“Whoa.” I jumped to my feet, ready to aim shooting flames away from Aunt Kate and the door, but the flames held steady. I was holding twin balls of fire in my hands. Filled with wonder, I looked up at Aunt Kate.
“Nicely done. Now, put out the flames.”
I pouted, not wanting to let go of the power in my hands, but I obeyed, imagining the flames going back behind the shimmering wall. The flames went out slowly. As before, my hands were unharmed.
“Good.” Aunt Kate picked up her iPad and made notes for a moment before saying, “Okay, let’s do it again. Do you need to run through the relaxation exercise?”
To my surprise, I didn’t. I could still visualize the shimmering wall between me and my ability. It was like a force field containing the flames until I needed them. I responded to her question with flame-filled hands.
“Okay, I guess not,” Aunt Kate said, pleased. She murmured, as if to herself, “I wonder if suppressing your ability for a year has created a well of power so strong that it’s easier to tap into. I would have thought the opposite would be true, that the ability would be harder to access.” She looked off at nothing for a moment, pondering.
I started to ask her what she meant, but she had me run through the exercise a few more times before telling me to stop. Once I did, I heard clapping from behind Aunt Kate. Kevin, Hugh, Ben, and Uncle Alex stood crowded in the doorway, watching. I never even noticed them because I was so into what I was doing.
Kevin said, “Very cool. Or” – he laughed – “should I say hot.”
“Ha, ha.” Ben shook his head. “We’ve come to let you know the pizza is here.”
I was starving. The snack in my kitchen felt like years ago. I followed the guys to the sitting area, but Uncle Alex stayed behind to talk to Aunt Kate. As I walked away, I heard him say softly, “Now do we call Dan?”
She answered just as softly, “Yes, but he’s not going to like this. He hoped Emma would have this ability, remember? And so did she.”
“Yes, I remember.” Uncle Alex sounded apprehensive.
Oh great, one more reason for Emma to be mad at me. My excitement faded a little bit. However, now she couldn’t accuse me of being useless anymore. I was finally a full-fledged member of the family. Pride tinged with fear filled me – my significant ability was the line, and I had crossed it. There was no turning back now.
Chapter 32
Zoe and Lange came in just as we were sitting down to dinner. Both wore wide grins; Zoe practically danced up to me and took both my hands. “Congratulations! It’s about freaking time!”
“Thanks.” I pulled my hands from hers, reached for a piece of pizza, and offered it to her. She took it and flopped down on the couch next to Hugh. Lange sat down on the other side of Kevin. Ben sat in the chair across from me.
“So, what’s your ability?” Zoe asked. “Mom wouldn’t tell us.”
I shot a look at Aunt Kate, appreciating that I got to tell my cousins what I could do. As an answer to Zoe’s question, I raised my hand, palm down in front of me, mentally tapped through the shimmering wall, and reached for my glow. I turned my palm over to show them the flickering flames.
Zoe’s eyes widened. “Awesome! You got Granddad’s ability.” She started to high five me but stopped with a look of consternation. I snorted, let go of the flames, and completed the high five.
“What?” Emma spoke from behind me, her voice high and shrill.
I twisted around. Emma stood at the edge of the sitting area, her hands clenched in fists by her sides.
I was taken aback by her obvious fury. “What what?”
“You got grandfather’s ability. You?” Her face was contorted into an ugly mask.
Uncle Dan, his face set in grim lines, came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. She jerked away. Uncle Dan grabbed her shoulder again. “Emma, calm down.”
“No! I won’t calm down, Dad.” She spat out the words. “She gets everything she wants, everything she ever asks for.”
“What are you talking about?” I shoved my chair aside as I stood up and faced her. “I don’t get everything I want!” I yelled at her, fury building up inside me. “Want me to start a list?”
She got right in my face. I was vaguely aware of shouting around us, but I didn’t care. It was time we had it out. “One, my mother was murdered.”
She snapped out her reply, “One, you have absolute proof she loved you beyond all else.”
I stepped back, my mouth dropping open, shocked by her take on my mother’s death. Emma raged on. “You got to leave the family on your terms, with no consequences.” I started to speak but she yelled over me. “You got to come back, welcomed like you’d never left, like you never betrayed your heritage!”
All of my anger drained from me, she was mad enough for the both of us. “Emma, wait.” I reached out to try to calm her down.
“No!”
Suddenly she was no longer in front of me, she was several feet away, and I was gasping from a blow to my kidneys. I fell to my knees, clutching my side.
“Emma!” Uncle Dan yelled. “You never use your ability on family. I’m ashamed of you.”
Great, I thought sarcastically, that’ll calm her down. I got to my feet. “Emma, come on, let’s talk about this.”
And again I was sucker punched. This time she stopped time and hit me in the face. When time resumed, I spat blood on the floor and clenched my teeth. I looked up at her standing several feet away, her hand flushed red from hitting me. I started to placate her once more, but she took a step towards me, and I reacted; flames shot from my hands, drawing a line of fire on the concrete floor in front of her. “Try getting through that, you bitch.”
Emma stared at the line of flames separating her from the rest of the family. She lifted her gaze to mine and glared at me, and then turned and ran from the room. I heard the door slam as she left the warehouse.
“Olivia, are you okay?” Uncle Alex grabbed my shoulders and peered into my face.
I shook my head. No, I wasn’t okay; my own cousin hated me, and I’d used my ability on her. I knew she’d started it, but I felt ashamed. I hadn’t even had my ability for a day, and I was already attacking family members with it. With a trembling hand, I pointed at the flames, and they went out. I felt a tiny flash of pride at being able to do that at least.
Uncle Dan stood looking in the direction Emma had gone, his face pale with anger. Aunt Kate went to his side. “Dan, did you know she was so angry at Olivia?”
He pressed his lips together before saying, “Not to that degree.” He turned to me. “I knew she was upset about Olivia’s return, but this?” He shook his head. “No, I had no idea.” He looked in the direction she’d run. “I’ll find her and administer suitable punishment.”
“Dan, maybe I should go after her.” Uncle Alex squeezed my shoulder before letting go. “Perhaps she needs to talk to a neutral party.”
Uncle Dan regarded him for a moment before nodding. Uncle Alex gave him a quick smile before saying to Hugh, “Come on, son, I think she would be willing to talk to you as well.” Hugh got up while Uncle Alex said to the rest of us, “Stay here. We’ll be back as soon as we can.”
After they left, following Emma’s path, there was an uncomfortable silence before Kevin said, “Well, that sucked.”
“Kevin,” Aunt Kate said tiredly.
“Okay, okay, but come on. Who didn’t know Emma was totally pissed that Ollie came back?” He looked around at the frowning faces and sighed. “All right, I’m sorry.” He took a slice of pizza and said through his full mouth, “I hope Dad and Hugh can help her.”
I realized I was still starving. I took a slice of pizza and sat down again, feeling deflated. While my cousins, Ben, and I ate, I watched Aunt Kate talk quietly to Uncle Dan over by the classroom; they seemed to be arguing, but they pitched their voices too low for me to eavesdrop. After a minute or two, they headed for the private office, probably to keep arguing. I caught Ben watching me, and h
e gave me a sad smile.
Zoe and Lange were sitting together, talking in quiet, fierce tones. I heard Lange say, “Zoe, we don’t know for sure that –”
“But look what she just did to Ollie.” Zoe hissed at her brother. “I don’t think we should keep our suspicions to ourselves any longer.”
I debated asking what they meant, but Kevin got there first. “What are you guys talking about?”
Lange and Zoe exchanged an uncomfortable look before Zoe said, “Okay, well, Lange and I think we have an idea of who set off the bombs at Vera and the others.” She stopped and shrugged one shoulder, seemingly reluctant to keep talking now that she was on the spot.
I shivered as a feeling of dread crept over me.
Lange took up the narrative. “So, as far as we can tell these events started around the middle of September.” He glanced at me significantly.
“When the bank robbery happened,” I said slowly.
“When the bank robbery happened,” Lange repeated in affirmation. “The day after, it was a small thing, just some graffiti on that statue in Mount Tabor Park.”
I knew the statue she meant: some guy in a long coat standing and pointing to the south. Now that Lange mentioned it, I vaguely remembered walking in the park one day and seeing the graffiti, but I’d too been distracted by the robbery and the subsequent upheaval to my life to notice any details.
“And then of course, that Sunday Vera blew up.”
I shared a look with Kevin. I was tired of Lange and Zoe making their case and just wanted them to make their point. “Get to the point. We know all this.” I grimaced. “It’s why everyone was so convinced I started it.”
Zoe gave me an apologetic look. “Well, in a way, we think you did.”
“What?” Shock flashed through my body.
Lange held up his hand. “No, not like that. We don’t think you are doing this. We never did.” He pointed back and forth between him and Zoe.
“Okay,” I said slowly, willing them not to confirm the terrible suspicion forming in my mind.
“Well, Lange and I think it’s Emma.” Zoe paused as if expecting us to cry out in shock.
Ben’s eyes narrowed, and Kevin jerked with surprise, but I just nodded. “I think so, too.”
Zoe gaped at me. “You think so too? What, you just decided one of your cousins is a vandal? That was quick. Was it easy? I mean you sure don’t have a lot of family loyalty, do you?” She stopped, looking shocked at the words she’d just uttered.
I stared at her, shaking. The line between acceptance and anger was awfully thin and could be crossed at any point, apparently.
Zoe put her hand on my arm, wincing when I flinched away. “I’m sorry, Olivia.” She swallowed hard and I was startled to see the gleam of tears on her cheeks. I blinked back answering tears. “Maybe I needed to get that out. It wasn’t fair of me to attack you when you were just agreeing with me.” She sighed wearily. “I just don’t want to believe it of her. I mean she’s had it rough, what with Uncle Dan always pushing her harder than the rest of us. And when her ability turned out to be so common, she was really angry. But still…”
Kevin jumped to his feet, wearing a frantic expression. “You let Dad and Hugh go after her? You think she could be behind the bombings and you didn’t say anything?” He pointed his hand at the exit. “They’re –”
Kevin’s phone rang, sounding like claxon to my jangled nerves. Kevin yanked it out of his pocket and went pale at the sight of the screen. “Hugh! We think that – ”
Kevin’s face went slack, and we could all hear Hugh’s voice speaking in urgent tones, but his words weren’t loud enough to hear. Kevin interrupted him. “Where are you?” he asked in a shaking voice. “No! Not – ” He met my eyes as he said, “Stay there, we’re coming to you.” He let his hand drop to his side with a shocked expression.
“Kevin, what happened?” Zoe put her hand on his arm. “Is Hugh okay?”
Kevin shook his head, unable to speak. He took a deep, gulping breath and managed to say, “Dad…Emma’s hurt Dad.” His jaw clenched. “We’ve got to go to them. Now.”
“Where are they?” Zoe didn’t wait for an answer as she strode over to retrieve her whip from where it lay on a weight bench.
“The Hawthorne Bridge, on this side of the river.” Kevin ran for his sword.
Lange pulled out his battle axe. Kevin tossed me a sword. I caught it automatically and strapped the scabbard to my back.
Zoe flicked her whip on the ground. “I can’t believe we’re taking weapons to go after Emma.” She met my gaze with a sad expression. I just nodded.
Ben looked uncomfortable but determined. “I want to come with you.” He looked directly at me. “I want to be certain everyone is safe.”
Kevin pulled on his sword, adjusting it so that it jutted over his shoulder. “Sure, you can come. Pick a weapon.”
Ben nodded and pulled out a battle axe.
I glanced in the direction of the office where Uncle Dan and Aunt Kate had gone. “What about them?”
“We’ll go, check things out, and then call them,” Kevin said.
“You don’t want them to come?” I was surprised.
“Look, if they come, Aunt Kate will get all analytical and Uncle Dan will just yell. When we’ve figured out what’s going on, we can call them.”
I wasn’t completely comfortable with sneaking out, but I decided to let it go. He did have a point, especially about Uncle Dan yelling. I didn’t see a way to tell Aunt Kate where we were going without alerting Uncle Dan.
Zoe, Ben, and Lange waited impatiently in the shadows near the door. As Kevin and I approached, Zoe said quietly, “Come on.”
As one, we headed out into the night to confront Emma.
Chapter 33
Once we were out of the warehouse, we picked up the pace until we were running full out down the EastbankEsplanade along the waterfront. No one spoke as we wove between normals who were only aware of us as a breeze passing by them. The night had cleared up, and stars reflected off the Willamette River.
Zoe yelled when Kevin disappeared. Lange swore and started running faster. I realized Kevin had used his ability to bounce ahead of us. We had only run a little bit farther when he reappeared, saying, “I can’t see them!”
Lange didn’t waste time griping at him for jumping ahead, only saying, “Be careful. If you do see them, don’t engage.”
Kevin nodded and disappeared again.
In my panicked mind, it seemed we would never reach the Hawthorne Bridge. We ran by where Vera used to sit, dodging around the remnants of police tape fluttering around the bomb site. I couldn’t help glancing at the site of Vera’s bench. Oddly, the memory that stood out the strongest from the first bombing was of the figure in the red hoodie taking my vacated spot on Vera’s bench. I hadn’t seen anyone in a red hoodie among the injured or dead. Had that been Emma setting up the bomb? Had I really caught sight of my cousin during her nefarious act? If I’d been paying attention to something other than my problems, could I have stopped her?
When we arrived at the cluster of buildings near the bridge, no more than a few minutes had passed, but I was shaking with fear that we were too late. Traffic roared overhead on the Hawthorne Bridge and Interstate 5 above it, a reminder there was more at stake than my family. There were all the other people Emma had the potential to hurt.
Kevin met us in front of the closest building. He shook his head at Lange’s querying look. No sign of them.
Lange motioned for us to spread out and look for signs of Emma and the others. I took the building closest to the river. Pulling out my sword, I held it in front of me and advanced forward. Where was Hugh? Where was Uncle Alex? It was too quiet.
Where was Emma? What was she planning?
I silently thanked Uncle Alex for all of his training as I moved without detection past a couple of homeless people sleeping in the corner of two adjoining buildings. I rounded the corner of the building nearest the water
front and jerked back at the scent of blood. I forced myself to take a deep whiff despite my instinctive fear.
Human blood, about thirty feet in front of me, in the building’s shadows cast by the streetlights near the parking lot. And I knew from smelling this blood before that it was Uncle Alex’s. Apparently I’d filed away the smell of his blood when he was bleeding from healing me after the Mongolian Death Worm attack. I would spare time to be weirded out by that knowledge later. Now I moved cautiously in the direction of the blood smell, my senses on high alert, trying to see or hear what was in the shadows.
I knew before I got to the location of the blood. They weren’t there anymore; it was too quiet. Even supernormals can’t be that quiet. I stepped into the shadows and waited for my eyes to adjust. It was too dark for a normal to see, but my supernormal vision was good enough to make out the blood splatter on the wall. As if someone – Uncle Alex – had been shoved back into the side of the building and hit his head hard enough to break skin. I swallowed hard and felt tears prickle under my eyelids at the thought of my uncle hurt somewhere.
I froze at the murmur of voices, but it was only Zoe and the guys coming around the building from the other direction.
I stepped into the light so they would know it was me. I could tell from their raised heads they had caught the scent of the blood.
Kevin ran towards me. “Dad?” He held his phone in his hand. “I tried to call Hugh back, but he’s not answering.”
“No, they’re not here.” I took a deep breath, trying to loosen the tightness in my chest. “But he was here. They were here.” I pointed into the shadows. “It looks like he hit his head.” I stepped out of Kevin’s way as he moved closer to investigate.
After a quick glance at the scene, Lange gestured for Zoe and Ben to fan out. “Look for any sign of which direction they went.” They both nodded and went in opposite directions, Zoe back towards the parking lot and Ben towards the waterfront. Lange said to me, “Can you scout around the other side of the building?” He pulled out his phone. “I need to call Mom. They need to be here.”
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