I grunted. “What makes her so special?”
“She’s quite persuasive.”
“I am so tired about hearing how persuasive some people are,” I grumbled. “Tell me about your mother.”
“She loved our father very much. To my understanding he loved her, too, but he had this unfortunate obsession with an angel, your mother. My mother knew she was going to die giving birth to me, if you can believe that.” He sighed. “I wish I knew her when she was alive and not just as a ghost.”
“I’m sorry,” I apologized. I saw I was lucky to have my mother in my life.
“You know, all those years ago it was your mother who came to see me most. Puriel came at least three times a year. Usually at Christmas and Easter as well as with my father on my birthday. Aside from the old churchma’am, Puriel was the only mother I knew.” He sounded sad for a moment.
“I still can’t get used to hearing her real name,” I said sharply.
“What is she called now?”
“Angelina,” I answered him.
“I just call her Mrs. Peterson,” Adam added.
We sat in silence the rest of the way home. When we pulled into the driveway and I saw the silver truck standing there I squealed. As soon as Adam had parked his SUV behind my black hatchback I was out the door and sprinting to the house. Throwing the back door open I saw them, Greg and Melissa, sitting at the kitchen table with my mother.
“Dawn!” Melissa screeched as she jumped to her feet and flew at me.
I wrapped my arms around her and held her close to me.
“Melissa…” I sniffed.
She sobbed into my chest. “I missed you.”
“Oh, how I have missed you, too,” I replied, kissing the top of her head.
“He came home,” she said, pushing away from me. “He came home to see us.”
“Who came home?” I asked, looking at Greg.
“There was a note on the door from Wesley.” Greg’s eyes looked hollow, like he hadn’t slept in weeks.
“A note?” I asked as Adam and Shawn entered the house behind me.
“Yes, part of it was for you. I also brought you his old sketchpads and the pictures from his room, the ones he left behind,” he said in a small, weak voice. “And I brought along a young woman who says she knows your brother, too.”
From the other room stepped a beautiful blonde girl with golden eyes. She looked at Shawn and smiled brightly.
“Minerva?” Shawn said, rushing to her.
“Yes.” She laughed.
“Dawn, this is the white flame I was telling you about,” Shawn said as he held her in his arms. “What are you doing here, Minerva?”
I got the feeling this Minerva was very special to my brother, but I turned back to Greg, anxious to know more about Wesley.
“You said there was a note.”
“Yes. Minerva brought it. She was shoving it through the door when we pulled up.” Greg looked and sounded sick. All this worry about his son was taking a toll on him.
“How is it you managed to get ahold of it?” I asked Minerva.
“I ran into your Wesley during a raid,” she said, stepping away from Shawn. “Lilly came into town, guns blazing. She took out about half of our commune before we managed to get away. I ran into Wesley in the mountains. He was ill, unable to move much. He handed me this letter and told me to take it to his father in Midvale. I caught the first plane here and did as instructed.”
“Melissa is convinced that he came back, though. Said she saw him out her window last night.” Greg looking longingly at his daughter. “She said she saw you, too.”
“Melissa, I wasn’t near your house last night,” I said, looking down at her young face.
“Yes, you were, in the dark. I only saw you for a matter of minutes before both of you were gone.”
I looked at my mother. She shrugged. I had told her about the dream but she hadn’t placed much importance on it. She had a feeling it was just Miranda playing a dark joke on me, to get information. When she had asked me the color of Wesley’s eyes I hadn’t been able to answer.
“How is that possible you saw that?” I asked her, feeling confused.
“I just did,” she said sweetly. “I told Daddy that we had to come and see you. Then Minerva showed up. Isn’t she pretty?”
“Yes, very,” I said, mesmerized by the innocence in her eyes.
My mother intervened. “I put the envelope with the pictures in your room, on your bed. Adam, your father called about twenty minutes ago, asking if you were here. I told him that you two were doing homework and I would send you home soon. I would suggest heading in before it gets too late. Shawn, do you mind going with him? Just make sure he gets home and then come right back.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Adam said before looking at me. “See you tomorrow, then. Can’t wait to see your dress.” He kissed me on the cheek, hugged my mother, and left with Shawn on his heels.
“Wait, Shawn!” Minerva called, running after them.
I looked back at Greg. He was just staring at me with a distant look on his face. “I miss my son,” he said quietly, his eyes watering.
“I do too,” I muttered.
“What’s tomorrow?” Melissa asked.
“The prom,” I said dryly.
My mother took Greg, who was weeping silently, in her embrace. I didn’t know what to think as she caressed his back and whispered in his ear.
“How?” I heard him ask her.
My mother didn’t reply but looked at me. Greg smiled feebly and nodded in silent understanding.
“Nick and Helen are in the living room, Dawn,” said my mother. “Why don’t you take Melissa in there and give me and Greg a few moments to talk.”
“Come on, Melissa, let’s go.”
Melissa took my hand and we went into the next room. I never found out what my mother said to Greg, and I never asked. My mother, I was learning, had a reason for everything she did. It wasn’t my place to put my nose in where it didn’t belong.
***
Greg and Melissa left close to midnight. I then spent two hours going through the envelope of pictures that had been left behind when Wesley disappeared. Each picture brought back a vivid memory of the bright smiling boy with dazzling blue eyes. However, all I could do was think about the sick, dying boy that had visited me in the night.
The note left me in tears.
My dearest Dawn,
I write this because I am dying. I don’t know how much more I can take before I just give in. I know what Miranda’s plans are and I’m doing my hardest to keep to my plan to make sure you and my family are safe. I had a dream of an angel last night but I was able to hide her from my memories as Miranda fed. She is the one that is giving this to you now. Your face is what gets me through this.
I hope you have made some progress on the assignment that you have been given. As soon as you assemble the four she’s going to return because she will feel your power. I only have this one sheet of paper left and it’s getting dark. I will contact you again soon. I still love you, my beautiful angel. –Wesley.
***
I fell asleep somewhere around four a.m., only to be woke up by an excited Nadine, ready to spend the day being poked and prodded. She put her dress in my closet and handed me the coffee that she had brought with her. I was going to have to survive the day on two hours of sleep.
“Have you talked to Aaron lately?” she asked me as I rubbed my eyes and sipped the hot liquid gold.
“I talked to him yesterday at school,” I said. My mind was mush and the lack of sleep was messing with my thought processes.
“Do you know what time they are going to be here?” she asked. She was far too perky for this early in the morning.
“He said about seven.” I yawned.
“Alright. Well, get up and get dressed. We gotta go.” She yanked the blankets from me and clapped in my face.
I want
ed to punch her.
I got up slowly and moved to my closet, looking for the right shirt. It needed to have a wide enough neck so that when I took it off to put on my dress my hair wouldn’t catch.
“Aren’t you just so excited?” she squealed.
“Yeah, as excited as a heart attack,” I grumbled, pulling out a black shirt that appeared to have enough neck room.
I went back to my dresser and found a pair of black yoga pants and my vans. I was as ready as I was going to be.
“Perfect.” Nadine squealed again and grabbed my arm to get me out of my room.
“You good to go, girls?” my mother asked as Nadine yanked me through the kitchen.
“Yes, Mrs. Peterson,” Nadine said happily.
I could tell by the look on my mother’s face she was highly amused. I glared at her as I was dragged unwillingly out the door and forced into the passenger seat of Nadine’s Civic.
“I’ve missed you guys these last weeks,” she said as she pulled out onto the highway. “It’s horrible what’s happening in Midvale.” She sighed. “Four bodies in the last few weeks.” She shook her head.
“Wait, four bodies?” I asked, my interest engaged.
“Yeah, some old lady was found in her home this morning. Her throat was torn open.” Nadine’s mood became serious. “The police have no idea who killed her but it looks like we have a serial killer in town.”
Xic’s theory of a were-vamp didn’t seem so far-fetched anymore. Something was attacking these people because they had element pieces in them. That something needed to be found before it took out the whole town. At the same time I was shocked at the number of people in town who apparently harbored element shards.
“I hadn’t heard about that one,” I said, fumbling with my phone.
I texted Shawn furiously. He had come in after I had fallen asleep and I hadn’t had the chance to see him that morning.
Me: Fourth dead. Old lady in town.
It took him just a minute to return my message.
Shawn: Just heard, heading there in ten.
If anyone was going to find out if this was a connected killing it was going to be Shawn.
“So, Adam said that your brother moved here,” Nadine said breezily, changing the subject (something she was good at). “I didn’t even know you had a brother.”
“Neither did I until recently,” I said, forcing a smile. “You’ll meet him tonight as he’s coming with us.”
“Oh, really? That’s great.”
“So what are we getting done?” I asked as we turned onto the interstate. If she didn’t want to dive into my conspiracy theories about what was going on in Midvale then I wasn’t going to push her.
“I figured a massage, wax, eyebrow threading, sauna, nails and hair. My mom called ahead and paid for everything. She’s heard me talk so much about you she thinks of you as another daughter.” She giggled.
If Nadine’s mother was anything like her I was instantly worried. I didn’t think I could handle that much perkiness in one sitting. Nadine was enough of a handful just by herself.
“That’s a lot of stuff,” I said dryly. “Well, thank your mom for me. I’ll buy our lunch,” I said. All things considered it felt nice to have a girlfriend, even if it was someone as happy-go-lucky as Nadine.
“Deal. I think we get a half hour between the sauna and our hair.”
***
The moment we walked through the door we were whisked away. The massage was nice. I felt thoroughly de-stressed by the time it was over. However, the eyebrow threading was not my idea of fun at all. That shit hurt! They looked pretty good at the end, I had to admit. I could have gone without the leg wax. Honestly, I couldn’t understand why women subjected themselves to such torture. I didn’t enjoy sweating inside the sauna either, but it was nice to sit back and relax after so much attention.
“Isn’t this awesome?” Nadine inquired. She was glowing after being pampered.
“Yeah, I guess.” I leaned my head against the wall. “Not too thrilled with the ripping of hair from my body, but other than that it seems to be going okay.”
“Just think of it this way. You won’t have to shave for weeks.”
“How often do you do this?” I asked, looking at her from the corner of my eye.
“My mom and I come here every few months and have a girls’ day.” She smiled at me. It seemed that Nadine had a very special bond with her mother.
“That’s pretty cool. My mom and I just sit down and watch a movie from time to time.” I chuckled.
My mother was a busy woman, but then she had more to do than most women. I was already raised; I could fend for myself. That left time for her to try and figure out how to save the world.
“I like your mom,” said Nadine. “But you two are as different as night and day.” She shook her head. “You have a special relationship all your own. She respects you and you respect her. If things start going funny your mama steps in. I can dig that.”
“Yeah, my mom is pretty cool,” I replied.
Nadine had no idea how cool my mom really was.
We were able to have a quick lunch at the food court before having to return to the spa for the final episode of the day, hair and nails. Nadine opted for blonde ringlets that were shaped around her face. I was able to watch the work being done until I was called back by my own stylist.
“So what color is your dress?” the woman asked, walking me back to the hair-washing station.
“Red.” I had to admit I was getting butterflies by this point.
She motioned for me to sit down. “So how would you like me to do your hair?”
“I honestly don’t know. I’ve never had this done before.”
She looked at me like I was joking. I smiled at her meekly and looked away.
The last time that I had been in a salon was with Mona, my stepmother, when I was fourteen. Once I lived with my mother it was all Super Cuts and home trimmings. Not for lack of money, but for lack of time. My mother didn’t have the hours free to sit with me at a salon.
“Oh, sweetheart,” the woman said, leaning me back and placing a gown on my chest. “You have no idea how lucky you are.” She laughed and began washing my hair.
Nobody, except maybe my mother, had ever washed my hair before. I had to admit that it was the most amazing feeling. As with all good things, it eventually came to an end, however. I had to stop myself from protesting as the woman put a towel around my head and pulled me to my feet.
She spent the next hour twirling and curling my hair, while another lady worked on my nails. By the time they were finished I didn’t know the girl that looked at me in the mirror. Her eyes were wide, her face still pale, but there was something to her I had never seen before. There was a beauty there that had been dormant in the back of my mind for the last four years.
“Oh, my goodness!” Nadine gasped, coming up behind me in the mirror.
“What?” I asked, without taking my eyes off my reflection.
“You look amazing!” she exclaimed. She looked at the stylist. “Could you give her some soft makeup? She wears far too much black.”
I looked at her, hurt, then glanced at the stylist. I knew that I wore a lot of black, but I didn’t think that it was much of an issue.
“Yeah, I can do that,” the woman said, smiling at me.
I took one last look at myself in the lobby mirror before we walked out of the mall and got back into Nadine’s Civic to drive the thirty miles back to my house, where she helped me put on my skin-tight dress. To my surprise, we both looked pretty amazing when we stood side by side before my mother’s full-length mirror.
Nadine wrapped her arm around my shoulder and pulled me close in a warm hug. I laughed as she kissed me on the cheek. When I looked up I saw Shawn standing in the doorway in a tux. His eyes were wide and his mouth was open.
“You look so much like your mother,” he said, his eyes fixed on me.
He cleared his throat. “Actually, I need to speak with you just for a moment. In your room, if possible. I’m sorry, Nadine, it’s family stuff,” he said, nodding at her.
I noticed that she seemed mesmerized by Shawn. All she did was smile and let out a shy giggle.
Chapter Nineteen: Prom
“What is it?” I asked, shutting the door behind me.
Shawn turned and gave me a weak smile. He was obviously bothered by something.
What did my brother have to tell me that was so important?
“First things first. Aaron is lucky that you’re my sister. Who would have thought such beauty lay underneath all that ebony and scorn?” He laughed then turned serious. “On another note, I think that Xic was right.”
“I was thinking that this morning,” I said, wanting to sit down on my bed but too afraid I wouldn’t be able to get back up.
“The old woman was a Mrs. Finch. Doubt you know her. She never had children, never married, and devoted her entire life to her church.” He looked out the window and frowned. “They’re here,” he said as a limo came up the driveway. “Just let me say this. She was definitely elemental. I just don’t know which element. There were traces of earth but also of water, so unless there were really two there I have nothing big to go on.”
“Maybe there was,” I said excitedly. “Maybe one got away.”
“Maybe. Well, let’s worry about this tomorrow.” He sighed. “I know it’s important, but you’re only going to have this opportunity once, and you look absolutely ravishing.”
He walked by me and opened my bedroom door for me before ushering me out.
“Holy shit!” Those were the first words from Adam’s mouth when he saw me step into the living room.
Aaron turned round and you would have thought the world had stopped turning for him.
“You look… beautiful!” he said, wrapping his arms around me and kissing me on the cheek.
“You look pretty amazing yourself,” I replied, smiling and kissing him briefly before looking back at Adam, who was still gawking. “Nadine should be out any moment.”
The Wardens Boxed Set Page 42
