Midnight Metamorphosis

by Deborah E. Kehoe

  I gingerly picked up the black canvas charm. Brenna handed me some more of the gold filament and I tied it into a knot. I looped it over my head and it came to rest on my chest. I breathed in the scent of bergamot and cinnamon, now mixed lightly with the mint from my charm. Those scents, mixed with the lavender coming in through the open window, calmed me. I closed my eyes and let the moment of quiet wash over me as the sun set. With it, a sense of rightness swept through me. I opened my eyes and looked at my aunt. I thanked her with a small smile and a hug and went to my room to think.

  Brenna was right, my mom wouldn’t care about anything but my being safe, but I knew I could trust my friends to help me out. I thought of Cole and Devon and frowned slightly. Cole had been my friend since I arrived in Dover, teaching me how to defend myself and giving me some pretty good advice.

  He had trained from a pretty young age to look out for me, to be my Guardian. I was sure that I could trust him. I fingered the necklace he’d given me last night, which had been a complete contradiction to the way that he’d been acting lately. With the exception of the dance last night, he’d been almost standoffish.

  When my thoughts turned to Devon, I blushed slightly and my ring started to warm. I touched it with my other hand and then put that hand under my leg, sitting on it and trying to ignore the sensation. He and I had gotten so close in so little time. I thought of what his father wanted from him and gave a small shiver. I no longer had any doubts, I knew I could trust him. His father wanted to give him, body and soul, over to Avdar. There’s no way he’d go along with that! I picked up my cell phone to send him a text, when it dinged before I could type anything.

  COLE: R U there?

  ME: Hey! Got my new phone!

  COLE: Cool. Will u meet me @ school? Soccer field?

  ME: Sure. When?

  COLE: Now? I’m there already.

  ME: What’s up?

  COLE: I have something else to give u b4 tonight.

  ME: ok! See u soon!

  I borrowed Brenna’s car and promised to be home by 11 p.m. when we were all meeting up. I drove into the parking lot at school and pulled into a spot next to Cole’s car. I looked towards the soccer field and saw a light flick on and off. I wasn’t too thrilled with coming out here at night on my own. Everyone was meeting over at my house at 11 to get ready. Brenna had finished the charms to help everyone enter my transition spiritually with me. This little side trip of Cole’s was kind of unexpected, and well, with everything that has been going on lately, didn’t seem too smart. I took out my phone and shot a quick text to Devon and Summer, letting them know I was at the school. I turned off my phone, got out of the car, and started walking out towards the soccer field.

  The light flicked on again, and I realized that Cole had the flashlight app on his phone turned on so I could see where he was. I reached for my phone and flicked that light on to flash it at Cole. As I did, it dinged with a message from Summer asking me what Cole wanted. I sent her back a quick note that I’d just gotten here and then silenced my phone.

  “Cole?” My voiced seemed loud in the darkness, and I heard a rustle coming from the light. I stopped when I heard a groan. I tilted my head, staring at the light, and heard the groan again. “Cole!” Anxiously, I rushed forward as I saw a figure lying on the ground. I kneeled down next to it and turned the body over. Blonde, not brown, hair caught the light from the phone and illuminated Devon’s face. My breath caught when I saw the cut above his right eye and the blood dripping down the side of his face into his hairline.

  “Devon!” I touched his face, and shook his shoulder gently trying to wake him. He groaned again and opened his eyes. “Devon, what happened? What are you doing here?” I asked anxiously and he blinked as if trying to focus. He tried to sit up too quickly, groaned again and put his hand to his head. I helped him remain sitting and got a napkin out of my bag and touched it to the cut, dabbing at it. He pushed my hand away and looked around quickly.

  “Avery, why are we on the soccer field?” He asked in confusion. When he started getting to his feet I stood as well but kept my hand on his arm. I looked around too. The field was completely dark, except for a phone lying on its side at Devon’s feet.

  I bent down to grab the phone and told him about Cole’s text asking me to meet him here. “I did think it was kind of weird. I mean, no one’s around, but he said he had something to give me,” I said in defense when he gave me a look.

  Devon took the phone from me and looked at it. “This isn’t mine, it’s Cole’s.” He scrolled through the text messages and we saw the text that was sent to me.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked him, and at my words, he looked confused for a moment.

  “The last thing I remember was driving to my house. From the bump on my head, I’d say that someone brought me here for some reason,” he said starting to look angry.

  “Do you think it was Cole? I did see his car in the parking lot.” I said and I looked back toward the lot but couldn’t see much. In the darkness, though, I did think I saw movement. Scared, I grabbed Devon’s arm again and turned him toward it. “Look!” I pointed back towards the edge of the field. “I think I see something moving over there,” I said.

  Even though I was trying to turn him towards what I was seeing, he was standing unmoving, looking over my shoulder at the other side of the field. “I do too, over there,” he said, pointing behind me.

  I turned in the other direction, quickly, and saw a couple of dark shapes moving closer. I called out, “Cole?”

  I wasn’t shocked when there wasn’t an answer. I looked around us and I could see more shapes gathering. Devon fiddled with the phone in his hand and the flashlight turned back on illuminating four figures standing with us at their center. They weren’t Daïmonids, but they were men I didn’t recognize. A figure stepped forward from behind one of the men and I recognized Cole.

  “Cole?” I questioned in relief. “Who are all of these people?” I gestured around us. Cole’s gaze darkened and he looked at me with regret.

  “I’m sorry Avery, but the Sentinel has decided that the risk is too big to allow you to fully transition tonight.” Turning to look at Devon, he continued, “and the power you two have together may be a danger to all Others.” He took an angry step forward.

  I felt Devon grab my hand and try to push me behind him slightly, but I wouldn’t allow it. “My Father decided this?” Shocked, I shook off Devon’s hand. “He’s decided that I’m going to turn on the Elementals? Why? What have I done to show that I would harm anyone?” I said angrily. I felt a pang in my chest, realizing that my own father, and one of my best friends, could think so little of me.

  “And you? You believe this too?” I glared at him, and he swallowed hard, looking torn. “Is that why you’ve been acting all weird lately?” I reached up and pulled the necklace he’d given me out of my shirt. “Why even bother to give me this?” I said wanting to tear the necklace off and throw it in his face, but I didn’t. I tucked it back into my sweater.

  At that gesture, Cole’s face softened. He ignored all but my first question, answering, “I hate to think you would harm anyone, but he’s the Sentinel, and as a Guardian, I must obey my orders.” As he finished talking, he stood a little straighter, as if at attention.

  “Those orders being…?” I asked, and felt Devon start to pull energy towards him. He grabbed my hand again, and this time, I let him. When our rings met and started to warm, I pushed my hurt away and focused on the two of us surviving.

  Cole took a step forward, his hands clenched at his side, “You can’t transition,” he said bluntly.

  Suddenly, I understood. The only way for me to not transition is for me to no longer be alive. To live was to move forward, turning sixteen, and everything that comes with that.

  If I died, my powers died with me. I felt Devon lean towards me and whisper, “It’s 11:45.”

  Already? I knew what he was telling me. I had only 15 minutes before my transiti
on. Headlights from the parking lot behind me illuminated Cole’s face and I read his intent, just as I heard three car doors shut with a loud bang.

  At that distraction, Devon threw a fireball towards a man to our left, encasing him in fire. At the man’s screams, Cole gave a frustrated look and flung a hand out towards a sprinkler that was just to the right of him, and it turned on, dousing the flames.

  I turned forward to face Cole with Devon at my side, our hands joined. “Are you sure you want to do this Cole?” I asked, hoping that he would have a change of heart. But seeing his determined expression, I knew that he would follow his orders. “Well, Happy Birthday to me,” I said darkly as I felt our joined power thrum through my body. I could hear footsteps running up behind us and I threw up a protective shield for my friends. Seeing the electricity breakers on a pole next to them, I directed a blast to fling open that large metal box.

  “Summer turn on the lights!” I shouted over my shoulder, and heard a couple of steps, then the lights slowly started to go on.

  “Avery, what’s going on?” Summer asked and I heard the frustration and fear in her voice. “I got your text and have everything here with us.” I heard Summer’s growl from the edge of the field and she murmured something and then Ben’s voice.

  “Cole, what the hell are you doing? Avery’s cool!” Ben yelled and I could hear him pacing frantically behind the shield.

  Cole, when the others ran up, looked resigned, then even more determined. “No. No she isn’t cool. She is a danger to everybody! A danger to all of you!” He yelled at Ben, and his eyes started to glow a vibrant purple as he pulled energy out of the earth around him. Grass shriveled and died where he stood, and a giant mound of dirt started growing, lifting him up high.

  “Shit, he’s gone crazy!” I heard Ben say to Summer behind me and her murmured agreement.

  “Avery, you’ve got to take this field down, we can help.” Ana’s voice came from farther down the stands, as she tested the boundaries of the field.

  “No. This is my fight.” I said quietly, looking Cole in the eyes, seeing that spark of friendship, and maybe something that could’ve been more, die. That hope in my heart died right along with it. I felt a hand grip mine and felt the warmth of a different, stronger kind of friendship grow. A friendship based upon truth, not lies. A friendship that would last through all of this pain and be stronger when it was all over.

  “It’s our fight.” Devon corrected me and I broke eye contact with Cole to look at him.

  “Are you sure?” My hair was starting to whip around my face, and I could see Devon’s eyes had turned an arctic blue. A dust devil started to swirl gently in front of us, and then grew larger. My heart filled with a new hope.

  “Absolutely!” He gave me a quick smirk and then whipped his free hand out to the side. The dust devil grew to the size of a baseball diamond, pushing Cole and his men back a few yards, until Cole flung his own power at it and held it back. It swirled in front of him, picking up dried grass and twigs. Through that whirlwind, I saw Cole reach up to his eyebrow and touch a finger to the piercing. With a loud crack a lightning bolt ripped from the sky into the middle of the tornado, dispersing it and causing Devon and me to duck to escape the debris. I saw his hand reach up again, and I took a step away from Devon. Cole tracked me with his eyes, and then whipped his hand out towards me and shot power directly at me. I released a blast of energy from my owns hands and my soft green power hit his purple ray of energy and deflected it to the right, into one of Cole’s men, who dropped to the ground, dead. I gasped in horror at that strike but had to recover quickly.

  I saw the other men look at each other, and then gather closer to Cole who stepped toward us. “Nice. I see you learned something from our lessons. It’s too bad I didn’t have time to teach you some offensive maneuvers,” he said as he smirked. I froze in horror as I realized why our lessons had never progressed further.

  “That’s why she has me!” Devon angrily said from beside me and shot a blaze of fire toward Cole hitting him in the side. Cole stumbled to one knee and sent a bolt of purple energy at Devon. I stepped in front of him with my shield, defusing the hit. Devon stepped to the side, a storm gathering in the air directly overhead. Rain started pouring down over two of Cole’s men, who screamed in pain, their skin turning a bright red and then bursting into blisters their skin melting from their hands. They dissolved into a dark pile of sludge. Cole glanced toward them and raised an eyebrow in disgust at Devon.

  “That acid rain is a bitch,” Devon said evenly. I looked over at him in shock and then my whole body contracted in pain when I took a bolt of energy in the side.

  I fell to the ground but covered myself with a shield while holding my hand over the wound. Devon took my hand and sent a warm current of power through me. That power circulated through the wound in my side, easing the pain. I struggled to stand up into a crouch. Cole had one remaining man standing at his side, although he looked like he had second thoughts about being there.

  I flicked my fingers at him sending a bolt of energy into the ground at his feet, and sure enough, he turned around and ran. I felt proud when Cole stared after his man and frowned in disgust. He turned around, his grey hoodie blending in with the ash-colored dirt around him I prepared myself for the next round. Cole whipped his hands out to the side and screamed, and a loud crack of thunder answered his call.

  Together, Devon and I joined hands, siphoning energy from Cole and the storm he was building. Cole strained to gather power to him, but Devon and I were too strong. I stepped forward as far as Devon would let me, without separating our hands, feeling the power blazing into my body, with Devon as a conduct. The two of us were surrounded by light.

  “Cole. Stop.” I whispered. I had to try, one more time to reach him. My hand stretched toward him, beseechingly. “Please, let’s stop this before we really hurt each other.” He looked at me with sorrow in his eyes.

  “Avery, it’s my duty. My family, my father, he’s counting on me,” he said, the tone of his voice telling the agony of his decision. “I really liked you. I’m sorry.” As he finished his sentence he shoved both hands towards me throwing all of that power that he’d built up from the storm, into my body, and I arched back with a cry.

  He didn’t realize what I could do, I realized, or he’d never have sent me all of his power. It swept through my body, a raging fire, and I siphoned most of the power into Devon. But, I held some of it back. I stared into Cole’s eyes, my back arched, I kept drawing power from him, siphoning it into Devon, while my mind flashed back to visions of the first day I saw Cole, laughing at our training sessions, that shiver of awareness when his teeth grazed my neck at the dance, and that final kiss. Cole’s features went white, his purple eyes wide in shock as he stared in disbelief. “What, how is it possible?” He stopped speaking abruptly, eyes fading to a pale lavender and fell onto the ground, still.

  Devon squeezed my hand, his eyes burning bright blue, “Avery, we need to disperse this, it’s too much!” He yelled anxiously.

  I nodded, the rush of power giving me vertigo. I closed my eyes pulled the power back from Devon and fed it back to the earth but holding some of it in reserve. The grass on the soccer field grew lush and thick, bright yellow dandelions and mustard flowers sprouted and then bloomed, blossoms covering the field. The stadium lights flickered once and went out.

  In the sudden darkness, I collapsed to my knees on the ground sobbing and crawled over to Cole.

  “Cole. Cole. Wake up!” I shook him, not wanting it to be true. I turned him over so I could pat his face. “Come on. You need to wake up!” I cried, my tears falling on him as I leaned over his body, hugging his chest. I felt Devon standing next to me and our friends gathered around in quiet shock. I put my hands on his chest and concentrated, then sent a pulse of earth energy into Cole’s chest. His back arched, and then his body slumped back to the ground. I did it again. I could hear Ana crying softly and Summer knelt down next to me, wrapping an
arm around my shoulder her head on my neck.

  Devon touched my shoulder and then leaned down to feel for Cole’s pulse. “Avery, stop. He’s gone.” he said quietly, regret in his voice.

  I shook my head in denial. I couldn’t believe that this whole thing just happened. My father set my friend against me. Unable to express how I was feeling, I grew silent, my sobs quieting until I felt only anger.

  I heard Ben murmur something in Summer’s ear and her arm tightened around my shoulder.

  “What time is it?” I asked. My voice tremored slightly from the emotions I was holding back.

  “It’s 11:59.” Ana answered quickly. I glanced at her and could barely make out her shape in the darkness but saw her reach a hand up to wipe away her tears. I looked at everyone. Tear-filled eyes met mine. I swiped a hand under my own and looked towards Summer. Ben looked at Cole’s body and then away, his jaw set.

  “We’re out of time, you guys. Summer, you said you brought everything?” She nodded, putting her hand in the bag that hung from her shoulder. “We need to get ready,” I said wearily and I pushed against the lush grass as I got up.

  “Brenna told you what we needed to do?” I asked Summer and she nodded, handing out the black velvet pouches, and a few vials of liquid. She took out four foil sheets, the type you used for emergency blankets, and set them in a square around Avery.

  “Avery, you need to sit in the middle. Everyone else, sit on one of the foil sheets. Avery you are going to enter your spiritual transition, as planned. The rest of us will chant this spell as you enter it. Brenna said it was a pretty simple spell, so our spirits should immediately follow.” She handed out four sheets of paper. I looked down at it blankly, then felt them watch me settle onto the ground at their center.

  As I closed my eyes, I could feel the group gather around me. I took a breath, determined to find my focus and made a vow that I would mourn Cole later. I pushed everything that just happened aside, took another deep breath and let it out gently. I took another breath, focusing inward, and the golden light within me expanded and grew. My whole body felt light, and a gentle wind stirred. As I focused on that light, I noticed it was rimmed in lavender, part of Cole’s essence remaining with me.