Forging Day (Crucible of Change Book 1)

by Noelle Alladania Meade

  She was looking anywhere but me, but she finally answered. “We were told there was a terrorist threat involving the use of biological weapons. My boss tapped me to go with her. We weren’t supposed to say anything, but I called you from the bathroom at the airport. I swear to God, I had no idea what was actually happening at that point. We were in a briefing regarding the actual situation when you sent your ‘selfie’. And no, I can’t talk about what was discussed.”

  That left me chilled. “So the government believed we were in imminent danger of a terrorist attack, and other than calling in scientists, kept it quiet?”

  “If the President had called a press conference, there would have been widespread panic and a lot of people could have been hurt. We found out it wasn’t what you’d consider a traditional terrorist attack once we got there,” Cordie said, somewhat miserably.

  I hated to see her looking so dejected. “It’s okay, sis. It’s not like you could have changed what happened. At least we had some warning so we weren’t completely unprepared.” I smiled at her. “No worries. It’s in the past. There’s plenty of weirdness in the present to keep us busy.” I held up my phone. “You should see how freaky this thing has been acting since we got back from the grove.” I handed it to Leo. “Look at what the clock does on the main screen now.”

  He stared at the scrolling dates—back and forth in an endless loop. “That’s wild, sis. Mind if I borrow it for a bit?”

  “Go ahead, but if you’re going to mess around with it, please back it up first. That lady from the FBI or whatever told me to reset it. I’ll get around to it eventually.”

  He leaned back in his chair, doing that balancing-on-two-legs thing that made Cordie insane. “You have been busy, sis. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you. I’m sorry you got hurt.”

  “You should see what she can do now,” said Kat. “It’s pretty amazing too.”

  I looked at her and she gave me a tentative smile.

  “There’s more?” said Leo.

  I gave him a wicked smile. “You could say I re-rolled as a Dark Elf mage. Come out to the driveway and I’ll show you. Grammy doesn’t like me to do magic in the house.”

  “Grammy? You mean Mikah’s dead grandmother?” Leo was getting a crash course in weird today.

  Cordie grabbed that one. “Yes, that Grammy. She’s been haunting the house for years, except no one told us. Now she’s a bit more active. And Olivia, what magic?”

  We all trooped out to the driveway. Kat helped set up some candles on a folding table. She had the hose out too, just in case.

  “Watch this.” I focused my will on the first candle, calling on the anger I used the last time. There was a huge whoosh, and a ball of fire shot at the table, exploding on impact. There was yelling and ducking as fragments of burning table went everywhere.

  Kat kept her head and was quick with the hose. She doused the table and everything else remotely in range, which included me and the spectators.

  “Well, that was unexpected. I seem to have more juice than the last time I tried this. Good thing we did it outside. Grammy would have killed me if I’d burned down the dining room. Guess I need more practice.”

  It was already getting hot outside, so we retreated back into the cool of the house. I thought about changing into dry clothes, but this actually felt pretty good.

  Gracie gave me an odd look, as if she were mentally recalculating what she thought about me. I smiled at her, but I’m not sure it reached my eyes.

  “So did anything ever come of that neighborhood watch program?” I asked. “I was hoping to do that.”

  “That’s right, you don’t know.” Ted looked somber. “There have been three more murders in the park since you disappeared. Most of the patrols are at least three people, and I know they’re going out armed. I’ll check the calendar, but I’m pretty sure the next meeting is Saturday night.”

  I stared at him. “You’re kidding. Have they figured out anything? Is it all the same person?”

  “Word at the meetings is that they think it’s the same…creature. I’m not sure person is the right word. The cops won’t give any details. They say it can compromise their case. I think they’re optimistic if they think this will go to trial. If someone on the watch finds whoever or whatever it is first, they’ll just kill it.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Working Things Out

  I waited until Cordie was busy catching up with Leo before sneaking off to find Kat. I finally located her and Gracie upstairs, watching television. They were sitting next to each other on the loveseat, holding hands, but not really saying anything. I rapped on the doorframe to get their attention. Kat jumped a little, but it felt like Gracie had already known I was there.

  Before I could say anything, Gracie stood up. “Kat, I need to check my email and make a few calls. I’ll be down in the library, okay?” She left the room and closed the door behind her.

  I felt weird, and suddenly didn’t know what I wanted to say. I finally sat down on the loveseat next to her. “So,” I finally said. “I guess it’s kind of been a weird month.”

  “You could say that,” she said.

  “I’m sorry my sister’s been hard on you. It’s not like we made any promises before I up and disappeared. I’ll tell her to lay off.”

  “It’s okay. I mean, it’s not okay that she wants to kill me, but I understand why she’s upset.”

  “Kat, I don’t know what to say. I know we never promised to be exclusive. We never really talked about it. It just…hurt when I got back. It was a month for you. It was a couple of hours for me.”

  “I know that, but it’s hard to get my head around it.” She took my hand. “I do love you, Olivia. I want to be with you; but you have to know that other people are part of my life too. I’m not ready to pick out curtains and forsake all others. You’re not just a fling, but you’re not my one and only, either. You are always my friend—at least I hope you are.”

  “I love you. Yes, I still want to be friends. I still want to be with you, but I don’t know how I’m supposed to do this. I was a complete failure at having a boyfriend. I don’t know what you call this kind of relationship. Is it a relationship?” I asked her.

  She leaned over and kissed me. “Yes, it’s a relationship. What I have with Gracie, at least sometimes, is called polyamory. We can take other lovers, but we talk to our partner first. Everybody knows about everyone else in the relationship, and is okay with it. With Gracie, sometimes we’re not seeing each other at all. She can get too intense for me, and we have to take a break from each other.”

  “So were you on a ‘break’ when we went to the Sylvan Faire?” I had to know.

  “Yes, we were. But I’d talked to her about being with you before. I knew you were dating other people, specifically men, but you knew how I felt about you. I knew if I had a chance to be with you, I wouldn’t say no, so I wanted to talk to Gracie before that happened.”

  “Okay,” I told her. “I’m trying to understand that. I guess the next question is… What is your relationship with her now?”

  She looked down a bit, and that didn’t give me a good feeling. “Right now, we’re being exclusive, but there was no way to know you were going to reappear like that. I just need to talk to her again. At least I need to talk to her if you want me to.”

  I took a deep breath. “Talk to her. Let me know. But whether or not we do anything else, I don’t want to lose my friend, okay?”

  “Okay.” She gave me a tight hug and left the room.

  I went downstairs to find Cordie and Leo. I had a strong desire to spend some time with my family.

  I guess I wasn’t all that surprised when I didn’t see Kat or Gracie at dinner. Whatever Kat was going to decide, I hoped it would be soon. I didn’t like the idea of a virtual stranger, at least to me, deciding whether Kat and I got to explore a relationship. The question was whether Kat was satisfied with that arrangement.

  * * * *

  We were kickin
g back after dinner when the phone rang. I was watching Leo play a console shooter with Frank and Henry, so I ran to get it. “Chaos central—we’ll be weird for you.”

  There was silence for a second, and then, “Olivia?”

  “Yeah, you got me.”

  “It’s Sharon. I wanted to check in and see how you guys are doing.”

  She sounded a little tense. “We’re okay here. How about you?”

  “Look, this is weird, but would it be okay if I came by after a bit, just casually?”

  “It’s not weird. You used to come over for barbecues all the time when dad was alive.”

  “Thanks. I appreciate it. I’ll see you soon.”

  After I hung up, I said, “Hey guys, pause for a sec. Sharon is dropping by. Just wanted to give you a heads up.”

  I decided to hang out by the gate and wait for her. I had an idea I wanted to try out, and might as well do both things at once.

  I got some of the damaged cedar arrows from the shed and lined them up on the driveway, point up. After prepping the hose, I put my camping chair near the gate controls. It was time to get a little more control over my new abilities.

  The first few attempts were dismal failures. Arrow number one would only smolder. Arrow number two exploded, sending burning splinters everywhere. I made quick use of the hose. The next few didn’t explode, but I set the entire shaft on fire, which wasn’t very helpful, either. I had three arrows left and a mess scattered across the driveway when Sharon arrived. I let her in and gestured to the empty chair next to mine. “I think I’ve almost got it.”

  She sat and watched as I pointed my finger and focused my will. This time, only the wood around the point was burning. “Hot damn!” I lit the next two in quick succession. “Yes! We have flaming arrows for the win!”

  I blew the pretend smoke from my fingertip, and pointed at the first one I’d lit. The flames were starting to travel down the shaft. This time a jet of water sprayed from my hand. It got wider as it traveled, and put out all three arrows at once. It wasn’t exactly what I was trying for, but close enough.

  “If you don’t mind some input from your non-magical friend,” said Sharon. “Why don’t you just put the fire on the heads so the shafts don’t burn up?”

  “You know, I hadn’t thought of that. I was thinking of what would burn. I guess with magical fire, that isn’t as important. Thanks.”

  I used the fireplace shovel and tongs to drop all of the remains into a metal fire bucket, dousing the whole thing with the hose. After checking around for any sparks, I was tired but exhilarated.

  Sharon looked at me with one eyebrow raised almost speculatively.

  “Can I get you anything?” I finally asked.

  “If you’ve got one, I believe I’ll take a beer.”

  “We probably have one. Let’s check the bar. Come on in.”

  Once we go settled, she popped the top on her beer and downed half of it in one long pull. “I was going to ask if you’d noticed anything unusual since we got back, but that question seems somehow redundant now.”

  “Well, I actually had some magic before the Grove. What I noticed is that it’s much stronger since we got back. I don’t know if Korembi’s noticed anything. We haven’t really had a chance to sit down and compare notes.”

  “I keep seeing flashes of things that happen. Remember last night when I said we’d be late to work because of orange?”

  I nodded.

  “There was a broken storm drain in my neighborhood and there were orange construction cones everywhere while they worked on it. I can’t even stop myself from speaking when I get one of these flashes. By the end of the day, everyone was asking me to pick lottery numbers.”

  “Wow. That would be annoying.” I thought for a minute, sipping my rum and Coke. “Here’s my theory, for what it’s worth. With my magic, it took something I already had and made it stronger. Dad always said you had a strong instinct about cases, that you had a nose for lies and picking up things other people missed. Maybe you always had a little bit of this gift, and now it’s just more powerful.”

  Sharon took a deep breath, held it, and exhaled through tight lips. “So you think I could always do this and just didn’t know it?”

  I nodded. “You probably wrote it off as good instincts. It’s just stronger now.”

  “But I can’t do my job and keep blurting things out like that.”

  “That’s why I’ve been practicing.” I picked up a match and the tip flared to life. “I have to learn control so I don’t accidentally blow something up, or make someone’s apron smolder for making my friend cry.”

  “How do I practice controlling something when I don’t know when it’s going to happen?”

  I said, “I guess you just need to plan ahead. What if you carried a little notebook, and next time you had this urge to blurt out something, you wrote it down instead? Or just said it very quietly, kind of under your breath?”

  Sharon thought about it a moment and nodded. “I’ll try that. Um, thanks for listening and not thinking I’m crazy.”

  “Who am I to judge crazy? Look at me. I can shoot fire from my finger.”

  We drank in companionable silence for a while. She had another beer but I switched to iced tea. Mikah always bought the best booze, bless his discerning little heart, but I felt like keeping my head tonight.

  Sharon finished her beer and pushed the bottle to the side. “I have news for you from Lyons, by the way.”

  “Do tell.”

  Korembi came over then, and pulled up a bar stool next to us. “I hear you say Lyons. There be news?”

  “Someone was making a stink about motorcycles with Wyoming plates found at the scene, at least until the locals started complaining about the jackasses that shook them down for fees and someone getting grabby with the ladies. The entire case has been quietly closed. Word is that the ringleader of the group was a cousin of one of the deputies. The sheriff decided if they kept pursuing this thing, the resulting lawsuits would bankrupt the town. He pronounced justice served, and officially closed the case as a tragic weapons malfunction.”

  “That’s a relief,” said Korembi. “I be going to tell Roz and the others. They’ll want to hear the news.”

  “Thanks for letting us know,” I told Sharon. “We finally get some good news… I mean, how sad. What a terrible situation.”

  Sharon elbowed me. “Don’t lie, kid. You always were terrible at it. Now your brother, he is a master. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. You could watch him throw a baseball through a window, and pretty soon he’d have you convinced it was an errant pigeon thrown off course by a gust of wind.”

  * * * *

  When their game ended, Leo and the others joined us. Sharon knew some totally outrageous stories about my dad that I had never heard before. I hadn’t laughed so hard in a very long time.

  On the way back from the bathroom, I noticed that Frank looked kind of down and a little lost, so I sat down next to him. “How’s it going these days?” I asked.

  “Oh, you know. Just taking it one day at a time,” he said.

  ‘Yeah, I guess I know how that goes. One day you’re camping, and the next day you’re living the adventure, so to speak.” I kind of nudged him in the ribs. “I bet you guys all had the same issue I did when I got home. None of my clothes fit right anymore. I got smaller and darker and you guys got taller and greener.”

  He actually looked a little more glum. “Um, people were really helpful with the sewing while you were gone.”

  I sighed. “You mean Kat was. She was the best seamstress in our group. It’s okay. You can use her name.”

  “Everyone has been nice, taking us in like this,” he said, “but it still sucks, not being able to go home. Not that I have anything in particular to go home to. John and Stacy have been talking about going to see his folks in Arizona. Henry and May might go to her sister’s place in Oregon. It’s kind of odd, just staying at someone else’s house in limbo like this.
”

  “I’m sorry you don’t have a place to go home to, and I’m sorry about Sonya. I wish we could have done something to save her that day.” I reached up and gave him a quick hug.

  “It’s not just Sonya,” he said bitterly. “She and I were friends, and I miss her, but you don’t know how lucky you are to have a family that accepts you. You know. I’m just going to ruin the evening. I’m calling it a night.”

  He stood up abruptly and quickly disappeared up the stairs.

  Korembi was telling a story about a dinosaur jaw and a glow stick that had everyone in stitches. I don’t think anyone else noticed Frank leave, and I didn’t think he looked like someone that should be alone. I was able to slip away and follow without triggering any sibling radar.

  I headed toward his room, but heard explosions coming from the computer room upstairs. He was in there loading Glory of War, one of the shooters they all loved to play.

  “Hey, Frank.” I sat down on the couch, next to him.

  “Hey, Olivia.”

  “I know it’s a girl thing, but I thought maybe you might want to talk. It seems like I hit a nerve, and I didn’t mean to.”

  For a minute I thought he was going to ask me to leave, and then he said, “You can stay if you like, but you have to play, too.”

  “Sure. I can try. Leo says I’m terrible at this game, and I think he was trying to be nice about it.” I gamely took up the controller and watched my little avatar shimmer into digital life. “Sorry little guy,” I told him. “You’re about to have a terrible day.”

  Frank shot me a look, but didn’t say anything. He just started the scenario.

  We played on with quiet determination for quite a while. I lost track of how many times my little avatar ended up staring at the sky. I started talking for him, each time he died.

  “Oh no, Olivia, please, no, pick another avatar. Oh no, the humanity! Noooooooo, not that building!”

  By the time we called it, Frank was laughing as hard as I was. “You’re right, Olivia. Leo was being nice about it. I have never seen someone find that many ways to die. Who manages to trip over a window sill and hang themselves from the blind cord? I didn’t know you could even do that in this game.”