Ava looked away, even though she could barely see his face from the soft glow of the blue interior lights, she felt his eyes on her. “This is bigger than you and me, Peter. I’m so tired of denying my feelings and pushing you away.”
“Then don’t.”
“I have to.” Ava glanced at the clock, and then reached in her pocket and pulled out the vial. “This is for you.”
He took it. “What is it?”
She cleared her throat, and stared at the small lines of water streaming down her window. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could hold back the tears. “It’s to help you. I-I have to go.”
“Please stay.”
The sadness in his voice made her ache more. “I wish I could, but I can’t. You need to rest and see your father.”
“I don’t want to let you go. The last time I did, I…”
“You’re safe. I promise.”
“Will you come back?”
She didn’t answer.
“Why does it seem like you’re holding back information? Are you avoiding me?”
“I can’t do this, Peter.” She spoke to the window. “You need to go.”
“Why do I feel like this is a goodbye?”
Ava took a deep breath, and then met his eyes. They were full of confusion and sadness. Her eyes blurred. “I’ll be back in the morning,” she said, and then kissed him quickly before it completely consumed her.
“Promise?”
She swallowed the lump in her throat. “I promise.” Even though he wouldn’t remember, she still felt ashamed of lying to him.
“I’ll be waiting,” he said, and then got out of the car. He jogged to the front door and went inside.
Ava took a shaky breath and buried her face in her hands. She gave into the tears, but only for a moment. She wiped her eyes and readied for the next kill.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
HYSTERIA
Ava pulled up to the cabin and saw, through the heavy rain, Melissa on the porch smoking a cigarette. She got out of the car and jogged toward Melissa.
“Is everything okay?” Melissa asked, and then inhaled the smoke. “Why were you so sad?”
Ava was trying so hard to keep it together. “Peter is having his memory erased of me.”
Her jaw flew open. “What?”
“Savina said it would be better if he only knew me as a classmate.”
“And you’re going to let her do this?”
“I can’t stop her.”
“He can become one of us.”
She shook her head. “No. It’s forbidden. Isn’t that what you’ve been telling me this whole time?”
“Forget what I said. Peter loves you no matter what. I mean, he didn’t even freak out that Savina healed him.”
“He’s just confused right now. He doesn’t know what to think.”
Melissa narrowed her green eyes. “Did you even try to stop Savina or persuade her not to?”
“She told me to stay away from him, Mel. And I didn’t. She told me about George, the Ephemeral she fell in love with, but Corbin killed him. Right in front of her.”
“Corbin’s dead—.”
“And Devon isn’t.”
“Why are you giving up so easily? Where’s the stubborn Ava I’ve known my entire life?”
“Didn’t you see what happened to him? How can I stop Savina when I feel so guilty that I almost got him killed? I don’t deserve him, Mel. He needs this.”
Melissa shook her head. “Why don’t you let him decide what’s best? It’s his choice. Savina’s only taking the easy way out because she doesn’t know what he is to you.”
“She knows, Mel. She can feel it.” Ava walked past Melissa toward the door. “Just let it be.” She didn’t want to think about it anymore. She walked inside the cabin and everyone looked up.
Thomas rushed up to her and crushed her against him. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you. I’m so glad you’re okay.”
Gillian hugged her once Thomas released her. “Thankfully we have these necklaces. We wanted to help you, but the bombs demolished half of the school. We helped the Ephemerals escape. But we were so worried about you.”
“I’m fine.”
But she wasn’t. She was seconds from falling apart at the seams. She couldn’t wait to be done with this night.
Moments later, Savina arrived. They were all tired, filthy, yet ready to execute Trudy. She only hoped by killing her, Xavier would fight back. Ava knew Xavier wasn’t a Halfling. But what if Savina was right? What if he was only doing this because he was bound? She hoped Colden and the other Aureole would take care of Devon and all of it would end.
“Trudy McVaine is very powerful,” Savina said. “She can turn invisible and make you see images from your past or anything she wants.”
“How is that possible?” Jeremy asked.
“She reaches inside your mind and pulls painful memories to the forefront. You see nothing else but those images. But she can also project new images.”
Ava drew an unsteady breath. “How do we stop it?”
“You must keep your mind clear.”
“So wait, why are we killing Trudy and not Xavier?” Thomas asked. “Wasn’t he the one who kidnapped them?”
“She has been keeping Ephemerals as prisoners and changing them into Enchanters. Xavier and his group could all be Halflings under compulsion. Also, Trudy is using a man to help her. He is being coerced and we must not kill him. Gillian, you must overpower his mind.”
“What if we go back and we’re ambushed by the Halflings?” Ava asked. “Are we supposed to save them or kill them?”
“Only kill in self-defense. I would prefer you save them.”
“Where will you be?” Melissa asked.
“I will be tending to the Ephemerals you all found tonight,” Savina said. “You will be fine. There are only two. You only need to kill Trudy. You will come back to the Manor when you’ve finished your task. I will see you all soon,” she said, and then left.
“Are we all ready?” Melissa asked.
“More than ever,” Ava said.
Xavier might have kidnapped them, but Trudy had tortured the Ephemerals, including Peter. She had almost killed him, but tonight she would die. Ava was sure of it.
She followed her friends out the door, and waited a moment with them on the porch, watching and listening to the rain, mentally preparing. Energy and vengeance flowed through each of them.
“Does it have to be raining?” Gillian asked. “Can’t we take the fancy new SUV?”
Lance laughed. “Great way to sneak up on Enchanters. Come on, it’s not that far.”
Ava smugly stepped off the porch and used her invisible umbrella, not getting wet.
“How are you doing that? Can’t you do it to us? It’s messing up my hair.”
She shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Melissa chuckled and then looped her arm with Ava. “If we hurry, we can save him.”
Ava shook her head. “No. This is for the best. If he doesn’t get involved, he can live a normal, happy life.”
“I hardly think he’ll have one without you.”
“He won’t even know we were friends.”
“Stop gabbing,” Gillian said. “Let’s hurry up.”
Ava and Melissa led the way through the forest behind the cabin to Trudy McVaine’s hideout. Enemy Enchanters were so close to them, yet they couldn’t see the cabin because of the protective charm.
A few miles later, they arrived back where Ava had started the evening. The lights outside of the house were turned out, but there was a soft blue hue in the front room. She assumed it was a TV.
She was grateful for the rain since it silenced their footsteps. They hunched down behind tall bushes in front of the house.
“Is this where you all were?” Thomas asked.
“No. We were stuck in an underground room.”
She felt his hand on her shoulder, and then he squeezed. “I’m sorry I doubted you.”<
br />
“Thanks.”
“They’re going to die tonight,” he vowed.
She nodded.
Through the window, Ava could see a blond woman kissing a brunette man on the couch.
“I think I’m going to gag,” Melissa said.
“Can we hurry up and get this over with?” Gillian asked. “I hate getting wet.”
Ava didn’t mind getting wet, but the constant pelting was annoying. “Melissa, you’re going to have to turn invisible and sneak in. Then keep them distracted or something so we can get inside.”
The man stopped kissing her and smiled. Then, he pulled something out of his jeans pocket.
Melissa turned away. “Oh, they are not about to do what I think they are.”
“No, he just pulled out a ring box,” Lance said.
“He’s definitely possessed. She’s so ugly. He’s gonna have to get a pulley or something to get that ring around her fat finger. Good to know the Enchanter world is balanced with uggos and pretties.”
Ava rolled her eyes. “Go on.”
Melissa turned invisible, but Ava could tell where she was since the rain bounced off her. They waited, and watched Trudy gloat as Milo slid the ring on her and they continued kissing. If Melissa didn’t hurry, they were sure to go further.
Ava averted her eyes, but felt someone watching her. She turned toward the woods, but she saw no one. She shuddered. Was Xavier there?
Her pulse accelerated.
“What?” Thomas asked.
“I feel it again. Like someone’s watching us.”
He looked around. “I don’t see anyone.”
“We just have to be careful. Gillian, as soon as we’re inside, you’ve got to control Milo.”
“Got it.”
“Lance, try to absorb her powers and I’ll drown her.” She met Thomas’s eyes. “You’ll need to burn her once she’s dead.”
He smiled. “I like this new you.”
She pretended she didn’t hear that.
Something crashed to the floor inside, and Ava gasped.
Trudy and Milo stopped kissing. “Who’s there?” she shouted.
The front door opened as if by a ghost. It wasn’t exactly what Ava had in mind, but they pounced on it. She rushed inside with the others behind her.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Trudy yelled, sitting up. Her yellow hair matted around her round face, and her deep blue eyes glared.
“I’m sorry, are we interrupting something?” an invisible Melissa said.
“Who are you?” Milo asked, putting his rail-thin body in front of Trudy. His brown hair split down the middle and came to his shoulders in small waves. He wheezed, and his eyes twitched from one person to the next. He had no idea any of them were Enchanters. And Ava assumed he had not known they had been held captive.
“You don’t know us or this woman.” Gillian peered into his eyes and it was amazing to see how quickly he fell into a trance.
Trudy smiled. “So you came back. Good luck trying to kill me.” And like that, she disappeared.
Gillian inhaled a sharp breath, losing her power over Milo. “Where did she go?”
“Gillian,” Ava screamed, and then ran outside the cabin. She heard Melissa and Gillian bickering, but tried to focus on finding an invisible woman.
Jeremy came up beside her.
“Can you hear her?” she asked.
“This way,” he said and took off.
The trees shielded quite a bit of the rain, but it was still hard to see and hear. She stopped at one point and sensed something or someone, and then she moved as quietly as she could to capture it.
“Trudy!” Milo’s voice muffled through the rain. It was apparent that Gillian’s control didn’t work very well.
A branch cracked to Ava’s right, and she twisted her head in that direction. She could barely see the water bounce off an unseen object. She darted for her, tackling her invisible body to the ground. It was easy for her to hold Trudy down, even though she was almost twice Ava’s size.
“I got her,” she called out, and jerked Trudy to her feet.
“You know, you really are powerful. Havok will love your powers,” Trudy said.
“Who?”
“He’s weak right now, but once he has all your powers, the world will be a better place.”
Devon was now calling himself Havok. Could he be more obsessed with Corbin? And he was set on obtaining the Elemental powers. She hoped Devon was being killed this very moment.
“He will never get our powers. And I hardly think a world of war is a better place.”
“Only for a short time. Until all those Ephemerals are dead. Speaking of, how is your precious Ephemeral?”
She gripped Trudy’s arm, and imagined her underwater.
Trudy chuckled. “I know you all think you can kill me, but it won’t happen.”
“What makes you so sure?” Melissa asked as she and Gillian arrived with Milo in tow. Jeremy walked behind them.
Where were Lance and Thomas?
Trudy smiled. “Because I have my own army.” Then a deafening crack echoed in the suddenly bright night. A tree branch broke and collapsed to the ground. Ava darted out of the way and lost her grip on Trudy. She landed on the ground inches from the smoking branch.
“Ava,” Gillian screamed angrily.
Ava clutched onto Trudy’s leg, which made Trudy fall with a thud. She got to her knees and forced Trudy on hers. She imagined her in the ocean. The waves angrily crashed over her, but she didn’t gasp.
She smiled. “Is that all you’ve got?”
“What the hell is going on?” Milo asked. His eyes darted all around him and he struggled against Melissa.
“Gillian, control him,” she yelled, and then her eyes rolled back and she collapsed.
“Melissa,” Gillian shouted and ran to her.
Milo rushed toward Ava and Trudy, but then Jeremy grabbed him.
Something hard struck Ava on the head and then again. She tried to duck and realized it was hail the size of baseballs, but they weren’t falling randomly from the sky. Instead, they were directed right at her. One hit the side of her face, her back, and her legs. It infuriated her.
“Do something,” Gillian yelled, trying to shield herself from the hail.
Ava tried generating water, but nothing happened.
Focus!
She took a breath, but then saw a woman unpinning laundry. The sky was gray with a building wind. She looked around at her own backyard. Then her eyes fixated on the woman who was taking down sheets from a laundry line and advising her daughter to go inside the house. Once the daughter was out of sight, she could feel a smile spread across her face. Feeling the building wind through her hair, electricity surged within her. Lightning cracked above her, waiting for her to tell it where to hit. Seconds later, the long beautiful veins reached down and struck the redheaded woman. Then, the woman collapsed, dead.
Ava cried out and tried moving. It was as if she were stuck inside the memory. She was frozen. Her mother’s dead, bloody face lodged in her vision. She shook her head as if to remove the images from her mind.
Trudy laughed heartily, and then Ava could see the present again. But something about the memory wasn’t right. It felt as if she were the one that coerced the lightning to strike her mother.
“Your mother was so weak, it was sickening,” Trudy said. “Too bad she died. Havok would have had one of the Elemental powers.”
“Devon killed her?” Ava clenched her teeth. Water ran down her arms, and then lightning cracked inches from her, breaking her hold on Trudy.
Another strike landed near Jeremy and Milo and he jumped out of the way. A third strike hit another tree causing a fire next to Ava. Jeremy scrambled to his feet, created an intense wind that directed toward Trudy, like a freight train, but Milo moved to protect her. The callous wind ripped Milo’s head from his body. Trudy quickly escaped and disappeared into the curtain of heavy rain as lightning
continued to connect to the ground and trees.
It seemed as if the hail and lightning stopped immediately. Once the wind stopped, Milo’s head dropped onto the ground at Ava’s feet. His horror-struck eyes peered up at Ava and the rain rinsed the blood away.
She turned her head but the nausea was too quick for her. She hurled until her sides ached. A hammer pounded inside her head and her eyes refused to focus. Without looking back, she ran in Trudy’s direction.
“Ava,” Melissa called after her, and Ava guessed she had just awakened.
She charged through the thick forest, ignoring the briars and branches that snagged her clothes and the raindrops that pelted her skin stinging it. Her eyes blurred from the water. She wanted to kill Trudy, but how could she if she was outnumbered? And why couldn’t she focus enough?
Her heart sped along with her legs as the tightness filled her lungs. They ached for more air. Tripping on roots, she shoved the branches out of her way. The rain and the wind made her tremble even more through the thick fog that hovered in the woods.
Once she reached a break in the woods, her legs wobbled, and she dropped to her knees. Tears leaked from her eyes as she rocked back and forth and held her stomach. Her body shook violently. An angry red glowed from her necklace. The images of her mother. The lightning strikes. Milo’s severed head flashed in her mind.
She knew someone could place images in her head but didn’t really think it would feel as if she were there again. Reliving it all over, only to realize her mother had been murdered.
“Ava?” She heard a trembling voice behind her.
Impossible. He couldn’t be here. Everything ceased, including her breathing. She didn’t hear the rain splashing into the soft ground, or felt it against her.
“Ava?” She felt strong hands on her shoulders.
She whirled around to see his face. “Peter?”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
GIVING IN
Rain bounced off Ava as her knees sunk deeper into the muddy ground while Peter stood over her with wide eyes, mouth opened, and rushed breathing. His face paled as he bent over and gripped his knees, to steady himself. His brown hair, like hers, was soaked.
Under A Blood Moon (Elemental Enchanters) Page 25
