Awaken the Elements (Elemental Trilogy) (39 page)

             
Janice made a come on over gesture with her hands. “Fine, I can deal with you. I fought bitches bigger than you on the streets. And bitches who like my sloppy seconds.”

             
Anatha filled in the gap between them, her fists in tight balls at her sides, ready to strike. Autumn made a motion to Jaime, and he rushed over to stand between them. “Janice, leave now, or I’ll let Anatha do what she wants,” Autumn said.

             
She looked up at her, giving her a dirty look. “You can’t tell people where to go. You don’t own this place.”

             
Autumn’s eyes flared. “Autumn, tell Jaime to get out of the way. You can’t be in charge all the time,” Anatha demanded.

             
“No, Anatha, go calm down,” she said as she told herself to calm down as well. The anger was so easy to touch inside, but anger never made anything better.

             
“Autumn,” Anatha began.

             
“Go cool down.” Anatha knew there would be no arguing. Dammit! Her mind screamed. She stalked off, hands still balled up. She wasn’t in the mood for this. Jaime followed after her as Autumn watched.

             
“That’s not good,” River said.

             
“You read my mind.” Anatha was down there pacing around the fountain. They watched Jaime walk over to her.

             
“I bet she kills him,” Rowan said.

             
“I second,” River said.

             
“If we are betting, I want a piece,” Adair said.

             
Stefan smiled. “You guys might be surprised,” he replied. Autumn glanced at him for a second or two and then back down.

             
They watched as Jaime looked at her uncertainly. He reached out, grabbed her to him, and their lips locked.

             
“Get a room!” Autumn said, making a face and turned away.

             
“Well, that was unexpected,” River said.

             
“I was thinking she would have at least hit him a little,” Rowan said as he leaned his back against the railing.

             
“Love is a silly thing,” Stefan said.

             
“Well said, good sir,” Adair said, nodding.

****

             
“How do you tell someone that you might love them?” Anatha said, sitting across from Autumn down in Playland.

             
“Hello to you too,” Autumn said but shook her head. “I dunno.”

             
“Well, have you told them?” she whispered.

             
Autumn nodded. “You will just know.  Then again, weird stuff is said when you’re naked.”

             
Anatha moved her hands in a disgusted gesture. “I don’t want to know about that!”

             
Autumn laughed. “I wanted to sleep. They were each opening up and saying they loved each other, and then they were staring at me, and I could feel their eyes. So I told them.”

             
“So you didn’t mean it?” she asked, cocking her head.

             
Autumn shook her head and turned to look over at the guys competing in a car racing game. She smiled, just looking at them made her all warm and tingly. “I totally meant it.”

             
“How is that different from any of your other boyfriends?”

             
Autumn turned back to her, chewing on her lip. “I don’t know. They don’t want to change me like everyone else. They aren’t scared around my magic or me. I like that they like me being me.”

             
Anatha nodded. “I think I understand. I don’t know how much Jaime knows, but he never brings up anything about the magic. He just ignores it and keeps on going like nothing happens.”

             
“You know you will have to tell him eventually.”

             
“I know,” she said and sighed.

             
“I did magic in front of them, and they were totally cool with it. If he likes or loves you then he will be okay with it.”

             
“I sure hope so,” Anatha said. “What are we going to do when we get out of here?”

             
Autumn looked down at her lap. “I am trying not to think about that.”

             
“It’s coming up.”

             
“I know,” she said and gave her an apologetic look. “I’m sorry. I’m not ready for this all to end. What if they want to leave? What if this was only here?”

             
Anatha shrugged her shoulders. “I guess we will see when it happens.”

             
Rowan and River came over, laughing about something. “Hey, Autumn, let’s go watch a movie,” River said, his smile faltering, looking at her serious face.

             
“What did we miss?” he asked, looking from her to Anatha.

             
“Nothing at all,” she said, getting up. “Let’s go watch a movie. See you around, cuz.”

             
Halfway to the music store, Rowan stopped them. “What were you two talking about?”

             
She shook her head. “Nothing.”

             
“I saw your face. That was a bad face,” River said.

             
Her eyes teared up. “I really don’t want to talk about it.”

             
River nodded. “When you’re ready, we’ll listen.”

             
She smiled a sad smile. “I know.” She squeezed their arms.

Chapter 17

              “Last straw, Mabon,” Aarawn said as he set up his cauldron and lit two black candles. He took out two bottles labeled in red.

             
“Which ones are you going to use?” Mabon asked.

             
“Watch,” he replied. He added three drops of frankincense. From a bag he pulled out two juniper berries and squeezed them into the cauldron. He added a pinch of vetivert and a smidgeon of cumin.

             
“A lock spell?” Mabon asked, cocking his head to the side.

             
“Oodga obja,” Bane said at the table.

             
“Thanks, Bane, but it’s not done yet,” he said as he opened one of the labeled bottles. He took out a pinch of something green and threw it in the cauldron. There was a loud hissing from the mixture in front of him, and he took a cautious step back.

             
“That can’t be good,” Mabon said.

             
“Heliotrope to induce dreams and,” he opened the other bottle. “Lobelia.”

             
“Lobelia is used to attract love,” Mabon said, now very confused as he watched his cousin mix the spell.

             
“But with these herbs it will not attract,” he said and added some of the dried brown herb to the cauldron.

             
“I know you’re not doing something you’re not supposed to,” Pyrus said as she came into the trailer.

             
“Shit,” Aarawn said as a little more of the brown leaf fell in than was supposed to. Black smoke billowed out, blinding him.

             
“What did you do?” Mabon said, covering his nose, “It stinks.”

             
Aarawn dumped the potion out the window. “That was not good,” Pyrus said.

             
“Tell me about it,” Mabon said.

             
Coughing, Aarawn looked around. “Damn, that could have worked.”

             
“You’re lucky I stopped you,” Pyrus said.

             
“Lucky?” Our sisters are being wild in there,” Aarawn said.

             
She gazed over at Mabon who was staring out at the mall. “You should be more like your cousin, such a good boy.”

             
“Why are you here, Pyrus?” Aarawn asked.

             
“Moorgun knows the area the girls are in,” She looked at both men. “She is so close.”

             
Mabon stood up, thinking. They watched as a squirrel appeared, climbing up on Pyrus’s shoulder where it sat squeaking. “She is going to do something bad, isn’t she?” he asked.

             
“There’s a possibility that a future accident could show Moorgun where the girls are. As soon as they are out of the mall, we have to act and take them to the village.”

             
Aarawn made a face, “We have to go back to the village too?”

             
She gave him a stern look, “And where else would you go?”

             
“Maybe stay with Autumn and Anatha’s family. They all seem okay,” Mabon said.

             
“So you two can keep an eye on the girl’s lives as well?”

             
“Maybe,” Aarawn said.

             
“Whether you like it or not, your sisters are adults. They have a right to be adults. I believe each of you have a few broken hearts to mend when you get back. Maybe one of you more than the other,” Pyrus said and watched Aarwan’s face flush as he turned away.

             
“Here comes Adair and Angel,” Mabon told them, looking out.

             
“Good, good; what are your students doing?”

             
“They were playing bumper cars last time we saw,” Adair said. He looked at Pyrus and her squirrel.

             
“Any news of anything bad over the CB?” she asked the monkey.

             
He shook his head and watched Angel and Bane fight over a pack of cards, each wanting to be the dealer. “Any news on your side?”

             
“There is someone else in the mall who is magically inclined,” she said. “Nituna told me that the elders had been disturbed by someone else as they checked on their power.”

             
“Could it have been mine and Angel’s power that disturbed her?”

             
“Nituna assures me it is a person.”

             
“Tell her,” Angel hissed.

             
Adair sighed, “I might know who it is. When the girls came to power, he gained some too. He is one of the older guys in the group. But his magic is something different, almost elemental. He can take their power and intensify it. His own powers are getting stronger.”

             
“I have heard stories of people wielding that power. They are a rare breed indeed. We must take him back with us as well. He needs to be accepted into the magic world.”

             
“So you think he might be an element like us?” Aarawn asked.

             
“No,” Mabon said. “There are only four.”

             
Pyrus shook her head, troubled by the new information.

****

             
“So what’s wrong?” Envy asked.

             
“Shh!” Autumn gave her a dirty look.

             
“Come in. This is safe house one-five-five-five,” Bud called into the CB. “Hello, come in.”

             
Anatha ran over. “What’s wrong?” she asked, out of breath.

             
Autumn watched her dad, and he looked down at the CB. “It’s working.”

             
Autumn nodded. “I heard an answer before.”

             
“Something’s really wrong,” Anatha’s dad said.

             
Both parents looked a little hollow eyed from lack of sleep and too much alcohol. Autumn’s dad pressed the button on the CB and tried again. “Safe house one-five-five-five here, someone come in.”

             
“What’s going on?” Anatha asked.

             
“The drop is late,” Autumn told her.

             
Anatha looked at the other people on the roof. “They have never been late before.”

             
“Wait, I hear something,” Jaime said.

             
They listened. There was a noise, but it wasn’t come from the CB. The buzzing sound got louder. The drop helicopter came into view. “Must have been delayed by the weather or something,” Anatha said.

             
They waited for the helicopter to land. They moved out of the way, so the men could drop off their crates. The helicopter landed, and the blades slowly stopped spinning. This is a first, Autumn thought. Usually the pilot would keep it going and as soon as the crates were dropped, they would leave. Now the military guys were getting out.

             
A big man in fatigues came strutting over and stopped by Bud. He extended his thick arm, “Captain Millard, United States Army.”

             
Bud took Captain Millard’s hand. “Bud.”

             
“Sorry for our tardiness, Bud. We have been experiencing some rather troubling and devastating losses,” Captain Millard said, his voice was stony like his face.

             
“What kind of losses?” Anatha asked.

             
“Well,” he looked at his copilot, and they exchanged a knowing look. “The two closest safe houses are right above Sacramento and one is out in the Bay Area. We lost contact with Sacramento yesterday. We went over there before coming here for the drop, and the safe house is destroyed. We found no survivors, but the evidence points to the damage being done by humans. There was a map of all California safe houses there. Ones planned and new ones added on to it, but it’s missing. We have ceased CB communication in case the raiders are using the CB line. We also advise you to take better precautions as to what you do outside here on the roof and to make it mandatory to have people up here on watch twenty-four hours a day.”

             
“We can do that,” Bud replied.

             
“Good,” Captain Millard said. “Your rations have been increased just in case something goes down and communication is completely lost. We also have a crate of guns and ammunition, just some extra to help you protect yourselves.”

             
“Thank you, sir.” Bud and the others eyed the crates the men had finished stacking.

             
“We have to go. If there is an emergency, the CB is being scanned, but don’t worry if no one replies. Just state your emergency, and we will be here as quick as we can.” He shook hands again, said goodbyes, and the helicopter started up as the pilot yelled it was time to go. The captain gave a small salute, turned, and left. The group on the roof watched as the men loaded into the helicopter. It lifted up into the sky, and the group watched as it disappeared from sight.

             
“You know what this means, right?” Howard asked.

             
“What?” Anatha’s dad asked.

             
“We have to lay off drinking for a while,” Howard replied.

             
Bud nodded. “That’s not good.”

             
“So, what now?” Autumn asked.

             
“Lunchtime,” Bud replied and left the roof, followed by Howard and Anatha’s dad.

             
Autumn looked at her cousin. “We have to do this on our own. I don’t know if they just took that all seriously or not.”

             
Anatha nodded. “Let’s make some plans. Who is taking up watch tonight?”

             
“I’m in,” Moss came over as they formed a small circle. They chatted about who would take which shift then left to get some food.

****

             
“You know how easy it is to kill the infected, especially now?” Moss asked Joe.

             
“They are so slow,” Joe replied as the two looked down at the almost immobile things. Bodies had started to fall apart and decompose, but the virus burned them. Earlier on when they first got to the mall, when one infected fell, four more took its place. But recently they noticed that it was rare that a new infected body showed up. The ones here were almost gone.

             
“They are slow and stupid!” Moss screamed down at them.

             
“They can’t hear you,” Joe replied.

             
“I think they can. They’re just too lazy to look up.” Moss stood up on the edge of the roof and turned around. He unzipped and pulled down his baggy jeans, mooning them. “Look up at this white piece of meat you’ll never touch!”

             
“Ew! Moss, pull up your jeans! No one wants to see your white, hairy, dimply, pimply ass!” Anatha covered her eyes as she turned the corner.

             
“I was just having some fun, sis,” Moss replied, jumping off the edge, buttoning his pants.

             
“You guys are supposed to be on watch.”

             
“We are, but it’s so boring,” Joe said as he flopped down on a lounge chair and picked up a green cup.

             
Moss nodded, picking up a rifle. He dropped to his knees, and using the scope, scanned the area. Anatha noted that her brother looked like a hit man. “Just don’t be stupid.” she said before she left.

             
“Look, there’s a new infected. It looks new anyway. Think I can get it?” Moss asked.

             
“Easy target,” Joe said, bored.

             
Moss turned his half-crazed hazel eyes on Joe. “Then you do it.”

             
Joe yawned, holding his palm over his mouth, eyes closed. “Nah. I don’t feel like it.”

             
“It’s ‘cause you can’t do it,” Moss replied, sighting the body in the scope and pulling the trigger. They watched it fall. “One less zombie to worry about. Plus, where did a new one come from? There hasn’t been a new zombie since the one that attacked Autumn and my sister.”

             
“I dunno, but I can kill them as good as you can,” Joe said.

             
“Are you challenging me?” Moss asked him, his eyebrow raised and his rifle dangling at his side. The morning was cold, and he wished he had gotten the afternoon or night watch, but cold or not, he wasn’t going to let the likes of Joe challenge him.