A Time to Die (Elemental Rage Book 2) (8 page)

Only Mindy seemed
un-enchanted by the mountain.  Aunt Bertha suspected that Mindy perhaps lived
in a depth of sacredness that made every space sacred.  Earth cared for Mindy
in a way that none of the other Elements cared for their Elementals, not that
Bertha had seen anyway. 

No, Mindy was
special.

As if she had
heard Bertha’s thoughts, Mindy looked up and smiled.  Aunt Bertha smiled back. 
Raven finished staking her side of the tent and walked back to the car to get
the second tent.  Mindy shrank back.  Bertha hoped that this weekend would stop
that.  She didn’t know how Mindy could read Raven’s plight as well as she
could, but Bertha knew that Mindy understood how deeply Raven was compromised. 
Bertha saw it, too.  And it had to be dealt with.

Soon.

The tents were set
up and a modest fire started.  The girls ate turkey sandwiches and chips,
chattering happily about Jade and her boyfriend, the awesomeness of camping
out, and what strange new wonders the Spirit Quest would bring.

Aunt Bertha wasn’t
sure herself.  It had been six decades since her own spirit quest.

When they were
finished eating, Bertha said, “Draw around the fire.  There are things we need
to discuss.”

Mindy sat in a
chair between Bertha and Jade.  Raven respected Mindy’s need for distance.  Her
chair was opposite of Mindy’s and further away from the fire than anyone else’s.

Jade watched Fire
dance.  Aunt Bertha was sure that her eldest niece could hear Fire sing.  The
way she closed her eyes and swayed to the rhythm of Fire’s dance was proof
enough.  Bertha could see why Jade, of all of the girls, would have the hardest
time in school…and why she was so close to Mindy. Fire and Earth were always
dear friends. 

As the girls
settled in, Bertha took a deep breath.  The moment had come.

She had no idea
where to start.

“There are some
things I need to tell you.  The words are not easy to say, and they won’t be
easy to hear,” Bertha’s clutched either end of her cane.  It was lying across
her lap, but it provided some sense of comfort.  She supposed it was because
wherever she went, the cane went, too.

Claire
interjected, “It’s okay, Aunt Bertha.  We’re careful not to tell anyone about
our gifts…and we’re getting good at them, too.”

“Shhh…” Raven
said.  She did it kindly and squeezed Claire’s hand when she did. That was when
Bertha realized that the older girls already had an inkling that she was ill. 
She could read it in the shadows in Raven’s eyes.  Of all the girls, Raven
would have seen Bertha’s death.

Bertha said, “There’s
no easy way to say this.  I’ve been diagnosed with cancer and it has spread
throughout my body.  The doctors gave me six months.  The Keepers tell me
three.”

Claire and Mindy
reacted with shock, as Bertha expected.  Jade gave a slight nod and put her arm
on Mindy’s shoulders while Raven stared at the ground with a distant guilty look
that said she already knew.

“When do you start
treatment?” Claire asked.  All of the girls were trying to be strong, but
Claire, bless her heart, had that stubborn set to her jaw that said she was
going to grab on with both hands and not let Bertha go.

“No treatment. I’m
eighty years old and it’s time.  We’re on this mountain for a purpose.  I know
you girls need to process what is happening, but I wanted to tell you why it’s
so important that you learn as much as you can from me now.  The Death Keepers
have already given me warning, so I know it won’t be long.”

“But three months.
That’s hardly any time at all,” Claire’s eyes filled with tears.  The poor girl
had lost her father, and then her mother went missing, and Bertha had been a
favorite with Claire.  Bertha loved all the girls equally, but she had to admit
Claire loved her the most.

Bertha reached out
and took Claire’s hand in her own, “It’s enough. Death isn’t the end. At least
we have that.  Those without gifts from the Universe walk into death blind.  We
are lucky.”

Letting the moment
sink in, Bertha was surprised that it was Mindy who moved the conversation
forward when she said, “Spirit Quest.”

Bertha nodded, her
gnarled hand still holding Claire’s.  When had her skin grown so thin and so
wrinkled?  Bertha remembered learning to ride a bike so many years ago.  That
child still lived in her, as did the twenty-year old college student, and the
thirty year old school teacher.

 She smiled at
Mindy, “Yes, the Spirit Quest. After we’ve finished here, each of you will go
off on your own into the woods.  Listen to the Elements.  You may be met with a
familiar Element or perhaps a new face will greet you.  This is a time of
growth and bonding.   When you are done, the Elements will bring you back. 
Time plays no role here, so don’t worry about anything you’ve got back home. 
All you need to think about is your Element.”

Jade looked as if
she might say something, bit her lip and then shook her head.

Aunt Bertha knew
her girls.  She knew them well.  She said, “Jade, I know you think you’ll be
home for volleyball practice on Wednesday, and if the Elements who greet you
allow it, you will, but this is bigger than any game, bigger than any test, so
focus on learning what you’re here to learn and let go of everything else.”

Jade nodded.  The
importance of her gift still hadn’t sunk in, but Bertha knew it would.  Jade was
late coming to the Spirit Quest, late hearing her Element.

Bertha said, “I
have one more thing before I send you on your journeys.  I, Bertha Skye,
daughter of the Universe and Keeper of the Secrets therein, do give this oath
of my own free will.  To Raven Gray, daughter of Lawrence and Amy Gray, I pass
the Gift of  Emptiness. May she carry it well in service to the Universe.”

Bertha’s spine
flared as if on fire.  Emptiness had protected her against cancer’s ravaging
pain.  Bertha hoped it would protect Raven now. She nodded once, stoic against
the pain.  Her gift had served her well.  Let it now serve Raven.

Turning to her
niece, Bertha said, “You must resolve your issues with the Void this weekend.”

Raven pressed a
hand to her side, a haunted fear setting in the depths of her soul. She smiled
bravely and said, “I will.”

Bertha knew much
of it was an act.  She only hoped Raven could truly overcome the darkness
settling on her soul and come out the victor.

~~ Raven ~~

Wandering between
a pair of sturdy pines, Raven wondered what her great aunt could have possibly
been thinking.  Jade would have been a better choice for Emptiness, whatever
that Element really was.  Or Claire.

The goal of the
quest was to find a quiet place and open to the Elements.  Fire would speak to
Jade, Water to Claire, Earth to Mindy…but Air’s silence was all-consuming. 
Raven could hardly bear it.  Each girl wandered where her Element led.  Raven
just walked a random path with no Element to guide her.

And yet the Void
whispered.

I know where
your mother is.

Raven turned a
circle, checking for her sisters.  When she confirmed that she was alone, Raven
whispered to Air,
I’m sorry if this doesn’t work.  Thank you for everything
you’ve done for me.

When Raven reached
out to the Void, the Void took her, sucking her soul across time and space. 
She stood before the Master of the Void, a swirl of darkness among endless
swirls of darkness.

“Who are you?” she
whispered.

“The Unmaker,” The
words blew across her cheeks and over her hair like a winter frost.  “I’ll make
you a deal.  Share with me any memories of the Death Keepers in your mind, and
I will share with you your mother’s exact location and the means to bring her
back to your world.”

It was a deal far
too difficult to refuse.  Raven thought of what little she knew of the Death
Keepers.  In essence, she would be offering three memories in exchange for the
means to save her Mom.  As it was the Death Keepers who had kidnapped her Mom
in the first place, Raven considered it an added bonus that the Void took a
special interest in them.

“I agree,” Raven
shivered in the chill of the emptiness. She wondered if the Void and the
Emptiness Aunt Bertha bestowed upon her were the same thing.

A little voice
whispered,
No, I’m here.

Who spoke to her?

The voice was so
quiet and yet so compelling.

Even while the
swirl of darkness moved forward to complete the bargain, Raven whispered, “What
are you?”

“The pause before
creation, the space between atoms, the moment of possibility. You need me.” 

Raven nodded as
she felt icy fingers caress her arms.  Every breath hurt her lungs, punctuated
by shards of ice.  Suddenly, she found herself remembering things from her
childhood. As memories flooded her mind, she watched her father leaning over
her crib, teasing her at breakfast, walking together, and singing to her. 

Image after image
of Dad, many long forgotten flooded Raven’s mind as the Void extracted her
promise.  She witnessed it all as if for the first time, until the point when
he died.  Raven saw things she didn’t remember.  She saw the man who stabbed
him anew.  It was a young version of Harold.  Harold!!! 

Raven gasped.  How
could she not have seen or remembered?  But then, it had been so long ago, and
with a few changes to his face and the natural ravages from aging, there was no
way she could have known before now. Her memory continued.  She watched as Jade
and Fire attacked Harold. She witnessed her younger self begging Air for help,
but something went wrong and instead of Harold, her Daddy burned. 

He screamed for
just a second, an instant, and then disappeared.

Strange. 

“Is this true?”
Raven asked the Void. 

“They are your
memories.” The Unmaker said. She didn’t actually remember many of them before
this strange and disturbing unveiling of her life.

Raven felt
disturbed.  She had long thought that she bore sole responsibility for her
Dad’s death.  Air whipped up the firestorm. The new memory, accurate and true,
told a different story.  Jade’s Fire struck at Harold who had a gift of his own.
The Unmaker said,
Harold
.  And her Dad disappeared before he died.  That
could have been the Keepers, too, taking her father away through some gift of
the Universe.

Raven rubbed her
eyes. They felt so cold, as if she’d been walking across a snow field with snow
blowing in her face. She had a sudden moment of clarity.  “My father was a
Keeper.”

The Void didn’t
respond. It pulled the last memories from her mind, the ones from last summer’s
adventures when the Death Keepers kidnapped Mom, but then helped the sisters
escape from the vampires.

The Void’s icy
breath blew across her mind, showing Raven the gate to her Mom’s prison. 
First,
you must get the key.  Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and a Keeper must join together
to open the portal to the Dark Keeper, the one who lost Time.  He has a key
that you can take.

“Show me details. 
You promised.” Raven didn’t like vague notions.  She wanted a concrete visual.

The Void
responded.

As Raven grew
colder and colder, she saw more and more.  Knowledge poured into her mind, and
she knew that she could rescue her Mom.  The cost would be dear.  She didn’t
know if she could pay it.  Someone had to cross worlds.  Raven knew
she
would have to do it.

The Dark Keeper
is evil and cunning. He will not return to his cell easily.

“Show me how to
take it,” Raven said.

Unless the
Universe gets involved, you will have to bring him across, obtain his help in
crossing the barrier, and then once he has brought you all back, returned him
to his prison.

 Everything was
planned and patterned in her mind.  It seemed easy, and yet Raven knew that the
risk was enormous.

I release
myself from the Void.  I appreciate your help in providing a service for a
service.
 The words came from Emptiness.

Raven heard a pop
and then she was staring at her body from the tree tops. She peered down on her
physical form.  Her face was blank with no eyes, no mouth, and no nose.  As the
Void withdrew, her features appeared again.  One moment Raven was above the
trees, the next she was lying on the cold ground staring at the tree tops.

Air and Emptiness
both vied for attention.
Are you okay? You’re back! What happened?

Raven groaned. 
Every part of her body felt like it had been submersed in an ice bath.  She
felt alternately numb and on fire, cold fire.

That was when the
attack started.  The Void had no intention of releasing Raven. She could feel
the pressure from within, a cold force stronger than anything she had ever felt
before.  Air’s tornado had nothing on the Void.

She felt her body
start to freeze from the toes up, and her shivering turned to violent shaking. 

Air’s voice faded
again into the frost.

Her new Element,
Emptiness, whispered encouragement.
Air will find Jade. Don’t let him into
your mind.

But it was too
late.  The Unmaker’s path into her mind was paved by the memories of her
father.  The Void crept slowly across her soul, leaving barren footprints where
it touched. She went blind first. Next, her sense of smell disappeared.  This
time she stayed inside herself, feeling the void’s icy touch as it tried to
take her body. 

Awash with horror,
Raven realized too late.  The Void’s prior dealings with her were just pokes
and prods, not a serious attempt to take over, a test of her power, her
ability, her style of defense.  Now, the Void was eating her from the
inside-out. She felt those first memories fade and then disappear.