A Time To Kill (Elemental Rage Book 1) (15 page)

Claire adjusted
her flashlight and peered into the crack.  A shadow crossed the crack right in
front of the light.  She dropped the flashlight and jumped back, “It’s alive. 
It’s moving.  Get out of there.”

Raven jerked her
arm.  Bony fingers tightened on her wrist and yanked her back until her whole
arm was in the coffin and her chin was resting on the lid.  “Claire, get the
axe.”

Claire looked at
the axe holding the lid up and shook her head, “It’s holding the lid up. If I
take it, your arm will get crushed.”

“What about your
knife?”

Claire pulled out
the knife.  She shoved it in between the crack trying to poke the skeleton.  Once
Raven cried out, “Ow! Claire! Be careful, you just stuck me with that thing!”

Raven could feel
the blood running down her arm.  The skeleton would not let go, no matter what
she did.

Mindy stood
wide-eyed and silent at the edge of the platform, looking like she might burst
into tears at any minute. Raven’s was stuck at an awkward angle.  She rested
her forehead against the coffin, letting her arm rest for a minute.  The
skeleton didn’t seem to react unless she did. 

“Mindy, did the
Shadow man tell you what to do next?”  Raven kept breathing harder and harder. 
She hated being trapped. “Mindy? What do I do?”

Shaking her head,
Mindy said, “Bottle. Jade.”

Claire withdrew
the knife from the crack and dropped it on the floor.  She moved to the other
side of Raven and closing her eyes, shoved her hand into the coffin.

Gritting her
teeth, Raven asked, “What are you doing?”

“I know you’re
scared.  I’m going to get you out,” Claire said.  Her fingers closed over the
bony hand.  It was indeed moving.  With her ear next to the coffin, Claire
could hear a clattering, as if the bones in the coffin were striking or rubbing
against one another.  They were.

Then something
grabbed Claire’s hand. Hissing, she said, “Raven, I’m stuck, now. Can you
move?”

Raven tried.

“No.”

Just when they
thought things couldn’t get any worse, they heard the creaking of the door.

Chapter 12

~~ Claire ~~

Claire felt the
bony fingers reaching and grasping, searching a way around her hand even while
she struggled to free Raven.  She dodged the fingers, thinking that it wasn’t
that hard to keep away from the skeleton.  That was when it trapped her.

She flinched and
tugged.

Then they heard
the door open.

Mindy shrieked and
ran around the platform, hiding on the other side of the coffin.  Claire
thought that probably wasn’t a bad idea and would have loved to join her.

She craned her
neck to see who was coming. Three men dressed in black with priests’ collars
rushed in, each carrying a scepter.  Two were overweight and red-faced, one
tall and skinny.  The biggest priest wheezed and held his sides.  The youngest
asked, “What are you doing?”

Claire bit her
lip.  She had no idea what to say.

Raven straightened,
“Our Mom went missing. I heard that you had an amulet that would let people
travel through time.  We came to borrow it.”

“Borrow?” The
florid priest whose breath was still ragged managed to ask.

The tall priest
with graying hair at his temples, the most likeable of the bunch, put a hand on
the other’s shoulder, “Now, Jack, let’s at least get the girls free of the room
before we lecture them on trespassing in strange places.”

With a hand signal
to the other two men, he led the way to the platform.  He stood at Claire’s
side, but close to the middle while the other two men took an edge each.  They
did a fair bit of grunting and groaning themselves as they moved the lid.

The skeleton roared,
lifting its head out of the coffin and looking with terrible malice upon the
tall priest who Claire liked best. With a rude smile, its jaws opened wide and
it threw itself on the priest, teeth gnashing as it wounded him with bite marks
along his arms.

Claire squealed
and jerked back.  The skeleton turned its head, empty sockets fixed on Claire. 
She cried hysterically while she tried to pull out of its grip.  Somehow when
it was just a dark thing between the cracks, she could pretend it wasn’t real.

“Let me go. Let me
go,” her wail rose as the skeleton’s bones realigned themselves, the skull
moving closer, not on tendons, but on air. The skeleton wasn’t clean. A patch
of hair hung from the top of its head.  

Claire shivered
with fear as the skeleton smiled at her.  The tall priest put a hand on her
shoulder. She felt as if an electrical field moved along her shoulder and down her
arms. The priest said, “Shhh…you’ll be okay.  Jack just has to get his scepter. 
Try not to move.”

Whimpering, Claire
nodded.

Jack had put his
scepter on the floor when they moved the lid.  He reached for it now.  Seeing
the skeleton set himself up for a strike, Jack suddenly cried, “Wayne, watch
out!”

Raven’s right arm
was trapped.  Claire stood between her and the priest whose name was Wayne. 
She could see the skeleton twisting its head and setting its target. Claire
said, “Raven, it’s going to attack.”

Raven pulled back with
her free hand and punched the skull as hard as she could.

“Oh. Ow.” Raven
shook her hand.

Her strike didn’t
even slow it down.  The skull’s teeth chattered in anticipation and with a
sudden and intense dive, it latched onto Wayne’s wrist. Wayne’s expression was
one of tolerance.  Claire wondered how he could bear having that thing gnawing
on his flesh. 

“Now,” Jack said.

Wayne pulled his
arm back and Jack brought the scepter crashing down on the skull.  The fingers
locked around Claire’s wrist loosened and she was finally able to move. There
were five bruises where the bones had dug into her skin.  Holding her wrist,
she said, “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

Wayne’s wrist bled
from a few of the deeper tooth marks. Ignoring them, he smiled at Claire, “Not
a problem.”

He turned his
attention to Raven, “How about you? Can I look at that?”

Raven pressed her
lips together in a firm line and stared at Wayne.  Claire was afraid she was
going to say no.  Raven just watched him quietly, Wayne of the easy smile who
was also injured.  Finally she held out her arm, “Okay.”

Claire could tell
that she felt some kind of electricity from him, too.  It was just a fleeting
surprise that crossed her face. She was still bleeding from the knife wound
that Claire had accidentally inflicted on her.  He said, “Hold this tight.
We’ll bandage it upstairs.”  

“What about your
wrist?” Claire asked.  He held it close to the cloth of his jacket to catch the
blood.

“I’ll bandage mine
upstairs, too. Are you girls hungry? It’ll be dinner time in a few hours. Once
we take care of the injuries, we can eat.”

Claire begged
Raven to say yes with her eyes.  Raven didn’t listen.  She said, “No, thank
you. We have to be on our way.”

Keeping a rather
large distance between herself and the men, Mindy walked out from the backside
of the platform, “We go.”

Claire said, “But
you’re bleeding.”

Raven gave Mindy a
pointed look, “Claire, we have business to attend to.”

Mindy looked like
she wanted to come closer to Raven, but Wayne was too close.  She stayed back,
but her nose lifted a fraction of an inch to that stubborn angle that said she
was going to throw a tantrum if she didn’t get her way. 

Wayne waved a hand
at Raven’s cut, “It will take just a minute to get that cleaned up.”

Mindy shook her
head, “No.”

“I don’t bite. I
promise,” Wayne said, with a laugh. 

“Do you kidnap
people?” Raven asked. She gave Wayne a look that said she thought he did. 
Claire wanted to crawl into the floorboards and hide. Their Mom had spent so
many years talking about the Death Keepers.  She always said that the Church of
the Light was a front for them. Now Raven was ruining everything.

Wayne flushed red,
“No.
I
don’t kidnap people.”

Jack cleared his
throat, “Can we get out of here?  There are a few too many surprises down
here.”

Nodding to the
girls, Wayne said, “Let’s get upstairs and then we’ll decide what to do.”

They led the girls
down the same hallway. The priests knew about another secret stone.  When they
pulled it, a door slid open. Mindy made a point of keeping Raven between
herself and the men at all times, hovering at her side like a shadow.  Raven
put an arm around Mindy’s shoulder and whispered into her hair, “You couldn’t
have found
us
the elevator?”

Mindy giggled and
hugged Raven around the waist. She was in the corner near the door, away from
the men. 

Claire watched
Wayne.  When Wayne had put his hand on her shoulder back at the coffin, she had
felt an instant affection for him.  She didn’t remember Dad at all. Wayne had a
nice smile, too, even when he was bleeding all over. She wished they could stay
longer, but Raven was already trying to find an out.

~~ Wayne ~~

Wayne never really
understood the whole tiff between the Elementals and the Death Keepers.  The
universe hadn’t graced him with the gate, and for that he was grateful.  The
idea of ferrying souls from one realm to another never appealed. 

His gift was
better, in his opinion.  Some of the other Keepers disagreed.  He was an Empath
and could detect the Universe’s gifts. The older girl was gifted with Air, the
middle with Water.  He hadn’t touched the youngest.  She was a shy little
thing, but he could sense Earth.  Three of the four elements. 

He knew who they
were.  He couldn’t believe the oldest girl would call out her mother’s
kidnapping to the man who had arranged it all.  The elevator dinged and the
door slid open.  Wayne was a little amused that the girls would walk right into
his church looking for a way to save their mother.

He led the girls
down the hall and into the kitchen. The elevator didn’t actually go to the top
floor where the three-room church opened directly to the garden in back or the
parking lot out front. The chapel was a front for the Keepers.  A beautiful sanctuary
with brightly-colored stained glass windows and a door to the outside created
an illusion of a small country church to the congregation who actually
worshipped here.  A few were Keepers, the rest were church members for the
front.

He held the door
open for the girls. The middle sister watched him with puppy-love eyes. The
youngest clung to the oldest and shuffled quickly by.  He wanted to find a way
to test her, but so far she had neatly avoided his touch.

“There’s a roast
in the oven.  It will be out in an hour.  In the meantime, let’s get bandaged
up.”  The room smelled like roast beef and baked potatoes. Raven’s protests
died with her growling stomach and Wayne’s charm.

She said
grudgingly, “It
does
smell good in here.”

He had a gift for
putting people at ease. He took the lead while Jake and the other priest faded
away, excusing themselves to do other things and made sure Raven felt safe
enough and knew that she could leave at any time.

They all
introduced themselves with Raven introducing her little sister, Mindy.  Claire
would be the ticket to the Gray family.  Claire was the one to take the white
roll of bandages from him and say, “I can help.”

They started with
Raven’s knife wound from Claire’s attempt to poke the skeleton in the coffin. 
It wasn’t that deep.  Wayne examined it, “You won’t need stitches, but let’s
get some antiseptic on there.”

Claire searched
through the first aid kit, pulling out a tube.  She handed it to Raven who
squeezed a dab onto her wound. Mindy had placed herself between Claire and
Wayne, crouching to stay out of sight, as if he wouldn’t remember she was
there.  

“Just wrap it a
few times then we’ll cut it with the scissors,” Wayne pointed the white tape
out to Claire.  She cut the bandage and then a few pieces of tape.

Raven said
thank
you
, although Wayne knew very well that she was anxious to get away, he
thought maybe the thought of dinner would keep her. Once they were done, she
said, “We’d better be on our way.”

Wayne would have
protested if Claire hadn’t done it for him. She said, “But we were invited to
dinner.  It would be rude to leave now.  And we haven’t taken care of Wayne’s
bites.”

Claire pointed out
Wayne’s wounds.  He hadn’t meant to involve the girls with his own care, but he
realized an opportunity when he saw it. He said, “You wouldn’t want to miss the
roast beef.  Claire, would you like to help me?  Mindy? You can help your
sister cut the bandages if you’d like.”

Mindy peeked out
from behind Claire, but kept her distance.  She said, “Bathroom.”

“There are men’s
and women’s bathrooms just out that door and down the hall,” Wayne held out his
hand to Mindy, “I can show you the way.”

Mindy ignored
Wayne, taking Raven’s hand. Raven let Mindy hide behind her. She said, “It’s
okay. I’ll take her.”

As the door shut
behind Raven and Mindy, Wayne smiled at Claire, “So I’ve figured out that Raven
is Air.  You’re Water.  The little one is Earth?” he asked.

Claire found a
packet of antiseptic wipes in the kit and opened it for him. She gazed at him
with adoring eyes, and eagerly tried to anticipate his next request.  With a
brilliant smile, she said, “You know I’m Water?  How?”

“Just a little
gift.  It’s nothing like having Water or anything,” Wayne said.  He followed
with, “I’m sure you’ve heard how our group lost our Time gift?”

Claire nodded, “Yeah.
Mom told us the Keeper’s were after us because you thought we stole it or
something.” She tugged on the bandage and handed him the edge to wrap around
the bites. “Does it hurt?”

“Terribly. You
said your Mom went missing. Your sister thought we kidnapped her?” Wayne
thought he might be able to turn the conversation again to the Time gift and
find out which member of the Gray family was carrying it now.

She was an awkward
little thing.  Wayne could see a strong and stubborn personality underneath Claire’s
eager need to please.  Claire was clearly one of the Gray family with her dark
hair and green eyes, but where the youngest sister had a button nose, Claire’s
was straight. It was almost pathetic how eagerly she watched him, waiting for
any little crumb of approval.  He thought he’d give her one.

“You’re the
strongest, aren’t you?”

Claire blushed and
dipped her head, hiding a proud smile.

He said, “I knew
you were.”

“Raven is strong,
too.” Claire said.

“I’m sure she is,”
Wayne finished wrapping the bandage.  He let Claire tape it together.  He said,
“Don’t you have another sister?”

Claire gasped,
“How did you know that?”

Wayne tugged a
strand of her hair.  It was just the right thing to do.  She shyly looked down,
watching him under her eyelashes. He said, “Our order once guarded the
Elementals. It’s a shame that such a small gift of the Universe would come
between us. I bet it’s lost forever, but both sides are still wary of one
another.”

“There is no gift.
Mom said the only gift she ever got from the Keepers was the necklace Dad gave
her. But I guess since they killed him, they thought he gave her more.” Claire
suddenly realized that she was saying things she wasn’t supposed to.  She put a
hand over her mouth.

Wayne chuckled, “Its
okay. You haven’t told me anything I don’t already know.  My order didn’t kill
your Dad, though.  That was the Void. There are half a dozen groups looking for
a way to travel time.” Wayne said. Claire’s tiny piece of information was
priceless.  He had already known Amy’s husband was a Keeper, but the necklace
was something new.  No Keeper had ever heard that the power could be moved from
outside a person into an inanimate object.  It would be just like the Elemental
women to come up with a scheme that did just that. No wonder no one could find
it.