Obsidian (Mystic Stones Series #1) (18 page)

“Same for me,” said Latoria.

“Alright, that leaves the rifles to Alani and I, and Edison.”

“My security system is up and running, I used one of those devices to turn it on, then I disconnected any communication to the satellites and unhooked the device. I did it quickly, so I don’t think they can track it, but we do need to be on high alert. We need someone watching at all times. There are six of us with guns so we can run in four-hour shifts. Perry will be on the lookout whenever he can since he doesn’t sleep and doesn’t necessarily need a gun to defend himself. Who wants midnight to 4 a.m.?” Jesse asked.

“I’ll take it,” Moana said.

“Okay, 4 a.m. to 8 a.m.?”

“I’ll do that one,” I said.

After a short hesitation, and a strange glance toward Latoria, Jesse said, “I’ll take 8 a.m. to noon. Who wants 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.?”

“I take that one,” Hiu said.

“Alright, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.?”

“That’s me,” said Latoria.

“I guess you have 8 p.m. to midnight Edison,” Jesse said.

Edison just nodded. He didn’t seem to care.

“If anyone wants to trade, that’s fine, but we’ll post the shifts on the white board in the kitchen, both parties must agree to switch, of course.”

Jesse paused to take a couple bites of his spaghetti. The rest of us took the opportunity to do the same. I watched him out of the corner of my eye. I got the feeling he was doing the same to me. The strange air between us since the earlier conversation became more difficult for me to ignore.

“Now,” Jesse began again, “In the event that we unexpectedly become host to some unwelcome visitors, we need an escape plan. Any ideas?”

“We will need a meeting place, just in case we all get split up,” Nalani said.

“Yes, I was thinking about Hiu’s boat. There is a marina a few blocks away. We could move your boat there and use that as a getaway. Can you do that Hiu?” Jesse asked.

“Yeah, but I need some money to dock it, I’m broke from buying the obsidian.”

“That’s not a problem. I will pay for it. What’s the name of your boat?”

“It’s Palila.”

“Alright, everyone memorize that. Hiu, when you get a boathouse tell us the number. I’ll call the marina tomorrow to set up a spot for you. We’ll need a code of some sort that will get the message to all of us without alerting visitors to where we’re going, any ideas?”

“Well,” Hiu said, “Palila, means bird. So if we say, ‘find the bird,’ that should get the message out and make the eke futless. They think we mean plane or helicopter, no one thinks ‘bird’ means boat.”

“Okay, not sure what eke futless means, but that’s a good plan. Everyone must memorize this along with the name and boathouse number. Do not write it down, we can’t risk the potential intruders finding any clues. The fastest way to get to the marina is by car. But, there is a tunnel in the courtyard that was built before I acquired this property. It leads toward the marina but it’s only about a football field long. It’s tight and you’ll have to run the rest of the way, but if you can’t get to a car it is a good way to get out unseen. After dinner I’ll show you all where the entrance is,” Jesse told them.

The rest of dinner was rather quiet. We ate and talked quietly. I caught Jesse’s glance a few times. I started to wonder if I had something in my teeth. Sitting so close to him made me nervous, for some reason. The energy between us made me tense and left me second-guessing everything I did. I couldn’t shake the almost intimate fog between us, but I pushed it out of my mind. I started telling myself he couldn’t be watching me. Not for the reason my body seemed to suspect. After all, he was the man who didn’t believe in love. Although, who could say what he thought about lust?

After dinner, Jesse took us all outside to the entrance of the tunnel. The tunnel itself was extremely small. I couldn’t believe anyone could even fit through it. No one claustrophobic would be able to handle it. The entrance was behind a bush on the west side of the courtyard, somewhat near the spot I had seen the statue, but again it was nowhere to be seen.

The tunnel was completely concealed. Anyone oblivious to its existence would never notice it, and it provided an advantage for us. I knew if anything ever happened, this was indeed a good plan.

We all stood around the tunnel entrance and finalized our plans. Hiu volunteered to take some supplies to his boat in the morning. He was also going to try track down another gun to leave on the boat. His plan was to be back in time for his shift.

A chilly wind came up and everyone headed inside. I was at the back of the group, and Jesse stayed behind.

“See you at eight tomorrow morning,” Jesse called to me.

I turned and smiled back at him before waving. I decided I’d better get some sleep before my shift. I wanted to be at my best while I was keeping watch for vampires and drudges. The sun was about to go down, and the western part of the sky was turning a beautiful orange color. It seemed it was going to be a clear night with not a cloud to be seen.

Everyone went inside the house, except for Latoria who was on watch duty, and Jesse who was still out in the courtyard. Latoria would have a short shift tonight. Edison would be taking over in about an hour, and then Moana at midnight, and then it would be my turn.

I went directly to my room, and set the alarm clock for 3:15. I she wanted to take a quick shower in the morning to help wake me up a little. Aside from a few thoughts about Jesse and the safe house, I fell asleep quickly, and didn’t wake until my alarm went off.

I felt well-rested for the first time in days and the shower rejuvenated me. After looking out my window into the dark courtyard, I grabbed the gun I’d been assigned and went to find Moana. The breeze chilled the night air and the temperature had cooled considerably since sundown. I remembered my jacket, but I glanced down at it with a pang of anguish. It was the same one I wore when I escaped Tom’s house. That memory would forever be attached to it; like a patch sewn on that only I could see. I ran my fingers down to the place I imagined the patch would be. The image of a heart broken in two came to mind. Moana’s call startled me.

“Hey! You’ve come to relieve me?”

“Yeah, I’m here,” I said, “Anything happen on your shift that I should know?”

“Nope. It was pretty quiet. I saw a jogger come around, but they never came back around, so I’m pretty sure it was just someone from the neighborhood. Keep your eye out for things like the same car driving by more than once, or the same person walking by more than once. Monitor everything, and if you need to review something, the video surveillance equipment is pretty easy to use.”

“Alright, I think I can handle it,” I said with a smile.

“Basically just make your rounds every so often, but you can spend most of your time in the video surveillance room. I went on my rounds whenever my eyes tried to shut, so maybe that will help you too.”

“Thanks, Moana. Go get some rest, alright?”

Moana waved and went inside to catch some more sleep. I decided to make my rounds first and then go to the room. The grounds were serene. I walked out to the front to see if there were any cars or people around. Nothing. I went to the courtyard and walked along the fence line to find any possible weak spots. Once I entered the area where the tunnel began, I found the statue again. I looked up at it, bewildered.

I stared at it, afraid that if I blinked it would disappear. I walked around to the front while I wondered what was wrong with me. It stood in the same position as the first time I’d seen it, and also facing west. It resembled Jesse . . . I was sure. He was just standing there. The empty expression showed no sadness or happiness or even anger on the statue’s face. I was certain it was Jesse; the likeness was uncanny. The only other possibility was that it was someone genetically close in his family like a brother or father.

I wondered if Jesse had the statue put away during the day but then realized that was a ridiculous thing to do. Why would he be so protective over something so plain? It could be considered art simply because it was a statue, but there seemed to be nothing interesting about it. It may hold sentimental value for him, which is really the only person the statue had to please. The mystery surrounding the statue confounded me. I tried to stop thinking about it and decided if I ever got up the courage, I’d ask him about the silly thing. Maybe he was messing with me.

I finished up my rounds and went back inside to the control room. The cameras were placed strategically on the property. They focused all the weak spots and the entry points. The street had sufficient lighting and passing cars were easy to identify.

Minutes turned into hours. I had gone out every half hour to check the grounds. The sun’s rays started to peak over the horizon when I went out around 7 a.m. I started in the front again. I developed a routine of sorts to make sure I checked everything I needed to.

Toward the end of my routine, I came upon the statue again. I’d never seen it in the light so I decided to take another look since the sun started to rise. I turned east, and as soon as the first sliver of the sun peeked over the horizon I turned back to the statue. I was surprised to see the statue taking on color. And life.

The statue was coming to life.

Jesse was coming to life.

Jesse blinked and his eyes were no longer granite, but real human eyes. I was standing so still that I could have been a statue. My thoughts came up with only one conclusion. I’d fallen asleep in the control room and I was dreaming. But as I took in the morning air, I realized I still had my sense of smell, which was the one sense that never worked when I dreamed. Fear crept into my bones. I didn’t know whether I should run away or start questioning him or possibly even scream.

One thing was for sure, my legs definitely weren’t moving. As for my voice, it had done the running away for me. Jesse’s expression was steady for what seemed like an eternity. Then, he took a tentative step toward me and outstretched his hand. He approached me like one would approach a frightened rabbit caught in a trap. I remained frozen to the ground.

Jesse hung his head. “I was afraid of this. I didn’t want you to find out before I could tell you, but I suppose that’s out the window now,” he paused and brought his head back up. “Won’t you say something?”

My mind raced. Flashbacks of Tom’s big reveal in the warehouse hit me. I half expected to see the vampire council lurking in the courtyard.

A big secret about Jesse had just been revealed to me. I wasn’t sure exactly what the secret was, but my past experience with vampires told me he probably didn’t want it out in the open, and that scared the hell out of me. What would he do to me?

I asked the only thing that popped into my mind, “What are you?”

“I’m human, Ava. I’ve just been . . . enchanted.”

“What does that mean? How do you turn into stone? I’ve never even heard of any such being that can do that.”

“It’s not a choice. I’m cursed, Ava,” Jesse said taking another step toward me.

Reflexes finally kicked in and I took a step back. Jesse stopped moving again. He held out his hands in a position meant to calm me down.

“A witch did this to me. I turn to stone from sunset to sunrise, and I will do it for an eternity. I wanted to tell you. I wanted to tell all of your friends, but I had to know I could trust you first. I was going to tell you tonight, and everyone else tomorrow morning. You’ve been through so much and I didn’t want to shock you like this.”

I didn’t realize witches were real. I hadn’t thought of the fact that if vampires existed, other strange things creeped around the earth too.

“For an eternity? You mean you have eternal life?”

“Yes, and eternal youth,” he replied.

“Why would a witch curse you with that?”

“Because I broke her heart. We were to be married. Her name was Sarah and I had no idea she was a witch. I didn’t love her. It was an arranged marriage. Set up by my parents. So, I snuck around with another woman at night and during the day I chaperoned Sarah around town to make wedding plans. She found out through her magic that I was unfaithful. The day before our wedding she confronted me. She was livid. Before she cursed me, she said since I had snuck around like a creature of the night, that I should never be able to roam in the night again, and then she sentenced me to be imprisoned in my own body every night for the rest of eternity.”

“Imprisoned? Do you mean you can see and hear everything but you just can’t move?” I asked.

“Yes. It’s more agonizing than you may think. I’ve watched many horrible things happen in front of me without being able to do anything about it,” Jesse said. He was looking into the distance, but I could tell he saw remnants of his past.

“I can’t imagine what that must be like,” I replied.

“Trust me, you don’t want to know. The night you all first arrived, I saw you looking at me. I’ve seen people look at me before, but the way you looked at me was different, almost as if you knew already. I questioned if you were Sarah re-incarnated, but once I spoke to you the next day I knew it was impossible. You and she are nothing alike.”