A Girl Between (31 page)

When we got to the fire station, Will was able to open the
garage door and drive the jeep right in.  Then, we immediately went around and
locked everything up tight.

“What should we do now? I think those diaboles will
eventually find us,” I asked.

“We need help.  We have to alert our friends and fellow
luminars that things are starting up, although I have a feeling that most of
them already know.  The diaboles won’t stop until they get the fight they’re
asking for.  That’s the only way to end this,” Will stated grimly.

“I think I know how to do that,” I asserted.

“How’s that?” Will asked, frowning.

“Have you ever heard of thunder snow?”

“Yeah.”

“I thought I heard some on the way here, although it was a
little hard to tell with all the wind noise.  Anyway, I want to attract the
lightning here.  The good ones will know what’s up if they see a show of
lightning.”

Will’s eyebrows rose. “So you’re a lightning spinner?  I’ve
heard about witches that can control lightning.”

I nodded.  “I discovered it by accident only recently.  It
can be a mighty fine weapon.  Did you know that good witches have a natural
affinity to lightning because of their positive ionic nature?”

“Really?”  Will scratched his head.  “You know, I’ve been
struck by lightning twice in my life and I’ve never suffered any negative after
affects.  In fact, I felt as if it increased my special abilities afterward. 
At the time, I figured I was just darn lucky.”

“It wasn’t in your head Will.  Let’s see what you can do.”

We got onto the roof by climbing up a fire ladder through a
high window.  Once we were up, I took a moment to view my surroundings.  The
strangeness of it all was unnerving; the endless falling snow and the beautiful
trees covered in the deadly blanket of whiteness.  Will grabbed my hand and
pointed toward distant flashing lights in the sky.

I tried to sound confidant, even though I wasn’t feeling it.
“The lightning’s not very close so it may take some concentration and a little
time, but I know we can get it to come.  We just have to stand back to back,
and lean against each other.”

I went to back up against Will but he quickly grabbed me,
swung me around and held my face. “Tess, let me say something before we go on. 
I know there’s hardly any time, but I just want to tell you that this will come
out all right for us.  I can feel it.  There’s so much at stake here.”  Then,
he pulled me against him.  I rested my head against his neck, and then I leaned
in and kissed him just under his ear.  He bent over to kiss me on my lips but,
suddenly, we heard the sound of thunder.  It was getting closer.  That shook us
out of our reverie.  I cleared my throat and we quickly scrambled to lean back
to back.  “Now, rub your hands together rapidly as if you’re trying to stay
warm, close your eyes, and concentrate on your inner light.”

We stood there for a quite a while, rubbing our hands and
focusing.  I could gradually feel the heat building.  At one point, I glanced
down and saw sparks flying off my hands.  Then, I saw a flash out of the corner
of my eye followed by a loud . . . .
BANG.

“Will, look up.  It’s almost here!”  I held out my hand and
a streak of lightning touched my palm.  A jolt of heat moved up my arm.  It was
a good heat, like sitting in the hot sun heat.

At first, Will looked surprised.  Then, he held out his hand
and lightning shot across the sky and touched his fingertips.  I could tell he
found it to be a comfortable sensation because he just smiled.  You could say
that a shot of heat would be welcome on a day like today.

I shouted over the wind, “We have to continue drawing in the
lightning.  Our main goal is to put on a real show so that the luminars know
that it is time.  Just keep it up.”  So we continued rubbing our hands together
and pointing toward the sky.  In short order, the thunder was booming and the
lightning was flashing and arcing all around.  We were conductors of a crazy
light show dancing all over the sky. 

After several minutes, Will touched my arm, “I know you’re
having fun but we have to stop this.  We’re alerting the luminars, but we’re
also telling the bad ones where we are.  We’re sitting ducks up here.  We’ve
have to leave.”

I rolled my eyes at him, “I guess.”  I flicked my wrist to
watch one more flash and then I stopped.  Will nodded toward the ladder and we
climbed down.

“I hate to say this, but I don’t think we should take the
jeep, neither should we head for the armory.  They’ll be looking for the jeep
and they’ll figure that we’re heading for the armory.”

“I have something else in mind anyway,” I tell Will.

“What’s that?” Will said, head tilted to the side.

“We’re going to the tree, you know, the old hanging tree.”

“You mean Old Kiley’s Meadow, where they hung the witches in
the 1600s?  Why are we going there?

I took Will by the wrist.  “You have to trust me on this.  I
just know that we have to go there.  It’s the only place that we can have some
protection from the diaboles and the other luminars will be drawn there.”

Will stared at me for a moment and then nodded, “I believe
you, Tess.  By the way, do you know what they call that tree?”

I shrugged, “No, what?”

“The Tree of the Living Spirits.  Just follow me.”

As we struggled through the deep snow, I saw those strange
flashes of lights again.  “Did you see that?”

“Yeah.  What do you think?”

“I have a bad feeling about them.  They remind me of
electric sparks.  Let’s see what it is.”  Something about it was giving me a
sick feeling.

We floundered toward the place where we had last seen the
lights; seemed like it took forever to get there.  “Wasn’t it around here
someplace?”

Will took out his flashlight and waved it around.  “What’s
that?” He flashed it at a shiny spot.  Snow had been cleared off some ice.  “I
think that’s Fisher Pond.” 

“What’s in there?  Is that a face?  Will, someone is IN that
ice.  How could this happen?” I cried.

Will paused and said quietly, “The diaboles.  That’s what
makes sense with their cold and their snow.”

“Yeah, and think about it.  We saw sparks earlier.  I bet it
was a fight,” I gasped.

“A fight with sparks?”

“Yeah, Will, someone was trying to raise the lightning and
they weren’t successful.  Either they were overpowered, or they just didn’t
have enough time.”

Will said in a tired voice, “It makes sense, Tess.  You
think you know who he is?” He nodded toward the ice.

Silent tears ran down my cheeks.  “I think he’s Abe, one of
the luminars that recently came to town.  He and his sister helped me out in
school one day.”

Will grabbed my arm and looked me in the eye.  “I know just
what you’re thinking, Tess; that YOU caused his death.  Listen to me.  This is
not your fault.  THEY killed him.” He shook his fist outward.  “And we’ve got
to keep moving or we’ll be next.”

For a while, I let Will lead me through deep drifts.  We
finally managed to get to a side street that was partially plowed.  It was
easier going, but we were more exposed so we had to be really careful.

“Tess, check that out.”  Will pointed to some flashing
lights off to the right.  “And there, more lights,” he pointed in front of us. 
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think it was thunder snow gone wild.  It’s
the diaboles and the luminars, isn’t it?”

I felt sick thinking about what was going on. “Yeah, they’re
fighting.  What do we do?”

Will’s face lit up for a second as lightning flashed across
the sky.  “We have to help them.”

We strode toward what looked like moving strobe lights
behind some trees.  I gasped in amazement when I got a clearer view.  Two
beautiful women with curly dark hair were conducting the lightning with their
hands.  I was mesmerized by the grace and precision of their movement.  As I
continued toward them, Will reached out to stop me.

“Wait,” he insisted.

“What?” I asked, puzzled at his action.  Then, I noticed an
odd stink in the air.  I was horrified when I found its source.  There were
several bodies sizzling and writhing in the snow, the unfortunate recipients of
the high voltage storm.  The smell was the stench of their burning flesh.

The women turned their luminous and triumphant eyes on us. 
It was Dika and Nadya Petrov, the gypsy witches.  They approached us, their
long black coats flowing behind them.  They each hugged me in turn.

“Sorry for you to see such a spectacle.  Earlier, we saw the
lightning in the sky and we knew you needed us.  We were on our way to you and
these creatures,” Nadya waved disdainfully at the blackened bodies, “thought
they could harm us.  They learned otherwise.”

Dika stuck out her hand to Will.  “So, I presume you are
Will.”  She glanced at me sideways, with a sly look in her eye, “I’ve heard of
you.”

“You have?”  Will looked over at me, his right eyebrow
raised.  

“So, Tess,” Nadya said in a more serious tone.  “We are here
for you.  What would desire of us?”

“We’re making our way over to Old Kiley’s meadow?  Do you
know of the place?”

“Yes, of course.  We all know of The Tree of the Living
Spirits.”

Will touched my arm.  “Tess, if I may.  I suggest that we
split up to maximize our usefulness to other luminars.”  He nodded toward Dika
and Nadya.  “It’s apparent that both of you are talented and resourceful
fighters.  Follow the flashing lights to find the luminars and tell them to go
to The Tree of the Living Spirits.  How about if you head in that direction and
we’ll head in the opposite?  We’ll eventually meet up at the field.”

Nadya and Dika both nodded in agreement.  Nadya turned to
me, eyes glowing, “Don’t worry, Tess.  We have been anticipating this for a
very long time.  It will result in a great victory.  We will see you soon.” 
They quickly turned and strode away with their long coats flapping and hair
blowing, vanishing into the black void.

“Will, I’m so cold and tired.  I wish I could curl up and go
to sleep.”

He put his arm around my shoulder and hugged me close.
“Tess, we have to go.”

“I know, I know,” I grumbled.

We headed in the other direction, sticking to the side
roads.  We could still see flashing lights all around us.  As we turned the
corner, we came upon a large tree that had smashed right on top of a vehicle,
almost cutting it in half. 

Will was shaking his head.  “Oh, crap.  That might be Sam’s
SUV.”  Will looked around and added, “And you know what?  We’re back on Capen
Street.  I told him and Doug to come here in an hour, if we didn’t show up. 
This has gotta be his truck.” 

As we approached it, we noticed that the side windows were
smashed out.  There was also a huge load of snow dumped on the car.  The car
was filled with snow.

Will started nervously running his fingers through his
hair.  “I guess I can understand how a tree fell right down on the middle of
their SUV, but it’s also buried!  How did all that snow get in?  The back
window has that strange bulls eye mark on it, like my jeep.”

I looked darkly at Will. “It was struck by one of those nasty
ice harpoons.  They were attacked by one of those diabole gangs we saw
earlier.  I bet they caused that tree to fall on their car.  I wonder if Sam
and Doug crawled out or if they were taken.”

We started moving as fast as we could, following the quickly
vanishing footprints in the snow.  After we got through some trees to a small
clearing, we almost ran right into the backs of several diaboles, hands raised,
waving huge ice daggers and yelling.  Even in the gloom of night, I could see
the blood red aura churning around their heads.  I saw hate, fury.  And I knew
who they were after. 

Will and I immediately started rubbing our hands together. 
Since lightning had already been brought into the vicinity and we were still
partially charged, I knew it wouldn’t take long.  Soon, we were crackling and
sparking.

“We gotta work together and nail ‘em.  You ready?”

Will nodded.

“I’ll count to three and then let loose.  Surprise is our
best weapon.  One . . . two . . . three.”

We both shot lighting directly at their backs.

“Aaaaaaaaaarrrrg . . . . ”  The diaboles immediately turned,
fury twisting their faces.  The ice daggers started coming in our direction.  A
freezing wind blew straight into our eyes and icy sleet stabbed my skin.  The
onslaught caused me to falter for a second.

“Tess, you gotta keep it up or we’re doomed!”  Will screamed
over the wind.

I closed my eyes and concentrated on the escalating heat in
my fingertips.  Several bolts of lightning flew straight across, knocking away
the icy spears and cutting the wind.  It struck the diaboles head on.  I played
with the lightning, moving it over any areas of bare skin such as faces, and
some hands.  Then, I aimed at burning through coats and hats.  The diaboles
were staggering back, and I got a whiff of burning flesh.  There must have been
some kind of signal because, suddenly, they turned tail and started running. 
They disappeared behind the trees.

“You see Doug and Sam?” Will asked.

I shook my head, peering through the falling snow. “Those
diaboles were all yelling at something in that direction.”

“Oh, my God, Will.  They’ve gotta be under all that snow.”

We frantically started digging with our hands.  I finally
hit something solid and blue.  “This must be Doug.  Looks like his coat.”

Will pulled him out of the snow.  “What the heck?” he
gasped.  Four icicles were stuck in his upper legs and his torso and he was
covered with a layer of ice.

“You get Sam out and I’ll take care of this.  Just hurry!”

I rubbed and rubbed until the sparks came.  Then, I lowered
both of my hands over Doug’s body and ran them directly over his ice covered
skin.  My goal was to slowly melt the ice without burning him.  As the icicles
imbedded in his skin dissolved, I noticed the blood red drops seeping into the
snow.

Doug sputtered, opened his eyes.  “What?”

I pulled him up and hugged him.  “Thank God!  How’re you
feeling?”

He looked rather dazed. “I’m freezing and I feel like
crap.”  He looked around.  “Where did they go?”

“The diaboles?  I don’t know.  They took off.”

“No, I mean where did Mercy and Sam go?” Doug asked
frowning.

“Sam was right behind you.  Looks like he’s hurting but he’s
awake.”  I frowned.  “What are you saying about Mercy?  She’s not here!”

Doug’s eyes widened and he immediately stood up.  He was shaky
so I steadied him.  “Mercy must be here!  She came with us.”

Sam said in a hoarse voice, “I saw her fall over there.”

We dove at the snow and started digging.  “Here she is,” Sam
yelled from a short distance away as he desperately brushed snow off her.  He
was shaking his head.  “It doesn’t look good.”

Mercy’s face looked like it was made of smooth, cold
marble.  She was completely encased in a sheet of ice.  A large frozen spear
was stuck right through the middle of her chest, where her heart was.  Even
from where I was standing, I could see that there was a bright red circle of
blood under the glaze of ice.  There were also some smaller ice daggers stuck
in her left arm and leg.  A sob caught in my throat as I frantically rubbed my
hands together until the sparks came.  Then, I ran my hands over her body to
melt the ice.  Sam and Doug also dropped to their knees and did the same. 

Will reached over and snapped the huge dagger that was in
her chest.  He left the ice that was stuck in her heart and wrapped a scarf
tightly around her middle. “The ice may slow up the flow of blood from her
heart,” he said grimly.  We spent more time warming her up, then Will finally
asserted, “It’s time to check.  If she’s alive, she should have a pulse.”  We
all held our breath as Will put his index finger on her neck.  He sat very
still for a while, head turned slightly to the side and finally shook his head,
his concerned eyes watching me.  “I’m afraid I can’t hear anything.”

“WHAT?  No, I don’t believe you!” I screamed.  I dropped
down and wrapped my arms around her.  “She just has to be warmed up some more.
I KNOW she’s alive.”  Tears were running down my cheeks. 

“Tess, listen to me,” Will said gently.  I turned to face
him as he crouched down to my level.  “Do you see her aura?”

I sat up to get a better view of Mercy.  Something about her
stillness had disturbed me.  Her aura was always around her: bright, colorful,
loud and proud.  It reflected her confidence and intelligence.  At this time,
there were was nothing swirling around her body.  Her aura was gone.  Of
course, that meant that she was gone, at least from here.  I sat up and wiped
my sleeve across my wet face.  I looked over at Will and shook my head.  I felt
numb all over.

We couldn’t leave Mercy’s body in the woods so we carried it
back to Sam’s truck and placed her in the back.  After I said a little prayer
for her, I leaned against the car.  I didn’t feel right leaving her.

Doug spoke softly to me, “She was a crazy-mad fighter you
know.  When the diaboles were chasing us, Mercy turned around to face them. 
Sam and I immediately joined her because we couldn’t leave her there to face
them alone.  She was spinning the lightning and throwing fireballs at them left
and right.  The whole time she was under attack, she was laughing and taunting
them.  You’d almost think that she was deliberately targeting herself.”

Sam smiled, sadly, “She was something!  She acted so nuts
the diaboles actually backed off at first.  But, there were just so many of
them.”  He shook his head.

Will gently took Tess’s hand. “Tess, we’ve got to go. 
There’re hundreds, maybe thousands of diaboles, around here.  The only way we
don’t all die is to get to the tree.  Even then, there’s no guarantee.”

“I know,” I whispered.

Will held his hand out to me and I took it.  He proceeded to
lead us through the side streets and various shortcuts, down driveways and
through back yards, where the snow was deep, above our knees.  Sam and Doug
stayed with us, helping each other out, limping along.  As we moved, my mental
numbness was gradually replaced with a sense of unease.

There was some flashing in the distance which indicated to
me that fighting was still taking place.  Even though I was breathing the sharp
cold air, I felt an odd breathlessness, as if I was suffocating.  Goosebumps
crept over my skin and prickling sensations ran down my spine.  My instincts
were telling me there were a large number of black souls who were seeking us,
encircling us, squeezing us in.  Their eventual intent wasn’t just to kill our
physical being.  They were seeking to do far worse, for they wanted to erase
the light of our being, our eternal souls.