Awaken the Elements (Elemental Trilogy) (42 page)

             
“He won’t be groping anyone anymore,” Autumn said, spitting on him.

             
Everyone had turned back to look at the two men fighting. The one man with the sword thing went to hide behind a pillar while the other man shot at him. His bullets went wild, hitting his own people. With something like a tug of energy Autumn could feel, the man moved in a blur as the other man with the guns tried to shoot him. His speed wasn’t human, and Autumn knew the taste of the power. It was magic of some sort. And then they watched as his sword pierced the chest of the man with the guns.

             
After a while, the man with the sword broke the other man’s neck. He stood up and looked around. And then he spoke, “Our great leader is dead. I have killed him but only because what he did was not the best thing for us all. He may have been misguided, but he only wanted the best for all of us. I know that for most of you this war has been one travesty after the next, but don’t worry, for all things come to an end, both the good and the bad.  This war will also come to an end, and just as before, we will still be here. We don’t need to stand around and wait for the end. We are the only strength left in this land that we used to know as home. Now is the time to defeat the enemy and drive them back to whatever hell they came from.  Along the way, we shall show others how to survive as we have, and together, we will stop the threat of destruction. Now it is time that we all should leave and let these people continue on with their own struggle, for ours is just beginning as well.”

             
After wiping his blade clean and putting it back in its sheath, the man took the escalator and walked out the doors. Soon, all the other strangers followed. Some grabbed the dead bodies and dragged them out, while others chatted uneasily amongst themselves as they followed their new leader into the still dark night.

             
“Someone come over and apply pressure to River’s shoulder.” Autumn said as everyone watched the last of the men leave the mall. “Moss, go to the other door and lower the gates.” She threw the extra keys to him that she’d found on the ground by the man who had nearly scalped her. “I got this one.”

             
Everyone was still watching the strangers as she pressed the button to lower the bars. It hit the ground with an echoing thud which made them all jump. She shoved her key into the slot and turned it, reactivating the security alarm. “It’s going to be a bit cold before summer gets here because of the glass,” Bud said as she walked back over to them. “Are you okay?”

             
Autumn nodded, “Head hurts a little.” Bud put his hand on her shoulder. She had never liked being hugged when she was a child, but he had to give her some comfort. She smiled at him. “Thanks, Dad.”

             
“I think we should do a small search for dead bodies,” Howard said. He gathered some men, including Moss, and went to check out the place.

             
“We’re going to go down and see the damage,” Anatha’s dad said.

             
“I’m going to call the doctor,” Autumn’s mom ran up the stairs.

             
Autumn walked back to River, and he looked at her and Rowan. Rowan grabbed his good hand. “I was scared,” he whispered as silent tears fell from his eyes.

             
“You weren’t shot,” River said.

             
“I need some more clean bandages,” Hazel said as she cleaned River’s shoulder.

****

             
Aarawn took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “They are okay,” he finally said.

             
Pyrus nodded. “Moorgun knows where the girls are,” she looked up from the table, her eyes a dreamy white as the candles went out one by one.

             
“But how?” Mabon asked, fighting the urge to shiver. Pyrus creeped them out every time she went all spooky like that.

             
“The extra power to the wards. She was scanning for magic all along. I made them visible to her,” she said, her tone filled with sorrow. “It was true.”

             
“What was?” Aarawn asked.

             
“My stars said at my birth that I would betray my descendants,” she whispered as a tear fell from her eye.

             
“Grandmother?” Mabon said, not sure what else to say. The cousins stared at each other for a long time.

****

             
River lost some blood, but his bullet wound wasn’t as bad as it looked. Autumn and Rowan stayed by his side until the doctor showed up. Afterwards, they catered to the newly casted River and tried to ease his pain. Not a lot of painkillers around.

             
No one in the mall saw any of the weird “army people” again. The only disturbing thing they found was the body of a small girl. The older adults took care of the body, but some would never forget her. Who would shoot a child?

             
River looked down at Janice and Sage holding hands and smiled. “What’s funny?” Drake said as he came up next to him.

             
He shook his head, “Nothing.”

             
“So this has been an interesting part of our lives. You ready to get over this and get back to the way things were?”

             
He turned his dark blue eyes to Drake. “Life isn’t going to be the same. I am not going back to Hollywood to make a movie, and you are not going back into the studio to produce music.”

             
“So you are okay with this?” he asked, spreading his arms.

             
“Yes,” he said. “For once I feel normal. Don’t get me wrong, I loved making the movies. I loved acting, but all the fame… We were never alone, we had people always wanting to know what we were doing, eating, when we slept, and even when I was on vacation. Let’s not even get started on my divorce.”

             
“You were divorced?” Anatha said, pausing with Jaime. “I didn’t even hear you were married.”

             
“There were rumors everywhere,” he said.

             
“I know. I thought they were rumors,” she replied.

             
“Some were true.”

             
“Huh,” she said and added, “How is your arm?”

             
He looked at the cast which Autumn had doodled on. “It itches, but it seems okay.”

             
Janice walked by. “Hey, Anatha?”

             
Anatha looked at her. “Yes.”

             
“I was upstairs, and your mama asked for you. She had this weird look on her face and was lost. She doesn’t quite remember where she’s at.” She paused as if finished. “I wish they would have shown us this stuff in school.”

             
“What stuff?” Anatha asked.

             
“What drugs can do to a person,” Janice smiled at them.

             
Anatha withdrew her arm from Jaime’s. “Excuse me, boys,” She said between gritted teeth.

             
River, Jaime, and Drake watched Anatha casually stroll over to Janice. Janice’s eyes got wide, and she quickly turned and ran away.

             
“Don’t run!” Anatha shouted after her and followed at a slow trot. She had hurt her knee when she was a kid, and it had never been the same since and running was hard on it. “Don’t run so fast at least!”

             
Autumn and Stefan paused by River. She bumped into his good side. “What’s going on now?” Stefan asked.

             
“Janice called Anatha’s mom a crackhead,” River replied.

             
Autumn shook her head. “That girl will never learn.”

             
They all watched Janice and Anatha run around the third floor once. Anatha stopped, bending over to catch her breath. She raised her hand slightly to show she was okay. Autumn couldn’t help laughing.

             
Anatha straightened up and started to chase after Janice again. The group wasn’t sure they should laugh or not. After watching them run around, Janice turned into Toy World and disappeared. They both disappeared from sight.

             
              “I better make sure she doesn’t kill her,” Jaime said, trotting over to Toy World.

             
              Autumn gazed down at the doors. They had put up sheets and curtains over the broken glass windows. You could feel the chill through the missing glass. In a week or two, the weather would warm up, and mall life would be over. She longed to be out there, but deep inside she feared it too. She didn’t fear the infection, not now; she feared the change. The what if’s.

Chapter 19

             
Anatha sat and watched Autumn put the root into a small pot. The magic in Autumn’s greenhouse felt as alive as the plants. “I never did forget what you did to Thomas,” she said, making Anatha jump. She picked up the small watering can and walked over to the far side of the room.

             
“I didn’t mean to hurt him,” Anatha replied, thinking about him.

             
It all happened when they were about ten and eleven while they were walking to the store after school. They used the shortcut through the gate behind the small church on Winton Way.  To get to the gate you had to go through the alley. Most kids used that route all the time to get home. That day Thomas was sitting there waiting, probably for his friends. Autumn saw him first and wanted to turn around because her sister was sure to cry, but Anatha didn’t want to. Thomas was a huge bully, and girls were on the top of his list. Both had never backed down from him, and that made him look bad in front of his buddies. Not that day, though. Thomas had a plan. He wanted to hurt them both, so he waited.

             
“It’s okay. He deserved what you did.” Autumn went over to the flowers she started to water.

             
In the end, Thomas was left with a burn mark on his cheek. They could see the welts as he ran away crying. Anatha stood up. “But what are we?”

             
Autumn sprinkled water on a rosemary plant. “We are us, born with old souls?”

             
“I don’t get it. Old souls?”

             
Adair sighed. “You weren’t supposed to find out so soon. Your power called us to awaken. Every witch has a familiar, but every element has a helper.”

             
“Element?” Autumn asked.

             
“Once gods and goddesses lived peacefully with humans, but much of the divine class thought they were better than the humans.” He stopped, looking at Angel. “See, the divine class could die the same as humans, and it made some of them really angry. To live forever, Arawen found he could gain immortality by killing the main God of Time.” Autumn made a small noise, but Adair ignored her. “In Greek mythology he is known as Cronus and was killed by his son Zeus. But in true life, he had no name. He was what we came to call Father Time. Arawen gathered gods who believed, like him, that they were better than humans.”

             
Angel interrupted. “There was a great war. Arawen was wounded, and as he laid dying, one of his followers slayed Father Time. So Arawen never died, but he was punished. He was sent to guard the underworld with several other gods.”

             
“That doesn’t explain us,” Anatha said.

             
“When the gods lived with humans, they used their powers to call to the elements. The elements were derived from all the divine power, and together they created Akasha, otherwise known as the soul. It was so powerful, no one could hold it. Arawen tried to control it before he was wounded, but as his own wife’s blade ran from his abdomen to his heart, the elemental power broke, leaving the planet. It was said that the elements would come back,” Adair said.

             
“It was said that the elements were to come back in human form,” Angel said.

             
“That explains the old souls,” Autumn said.

“But why?” Anatha said. “Why us? Why now?”

Adair shrugged. “I cannot answer that question.”

“Who can?”

“You will learn soon enough,” Angel said.

             
“You told them?” Pyrus inquired. She massaged her temples as Adair nodded.

             
“It must have been damn scary to learn they are old souls without others like them around,” Mabon said.

             
“Any questions about the other elements?” Aarawn asked.

             
Angel laughed, “They are just getting over the news of them being elements.”

             
“I want to meet my sister,” Aarawn told Pyrus.

             
She shook her head. “Not yet.”

             
“When?”

             
“Soon.”

****

             
Rowan, Autumn, and River sat up on the roof. The night was still chilly, but the days were getting warmer. “It’s almost time,” Rowan said.

             
“I know,” Autumn said.

             
“Promise me that we won’t change,” Rowan said.

             
“What?” River asked.

             
He gestured to them with his hands. “Us
   
this. I don’t want us to end.”

             
“But you guys will have each other no matter what. Me, I am meant to be here,” Autumn said.

“
              Wherever we go, you can come with us,” Rowan encouraged.

             
She shook her head. “I feel something is beginning here, and I have to figure out all this magic stuff.”

             
“Then we stay,” River said. “We need to get back in before one of us catches a cold.”

             
Rowan did end up getting sick. It started off with a runny nose and a sore throat, but got worse as the week went by, and that wasn’t the worst part. He somehow managed to spread it to each member of Tune N’. They had one week left in the mall. Preparations were being made, but the guys were too sick to think about it.

             
“How’s Rowan?” Anatha asked Autumn.

             
“Still sick. Jaime?”

             
“Sleeping. The fever finally broke” Anatha looked at Stefan.

             
“Rowan has a slight fever, but nothing to worry about. River just has a runny nose.”

             
Anatha shook her head. “Of all the times to get sick.”

             
Stefan opened his eyes. “At least we didn’t get infected.”

             
“Or killed by some weird army,” Autumn remarked.

             
“I can’t wait to get out,” Anatha said.

****

             
It’s finally the eve before we can walk out
, Autumn walked around the third floor thinking. She paused and looked over the edge. The kids ran around, screaming their heads off. There were more of them since they moved in. Life went on even while trapped in the mall. She thought about the past few years. She was trying to pinpoint her favorite time but couldn’t.  There had been loads of good
   
and plenty of bad.

             
“Whatcha thinking about?” Stefan asked as he came up next to her.

             
Autumn jumped. “You scared me.”

             
He gave her a goofy grin. “Sorry, but I couldn’t help myself.” She punched him. “You excited about leaving?”

             
“Wanna know the truth?” She asked.

             
“Sure.”

             
“I don’t want to leave. I’m actually scared.”

             
He nodded. “I don’t want to leave either.”

             
They looked at each other for a while. They both had an idea of what the other was thinking.
What’s next?
  Autumn felt she had a connection with the man in her dream who looked like her. She felt a great need to find this man, and then it made her worry about Arawen.

             
It’s not the end
, she told herself and smiled at Stefan. “Come on, let’s go downstairs.”

             
“Got something in mind?” he asked.

             
“You up for some bumper cars?”

             
“I am, and you know what?”

             
“What?”

             
“I think I might just be able to hit you.”

             
“All you can do is try.” She looked at the security bars. “I just wish those crazy people had never messed with downstairs.” Stefan nodded thinking of the defunct funhouse and smashed video games. The only things not touched were the bumper cars.

****

             
“So here we go,” Hazel said.

             
“Just open the gates already, Autumn,” Moss said.

             
Autumn removed the key from around her neck. She fingered it while staring through the bars. The cars that had been sitting for the past few years were now faded and rusty. Even the newest cars looked old and weather worn. The sunshine bounced off the black parking lot. It frightened them all as they stood there looking out into the bright morning.

             
“Go on,” Jaime whispered.

             
She shoved the key into the slot and turned it, pressing the button that opened the gate. The alarm sounded, but it wasn’t as loud as it was supposed to be. The gates hummed and rattled as they lifted off the ground. Everyone took a step back, watching. Their term of imprisonment was over. They were finally free.

             
Autumn was the first to walk out of the mall. She stepped over the parts of the infected bodies. The bodies had decayed and fallen to pieces. There was an arm here and a leg there. Autumn walked out into the sunshine, momentarily blinded, and accidently kicked an arm out of the way. She flinched at the sound it made as it moved.

             
Moss came out with a flamethrower. There were actually two. Jaime had the other one. They toasted the bodies. The smell of decay was already appalling, but the smell of burning body parts smelled worse.

             
Autumn looked over to the trees across from the parking lot. Anatha went over to her. “So what now?”

             
“Beat you to the trees!” Autumn said and ran off. She ran as fast as her feet could take her. She stopped among the trees. She took a deep breath, smelling the wildflowers growing in the very tall grass. She could smell the dirt, the trees, and something darker too. Kicking off her shoes, she walked around in the dirt, looking at the trees. She went around touching them, feeling the life energy, took some of the trees energy and gave back some of her own.

             
Autumn heard a noise and thought it was Anatha as she went around touching the trees. “Anatha, is that you? Come on over, I want to show you something.”

             
A hand touched her back and then another, which she thought was rather weird. The hands grabbed her and as she turned, she screamed at what she saw. A zombie was smiling down at her. Its skin had fallen away from its face and was loosely flapping against its bare chest. The exposed, rotting meat was covered with maggots, and a cockroach peered out of its eye before it scurried back in. The mouth was open, and she could see the zombie’s teeth. Two in the front were cracked and jagged, and a green moss had grown inside its mouth.

             
Autumn could smell the rancid breath of the zombie as she tried to break away, but it held her too tight for her to break loose. She screamed as she watched the jagged, green teeth coming for her face.

****

             
Autumn screamed, sitting up in bed. She hugged her knees to her chest and rocked herself as she cried. It woke up Rowan and River, and they wrapped their arms around her.

“Hush,” Rowan
soothed her. “It was a nightmare.”

             
Autumn went on crying. They rocked her and whispered soothing words into her ear. Autumn slowly woke up from the shock of the dream. “It was so real,” she whispered, blinking through the tears.

             
“I bet it was. You’re awake now,” River said, kissing her cheek. Autumn let their warmth soothe her.

****

             
Mabon sat up, eyes wide, mouth open. A scream stuck in his throat. His heart raced as his eyes went to the window. Relynn meowed and jumped to the window, looking concerned. She shook her head, reading his fright. He took a deep breath and lay back down. In his dream, it was not Autumn with the zombie but him.

****

             
“You know you never dream unless it’s bad?” A voice asked from behind Anatha. She turned to see who was speaking. He was as short as she and had the same color hair. His eyes were the palest blue she had ever seen. “I have the same problem.”