Luke looked confused. “I am? How? You never completed the transformation. I didn’t think it was enough to use your magic on him.”
Meredith was already on her feet pacing the shed thinking it over in her mind. It had never been tried before, not exactly like this, but it had to work.
“Are you going to fill me in?”
“Shush. I can’t think with you talking so much,” Meredith scowled.
He slunk back on his mattress and waited.
If she could get Lilah in on the spell, it might work. She could use Jackson to connect to Lilah’s psychic ability. It would be tricky getting it done without tripping over someone’s secrets. Lilah was a baby who didn’t know much of her own ancestry yet let alone anyone else’s, and she certainly didn’t know how much her boyfriend knew already.
She sank back down on the used chair about to give up. “Lilah is the key, but how do I use her in a spell?” Meredith asked out loud, more to herself than Luke.
“Use all the Elements,” Luke quickly answered.
Meredith sat up straight intrigued. “What?”
Luke rolled to his side and propped up on his elbow. “I’m guessing you want to use the bond she has with Jackson. Bring along me and Everleigh as well. Have all the Elements present.”
“Except Lilah doesn’t know anything about Jackson yet.”
Slowly, Luke sat up and threw his legs over the edge onto the makeshift plywood flooring covering the dirt floor below his bed. “Yeah, so tell her he represents humans. She doesn’t have to know any different.”
Biting her lower lip, she was reminded why she loved this man. “I’d need a wolf for her to buy it.”
Luke stood up and reached for her, pulling her out of the chair. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he whispered, “And I just happen to know where one is.”
Meredith pushed away from him excitedly. “They’re here? Already?”
“Only a couple so far, but I’m sure Matt would help us out.”
She rubbed her hands together. “Let’s do this then.”
Luke nodded and pulled out his phone to make a call.
While he was talking, the sound of Jackson’s pickup could be heard again. Meredith walked to the shed doors and peaked out. Talk about bad timing. The one person who was most important in the success of this spell besides her was returning home. It was a miracle her family ever let her leave the way they were so overprotective of their kind.
Lilah wasn’t out of the pickup before Meredith was on the phone with Everleigh. “Hey, I need a favor.”
“Weird. I need one from you too.”
Meredith laughed. “Listen. I need you to get your friend Lilah out of the house.”
“I did! She’s with Jackson.”
“Was with Jackson. He just dropped her off. Everleigh, we’re going to experiment with magic tonight. All of the Elements will be represented. That’s why we need her. Well, one of the reasons anyway.”
“I like the sound of that,” Everleigh said with glee in her voice.
‘I bet you do,’ Meredith thought. ‘That grandma of yours never lets you have fun with it.’
“It’s not going to be easy getting her out of the house again,” Meredith warned her. “Sneak her out if you have to and meet me at Jackson’s.”
“Sure. Where does she live?”
“You know the place. The farmhouse in the country where the coven meets.”
There was silence on the other end of the line.
Meredith’s eyes closed and slowly rolled up in her head. ‘I forgot this girl barely knows more than Lilah. I’ll need to come up with an explanation for this before the night is over, or Eloise might just make good on all the threats she’s ever slung my way.’
Ignoring the silence and the questions she knew her niece must have, Meredith went on, “Just make sure you ask her where she lives. You know…Keep up the pretense.”
“Okay,” Everleigh said.
The tone of her voice had changed drastically, and Meredith knew it was her fault. “What did you need?” she asked, hoping to change her mood.
“Huh?”
“You said you needed a favor.”
“Oh, yeah, I wanted to know what was up with the song and dance routine you and grandma pulled with the pendant.”
Meredith grinned. This was why she loved her so much. There might be some things kept from her for her own good, but it wasn’t an easy task. She was observant and figured things out easily. “Later. I promise I will tell you everything I’m able to.”
Everleigh’s sigh was audible over the phone. “Fine. I’ll see you soon.”
Luke was waiting for the call to end. “Matt said he and Rita would be happy to come by and help out. They were hoping to start meeting people soon, but hadn’t expected it to be this quick,” he laughed.
“Good. I have to stop by Eloise’s and pick up something for this to work.”
“Do you think she’ll give you any trouble?”
“No, I doubt it. The old woman is probably in bed anyway, and if she knows what I’m up to-“
“She does. I bet she knew before you did that you were going to attempt this tonight.”
Meredith hung her bag on her shoulder and tried to keep from grinning. “You’re not wrong. Eloise is many things and likes to present a rather old school front where the Elements are concerned, but don’t cross Fire off her list of ally’s. You might be surprised to learn exactly how far she’d go for him.”
“Oh, I know they have history, but she wouldn’t want Everleigh to suspect a thing.”
Meredith opened the door of the shed and stepped out in the moonlight. “That’s why we wait until she’s gone, and we know she has Lilah safely delivered back to Jackson’s house.”
They walked to her car and hopped in. Meredith threw it in reverse and carefully backed around the half dozen or so other cars parked around the house. It looked almost like there was a party. “Does Jackson know yet? About the Return?” she asked, putting the car in drive to head down to the road.
Luke inhaled slowly. “It might good to find that out before we ambush him like this.”
“You think?”
Taking their time to drive the short distance to Eloise’s house, Luke called Jackson who answered on the first ring.
“Hey, I was just thinking about getting ahold of you.”
“You were?” Luke was surprised. He and Jackson were friendly, but they didn’t associate much.
“Yeah. You hear about the Return yet?”
Slowly inhaling deeply, Luke said, “I did,” fully expecting to be the one to fill Jackson in on all the details. He shot Meredith a look and shook his head letting her know Jackson was still in the dark. It wouldn’t be safe to do it on the phone. They’d have to wait until Lilah arrived, and that would create yet another logistical nightmare maneuvering around her in private. He figured this was coming. Jackson’s mood was too elevated for him to know the outcome of the Return already.
“Crazy, isn’t it? Water finally showing up and all.”
“Wait.” Luke leaned forward as far as the seat belt would let him. “You mean you’ve heard? When did you find out?”
“Earlier when Lilah was over. I hadn’t been able to get ahold of my dad which made me worry even though it’s nothing new. I snuck off to the kitchen to get us drinks and asked Everleigh about it real quick.”
‘He knows,’ Luke mouthed the words to Meredith while Jackson was still talking.
“How’s he doing?” she whispered.
Luke shrugged several times and shook his head not knowing how to answer the question. Jackson was perfectly fine, but he shouldn’t be.
“Alright, well, you’re in for more guests. Several of us including your girly friend are on our way. Need to use your house for a spell,” Luke chuckled, finding the play on words funnier than it was.
“A spell? An actual spell?”
“Yeah.”
“With Lilah?” Jackson’s voice d
eepened and grew louder.
“Got to go. Don’t worry. Meredith has everything covered.”
Luke rolled his head back and closed his eyes dropping the phone in his lap. “He had more emotion over Lilah being present for the spell than he did when talking about the Return.”
Meredith drove past Eloise’s house, but her niece’s car was still parked out front. Instead of stopping, she parked farther down the street to stay out of sight until she could sneak in to get what she needed. “I’m not surprised.”
“Really? Well could you explain it to me then?”
“It’s an Air thing. Lilah keeps him calm. She grounds him. When he’s concerned for her, that’s another story. The beast in him will defend her without question.”
Everleigh darted out of the house straight to her car unaware of the audience watching her not far away.
“How long do you think this will take?”
Meredith unbuckled and reached for the handle, waiting for Everleigh to drive out of sight before exiting the car. “Not long. Fill Todd in while I’m in here, would you? He should be there too.”
“What if Eloise finds out you’re here?”
A devilish smile slowly appeared on her face, “She already knows.”
Everleigh’s car made the turn toward the main road at the end of the street.
Leaning over to give Luke a quick kiss before getting out, Meredith said, “I can sense her watching me.”
Luke looked at the house that was dark save for one downstairs light. “Think she’ll cause you any grief while you’re in there?”
“No,” Meredith answered quickly, opening the door.
“How are you so sure?”
Meredith got out and before she shut the door behind her, she said, “Because she’s showing me where it is.”
“Do you think it was smart to let Lilah leave like that? Won’t Jackson be a problem without her?” Matt asked, staring out the window waiting for Jackson to return like he had been since they left. “He should be back by now. You don’t think he’s out looking for Fire on his own, do you?”
“Calm down. Jackson is taking his medication, and I made sure to slip him something extra tonight thinking he may need it,” Meredith offered, hoping no one would treat him any differently when he came home which wouldn’t be long as she could hear the truck rumbling down the road.
“Lilah’s the problem,” Luke countered.
Everleigh raised her hand. “I second that.”
“Stop. What do you mean, Everleigh? I thought she was your friend?” her aunt asked, wishing they’d drop the topic with Jackson right outside.
“She is a friend. It’s just a pain…I mean doesn’t anybody see a problem with this? I was excited! I was ready to come in here, guns blazing. Yeah! We’re going to do this multi-Elemental spell. I couldn’t wait for it to go down. Luckily, right before we got out of the car, she let me know she was worried about Jackson finding out anything. I had to send Jackson a text to make sure we were on the same page with her.”
“And we are,” Jackson piped in, walking in the door.
Everleigh ignored the interruption unfazed by his heightened hearing. Jackson had been eavesdropping on her conversations since junior high. “Her own uncle had to wait outside for us to sneak him in after she closed her eyes.”
“That was Todd’s idea,” Meredith pointed out.
“That’s not the point!” Everleigh jumped to her feet. “Everybody in this room is an Elemental. More than one of you have multiple blood lines. Why can’t she just know already?”
No one said anything. Everleigh waited, hoping someone would see it her way. “Would it be so bad if Jackson came clean? Instead of waiting for Lilah to share her secret, let’s have Jackson go first. It could work to open her up.”
“You didn’t tell her yet?” Luke looked at Meredith.
Everleigh crossed her arms and stared down her aunt, “Tell me what?”
“Air is worried, and I don’t mean in their typical overprotective way. Lilah’s powers have already proven to be much more significant than anyone else’s except Marcus.”
“I know that much. Their powers usually unfold in a slow progression, but hers came instantly because she met Jackson, right?”
“Yes, there’s that, and she doesn’t know how to control them yet.”
Everleigh sat back down feeling defeated. “There’s more, isn’t there?”
“Lilah is capable of doing things that it took others of their kind years…I’m talking decades or longer to figure out. Plus some things that the others can’t do at all.”
“Like what?” Rita joined in, curious to hear more.
“Blocking her family for one thing. It took the rest of them years to learn that. Lilah did it instinctively. It’s both natural for her and something she doesn’t understand. They had to teach her how to turn it back on, so they could stay connected. Even then, most of the time, it doesn’t work. They pretend they can read her to keep her from freaking out, wondering why she’s different.”
Jackson played with the trim on the edge of the couch. “And there’s the cries for help.”
“You know about that?” Meredith asked softly, knowing the answer already. It never occurred to her until now how deep their connection might run.
“I hear them too. Sometimes.”
Meredith scanned the room and saw the questioning faces on everyone else wondering what cries they were talking about. “All these natural disasters that have been happening. Air can hear cries for help. They can help with a kidnapped child or someone lost in the woods. Lilah is awakened in the middle of the night because the voices of the victims of these disasters all across the globe are so loud in her head. Her own mom can’t hear the victims halfway around the world if she focuses all her energy on it.”
“They’re worried about the strength of her powers. It’s not a good time to test them with everything else going on right now. Until they know more, they’re trying to be careful around her.”
“Speaking of natural disasters,” Matt said, looking out the window. “I didn’t see this in the forecast. Is this… I don’t know. Looks like a tornado could be forming.”
Everyone made their way to the windows to watch the storm that sprang up unexpectedly. All but Jackson who continued sitting quietly on the couch. It didn’t go unnoticed by Meredith who went to him and quietly asked, “Lilah?”
Looking like he was holding back tears, Jackson nodded.
Meredith sat next to him. “Don’t worry, sweetie. We’ll figure it out,” she lied. She had already spent many hours discussing Lilah with Todd, and they hadn’t been able to come up with anything to help tame her.
Chapter Sixteen
Daniel’s health took a turn for the worse as soon as winter took hold in his sixty-seventh year. Anya worked tirelessly to care for everything especially him. All of the work fell on her because most days he was unable to even leave the bed. She did it without complaint. There were times where she would have liked to have a grandchild or two come stay to aide her in the chores, but she knew her sons needed the hands for their own work that needed done.
She would lovingly care for him. Somedays when he was his weakest, she would sit on the bed and feed him. She tried every cure that was known at the time including some of her own. Nothing worked, and she knew they wouldn’t before she made each attempt. That didn’t stop her from trying. When she touched him, she could see what lay ahead. His days were counting down, but she had to try for his benefit. She would not have him depart this earth thinking she hadn’t done everything she could for him.
There was always a line she had to walk. Notices could be sent to her children letting them know that their father was dying, but she didn’t know how she would explain it. Daniel insisted on not bothering them because he would be fine. This illness would pass just as every previous one he’d ever had. He told her this each time she mentioned gathering the children for a visit. Every plan she devised to have t
he family come by or even just one child’s family over for a time would be shot down. He wanted to wait until he was recovered. No need in worrying someone when there wasn’t anything to worry about is what he would tell her.
Except there was cause for worry only she couldn’t express her reasons behind it. She did as she was asked and tended the home and land as best as she could while caring for him under the guise that she too believed any day now he would recover. Humans had done this long before she arrived. They lived knowing the sun would rise and tomorrow would come. They lived believing they would always be here to see it, but it wasn’t the case. People would pass on to the spirit world with so much they could have done to prepare for their departure left untouched. And so it was that Daniel would soon cross the veil as well.
Two days before he passed, he was well enough to sit at the table for the first time in a couple weeks. He believed it was proof that he was on his way to full health, and she tried to mirror his certainty. It was only the calm before the storm. There is often a peace before the eventuality of death rears its dark face.
Those two days were remarkable ones filled with laughter and reminiscing about their life together. To anyone who didn’t have the foresight she possessed, Daniel indeed looked to be improving and would soon be recovered. Anya would have given anything to have that blind ignorance. Instead she was forced to carry on the ruse while her heart ached to take him into her arms and hold him for the remainder of his hours.
In time, she would learn that many people wished to know the hour a loved one would breathe their last. They think it would make a difference in how they lived the last of their days. Anya would go on to live this reality out over and over during her time in the physical world. The knowledge that the end was near never offered any comfort to her. With Daniel as well as future lives she would experience, she could never let it be known that she knew what was coming.
All of her secrets had to be kept hidden from those who loved her to keep them safe. Anya rarely worried about what would happen to her if anyone accused her of witchcraft. She could manage to escape. It was her family’s survival that concerned her. If her truth were to ever be revealed, the accusations wouldn’t stop with her. Many innocent people in her family would suffer the consequences.
Earth: The Elementals Book Two Page 17