Her body shook as she waited for Lance to come out from underneath the car. How did Thomas even know all this? Had they stolen cars before?
Ava shook her head. None of that mattered now. They had to hurry in order to save Peter and the others. A light came on in the back, flooding a vast majority of the woods. She froze. And then she saw shadows of a couple of people walking toward the storm cellar where they had been kept.
Lance popped up and she jumped, and then pointed toward the woods. Once he saw, he moved to the front of the car and pushed. It slowly rolled backwards on the grass. She turned the wheel and then Lance moved to the back and she turned it once more. He pushed until they were a ways down the long drive. She braked and then opened the door for him. Ava climbed to the passenger seat and Lance got in, put a key in the ignition, and started it.
“Where did you get the key?”
He jerked the car in motion. “Someone apparently locks themselves out of their car often,” he said. “Found it under the car.”
She couldn’t believe their luck. With this being a new car, she was sure the alarm would have gone off. “They’re going to know we escaped.”
“I know.”
“They’re going to come after us,” she shouted. “We should have attacked them.”
“Ava, calm down. We’ll go to Savina’s and be safe. Then, we’ll go after them.”
“What if they aren’t there when we come back?”
“I don’t know, okay? Right now, we need to get to the Manor.”
He slowed the car once he saw Melissa and Jeremy. Ava moved to the back with Peter and Melissa and Jeremy put the two unconscious people in the very back and then climbed in. Then, they left.
Ava cradled Peter’s head in her lap. She couldn’t believe she’d endangered Peter’s life. It had gone too far. Warm tears rolled down her face. “This is all my fault.”
“Don’t blame yourself,” Jeremy said.
She looked up at him. His face was covered in black soot and had several cuts and gashes. The blood had dried.
“If I had stayed away from him, Xavier wouldn’t have used him for bait,” she said. “What if they made him into an Enchanter?”
“I don’t think he is,” Jeremy said. “Didn’t you say Xavier and Kristen were talking about him before the bombs went off? Maybe he blocked them somehow.”
Melissa twisted around to face them. “That makes sense. You don’t feel pain around him. Maybe somehow he can protect himself or something.”
“I don’t know,” Ava said. “He could’ve been talking about any of the ones we found tonight.”
Peter groaned, and opened his eye. “Ava?”
“Peter,” she cried, and leaned down and kissed his forehead. “How are you feeling?”
He looked around and wrinkled his face. He wheezed and held his stomach. “It hurts to breathe.”
Lance turned on the interior light.
“What happened?” She carefully lifted his shirt and gasped. His skin was dark purple from bruising all around his ribs. “Oh no. What do we do?”
“We’re almost there,” Lance said.
“What’s going on?” Peter asked, struggling with each word. “What happened to you?”
She realized she must have looked bad, after surviving an explosion, and who knows what in that underground room.
“Xavier. We’re getting you help, Peter.”
“It hurts.”
Ava hated seeing him in so much pain. “I know. I’m sorry.”
Lance drove through the entrance to the Manor, but it wasn’t fast enough for Ava. The car came to a stop and he put it in park.
“I’m sorry, Peter, but we’re going to have to move you now.”
He nodded, but she knew he was bracing himself.
Jeremy got out first and slowly pulled him out. He cried out but they kept on. Jeremy lifted him and then the door to the manor opened.
“Good gracious,” Savina said. “What has happened?”
Ava was relieved that she was there because Peter would be healed, yet afraid that she’d gone against the rules. She hesitantly walked closer. “We found some injured Ephemerals. Xavier kidnapped them and us. They need help. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know where else to go.”
Savina held up her hand. “Bring them inside.”
Ava followed Jeremy inside to the parlor. He eased Peter down on the red couch. Then, Melissa, Lance, and Savina came in with the still unconscious bodies.
Savina knelt beside Peter. “What is your name, dear?”
“Peter.”
“I am Savina,” she said calmly. “You are safe here. I will heal you, but it may hurt.”
He furrowed his eyebrows, and held a look of fear in his brown eyes. Then, he looked to Ava as if asking what was going on.
Savina brought her hands over Peter’s chest, then to his ribcage, hovering in the air. Then, a loud crack sounded, and Peter cried out.
Ava took a step forward, but Jeremy held her back.
Savina moved her hands over his legs, and there was another crack. Peter cursed, and Ava winced. Savina shifted to his face, and slowly, the swelling around his eye faded and his eyelid opened. His lip was sewn back together, and he took a deep breath.
He slowly sat up, still with a wary look in his eyes. “How did you…What just hap—.”
“You will need some rest,” Savina said. “But you will be fine.”
“Thank you,” he stammered.
She stood. “You are welcome. Where are Gillian and Thomas?”
“They’re at the cabin,” Melissa said. “I sent Gillian a message. They’re okay.”
Savina made her way to the other bodies. “Lance, could you and Jeremy please take them upstairs to a room? They will need extensive healing.”
“Are they going to be okay?” Ava asked as Lance and Jeremy carried the two people out of the room.
“Yes.” Savina walked up to Melissa and healed the gash in her head. “Better?”
Melissa nodded. “Yes. Thank you.”
“Always,” she said, and then looked to Peter. “May I ask what happened to you?”
“This kid at school kidnapped me, and kept me in this dark room,” Peter said. “They kept beating me up. Saying they could never get through to me. I don’t know what they were talking about. I don’t know how long I was there.”
“A month,” Ava whispered. So that’s who Xavier and Kristen were talking about. She felt sick knowing Peter had spent an entire month in a dark cellar beaten daily. How could she have done this? She led them to him that night they kissed.
“How many were there?” Savina asked.
“Two. They would come at different times.”
“Do you remember what they looked like?”
He thought for a minute. “The woman had blond hair and was kinda overweight. The guy was thin with glasses. It was so dark and that’s all I remember. She kept ordering the guy around and he seemed fine with it. And even when he was beating me, there was something odd about it. Like he didn’t know what he was doing.”
“I am very sorry this has happened,” Savina said. “I promise that you are safe now.”
“Thanks,” he said, but still held a wary look.
“Melissa, would you and Peter please excuse us? Perhaps he would enjoy the library.”
“Sure.”
Peter stood and Ava met his eyes and then he walked out. She couldn’t imagine what he was thinking.
Savina raised her hand to Ava’s forehead and Ava could feel her skin pulling together to seal the wound.
“Are you hurt anywhere else?” she asked.
Ava shook her head. “No.”
“Does Peter have a power? I cannot read his mind.”
She gasped. “Did they make him into an Enchanter?”
“No. I can tell he is not. I believe he may be a Paramortal with a sort of protection.”
“A what?”
“It means extraordinary human.” She paused. “Ava, p
lease sit,” she said.
Ava moved to the couch and sat next to Savina. She knew this wasn’t going to be good.
“Does this boy know anything about us?”
She shook her head. “No, but we must keep him safe.”
“He will be. Do not worry. You care for him very much. I can tell.”
“Yes, I do. He is my friend.” There was no way she was going to tell Savina he was much more to her than that.
Savina nodded. “I was in love with an Ephemeral once. Long ago.”
Ava looked up in her green eyes. She hadn’t expected that. “You were?”
“Yes. His name was George. We were very much in love and I knew he would ask me to marry him.”
“What happened?”
Her lips pressed tightly together and her eyes softened. “This happened around the same time that Corbin and his sister returned to Caprington. She had murdered her husband after finding out he was an Enchanter hunter. When Corbin returned, he was angrier. He became volatile and hated Ephemerals. That was when Corbin spread a plague around the village. He refused to allow me to help them, but even if I could, there were too many that were dying.”
“Why was Corbin so set on killing the Ephemerals?”
“Revenge. But if he had not made a spectacle, none of them would have died.”
“What happened to George?” Ava asked, but deep down she knew what happened to him.
“George contracted the illness, and I was able to save him. I tried to make him leave town before things got worse. But he refused.”
Ava knew where this was going.
“Rumors of me being an Enchanter circulated and I was taken as a prisoner. They sentenced me to death, all because Corbin spread the illness, and blamed it on me. George came to me that night and told me he loved me and that it didn’t matter what I was. Colden helped me escape, but that was when Corbin and his army obliterated the village. George was killed in the process.”
Ava felt sick. She knew what Savina was trying to tell her about being with Peter. That it was too dangerous and she could get him killed. She knew this all along. Why wasn’t she strong enough to fight her feelings?
“Sometimes your feelings are trying to tell you something, Ava. I was naïve. I didn’t think Corbin would ever have done that. I told you not to get involved, for this reason exactly. I will keep him protected and heal his mind of these traumatic events.”
Her heart dropped. “What do you mean?”
“His mind will be erased of all this.”
Ava cleared her throat. “How will you do that?”
“Same way I healed his physical injuries.”
“When will you do this?” Her pulse quickened.
“After tonight.”
Ava twirled her ring. “What if he protects his mind?”
“I have an elixir that will relax his mind so I can get through.”
“How much are you going to erase?” Her voice cracked.
Savina gave her a knowing look. “It’s safer that he only know you as a classmate.”
Ava bit back tears. Everything they had ever shared would be as if it never happened. He would only know her as some girl in his chemistry class. She didn’t want that to happen. But what choice did she have?
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
HOLDING ON AND LETTING GO
Ava tried holding back her thoughts and feelings. But the fact of the matter was she was devastated. Savina was going to erase Peter’s memory of Ava.
The only thing she wanted to do was leave the Manor and take Peter home. Just so she could have a few last moments with him.
Ava was grateful when Lance and Jeremy entered the room because it gave her something else to focus on. She’d been doing a somewhat good job of putting aside her thoughts, but any second she would explode.
“Thank you for taking them to their rooms,” Savina told them. “Now, who is this boy at school?”
“Xavier Holstone,” Ava said.
“He seemed to have been trying to brainwash Peter into joining.”
Brainwashed. That’s what happened to Kristen and the others.
“What others?” Savina asked, having read Ava’s mind.
“A whole group of them went missing and came back being Xavier’s friends. And they bombed our school. He kept threatening me to join his group.”
“Did he ever mention Devon?”
“No, but I’m sure he’s working for him.”
“The woman Peter described as his attacker, sounds like Trudy McVaine. We must kill her tonight.”
“Who is she?” Jeremy asked.
“I’ll discuss it with you later. Do you remember how to get back to their hideout?”
“Yes,” Lance said.
“What about Xavier?” Ava asked.
“Not until we know who he is for sure.”
“He kidnapped all of us,” she shouted.
“He may have been turned into an Enchanter like the rest of them. Completely compelled. We will not kill the innocent.”
“Xavier is not innocent. He’s helping Devon build his army.”
“Yeah, I think I’m with Ava on this one,” Jeremy said.
“I will meet you all at the cabin to discuss Trudy,” Savina said with finality.
“Where is everyone else?” Lance asked.
“Colden has taken the other Aureole to find Devon.”
“They found him?” Ava asked.
“Colden received information. Now, I will be at the cabin in thirty minutes. Be safe.”
Why was Savina being so vague? Was there more that she wasn’t telling?
“And Ava?”
Ava halted. “Yes.”
“Give this to Peter.” She handed her a tiny vial of a clear-yellow liquid. “I will come to him tomorrow after Trudy is dead.”
She nodded begrudgingly made her way out of the room. She wasn’t sure what she was even going to say to him, but she just wanted to be near him.
Melissa and Peter came out of the library and Ava’s stomach clenched. She felt cold and ashamed for what was going to happen to him. She couldn’t meet his eyes, and they all walked outside in silence.
The rain poured hard, soaking them. They climbed into the SUV and Lance started the engine. Ava sat in between Peter and Jeremy.
“Just drive to the cabin and I’ll take Peter home,” Ava said, and then turned to Peter. “How are you?”
“What did she-how did she do that?”
“Savina’s…” How could she word this? “Special.”
“How did you find me? Did you guys fight Xavier or something?”
“No,” Ava said. “Xavier took us.”
“How?”
“He and his friends bombed the school and carried us out. I blacked out and woke up in the same room as you.”
“Bombs?” His mouth dropped and then he took Ava’s hand. Her heart accelerated. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Ava said, but her voice was empty of any feeling. She subtly removed her hand from Peter’s grip.
“How did we escape?” he asked.
Well, we used our powers to break out of the underground cellar. “We found a door.”
“I never found one. Then again, I pretty much stayed unconscious. What does he want? Why did he do this?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was anyone else hurt in the bombing?”
“We don’t know,” Melissa said.
“I should call my friends.”
Ava felt even guiltier. What if his friends had been hurt? And he’d wake up the day after not knowing about the bombing? Or was Savina going to tamper with his mind in that regard?
“How did he kidnap you?” Melissa asked.
“I drove home from school, and when I got out, Xavier pulled up. He just smiled and then someone from behind put a cloth bag or something over my head. They kept telling me to stop blocking them, which I’m not sure what that meant. Then they’d get frustrated and start hitting me.”
Lance pulled up at the cabin, and Ava was glad to see her car, but wondered how it got there. They got out of the car and while the others were walking toward the cabin, Ava and Peter went to her car.
“Thanks for your help,” Peter told them.
Melissa, Jeremy, and Lance turned around.
“You’re welcome,” Melissa smiled. “We’ll see you soon, Ava.”
She nodded and then turned to see Peter within inches of her. Seeing him, alive and standing before her, relief overcame her. “I’m so glad you’re okay. I was so worried about you.”
“I thought about you the whole time.” He wrapped his arms around her and she relaxed. “Ava, I don’t care what it takes anymore. I don’t want to be apart from you.”
His words made her stomach twist tighter into knots. He wouldn’t remember any of this tomorrow. Or every laugh they’d shared. Every intimate secret. Each look or touch. The few, but heart-stopping kisses. Every bit of it would be gone.
She pulled away. “Come on. I need to take you home.”
“Okay.”
The drive to his house was quiet, except for the downpour that pummeled her car, like marbles, in the humid night.
Ava knew he was exhausted and scared and his mind was muddled. She couldn’t imagine what he’d gone through in that month. But if she had just stayed away from him from the beginning, none of this would have ever happened. It was too late now to worry about what ifs though.
When she pulled into his driveway to his house with a lone light on in the front, she put the car in park.
“Did my dad come looking for me?”
Ava shook her head. She realized someone had tampered with his mind. She turned to him. “I’m so sorry you got hurt,” she said. “I tried so hard—.”
He reached over, pulled her face to his, and kissed her. His lips were urgent and eager as they moved with hers. She wrapped her hand around his neck to make the kiss longer. She never wanted it to end, but time was running out. Ava wanted to relish this moment before she said goodbye.
“Thank you for saving me,” he whispered.
“You shouldn’t thank me.”
“If it wasn’t for you, who knows what would have happened. Ava, I can’t be without you. I want us to be together.”
Under A Blood Moon (Elemental Enchanters) Page 24
