AIR Series Box Set

by Amanda Booloodian

  Trembling, I moved my finger off the trigger and slid down to the ground. I'd already shot Rider once tonight, not that he seemed to care, but I certainly didn't want to shoot him by accident. I was having a hard time catching my breath.

  “Gone.” My voice wasn't as clear as before. Rider stood ready to attack anything that approached. He stayed like that for several minutes. I didn't move. As I sat there, I discovered tears running down my face. The adrenaline rush faded and I felt like I was falling apart. Silently, I wiped the tears off my face hoping Rider hadn't seen them. Rider began to relax his stance. He stepped beside me and leaned down to get a good look at me, never putting his back to the woods.

  “Are you all right?” he asked.

  “Was Essy okay?”

  “She and the others are in hiding until I let them know it is safe.”

  Sighing with relief, I leaned my head back against the cliff face.

  “You are bleeding,” Rider said.

  “I was tossed into a cliff wall and then ground into it. Of course I'm bleeding.”

  “We should leave.”

  “Give me a second.” I steadied myself. I made sure the Path was pushed firmly away. I thought I might drown in caustic darkness if I slipped back into the Path here. “What's the quickest way back?” I asked.

  “Can you walk?” Rider asked.

  Since there was no way I was going to let someone carry me out of the woods, I said the only thing I could. “I'll be fine.”

  “This way,” Rider motioned.

  The shortest way back didn’t involve a trail. It was straight through the woods, across a field, and through more woods. We ended up taking several breaks. Twice Rider heard something moving through the thick foliage, but both times, he decided it was animals moving around. A few times, we stopped so I could rest and catch my breath. When we finally emerged behind one of the buildings, it looked like the gathering was over. Only Travis and James lingered. They headed toward us after we stepped out of the woods. I leaned against the building and slid down, sitting hard on the ground. Rider stood close to me.

  When Travis was close enough, I asked him to call Logan and get him out here. He didn't ask any questions, which was a relief. The ordeal in the woods was too fresh to relive.

  James moved closer to me. Rider made a low menacing noise, and James stopped.

  “I'll bring no harm to anyone here,” James said.

  Rider took a step back to stand beside me, but didn't relax. James walked forward and crouched in front of me. “I'm sorry for earlier. I'm not sure what came over me.”

  I nodded.

  Travis ended his call and came to join us once more. “Logan is already on his way. Cassie, are you okay? James sensed something in the area and we sent everyone away.”

  I was getting sick of everyone asking me if I was okay. Maybe if I didn't give people reason to be concerned, they'd stop asking? “I'm good, just worn out.” I glanced at James, and then back at Travis. Travis took the hint.

  “James is safe to talk to, Cassie. He has clearance and I'll vouch for him.”

  Nodding, I looked up at Rider. He kept his eyes on the woods. After rolling my head on my shoulder to let some of the tension loose, I followed Rider's gaze. I let the Path fall over me without resisting it and felt through the area around us. Rider shivered, but didn't take his eyes off the woods. Checking the entire area around the building, and above for good measure, I didn't sense any of the oil slicked energy that resonated around the creature that attacked us.

  Before I felt overwhelmed by the force of the power, I pulled myself away from the Path. James looked at me appraisingly. He didn't ask any questions and I didn't offer anything.

  “Let's move inside, out of the open air.” I pulled myself up and we entered one of the buildings. I cleaned up while we waited for Logan. He arrived with Vincent in tow.

  Logan's face looked more angular. It seemed wrong to me that the elf hadn't smiled much in days. He didn't say anything as he came over, giving me a cursory glance. He glared at Rider, Thomas, and James. “Who are you?” he asked gruffly to James.

  “He has clearance,” Travis said.

  “Show me.” Logan looked over the card that James produced. After careful inspection, he passed it back. “Fine. Explain.”

  I didn't need to see the Path to feel how infuriated Logan was. His fury engulfed the entire room, bouncing off walls and people. Rider filled Logan in. Looking around, I saw that Vincent stood a bit away from the others. His hands were balled into fists. From here, his eyes looked solid black. His arms trembled slightly.

  As soon as Rider finished, filling in my part of the story for me, Vincent turned around and headed out the door.

  “Now, wait a minute!” Logan called after him.

  “No.” Vincent’s voice was shaking. He walked out.

  “Stay away from the Troll!” Logan yelled as Vincent retreated. He turned back to the room. “I've gotta go out and take a look at the site. Travis, would you mind if I used one of your ATVs again?”

  “I should go with you,” Travis responded. “It's dark and I know the way well. James, would you mind staying here with Cassie?”

  “I'm going,” I stated.

  “Cassie,” Logan started.

  I glared at him and stood up. Without looking back, I walked outside.

  Chapter 11

  The trip there was short compared to the journey that Rider and I took. Travis stayed with the ATVs, ready to lead us back out again. Logan handed out flashlights and then grabbed his bag. Rider led us along the cliff toward the area where the murder occurred. The oily residue still clung to the air. Logan stopped at one section of the cliff and flashed the light around. It took me a minute to realize that this was where my encounter with the creature took place.

  Shining my flashlight through the trees, I tried to search out the area where the creature must have stood. There was no evidence that it had been there. We went further toward the cave until we found what remained of the troll. My stomach clenched and threatened to rebel. The acrid smell, which must have been the troll's blood, filled the air. Rider was right. It had been torn to pieces.

  The turbulent energy in the area lingered. Between the smell of blood and presence of that horrible residue in the air, I was beginning to feel ill.

  “This is a mess,” Logan said. I could hear the sadness in the elf’s voice. “I’ll call it in.” He turned away and called the office asking for a code four clean up at the Sanctuary.

  He turned back to us when he hung up. “Let's go back to where you were attacked.”

  “Sure,” I said, thankful to get away from the smell.

  It didn't take long to reach the spot.

  Rider stopped and inspected part of the cliff. From his position, I could tell that was where I had been crushed into the rock face. Rider was a mixed jumble of energy, so it was hard to get any clear reading of him without entering the Path.

  “We're going to send you back to the entrance with Travis,” Logan said to Rider.

  “Thanks for your help tonight, Rider,” I said, looking at the cliff.

  He nodded. “Do I need to wait for anyone at the entrance?”

  “No. We'll stop by if we have any questions,” Logan responded.

  Rider nodded. With another glance at the cliff, he went back to Travis. Logan waited for them to drive away before pulling out flares for the area. We only had a few in the bag. Logan placed them all around the perimeter.

  “You know,” Logan said, “that hole in Rider's side looks an awful lot like a bullet hole.”

  “Oh, yeah,” I said, “it was the strangest thing.” I had forgotten about how Rider and I met up that evening. I relayed the story.

  “He attacked you?” Vincent asked. Jumping, I turned and almost fell as Vincent walked out of the woods. Logan, however, didn't seem the least bit surprised when Vincent joined the conversation.

  “He said it was instinct,” I said, relating the information
again. I shrugged. “He made up for it here anyway. If he hadn't shown up, I would probably be dead now.”

  “Where'd you go?” Logan asked Vincent.

  “I attempted to track the thing, but had no luck.”

  “It flew away,” I said. “Hard to track that.”

  Vincent shrugged.

  “Look,” Logan pointed at Vincent, “you can’t wander away on your own. You're either a part of our team or not. Make a choice and stick with it.”

  Vincent's surprise mirrored my own. To cover the awkwardness, I started to go over what happened at the cliff. I flashed my light once more into the trees above me. As I finished my part of the story again, the enormity of the night started catching up to me. I pushed it back down. Being scared about it wasn't going to help.

  Logan scaled the tree the creature sat on, but didn't find anything. The ground wasn't wet, so there were no footprints.

  “Anything in the Path?” Logan asked me.

  “I can try it, but I'm adjusting to how much I see now,” I admitted. “I'm not sure how much use it'll be.”

  “It's been a few days. Things aren't back to normal?” Logan asked. I looked up at him just in time to catch a glare he shot in Vincent's direction.

  “Perhaps you could explain the change,” said Vincent. If he noticed the glare, he ignored it.

  “The Path is different now. There was so much of it hidden before. I see things—” I broke off, trying to think of a better way of explaining. “I see floods of information when I saw only a trickle before. I'll adjust.” Before they could say anything more, I closed my eyes and opened the Path.

  Like earlier, I tried to let only a little through. Opening my eyes, I looked around. Ignoring the glowing centers that were Logan and Vincent, and the vestiges they left behind, I started feeling for the remains of emotional residue from the creature. Once I found the traces, I tried to follow them back into the past. It was a struggle. The deluge of colors roaring by and the constant shimmer in the air didn't want to go back; it only wanted to move forward. It was almost as if the Path itself wanted to get rid of the creature's presence.

  Something in the air caught my eye. Streams of blues and white swirled around. Currents ran into each other, mixed, and swirled apart. Fascinated, I watched as it moved through the trees, making them sway. Was I seeing the wind?

  Feeling a hand on my shoulder, I turned. Vincent's feelings of concern fell over me. His Path was firmly in the present. His whirl of color mixed with others, much like the waves of air. Inside, he fought against waves of other energy crashing against him. There was one current wrapped firmly around his own. He wasn't fighting that flow. It didn't take long for me to realize that current was my own.

  The realization struck me like a blow. Distracted, the Path swamped over me. Closing my eyes, I saw its flux of color, but with some effort, I managed to push it away. When I opened my eyes, I looked at Vincent.

  “Did you see anything?” Vincent asked. He was detached, and could have been asking what I saw inside him or what I saw in the area.

  It was better to take the easy route until I thought through what I had seen inside Vincent. “I couldn't see anything about the creature,” I replied.

  His eyes searched mine. In the flare light, I could see small signs of relief as the tightness of his face relaxed.

  We moved the flares around the murder site. The smell was horrendous, but Logan managed to find some vapor rub in the bottom of our bag. We put some under our nose, which helped a little.

  “Take a look at this,” Logan said, indicating something on the ground. As I leaned in closer, I realized he was inspecting a piece of the body. I swallowed hard a few times to keep from retching. “Look at the joint,” Logan continued.

  Vincent joined us and then moved to another area. “It's the same with this piece as well,” Vincent said.

  I hated knowing that I was missing something. Blaming it on fatigue was an option, but not a good one. Instead, I cleared my head and tried to detach myself from the situation. I looked at the finger joint, and then moved over to Vincent. The joints had the same type of damage.

  “He was literally torn to pieces,” Logan said.

  “At each joint,” Vincent added.

  Repulsed, I had to keep my mouth firmly shut in order to keep my lunch down. What was happening with my job? Overnight, I went from relocation to homicide investigation, and, let's face it, I'm no detective.

  “Do you think the creature you saw would be capable of something like this?” Vincent asked.

  I swallowed hard. “It pulled me off the ground without touching me. Whatever it is, it's powerful.”

  “You remember anything else about it?” Logan asked.

  “Nothing,” I replied. “Why would it tear apart the troll? I mean, it doesn't look like it ate anything. There's no way the troll would have attacked it.”

  “Hard to say what the thing eats,” Logan said. “Maybe it tasted the troll and didn't like it?”

  We searched for any sign of missing parts. Opting to examine the smaller pieces, I let Vincent inspect the torso. I'd never say it out loud, but I didn't think I would be able to examine the troll's insides. How I was coping with the smaller parts was a mystery. Every time a morbid thought crept up, I pushed it back down. When I remembered that this troll was alive less than twenty-four hours ago, I locked the thought away. If for one moment I really thought about what happened, I would be done. Logan and Vincent probably thought the same thing. If they could keep going, so could I.

  “Looks like all the parts are here,” said Logan.

  “Lot of blood, too,” Vincent added. “It's not a blood drinker.”

  “Food wasn't its motivation,” I said. “We can start by trying to track its motivation.”

  “You up for seeing more?” Logan asked. I stared at him blankly for a moment. Realization dawned slowly. He wanted me to read the area. The thought churned my stomach.

  “I'm not sure I'll have much luck,” I said. “The other spot didn't give anything up.”

  “I understand if you don't want to try,” Logan said.

  Vincent’s eyes narrowed at Logan, although I’m not sure he noticed. My partner knew which buttons to press. When he put it like that, I had no choice.

  Instead of attempting to pin down the darkness of the creature's energy, I concentrated on the troll. The atmosphere didn't fight me like it had earlier. The troll's imprint didn't want to leave. This was its home, and it wanted to stay, not be lost and forgotten. The wilderness seemed content to keep his memory.

  Pulling through the Path, I went back. I saw the troll alive. He walked back toward his cave. The shimmer of the path dulled. The darkness swelled. I caught movement in the Path, but it blurred. The Path struggled to wash away remnants of the darkness. I struggled against it, trying to pull back the darkness and see, but it was no use.

  The energy of our victim was there. I watched as our troll was torn apart, the darkness hid some of the details, but I had seen enough. It was too much. I threw back the Path.

  I fled away to the edges of our scene and my stomach contents ended up on the ground. No one came near me, for which I was thankful. Slowly, I pushed back the emotionally charged images I had witnessed. Once I got myself under control, I joined the others. In the distance, I could hear an ATV. Our clean-up crew was almost here.

  Taking a deep breath, I plunged in. “There was no reason for it. It appeared, tore-- er, did what it did,” pushing back the images took a bit of effort, “and left.”

  “What was it?” Logan asked.

  I shook my head before his question was fully formed. “No idea. It was hidden, but I saw what it did. I couldn't see any motive.”

  “Where did it come from?” Vincent asked.

  “It came in following the cliff face from that direction,” I said pointing.

  “Where did it go after? Or did it stay here for a time?” Vincent asked. This was a harder question. I was pulling myself out of t
he Path when it was leaving.

  “It went into the woods,” I said.

  “You bring up an interesting question,” Logan said. “Where did the creature come from?”

  “Wouldn’t we have known if something like that lived around here?” I asked.

  “How often do you get Portals?” Vincent asked.

  “We get six or seven natural portals a year in the Mid-West.” This was the type of question I could answer. “That's why we only have a handful of field teams. There are more down south, which is why we have a hub in the Ozarks.”

  “Same locations each time?” Vincent asked.

  “Each time. Our techs let us know when one is getting ready to open. They can monitor the buildup of energy,” Logan said. “Sometimes we don’t get a lot of warning though. Natural portals can be unpredictable.”

  “We're there when one opens to keep anybody from wandering through. In either direction,” I added. “We have a few standard created Portals on the farm.”

  “Nothing from a dimension that might have a creature like this?” Vincent asked.

  “Nothing,” said Logan.

  The ATV noise was gone, and voices approached. We held our discussion as Travis led the other team through the woods. Travis looked weary when he approached. We handed the crime scene over to the crew. They were armed with bags, lights, and coolers. I didn't want to think about what they were going to use the coolers for.

  Chapter 12

  Hiding under my covers all day was tempting, but wasn't really an option. The workday loomed ahead, so I dragged myself out of bed and got ready for the day. When I walked through the living room, Gran's cat hissed at me and scratched my leg. Luckily, I was wearing jeans. I shooed the cat until it slunk away into Gran's room. Gran had left some ibuprofen for me on the counter with a note saying she was over at Morgan's house today. She had also made a pie for Logan and his family.

  Grabbing a drink, I downed the pills. I heard the shower turn on upstairs and knew that Vincent was up. I grabbed leftovers that Gran had left, eating them cold. Wondering what the weather was like, I wandered into the back garden. This was Gran's domain in the summer. She and Cici, the stray fairy that Gran adopted, tended the garden, which produced vast quantities of veggies and herbs throughout the summer and early fall. Cici kept the garden free of insects, except the bees of course, and Gran took care of the planting. The plants were clinging to life. We might even get a few more tomatoes before the end of the season. I wandered out near the tree in the central part of the yard. I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to push back the sadness that threatened to swamp me from the day before. I heard a high-pitched buzz and squeal. Looking around, I spotted Cici flitting around the tree.