Raven boldly allowed herself into the Void and baldly asked, “Where is my mother, and don’t pretend like you don’t know what I’m talking about.”
She could feel that first hesitation, that first pretense and stopped it before it could even start.
An image rose in her mind. A boat with a tall, hooded figure. The sea was slate grey, the sky a thick blanket of white clouds. A woman watched from the beach. As if teasing her, the memory drew the figure in. It was her mother! The image receded again. Raven drew closer to the Void, urging more information. Her point of view suddenly shifted and she was hovering above the woman, seeing the location as an island with a mansion nestled in a forest surrounded by beach and the slate grey ocean.
Raven wanted to get closer, to glean some information about where her Mom was being held. She felt a burn on her chest and looked back. Fire’s violet tether brightened and pulsed. A warning.
Grumbling, Raven pulled herself along the thread, leaving the vision of the island behind. As she left the presence of the Void, she realized how deeply into its lair she had gone. From her shoulders to her fingertips, Raven felt like a block of ice. When she opened her eyes, she was sitting in the back yard with flakes of snow on her head and arms iced with frost. Fire licked her hands, dancing along her skin and fighting off the frost. It was a delicate game they played.
“Thanks,” Raven said. She missed Air, although somehow Fire’s presence dulled the ache.
Others know the island. Those who travel between. Fire said.
“We need to find a way there,” Raven said.
Raven brushed the water off her arms, the cold almost unbearable. She stood. Mindy would just have to live with theVoid-Driven freak for a sister coming into the house, because Raven needed a hot shower fast.
Teeth chattering, she pushed her way into the kitchen.
“Where have you been?” Jade asked. It wasn’t asked as an accusation. Jade was curious.
“Promise not to freak out?” Raven asked. Jade had a penchant for freak-outs. She seemed to have inherited all of the responsible genes from both their parents, or maybe it was because she was the oldest. Either way, Jade was going to flip when Raven told her where she’d been.
“I promise,” Jade said.
“Traveling with the Void. I found Mom. She’s on an island surrounded by a gray sea under a gray sky. Fire helped me get there and back,” Raven felt a little guilty when a hint of jealousy flickered across Jade’s face. She would have felt the same if Jade had been talking to Air…which Jade had before, so they were even.
Raven was relieved when Jade ignored the part about Fire and asked, “Did you learn anything more? Where is she?”
“Fire said that others know the island. Those who travel between. Does that mean anything to you?” Raven wrapped a blanket around her shoulders. She hadn’t planned to sit in the kitchen chatting about Mom until her fingers froze off.
Jade held up a hand, “Wait there.”
She ran to get her notebook from their shared room. Raven said, “Forget this.” And followed Jade down the hall, “Jade, I’m taking a shower. We’ll talk when I’m done.”
“What if you forget something important? We need to find Mom.” Flipping the notebook open to the pages she had been working on earlier, Jade said, “Now repeat what you said.”
Raven repeated the same thing. Again. While she did, she pulled another pair of sweats and a hooded sweatshirt out of her drawers, “Mom was on the beach. I think she was trying to find a way off the island when the Void boat came around. The Void is in some way working with the guys who kidnapped her.”
“The Keepers.” Jade said, although Raven knew it as well.
“Maybe. We shouldn’t make too many assumptions about anything. I’m starting to think that everyone in the world is after this crazy gift. I wonder what Time does…”
“I was talking to Aunt Bertha about it…” Jade started.
Raven could hear that librarian voice gearing up. Jade could talk for hours on a subject she liked. Raven’s hair was dripping icy beads of water onto her neck and she was in no mood to hang around and talk. She said, “Hold that thought. I’m taking a shower. Make notes. Do what you have to, and we’ll regroup when I’m done.”
As Raven shut the door to the bathroom, Jade sighed, “I was just going to say that no one really knows what the gift of Time is for.”
Settling on her bed to do her math homework, Jade wondered if a person with the gift of time could speed it up or slow it down. That kind of thing would be really helpful to get chores out of the way…or math homework.
Chapter 6
~~ Aunt Bertha ~~
Aunt Bertha felt as small as a blade of grass in a field. It was Monday afternoon, as she drove into town to pick up Mindy and Claire. Jade hadn’t even told her about the Void’s attack until dinner on Sunday night. Dinner!
Can’t believe I slept through the whole thing. Aunt Bertha couldn’t stop berating herself. Eighty years old she might be, but she was no shrinking violet. And yet…that was exactly what was happening to her. She was useless to her girls. Raven could have been lost to the Void. Who knows what would have happened to Mindy. The girl seemed well enough with her Element, but getting trapped in the Earth was no laughing matter.
And where was Bertha when all of this happened?
Asleep.
The parking lot was empty except for a blue Ford Escape. Bertha rolled down her window to let some fresh air in. She felt queasy. She wasn’t on chemo. Not yet. Not if she had anything to say about it. Those young doctors could get pretty adamant about things, but Bertha was tired. If she didn’t want to lose her hair or spend the last months of her life vomiting, she darn well wouldn’t. She was eighty years old. That was plenty long to live.
Aunt Bertha was startled when a pair of men suddenly appeared at her window. Keepers. She looked nervously from the men to the school and asked, “What do you want?”
“You are dying.” They both looked incredibly young, even the fellow with gray in his temples. Bertha felt it was an insult to be threatened by children.
Cackling, Bertha said, “Did you get that out of your crystal ball?”
Leaning on the window, the man said, “Look, we know you’ve got the gift. So how about making this easier on everyone? Tonight at eight, be at this address.” He slipped a business card to Bertha through the window.
“What if I don’t?” Aunt Bertha looked at the address. It was local. She supposed she should have been grateful for small things, but that only meant they had a bunch of Keepers in the town watching.
“Oh, look, school is out. We’re going to take the gift one way or another. We’re not evil. We’re not looking to destroy or disrupt your family. You have something that belongs to us and we want it back.”
“How does this have anything to do with me?” Bertha asked.
“We want a promise that you will release your gifts to us after death. Then we’ll leave your family alone,” he said.
Seeing Mindy walk through the school doors, Bertha said, “Fine. I’ll be there.”
The man stepped back, waving his friend away. Bertha watched while they walked across the parking lot and down the street.
“Eight o’clock is past my bed time,” Bertha grumbled. Bertha worried that the men were still watching. Not that it mattered, not in a small town. The Gray family was no longer hidden.
Mindy left the school first, teddy bear in one hand, her eyes down. At school she always walked with her head down, focusing on her feet. She wouldn’t talk to anyone unless the teachers or aids forced her.
Aunt Bertha sighed. What would they do with Mindy? She needed a lot more help than one adult could give. She used to push open the door for Mindy, but Aunt Bertha didn’t have the energy to get out of the car. She rolled the passenger window down and turned her head, calling to Mindy, “Over here.”
Bertha knew full well her voice didn’t go that far. Earth was kind enough to relay the message. Mindy didn’t lo
ok up, but walked faster toward the car, as if making eye contact with another being on the school grounds would kill her. Aunt Bertha couldn’t blame her, after everything that had happened in her young life.
Mindy opened the door and crawled into the car. A teacher’s aid closed the door for Mindy. Bertha said, “What do you say?”
Mindy lifted her head and stared at Aunt Bertha as if to challenge her. Aunt Bertha’s eyebrows lifted, “Only polite children eat dessert.”
“Thank you, Ms. Harp.” Mindy mumbled, covering her face with her teddy bear.
Aunt Bertha smiled. You couldn’t win every battle, but that didn’t mean you gave up. Ms. Harp waved to Aunt Bertha and with a nod returned to the school. Mindy dropped the bear to her lap. She didn’t say anything else. School wore her out. Often Mindy rode the whole way home in silence.
Claire ran flying out of the door to the school, black hair streaming behind her. Aunt Bertha checked behind her in alarm, thinking perhaps she was chased. Claire tore open the door, jumped in and shut the door with a sharp thud. “I hate school. Let’s go.”
Aunt Bertha waited until Claire and Mindy were buckled in, then she drove off. Jade had volleyball, and Raven couldn’t ride with Mindy. Bertha would have to fight the Void soon. Her back hurt something fierce. The Void would weaken her.
The cancer was spreading quickly. Between the upcoming fight with the Void, the interference of the Keepers, and the cancer eating her body, Aunt Bertha feared that six months to live was optimistic. It was time to tell the girls.
~~ Raven ~~
Aunt Bertha was acting strange when Raven got home. Mindy was in the kitchen, so Raven couldn’t fix a sandwich, at least not without her little sister experiencing a major melt-down. Aunt Bertha kept looking at the clock and asking the girls if they would be all right alone for a few hours. Raven wondered what she was up to.
At six o’clock Bertha said she had to go somewhere, but wouldn’t say where or why or for how long. Jade was taking an after-volleyball nap, which meant she didn’t notice anything. Even though technically Jade now shared the room with Mindy, they hadn’t moved all of their stuff yet. Raven shook Jade awake.
“What?” Jade sounded cranky.
Raven hissed, “Shhh. There’s something wrong with Aunt Bertha. She said she’s leaving in an hour. I don’t have Air to spy on her. I need your help.”
“What can I do?” Jade rolled over and covered her head with the blankets.
Raven poked her in the back, “Hey. Come on. I need your help. I’ll show you. Don’t you want to know where Aunt Bertha is going? What if she disappears like Mom?”
“Fine,” Jade grumbled. She looked at the clock, “It’s only six-thirty. If she’s leaving in an hour, wake me up then.”
“Seriously, Jade. You’re going to spend a third of your life asleep. You can spare an hour. Now, hush. I don’t want her to think we’re watching,” Raven jumped on the bed next to Jade, purposely invading her personal space. Jade hated it when other people got on her bed.
“Get off or I’m not helping,”
Raven rolled off the bed. “What a Crankster. Fine, go back to sleep. I’ll wake you when it’s time for dinner.”
Jade punched her pillow, “You could have let me sleep longer and told me after she left.”
“Yeah, could have.” Raven said with a grin and sauntered out. She went to her own room across the hall. Strange, she wouldn’t have thought she would miss sharing a room with Jade, and yet she did.
Aunt Bertha left around seven-thirty, almost before they’d even finished eating. Dinner was a fun new thing now that Mindy refused to go anywhere near Raven. Aunt Bertha demanded that they all eat at the table, which meant that Mindy waited until Raven was already seated at the furthest point of the table before she would sit down. Mindy wolfed her food down and without asking, moved as far away from Raven as she could. It was unnerving.
An hour later, Raven and Jade were sitting in Raven’s room. Claire was happy to have the television mostly to herself in the living room. She only complained a little when Raven asked her to give them privacy in the bedroom. She didn’t want to mess up the new living arrangements, so Claire smiled and left them alone.
As Jade shut the door, she whispered, “That was nothing short of a miracle.”
Raven grinned, “She’s much happier now. We should have thought of this months ago.”
“Yeah, probably,” Jade said, “So what do we do?”
Raven realized that she was about to reveal one of her most powerful tricks. Jade would forever be on alert whenever one of Raven’s little feathered buddies flew in. Raven couldn’t talk to Air anymore, and she really wanted to know what Aunt Bertha was up to. She said, “First you have to promise utter and total secrecy from everyone. Boyfriends, siblings, great aunts, parents, best friends…did I leave anyone out?”
“Fine. I won’t tell anyone. I’m not sure why you think I would tell,” Jade was definitely offended.
Raven said, “Okay. I’m holding you to this. Ask Air to show you the birds.”
Jade asked Air. Raven wished she could see what Jade was seeing. She couldn’t even speak to Air without the Element disappearing completely. Raven had to work through Jade tonight. Jade was shaking her head from side to side, “I keep seeing things from different birds. How do you keep track of where you are?”
Raven said, “Practice. Do you see Aunt Bertha’s car?”
Having an object to focus on helped immensely. Jade projected a mental image of the car to Air, “Whoa. That’s so strange. I’m flying over her car now. She’s heading toward town.”
“Just stay with that bird until Aunt Bertha stops the car,” Raven said.
Jade was surprised that a bird would actually listen to an Element or an Elemental and even more surprised at the understanding. And that was just a bird! Imagine what an elephant could do. It certainly changed her opinion of animals.
Aunt Bertha drove straight through town to a turn-off near the cemetery. She drove up a winding forest road and took a right into the driveway of a moderately sized house. The bird fluttered down to the lawn, watching Aunt Bertha step out of the car. There were at least six cars parked in a grassy field behind the house.
Air whispered, My turn.
Jade’s perspective suddenly changed. Aunt Bertha was ushered into the house by none other than Harold. Jade groaned.
“What?” Raven asked. She hated having to watch while her sister talked to her Element, not that Air belonged to her…she just felt that way sometimes.
“Harold is there,” Jade said, shushing her sister so that she could hear what was going down.
Aunt Bertha followed Harold through the kitchen and to a set of basement stairs. Jade joked aloud for Raven’s benefit, “Don’t go into the basement, Aunt Bertha.”
“Classic serial killer move,” Raven added. “I wonder what she’s up to…”
Air certainly was not built for spying. The bird’s eyes were so much better than Air. Everything in the room was blurry and the faces impossible to make out. Jade squeezed her eyes shut and put her hands on her head.
“What’s going on? Are you okay?” Raven touched her sister’s hand.
Jade didn’t look up. She said, “I think I’m going to barf. How do you handle all this swirling about?”
Raven sank down onto the bed beside her sister. They were sitting on Claire’s bed. She had a fleece blanket on top with the picture of a wolf howling at the moon. Raven rather liked it. Putting her arm around Jade’s shoulder, she said, “Head between your knees. Don’t lose your connection to Air. Think of the voices. Don’t try to see anything. Focus.”
Jade focused.
“…started.” Jade heard the words and realized it was Harold doing the speaking, “Bertha, if you give us your oath of passage, we will leave the girls alone.”
Still closing her eyes with her head down, Jade said, “She’s giving an oath of some sort so that we’ll be safe.”
Raven had done enough spying through Air to know that Jade needed to pay attention. She just made a small noise, enough so that Jade knew Raven had heard.
Bertha said, “And my niece?”
“Once you’ve passed and I’ve verified receipt of the gift of Time, we will release Amy,” Harold said, full of himself. Jade wanted to punch him.
“I may live to one hundred. Let her go now.” Bertha said.
“Sorry, we’re not bargaining for your niece. We’re bargaining for her daughters, and their continued freedom,” Harold sounded so self-satisfied that Jade wanted to hit him. He acted like he was playing a game that he had already won and was just waiting for the finale.
“Tell me what to do,” Bertha said.
“Stand in the circle.”
Jade accidentally connected her vision to Air for a moment and received a blurred sea of faces. One seemed particularly clear. A man with silver hair and slate grey eyes who watched the ceremony with concern. Jade realized that Bertha was leaning on his arm as he walked her to the center of the circle. The world tilted again. She felt her gorge rise and closed her eyes.
While Bertha got into position, Jade asked Raven, “Have you ever seen a guy with silver hair and grey eyes around town?”
Raven shrugged, “It’s a retirement community. There are hundreds of people here with silver hair.”
Bertha was in position to give whatever oath was required. She stubbornly said, “Your oath first.”
Harold grumbled, but when Bertha refused to back down, he said, “As Master of Death and Holder of the Universe’s Death Gate Keys, I promise that Bertha Skye’s nieces, Jade, Raven, Claire, and Mindy Gray will be left to live their lives in peace by every person here and anyone who has taken a Keeper oath.”
While Jade listened, Bertha said, “I, Bertha Skye, daughter of the Universe and Keeper of the Secrets therein, do give this oath of my own free will.”
Jade repeated the words for Raven.
“Free will. Hah, that’s a laugh,” Raven lay back on the bed. She felt strangely betrayed. Bertha was giving up her gifts to some unknown group of men who threatened the family. First of all, there was no free will involved there. Anything taken by threat of force, was stolen, not given. Second of all, she hadn’t even bothered to talk to anyone before giving up her gifts.
A Time to Die (Elemental Rage Book 2) Page 6