Air’s voice was barely a whisper. Jade couldn’t quite hear.
Jade asked, “Where’s Raven?”
Scared.
“Where is she?”
You have to help her. The Void tracks her even now.
“Why don’t you just tell her I’m here and can pick her up? Then she’ll come back.” It seemed so logical. Jade wondered that Air didn’t think of it.
Hurry!
Jade no longer heard the sounds of police or party-goers. That didn’t mean the police wouldn’t keep a presence nearby or that it was safe to lift her head. Still, she didn’t exactly want to hide in the backseat all night wondering if she was going to be detained.
Raven needed her. Police or not, Jade threw the blanket off and crawled to the front seat, peering through the rear view mirror to see the continuing flashing lights of several police cars and now an ambulance.
Jade turned the key, thinking how strange it was. In a way her fear of society and fear of vampires was the same. She always did the right thing. Even though she hadn’t been drinking, wasn’t interested in the party and was completely innocent and sober, she was afraid of getting caught.
As she pressed the gas pedal, pulling out from the street even before turning on the headlights, Jade listened for Air’s directions. The Elemental was a bare whisper in Jade’s mind. Air and Fire often worked together. Jade followed Air’s guidance, glad when the flashing lights were out of her line of sight.
She turned down a quiet university road, the kind that loops around a university to protect the campus. Turning down a street with rows of three-story brick buildings interspersed with hedges and walkways, Jade wondered if she would go to university. She had the brochure and catalog from the University of Washington, her first choice. But as long as Mom was missing, Jade had to hold things together.
Jade’s daydream came to a sudden and abrupt end. She found Raven who was under attack. A chill swept over Jade’s shoulders and settled in the pit of her stomach when she saw the shadow on top of her sister. Raven was on the ground staring at the sky. Her mouth was open in a scream that made no sound.
Jade tumbled out of the car, hitting her knee on the pavement. She didn’t even feel it. With no plan in mind, she ran at the creature, calling like a banshee for Fire to come. Fire cheered.
Let me strike.
“Just don’t hit Raven,” Jade said as she sprinted across the grass with absolutely no idea what to do when she got to the creature.
She tackled the shadow, sparks flying from her hands.
Her hands went numb from the contact with the creature. The Servant of the Void swirled in midair. Jade had pushed him from behind, but she was now on her back and the Servant hovered over her, his eerily blank features hidden by the hood.
Three bursts of lightening struck. The hair on Jade’s arms stood on end, and she felt a strange electrical feeling running up and down her legs. Fire’s energy failed utterly. The creature sent the bursts back into the air without missing a beat. Jade stared into the darkness.
Frosty fingers touched her temples, and Jade thought her heart would burst from terror.
She felt the creature creep into her mind. There was no other word for it. A slithering presence joined her, a dark menace that sifted through her thoughts and emotions. Time. Jade knew that it was looking for the gift of Time. The gift that had supposedly been passed down to the Gray Family through countless generations, though Jade had yet to see it herself. At seventeen, Jade figured if it existed she would have known about it by now.
That was all the Void Servant wanted from Jade. The creature departed, lifting itself away.
Every breath she took was forced. She felt like the creature was still sitting on her. Groaning, Jade rolled onto all fours. “Raven?” she croaked.
Raven didn’t answer.
Jade crept over to her sister’s side. Raven was still lying on her back, staring at the sky with her mouth open and a sheer look of horror in her eyes.
~~ Raven ~~
Once Raven knew something was stalking her, she ran with all her might. The party shoes didn’t help. By the time she reached the campus she was barefoot. One of her shoes had been dropped at the side of the road near the park, the other when she stepped onto the curb near the Education building.
The shadow filled her with icy cold fear. She felt it coming, felt its force growing behind her even as she ran, as if icy tendrils snaked out to dance along her arms. When she raced through the grass, she was surprised when the Void servant suddenly appeared before her. Slamming into him, she fell to her knees. He put his hands on her head and ice crystals fell on her hair.
She felt so cold in its presence, a bitter chill that made her bones ache and her teeth chatter. The grass near her bare legs frosted over and withered where she knelt. The Servant of the Void held her head between his hands, his fingers on her temples. Raven cried out when she felt the cold seep into her brain.
He captured her spirit, pulling her from her body and into space. The stars passed like grains of sand and then they were gone while she sped through the universe, dragged by an unseen force. The Void Creature was no longer beside her, but she felt the same presence. During their travels he had lost form.
He took her into a place of utter darkness and formlessness. She felt so small, like the tiny speck of sand at the edge of a giant sea. The Void spoke to her. She couldn’t understand what it was saying. She knew it was trying to communicate, to tell her something.
She was sent back across the span of darkness, passed a multitude of galaxies and back to her own little world. Raven felt tears of relief form in the corners of her eyes. She realized that she was staring at the sky and couldn’t move a muscle.
Jade was standing over her, “Raven? Are you okay? Can you hear me?”
Raven’s entire body felt like it had been dunked in the Arctic Ocean for an hour. Finally she forced out a quiet, “Yes.”
She wasn’t okay, not in the least. Raven felt like something had come back with her from the ends of the universe. She felt something foreign inside, a coldness that seeped into her mind.
Air prodded her into sitting up. Raven’s body felt dead, the same way her arm felt that time she fell asleep resting back on her hands and the blood supply was cut off. Her hands had flopped like dead fish. This time, it was her whole entire body.
Raven didn’t know how long she lay there, staring at the stars. Jade pulled her up. Her arm still around Raven’s shoulders, Jade asked, “What happened?”
Raven stumbled with Jade to the car. She said, “I swear I didn’t drink anything. There was something else there,”
“I know. It’s okay. I know you were being chased.” Jade opened the door for Raven.
Raven realized that her favorite silk blouse was missing a button and she was walking around with her bra showing. That missing button disturbed her in a way that flying across the universe couldn’t. She pulled the two sides of her blouse together. Fighting back tears, Raven asked, “Did that thing touch me?”
Seeing the way she held the blouse, Jade said, “No. No. Not like that. I don’t know what he did to us. I know he was looking for something. My mind feels violated, though. And I’d like to kill that thing for the way it made me feel.”
Raven sank down into the passenger seat, letting Jade shut the door. For years they had just been sisters. Now they were friends. Once Jade had settled in the seat next to hers, Raven said, “Thanks. I…I was stupid for coming. Before last summer I could drink and push Air away and not care, but she’s done so much to help me that I couldn’t let myself go numb.”
“I’m glad you didn’t stay. The cops showed and busted the party,”
As Jade started the car and pulled away, Raven realized that she couldn’t feel Air. When she talked about going numb before, that had always happened with alcohol and medicine. But she skipped the drinking today. Where was Air?
She called a few times in her mind. Then Raven spoke aloud, “W
hat I said about being numb…since the Void thing touched me, I can’t feel Air.”
Jade reached out for Fire. Tinkling laughter was the reply. Fire was delighted with the fun they’d had. Jade then reached out for Air. Air answered in a whispering voice. They took her from me.
“That’s weird,” Jade said. She was on the highway now with both hands on the steering wheel and looking straight ahead. If she had watched Raven, she would have noticed that Raven was shaking from cold.
It came out in Raven’s voice, “What?”
“Air just told me that they took you from her,” Jade said. She flipped on the heat for Raven. Touching the void hadn’t exactly been a warming experience for her, either.
“Tell her I’m here.” Raven said.
Jade was quiet for a moment before replying, “Air says she can see and hear you, but that you can’t experience her in any way.”
Raven remembered the little girl’s wish that Air would leave her alone forever. That was so very long ago when she remembered the burst of Air that pushed fire toward her father. Raven knew even as a little girl that her actions had caused her Daddy’s death.
Now when she had finally reconciled with Air, Raven felt the loss of her Element keenly, more so than her father who had been gone now for seven years.
Chapter 3
~~ Claire ~~
Saturday morning, Claire and Mindy played at the kitchen table with art supplies strewn everywhere. Aunt Bertha sat in her rocker in the living room crocheting a blanket. Yawning from the night’s exertions, Jade grabbed her volleyball gear. She leaned down to kiss Aunt Bertha on the cheek. Her skin seemed soft, but so thin.
“Kick their butts, Dear,” Aunt Bertha smiled, and there was a hint of fire in her eyes.
“Thanks,” Jade dropped her voice to a low murmur. Claire straightened up and turned her head, straining to hear, but missed Jade’s warning to Aunt Bertha, “We ran into the Void creatures last night. Raven can’t talk to Air.”
Aunt Bertha nodded, her mouth pressed into a firm line, “I’ll deal with it. Go to your game. It’s important that we keep things as normal as possible.”
Nothing would be normal until Mom was home. Jade just said, “Thanks. I have to go. The team is counting on me.”
Claire and Mindy waved goodbye to Jade and then returned to their drawing. If Claire couldn’t get the information she wanted by eavesdropping, she never hesitated to ask. She said, “What did Jade say?”
Aunt Bertha was deep in thought. Claire almost started to repeat herself when Aunt Bertha replied, “We’re going to go on a spirit quest next week. Jade has a home game next weekend, so it will be a better time. We need to embrace our Elements.”
Claire smirked. She was a bit of a know-it-all. She not only embraced her element but could become it, turning into Water at a whim. It was a dangerous practice that only the most advanced of the Elementals could do. “Water and I are very close,” Claire said proudly.
Aunt Bertha peered at Claire over her glasses and with a sharp tongue said, “Yes, well, you could do with a bit of Earth. See what you can conjure with that element.”
Mindy giggled.
Claire’s initial reaction was to flare up with annoyance, but then Mindy said, “Mud.”
Claire started giggling, too. Maybe she could be friends with Earth. She would try.
~~ Raven ~~
Raven dressed slowly and carefully. She couldn’t place this strangeness inside herself. Something was different, but it was abstract, distant. She felt numb from the inside, out, cold in a way that didn’t shiver, as if she’d passed the point of hypothermia to death. At least Raven could move now.
She walked down the hall noticing the house for the first time, the way the floor creaked under the carpet under the picture of the whole family, taken when Mindy was tucked away in her Mother’s womb. Jade was a solemn little girl of nine, standing beside her mother. Raven, just a year younger, stood with eyes sparkling, her Dad’s hand resting on her shoulder.
As she recalled, he’d just made the kind of lame joke that kids love to get them all laughing. Claire held Raven’s hand. She had a faraway, day-dreamy look. Claire had always been the loner of the family, always off by herself exploring the world.
Raven hesitated at the end of the hallway.
Frightened.
Closing her eyes, Raven had to give herself a stern talking to. It made no sense being afraid of her sisters, of her great aunt. It made no sense at all.
As Raven stepped into the living room, she felt like crying. Her throat was parched, her mouth dry. She could barely squeak out the words, “Good morning.”
She felt so awkward. Raven waited for Aunt Bertha to ground her or yell at her for keeping Jade out in the middle of the night. During the ride home, Jade had told Raven that she’d awoken Bertha in the middle of the night to tell her what had happened and where she was going.
Of course you did, straight-laced sister of mine.
Aunt Bertha waved Raven over, a smile on her face, but her eyes, oh, her eyes looked so disappointed, so sad. Raven felt worse for that sadness than for anything else she had done.
“Sit.”
Raven took the edge of the couch, nearest Bertha’s rocker. She didn’t exactly want Claire and Mindy to hear her dressing down.
Aunt Bertha carefully set her crocheting aside, “You’ve got trouble, Girl. More than any of us can deal with.”
Raven stared at the ceiling, willing the tears away. She kept them at bay as she said, “Aunt Bertha. I’m not an alcoholic. I swear. I left the party without having a drop to drink.”
Bertha barked a laugh, the kind that isn’t as happy as it sounds. She said, “Oh, Honey, your problems have nothing to do with alcohol. The Void has its claws in you deep. We need to get them out, and it’s no easy task, let me tell you.”
Raven grabbed the pillow at the edge of the sofa and covered her face with it. Trying to keep the pain out of her voice, Raven said, “Is that why I can’t feel Air anymore?”
Bertha hardly had the strength to pull herself out of the chair, but she did. She moved to the sofa next to Raven, pulling the pillow away from her face. Bertha said, “Yes. Fight against the numbness you feel. Fight against the darkness. The Void will want to take you now that it’s seen you once.”
Raven wiped the tears from her eyes and turned her head to see if Claire and Mindy were watching. Claire quickly glanced down, and Raven saw how disturbed she was. Mindy held an Elmer’s glue bottle in both hands and was making a mountain on top of a piece of construction paper. It was funny and not. In a normal family, some nervous mother would have taken that glue bottle away long before so much glue would be wasted. In this family, glue mountains weren’t so bad.
Raven leaned into Bertha’s hug. She whispered hoarsely, “I’ll try. For everyone, I’ll try.”
“Do it for you, too, Raven. The cost is your soul.” Bertha clung to Raven.
Aunt Bertha sounded so haunted, so frightened that Raven put her arms around her aunt and comforted her. “I’ll be okay. I’m strong.”
Raven didn’t feel strong. The numbness seeping through her body took on a new quality. She recognized it now as an interloper, like a skin disease that slowly crept across a person, not part of the body, but so connected that it felt impossible to defeat. This disease was inside her, infecting her mind, affecting her spirit. Raven hoped she was strong enough. She had to be.
With a sigh, Aunt Bertha hugged her niece. She had one more piece of advice, “Honey. You’re strong with the Empty space where energy and matter are created. No one, and I mean, no one, can force you to move from one dimension to the other without your approval. As a matter of fact, if you find yourself being dragged along, you can redirect the energy. Use it to go where you want to go. No one can take your soul without your permission. This is a fight you can win, because your soul is powerful. Understand?”
“Sure, Aunt Bertha.”
Raven didn’t understand at all.
Maybe she should have paid more attention in science class. Not that Void creatures figured prominently in any sphere of education. There was a time when Raven enjoyed learning about the Universe and her part in it. Maybe someday she would enjoy it again…if she could just hang onto her soul.
~~ Jade ~~
Jade’s serve smacked into the net. She avoided a glance at the coach as they rolled the ball to the other team and ran forward to get in position. The other team served and she managed to get under it in time…barely. Her game was off.
The coach rotated her out and Jade took her spot on the bench while one of the other juniors stepped in. She usually played longer before sitting the bench. Some games she hardly sat at all.
She watched with an unsettling disinterest, her eyes following the ball back and forth across the net. Usually her competitive nature would have her eager to get back in the game, even on her worst night. She couldn’t stop thinking of the night before and seeing that strange formless face shadowed under a reaper’s hood.
“You okay? I heard Shelly was busted last night. Your sister wasn’t caught up in that, was she?” Cindy Mason sat the bench with Jade. She was a sophomore, the same grade as Raven, but they ran in different circles. Cindy was one of the two sophomores who played varsity.
Jade shook her head, “No. She wasn’t.”
The news had been the talk of the bus ride. The cops had raided a party in Barton and arrested Shelly, Kirk, Paul, Jenny, and Tyler. Had Raven not left the party when she did, her name probably would have been added to the list.
Cindy was an odd girl. She had a growth spurt and her pants were all high-water which led to more teasing and taunting than a girl her age should probably bear. While they weren’t exactly friends, Jade didn’t shun her either. Jade never fit in herself anyway. Jade was relieved when Cindy got called forward and subbed into the game. Jade wanted the world to fade into silence. She wondered if it was something the Void did to her. She felt so quiet inside.
A Time to Die (Elemental Rage Book 2) Page 3