Authors: Stephanie Judice
Of course, by contact, she meant a
telepathic conversation of sorts.
“What’s up?” I asked curiously.
“We’ll have to leave soon.
There’s no time to help finish the building,”
she said.
“Why?”
Homer looked up and saw me standing
there.
“Clara, the clans are gathering about
60 miles outside of New York City.
They’re using a former summer camp for training and living
quarters.
Herrald
and others agree that
Bölverk’s
strategy seems to be
to go straight north to all of the large cities along the way to Chicago, then
he’ll head east to New York.
We need to
leave soon and beat him there.”
“How long will it take him to get
there?” asked Gabe, still focused on the map.
“There’s no need for him to hurry.
He still doesn’t see any of us as a
threat.
Again, their overconfidence is
their weakness.
We’ll need to beat the
snow that will begin to fall soon in the north, which will slow our
progress.
I still think we have plenty
of time as long as we leave within the next two days.”
“Two days?” I heard myself
exclaim.
“I haven’t even told Dad we’re
leaving yet.
He’ll freak out.”
I could feel myself starting to
unravel.
That was when Gabe came around
the table close to me.
“Clara, I know this feels sudden,
especially since we’re just starting to feel normal again, but the reapers
won’t wait for us to be ready for them.
We need to make it north to the other clans before they destroy a city
full of millions of people.”
“What about the millions they’ve
already killed in all the small towns already?” I asked, knowing I sounded like
a spoiled brat.
As usual, I couldn’t
stop my mouth.
“What about them?”
“We can’t strategically block every
town in America, Clara, and you know this,” he said calmly, making me even
angrier because he was so
freakin
’ patient. And
right. “We do know that a huge majority of them, including their leader, will
be drawn to the energy of New York.
Along with the other clans, we can stand against them.”
I knew I was biting on my lower
lip.
Gabe’s stern expression slipped
into a half-smile.
“Come on,” he said, taking my hand and
leading me toward the door.
When we stepped outside, I heard Zack’s
hammer echoing through the woods.
I
could see Noah and Hunter right by the shed where they’d brought their feline
friends out to play.
Misty circled them
nervously, but didn’t interfere.
It was
so pleasant and peaceful here now.
The
thought of leaving opened an aching hole in my chest.
A gust of chilly air passed over me,
promising that winter was near.
Autumn
had come and gone more quickly than usual around here.
Now at the end of October, we were already
wearing layers to keep warm.
In a normal
season, we would’ve been in shorts and t-shirts even into part of November. I
had wondered if it had something to do with the presence of the reapers sucking
all the life out of our atmosphere, but decided not to ask Dad.
I didn’t want to remind him at all about
them.
We still hadn’t even talked much
about Mom’s death.
I don’t think either
one of us knew what to say without dredging up horribly painful emotions.
I zipped up my green hoodie, tucking my
hands into the pockets and waited for Gabe’s lecture.
I was watching my dad and Zack work from the
edge of the porch.
Gabe stood behind me,
wrapping his arms around me.
“They need our help to finish in time
before it gets too cold,” I said sulkily.
“They’ll have Homer’s house now with
all of us gone.
And maybe with our
absence, my Pop and Mr.
Dugas
will put in a little
more effort.
Besides, Mr. Jaden comes
every day to help even though they won’t build his house till last.”
I sighed heavily, trying to find
something else negative to say about leaving.
“I know you don’t want to go, Clara,”
said Gabe.
He sensed my emotions without saying a
word.
Geez, that was annoying sometimes.
“It is nice here, now,” he
continued.
“But we’ve got to think about
others who still have a chance for survival.
Mel is fully recovered, so there’s no reason to delay.”
Homer had been right about the
repercussions to our bodies when we overextended our powers.
We hadn’t realized it at the time, but Ben
had actually stopped breathing that night we fought the reapers.
Mel was able to bring him back, but she had
to lie in bed for a week, and then she was only able to move around very little
for weeks after.
Ben was like a doting
puppy dog, fetching everything she needed.
They still hadn’t admitted anything, but I was sure there was more than
just friendship there.
Right then, Ben came swiftly out the
back door with Jeremy in pursuit.
“No way, dude.
I’m not doing it,” said Ben, passing us by.
“Come on, man.
You owe me,” insisted Jeremy.
“I don’t owe you
nothin
’.”
“Yeah.
Remember when you zapped me.
That
hurt like hell.
Come on.”
Jeremy was actually begging, holding
his iPod in his hand.
Ben stared at
Jeremy for a minute, then rolled his eyes and sighed.
“I will on one condition,” said Ben.
“Anything.”
“That you stop calling me names.”
Jeremy stood there stupidly for a
minute.
“Come on, man.
That’s all play.
Besides, I really don’t have any control over
that.
It just sort of spills out of my
mouth.”
“Okay.
One month, no mean names, and I’ll charge it up for you.”
“One month.
No mean names.
Deal,” said Jeremy without even blinking.
Jeremy handed the iPod to Ben.
Within a few seconds, there was a short
electrical snapping sound then he handed the iPod back to Jeremy.
“Sweet!” he exclaimed, scrolling
through songs.
“You’re the man, Light—,
I mean, Benjamin.”
His voice went from normal, crazy
Jeremy to a pathetic, fake British accent when he said Ben’s name.
It still put a smile on Ben’s face that he
had something over on Jeremy.
Ben walked
over to help my dad and Zack.
Jeremy
disappeared back around the porch plugging his ears giddily with earphones.
“That was interesting,” said Gabe,
laughing against me.
My mood had lightened, and I knew he
was right.
“Fine,” I finally said.
“But, it’s going to break my dad’s heart.”
“We’ll tell him together tonight.
He’ll understand,” said Gabe.
“Come on,” he said, stepping off the porch
and holding out his hand.
“Let’s go help
while we can.
We’ll be packing
tomorrow.”
Gabe had that tilted half-smile spread
across his handsome face.
Even now,
after everything, he could soften my resolve with just one look.
I laughed and shook my head, then finally
gave in.
I took Gabe’s hand and walked
with him side by side, content that at least we would be together for the long
journey ahead of us.
Excerpt from
Saga of the
Setti
:
Book Two . . .
CLARA
“Whoa.
Look at this,” said Jeremy, pointing up ahead.
An eighteen-wheeler had jack-knifed and
was overturned sideways across the road.
There was a pile-up of cars.
Gabe
eased the Yukon onto the shoulder, swerving around the mass of metal and
wreckage then back onto the interstate where there were no cars at all far into
the hills.
Gabe’s aura flickered brightly.
When I’d first met him, he had a rainbow of
colors around him.
Then as our powers
became stronger, his aura slowly changed to a deep midnight, almost indigo blue
with weaving ropes of brilliant blue light.
It was a sign of something though I knew not what.
We were all so new to these powers and what
we knew of them was very little.
Well,
except for Jeremy.
According to him, he
was an expert at being a Sounder.
And he
just might be right.
“It’s a shame we just got the open
road,” said Homer, “because we’re getting off at the next exit.
It’s time we ventured off this main
interstate.
Let’s put your father’s plan
into action, shall we, Clara?”
“When do you think we’ll be at Lake
Catherine?” I asked.
“Oh, it’ll be a few hours yet.
Why don’t you get some sleep?”
I nodded then wedged myself into the
corner.
I’d balled up Gabe’s sweatshirt
for a pillow, but the cold still seeped through the window pane.
I wondered how cold it would be in New York.
Closing my eyes, I focused on the soft hum of
rubber on cement beneath us.
The steady
vibration lulled me into a dreamy place.
Gabe filled my head as I snuggled closer to the sweatshirt that smelled
of him.
Before long, I was somewhere
else entirely.
It might as well have
been a different world.
Actually, it
was.
A vision of high school that was
far into the past, never to come again.
I was standing on a dance floor in an emerald green halter-dress under a
canopy of twinkling lights.
It was the
dress my mother had bought me for the Homecoming Dance; the dance I never had
the chance to attend.
Gabe held out his
hand, looking at me with that crooked grin as if he had not a care in the world
except to know whether I would take his hand, and his heart along with it.
He looked amazing in a coffee-colored suit
and a thin black tie.
I couldn’t resist
those eyes and that smile.
Taking his
hand, he pulled me in close, swaying to some tune that was vaguely
familiar.
What was that song? It was an
older one. “Far From Home,” that was it.
When had I heard it last?
My
dream Gabe leaned down to me, whispering softly in my ear. “You’re so
beautiful, Clara.”
I smiled and looked
up at him.
His aura was pale blue, a
turquoise sea, not those writhing, tangled ropes of light that surrounded him
of late.
His brown eyes were warm, sweet.
Gentle.
A disco ball spun silver sparkles around the room on him, me, the many
dancers in the room that were nothing more than background to this wonderful
dream.
I glanced at our reflection in
the mirror covering the right wall.
The
image was perfection.
Gabe’s handsome,
dark features complimented my fair ones.
There was no reddened scar marring my face.
There were no worries at all.
I liked this dream.
I loved this dream.
The chorus of the song surrounded us in a
haze.
“
And it’s almost like--
,” crooned the singer. I leaned my head
against Gabe’s chest and sighed heavily.
“Why can’t we be like this forever?”
His answer was no surprise. “It’s always like this when I’m with
you.”
So perfect.
The singer crooned on,
“Your heaven’s trying everything to keep me out. . . .”
I let the moment surround me in its
splendor.
His warmth seeped into
me.
Then the music began to slur and
blur and slow to a disturbing murmur.
A
cold tremor prickled up my spine then a voice bellowed down from above. “So kind
of you to save a dance for me.”
It
wasn’t Gabe.
The smell of smoke and ash
and fear slammed into me.
I felt the
bony grip of something powerful on my shoulder and wrapping entirely around my
arm.
Trembling, I looked up.
Way up.
The yellow serpentine eyes of a ghastly reaper glared down at me.
Eyes that penetrated deeper than the surface
of my skin.
The creature smiled, bearing
a black slick of slime coating its mouth.
I shook my head.
This isn’t
real.
This isn’t real.
I tried to pull back, but was paralyzed.
How?
By what?
His dark, otherworldly
skin began to ripple and glow green.
Something rolled out of him and into me. “No,” I heard my paltry
plea.
My skin began to transform,
darken, wither.
I jerked my head to look
at our reflection, knowing I would see my dream-self becoming a lifeless
statue.
But, no.
It was worse, horrifying.
My hair had fallen away and my skin darkened
further.
I knew what I was becoming, but
my mind wouldn’t register.
I gazed at
myself changing into something unnatural, all the while the song played on and
dancers moved silently around us under glittery light.
He still held me in a locked embrace.
I gaped in frozen shock at our reflection,
this macabre dance with a devil.
The
worst part of all was the feeling of it.
It wasn’t painful.
No, the very
opposite.
He fed me pure energy.
It rolled under my skin like a balm to a
wound I never knew I had.
The raw power
surged inside my veins, no longer needing blood or a heart to function.
All I needed was this; this feeling of sheer
supremacy and strength.
So what if the
package was ugly; my whole being changed to something that no longer cared
about appearances.
But, wait, the inside
would become as ugly as the outside. I turned my face back up to my ghastly captor,
rejecting this so-called gift he was using to enslave me. “No,” I repeated more
confidently, summoning my power buried deep within.
He felt the burning sensation rising out of
my body.
Those snake eyes narrowed to
slits.
He drew back a seven-fingered
hand and slashed down toward my face.