Discern (Mosaic Chronicles Book 1)

by Andrea Pearson

  She gaped, watching as the vines themselves entered the room. She was barely aware of the ringing that sounded in her ear.

  Sam answered. “Nicole?”

  “I’m in the guest room, Sam, and it’s full of spiders!” Nicole glanced down and shrieked when the spiders clambered up the quilt. “There are thousands and thousands of them, and they’ve got me completely surrounded.”

  Sam made a sympathetic sound.

  She shook her head, not wanting his pity. “But that’s not all—”

  Just then, the tip of a vine brushed across her face. She screamed, ducking.

  Nicole jumped to the floor, ignoring the crunching and squelching beneath her stocking feet. She sprinted into the hall and pounded on Lizzie’s door.

  “Up! Hurry!”

  Lizzie’s door popped open and she rushed out, a panicked expression on her face. She only had to glance once into the guest room before racing with Nicole to the kitchen.

  “Nicole! Nicole, what’s going on?” Sam shouted into the phone.

  “It touched me! It touched me!”

  “What did? A spider?”

  “No—the vines.” An idea occurred to her, and she blurted out the question before thinking how silly it would sound to someone talking about spiders. “Do you have a chainsaw?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “Bring it. Now. Or you might have two more deaths on your hands.”

  “What do you—”

  “Just do it, please. Hurry!”

  “All right.”

  The line went dead and Nicole peered down the hall, grateful for the nightlights she and Lizzie had plugged into every socket. Sure enough, the spiders were exiting the bedroom.

  “What do we do?” Lizzie asked, clutching a blanket to her throat.

  “Leave the building. But not through the front door—the tree and vines are right there.”

  “We’re trapped, then!”

  Nicole shook her head. “No, the back door.”

  “We’re not supposed to use it unless it’s an emergency.”

  “Yes, and that’s what this is.”

  Nicole grabbed her keys and jacket, pocketed her phone, and dashed to the door to their apartment. She opened it quietly and slowly, checked that the way was clear, then motioned for Lizzie to follow.

  They ran to the stairs in the rear of the building and dashed down them to the main floor. The back door opened with a groan, and a red light above it started flashing.

  Nicole and Lizzie raced around to the front, getting there just as Sam arrived.

  “Why do I need to have a chainsaw?” he asked.

  Nicole pointed at the ash tree.

  Nearly half of it was bent over as the vines reached through the window that was now shattered. How long would it take before they realized she wasn’t there anymore? And what about the tree? Was it possessed too?

  He swore. “What’s it doing?”

  “The vines are trying to get me,” she said. “They don’t know I’m outside.”

  He nodded.

  Sam revved up the chainsaw and dashed forward, lugging the heavy thing. He was only a little taller than Lizzie—Nicole hoped he’d be able to stop the plants.

  The moment the chainsaw touched the side of the trunk, the tree and vines started shaking violently. The ground below quaked. The roots churned. Dirt fell into holes as the roots attempted to unearth themselves.

  The vines started pulling out of the window.

  Lights turned on in neighboring buildings, and sirens blared a couple of blocks away. The cops must’ve been called or alerted when the backdoor alarm went off.

  Seconds later, police cars raced down the street and pulled to a stop in front of the building.

  Sam screamed and Lizzie pointed, one hand over her mouth. The vines were picking Sam up, lifting him higher and higher in the air, wrenching the chainsaw from his hands.

  The cops shouted, pulling their guns, shooting at the trunk of the tree. That didn’t do anything.

  “Call an arborist!” a cop shouted.

  The vines hit Sam with the chainsaw. Nicole gasped, expecting him to be torn in half, but nothing happened. Why not? She could still hear the motor of the machine. Had the blade stopped turning? Oh, please let that be the case.

  The cops swarmed around the tree and vines, clubbing them, trying to get Sam free. Nicole noticed several officers using phones, probably trying to get hold of a tree trimmer. She wrung her hands, wishing there was something she and Lizzie could do.

  An idea occurred to her.

  They were Aretes, and it didn’t seem like any of the police officers were. Could Lizzie use her magic to get the tree to release Sam?

  Not giving herself time to formulate a plan, she grabbed Lizzie’s arm and the girls bounded across the grass, leaping over holes and pits, joining the cops. Instead of staring up at Sam, though, who was now fifty feet in the air, Nicole turned to Lizzie. “Start a fire. Focus on the trunk.”

  Lizzie nodded and took a deep breath. She immediately began drawing on her palm. A flame appeared, and she held it to the bark in front of her.

  As soon as the flames licked the tree, the vines whooshed down, grabbed Lizzie, and flung her twenty feet away.

  Nicole watched, mouth open. Suddenly a vine picked her up, throwing her after her best friend.

  She sprawled and somersaulted across the grass, gasping for air. Her lungs refused to work. A whizzing sound alerted her to a vine flying toward her. She rolled to the side, dodging it just in time.

  She wasn’t fast enough for the other vines, though, and scrambled to crawl away, still gasping for air, as rope after rope whipped at her and Lizzie. Most missed, but several got in painful hits. Yeah, she’d be covered in welts.

  A cheer went up and she glanced back. Sam had been released and was tumbling to the ground, falling branch to branch through the tree. The chainsaw was pelted into the sky, over the apartment building. Nicole hoped it didn’t crash through anyone’s house.

  Someone—a woman—grabbed her by the arms and yanked her the rest of the way to the curb, putting her out of reach of the vines.

  “Oh, what an awful situation,” her rescuer said.

  Nicole glanced up. It was Denise, the friendly woman from the Laundromat. Sandy, the ornery one, was behind her, helping Lizzie to the curb as well. That surprised Nicole, but also warmed her heart. The woman obviously didn’t hate Aretes enough to let them get whipped to death by evil vines.

  Both women rushed away and returned moments later, leading Sam and placing him next to the girls.

  An ambulance pulled up, along with the arborist. A paramedic started treating the girls and their landlord while Denise hovered, tucking blankets around Nicole and Lizzie’s shoulders.

  Sam took a shuddering breath and looked at Nicole. “I’ve always wondered if the apartment building—specifically your unit—was cursed. I’ve got my answer now. My beautiful ash tree!”

  His eyes glazed over, but he continued speaking. “While up in the air, I caught a glimpse of a huge hole in the center of it. There’s something inside it—I saw . . . I swear I saw something.” He looked at her. “It has to be cut down.”

  Nicole nodded. He was right.

  ***

  Nicole yawned as she pulled a branch to the bonfire Lizzie had started at Sam’s request. It was in the middle of the huge lawn between the building and the parking structure and was growing very large and very hot.

  No one complained, though, and none of the cops had asked to see any sort of permit. Nicole couldn’t blame them—nearly every person had been whipped by the vines. They were eager to destroy everything.

  The sky was just lightening—the sun would rise in another hour—and Nicole paused, wiping sweat off her face. The vines had stopped thrashing and attacking anyone who got too close—apparently, the arborist had finally cut enough of them and the tree away, and whatever curse that had flowed through their veins had given up.

  What surpr
ised everyone as they’d started dismantling the branches were the bits of tangled fabric that clung everywhere, especially to the vines. Nicole grimaced—she knew how the fabric got there. Those plants were man-eaters.

  After most of the vines and branches were chopped off and carried away, people started crowding around the tree trunk, wanting to see what Sam had been talking about. The landlord had told everyone at least three times that there was something inside.

  Sam was the first to get near it, claiming responsibility. He yelled out in shock and backed away, pointing frantically. Before anyone got the chance to look, he pushed them away and called for Nicole and Lizzie.

  Nicole raised an eyebrow as they joined him.

  He grunted, noticing her skeptical expression. “You two have had to deal with it the most. You deserve to see first.”

  She nodded, and they cautiously peered over the top of the trunk into the hollow center.

  Lizzie screamed, hands to her mouth, and Nicole felt bile rise at the back of her throat.

  The tree was hollowed out all the way underground, forming a sort of pit that was lined with thousands of vines. It was full of bones and dead bodies. Several were almost all the way decomposed, but many weren’t very old.

  In fact, one of them moved, and then Nicole did scream.

  “What?” Sam asked, scrambling up beside her.

  “That one’s still alive.” She pointed at the elderly woman with long hair.

  Sam turned around. “Get the paramedics!” he shouted at no one in particular. “Get a fireman! There’s a live person down here!”

  Everyone started running at the same time—some to the tree, others to the ambulance that had stayed around while paramedics treated wounds.

  Sam revved up the chainsaw, and without waiting for anyone to say or do anything, he began cutting the trunk, making a hole in the side big enough for a man to crawl through.

  The paramedics joined them, and when Sam finished, they coordinated a rescue.

  Moments later, a cheer went up as the elderly woman was pulled out. She was shaking with weakness and struggled at first, screaming something about her “lovelies.” But she calmed down enough to allow the paramedics to strap her to a gurney. She stared at Nicole.

  “Crazy old bat,” Sam said. “Doesn’t know what’s good for her anymore.”

  The woman reached for Nicole, and it wasn’t until that moment that Nicole sensed magic pulsing outward from her. The pulse was faint, yes, but strong enough for Nicole to recognize it and know she’d felt it before, back when she’d been standing outside of her apartment building.

  The woman beckoned again, a pained expression on her face. “Please, Nicole. Please.”

  Lizzie gasped and tried to pull Nicole back. “How does she know your name?”

  Nicole shook her head, shrugging out of Lizzie’s grasp. “I’ll be fine.” She could sense that the woman held no malice for her. Lizzie’s question was valid, though. How did the woman know who she was?

  Nicole approached. The woman gazed into her eyes. “Read . . . the book.”

  Nicole’s mouth popped open. “How’d you hear about that?”

  “I . . . followed . . .” She didn’t get a chance to finish. Her eyes shut. She slumped back against the gurney, blood dripping out of an ear.

  Nicole frowned and stepped away as the paramedics began performing CPR. Was the woman dying? Why now, when it appeared she’d been alive in the tree for some time? Was she a victim of the vines, or was she the reason the vines acted the way they did?

  Nicole knew the answer immediately. The woman hadn’t been an attempted murder victim—she’d been upset when the paramedics pulled her out. The vines had strengthened her. But how? And who was she?

  The paramedics declared her dead. Nicole’s heart dropped, realizing she’d never learn what the woman knew. Her desire to understand was overpowering. Had this woman controlled the spiders along with the vines? Was she behind the other deaths? And where could Nicole find answers?

  The book. Nicole knew right away that it really was meant for her. It had awakened to her touch, it had called to her. Somehow, it—and the lady—had known she would attend Katon University even before Nicole had.

  How, though?

  Nicole bit her lip, turning to Sam.

  He held up his hands. “I have no idea what she’s talking about.” The panic in his expression showed he was probably worried about a lawsuit.

  Nicole put a hand on his shoulder. “I know none of this is your fault. Don’t worry—I won’t retaliate. But is there anything you should be telling me about the tree or that woman?”

  He shook his head. “No. I mean, deaths and disappearances have been going on for quite some time—years. A couple here and there. I never suspected it was the vines. No one else has experienced what you two have gone through, or, at least if they did, they never mentioned it to me.”

  Nicole chewed on her thumb, watching the ambulance pull away.

  “How did the lady know I’d end up here?” She mulled the question over, then turned to Lizzie. “You. You said all the other apartments were full.”

  Lizzie nodded. “I toured many and made offers, but every single one called back, saying I was too late—all their vacancies were gone.”

  “Is it possible they weren’t really full?” Nicole asked.

  Sam grunted. “That, I do know about.” He glanced at Nicole. “But . . . I’m pretty much sworn to secrecy on it.”

  Nicole and Lizzie faced him. “Tell us,” Nicole said. “Please.”

  Sam slumped onto the curb. “In the last couple of days, I’ve been hearing from other landlords. They’ve been paid quite a lot of money to . . . well, make sure a couple of college-age girls didn’t move in.” He took a deep breath. “The descriptions matched the two of you.”

  He bit his lip, watching Nicole and Lizzie closely. “That’s not all, though.” He wrung his hands. “I’m going to be losing a lot of money over this, but I’ve never felt good about the arrangement, especially after hearing from the other landlords.”

  Nicole waited expectantly.

  He took a deep breath. “I charge several hundred more a month than what I’ve been having you two pay since Lizzie reserved the apartment back in May.” He motioned to Nicole. “Your mother has been paying me the difference and then some. I think she really needed you to stay here.”

  Nicole shook her head, feeling anger boiling up inside. She pulled out her cell phone. “Apparently so. And she’s going to tell me why.”

  Nicole quickly dialed her mother’s number and didn’t give her a chance to say “hello” before starting to talk.

  “What did you hope to accomplish, Tiffany? I’ve just learned everything from” —Nicole saw the panicked expression on Sam’s face— “from an old lady who used to live in the tree in my front yard! And to think I was proud of myself for living on my own, for being independent. But for the past several months, you’ve been paying for me behind my back. Since before we’d even moved in!”

  She flung her hand into the air, storming back and forth in front of Lizzie and Sam. “Why did you want me here? Why your visit? Why your sudden interest in my life?”

  Nicole froze as something occurred to her. “Wait a minute. You were dusting my shelves, asking me about books. You were searching for it, weren’t you?”

  Tiffany was silent for several seconds. Then, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Don’t give me that. You know what’s going on.”

  “I . . . I still don’t know what you’re talking about. Perhaps Dad and I could come—”

  “That’s the last thing I want right now. I’m going on an expedition tomorrow and won’t be returning for at least two months. And I will have a good time on that expedition and won’t think for one moment about you or the stupid book!”

  Nicole hung up the phone.

  Lizzie’s face was worried. “She confessed to everything?”

  Nicole
shook her head. “Nope. Denied it all.”

  “Um . . . don’t you think you were a little too harsh, then?”

  “Heavens, no. If anything, I wasn’t harsh enough.” Nicole grabbed Lizzie’s shoulders. “I know when Tiffany is lying, and Lizzie, she was lying. She probably knows everything that’s been going on—my call must have put her on the spot.” Nicole swung away, folding her arms. “Argh! Why did I have to be born to those people?”

  She looked at Sam. “Don’t worry—I don’t blame you. My mom can be very convincing at times.”

  “Oh, and thanks for coming so fast,” Lizzie said to him. “And for not thinking we’d gone insane. We appreciate it a lot.”

  Sam looked at his feet, nodded, and cleared his throat. “It’s the least I can do, especially considering everything else.” He turned to Nicole. “I’d only just begun to realize the extent of your mother’s plans the last few days.”

  “It’s okay. Really, it is.”

  “No, it’s not. I want you both to stay here gratis until you graduate. I definitely owe it to you, after everything you’ve been through.”

  Lizzie grinned. “Thank you. That’s very generous.”

  He shook his head. “It’s the least I can do,” he repeated, then cleared his throat and motioned to the building. “Got some damage to take care of. I’ll go grab a bit of tape and a tarp to seal off that window.”

  He left, and Nicole watched as the cops and other specialists prepared to exhume the bodies. After only one or two minutes, her stomach couldn’t handle anymore, and she and Lizzie decided to inspect the apartment instead. She dreaded entering—she had watched the window off and on all night and hadn’t once seen a spider leave.

  A couple of huge officers insisted on accompanying them, and the girls thanked the two profusely, especially since both looked tough enough to squash a few hundred eight-legged critters.

  It didn’t take them long to figure out what had happened with the spiders.

  They were dead. All of them. Every surface in the apartment was covered in at least three inches of carcasses.

  Nicole looked around in disgust, totally repulsed that her mother had anything to do with it. How had she, when she wasn’t an Arete?