Midnight Metamorphosis

by Deborah E. Kehoe

  “And I’m supposed to know how to do this, how?” Avery interjected lookling frustrated. I reached out to touch her hand, but at Cole’s glare I took my time pulling it back into my lap, but not before I sent a little warmth her way. Avery looked warily at me, but didn’t move away, which I thought was a positive sign.

  “Aves, it seems like everything you’ve done so far has been instinctive. It could be that you don’t even have to know how to send him back. Just that you are strong enough to be able to do it is threat enough,” Summer said looking at Avery in concern, and then unsurprisingly reached for another slice of pizza.

  “Well, waiting for my father to tell me is taking too long. And truthfully,” Cole looked at Devon meaningfully, “he may have his own agenda. I think we need to develop our own plan. Devon, I appreciate the help today, but I’ll take it from here.” He reached up and shoved my arm off the back of the seat.

  “Hey!” I reached up to hit the back of his head, but Avery elbowed me in the side.

  I settled into my corner of the booth rubbing my side. “I’m not going anywhere until I know she’s gotten home safe.” I nodded at Avery and glared at Cole over her head.

  Chapter 14

  Cole

  That night when I got home, I confronted my father with what had happened.

  “Dad, the Sentinel needs to know that Avery’s life is in danger! Surely he would want to see to her safety?” I looked at my father in frustration. He was sitting at the desk in his office drinking whiskey out of a highball. He slugged back another drink and looked at me through bloodshot eyes.

  “He knows,” he answered, reluctantly.

  “What do you mean he knows? Isn’t he worried?” I asked. I raked a hand through my hair, but only succeeded in making it fall over my forehead.

  “Cole, Mathis called earlier and changed our mission,” my father said slowly. He took another drink, and then set the glass on the table. He unsteadily got up from the chair and walked around his desk until he was standing in front of me.

  “Son, with everything you’ve told us, he is worried that the prophecy is coming true. Avery is already too powerful, and she only has some of her Elemental powers. Once she starts to enter her transition–”

  “If she even does!” I interrupted, yelling in his face. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

  “Mathis has made the most difficult decision of his life. She’s his daughter, Cole. If she is the beginning of the end for the Elemental and Seer kind, then she needs to be destroyed.” He looked into my eyes and seeing my confusion quickly looked down at the ground.

  “What?” I whispered, shocked. I turned away from my father and stared blankly at the wall. “But, I’m her Guardian,” I whispered. This went against everything that I’ve ever been trained. We serve to protect!

  “You have been relieved of Guardian duty, Cole. Your new mission is to kill her before her 16th birthday. We can’t afford to have her strong enough that the prophecy comes true.” My body jerked at the word kill coming out of my father’s mouth.

  “But what about vanquishing Avdar?” Surely if she’s powerful enough to doom us, then she’s definitely powerful enough to banish Avdar, I thought. “We were counting on her help!”

  “Yes, we were. We’ll have to find another way to take care of Avdar, but the immediate threat is Avery.”

  Threat? This is crazy, I thought. “She’s a sweet girl! She doesn’t really even know how to use her powers and even if she did, she’d never knowingly harm anyone.” I was practically pleading with my father. This couldn’t be happening.

  “And you will stop teaching her anything important.” My father clapped me on the back. “I know this will not be an easy task, but I trust you to follow the correct path. For our family and all Elementals.”

  Looking at my father trying to smile at me with confidence I felt sick. Without a word, I turned away and walked out of the room. I threw the screen door open with a loud crash and walked off the back deck toward the woods lining our property.

  What were they thinking? I thought, picturing Avery’s sweet smile.

  The pine needles crunched under my feet as I approached the clearing. Years ago, someone had created a circle with stones piled around like groupings of furniture. I climbed onto one and sat down, my thoughts circling around in my head. Kill her? I’m not sure I can do this, I thought.

  My father had been acting strange lately, but I couldn’t see him going against the Sentinel’s wishes. The pine trees surrounding the clearing swayed in the breeze and I flung an arm wide in frustration and heard a crack. A limb crashed to the ground a few feet away. I got up off the rock and paced the circle, watching the pine needles scatter away from my footsteps.

  Was it possible that the Sentinel would destroy his own daughter to save our races? I shook my head. It seemed farfetched, but it was possible. My Guardian instincts flared, and I glanced over my shoulder. A blackbird, similar to the one I’ve seen with Avery’s aunt landed on a branch in front of me. A golden haze enveloped the bird and a man in a dark business suit with a dark red tie stood where the bird had been.

  Recognizing him immediately, I knelt on the ground, with my head bowed in respect, “Sir.”

  “There isn’t a need for formality, Cole. Please get up.” The Sentinel, Mathis waited for me to rise, clasped my shoulder and then indicated that we should continue our walk down the path.

  “Your father has said that he’s talked to you, and that you were having trouble with your new mission.” He looked down at his feet and then back up at me. “I know you and Avery have gotten close?”

  I nodded my head. “She’s a friend, and, well, I like her too.” We walked along in silence and then Mathis came to a stop. “I’m glad she has had a good friend. Her life has not been easy up to this point. Her mother and I had such huge dreams, and I’m afraid that they just weren’t very realistic.” His jaw clenched and he looked away.

  I stared hard at him, trying to read what he was feeling. I mean, seriously? He was talking about destroying his daughter, and he seemed only slightly upset.

  “Sir, are you bothered by the fact that you are asking me to kill your daughter?” In my frustration, the earth fell away from in front of us, creating a small hole. I breathed out, trying to gain some control as Mathis spun around to face me.

  “Of course this bothers me! She’s my daughter! But we have learned that there is another faction who will try to steal her powers from her after she inherits them during her transition on the night of her sixteenth birthday.” As Mathis spoke, clouds flew across the sky, covering the sun, creating darkness where we stood. He blew out a breath and straightened the lapel on his coat.

  “If this other faction steals her powers, then we will never have enough strength to deliver Avdar back to his dimension. If this faction steals her powers and delivers them to Avdar, then our lives, and those of all Others, will be over.” The strength of his determination showed on his face, and the agony of his decision was in his eyes.

  “I made a promise to her mother that I would protect Avery, and in this way I am. If her powers are stolen from her, she will live in a coma for the rest of her life, and all Elementals will be dead,” he said grimly. “Do you now understand the importance of this mission? All Elementals are relying on you. Your father and I are both relying on you.” Mathis looked straight into my eyes, looking for understanding, and through the churning in my mind and gut I gave it to him.

  “Yes, sir. I understand.” I spoke quietly, conviction settling in my voice. My heart beating heavily in my chest with dread.

  “Thank you, Cole.” He placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed it gently. Just as he said those words the sun came back out. His body shimmered in a haze of heat, and a blackbird with red stripes on its wings flew away into the sky.

  Chapter 15

  Avery

  The next day after our soccer game, Summer, Ana, and I were walking away from the field and I was surprised to see
Cole’s car driving out of the lot in the distance.

  “Sugar, did you guys have a fight?” Summer looked at me in concern but looked over at Ben with a smile when he walked up to join us.

  “No. I’m not sure what’s going on. He hasn’t talked to me all day.” Truthfully, I’d been confused by how he’s been acting. He had been absent from first period that morning, and didn’t eat lunch with us, which was kind of weird. I looked over at Ben and raised my eyebrows.

  Ben shrugged, “I don’t have a clue.” He gave Summer a kiss on the cheek, nodded at us, and ran off to his car.

  “Strange.” Ana, said quietly at my side. I looked at her and nodded in agreement. “I’ll see what I can find out if you want?”

  Not thinking too much of it, I responded halfheartedly, “Yeah, sure.” Ana quietly excused herself with a “see you later” and walked quickly to her car.

  “Are you still meeting up with Devon tonight?” Summer asked with a smile in her voice. After our battle with the Daïmonids and Devon fighting at our side, Summer seemed to have changed her mind from her first impression of him, though she still didn’t like his sister much. Neither did I. Dani always seemed to be around watching us, and it was kind of creepy.

  “Yeah, he should be around here somewhere.” I looked over at the parking lot and saw him standing by his car. I gave him a quick wave, smiled and said goodbye to Summer.

  Devon pushed away from the car as I walked up to him. “Hey,” I said quietly, watching his face to gage his mood.

  “Hi.” His smiled started slow but built into a grin. “I saw your boyfriend blow out of here kind of quick. I thought he didn’t let you go anywhere alone,” he teased.

  “Well, he’s not my boyfriend, so obviously that isn’t a problem.” I snapped. Truthfully, it had kind of hurt that Cole hadn’t talked to me at school all day.

  “Hey, I’m just glad to have you all to myself.” Devon opened the passenger door and swept his hand out in an “after you” gesture.

  I peeked into his Camaro, which was surprisingly clean, and noticed some bags from a local deli in the back seat. I turned a questioning look his way.

  “I picked up some food because I figured you might be hungry after practice.” He nodded again towards the car, and I got in the passenger seat kind of pleased that he was making such an effort.

  “Thanks,” I said. I actually was kind of hungry and I wasn’t really sure where things stood with Cole. I looked over at him as he got in the car, curious. “Where are we going?”

  “I know a place down by the beach. The weather is great, so why not study outdoors?” he said as we pulled away from the school and got on the freeway heading towards the coast, only a twenty minute drive away.

  As we hauled our stuff down to the sand I took a look out at the water. This was the first time I had been to the beach since moving in with my aunt. No car meant no way to get there, unfortunately.

  As we put our stuff on the corners of the blanket Devon had brought from the car, I noticed him watching the surfers out in the water.

  “Do you surf?” I asked, not really surprised when I thought about it. He certainly looked like he did, with the tan and blonde sun streaked hair. Then I remembered him hanging out with the surfers at school and winced. Dumb question.

  “I used to, but since we moved, I haven’t had the time to pick it up again. New school, new friends.” He looked back at me. “But then, you know how that is, don’t you?”

  “Yeah. You have your sister, though, right?” I thought, kind of jealous. It would be a lot easier moving somewhere with a sibling.

  Devon laughed, “Yeah, Dani. I love her, but she and I don’t always see eye to eye.” Then he turned serious. “Have you all talked anymore about the Daïmonids, and what you’re going to do about them?”

  I turned to my paperback of Romeo and Juliet and flipped through the pages. “No. I mean, Cole, as my Guardian, has been kind of leading the charge on that, and, well, he seems to be avoiding me lately. For some reason.” I tried to keep the hurt out of my voice.

  Wanting to change the subject, I looked up at Devon. “Did you ever find out anything about our rings? Or yours at least?” I asked curiously, turning my hand over and looking at the initials.

  “Oh, yeah! My father said that both Dani’s and my rings were the wedding rings of our great-great-grandparents, and the initials are theirs. He didn’t think that they had any special powers, but my grandfather was kind of the black sheep in our family, so anything’s possible.” He grinned at me and twisted his own ring around his finger.

  “I did find a book in our library that mentioned a few rings that were made a couple of centuries ago that were talismans in a ceremony. Do you know if yours could have been one of those rings?” He asked as he reached out with his hand and touched my ring. That same warm glow that we had felt before and a golden shimmer enveloped our hands.

  I slipped mine away, feeling kind of guilty. I had asked Cole to the Sadie Hawkins dance, and I really liked him, so I didn’t understand these new feelings I was having for Devon. I looked up at him and smiled slightly. “Let’s get to work on our homework, Romeo.”

  Chapter 16

  Devon

  When I got home from the beach, thinking back on my conversation with Avery, I decided to dig around in the library and see if I could come up with any more information about the rings Dani and I had inherited.

  I knocked on the library door, but when there was no answer, I opened it and stepped inside. I glanced around, noting that there wasn’t anyone else here, and took a deep breath. There were windows that ran from floor to ceiling, interspersed throughout the room. The curtains had been drawn back so that light was shining brightly into the room. I could see dust floating and shimmering through the light.

  I flashed back to the library we had in our house where I grew up, where my grandmother taught me how to use my Mesmer gifts. She had died a couple of years ago, but those were some of my favorite memories. She was very gentle, and her tone was always so soothing such a stark contrast to the brusqueness that my father displayed towards me my entire life. I shrugged off those bad memories and started looking through one of the bookshelves.

  I thought I had left that old journal around here somewhere. The room brightened suddenly, and I noticed the dust start to swirl and form a wave, moving towards the other end of the room. The dust was lit up, like stars on a dark sky, and curious, I followed that wave until it stopped and hovered in front of a shelf. There were some old, thin leather-bound books with faded ink on the covers. I grabbed one and cracked it open, sinking into a chair behind me. Gotcha, I thought.

  “The journal of Atticus Finn,” a voice spoke from in front of me, and I jerked my head up in surprise. Standing in front of me, was a man, tall, with dark blonde hair and blue eyes. He was wearing loose brown pants and a white collared shirt with rolled up sleeves. The figure shimmered and I realized that I could see through him to the wall behind. I shut the book. The figure disappeared. I opened it again, and the figure appeared, stating quietly, “The journal of Atticus Finn.”

  “Cool!” I said quietly to myself. I sat there, waiting for who I assumed to be Atticus, to speak. Nothing. I looked down at the book, and realized that I was on the title page, which read, “The Journal of Atticus Finn.” I turned the page, and the figure started speaking.

  “May 13, 1816. Today, a few Committee members gathered together in the museum’s basement. Flora and I, as well as Thomas Sullivan and Gaea Cleary had discovered some old documents that would support our theory about tying our powers together through focus objects.

  These documents were over a century old and had been written by scholars like us at the University of Essex. They told of failed experiments that caused deaths among the members who held them. There were many notations regarding each experiment, which looked to have been building up to a—” The figure in front of me paused, and I hurriedly turned the page. “—final act, which would entail c
alling forth and holding a Daïmon in a summoning circle.

  The plan was for the members of the circle to siphon the Daïmon’s powers into a focus object, one for each member. The four of us were very excited. Flora, Gaea, and I wanted to hurry to complete the ritual, but Thomas, always playing devil’s advocate, pointed out with caution that all but one of those members had died trying to complete this ritual.”

  I skimmed through the journal, ignoring the figure in front of me who seemed to flicker and start talking, depending upon how long I paused at a page. Suddenly, I came up with an idea.

  “Atticus,” I said to my great-great-grandfather.

  “Yes?” he replied.

  Huh, I thought to myself, it worked! “Atticus, skip to final ritual please.”

  The figure flickered and whirred, then stopped suddenly. “Volume 2, October 31, 1816. After Thomas backed out of the experiment, Flora, Gaea, and I decided we would move on with this journey ourselves. Tonight, Samhain, will be the most powerful time to be able to complete the ritual. We are calling forth the Avdar from his dimension Tolterell, and we will confine him to our circle. We are all using rings that we had made, each with our initials inscribed on them, to hold the power we will capture.” Atticus held up his hand as he said this, giving me a clear look at the ring I now wore on my own hand. “This exercise will make Flora and I the most powerful Elemental members, attaining the status we had always wanted, and achieving immortality. We have never understood Gaea’s reasons for joining us, as she doesn’t seem to want the power, and is also a Seer, but we need a third to complete the Triad, and she seems willing.”

  Impatient with this monologue, I ask Atticus to skip to midnight, when the ritual occurred.

  “October 31, 11:59 p.m. Flora, Gaea, and I have created a circle with salt that has been blessed by priests from our clan and are waiting for the clock to strike midnight. Our rings lay on a stone altar next to me, on our side of the circle. We have created an enchantment with our Elemental magic, and Gaea will start chanting the spell. We hear the church bells start to ring the first stroke of midnight. Log, set to record.”