“I lost my temper when I channeled, before I came here. It shredded most of my clothes.”
Fear worked at the edges of her control but the idea of Aiden’s clothes blowing to bits brought a weak smile to her lips. His head poked around the tree she was standing right in front of and it made her jump. He was smiling but there was so much sadness in his eyes that it took all of the mirth out of it. The long, bloody cut running from his temple to his chin didn’t help either. Blood had dripped and dried in trails down his cheek.
“That son of a bitch!” Eren snapped.
For a moment she forgot that he was hiding behind a tree because he was mostly naked. She stepped forward and reached out to gingerly touch his face. His eyes closed and he leaned into her hand, moving his body farther behind the tree at the same time. The fear disappeared, replaced by anger. No wonder he had lost his temper. Warmth worked its way up through Eren’s fingers. Blue mist started to seep from her hand. She ignored it. Right now all she cared about was that he was hurt. The blue mist sank into him and his cheek warmed beneath her fingers.
“It doesn’t matter what he thinks, he’s wrong. He’s always wrong,” he said, the last part an almost inaudible mumble.
“Come inside, I’ll clean this up,” Eren said as she moved her hand off the cut.
The blood remained, but the cut was gone. The skin had healed completely.
“Did you heal yourself?” she asked.
Aiden raised an eyebrow and gave her a confused look. “No, what do you mean?” he reached up to touch the wound. When his fingers didn’t find it he rubbed at his cheek, searching.
His eyes widened and he looked at her like she was something precious and rare. “You healed me,” he whispered.
“No, I…” she started to protest then remembered the blue mist and the feeling of heat passing from her fingers into him. “But I’m a warrior channeler, Grandfather said so,” she whispered.
Aiden’s eyes filled with awe and something else. Was it hope?
“Maybe you’re both,” he said.
“Can someone be both?” she asked.
“I’ve never heard of it, but you do seem special,” he said.
The way he said special made her want to hide behind her hair. He lifted her chin and made her look at him.
“After I channel for you, how about you channel and we’ll run down to the river?”
Eren’s first fear was of channeling, but her second fear was that he had an ulterior motive. If they channeled there was a chance she’d ruin her clothes, which meant they’d be going to river naked, or close to it. But there was no hungry gleam in his eyes and he didn’t look away when she gave him a long, hard look. No, his motives were not indecent. He was just trying to encourage her to channel.
“Don’t worry, I promise I won’t look,” he said.
When he smiled, she couldn’t help but smile back. He would peek. She had no doubt about that. He was a boy, after all. But she was confident that was all he’d do. These last few weeks he had continued to be a gentleman. He never pushed her limits and didn’t give her any reason to believe he would. More than his incredibly good looks, that was the most attractive thing about him.
“Okay,” she agreed with a deep sigh. “With one condition. You tell me how to stop the flow of energy first,” she added.
“No problem. Think of yourself as connected to the Earth. Imagine your legs are like the roots of a tree. Pour all that energy into the ground, then shut it off like a light switch,” he said.
It sounded so simple it made her suspicious. Things were rarely simple, especially in her life.
“One more thing. If you get scared by the energy do your best to think normal thoughts. Think about Davinci’s sculptures or paintings. It will help ground you and suppress the energy. But you don’t have to be scared. The energy is part of you, it won’t hurt you,” he said with an encouraging look.
She thought it over for a minute, a bit alarmed by his warning. But she trusted him, so she nodded. Aiden smiled wider, making the dried blood on the side of his face crack. Seeing this made Eren feel slightly better. Maybe she wasn’t a warrior channeler after all. Maybe her energy wouldn’t hurt anyone or anything.
“Let’s do it,” she said as she drew her hand away.
“Thanks for healing it. It might have scarred if you hadn’t. The jerk’s Society ring is vicious,” he said.
Anger flared through Eren. Had his adopted father done that to him? Suddenly she wanted very badly to be a warrior channeler. That thought made a convulsion ripple through her body. Seeing her reaction, Aiden gave her a questioning look. When she nodded he stepped out from behind the tree.
Though he was facing away from her it still wasn’t a sight she was completely prepared for. She tried not to look where the sun hadn’t tanned his backside, but her eyes gravitated there anyway. A pair of silk boxers covered most of what she wasn’t ready to see but they were tattered and barely held together. Eren’s breath caught as he started to turn toward her. But all she saw was a glimpse of a bare thigh before his body shimmered like the desert horizon on a blistering hot day. He held his hands out to his sides, palms up. The shimmering stopped and his hands started to glow. No, not glow Eren realized, but leak a green mist specked through with yellow.
Aiden brought his hands together and the mist formed into a swirling ball between his splayed fingers. The look on his face was one of intense concentration. His arms straightened and the ball of energy flew from his hands to strike the base of a nearby tree. The energy spilled out around it like green liquid then sank into the ground. A moment later green shoots thrust up out of the ground and unfurled to reveal tiny blue flowers that circled the tree trunk like a carpet.
Eren looked back at him. There was a vitality that seemed to be coursing through him. He stood up straight, chest held high, eyes practically glowing. Surprisingly, she felt no fear seeing him this way. She had expected to, but she had also expected the release of energy to be frightening and to bring about his anger. But the opposite seemed to have happened.
“You’re a healer channeler,” Eren said in a hushed tone.
He smiled and shook his head. “Not exactly. Come on, it’s your turn. Remember, dump the energy down into the Earth and it won’t hurt anything,” he said.
“All right, but turn your back,” she said.
There was a sparkle in his eyes and one corner of his mouth kept twitching as if he was struggling not to smile. She crossed her arms and glared down her nose at him. He turned around and walked a little deeper into the shadows.
Taking a deep breath, she turned her back to him and pulled her shoes and socks off. Should she take more than that off? She wasn’t sure. As her tank top fell to the ground she heard a loud thump behind her. A low, threatening growl chased a chill up her spine and made her stomach clench. It also made her body vibrate so badly that her muscles felt like they were on the verge of convulsions. That terrible sound made her pause and fight back the energy. What the hell had that been?
Feeling very vulnerable, she slowly turned around. Amber eyes and white teeth glared at her from out of the darkness where Aiden had been. Something big moved in the shadows and Aiden was nowhere to be seen. The shape moved closer and made a chuffing sort of noise that made Eren’s legs want to give out. It sounded big. As it stepped out of the darkness of the forest and into the starlit backyard she saw what it was, a black bear.
Eren took a step backwards.
“Aiden? Are you all right?” she called.
The bear growled and took another step in her direction.
Could it smell or sense her fear? It didn’t really matter as long as she could keep it away from Aiden. The lips around those long, sharp teeth pulled up into an angry snarl.
“Aiden are you hurt?” Eren asked, her voice quavering. She felt stupid for asking the obvious but she didn’t know what else to do. His inability to answer was not a good sign.
She took another step back and
her foot tangled in her tank top, making her stumble. Panic widened her eyes until all she could see were those frightening fangs. The moment she hit the ground, a fearsome growl tore from the bear and it lunged toward her.
All those years of track training suddenly seemed very worth it. Eren turned and launched herself to her feet, legs pumping in a desperate sprint for the back door. It was less than a second before she was flying across the deck and reaching for the doorknob. She flung the door open and threw herself inside, slamming it behind her.
A solid weight thudded against the door, shaking it in its hinges. Eren screamed and threw the dead bolt. Another massive impact shook the door again and knocked her back onto her butt. Crying and fighting back her rising energy, she scooted backwards as fast as she could.
“Eren what happened?” Sylvia yelled as she ran in from the kitchen.
Eren couldn’t speak, but Sylvia didn’t need an answer. She saw the look of horror on Eren’s face and her eyes were drawn to the back door as it rattled once again.
“A bear. Aiden is out there!” Eren managed to get out.
Anger filled her aunt’s dark eyes as she ran for the door. It flew open so fast that Eren never even saw her unlock the dead bolt.
As Sylvia stepped out the door her energy rose, creating an orange glow that was speckled with red around her hands. She was out the door as fast as a bullet. Apparently Eren wasn’t the only runner in the family. Snarling, growling, and snapping of teeth sounded far too close to the open door.
Eren stood and started to go toward it with the intention of slamming it and locking it. But she couldn’t do that to her aunt. Locking her outside with that kind of danger would be horribly selfish. She froze in mid-stride, undecided. Guilt sickened her stomach because she knew what she should do. She should raise her energy and go help.
A huge picture window to the right of the door gave her a good view of the fight. The bear stood on its hind legs, dwarfing her tiny aunt. But Sylvia showed no fear as she faced the thing down, hands held out to her sides as the energy built around them. The look in the bear’s eyes was almost crazed. Its movements were forced, as if it was fighting against its own muscles. It almost looked like something was controlling it, forcing it to attack. Energy shot from Sylvia’s hands, striking the bear in the chest so hard that it sent it toppling over backwards.
One of the worst memories of Eren’s short life sprung into her mind. The policeman had said her parents had been killed by an animal attack. The urge to raise her energy was washed away as if she’d been doused with a bucket of ice water. It hadn’t been just wild animals that killed her parents. That wasn’t very likely. They were experienced hikers. But if the animals were controlled by someone like this bear appeared to be then it was possible her parents had been murdered by their own kind.
While she stood frozen in shock, the fight raged on outside. A loud yelp of pain drew her attention back to the present like a slap to the face. This was crazy, she had to stop it. She couldn’t let her aunt get hurt. And she had to get to Aiden. Finally, her feet moved toward the door. The bear tumbled off the deck and out of sight and she stopped.
Before she could make the decision to move again, Sylvia appeared in the open doorway. Eren’s eyes searched desperately out the window for any sign of Aiden. She was afraid that she’d find his bleeding body lying out there, but he was nowhere to be seen.
“He’s gone,” Sylvia said.
Panic tightened its grip on her throat. Aunt Sylvia didn’t look hurt, at least that was something. But how could Aiden have just disappeared? It didn’t make any sense.
“We have to find him. He could be hurt,” Eren said as she went for the door.
Sylvia grabbed her arm and stopped her.
“He isn’t out there. Someone took him away.”
A chill flooded through Eren at the words.
“What happened?” Sylvia asked again as she closed the door behind her.
“Aiden was showing me how to channel and then he was attacked by a bear. It almost looked like the bear was being forced to attack. Is that even possible?” Eren asked.
A long sigh escaped Sylvia and she ran a hand through her short black hair.
“Yes. Some of our kind can control the energy of animals,” she said.
“But why would someone do that? Why would they attack Aiden?” Eren demanded.
Letting go of her arm, Sylvia turned and bolted the door. She didn’t look back at her as she said, “Because they don’t want him with you.”
A sob worked its way up Eren’s throat and she clenched her teeth against it as she buried her head in her hands. It had to be Aiden’s adopted parents. Only they could be so horrible as to attack their own son. He was out there with those monsters alone, and she couldn’t help him.
Tears dripped down into her fingers. There was no way she could deal with her aunt’s questions on top of what had just happened. Shaking her head, she turned to the stairs and fled to the privacy of her room.
Chapter 20
Eren waited and waited, but Aiden didn’t come back. That night she eavesdropped on her grandfather and aunt as they discussed the fight. Sylvia seemed almost as concerned about Aiden as Eren was. She was angry about the attack. Their concern only made her worry more.
Days passed. Eren was lying in bed late at night when the inevitable finally happened. The moment the full moon crawled above the horizon Eren knew it because it felt like it was trying to tear her apart. So lost was she in the pain that she didn’t even realize she’d been screaming until Aunt Sylvia came rushing up the stairs and threw her bedroom door wide open.
“Eren honey, it only hurts because you’re fighting it. Just let the energy out and it won’t hurt anymore,” she told her.
Eren shook her head as she sweated, thrashed, and fought back her power. After what had happened there was no way she was about to let it out. Sure she had healed Aiden but she had also used her energy to kill fish. It was hard to say whether she was a warrior channeler or a healer. Part of her had wanted to tell her aunt and grandfather about the healing but it was too painful to talk about Aiden. And there was a tiny doubt eating at the back of her mind that the channeling could unleash the horrible fury over her parents’ deaths that she had been suppressing.
There was a good chance that if she let her energy out she could hurt someone. She wasn’t about to let that happen. Pain tore screams from her and bowed her back up off the bed. It felt like she was going to explode. Surely that meant the energy would hurt whatever it touched.
“Please don’t fight it. When you’re young you can’t resist during the full moon and trying will only make it worse when you do channel,” Sylvia pleaded.
Swallowing her screams and forcing the pain back enough to where she could open her eyes, she turned to her aunt and fixed her with a determined gaze. There was no way she was going to be able to speak so she hoped the look made her intentions clear. It must have because Sylvia shook her head and looked completely frustrated.
“I’m going to get your grandfather, maybe he can talk some sense into you,” she snapped.
Spinning, she stormed out of the room. The moment she was out the door Eren’s body began to buck and thrash again and she had to fight for all she was worth. It felt as though this massive, magnetic force was pushing out from deep inside her, trying to shove her power up from her very soul. More out of anger than fear, she battled and resisted it.
The moonstone necklace her mother had given her felt cool and soothing against her chest. It brought her a little bit of comfort and gave her strength. With it she didn’t feel quite so alone.
She had no idea how long Aunt Sylvia was gone. Time ceased to have meaning. All she knew was the pain and the pressure. When her grandfather finally came in sunlight was starting to stream in the window. The pressure had decreased by then and she was starting to think that maybe the worst was over.
“My God, Eren I can’t believe you fought through that,” her
grandfather marveled.
Eren’s jaw had been clenched tight all night and she found it very difficult to open it to talk. Finally, after wiggling it around a bit to loosen it, she managed.
“Women are tough,” she said.
“You don’t understand. I don’t know of anyone who’s ever been able resist during the full moon in their first year of channeling. At least not for the last three hundred years,” he said.
Okay, that was a shock. But she figured it had something to do with her being raised among normal people and valuing the illusion of her normalcy. She was too wiped out to mention it though. Talking just that little bit had taken a lot out of her.
“You just rest now,” her grandfather said as he tucked the blankets around her.
She was working on a protest but the second she laid her head back on the pillow she was out. As she sank down into unconsciousness she thought she heard her grandfather murmur about how amazing she was.
Later in the day, Aunt Sylvia came up with a bowl of soup and a huge glass of water. Eren made quick work of them both and asked for seconds. It made her feel better and renewed some of her strength. But the exhaustion remained so she lay back down and got a few more hours of much needed sleep.
Just before it started to get dark, she decided she was feeling good enough to get up and try stretching her muscles out. But when she swung her legs off the bed the pain hit her like a semi truck.
Oh God, it’s happening again.
She fell back onto the bed and curled up in the fetal position. The convulsions soon had her sprawled out and thrashing.
Sometime in the night, the pressure dulled a bit and the convulsions started to become fewer and farther between. It wasn’t that the moon had set. She could still feel it hanging full in the sky like the terrible magnet that it was. In a way it almost felt like she was willing the pain and convulsions to lessen. Her grandfather had already said she’d done the impossible and it occurred to her that maybe she could stretch the perimeters of normality just a bit further. If she could fight off the need to channel she didn’t see any reason why she couldn’t fight the pain off as well. She had healed Aiden, after all.
The Secret Of Spruce Knoll: A Channeler Novel Page 12