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

by Christina Mobley

  “Do you like working there?” Brea asked, curious about her mother’s new life.

  “The women’s center? I love it. It’s kind of nice to talk about it all. It’s hard sometimes, seeing the ones who keep going back. We lost a lady last week, she left and…,” her voice trailed off.

  “I would hate to be stuck in a relationship like that. I just don’t get it. How stupid can you be? I bet she had kids too.” Brea stopped, struck silent by the words she had just uttered.

  Her mother didn’t say anything.

  Brea grabbed the box and held it out to her. She looked in her mother’s brown eyes and regretted her rash words. “I’m sorry, Mom. I love you.”

  “I love you too, baby.” She took a quick step forward and hugged her again. “Are you sure you can’t stay for a little while at least?”

  Brea looked at the house and then at the darkening sky. The last thing she wanted was to be stuck here. She couldn’t imagine being forced to spend the night in that house. “No, I’d better go, Mom. I’ll still try to make it up this weekend.”

  “Okay…Dave will be here then. He is excited to spend some time with you.”

  “Where is he now?”

  “He’s at work. If you want to wait, he’ll be here after four.”

  “I can’t” She hurried forward and gave her mom a kiss on the cheek, “I’d better go, Mom.”

  “Be careful, baby,” her mom hurried to say as Brea opened the car door and got inside.

  She couldn’t have explained why she had to rush to get away from that house. She felt so claustrophobic there. It felt as if the walls she had built to protect herself from the memories of her childhood were starting to crumble just being there.

  She gave one last wave and left.

  Just a few minutes down the road she saw a black SUV tucked into the woods. She slowed to get a better look but she couldn’t make out the person behind the wheel.

  Brea looked away and pressed the gas harder.

  …Ava…

  The strange weather was beginning to affect the island now. The permanent storm surrounding the island had moved to shore and the back side of the island was frosted with a layer of snow and ice. It was as if someone had split the weather down the middle. Just where the Greens cabins started you could put one foot in snow and the other in dry sand. It was strange, even for Element Island. No one knew what to do. Ava couldn’t go anywhere without being met with worried stares. She sat up in her bed, wishing it was all a dream. The rain battering the windows was a sobering sound. She walked over, hoping and trying for the hundredth time. She pressed her palm against the window and felt it’s coolness seep into her bones. She dug deep inside herself, trying to find her connection to the elements.

  The baby rolled in her stomach and then it kicked. She instantly lost her connection. She put her hand on her belly and waited. The baby kicked again. She smiled and placed her hand against the window again and concentrated. The rain slowed and drizzled away. She nearly leapt from the ground. She tried again, trying to calm the dark sky. The clouds started to part, revealing the first sign of blue sky in days. She felt like she could breathe again. Then, the dark clouds snapped back together, thunder rattled the sky, and rain again battered the window.

  Ava stepped back from the window and turned away, her eyes glossed with tears. She felt deflated and defeated. She had to figure this out. “Could Vincent be right? Was it the accident? What was going on?” Alec had just told her that Bianca had been unable to find the diary. The one thing that might hold some answers was missing. She wanted to scream at the top of her lungs. She hated this. She needed to do something. She clenched her fists and spun toward the balcony doors. She slammed them open and stared down at the water below. It looked normal. The waves were rolling in the way they were supposed to. She cradled her stomach and closed her eyes as she tried to calm the overwhelming emotions building inside her.

  “Good morning,” Nisca said from behind her.

  Ava turned around, relieved to see her. She had been bugging Nisca for days about the weather but she still hadn’t seen anything that might help explain what was going on.

  Ava walked towards her, tears trailing slowly down her cheeks, “Nisca, I don’t know what to do.”

  Nisca’s eyes went wild and gold. Usually when Nisca fell into her trance-like state, Ava got worried, felt sick to her stomach. Not this time though, she had seen her like this many times now. As she helped her over to the chair by the vanity, she hoped Nisca would finally see something, get some sort of clue to the problem with the weather. Ava wanted desperately to figure it out. She missed her connection to the elements. She craved it deep in her soul.

  Nisca’s eyes closed and fluttered open, her pupils wide and her face tense. “The diary,” she whispered.

  “What about it?”

  “Ann Marie’s diary.” She sat up straight. “It wasn’t lost in the accident; someone has it. You need it. You will get it back.” She looked around the room, “I know where it is.”

  “You do?” Ava swallowed and her heart started to race, “Who? And what about the weather?”

  “Nothing.” Nisca stood, “Someone lied to you about the diary.”

  “What do you mean? Who? Maybe there is some answer in there.”

  “Maybe.”

  “Where is it?”

  “It’s in the prison.” She leveled her eyes with Ava’s, “In Lareina’s cell.”

  Ava felt her throat tighten, “Her cell? But, how? How did it get there?”

  Nisca shook her head, "I don’t know. Someone you sent to clean up the wreckage delivered it to her. They must have. It’s the only way.”

  “Let’s go and get it,” Ava said, moving quickly to the door.

  Nisca was right behind her.

  …Brea…

  As she parked the car in the only empty student parking spot in the dorm’s small parking area, Brea finally relaxed again. Being here, away from her childhood home, was healing somehow. Here she wasn’t Brea, the girl with bruises on her legs and holes in her shoes. She was just Brea. No one knew about her past. She sometimes wondered what her life would have been like if she had never met Ava, if she had never found Aunt Avalene and been able to escape to their house when hers became unbearable. She shook her head, thankful that she had never had to find that out.

  She stepped out of the car, relieved to see the night sky looking normal. Tiny stars glittered against the darkened sky. No snow or rain, just a blissfully normal night. Maybe the news had been wrong. Maybe Ava had found a way to fix everything. Or, maybe it was just the calm before the storm? She bent into the car and grabbed her purse.

  “I need to talk to you.” She heard someone say from behind her.

  She whirled around, Mace at the ready in one hand and the other clenched into a fist ready to punch. “What the hell? You scared me half to death! What do you want?” Brea demanded, trying to sound braver than she felt.

  “I need to talk to you.” Macy’s brother, Caslan, said.

  He took a step back noting the Mace still held at the ready. The street light lit his face. He was definitely hot, but the way his was jaw clenched tight was not very attractive right now. He looked like he was working to hold something in. He held his bottom lip between his teeth as he stared down at her. She wasn’t sure if she was scared of him or attracted to him; maybe a little of both. He was dripping with danger. Her mind screamed warning signals, but the instant fire she felt climbing up her body took over and the warning signals dulled. She knew she needed to run before she let herself be pulled in by him. He was the guy every mother warned their daughter about and she was vulnerable right now. Brea took a step back. “I don’t even know you,” she said as she moved to go around him.

  “I know.” His eyes darted up to the windows in the dorm. He put a hand on her arm. “Please, Brea. Let’s go somewhere and talk. There are things about Macy you need to know. “

  “What about Macy?”

  “I
can’t talk to you here. It’s important that Macy doesn’t find out that we’ve talked.” He looked up at the dorm windows again. She saw the pain in his face. She was confused by it. Scared by it.

  “I don’t want to get into her family business.” She said, looking away. When there was no response, she looked back again and jumped a little. He was gone.

  Brea scanned the darkened parking lot, but she didn’t see him. Prickles danced along her arms and she felt as if she were being watched. She looked back at the window to her dorm room and saw Macy. She didn’t wave or anything, she was just standing there, staring down at her. Their eyes met and Macy let the curtain fall shut. Thinking this was all just a little too weird, Brea hurried into the dorm and up the stairs.

  “There you are.” Macy said as she pulled the door open before Brea could get the key in to open it herself. “Who were you talking to?”

  “No one. Why?”

  “Oh. I thought I saw someone.” Macy backed away from the door so Brea could enter, “Where did you go anyway?”

  Brea stopped, took a breath and met her eyes, “I had a family emergency.”

  “Oh, yeah?” She stepped forward, “What happened?”

  “Um, just my grandma. She was in an accident,” Brea lied.

  “Oh no! I’m so sorry,” Macy exclaimed. “Is she okay?”

  “Yeah. She’s fine; just a few bumps and bruises, nothing too serious. How are things with your dad?” Brea set her keys down, trying to divert Macy’s attention away from what she had been doing while she was gone.

  “Fine. Hey, what do you say we go out tonight? Lance Roberts is throwing a huge hurricane party?”

  “I don’t know. It’s been a long day.”

  “Oh, come on. I really need this.” She batted her lashes.

  “Fine, we’ll go,” Brea groaned.

  “Okay, get dressed.” Macy said excitedly.

  “Right now!?!” Brea exclaimed.

  “Yes, now! We need to get there before the storm hits.”

  …Ava…

  Nisca and Ava stood at the gate waiting. Bill unlocked it slowly. He was one of the oldest guards on the island and one of the most respected. Alec’s father had served under him when he was young. He was a legend then. Now, he could barely move. He looked up after pulling the key out of the old enchanted lock. “Is everything okay?”

  “Yes, everything’s fine,” Ava replied as she forced a smile. She was boiling mad and finding it hard to hide her anger. It was probably a good thing she couldn’t control the weather right now. Someone had betrayed her. Someone had lied. She had been given a burnt piece of a page. Shawn had told her that Bianca had been the one to find it. He’d said it was all that was left; all they had found. Was it? Had Bianca lied to Shawn? Ava hated that she immediately doubted Bianca. She had worked hard to prove her loyalty to the Clutch and Alec said she wanted nothing more than to forget her past with the Waevern. Knowing what Lyssa had been through with the same situation made Ava want to help Bianca.

  She shook the disturbing thoughts away as they walked down the hall. A soft humming came from the last cell; Lareina’s cell. As they approached it, Ava’s skin crawled. It felt like tiny bugs were climbing all over her. One would imagine it was some sort of black magic, but it was just that sound. The sound of Lareina’s evil voice singing after she had hurt so many. She felt a cold wet feeling in the pit of her stomach. She took a deep breath, trying to quell the nausea that suddenly affected her.

  Nisca had her by the arm, “Are you okay?” she whispered.

  “Yeah, fine. Just nauseous.”

  They approached the cell and Lareina continued to hum, her back to them.

  “Lareina!” Ava snapped, demanding her attention.

  She stopped humming and turned around, “Well, aren’t you looking swell.” She smiled, as if they were old friends, as if she hadn’t tried to destroy everything Ava cared about. “You have everything you want now, don’t you. The girl who destroys lives gets what she wants. I wonder how Blake’s family feels. If they only knew that such an innocent face could curse their son to death. Poor Blake.”

  Ave felt the memory of Blake eat at her insides. She would live with the guilt of his death for the rest of her life. Even though he had been trying to expose the island, he had just been a pawn in Lareina’s sick game. She took a deep breath and pushed the image of his lifeless eyes away. “Shut up, Lareina!” She gripped the bars with both hands, “Where’s the diary? I know you have it.”

  “Why, Ava! I have no idea what you could be talking about,” she said with a smirk.

  “Yes, you do.” Ava said through clenched teeth. “The diary. Give it to me, now.”

  “Or, what?” Lareina asked, rushing to the bars, her face inches away from Ava’s. “You’ll lock me away in a miserable cell, take away the only thing I care about? No wait, maybe you’ll turn my only child against me?” She smiled widely, “You can’t threaten me,” she laughed. “You’ve already taken everything from me. Death would be a gift. Go ahead, send me to my death and free me from this hell. I dare you.”

  “You’re sick.” Ava shook her head. Then she felt it. The element magic. It vibrated deep in her veins and shot through her body like hot adrenalin. It was as if she was suddenly filled with it. It was begging to be released. She tried to hold onto it, it was too strong though. Her body shook as electric white heat shot from her fingertips and created a bolt of lightning that popped at the roof and bounced from the floor to each wall. The wind swirled around them. Nisca was tossed against the stone wall. Lareina was pinned against the far wall of her cell. Fire lit Ava’s hands and thunder shook the whole island. Then it just stopped. It was gone. She collapsed to her knees. Ava looked at her hands and then back at Lareina, who was staring at her, her eyes wide and incredulous. Nisca still sat against the wall; she was holding her arm.

  Ava got up, breathing rapidly. Her heart was hammering and the baby was rolling in her stomach. She reached down and placed her hand over her stomach. The baby kicked. Ava’s hand moved up and covered her mouth. Could it be possible? Was the baby doing all of this? She blinked and looked back at Lareina.

  She was smiling; there really was nothing to threaten her with.

  Ava called out to the guard waiting a few feet away. “Arrange for her cell to be searched. Call Alec!” She snapped. She was so mad and so confused. Her whole body was shaking. She looked at Lareina. She was right. Ava had nothing left to threaten her with. The only hope of getting the diary was searching her cell.

  …Brea…

  As Brea and Macy walked outside, it was evident the news had not been wrong. A hurricane was coming. The warm breeze pulled at the tops of the small trees around the dorm. The night sky was darkening. You could feel the approaching storm in the air.

  “It’s coming.” Macy said excitedly. “After the snow thing, and now the hurricane, people are saying the world’s ending.”

  “That’s dumb,” Brea said, following her to the car.

  Macy shrugged, “The weather is strange though.”

  Brea looked up and shivered as lighting lit the dark clouds in the night sky, “Yeah.”

  They took Macy’s green Jeep. It only took a few minutes to get to the party. They were both decked out; top to bottom awesome-sauce. Brea looked at herself in the visor mirror. Her hair was longer now, but she’d managed to coax it into a totally cute style. She had a swooping bang that ran over her forehead and ended in a curl behind her right ear. Smoke-colored eye shadow brought the brown tones in her eyes out and shimmery pink gloss highlighted her lips to complete the look. She felt a small stab of guilt as she shut the mirror. She needed this, though; a little time to just feel normal and escape for a little while. It was time to get her Brea-ti-tude back and accepting Macy’s invitation and having a good time would be the first step in getting that accomplished. They could feel the pulse of the music as soon as they got out of the Jeep. The bass was turned up high, promising a good time to all those
who dared the weather to show up. Lance knew how to throw a party. They were always fun; a little wild sometimes, but nothing they couldn’t handle.

  Brea and Macy walked through the open doors to find a sea of people dancing and having a good time. A flat screen T.V. was tuned to the local weather station. The radar was showing a huge storm over the Atlantic and Gainesville was right in the middle of the cone of concern. Brea thought about Ava and how she was dealing with all of this, but she needed to escape for a while, so she turned away from the T.V. and followed Macy into the sea of people. They danced and talked and the hours ticked by easily.

  It wasn’t until someone cut the music and turned the volume up that Brea realized how long they had been at the party. It was nearly one a.m. Live reports were showing the effects of the storm as it came ashore. A video of a crazy reporter standing in the wind as the ocean waves jumped up over the concrete wall behind him stole everyone’s attention. He yelled his report, holding onto his microphone and his yellow rain poncho as the wind pushed him around, “Hurricane Vannah has made landfall!”

  Everyone cheered like it was a good thing. Suddenly Brea felt sobered by the whole idea of a hurricane party. She wanted to leave. She wanted to leave right now. Ava was probably sitting in the castle sick to death about it and here she was celebrating like some mindless idiot. She grabbed Macy by the arm, “I’m ready to go. Let’s leave. Please.”

  “No, the party is just getting started. I want to stay.” Macy protested.

  “No, I really want to go. Like now.”

  Macy smiled over Brea’s shoulder at some guy, “Come on, Brea. I need this. Look at that hottie over there,” she grinned, as she sent a flirtatious smile in the guy’s direction. “I’ll be right back. Just hold tight and don’t leave.”

  Brea rolled her eyes as Macy forced her way through the crowd towards Mr. Hottie, not even waiting for her response. She let out a groan and backed out of the crowd. They were all toasting the storm like it was an old friend that had come home after a long absence. Brea shook her head, looked down at the cup in her hand, and put it on the table. The room suddenly felt too hot and the house too small for all of these people. She felt like a traitor just being here. Ava was probably worried sick about her, and here she was drinking and celebrating like a hurricane was a good thing. What if Ava knew? What if sweet, pocket full of hopefulness Ava, saw her here? She turned and walked outside.