DAMAGED - A Bad Boy Romance (33 page)

Dion made a mental note not to turn his back on Sean or drop guard. If he was under the influence of some elemental, he could easily betray them all and never realize it. He made certain to keep him in visual range at all times.

A few minutes later, they came to the hobby shop. Dion stopped everyone and looked around the perimeter. He wanted to make sure no further surprises awaited them. After yesterday’s unexpected interference from the ghoul cleaners, he was ready for everything. He closed his eyes and concentrated with his other senses, but felt nothing. The only movement he saw was from a small shop, which sold wristwatches, on the other side of the hall. There was only one lady working inside in it and she didn’t pay him any attention. If the elementals or mall has something planned, he was unable to figure out where the attack would originate. For now, it appeared they were holding back. Which was fine with him.

Dion walked right up to the store and pushed on the door. It didn’t move at all. He pushed on it again and looked down. He turned the clasp was turned and found the store was locked. Dion turned and saw the notice in the door: “Back In Thirty Minutes”.

“The mall won’t like that,” Lilly said to him when she saw the sign. “He could get fined for not being here when he’s supposed to be. They don’t like it when the store doesn’t open on time. Shoot, even the security guards walk around and note what time these places are open. It’s part of their contract and I would expect he’d know it.”

Dion rubbed his hand on his forehead. “Unless this is a plan by the mall to delay everything,” he said. “Get the owner away from the store so I can’t meet him and have my second mastery handed to me.”

They stood there in front of the store and waited. “He’ll have to come back eventually,” Lilly said. “You think it might be safe to stay here and just wait for him?”

“I’d like to, but I’m not sure if that is such a good idea with these elementals trying to get in the way. I can guarantee you that the mall is behind his absence. They probably have him down in an office right now going over a list of stupid issues they want him to see just to get him away from the shop. They might have found a reason to get one of his employees out of the way too. I wouldn’t put it past them.”

It was Emily who first saw the cheerleaders. They didn’t appear at once this time, but out of the crowd. She saw the first one walk up to them and stop. Then another one came down the hall and blocked their retreat in that direction. Another appeared from the other side and stood watch in the other direction. More of them emerged from the crowded shopping mall and filled in the gaps between the first two and the rest. Soon, there was a solid cheerleader semi-circle that surrounded them. The shoppers knew to avoid them and continued to walk past the half circle as they made a barrier around the four friends.

Sean stood close to the one called Randi. He was closer to her than any of the other cheerleaders. She looked at him with her deep blue eyes and he felt his knees go weak. He turned and looked at the people he stood with and noticed Emily sliding up to Dion for protection. Lilly was already holding onto his hand from the other side. Sean felt his inner rage take control of him. Oh, it was fine for Emily to drag him along to this for a small thing, but if she was really scared, it was Dion she ran to for help. Not Sean who’d carried the banner for her longer than he could remember. What was it that made her look down on him? Perhaps it was the time his mother browbeat him into calling her to come along to a family picnic. They’d only gone out once, but his mother decided that, since his cousins had girlfriends along, so should he. Sean was humiliated and he knew all his mother wanted to do was show her off. And perhaps let everyone know her introverted son was halfway normal. It never happened and it was months before he could phone her again. He still shuddered at the memory of calling her up from his mother’s prodding.

Randi stood there and looked at him directly. Her eyes shifted in the direction of the map under Dion’s arm. He knew exactly what she had in mind. She smiled at Sean, allowing him to see the white teeth beneath her lips. Sean looked across at her and saw the clear, tanned skin on her arms and the glow in her hair. She’d done her best to make herself up to be the kind of young woman Sean had dreamed about all his life.

The shoppers continued to walk past, oblivious to what took place in front of them. If someone had stopped to take the tableaux in, it wouldn’t have made much sense. All they would have noticed was a squad of high school cheerleaders in their tight little uniforms standing out in front of four kids of the same age. Unless the onlooker knew anything about the mall or who built it, they would be clueless as to what was unfolding. A close examination might show the hair of the cheerleaders blowing behind them although there was no wind or air currents in the mall. The cheerleaders all had long hair, even the ones with curls. It rose up behind them in a golden and black pattern to merge into one harmonious mane. The stood there and remained silent while people avoided them as they went through the mall.

Dion turned and saw the eyes of Sean fixated on one of the cheerleaders. He realized what was taking place before him and tried to break their hold, but it was too late.

Chapter 8

The combined power of the air elementals disguised as cheerleaders was too much for Dion.

He wanted to reach across the void to his friends, but they were no match for the strength of the elementals multiplied by a factor of twelve. He could feel their energy pulse across the floor of the mall. A kind of bubble was developing around them all, with the shoppers going around them to avoid the give and play of their standoff. Dion knew he would have to fight hard to save what he could, but there was still a chance.

He lacked the power to bind them and they knew it. The whole incident was arranged to get him close to the hobby shop and then pounce on him through his friends. He could feel the cheerleaders’ wills merge into each other and overpowering his. This was their intent all along: to get Dion into a location where they could focus on him and strip him of his abilities. But he still had a few games to play, they didn’t.

“Don’t look at them!” he yelled, but the others already were entranced by the cheerleader elementals. Sean’s eyes had expanded so that the pupil almost occupied all of his eyes. Emily stood motionless with her mouth slightly open. Only Lilly turned her head away from the sight before them and tried to focus her eyes in another direction. The cheerleaders’ eyes began to glow as they attempted to take control of their minds. Dion realized he dealt with something far more powerful than had ever been sent against him.

Sean couldn’t hear Dion. All he could see was the eyes of Randi in front of him. She was beautiful, lovelier than anything he had ever seen before. Sean had a girlfriend once, or thought he did. He was only fourteen at the time and it ended all too quickly leaving him wounded on the inside and a sucker for any high school girl which would give him the time. Randi offered him a lot more. He could hear the blond cheerleader talking through the noise around his head. There was too much noise with the shoppers walking past and thinking about the purchases they wanted to make the deals which could be found the colors they needed to match the shoes they needed to buy and more. The noise began to scream into his head and threatened to drown him out.

Sean was in a nightmare world where the ghosts wouldn’t shut up. They wouldn’t stop screaming over his thoughts and they wouldn’t leave his head.

All except Randi, who locked into his mind and soul. She told him there was a way out and she could help him. Sean just wanted the noise to stop and this very nice girl could take care of him. She looked divine and the light from behind her lit up her flowing hair. Her hair shimmered in the air as silk did when the summer breeze struck it.

Dion grabbed hold of Lilly and pushed her face into his jacket. If he could prevent her from seeing the cheerleader elementals, he still had a chance to save them all. He could resist, but his three friends were a different story. He would have to fight the elementals for possession of their minds. Lilly he could keep from looking at the cheerleaders. As long as he moved her vision from theirs, she was safe. The other two were different stories.

He saw Sean looking directly into the eyes of one cheerleader and she began to walk closer to him. If he didn’t do something soon, he could lose him completely in the mirror maze of Sean’s mind.

The elementals would find the one thing that a person desired above anything else and promise to give it to them. They would reach into their heart and make them all kinds of false hopes they had no plan to fulfill. If the victim didn’t realize what they were doing, they could go mad forever. Dion wasn’t about to let that happen and tried to remember how to break the concentration of the combined elementals.

Emily was lost too. Dion could see her standing in place gazing into the unknown. The elementals were pushing a lot of their power to her in an effort to gain control of Emily’s mind too. They didn’t want Sean or Emily, but knew they could use them against Dion, which was their intent all along.

Dion watched Emily’s jaw tighten and knew she was dangerously close to losing herself in the abyss over which the mall was placed.

It was coming down between the two of them and he didn’t know if he could rescue them both. This was something he had to do alone. No matter what the cheerleader elementals represented, they were nothing compared to what awaited him inside the tower. If he couldn’t break their hold on Sean and Emily, how could he stop the mall builders when he was on their own field?

Sean was no longer in the mall. He was sitting in his parent’s car at the local drive-in watching a horror movie his mother would never allow him to see if she knew what he was doing. But all objections his mother might have were dashed when he brought his new girlfriend over to the house to meet the parents. His dad nodded while he watched the game on TV, but his mother fawned over Randi that evening. She tried to find out what church Randi attended. Randi deflected everything she asked. And why not? Wasn’t Sean the most popular guy in the high school with scholarships waiting for him at twelve different schools that wanted his talents? Did he have a whole group of cool friends who would do anything he asked? Randi was just the latest girl to bring home and meet mother.

Dion saw in horror what she was doing to Sean’s mind and turned to pull him out of his fantasy world. The elemental that was in the form of a cheerleader named Randi was closer now. She reached out her hand and extended it to Sean. Dion fought the stream of consciousness, which arced across Sean to him. He couldn’t see much, it wasn’t possible to examine the inner workings of another soul in total, but what he saw shamed him to no end. All Sean wanted was Emily’s attention and he’d been the subject of it. The elementals knew it and were using it against Sean. If they could trap him in the fantasy world, he would do their bidding until someone could pull him out.

Dion gasped and slowly pulled himself over to Sean. It was the only thing he could do. He sensed Emily wasn’t as far gone as his friend. They were using Sean to get at Dion and Emily was just a sideline. Dion kept Lilly from looking at the cheerleaders; it was the only way to keep her from falling into the same trap.

Emily was somewhere else too, but she knew it didn’t make sense. She was home with both her mother and father. They were a family again after all the years her parents were separated. Her father was sitting on the back porch with his arm around her mother and all was good. The barbecue was fired up and the steaks on it were cooked to perfection. Even her grandparents, dead many years, were supposed to come over that evening.

The cheerleader nearest to Sean reached out suddenly and made contact before Dion could reach him. Then two things happened at the same time.

Sean grabbed the map from Dion, moved quickly to Emily and grabbed her, then they disappeared with the cheerleaders, leaving Dion and Lilly alone in the mall.

They stood there for a few minutes as the situation became obvious to them. The air was still but people were in motion. They continued about their way, clueless to what had occurred in front of them. Somehow, the cheerleader elementals had created a scenario where no one outside of their own enchanted bubble could notice what took place. Dion had watched several people who walked in their direction turn and move away as they approached them.

The air around them continued to grow still until the mall began to fade. It became dark and the sounds of the shoppers decreased in volume slowly but with fortitude, as they became echoes and then whispers.

Lilly looked up at Dion in fear.

It was obvious to her he didn’t know what was taking place about them. The atmosphere was dense and the sounds were dampened as if by cotton. Soon, everything about them had gone black.

Dion could feel Lilly by his side, but he had no control over what took place about him. Even with his mastery of the earth element, there was nothing he could do because the transition had taken him away from anything which appeared normal.

The light began to return and they found the atmosphere around them returning to normal. Soon, there were shapes which resembled objects they remembered: chairs, tables and even a floor. Light filled the room and they could see. However, it was most definitely not the mall where they were sent. This was somewhere different and outside the time circles that Dion understood. How had they been sent to this place and for what reason?

They were in a small room with shuttered windows. In front of them was a fireplace where a log crackled away. It was still early spring and Dion understood the reason for the heat, but most places around him didn’t need fireplaces to keep the house warm. Most had central heating which, gas, oil or coal did the job nicely. His aunt and uncle’s house was provided with a forced air oil heater, which was placed in the basement and did its best to warm up the rest of the dwelling.

They were standing on a large rug in the middle of a wooden floor. The chairs in the room were all facing the fireplace, which is why Dion assumed it was to keep the house warm.

Dion looked at the walls and noticed strange paintings of unknown creatures with three eyes and six legs. Over the fireplace was mounted the head of a tiger with its teeth posed to strike.

The walls were lined with bookshelves. Lilly could read the titles from where she stood and saw them to be printed in gold with authors such as “Cornelius Agrippa” and “Simon” displayed all over the shelves. She couldn’t tell the subject matter, but guessed it had to do with their sudden translation to his point in time. She also noted all the books were of the same construction. She could even smell the leather from where she stood.

In between the chairs was a silver tea service. A few scones where on a tray next to it and the steam continued to rise from the teapot. The service was polished to a reflective shine, which showed their images in it. She noticed an owl motif on the tray and the small creamer pitchers next to the empty cups. There was a plate with piles of sugar cubes.

“You have any idea where we are?” Lilly asked Dion.

“Not the slightest. I’m guessing it has to do with those cheerleaders who took Sean and Emily. I hope the person or persons who sent us here are on our side because I don’t think any of my abilities work in this place.”

“Why? Is there some kind of lock on what you can accomplish?”

“No, but I don’t think it works here. We’re not in our world any longer. I don’t know how we got here or who sent us, but I suspect we’ll find out pretty soon.”

Dion went over to the bookshelf and looked at the titles up close. Some of the authors he recognized. There were ones by Kenneth Grant and C. S. Lewis. As Lilly had noted, the binding was the same on each of them: fine vellum with the author’s name stamped in gold letters. The titles seemed to be of less importance than the author. Most were of the same thickness, although it appeared they were all special editions. The name of the publishing house was not listed anywhere.

Lilly focused on the wall paintings. She couldn’t recognize the artist, but was sure it was someone whose work she’d seen in the past. The colors used on each oil painting were brilliant and bright. The scenarios varied, but the colors used made them appear to be jungle landscapes. Whoever did these paintings had some real talent, but she didn’t recognize the initials at the bottom of each one. All were framed and illuminated by a candle beneath them. Someone had wanted to give each one respect and dignity. She was reminded of the paintings in a Russian Orthodox Church she’d seen a long time ago and the way they were mounted with care and decorated with silver. However, these paintings didn’t appear to be devotional, but the result of a trip to another planet.

The voice cried out to Dion as he reached out to pick a book off the shelf.

“I wouldn’t do that,” a familiar voice said behind them. “Most of those books have leather which was post cured by smearing dog feces on them. I don’t touch any of those books unless I’m wearing gloves.”

They turned around to face Edward again. This time he was wearing a smoking jacket with a fez on top of his baldhead. He wore a pair of pajama bottoms and his feet were encased in Turkish style slippers with the toes curled up. He held no cigar, but did have a glass of something in one hand. As he sipped the glass, Edward closed the door behind him and entered the room.

“It’s true, you know,” he told them as he tossed the glass back and sat it near a clock on a table. “Most of the time the books were done that way to counter the action of the tannic acid use to treat the leather in the covers. There used to be a profession called ‘Pure Finder’ where people went out and looked for the best doggie doo to use and sold it to the tanneries. Imagine that, having to earn your living chasing after pooches all day long. I suppose we all have to make money, but I’ve never been able to figure out a way to do it. Not much call for a mystic, I’m afraid.”

He walked over to the teapot and poured two cups out. When finished, he placed each in a dish and looked up at Dion and Lilly. “Do either of you take sugar in your tea?”

They shook their heads.

“Good. I could never understand why someone would flavor their sugar with tea; it seemed to defeat the purpose to me. However, I have never been able to understand why you Americans like your tea served cold. Seems beside the point as well. Scones?”

Again, their heads shook.

“Also good, I’ll eat them myself. These days I don’t have to worry about my weight. Unbelievably I used to be the epitome of good health. I even went mountain climbing in the Himalayas. Had to give it up when my money ran out.”