A Girl Between (32 page)

As we were moving along, Sam stuck his arm out to stop us. 
“Shhh . . . . Can you hear that?” he whispered.  At first there was silence.  Then,
we could hear laughing and talking.  As we listened, it was apparent they were
coming closer.  We moved into a copse of trees and hid under the snow burdened
limbs.

Suddenly, from around the corner, came a mob of at least 200
diaboles.  They were tossing what appeared to be large ice/snow balls all
around.  It reminded me of a crowd of people randomly tossing balloons around,
only this horde was using icy packed balls of snow.  As they passed within a
few feet of us, I caught sight of their intense crazy eyes and heard their
jeering and hollering.  Many of them were also carrying harpoon sized icicles. 
As they marched away, I observed the swirling mass of dark gray mist around
their heads, interspersed with splashes that looked like drips of blood.  Their
heads were full of murder and mayhem.

“We have to get off this road!” I proclaimed to Will.

We stood up to leave and Doug stopped us.  “Wait a minute.  I
think I know how to get to the Spirit Tree through the woods instead of on the
roads.  An old friend of mine lived in a house that backed up to those woods. 
We should see fewer diaboles using that approach and at least we can hide in
the woods if they get close.  Unfortunately, it probably means a walk through
some very deep snow.”

We looked at each other before Sam shrugged and said, “No
other choice.  Let’s go.”

We turned down a dead end that backed up to a town park. 
The side of the park that was heavily wooded bordered the field of the Spirit
Tree.  Once we reached the park, it was tough going through the deep snow, but
at least it was dry snow, not all wet and heavy.  We finally reached an old
stone wall that was around the field.  If you stared hard enough through the
gloom and the relentless falling snow, you could barely make out the outline of
the Tree of the Living Spirits, far away across the wide open field.  The area
between us and the tree was oddly deserted. 

We paused and looked around for a minute, then decided to
take the plunge.  After a quick climb over the wall, we started making our way
across when I heard a yelp from Sam a moment before I felt a sharp pain in my
left shoulder.  Abruptly, Will shouted, “Run!”

All around us, ominous figures appeared like apparitions
arising from the snow.  I glanced back and gasped.  They were everywhere.

“Holy crap,” Doug yelled.  “Don’t look now, but there’s an
army behind us.”

Will’s fingers dug into my arm.  “Sam, Doug, we have to
stand back to back and fight.  We’re just not gonna make it by running.”  Will
swung me next to him and Sam and Doug stood behind us.  We started rapidly
rubbing our hands to set off the fireworks.  My hands were shaking so much that
I could barely manage one spark.  A searing pain shot up my leg. I looked down
to see an ice dagger stuck in my calf.  I leaned over to pull it out and a
spear of ice whizzed over me and struck Will in the shoulder.  He groaned as I
used all my strength to pull it out.  I turned to see a huge icicle graze Sam’s
ear.  Then, I heard a loud grunt.  Doug got nailed in the upper thigh.  None of
us were sparking now.  We were working too hard trying not to die.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a mob of at least fifty
diaboles standing still, just watching us.  One of them yelled, and in one
quick move, they bent their arms back in unison and threw long sharp spears of
ice.  We watched in terror as the volley of deadly ice harpoons arched upward. 
We knew where they were headed and there was no place to hide.

“WHAT???  Look over there!”  Doug screamed.

We turned to see a giant fireball shooting across the sky. 
Right as the volley of ice spears reached their apogee and started toward the
downward decent, the fireball collided with them, creating a huge explosion of
vaporous steam.  The ice spears instantly evaporated into a sizzling mist, but
the fireball broke up into hundreds of fist sized globules of fire that fell
into the crowd of diaboles.  Screams of terror erupted from the mob as they
tried to escape the searing heat and flames.

“Tess, check that out!”  I turned to see what Will was
pointing at.  Four more giant fireballs, the size of cars, streaked to earth,
landing and scattering on the mobs of diaboles, creating panic and mayhem.  As
the horrid stench of burnt hair and charred flesh reached my senses, I saw
several human torches flee in panic.  Some of them were smart enough to drop
and roll, but others just ran in blind terror.

A long jagged streak of lightning hit the ground right in
front of us, and then something very odd occurred.  A tall man appeared,
standing proud and erect where the lightning hit the ground.  He seemed to come
out of nowhere.  A beautiful silver haze circled his head and I knew that he
was an advanced soul.

“He is a Master Luminar,” I explained to Doug.

“We don’t have the auric sight but it is obvious, even to
us,” Sam claimed.

The man strode up to me, placed his hands around my face and
stared at me with a sad longing. “Hello, my child,” he said softly.

I stood there for a moment, than my hand went to my mouth in
shock.  He put his arms around me and I felt a peaceful warmth spread
throughout my body.

“It’s all right, Theresa.  I’m so sorry for everything, my
dear.”

“Oh, daddy, I’ve missed you.”

“Theresa, you are such a lovely being.  I did not want
things to work out the way they did.  Just know that I did not want to ever
leave you.  My presence was a danger to you.  I cannot really say any more for
it is urgent for you to get to the Spirit Tree.”

“You must come with us,” I pleaded.

He shook his head smiling slightly.  “I will stay here and
try to keep some of the diaboles away.”  He looked around before adding,
“Unfortunately, there’re many more coming, so you must have the protection of
the Sprits of the Tree.”

Sam piped up, “Sir, are you the one who threw those huge
fireballs?”

My father nodded, “Yes, son.  That was me.”

Doug exclaimed, “They were unbelievable!”

Suddenly, my father turned his head to the side as if he
heard something.  “You must go.  I will do what I can.”

“Father, I just want to be with you.”

The Master Luminar shook his head.  “No, it is imperative
that you stay alive.  Go with Will.”  Then he gently touched my cheek.  “I hope
to see you again, in this world or the next.”  With that, he strode away
through the smoke and the mist, and then he vanished.

I was still trembling as Will took my arm.  “He’s right,
Tess.  Time for us to go.”

We still had some distance to make it to the Spirit Tree. 
We could barely make it out through the gray snowy haze.  We heard what sounded
like a bomb go off, accompanied by a wave of smoke and flying embers.  It was a
war zone.

“My dad’s work,” I said, secretly proud.

“And a darn good job he’s doing.  The bad ones are running
around like chickens with their heads cut off,” said Sam gleefully.

Will insisted, “They’re still after us, so the best thing to
do right now is to pull up our hoods and start acting all cocky like we’re one
of them.  We should split up into two groups and approach the tree from
different directions.  I’ll go with Tess and you guys stick together.  We’ll
meet up later at the tree.”

I didn’t want to leave anyone, but I figured that Will was
probably right.  When Sam and Doug took off in another direction, I just waved. 
I didn’t want to touch them or say anything because I was afraid I’d lose it. 
After all, we may not see them again either.        

After splitting up, we continued hearing loud booms and the
accompanying sounds of calamity, behind us and to the side.  Somehow, my father
knew how to avoid hitting us.  As we stumbled along, diaboles were checking us
out, but I made a point to stare boldly at them.  They didn’t seem to want
trouble with another diabole so they always looked away.  For now, we had them
fooled. 

I glanced around in front of us and observed some changes
that didn’t bode well.  An odd cast had taken over the sky and it took me a
while to understand what it was, the first light of dawn.  When that
realization hit me, my first inclination was to drop all pretenses and run like
mad.  I was terrified of being caught out here, surrounded by our enemies in
daylight.  But of course, we couldn’t hurry, for that would have drawn
attention to us.  I also noticed that I could no longer see the flashing in the
sky.  Did that mean that the skirmishing between the diaboles and luminars had
ceased?  Something seemed amiss.

As we got closer to the tree I started to notice oddly
shaped mounds of snow all over the place.  Something about them didn’t feel
right and I wanted to figure out what it was.  The diaboles were just walking
around the mounds, completely ignoring them.  I HAD to see what they were. 
“Will,” I whispered, “What’s in those strange mounds of snow?”

Will shook his head and said in a low tone, “There’s nothing
there, Tess.  It’s just snow.  We’ve gotta keep moving.”  He was avoiding my
eyes so I knew he was lying.

I made a point to walk near a mound and glance over at it. 
“Oh no . . . . !”  I almost tripped over my feet stepping back.

Will took my hand and drew me away. “I know, Tess.  I’m
sorry.  You can’t react.”

“You KNEW?” I whispered.

He nodded grimly.

The mounds were actually piles of dead ones, luminars. 
Numerous long icicle spears were sticking into their bodies and they were
completely enclosed in shiny coffins of ice.  At first glance, they resembled
marble statues, but the ice daggers and the blotches of red under the surface
of the ice quickly dispelled that notion.  I choked, as I blindly stepped
back.  Will had to jerk me away so that I wouldn’t trip over a young woman,
lying on her side with a spear that had entered her neck and came out the other
side.  The ice made her look like she was made of glass, one touch and she
would shatter.

I had to clear my mind of all this or I wouldn’t make it.  I
pulled my arm away from Will so that I could wipe tears from my eyes.  I turned
to reassure him that I would manage but HE WASN’T THERE.  WHERE WAS HE?

I quickly looked around and caught a glimpse of Will being
dragged through the snow.  He was frantically clutching a rope that was tied
around his neck.  “Will,” I screamed as I ran toward him.

Suddenly, I was jerked back, a rope around my own neck.  I
tried getting my fingers under it, but the rope was too tight.  Can’t talk,
can’t breathe.  Hurts.  I was pulled back hard and down into the snow. 
Suddenly, a grinning head pops into view.  It’s Red, Tonya’s pal!  I peered
behind him and saw Bully Boy glaring down at me.  As soon as I tried to speak,
I felt the rope tighten around my windpipe.  Someone growled, “We don’t care
about what you have to say.”  I knew that voice.  It was James, Ian’s nasty
older brother.  He must be the one standing behind me, holding the garret
around my neck.

I was starting to feel a blackness creep in around the edges. 
Another face in my sight with a flash of red.  Big red lips, in a big red grin,
laughing.  It was Tonya.  I tried to open my mouth, to tell her how ugly she
looked with her new choppy hair-doo, but James tightened the rope again and all
I could manage was a gagging sound.

She plopped down, sitting hard on my stomach.  Man, she
definitely put some weight on.  She stuck her face right in mine and sneered,
“Well, fancy meeting YOU here!”  I tried to laugh in her face but I could only
manage a croak.

Tonya glared at me.  “Tess, do you know why I HATE you so?”

I tried to shrug as if I didn’t give a crap but I couldn’t
move under the all that weight.

She continued ranting, “It’s because you ruined my life so
many times.”  I looked at her like she was crazy.  What’s she talking about? 
She’s been the one doing most of the ruining.  “You’ve always ruined everything
for me, time and again.”

A distant explosion went off and the rope loosened for a
second.  It gave me a minute to speak. “What the heck are you talking about?  I
hardly even know you,” I squeaked.

“Don’t give me that. I’ve been following you into every life
and you always wreck things for me.  Remember when you killed my mother?  You
made her suffer!”

“Killed . . . . ?” I asked hoarsely.  Suddenly, James
tightened the garret around my neck.

“Yeah, you killed my mother!  You know this, just like you
know why we can talk through mindspeak.”

I tried to answer, but I couldn’t squeeze anything out of my
throat.  I just glared at her.

“I’m sick of you, Tess.  I am sick of seeing you around
here.  Say goodbye to your life, to all your friends and your family, and to
all your boyfriends.  Yeah, you have a pretty good life here and I’m glad
you’re gonna have to leave it.  I hope you don’t come back for a while, cause
I’m sick of having to follow you everywhere.”  With that, Tonya nodded at
James.  I knew she was telling him to tighten the garret, to end things, to end
me and my wonderful life.  That’s one thing she was right about, my wonderful
life here.

I felt the weight of Tonya lift off my stomach.  The garret
closed my throat down.  As I struggled for air, I felt the lightness slip away,
leaving me in the dark void.