Fate Changer (The Lost Witch Trilogy #3) (12 page)

Gretchen raised an eyebrow at her and went back to wiping down the counter. Agnes smiled at her and added a little nutmeg to the oatmeal. “Of course you like the rain Sarah. You pull a lot of your energy from the elements around you. This is probably like an all you can eat buffet of power to you,” she said with a smile.

Sarah tilted her head and grinned. “You nailed it. So oatmeal, huh?” she said, looking dubiously at the pot of cooking grain, bubbling and smelling good but looking unappetizing.

Agnes shook her head at Sarah in disappointment. “Don’t judge by appearances dear. It’s shallow. Now grab a bowl and a spoon and get ready to apologize.”

Sarah laughed and did as she was told. Zane came in a moment later, his hair wet and gleaming from a shower. He walked up to his mom and hugged her quickly before grabbing a bowl himself. “My favorite, apple cinnamon oatmeal. Love you Mom,” he said and kissed her cheek.

Sarah felt her heart warm at the open affection between Zane and his mom. It made her think of having children herself one day. Immediately images of silver eyed children running and jumping into her arms filled her head and she had to look away as Zane’s head reared up and he stared at her with a grin and a raised eyebrow. “Excuse me Grandma, I think I’ll take my breakfast and join Sarah at the table,” he said breezily.

Sarah took a big bite of oatmeal and concentrated on the taste of nutmeg and apples instead of the large male sitting down next to her, grinning his head off.

“So how many kids were you planning on, if you don’t mind my asking?” he asked before taking a big bite of oatmeal. “This is delicious Grandma!” he called out, earning a smile and wink from his mom and grandma talking quietly in the kitchen.

Sarah cleared her throat and took a sip of milk before answering, her face completely red now in embarrassment.

“Um, why do you ask?” she said, trying to look amused, but instead, looking guilty.

Zane laughed and moved his foot to touch hers sending a bright burst of energy through her body. “I’m asking because the little movie you sent me a few seconds ago, showed me a couple girls and a boy. They all had silver eyes like mine. The little boy jumping into your arms was a little red head, but the girls were blonds like me. Did I get that right?” he asked, leaning over to shut her mouth with his finger on her chin.

Sarah covered her eyes with her hands and groaned. “I’m going to have to start putting up a power shield every time I’m in the same room with you. This is getting ridiculous,” she said.

Zane laughed and took another bite. “Sweetheart, it wouldn’t do any good. Even when you did wear your power shield like a second skin, I was just sucked in. You’ve never shut me out Sarah, because deep down, you don’t want to. By the way, you were a beautiful mother. I can’t wait to have those children with you and be a family.”

Sarah lowered her hands and looked at Zane, who was now staring seriously back at her, with all of his feelings for her in his eyes. She sighed and smiled at him before leaning over and kissing him gently. “Me too.”

Agnes and Gretchen joined them at the table with their own bowls of oatmeal and Lash walked in ten minutes later. They talked and laughed at Lash’s reaction to eating oatmeal for the first time. He gagged at the texture but gave it a few more tries and by the end, admitted that it tasted okay.

Agnes and Gretchen drove off to say goodbye to Beatrice and Teresa and Lash decided to meet Charlie at school. There wasn’t much to do when you were waiting around for a psycho to make his move. Zane and Sarah had offered to clean up the kitchen and they decided they might as well go to school too since their only other option was watching soaps or walking to the store in the rain, which Zane vetoed loudly.

As they walked out the door, Zane locked it automatically with his mind before walking towards the jeep. Sarah hopped inside and was immediately filled with a feeling of dread and darkness. As Sarah frowned, feeling cold all of a sudden, she screamed for Zane to stop, holding up her hand before he could open the door to the jeep. Zane stared at her with a frown, but opened the jeep door anyways.

“Zane, stop! Don’t get near this jeep,” she yelled, her heart racing and her skin turning clammy. “Something is very wrong. Step back,” she ordered, her eyes frantic and darting back and forth.

Zane stared at her silently and shook his head. “No. Why aren’t you getting out of the jeep if something is wrong?” he asked, his voice sounding hard and his eyes glowing.

Sarah shook her head silently. She felt paralyzed with fear. Her power was ripping through her body and she knew something was extremely wrong. “Just step back Zane. Step back,” she begged.

Zane shook his head. “We’re in this together Sarah. If you’re in danger, then so am I,” he said and hopped up inside the jeep.

Sarah screamed in fear, hugging herself as she felt the coldness multiply, freezing her so she couldn’t move. She stared in horror, expecting something to happen . . .
but nothing did
.

Zane looked around the jeep cautiously and then back at Sarah who was still wheezing and looking frantically back and forth as if she expected a monster to jump out at her.

“Sarah, it’s okay. See, I’m fine. You’re fine. Relax sweetheart,” he said gently and reached over to touch her hand, sending a warm calming energy through her. Her heart immediately slowed and the coldness faded slightly, but the feeling she had of danger would not leave.

“It’s
not
okay Zane. Something is wrong. Something bad has happened. I can’t seem to move either. I feel frozen,” she said jerkily.

Zane frowned and started the jeep. “Let’s just get to school and we’ll figure this out,” he said worriedly and drove out of the driveway and away from the house.

Sarah stared out the window, feeling her heart speed up again and her skin turn clammy. She closed her eyes and tried to calm down, but no matter what she tried, nothing worked. Her power slipped down her arms into her hands, making her fingers glow. She clenched her hands, to hide them from Zane, but he growled in impatience.

“You can’t hide anything from me Sarah! Do you think I can’t feel your power exploding inside of you?” he bit out almost angrily.

Sarah felt a tear slip down her cheek and nodded. She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t even know what was wrong. She just knew that they were in danger.

Zane pulled into the high school parking lot and glanced around. They were late getting to school so the parking lot was completely full of cars, but empty of students. Sarah breathed in deeply and reached for the handle on the door. She pushed it open and gingerly stepped out. As soon as she left the jeep, she felt a huge wave of relief and her power relaxed, flowing back down her back and receding inside of her. She looked at Zane, with a trembling smile on her face and shrugged.

“False alarm,” she said feeling embarrassed now that she’d gone a little crazy.

Zane smiled in relief and opened the car door to join her. As he moved to step out of the jeep, he jerked back as if he’d been hit hard. She felt his shock and annoyance and ran quickly around the jeep to the open door.

“What happened?” she demanded, looking on the pavement and inside the jeep.

Zane frowned and moved to get out of the jeep again, but was slammed back harder than the first time. Sarah’s mouth fell open in shock and she lifted a hand towards Zane. She expected to feel a hard glass surface but sighed in relief when her hand passed through the air easily to touch Zane’s cheek.

“I can’t get out Sarah,” Zane said, his forehead creasing in distress.

Sarah shook her head jerkily, remembering back to the woods when Zane could pass through her trap, but she couldn’t.

“Charles,” she whispered, looking behind her as if he were standing there staring at them.

Zane nodded his head once, accepting the reality of his situation. He used his hands to feel all around the jeep. He tried again and again to get out of the jeep, trying every door, but to no avail. Sarah bit her lip. She moved to crawl back into the jeep, but he shook his head.

“
No!
I don’t want you trapped too.”

Sarah frowned. “It’s not affecting me Zane. He’s not allowed to hurt me inside the lines. I’m coming in. If I’m with you, then our power is multiplied. If we’re together, maybe we can break free. We did it when he had a hold on my dad’s throat, remember?” she said, climbing inside quickly, ignoring his protests.

She sat in his lap and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, leaning her head against his. Zane moaned in frustration and closed his eyes.

“Now concentrate on the bubble around us. Let’s move our energy outside and try and break through,” she directed.

Immediately their power combined and she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up with all the electricity swirling around the jeep.

“Now!” she yelled and they threw their power as hard as they could against the invisible glass wall that had trapped Zane.

Their power bounced back and smashed back into them. Sarah and Zane gasped at the impact but were unhurt. The bubble was still there, but now it was moving inward.

Sarah bit her lip. “I think we just activated it Zane. It’s moving to surround you now,” she said quietly, looking deep into Zane’s bright silver eyes, gleaming in trepidation.

Zane nodded. “Looks like it. I’ll be disappearing soon then Sarah. Charles will have me. Leave here. As soon as I’m gone, take the jeep and drive as fast and as far as you can. Get on a plane and fly to the other side of the world. Promise me Sarah,” Zane said, shaking her shoulders with a frantic urgency.

Sarah began crying and shook her head. “
Never
. Now
you
listen to
me.
Remember Charles will try to control your mind. Don’t let him. Give him the impression that he has you, but don’t let him. Remember everything Francis taught you. You’ll find a way out Zane. I know you will,” she said, holding on to him tightly as she felt a field of energy pass through her and surround Zane.

She stared at him in horror as he started to fade around the edges. Right before he disappeared with a loud popping sound, she felt the words enter her mind
, I love you
. Her last impression of Zane was of his bright silver eyes, staring sadly back at her.

And then she was all alone.

Sarah screamed in rage and pounded the steering wheel. She flung herself out of the jeep and felt the rain pour down on top of her head. She raised her hands high and yelled in fury and fear, sending a stream of bright white electricity into the sky.

She lowered her hands to her sides, her shoulders slumping in defeat and felt the rain drench her in icy cold rivers, streaming down her neck and past her shirt on to the skin of her back and chest. Zane was gone and he was in trouble.

Sarah straightened her back and glared up at the sky one last time before running for the front doors of the school. She needed Lash and Charlie and she needed them now. She raced through the hallways, sending out her energy searching for Lash. She’d been doing it since she was young and so it was easy to find him. She pushed through the doors to his class and ignored the man standing in front of the room pointing to a map on the wall.

“Excuse me young lady, are you lost?” he asked, lowering his laser pointer to his side.

Sarah didn’t bother to answer as her eyes rested on Lash sitting on the back row with his feet up on his desk. He lowered his legs and stood up immediately, looking fierce and worried.

“I need you,” she said, holding the door open for him to walk through.

Lash waited until the door shut before ripping off his jacket and placing it around her cold shoulders.

She shook her head impatiently. “Never mind me, let’s get Charlie. Charles has taken Zane. He’s gone and we need to gather everyone together and figure out how to save him,” she said, her words coming out in a frantic stream.

Lash nodded his head, looking unsurprised and grabbed her hand as they ran down the hallway. “She’s in Drawing right now. Stay here, you’ll scare people. I’ll get her,” he said, motioning for her to stand by the lockers.

Sarah huffed out a breath and stuck her arms into Lash’s jacket. She was starting to shiver from the rain and the cold. She huffed out an impatient breath as Lash took too long. Sarah gave up and banged through the door to find Lash talking patiently with an older woman who was shaking her head firmly in the negative.

Sarah glared at the woman and then captured Charlie in her sights.

“Come on Charlie, let’s go.
Now
,” she said and pointed to the hallway.

“That’s it. I will not accept this kind of disruption to my class. I want all three of you to go straight to the Principals office.”

Sarah glared at the woman as Charlie grabbed her backpack and hurried to her side. She was so tempted to send a little ball of energy her way. Instead, she used her small ability at mind control to have the woman smile at them and whisk them away with a flick of her hand.

“Oh forget about it kids. You go have some fun. Ignore me, I’m just in a bad mood because I hate my job and can’t wait to retire,” she said breezily before turning back to a classroom that was now snickering and laughing outright.

Sarah, Lash and Charlie banged out of the classroom and headed toward the front doors in a rush of movement.

Charlie grabbed onto Sarah’s arm. “Hold it! What’s going on? Why do you look like some crazed psycho? And did you seriously just mind control Mrs. Packer?”

Sarah slowed down but didn’t stop walking. “You’re not the only one who can play with people’s heads. Zane is gone,” she said, coming to stop. Her face crumpled suddenly and she broke into loud, heaving sobs.

Lash pulled her into his arms and rubbed her back. “We need to get Gretchen and Agnes and figure out what we should do now,” he said to Charlie, since Sarah was incapable of speech.

Lash put his arm around Sarah and led her out of the school with Charlie right behind them.