by Rain Oxford
Hail got us some poptarts out of the kitchen for our dinner. I pushed open our window at four-fifteen.
“We’re going to die.”
“Well, then, I think we should live a little first.”
With no more arguing from him, we made it to the archery field without incident. Tatum, Taper, and two others were waiting for us. Logan was a tall seventh grader with a moody air about him, ordinary brown hair, and hazel eyes. Even his t-shirt and jeans were ordinary. Luca, a sixth grader, had a darker Italian complexion with very dark brown hair and light blue/gray eyes. He dressed in a high-quality red sweater and black jeans. His hygiene alone clued me in that he was more intelligent than most of my classmates.
“Where do we start?” Logan asked.
“There is a house on Fourth Street where a girl went missing,” I supplied.
“That is Alyssa’s house.”
“Okay, you guys discuss the plan. I’m going to run to the bathroom.” I gave Hail a quick nod and took off for the school building. Hail would understand that I wanted the others distracted.
“The school is locked!” Luca yelled after me. I ignored him.
A lock was no match for my magic, thus I opened the back door to the gym easily. Wasting no time, I made my way to my English class. The door was unlocked, so I entered the room to find no blood, body, or dueling teachers. After a few minutes, I decided I must have had the wrong day, when suddenly there was a noise in the hallway. I dived behind the teacher’s desk just as the door burst opened.
Peeking out from under the metal desk, I could make out two women’s legs and shoes. One of them was clearly shoving the other.
“I told you, I have no idea where they are,” Mrs. Sharp said. There was the sharp and unmistakable sound of someone being slapped.
“I suggest you change your answer. I know you took the kids and Keigan,” Ms. Sterling said.
For whatever reason I hadn’t heard their conversation in Hail’s vision, I knew I had to heed the warning. I had to stop Mrs. Sharp from killing Ms. Sterling. I couldn’t divert their magical attacks without being discovered.
I created a spherical shield around me. This wasn’t a shield of protection, but a shield of illusion. The outside of the shield bent light around until it would appear almost invisible. The only way it could be seen is if someone was looking directly at it when I had to move because there would be distortion. I stood and faced the two teachers, who were so busy with each other that they noticed nothing odd. I created another sphere, much smaller, in my hand. This ball contained a very unique blend of elements that Vretial taught me. It wasn’t that it used every element; it actually used whatever was handy to create a distraction. It was specifically designed not to hurt anyone.
I tossed the sphere at the ceiling above them and it burst open. Out poured rain, lightning, and thunder until where was a full-sized storm compacted in the room. Water flooded the floor as lightning struck desks. Both teachers, as confused as they were, realized they were in over their heads and bolted from the room. I ended my spells and waltzed back to the archery field.
“Why are you wet?” Logan asked.
I looked down at my soaked clothes. “Oh, hey, look at that. I wonder how that happened.”
Hail snickered. “We have to be home by seven,” Hail told the others.
“What happens at seven?” Taper asked.
“We die,” I answered. “So let’s hurry. Logan, Luca, what are your skills? What are you good at?”
“I like art,” Logan volunteered.
“Okay, boring and useless. You can be the pretty boy who dies first in the movie. Luca?”
“Um… I can drive.”
“Useful in case we need a quick exit. What else? Anybody?” In order to be a good ruler, I had to understand the strengths and weaknesses of my subjects. Even the most useless skill can be utilized by someone smart enough to use it.
“I can make cupcakes,” Tatum said quietly. “Pink flavored ones. Um… I can also---”
Her brother slapped his hand over her mouth. “You can’t tell anyone about that!” he said.
Hail put his arm around me and pulled until my back was against his chest. “Check them out with your magic. There’s something weird about all of them. The twins are definitely hiding something.”
My jaw dropped as I did what my brother suggested. I was so used to people being all that they seemed that I hadn’t even bothered to check them out. Not one of the four people in front of me was human. “Okay,” I said, disguising my shock. “I think if we’re going to work together, we should be honest in what we are. Does everyone agree?”
“We’re not supposed to say anything,” Taper said.
“We are all on equal footing here and want the same thing. We need to trust each other to save our friends,” Luca said.
“Then you go first,” Logan insisted.
“I’m a vouxeng, sort of a psychic vampire. I can control people’s moods, including my own, but I have to take energy every few days or if I overexert myself. I can calm myself by taking someone’s calm energy. I could also kill someone, but I don’t want to ever have to do that. The older I get, the more powerful I will become. My uncle could control dreams when he wanted a certain type of energy. He could make people do things and pretty much control their minds. He was killed before I was born.”
“I’m fae,” Logan said, glaring as if he was daring one of us to tease him.
“So you’re like a wizard?”
“I like art. That’s my skill; I can make illusion magic using art. It was a rare, highly prized skill for my people because we were the ones who made our hiding places undetectable. I can draw a life-sized door and people will walk by it, thinking it was a door without looking directly at it. I once drew a sun and posted the paper on the window, and everyone believed it was daylight out.”
“That could be useful. So how about you two?”
The twins looked at each other. “Our mother is from Malta,” Taper said. “She is of the fire tribe, whereas our father was from the land tribe. Their love was secretive and dangerous until our mother was supposed to be married to another man. Our father jumped in the way, they got married, and called it an accident. They were a little ostracized, but they were happy. Mom was pregnant with us when there was a light.”
“Mom said it was the brightest thing she ever saw… but she was never happy again. The light left her here on Earth, with no idea what happened. She was alone and it took her years to figure out how to live here. We never met our father. Every day, she sits in front of the living room window and prays to Madus that our father will find her.”
“I can see, hear, and smell through the senses of animals. I can spy on virtually anyone. Tatum can see things. If she touches an object, she can see the people who have touched it, the thoughts they had, or conversations that happened around it.”
“Okay. We can work with this. Taper and Tatum, you two need to survey Alyssa’s house. I can get Tatum inside. Taper, spy on the police. I want to know every bit of information they have and every move they make. Luca, I need you to keep an eye on the teachers. They’re up to something. Some of them are demons, though, so be careful. If any teacher is angry, scared, or excited, I want to know about it. Logan, get some distractions ready. We’ll all meet back Monday for lunch.”
“You haven’t told us your skills yet. Or are you embarrassed? It’s okay if you don’t have much skill,” Logan said.
Hail and I looked at each other and smirked. “Our mother is a goddess, our father is the most powerful Noquodi ever born, our uncle is a three-thousand-year-old dragon, and if you share this information with anyone, our demon bodyguard will destroy you in a very agonizing way. Our power is limitless, but if that isn’t specific enough for you, I’m a genius and Hail is a seer.”
They all stared open-mouthed, so Hail clapped his hands once. “Get your butts in gear, people, we are on a schedule,” he demanded. Luca, Logan, and Taper scattered.
/> When Tatum, Hail, and I arrived at Alyssa’s house, the cops were gone and the driveway was empty. We found the most secluded spot in the back yard of the house and I put the light-bending shield around us. The sliding glass door was locked, but I ran my magic through the metal handle and got the image of the type of lock it was; it was easy to unlock with Iadnah energy.
We entered the house and Tatum snooped around while Hail and I kept watch. She started crying when she touched a children’s book on the coffee table, but refused to tell us why. It wasn’t until we went into the girl’s bedroom that Tatum got a real idea of what happened.
“An evil man searched this room, looking for her. She wasn’t here, which made him furious. It’s so hard to see anything because the cops have touched everything. We need to try out back.”
“Why? What happened outside?”
“It’s just a feeling. I can feel it; the forest is her safe place.”
We went outside and I relocked the door behind us. Tatum could obviously see a lot more here… especially when she closed her eyes. She went from tree to tree in a specific order, as if following someone. “What happened?” I asked.
“He found her. She heard him break into her house while she was out running… She was a wolf. Her parents weren’t home and she wasn’t supposed to be outside, so she was afraid to do anything. She… became a girl again and hid in a tree, but he found her.”
“Did he kill her?” Hail asked.
“Not yet. Not here.”
“We’re out of time,” Hail warned me. “We’ll talk about things over lunch on Monday.”
Despite our rush, we walked Tatum home. After all, there was a demon running around and kidnapping children. Dad’s car wasn’t in the driveway when we got home. Hail climbed through the window and stopped, backing up against the glass to hide me. I figured that whatever trouble we were in, I might as well face it. I pushed him out of the way and climbed through. Mom was sitting on my bed, leaning back with her arms folded.
“Hi, Mom. Ron and I were just going for a walk,” Hail said.
“And yet I know for a fact that you are both grounded.”
“Please don’t tell Dad,” I begged. We hadn’t factored our mother caring that we snuck away into our plans.
“And put him in a bad mood? Not a chance. I’ll punish you myself.”
“How?” Hail asked, taking my hand.
“You’ll see,” she said before standing up and walking out.
I squeezed Hail’s hand. “We’re in deep shit.”
Chapter 8
Dylan
I started off that morning determined to get my mother out of the building. It helped that I had the support of every single nurse. My mother was the kind of woman who could bring down even the happiest people, and the nurses had enough problems without her ridiculing and snapping at them. She also spent every moment of my shift making my job and my life hell.
“She hit the call button every five minutes last night, most of the time just to fluff her pillows or hand her the remote.”
Mrs. Parris, our youngest nurse, happened to be walking by as Ms. Manning ranted and paused. “She, at one point, said she pushed the button because she wanted to make sure I wasn’t getting fatter on her dime. I told her I am pregnant, not fat. She said I would make a horrible mother because it took me too long to get to her when she pushed the button. She said if I treated my baby like I did her, the baby would commit suicide!” She was fired up, and rightly so.
Mrs. Parris was a wonderful woman who volunteered her time at the youth center when she wasn’t working. She loved kids and was five months into her first pregnancy. Having lived through Divina’s pregnancy, I sympathized with any woman who had to work while with child.
“That woman has no idea what it means to be a mother,” I said.
Grumbling about evil presences in the hospital, Mrs. Parris left. Ms. Manning gave me a look. “Isn’t she your mother?”
I groaned. “Please don’t tell me there’s a resemblance.”
“No, she just demanded that I ‘get her lazy bum of a son in there’ before she disembowels someone. She was demanding morphine.”
“Overdose her.”
“Dylan! That’s horrible!”
I had more important things to worry about than having a devil in my hospital; namely having demons after my sons. Had I known the middle school was infested with demons, I would have had Xul guarding my boys from the start. It was also pretty obvious that the “vampires” who tried to get my book would try something else. “Don’t worry about her; she’s well enough to leave.”
“Dylan, she almost died three days ago. I know she can’t stay here; there are already two nurses threatening to quit. She went to the nursery yesterday and started cussing at the babies. She went outside with some bread to feed the bird and swatted them with her cane when they got close!”
“I am well aware what kind of person she is. Don’t let anybody quit, and don’t tell anyone I’m her son.”
“Nobody would believe me anyway.” A buzzer went off and she looked down at her switchboard. “She’s pushed the button again.”
“I’ll take care of it. Prepare the morgue.”
“It’s been prepped and ready since she arrived.”
I went to her room to find my mother thumbing her call button with frustration.
“About time you got here! Get me another pillow!” she demanded when she saw me. She had three pillows.
“Only if I can smother you with it. You’re getting kicked out. I’m not losing my nurses because you can’t act like a civilized human being.”
“You can’t kick me out! I’ve not recovered yet!”
The unfortunate truth was that if she couldn’t take care of herself, even when she was healthy. “You can’t stay here. I’ll get you a motel room and hire someone to help you there. All you need now is to rest and heal. You can’t do that if you’re screaming at babies.”
“I’ll go home with you.”
“Not a chance.”
“Then I’m staying here. One or the other, boy, you don’t have a choice.”
I did have a choice; I could have kicked her out on the streets. As great a plan as that sounded, however, I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror if I did that. For all her flaws, her hate, neglect, and abuse, the woman was my mother.
The problem was, she would ridicule and pick a fight with anyone. Mordon would burn her to ash, the boys would use her for target practice, Xul would eat her soul, and my wife would… “Mordon? Are you with Divina?”
“For the moment. I was just heading out. Why?”
“If Divina isn’t busy, ask her to come to the hospital. I need her to pick someone up. We have a houseguest staying.”
“For how long?”
“I wonder…” I said. “Divina will need to drive the Charger.”
“Your houseguest wouldn’t make it home alive.”
“I’m counting on it.” I gave my mother my most trustworthy smile and she shrunk back. “I’ll have my wife pick you up. I hope you’re not hungry, because all our food disappeared.”
She looked at my wedding ring in shock, and then swallowed her surprise. “Well, if your wife is any half-way decent woman, she can cook your mother some damn food.”
“I’m counting on it.”
“Divina is on her way.”
“Good.” I went about my rounds, checking on my patients. After about half an hour, the overhead came on.
“Dr. Yatunus, you are needed at the front. Take your time, it’s just your wife here to see you,” Ms. Manning said sourly.
I scoffed, but concentrated on bandaging my patient. He laughed. “Better get up there, son. You don’t want to keep your better half waiting.”
“Especially not now that I’m about to drop my mother in her lap. That should do it. Be careful with the stiches this time, Jack. You shouldn’t be fixing your roof at night in November; that’s what you have a son for.”
�
��Adrian went to Florida on his honeymoon and the house wasn’t going to fix itself. There’s a leak in the basement, the stove makes a weird smell when I turn it on, and there’s something in the attic that sounds a lot bigger than a rat.”
Shit. The old man was going to take his riffle and shoot his attic squatter. “Sunday is my day off. I’ll come over with my brother and we’ll take care of the chores.”
“I can’t let you---”
I glared. “How many years did you serve in the army?” I asked, cutting him off. The old man was a doctor in his time. I was in emergency medicine, but what I did was easy compared to what he did under fire. After he got out of the army, he went into construction, where he was almost immediately in a major accident. As soon as he was out of the hospital, he went right back to work to support his wife and baby. Altogether, he worked for nearly sixty years. “You did what you were supposed to do, now it’s your time to sit on the porch and do nothing. Mordon and I will be over at nine.”
“Morgan?”
“Close enough.”
The old man left and I headed to the nurse’s station, where Divina was waiting. She was absolutely gorgeous with a thin red plaid, flannel shirt and skin-tight, dark blue jeans. Her jeans were tucked inside her dark brown leather, high-heeled boots. Her shiny black hair was loose and falling, slightly curly, over her shoulders and her deep blue eyes sparkled like she was up to something. She wasn’t wearing lip-gloss, but her lips were the perfect shade of berry-pink.
There were many reasons I loved this woman, and she gave me a new one each day. No, her beauty wasn’t just skin deep; I loved her for her giving heart. She was a goddess, but she showed her love for me in everything she did. Even when she kept the Sight from me, I knew it was her way of trying to protect me.
“Thank you for coming,” I said quietly.
She smiled. “You asked me to. Mordon said we’re going to have a houseguest.”
“If you think you can handle it.” I led her to my mother’s room.
She put her hand on the closed door and her eyes widened. “What monster do you have locked in this room? I have felt demons less evil than this.”
