Trefoil (16 page)

Meckenzie inhaled deeply and felt light headed.  Ty had begun
laughing,
she had missed everything he had said, so she laughed too.

“You really think you can just push your way into my mind?”  Ty said.  “I can feel you in there, and I have had years building up a defense to people trying to read my mind.  I guess the cat’s out of the bag though.  I was really hoping this was going to be an easy little seduction game.  I’d get you to fall in love with me, and then I’d sweep you off without so much as a single ounce of blood being shed.” 

Meckenzie’s mind was still reeling from the attempt to read Ty’s thoughts.  She couldn’t understand exactly what he was saying.  Ty knew she was in his
mind,
Meckenzie shook her head in denial.  He had pushed her out so forcefully that it had caused sort of a mental whiplash to occur.  Meckenzie felt confused and light headed. 

“Oh, it’ll take a few minutes for your mind to right itself.  Especially since your powers are so new and you haven’t gotten used to using them.  So I’ll just talk for awhile.  You and your siblings were a little bit harder to find that we had hoped.  We have been looking for you for twenty years.  Of course I haven’t been looking for you personally, but my family has.  As soon as your mother ran off all that time ago, we suspected that she was going off to have the Trefoil.  We needed to stop her, or destroy you, whichever was easier.  Now I have you here, within my grasp.  What shall I do with you?” 

Meckenzie’s eyes widened in the shock of what might possibly happen next; she shook her head again in denial.  Ty stopped for a moment, contemplating his next move.  Meckenzie had her first clear thought since she started trying to read his mind.  She needed to tell Jeff.  Meckenzie cleared her thoughts again and reached out to Jeff.

He knows who we are.  I tried to read Ty’s mind and he felt me in there.  He is trying to figure out how to get me out of here without you knowing.  What do we do?
  Meckenzie waited for a reply.  Jeff still didn’t respond.  She turned to the door again, trying to see if he was there and she was just not getting through.  Jeff was nowhere to be seen, he was gone.

“Oh, your body guard is distracted right now and I sent someone after your snooping brother and sister.  So they aren’t coming for you either.  Meckenzie you should just get up and come with me.” 

Ty started to stand up from his chair, so Meckenzie did the only thing that she could think of to do.  She drew in a deep breath and looked right into his eyes.

“Mearhball sáraigh.”
  Meckenzie said it quickly and quietly.  If it didn’t work, she didn’t want him to know that she had said it. 

Ty sat back down in his chair and looked befuddled.  He looked around the restaurant trying to figure out where he was.  It had worked!  Ty was completely confused, so Meckenzie took that moment to reach into his mind.  She needed more information; this dangerous situation couldn’t be for nothing.

Ty’s mind was open now, but it was very confusing.  This might not have been the best idea Meckenzie had.  She waded through his confused thoughts, past the useless questioning that had been brought on by the confusion spell, until Meckenzie finally found something that was useful.  Ty thought about his brother and sister.  So he really did have a brother and sister, and they were here in New York City too.  Meckenzie remembered for a moment Ty standing outside the park with a girl and a boy about his age.  They had the same dark hair.  That had to be them. 

Finding pertinent information was harder than Meckenzie thought it would be.  She didn’t know what she was looking for.  Meckenzie stumbled around in his brain for another minute then decided she needed to get out of here before Ty recovered.  She contemplated saying the spell again to give her some extra time, but that it might only reverse the spell.  Meckenzie still hadn’t learned the reversal spell, since Isabel had sent her away earlier without teaching it to her.

“Okay Ty, I’m going to go now.  You stay here and enjoy your dinner.  I’d like to say I had a nice time, but we both know that would be a lie.”  Meckenzie stood up and made her way to the door, as she came out onto the street, she didn’t know what to do.  Jeff was gone.  Ty had said that he had sent someone after Kellan and Taggart.  Meckenzie fished out her phone and tried calling Taggart’s phone.  He didn’t answer, so she called the house. 

Meckenzie started walking towards home as the house phone rang in her ear.  Walking past the alley next to the Thai restaurant, something caught her eye.  Jeff lay partially behind a dumpster about halfway down the alley not moving. 

“Hello.”  Isabel said as she answered the house phone.

“Isabel, everything is going wrong.  I need you to come to the Thai restaurant three blocks west of the house, I’m in the alley.  Jeff’s hurt.”  Meckenzie had bent down to inspect Jeff’s injuries.  Meckenzie checked his pulse, he was still alive.  He seemed to be fine, no blood, or signs of a fight.  He just seemed to be asleep. 

“Where is your date?”  Isabel asked.

“Sitting confused inside the restaurant.  Ty knows who we are.  He said they have been looking for us for twenty years.  He has a brother and
sister,
I think he sent them after Taggart and Kellan.”

“You mean coming to the house to get Taggart and Kellan?”  Isabel asked.

“No.  They followed me out on my date.  They are somewhere close by.  I don’t know where though.  And Taggart isn’t answering his phone.”

“Your brother and sister snuck out of the house to follow you on your date?  I ought to just go back home if you guys aren’t going to protect yourselves.”  Isabel raised her voice.

“Focus Isabel.
  Come to me,
then
we will find Taggart and Kellan.”  Meckenzie hung up the phone.  She crouched down behind the dumpster and slipped Jeff’s head into her lap. 

“Come on Jeff.  Wake up.  What did they do to you?  I need you to wake up.  Taggart and Kellan are in trouble and I don’t know when Ty is going to come out of his confused state.  I need you to help me here.”  Meckenzie felt like crying.  Everything had gone so terribly wrong.  Jeff was hurt.  God only knows where Taggart and Kellan were?  Possibly being drug off by Ty’s malicious siblings. 

Meckenzie decided to reach out to Taggart and Kellan mentally.  She had done it in the house before, and they had said they were going to be close by.  So it was completely possible that they were in mental distance to receive a telepathic message from her. 

As she sat there running her fingers through Jeff’s hair, she reached out to Taggart and Kellan.

I don’t know if you can hear me.  They know who we are.  They have sent someone after you.  Jeff is hurt in the alley beside the Thai restaurant and Isabel is on her way here.  Let me know where you are so we can come find you.

Meckenzie didn’t expect any response; she was feeling very alone and very scared in the alley.  Meckenzie felt like a failure, she had tried to play spy and now everyone was in trouble or hurt.

Meckenzie
Taggart’s voice came flooding into her brain like a welcome ray of sunlight. 
They found us as we were leaving the house.  They herded us into the park.  One of them is a
firestarter
, she burned Kellan.  The other is some kind of earth mover.  They separated us.  I don’t know where Kellan is.
  Taggart sounded desperate.

Can you make your way out of the park?
Meckenzie asked.

And leave Kellan.  I can’t leave her, I need to find her.  This is
all my
fault. It was my idea to follow you.  We just wanted to protect you and now Kellan is hurt and missing.
 

Taggart you have to stop blaming yourself.  Go look for Kellan, but stay safe.  I can’t lose you two. 

Isabel came running down the alley and found Meckenzie holding Jeff’s head in her lap and stroking his hair.

“Okay, it looks like a sleeping spell.  This should be easy to remove.”

Isabel started working her magic and within seconds Jeff started waking up.  Meckenzie realized she was still holding his head in her lap.  She knew that this was way more intimate than they should be, so she tried to help him sit up.

“What happened?”  Jeff was still a little groggy from his magical nap, but he was awake enough to realize he had his head in Meckenzie’s lap and would like to stay there for a little while.

“Someone cast a sleeping spell on you.  Do you remember who?”  Isabel reached out her hand to help Jeff to his feet.  He stumbled for a moment, and then righted himself.  Jeff took a look around; he seemed to be confused as to where he was.

“I don’t remember anything.  I mean I remember coming to the restaurant and I remember standing outside the door.  Then, there is nothing.” 

“We don’t have time to get to the bottom of this.  We need to get to the park where Taggart and Kellan are.  I talked to Taggart telepathically and Kellan has been burned by a fire starter.  They got separated.  There is an earthmover, I don’t know what Taggart means by that, but he said it and then said that he and Kellan had gotten separated.  He is looking for her now.  We have to go help.”  Meckenzie was frantic to go find Kellan.  She didn’t want to be standing in this alley anymore.  “Plus I don’t know when the confusion spell I cast on Ty is going to wear off.”

“You cast the spell?”  Isabel seemed surprised.  “What happened?”

“I tell everyone later, lets’ go find Kellan and Taggart.”  With that Meckenzie headed off toward the park, hoping that Isabel
and Jeff were going to follow.

Chapter
19…

As they entered the park, Meckenzie reached out to Kellan and Taggart through her mind. 
Kellan, where are you?  Taggart, we are in the park.  Where are you? 

Taggart immediately replied. 
I am close to the carousel.  We got separated by the softball fields.  I was circling around the trees trying to see if she headed off that direction. 

Meckenzie relayed the information to Jeff and Isabel so they could head off in that direction.  She suggested they circle around the fields like Taggart was doing, that way they could spread out and cover more ground. 

They were approaching Umpire Rock, when Meckenzie heard a loud creaking sound.  It was the sound of stone on stone.  Jeff was coming out of the trees when the ground shifted underneath him and he was thrown back.  Meckenzie looked around for the cause of the disturbance.  There standing on the top of the rock formation, was the stranger who followed Isabel.  It was dark, but Meckenzie was able to make out the stranger’s resemblance to Ty.  This must be his brother.

“Meckenzie go back into the trees.”  Isabel shouted from about ten yards away.  The earth began to tremble under Meckenzie’s feet.  It was like trying to get traction on Jell-O, she ran as best she could towards the tree line only to have the ground move with her. 

Jeff had recovered his footing; the first thing on his mind was getting Meckenzie out of harm’s way.  He was barreling towards her, coming much faster than anticipated, so when he hit the area of ground moving under Meckenzie’s feet, his balance was compromised and he tackled her to the ground.  They flew through the air reaching the tree line and the ground with a thud.  Jeff’s weight crushed Meckenzie to the ground.  She could hear a fight going on in the clearing.  The pop and sizzle of electrical energy flying through air must have been coming from Isabel’s magic.  The grinding and earth moving tremors were coming from Ty’s brother.

Jeff got back to his feet and pulled Meckenzie to safety.

“You have to stay here.  I need to work around behind him.  Call out to Taggart, tell him to stay away.  They are after you three and we can’t bring you to them.”  Jeff didn’t wait for a response he dashed off into the night. 

Meckenzie made her way to the edge of the trees so she could watch what was going on.  She knew she needed to contact Taggart, though she couldn’t imagine with how close he was that he couldn’t hear this fight going on in the middle of Central Park.

Taggart stay away from Umpire Rock.  Isabel and Jeff are fighting Ty’s brother the earth mover.  Where are you?

I’m by the chess and checkers house, where are you?
  Taggart sounded frantic.

The northwest side of the rock in the tree line.
 
Still no sign of Kellan?

No, I don’t know where she could have gone.  I don’t know where the fire starter is either.  I am afraid she is circling the tree line too.
  Taggart’s thoughts were all over the place.  She knew that Jeff had said they should stay apart, but she felt like they would be stronger together.  Plus, if something happened to Taggart, she would never forgive herself.

Meckenzie started to concoct a plan; she needed to take control of the situation. 
Move through the trees to the Northwest of where you are. I’m going to come around and meet you.  We need to be together.

Okay.  Keep listening for me and call out for Kellan.

Meckenzie started her way around the tree line keeping the battle that was happening to her right in sight.  She spotted Jeff moving in the tree line west of Ty’s brother.  Jeff was moving quickly toward the top of the rock, but it was not an easy climb. There was no cover for him; the playground was at his back.  Isabel must have sensed Jeff moving closer because she redoubled her efforts at slinging magic.  The ground moving under Isabel’s feet did not seem to affect her balance.  Wherever and whoever trained Isabel, they did an excellent
job,
she fought the battle smart and hard.

Kellan?
  Come on Kellan where are you?  I love you sister.  Just let me know where you are so we can come get you. 

Kellan was still not responding.  Meckenzie thought that she was either out of range, knocked out, or, and she didn’t want to think this at all, dead.  The thought of Kellan dead made the world turned upside down for Meckenzie, losing Kellan would kill her.  Since they were in the womb together they really had been together their whole lives.  Meckenzie started to cry as she made her way to where Taggart should be coming to meet her. 

Kellan?
  Please answer me.  Taggart, she isn’t responding.
Meckenzie couldn’t lose her composure now, she needed to be strong.  They were in a battle and somewhere in this park was a fairy fire-starter looking for her and her brother.

Just as Meckenzie was about to call out to Kellan again, she heard the crunch of leaves and branches in front of her.  Just in case it wasn’t Taggart she ducked behind the nearest tree.  Taggart stumbled into sight, looking about like a crazy person.  He looked like he could collapse into a pile of emotion and tears at any moment.  Meckenzie felt the same way. 

I’m behind the tree in front of you.
  Meckenzie thought it best to make her presence silently known.  Just as Taggart turned towards Meckenzie, a girl stepped out beside him.  Her hair was black and long, she was thin of frame.  She looked like a model; her height was close to six feet tall.  With a flick of wrist, she sent a flame sizzling towards Taggart. 

Fall down to the ground now. 
Meckenzie shouted at Taggart.  The warning was a second too late and the flames caught the hood of his sweatshirt.  He fell to the ground and quickly rolled over to see where the fire was coming from.

The girl quickly ran towards Taggart, her hands ready to disperse the vengeance that flashed across her face.  Meckenzie had to do something, so she ran in the direction of the girl and the fight that was about to ensue. 

Meckenzie shouted to distract the fire-starter.  “Hey.”    Meckenzie jumped quickly to her left, as she saw the girls thoughts.  The flame sizzled past her and hit the tree she had previously taken refuge behind.  Meckenzie had no physical powers that could benefit her in this fight, but she did have the ability to read the girl’s mind and know what she was thinking before she did it. 

Currently, the girl was wondering where her brother Ty was.  She couldn’t figure out how Meckenzie had gotten away from him.  Meckenzie realized this was a bargaining point.  She might be able to get Taggart out of here and find Kellan in the process.

“I’ll tell you where Ty is and what I’ve done to him, but first tell me where Kellan is.”

The girl stopped dead in her tracks.  She was contemplating whether Meckenzie was bluffing.  She wanted nothing more than to kill Meckenzie right then and there.  Ty was important to her, but her rage was something else entirely. 

“Ty is too smart for you to have pulled something over on him.  He has to be around here somewhere.”  She was questioning Meckenzie trying to get a feel for exactly what, if anything, she could have done.  She started shifting to the left, which would bring her to the tree line and within sight of her brother, the earth mover, up on Umpire Rock.

“You seem to be living under the impression that I was alone on that date.  You seem to think that we wouldn’t have had a plan in case Ty was who we thought he was.”  The fire-starter moved a little closer to what she assumed was her escape.  Meckenzie could hear in her thoughts that she was going to blast Meckenzie, then head for the rock. 

“Blasting me will not get Ty back to you.  If you want to find him, then you will have to tell me where Kellan is.”

“Even if you did do something to him, he would kill me if I told you where she is.”

Meckenzie’s worst nightmare was confirmed.  They had Kellan.  They had her, but from the sound of it, she was still alive.

“Is she alive?”  Meckenzie and the fire-starter were both moving in a circle, each trying to get closer to their brothers.  Meckenzie wanted to keep a safe reaction distance between them.  She needed to be able to get out of the way when fire-starter finally made her move.

Meckenzie decided to push harder into the girls mind and see if she could see where Kellan was.  Meckenzie saw a bridge.  There were like 25 bridges and archways in the park.  Meckenzie needed to know which bridge it was.  The girl was thinking so many different things that Meckenzie needed to ask a specific question to get her thoughts back to Kellan.

“So you hid her near a bridge?”  Meckenzie of her lesson in psychology class that had said that people can’t help thinking about something if suggest it to them.  So she thought saying the word ‘bridge’ would spark the thought process necessary to get the location from the girl’s mind.

“Get out of my head.”  The fire-starter screamed as she hurled fire at Meckenzie.  Meckenzie had seen it coming and dodged it once again.  The verbal cue had worked though, the girl had flashed to the Driprock Arch.  It was close by.  In fact, the way Taggart had been working around the park, he would have come directly upon the arch if he had headed down the walk from the chess and checkers house. 

While all the discussion had been going on between the Ty’s sister and Meckenzie, Taggart had managed to get himself up and was working his way around the opposite way of Meckenzie.  They would have her trapped between the two of them soon; Meckenzie knew that they needed a way to control her though. 

That is when Isabel stepped up behind the girl and said, “
Dul
a
chodladh
.”

The girl went out like a light, Isabel bent down to make sure she was really out.  Taggart made his way to Meckenzie.

“Did you figure out where they took Kellan?”

“Yes, she is somewhere near Driprock Arch.  I never actually saw her, but that was where the girl was thinking about when I asked about her hiding Kellan.  Isabel where’s Jeff?”

“He is securing the other one.  I don’t know what we are going to do with them?  It’s not like we can take them back to the house and hold them prisoner.”

“We can’t do that because Ty will come after them and it could be worse for us then.  We need to get them out of the park though.”  Meckenzie didn’t want to sit there discussing it
anymore,
she wanted to go find Kellan.  She sense Taggart was feeling the same thing.

“We are going to find Kellan.”  Meckenzie said as she started walking away from Isabel.

“No you are not.  You are not going off without us, too much is unknown.  There could be more of them.  This could be a trap to get all three of you together.  We are going to wait on Jeff.” 

Meckenzie thought Isabel was being unreasonable.  It was completely possible that Kellan was out there somewhere bleeding, or dying.  Meckenzie had to go find her.  If something happened to Kellan because they were standing here deciding what to do with the bad guys, Meckenzie would never forgive Isabel.

“Taggart go get Jeff and bring the earthmover back over here.  We need to go get Kellan and the only way this is going to work is if we put both of Ty’s siblings in one place, so one person can guard them and three of us can go look for Kellan.”  Meckenzie was taking control of the
situation,
it was the only way that they were going to be able to go recover Kellan.  She searched her cell phone out of her purse.  Meckenzie figured that Kellan had her cell phone on her and when they got to the bridge she would just call her and wait until she heard the ringing of the phone.

“You are going to have to go by the Thai restaurant and take the confusion curse off of Ty.  Can you do that from a distance?”  Meckenzie was now telling Isabel what to do.  Maybe she did have a leader buried deep inside of her. 

“Yes, I can take it off of him from the street.  Why do you want to do that though?”  Isabel asked.

“Well, the only way this is going to work is if we make a deal with him.  We will give him back his siblings, if they promise to leave and not come back.  I mean we beat them here tonight and we weren’t even ready.  Imagine what we can do now that we know who they are and what they can do.  I think Ty will agree just so he can get better prepared.  This war is not meant to happen here in the human world.  If we are going to fight, then we will do it in Aquanis.”  Meckenzie didn’t even know how she was reasoning all this out; it just seemed to make sense to her.

“We need to get them somewhere other than the park though.”  Isabel added.

“I know.  I just don’t know where.  I mean I need to talk to him tonight and get this settled, so maybe we find Kellan and get her home.  Then you and I pick him up from the Thai restaurant and take him for a drive.  If we had two limos, then we could put his brother and sister in one with Jeff, since they are asleep it would be no problem, and you and I could go get Ty in the other car.  When it’s time to exchange, we just take him to the limo with his siblings and Jeff comes with us.”

Meckenzie picked up the phone and called her dad.

“Dad, its Meckenzie.  Listen, I need you to be calm.  A lot of things have happened tonight and it is not over yet, so we need your help to settle it.”

“Meckenzie, what is going on?  No one is here and no one is answering their phones.”