Enduring Light (5 page)

Chapter Six

Charlotte

“You are so funny.” Calvin settled his hand on my hip as we rode our horse across the prairie.

“Why am I funny?” Without seeing his face, I couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not.

“You take nearly everything in stride, yet you are bothered by eating different foods.”

“I’m not bothered by it. I just like to know what I’m putting in my body.”

“I happen to care about your body, too.” He leaned forward to whisper, “But I still find humor in your reaction.”

A thrill ran through me when he talked about my body, and I decided to run with it. “Glad to know you care about my body.”

His hand tightened on my hip. “Despite everything we are facing, it is your body, and your face, that I cannot get out of my mind.”

I knew his words were genuine. He’d been hinting about his expectations for several days. Since we were back together and out from under the watchful eye of my mom, he assumed I was finally ready to sleep with him. It was a reasonable assumption, considering in the eyes of Energo, we were married. The question was whether or not I was ready. I was pretty sure of the answer.

Henry sped up and matched pace with us. “Something is wrong.”

Calvin adjusted the reins in his hand. “I was thinking the same thing. We should see people by now.”

I wasn’t sure what they meant. “Are we that close to Smidtle?”

Calvin straightened, moving away from me. “Close enough to the village that we should see someone.”

Liam fell in on the other side of our horse. “Do you think we’re moving into a trap?”

“I could open my mind. Try to find out.” Being an Essence was only fun when you actually got to use your powers.

“No.” Calvin tightened his hand on me. “This is not worth the risk.”

He was probably right, but I still didn’t like it.

“I’ll go ahead,” Liam volunteered. “You said the village is directly north of here?”

Calvin took a moment to respond, as if deciding whether or not to accept Liam’s offer. Then, he nodded. “At the first sign of trouble, turn back. I will not lose another Guardian if it is unnecessary.”

“I’d prefer to stay alive, too.” Liam smiled faintly. “Hold down the fort, Char.”

Henry laughed. “There is no fort. We are riding—”

“It sounded good.” Liam’s grin lit up his whole face. Despite the seriousness of our situation, he was still in a playful mood.

I wished I could be the same way. “Are we sure there’s no better way? I could at least try to open my mind—”

“No way. What if it’s Blake? He’d be able to get to you that way. ” Liam’s fear was logical, but I still had to fight the urge to argue.

“Be safe,” I whispered.

“You too.” He waved before riding off.

“He is a Guardian. He can take care of himself, Charlotte,” Calvin said.

“I know he can, but I’m still going to worry.”

“Of course you will.” Henry pulled out his water jug. “She always worries.”

Calvin rubbed my back. “There is no reason to worry. You should trust your Guardians.”

I had a feeling he also didn’t like the fact that Liam was the object of my worries. He wasn’t blind. He knew those feelings went more than one way, even if I’d never act on them. What was wrong with me? Mom made it sound normal, but how could it be? An Essence was only supposed to love her Gerard.

We moved forward at a snail’s pace, and I kept my eyes fixed ahead, watching for Liam’s return. Even if something was wrong, he’d have to see it in time to turn back.

“We should stop.” Calvin didn’t wait for Henry to respond before guiding our horse to a resting place at the edge of the woods. The sun was just disappearing beyond the horizon, and the forest had an eerie feel to it that gave me goose bumps. “He should be back by now.”

I shivered. “Do you think he’s hurt?”

Henry hopped off his horse and helped me dismount.

Calvin jumped down afterward. “I do not know. We are going to have to wait here for the night.”

I turned to Calvin. “No. We have to find Liam.”

Henry put a hand on my arm. “Calvin’s right, Charlotte. He is likely fine. Maybe he just stopped to rest.”

I shook my head. “Liam wouldn’t just rest.”

Henry tossed down his pack. “We cannot act recklessly. Without you, we are all in trouble.”

We heard a horse coming toward us.

“Liam!” I called before realizing the rider could be someone else.

The horse came into view with Liam on its back. He jumped down, and I ran into his arms.

He pulled me against him for a second. “Wow, Char. If this is the welcome I’m going to get, I’ll volunteer to be the scout more often.”

I pulled away so I could look at him. “What’s wrong? What took so long?” I searched his body for evidence of an injury. At least I could help with that.

Liam avoided my eyes. “Calvin, I need to talk to you.”

“No. You can’t discuss things without me.” I put a hand on my hip.

“He wants to leave me out, too,” Henry pointed out as though it changed anything.

Liam pleaded with his eyes. “Can’t you just give us a minute?”

I shook my head. “No.”

“Fine.” Liam sighed. “If you’re going to insist.”

Calvin pulled me against him, wrapping me protectively in his arms. “What did you find?”

“A ghost town. There’s no one there—not a soul.” He glanced at me then back at Calvin. “I found only one body.”

“One body? Just one?” Calvin asked.

Liam shifted his weight from foot to foot. “This is the part I didn’t want to say in front of Charlotte.”

I struggled to swallow, dreading his next words. “Why?”

Liam looked down. “It was a girl.” He hesitated before continuing.
 
“A girl who kind of looked like Charlotte.”

Calvin squeezed me tighter. “They were sending a message.”
 

“A message? They killed an innocent girl to send me a message?” I wanted to vomit, and I started to shake. We had to do something.

Calvin tried to soothe me. “It is okay. We will bring whoever did it to justice.”

“How can you be so calm? They killed a girl. They killed her because of me.”

“What good will it do to act otherwise?” Henry asked. He’d been snapping at me more and more. Maybe the stress was getting to him. “We have to concentrate and decide what to do next.”

“Do we turn back? Is there even a chance the scroll is still there?” Liam asked.

I didn’t wait for anyone to answer. “We need to check. We have to at least look.” The truth was that if the scroll wasn’t there, we were in trouble. I had no idea where else to turn.

Liam nodded. “I think we’ll be all right. I checked the town twice. It seems deserted.”

Calvin ran his hands down my arms, probably trying to calm my slight shivering, which came from shock and anger—not the cold. “It could still be under watch. We will have to be careful.”

“We could go back and get more men,” Henry suggested.

Liam said exactly what I was thinking. “What men do they have left to spare? Almost everyone’s been sent out already. Besides, we came this far. We can’t waste any more time.”

“Charlotte can use her powers if she has to. We are stronger than anyone with you two together.” Henry gestured at Calvin and me.

“I can do this,” I said softly. “I can do this,” I repeated louder. “If you guys can make sure the town is really deserted, we’ll go in, and then I’ll create a fog strong enough to keep anyone else out. It will give us enough time.”

“You will not overuse your energy? You’ll stop if you sense Blake?” Calvin asked.

“I can control it. I’ll be careful.” I moved from Calvin’s arms. I needed to stand on my own.

All three nodded. Surprisingly, no one argued.

“Are we ready then?” I asked.

“Yes.” Calvin got our horse ready and helped me mount.

We rode across the now dark prairie. The only sound was the hooves of the horses striking the ground and the low howling of the wind. The night was cool, and the wind stung my face.

“It’s right up ahead,” Liam called. The silence seemed to amplify every sound.

“I need to check it out.” Calvin stopped the horse. “I will not be long. Stay with Liam and Henry no matter what happens.”

I nodded, thinking at least he wasn’t going too far ahead. We waited tensely. I focused on how I’d create the fog rather than Calvin’s absence.

Finally, he returned. “It is clear.”

“Did you see the girl?” I asked.

He nodded. “Yes. We will move her body before we leave.”
 

 
Calvin didn’t bother to mount again; he walked the horse into the village. We stopped first at the stables, and Calvin prepared the horses for the night. As a farm boy, Calvin had grown up with horses. Once the horses were safe, Calvin looked at me.

I took in a few deep breaths. “All right, I’m ready.”

“Are you sure?” Calvin asked.

“Yes, I’m sure.” I wished he didn’t look so worried. If I couldn’t create a simple fog we were all in trouble.

“It helps if we touch, does it not?”

Liam coughed.

I carefully avoided Liam’s eyes. “It does.”

Calvin put his hands on my shoulders, and I closed my eyes. I reached out, searching for some easy energy to pull from. Learning how to do that was one of the biggest lessons my mom had taught me so far. It was the only way I could avoid passing out, although I still needed to be careful. The most important thing was to avoid the ready energy sources standing in front of me. If I pulled enough energy from any of the guys, I could kill them.