by Rian Harper
“Why did you stop?” I asked as Emma unbuckled to get out of the car.
“Jasmine lives a few streets down. This car is going to be reported stolen this morning, and I don’t want them to track it to her house.” Her reasoning made sense.
I stepped out of the car and took a deep breath. The air down south was a lot different from the air up north. It was heavier, stickier. I was surprised to not feel the nip of coldness in the air from the autumn season. It was the beginning of October, and it was hot enough that I had to shed the brown leather jacket I was wearing.
Emma and I walked for a couple of blocks until we came to a robin’s egg-blue house with white trim and a brick path leading up to the front door. Pansies bordered the path on either side, seemingly smiling at us, welcoming us as we approached the white front door. The porch wrapped around to the left side of the house where a wooden swing attached to the ceiling. There were ferns hanging in between the tapered columns that framed the porch. Potted plants were placed on either side of the front door. It was quaint and wonderful.
As I was observing the outside of the house—which the realtor in me tended to do—Emma knocked on the door. There was no answer. She knocked again. Still no answer. After several minutes of Emma banging on the door and waiting, someone came. The man that answered the door was wearing only his boxers, indicating that he just rolled out of bed. He was average height with shaggy brown hair and a beard, which made him look a lot older than he probably was.
“Do you know what time it is?” He asked in a proper British accent as he rubbed his eyes.
“I’m sorry to wake you. I was looking for Jasmine. Does she still live here?” Emma asked apologetically.
The man put on some black plastic-framed glasses reminiscent of Elvis Costello and pushed the door open, inviting us in.
“Wait in the living room and I’ll go get her.” He said as he turned and walked down a hall that went straight through the middle of the house. The old hardwood floors creaked under his steps as he walked away. I watched as the man disappeared into a room off of the hallway.
“There are some people here to see you.” His voice was muffled from being several rooms away.
“Well who is it?” A woman’s voice asked back.
“I don’t know. I’m going to get in the shower.”
Not long after their conversation ended, a petite blonde girl no more than five feet tall came walking toward us. She stopped at the end of the hall when she saw us.
“Emma Marshall. What are you doing here?” She didn’t sound happy.
“Hey Jas. I need your help.” Emma said without any emotion.
“I’m sure you do. What trouble have you gotten into now?”
“It’s Everett.” Jasmine grimaced when Emma said his name.
“I’m not doing anything for that jack wagon.” Jasmine snapped.
“Jas, I know you’re still mad at him, but please. He’s in danger.” Emma’s attempts to try and stay aloof were broken by the obvious upset in her voice.
“What kind of danger?” Her interest piqued a little.
“Cade has him.” I saw distaste flash across Jasmine’s face as Emma spoke those words.
“The only man I detest more than your brother. How long has Everett been missing?” She asked as she stepped closer toward Emma.
“Just a few hours. We only have until 5 a.m. tomorrow morning to find him or Cade will kill him.”
“Why would he do that? Cade doesn’t play games. He usually does things quick and easy.” Jasmine said with a little disbelief in what Emma was telling her.
“He wants Nate.” Emma gestured toward me.
“And what’s so special about you hotshot?” Jasmine aimed her sarcasm at me now.
“I don’t know. He sought me out and hasn’t relented.” I replied.
“Nate has the Mark but has never manifested any powers. We don’t know anything about him except for that. Cade must know something about him that we don’t.” Emma tried to explain to Jasmine.
“Are you a Kane descendant too?” I asked Jasmine, curiously.
Instead of replying, she held her arm out in front of her with her hand parallel to my torso, making a stop gesture. I next found myself flying through the air, eventually slamming into the front door. When I landed on my face, I felt as if I’d been sucker-punched in the stomach.
“And I wasn’t even trying, pumpkin. So try not to tick me off.” Jasmine threatened.
“What just happened?” I was still winded from the blow.
“I just pummeled you with a shockwave. Duh. You know, Em, this guy is sharp as a spoon. Great find.” She gave Emma two sarcastic thumbs up.
I picked myself up off the floor and felt every joint in my body ache.
“You know you’re awfully brazen for someone who could be considered travel-sized.” I heckled in return.
She laughed. “I may actually like you.”
“Focus people. We need to find Everett.” Emma reminded us.
“Okay, what do you know?”
“Cade sent me these texts.” I handed her my phone.
“Wow. He means business.” Jasmine said as she scrutinized the picture message. “What a tool. What does he mean he’s ‘green with envy’?” She scrunched her eyebrows together as she contemplated the possibilities.
“He’s toying with us, giving us a riddle to solve. We haven’t gotten any more clues yet.” I answered.
“Well that just changed. New text message.” Emma and I darted over to Jasmine, each of us on either side of her so we could read the message.
Ran to Jasmine for help?
How weak. Be careful
whom you trust.
P.S. Everett’s looking pail.
-Cade
“The moron spelled pale wrong.” My obsessive compulsion about proper spelling manifested.
“He meant to do that. It’s another clue.” Emma suggested.
“I think you’re right.” Jasmine agreed.
“Cade has to be watching us to know that we’re here. That can only mean that he has Everett here in Athens. Jasmine, you’ve lived here a few years. Can you think of where he could be?” Emma asked.
Jasmine handed the phone back to me and walked over to the terra-cotta corduroy couch that sat in her living room so that she could think. I was completely lost as to where Everett could be. Athens was not my usual stomping ground. I was a foreigner in a strange land. I held out hope that Jasmine could conjure some sort of idea as to Everett’s whereabouts. I wanted us to find him and take him away from the monster that held him captive.
“I know where he is!” Jasmine exclaimed in a revelation. “There is an eco-friendly company called Green Renewals building a new water plant here.”
Emma and I both motioned with our hands for her to elaborate.
“The plant they are building has been nicknamed The Water Pail.” She said as she darted to the dining room.
On the black contemporary dining room table sat a newspaper, which Jasmine swiftly picked up and opened. She alternately unfolded and folded the leaflets of black and white ink, searching for a specific page.
“Look. It was featured in the paper yesterday. I would have never known if Clark didn’t read the paper every day.” She said.
“Clark?” I was curious as to whom she was referring.
“Yes, my husband. He let you in.” She said to me as though I were a moron.
I scowled at her and then glanced over the article in the newspaper about the plant. It was still under construction, slated to be opened the next summer. There was a small picture of it next to the article. It was currently a bare concrete structure with little more than the skeleton of the building finished. Building supplies littered the ground of the site. It seemed to be the perfect place for Cade to hold Everett. It was deserted on the weekends when the crew wasn’t toiling away to complete it, it was easily accessible, and there were plenty of places for him to hide and wait in ambush.
“How far away is it from here, Jas?” Emma asked.
“On the outskirts of town, about fifteen minutes.” She replied.
“Let’s go.” I was eager to save my friend from his precarious situation.
It was mid-morning and the three of us were packed in Jasmine’s car, rushing across the city to the construction site where we ascertained Everett was being held hostage. I was stuffed into the back seat of Jasmine’s dainty, two-door car. My legs were too long for me to sit straight up in the seat. I had to angle my body so that they could spill over into the floor board behind the driver’s seat. I shifted from one side of the car to the other as Jasmine drove like a mad woman toward our destination.
We arrived at the water plant, which looked like a ghost town. Jasmine parked the car at the east corner of the building and we all got out.
“Keep your eyes open. Cade could be anywhere.” Emma reminded us.
Jasmine and I nod in understanding, and we all advanced toward the building, leery of anything that could be out of place.
It took a few minutes before we reached the center of the plant. We walked through a steel-framed doorway into a room with a bare concrete floor and unfinished cinder-block walls. Everett was tied to a chair, sitting in the far left corner of the room, unconscious. I could see from where we stood some twenty feet away the blood stains on the concrete underneath the chair in which he sat. My heart ached, knowing that he was in this condition all because of me.
“Everett!” Emma ran toward him with haste.
Before she was halfway across the room, I saw two long shadows approaching from the unfinished corners of the walls. I saw a man come around the incomplete wall that stair-stepped down away from where Everett was sitting. The morning sun filtering into the room from the east cast the other unknown man as a mere silhouette. His features were indiscernible, but what he looked like didn’t matter. I knew they were both shifters.
Emma stopped when she saw the men come around the wall. Jasmine and I were still standing close to the door from where we entered the room.
“Boo.” A voice behind us whispered in a haunting manner.
Jasmine and I, startled, screamed and ran toward the center of the room, where Emma was standing. I looked back and saw Cade with a devilish grin on his face, standing where we just were. We were surrounded by shifters.
“We meet again, Nate.” Cade said in his Irish accent. “These are my friends, Declan and Keenan.” He pointed to them as he said their names. Declan was the one closest to Everett and Keenan was the mysterious shadow of a man.
“I’ve told them all about you, and they’re just as excited as I am to see you die.” He started walking in a circle around us.
“Why do you want me dead?” I asked, terrified.
“Not important.” He replied as he took some basketball shorts off, which were the only thing he was wearing. I noticed the others do the same.
“This is going to be fun.” He flashed that sinister grin again and shifted into a beast. Declan and Keenan followed suit.
I gulped down my anxiety as the cats came toward us, preparing myself for death.
Chapter 11
Ready…Set…Run
The three black cats roared with delight at the thought of ripping me to shreds. Their tails flicked back and forth with excitement. They all looked similar, but had their distinct features. Cade’s eyes were the greenest of them all. Declan’s fur was a bit longer and had a slight curl to it, like his hair had in human form. Keenan had two different colored eyes. One was vibrant green like Cade’s, the other was paler.
Declan made the first move when he lunged at Emma. She quickly sidestepped his advance and put him in his place with a spark of electricity that coursed through him. While that was happening, Cade started walking toward me, slowly, like he knew I had no escape. He was not going to rush my ending. He was going to savor every second. I ran toward Everett, since I was useless in helping deter the cats. I thought I could at least help him. As I approached Everett, I saw Keenan propel through the air toward the girls. He was rebuffed by one of Jasmine’s powerful shockwaves.
I crouched down when I got to Everett to look at his face. He was bruised and bloodied like a beaten-down boxer. Some fresh blood still dripped from his swollen nose. Cade and his minions pummeled him nearly beyond recognition.
“Everett.” I called his name in hopes that he would wake up. He remained limp and incoherent.
I slid behind the chair and started untying his wrists, which were also bruised and bloody. They purposely tied him up so tight, just to inflict pain. I looked up as I worked and saw Cade still sauntering toward me, slowly. In the background I could see Declan and Keenan continue to get up and try to get at the girls, but they were continually being blasted back and zapped by shockwaves and bolts of electricity.
Everett still didn’t move even after I got him untied from the chair. Cade stopped advancing and stood about twenty feet from us. He growled in anticipation of his kill. He coiled back into a crouch, and leapt through the air toward us with his claws out. The image of the cat sailing through midair disappeared as a bright white light took its place. In a flash it was all gone; the light, the cat, everything. All I could see was black. The black turned to grey after a few seconds and colors returned shortly thereafter. Within a minute my vision was nearly restored.
I looked around, wondering what just happened; curious as to what took my sight temporarily. Cade was lying in the middle of the room, still in his shifted state, but motionless. I saw Declan and Keenan, back in their human forms running from Emma and Jasmine. Evidently the girls got the best of them and sent them into retreat. Everett was no longer on the chair, but lying face-down on the floor in front of it. I bent down and rolled him onto his back. He was still unconscious. I heard a hiss come from behind me. I looked back and saw Cade back up on all fours. He had a maniacal look in his eyes. He started coming toward me again, but this time with haste. Whatever happened which deterred him from killing me the first time he pounced had made him angry; and now he was out for vengeance.
Just before Cade reached me, he ceased moving forward and suddenly went horizontal, slamming into a concrete pillar. Jasmine misdirected him with a shockwave. After Cade hit the floor, Emma zapped him with a bolt, forcing his body to return to human form. He was incapacitated, which would buy us some time to escape.
“He saved you.” Emma said to me as she knelt next to her brother lying on the floor.
“What?” I was confused.
“Everett. He saved you. You would have been as good as dead had he not regained consciousness in time to fend off Cade with a bolt.” She explained as she placed two fingers on Everett’s neck to check his pulse.
“I was wondering what happened.” I said, trying to play back the events in my mind.
“He looks terrible.” Jasmine commented on Everett’s battered state.
“His pulse is weak, which is understandable given the size of the arc I saw come out of his hand. He shouldn’t have had enough energy to do that in the condition he’s in.” I saw tears start rolling down her cheeks.
“Em, we need to get him to a hospital.” Jasmine said as she grabbed Emma under her shoulder and pulled her up. “Nate…”
“I’ve got him.” I knew what she was going to ask.
After a few pulled muscles and a lot of exertion, I had Everett’s arm wrapped around my shoulder, dragging him out of the building. I loaded Everett into the car, and we were on our way to the hospital.
Everett was quickly strapped to a gurney when we arrived and an army of nurses flocked around attaching a slew of medical equipment to him. Jasmine and I were forced to stay in the waiting room, being as we weren’t family. After what seemed like hours, Emma came out to the waiting room. Jasmine and I jumped up from our seats, eager to hear how Everett was doing.
“How is he?” I asked.
“He’s in a coma. His blood pressure keeps dropping so he’s having a CT scan don
e to assess for internal bleeding.”
“Em, I’m so sorry.” I wasn’t sure what came over me, but some innate reflex triggered and I enveloped her in a reassuring hug. She squeezed me back as she cried into my shoulder.
“He’s going to be all right. You know that.” I said as I broke our embrace to look into her eyes.
“I know. It’s just hard to see him like this.”
“Miss Marshall.” A Hispanic male nurse called for Emma from the triage area. We all rushed toward him hoping to hear some news about Everett.
“What’s going on?” Emma asked him when she approached.
“The scan showed him to have some internal bleeding, so they rushed him up to the operating room. I’m going to take you up to the waiting room and you can see him when he gets out of surgery.” The nurse explained.
“Can we go up there?” I asked, hopeful the nurse would acquiesce.
“Sorry. Family only. You’ll have to wait down here.”
“I’ll come back down after I’ve seen him and fill you in.” Emma reassured me.
The nurse started walking away from us and motioned for Emma to follow him. Jasmine and I turned and went back to the main waiting area to hang around until Emma could tell us more about Everett’s condition. Aside from us, the waiting room was empty. Only empty chairs, tables littered with magazines, and a TV in the corner occupied the space. Jasmine and I had nothing to do but watch TV, so we focused on the eleven o’clock news.
After a few mundane local stories, something flashed across the screen that made my hair stand on end. It was my driver’s license picture.
“Oh, that’s not good.”
“What?” Jasmine snapped. I pointed to the TV screen with my picture still on it.
“Why is your picture on the local news?” She asked, just as gob smacked as I was.
I got closer to the TV and turned the volume up.
“—if you have any information or know the whereabouts of this man, please contact the Athens Sheriff’s Department. He is wanted in connection with the assault of a Sheriff’s deputy and two paramedics. He was seen traveling with a young woman about five feet-six inches tall with wavy brown hair and blue eyes. A reward will be issued to the citizen who turns this dangerous man over to authorities—“