by Tara West
“How are you doing that, Papi?” he asked.
As soon as his grandfather opened his eyes and stepped back, Gabriel was pelted once more with the stinging rain and wind.
“Now your turn,” Josef called. “Become one with the storm.”
Gabriel stood beside his grandfather, shielding his face with his hands. Closing his eyes, he imagined he was a current of air. He lifted his hands to the sky, and instead of working against the elements, he envisioned himself splitting in two and going around the house. The first thing he noticed was the tension in his neck caused by the strain eased. His muscles relaxed, and his mind felt as if it were soaring. His fingers tingled, like a thousand tiny butterflies were escaping from the tips. The pelting elements stopped battering his exposed flesh as the air around him parted and went surprisingly quiet. So quiet that Gabriel could hear the sound of boards creaking as his grandfather rocked in the chair behind him.
“Papi!” he yelled to the sky. “I’m doing it!”
“Keep doing it, niño.” Papi chuckled. “These weary bones need rest.”
* * *
Safina stood on sore legs, feeling the “pop” in her bones as she arched back. There had been no calming Mrs. Jenkens using mortal means, so Mother had finally laid her hands on the hysterical woman, putting her into a fitful slumber. How long the old woman would remain asleep, Safina had no idea, but she was relieved to no longer hear her fret about her house when so many other unfortunate souls would lose more than just material things.
Safina turned to see Gabriel outside with his grandfather, and her heart swelled with pride. Gabriel stood before the storm, arms extended as the wind literally parted at his fingertips. That was when she knew Gabriel and his grandfather would keep them safe this night. She only wished all of Galveston could fit inside Señor Cortez’s modest home.
She lurched forward as Gabriel’s brother, Pedro, bumped into her backside.
“Oh, sorry,” he said sheepishly as he hoisted a crate into his arms.
“Do you need any help?” she asked.
His cheeks flushed, and he shook his head.
Her father and Gabriel’s brothers were still moving furniture and boxes up to the top floors. She grumbled under her breath, wishing she had something to do, but was distracted by her growling stomach.
She headed to the kitchen, which had been stripped of all but a wood-burning stove, a small table, and two chairs.
Moses set breads, cheeses, and fruit on the table, as well as a pitcher of lemonade. “You hungry?” he asked.
She eagerly nodded and pulled up a chair but paused when she heard a moan coming from Gabriel’s bedroom.
Moses nodded to the curtain that separated his room from the kitchen. “Miss Abby is worried for her friends.”
As hungry as Safina was, she couldn’t leave Abby to suffer alone. Reluctantly, she pushed back from the table and the heavenly aromas of sharp cheese and fresh-baked bread.
The howl of the wind was much louder in Gabriel’s bedroom, the din intensified by the cacophony of raindrops hitting the top of the roof.
Abby was lying face-down in Gabriel’s bed, sobbing into his pillow. Safina sat beside her friend. “Abby, dearest,” she said as she stroked her back, “please stop crying.”
“I can’t.” She spoke through a muffled sob. “My friends are going to die.”
Safina did her best to sound reassuring. “We can’t be sure of that.”
Abby sat up, pulling her knees to her chest. Her eyes were bloodshot and swollen. “Señor Cortez told me the east and west sides of the city will be lost. Lydia’s house is on the west,” she said on a wail before burying her face in her hands.
As if to emphasize her friend’s dire situation, a loud clap of thunder shook the house, electrifying the air in the cramped room. The howling wind intensified, rattling the narrow window above their cot and sounding as if a thousand demon spirits were swirling around them.
Safina could not tell if the cries she heard outside were victims of the storm or just the howling of the wind. Of one thing she was certain, she was glad to be inside. Her gaze shot to the ceiling. She truly hoped Señor Cortez and Gabriel would be able to keep the house safe.
“I am sure they have come to realize you were telling the truth, and they have gone back to Charlotte’s house.” Safina spoke with a confidence she did not feel.
Abby looked at her through watery eyes, sniffling loudly. “Teddy told Charlotte it would all blow over. The papers said the hurricane headed up the East Coast.”
Safina shivered when a cry for help rose above the din. “Surely they must know by now.” This time, she knew she didn’t sound confident. She could not help the tremor that slipped into her voice.
Abby shook her head. “I cannot sit here, not knowing if Charlotte is safe.”
“Well, you can’t go out in this. Moses has prepared supper. Come and eat with me. Maybe you’ll feel better.” As if on cue, Safina’s stomach growled. Had circumstances been different, it would have been a comical moment, though she doubted Abby heard it above the noise outside.
“I’m not hungry.” Abby pouted. “I really just want to be left alone. I’m sorry.”
“Okay.” Safina patted Abby’s knee and stood. “I will come back and check on you.”
* * *
Safina sat alone at the table, toying with her food while the walls shook around her. Even her cup rattled on the table, so hard she feared her drink would topple. Surprisingly, Safina had lost her appetite, and she didn’t think she could stomach food, anyway. The screams outside were definitely getting louder. She didn’t want to think about how many people would die this night. How many babies would be ripped from the arms of their mothers, and how many children would drown in the very waters they’d frolicked in just hours earlier.
The kitchen door swung open, then slammed with a crack. Gabriel stood there, his hair swept back as if he’d been caught in a windy tunnel. His shirt was ripped on one side, and he had dirt on his face, but he was otherwise whole.
She patted the chair beside her and managed a weak smile. “Come sit.”
He fell into a chair, taking a cool glass of juice from Safina. “Thank you,” he said with a sigh. “Elemental magic is draining. Papi says I must eat to keep up my strength.” Gabriel finished the drink and piled cheese and bread on a plate.
“I saw you parting the storm,” Safina rose and stood behind him, massaging his shoulders, delighting in the feel of his muscles. She bent down, her lips close to his ear. “How were you doing that?”
His mouth turned up in a lopsided grin. “Working with wind is easy,” he said as if it was no big deal. “Papi showed me how.” Then he frowned. “Working with water is harder, but Papi says it will get easier with practice.”
“You were magnificent, Gabriel.” For some reason, the words hurt coming out. Why? Why would she not wish for her husband’s magic to strengthen? A wave of shame washed over Safina when she realized the truth. She was jealous that her husband had magic and she didn’t. What was wrong with her?
If my mother hadn’t broken the bond, I would have no cause to feel jealous, she thought bitterly.
After Gabriel finished eating, Safina leaned into him, nuzzling his chest and needing to feel his heartbeat against her ear. How odd that they were no longer tethered. That their souls were not bound. Though she did not wish to dwell on her sorrows, the louder the wind howled, the darker her thoughts became.
Now that she was no longer immortal, and he no longer bound to her immortality, they were both vulnerable to the elements. This storm could easily claim their lives if Gabriel and his grandfather lost control of their magic. Though Safina hated herself for it, she could not help but feel resentment toward her mother for breaking the bond. If Safina was a dragoness, she and Gabriel could have flown away from the hurricane and waited out the storm someplace safe.
Another thunderous boom shook the walls, and it felt as if all air had been sucked out of
the kitchen through a vortex. She shivered against him.
“Don’t worry, mi amor,” he cooed in her ear. “Papi and I will keep us safe.”
She placed a palm on his chest, looking up into his eyes. “I can’t help but worry, Gabriel. I worry for you, for us.”
He smiled softly, brushing a strand of wayward hair behind her ear. “There is nothing to be afraid of. It will all blow over tonight.” He looked around him as if he were seeing the room for the first time. “Where are the others?”
“Abby is lying in your bed. She’s been crying over Charlotte. I believe my father and Moses are helping your brothers move the furniture upstairs. You saw my mother and Mrs. Jenkens in the front parlor, right?”
“I did.” He slowly stood, looking lost in thought. “Did you hear that?”
Safina shook her head. “Hear what? I hear all kinds of sounds.” The house was shaking as hard as a locomotive. What did he expect her to hear?
Gabriel crossed the kitchen to his room. He pulled back the curtain and swore.
Safina was at his heels, peering around his shoulder to get a look at what had upset him. The narrow window above his bed was open, rattling as it banged against the side of the house. Safina heard a crack and a “pop, and the window came off its hinges and fell outside. The bed was empty.
Gabriel jumped on the mattress and looked outside.
Safina tried to do the same, but pulled back when her face was pelted with rain as hard as pebbles.
“Gabriel,” she cried, “Abby must have gone to Lydia’s house. What are we going to do?”
He slipped on a coat, leveling her with a stern expression. “Stay here. I’ll go get her.”
“You’re not going without me.” Safina’s friend was in trouble, and she wasn’t going to sit in the house all day doing nothing to help her. Just because she no longer had her dragon powers did not mean she had to play the role of the helpless mortal.
Gabriel frowned. “It’s dangerous out there, Safi.”
She planted both hands on her hips. “I’m not afraid. My mate is an earth speaker.”
He breathed out a huff while coursing fingers through his hair. “You put too much faith in me.”
“And you don’t put enough faith in yourself.” She eyed him coolly. “Besides, if you leave me here, I’ll follow you after you’re gone.”
Chapter Nineteen
Luckily, nobody saw them slip out the back door. After Gabriel helped Safina climb down sand bags, she was shocked to land in water up to her waist. She stifled a gasp and did her best to straighten her face. She did not want Gabriel to know she was afraid.
“Are you sure about this?” he hollered into the wind.
“We’re wasting time!” she yelled back.
“I know the way to Lydia’s.” He thumbed over his shoulder. “Stay behind me.”
He turned, holding out his hands and breaking the wind like the bow of a ship cutting through water. As long as she ducked behind his shoulders, the wind wasn’t bad at all, but the water moved swiftly, wrapping her skirts around her legs and threatening to pull her under. Safina held onto Gabriel’s coattails as she pushed against the current. Debris smacked into her side so hard, she howled in pain.
When Gabriel turned to help her, she ushered him forward. “I’m fine!” she lied. She rubbed her sore hip, picturing the bruise she’d see there later.
They found Abby clutching a porch railing, sobbing as blood ran down her forehead. “Oh, Abby, you’re bleeding,” Safina cried, taking her friend in her arms.
Abby looked at her with glazed eyes while absently rubbing her matted hair. “Something hit my head.”
“This is a fool’s errand,” Gabriel yelled as he dropped his arms. Wind and rain assaulted them all. “I insist you turn back.”
Abby jutted an arm toward a two-story house in the distance. “We’re almost there. I can’t turn back now.”
“You women are going to be the death of me.” Gabriel rolled his eyes before lifting his hands to the sky. “Stay behind me!” he called, pressing forward.
* * *
Dr. Charles Straw was in a particularly bad mood that day. This bothersome storm showed no signs of blowing over, so the freighters had docked, and the trains had stopped running, leaving him stuck on this blasted island. Dr. Straw liked to consider himself a positive man, but there were a few positives to be had on this blustery day. The police had been too preoccupied with evacuations to search for the gutter slut’s killer. Not that they’d recognize him, as most everyone foolish enough to be out in this weather kept their heads down, their hands shielding their eyes from the onslaught of debris.
And speaking of evacuations, the further west he’d walked on Broadway Street, the more empty houses he found. Some of the residents had abandoned their homes so fast, he knew they hadn’t had time to gather all their valuables. “One man’s folly is another man’s fate,” as he liked to say, and he had the feeling fate was about to make him a very wealthy man.
He was just about to climb the back steps to a particularly grand Victorian when he saw a flash of crimson. He squinted against the wind and saw two women, following closely behind a man. As they headed up 48th Street toward Sealy, he thought it odd how the wind seemed to break before them. His mind must have been playing tricks on him. He recognized one of the women to be that ill-mannered Abby Jenkens. He was not a praying man, but he did send up a silent plea that a piece of slate would smack that girl in the head and knock her under the water. He could not tell if the other woman was the healer or her daughter, though he assumed it mattered little. She was a long way from home, and with the deafening noise from the howling wind, they would never hear him sneaking up behind them.
* * *
Duncan raced down the stairs two at a time, bursting through the front parlor and into the kitchen. He checked Gabriel’s bedroom and ran back into the parlor. Fiona, Moses, and Mrs. Jenkens were sitting nervously on the sofa, watching as the old man held his arms out to the storm. Amazingly, wind and water broke before him as if he’d created an invisible dam around the house.
But just knowing that Safina had left the safety of the house to brave what was out there made Duncan’s knees weaken. He fell against the wall, struggling to stay strong when his whole world threatened to be swept away into the abyss. Where had she gone, and why?
“Where is she?” he rasped, panting as he clutched the doorframe.
Fiona released Mrs. Jenkens’s hand and slowly stood, looking at Duncan as if she’d seen a spirit. “Who?”
“Safina!” he cried.
Fiona pointed to the door behind them with a shaky hand. “She is in the kitchen with Gabriel.”
Duncan shook his head. “She’s not there, and I do not feel her nearby.”
Fiona rushed past him and into the kitchen. “Safina!”
Her frantic footsteps echoed through the house and then she raced back into the parlor. She looked at Duncan with a wild-eyed expression, reminding him of a wounded animal caught in a snare. “Abby and Gabriel are gone, too.”
Mrs. Jenkens screamed and fell back against the sofa. “Where’s my Abby? Oh, heavens, she will drown!”
By this time, Gabriel’s brothers had come downstairs. They were looking at the rest of them with alarm in their eyes.
Gabriel’s older brother, a tall young man with a bushy moustache, stepped forward, holding out his palms. “Calm down, everyone. They are with Gabriel.”
Moses held Mrs. Jenkens, fanning her face while she moaned, rocking her head back and forth.
“Oh, my Abby!” She flung her arm across her brow. “Where could she have gone?”
Fiona’s back stiffened as understanding dawned in her eyes. “To Lydia’s.” She looked at Duncan. “Can you find her?”
He closed his eyes and channeled a vision of his sweet Safina, cursing under his breath when he saw her fighting a current higher than her waist.
“Aye,” he growled, for he also saw Gabriel in front of
her. What kind of fool would subject his mate to such danger?
Fiona tugged his sleeve. “Then lead the way.”
Mrs. Jenkens shot up, the flaccid flesh on her face falling like a tumbling house of cards as she frowned. “The storm’s too rough. You’ll never make it.”
“You underestimate me, Mrs. Jenkens.” Duncan boomed as he clenched his hands with hardened resolve. “There isn’t a force of nature strong enough to keep me from finding my daughter.”
* * *
When they reached Lydia’s house, Abby fought her cumbersome skirts to push ahead of Gabriel while shielding her face from the onslaught of rain. She climbed inside one of Lydia’s mother’s raised flowerbeds and grabbed Gabriel’s hand as he pulled Safina with him. A horse whinnied and stomped through the water, pulling a wagon as it slowly moved past Abby.
The wheels were nearly completely submerged, and Abby feared the cart wouldn’t make it. She was filled with dread to see Lydia’s family in the wagon. Why had they waited so long to evacuate? She counted six heads: Lydia, Irene, Lydia’s younger brothers, and her mother and father. But where was Charlotte? Abby prayed she’d already gone home.
“Lydia!” she screamed, waving wildly.
Lydia’s father kept his head down, holding tightly to the reins and not bothering to slow as he urged the horse forward.
“Abby,” Lydia yelled from the back of the wagon, “what are you doing here?”
Abby cupped her hands around her mouth and called back. “Where is Charlotte?”
“Inside!” Lydia pointed to the house they’d just evacuated. Already, the current had ripped the stairs from the porch. “We’re moving to higher ground. She refused to leave. Papa says we must go.”
“You would just leave her here?” Abby screamed, but as the cart moved farther down the road, she doubted they heard her.