“Good to know,” Jensen said. “Listen, I hate to do this, but I gotta get back, that whole family dinner thing.”
“Right, I forgot,” I said. I took a deep breath in and blew it out before leading the way back to the car. Part of me wanted to chase after Dale and keep an eye on him, but for all I knew, the creatures’ magic only worked on the beach and I would be chasing after Dale while another innocent person was swept under the water forever. To what purpose? That was what I was going to have to figure out before I knew how to stop them.
Chapter Four
“I didn’t want to send anyone to jail this time,” Steven complained in the back seat of my car as I drove the three of us to dinner a few hours later.
“No one said anything about jail, Steven,” I said as I turned onto Main Street, heading to our favorite Italian restaurant.
“Yeah, but he was trying to drown his friend,” he said, finally sitting up and looking at me in the rearview mirror.
“We don’t know that,” Jodi said. She was looking straight ahead and absentmindedly picking at a spot on the door. She wasn’t damaging anything, but it still took a lot of my willpower not to ask her to stop.
“Yeah, even if he was trying to get his friend in the water, the little boy didn’t drown, so we really don’t know what would’ve happened if he’d gotten him into the water,” I said as I pulled into the parking lot behind the restaurant.
“Fine,” Steven said, crawling out of the backseat behind Jodi, “but do we really want to risk finding out what would happen if someone got dragged under?”
“Of course not,” Jodi snapped as she slammed the door shut. The thing about Air signs was their moods could be erratic and unpredictable and you just never knew when they were gonna change on you. “We’re just saying we still don’t know what we’re dealing with.” Without waiting for a reply, Jodi turned away from Steven and started walking towards the restaurant. I had noticed in the last month that there was a divide forming between Jodi and Steven that had me very worried. When Jodi and I were left alone to fight the air elemental, Jodi’s powers had been tested and, as a result, her development had been accelerated. She still wasn’t as powerful as I was, but she had managed to surpass Steven and, after years of being on similar levels, that was quite an achievement.
The only problem with this was her reaction. Whenever Jodi did better than one of us in any way, whether it was in magic or school, it validated her, and she would act somewhat superior for a period of time. I felt Steven had shown great development during that incident, having been able to call upon the wildfire power hidden inside him and save me from attack, but Jodi hadn’t seen it the way I did and attributed a lot of that to luck.
“No need to get snippy about it,” Steven called after her and I cringed; I was not in the mood for an argument.
“I am not snippy!” Jodi said, raising her voice and spinning around to look at Steven.
“Okay, then no need to act like a bitch about it,” he retorted, putting his hands on his hips and tilting his head to the side. There was a self-satisfied look on his face and Jodi looked enraged; all I wanted to do was get back in the car and hide. I knew this was coming and couldn’t stop it; they needed to have it out.
“Did you just call me a bitch?” Jodi asked, her voice lowered to a dangerous whisper.
“No, I said you were acting like a bitch, but if that was too hard for you to follow, I can speak slower,” Steven said, exaggerating the last few words.
“Oh, I don’t think so,” Jodi said, striding back towards Steven, stopping within touching distance of him.
“What?” Steven asked, smirking as he did so.
“Don’t you dare act like you’re smarter than I am,” she said.
“Oh, that’s right, because you’re better than us, aren’t you?”
“Hey, I am not in this!” I said quickly, making sure not to look at either of them.
“I never said I was better than you,” Jodi said, and I could hear the change in her voice, but I was shielding so hard against both of them, I could only guess at what it meant.
“You don’t have to say it, Jodi. It’s how you act and talk to us,” Steven said. “Just because you’re in private lessons with Deb now like Shay, you act like you’re so goddamn superior to me.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Yes, you do, and you know what? I was really happy for you that your powers developed so much so quickly, but that doesn’t mean you’re better than me. Hell, you’re still not as good as Shay, so quit acting like you’re the shit,” Steven said angrily, and I cringed again as he mentioned my name.
“And in case you haven’t noticed,” Steven continued, “I had some serious power development too. Just because Deb doesn’t have time for three private lessons and I’m training with Shay instead doesn’t make them any less valid.” I dropped my head and my shoulders fell; I hadn’t told Jodi that I was working with Steven privately to develop and control his power. I knew she would be jealous of the extra attention I was giving him, just as she would be jealous if Steven was doing something for me that he wasn’t doing for her.
“Whoa!” Jodi said, spinning around to face me, her hands up telling everyone to stop. “You’re working with him in private and haven’t told me? What the hell, Shay?”
“You didn’t tell her?” Steven asked quietly as if Jodi wasn’t closer to him than me and he could’ve whispered around her.
“No, I didn’t tell her,” I said, still looking at the asphalt.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Jodi asked, her voice pitched higher than normal.
“Because I knew you’d act like this,” I said, finally turning to look at them both, angry that I was dragged into this.
“Act like what?” she asked defensively.
“Jealous!” Steven nearly yelled, throwing his hands up in the air.
“Jodi, babe, I love you, you know that, but you are so possessive of your friends, it’s a little ridiculous,” I said, continuing quickly before she could interrupt. “Steven’s right. Whenever you think you’ve done better than one or both of us, you act like you’re above us, and you’ve been treating Steven like that. Steven showed great ability when he was able to call up that power and protect everyone from the Sylph, and you’ve acted like it was no big deal. For chrissake, he was in the hospital for second degree burns!”
“I know that,” she said, her voice lower and closer to her normal tone. “But you could’ve told me you were working with him; I wouldn’t’ve cared.”
“Ha!” Steven said loudly, making us both jump.
“What he means is,” I said, cutting Steven off before he could go on a rant, “yes, you would have cared and probably would’ve either tried to join us, thereby negating the focus being on Steven alone, or made us feel bad for excluding you.”
“So you are excluding me then?” Jodi fired up at once.
“Stop it,” I said, invoking my empathetic magic, feeling my words carry the weight of power in the distance between us. “That is exactly what we’re talking about, Fae.” I chose that moment to use her elemental name as I spoke with power in my words and saw Jodi open her mouth to argue, but she hesitated.
“No one is excluding you,” I said, holding a hand up towards Steven to keep him quiet. “But you and I are both getting lessons from Deb because we’ve both exhibited powers that are growing exponentially. Steven’s powers are growing as well, just not quite as fast and, as he is not in an emergency situation like you and I have been, Deb can’t fit him into her schedule. But he still needs help, so I’m helping him.”
“I could’ve helped too,” Jodi said, and I was grateful to hear she no longer sounded defensive.
“Yes, maybe you could have, but would you have is the question,” I said, careful to look her directly in the eye despite the space between us, and she did flinch a little. “See? You could help, but you’re very selfish sometimes and don’t like it when the attention isn’t on you. I’ve
told you this in the past, Fae, and you refuse to work on it.”
“No, I don’t,” Jodi said, sounding hurt.
“Babe,” Steven said, reaching a hand to touch her shoulder, “you know it’s true. Your sisters have beaten you down at home, so you take out those problems on your friends. We love you, so we put up with it, but we can only take so much.” And just like that, Steven hit the problem on the head. Jodi didn’t get to indulge in the traditional spoiled youngest child syndrome because both of her sisters joined forces against her, and Jodi took her anger out on people outside of her home, namely Steven and me.
“I don’t mean to be that way,” she said quietly, lowering her gaze from both of us.
“You don’t try very hard not to be that way,” Steven said gently.
“I’m sorry,” she said, and I could hear the embarrassment in her voice.
“Just try to remember that if we do something without you, it doesn’t mean we’re excluding you and you need to try not to be so selfish with your friends,” I said, glad we were finally getting this out in the open. Jodi didn’t say anything; she simply nodded and I knew she was trying not to cry. Steven reached out and took Jodi by the shoulders and pulled her to him and hugged her tightly against his chest. After a few silent moments, Jodi sniffed and pulled slowly away from Steven, giving us both a watery smile.
“Okay, I’m going to work on it, I promise,” she said, wiping away a black tear, her mascara running. I handed her a compact mirror from my purse and we waited while she touched up her makeup and let her eyes dry.
“Okay, enough with the group therapy, I’m starving,” I said, making them both laugh a little awkwardly, but at the same time breaking the tension. Jodi gave me back my compact and we all walked into the restaurant, the smell of baking garlic bread wafting over us and making my stomach growl.
“Oh, my dears!” We heard the familiar voice of the owner over the gentle murmur of the crowd waiting in the front of the restaurant.
“Hey, Grandma,” Steven called to her affectionately and, for the life of me, I couldn’t ever remember being told her real name; we’ve always just called her Grandma and her husband Grandpa.
“Well, we’ve got quite a wait right now,” she said, looking around at the crowd, and I could see it in her eyes that she was wondering how she could sneak us past them to a table.
“We’ll wait, it’s fine,” I said, reaching out and touching her wrist with my hand.
“Such good kids,” she said with a smile and patted my hand. “As soon as I can get you in, now sit, sit!” she said, waving us to a bench and hurrying off into the crowd.
“Dude, you could’ve let her do it, you know,” Steven complained as we sat down.
“Yeah, and have an angry, hungry mob on our hands? I think we can wait a few minutes,” I said, sinking into the vinyl bench. I took to people watching, trying to ignore the rumbling in my stomach and the mouthwatering smell of roasting garlic. There were groups of five or more surrounding us, and I couldn’t help but get a little excited at the thought that we would actually be seated sooner than them just because we wouldn’t need as big a table anyway.
“Good point,” Jodi muttered next to me and I realized, sitting on the small bench, our legs were touching, so she could easily hear my surface thoughts without me actually trying to project them to her.
“Good point what?” Steven asked.
“There are a lot of large parties here, so we’ll probably get seated faster than them without actually cutting the line anyway,” Jodi said quietly to Steven, trying to keep herself from being overheard by the nearby patrons.
“Thank god for that, I’m starving,” he said, sliding down the bench a little, looking a little grumpy.
“Okay, kids,” Grandma said a few short minutes later. “We’ve got a booth open and no one else is smaller than a party of five, so you’re in luck,” she said brightly, and I knew she gave the exaggerated explanation for the benefit of those around us, keeping them from arguing us getting sat before them.
She led us towards the back to the last four-seater booth before the large round booth that could accommodate eight comfortably, ten if you were friendly enough. Jodi and Steven both slid into the near side of the booth, leaving me one side to myself with the ability to see the front door. With one last smile, Grandma bustled back off to the kitchen.
“I already know what I want,” Steven said, not bothering looking at the menu that doubled as a place setting and set to drumming his fingers impatiently on the tabletop.
“I am so hungry everything sounds good,” Jodi said, shaking her head while studying the menu.
“Exactly,” Steven said, raising up in his seat a little to look over Jodi’s head, trying to catch the eye of any waiter.
“Chill, Steven,” I said, studying my own menu. “They’ll bring garlic bread with the waters and that should tide you over so we have a chance to decide.” Steven slid back down in his seat and sighed dramatically. I chuckled, quietly feeling very much like a mother with an impatient and hungry child.
The busboy came around shortly with the promised basket of fresh garlic bread and three waters, upon which Steven immediately attacked, taking two pieces right away and downing them in just a couple of bites. Jodi sneered and I laughed. Eventually, to Steven’s great relief, we ordered, and our starter salads made it to the table before the food came out steaming hot and smelling wonderful. Steven managed to finish each course long before Jodi or me and began picking at both of our plates as we finished.
“Wow, he looks like shit,” Steven said when he was finally relaxing and sitting back against the booth.
“Who?” Jodi asked, looking up.
“That guy right there, in the booth,” Steven nodded subtly to the large booth behind me.
“Oh wow, you’re right,” Jodi said and I watched her face as a look of concern came over it. I slid my foot under the table toward them, found Steven’s leg, and closed my eyes while I concentrated on his surface thoughts until I could see a picture of the boy they were looking at. My eyes flew open and I had to control myself to keep from gasping out loud. The boy was Dale, from earlier on the beach, only he looked gray and somehow thinner than he did just a few hours ago.
“What’s the matter?” Jodi asked, leaning towards me a little.
“That’s the kid I told you about,” I whispered quickly, leaning towards them as well. “The one who tried to drag his friend into the water.”
“Whoa, weird coincidence,” Steven said.
“Not really, more like tiny town and one of the most popular restaurants on Main Street,” Jodi said.
“Yeah, yeah, but that’s not the problem,” I said urgently. “He looks totally different.”
“Like how?” Steven asked.
“He was tan this afternoon, and he weighed more than he does right now,” I said, trying to keep the picture I had gotten from Steven in the front of my mind, looking for any other differences.
“Maybe he caught a bug?” Steven offered.
“But how could he lose enough weight for me to notice in just a couple of hours?” I asked, and neither of them had an answer. “He looks awful, like he’s been in a concentration camp for a couple of weeks or something.”
“You’re sure it’s the same guy?” Jodi asked. I glanced over my shoulder to sneak a look at Dale. Sure enough, his brother Matt was there, separated from his brother by a woman who looked very much like she could be their mother, and on his other side was Mark, the friend Dale hadn’t tried to drag into the water. I had a feeling they both were invited, but after nearly being choked by Dale, Benny had probably lost his appetite for spaghetti and meatballs. When I looked back at Dale I could see the shadow of a bruise on his cheek from Jensen’s punch.
“Oh yeah, I’m sure. His brother and one of the friends are there too,” I said when I sat back up in the booth.
“Is it the friend he tried to drag out?” Jodi asked.
“No, he’s not the
re,” I said, shaking my head.
“Can’t say I blame him for not coming,” Steven said.
“Do the other two look the same?” Jodi asked.
“Yeah, they look fine, just like they did earlier,” I said and realized my voice sounded a little scared. I cleared my throat and took a sip of water. “Okay, so maybe I should’ve kept an eye on him.”
“And done what?” Steven asked. “You said you don’t know what we’re dealing with.”
“Yeah, but they’ve obviously affected him,” I said.
“If you two shut up, we might be able to catch some of their conversation,” Jodi said in a whisper, still leaning towards me over the table. I shut my mouth and leaned back against the back of the booth, straining to hear anything over the loud hum of the rest of the restaurant.
“Dale, I really think you should eat,” a woman’s voice carried back to me and, although I couldn’t be sure, I felt like it was his mother speaking.
“I did eat,” Dale said, speaking slowly. “I ate three pieces of bread, my salad, and a plate of linguini…”
“Oh,” she said, surprised. “I thought, well, you look like, huh, okay, I’m sorry, sweetie,” the woman stuttered. “Well, do you want anything else?”
“No, mom, I’m fine. I’m not hungry, but I’m not getting full either, so what’s the point?” Dale replied, and I couldn’t help but wonder why he was speaking so slowly, as if the simple act of talking was exhausting him.
“You do look like you’ve caught a bug or something, son,” a male voice joined the conversation. “Do you have the flu or something?”
“He wouldn’t be able to eat that much if he had the flu, Gerry,” a new female voice said.
“Well, a cold wouldn’t make him look like that either,” the man said back a little snappishly.
“Could we please stop arguing over how badly I look?” Dale said, as tired as ever. “You’re gonna give me a big head with all of these compliments.”
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