by Allie Burke
Christian got up, and yelled for Cameron. “Pour it down harder, Cam. We got thirty more rounding the corner.”
Elias lifted Jane, and he ran.
Chapter 25
Two hours later, Elias sat on the rocks, still waiting for the tiniest movement of Jane’s floating body. She lied on top of the water, completely still. Suddenly, a deep gasp filled her lungs. Her head popped out of the water, and her arms and legs flailed as she went under.
Elias jumped in. Jane was lying on the bottom of the lake, her eyes closed. He scooped her into his arms, swam to the top, and laid her down on the soft dirt.
“Jane,” he said softly, and she immediately opened her eyes, as if she was waiting for him to call her name.
“Elias?” she whispered. “Elias!” She wrapped her arms around him, nuzzling her face into his chest. “I’m sorry, Elias, I’m so sorry.”
She cried for a long time. When she quieted, he lifted her up, and released her, encouraging her to stand on her own. She tilted her head to the side, and leaned over and threw up. She held her hand out to him, beckoning for him to come to her. He grasped her hand, still keeping a little distance. His heart pumped, his stomach writhed, his head ached, but he could not grasp the emotion she felt.
She straightened her back, and looked down at her stomach. She lifted her head, an expectant look in her eyes.
“Oh, Jane,” he said, softly caressing her hair. “It’s not possible. She’s gone.”
“No,” she cried, “I can feel them, they’re here.”
What she meant by “they”, Elias had no clue. Still breathing, Jane collapsed in his arms. She had fainted, the strained thoughts of losing her baby unbearable.
Elias carried her home, taking the long way around to the back of the house. There wasn’t anybody left, he knew that, the storms were gone, he just didn’t want to deal with whatever was there.
Elias bathed Jane with a soft sponge, dressed her in her flannel pajamas, and tucked her into bed.
He called Dr. Blaine, and within minutes, the doctor arrived at the house with a woman. Her long auburn hair matched her freckles. She was pretty, twenty years younger than the doctor, easy.
“Dr. Blaine,” Elias greeted him at the door, relieved he was here to help Jane.
“Please, call me Charles, Elias” he said. “My wife, Kristin. She’s here for Jane.”
His wife. The Enchanter wife. After tonight, Elias didn’t even want to shake her hand. He felt outrageously rude at the thought, and tried to recover himself.
“You’ll have to excuse me,” Elias said, “it’s been a long night.”
“I know,” she said.
Elias cleared his throat. He hoped there weren’t bodies lying all over the front yard.
“It’s nice to meet you, Elias. I’ve been fighting my energy for hours. You all must have had some powerful people here tonight.”
Elias relaxed. She felt it. If there were bodies, Elias was sure Charles would have said something. Or ran away.
“May I see her?” Kristin asked.
Elias nodded, and led them to the bedroom where Jane slept. Kristin gently pulled back the covers, and lifted Jane’s shirt. An Enchanter, any Enchanter, standing that close to Jane as she slept, was making Elias extremely nervous.
“What’s your element?” Elias asked.
“I’m not an Enchanter,” Kristin said, shocking him. He couldn’t understand why Charles would lie about that. “I only have the energy,” she said. “Those of us with the energy, without the gift, they call us Healers.”
“Do you heal?”
“No,” she giggled. “That’s Charles’s job. I just tell him what to do, like any good wife.”
Elias couldn’t even try to smile.
Kristin looked back at Jane. She placed her palm on Jane’s stomach, her other hand on her forehead. She felt around her stomach, and used her other hand to touch her cheeks, her neck, her chest. Kristin got up, smiled at Elias, whispered in Charles’s ear, and left the room. Charles pulled up a chair next to Jane, pulled her shirt back down and covered her with the blankets. Elias started pacing.
“Elias,” Charles said, “come sit with your wife.”
Elias didn’t bother correcting him, just sat down on the edge of the bed, next to Jane.
“Let me see your hand,” Charles said.
Elias lifted his right hand, surprised to see it scratched and bloody. It didn’t even hurt.
“What did you do?”
“I don’t know, punched a big rock or something. I don’t remember.”
Charles produced some alcohol and a piece of white gauze, began working his magic. “You’re going to need this hand, you know. I’m sure Jane is very strong, but I doubt she can hold two babies at once.”
Elias’s head jerked up at Charles.
He laughed, dropping Elias’s hand. “Twins. A girl and a boy, probably. Healthy babies.”
Elias’s emotions burst into the air, fogging up the small room with its thick relief. His head fell onto Jane’s stomach, and he sobbed uncontrollably, his arms tight around her waist. When he looked up again, Charles was gone.
Epilogue
Elias woke up slowly as his phone vibrated next to him. He looked over at the window. The moonlight lightly shone through the bedroom.
“Hello?” Elias whispered into the phone.
“Hi, Elias,” the old man said.
“Hey, Dad.”
“How are my grandbabies?”
Elias smiled. “They’re good. Abby misses Mom. And Daniel keeps asking when Pops is coming to visit.”
Grant laughed. “Tell them we’ll be down soon. Can I talk to your wife?”
Elias looked over at the explosion of red curls directly in front of his face. Her eyes were smoothly closed, a tiny smile on her lips.
“She’s sleeping,” he whispered quietly.
“I can never get this schedule right.” Elias could hear his dad smiling through the phone. He probably waited as long as he could, knowing they would still be asleep.
“Tell her we said happy birthday?” Grant said.
“I will.”
“Alright. I love you, son.”
Elias swallowed hard. He didn’t know if he would ever get used to those words as they came out of his father’s mouth, no matter how many times he’d said them. “Love you too, Dad. Tell Mom hi.”
“I will, if she ever gets back from shopping.”
Elias laughed. “Bye, Dad.”
Elias barely got the chance to set the phone down before a tiny, musical voice echoed in his ears.
“Hi, Daddy.”
His five-year old daughter stood in the doorway in purple pajamas, her blazing red curls ravaging her pale face. She held a cat in her arms. His name was Parker. He was brown and shaggy, and would only let two people come near him. Jane and Abby.
“Hey, baby,” Elias whispered.
She came in, set Parker down on his chest, and sat in his lap.
“Where’s your brother?” he asked.
Abby’s twin brother walked in just then. His features were not like Abby’s. His dark hair and blue eyes were a splitting image of Elias, of Grant. Daniel hopped into the bed, lied next to his mother.
“Hey, Daniel,” his wife said, waking up.
She leaned over, and kissed Elias. “Good morning.”
“Hey, beautiful.”
“Can we give it to her now?” Abby asked impatiently.
Elias smiled at her. He leaned over and opened the drawer of the hutch next to the bed. He pulled out a white box, and placed it on Jane’s chest.
“Happy birthday,” Elias said.
As she opened it, her green eyes brightened. She pulled out the gift, its chain dangling on her finger. It held a square gem. A necklace, just like Eve’s. Except the jewel was amethyst, not ruby. Purple.
She smiled at Elias, and immediately put it on. She kissed their son, and then their daughter. “It’s beautiful. I love it.”
&n
bsp; Surprisingly, neither of the kids responded. Elias looked at Abby. Her skin was suddenly paler than it ever had been. The fear in her features was a frightening expression that a child should never wear. She brought her hands to her chest, and a dark violet shimmer of glitter clouded around her.
Elias threw the covers off of Jane. Daniel was trembling beside her, as pale as his sister. The cloud that surrounded him was black.
Jane jumped out of bed and pulled Abby into her arms. Elias did the same with Daniel. Jane grabbed Elias’s hand, and they ran out the door, across the clearing, down the trail, until they reached the opening to Jasmyn.
Jane set Abby down, and looked to Elias holding Daniel. She looked back to their daughter, and back at their son, back and forth.
“Christian!” she yelled, clearly frustrated.
Elias closed his eyes and inhaled deep breaths to control his threatening anger. He told himself, all those years ago, that he would never have to see Christian again. It had been five years.
It was like Christian was waiting to be called. Within seconds, he appeared, holding in his arms a boy a little older than Abby and Daniel. He was a cute kid, light brown hair and brown eyes, tanned skin like his father. Christian set him down on the dirt, and stared at Daniel with wide eyes.
“You’ve got to be shitting me,” he said.
“Please, Chris,” Jane said, “I can’t get up there like you can.”
Christian nodded quickly, barely thinking about it, and approached Elias. Elias held his son tight.
“I’ll take care of your son, Elias,” Christian said. “I swear to you.”
Elias nodded, and he set Daniel into Christian’s arms. Christian passed his own son, firmly grasped a nearby tree’s branch with his free hand, and swung himself upwards. He ascended each branch effortlessly, and stopped when he reached the highest branch that would hold his weight. He placed Daniel on his shoulders, and called down to Jane.
Jane’s aura formed quickly. Elias looked back up the tree. As Jane lifted her arms, Christian’s hair swayed with a heavy breeze. Daniel lifted his head against the wind, his chest bulging with a deep breath of it. His aura darkened, and he looked down from the sky.
“Hi, Dad,” he called down.
Elias breathed hard, relieved. He waved at his son.
Christian made his way down the tree with Daniel in his arms, and Jane picked up Abby, and ran around to the side of the lake. She hopped in with Abby in her arms, dipping her under the water. Elias sucked in a breath as the color of the entire lake changed. It was now purple.
“Is that you?” Elias asked Jane.
“No,” Christian came up behind him, setting Daniel down. “It’s your daughter. The Brooks girls get more powerful with every generation. And more beautiful.”
Luckily, being married to Jane for five years, she had opened up to him, and he finally knew what the name Brooks meant, what the name Linden meant, Reed, and even Hadley. But he couldn’t think about that now. Elias was mesmerized. Abby’s aura was just like Jane’s outside of the water, but in the water—her aura changed its element.
Abby surfaced, and she inhaled a deep breath.
“Thank you, Mommy,” she said simply. She swam on her own back to the shore, and walked over to them.
Abby smiled at Elias, but she halted in front of Christian’s son. The young boy had stood there throughout all of this, just calmly watching. Now, the two kids stared into each others’ eyes so deeply, it was like nothing in the world could ever separate them.
The boy smiled. “My name is Evan,” he said.
“I’m Abby,” she said.
Christian cleared his throat next to Elias. He raced over to his son, grabbed his hand hard, and started walking away.
“Wait!” Evan cried, and somehow removed himself from his father’s fierce grasp.
Evan ran back to Abby, reached in his tiny shorts pocket, and produced an orange-red leaf, colored by the Fall. Abby just looked at it.
“It’s a leaf from my favorite tree,” Evan said. “I want you to have it, just in case I never see you again.”
Elias closed his eyes unbelievingly. Smart kid. He opened them to find Evan staring at his daughter again.
She took the leaf, and smiled. “Thank you, Evan.”
“Goodbye, Abby,” he said, but he didn’t turn away. He stared at her, waiting for something. “Aren’t you going to say goodbye?” he asked.
Abby shook her head. “I don’t want to say goodbye.”
Wordlessly, Christian hefted Evan into his arms and turned away. Elias hadn’t seen such deep anger pass through Christian’s face, even when fifty Enchanters were trying to kill him. They disappeared into the trees.
Abby looked back at her father, silent tears on her cheeks as it began to rain outside. He looked over at Jane. Her face was an empty book, her eyes glowing out of its blank pages. He stepped forward, and lifted Abby into his arms. She laid her head on his shoulder, and the four of them walked back to the house together in silence.
As much as he would have loved to, Elias couldn’t stop thinking about the way Evan looked at his daughter for those long, uncomfortable moments. He had seen it before. That look—the overly calm brown eyes, the complete stillness of the body, the unintentional smile—it was the same way Christian looked at Jane. Elias was glad it was Christian that tore Evan away from Abby, because if it was Elias that had to keep them apart, his daughter would hate him for the rest of her life.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to my lovely husband, just for being as lovely as you always are. To all my favorite writers, Sarah Addison Allen, Lauren Kate, Stephenie Meyer, for all your inspiration. To 311, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, STP and more, I would not have been able to write a single page without my music. And to Heather, for your willingness to read, to edit, and to always tell me that you love my books. Over this past year, you have been the best friend a girl could have. I couldn’t have done it without you.
Table of Contents
1005aefff5a8416ab70c0cb24b73e874
