Elementris, Exposure, Eruption Box set: The Vangeretta Curse Series

by Christina Mobley

  The breeze came through her bedroom curtain the same way it had last time. It carried the smell of fresh cut grass and the muddy river water with it. She took a deep breath and looked back down at the book.

  “Protection Spell,” it said across the top of the page. She whispered the words to herself out loud.

  “For a basic protection spell, you need a natural element; a blade of grass, a piece of pure cotton thread, or a feather from a dove. You have to have complete silence and focus for this spell. You have to put your own feelings into the object. How you feel about the person you’re putting it on. How much you want to protect them and you have to say this exact combination of words. Hold and keep from danger. Alone protect and watch for thee. Camanead safreee tonickcal.”

  She closed the book and put it away quickly. She would do the spell after school.

  She stopped in front of the mirror to check her makeup. She gripped her necklace and tucked it into her shirt. She loved the charm with the woman with upstretched arms. It seemed to fit perfectly. At least she felt a little safer now, having it on. Now she just had to help Brea and figure this whole Troy thing out.

  On the way to Brea’s house she slammed on brakes in front of the Williams’ house. There in front like a giant red stop sign, was a white truck. It said E Construction just under the little green tree. Her heart thumped against her chest. There was another one in the back yard. Men were cleaning up the burnt wood and a tractor was digging a big hole in the back. One of the men in the front yard looked at her sitting there in the middle of the road. He nodded once.

  She looked back at him and then put her foot down on the gas. She turned into Brea’s driveway and put the car in park. She couldn’t take her eyes away from that green tree symbol. “E Construction, its Lareina. This can’t be a coincidence. Are they here trying to figure out if it’s me? Does she already know who I am? Is that why lightning struck the Williams’ house?”

  “That was fast,” Brea said climbing in the passenger side.

  “What?” Ava said, pulling her eyes away from the trucks in the yard next door.

  “The cleanup,” Brea pointed at the trucks, “they’ve been over there all morning. Mr. Williams was there earlier, just before they started work. He looked so horrible. Mom said she heard he’s moving after he gets it all cleaned up.”

  “It’s crazy,” Ava said looking back to the trucks.

  “Yeah, I know. They’ve lived next to me since I was like nine. Do you remember that dog they used to have?”

  “Yeah, I remember.” Ava backed out. She didn’t tell her about the E Construction thing. There are parts of this that she just can’t share with Brea. It’s all just too much.

  The overcast sky and the dark clouds to the west of town made her wonder. “Was it Lareina or just a storm?” It was creepy. She looked in the rearview mirror, getting that sinking feeling like she was being watched. No one was behind them.

  “Did you find anything?” Brea turned to her. “The protection spell thing?”

  “Yeah,” Ava looked ahead now. “I uh…think I can do it. We have to find a pure cotton thread or a feather or a blade of grass. Whichever one will be easier to put on her.”

  “Probably the thread,” Brea said flipping down the visor mirror. “When are we going to do it?”

  “After school.” She turned onto the main road. “We can find a thread and then you can take it home and find a way to hide it on her. Maybe tie it in her hair or something.”

  “Good. Thank you Ava”

  “It’s no big deal. Of course I would want to help you with this.”

  “Yeah…too bad he just won’t leave.”

  “Yeah.”

  Brea shut the visor mirror, “Can we hit a drive through? I’m starving.”

  “You’re still not eating at home?”

  “Hell no…I can’t risk it. He keeps saying things and stuff. At least I’ll probably lose some weight like this.”

  “That is so…messed up, Brea. You know you can come down to the house and eat any time you want.”

  “I know…” she smiled. “I might have to start taking you up on that. I am seriously in need of some good un-poisoned home cooking.”

  “How about we stop and get a sausage biscuit?” Ava said, eyeing the sign for a fast food restaurant with a drive-through window up ahead.

  “Yeah, that’s fine,” Brea gripped her stomach as they pulled in.

  Brea ordered two combos for herself and somehow managed to scarf them both down on the short drive to school. The parking lot was full when they pulled in to park. Most of the other kids had already gone inside. “Are we late?” Ava wondered out loud as she squeezed into a parking spot on the grass.

  “No,” Brea wiped her mouth. “I don’t think so.”

  The bell sounded suddenly.

  “We are now!” Ava hurried to grab her things and get out of the car.

  “Great!” Brea darted out behind her, almost dropping her bag.

  They rushed through the doors and made it to their first class just before the tardy bell sounded.

  Ava had not really given any thought to how everyone would react when the news spread about her date with Troy and she was surprised to find that they were the subject of the whispers in the halls and in the girl’s bathrooms.

  “Troy Drake and Ava Vangeretta… they’re dating. Do you know her? No…not really. She was at the party. They were in his room together.” The words echoed through Ava’s mind as she walked through the hall with him. It’s so strange; she had fantasized about being with Troy Drake for so long. It seems like a dream or something now. He has such a presence at school.

  The kids seem to automatically move out of his way when he walks through the hall. Everyone who talks to him seems like they are dying to impress him. He’s wearing his football jacket today because of the game tonight. He let go of her hand and draped his arm around her shoulder. She could feel her face turning red. All the people staring, judging her, deciding her worth, definitely not what she is used to. They whisper behind them after they pass. He just smiles nonchalantly, like it is no big deal.

  She likes him, but Jenna’s words still hang there in the back of her mind. “Was it true? Was he using his magic to mess with Jenna? Before this went any further she would have to find out.” His blue eyes seemed so pure and honest. She searched them for a moment before he pulled open the cafeteria door for her. They walked through the cafeteria doors and took a seat at Troy’s table. Brea was sitting at their normal table by herself.

  Troy smiled and whispered, “Why don’t you tell Brea to come sit with us?”

  “Okay,” Ava smiled and stood up. She felt all eyes on her as she walked over to Brea.

  “Hey traitor,” Brea teased, taking a sip of her soda.

  “Hey,” Ava whispered, “Sit with me.”

  Brea smiled, “It’s okay…you’re with your boyfriend.”

  “No seriously,” Ava smiled, “Come sit with us. Troy wants you to. Plus I really need someone to talk too, everybody is staring at me.”

  “Of course they are,” Brea smiled, picking up her tray. “That’s the price you pay for high school stardom.”

  “More like high school persecution.”

  “Well, let them stare, you got the guy.”

  “Yeah…I guess.”

  They walked over and sat down at the table. Dill, notorious class clown, and Brea’s ex-sixth-grade-boyfriend slid down nervously when Brea sat across from him. She smiled her “ha-ha” smile at him. I think they both still sort of like each other, but Brea has too much pride to admit it and Dill was still a little nervous of her.

  No one at the table pointed out the obvious; Troy and Ava dating. They talked about everything else in the world. The topics flipped from one thing to the next so fast Ava could barely keep up. Now they were on tonight’s game. Dill demonstrated his idea of what cheerleaders look like and a short brown haired girl that Ava didn’t really know pursed her lips at him. Di
ll threw his hands up and swung out his leg, “Go Team Go,” he said in a girlish voice. “Wow, it’s just so hard to put on this little outfit and kick my leg around. My brain cells are hurting, rhyming is so hard.”

  “Shut up Dill!” the brown haired cheerleader said “Cheerleading is a sport. And it’s hard work. Football players are the ones who are missing brain cells. How hard is it to slam into each other and chase a ball…really?”

  Everybody suddenly stopped talking and looked at the door. Ava turned to look, following everyone else’s slow stares. Jenna Ross stood there. She looked around for a second, meeting Ava’s eyes first. She carried a paper bag lunch in her left hand and, when no one spoke to her, she put her head down and walked to a table towards the back of the room.

  The conversation suddenly sprang back up; everybody avoiding the elephant in the room. No one mentioned how automatically Jenna Ross was disowned from their group just because Troy broke up with her. It was strange, she was the head cheerleader and on top of the world just a few days ago. She was rude and shallow, but now like magic, Poof…banished to a back table, and nobody special.

  Ava pretended to listen to everybody talking, but her eyes went to Jenna like magnets. She had to know, was it true? She did look a little heavier than normal. Could Troy really do those things to her? Jenna’s hair was pulled back in a tight pony tail. Her blonde hair was always perfect, but when she bent down Ava could see the bald spot she was trying to hide with her pony tail.

  Ava gasped, her heart pounded. She stared at the bald spot shining in the florescent light.

  Jenna reached up and smoothed her ponytail back into place.

  Ava turned to look at Troy. He was laughing at Dill. They were all talking, even Brea. Ava just stared at him. Was it true? She shook her head slowly, it couldn’t be right. He smiled at her and slipped his arm around her waist. She felt butterflies, excitement, and severely sick to her stomach all at the same time.

  After school Ava and Brea rushed up to Ava’s room. Aunt Avalene was at Sherri’s and everyone else went home today. The house was quiet again, but just in case, they locked the bedroom door before pulling the book out.

  The whole way home Brea had been talking about Troy Drake and what all was said at lunch... She had not said one single word on any other subject until Ava put the book on the desk.

  “Wow,” Brea touched it. “That is seriously cool. It really looks like a magical book.”

  Ava smiled. “Watch this.” She sat down in front of the book and said, “Protection spell.”

  A breeze blew into the room and the book seemed to vibrate just slightly as it opened. The pages turned and then stopped on the page that said Protection Spell.

  “Whoa…now that is cool. Have you been practicing a lot now?”

  Ava shrugged, “Every day.”

  “Can you do a lot of stuff?”

  “Well the book magic is sort of tricky, but the element magic seems to be getting easier.”

  “Will you show me something after this?”

  Ava nodded her head, “Yeah…but one thing at a time. Let’s see if I can do this right.”

  Brea reached in her pocket, “Here’s the thread.”

  Ava reached out and took it. She straightened it out carefully on the desk. “Okay,” she breathed, “it says the spell needs complete silence.

  “Okay,” Brea nodded, pretending to lock up her mouth and throw away the key, just the way they used to do when they told each other secrets as kids.

  “Okay.” Ava took a long breath and blew it out. She held her hands out over the thread and read the words from the book “Hold and keep from danger. Alone protect and watch for thee. Camanead safreee tonickcal.” Ava suddenly felt a sort of buzzing in the room. Her heart pounded and all the tiny hairs on her arms stood up. It felt like electricity surged into her body, raced through her veins and then leaped from her fingertips.

  “Did it work?” Brea asked. “Nothing happened.”

  “It worked,” Ava said confidently. “I felt it.”

  Brea reached down and picked up the thread, “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah,” Ava breathed excitedly. “It worked. I felt it working. Put it in your pocket and tie it in her hair the first chance you get.”

  “I will. Can you show me some other stuff now?”

  “Yeah,” Ava smiled and closed the book. “Let me put this up first and we can go out back where no one will see us.”

  “Okay,” Brea gripped her stomach, “But let’s hit the kitchen for a snack first, I am starving.”

  Brea scarfed down one last bite of Aunt Avalene’s chicken soup and they walked out back. Ava walked over to the fire pit. “Okay, are you ready?”

  Brea came up next to her, “Are you kidding? I’ve been ready since you first told me you were a witch…I mean…uh, an Elementris or whatever.”

  Ava held her hands out over the fire pit. She took a long breath and rubbed her hands together. She thought about the fire; the color, its burning heat, the embers floating in the air. That same electricity worked its way through her body until she felt it burning at her fingertips. She thrust her hands out in front of her and…nothing happened. “Damn it!!”

  “Why didn’t it work?”

  “Just let me try again.” Ava rolled her head around and held her hands out again. She felt the burning still there at her fingertips. She focused on it with every part of her and thrust her hands out. The wood in the fire pit sparked to life. The flames roared over the wood, crackling and popping.

  Brea jumped up and down excitedly, “So freaking cool! I wish I could do that. I would set Buck on fire.” She thrust her hands out pretending, “Whoosh! Instant charcoal.”

  “Brea,” Ava said, dropping her voice low and sitting in front of her on the edge of the fire pit. “Are you ever worried that he might hurt you?”

  Brea looked down her eyes sort of glossing over, “I try not to think about it too much. He does things sometimes though. Like um…,” she ran her hand nervously through her hair, “he knocks into me in the hall sometimes, or kicks me under the table, threatens me.”

  Ava had never asked her this before but, she had to know…now that he was back, “Did he ever..., you know, hit you or anything, before?”

  Brea suddenly looked paler; she averted her eyes, looking over her shoulder at the fire as she whispered, “Yeah, a few times.” She looked back at Ava, “I hid the bruises from you. I was embarrassed about it.” She stood suddenly, “I'm fine though now. If he puts a hand on me…,” her eyes narrowed, “I'll take him down.”

  “If he ever tries…you have to promise that you'll call me,” Ava said. She stood now too “I want you to keep this for a while. She grabbed the necklace and unclasped it from around her neck. “This will protect you. I want you to keep it on all the time.”

  “I can't take this Ava,” she looked up trying to pull the necklace back off. “I know what it means to you and you need protection more than I do.”

  “No,” Ava stopped her. “I can protect myself now. Please take it Brea. It will make me feel better.”

  Brea finally agreed just before it was time for her to go home.

  Ava pulled back in the yard after dropping Brea off. Troy’s shiny black truck sat in the driveway and suddenly her mind went back to Jenna. Everything she had said, “”He tried to drown me, but there was no water. He put a hex on me or something” and the shiny bald spot she had seen in the cafeteria.

  Troy stepped out holding a bouquet of red roses. “Hey there,” he smiled, blue eyes flashing.

  She shut the car door and walked over to him. “Hey,” she noticed the roses and the nervous smile on his face. “What’s going on?”

  He smiled, “I came to ask you something.”

  “What?”

  He brushed back his brown hair and locked eyes with her, “I want to formally ask you to prom.”

  “Prom?” she said, startled. She wasn’t thinking about prom. Somehow the prom had become a forg
otten topic in her cluttered mind. The whole school year she had fantasized about Troy Drake picking her up and taking her to prom. Now she couldn’t believe she was about to risk him not ever talking to her again. She had to have answers though. “I need to talk to you about something before we talk about that.” She couldn’t help feeling slightly excited that Troy Drake had asked her to prom, but Jenna’s warning pushed all that excitement away. She had to know first.

  “What is it?” he smiled, tilting his head.

  “Can we walk around back?”

  “Sure,” he said and followed her around the house. “Are those live bees?” he pointed to the three white boxes on the side of the house.

  “Yeah,” she walked ahead, “They won’t hurt you.”

  “Okay,” he caught up with her.

  They took a seat on the bench facing the river. She took a deep breath. “I need to know something Troy. It’s about what we talked about the other day on the boat.”

  “Ask me anything Ava.”

  “Okay…well,” she looked into his intense blue eyes “Have you ever used your magic for bad things? Like to scare someone or something?”

  He lowered his brows, “No…I mean maybe to scare away one of the babysitters my dad used to hire when I was a kid.”

  “Oh…,” she suddenly felt really strange talking to him about this.

  “Why are you asking me this? Have you used your magic to scare someone?” he slid closer to her.

  “Me…um, no. I just…” She looked into his eyes. They were kind and… “Jenna called me,” she suddenly blurted.

  “She did?” He looked mad. “She keeps calling me too. I changed my cell phone number, but she got it again somehow.” He took her hand. “I’m sorry. Jenna is out there. She’s mad that I broke up with her.”

  “Why did you break up with her?”

  “Because, she’s obsessed. She called me constantly and would even follow me to the bathroom when she was at my house. Super jealous too.” He paused “What did she say to you?”