A muffled cry struck my ear, sending a pang of fear down my spine. I was nearly on top of whoever it was, but I couldn’t see them. I took a few more precarious steps forward, bending down until I could brace my hands on the rocks in front of me so I could peer over one the size of a Volkswagen. There, hidden in the deeper shadow cast by the small boulder, I caught sight of a pink jacket just before the water lapped over it to hide it again.
The metallic tang of blood filled my mouth and a pain in the back of my head started to throb, threatening to throw me off balance. A head injury, did I dare move them? What if I made it worse? What was I supposed to do? Fly them up to the freeway and just dart away into the night? When did my life become a comic book?
“Mommy.” The weak cry warbled as the little girl’s mouth filled with water, making her cough and choke.
“Shit,” I cursed, lowering myself to lie on my stomach to get closer. “Why is it always kids?” I reached into the small cavern created by the shifting of rocks and water and my fingers trailed over her jeans. I managed to pinch the hem of her pant leg.
“Mommy?” she asked, voice frail and terrified.
“No, Amanda.” Her name just suddenly came into my mind as I struggled to pull her closer to me so I could get a grip on her leg. “But I’m here to help you, okay?”
“It hurts,” she said, tears evident in her voice, and my heart clenched against it.
“Don’t move too much too fast, okay?”
“Okay.”
“I’m going to try to get you up to me first, okay? Then we’ll get you up to your mommy.” I inched forward on the rocks until I was balancing on the flat of my hips, the muscles in the small of my back contracting to keep me from slipping into the cavern with Amanda.
“I’m dizzy,” she said as her body finally offered resistance against my pulls and I knew I was going to have to lift her up at this point.
“I know, Mandy,” the nickname came easily to my lips, “but I need your help now. I need you to give me your hand, can you do that?” She didn’t answer me, which scared me for a moment before I felt her body shift under my hand that was holding her to keep her from drifting away.
I held out my free hand, hoping for her to be able to see me better than I could see her and she’d take it. I felt her fingers brush my hand as she blindly grabbed for me and missed. I heard her whimper, soft and painful.
“It’s okay, Mandy, just try again, I won’t leave you,” I soothed, straining to keep my hand stretched towards her. The tips of her fingers touched mine, but didn’t fall away this time as she struggled to reach me.
“Good, keep trying, nearly there,” I encouraged. Her fingers trembled, her strength failing her. I sucked in a breath and dipped forward to grasp her wrist, fighting the urge to rock backwards and lift her head up too quickly.
“Good girl, good girl,” I said, trying not to lose my breath. “Now, I need you to try and sit up, but do it slowly, okay?”
“Okay,” she warbled again and I felt her leg move from beneath my hand until I was touching only water. Her hand was no longer taut in my other hand, and I pulled gently, drawing her closer to me.
“Dizzy,” she whimpered again, and I reached for her with my free hand, finding the tangle of her hair and cradling the back of her neck gently. A thicker, slippery substance that I knew wasn’t water coated my fingers as they tangled with her hair. I let go of her wrist and slipped my arm around her waist and pulled her into me, cradling her tiny body against mine.
“Good girl, just relax now, okay?” I whispered to her as I hooked my toes into the gaps between the rocks to give myself some leverage. With every muscle in my body contracted, I lifted us out of the tiny cavern, clutching Mandy to me.
I felt my wings shift and concentrated on those muscles, letting the powerful wings work to lift me off of the rocks and get Mandy out of the dank and dark. She was trembling in my arms, shock setting in, letting me know I had minutes at best to figure out how to get her up to the EMTs.
“Stay with me, Mandy, don’t go to sleep yet,” I whispered to her as I gave one forceful beat of my wings, pulling us completely off of the rocks to hang in the air, slowly pumping my wings to keep us up. It was a strange feeling as the adrenaline pounded in my veins, making my fingers tingle as I gripped Mandy.
The arcing red lights flashed on us as I chewed on my lower lip, wanting to just fly up there and set her down in the arms of an EMT. But then they’d see my face and reports of an angel would hit the news and I’d have to keep my wings hidden long enough to forget how to fly. I had worked too hard over the last few months to lose that now.
I could feel the blood seeping from Mandy’s head drip down my arm, funneled through my fingers. Panic threatened to break me, but I closed my eyes and beat it back. I could panic later when Jodi and Steven were around to hold me against the wracking sobs, but right now a child was dying in my arms. I needed to get her to help; panic had no place here. I saw the dark figure of an EMT crouched on the ground near one of the mangled vehicles; his back was to the edge of the cliff as he examined a spray of glass. I could feel his confusion all the way out here. He was trying to figure out why glass was here, leading towards the cliff. This was where Mandy was thrown through a windshield to fall down the rocks and bash her head as she landed in the cavern.
I glanced away from him and saw everyone else was still running around tending to the injured they could get to, trying to save as many as they could since they had already lost the man with the punctured lung. Frustration fueled them as much as their own convictions; they were just not willing to lose another. The man examining the shattered glass stood, drawing my attention back to him.
“Okay, Mandy, time to go see mommy; are you ready?” I asked her calmly.
“Please,” she begged, and I pressed a kiss to her forehead before I looked back up to the EMT and opened a channel between us, sending awareness to him, willing him to turn around and see me. My heart pounded as he stopped, his head lifting as he turned slowly to look out at the sea.
His shock reverberated back to me when he saw me there, drifting in the air, cradling the bleeding child to my chest. Right then I wished I had the ability to emit some eerie glow around me to make it seem like one of those miracles people talk about so they would just write his vision off later. But instead I was a salt rubbed, scraped, and dripping mess, nothing what you expect when you finally get to see an angel. I hoped he wouldn’t be too disappointed tomorrow morning when the shock wore off.
I nodded to him and propelled myself forward, towards the cliff and the lean of rocks, beckoning him to me through our open channel. He took a moment before he shook himself visibly and then scrambled for the edge of the road and reached out towards us. Bringing myself close enough to pass Mandy to him without hitting the rocks took more skill than I thought. As it was, my feet scraped them and my wings faltered as I stretched my arms out.
“You saw her on the rocks,” I said, letting power fill my voice as I spoke. “You saw the glass and checked over the edge, and there she was.”
“There she was,” he repeated slowly as he gathered Mandy into his arms, cradling her against his chest as he pulled himself back up on the road. He gave a slow blink and I beat my wings forcibly to push myself back in the air away from the rocks, hanging over the water. Mandy lifted her head out of the crook of his shoulder and looked for me. When our eyes met, I lifted a hand and waved at her, my heart swelling when she waved back with her tiny hand.
“Go,” I whispered to the man, knowing he could hear me with the channel between us. I turned my body, opening my wings over my head. Light from the traffic glinted on the tips of my feathers, making them sparkle silver before I struck out back towards the clear beach.
I hit the wet sand at a run, my legs desperate to keep up with the momentum of my wings when I reached the ground. I stumbled as I tried to slow down, my arms going out in a pinwheel as I caught my balance, but the tips of my wings trailing in the
sand worked best to stop me. I don’t know how I managed to keep from falling to my knees, seeing that it took me nearly twenty feet to actually stop.
“And now for the hard part,” I mumbled to myself as I folded my wings as closely to my back as possible. The first time I hid my wings, the residual magic from the angels that had helped us worked to keep my transformation almost painless. Unfortunately, tonight I was all on my own, facing the daunting task with no help whatsoever.
I could already feel sweat break out on the small of my back as I anticipated the pain, making me stall. There was no spell or incantation for me to recite; it was purely force of will that brought my wings to life and hid them away later. I needed to find someone to help me make this easier to use this new ability for the greater good because the anticipation of pain was starting to induce panic attacks.
I closed my eyes and drew in a long breath, blowing it out through my mouth as I flexed my fingers, trying to keep my hands open so I didn’t cut my palms with my nails if I clenched my fists. I spread my feet shoulder width apart and imagined my body without my wings. I felt the swirling magic come to life inside of me, reaching behind me, tingling along the nerves and veins that ran through the hinges of my wings. A slow burn flared to life in my back and I concentrated on keeping my jaw slack, afraid to clench it.
I fought to keep the image of my body standing on the beach, sans wings, clear in the front of my mind as the slow burn started to grow, searing my flesh. I tried not to see my body burning alive as I felt my skin shift and mold. Soon the heavy weight that was pulling my body up and back disappeared and I dipped forward, keeping my balance as the sand shifted over my feet. Sweat trickled down my back into my jeans, inching its way over my skin. Coupled with the pain in my back, it made me want to scream.
My skin molded over my back, knitting back together where my wings no longer sprouted. I could see the raised, angry red welts in my mind, knowing the shiny white scars would be more defined in the morning. The pain receded slowly until I was left shaking as the adrenaline died away and my pulse stopped pounding in my ears. I wiped the tears from my cheeks, hissing against the sting of the scrape on my cheek I had forgotten about. The knot in my stomach loosened its hold against my spine and relief flooded through me, making my already shaking body feel weak. Mandy was going to be okay. Even though I didn’t know her and didn’t know if her mother had caused the horrific accident that threw her into the rocks, at least I had the peace of mind of knowing an innocent little girl would be okay.
A cold wind swirled around the beach, finding its way up my shirt, chilling me and reminding me that my shirt was in tatters. I sighed as I held the cloth against my stomach, not wanting it to lift in the wind as I made my way over to the rocks, searching in the dark for my sweatshirt. A sob of relief broke from me when my fingers closed on the still warm cotton.
I worked the hooded sweatshirt over my head, wincing through the residual pain as if I had been whipped; I managed to get it on to cover my torn shirt. All I wanted to do was sit down and catch my breath, but I was still shaking and I knew, like little Mandy, I risked going into shock and needed to get back to my car before that happened. At least if I passed out in the car, Steven and Jodi could get me to help. If I passed out here, I’d be lost in the tide by morning.
“And I thought sprouting wings was the hard part,” I said to myself as I looked up at the sloping hill covered in brush and brambles, the only way back to my car.
“Well, here goes.” I took a step forward into the bushes, opening my awareness to the dry earth around me, stealing little snatches of energy where I could, and tried to concentrate on Jodi and Steven’s signatures to pull me to the warm interior of my beautiful car, even if I couldn’t drive it myself tonight.
Thorns scraped my hands and twigs caught on my sleeves, but I was grateful they weren’t scratching my arms and the sweatshirt was thick enough not to tear. I nearly rolled my ankle more than once since it was too thick and dark for me to see where the loose rocks were hidden among the bushes. But when the sharp scent of exhaust filled my nose, I was never happier to breathe in the pollution. I blinked in the artificial light as I pulled my body free of the last bush between the freeway and me.
“Dude, are you okay?” a girl called out to me through her open window, staring at me in surprise.
“Huh?” I managed.
“Where did you go? I saw you go into the bushes, like, twenty minutes ago,” she said, frowning at me. Had it only been twenty minutes?
“Yeah, I tripped and fell,” I said, shaking my head and rolling my eyes to look properly embarrassed. “Lame, right?” I managed to laugh as I passed her car; she smiled sympathetically enough before she turned to the boy in the driver’s seat. But I didn’t care when I heard the giggle come from the interior of their car.
“Shay! Oh my god, are you okay?” a familiar voice asked, and I looked up to see Jodi standing outside of my car, uncrossing her arms and rushing over to me to help guide me the rest of the way. “Dude, you’re shaking!”
“Just tired,” I breathed before I crawled into the backseat of the car and curled up on the bench seat, drawing my knees up to my chest and closing my eyes, letting the shock settle in and the deep black take me.
Chapter 4
It was a good forty-five minutes before we got through the next five miles of freeway. Apparently once all of the passengers were accounted for, they opened the two left lanes to start funneling the backed up traffic so they could get the tow trucks and ambulances through, as well to start to clean up the accident. I didn’t know any of this first hand however; Jodi explained it all to me once I finally came to as we pulled up alongside the curb in front of my house. Steven drove us to his house first to get his car and followed us to my place so he could give Jodi a ride home once she got me home. What would the world be like without best friends?
After my brief nap, I was calm enough to get myself up to the door and inside the house without any help from Jodi, although it took a lot of insisting on my part to get her to believe me. I think if she’d had it her way, she would have tucked me into bed. I did have some dignity after all. Some guardian angel I would be if I needed help brushing my teeth and getting changed for bed. I heard Jodi grumble something about stupid, pig-headed pride before I shut the front door, but I only smiled and shook my tired head. As if that wasn’t the pot calling the kettle black.
After such an exhausting night, I didn’t think I had the energy in me to dream, but when I woke, my forehead was beaded in sweat and my face was flush with heat. The light coming into my room told me it was almost noon, and even though that meant I had gotten at least eight hours of sleep, my dreams had been stressful, stealing any peace sleep would’ve brought me. At some point in the middle of the night, I had tossed off all of my covers, hoping to cool my heated body. I sat up in my bed, falling back to catch myself on my elbows.
“Shit,” I said through a loud breath, “might as well have skipped the damn shower last night.” Muttering to myself, I managed to untangle my ankles from the knots of my covers and get my legs swung over the side of the bed to leverage myself up. Once I found my feet, my exhaustion started to slip away from me, sinking down into the floor, through the foundation, and back to Earth.
“You can have it,” I added dryly as I took a step forward, feeling like I was stepping out of a puddle in the street. I couldn’t really remember my dream other than the intense heat that seemed to be everywhere. Something niggled in the back of my mind, trying to get me to remember more.
The sweat on my body was drying and making me chilly, so I rummaged through my drawers until I found a pair of flannel pajama bottoms and pulled them on, followed by an extremely oversized gray sweatshirt that read SENIORS in blue lettering outlined in white. After finding a pair of socks to protect my feet and quickly dragging a brush through my damp hair, I left my room hoping against hope there was still coffee.
It may be my winter break, but it was sti
ll the middle of the week, so my dad was off to work, leaving my mom and me home alone. When I came into the kitchen, I saw she’d already prepped dinner in the crock-pot to cook without her and the living room had been vacuumed. I cringed when I saw the dishes were also stacked in the drain board to dry; I was supposed to have done those last night. Well, I would’ve done it had I gotten home when I expected to, honestly I would have.
“Damn, I’m sorry, mom,” I said as I rounded the island in the kitchen where we kept the coffee pot. The pot was off, so I shot out my hand to pat the carafe to see if it was still hot, pulling my hand back almost too fast to feel anything, but my fingers were a little warm. I grabbed a coffee cup out of the cupboard and poured myself a cup, adding the appropriate amount of raw sugar and cream. Neither of my parents took sugar in their coffee, so it was my own personal stash. I sprung for the good stuff.
“Mom?” I looked up at her, realizing she was sitting at the kitchen table, not something she usually did, and more surprising yet, she had tarot cards laid out in front of her. My mother was especially adept at reading both tarot and medicine cards, and when I was a child, she often gave readings to friends and family. But most people don’t like to get bad news and even more don’t like to be the bearer of it; my mother was no exception. One day, after reading about the impending death of a friend’s brother, she packed her cards up in a box, waiting to pass them on to me when I wanted them, as was the tradition of the women in our family, and never read them again.
“Mom?” I pressed again, taking up my cup and walking around the island again to walk over to the kitchen table. She sat at the head where my dad usually sat during the rare family dinner. Her shoulders looked tight and worry lines creased her forehead as she bent towards the table. She had let her cigarette burn out on its own in the ashtray to her right and I suspected the coffee in her cup was now cold. When she still didn’t say anything, I leaned closer to look at the layout in front of her and realized the cards were in a wheel; she was looking for an answer to a question.
Elemental Series Omnibus Edition Books 1-4 Page 85
