afterlife? Riley had said that things didn’t come back once they’d entered the pools, but what if they did? What if at a particular time, when the planets were aligned, they were able to come back?
I didn’t mention either Jordy’s body or my bloodied clothes to Laurel. Instead, I said, “And this is what creates the hell cycle?”
She nodded, but this time her expression was grim. “Yep. The hell cycle.”
“But what have the carnival people got to do with all of this?”
“We’re not totally sure. They come here every year, do their thing, and move on. Plenty of people in town have a thing against them, ‘cause they think they’re a godless lot, and bring crime and violence into Sage Springs. But the truth is that they’ve never really caused much trouble.” She shrugged. “Thing is, we can’t ignore that they’ve stayed now, just when the Convergence is about to happen.”
We stared at each other, neither of us having an answer to this particular question.
“You need to come and speak to the rest of my circle,” Laurel said. “Can you come to my house, tonight? Say about seven? I can’t tell you where we meet, but I can take you there.”
I nodded. “Okay, I’ll be there.”
Laurel pulled a piece of paper from her purse and scribbled down her address. “I’ll tell the others you’re coming, and you’re not what they think.”
I frowned. “What do they think?”
“That you are something different. Something dark.”
A shiver ran through me, but I tried to hide it. They’d not been far wrong. What would they do if they found out the truth?
“I’m no danger to you or your circle,” I said, truthfully.
“I’ll tell them,” she said with a small smile. She opened the door and climbed from the car. “I’ll see you later.”
“Sure.”
I wondered who made up the rest of the circle. I guessed the photographer, Melissa, due to me finding her necklace, but I was at a loss about the rest. How many would there be and how powerful were they? I worried that as soon as I walked into their meeting place they would use a spell to find out exactly what I was. But if they were able to conduct such a spell, wouldn’t they have done so already?
More than anything else, I wanted to see Riley again. What would he tell me to do? I guessed he’d advise me to stay away from a group of witches who might turn on me if they found out I was half-vampire. But then Riley didn’t know I was half-vampire, though he must realize there’s plenty not normal about me.
The ring of my cell phone made me jump. I scrabbled around in my bag to find it. I was amazed it was still charged. No one ever called me, except my mom, and I experienced a pang of guilt that I’d not called them yesterday. I knew both my parents would be worrying.
Glancing at the screen, I didn’t recognize the number.
I hit the answer button. “Hello?”
“Ms. Bandores?”
“Yes?”
“This is the garage working on your car. I’m calling to let you know it will be ready for collection this afternoon.”
“Already? I thought it would be at least another few days?”
I could almost hear the shrug. “Well, it’s ready now. Parts came in early. So are you going to come collect it, or not?”
“Yes, of course I am. I’ll be there this afternoon.”
I hung up and reached out to pat the dashboard of the old SUV. I’d grown fond of the old car, and didn’t want the conspicuousness of my brand new Audi. I was having a hard enough time not getting myself noticed around here, and my L.A. wheels wouldn’t help any.
Leaving the car, I slunk back to class. I was mass
ively late, and attracted the glare of my lecturer as I slipped into a seat near the back and fired up my laptop.
Suddenly, my hearing went strange, as if I’d been submerged under water. I reached out and grabbed the edges of my laptop, as if that would somehow secure me to reality. But the machine felt slippery beneath my touch, and I couldn’t get a proper hold on it. I groaned, knowing something was coming that I didn’t want to see. On stage, my professor continued his talk, pointing to things on the interactive white board, but I couldn’t focus on what he was saying. I could barely hear him. A rushing sound raced past my ears, like waves or the wind. Before my eyes, a liquid black began to steal in from all sides of the white board, rapidly creeping and crawling down until all of the writing was gone, and I stared only at a black square. It spilled from the wall and flooded across the stage, slipping up the professor’s legs. He looked down, as if only just noticing what was happening, and began to scream. It crept up his body, crawling over him like a living thing. More of the darkness slid down toward the students sitting in the front rows. Their screams filled the lecture hall, as they turned in their seats to climb over one another to try to get away. The wave of students clambered in panic toward where I still sat, frozen, at the back.
It would claim them, this darkness. I knew it. Whatever was beneath the water in the pools was powerful, and it would take their souls as its own.
My ears popped, and I found myself back in the normal lecture hall. I must have made a noise, as a couple of students turned their heads toward me. I ducked down, hiding behind the screen of my laptop.
Danger felt so close this time. The premonitions were getting stronger, and I could only assume that was because the event itself was also getting closer. Laurel had said this aligning of the planets—what had she called it, a Disruptive Convergence—would happen in a matter of hours, not days.
My thoughts went back to the dreams I’d had, of the people of Sage Springs empty and lost, of the town in darkness. I didn’t think the darkness I’d just seen was a literal interpretation of what was going to happen, and neither was the stream of empty people heading into the woods. My foresight gave me interpretations of what was going to happen. It wasn’t like watching the actual event on a television screen, unless it was connected to an actual person, and then it tended to be more accurate. But I’d never seen something this big before. I wasn’t someone who predicted airline disasters, or train wrecks. If I was, perhaps I’d have been able to make a difference to this god-forsaken world a little sooner. All I could interpret was that something dark was coming to Sage Springs, and I had a theory that it would feed on the souls of the inhabitants.
I couldn’t believe that this happening was a natural occurrence. Something other than the Convergence was at play here. I just had to figure out what and who.
The carnival people. It had to be them.
But did that mean Riley was involved as well?
Chapter
17
I went to collect my car with dread in my heart.
Something terrible was going to happen in Sage Springs, and I had no idea how to stop it.
The garage was located a couple of miles from the outskirts of town. The rental company was there to meet me, and quickly checked off the SUV. I handed over the keys and gave the old girl a hearty slap, like a faithful horse, as I did so. My scribble on a piece of paper completed the receipt.
I walked into the garage. My car waited for me at the front, but no one else seemed to be around. Heading deeper into the cave of the garage, a set of feet protruded from beneath a station wagon that had been raised from the floor using a couple of jacks. I wondered why they’d not used the raising platform fixed to the interior of the garage to check beneath the car. Perhaps it was broken.
“Hello?” I called again.
A grunt responded, and the feet began to move with a shuffle and a scrape. Had he been sleeping under there?
The mechanic hauled himself out from beneath the car. Dark patches of sweat stains, yellow and old, marked beneath the arms of his t-shirt and around his neck. He was at least a hundred pounds overweight. I was surprised he hadn’t gotten himself wedged under the vehicle.
“Hi. I’m here to collect the Audi.”
He looked me up and down. I could sense the sneer on his face, though he managed to repress it. I didn’t need to be psychic to know exactly what he was thinking—spoilt little rich girl come to collect the big car mommy and daddy paid for. The worst thing was that he wasn’t far wrong.
“I got a call this morning to say it was ready.”
He snorted and wiped the back of his hand beneath his nose. I tried not to grimace. “That’s right.” His eyes narrowed at me. “Need you to sign some paperwork and then car’s all yours.”
“I thought the repairs would take longer than it did.”
“Parts came through fast, that’s all,” he snapped.
“Right.”
Jeez, I hope he didn’t treat every customer with such disdain, or I figured he’d go out of business pretty quick. He seemed like one of those guys who would never take anyone of the female persuasion seriously.
He pushed a couple of forms under my nose, which I signed, and then he slid my keys across the counter. I snatched them up, grateful to be out of there. I didn’t want to spend any more time in the guy’s presence.
I climbed inside my car, sliding into the soft leather. The familiar scent and feel of the vehicle caused a wave of homesickness to sweep over me. I bit my lower lip, glancing down to stare at the steering wheel to compose myself. I couldn’t run off home. Not now. I hadn’t been raised to be a coward, and how could I go back to Los Angeles, abandoning everyone in Sage Springs to face whatever horror was coming?
I reached down to the ignition and turned the key, the car purring to life around me. A sigh issued from deep within my lungs. I would meet with Laurel’s circle tonight and see what happened. Maybe everything would change after that meeting. Still, my stomach churned with nerves. I had no way of predicting how that meeting would go.
It was only a couple of miles’ drive back into town, heading down the windy road through the forest. A quick fiddle with the radio found a local station, and a pop song blasted out. Far too chirpy, bouncy, and generally enthusiastic for me. I reached out and flicked the radio off, the interior of the car falling back into silence, except for the purr of the engine.
The road curved around a bend. I put my foot on the brake to slow, but nothing happened. Alarm spiked through me. I jammed my foot down harder—a movement that should have thrown the car into an emergency stop. Nothing happened.
“Shit!”
The curve approached, and I had no choice but to handle the vehicle so it hugged the road. My heart thumped hard and fast, climbing up into my throat, my breath shallow. I forced myself to focus, to not panic, but my mind blurred with fear. How would I stop with no brakes? A thousand pieces of advice I’d picked up on subconsciously over the last year ran through my mind: turn into a skid, stay calm if you get stranded, try to minimize impact. I had no idea which piece of this information was any use to me now. I could hardly minimize impact, could I?
The Audi gathered momentum created by the downward incline of the road.
Another car headed toward me in the opposite lane. I caught sight of the family inside, the father’s brow furrowed as he passed, clearly thinking I was going too fast, but with no idea why. I stared back at him in fear, wanting to shout for help but knowing it would do no good. How could anyone help me?
I was thankful I’d managed to keep control so far, but the closer to town I got, the more vehicles and people would be around. I couldn’t risk getting that close. I healed quickly, but a regular person wouldn’t. Though this wasn’t my fault, if I mowed down a family, I would never forgive myself.
I needed to stop the car.
I cast a quick glance at the handbrake. What would happen if I pulled it on? I worried it would make a bad situation worse,
and throw the car into an uncontrollable skid, but I didn’t know what else to do, and I didn’t have the luxury of time to ponder on it. The road tore by, my fingers wrapped tight around the steering wheel, my knuckles white. I needed to do something right now or I would be risking other lives as well as my own.
The ignition, I suddenly thought. If I turned off the ignition, and then pulled on the handbrake, surely the car would have to slow down? A bank of trees and bushes ran alongside me. While I didn’t want to wrap my car around a tree, I needed to bring it to a halt.
“Oh, hell.” My voice was a whine of despair.
Gritting my teeth, I took one hand off the wheel and turned off the ignition. Power died from the car. Then I yanked up the handbrake.
The powerful car’s back wheels locked. I heard the screeching of rubber on asphalt, and the stench of chemicals burning filled the interior. Smoke poured from the back. The steering wheel wrenched from my grip as the car skidded to one side, and I fought to keep it under control. The front end swung toward the undergrowth.
The hood buffeted through the bushes, leaves and twigs smashing and flying into the windshield.
Instinctively, I threw up my arms to protect my face.
The car bumped and jerked and bounced, my teeth snapping together, bones jarring. It hit something, and my body snapped forward, the seat belt slamming across my chest. My head flew forward, though I’d managed to tuck my chin to my chest, so my forehead hit the steering column, rather than breaking my nose or teeth, before the belt snapped me back again. Even so, pain shattered through my head and across my chest. I had a moment of consciousness to wonder if either my ribs or skull had been broken, and why my airbags didn’t deploy. Had someone at the garage deactivated them?
But the car had come to a standstill. I drifted into a welcome black for the briefest of moments, but shook myself out of it. I couldn’t lose consciousness. There might be a fuel leak, and I didn’t want to end up burning to death while I was unconscious. I didn’t think even a half-vampire could come back from that.
With a groan, my fingers scrambled to unclick my seat belt. I tried to open my door, but metal banged against wood. The door was jammed against a tree trunk on the other side. Wearily, I turned my sore head to the passenger door. The distance between here and there felt like a chasm.
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