The Tenth House

by Ashley R Scott

  Jocelyn turns back to me, letting out an indignant huff. “I hate when people do that.”

  “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. The Zodiacs expect so much out of me, and I'm not sure if I’ll be able to walk again anytime soon. I don’t even know why this is happening to me.” A little sniffle escapes as I stare at my best friend.

  “Hush. Don’t work yourself up.” She gently pats the blanket. “Just rest until he gets back.” Jocelyn jumps up as the door swings open. She turns, arms up and ready to fight.

  Aidan sweeps into the room, followed by Capricorn and Donnelly.

  “That was quick,” Jocelyn says.

  “Move, girl.” Capricorn waves her aside like a bug, dropping to the blanket beside me.

  Jocelyn grumbles but steps out of the way.

  Capricorn lays a hand gently on my forehead, and a warm tingling spreads from my head down into my body. His touch is different than that of the other Zodiacs. The energy is natural and familiar.

  Donnelly eases down on my other side, pulling the blankets up from my feet to inspect the wound on my calf. A violent shiver races through my body as the cold air in the room hits me full force.

  “Shhh. It won’t be long now. Just be still.” Donnelly carefully removes the bandaging from my leg, exposing the wounds.

  I nod, barely moving my head as a tear trickles down the side of my face. A deep inhalation, a slow exhalation, and I close my eyes.

  Heat builds in my body along with a vibration, shaking me from head to toe like my whole body has gone to sleep. Pins and needles prickle every inch of me, and my ears buzz as if my head is full of bees.

  I’m afraid I’m going to explode when the buzzing in my ears fades, and the prickling moves through me, converging on the wound in my leg. It picks up in intensity, and I faintly hear Jocelyn gasp from across the room. I open my eyes, tipping my head up just enough to see my leg.

  Capricorn and Donnelly work on either side of my body, surrounding the gunshot with their hands. Between them, a soft green light glows, and the skin around the pellet holes slowly knits back together. I’m warmer now and no longer sweating from the fever. I rest my head on the floor, breathing easier.

  An hour later, it’s almost as if I was never shot. My leg is still stiff and sore, but I can put weight on it and walk around the room with only a slight limp.

  Capricorn and Donnelly are both pale, with dark circles under their eyes as they sit quietly around the fire, watching me test my leg.

  “How did you do that?” I ask, bouncing lightly.

  “Your leg isn’t completely healed yet. Make sure you take it as easy as possible to keep from reinjuring it.” Donnelly stretches, looking exhausted.

  “Yeah, but how did you do it?” I continue walking the length of the room. My body hums like I’d been plugged into a wall outlet and had my battery recharged.

  “Each house of the Zodiac also rules over part of the body, head to toe, internal and external. Lucky for you, my house rules over the lower extremities, including the legs. I can pull energy from the Earth and apply it to healing, but the Earth energy is harder to pull in the city, so I needed Donnelly to add his power.”

  “You mean you couldn’t do the magic yourself? But you’re a Zodiac.” I lower myself to the blanket across from the two men.

  “When the ritual removed our essence, it decreased our ability to perform magic on your planet. At home, we can do anything. We can do magic here, but it’s not as powerful and not without consequence. It’s to protect the humans.”

  “Oh.” I hang my head, suddenly feeling guilty. “Thank you.” I can feel the energy around him ebbing.

  “I trust that you are well enough to continue on your task? Your time is running out." Capricorn leans back against his hands, studying me carefully.

  “Taurus seems to be everywhere I need to go before I get there. We tried to warn Delia, but she was already dead. I don’t think Leo took it very well. Then Aries attacked us. We almost drowned in the river because of him.” I frown at the blanket beneath me, picking at a loose string.

  “We are doing our part to get the Guardians to safety. Along with his plan to take over on Earth, Taurus is collecting all the birthstones in order take over the rule of Polaris. You must find them first.” For the first time since I met him, Capricorn looks uncomfortable.

  “He can do that? Control you all with your stones?” I pull the string out of the blanket and toss it into the fire.

  Capricorn nods. “The original birthstones hold our essence. The power could be catastrophic in the wrong hands. One individual who could control the power of the Zodiacs and all four elements is far more dangerous than you realize. That's why we gave the stones to the Guardians. Taurus isn’t the only one seeking the birthstones and may not be responsible for every Guardian death.”

  “The mage.”

  Capricorn glowers. “He’s no stranger to wreaking havoc.”

  My stomach flips, and I feel queasy. I had already forgotten about the creepy visitor. “Kyrell. He said he was looking for the Guardian of the house. I thought he was talking about the owner, but he meant Guardian.”

  Donnelly leans forward, looking deep into my eyes. “Kyrell knows you’re a Guardian, or at least you’re supposed to be a Guardian. If you’d already undergone the ritual, he would’ve tried to kill you. My guess is he also knows you’re different.”

  I sigh deeply, suddenly tired again. “What do I do?”

  “The easiest place to start would be with the stone you are set to guard. Then find Taurus’s stone,” Capricorn says.

  “Your mother doesn’t have it. Do you know where it is?” Donnelly stands, dragging his feet as he paces the length of the wall by the window.

  I glance over my shoulder at him and notice that the snow is lightly falling again, the afternoon still early and gray, and shake my head. “She never told me anything about any of this. I can go back and search her house.”

  Donnelly stops pacing. “Too dangerous. They’re watching that house, looking for you or your mother.”

  “I will not allow Taurus to take my stone.” Capricorn shrugs nonchalantly as Donnelly whips around to stare at him.

  “You would just offer her up? Put her at risk? We need her.” Donnelly returns to pacing, moving so fast, he almost runs.

  “It is her duty.”

  “No!” Donnelly slams himself against the wall, hanging his head.

  Capricorn jumps to his feet. “You are blinded, my friend. You know as well as I do the repercussions of losing my stone.”

  I stand, placing myself between Donnelly and Capricorn. “I’ll do it.”

  Donnelly opens his mouth to protest, but I shake my head. “I don’t know where it is, but I’ll look.”

  “I don’t like this.” Donnelly crosses his arms.

  I walk over to him and slip beneath his arm, suppressing a chuckle at his wide-eyed look. “I’ll be careful. I have Aidan and Jocelyn. We all know this won’t stop. I have to try, at least.”

  We all stand in silence, feeling the weight of what’s in front of us. I look up at Donnelly and see the worry creasing his brow.

  “Dad?” He looks at me, smiling sheepishly. “What would happen if Kyrell gets the stones? What could a mage do with them?”

  Donnelly glances up at Capricorn, who nods.

  “He can control the elements, manipulate the Earth itself, the winds, the water. He can burn it all down if he chooses. Each stone he collects gives him more power and control.” Donnelly takes a shaky breath. “With the right spells, he can control the Zodiacs, and through them, control everyone else. Especially the humans.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  We walk down East Plaza Street toward the parking garage. People mill about, mostly ignoring us, although a few stop to stare as we swing into the ground floor of the parking garage, skirting the ticket booth and heading for the stairs on the right side of the structure. Keeping any thoughts or conversations to ourselves, we clim
b the metal stairs in single file.

  Aidan pushes the door open but steps back so fast that he bumps into Jocelyn and me. He pulls the door softly closed again.

  “What is it?” I lean against the metal wall, catching my breath from the climb and ignoring the light throb in my leg.

  Aidan scowls, leaning in and keeping his voice low. “There are cops all around your car. They’re searching it.”

  “What?” I make a push for the door, but Aidan stops me.

  “They’re Gresham’s men. They’re city police. We can’t go. There are too many of them.” Aidan grabs my hand and heads back to the stairs.

  I yank my hand back, and he stops, turning to stare at me. “Now what? It’s too far to walk to my mom’s house. What if we wait them out?”

  “We can’t risk them finding us here. My car is just down the street at the Bullion Casino where I left it.” A dark cloud passes over Jocelyn’s face.

  “If it’s clear, we’ll take my car.” Jocelyn pushes by us, leading the way down the stairs. Aidan raises his eyebrows at me then falls in behind Jocelyn.

  Hanging my shoulders, I follow. “What about my Jeep?”

  “We can’t worry about that now,” Aidan whispers.

  We reach the bottom, and Jocelyn cracks the door, peeking out. “Another police car is going up.”

  She stands there, waiting, her eyes on the street. “It’s clear.”

  We walk the block and a half, turning right on North Sierra Street, and head straight for the last place on Earth that any of us want to go. The closer we get to the casino, the thicker the air grows, weighing heavily on my chest. The three of us fall in closer together.

  Frowning, Jocelyn looks at me. “Do you feel that?”

  I grit my teeth and nod, afraid to be talking.

  A young man, wearing the maroon Bullion uniform with “Chris” engraved on a gold nameplate pinned to his chest, stands beside a short podium. He waits to collect money from anyone parking in the garage, nodding at us as we quickly pass by and head straight for the elevator.

  Jocelyn pushes the up button rapidly, bouncing as she waits for the elevator. “Come on.”

  I glance over at my shoulder to find Chris staring at us and turn back to the elevator as the doors swish open. We rush inside, and Jocelyn jams the button for the fourth floor.

  Chris runs toward the elevator.

  “Hurry!”

  Jocelyn looks up, pounding the button to shut the door. It slides closed just as Chris runs into the outside of the doors with a thud. I breathe a sigh of relief as the elevator heads up, causing a little flop in my stomach.

  Aidan moves closer to the door. “Jocelyn, do you remember where you parked?”

  She nods, moving up beside him, fishing her keys out of her pocket.

  “Good. Get ready to run.”

  The elevator stops. As soon as we can fit through, we take off at a full run with Jocelyn leading the way. A door crashes open behind us, and I chance a look long, enough to see Chris charging after us.

  Jocelyn swings to the left, cutting between the rows of cars, and I pick up my speed as her silver SUV comes into view. She hits the button on her keys, the locks click open, and the headlights flash.

  We jump into the vehicle with Jocelyn in the driver’s seat, slamming our doors behind us. She starts the car just as Chris catches up, throwing himself against the car, pounding the windows.

  “Let’s go!” Aidan clicks his seatbelt into place.

  Jocelyn jams the keys into the ignition, giving it a hard twist and firing up the engine.

  Chris bangs on the windows, dangerously close to breaking through the glass.

  She throws the car into reverse, smashing the gas pedal, the tires squealing in protest.

  Chris pulls on the handle, and the door flies open as he whips around, thrown to the ground when Jocelyn hits the breaks. She changes gears and floors the gas pedal.

  I desperately grab my door, aided by the forward momentum, punching the lock as I slam it closed.

  Chris jumps up, chasing after us as if nothing happened.

  “How the hell did he do that?” Jocelyn asks, her eyes watching him in the rearview mirror.

  “Look out!” I scream from the backseat.

  Jocelyn yanks hard on the wheel, narrowly missing a van turning into the garage. We burst out onto the street, and Jocelyn eases off the accelerator, navigating her way through downtown. She keeps constant eyes on the mirrors, making sure no one follows us.

  I watch out the window, studying the people we pass. Along the streets, small groups of people stand back to back in double lines, watching both the road and the sidewalk. They stand motionless, an eerily silent sentinel, looking at every movement in downtown.

  “What are they doing?” Jocelyn steers her SUV down an empty side street.

  “They belong to Taurus and Aries. They’ll report back everything they see. Don’t lean in too close to the window just in case they can recognize any of us.” Aidan glances over his shoulder, giving me a sad smile.

  “It’s creepy.” I lean back in my seat, staring out the window as the decrepit buildings fade to housing.

  We drive northwest through the rural area that divides downtown from northwest Reno. In this section of the city, the neighborhoods are free of Taurus’s guards. Jocelyn stops the car two blocks over from my mom’s house.

  We get out of the car, and Jocelyn locks the vehicle. We cautiously turn the corner onto my mom’s street, breathing a sigh of relief that the road to her house appears empty.

  A small box covers a keypad, and I throw it open, punching in the code numbers and stepping back as the garage door creaks to life. As soon as the door rises high enough, I slip underneath it, Jocelyn and Aidan following. I jog over to the other pad and hit the button to stop the door and close it again, hoping to avoid too much movement.

  The only light inside the house is the dull gray light filtering in through the cracked blinds. The silence of the house unsettles my nerves. I ball my fists at the sight of the kitchen.

  The kitchen, ordinarily spotless, now lays in ruins. Pictures were ripped off the walls, and all the cabinet doors stand open with their contents dumped across the floor.

  We kick our way through the kitchen and dining room then move into the living room. My heart sinks further as Aidan clicks on a lamp, splashing light across the wreckage.

  Jocelyn groans from behind me.

  “Look at all your mom’s stuff. It’s a disaster.” She picks up both halves of a tiny goat figurine, matching it back together and setting it carefully on a shelf.

  “We should hurry. Ciara, do you have any idea where the birthstone might be?” Aidan picks up a ripped couch cushion, setting it back on the sofa.

  I slowly shake my head, marveling at the damage done. The figurines my mom kept immaculately dusted, her furniture that was older than me, all lay trashed and scattered around the living room. “I don’t even know what I’m looking for. Why would someone do this?”

  “They’ll do whatever it takes to find those stones.” Aidan picks up a green velvet throw pillow, carefully arranging it on the couch.

  I glance over at Jocelyn, who also straightens the mess, tears filling my eyes.

  “Stop it! Stop cleaning up!” I pick up the pillow Aidan had just set on the couch and heave it across the room, sinking onto the sofa with my head in my hands. A rush of tears streams down my face, failing to relieve the heat in my cheeks. “I’m sorry.”

  Jocelyn sits next to me, rubbing my back. “It’s okay.”

  “None of this is alright.” I turn to face my friend, my grief mirrored on her face. “You’ve spent almost as much time in this house as me. Do you remember seeing anything that could be a magical birthstone?”

  Jocelyn shakes her head. “I can’t believe we’re even having this conversation.”

  She chews on her nails, her forehead creased in concentration as she thinks. “Nothing comes to mind.”

  “So
mething just feels off. Like there’s something I can’t quite remember. I must’ve seen it before.” I pick up a tiny goat from the floor, placing it carefully on the table.

  Aidan stands by the window, staring out into the backyard, the snow taking on a gray tint as the sun sets behind a wall of steel clouds. “It’s starting to get late.”

  Nodding, I stand and continue to search the house, each room as devastating as the last.

  I stand in the center of my mom’s bedroom, staring at a war zone. There are holes in the toffee-colored walls, green flannel sheets tossed to the floor, and a chunk of stuffing ripped out of the center of her mattress. All her drawers had been emptied and thrown to the floor, and it looks like the closet vomited all over the room.

  “I don’t sense the stone in here. Do you think Taurus's men found it?” Aidan frowns around the bedroom.

  I whip around, staring slack-jawed at him. “You can sense it? Why didn’t you say something before?”

  He turns his frown over to me. “You should be able to sense it too. Reach out and see. The pull will be stronger for you and even more so when you go through the ritual.”

  I close my eyes, taking a deep breath, and open myself up to search the room. I’m about to give up when I notice a slight tingling to my left, coming from Aidan’s direction. My eyes fly open, and I stare at him.

  He takes a step closer, the tingles increasing even though we aren’t touching. “What is it? Do you feel it?”

  I shake my head. “It’s not the stone. I think I can feel you. That’s a start, right?”

  Aidan smiles, warmth dancing in his blue eyes. “It’s a start.”

  Jocelyn groans from the corner as she digs, checking the empty drawers for any secret hiding places. “Are we done then?”

  Aidan chuckles. “Yeah, if you can’t feel any energy from the birthstone, we should go. It’s getting dark and colder outside.”

  It’s entirely dark by the time we get back outside, and the temperature has dropped below freezing. I pull my jacket tighter around me, punching in the code numbers to close the garage door. Satisfied that it’s all the way down, I turn to find Jocelyn and Aidan waiting for me partway down the driveway.