“Well, he’s not in the house then,” Jodi said as we walked back into the living room.
“Is it weird that I’m a little disappointed?” Steven asked as he fell onto the couch.
“A little, but I understand,” I said as I resumed my pacing. Jensen came back down just a few moments later, standing at the foot of the stairs, as if afraid to get too far from his mother.
“All the windows are locked and I checked the other rooms up there too before I came back down and locked all those windows too,” Jensen said. He crossed his arms over his chest, looking very much like a junior body guard, his feet hip-width apart and his knees loose, ready to pounce. I wanted to smile at the pose, but just didn’t have it in me right then.
“So now we wait?” Jodi asked, looking to me for the answer.
“Now we wait,” I said, grateful she hadn’t asked me “what next?” I started pacing again, feeling the energy coursing through my body just waiting.
***
It wasn’t until an hour later when Jodi finally broke the silence, unable to stare at a muted television set any more. “Dude! I’m going to go insane. We need to do something while we wait.”
“I don’t want to be distracted,” Jensen said from his post by the foot of the stairs. Over the last hour he had gone to check on his mother four times.
“Fine, you stay there, but Jodi’s right, we’ll go stir crazy,” I said, stopping my worried pacing. “I’m gonna burn a hole in your mother’s carpet if I don’t stop. Jodi, Steven, follow me,” I said, waving them up from the couch and turning to the sliding glass door I had been pacing in front of.
“Whoa! Where are you going?” Jensen said suddenly, almost taking a step away from the stairs.
“Outside. We’ll start working on the external shields to reinforce them, like I did in the tree house.”
“Can’t you do that from in here?”
“Yes, I suppose so, but I don’t want your mother to come down stairs and see us in a circle doing our thing.”
“I can warn you if she comes down.”
“No, Jensen. If we do it in here, we’ll have to be in more of a trance than outside and warning us won’t help us come out of it in time. It’s not something we can just stop doing, we’ll cause a rip in the shields,” I tried to explain calmly while Jodi and Steven looked from me to Jensen like they were watching a tennis match.
“I don’t like the idea of you going out there,” Jensen said.
“I’m not going alone,” I said, trying to keep my voice even and not be offended by his lack of trust in my abilities to fight Jeremy.
“Not just you, Shayna,” Jensen said a little defensively. “I don’t like the idea of any of us going outside.”
“We’ll be within yelling distance and you have neighbors,” I said, reaching a hand to draw one of the curtains back. “If Jeremy is stupid enough to try something outside, again, there are people around.”
“Wait-” Jensen started to protest again, but was cut short by the sound of a dull thud on the ceiling overhead.
“Your mom!” I whispered urgently to Jensen, but he was already spinning around and running up the stairs. Steven looked at me, I nodded quickly, and he turned to follow in case Jensen needed back up. I kept staring at the ceiling and reached out a hand towards the direction Jodi had been standing. When I felt her fingers entwine with mine, I thought at her, He’s still flying…
What do you want to do? Jodi asked.
Honestly, I’m not sure yet. I know the shields on the house are fine, I check everyone’s every couple of months…As a group, we each built shields on all of our houses and any houses of nearby family and significant others. Every other month on the first Saturday of the month, I go out and check all of the shields to see if anyone needs repairs or not.
Then how is he on the roof?
It’s to help keep magical attacks away; it doesn’t do much for physical. I ended the thought with a mental sigh. Jodi squeezed my hand as if to reassure me, but jumped suddenly when we heard a crash just outside the sliding glass door.
Do we dare? Jodi’s nervous thoughts floated to me, but I had a hard time hearing her, all of my attention on the curtained door beside me.
“What is going on, Jensen?” Mrs. Cavanaugh said, sounding torn between annoyance and fear as they came down the steps, Steven walking very carefully backwards to watch behind them.
“We heard something outside, mom. We got worried. If there is something or someone outside, I’d feel better if I knew you were okay,” Jensen said, steering her towards the couch and urging her to sit.
“Well, if you think there’s a prowler outside, we should call the police,” she said calmly, reaching for the phone on the side table. None of us stopped her, hearing a new noise coming from the kitchen, but faint, like a scratching at the window. “Is that what you heard?” she asked.
“No, that’s new,” Steven said, looking to me for confirmation. Then another creaking noise came from just outside the front door and we turned as one towards it, but were quickly distracted by the sound of something breaking in the back yard.
“Oh my God, that sounded like my pots shattering,” Jensen’s mom said, starting to rise from her seat on the couch.
“No, mom,” Jensen said quickly, pushing her back down. “You don’t know what’s out there. Just go ahead and call the police.”
“I don’t understand what’s going-” another loud crash from the backyard cut her off.
“Mrs. Cavanaugh,” I said very calmly, not taking my eyes off of the curtains. “Call the police. Tell them I’m here and we think Jeremy McCormack is trying to break in.” I felt her staring at the back of my head and knew she wasn’t moving, so I concentrated on that spot she was looking at until I could feel her emotions and sent a jolt of power down the line to her and gave her emotions a push. I was rewarded to hear the beeps of the phone as she punched in 911.
“Shay, what are you doing?” Steven asked from somewhere behind me as I reached forward, grabbing the edge of the curtain.
“We’re going outside,” I said calmly.
“What are you talking about?” Steven asked again.
“Steven,” I said, turning my attention from the door finally. “He is trying to distract us, make us think he’s in all these different places, but I know he’s out here, isn’t he, Jodi?” I turned and looked at Jodi. She looked at me confused for a moment and then I saw the mental click behind her eyes. When we had sent the searching wind for Jeremy earlier, it had created a link between us and now Jodi and I could feel Jeremy and knew he was hiding in the shadows in the backyard, shrouded by his elemental creatures. Jodi locked eyes with me and then nodded slowly.
“Shay, are you sure this is a good idea?” Jensen asked from beside his mother as she spoke to the 911 operator.
“It’s the only idea right now. I don’t want your mom hurt like Deb was just because he’s trying to get to me through everyone else. That isn’t fair,” I said.
“Then I’m coming too,” Jensen said, taking a step away from his mom.
“No,” I said quickly. “You stay with her. If you pick anything up about us, you can warn me, but if you pick up something about your mom, you may be too far away to protect her.” We looked at each other for a few moments and I felt his emotions warring inside him, his instincts telling him to find a way to protect both his mother and me, but we both knew, of the two of us, she needed his protection more.
“Be careful,” he said softly and I felt his affection travel across the room and into me. I had a moment of selfish guilt that I couldn’t be the girlfriend he deserved. I steeled myself as I gripped the edge of the curtain again and tore it back, reaching for the door and sliding it open to step outside.
Chapter 17
It was full dark outside; if there was moonlight, it didn’t penetrate the backyard. I had decided not to turn on the back porch light, not wanting to give Jeremy the upper hand by being able to see me clearly and ruining
my night vision. Once Jodi and Steven were outside with me, we let the curtains to the living room fall closed, blocking out all of the light from inside. I allowed us the few moments needed to let our eyes adjust to the sudden darkness, feeling them go wide, as if trying to take in any light possible.
In the last couple of days, my empathetic abilities had been running so high because of Jeremy’s volatile emotions, I had started putting up stronger and stronger shields against everyone. Now, as I stood there, I felt the inexplicable pull from the core of my body straight out to the back fence. That was Jeremy, seething in a fury that was only partly his. I began stripping down the shields I had built these last few days, exposing myself, not only to Jeremy, but to everyone. I brought my shields against other peoples’ emotions down to the every day level I usually carried them at and was suddenly so aware of Jodi to my right and Steven to my left that it felt like they were extensions of my body. A heat so strong I thought surely my face must be burning red was just a few dozen feet in front of me. Jeremy.
I focused on the channels between Jodi and Steven, giving them some of the pent up energy that had kept me pacing earlier until I could see the faint hue of red and yellow out of the corners of my eyes.
Fae? I thought at Jodi without making any physical connection with her.
I hear you, Terra, Jodi answered me; I could hear the thrumming of surprise laid under her careful thoughts, keeping herself in control. There had been only one other time in our lives that we could hear each other’s thoughts without touching, when we were about to take on Ian and the demon he had summoned. We had built up so much power, so much magic between us, it had burst out of us in new abilities we hadn’t kept once the night was over.
Drake? I thought at Steven in the same way.
I can hear you both, Steven answered and I could feel a small tug from Jodi’s direction, as if hearing Steven as clearly as I could had startled her.
We need to surround him, I started planning immediately. I am going straight for him, keeping his attention on me. Drake, I want you to circle around that way. I made no physical move to direct him, not wanting to alert Jeremy to my plan, but what I wanted Steven to do had come with my thoughts and I knew he understood. Fae, I want you to circle around in the opposite direction, but I need you to summon an Air Elemental so that we can cover him from above.
Okay… she thought, but I could hear and feel her trepidation, scared that she couldn’t do it as quickly as we would need her to. I took some of the power I was getting from Steven and redirected it to Jodi and began mentally guiding her to call up her power and send it out, searching for help. Almost immediately sounds came, but I knew they were from Jeremy’s Elementals and not ours. The same, bone jarring creeks and squeaks we had heard inside began to sound all around us. I fed them both calm reassurance; it was just a glamour.
Soon I heard the rustling of the leaves in the trees in the backyard and felt a wave of relief rush out of Jodi. She had managed to call to the air spirits in answer to her call for help. The wind swirled overhead, whipping my hair around my head and rushing over my shoulders towards Jeremy. I balanced out the transfer of energy again and took a step forward; Steven and Jodi turned in opposite directions and began to circle to the sides.
“Jeremy,” I called out loud and clearly. “I know you’re there, I can see you,” I could feel his doubt. He didn’t believe I could see him in this darkness, hidden by his Air Elementals. I reached inside of myself and called up more power, feeding it into my Empathetic ability before I spoke again. “I can feel you,” I said, feeling the power resonate in my voice, carried on the rushing wind and striking Jeremy. I heard as the breath was knocked out of him and he struck the fence he was standing in front of. I kept my adrenaline in check as both my power and Jodi’s elemental charge blended so well together to combat the same target. I continued forward, taking slow, sure steps, not wanting to come too close to him.
I opened my hands, palms forward and fingers splayed, tips pointing to the earth. I felt the coursing heat of the metal hidden under the skin, but it wasn’t enough. I sent the mental picture of my pose to Jodi. She mimicked me. Then I turned my attention to Steven, calling on his aid to send us the heat of his power and almost immediately I felt the burn in my hands. I smiled in spite of the pain.
“Jeremy, I don’t want to hurt you,” I said, letting my power continue to reverberate in the tones of my voice, becoming a pressure on his body thanks to the link we had developed over the last few days. “We wanted to help you, but now we have to stop you.” I called upon my Elemental magic then, feeling the power directed through my fingers and into the ground, racing towards Jeremy. The roots of the plants sprang up around him, breaking through the ground and shackling his ankles, holding him fast to the spot he was standing on. I heard him yell a curse, nearly falling over.
We stopped, only a few feet away from him now. Jodi’s energy was reaching a fevered pitch, both excited to be helping so much more than she ever had before and terrified to lose control of her concentration. The wind whipped around us in answer to her spiking emotions. I took some of the control that comes with Earth magic and sent it to her, trying to balance the veracity of Air magic.
“Jeremy,” I called to him again, but this time my voice was soft, letting the magic and power call to him.
“No,” he said angrily, almost waspishly.
“Jeremy, we have power,” I said, letting the roots that held him tighten around him to emphasize my words. “We have magic.” Jodi’s wind lashed at his face, careful to stay above him. “We can teach you,” I said, letting another bolt of power race down my voice and strike him again, knowing it was only pushing him against the fence, not really hurting him.
“Lies, pretty, pretty lies,” I heard the whisper under the sound of the wind and the racing blood in my ears, but it wasn’t Jeremy’s voice. This voice was vaguely feminine and definitely not human. “They would hurt you, yes,” it hissed and I knew it was whispering in Jeremy’s ear. “Yes, pretty, pretty lies to hurt you.”
“Jeremy, if it were lies,” I started to say and I felt him jerk his head up and knew he was looking at me, amazed I had heard the voice. “If it were lies,” I continued, “why would we have tried so hard and so many times to reach you?” I fed just an ounce of trust and compassion down the line we had drawn between us, not wanting him to feel pushed into believing me.
“Because she would have your power for herself,” the voice whispered around us, but quieter this time, as if trying to keep me from hearing it.
Are you two hearing this? I thought at Jodi and Steven.
Hearing what? Steven asked and answered my question all at once.
I hear it, Terra, I hear it, Jodi’s yellow thoughts came to me, cool and a little afraid.
“We have our own power, and the ability to share it, we don’t need to take yours,” I said, willing the roots around his ankles to loosen just a little, urging Jodi to calm the wind just a bit. “Come to me, Jeremy, come to us and away from these things and we will help you.”
“Come to us, Jeremy,” Jodi repeated and I felt the stirrings of a spell in her words.
“Come to us, and away from these things,” Steven took up the line and I felt the power building; they were speaking on instinct.
“We will help you, Jeremy,” I said, now feeling the true ringing of the power through our tripled connection.
“Come to us, Jeremy,” Jodi repeated, followed by Steven.
“Come to us, and away from these things,” Steven said. I felt Jeremy straining against us, letting his warring emotions have their way with him and in that he was giving these Elementals more power, more control over him.
“Jeremy,” I called to him again, pulling on the power from the ground and he struggled against me, but I could feel that part of him wanted to come to us.
“Come to us, Jeremy,” Jodi repeated again, building on the spell.
“Come to us, and away from these things,�
� Steven said, pushing his power into his words and I saw the mental image of Jeremy being bound by these things, and just then a rush of wind struck against my shields and I knew his Elementals were striking out against us to stop the casting.
“Shayna!” Jensen’s voice called out from behind me, distracting me momentarily. I was careful not to turn my back on Jeremy, despite the strong urge to look at Jensen, but even still it broke just enough of my concentration that Jeremy’s creatures took advantage and tried to rush me.
I felt the energy in the air shift and their anger bit along my skin like scorpion stings and, for just a moment, I couldn’t breathe. I stole back the power I was feeding the ground to bind Jeremy’s legs and transferred it all into my shields, bracing behind them as the impact hit, just inches away from my face. They swirled like angry bees, but couldn’t reach me behind my shields. Jeremy took the chance to dance away from the upraised roots that were now loose around his feet.
“See the pretty lies, she is afraid of you, afraid of your power.” I saw the light glint in Jeremy’s eye at the thought they were trying to force-feed him.
“Jeremy, don’t listen to them! They’re lying!” I yelled over the buzz of their voices, not sure if I was the only one having trouble hearing over them. “It’s not your power, it’s theirs! They’re trying to make you think you’re controlling them, but you aren’t,” I said, watching the confusion plain on Jeremy’s face and felt it churn his stomach. I had voiced the very same doubts he had been thinking lately, but possibly was too scared to say them out loud.
“She would make you weak, but we know you are not weak,” they whispered sweetly in his ear and I had a vision of a lovely, lithe figure standing by Jeremy’s shoulder. Spun gold hair tickling his cheek while she nuzzled his throat. I watched this vision, trying to keep my attention on Jeremy’s face, but knew he wasn’t seeing the hundreds of tiny creatures we always thought were surrounding him.
Elemental Series Omnibus Edition Books 1-4 Page 50
