Earth (24 page)

The girl’s giggles floated back to me on a
cold wind that made me shiver with fresh goose bumps. Her voice
sounded more familiar than just one dream would have made it, but I
didn’t have time to dwell on it. They were far enough into the
woods to let us follow unnoticed. We stopped on the very edge of
the asphalt before it became earthen floor and I turned and looked
at Jodi and nodded.

She took a deep, steadying breath and reached
out for my left hand. We turned and faced the woods, arms spread
wide. Jodi closed her eyes and turned her face skyward. I closed my
eyes to keep anything from distracting me, trusting Steven to keep
a look out for anyone or thing. I was acting as Jodi’s anchor,
keeping her physically and magically grounded as she called up the
winds that were beginning to swirl around us, circling our ankles
and dancing through our hair.

I felt her shiver and her energy shift,
pulsing like a heartbeat and with every beat her energy grew
stronger and wider. Just at the breaking point of losing control of
her built up power, she released it in a gush of wind that raced
through the trees, bushes, and fallen leaves. My hair blew away
from my face and I had to concentrate on not losing my footing when
the wind swirled back and pushed against me. We heard the music of
the forest in the winds. Jodi came back to herself quicker than we
would have done in a circle, but time was of the essence. Now with
the sound cover of the wind playing through the forest we could
move faster.

I nodded again to both of them and we stepped
into the forest.

In our effort to be unseen and unheard, we
had let them get farther away from us than I would have liked, but
because of the noise from the wind I felt comfortable enough to
hurry to catch up to them. After about thirty paces into the forest
I could hear the girl’s giggling float back to me carried on the
wind. My stomach flipped and I felt a cold sweat break out on the
small of my back as I rode the wave of déjà vu. I concentrated on
my breathing and on the noise of Steven and Jodi’s footsteps behind
me and slightly to each side. I wasn’t alone, I had to remember
that.

“Where are we going?” The girl’s voice
sounded farther away than her giggles had led me to believe. I
couldn’t hear the man’s response. I glanced over my shoulder at
Steven and motioned with my hand to hurry. He relayed the message
to Jodi and we started hiking faster. I was focusing on my breath,
trying to keep it even, when I finally saw something pass between
two trees just twenty feet ahead of us. I froze in my tracks and
luckily both Jodi and Steven did the same. We were as silent as
stone statues.

“Wait… I don’t- ack!” I heard the girl’s
voice; she sounded frustrated, and maybe even a little scared.
“Where did you go? Damnit! I tripped!” She whined and I strained my
memory to remember where I’d heard that voice before.

Hey,
Jodi’s yellow thoughts whispered
in my mind as she leaned towards me, taking hold of my wrist. I
turned at looked at Steven, holding out my arm to him, being
careful to point my knife away from him. Steven took my arm,
joining the channel Jodi had created.
Doesn’t she sound like
Michelle?
Jodi asked.

Who?
I asked turning confused eyes to
her.

Oh my god! Yes! Oh my god, Terra!
Steven’s terrified red-tinged words raced in my mind.

Who are you talking about?

Michelle! Tracy’s friend!
Jodi thought
at me, a little frustrated, but I could hear the fear overriding
the frustration.

Oh my god…
I whispered letting my mind
race back to History and Michelle glaring at us for talking during
the movie. I had never paid too much attention to Michelle, but
even I could tell it was definitely Michelle’s voice that was
echoing back to us. We turned as one back towards Michelle’s
pleading voice. She was lost and whoever brought her here didn’t
seem to care.

We started towards her, but I felt all the
hair on my arms stand on end in the prickling sensation of power
reaching out towards me. I took a deep breath and forced as much
energy as I could into all three of our shields, forcing the power
back away from us.
What was that?
Jodi asked, not having let
go yet. I didn’t want to distract myself by answering her, so I
just shook my head, straining my eyes to search through the
darkness.

“Hey! Are you seriously gonna leave me out
here alone?” I was pretty sure I heard her stomp her foot in anger
like a child; I had the image of her hands balled into fists at her
sides and shook my head. I was risking the lives of my two best
friends and my life for an idiotic brat.

Come on
, I whispered into their minds
and broke the channel by stepping forward. I knew that rush of
power that had reached out to us was him looking for us. I had
hoped he was enough of an amateur not to feel the magic in the wind
Jodi had called up, but if he was already possessed he may have
more power than I could expect.

“There you are,” Michelle said. I could
hardly hear her anymore.

I turned towards the faint voice and hurried
my pace again, thin branches catching on my clothes and scratching
welts into my face as we went. Jodi had to stop twice to untangle
her short hair from prickly twigs. I had pulled my hair up into a
bun to avoid things like that, but Jodi’s bob was too short to pull
back. I didn’t want to slow my pace but I was worried about being
separated, so Steven and I slowed and finally turned to look back
at Jodi and wait for her. Once Jodi was less than ten paces away
from us, Steven turned to continue on and was just past me when I
saw Jodi stumble and fall to the ground. All the air was pushed out
of her as she hit the forest floor, keeping her from crying out. I
started towards her to help her up when her eyes flew wide and she
tried to scramble towards me frantically, but something caught her
and dragged her farther away from me.

I gasped and lunged for her, hitting the
ground in front of her but close enough to grab her wrist in both
my hands. I swiveled around, bringing my legs forward and sitting
back on my butt. I drove my heels into the ground and pulled with
all my strength. Steven wasn’t as quick on my tail as I would have
liked, but he ran past me and got to Jodi’s legs and stopped short,
turning to look at me with a terrified look on his face. “Terra!
It’s the roots of a tree!”

“What?”

“Her leg! A tree’s roots are wrapped around
her ankle!” He was clawing at her leg frantically, tearing at her
jeans, and I saw flecks of bark hit his face as he tried to peal it
away from her.

“Get up here!” I nearly yelled at him, “Take
her arms!” Steven crawled up to me and slid in between Jodi and me,
scooting his body down to wrap his arms around her torso and drove
his heels into the ground just as I had done. I let go of Jodi’s
arms and she wrapped both arms around Steven’s neck, hanging on for
dear life.

I slid towards her legs and, sure enough, a
thick tree root caught her right leg, but it had broken free of the
ground and was actually wrapped around her ankle like a shackle and
was trying to pull her into the ground. I would have survived,
being able to breathe in the ground, but Jodi couldn’t. I laid both
hands on the tree root. A searing heat burned my palms, racing up
my arms and causing my whole body to ache with the pain of the
burn.

I am Terra, Earth Mother, hear me and
obey!
I invoked all the earth energy I had in my body and
pumped it into my hands and down through the roots.
Release us
from your grasp!
Another shocking wave of heat struck me
through the tree, but I held on.
Release us! Release us now!
My voice echoed in a booming resonance through my mind and I felt
Jodi and Steven gasp in shock as if they had felt my power.

The root trembled in my hands and in that
perfect moment its grasp loosened and Jodi kicked free. Steven
pulled with all his strength and they were out of the tree’s
reach.

Jodi’s face was streaked with tears, but she
wasn’t crying from fear, just pain, and was already regaining her
composure. I pulled up her pant leg and saw an angry welt forming
there. I placed my hands around her ankle and drew out the pain and
pulled it into my hands. It seared my skin just as it had seared
hers, but I held on to it, saddling it. The welt faded from her
pale skin, leaving it unmarred, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
We all stood and raced towards the girl’s voice. He knew we were
here and was trying to stop us from reaching them—all pretences
were over.

I raced in the direction I knew they were
going. We were getting closer; I could feel the air around us,
though racing with Jodi’s wind, was getting thicker and a little
harder to breathe. He was trying to keep us away. Just when I
wasn’t sure we’d be able to breathe if we went much further, I
heard Michelle say, “Um… what is this?” I knew they were inside his
circle. He didn’t respond to her. Michelle giggled again, “Come on,
tell me. What’re we doing here?” She had let her voice fall to a
deeper octave trying to be coy and seductive.

We broke the tree line into the clearing we
were racing towards. I had the sensation of breaking through the
wall of a gentle waterfall pass over me. I looked around and saw
Michelle’s back as she was being led by the hand towards a table
laid with black cloth and lit candles. How they were staying lit in
the gushing wind I didn’t know. Jodi and Steven hadn’t stepped into
the clearing; I looked over my shoulder at them and saw that they
were trying to push past an invisible wall, looking at me with
terrified eyes. I looked back to Michelle and saw she was
dangerously near the table. I couldn’t let her reach the table.
Something inside me urged me beyond control and before I could stop
myself I called out to her, “Michelle! Stop!”

Michelle turned to me, confusion plain on her
face, but the man refused to turn and look at me. I tried to look
at him, but my eyes seemed to slide past him, only able to focus on
the table and trees behind him. I closed my eyes and shook my head
trying to clear my vision. I knew that trick, having used it
myself, but it didn’t stop me from trying to look at him anyway. He
was reaching for the hooded cloak draped over the table. Swirling
it with a flourish, he put it on, pulling the hood over his
head.

“Shayna?” Michelle looked at me, confusion
quickly being replaced by anger. I didn’t understand her reaction,
but I ran towards her anyway. She finally saw the knife in my hand
and screamed, backing up into the man, but he still didn’t turn.
She ran around him to use him as a shield against me, putting
herself in front of him. Michelle looked up into his face, opening
her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Her face was frozen in
fear. I was able to focus on him long enough to see his free hand
was raised above his head, gripping the same menacing knife I had
seen in my dream.

“Michelle! Run to me!” I screamed at her,
still running towards her. Michelle tried to jerk her hand away
from him and dodged out of the way just in time for the knife to
fly past her as he tried to plunge it into her. Michelle screamed
wordlessly, tearing at his hand with her free hand. I finally got
to her. But just as I too tried to strike with my knife he spun
around to face me, pulling Michelle into his chest and wrapping his
arm around her torso, pining her arms to her side and holding the
point of the knife dangerously near her throat. I couldn’t see his
face as the hood of his cloak cast a deep shadow.

“What do you want?” I couldn’t think of
anything else to say. If he wanted Michelle dead, he could do it at
any second.

He didn’t answer me but motioned towards
Michelle and then to me with his chin. A trade. I had come into the
circle willingly, idiot. “Fine, let her go,” I said, proud to hear
my voice was steady, but he shook his head. He wasn’t going to give
up his hostage that easily.

My palms ached with burning and something
inside me clicked and I lunged towards them. Michelle screamed as I
grabbed his forearm. I transferred the searing heat I had pulled
out of Jodi’s leg into his arm, multiplying it with my own power,
and he screamed, letting go of Michelle and stumbling backwards. I
grabbed Michelle without thinking and raced away from him to the
tree line, towards Jodi and Steven.

We crashed through the trees and bushes and
fallen leaves, stumbling and sliding downhill, desperate to get
away. I never once let go of Michelle. Like breaking the surface of
water after nearly drowning, the four of us fell down the last few
feet of a hill and tumbled out onto the highway. I felt the grip of
terror fall away from me as soon as we hit the asphalt. We
scrambled as one and raced to the parking lot and into my car,
tearing down the highway. I glanced in my rearview mirror to look
at Michelle just as she fainted.

Chapter 14

“Ok, where are we going?” I asked over my
shoulder, looking back and forth from Jodi to Steven. We had been
driving for twenty minutes and were turning off the highway. I
planned to cut through the farm fields to make our way to the
freeway to get back into town quickly. “We can’t take her home like
that.”

“Well, we need to find out who she was with,
so we should keep her with us until she wakes up so we can talk to
her,” Steven said, looking at me through the rearview mirror.

“Let’s go to the movie theater.” Jodi
said.

“Why there?” I asked.

“Because it’s Friday night, that’s a normal
place for us to have been. And it’s not a weird place to be parked
in the middle of the night, so it’ll give us time to talk to her
and calm her down.”

“Good point.” I nodded, glancing over my
shoulder to change lanes to exit the freeway. We pulled into the
movie theater parking lot just a few minutes later.