“I don’t have to go. I can call Steven and see if he can convince his mother to let him borrow the car,” I let my voice trail off and started to turn back towards the hallway.
“Ugh, fine,” my mother said, defeat clear in her voice. I rushed over to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek before I hurried back to the door. “But try not to be too late, okay?” She said.
“Well, I can’t totally promise that. It is Saturday night, traffic will probably suck up there, yanno?” I said carefully as I pulled open the front door and looked at her over my shoulder.
“Okay, just be safe and try to get home as soon as possible,” she conceded, but I could tell she still had some argument in her that she was holding back. I waved and walked out the door, hearing her call after me not to speed. This ruse had worked in the past because Jodi and Jay really did argue like cats and dogs and when it reached a certain point, Jodi became the Queen of Silent Treatment and out right refused to let Jay drive her home. Too bad for him that if she drove, she was known to abandon him wherever they may have been. After that happened for a second time, Jay always insisted on driving when they went out as a precautionary measure.
Steven was already waiting outside Jodi’s house when I pulled up to the curb. He stood up and climbed into the backseat as Jodi came out the front door. “Why were you waiting outside?”
“I didn’t know what Jodi’s story was gonna be and didn’t want to spoil it by showing up if I wasn’t involved in it,” Steven explained as he settled into the dark backseat. Jodi was in the passenger seat in short order, pulling the door shut carefully, as if keeping it from slamming on purpose.
“Are you just sneaking out?” I asked, furrowing my brow at her.
“Basically,” she said as she pulled the seatbelt over her. “My parents are already down for the night and no one else is home, so if anyone notices I’m gone, I’ll just make up some emergency with you guys or something.” Jodi shrugged as if it was no big deal. I decided not to argue with her about it, knowing full well after the episode in the bookstore today, her parents wouldn’t be too happy with her just sneaking off in the middle of the night.
“Okay, where are we going?” Steven asked, leaning forward and bracing himself between the two front seats.
“I have no idea…” I said as I pulled away from the curb and headed down the road to round the corner and get out of sight of Jodi’s house. “I don’t think going to the hospital will do any good.”
“Should we try his house?” Jodi asked.
“Do you think he’d be there?” I asked.
“Doubtful,” Steven said with a shake of his head.
“We’re not going to run around town in the middle of the night like crazy people calling Ollie Ollie oxen free!” I said, more than a little annoyed, and gunned the car forward, rounded another corner, and squealed to a stop in a parking lot by a city park that Jodi and I used to play in as children.
“What are you doing?” Jodi called from inside the car, as I was already halfway out and heading to the grass. I didn’t answer; they were going to follow me whether or not I answered them. As soon as I stepped onto the thick grass, I felt my energy, my magic, shift through my body as if it was always looking for a place to settle and once I was on pure earth it found its place. I stepped on the heel of my right shoe with my left toe and pulled my foot free of it, doing the same with the left, and bent down to peel off my socks and dropped them to the ground. I was vaguely aware of Jodi and Steven behind me, feeling them as soon as they stepped onto the grass.
The cold night dew sent shivers through my feet and up into my calves, but it was a welcome feeling, bringing me closer to the blades of grass and the damp earth hidden beneath. I felt my magic singing through my body, pushing my blood to run faster and my heart to beat deeper, stronger, in tune with the Earth’s heartbeat. Jodi and Steven wisely kept silent as I continued forward until I found the exact spot I was looking for When Jodi and I were children in this park, it was here where we first found our faeries and as we got older, we felt the natural magic we laid into the earth and air in this place. Something close to consecrating the ground, latent magic waiting to be called upon and used. I was going to use it tonight to find Jeremy.
My eyes were closed and my fingers were splayed wide, palms facing outward as I walked, searching for that perfect place. Behind my eyelids I could feel the night get darker, as if something took away the moon and stars. I had found the trees at one end of the park where we had played. In another moment, I felt the world shift and all the ambient noise fell silent. I had found it, stepped right into the middle of our secret place, and it was holding me still, asking me to take it, use it. I pushed through my body, down into the earth, grounded myself and found my center with a few deep breaths. I felt a circle of power tracing around me and knew without looking that Steven and Jodi were working together to create a circle of protection around me. Only years of practice and trust could forge this silent working knowledge between us.
I didn’t know how I knew how to do this; it was just something inside me that was guiding me and I was following it unquestioningly. I waited until I felt the circle Jodi and Steven were making close. There is no way to explain how it felt once it was closed, you just suddenly felt more comfortable in your surroundings. When I was young, it reminded me of hiding under the covers when you watched a scary movie. Once under their warm comfort, no monster could penetrate their barrier. As soon as I felt that moment come, I knelt to the ground, digging my fingers and toes into the dirt, lowering my face to the grass and breathing in the fragrance. I stretched out my legs and lowered my body to lie on the damp earth and sank. Giving myself over to the power of the earth, it took me in, my hands sinking in farther and faster than the rest of me.
As my face became lost to sight, sinking below the surface of the grass and then the dirt, my breathing stayed as calm and easy as if I were still breathing air. I knew I wasn’t completely lost to sight, but felt like I was wrapped in a cocoon of grass, dirt, and roots. It was then that I sent out my magic, pulsing through the earth, water, roots of trees and bushes, searching for Jeremy’s signature. Unless he was flying, I would find him and know how to get to him. I felt like I was gliding through the earth, skimming smoothly like a fish through water, but I wasn’t moving anywhere; it was my magic, that part of me that was other. I could feel it searching through the roots of trees, hidden streams of water and snaking to the surface, touching people on the surface with the barest of caresses, moving on when the signature was the wrong one. I felt like I was being pulled in every direction as my magic stretched further and further away from my physical body. I pulled back on some of my magic, reaching out to Jodi and Steven to anchore to them and felt better immediately. I was in more control and aware of both my body and the searching tendrils of my magic.
Just as I was about to give up and believe the impossible that Jeremy just might be flying somewhere, I felt the jolt of electricity shock through me and I knew I had found him. I concentrated all of my other senses on that one spot where I had found him to figure out just where that was. His flavor was harsh and almost metallic, like stagnate water left to sour in the shadows, and the bile rising in my throat was nearly enough to break my concentration. I knew where he was and, what was worse, I could tell that his brother was nearby.
***
We were racing across town towards Jimmy’s girlfriend’s house. Cindy Wright’s parents often took off on the weekends, leaving the house free of parental supervision, trusting in Cindy’s good grades and extracurricular activities to assure them that she never did anything wrong when they weren’t around. Good thing for her they never decided to cut any of their weekend escapes short and catch their perfect little girl en flagrante delicto with Jimmy or any of the monstrous parties she liked to throw on Saturday nights. Since next weekend Cindy would be graduating, they decided to take off this weekend so they could throw Cindy a graduation party, to which we were all invited,
us and half of the city.
Cindy lived in a house in the neighborhood those of us couldn’t afford to live in called “The Hill.” It was a large sprawling neighborhood set into the mountain range that bordered one side of town. All of the houses seemed to loom over the rest of us, checking on us, making sure we weren’t giving them a bad name with our lower and middle-class manners. Her parents had made sure that, despite the odd configuration of property lines, their nearest neighbor was still a good thirty feet away, which was quite a distance in Southern California. The noise of my engine seemed magnified in the silent neighborhood, but I didn’t feel so much as a pang of guilt as I tore up and around the hairpin turns until I was in front of Cindy’s house.
“Gate’s unlocked,” Steven said as we were climbing out of the car. “Is that good or bad?” Neither Jodi nor I answered him as we pushed the gate open that towered feet over our heads and started walking up the drive to the front door.
“It’s really quiet. You sure something’s wrong?” Jodi asked, looking sideways as me as we walked.
“No, but just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean someone’s not following you, does it?” I said as I started up the steps leading up to the front door. Jodi didn’t respond. If I was wrong, great, but if I wasn’t and we hadn’t acted, then we’d feel horrible in the morning. I balled up my fist and was raising my arm up to knock on the front door when we heard a muffled commotion inside, like a body hitting a wood floor. We all shared a look and I lowered my hand to reach for the doorknob. The cold metal bit into my hand, but it turned easily. It was unlocked. Now that wasn’t good. I pushed the door open slowly, ready for an ambush on the other side. When nothing reacted to the door opening, I pushed it all the way open until it hit the wall, ensuring no one was behind it, before I let any of us step inside.
It was one of those grand houses that you don’t really expect to find in California, with a large, open marble floored foyer that led in four different directions to various rooms throughout. We walked into the middle, me facing forward and Jodi and Steven facing out, watching all sides. We waited, listening for another noise to tell us which way to go. My stomach was in knots, curled against my spine, and my energy was singing through my body, fast enough to make my fingertips burn with it, like built up static electricity waiting to shock someone. Off to the right we heard a giggle, distant and almost too quiet to hear, but it was there nonetheless. I turned towards it with Jodi and Steven next to me, staring at the doorway leading to whatever room Cindy was in.
If she’s giggling, then nothing’s wrong… Steven’s red thoughts drifted into my mind.
Why was the door unlocked then? Jodi asked us both. I felt both their fingers pressing into the small of my back.
Maybe they just forgot? Steven offered.
Yeah… I guess, I thought back at them and let my thoughts sound as unconvinced as I felt. I took a step forward, careful not to make any noise, and in doing so broke the connection between the three of us. I took a few more steps so I could lean forward and look around the edge of the doorframe. I saw Cindy and Jimmy in a tangle of limbs on an overstuffed couch. I looked around for any sign of Jeremy or anything out of place and nothing struck me as wrong. I leaned back and looked at Jodi and Steven and shook my head, letting them know there wasn’t anything wrong. Jodi motioned towards the back of the house and I remembered the large, perfectly manicured backyard and followed her lead towards the three sets of French doors that led out from the dining room.
“Okay, what do you want to do? Should we wait and see if he shows up?” Jodi asked me once we were outside and the door was shut behind us.
“He’s here though. It wasn’t that I could tell he was on his way, it was that he was already here,” I said, hearing the urgent desperation in my voice for them to believe me.
“Shay, calm down, we believe you,” Jodi said, echoing my thoughts. I looked around at the overdone landscaping and realized it was the first time I didn’t feel at home outside, like the plants and grass were no more alive out here than the cemented patio and walkways. I had thought about reaching out to find Jeremy again, but knew instantly this earth couldn’t help me. Just as I was turning to tell Jodi and Steven that, Jodi grabbed us both. “Do you hear it?” she asked in an urgent whisper.
“Oh my god…” Steven whispered in answer and I took the moment I needed to clear my head and then I heard the wings of Jeremy’s creatures. I lunged for the back door and wrenched it open and ran through with Jodi and Steven on my heels. Just as we got through, the three sets of doors shuddered and all three locks turned in place. A moment longer and we would have been locked outside. We marveled at the doors for too long and then we heard Cindy screaming and ran for her. We scrambled into the living room, nearly falling on top of each other as we looked around for whatever was wrong.
“Oh my god!” Cindy screamed and half ran, half crawled to us from her position on the floor. There was a bruise already swelling over her left eye as if someone had back-handed her with a closed fist.
“Cindy!” Jodi yelled, rushing forward to help steady her on her feet. “What happened?” Jodi asked the important question while I looked around for where Jeremy might have run out.
“I don’t know! Jeremy just came bursting in here and then before we could do anything, he hit me and I fell to the floor.” The words spilled out of her in a rush, making them sound slurred. “I think I must’ve blacked out for a minute because then they were gone, just gone!” She was crying full out now, clutching Jodi’s arms, nearly pulling her into a bow, so upset it hadn’t even occurred to her to think it strange that the three of us just showed up out of nowhere in the middle of the night; for that I was grateful. A window out to the front lawn was open. It was a fancy window with no screen; surely flies and spiders wouldn’t defile such a beautiful home.
I heard Jodi making soothing noises to Cindy, walking her out of the room and up the stairs, presumably to put her to bed. I hoped Jodi remembered the spell of calm I had taught her a few years ago when she couldn’t sleep because of stress over finals, otherwise there’d be no getting Cindy to stay in bed and out of our way. That was the easy task. Finding Jeremy before he did whatever he was planning to do to Jimmy, now that was going to be a bitch.
Chapter 12
I’d like to tell you that we got in the car and raced to Jimmy’s rescue. I’d like to tell you that, but life doesn’t always work out the way we hope it will. We drove around for hours looking for them; Jodi attempting to invoke her Air magic to locate the faeries, me trying to sense them again by using the Earth. We even called upon Tegan to appear again and try to help us. But as the first few pink and white beams of light burst over the edge of the mountains off to East, we knew we weren’t going to find them in time, if ever.
“I just don’t understand how he’s doing this!” Steven said angrily. He was gripping the back of my seat so tightly that his knuckles were red with the effort.
“Oh, I don’t think he’s doing it,” I said into my dashboard, as I was leaning forward, resting my forehead on the steering wheel. “I think it’s those things.”
“Why don’t you just call them faeries?” Jodi asked.
“Because I just don’t think they are faeries. Maybe imps or something, but not faeries,” I said, lifting my head and rolling my shoulders, trying to loosen the tension in them.
“Not all faeries are good, Terra. Hell, most of them aren’t,” Jodi said, giving me a confused look, knowing she shouldn’t have to explain this sort of thing to me.
“I know that, Fae,” I said her elemental name back at her with an undertone of frustration to let her know I had read her face correctly. “But none of us can see them or hear them properly. They don’t behave like any faeries I’ve ever heard of, so if you don’t mind, I’d rather not classify them until I know for sure.” I watched as she shrank in on herself a little and I felt a pang of guilt for it, but I let it be anyway.
“Okay, whatever the hell th
ey are, we need to find them. For all we know, they’ve flown off with Jimmy and Jeremy and dropped them off a cliff and killed them both,” Steven said in a tone that sounded more tired that his words.
“Don’t make jokes like that! For all we know, it could very well be what they’re trying to do,” I said, turning the key in the ignition to turn the car back on and head back to Jodi’s house before our parents started to wake for the day and realized we were all gone. I dropped Jodi off first and then Steven, both sneaking into their backyards to get into their houses from the back. I pulled up in front of my house and decided to just be dignified and go through the front door. Luckily my parents weren’t up yet. Despite how early they usually got up, it was still much too early for even them. I slipped down the hall and shut my door as quietly as possible behind me before I heard the first rustlings from my parents’ room.
I tore off my clothes and grabbed the over-sized shirt I slept in and pulled it over my head and dove for the covers, pulling them up to cover half of my face and shut my eyes just as I heard my mom open my door, slowly, and peek in. She used to do this to Jodi and me when we’d have sleepovers as children, making sure we weren’t staying up too late. She waited her customary fifteen seconds before being satisfied that I really was under the covers and not some wonderful lifelike pile of pillows and a wig. After she pulled back and shut the door, I felt the tension melt away from my shoulders and sleep pulled at me like a rip tide in the ocean, fighting it only meant it was going to drown you faster.
When I dream, it is difficult for me to realize that I actually am dreaming because they are so vivid and oftentimes I wake with vestiges of things that happened in the dreams. Last fall, I was pursued a number of times by a demon that always managed to almost catch me and in doing so would claw some part of my body and then I would wake with that injury. So when I let sleep drag me under in that early morning, I wasn’t surprised to find myself standing on a beach, the sand gray with wetness and dim moonlight. The black and menacing waves were lapping gently on the shore, rolling back just before they touched my feet. A cold, salty breeze bit at my face as I looked around, trying to figure out why I was here.
Elemental Series Omnibus Edition Books 1-4 Page 43
