Rising (40 page)

“Of course, I know how to use it.
 
I’ve been using it for a long time, just not
like this,” she said, turning back to Clara.
 
“Healing arthritis and chronic bladder infections is a lot different
than this.”

“Still, can’t you—”

“
Shh
.”

Yes, Melanie actually shushed me.
 
I realized that my own anxiety was affecting
her ability to concentrate.
 
I stood back
and waited.
 
She placed one palm on
Clara’s forehead, the other softly across the wound.
 
She mumbled words under her breath that I
couldn’t make out.
 
I thought perhaps
that there was no outward sign of her power, since it was an internal gift.
 
Then I heard a gradually building sound.
 
It was like a high-pitched note building to a
crescendo, yet it was very quiet, not piercing.
 
It made me think of my dad and how he used to drink a glass of wine
every night at the dinner table.
 
Sometimes, he would dip his finger in the water glass then rub the top
rim of the crystal wine glass, making a high-pitched humming that sounded like
music.
 
That was what Mel’s power sounded
like, only it was softer and really swift.
 
Within a few seconds of the sound mounting, a shock of blue light
radiated out of her hands onto Clara’s face. The light illuminated her closed
eyes and scarred skin, then just as suddenly the sound and light were
gone.
 
When Mel pulled away from Clara,
the reddened cut didn’t seem quite as bright.
 
Other than that, there was no change in Clara at all.

“Does this happen all the time when you’ve used
your power in the past?
 
Is that the norm
for
traiteurs
?”

“No,” said Mel nonchalantly, “this is
definitely new.
 
It’s only the third time
I’ve actually seen my power working.
 
I
mean, like this.
 
I’ve been practicing
ever since we got here.”

“On what?” I asked.

“Gram’s bad knees.
 
I was on my third healing when I heard
Homer’s voice in my head,” she said, turning to me with an arched eyebrow,
“does he really look like a hippie-cowboy?”

“Yeah,” I said, smiling and wondering what a
telepathic message from Homer felt like.
 
“What did your Gram think?
 
Did
she freak?”

“Not at all.
 
She actually confessed something she’d been waiting to tell me.
 
Her grandfather had the same power, the one
who passed his
traiteur
secrets onto her.
 
Usually,
traiteurs
pass on their gift to a relative of the opposite sex, but she said she knew all
along that I was special, that I had a gift. Of course,” said Mel with a
stifled laugh, “I thought she was just exaggerating, being the doting
grandmother, you know?”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “I’ve been wondering which
one of my own relatives passed my gift onto me, too.
 
This all feels so surreal, doesn’t it?”

Melanie nodded then looked at me with more
tenderness than I’d ever seen in her eyes.

“Yes, Gabe, but it also feels like fate,” she
said, turning back to Clara.
 
“We need to
help each other through this attack on Beau
Chêne
and
our loved ones, because I think our greater purpose is well beyond this first
assault.
 
We’re going to have to push
past a lot of pain to survive.”

 
It was
such a great thing to ask of someone, to ignore the loss of life, to delay
grieving, so that you could continue to fight.

“Will she be okay?” I asked.

Melanie sighed and turned back to her.

“I think so.
 
To be honest, I think it’s her own mind that’s keeping her unconscious,
not the injury.
 
I removed all of the
pain from the reaper, but she may be dealing with another kind of pain which
she’s not ready to face.
 
It’s up to
Clara now.”

Mel dimmed the lantern, but left it at her
bedside.
 
I followed her out, turning for
just one more glance at Clara who seemed to be sleeping peacefully on the
pillow.
 
Ben and Jeremy were talking in
low voices to Zack near the fire who had finally snapped out of his daze.
 
Mel disappeared into the other room to see
Mr. Dunaway.

“I know,” Zack was saying.
 
“I even went by there to pick him up when he
wouldn’t answer his phone, but when I got to his house I couldn’t even get out
of the car.
 
They were everywhere.
 
If I’d stopped, they would’ve gotten Noah.”

“Who do you mean?” I asked.

“Mark,” answered Ben, so that Zack wouldn’t
have to repeat it.
 
“But you said you
didn’t see Mark.
 
Maybe he still got
out.”

“Maybe,” said Zack doubtfully.

“So, your dad, too?” I asked.
 
“He didn’t make it?”

Zack shook his head, looking down at Noah who
was playing quietly with Misty next to Hunter.
 
Noah was dangling a fishing lure with no hook above the tabby cat who
appeared completely content to swat at it as many times as Noah swung it above
her head.
 
Zack went on.

“I knew something was wrong before I even got
that call from you, Ben.
 
I was watching
the news in case I needed to do something, since my dad was drinking himself
into a coma in the garage and didn’t seem to care what happened.
 
Then there was this freaky broadcast.
 
They aired a cell phone call from the middle
of the French Quarter in New Orleans.
 
Their power had already gone out, and the news anchors were trying to
find anything to put on the air.
 
I think
they regretted it as soon as the call started rolling.
 
All you could hear were these horrifying
screams in the background and these awful noises; they were inhuman.
 
The caller just kept pleading for help before
the line died.
 
Right then, I got Ben’s
call.
 
While I was packing, our power
went out.
 
Dad wouldn’t come, so I, I
just left him.”

Zack leaned over in his chair, cupping his face
in his hands.

“You can’t blame yourself,” I assured him, “if
you hadn’t left when you did, chances are you and Noah would be gone, too.”

Zack turned up to me with a bewildered look on
his face.

“What is going on?
 
Is this the end of the world or something?”

I glanced at Ben and Jeremy who were both
staring at me, wondering what to say.

“There’s something we should tell you—” I
started to say when Melanie came back into the room.

“He had a cut on the back of the head, similar
to Clara’s, but he’ll be alright now.”

 
“Is he
awake?” I asked.

“Yes, sort of.”

“Shouldn’t I go tell him about Mrs.
Dunaway?
 
Or, should we wait?” I asked,
not really wanting to give that news to him.

“Gram is with him.
 
She’s explaining everything that
happened.
 
Gram has a way of calming
people and making them feel better just by talking to them after something
tragic.”

“But, how does she know what happened?” Jeremy
asked.

“Homer told me everything he saw.
 
I, of course, explained it all to my Gram,
who had worried about me when I went into, well, sort of a trance for half an
hour.”

“Wicked,” Jeremy mumbled.

“What else did Homer say?” I asked.

Melanie had made her way to the dining table
with her salves and ointments.
 
She
pulled Ben over and made him sit in a chair.
 
He obeyed quickly.
 
Ben still had
only half a t-shirt on.
 
Melanie took a
pair of scissors and cut the rest off, examining the wound on his shoulder.

“Mel?
 
Are you going to tell us?”

“He said that you were smart, Gabe, in making
us all gather in a secluded area like this one.
 
He tried to reach you first, but immediately saw that you were
‘indisposed’ as he said when he tried to communicate with you.
 
He was concerned that I might not be
receptive, since we’d never formally met,” she said, dabbing at the raised welts
on Ben’s shoulder.

“
Ow
,” he complained.

She didn’t stop her prodding and thorough
examination.

“He also said that we should get all our
families here and that we should be safe through the night.
 
The reapers shouldn’t sense us out here.”

“What do you mean?” asked Jeremy.
 
“They can track us?”

“Not exactly,” said Melanie, “they can track
energy.
 
They go wherever the strongest
amount is first, which will of course be in town.
 
Geez, Ben, what did this?”

“Reaper spit,” he replied casually.

Melanie gave him that raised eyebrow look.

“It’s true.
 
Right, Gabe?”

“Yeah,” I agreed, “it gives off an electric
shock.”

“It hurt like hell,” said Ben, “it felt like
needles sending shockwaves through me.”

“I guess that explains these little pock
marks,” said Melanie, “did it go up your neck?”

“A little,” said Ben.
 
“But then I got really ticked off.
 
It felt like it was going to strangle me.”

“Yeah, Ben.
 
What did you do to it?
 
How did
you kill it?” I asked.

He gave me that typical, blank-Ben expression
then something dawned on him.

“I was just thinking about how I wanted to
shock this thing like it was shocking me, so I grabbed it.
 
I think I must’ve like zapped it with my own
energy.”

“No way,” said Jeremy with that mischievous
grin.
 
“So Light Bulb becomes Lightning
Bolt. That’s pretty
frickin
’ cool.”

“Did Homer say anything else?” I asked Melanie.

“Yes, he said that he’ll be in touch in the
morning, unless he senses anything else we need to know.”

“What about the reapers?” asked Ben, wincing at
something Melanie was doing to his shoulder.

“I asked him that, too. Actually, I
thought
it, and he must’ve heard my
thought then he told me that they don’t attack during the day, because they
essentially sleep while soaking up solar energy.”

“Man, that was some telepathic phone call,”
said Jeremy.

This whole time, Zack had listened in
silence.
 
Until now.

“Excuse me,” he interrupted, “but can anyone
explain what you’re all talking about?
 
I
feel like I just walked into the Twilight Zone.”

 
“We’ll
have to explain later.
 
There’s not
enough time now.
 
Come on,” I said to
Jeremy, “we’ve got to go.”

“Wait, I’m
comin
’,”
said Ben, trying to get up but Melanie shoved him back down.

“I’m not finished, Ben.
 
Now, everybody just settle down for a
minute.”

Melanie’s tone was snappy, but commanding.
 
A hush fell over the room as we watched her
work her power.
 
She took three deep
breaths, placing her hands on Ben’s shoulder.
 
Again, she whispered something under her breath, repeating some phrase I
couldn’t make out.
 
Just as before, I saw
a pale blue light burn brightly from her hands then dim as suddenly as it had
come, that singing sound coming and going.
 
When she opened her eyes, Ben had that goofy smile spread across his
face.
 
He rotated his arm back three
times to test out his shoulder.

“Awesome,” was all he said.

“What the—?”

Zack jumped up with wide eyes, knocking over
his chair, scaring Hunter and Noah who had been wrapped up in their own little
world on the hearth rug.
 

“Mel, we don’t have time,” I said, gesturing
toward Zack.

She nodded.
 
It was her turn to do the explaining.

“Give me just a minute, Gabe,” said Jeremy,
rummaging through drawers in the kitchen.

“I need one, too,” I said, quickly leaving the
room.

Clara hadn’t moved.
 
The low lamplight cast a soft glow on her
pale face.
 
Her hair was still pushed
back, revealing the raised mark of the reaper’s claw that had killed her
mother.
 
I sat next to her on the bed,
wondering if that was why she wouldn’t wake up.
 
Perhaps, she knew that she would have to face the cold reality that she
hadn’t been able to save her.
 
This
brought on my own sense of urgency to get home, to get my mother and
grandfather to safety.
 
All the same, it
felt almost painful to leave her like this.
 
I tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and leaned close to her.