Chasing Power

by Sarah Beth Durst

  “We’ll talk later,” Kayla told her mother. She asked Selena, “Do you have a sledgehammer? I want to destroy these puppies before they do any more damage.” She waved the stone in the air for emphasis.

  Clutching her stone to her chest, Evelyn stroked it as if it were a baby. “It won’t work. They’re indestructible. That’s why they were split up in the first place.”

  “Excuse me if I don’t believe you,” Kayla said. “I’ve lost track of who’s lying to me.” She tried to take the stone. Evelyn tightened her grip. “Sorry, but I’m really not interested in arguing with you about this.” Without a pause, Kayla lifted a dozen edamame shells with her mind and tossed them in Evelyn’s face. Startled, Daniel’s mother flinched and loosened her grip. Kayla snatched away the second stone. “Selena?”

  “Sledgehammer’s in the garage.”

  Dropping the towels, Evelyn shot to her feet. She lunged to take her stone back, but Kayla danced backward around the couch.

  “How do we know we can trust you with the stones?” Evelyn cried.

  Stepping forward, Daniel blocked her path, placing himself directly between Evelyn and Kayla. “Mother. Stop. You can trust Kayla. And me.”

  Evelyn touched his face lightly. “Oh Daniel, I know you mean well, but you don’t understand. It’s a complicated issue—”

  “It’s not complicated. The stones are evil.”

  “Powerful isn’t automatically evil! Surely, you can’t be so simplistic—”

  “Sometimes there are shades of gray,” Kayla said. “This is not one of those times.” Carrying the two stones, Kayla strode out of the media room. Everyone chased after her.

  “Kayla, we need to talk,” Moonbeam said. “Your sister—”

  “You have no idea what you’re dealing with,” Evelyn said at the same time. She tried to grab Kayla’s arm again, but Kayla walked faster. Selena flanked her, forcing Evelyn to trail behind. Evelyn called, “Those stones are ancient artifacts of immense power—”

  “Any chance of an explanation?” Selena asked Kayla. “Why are they here? How did you get two of the stones? What happened with your father? Are you okay?”

  Before answering, Kayla glanced back at Evelyn. Daniel had begun arguing with her a few paces back. “Short summary: Turns out my dad didn’t kill my sister, Amanda. She’s alive. She’s telekinetic like me, and a psychopath like him.”

  Evelyn interrupted. “Just because Jack—”

  Ignoring her, Kayla continued. “I stopped the spell. Daniel got us out. But Amanda’s pissed. She really, really wants the stones back. And Queen Marguerite is also pissed. She really, really wants the stones too—for different reasons, she says, but we’re not sure we trust her anyway. So I’m going to destroy them myself and then go around and tell everyone to calm the hell down because it’s over.”

  Moonbeam gasped. “You know Marguerite? Kayla, how do you know—”

  At the same time, Selena said, “Your sister’s alive? But I thought the whole reason you—”

  “Yeah, my mom lied.” Kayla charged up the stairs. Everyone thumped up the stairs behind her.

  “I can explain,” Moonbeam began.

  Daniel’s mother called, “She had reason. Your father wanted to—”

  “My mother sent us to the voodoo queen,” Daniel answered Moonbeam.

  “Evelyn! Why?” Moonbeam cried. “And how did my Kayla—”

  “You could have left a less cryptic note,” Daniel told his mother. “If you’d just told us to go to Tikal in the first place—” Kayla reached the top of the stairs and strode through the hall toward the foyer.

  Evelyn said, “You needed information she had—”

  Moonbeam nearly stopped walking. “You’ve been to Tikal?”

  “And Peru and Mexico and Spain,” Selena supplied helpfully.

  A housekeeper dropped a pile of laundry as they all marched by. Her jaw fell open but she didn’t say a word. Kayla marched toward the front door without glancing at her. Sunlight streamed into the foyer, making all of this seem surreal. She couldn’t have just been with her father and sister. Her sister couldn’t have tried to shoot her and her father—but it had happened, all of it. And she was going to end it.

  “So I was right? About Seville?” Selena said.

  “One hundred percent brilliant,” Kayla said. “I owe you.”

  “Damn straight.”

  “Which is why, when this is done, I am going to help you with Sam,” Kayla said. “He likes you, and you like him, and everything else is crap.”

  Selena shook her head, slowing in a swath of sunlight in the foyer. Sun caught the crystal vase on the antique end table. “You don’t understand. I can’t. I’m not strong like you—”

  Daniel interrupted. “Is this really what we’re talking about right now? Her relationship drama? Can we please save it for later?” Passing them, he pushed the front door open and led the way outside. Everyone spilled out onto the marble steps.

  Evelyn blinked up at the sky. “Palm trees? Where are we?”

  “California,” Moonbeam told her. “Evelyn, how could you involve my daughter? You know everything I did—”

  “I had no choice,” Evelyn said. “He found me—”

  “Of course he found you!” Moonbeam said. “You didn’t try to hide. You wrote papers. You gave talks. You did everything but hang a neon sign on your door saying ‘I am still a witch.’ ”

  “Sledgehammer?” Kayla asked Selena.

  “With the other tools.” Selena strode toward the garage. Hurrying to catch up, Kayla paced her. “Your sister is really alive? Are you sure she’s not an imposter? Or a robot? Or someone who has been brainwashed to believe she’s your sister but is really the lost duchess of Umbria? Not that there is a lost duchess of Umbria. I mean, there could be, but I picked it as an example.”

  “I hope she’s not my sister,” Kayla said. “She tried to shoot me. But she looks like she could be, and she has her laugh. Plus Moonbeam hasn’t denied it.”

  “Oh, Kayla … ,” Moonbeam began.

  “Shoot you? Like with a gun?” Selena asked.

  “No, with a cucumber. Yes, with a gun.” Kayla spotted the tool bench on the opposite side of the garage, behind the Lamborghini. She surveyed the array of pristine tools. All of them looked fresh out of their packaging. Each was stowed in its own slot on a corkboard wall, an outline of the tool drawn around the hooks. She found the sledgehammer and hefted it off the wall. Her heart was beating so fast that it felt like it was a horse galloping inside her chest.

  “I trusted you,” Moonbeam said to Evelyn.

  “We all trusted each other,” Evelyn said. “You were the one who walked out on us. Jack wouldn’t have lost it so badly if you’d been there to balance him.”

  “He lost it before I left. That’s why I left. He only cared about power. He didn’t care about us. When Amanda first showed signs of having power … You don’t know what it was like. He was warping them. And I wasn’t strong enough to stand up to him. He … hurt me when I tried, even though he swore he never would, that he wasn’t like his parents, that everything would be different. Better. But it only got worse.”

  Passing them, Kayla carried the sledgehammer out of the garage. She laid one stone on the driveway, tucked the other in her pocket, and tried to swing the hammer. Her arms shook, and the hammer wobbled. Bracing herself, she tried again. She swung, and it cracked down.

  The stone didn’t shatter.

  “I’ll try,” Daniel said. She handed the sledgehammer to him, and he slammed it down on the stone. No luck. He tried again. And again.

  “Oh, good grief, let me,” Selena said.

  “I thought you said you weren’t strong?” Daniel said.

  “Emotionally. Psychologically. But I’m happy to hit things.” Selena took the sledgehammer and swung. Same result, except that she shattered one of the driveway paving stones. “Oops.”

  “So what happened with Sam?” Kayla asked.

  “I
was going to do it. I was going to tell my parents this is what I want and they need to respect my choices, et cetera. I was all set to invite him over … but then they walked in, and I couldn’t. So I sent him to you instead. Glad I did since they confiscated my phone afterward. Said ‘that boy’ was interfering with my studies.” She hit again, harder.

  Arms crossed, Evelyn watched them. “That will never work. The stones are indestructible. You clearly don’t know what you’re dealing with.”

  “You’ve done a lousy job of dealing with it so far, so I don’t think you get a vote.” Kayla tried again with the sledgehammer. Zero luck. The stone wasn’t even dented. She wondered what the damn thing was made of, or if it was more magic. “But if you have a suggestion, I’d love to hear it.”

  “Travel to Mordor and drop it in a volcano?” Selena suggested.

  “Or I could drop it in the ocean,” Daniel said. “Maybe the Mariana Trench?”

  Evelyn gasped. “You can’t! These stones are priceless, unique pieces of history!”

  Moonbeam objected too, simultaneously. “You can’t guarantee they’ll stay in the ocean. They could wash up somewhere. Some poor unsuspecting soul could find them, and his children would pay the price.”

  “Not if it’s deep enough,” Kayla said. She turned to Selena. “Selena, I’m sorry to ask, but …”

  “But you need another favor? Ask away.”

  “I need you to make sure they don’t leave, that they don’t call anyone, that they don’t do anything to make this worse.” She pointed at Moonbeam and Evelyn.

  “You don’t trust them?” Selena asked.

  “You don’t trust me?” Moonbeam echoed.

  Kayla gave her a look. “And that’s such a shock?”

  “Daniel, please, you can’t do this,” Evelyn begged. “These are ancient and powerful artifacts. They deserve to be studied, to be treasured, to be in a museum. These stones are a part of history! The pestilence stone—soon after it fell into the hands of Spanish explorers, smallpox spread. Coincidence or history? The mind stone—can it explain the similarities in cultures in different parts of the world? There’s so much to be learned! Now that we have them, we can take care of them properly, ensure that they don’t fall into the wrong hands.”

  “You are the wrong hands,” Kayla shot at her.

  Daniel shook his head. “You burned your notebook, but you still weren’t able to prevent Kayla’s father and sister from getting the stones and starting the spell. How do you expect to protect them now that they’re no longer hidden?”

  “We’ll find a way! If we work together—”

  A sudden thought occurred to Kayla, and she spoke before she considered the ramifications. “Did you help my father voluntarily?”

  The question shocked everyone so much that they all turned to stare at Evelyn. She took a step back and bumped into Selena’s BMW. “No! Of course not! How can you think that?”

  “You’re willing to ‘work together’ with us to save these stones,” Kayla pointed out. “Why not with him?”

  Evelyn looked outraged, offended, maybe a little frightened. “I didn’t want the spell to happen! It’s Russian roulette but with worse odds. I would never—”

  “But you wanted the stones,” Kayla pressed. “You told Daniel to find me and Queen Marguerite. You sent him on a quest for the stones. You could have simply given him a clue to where you were, and he could have rescued you or sent the police after you. If you wanted the stones to stay safe, then why not leave them exactly where they were?”

  “Kayla has a point,” Selena said. “Danny-boy has that handy teleporting trick. You could have used that to save you, easy-peasy.” She wiggled her fingers in the air as if she were a stage magician. Kayla was surprised she didn’t add a sound effect for good measure. “It would have been simpler and faster. Plus it would have kept Kayla and her mom out of it, leaving them nice and safe, which would have had the added benefit of leaving me nice and safe, which frankly I prefer.”

  Evelyn’s eyes flicked from one person to the next, and then at the door.

  In a quiet voice, Daniel asked, “Mom? Why did you leave such a cryptic note? Why didn’t you tell me where to find you?”

  “I didn’t know where he’d take me.”

  Weak excuse, Kayla thought. “Yes, you did. You knew he’d go to Tikal. You wrote a paper on it. You knew, or at least suspected, that the map was there.”

  “He made me tell him!” Evelyn cried. “I didn’t want to help him.”

  “Either way, whether you wanted to help him or were forced to, you knew you’d go to Tikal. So why not tell Daniel that? Why send him to Queen Marguerite? Why involve me?”

  Evelyn opened her mouth.

  Kayla cut her off before she could speak. “I think it’s because you knew my father couldn’t reach the map. My sister doesn’t have that kind of precision. But I do. If you only wanted to be ‘saved,’ you needed Daniel. But if you wanted the stones … you needed me.”

  Evelyn appealed to Moonbeam. “You know that I never wanted Jack to start the spell. I wouldn’t have risked the stones’ falling into his hands.”

  “But if your plan worked, they weren’t falling into his hands,” Selena pointed out. “They were falling into your son’s hands. And you trusted him to give them to you, after he ‘saved’ you from Kayla’s father. Ooh, tricky! I vote for her as the mastermind. She could have contacted Kayla’s father and started it all. Maybe she set all of this in motion!”

  “You’ve been researching the stones all these years,” Kayla said.

  “This is absurd!” Evelyn said. “I burned my research! Daniel saw me. Tell them, Daniel. Why would I do that if I wanted the stones found?”

  Daniel nodded. “I saw her burn the notebook. Kayla, I think you’re way off base. I know you don’t want to believe your father and sister are solely to blame—”

  “I’ve thought my dad was evil my entire life,” Kayla said. “Hardly about to start protecting his reputation now. I’m sorry, Daniel, but she could have burned the notebook to be sure that she was the only one who had the information.”

  “Very clever,” Selena said, looking at Evelyn with admiration. “Since Kayla’s dad couldn’t get her research, he took her. Just like she planned.”

  Evelyn’s face turned from pale to bright red. “Ridiculous! I didn’t stage my own kidnapping. Daniel, you can’t believe that. Who is this girl anyway? Why are you even listening to her?”

  Selena put her hands on her hips. “I’m the one whose property you’re trespassing on. Or your gracious hostess, depending on how you want to look at it.” To Kayla, she said, “I’ll keep them here.”

  Pivoting, Evelyn appealed to Moonbeam. “You can’t possibly think—”

  “Evelyn,” Moonbeam said gently. “Jack would never have known how to find the other stones if not for you. You were always the smart one, the straight-A student.”

  “You knew where the parchment was,” Kayla said. “You mentioned it in one of your papers. You must have figured out it was only accessible to someone with telekinesis. You contacted my father, because you knew about Amanda. And once you realized that Amanda couldn’t do it … you set in motion a plan to involve me.”

  Evelyn appealed to her son. “You can’t believe this. It’s not true. They’re speculating wildly because they’re scared. Please, say you believe me.”

  He swallowed hard. “I want to believe you. And if you tell me, if you swear, that none of this is true, that you didn’t try to use me and to use Kayla, I will believe you.” He held up his hand as Evelyn started to speak. “Tell me after the stones are gone. It won’t mean anything if you say it now.” He turned to Kayla. “Are you ready?”

  Kayla nodded.

  “Daniel!” Evelyn cried.

  Stepping away from his mother, he said, “I’m sorry, Mom. I have to do this.”

  Selena patted Evelyn on the shoulder. “Why don’t you come inside and relax while my friends fix the mess you mad
e?” To Kayla, she said, “Go. Finish this.”

  Kayla nodded and scooped up the stone that was on the driveway. She put it in her pocket. The second stone was still in her other pocket. As she reached for Daniel’s hand, Evelyn dove past Selena toward her. “No, you can’t! I’ve worked too hard—”

  Moonbeam caught her arm and whispered several melodious words. Evelyn’s eyes rolled back. Her mouth gaped open, and her muscles seemed limp. She slumped against Moonbeam, and Moonbeam lowered her to the ground.

  With a shout, Daniel surged forward. Dropping to his knees, he cradled his mother against his chest. “What did you do to her?”

  “And how?” Kayla didn’t know her mom could work magic like that.

  “She’s fine; she’s asleep,” Moonbeam said. “But without the right herbs, she’ll stay asleep for only a few minutes at best.”

  “But you—”

  “Go, Kayla, fix this. Make it right.”

  Kayla nodded. Reluctantly, Daniel lowered his mother down and backed away. Eyes fixed on his mother, he took Kayla’s hand, and everything vanished.

  Chapter 28

  Daniel’s bedroom.

  Kayla looked around the wreckage. “Why are we here?”

  “I need images.” Daniel climbed over the destroyed desk to a wall that used to be covered in maps and photos. He picked up several from the floor and pinned them back on the wall—the Eiffel Tower, the Grand Canyon, a waterfall, a cave, the Sahara. “Can’t jump blind. Any ideas?”

  Joining him, Kayla scanned the wall. She helped him pick photos off the floor. A few were crumpled. A couple were torn. She smoothed them out and wondered how long he’d been working on this wall. She’d discovered her power when she was eight years old, around the time that Amanda had died. Or not died. “How about here?” She showed him a picture of a volcano spewing lava. “Mordor isn’t a bad idea. Worked for the hobbits. Even if the lava doesn’t melt the stone, it would be difficult to retrieve. We could throw one stone into a volcano and drop the other in the ocean.”

  He nodded. “I know several lava lakes. Erta Ale in Ethiopia, Nyiragongo in the Congo, Kilauea in Hawaii, Mount Erebus in Antarctica, and Villarrica in Chile.” He rattled them off as if they were as familiar to him as the shop names on State Street were to her. “Any preference?”