Ava waited until Brea walked inside and shut the door, wishing her gift gave her the ability to see through walls or to see into the future. She didn’t have that ability so she would have to wait for Brea’s phone call and hope that everything would be okay. She backed up and started down the dirt road.
When she got home she found Aunt Avalene standing in the back yard looking out over the water. She made a pretty picture with her red hair whipping to one side in the afternoon breeze and her hand wrapped around her gardening rake. Ava walked over and stood next to her looking in the same direction. She waited quietly for a long moment before speaking. She searched the direction Aunt Avalene was looking and saw nothing.
“What’s wrong?” Ava whispered.
“Someone’s died.” Avalene stared up to the sky, “Someone born of the Element.”
“How do you know?” Ava turned. She was sure that their magic didn’t involve any kind of future predictions or psychic ability.
“I read it in the clouds.” She pointed, “Look just there, the dark cloud shaped like a raven. The pink swirl around it…someone’s died.” She shivered, “Haven’t I ever told you how to read the clouds?”
“No,” Ava replied as she stared at the dark raven shaped cloud in the pink purple sky.
“When anything needs to be known, you can read it in the clouds. It’s sort of like the news for those of us born of the Element. Certain births, deaths, even the four season festivals.” She let out a breath, “Come inside, we need to prepare.”
“Prepare what?” Ava followed her.
“Dinner, and the guest rooms. The others of my circle will be here soon.”
“Why are they coming?”
“They are coming for the ceremony to honor the fallen Elementris.”
They began preparing a big dinner. Aunt Avalene bent to put a turkey into the oven and Ava mixed a bowl of corn bread mix. “Have you ever been to Element Island Aunt Avalene?”
“Yes, but it was a very long time ago. The members of our circle don’t visit the island anymore. It’s not safe for us. We are “off the grid,” as your generation would say.”
“Why, because of her?”
“Yes,” she paused blinking slowly. “I don’t remember telling you about Element Island…” she tilted her head and scrunched her brows.
The phone rang loudly, breaking their conversation.
“Thank God,” Ava thought to herself.
She ran over to the phone and saw Brea’s number on the caller ID. She picked it up, slipping into the other room, “Hey.”
“Hey,” Brea was whispering. Something she never did. He must still be in the house.
“Is he there still?”
“Yes, downstairs.”
“Is he staying?”
“Yes,” her voice broke. “Apparently they have been seeing each other for over a month now.”
“Really, and your mom didn’t tell you? Is he moving in?” Ava wrapped the cord around her finger.
“Yeah,” Brea started crying quietly.
“What is it? Are you okay?”
“No,” Brea managed. “I’m not…Mom…she’s pregnant with his baby. That’s why he came here today. They wanted to tell me together. I can’t believe this Ava. I can’t believe she would do this to me. How could she have his baby?”
“Do you want me to come get you?” Ava sank back in the chair. “Has he said anything to you?” she paused, “Like before?” remembering the sadistic things he used to say to her. The threats he made against Brea if she told anyone that he hit her mother.”
“No, he promised things were going to be different. He says we’re going to be a real family. Same old crap. It won’t last long.”
“Did you say anything to your mom?”
“No,” she hesitated, “Hold on, someone is coming.” Brea paused breathing hard, “I have to go.” She hung up before Ava could say anything else.
…Brea…
The door knob turned back and forth. Brea froze in front of her bed. Her own reflection in the mirror frightened her. She found her eyes too big and her skin felt pale and clammy, she bit down on her lip and looked back towards the door.
The door opened and her mother poked her head in.
Brea let out a breath, “Mom.” Relief washed through her like a cooling rain on a hot day. Her mother is short with brown hair and she smiled at Brea as she walked in, “I wanted to talk to you, baby.”
Brea turned and sat on the bed. She looked down, “About what?”
“About all of this… You know I love you. And I really think things are going to be different this time. He has changed so much.”
Brea looked up, meeting her mother’s warm brown eyes, “Why didn’t you tell me Mom?”
Her mother sat back, exhaling heavily, “I couldn’t. I knew what you would say. I want you to trust me. I know you don’t think I’m strong, but I’m different now. I told him one time and he’s gone. This is a good thing baby.”
Brea loved her mother. They were close, well at times. They were close when Buck wasn’t there. They were close when he wasn’t in the room or in their life. Her mother had a problem though. She could never stay alone long and Buck knew that. He was like a cockroach that wouldn’t go away. Just when Brea was sure that her mother was done with him, he would find a crack and sneak back in. He always seemed nice at first, but he was sick. He was mean and dangerous. She couldn’t believe her mother was actually pregnant with his baby. Now he had a lifelong hold on them.
She would never say it, and hated that she thought it, but she secretly wished that her mother would lose the baby. She bit her tongue wishing she didn’t think that. Her mother was fragile and that could break her. He would damage her worse though. She looked back at her mother, “How far along are you?”
Relief eased the shadows from her mother’s eyes and reached her thin lips, making her smile, “Two months.”
Brea started adding up the time in her mind. “Oh.” He had been gone for three months this time and only been out of jail for a little over two months. She never had stayed away from him. She must have been seeing him since he got out. She felt sick, but couldn’t hurt her mother. She swallowed, “I love you, Mom.”
Her mother tilted her head, pulling her thin brows together, “I love you too baby. Just think! You might have a little sister! Wouldn’t that be nice?” She stood, “We’ll talk more tomorrow. You need some sleep. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight,” Brea watched while her mother walked across her room and shut the door. She raced over to lock her door and looked around for anything she might have in her room that could be used as a weapon.
…Ava…
Ava carried the extra blankets up the stairs and started making beds in the four spare rooms. She stretched a flower covered sheets over the bed and wondered exactly what would happen when they all arrived. This will be the first time she’s met them all. She clutched her stomach feeling slightly sick.
Aunt Avalene walked into the room carrying extra pillows. “Here, Shug,” she placed them at the top of the bed and grabbed the other side of the blanket so they could spread it out over the floral sheet.
“When will they get here?” Ava asked pulling the blanket towards her side of the bed.
“Later tonight” Aunt Avalene smiled “I can’t wait for you to meet them all. Just ignore Ruby; she is a mess and a half. Her element is fire and she’s about as out of control as fire itself.”
“Okay,” Ava swallowed.
“Don’t be nervous, Shug. They will love you and you are completely safe, possibly safer than any other time.”
Ava folded the blanket forward, “Do they know all about me?”
“Yes,” Aunt Avalene said. “Loose thread,” she pulled a thread from the edge of the white pillow. She stuffed it in her pocket.
“Speaking of thread” Ava straightened the other pillow. “I found the black thread in my hair.”
“What are you talking about, Shug?” Aunt
Avalene walked to the window and pulled the blinds up.
Ava put the tie around the curtain, “The protection spell…, and the black thread.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Aunt Avalene leaned down and blew some dust off the night stand. “It must have been just a piece of thread.” She used her apron to wipe at a tiny circle that looked like an old drink ring on the night stand.
“No,” Ava stopped, “It was him.” She felt chills. Alec had put the protection spell on the thread and tied it in her hair at some point.
“What did you say, Shug?”
“Nothing,” Ava shook her head. “Must have been a regular piece of thread. Are we done up here?”
“Yes,” she put her hands on her hips looking at the room. “It looks okay,” she turned, “Come on, let’s go down and finish dinner. We still have a lot to do before they get here.” Ava followed her down the stairs. She thought about Alec. She wondered when he could have done it and when she would see him again.
They finished most of the side dishes and cleaned the house from top to bottom. They returned to the kitchen just as the oven timer started to go off. Aunt Avalene put the pot holders on, but stopped when the phone rang. She answered the phone with pot holders on both hands. “Hello,” she paused, “Yes, have you spoken with the others…anytime now then?” She smiled at Ava then turned, “Wonderful…okay, okay. See you in a bit.” She hung up.
“Who was it?” Ava stopped washing the plate that was in her hand. “Sherri,” Aunt Avalene said as she bent down to pull the turkey from the oven. The smell was wonderful and made Ava’s stomach growl. Aunt Avalene placed it on the counter. “Sherri has spoken to all of them and they should start arriving soon. Sherri is on her way over now.”
“Okay,” Ava went back to washing the dishes they had already dirtied.
They placed the dinner plates around the large dining table. It looked like Thanksgiving dinner and Ava couldn’t wait to eat. She placed a napkin by each plate folding it over neatly and put a fork and knife on top. Aunt Avalene leaned forward and whispered something under her breath. The two white candles in the middle of the table flickered to life. Ava smiled, “Now that’s cool. So you don’t have to have the element of fire to do that?”
“No, someone with the element of fire could do it much easier, but there is an old spell for starting fire as well. Do you want to know it?”
“Yes, shouldn’t I be able to do it without a spell?” Sherri’s voice flashed through her mind, “You my dear have all the elements.”
“I can wish stuff to happen sometimes, so I could do it that way.”
“The wishing part is only because you have been bottling it up for so long.” Aunt Avalene straightened the antique candle sticks. “As you learn you will get more control, but for now you should use a spell, wishing can be dangerous. Wishing is pretty uncontrollable. You might cause a house fire instead of just lighting a candle for instance. It takes a lot to master your element and you have five to learn before you can make them do what you want. Magic is a funny thing.” She blew out the candles, “Come over here.”
Ava stepped toward the candles, “What do I do?”
“Repeat after me while imagining warmth and visualize a candles burning to life. “Bera Tauna!” The candles sparked to life and Aunt Avalene blew them back out.
Ava stared at the candles and tried to picture it in her mind, “Bera Tauna,” she whispered. Nothing happened. “I don’t understand. When I don’t want it to work I can do all kinds of stuff, but when I want it to work I can’t even light a stupid candle.”
“That is why you must learn control. Try again. Take a deep breath and try to command the candle with the words. Book magic is different than element magic. You have to tell it what to do.” She stepped back and put her hands in her apron pockets.
Ava stared back at the two candles and pictured the orange flame, she focused hard and used her strongest tone, “Bera Tauna!” and waited. A small flame burst from the wicks. It wavered back and forth and then finally stilled; the small flames giving a warm glow to the room.
“See there!” Aunt Avalene smiled, “Wonderful”
Someone knocked on the front door; two hard knocks really close together.
Ava walked into the kitchen to pull the last pie out of the oven. It was Ruby at the door. Ava smiled as she heard them shriek each other’s names from the kitchen like schoolgirls.
“Avalene!”
“Ruby…!”
“Come inside. It’s been so long. How are you?”
“I’m gorgeous as always and I see you are too. I’ve always been jealous of that red hair you have Avalene.”
The door shut.
“Oh, shush now. Come in the kitchen, I want you to meet my niece.”
“I can’t wait. Has she started practicing yet?”
“A little.”
The kitchen door swung open. Ava acted like she was busy as she tried to pretend she hadn’t heard their loud conversation.
“Ava, this is Ruby,” she smiled and gave winked. “Remember, I told you all about her.”
Ruby smiled, “Well, I’m flattered. Whatever she said was probably true!” She held out her hand, “And I already know your name. Little Ava.”
Ava took her hand trying not to laugh at Aunt Avalene’s sly introduction, “It’s very nice to meet you.”
“And respectful,” Ruby raised her pencil thin brows looking over her shoulder at Aunt Avalene. “Impressed.” She looked back at Ava, “Beautiful.”
“Aunt Avalene, do you mind if I go change?” Ava asked, keeping the ‘nice to meet you’ smile on her face.
“Go ahead, Shug, but hurry back down.”
“Okay, I’ll be right back.” Ava placed her apron on the counter. “It was nice to meet you Ms. Ruby.”
“Nice to meet you too,” Ruby smiled wider and then lowered her voice after Ava left the room. “Does she know everything yet?”
“No, not everything, but she knows most of it.”
Ava hesitated outside the kitchen door, wondering what else she had not been told. Was it the stuff Alec told her? She looked back towards the kitchen and then started up the stairs to her room.
The others arrived one by one. In their circle there was Aunt Avalene, Sherri, Ruby, Greta, and Mr. John. Ava already knew that Aunt Avalene’s element was earth, Sherri’s wind, and Ruby’s fire. She wondered what Greta and Mr. John’s elements were. There were two left; water and spirit.
As they sat down around the table she tried to guess. Greta was black and she seemed to be a woman who liked to keep things simple. She was dressed in a plain blue shirt and blue slacks. Her hair was short and gray-streaked and she wore only one ring. Mr. John was a tall thin man with a narrow nose and black hair. When he smiled the wrinkles around his eyes seemed to double. When Ava asked why he was called Mr. John instead of just John, he laughed and said his family had started calling him Mr. John when he was a child and it just kind of stuck.
Ava sat down and took a bite of her mashed potatoes as she listened to them all talk. She was sort of relieved they hadn’t turned their attention to her.
“Aunt Avalene laughed, “I told you about that spell.”
“It’s quite tricky!” Greta said with a smile.
Ruby smiled and looked around, “Well, after I set off two car alarms and started the neighbor’s lawn mower, I finally figured it out.”
“What spell?” Ava said, not hearing the first part of their conversation.
They all turned to her, but Mr. John answered. “It’s a spell to start your car, she lost her keys. Ruby never could keep track of anything.” He held his hand up like he was whispering, but spoke loud enough for everyone to hear, “It’s probably getting much worse with old age.” He smiled.
“Hey now,” Ruby said. “If I’m getting old, you all are.”
“Speaking of,” Greta said. “We have a birthday coming up.”
“I don’t want to think about i
t,” Ruby took a sip of her wine.
“Fifty-eight,” Sherri said. “Are we really that old?”
Ava put her hands under her chin, “You all really do have the same birthday?”
“Yes, Greta said. “Same birthdate and born at the same time.”
“We were born on August 1st at 10 a.m. exactly.” Aunt Avalene smiled around the table at everyone. There was a quiet moment as they all looked at each other. You could almost feel their connection to each other.
Mr. John smiled at Ava, “You have a birthday very soon as well, don’t you dear?”
“Yes, less than two months away.” Ava smiled back.
“The big eighteen,” Ruby lifted her brows. “Watch out boys, she’s legal!” Ruby sort of shook her chest.
“Ruby, please!” Greta scolded her. “No one wants to see that or talk about such things.”
“Oh, lighten up Greta.” Ruby sipped her wine.
Greta turned to Ava, “Have you started learning your magic yet?”
Ava froze in her chair, fork halfway to her mouth. “Kind of,” she hurried to take a bite and looked down.
Everyone got quiet and started eating.
Ava suddenly couldn’t wait to finish her dinner and get out of the hot seat. When everyone was finally done, she helped Aunt Avalene do the dishes and clean up the kitchen while the rest of them talked in the living room. Aunt Avalene wouldn’t let a guest in her house help with chores. Ms. Greta tried, but Aunt Avalene wouldn’t hear of it.
At five minutes to midnight they all walked out back. The moon was bright, but not completely full. From the glow of the moon you could just make out the outline of the dark raven shaped cloud. Ava shivered in the cool night air. The night breeze seemed to carry an extra chill with it tonight. Aunt Avalene handed her a small piece of wood with flowers and fruit on top. There was even some honey from the bees. They all gathered together in a half-circle facing the river. They joined hands as Ava took the small piece of wood down to the edge of the water. She waited, looking back at them.
“Put it in the water Shug,” Aunt Avalene said.
Elementris, Exposure, Eruption Box set: The Vangeretta Curse Series Page 8