Awakening (8 page)

“
You did. You became one,”
I said quietly.

He turned and glared down at me. “The
guild brought me up. I knew what to expect from the time I was
young. There were no surprises. I went into it with my eyes wide
open.”

“
I know I can do
this.”

“
You don’t understand. You
don’t even know what the rituals entail. You’ve not asked the
things you’ll have to do.”

“
I told you that I’ll do
whatever I have to.” I meant it. Whatever it took. Whatever trials
I had to go though, I would see my family’s death
avenged.

The fear had left his eyes, and anger
had taken its place. “You think you’re willing to do anything, but
you aren’t.”

“
I can. I will. I have to.
Whatever trials you send my way, I’ll do them.”

“
Even if it means you have
to die?”

I looked up at him shocked by his
words.

“
Yes, die. In the first
part of the ritual, the initiated has to commune with the spirits.”
He reached down, pulled me to my feet and grabbed me by the
shoulders. “And how do you think this is accomplished? You have to
die. You have to go to the other side and be brought back.” With
each word, he shook me a bit harder.

I didn’t try to break free. Instead, I
tried to comprehend what he was saying. “Brought back…so I’m dead
for just a short time?”

“
Yes, killed and then
brought back. If we do the ritual correctly. If everything goes
like it should. But if something goes wrong…” His fingers dug into
my skin.

I pulled away from him and rubbed my
shoulder. “Someone has died and not come back?”

“
There have been times when
the ritual hasn’t worked, when they lost the initiate.”

“
Lost, you mean…” I forced
the words out. “There’s no other way?”

“
To wield this kind of
power you have to make a sacrifice.”

I said through clenched teeth, “My
family was murdered. Someone killed my family, and now they’re
after me.”

“
You can get protection. Go
into hiding until it blows over,” he pleaded.

I shook my head.

He reached out grabbed me roughly with
his hands again. “You don’t want to do this.”

I forced myself back out of his reach.
“I don’t have a choice.”

“
You’re prepared to die?”
he demanded.

“
And be brought back to
life. Yes.”

“
I don’t even know if my
uncle will do it.”

“
I told you there isn’t
time to wait for your uncle.”

Luke frowned. “You can’t expect
me--”

“
Someone is coming after
me. I don’t have any protection against them,” I
whispered.

He turned away from me. “I won’t do
it.”

I grabbed his arm and forced him to
turn back toward me. “You have to. You said you would!”

He clenched his fists. “I won’t do
it!”

“
You said you wanted me to
come back, you were going to teach me. It would have been tonight
at the witching hour.”

“
I was going to scare you a
bit. Deter you from going down this path, give you back your money
and send you on your merry way. I only took it and told you that I
would teach you because I saw the desperation in your eyes. I was
worried you’d find someone else to teach you. Honestly, I was
hoping my uncle could change your mind about learning the dark
arts. I thought that once you realized all that it entailed, the
path you’d have to take, you wouldn’t go through with it. I should
never have told you I would teach you.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“You were never serious about teaching me?”

“
No.”

“
I need you to help me,” I
pleaded.

He shook his head. “You can’t expect
me to do this. I don’t even know if I can.”

“You know the ritual…”

He cut me off. “Yes, but if it’s not
done right…If something goes wrong…”

“
Then I die for real,” I
whispered.

“
I won’t do this.” His
hands clenched and unclenched at his side.

“
Then I’ve no choice but to
find someone else.”

Without a word, he turned and stormed
away from me.

Chapter Four

“
I don’t understand, why
are you leaving?” Darla asked.

We were both standing at the kitchen
counter. She was cutting up potatoes, and I was peeling
carrots.

“
Your brother said he can’t
help me.”

“
He surprised me when he
said he’d teach you. It’s not something he should have agreed to.”
She averted her eyes. “I know about the rituals. I haven’t been
through them yet, but I’ve watched them.” She put down the knife
and looked at me. “I know I’m not supposed to say it. I know they
expect me to go through it one day and I will. But honestly,
Colina, the things they put you through…”

“
Luke went through them,” I
said.

She went back to chopping potatoes and
said in a low voice, “He did. He won’t admit it, but it wasn’t easy
for him. He had nightmares afterwards for a long time.”

Luke wandered into the room. He gave
me a hard stare. “You’re staying for supper.”

“
I promised Darla I would,”
I answered.

He nodded and picked up a piece of
celery off the counter.

“
Luke, convince her not to
leave until tomorrow. It will be dark out soon, and that gang, they
might come back,” Darla said.

“
I’ll make sure she gets
safely in a cab,” Luke answered.

Darla dropped a handful of potatoes
into a pot. “Where are you going? Home?”

I hadn’t told her about my family. I
would leave it to Luke to fill her in on the details of my life
after I left. Maybe once he did she’d understand why I was so
desperate to find a teacher.

“
I’m not sure.” I turned to
Luke. “If you could give me a name of someone, maybe someone in
your guild?”

He shook his head. “No.”

I turned back to Darla. “Do you know
anyone who could help me?”

She didn’t answer but instead got busy
wiping off the cutting board.

Luke was watching me. His face full of
disapproval.

I didn’t care what he thought. If he
couldn’t help me, I had no choice but to move on and find another
way to get what I needed.

I looked him straight in the eye and
said in a firm voice, “Fine, if you won’t help me, I’ll find
someone. It may take time, but I’ll find someone who’ll teach
me.”

Luke frowned and moved toward the
windows.

I looked down at the carrot in my
hand. “What are we making again?” I wasn’t much of a cook. Mama had
always done all the cooking in our house.

Darla answered, “Stew. It’s my uncle’s
recipe and--” The door flew open and slammed against the wall,
cutting off her words.

Men rushed in. I stood in shock,
completely immobile at the counter.

Luke turned and yelled,
“Run!”

His words set me in motion. I grabbed
Darla by the hand and began pulling her toward the windows. If we
could get to the windows, we could escape down the fire
escape.

Suddenly there was a commotion--loud
shouts, strange noises, and flashes of lights in a rainbow of
colors. I didn’t bother to turn around and see what was happening.
Instead, I focused my whole being on escape. We were within inches
of the closest window when Darla’s hand was yanked from
mine.

I turned. A man held onto the tail end
of her golden pony tail. He yanked on it hard, forcing her body
back.

I reached out and grabbed for Darla
and, for a moment, our fingers once again locked, and I pulled with
all my might to try and force her free. But he was stronger, and
she was soon out of my grasp again. He had her now and was moving
her away from me. A part of me wanted to let her go, to forget
about everything but escape. A few more steps and I would make it
to the window and out into the night to safety.

Darla screamed.

I turned away from the windows and
headed to where she was now fighting the man. He was trying to
wrestle her down to the ground.

Where was Luke?

He was standing in the middle of the
room. His hands in the air and lights flung from his finger tips.
Banshees circled the room and the men. One man lay slumped down
inches from Luke on the floor. Two other men had their hands raised
in the air and spells spewed from their lips. Blue streaks of
lights hit a wave of purple, and the force of the collision set off
sparks of all colors flying through the air.

Whatever spells Luke was doing, the
magic they had was just as strong. Luke might have taken one of
them down, but the others were still on their feet and fighting. I
watched in horror as Luke was forced back, one step and then
another toward the window. Luke wasn’t going to win this fight. He
was going to be overpowered.

Darla screamed again. I spun around.
The man had Darla pinned down.

I started toward her, not sure what I
planned to do. How could I help her? I had no war training and no
weapon in hand. I was moving across the floor when a bright orange
light flooded the room. But this light came with a punch. The air
rushed toward me in a wall of static, crackling energy. It pushed
me back. I stumbled, trying to stay on my feet as it washed over me
like a wave.

Luke got the worst of it. The impact
knocked him off his feet, throwing him through the air, and he
crashed through two windows. Glass rained down in all directions.
As shards of glass flew my way, I instinctively covered my hands
over my head and crouched down.

And then hands were on me. Someone had
me around the waist. I fought. I scratched. I kicked. I swung my
arms, making contact with a nose. I heard a male, yelp out in pain.
I kicked again. I screamed at the top of my lungs, beyond reason. I
was about to die like my family. Any minute my throat would be
slit, or a bullet would tear through my flesh. I fought harder
until something slammed against my head, and a wave of dizziness
overcame me. My body went limp as darkness filled my
eyes.

When I came to, a man was carrying me
over his shoulder out the front door of the magic shop.

I could hear Darla’s cries. I turned
my head and watched as someone shoved her into a dark SUV. The SUV
roared away, and another one screeched to a halt in front of
us.

The door swung open, and I was tossed
inside. I let my body fall hard against the seat. An exclamation of
pain hit my lips, but I forced it back. It would be better if they
thought I was still unconscious.

I heard voices next to me. “Where’d
you put the rope?”

“
Try under the seat,”
someone answered.

“
That death dealer took out
Angelo.”

A loud curse filled the air. “Anyone
else hurt?”

“
I’ll let you know when my
ears stop ringing. Banshees! Can you believe he raised
banshees?”

A phone rang and then a voice answered
loudly. “Yeah. We got them boss. There was some
trouble.”

I opened one eye just a little. Next
to me was a dark form. One of the men. He was only a few inches
from me bending over, his hand reaching down toward the floor. I
inched slowly up. In the seat behind me, there was someone with a
black hood over their head.

I inched up a bit more until I could
see over the front seat. The driver was on the phone--his eyes on
the road thankfully and not on the rear view mirror. If I was going
to escape, it was now or never. I reached out and grabbed the door
handle. I pulled it open and felt relief as it swung out. My relief
was quickly replaced by panic when I looked down and saw pavement
racing by. The car was going fast. I had no choice but to jump from
the moving car and hope that neither the jump nor the landing
killed me. As the door flung open, the driver started to shout, but
before my companion could react I threw myself into the air. I hit
the pavement hard, and cried out as my elbow jarred against the
ground. I rolled, bumping and scraping along the pavement. My body
slowly came to a stop, and I lay there on the side of the road,
stunned.

The sound of screeching tires got me
to my feet. I started to run before I ventured a quick look back.
They were turning around, coming back for me. I forced myself to
move faster but my ankle buckled, and I stumbled crying out in
pain. I couldn’t stop, not now that I could hear the car not far
behind me. I sucked in a breath and then another and ignored the
pain now radiating up my leg.

There was no way I could outrun them.
A ten foot metal chain-link fence ran along the road to my right. I
changed direction and headed for the fence. When I hit the fence, I
didn’t stop. I just slammed my fingers into the first opening and
propelled myself up. One hand and foot at a time I climbed the
fence. I didn’t dare stop or glance back this time. I just kept
climbing. The only sound in my ears was my breath now coming out in
gasps.