One thing Jade knew. She didn’t want to be beholden to Harold in any way. Besides, if Harold thought he knew someone who could help, he should be talking to Mom. Jade said firmly, “My sister is fine.”
She retreated, hoping for a reprieve. Harold must have decided not to bother her anymore because he brought his ticket to the cash register where Marie processed his bill. He left a ten dollar tip, which was incredibly high in their little town for a single person eating breakfast.
During lunch, Jade was glad to get out of the diner and out into the fresh air. The scent of pine trees filled Main Street as she walked to the flower shop. Her Mom flipped the sign from open to closed and added the “Out to Lunch” sign as soon as she saw Jade coming.
“How’s work?” Her mom turned the lock as soon as Jade stepped into the shop. The front room smelled of fresh-cut flowers. Several bright bouquets were stowed away in the display cases.
“I want to quit and work here with you,” Jade said, as she plopped down at the table in the back room which served as a break-room and office.
“Harold again?” her Mom asked. It was a weekly occurrence.
“He called Mindy slow and offered to give me the name of a specialist in Seattle. He keeps digging for information every week,” Jade said as she took the sandwich her Mom had pulled out of the little refrigerator she kept beside her desk.
“It’s only for a few months. I’m sure you’ll be fine. There’s not enough work for both of us here,” Amy said, handing Jade a sandwich, potato chips, and orange juice.
“I’m not sure a car is worth this stress,” Jade said. She applied for the job at the diner because she wanted to buy a used car next year. She hadn’t counted on all the annoyances that came with employment. Jade broke open her chips, popping one in her mouth. She was starving.
“Either way, you’re learning to be responsible. You accepted a summer job and you’re going to have to see it through. You need to learn how to answer these kinds of questions. It’s better if you learn to do it in a setting where you can escape.” Amy said and then nibbled on her sandwich.
Jade glanced at the clock. Her lunch break flew by on some days. She still had a few minutes. Before shoving chips in her mouth, she asked, “Seriously Mom, is all this secrecy still necessary? Dad’s been gone for years.”
Amy Gray paled, her eyes haunted by some distant memory. She grabbed Jade’s hand, “Promise me, Jade. This isn’t just your life or mine, but your sisters as well. The men who killed your father will stop at nothing. Stick with the story.”
“Okay, Mom.” Jade and Amy were silent for a moment, each remembering the past and finishing their lunch. Jade remembered the man who taught her how to ride a bike and put together 3D puzzles. Amy remembered the man who walked Raven for hours when she was teething, who surprised her with flowers on random evenings.
Jade was the first to break the silence. She pushed her chair back, “Gotta go.”
Amy forced a smile, “I love you, Honey. Have a good rest of the day.”
The sun was bright and the morning already warming up, but Jade shivered. She thought she heard whispering on the breeze. She jogged back to work, suddenly afraid, even out on the street in the bright sunshine.
Chapter 2
~~ Mindy ~~
Mindy tossed and turned all Saturday night. She lived in a permanent present, remembering little of the past and worrying less about the future. When dreams haunted her, she fought to remember the warning. Her visions did not come from Earth, the element that chose Mindy, but from something else.
Waking up, Mindy needed Jade. It was a deep need, like an itch that needed a scratch or hunger after hours of fasting. Pulling aside the blankets, Mindy slid her toe to the floor. She tentatively touched the carpet. When visiting Great Aunt Cecile, the aunt who died of a sudden stroke, Mindy stayed alone in the attic room with a window that looked out over the flower beds. That first morning, Mindy was shocked to put her toe down on a cold floor. Now she was suspicious of the floor every morning and had to see, just to make sure it was carpet.
Once both feet were firmly on the floor, Mindy stood. She glanced over at Claire’s bed with sudden tension. Her sister’s back was to her, but Claire scolded Mindy if she woke her up. Claire had been mean all yesterday afternoon because Mindy wet her bed the night before. She’d seen the darkness, but nobody believed her. Not even Jade. Jade would know what to do if Mindy could just find the right words.
She left her room, meandering toward Jade’s room. Mindy stopped at the watercolor of a blurry girl in white dancing in a field with yellow and orange flowers. Sometimes she got lost in the picture, in the bright colors. Today she smiled at the girl and knocked on Jade’s room.
The other sister answered. From inside the room, a crabby Raven said, “What!”
Mindy felt a tiny fear. It wasn’t the void nightmare fear or the man outside her window fear, but fear nonetheless. She almost couldn’t speak. Finally Mindy said, “Jade.”
Raven jerked open the door, “Jade’s at work. Go back to bed.”
Mindy tipped her head to look past Raven. She wanted her sister, the good one. She frowned and said, “Jade.”
Raven rolled her eyes. Taking Mindy’s hand rather more gently than Claire would have, Raven turned Mindy in the direction of the living room. “I’ll make you breakfast. What do you want?”
Mindy padded along behind Raven, still holding her hand. Mindy felt comfort in her sister’s touch, even though Raven wasn’t always nice. Sometimes she called Mindy Dumb-butt and sometimes she hurt Mindy’s feelings with her games with Claire that weren’t funny at all even though her sisters laughed and laughed, like when they took her stuffed puppy, Pebbles, and hung her above the curtains. Mindy had tried to rescue her puppy, but it was too high for her to reach.
The kitchen was warm and smelled like toast. Mindy’s mouth watered, and she grinned, “Jam?”
Mindy watched while Raven took two breads and put it into the toaster. She said, “Do you want to toast them?”
Nice Raven today. Mindy smiled and nodded.
“Okay, come here then. Pull this handle down right here. Like this,” Raven pulled the lever and the bread fell into the toaster. She pushed it up again and they popped right back out.
Mindy pulled the button down, and the toast slid in. Grinning, she pushed it up so that they popped out. She did this a few times until Raven put her hand over Mindy’s, “They have to stay down so that you can eat.”
Claire ruined the fun by walking into the kitchen. Claire never liked Mindy. Mindy didn’t know why, but she tried to stay out of the way. Claire said, “Well done, Raven. Maybe by the time she’s in high school she’ll know how to make toast.”
Mindy knew Claire was being mean. She ignored her. Instead, she stood on her tippy-toes and watched the toast. She reached out to touch the red metal inside the slots, but Raven grabbed her hand before she could get any closer. Raven said, “No, Mindy. Danger.”
Mindy felt shocked, surprised. Tears started to form in her eyes. She wanted the sister who liked her. She wanted Mom. They were always gone. Mindy said, “Mom.”
Claire threw her hands over her head, “For pity’s sakes. I wish Bertha were here. I hate babysitting her.”
Raven nodded to Claire. To Mindy she said, “Your toast is almost done. We’ll get some jam on that and everything will be okay.”
Mindy said, “I’m a big girl.”
Claire pulled out Mindy’s chair. “Which would have been cute at three or four, but you’re seven. Sit down.”
Mindy warily approached the chair. Claire had done things. Mindy couldn’t remember all of them, but she knew better than to trust Claire. She looked at Claire who was staring at her with the hate look in her eyes. Only Claire gave her the hate look. Raven sometimes didn’t like her, and sometimes teased her, but Claire hated her. Mindy stared back.
The toast popped. Raven threw a few more slices of bread in for Claire. While she slathered it
with margarine and jam, Raven asked Claire, “Want to practice outside after breakfast?”
“No outside,” Mindy turned in her chair, her nightgown scrunching uncomfortably. She grunted and wriggled a few times to get clear.
“She wasn’t talking to you, Squirt.” Claire didn’t say Squirt the way Jade did. Claire abused the word, giving it a hard, biting edge. Jade’s Squirt was full of amusement and love. Mindy didn’t like it when Claire stole Jade’s word. Claire stretched, water rising along her fingers. She said, “For sure. I have to get out of this house.”
Raven filled up a half-glass of prune juice for Mindy. It was her medicine, but it didn’t taste as bad as some of the other medicine. Mindy clapped when Raven gave her the plate of toast.
“Try to keep it on the table this time,” Claire said. “You know, Mom should ban Mindy from eating jam. We wouldn’t have to wash her nightgown all the time.”
Mindy loved the taste of raspberry. She stopped worrying about ‘outside’ and focused on breakfast. She barely listened while Raven and Claire spoke around her. In between bites, she stared at the daisies on the table. It was sad that they were dying. Someone had cut them away from Earth.
Earth loved flowers. Mindy felt at peace inside while Earth spoke to her, and she sent that love to the daisy closest to her. The little flower perked up. A drop of jam fell from her mouth onto her lap.
Mindy looked up sharply. Claire was slurping down her toast as she said, “You try to become Air again. That’s how I feel when I’m in water, part of it and absolutely free.”
Claire and Raven were intent on their conversation. Mindy picked up the jam, sticky between her fingers and lifted it slowly to her mouth. She was glad they were all busy eating now. She didn’t want to get in trouble with Claire again for her messes.
Raven said, “I’ll try today. I’m still rusty.”
Claire laughed, “If you were iron you would be, after all that practicing with me.”
Claire had come into her powers last year when she started puberty. Even though Raven outstripped all of her sisters in elemental talent and ability, her father’s death had stopped it cold. Growing up, any time Raven used her power, her mom had freaked out massively. Raven was just rediscovering her abilities. She said, “Well let’s get Min Min cleaned up and then we’ll get dressed and head out.”
Claire frowned a little at Mindy, “Someday the little rat is going to tell on us.”
“Hush, Claire. The little rat just rustles around. She won’t say anything if you play it cool.” Raven scooted out from the table and grabbed Claire’s plate.
Mindy was slower finishing breakfast than the other girls. She said, “Mindy see the little rat?”
Claire laughed, “Sure, Mindy sees the rat. Hurry now.”
Mindy didn’t like breakfast after Raven and Claire finished eating. They were always watching for her to drop her food. Now they wanted her to eat fast. She still had a lot left to eat.
Claire said grabbed Mindy’s dish, “I’ll do dishes if you clean the rat, I mean brat.”
“Done.”
Mindy took Raven’s hand and followed her to the bedroom to pick out clothes and then into the bathroom to wash up. Raven said to pick play clothes, so Mindy picked her pink princess sweats.
Raven ran a wash cloth under the water.
Mindy looked at the faucet suspiciously and said, “Warm water.”
“Gotcha. Get out of your clothes, Mindy,” Raven said. She waited until the cloth was warm.
Mindy struggled with the nightgown, but finally pulled it off her head. Her fingers stuck to the cloth a little from the jam. Raven washed her hands carefully and then her face and neck. It was a relief not to be sticky, although the air on her wet skin made her feel chilly.
Raven quickly helped Mindy into her sweats. She tied Mindy’s shoes for her. Her mom refused to get her Velcro shoes, convinced Mindy could learn. Raven and Claire had long since given up. Only if Jade or Mom were watching did they bother to let Mindy try tying her shoes. The weird thing was that Mindy could sometimes do it…and then sometimes she couldn’t.
Raven changed into her own outside clothes and the three sisters met in the living room. Raven expected Mindy to fuss when she tried to lead her outside, but apparently she had forgotten between breakfast and this particular moment that she didn’t want to go outside.
Mindy found a patch of moss under the gnarled apple tree. The sun was shining and the moss was dry. She sat down. Raven said, “Now, Mindy, you know not to play by the creek. Say it.”
“No creek,” Mindy agreed with a slow nod of her head. Water was dangerous. Fire was dangerous. But Earth was safe.
From her perch, Mindy could see Raven and Claire play with the Universe. Seeing a heavy branch that had cracked and fallen from a tree, Claire grabbed it and threw it onto the pile that she had made to slow the water’s flow. The water was up to their waists now. Claire wanted to make a swimming pool, but it was hard to dig deep enough.
Mindy could have helped. The dirt would have moved if she asked, but she didn’t trust Claire to know that she spoke to the Universe. Not even Mom or Jade knew that. Earth said to keep it a secret. Claire would never know, not as long as Mindy was quiet.
Claire stripped off her shorts and t-shirt, followed by her underwear. Mom wouldn’t like that. She stepped into the water and changed, her form melting. Mindy felt a little queasy when Claire’s whole self collapsed, her form merging with the water. Raven closed her eyes. Mindy could see that Raven was trying to do the same thing, only with air. Somehow Raven couldn’t quite manage.
Earth spoke to Mindy and she stopped watching Raven and Claire. Lying on her back, she watched the bunny cloud and the duck cloud float along in the far blue. Earth pulsed with warmth, like a blanket soothing Mindy and relaxing her mind. She was a blank. Time. Time. Time. Mindy couldn’t think straight. There was something important about Time, and Earth was trying to tell her, but Mindy’s brain was broken. Deep down Mindy knew that, but she could never fix herself, so she let go.
She relaxed and didn’t worry, letting Earth’s instructions wash over her. Maybe someday she would understand. Maybe Jade would fix her. Jade said she was going to be a brain surgeon. Neuro, nurture, something. Earth whispered and Mindy closed her eyes.
“Fix me,” Mindy begged the presence she felt hovering in the dirt and stone beneath the moss. Earth cuddled her. Mindy felt safe and warm in Earth’s embrace, but the lost feeling never went away. It was beyond Earth’s power to fix what was wrong with Mindy.
Earth’s embrace lightened, and Mindy felt the footsteps of a man nearby. Too close. Watching. Earth whispered, “Wake up Mindy. Warn your sisters.”
Mindy’s eyes filled with tears as they often did when she had to leave Earth’s warmth. She pushed herself up and staggered to Raven whose eyes were closed as she fiercely concentrated on something in the sky. Mindy didn’t know Air. She was a passing acquaintance to Mindy. Sometimes the breeze would kiss her cheek and sometimes she would hear a whisper from one of the winds, but Raven belonged to Air and Air belonged to Raven.
Mindy grabbed Raven’s arm and shook her violently, shouting, “Stranger. Stranger.”
Raven jerked, yanking herself away, “Mindy, you scared the sunny clover out of me.”
“Help. Stranger,” Mindy pointed to the woods where she had felt the man’s feet upon Earth, an unclean man, not in the physical sense, but spiritually filthy, a man whose intent was to hurt.
She felt him leaving, tracking his evil footprints across her Earth. She wanted Raven to feel him, to believe her. Jade always believed her. Only Jade. Not even Mom, but Mindy thought Mom just pretended not to believe her sometimes to fool the other girls.
Mindy pointed again, “Air watches too.”
Raven shook herself and Mindy could see that she understood. While Raven tried to see the man, Mindy crept to the water.
“Claire? Stranger. Come in now,” Mindy knelt near the water, not too close.
Mom and Jade told her exactly how close she could go, so she put her knees on the line and leaned as far as she could get to call for her sister.
The water bubbled near the bank. Mindy called again, “Claire!”
A fountain of water burst from the creek, the spray drenching Mindy. Mindy stood as the cold water soaked into her princess sweats.
“Nooooooo,” she wailed.
Mindy ran from the water, frightened. Water didn’t speak much to her. Water scared her, mostly because it belonged to Claire. If Claire hated her, maybe Water did, too. Mindy couldn’t trust it.
Raven opened her eyes and said in a strangled voice, “Claire, Mindy, get in the house now.”
Mindy, still sputtering, had already run to the porch of the rambler and was standing huddled and looking miserable as she dripped onto the wood. Claire was coming up out of the water, her head forming first. Raven ripped off her leather jacket, annoyed that it was about to get wet. For a moment she almost thought the jacket more important than her sister’s dignity, but Air remonstrated her, giving her the scent of the man watching.
Raven asked Air to send a swirl of dirt and leaves into the man’s eyes. Air complied. As Claire stepped out of the water, Raven moved to block her from the stranger. Raven wrapped her coat around Claire. “Run to the house and keep that coat wrapped around you. Get inside. I’ll get your clothes.”
Claire’s clothes were strewn along the grass a few feet from the bank. Bertha and Mom had planted grass all the way to the edge of the bank. It stopped with an abrupt drop of a couple feet into the water. Raven felt a sick fear as a strange image rose in her mind. It was the image of her father burning. The memory played over and over in her head as she picked up Claire’s trainer bra, her underwear, her t-shirt. Raven knelt on the grass, her stomach heaving.
As her stomach revolted, she remembered the flesh melting, the stench. She tasted toast and jam as they came back up, spewing across the grass while tears streamed down her face. Her whole body shook with the memory.
A Time To Kill (Elemental Rage Book 1) Page 2