Midnight Metamorphosis (Daughter of Prophecy Book 1)

by Deborah E. Kehoe

  Ana and Ben were sharing one side of our table and Cole sat alone on the other side. Summer, giving me a sly look, sat on the end next to Ben, leaving the empty seat next to Cole open. He stood up as I started to sit and motioned me to scoot over towards the wall. He sat down next to me and put his arm on the edge of the booth behind me. The better to guard me, I thought.

  Ben, Summer, and Ana started talking, re-capping some of the highlights from our game. I listened in and laughed at one of Ben’s comments, but then I noticed Cole scanning the restaurant again.

  “You can relax, you know. I’m sure this place is too crowded for anything weird to happen.” I looked around at the all of the full tables.

  “You’re probably right.” He turned his body to the side to face me a little bit more. His hair was, once again, sticking up in front. The lamp over our table glinted off the silver brow piercing. I looked at my hands, my stomach fluttering. He reached out with the hand that was lying along the back of the booth and pulled on a piece of my hair. That tug startled me into looking up and our eyes caught and held and the fluttering stopped. The corner of his mouth quirked up into a slight smile. Summer and Ana laughing caught my attention and I looked across the table at Ben waving his hands around while he told a story.

  “Summer told me that she and Ben were going to the dance together.” I twisted the ring on my right hand. “I know you’re stuck doing this Guardian thing, but would you want to go with me?” I asked the question really fast. I had never been to a school dance before, and it probably shouldn’t matter so much but I really wanted him to say yes.

  Cole reached over and laid his hand over mine to stop the twisting. “That sounds like fun,” he said. I looked up at him, a soft buzz of pleasure filled my head and smiled as two pizzas were placed on the table in front of us. I looked over at Summer and she gave me a wink.

  “Ana, are you going to the dance?” I reached for a piece of pepperoni pizza.

  “I’m on the decorating committee and will be working the refreshment table,” she said as she took a bite of her piece. “Well, you can hang out with us, we’re all going together,” Summer said as she looked at Ben. She took a bite out of the slice she held in her hand and Ben’s tongue nabbed a piece of pepperoni right before it went into her mouth.

  She smiled and blew him a kiss.

  Chapter 8

  Cole

  I parked my car at the curb in front of my house, turned the car off and reached for the door handle, but before pulling it, I dropped my hand back in my lap. I stared forward out the windshield and thought about the conversation I needed to have with my dad. I knew why we were living in Dover, but after three years, I hadn’t thought that the Sentinel’s daughter was ever going to show up. I entered school, made friends, and had a more normal life than I’d ever had up to this point. My dad, on the other hand, had to take a more minor role on the committee after moving away. Although my dad and Mathis were still close, my dad seemed disillusioned with our mission. His friend, who had at one time been troubled, asking for his help and advice, was now the Sentinel, the most powerful committee member, and I think my father had come to resent that a little bit.

  The front porch light clicked on, jarring me out of my thoughts. I took a steadying breath. I needed to get inside and have that talk with my father. My stomach was tied in knots as I thought of how Avery had asked me to the Sadie Hawkins dance tonight. Man, she was sweet! There was no way this girl had an evil bone in her body. With that thought filling me with purpose I took a breath and reached again for the door handle.

  As soon as I opened the front door, my dad looked up from his computer at his desk, the light from the screen creating dark shadows and making a horror mask of my father’s face. I threw my backpack on a chair and approached him.

  “Dad, can we talk for a second?” I put my hands into the pocket of my hoodie to keep me from nervously clenching them into fists.

  “What’s up?” My father reached out and turned off the computer, the light dimming until I could see his features more clearly, the mask removed.

  I cleared my throat. “So, you know this new girl started at school a couple of weeks ago, Avery Anderson.”

  My father sat up straighter in his chair, “You texted me the day she started, I’ve been waiting for your report.” He spat the words out and frowned at me. “Why have you taken so long?”

  “I wanted to be sure, Dad. She is definitely Sentinel Mathis’s daughter, but Dad, I don’t think she’s power hungry or anything!” I rushed through the words. I needed to convince my father that she was not a threat.

  “Have you befriended her?”

  “Yes, of course. On her first day.” I spoke, a strength to my words, wanting to assure him that I was doing what I was assigned.

  My father got up from his seat and walked toward me. “Son, you knew this might be a tough assignment. We need to determine if she will develop these powers.” “Well, her birthday is on Halloween, but she’s already done a few things that I think are pretty telling.”

  Standing at attention I proceeded to describe the glowing lights on her first day, her ring, and the wall she threw up in the soccer game that day.

  “This is incredible! I need to call Mathis and fill him in,” he exclaimed, starting to hurry from the room.

  “Dad, wait! That’s not all that’s happening!” I quickly told him about the Daïmonids attacking Ben and me at the soccer field, and what the leader said about the prophecy not coming true. “You need to let Mathis know that Daïmonids are going to try to kill her!”

  My father slowly sank into one of the chairs and rubbed a hand across his mouth.

  “This will change everything, Cole.” He looked up at me, his deep blue eyes dark with worry. ”If Avdar is aware that she’s already gained some powers, and it’s not even her sixteenth birthday, she may really be in danger.” He dug his cell phone out of his pocket and walked out of the room. I could hear the murmur of his voice drifting down the hall as he walked away.

  “Crap, that’s what I thought too.” Letting the training kick in I organized my thoughts, trying not to let worry creep into my voice. I reached into my pocket for my own cell phone and put a call in to Ben.

  “Ben, we need to meet after school at Avery’s house tomorrow. Can you get Summer and Ana to come also? I think we need to start working with Avery, honing her skills so she can defend herself. I’m going to talk to my dad about some training for her.” I said firmly.

  Chapter 9

  Avery

  I was standing behind the counter at the front of the shop when the door chimed, indicating someone had opened the door. My friends arrived early, I thought. I looked up, but the sun shining through the front window cast them in shadow, and I couldn’t tell who had entered the store. When the sun went behind a cloud, I saw it was Cole and an older man who must be his father who had entered the store. Glancing between the two of them, I could see there was a strong resemblance. Cole’s father also had dark hair, though his was cut very short. When he looked my way, I could see that his eyes were a dark shade of blue, not purple like Cole’s, and he had smile lines at the corners of his eyes

  “Avery, this is my father, Will.” Cole looked back at the door as it chimed and nodded at Summer and Ben who walked in together.

  “It’s nice to meet you Mr. Sullivan.” I said, reaching out to shake his hand. This is the man who’s friends with my father? He had a nice smile, but as we shook hands I could see a shadow of sadness cross into his eyes, which given the circumstances I thought weird. I looked at Cole, but he was acting his normal positive Guardian self, so I shrugged it off.

  “I’ve told my father about some of the things that have been happening and I thought he could help us evaluate exactly what powers you have already developed. He agrees that we should train you on how to defend yourself.” Cole stated and his dad nodded in agreement.

  “Brenna has also called me, expressing her concerns,” Mr. Sullivan said, l
ooking at my aunt who had just come in from our apartment and nodding a hello. “Is there somewhere we can do a few tests?”

  “Why don’t you all head out to the back yard? I’ll just close the shop and join you.” Brenna headed toward the front door, and I led the way into the backyard, my friends and Mr. Sullivan following close behind me.

  Brenna’s backyard had a small, whitewashed wooden deck overlooking her garden, with flowering pots on either side of the back door. The garden was filled with the aroma of peppermint, verbena, and lavender.

  Brenna grew her own herbs to use in her special tea mixes. On the deck was a rattan patio set including a table and four cushioned chairs. I took a seat in one of the chairs, and then realized that we didn’t have enough seats for everyone. Just as I was getting up, Brenna opened the back door and carried two of the dinette chairs from the kitchen onto the deck. She set them around the table and we scooted our seats over to make room. As everyone was getting comfortable, I noticed a black bird sitting on a branch overhanging the porch. The bird cocked its head to one side and looked directly at me. Brenna, who had gone back inside for refreshments and the lemon bars she had plated earlier, returned to the patio. She set everything on the table and raised her hand slightly. The bird flew down from the branch and landed on her finger.

  I remembered when I first arrived in Dover and had met Brenna for the first time. I had just told her about my mother dying and she went outside to read the letter my mother had left for her. Her sadness as she wiped tears from her eyes, but also I remembered the blackbird. A ray of sunshine had broken through the clouds and she had turned her face up into the light, flyaway pieces of hair moving lightly around her head, shining in the breeze. Just as she did a moment ago, she raised a finger to the sky and a blackbird flew down from the tree behind her and landed on her finger. It stretched its wings, showing off the red stripe on each wing. She spoke to it, and I swear the bird was listening. It cocked its head and looked straight at Brenna. It seemed to nod, then flew off. Amazed, I looked at my aunt, wondering if this was that same blackbird, and was she communicating with it?

  Brenna set the bird down on the edge of the table and reached for the pitcher of tea and started pouring it into glasses, completely ignoring her interaction with the black bird. Summer and I looked at each other, and I shrugged totally not know what had just happened. It certainly wasn’t the weirdest thing that had happened since I moved to Dover, but it was the weirdest with my aunt.

  “Avery, let’s move down into the yard and we’ll do a couple tests.” Mr. Sullivan’s raised voice made me jump out of my chair. Cole also got up from the table as if to join me and his father turned to him and raised an eyebrow. Now I knew where Cole got that look from, I thought with an inward grin.

  “Cole, you don’t need to worry, we are just going to start with a simple test. I’m not going to hurt Avery.” Cole slowly sat back down into his chair his face calm, which gave me confidence as I turned to face his father.

  “Avery, Cole has told me about your power manifesting early,” he looked at me for confirmation, and I nodded confidently. Even though it may not be a good thing, I liked the fact that the power gave me strength. Running with my mom for so long made me feel so helpless. Mr. Sullivan gave me a searching look and continued.

  “It’s very important for an Elemental to receive training immediately upon gaining powers, so I need to determine what you can do. Cole tells me that you have an affinity for air?” He asked rather incredulously.

  I thought back to the soccer game and how I had stopped that slide tackle with a wave of my hand. I nodded at Mr. Sullivan. “Yes, I think so, but I only called upon Air by accident.” I said in my own defense.

  “That’s precisely why we want to test you right now,” he said, speaking firmly but not in an unfriendly way.

  I followed Mr. Sullivan down onto the lawn. “Have you ever done any meditation?” He asked, and I shook my head.

  “I don’t think so.” I replied. He directed me to stand with my eyes closed and my hands loose at my side. He explained that this was a sort of meditation. I needed to block out my aunt and friends talking quietly at the table behind me, and to focus on the sound of the wind moving through the trees, the birds chirping, the soft sound of a door closing on the street beyond the house.

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. As I did, I noticed a pinpoint of light forming behind my eyelids. As I concentrated on that light, it expanded until my mind was filled with a warm golden light. I heard a soft flutter by my right ear and the bushes move softly next to me.

  “Now, as you breathe out, turn your energy outward.” When he said this, I concentrated on pushing the light within me. There was an energy build up and then a sudden release as the light seemed to move beyond me.

  I could feel the warmth from it, but it was no longer encompassing my mind.

  “Avery, open your eyes and tell me what you see.” I slowly opened them and looked around me. In vivid detail I could see every stalk of grass beneath my feet, and its grassy scent mingled with the lavender growing from the bush next to me smelled crisp and strong. I heard three small snips and noticed three golden brown leaves falling gently from the tree overhead. The black bird that had been on the table when I walked down onto the grass was now hovering in the air in front of me. I could hear the sound of its wings fluttering gently. I lifted up my hand to reach a finger out towards the bird, but when I caught sight of my hand I stopped, shocked by its appearance. My hand looked luminescent, casting a golden glow onto the bird in front of me. The bird fluttered its wings as if in a birdbath, washing itself in my energy.

  “My hand is glowing!” I exclaimed in astonishment. I watched the bird fly back to my aunt at the table. Its wings were shining with an iridescent light. It tweeted at her and cocked its head and continued to watch.

  “Actually, your entire body is glowing.” Cole said and I looked toward Mr. Sullivan and saw that Cole had joined him on the grass. “That is your power manifesting,” he continued. Cole had taken off his hoodie and he had on a plain white t-shirt and a pair of jeans. I absently noted that this was the first time I had seen him out of a sweatshirt and that he looked totally cute. He was smiling slightly as he reached his hand out towards me.

  “Now reach your energy out towards Cole.” Mr. Sullivan took a step back from Cole as if to get out of the way.

  “I don’t want to hurt him!” But my hand was already shifting towards Cole, the sunlight glinting off the gold ring on my right hand, and my energy engulfed him. I felt an arc of energy pulse from me towards him until he was surrounded by a warm glow, just like the first day we met. At the same time, his energy pushed towards me, a slightly cooler essence with a purple hue, surrounding mine until our energies joined together. I felt his cool strength as the space between us was lit with my soft golden light and Cole’s light purple light. Cole took a deep breath and let it out gently. A cool breeze intertwined with our combined energies, very intimate, kind of like firelight heating a small cool room. The glowing light started to pulse slightly down through my stomach and I panicked, mentally cutting the cord. Our energy felt like it had fused together, and that pulse–well, I’m not sure what that was, but it made me curious and I looked up slightly embarrassed, then back down when I saw the smirk on his face. I could feel the heat of a blush and hoped he didn’t notice.

  Mr. Sullivan cleared his throat and looked down at the ground, smiling slightly. “Well, you have definitely started developing.”

  I heard Brenna and Summer giggle. Sheesh, he didn’t need to make it sound like I was going through puberty or something. “OK, ha ha. I thought you were going to teach me some defensive moves?” I narrowed my eyes at Summer and she raised her hands in front of her laughing.

  “Aves, that was hot!” she said, giggling lightly. She reached out for Ben’s hand and I watched jealously as they intertwined fingers.

  “Yes, OK.” Mr. Sullivan moved his gaze from me to Cole, askin
g Cole to move about five yards away so they could demonstrate an energy attack. The two of them faced each other and Cole flicked his hand out to his side. As he did, a bolt of purple energy shot out towards his father, who lifted his own hand up, fingers spread, and created a shield that the bolt hit, fizzled, and died out on.

  Ben called out excitedly from the chair behind me. “Avery you created a shield already, didn’t you? On the soccer field.”

  Cole nodded, “I remember you doing that during the game when that girl was trying to slide tackle you.” He looked at his father. “Remember I told you she created a shield instinctively, without any training?” He sounded concerned, and his dad looked at me with a slight frown between his brows, nodding his head in response.

  “Well, I guess we’d better get started giving her some.” The rest of the afternoon was spent teaching me how to throw bolts of energy and capture them with my shield. According to Mr. Sullivan, I was a quick study and my body hummed its pleasure at learning this art but I learned that even though I seemed to have an affinity for it, my body tired out easily. I’m going to have to build up a tolerance to this energy, I thought.

  I tried to find the perfect time to ask Mr. Sullivan about my father, but he never let up! I was so disappointed. I wanted to know if my dad knew I was here. If he was going to come see me, but it was like Mr. Sullivan knew I was going to ask and he made sure I was always working with Cole. As the afternoon wore on and my Elemental powers although newly discovered, became a little bit stronger, he got more distant.