A Time To Kill (Elemental Rage Book 1) (2 page)

Jade worked at
Red’s Steakhouse.  Red, the proprietor and chef, was a salty, gruff fellow in
his sixties who said maybe a dozen words the whole day. The breakfast crowd
arrived in full force at eight. Jade didn’t slow down until around ten when she
had a couple finishing their breakfast at one of her tables. 

When the door
swung open, Jade glanced up.  Her heart sank.  Harold Jenkins strode in. When
Marie started to lead him to her own area, he asked for one of Jade’s tables.
Marie was too professional to give Jade an “I’m sorry,” look when she seated
Harold, but she would apologize to Jade later. 

Pasting a smile on
her face, Jade stepped up with her pad in hand, “Are you ready to order?”

Harold smiled at
Jade and untipped his coffee cup, “Morning, Sunshine. Here we are again. Are we
going to do a song and dance again, or are you going to tell me where I’ve seen
your Mama before.”

“Hi, Harold. I’m
sure we would have remembered you. What would you like?”

“Biscuits and
gravy, eggs over-easy, hashbrowns, and a biscuit. So your dad was in sales?”

Jade told the lie
as she’d practiced it. “Is in sales, present tense.”

“I’d love to meet
him. Sounds like a stand-up fellow,” Harold flipped the page of the menu as if
he might want to order something else.

 “My parents
divorced a long time ago.” Jade said. The Gray women concocted the story of her
parent’s divorce years ago. Her Mom actually made them practice answering
questions until it became second nature.  Jade wouldn’t be surprised if Mindy
actually believed her Dad was still alive somewhere selling used cars for a
living.

“Sorry to hear,”
Harold said, as if he hadn’t stopped her Mom at the grocery store to ask how
her husband was doing just two weeks ago.

“Shall I take your
menu?” Jade held out her hand, hoping that their conversation had ended.

Harold looked like
he wanted to say something else, then thought better of it and handed Jade the
menu. Jade hated the Saturday shift. Last week, Harold had asked her where she
hailed from to which Jade replied that her family had actually moved to town
before Harold years ago, so she hailed from Wildwood Springs.  He’d been
picking at her history ever since she started working at the diner, and it
really annoyed her.

 When she made the
rounds with the coffee pot, Harold was waiting with more questions.  His eyes
had a watery, faded look. Jade hoped his interest was just that of a lonely old
man, and not that of something more sinister, like one of the Death Keepers,
the some-time enemies of Elementals in general and the Gray family in specific.

“I hear your
sister has problems,” Harold said, and for a moment, his face told the truth of
his heart, and he wore a sly, conniving grin.

Jade counted to
three in her mind.  She didn’t have time to count to ten. Pretending ignorance,
she filled his coffee cup while she said, “Which sister?”

She was already
walking away when Harold answered, “The youngest.  I hear she’s slow.”

Jade’s first
impulse was to pour hot coffee all over Harold and his invasive questions. 
Instead, she said, “I love my sister,” and kept walking. She would have to
bring him the breakfast plate soon, and then fill at least one more coffee
because Harold liked to hang around. She just had to hold it together a little
while longer.

Red slid the plate
onto the counter. Jade took a deep breath, feeling a little sick to her stomach. 
She shouldn’t let him get to her like this.  Forcing a smile onto her face,
Jade served Harold breakfast and then put the bill upside down on the table.

“I didn’t hurt
your feelings, did I? I’m sure your sister is a sweet kid. I heard she doesn’t
talk much. I know a specialist in Seattle if you’re interested,” Harold dropped
the information as if he was truly interested in helping, but something in his
manner put Jade off, had ever since the first time she passed him on the
sidewalk last year.

One thing Jade
knew.  She didn’t want to be beholden to Harold in any way.  Besides, if Harold
thought he knew someone who could help, he should be talking to Mom.  Jade said
firmly, “My sister is fine.”

She retreated,
hoping for a reprieve.  Harold must have decided not to bother her anymore
because he brought his ticket to the cash register where Marie processed his
bill.  He left a ten dollar tip, which was incredibly high in their little town
for a single person eating breakfast. 

During lunch, Jade
was glad to get out of the diner and out into the fresh air.  The scent of pine
trees filled Main Street as she walked to the flower shop. Her Mom flipped the
sign from
open
to
closed
and added the “Out to Lunch” sign as
soon as she saw Jade coming.

“How’s work?” Her
mom turned the lock as soon as Jade stepped into the shop. The front room
smelled of fresh-cut flowers. Several bright bouquets were stowed away in the
display cases.

“I want to quit
and work here with you,” Jade said, as she plopped down at the table in the
back room which served as a break-room and office.

“Harold again?”
her Mom asked. It was a weekly occurrence.

“He called Mindy
slow and offered to give me the name of a specialist in Seattle.  He keeps
digging for information every week,” Jade said as she took the sandwich her Mom
had pulled out of the little refrigerator she kept beside her desk.

“It’s only for a
few months. I’m sure you’ll be fine. There’s not enough work for both of us
here,” Amy said, handing Jade a sandwich, potato chips, and orange juice.

“I’m not sure a
car is worth this stress,” Jade said. She applied for the job at the diner
because she wanted to buy a used car next year. She hadn’t counted on all the
annoyances that came with employment. Jade broke open her chips, popping one in
her mouth.  She was starving. 

“Either way,
you’re learning to be responsible.  You accepted a summer job and you’re going
to have to see it through. You need to learn how to answer these kinds of
questions. It’s better if you learn to do it in a setting where you can
escape.” Amy said and then nibbled on her sandwich.

Jade glanced at
the clock.  Her lunch break flew by on some days. She still had a few minutes.
Before shoving chips in her mouth, she asked, “Seriously Mom, is all this
secrecy still necessary? Dad’s been gone for years.”

Amy Gray paled,
her eyes haunted by some distant memory.  She grabbed Jade’s hand, “Promise me,
Jade. This isn’t just your life or mine, but your sisters as well.  The men who
killed your father will stop at nothing. Stick with the story.”

“Okay, Mom.” Jade
and Amy were silent for a moment, each remembering the past and finishing their
lunch. Jade remembered the man who taught her how to ride a bike and put
together 3D puzzles. Amy remembered the man who walked Raven for hours when she
was teething, who surprised her with flowers on random evenings.

Jade was the first
to break the silence.  She pushed her chair back, “Gotta go.”

Amy forced a
smile, “I love you, Honey. Have a good rest of the day.”

The sun was bright
and the morning already warming up, but Jade shivered.  She thought she heard
whispering on the breeze. She jogged back to work, suddenly afraid, even out on
the street in the bright sunshine.

Chapter 2

~~ Mindy ~~

Mindy tossed and
turned all Saturday night.  She lived in a permanent present, remembering
little of the past and worrying less about the future. When dreams haunted her,
she fought to remember the warning. Her visions did not come from Earth, the
element that chose Mindy, but from something else.

Waking up, Mindy
needed Jade.  It was a deep need, like an itch that needed a scratch or hunger
after hours of fasting. Pulling aside the blankets, Mindy slid her toe to the
floor.  She tentatively touched the carpet.  When visiting Great Aunt Cecile,
the aunt who died of a sudden stroke, Mindy stayed alone in the attic room with
a window that looked out over the flower beds.  That first morning, Mindy was
shocked to put her toe down on a cold floor.  Now she was suspicious of the
floor every morning and had to see, just to make sure it was carpet.

Once both feet
were firmly on the floor, Mindy stood. She glanced over at Claire’s bed with
sudden tension.  Her sister’s back was to her, but Claire scolded Mindy if she
woke her up. Claire had been mean all yesterday afternoon because Mindy wet her
bed the night before.  She’d seen the darkness, but nobody believed her. Not
even Jade.  Jade would know what to do if Mindy could just find the right
words.

She left her room,
meandering toward Jade’s room.  Mindy stopped at the watercolor of a blurry
girl in white dancing in a field with yellow and orange flowers. Sometimes she
got lost in the picture, in the bright colors.  Today she smiled at the girl
and knocked on Jade’s room.

The other sister
answered.  From inside the room, a crabby Raven said, “What!”

Mindy felt a tiny
fear.  It wasn’t the void nightmare fear or the man outside her window fear,
but fear nonetheless. She almost couldn’t speak.  Finally Mindy said, “Jade.”

Raven jerked open
the door, “Jade’s at work. Go back to bed.”

Mindy tipped her
head to look past Raven. She wanted her sister, the good one.  She frowned and
said, “Jade.”

Raven rolled her
eyes.  Taking Mindy’s hand rather more gently than Claire would have, Raven
turned Mindy in the direction of the living room. “I’ll make you breakfast.
What do you want?”

Mindy padded along
behind Raven, still holding her hand.  Mindy felt comfort in her sister’s touch,
even though Raven wasn’t always nice.  Sometimes she called Mindy Dumb-butt and
sometimes she hurt Mindy’s feelings with her games with Claire that weren’t
funny at all even though her sisters laughed and laughed, like when they took
her stuffed puppy, Pebbles, and hung her above the curtains.  Mindy had tried
to rescue her puppy, but it was too high for her to reach.

The kitchen was
warm and smelled like toast. Mindy’s mouth watered, and she grinned, “Jam?”

Mindy watched
while Raven took two breads and put it into the toaster. She said, “Do you want
to toast them?”

Nice Raven today.
Mindy smiled and nodded. 

“Okay, come here
then.  Pull this handle down right here.  Like this,” Raven pulled the lever
and the bread fell into the toaster. She pushed it up again and they popped
right back out.

Mindy pulled the
button down, and the toast slid in.  Grinning, she pushed it up so that they
popped out.  She did this a few times until Raven put her hand over Mindy’s,
“They have to stay down so that you can eat.”

Claire ruined the
fun by walking into the kitchen.  Claire never liked Mindy.  Mindy didn’t know
why, but she tried to stay out of the way.  Claire said, “Well done, Raven.
Maybe by the time she’s in high school she’ll know how to make toast.”

Mindy knew Claire
was being mean. She ignored her. Instead, she stood on her tippy-toes and watched
the toast.  She reached out to touch the red metal inside the slots, but Raven
grabbed her hand before she could get any closer. Raven said, “No, Mindy.
Danger.”

Mindy felt
shocked, surprised.  Tears started to form in her eyes. She wanted the sister
who liked her.  She wanted Mom.  They were always gone.  Mindy said, “Mom.”

Claire threw her
hands over her head, “For pity’s sakes. I wish Bertha were here. I hate babysitting
her.”

Raven nodded to
Claire.  To Mindy she said, “Your toast is almost done.  We’ll get some jam on
that and everything will be okay.”

Mindy said, “I’m a
big girl.”

Claire pulled out
Mindy’s chair. “Which would have been cute at three or four, but you’re seven. 
Sit down.”

Mindy warily
approached the chair.  Claire had done things.  Mindy couldn’t remember all of
them, but she knew better than to trust Claire.  She looked at Claire who was
staring at her with the hate look in her eyes.  Only Claire gave her the hate
look.  Raven sometimes didn’t like her, and sometimes teased her, but Claire
hated her. Mindy stared back.

The toast popped.
Raven threw a few more slices of bread in for Claire.  While she slathered it
with margarine and jam, Raven asked Claire, “Want to practice outside after
breakfast?”

“No outside,”
Mindy turned in her chair, her nightgown scrunching uncomfortably.  She grunted
and wriggled a few times to get clear.

“She wasn’t
talking to you, Squirt.” Claire didn’t say Squirt the way Jade did.  Claire
abused the word, giving it a hard, biting edge.  Jade’s
Squirt
was full
of amusement and love.  Mindy didn’t like it when Claire stole Jade’s word. Claire
stretched, water rising along her fingers. She said, “For sure. I
have
to
get out of this house.”

Raven filled up a
half-glass of prune juice for Mindy.  It was her medicine, but it didn’t taste
as bad as some of the other medicine.  Mindy clapped when Raven gave her the
plate of toast.

“Try to keep it on
the table this time,” Claire said.  “You know, Mom should ban Mindy from eating
jam.  We wouldn’t have to wash her nightgown all the time.”

Mindy loved the
taste of raspberry. She stopped worrying about ‘outside’ and focused on
breakfast. She barely listened while Raven and Claire spoke around her.  In
between bites, she stared at the daisies on the table.  It was sad that they
were dying.  Someone had cut them away from Earth. 

Earth loved
flowers.  Mindy felt at peace inside while Earth spoke to her, and she sent
that love to the daisy closest to her.  The little flower perked up. A drop of
jam fell from her mouth onto her lap.

Mindy looked up
sharply. Claire was slurping down her toast as she said, “You try to become Air
again. That’s how I feel when I’m in water, part of it and absolutely free.”

Claire and Raven
were intent on their conversation.  Mindy picked up the jam, sticky between her
fingers and lifted it slowly to her mouth. She was glad they were all busy
eating now.  She didn’t want to get in trouble with Claire again for her
messes.

Raven said, “I’ll
try today. I’m still rusty.”

Claire laughed,
“If you were iron you would be, after all that practicing with me.”

Claire had come
into her powers last year when she started puberty.  Even though Raven
outstripped all of her sisters in elemental talent and ability, her father’s
death had stopped it cold. Growing up, any time Raven used her power, her mom had
freaked out massively. Raven was just rediscovering her abilities.  She said,
“Well let’s get Min Min cleaned up and then we’ll get dressed and head out.”

Claire frowned a
little at Mindy, “Someday the little rat is going to tell on us.”

“Hush, Claire. 
The little rat just rustles around. She won’t say anything if you play it cool.”
Raven scooted out from the table and grabbed Claire’s plate. 

Mindy was slower finishing
breakfast than the other girls. She said, “Mindy see the little rat?”

Claire laughed,
“Sure, Mindy sees the rat. Hurry now.”

Mindy didn’t like
breakfast after Raven and Claire finished eating.  They were always watching
for her to drop her food. Now they wanted her to eat fast.  She still had a lot
left to eat.

Claire said
grabbed Mindy’s dish, “I’ll do dishes if you clean the rat, I mean brat.”

 “Done.”

Mindy took Raven’s
hand and followed her to the bedroom to pick out clothes and then into the
bathroom to wash up.  Raven said to pick play clothes, so Mindy picked her pink
princess sweats.

Raven ran a wash cloth
under the water. 

Mindy looked at
the faucet suspiciously and said, “Warm water.”

“Gotcha. Get out
of your clothes, Mindy,” Raven said. She waited until the cloth was warm.

Mindy struggled
with the nightgown, but finally pulled it off her head.  Her fingers stuck to
the cloth a little from the jam. Raven washed her hands carefully and then her
face and neck.  It was a relief not to be sticky, although the air on her wet
skin made her feel chilly.

Raven quickly
helped Mindy into her sweats. She tied Mindy’s shoes for her. Her mom refused
to get her Velcro shoes, convinced Mindy could learn.  Raven and Claire had
long since given up. Only if Jade or Mom were watching did they bother to let
Mindy try tying her shoes.  The weird thing was that Mindy could sometimes do
it…and then sometimes she couldn’t.

Raven changed into
her own outside clothes and the three sisters met in the living room.  Raven
expected Mindy to fuss when she tried to lead her outside, but apparently she
had forgotten between breakfast and this particular moment that she didn’t want
to go outside.

Mindy found a
patch of moss under the gnarled apple tree.  The sun was shining and the moss
was dry.  She sat down. Raven said, “Now, Mindy, you know not to play by the
creek.  Say it.”

“No creek,” Mindy
agreed with a slow nod of her head.  Water was dangerous.  Fire was dangerous. 
But Earth was safe.  

From her perch,
Mindy could see Raven and Claire play with the Universe. Seeing a heavy branch
that had cracked and fallen from a tree, Claire grabbed it and threw it onto
the pile that she had made to slow the water’s flow.  The water was up to their
waists now. Claire wanted to make a swimming pool, but it was hard to dig deep
enough. 

Mindy could have
helped.  The dirt would have moved if she asked, but she didn’t trust Claire to
know that she spoke to the Universe.  Not even Mom or Jade knew that.  Earth
said to keep it a secret. Claire would never know, not as long as Mindy was
quiet.

Claire stripped
off her shorts and t-shirt, followed by her underwear.  Mom wouldn’t like
that.  She stepped into the water and changed, her form melting.  Mindy felt a
little queasy when Claire’s whole self collapsed, her form merging with the
water. Raven closed her eyes.  Mindy could see that Raven was trying to do the
same thing, only with air. Somehow Raven couldn’t quite manage. 

Earth spoke to
Mindy and she stopped watching Raven and Claire.  Lying on her back, she
watched the bunny cloud and the duck cloud float along in the far blue.  Earth
pulsed with warmth, like a blanket soothing Mindy and relaxing her mind.  She
was a blank. Time. Time. Time.  Mindy couldn’t think straight. There was
something important about Time, and Earth was trying to tell her, but Mindy’s
brain was broken.  Deep down Mindy knew that, but she could never fix herself,
so she let go.

She relaxed and
didn’t worry, letting Earth’s instructions wash over her.  Maybe someday she
would understand.  Maybe Jade would fix her.  Jade said she was going to be a
brain surgeon. Neuro, nurture, something.  Earth whispered and Mindy closed her
eyes.

“Fix me,” Mindy
begged the presence she felt hovering in the dirt and stone beneath the moss.
Earth cuddled her.  Mindy felt safe and warm in Earth’s embrace, but the lost
feeling never went away.  It was beyond Earth’s power to fix what was wrong
with Mindy.

Earth’s embrace
lightened, and Mindy felt the footsteps of a man nearby.  Too close. 
Watching.  Earth whispered, “Wake up Mindy. Warn your sisters.”

Mindy’s eyes
filled with tears as they often did when she had to leave Earth’s warmth.  She
pushed herself up and staggered to Raven whose eyes were closed as she fiercely
concentrated on something in the sky.  Mindy didn’t know Air. She was a passing
acquaintance to Mindy.  Sometimes the breeze would kiss her cheek and sometimes
she would hear a whisper from one of the winds, but Raven belonged to Air and
Air belonged to Raven. 

Mindy grabbed
Raven’s arm and shook her violently, shouting, “Stranger. Stranger.”

Raven jerked,
yanking herself away, “Mindy, you scared the sunny clover out of me.”

“Help. 
Stranger,”  Mindy pointed to the woods where she had felt the man’s feet upon
Earth, an unclean man, not in the physical sense, but spiritually filthy, a man
whose intent was to hurt.

She felt him
leaving, tracking his evil footprints across her Earth.  She wanted Raven to
feel him, to believe her.  Jade always believed her.  Only Jade. Not even Mom,
but Mindy thought Mom just pretended not to believe her sometimes to fool the
other girls.

Mindy pointed
again, “Air watches too.”

Raven shook
herself and Mindy could see that she understood.  While Raven tried to see the
man, Mindy crept to the water.

“Claire? 
Stranger. Come in now,” Mindy knelt near the water, not too close.  Mom and
Jade told her exactly how close she could go, so she put her knees on the line
and leaned as far as she could get to call for her sister.

The water bubbled
near the bank.  Mindy called again, “Claire!”

A fountain of
water burst from the creek, the spray drenching Mindy. Mindy stood as the cold
water soaked into her princess sweats. 

“Nooooooo,” she
wailed.

Mindy ran from the
water, frightened.  Water didn’t speak much to her.  Water scared her, mostly
because it belonged to Claire.  If Claire hated her, maybe Water did, too. 
Mindy couldn’t trust it.