Midnight Surrender (A Paranormal Romance Anthology)

by Kris Kendall

Tunnel of

  Love (or Heartbreak)

  By Amy Maurer Jones

  Liv’s backyard

  June 2015

  “Jedd, Shy is dangerous! He killed two of our classmates and kidnapped a little girl! Why are you being so stubborn about this?” I demanded an explanation for his pigheadedness. He was being impossible.

  “Don’t you think you’re being a little overly dramatic, Liv? I just want to help.” He rolled his eyes at me.

  He’s always so passive when it comes to his own safety.

  “Getting yourself killed isn’t going to help anyone!” I think I’m about to have an aneurism.

  “There you go again…” More eye rolling, a flip of his hand, dismiss, dismiss, dismiss…

  “You think this is so simple…” I can’t believe his attitude. “OK Mr. ‘I know it all,’ please enlighten me! Please explain to me exactly how I am overreacting to your desire to hunt down a soul sucking Daeva?” I was fuming now. This better be good.

  He shrugged first to enunciate his point. What a jerk! “I am more of an asset to you than I am a liability.” I was about to say, ‘so what stupid’ but he held up the palm of his hand in objection. I hate how he can read me so well. “You said you were going to be traveling underground with the Gnomes.” He just stared at me. “…right?” he prompted me further. I nodded in agreement. “OK, so what is the big deal? I’ll be under the ground. The mother Earth suffocates and kills Daevas. Do you think Shy is going to come looking for me under the ground?” He had a superior look on his face that I was tempted to smack off, but he did have a point. As much as a hated to admit it… I gestured for him to continue. His Cheshire Cat grin widened. “If my life or my soul is ever in danger, I’ll just burrow down into the bunny hole. See? It’s no big deal. Meanwhile, you’ll have an extra Spiriter on duty. I can see masks and feel allures just as well as you and your Gnomes can.” He was positively proud of himself… and so darn cute! Gaaah! Life is so unfair.

  “Fine…” I caved. I’m such a sucker for his steely blues and gleaming grin. “Meet me in Gaea’s meadow tomorrow at six o’clock sharp.”

  “Six o’clock in the morning?” he uttered in disbelief.

  “Do you want to go or not?” I challenged.

  He straightened his posture abruptly and nodded a salute. It took everything in me not to roll my eyes this time.

  “See you in the morning.” He smiled, warming my heart again. He could be every bit as sweet as he could be infuriating.

  “Six o’clock,” I reemphasized.

  This was not the time to go weak in the knees over a boy. There is a Daeva on the loose for crying out loud. He didn’t cooperate with my efforts. His eyes remained playful and his smile endearing.

  “… on the dot.” He chuckled and with a quick wink he turned and headed for home.

  The next morning…

  “Six o’clock on the dot, just as promised.” Jedd beamed as he stepped through the misty trees that outlined Gaea’s meadow.

  Gaea is the Oracle of Life. She’s an Elder Guardian Spirit that chose the form of a grand old Oak tree after her human charge passed on to the Spirit World. Her son, Beau is my mentor, my Guardian Spirit. Jedd and Beau don’t like each other very much.

  “He’s pretty cute. I can see why my Beau is so jealous,” Gaea whispered to me as Jedd approached.

  I shushed her and her branches wriggled in laughter. Everyone is a comedian…

  “You really don’t have to do this Jedd.”

  He can’t say I didn’t offer him a way out when the Gnome’s tunnels leave him feeling filthy and claustrophobic.

  “No way, Liv, I’m not going to bail. Forget it!”

  He was being thoroughly pigheaded again, even at this early hour. He wasn’t going to change his mind so I suppose I should just accept it. I sighed…

  “Fine, this way…”

  I moaned and groaned under my breath as we silently trudged off toward the forest line. He kept looking at me out of the corner of his eye but he didn’t speak. He was probably worried I would change my mind about allowing him to join me on the quest. After several minutes of stepping over tree knots and ducking under leafy green limbs we came to a ledge in the forest floor. It wasn’t a significant drop but would still require a careful decent. At the bottom of the decline rushed a stream of crystal clear water.

  “We’re meeting Gert and the others on the opposite side of the stream,” I informed Jedd.

  “Gert? What kind of a name is Gert?” he asked incredulously.

  I pretended not to hear him. If he thinks Gert’s name is odd just wait until he sees his caution sign orange glowing hair. Jedd followed me down the embankment. As it turns out I was more in need of assistance than he was. I slipped on three different occasions and he caught my fall each time. Each steadying hand was accompanied by a gloating superior smile.

  “Oh fine, so you can walk more stealthily through the woods than I can, big deal!” I complained.

  He laughed at me, but his smile transformed from cocky to adoring. After we crossed the stream I tried to feel for the Gnome’s allures. Jedd picked up on what I was doing and joined in my search. After a few minutes we caught their signal.

  “This way…” Jedd nodded beyond a large boulder in the brush.

  He scaled the humongous chunk of rock in about the same time it took me to walk around it.

  “You can quit showing off,” I teased.

  “You know you like it,” he flirted back, wagging his eyebrows at me.

  Ugh! He’s just too cute. OK, time to snap out of it. It’s show time. I began stomping on the ground to let the Gnomes know our exact location. Jedd watched me skeptically.

  “What?”

  What was his problem now?

  “You’re like this demi – God, super ninja Spirit girl and the best you can do to summon your Gnomes is stomp on the ground?”

  He was making fun of me… and I loved it. To Jedd, I would always be his best friend Liv. No more, no less. I gave in and shared a laugh with him. It felt nice to be plain old Liv and Jedd for a brief moment. He accompanied me in my Gnome stomping dance and it felt like we were back in the third grade again trying to pack the dirt down where we had buried our most recent treasure. Unfortunately, the trip down memory lane was short lived. Before I knew it, chunks of dirt came flying up into the air followed by a clan of Gnomes with Crayola coded hair coloring. Jedd stared at their tiny, stodgy looking, little figures in amazement.

  “Ha! They look just like those little naked troll dolls you can fasten on your key chain or insert on the top of your pencil… except they’re wearing clothes…” he babbled.

  He continued to chuckle in amusement. I could tell his fascination with them was innocent but I wasn’t sure the Gnomes would appreciate his behavior so I elbowed him in the ribs. The Gnomes merely looked momentarily confused before returning their expectant gaze to me.

  “Jedd, this is Gert, Nort, Runt, Mo and Snert.” I pointed to each Gnome as I spoke his name. Jedd nodded to each of them and they grunted their return. “Gert, what news do you have for me? Were you able to make contact with any of the Gnome clans in the south or out west?” I asked Gert because he is the Master of the eastern clan.

  “Grrnt, yes, there have been sightings of your Daeva in both areas. Grrnt, here is a list of the most likely cities to find him.” Gert handed me a piece of paper.

  The hand written list read:

  Memphis

  Tulsa

  Pittsburgh

  Las Vegas

  Cincinnati

  Nashville

  Albuquerque

  “OK, so what’s next?” Jedd wondered.

  “We’ll need to plot out a course of destination. You know, map out a travel route,” I answered and Jedd pulled a map of the United States out of his back pack. I shook my head. “We’ll require a different type of map, a map of the Gnome’s underground tunnels.”

  Just as I finished
my sentence, Nort fished just such a map out of his pocket. He unfolded it and spread it out on an adjacent smaller rock next to the boulder Jedd climbed over minutes before. This time Jedd pulled a red Sharpe pen out of his bag and handed it to Gert. Good job, Jedd. He’s such a quick learner. Appreciative of Jedd’s gesture, Gert took the pen immediately and circled the listed cities on the tunnel map. Then he began to number them in order of priority for the journey; Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Nashville, Memphis, Tulsa, Albuquerque, and finally Las Vegas. The order may have varied slightly had we been preparing to travel above ground but tunnel travel was different. There were short cuts and a general lack of obstacles. We wouldn’t have to climb mountains or cross rivers. It would be a straight shot from one city to the next which would seriously decrease the distance.

  “Whoa, you mean we can travel on foot to Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Nashville in just two days? That’s crazy awesome!” Jedd breathed in honest appreciation.

  The Gnomes were delighted by Jedd’s enthusiasm and fascination with their tunnels. Jedd asked them all kinds of questions.

  “How did you create the tunnels and how long have they been here?” Jedd bantered excitedly.

  “Grrnt, we dug them many, many years ago,” Nort answered as he dug his fingers into his scalp of red fuzzy hair to scratch his head. “Grrnt, it is hard to say how long they have been here… many millennia no doubt.”

  Jedd’s eyes widened.

  “Well, how can you tell where it would be safe to dig or not to dig?” Jedd persisted.

  This time Mo, the purple headed Gnome, answered. “Grrnt, we use our nature charms to sense water, lava or anything that may endanger us.”

  “Wow, but how do you navigate? A compass won’t work under the ground.” Jedd was unstoppable but the Gnomes seemed to enjoy his curiosity.

  “Grrnt, you could say we possess our own version of charmed GPS.” Gert laughed and the rest of the Gnomes and Jedd joined in.

  Male bonding? Go figure…

  The journey...

  The first stop on our journey was Pittsburgh, PA. This bustling city would be the perfect place for a Daeva to hide. Home to the Steelers, Pirates and Penguins, this historically known, industrial driven, steel and glass town is a sports fan’s dream spot. People come from all over to cheer on their favorite team. They could easily be lost or misplaced in the festivities and conveniently tossed into the Allegheny River after their souls have been consumed. Jedd and I planted ourselves on a riverside park bench and scoured the newspapers for traces of Shy. There were literally dozens of papers to choose from; Arts and Entertainment, Sports, Business, African American, and half a dozen university press pages. We decided to sift through the more traditional newspapers dedicated predominantly to the local, regional and national news. Jedd was flipping through the Pittsburgh Post – Gazette and the Pittsburgh Tribune – Review while I paged through the Pittsburgh City Paper and The South Pittsburgh Reporter.

  “We’ve got a Jane Doe listed in the local section of the Pittsburgh Tribune - Review. It says they pulled the body from the Allegheny last Wednesday.” Jedd raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

  “Yeah, that certainly sounds like Shy’s signature work. Where is the body now?”

  I had to ask. We were going to have to investigate the remains.

  “It’s at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.”

  Jedd looked doubtful about our ability to successfully break into a university hospital morgue. I sympathized.

  “Look at this.” Something caught my attention as I flipped the page. “Alley Cat Killings Taper Off.” I read the name of the article aloud.

  “Vagrants…” Jedd peered over my shoulder to get a better look at the article. “It would seem the Alley Cat Killer was on a murderous spree for a few days and then suddenly quit.” Jedd’s suspicious eyebrow returned. “The killings stopped just about the same time the Allegheny began surfacing corpses.”

  Jedd was echoing my exact thoughts.

  “This was no Alley Cat Killer… this was a Daeva.” I looked at Jedd and the concern in his steely blues showed me he’d come to the same conclusion. “Let’s make a visit to the morgue,” I added reluctantly.

  Jedd nodded his dread.

  The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center...

  “This place is huge!” Jedd repeated my thoughts as we stepped inside of the large hospital.

  “Well, lucky for us, hospital morgues are always in the basement. Let’s find an elevator,” I said and we trudged off into the nooks and crannies of the medical center.

  After a few short minutes we spotted an orderly pushing an empty cart intended for soiled laundry. It was just rounding the corner.

  “…that way,” Jedd insisted. “The cart had clean sheets and supplies on it. They keep all of that kind of stuff in the basement.”

  We whisked ourselves around the corner and at the end of the hallway an elevator awaited us. Before I knew it we were on the elevator pressing the button that would take us to the basement.

  “That was easy enough.” Jedd grinned with pride.

  Then the elevator beeped and dictated a digital message requesting a clearance code.

  “You were saying…” I laughed. Jedd’s shoulders slumped forward. “OK, plan B. All multiple level buildings have stairways to satisfy fire code mandates. What do you say we take the elevator down as far as we can, get off and try to find the stairwell?” I suggested.

  “It’s something…why not.”

  Jedd pressed the button to the first floor, the elevator doors closed and we began our descent.

  “The stairwell has got to be somewhere close by,” Jedd said as the elevator doors slid open and we made our way out into the abandoned lobby. “Here… but the door requires a code. Damn!”

  Just as Jedd spotted the stairwell I spied a supply closet which was momentarily void of orderlies.

  “I’ve got an idea.”

  I grabbed Jedd by the elbow and pulled him into the supply closet and shut the door behind us.

  “Liv, do you really think this is the time for a make-out session?” Jedd teased.

  “Keep dreaming…” I pretended to be annoyed by the thought of a make-out session with Jedd but I know my cheeks were flushed scarlet. Jedd’s rush of muffled giggles clarified my fears. I pulled a set of scrubs off the shelf and handed them to him. “Put these on. We are now officially hospital orderlies on laundry duty to the morgue.”

  After I put on my scrubs I grabbed a large stack of crisp, white linens and shoved them into Jedd’s arms. Next, I grabbed a pile for myself and toted Jedd out of the supply closet before temptation overwhelmed me. This was no time to be over powered by my own hormones.

  “Now what… the door is still locked,” Jedd complained in frustration.

  “Have a little faith. I bet we won’t wait five minutes before someone comes out of that door. Hospitals are crazy busy…”

  The door to the stairwell flew open as I was in mid-sentence. I winked at Jedd and this time he blushed. Huh, how about that?

  “…you two! Are you taking those sheets down to the morgue?” shouted a pair of tired and frustrated, assuming eyes.

  Jedd’s eyes looked as if they would pop out of his eye sockets as the forty-something female orderly looked us over.

  “He’s new...” I explained and elbowed Jedd in the ribs.

  “Oh… uh… uhm, yes, ma’am…” Jedd staggered over his words.

  I’m sure the orderly thought he was an idiot.

  “Well, hurry along! They need more sheets!” she chided us as she held the stairwell door open for us to enter.

  Without another word we darted down the stairwell.

  “How lucky was that?” Jedd breathed.

  “Ye have little faith.” I smiled.

  Jedd rolled his eyes.

  The relaxed and triumphant moment was over when I came to a door labeled with a silver plate inscribed with the word, morgue.

 
“Here goes nothing,” Jedd barely whispered as we entered the expansively cold and sterile room.

  Silver metal tables scattered the floor and white ceramic counter tops and wooden cabinets lined three of the four walls. The fourth wall was floor to ceiling, sparkling steel. What looked like over sized file cabinet drawers dotted the surface. I looked to Jedd and gestured toward the temporary caskets.

  “Start feeling for dark allures… Spiriter,” I instructed Jedd dryly.

  “Shell… far left corner… third drawer from the bottom,” Jedd spoke solemnly.

  “You can sense their energy from all the way over here?”

  We hadn’t even begun to cross the room yet. He is really gifted. I stared at him for a long moment. Eventually, he just shrugged. He didn’t like this part of his gift any more than I did. We made our way to the body in question, opened the drawer and pulled back the sheet. Sure enough, we were looking at a naked pair of female feet with a tag tied around one big toe. It read, Jane Doe in careful cursive script. We were about to replace the sheet and close the drawer when a strange squeaking sound startled us.

  “Grrnt, sorry to alarm you two…” It was Gert’s voice echoing from below.

  I looked down and spied a glowing drain grate. The grate magically lifted away from the floor and lowered itself to the side of the opening. In a flash Gert, Nort, Runt, Mo and Snert popped into view.

  “Grrnt, your Daeva’s been here, alright. Grrnt, he’s left shells scattered up and down the water’s edge of the Allegheny. Grrnt, it’s only a matter of time before they surface on the embankment,” Gert explained.

  “One already has,” I said and Jedd gestured toward poor Jane Doe.

  Gert and his brothers bowed their heads in a moment of silence before Gert continued his report.

  “Grrnt, the Gnomes in the Allegheny area do not believe the Daeva is still here. Grrnt, they believe he is gone.”

  “Why? I mean, what makes them suspect he is gone?” Jedd questioned.

  He didn’t believe Shy was still here, nor did I. The newspaper story about the Alley Cat Killer flashed into memory.

  “Grrnt, the dark allures are weakened and the physical bodies of the shells are three to four days expired.” This time Nort chimed in.

  “That’s kind of what we were thinking.” I nodded feeling defeated.

  Jedd pulled the folded newspaper article from his pocket and handed it to Gert. The Gnomes curved their heads around the document for a brief moment before looking at each other and scowling. Gert handed the paper back to Jedd.

  “Grrnt, this is your Daeva,” Gert reemphasized.

  Gert cocked his head to the side oddly and quickly just as we heard voices and laughter in the hallway. Before I could panic, the Gnomes magically vanished down the drain, the grate was replaced, the sheet was spread over the victim and the drawer was securely closed… and Jedd and I were standing at the opposite side of the room in front of an open linen cabinet restocking the clean white folded sheets. In the same instant the orderly woman from the stairwell entered the room.

  “Very good! Now, we need towels on the third floor,” she barked at us.

  Jedd and I closed the cabinet door and sped out of the room. When we finally reemerged in the elevator lobby on the first floor I took a deep breath and relaxed.

  “Whoa, that was so cool! Can I take Gert to school with me when I forget to do my home work? I bet I could fit him in my duffel bag,” Jedd said half joking, half serious.

  We yanked off the scrubs we had layered ourselves with earlier, nearly tripping over them as we darted for the exit. We must have looked like two mental patients fleeing the psyche ward with tear streaked faces accompanied by hysterical bursts of laughter. We hadn’t yet decided if we should be relieved or terrified.

  The evidence...

  The evidence in Cincinnati and Nashville proved to be much the same as Pittsburgh. It had been two days since Jedd and I had any sleep so I decided we should hunker down in the tunnels for some shut eye before moving on to Memphis. The Gnomes adapted their plans as well. They decided they would push forward and scout out as many of the remaining cities as possible. It was decided that if they turned up any significant leads or evidence of Shy’s presence in any given city we would return to the place in question together after Jedd and I were fully rested.

  “This reminds me of when we used to put up a tent in your backyard and camp out for the night when we were kids.”

  Jedd smiled at me from the other side of the narrow tunnel. We were nestled in our sleeping bags with only a dim flashlight to illuminate the space between us.

  “Sleeping in a dark, musty and dank hole in the ground reminds you of our camping adventures from when we were little?” I asked with chagrin.

  Jedd laughed nervously. “Well, sort of…you look a lot different now. You’re much… taller.”

  Taller… he was going to say something else and changed his mind, but what?

  “Jedd, why are you here? Why do you want to be a part of this? Don’t get me wrong. I think it’s a noble gesture, but I don’t understand why you want to take responsibility for something that isn’t your problem.”

  I had to be very careful how I worded my questions. Jedd is very sensitive to this topic and I didn’t want to have a fight with him. I just wanted to understand his part in this.

  “I’m not being noble, that’s for sure. I’m being entirely selfish,” he whispered so low I could barely hear him. I waited for him to continue, his words confused me. “This is my problem, Liv! Can’t you see that?” he pleaded with me to understand. I didn’t. “It’s you! It’s about you…” he exploded in frustration. Then he rolled over and turned his back to me. “I want to help you. I want to know that you’re safe. Is that so hard to understand?” His voice was meek and shallow again.

  Several moments of silence passed and I didn’t know what to say. So, I just whispered, “Thanks Jedd.” How lame…

  He turned his face toward mine and very wryly smiled, “You’re welcome…” and we both laughed and fell into slumber land.

  Rise and shine...

  It felt like I’d only been sleeping for minutes when I felt Gert’s short stubby fingers jostling my shoulder. I forced my eyes open to take a peek at my watch. It was two o’ clock in the morning. Jedd and I had been asleep for nearly six hours in the tunnels below Memphis, TN.

  “What? What’s going on?” I heard Jedd mutter in a sleepy voice.

  Nort and Mo were attempting to pull him out of his slumber.

  “Grrnt! The Daeva! Grrnt! It’s the Daeva!” Gert ranted.

  “What about Shy? Where is he Gert?”

  My mind was crystal clear and my sleepy demeanor vanished as I pulled myself out of my sleeping bag and pushed myself up off of the dirty ground.

  “Grrnt… he’s right above us! Your Daeva has made himself a pack of Aengels and they’re terrorizing the streets of Memphis right now!” Gert snarled. “Grrnt, we must go and kill the Daeva… now!” he ordered.

  With his last commandment we were bound above the ground into the dark wee morning hours of an empty street in sleeping Memphis.

  As we rounded the corner of an abandoned warehouse, Shy’s most popular choice of location for dining, we heard canons of shrill human screams in the distance. They were feeding and we had no time to waste. Tiny Gert strapped a cumbersome Jedd, the only human in our convoy, onto his miniature shoulders and we flashed across the pavement at lightning speed. I thought for sure this would rattle Jedd, but he wasn’t the least bit fazed.

  Nort and Snert kicked in the windows, shattering the glass into itty bitty fragments and alerting Shy and his minions of our arrival. Shy’s eyes grew wide and then narrowed again in hatred. Shy dropped the human shell whose soul he had just devoured and stepped toward us.

  “Would you like to join us for dinner?” Shy smiled directly at me.

  What a pompous ass! His body was radiating with the energy from the human he had just s
ucked the life out of.

  “Sorry to crash your party, Shy… but it’s time for you to die!” I screamed and plunged toward him with my blaze at the ready.

  My rage was all consuming. It is one thing to observe an empty shell, void of a soul, and entirely another to witness a soul being stolen and consumed by a monster. Just that quick, all hell broke loose. The only saving grace, in their distraction, the Aengels managed to allow the remaining humans to escape. Shy and I stood face to face while Jedd, the Gnomes, and the Aengels paired up for battle. Whoa… what? Jedd! Jedd isn’t supposed to be part of this equation. In my momentary distraction Shy lunged for me but I quickly dodged his blow. I swung the blade as hard as I could, targeting his heart, but he feinted out of the way at the last second. While Shy recollected himself I scanned the run down space for Jedd and spied him near the corner of the room defending himself against two Aengels.

  “Gert!” I screamed bloody murder. “Help Jedd, now!”

  Gert opened a fault line in the old concrete floor and the mother Earth sucked the demonic soul into her belly. In a flash, Gert darted to Jedd’s side. I had to admit Jedd was defending himself quite well. He had taken the blaze I had given him, intended solely for defensive purposes only, and was skillfully skinning Aengels into dust. Just as Jedd killed one Aengel another would thrust itself toward him. Gert was doing his best to dodge the demons away from Jedd, but as soon as he would take one down another would counter the attack. Geesh, how many were there, nine… ten?

  Meanwhile, Shy was back in the game. By this time I was in no mood for fighting fair. I focused all of my strength into my affinity for Earth, I opened up the concrete floor below Shy’s feet and watched him… evaporate into a disgusting, black, misty gas and float away? What the hell? In that instant I heard a blood curling scream from a voice I knew all too well. My heart filled with terror as tears welled up in my eyes. I turned to face my best friend paralyzed in fear. Gert speared the last Aengel only a split second before it finished devouring Jedd’s soul.

  Pesky dreams...

  I bolted up straight from my sleeping bag with tears in my eyes and strangled screams emanating from my throat. When I opened my eyes I found five large round pairs of brown eyes and one set of beautiful steely blues staring back at me.

  “Are you OK, Liv?” Jedd asked hesitantly.

  I slapped him in the face as hard as I could.

  “Don’t ever do that to me again…”

  “What the hell, Liv?” Jedd complained.

  The hurt was sincere in his eyes. I stood up and stalked down the narrow crusty tunnel alone into the darkness. I needed to get as far away from Jedd as I could. What just happened? I leaned against the earthen wall and slid myself down to rest on the muddy floor. I knew I was getting filthier by the minute but I didn’t care. I took in my surroundings. To my right lay the pathway to a labyrinth of tunnels, to my left was a single tunnel leading God knows where, and in front of me was the pathway I’d taken away from Jedd and the Gnomes. I could hear them whispering in the distance but couldn’t quite make out their words. I knew they were talking about me because I heard my name mentioned several times and something about dream traveling… Was I dream traveling? No, I know what dream traveling feels like and that wasn’t it. Besides, I dream travel to the past not the future. Was that all it was, a bad dream? No, a really, really bad dream.

  Jedd and the Gnomes were still gazing after me with worried expressions. I should go apologize to Jedd and put an ease to their concern of my sudden mental break down. I picked myself up, dusted myself off and retraced my steps back to my sleeping bag. Jedd and the others watched me warily and silently. I suppose it is time to break the ice.

  “Hey…” I said in a small voice. I could feel my embarrassment settling in.

  “Hey,” Jedd whispered back lamely.

  So, it was going to be like that…

  “I’m sorry I slapped you, Jedd. I don’t know what came over me. I was really freaked out and… I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.” I forced the words out.

  “It’s OK… what were you so freaked out about anyway?”

  I could literally see and feel the tension in Jedd melt away with my apology, which only made me feel guiltier.

  “I had a nightmare. I wasn’t dream traveling, but the dream was really awful. I don’t want to talk about it right now, if that’s OK?” I wasn’t ready to relive the moment yet. They didn’t seem to mind, at least they didn’t object. “So, you’re back, Gert, what did you find out?”

  I turned toward the Gnomes expectantly.

  “Grrnt, Memphis, Tulsa and Albuquerque were as uneventful as our previous investigations. Grrnt, your Daeva has been and gone leaving a wake of shells in his departure,” Gert explained.

  “Before you, uh, woke up… we were discussing our plans for Las Vegas. Gert thinks we should…”

  Jedd was gearing up for the final destination in the quest.

  “No!” I blurted before I’d realized it. Six confused faces whipped in my direction.

  “What’s the matter, Liv?” Jedd worried.

  “You’re not coming along this time Jedd. I can’t let you go,” I said firmly.

  My nightmare would not become reality, not in Memphis, Las Vegas or any other city. Jedd was going home.

  “What are you talking about, Liv? We only have one more stop. We can’t quit now,” Jedd argued.

  “I say we can!” I fired back.

  “Grrnt, Liv it is really important to finish the quest. We could take the boy home and return, but doing so could set us back. Grrnt, we’re so close to the Daeva. Grrnt, I can feel it,” Gert insisted.

  “You see Liv? We’ve got to go. Look, I don’t know what you saw in your dream…” Jedd pushed the wrong button, I snapped.

  “I saw you dead, really dead, as in no after life! I watched an Aengel devour your soul, Jedd! Do you fully understand what that means?”

  Jedd’s face blanched and Gert and his brothers ducked their heads in shame. Good, now I’ve got their attention.

  Silence…

  “So, if you just die, your soul passes on to the next life in the Spirit World?” Jedd finally found the courage to speak. I only nodded. “Well, what happens to your soul when a Daeva or an Aengel consumes it?”

  Well, he asked… “A soul consumed by a Daeva or Aengel will know what hell feels like for all eternity. For as long as the Daeva, or soon to be Daeva exists, the human soul remains trapped inside, completely powerless to escape. The Daeva feeds off the human soul again and again, raping it of its strength and warmth. I would suspect being confined within the body of something so demonic would be pure torture. A torture to endure seeing, hearing, feeling and watching the sadistic inner workings of a monster day in and day out, forever.”

  This time Jedd stood up and strode away from me into the darkness of the tunnels.

  “Grrnt, how about this Liv, we continue to Las Vegas but we leave Mo in the tunnels with Jedd. Grrnt, he will remain safe and we can finish the quest.” Gert suggested an easy enough compromise to the dilemma, but would Jedd be agreeable?

  “Hell no!” We heard Jedd’s voice booming deep inside of the tunnel. Of course, he would have to make this difficult. Oh well, he’s already mad at me.

  “That’s the deal, Jedd, or I am taking you straight home. Do you want to help or hinder this quest?” I was unfairly testing his loyalty.

  Jedd’s entire face was chagrined as he stepped in front of me. I would have felt badly if it weren’t for the fact that I was desperate to keep him safe. As reality set in Jedd’s disbelief transformed into anger.

  Boys...

  The trip to Las Vegas proved to be as valuable as the rest. Had Shy been there? Yes. Was he still hanging around? No such luck. Between the seven cities we’d counted over eighty shells. I’m sure there are more which will surface later, and we will have to send the Nature Spirits to tend to their burial when they do. Making matters even worse, Jedd is angr
y with me and refused to speak to me for the rest of the journey. When we left the Gnomes in Gaea’s meadow he bid them farewell and good luck, then trudged off without as much as a glance in my direction.

  He’s continued to ignore and avoid me since we returned to Queens. Today is our last day of exams, the last day of school before the summer vacation. How long will he continue to shut me out?

  Needless to say I was very surprised when I finished my last exam and found Jedd waiting for me outside the class room door.

  “Hi,” I said warily.

  “Hey, I’m sorry I’ve been a jerk for so long. Can you forgive me?” He half smiled, half pouted his apology, which was pretty lame.

  “Maybe…” I contemplated.

  I know this is my chance to forgive and forget, right? Well, that is easier said than done. He’s going to have to try harder than that.

  “I’m still mad at you, you know?” he complained.

  “Well, now I’m mad at you too,” I snapped in annoyance.

  “What do you have to be mad about?” he challenged.

  “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you haven’t spoken to me for an entire week without any explanation,” I sneered sarcastically.

  “What explanation do you need? You black balled me from the quest and you know it!” he accused.

  “If you are referring to the way I saved your ungrateful ass from your own delusional death wish, then I suppose you are correct!” I fired back.

  “Fine, you know what? Why do I even bother?” He glared at me.

  I saw a flash of something more than disappointment in Jedd's eyes. I was frozen in shock. Jedd had gone too far this time. His words were hurtful and cruel, he was being so unfair. I could feel the tears welling up behind my eyes and I refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing he had made me cry. When he turned his back to me, I took the opportunity and I bolted to the parking lot and further beyond. I just kept running. I ran to get as far away from Jedd as I could. I only paused to glance back once. I spied the remorseful slump of Jedd's frame in the distance, but this time something inside of me shielded my heart, forcing me to pick up speed once again and carry on. I was gone...