by ID Johnson
“What time is it there?” Ru asked, not sure how far ahead her mom’s time zone was.
“Well, it’s about 4:30 here, and she’s six hours ahead of us.”
“That means it’s 10:30 there. I’d guess she’d be at home.”
“Good. Since you’ve been to her house before, you should try thinking about what it was like to be there. Then…”
“Wait,” Ru cut him off. “She said that she does five hours of penance each night after work. That means she could still be at the church. Or on her way home…. If she knows Sky is coming, she could be anywhere.”
“Ru,” Cutter said softy, reaching over and placing his hand on her far arm so that he was almost hugging her, “just think about Maggie, and try to be where she is. You can do it.”
Swallowing hard, Ru nodded, but she couldn’t help but think out loud. “You’re going to leave me, aren’t you? If I can’t do it?”
“I’m going to wait for you, Ru. The others are likely already there.”
“But you can’t wait forever.”
“I won’t have to.” His grip tightened slightly. “You can do this.”
His piercing blue eyes were illuminated by the light coming from his free hand, and Ru saw nothing but confidence in her abilities there. It was too bad she didn’t feel the same way. With a deep breath, Ru closed her eyes. She felt Cutter extinguish his flame, leaving them in the pitch black. The feel of both of his hands on her bare arms was reassuring, but she was still afraid something would happen to her mom and she wouldn’t be there to stop it.
Ru listened to the rhythmic breathing from her own chest and Cutter’s. In a moment, they were in sync. She wished she could just grab ahold of his spirit as it left his body and go along like a stowaway, but she knew that wouldn’t work in this realm. She felt him adjust his hands, a reminder that she needed to focus, and she took several more deep breaths.
Focusing on her mother wasn’t that difficult. Her entire life, she’d wondered about her birth mom. Growing up in an adopted family where she clearly wasn’t wanted had been more than a little challenging for Ru, so the chance to meet her real family had felt like a new beginning, even if it was also terrifying. Having met her mother now, she was assured that all of the vague memories she had of her smiling face were nestled in the back of her mind, and her mother really did love her just as much as Ru had always hoped she did.
She had been at her mom’s house just the day before, though the long plane ride home made it feel more like two days. She could remember how cramped it was in the quaint little hut. It had smelled fresh and clean though, with a hint of floral bouquet, just like her mother. But for some reason, Ru couldn’t envision her mother there now. Instead, she had the feeling her mom was still at the church, St. Mary’s, where she went every evening and all weekend long to say prayers for Ru’s father who was currently locked away in Hell. Ru hadn’t visited St. Mary’s while she was on Holy Island, but she could see her mother on her knees, her eyes shut tightly, feverishly praying for the lost soul of the man she loved more than anything—except possibly their daughter.
Maggie’s head would be bowed, her hands folded. She’d likely be in her work uniform. Her hair, now dyed dark brown, almost black, would be up in a ponytail, her blue eyes closed tightly. Her knees would rest on a prayer pillow to protect them from the ancient wooden beams of the floor where she spent so much time. A candle would be the only illumination. Yes, Ru could see the scene perfectly.
But she couldn’t get there. She felt the minutes passing, the second hand dancing by so quickly in her mind’s eye it was all a blur. Her friends would be waiting for her, Sky marching in like a conquering hero. And Ru would be left here alone. She wanted to give herself a pep talk, but the words wouldn’t come. If only she’d been raised with the others, by her grandmother, as her mother had intended. Or if her parents would’ve been able to stay together and live as a family. Then, she might know what she was doing. But right now, she was nothing but a failure. And all of these people thought she was the chosen one. She could almost laugh if it didn’t hurt so much.
Ru let a few more minutes pass before she realized she couldn’t hear Cutter breathing anymore. In fact, his hands were no longer resting on her arms, and she thought they must’ve slipped off when he’d left his body. It was just as well; if anyone could help her mother, it was him. She’d likely find a way to mess it all up anyway. Hopefully, her friends would find a way to keep her informed.
Defeated, Ru opened her eyes and was stunned by what she saw.
Chapter 2
A wave of confusion washed over Ru as she realized what she was looking at. She was standing in an unfamiliar church nave, looking at the backs of rows of pews. Only she wasn’t exactly standing there. Looking down, she could see her feet weren’t quite touching the floor. It wasn’t as if she was hovering, exactly, but she couldn’t make contact with the wooden beams either. A quick glance around told her no one else was in the room, which she was happy for; she may have somehow figured out how to get her spirit to manifest thousands of miles across the ocean on a remote island, but she had no idea how to prevent people from seeing her either.
There was also the problem that she still had no idea where her mother was. Before she could decide what to do, she heard footsteps behind her and turned around. Luckily, she didn’t have much of a chance to think about how to do that and it had naturally happened. Pretty good for someone who wasn’t actually standing on anything.
“Oh, good. You made it.” It was Rider, thank God, and Ru let out a breath. “Where’s Cutter?”
“I have no idea,” she admitted. “Are there people here? Won’t they see us?”
“They might see you, but I’ll disappear before anyone sees me.”
“Great,” Ru muttered. “Do you know where my mom is?”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “Ivy’s checking out the castle, and Lyric’s over by the causeway. The tide’s too high for Sky to cross in a vehicle right now, but Lyric doesn’t think that will stop her.”
“Huh?” Ru asked, wondering how else Sky would get across the body of water separating Holy Island from the mainland. Was she going to swim?
“We’ve gotta find your mom before it’s too late.”
His words were rushed, and they weren’t anything Ru didn’t already know. Closing her eyes, Ru concentrated, hoping she could feel her mom out the same way she’d found the church. Then, she realized she could hear the same humming she’d heard when she’d come to visit her mother before. It was faint this time, likely because it had actually stopped the second Ru laid eyes on her mom at the castle, but it was there.
If she could hear it, however, that probably meant Sky could, too. She’d have to hurry.
“This way,” Ru said, grabbing Rider’s arm and pulling him a few steps as she headed off in the direction of the hum. She rushed out of the sanctuary and down a hallway toward the back of the church. The farther she walked, the louder the hum became. She realized Rider couldn’t hear it, but he came along just the same. After a few more turns, she came to a door. Ru pulled up short.
“What is it?” Rider asked, stopping behind her.
“I need to go through there,” Ru replied, folding one arm across her chest and resting her opposite elbow on it as she absently began to chew on her thumbnail.
“Then… do it…” Rider said, slowly, as if he were talking to a small child or someone with comprehension issues.
“How?” Ru asked. “I can’t touch anything.”
Stifling a laugh, Rider reached out and grasped the doorknob, pulling it open. Ru stared at him in disbelief for only a second before stepping through. She’d have to worry about how he did that later. Now, she headed down a dark stairwell into what looked like a pitch-black basement. Using her light, Ru illuminated the area in front of her so she didn’t trip, though she didn’t know how that would be possible since her feet didn’t seem to touch the stone steps.
Once
they reached the bottom, she stopped short, Rider bumping into her. Again, she didn’t know that was possible. “Sorry,” she muttered.
“You still hear it?”
“Yeah, but… not sure where to go.” It was hard to see in the darkness and Ru didn’t want to cast her light too far for fear someone else would see it, but it appeared this place was used to store anything and everything the church wanted to keep but didn’t have immediate use for. Unlike the basement of the castle where her mom worked, there was no organization here, and Ru wondered how many people had tripped in the darkness down here and seriously injured themselves.
“Ru?” Rider said, leaning in so closely she would’ve likely felt his breath on her cheek if he’d really been standing there.
“Yes?” she said, turning to face him.
“I have an idea.”
“Good. What is it?”
Rider turned back around so that he was facing the wide expanse of the room. “Maggie, are you down here? It’s Rider and Ru.” He didn’t yell exactly, but his voice was certainly commanding, and Ru cringed. “We aren’t here to hurt you but we need to talk.”
“Yeah, thanks, Rider. That’s just great….” Her planned lecture about how that could draw people from upstairs was interrupted by stirring at the far end of the room. A cabinet door popped open, just a fraction. Ru began to wind her way in that direction.
As she did so, she realized she was getting closer to the source of the hum now. It was her mom. “Mom?” she said, stepping over an old candle stand and nearly tripping over what looked like a plastic shepherd like one might put in the yard at Christmas.
“Ru?” came the quiet answer. “Thank goodness.”
Finally reaching the cabinet, Ru dropped to a knee. Her mother was sitting inside a cupboard which couldn’t be more than two feet high, though it was deep and wide enough for her to somehow tuck her long legs inside. Maggie was almost six feet tall, just like Ru, so she had to be uncomfortable. “What are you doing?”
“They’re coming, aren’t they?” Maggie asked. “I could feel it.”
A pang of fear shot up from Ru’s chest, causing her to choke on her breath. “Yes,” she managed, eventually. “It’s Sky.”
Maggie nodded again. “I can’t go with her, Ru. I don’t trust them. Any of them.” She looked over Ru’s shoulder at Rider who was standing behind her, looking back the way they’d come.
“Oh, Mom, I’m so sorry. But you’ve got to know it wasn’t any of us who told them you were here. Honestly.”
It was hard to see in the dim light, but from what she could tell, her mom didn’t look convinced. “All I know is, I was safe here until your friends showed up, Ru. I don’t blame you. But one of them must’ve said something.”
There was no sense in arguing just then. It wouldn’t do anything to keep her mom safe. “Listen, Mom, I heard the hum again. If I can hear it, Sky can probably hear it, too. Can you turn it off?”
“I can,” Maggie nodded. “It’s part of the cloaking spell I used to hide both of us, though. Once I turn it off, they’ll be able to sense me other ways.”
That wasn’t what Ru wanted to hear. She sighed in frustration. “Is there another spell you can cast, one that doesn’t make any noise?”
“There is one. It’s the same one I used to hide you. But it takes a lot of power to cast it. I won’t be able to do much after that.”
“Well, maybe I can cast it.”
“No!” Rider’s voice was firm. “Ru, you can’t use any black magic spells. It could compromise your status as a Keeper.”
“But… if my mom needs my help….”
“It’s out of the question.” Even in the waning light, his eyes were resolute, and Ru couldn’t hold his gaze long.
“It’s all right, Ru. I wouldn’t ask you to do it anyway,” Maggie said, her voice calm and even. “I’ll do it. I’ll just… if they find me anyway, I won’t be able to fight back.”
“Mom, Sky is Lyric’s sister. She’s waiting to meet her now, out by the causeway. They have to come in human form to take your human form, so we are hopeful we’ll be able to talk Sky out of whatever she’s intending to do.”
Maggie’s smile looked genuine but it hardly reached her eyes. “Thank you for trying, Ru. I guess I knew this day would come eventually.” She tilted her head back, closing her eyes, a look of defeat on her face. “At least I got to meet you first.”
“Mom!” Ru knew there was a pleading twang to her voice, but she didn’t care. She hadn’t worked so hard to find the woman who’d given birth to her to lose her now. “It will be all right.” Whatever Sky wanted with her mom, she’d have to take her over Ru’s dead… spirit.
Without acknowledging Ru’s assurance, Maggie took a deep breath and said, “Ut ponant in hunc mundum profano fallax spell et manifestabo ei me ipsum.”
Rider stepped over and put an arm around Ru’s shoulders. Exactly how, she wasn’t sure. “She just took off the first cloaking spell.” Ru realized the hum was gone. She wondered how her own cloaking spell had been discharged, or had it? It seemed like it must be since Nat could find her so readily now. She would have to ask about that some other time.
“In nomine tenebras quam ego sum petere inobservabilis umbra facti sunt: non est inventus quis poterit!”
There was a burst of warm air, and suddenly, Ru felt as if she was standing in the room alone, except for Rider’s arm on her shoulder. No longer could she sense her mother’s presence, though she could still see her sitting hunkered in front of her. Whatever spell she’d cast, it had worked.
“This is the most powerful cloaking spell I know of,” Maggie said, quietly. “The only way they will find me is through conventional means.”
“We need to get out of here, then,” Ru said, reaching in and grabbing her mom’s arm. She didn’t stop to think about how she was doing that, exactly, without her body. “We don’t want to let Sky know where you are.”
“Okay,” Maggie said, forcing a smile and resting her hand on Ru’s.
“Mom, I hope you know we’ll do everything we can.”
“I know, darling. I know.”
With as much courage as she could muster, Ru smiled at her mom and began to pull herself up.
“Ru,” Maggie said, keeping her hand clamped on her daughter’s, preventing her from leaving. “I love you.”
Tears began to sting her eyes, but Ru fought them off, knowing this wasn’t the time. Her mom had said those words the last time they’d spoken also, and Ru’s response had been a heartfelt thank you. Now, she looked into her mother’s eyes and said, “I love you, too.” Without lingering, Ru reclosed the cabinet door, latching it; she knew her mom could use her Power of Light to get out if she needed to. Rider grabbed some odds and ends, including the shepherd, and sat them in front of the door.
“Ready?” he asked, a confident smile on his face, which she assumed was meant to encourage her.
Ru couldn’t find her voice just yet, so she nodded. Rider took her hand and rushed her back toward the stairs. “This would be a lot faster if I could trust your precision,” he said, taking the steps two at a time. Ru followed suit.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“The rest of the team has gathered at the causeway. I let them know where your mom was so they could stop searching. We need to get there, too. We could just leap over there, but I’m afraid you might end up in Timbuktu.”
Ru wasn’t exactly sure how far it was from the causeway to the church, but she figured it had to be a couple of miles since the fortress was on the far end of the island from the body of water in question. It would take at least fifteen minutes to run there, and that was if her spirit was in better shape than her body was when it came to cardio. She had no way of knowing if they had that kind of time.
Without thinking, Ru closed her eyes and thought of Cutter. She envisioned him standing next to the water at the end of the road, which would disappear into the drink. Ivy and Lyric would be there as
well. Vaguely, she could imagine their outlines next to him, but it was Cutter’s face she honed in on.
When Ru opened her eyes, she was standing next to him.
“Hey, that’s impressive,” he said, smiling, though his eyes didn’t lose the worried expression they’d held before they flickered in recognition of her. “Where’s Rider?”
Before she could speak, there was a disturbance in the air next to her. “Damn,” Rider muttered, filling in beside her. “I had no idea you could do that. Cool. Anything to avoid running.”
“How’s your mom?” Lyric asked, stepping over. Her arms were folded across her chest, her mouth set. It seemed she was carrying the weight of what was about to happen.
“She’s okay,” Ru nodded. “She’s in the basement at the church.”
“And that’s already too much for anyone to know,” Rider said over her.
Ru turned and looked at him, her eyebrows raised. “I trust you guys.”
“Great, but your mom doesn’t,” he reminded her.
“It’s okay. I’d rather not know,” Lyric said. “As long as she’s safe. I heard the humming when we first arrived, but we were all the way over at her house, and then I realized you were here. Then, it stopped. I thought I could sense her for a few seconds. Then she was gone.”
“Yep,” Ru said, nodding. If Rider was right, there wasn’t anything else to say. “So, what do we do now?” She wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer.
“We wait,” Ivy said, her soft voice cutting through the night air.
“Has anything like this ever happened before?” Ru asked. “Keepers having a dispute?”
“Sure,” Cutter nodded, “but most of the time the Keeper with the most authority wins out. No one really wants to risk the consequences of what might happen if they don’t.”
“And what are those consequences?” Ru asked.
“If we battle Sky and prevent her from finding your mother?” Cutter asked, apparently seeking clarification.
“Adios,” Rider said, and Ru turned to look at him. He made a slashing motion across his neck.