Cole and Summer were dancing together, with Summer talking his ear off and making him laugh. Just as I was about to edge Stick towards them, my arm was grabbed from behind and I was spun in a different direction. I twirled around a couple of times laughing and then came to a stop facing Devon. He had spun me away from my friends, to the edge of the dance floor. The cheerleading squad, led by Dani, danced between my friends and me. I could just see the top of Cole’s head as he danced with Summer, and Stick hadn’t known I was gone, as he was still looking towards Ana.
Devon, wearing a white suit with angel’s wings, was moving in front of me, dancing to the quick beat in the song. I glanced over to my friends who hadn’t even noticed I was gone, so I started moving to the music as well. One dance with Devon wouldn’t hurt anyone, I thought, kind of happy that he didn’t ask in front of Cole. He seemed pleased that I stayed with him and he smiled at me, his blue eyes lightening and the pupils almost disappearing. I shivered knowing Cole would be angry, and he rubbed his hands up and down my arms.
“Where’s your date?” I asked him, taking his hands off my arms and looking around, curiously.
“The girl I wanted to bring to this dance already had a date, so I came stag.” He swung around me so that when I was facing him, my back was to my friends. He pointed at me. “In case you hadn’t figured it out that girl was you.”
I smiled uncomfortably. I was conflicted by my feelings for both Devon and Cole. Both of them were acting differently than they had a couple of weeks ago. It was like they had switched bodies. Devon seemed nice and well, things with Cole had gotten kind of weird.
The music ended and I knew my friends were going to figure out that I wasn’t with them and I didn’t want to cause any problems tonight between Devon and Cole.
“Well, I’m glad we got to dance, but I don’t want to be rude to my date, and I need to get back to my friends.” I turned away from him, hoping to escape into the crowd, but he grabbed my elbow again. As he turned me around, the next song started up, and it was a slow song.
“Just one more dance,” he said. “I have something I wanted to tell you.” Behind me I heard a disturbance, and I knew Cole had figured out that I wasn’t with their group. Devon looking over my shoulder saw this as well, but the cheerleaders were still separating me from my friends. They, with their dates, had created a blockade, so I wasn’t really visible, yet. As he reached out to pull me to him again, the light flashed on his ring. I hesitated, but then gave in.
“OK, one more dance,” I said. “Did you find out anything else out about our rings?” I could feel my knees trembling slightly as I smiled at him. I stepped forward into his embrace.
“Funny,” he said. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” He hooked me around the waist with his left hand, pulling me into his arms. He brought his right hand up in front of my face.
“Hold it still. I want to compare them again.” His hand stilled and I could see the initials scrolled across a silver shield. I held up my right hand, making sure not to touch his, and looked at my ring. Once again, I marveled at the fact that we both had these rings. My hand, beside his, was small and trembled slightly.
“Hey, careful Avery, I don’t want to.” He looked behind me and his hold tightened.
“To what?” I looked up at him in question and just as I put my hand on his waist I felt the air stir and I was suddenly out of Devon’s arms, my back against Cole’s chest. As he wrapped one arm across my shoulders and tucked me into his side, a breeze whipped Devon’s hair around his head.
“I’m fine!” I said to Cole, struggling to get out from under his arm, but I found that my legs wouldn’t obey me and felt like they were stuck to the floor. I looked to the side and could see Ben and Stick flanking Cole, with Summer and Ana standing behind them.
Devon, looking a little uncomfortable, laughed lightly, trying to make a joke out of it. “It was only a dance, and we were about to move back in your direction,” he said, making a placating gesture. Cole gave me an inquiring look.
Confused, I tried to focus but my mind was fuzzy. I couldn’t make sense of what was happening and I mumbled, “his ring.” Devon lifted his hand in front of his body, looking down at his ring. The light glinted off the ring again. As it did, I found that I couldn’t take my eyes off it.
“Come on, man, it was just a dance, and you interrupted our conversation. I’ll make sure she’s safe, promise.” Devon held the hand with the ring out to me. Cole’s arm tightened around my waist. I couldn’t look away from his hand and I really wanted to reach out and take hold of it. I tried to move my arm again but couldn’t. The air between Devon and me shimmered with a golden light. From far away, I could hear Summer saying my name and Cole took a step back dragging me with him. He reached up and took a hold of my chin and forced my eyes away from the ring. The light disappeared and I was staring into Cole’s purple eyes.
Cole turned me away from Devon, calling Summer and Ana over and they each grabbed one of my hands. Cole turned back to Devon and took a step forward into his space. His hands were clenched into fists at his sides as he stared angrily at him. Ben stepped up behind Cole, put a hand on his shoulder and whispered into his ear. Cole nodded once and then turned away from Devon, following Ben back to where we were standing.
Concerned, Devon tried to keep walking beside me, trying to get my attention. “Avery, that shouldn’t have happened, I think that it’s our rings reacting to each other again.” He looked into my eyes and frowned a bit, then looked at Cole. “It was an accident, let me talk to her one more time.”
“No!” Cole said over his shoulder. He grabbed my hand away from Summer and we pushed through the mob of cheerleaders towards the other side of the gym. I stumbled a few times, my mind still unfocused. I could picture that ring, and the light it created. Hazily, I glanced over my shoulder towards him and saw that he hadn’t moved. He was staring at me, with a sad look on his face, while his left hand twisted that ring around on his finger.
When I looked forward, I found we were at the punch bowl. Ana held out a glass of punch to me and as I was reaching to take it, I noticed my hand trembling. I pulled my hand away before I took the glass and reached up to push my hair away from my face. I shivered and rubbed my arms for warmth. I felt Cole step up so his front was against my back and I leaned into his warmth. He took the glass from Ana and brought it up to my mouth.
“Go ahead and take a drink. The sugar will help you come out from under his spell,” he said quietly into my ear. I took a quick drink.
“Spell?” I must’ve said it kind of loud because I heard both Summer and Ana echo the word. “I was under a spell?”
“Yes, Devon must be a Mesmer, because I could feel you straining towards him, and when I looked into your eyes, they were blank and your pupils were dilated.” Cole was talking loud enough for our group to hear him.
“A Mesmer has some sort of powers of hypnosis?” I was horrified that someone could have that kind of power over me and so easily. “That makes sense. I could hear all of you, but my body wasn’t doing what I wanted it to.” I turned around and gave Cole a grateful hug. I looked at my friends and wondered why Devon had tried to hypnotize me tonight, when I had been alone with him a lot over the past week and he hadn’t tried it before? “Sugar, we’ll always have your back.” Summer grinned and tried to lighten the mood by saying, “I do want to hear more about Devon being a Mesmer, but not tonight. Come on guys, this is a dance, don’t let that spoil our fun, let’s dance!” She grabbed Ben, and after a nod from Cole, they moved out to the dance floor. Ana quietly stated that she was going to stay at the refreshment table, and Stick nodded that he was going to as well.
Thinking that it was probably a good idea to push what just happened aside to examine later, I looked at Cole as a slow song started playing. Choosing to brave the rejection, I asked. “Do you want to dance?” He looked conflicted, glancing back at Devon one more time, but he nodded, grabbed my hand, and led me out to
the dance floor.
Chapter 21
Devon
I leaned back against the bleachers and looked down at my ring again. I didn’t understand it; it takes intent to hypnotize or mesmerize someone, and I hadn’t even tried to. I saw a pair of pink pumps stop in front of me and I looked up. Dani stood there in her 80s Madonna dress, black crinoline skirt and black bra under a white tank top.
“You need to stop moping around!” she hissed at me. “That was the perfect opportunity for you to gain control and make our jobs easier tomorrow night!”
I sighed. My sister had been pestering me lately with her plans to steal Avery’s powers. I tried to play along, because it was better to know her plans, but I was almost positive that I wasn’t going to help her do that. With the exception of tonight, I felt like our rings, Avery’s and mine, would work together, and maybe it wasn’t necessary to steal her powers from her. I shuddered lightly at the thought of being without my own powers.
I have heard what happens when Elementals lose their powers: they go insane and have to either be put in a facility or be put down like rabid dogs. It hasn’t happened lately, but it used to be that when a crime was committed that was so heinous, like murder, that was their punishment. Murder was very rare in our society because of this.
Dani stood in front of me impatiently tapping her toe. “If you’re done here, we have a meeting downtown with our father to make plans for tomorrow. I’m assuming since you came stag, you can go?” She turned around without waiting for an answer and I wondered, knowing that she hadn’t come stag, how she was going to explain leaving the dance to her date.
I stood and gazed across the room at where Avery and her friends were dancing and laughing. I wished that she and I had more time together tonight. I saw her glance my way and I gave her a nod, then turned and left the building.
We parked in front of the same abandoned building as before and entered. I sensed men standing on the surrounding rooftops but couldn’t see them very clearly.
As we entered the room, I saw my father sitting in a chair facing the door. He was talking to another man, whose back faced us. A fire was burning in the fireplace next to them. They both stood up when Dani and I walked in. My father nervously clasped his hands in front of him and stepped towards us.
“Devon, Dani, great, I’m glad you’re here.” As my father spoke the other man turned slowly around. He seemed to be around my father’s age, with close cut brown hair, peppered with grey at the temples. He was wearing a pair of glasses that were tinted red, so I couldn’t see his eye color very clearly. He did have on the familiar white button down and black slacks, which gave me a clue to his identity. I watched my sister as she moved eagerly forward. “Dad! Is this him?” She was still dressed in her costume, although she had removed all of the excessive jewelry. She looked ridiculous next to their plain clothes.
“Dani, Devon, yes, this is Avdar.” As my father spoke, Avdar walked forward, completely ignoring my sister, until he stopped in front of me. He circled around me, making me feel like he was checking out a horse to purchase.
I gave my father a hard stare and then turned around to face Avdar. “Would you like me to show you my teeth, as well?” I clenched my hands at my side, my teeth gritted in anger.
“Not necessary, I’m sure. Julian has kept me informed on your progress and health.” Avdar gave my father a pleased nod and my father straightened his shoulders with pride.
At seeing my father’s reaction, I incredulously realized that what Dani had told me was actually true. My father was planning to give my body and soul to Avdar. Lashing out, I shot a pulse of wind at my father, making him take a step back.
Seeing this, Avdar frowned, lifting a hand. Daïmonids stepped out of the shadows from each corner of the room. Dani stepped up next to me and put her hand on my arm trying to calm me, but I shrugged her off and stepped forward, getting into Avdar’s space.
“This isn’t going to happen,” I stated, pointing first at him and then me. The wind that had been slowly circling through the room became a small whirlwind of anger, dancing next to me, and the fire grew into leaping flames in the fireplace. I saw Avdar look towards it and smile.
“Son, you don’t want to test me. I may not be at full strength right now, but you are outnumbered here, and you will obey!” With the word obey, a lightning bolt crashed into the room, setting the blinds on the windows rattling. He removed his glasses, and I saw his pupils were an orange red color that grew brighter the longer I stared into them.
I was not going to just give in to their crazy plan! I twisted the ring on my finger and brought it up to try to catch his eye. The firelight glinted off the initials AF. I forced my will towards capturing Avdar’s gaze, but my will hit an invisible wall. I pushed against it and heard Dani gasp next to me as she realized what I was trying to do. Still pushing, I felt that wall give, just slightly and saw a look of surprise cross Avdar’s face.
“Devon, stop!” Dani whispered, urgently pulling on my arm. The heat in the room intensified, but only my father, Dani, and I were sweating. The fire seemed to make Avdar stronger and I could see him reaching for more strength. I quickly switched my intent and started to draw power away from the fire, away from Avdar. The flames flickered until it died down, flickering lightly at the logs.
Surprise turned into pleasure at my show of strength and Avdar tore his eyes away from my gaze. “Julian, he is strong. I am pleased.” My father smiled weakly and turned a glare towards me.
I glared back, shook Dani’s grip from my arm, and glanced around. All of the Daïmonids had moved further into the room and had circled around Avdar and me, trapping me within their circle. Needing to escape, I threw an arm out, and my whirlwind flew towards the Daïmonids between me and the door. It lifted two of them into the air and pushed them into the wall, where they remained pinned.
I looked at my father and Dani, then shook my head and hurried towards the door without saying another word. I needed to come up with a plan. I was not giving up my soul, or my body. I needed to talk to Avery.
Chapter 22
Cole
As the car pulled into a parking spot in front of the tea shop, I had to hold myself back from reaching for Avery’s hand. We had driven from the dance to her place in almost complete silence. Even though I shouldn’t care, I kept thinking about the moment I realized Avery wasn’t dancing with our group. I had spotted Devon earlier, and immediately looked over in his direction. Sure enough, Avery was dancing with him. My reaction was instinctive, and intense! I wanted her to have a great night, but with me, not him. I could feel myself tense up again and realized that I had unknowingly reached out for her hand and was holding it hard. She was trying to pull it away.
“Sorry,” I said, letting her hand go. I noticed she quietly stretched out her fingers and twisted her ring on her finger.
Wincing, I reached out my hand and brushed my thumb over the top of her hand. I said sorry again, and then drew my hand back.
“It’s ok,” she said quietly. “I keep thinking about what’s going to happen tomorrow.”
“Yeah, tomorrow.” Uncomfortable, I changed the subject. “I had a lot of fun tonight. Well, with the exception of that one dance you had with Devon.” I frowned when I saw her smile slightly. Ignoring it, I shifted in my seat so that I was facing Avery. I took a look in the rearview mirror, and glanced around us quickly, making sure we were alone.
“I had fun tonight,” she said, smiling slightly. The light over the door of the store cast a shadow over half of her face, but the other half was very well lit.
“I think it’s silly that you are thinking of keeping watch from your car. Maybe it would be ok if you slept on the couch?” Avery glanced over her shoulder towards the shop. I could see a light under the door that led back to the apartment. “It looks like my aunt is up, I could ask her if you want?”
“I think it’s better if I stay out here and make sure you don’t have any surprise visitors,” I stat
ed calmly, knowing that I wouldn’t be anywhere close to Avery tomorrow night.
“OK,” she replied and started to turn towards the door to get out. Surprised, I reached for her arm.
“Wait a minute, I have something for you.” I had argued with myself about giving her anything, but I had bought her this gift before my orders had changed and I really wanted to give it to her, even with everything that was going to go down. I reached over her to pull a small, gold gift-wrapped box out of the glove compartment. I held it out to her and surprised, she gently took it out of my hand. “Happy Birthday,” I said softly, letting go of her hand so she could open the present.
“You didn’t want to wait until we were all together tomorrow?” She looked up and I shook my head.
“I wanted to give this to you tonight, when we were by ourselves.”
I nudged the package toward her and said, “Open it. It’s nothing big. I just saw it in a store window a couple of weeks ago and it reminded me of you.”
She pulled at the bow and loosened the paper so a small white box was revealed. She pulled the lid off and revealed a delicate gold necklace with a smoothly polished amethyst crystal pendant shaped like an arrowhead. “It’s beautiful,” she said, looking at me curiously. She reached out a finger to touch it. “Will you put it on me?”
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