Alosha (18 page)

Her mother reached over and tugged gently on her left ear. “You're my daughter, Ali. You always will be. And you have magic.”

That was all Ali remembered. Except the flash of red light; it had come from every direction at once. She had never heard of red headlights before.

Then she woke up in the hospital, and her father was sitting beside her and
telling her that everything was all right. But his eyes were bloodshot; he looked like he had aged twenty years since she had last seen him. Her head and arm were bandaged. The skin on her arm felt like it was on fire.

“What's wrong with me?” she mumbled.

“You got a bump on the head and you burned your arm a little,” her father said. “You're going to be fine.”

“Where's Mom?”

He blinked, several times. He tried to stop her from seeing his tears. She saw them anyway, and then he didn't have to answer her question.

Nothing was all right. Nothing was fine.

“She's dead,” she said, and knew it was true.

Her father told her the story. It was a short story.

There had been an accident. She had been thrown from the car. Her mother had not been so lucky, and the car had caught fire. Her father didn't say so but it seemed her mother had been burned to ash. When they buried her, three days later, all they had was a vase full of ashes. They put the tiny vase in a big coffin, and watched as it was lowered into the ground. The people at the burial home had sure saved money on the cremation, she thought bitterly.

That was all Ali knew.

M
ommy,” she whispered as she tossed in her sleeping bag.

Ali awoke with a start. Her voice had startled her. Had she been asleep? Strange, she did not remember passing out. Yet it felt much later.

Ali climbed out of her tent and stood. Karl continued to sit on the boulder, his back to her. His head was down now, though. He might have been asleep.

The moon had risen high in the sky. She must have been asleep for several hours. The woods were bright, it was like daytime. Yet the light could be wiped out in a second by the shifting clouds.

Staring at the sky, Ali saw the clouds as vast kites made of cold mist. She was supposed to have control over the water element. Could she pull their strings? Or were they under the control of another? The clouds seemed to
haunt the sky. It was as if they had entered the human dimension from the elemental kingdom. The cold wind blew and she shivered.

Ali realized Paddy was missing. But even as she searched for him, he reappeared. He could have been sleepwalking, or maybe he had just gone to pee. He stumbled back into camp, his eyes half-closed, and plopped down on his pile of leaves. A second later he was snoring peacefully. But he talked to himself as he slept, occasionally mumbling the name
Lea
, and it made her wonder if he had a girlfriend in the other dimension.

Ali walked over to Karl. He raised his head as she neared, looked at her. “What are you doing up?” he asked in a quiet voice.

“Your turn to sleep. What time is it?”

He checked his watch. “Two-fifteen.”

She sat beside him on the boulder. The moonlight suited him. It took away his tan but made his clear blue eyes gleam all the brighter.

“I don't even remember falling asleep,” she said.

“You were tossing a lot.”

“You were watching me?”

“I was keeping an eye on the whole gang,” Karl said.

“Did you see Paddy leave and come back just now?”

“I saw him leave. That was a while ago.” Karl glanced over his shoulder. “Did he just come back?”

“Yes.”

“I must have dozed for a few minutes.”

“That's okay, you're exhausted. Let me stand guard.”

Karl stood and yawned. “Wake Cindy or Steve before dawn. They have to do their fair share.”

“I will,” she said, although privately she thought it would be better to let her friends rest. She did not feel tired anyway. Her right arm continued to ache, though.

“Wake me if you hear anything. Anything at all.”

“Sure,” she promised.

Karl patted her shoulder. “Goodnight Ali.”

“Goodnight. Sweet dreams.”

Karl crawled into his tent. Ali stood and walked silently around the camp. Better to move, she thought, keep warm. But the jacket Steve had given her was thick and comfortable, and it had a hood. She was glad she had taken the time to fix it. It was not like she could afford a new jacket. She wondered if her father would notice the switch.

Ali thought about her father then—the long lonely roads he traveled to support them both. He could be halfway across the country by now. She wished there was more she could do for him. He was a great man, he had not deserved to suffer so much.

The moon vanished. Just like that, the clouds stole it away, and the forest was plunged into a deep gloom. Again, she felt as if the clouds taunted her. She and her friends were at a mile and a half elevation. The clouds couldn't have been that much higher. Yet they looked far away, untouchable.

The rain came a few minutes later. For a moment the wind stopped to let it fall. Then the drizzle was grabbed by the breeze, and whipped into her face. More than anything else she wanted to climb back into her tent and try to stay dry.

Ali feared the night, though, now that it was so black. She knew she had to stand guard. She feared the things Nemi had told her, especially about the elementals who stalked the forest, looking for humans. It was still not clear to her why they had suddenly decided to attack after all these years. They hadn't even tried to talk to humanity about the pollution. People deserved a chance to change their ways.

“Listen to me, I didn't think so a few days ago,” Ali said to herself. Last week she had wanted to scream at the lumberjacks. Now she just hoped Ted got better.

The rain did not get heavier but it did manage to work its way deeper into her hair and skin. She began to get real cold. One shiver led to another; soon she was trembling like a leaf. Even walking did not help. It was then she decided she had to do something drastic.

Ali did not know how to call on her power. The first time—with the
trolls—it had just come. The second time—when she had grabbed Paddy—the same thing had happened. But now she sat on the boulder and willed it to come.

“Now,” she whispered.

It was not long before her call was answered.

A strange heaviness grew in the pit of her stomach. Yet the sensation was not unpleasant. It was almost as if that part of her body got thicker, more dense. She felt a strength there, a power that seemed to tell her without words that it could be moved. But moved where and for what reason?

She had an answer to that question.

“Rise above and form an umbrella over my head,” she said.

Ali felt the energy spread out. There was no magic light, nothing to see or hear, but it was definitely there. She felt as if her body expanded with the power, until she was ten times bigger. Of course she remained the same size, but she had to tell herself that was true. Otherwise, it felt as if she
was
the invisible umbrella.

More important, the rain stopped falling on her head.

“Cool!” she gushed as she saw how the rain came within fifteen feet of her head before pouring off to the side. The force field—she did not know what else to call it—was dome shaped. She willed it to expand further, to cover her friends, and was delighted to see it obey. The drizzle no longer fell on their tents, nor even on Paddy.

Still, the force field did not feel separate from her. Only then did she realize her power came from inside, not outside. She wished Nemi was with her to see what she was doing.

Then something odd began to happen. At first she wondered if it was connected to the use of her power, but then dismissed the idea. The clouds came lower, swooping in like a bank of fog. That was not so unusual, but when they began to flash with lightning she got worried. Because this lightning was not accompanied with thunder. And it was red.

“Red lightning?” she said aloud. “There's no such thing.”

A dark figure flew out of the clouds. Ali caught only a glimpse as it
swooshed by. Bat shaped, it appeared as tall as she, with wide black wings and a skull-like head. At its center burned a red light. It shook its claws and that red light caught fire. A laser bolt shot past Ali's head and struck the tree behind her. The bark exploded in flame and a large branch crashed to the ground.

“We're under attack!” Ali shouted.

The cry was not necessary. The noise of the toppling branch woke everyone. The gang was on its feet in seconds. But they were dazed, they did not understand what was going on. Ali did not know what to tell them.

Three more figures came out of the clouds. They flew just above the trees. The red light at their centers swelled like exploding lightbulbs. More laser bolts flew toward the ground. Ali ducked—all the guys did, including Paddy. But Cindy was too stunned. A bolt caught her on her left shoulder and she went down with a loud cry.

“Cindy!” Ali cried, rushing to her side. Cindy's shirt was on fire. Quickly, Ali put it out and grabbed Cindy and dragged her behind a tree. The creatures had disappeared for a moment but Ali knew they would be back. “Can you walk?” Ali shouted at Cindy.

Cindy nodded, grimacing in pain as she held her arm. “What are they?” she gasped.

“Do you know?” Ali shouted at Paddy, as he leapt behind the rocks.

“Dark fairies, Missy!” he shouted back, peering into the foggy night.

“What should we do?” Steve asked, reaching for a stick.

“Run!” Paddy said.

“We can't run! Cindy's hurt!” Ali called, as she leaned Cindy against a tree. Ten feet to her left, another tree had caught fire. Red smoke poured into the glowing clouds, creating a ghastly soup. “How do we stop them?”

“Use your powers!” Paddy advised.

“Yeah! Use your powers!” Steve agreed.

The creatures came again, six this time, a hideous line of giant bats in the burning night. Not sure exactly what powers she had at her command, Ali stepped from behind the tree and tried to raise the magical umbrella that had
protected them so well from the rain. The energy field expanded; she felt it stretch out like an invisible wall before the swooping monsters. Once more, for the third time, she saw them twitch their claws and watched as the red light blossomed at their centers.

The red bolts fell on her friends; her shield did nothing to stop them. Apparently she could deflect water, but not fire. Trees cracked and exploded all around Ali. She felt incredible heat on her head, reached up and discovered the hood of her jacket was on fire. Karl put it out with his hand before it could catch her hair. His handsome face, caught in the glow of the burning trees, looked stunned. Yet he had not collapsed in terror, none of them had. Ali thought that was a miracle in itself.

“We cannot stand here and take this pounding!” he said.

The figures disappeared into the glowing clouds. They were like divebombers, just getting ready for another deadly run. Ali searched for Paddy. He was still behind the rocks, looking none too happy.

“What do they have in their hands?” she shouted at the leprechaun.

“Fire stones!” he shouted.

“Tires?” Cindy asked.

“Not Firestones,” Ali said. “Fire stones.”

“Aye,” Paddy said. “Fairy magic, very powerful.”

“How do they work?” Ali asked.

“Don't know. Dark fairies don't tell their secrets. Can you not stop them, Missy?”

“I'm trying,” Ali replied, searching the ground for suitable rocks. The strategy had worked with the trolls. Of course here her targets were smaller and moving fast. She saw a couple of medium-sized rocks and picked them up.

The six dark fairies returned, burning shadows in the fiery night. Ali saw their fire stones start to kindle and took aim. A red bolt exploded the bush near her leg and she let go with the rock. Her arm was a rocket launcher—there was so much power in it.

A perfect shot, the rock hit the center fairy in the head and the creature plunged from the sky and vanished behind the trees. The creature's partners
let out ear-piercing shrieks and wheeled to the sides and disappeared in the clouds.

“They're running!” Steve exclaimed.

“Don't think so, laddie,” Paddy said.

The five dark fairies returned, coming at them from several directions. That made it much harder to hide behind the trees. In fact, they couldn't hide. The red bolts sizzled within inches of their faces. A spark touched Ali's ear; she felt as if a firefly was trying to sneak in her brain. Her friends cried out—she assumed someone else had been hit. There was too much confusion, too much fire!

Ali let fly her second rock, missed completely. The monsters retreated into the eerie fog. More trees had caught fire. Flaming smoke poured into the evil clouds.

“Who was hit? Was anyone hit?” she demanded.