I continued doing my schoolwork from the manor, sending in everything electronically. The teachers were pretty gracious about it, and my mother made regular phone calls so they couldn’t complain that they were being left in the dark on anything. My “grandfather” was slowly dying, but because he had nobody to care for him, we had to stay with him. I couldn’t believe that this was working. My mother called them every day to give them a heads-up on the situation and check on my grades. Surprisingly, I was doing better with my studies by not being in the classroom. Apparently, I had been more distracted by the pastel-clad children of God than anticipated.
Krista took the time to help me with any work that I didn’t understand. She remembered much of what she had learned as a senior eighteen years earlier. In fact, she was smarter than anyone I had ever met. We were getting closer and closer as the days wore on. If Adam weren’t already my best friend, I would have put Krista at the top of my list.
Chapter 29
A New Beginning
I received an email from Aaron about two weeks after Adam left. I was incredibly excited to hear from him after our last phone conversation. I had no idea what to expect from the email, but it wasn’t good. He wasn’t the same boy anymore. It wasn’t that much of a surprise. The way he had talked on the phone to me, admitting to me his deepest feelings, had come across as a way of saying goodbye. The email just confirmed it. The Aaron that I had loved was no more.
His family had sold their house in Midvale and had moved to their undisclosed new location. He was finishing school there, not that there was much left to complete. I read the email carefully about a hundred times. There was no “I love you,” not even a single “I miss you.” It was plain as plain could be. This was the end of Aaron and me. I was finally getting what I had wanted all along.
“You okay?” asked Krista behind me.
I looked up from my computer and tried to smile, but my lips wouldn’t curve. Why did it affect me so much? The message was vague and still didn’t say where he was located. Even when I tried to track the IP address, it just led me in a loop right back to my own computer. It was over.
“Yeah, I will be,” I replied and reached up to rub my right eye. I looked down at my fingers and found they were damp with tears that had not fallen.
“It’s amazing how much it hurts,” Krista said softly.
“It was an accident, anyway.” I felt my bottom lip quiver, and I looked away before she could see.
“It may have been, but you still hurt.” She placed her arms around my chest and held me close to her for a few moments.
“It was all my fault, you know,” I told her, feeling the tears coming.
“No, it wasn’t.”
“He wouldn’t have had to leave if it wasn’t for me. I led those creatures to his doorstep. He became whatever he became because of me,” I sobbed.
“I don’t think he sees it that way. I spent a lot of time watching you. I saw how he looked at you. I could read the confusion on your face. You held him close to you, but you wished to set him free. That contract was not created just by you. He offered you his soul, and you had no choice but to take it as your own.” Krista wiped the tears from my cheeks.
“If I hadn’t been so set on hurting Wesley, I never would have made my claim on him,” I said, thinking back to our first date. I had gone out of my way to make Wesley angry. I had thrown Aaron in his face time and time again until he was gone.
“I admit I have never claimed anyone. I don’t know how to do it or what it feels like,” Krista admitted.
I looked at her and saw nothing but innocence. You would have thought that after everything she had been through, she would be dark, brooding and seeking revenge.
“It feels like the world is going to stop if something happens to them,” I told her. “When Aaron was attacked, I felt like my heart was being torn from my body. I saw nothing but colors; it paralyzed me. I hope that nobody ever figures out that the way to disarm a Warden is to hurt their claim.” I glanced at the wall for a second, trying to get my emotions under control.
“I hope I never have to feel that,” Krista said softly. “It was hard enough dealing with the emotional turmoil in Purgatory.”
“It’s worse when the claim is broken. At least, it was with Wesley. My heart actually stopped beating. It was like a piece of me died that day,” I admitted.
“Now that is a feeling that I can relate to,” she said, smiling.
“I’m so glad that you’re here,” I stated.
“I’m so glad that I’m here too.”
*****
A week later I was in the study looking through the stacks of magic books; my father had shipped in when it hit. The heartbreak of a broken contract tore through me. It hit me hard, but not as hard as the first time. I doubled over in pain, with tears streaming down my face. I knew what this meant, and the thought that it was all over made the pain even more unbearable. Aaron’s soul was no longer bound to me.
“Dawn? What’s wrong?” my mother asked, running across the room and forcing me to sit.
I could only look at her with tears in my eyes as the pain worked its way through me. For twenty minutes she held onto me as the pain seared through my heart. When I felt the contract finally break it was a bit of a relief. Though I knew he had changed after the attack, I understood that this was not willingly, and definitely not the way that I wanted it to happen.
I closed my eyes through the slowing of my heart and fought the tears when it stopped beating. After the pain had ended, I felt hollow inside. I had become so used to holding claims that without my being tied to the soul of another; I just felt dead. The void that I had felt when Wesley first betrayed me felt better than this.
“I’m okay now, Mom,” I whispered at last.
“Oh, honey.” She threw her arms around me, and no matter how hard I tried to fight it, those stupid tears came tumbling down my face again.
“It’s all going to be better now,” I told my mother between sobs. “I know he’s safe. I know that everything is going to be all right.” I let the tears fall. There was nothing else I could do but allow them to.
“That doesn’t make it hurt any less, honey.”
I found my mother’s words oddly soothing. For a woman who had never laid a claim on a soul in her life, she was very understanding of what I was going through.
“I’m glad you never had to go through this,” I said, looking at her.
“I went through my fair share of pain, honey,” she admitted, running her fingers through my hair.
“I’m never going to claim another soul,” I whimpered.
“You will have to one day, honey. You already opened a door that will never close.” And she winked at me sympathetically.
****
It appeared that the murders in Midvale ceased after we left. There were others in surrounding settlements after that. From that, we gathered that they were still looking for us, and all the time adding to their numbers. It wouldn’t be long till they found Harrisville. Until then we would keep training.
My mother kept a close eye on the town, making sure that all those who lived in it were protected, and that there was no magic there. That was why they had chosen to come back to Harrisville in the first place. The house was the only magical location in the area. Nobody would be drawn to the town in search of non-human creatures because there were none. If they did show up, they would find nothing, as the spells that surrounded the house were amplified to cover the entire area.
In due course, I received a letter from the school stating that I had passed all my classes and was qualified to graduate from Midvale High School. I didn’t show for graduation as I had to leave everything there behind. I was free from education; now I had a whole new life to learn and a world to save. Wesley wasn’t able to summon me after the resurrection. I assumed that was because I had grown more powerful with Krista back on Earth. Either that or the spells around the house just didn’t allow him to find me.
I felt a tingle a few times and had a few rounds of dizziness, but nothing blacked me out anymore. I supposed these coincided with his futile attempts to summon me. I knew that there was a small chance it wasn’t a charade, that he was really dying in the desert, but I couldn’t risk finding out. If I was going to save him from Miranda, it was going to be with the recon mission that my father and mother were putting together.
Nick went on vacation if you want to call it that, checking out visions he had been having concerning a redhead. He sent back any recruits he found along the way; the lost, the scared, the trained. We were growing in numbers, but still not quite enough to take on Miranda’s forces.
I learned new tricks from Shawn and Minerva, things I never knew I could do. Yes, I was the master flame, but I was also the child of a demon and an angel, and there was more to my blood than just fire. I was learning how to control my opposing gifts and keep them balanced.
This meant that when I came face to face with Miranda, all that would be left was a pile of smoke and ash. Everything was coming up roses in my world. I was confident that we stood a good chance against the queen’s forces. In a matter of time, we would have all our ducks in a row.
Epilogue
Adam returned on the 6th of June with all his clothes packed in suitcases and his father at his heels. Henry looked well, compared to the last time I had seen him. He smiled as Adam picked me up and spun me in circles.
“I’m so happy to see you. I have so much to tell you,” Adam said as I squealed.
“I missed you so much,” I shrieked back as he put me down.
“I missed you too, Weathers.” He gave me a soft slap on the arm.
My mother showed Henry inside and escorted him to the room that she had picked out for him. Adam hung back with me. You wouldn’t have thought that it was just a month since I had seen him last. He looked taller though I knew that was impossible, and his hair had grown out.
Once inside the house, he pulled me aside and grabbed my hands. There was a determined look on his face, mixed with a hint of excitement.
“I broke up with Nadine,” he finally revealed, with a look of relief on his face.
“What? What happened?” I said, wondering why he looked so refreshed after such a devastating blow.
“She said she knew it was coming, because while I was out with mono; I didn’t call her,” he answered gleefully.
“Well, that would do it,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“Isn’t it great? Now I can focus on training. This summer is going to be the best summer ever!” he said, hugging me.
How could he be so excited about training? Hell, I wasn’t enthusiastic about training.
“Yeah, well, Mom has quite a lot of fun picked out for you,” I warned. “Let me show you the back yard.”
I led him through the house to the back door and shoved him outside. His jaw dropped open at the sight of the tents that had popped up on the property.
“How many?” he asked, stunned.
“A hundred and twenty so far. Mostly ones that got away, many of them scared of their own power.”
“Got away?”
“After the murders stopped in Midvale they started to spread throughout the state, even the country. These are refugees from those attacks,” I said, my heart breaking. “These people have been through a lot. They’ve come to Harrisville to find a safe haven.”
I was surprised to learn he didn’t already know about the murders in other areas of the state. It had been all over the news where we were, yet not apparently in Midvale.
“You found water?” he asked, changing the subject.
“Not yet, but Nick is on the hunt for a redhead in Vegas,” I replied, smiling.
“Yeah, because that’s not vague or anything,” he stated flatly.
“He’ll find her, and when he does Miranda is done for.”
“Where’s Krista?” he asked.
“She’s upstairs in her room. I can’t get her nose out of her books. I think she’s read every major series that has come out over the last eighteen years.” I sighed and messed absentmindedly with my ponytail.
“So, she’s taking to everything. That’s good news.”
“Yeah, it’s great having her here. She’s an amazing woman.”
I looked at him again. My palms were getting sweaty, and my heart was starting to pound.
“Why are you staring at me?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
I looked away, confused by the budding emotions that were surging through me. “I’m not staring.”
He looked at me suspiciously. “No?”
“No.”
“Okay… well, I suppose we’d better get started.”
“Why yes, yes we’d better.”
And we both laughed as we ran off to find my mother.
Smoke & Ash (Wardens Series Book 2) Page 27
