Playing with Magic (Elemental Trilogy Book 2) (17 page)

“For murder.” She nodded, enjoying being so close. She missed their warmth and their smell.

“I guess that does trump almost getting eaten by cannibals,” River said.

Her eyes widened. “Really?”

He smiled, squeezing her hand. “We have so many stories to tell you when we get home.”

She nodded. “I plan on being done soon. I hate it here. They have this star plan mapping out our future, and well, I don’t believe in it.” She rolled her eyes. “Stupid fate.”

“Yeah, we are close to saying goodbye,” River said.

“River’s mom is trying to hook us up with some old exes in the belief we will stay and live happily ever after. She doesn’t believe that we are happy in California,” Rowan said.

“I take it she doesn’t know about you guys?”

“No. No.” They said together, eyes wide.

“They have become scary religious out here. She wouldn’t understand us,” Rowan whispered as River nodded.

She opened her mouth to say something, but a scream woke her up. She sat there listening as tears rolled down the sides of her eyes. She wanted to go home. She needed Rowan and River.

Mabon rushed in, worried. “Are you okay?” She nodded, getting out of bed.

“Who screamed?” Pyrus asked groggily as they reached the first floor.

“I was in such a good dream too,” Autumn said, frowning.

“I know,” Aarawn said beside her with a knowing look.

She gave him a hard stare. “Later.”

Anatha walked in from the backyard as they got close. Her face pale, and her body trembling. “For great gods’ sake, what happened?” Pyrus asked, rushing to her granddaughter.

“I-I was dreaming of Jaime, and someone dark came into my dream.”

Autumn grabbed her arms, shaking her. Anatha came out of the daze. “Is Jaime okay?”

“I don’t know. He was just gone. I was in a dark place with the dark person.”

“Do you normally sleep walk?” Shantaina asked, standing in her PJs next to Stefan.

“No,” she said, shivering as she looked outside.

“Looks like you were going to the woods.”

“That’s where he’s waiting,” Anatha said in a whisper. “He wanted me to join him, and I wanted to go. But I could see something even darker around him.” She crossed her arms over her chest and started to shake even more.

****

Rowan sat up. He calmed his sleep-crazed hair. “River, you up?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Autumn?”

He nodded. “Autumn.”

“I miss her.”

“I want to go home.”

“So do I,” River said.

“I don’t think so, Rowan Reeves,” Nancy whispered, standing on the other side of the door in the dark hallway. She had been going down to get something to drink as she overheard them. “My baby will stay right here. You, on the other hand, will be placed in a safe place.” She said to River and continued downstairs.

****

“If it wasn’t for the match, the Elements would have been held in prison for a long time. Which would have ensured their loyalty to us,” Pavana said.

“What of the traitor?” Henley, last of the elders, asked.

“He was actually doing us a favor. The Elements are way too powerful to keep unsupervised.”

“I agree,” Agnes said. “What can we do?”

“Look, we shouldn’t do anything,” Carolas said. “Pyrus will be angry that we are conspiring against her own blood like this.”

“No one will tell her if we do something though, right?” Yelena asked, looking at him. “After all, they did mind-rape me. Used their magic against me. And that is one of our strictest laws.”

“They destroyed our magic jail,” Agnes said, looking at the short man.

“We have no reason to fear the Elements.”

“You seriously believe that?” Henley asked.

The grandfather clock in Pavana’s old-fashioned furnished house chimed nine times. “Does that mean we must go against our stars to fulfill theirs?”

“Yes,” Pavana said.

Carolas stood up. “I will have no part of this.”

“Sit!” She demanded. He sat. She had more power than each of the other elders. When she spoke, they listened, when she commanded, they followed, and when she was right, she was right. “The cave will do.”

Chapter 13

“I’m sick and tired of all this,” Rowan told Drake and Linden. “We’re going home soon, with or without you guys.”

“Rowan, we don’t know when we’ll be back this way. Can’t you just let us enjoy it for a while?” Drake asked him.

He stood up. “I can’t enjoy this.”

River nodded. “We’re really not liking it here. Mom has our exes trying to convince us to do a shotgun wedding, and they are constantly everywhere we go.”

“So what do you want us to do about it?” Linden said.

“We’ve been hearing noise at night, and it sounds a lot like the infected. Like when we were back in the mall,” River said.

Rowan could see they didn’t believe him. “Look, guys, we are leaving by the end of this month, whether you all like it or not.”

“Fine,” Drake said as Envy came out of the small one bedroom house they were sharing. “Dinner?” She nodded, saying hi to the others. “Look, guys, go waste your vacation time searching for boogeymen, but I don’t think you’re going to find anything.” He got up and went inside.

“I’m with Drake,” Linden said, getting up and going to his house.

River turned to Rowan. “I wish Stefan was here. He would have believed us.”

Rowan nodded. “So where do we start?”

River shrugged. He heard Misty call Rowan’s name down the street. “Well, we can start by ditching her.”

“Okay,” Rowan said as they ran down the street and turned left. They ended up under their bedroom window. “I got it.” He said, leaning over to catch his breath. “We heard the noise from here, right?”

“Right.”

“If there are infected, they have to be close by. We heard them in the mall because they surrounded us. They were at each exit, and so they have to be close for us to hear them that well.”

“Should we split up?”

“No way. Haven’t you learned anything from the past couple of years? We are searching for monsters that can eat us. We’ll work better together.”

“Autumn would have been so proud to hear you talking like that,” River said.

“I know.” He nodded, grinning.

“So we go--” River said, thinking about it.  They each looked around.

“That way,” they said together and pointed to the same spot.

“That’s why I love you,” Rowan said. They chuckled and started walking.

****

“I hate this!” Anatha shouted, breaking the tension.

“Calm it,” Pyrus said angrily. “You must know what you can and cannot do.”

“I know what I am,” Aarawn said, matching her anger.

“Look, you all have good aspects and bad aspects. You need to learn and remember what they are.”

“Why?” Mabon asked.

“Because it’s the principle of the matter,” Pyrus said with power, making him flinch.

“Case closed, guys. We are not going to win this one,” Autumn said as she picked her head up from the table. Seeing Rowan and River had made her even more depressed than she already was.

“And I thought you were sleeping,” Mabon said.

“Thinking is not one your aspects,” she said jokingly.

He shrugged. “Maybe not.”

“Go on, Grandmother,” Anatha said. “So we can get it over with.”

Pyrus nodded. “Let’s start with air. The positive aspects of air are sunshine, spring, incense, the wand, clouds, breezes, breath, optimism, joy, intelligence, mental quickness, and any other kind of helpful air. Do you know your bad aspects?”

“Umm,” Aarawn said, thinking. “Windstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes, and destructive air in any form.”

“Is that all?”

He shrugged. “What more can there be?”

Pyrus sighed. “Not only do you have bad aspects to cause bad things to happen, but each element has a handful of bad moods and qualities that play into your personalities. Like you, Aarawn. You contain superficialness, gossip.” He chuckled. “Fickleness, inattention, bragging, forgetfulness.”

“Ouch,” he said, now frowning.

“Fire,” Pyrus said, turning her attention to Anatha, who looked away from her. “Your good aspects are noon, summer, the dagger and sword, candles, any kind of helpful fire, the sun, stars, blood, eagerness, activity, courage, daring, willpower. What are your bad aspects?”

“I have bad aspects? You’re joking,” she said, winking at the others.

Pyrus tsked at her. “Hate, jealousy, fear, anger, war, ego, conflicts, lightning, volcanoes, and other harmful fire of any kind.”

“I have all the really bad qualities,” Anatha said, frowning.

“Water.”

“Yay, it’s my turn!” Mabon said sarcastically, clapping his hands.

She went on, ignoring him. “Positive aspects are sunset, fall, the chalice and cauldron, any form of helpful water, compassion, peacefulness, forgiveness, love, and intuition. What are your bad qualities?”

He shrugged. “Why should I care? I am a Zen master with the love, forgiveness, and peace.”

She took a deep breath. “Fine. Your bad aspects are floods, rainstorms, whirlpools, any kind of harmful water, laziness, indifference, instability, lack of emotional control, and insecurity.”

“Hmm, that would explain my teddy bear.”

Autumn laughed, and then waited for Pyrus to start on her. “Earth.”

“Goody, goody, we’re almost done,” Aarawn said.

“Positive aspects are winter, midnight, the pentacle, ritual salt, gemstones, mountains, caves, soil, respect, endurance, responsibility, stability, thoroughness, and purpose in life. What are your negative aspects?”

“Well that explains a lot. Negative, negative, negative,” she said to herself, closing her eyes. “Earthquakes and slides.” She opened her eyes. “That’s all I know.”

“Severity, unwillingness to change, stubbornness, lack of conscience, and uncertainty.”

“You are stubborn,” Anatha said. “But I totally disagree with the lack of conscience. Autumn has a nagging conscience.” Autumn nodded.

“She does,” Pyrus said. “But that can be your human side too. You, as a person, have traits that the elements don’t have.”

“Human traits?” Autumn asked.

“Yes.”

“Then the stars are wrong,” Aarawn said.

“We have human pieces in us,” Anatha said.

“But you were always elements hiding in a human shell,” Pyrus said.

“Which means we should not have human traits,” Autumn said.

“It’s in your stars.”

“The stars are wrong,” Aarawn said, making the others nod. “What if I bring up the human soul? We have a soul. Do we not have one?”

“I can’t answer that,” their grandmother said.

“What if people were making the stars come about?” Autumn said, making everyone look at her. She shrugged. “What if the elders push people so their stars happen?”

All four turned their different colored eyes to stare at Pyrus. “What if our stars can be changed?” Aarawn said.

“Then change them,” Pyrus whispered, thinking about it. What if they were right? What if Pavana and the elders have been manipulating the town all this time? Hadn’t she felt it? That there was something wrong here. And them not helping her children, killing her bloodline off. There were so many witches, they could have won.

****

“You look in,” Rowan said, giving River a small push.

“Fine, wimp,” River said and carefully snuck up to the barn door. He pulled open the old splintery door and peeked in. He pulled his head out and closed the door. “Just an old barn. You got the next place.”

“Whatcha guys looking for?” A little boy asked, sitting on the fence close by. He sat at the top, swinging his feet against the wood, making loud thumping sounds.

“Things,” River said.

“You’re all looking for the night noises, huh?” He jumped down from the fence, landing squarely on his bare feet. “I hear it too, you know.” He got close and brought his voice to a whisper. “The town’s people do things sometimes once a month to every three months, depending on things.”

“What do they do?” River asked as they both brought their heads closer to the boy’s, leaning in.

“They go somewhere and sometimes leave the children in bed. But sometimes they take children with them. Some people never come back.”

The guys stared at each other. “Where do they go?”

The boy backed up from them. “I don’t know, but I know you can’t get caught peeking around. Ma and Grandma got turned two years ago. They said it was an accident, but I don’t think it was.  I know better than to question people though. They might take me to one of their meetings, and that would be the end of me.” He gave them one last look and ran for the fence. He scrambled over it quickly, only the way a young boy could, and disappeared over the edge.

“Where else can they be?” River asked.

“Maybe they aren’t keeping them in a barn, or other pen, but maybe somewhere so easy, we aren’t thinking of it.”

“Just in case, we should still check all the dark creepy places,” he said.

“Yeah.” They made their way to a small shack down the dirt path.

****

“So now that you know all of your negative and positive aspects, what else should we learn?” Pyrus asked, flipping through one of her many old books.

“Tell her,” Anatha said, elbowing her brother.

“You tell her,” Aarawn said.

“Come on,” Mabon said, nudging Aarawn.

Pyrus looked at them with cool eyes. “What?”

“Umm,” Mabon said, averting his eyes to Aarawn who looked at Anatha, who was looking back at him.

“We want to know the aspects of Akasha,” Autumn said suddenly, and everyone looked at her. “We have aspects, so does Akasha, no matter what anyone says.”

Pyrus’s eyes went to the door in the room then to the pulled blinds. She dropped the book she just opened and picked up a small book none of them had seen before. “I knew you would ask. Akasha balances all the elements.”

“That’s it?” Aarawn asked.

Pyrus nodded, but it was Autumn who spoke. “That’s all we need. Look, if we were born, Akasha must have been too. Think about it. We are balanced by Akasha, so Akasha is in our lives now. In what form, I don’t know, but there has to be a way to find out.”

“You can’t search for Akasha,” Pyrus said, her voice a whisper. “It is a great penalty against the stars to even speak of it. Akasha is the stars, don’t you understand? That is why people must follow their stars, or else.”

“Chaos,” Mabon said.

Autumn stood up. “That’s what Pavana wants people to think. Our destiny is not based on stars, it is our own doing.” She slammed her fist on the table. “I will not let the stars be my judge and jury, and I will not die! I can’t die. I won’t. There is way too much of me,” she said, hugging herself, “to let the fucking stars take control!”

Pyrus groaned and sank to her chair. “I understand this, Autumn. Do you think I want the stars to come about? I have already outlived my own children. Do you think I want to outlive my grandchildren as well? Do you think I enjoy knowing what your fates would be at the very moment of your births?”

“Sorry, did I miss something on the dying part?” Mabon asked.

“Yeah,” Anatha said and looked from Autumn to Aarawn, who both looked down.

“You might as well tell them,” Pyrus said.

“I got this,” Aarawn said and explained what they found in the cave and told them about what the stars said. Autumn added her thought on the new pages, different ink, and how she thinks that the elders are fixing the stars.

“What?!?” Anatha said.

“You guys were hiding this from us for this long? Why?” Mabon asked.

“I told them to,” Pyrus said. “I didn’t think it fair.”

“Fair? We should know this stuff.

“It is fair. Your anger is called for.” Pyrus sighed. “I have been thinking about this a lot.”

“I am not going to let the stars be my guide anymore,” Autumn said. “With that, I am letting you guys know that I will be going home soon.”

“We have already proved the stars wrong!” Aarawn said. “Me and Autumn.”

“Again eww,” she replied.

“But it is true,” Aarawn said.

“That is true,” Pyrus said. “But what if
  
”

“Let me stop you there,” Aarawn said and looked at Autumn.

“Again eww,” she said, making a face.

“Yeah, at least you where smart enough to know what was in the bath salts,” Mabon said.

“That was not in the stars,” Aarawn replied.

Pyrus covered her eyes. “It’s not. And maybe you guys leaving here would be good for you.”

****

“So, about what that little boy said, you think he was telling the truth?”

Rowan shrugged as he stuck his head in the shack. “I don’t. Shit.” He pulled his head out of the door quickly.

“What? Did you find infected?”