Nevermore, the Complete Series (52 page)

As I sat down in the still unfamiliar driver’s seat of Jason’s car the frustration of not getting this house surfaced again. “You just didn’t try hard enough to get this one because you want to hurry and get to Florida,” I said, harsher than intended.

“That is not the case. He was set on not letting us have it without more money.”

“You could have summoned more stuff!”

“And what then?
Have us be questioned about all these items we are pawning off and selling? Or worse, investigated on the matter…jail perhaps? I do not think the pawn shop of Willowshire has enough funds of its own to compensate enough for that house.”

“I never…sorry…I didn’t think of any of that.”

“One has to be cautious how they use their powers, Alexis. It is true I indulge in them greatly at times…but always with caution…always within my own home and in secret.”

Before I had the chance to reply again I heard the ringing of my phone. Jason was calling, probably wondering if his car was okay.

“Hello?” I said as I shut the car door and fastened my seatbelt.

“Where are you?!”
Came Jason’s panic-stricken voice.

“We just got done looking at a house…don’t worry your car is fine...”

“No, that’s not it, Alex…” he paused and sighed. “Paul knows you’re here.”

“What?! How? Who told him?”

“I don’t know. Maybe Kate saw you when we passed by Howard’s, she used to work with him, right?”

“Crap…” I muttered and looked at Salem. “Thanks for the warning Jace, we’ll get your car back to you and then we’ll leave.”

“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea…It might not be safe, Alex. Be extra careful, please,” he practically begged.

“I’ll be fine. We’ll be there shortly.” I was glad that it sounded like he was putting what happened before behind us, though I wish it had not been forced by this new danger.

After telling Salem what Jason had said we pulled away from the house I had had my heart set on and drove away. My eyes were wildly examining the streets around us as we made our way to my old home, just in case Paul was out looking for us. I was extra cautious when we passed the elementary school near the trailer park, but there wasn’t a Jeep Wrangler in sight. To my relief, we made it to what was now Mitch and Jason’s house without any sign of the car that I had begun to fear. That was, of course, until we pulled into the driveway.

The yellow Wrangler was not-so-conspicuously hidden sticking out slightly from behind the house. Paul was about as good at hiding things as he was at hunting.

“Oh, no…” I moaned and stared at the back of the Wrangler in dismay.

“We should leave,” Salem said to my surprise.

I shot him an angry glare. “You’re kidding, right?! My friends are in there!”

“This could all be a trap, Alex. Mitch’s car isn’t here, and Jason could very well be at work.”

I thought it over as I noticed the lack of Mitchell’s red car in the driveway. Was Paul even in the house? Could we possibly settle our differences, or was I leading us to our untimely death or Paul’s for that matter? What if Jason was in there…would Paul do something to hurt him? I didn’t know the answers but I knew the only way to find out.

“I need to make sure Jason is okay…” I muttered and opened the car door, barely noticing that something slid out and fell against the ground. Salem reached over and grasped my arm tightly.

“You are going to get yourself killed, Alex,” he said despite my pitiful attempt to pull away. “Paul is smarter than you might think. Call Jason on his cell phone and tell me if you hear it ringing in that house.”

I stared at him in disbelief for a second, then picked up my cell phone and dialed Jason’s number. The dial tone rang through the phone but I heard nothing coming from inside the house. I continued to let it ring as I listened and awaited a response from my friend.              

“Alex?” Jason asked when he finally answered. “I can’t talk right now, I’m at work. If Howard catches me on the phone I could get in trouble.”

“Oh, okay…I was just making sure you weren’t at home. Paul’s car is parked behind your house, and I was afraid you were in there.”

“Paul is at my house?!” he hollered. “You need to get away from there, Alex.”

“We need to get to the airport, but I don’t want to take your car and leave it there…”

“Don’t worry about it. Mitch and I can go pick it up after work. I have spare keys; just get out of here before things get out of hand. Call me as soon as you get somewhere safe, okay?”

“Okay, thanks Jason…” I said and hung up and directed my voice to Salem. “We’re going to the airport and leaving before Paul notices us. Jason will pick up the car later with Mitch…I just hope Paul doesn’t hurt them for helping us.”

“I’m sure they will be fine,” Salem assured me.

“I don’t think he’s in his right mind, Salem, there’s no telling what he would do,” I replied and pulled out of the driveway, not stopping to check on whatever had fallen out of the car and into the gravel driveway.

Five hours later and we were boarding a plane to Florida. I fumbled with my small luggage Salem had summoned at the hotel, which held my laptop and gasped, nearly dropping it to the ground, when I noticed my journal was missing. I stuffed the bag gently into the overhead compartment and sat down next to Salem, frantically searching around our seats in case it had fallen out unnoticed as I was shuffling through the bag in search of it as reading material.

“Have you seen Ezra’s journal?” I asked as I bent forward in my seat to look underneath it.

“No. Is it not in your bag?”

“No…that’s the first place I looked!”

“Calm down, Alex. You most likely just left it in Jason’s car by mistake,” Salem suggested.

I put my head in my hands and considered the possibility. “Maybe…I hope so.”

“Let’s just relax and enjoy the flight, and you can ask Jason about it when we land.”

“Right…” I mumbled and leaned back in my seat. Deep down, despite his constant reassurance, I had a bad feeling about all of this. I strapped my seatbelt around my waist as the blinking light overhead suggested and waited as the plane slowly lifted upward, ascending into the sky.

The journal would have come in handy during this flight as a distraction as time slowly slipped by, but instead I spent the majority of the flight messing around with Solitaire on my laptop as well as creating poorly drawn pictures in Paint. I eavesdropped on the conversations from the other passengers on the plane, but there weren’t any very interesting discussions going on. Most of them were kids on their way back home from summer vacation, and a small group of people were animatedly discussing their plans for when they arrived at Disneyworld.

Every now and then I had myself convinced that I heard a familiar voice, but when I glanced around the plane I didn’t see any familiar faces aside from Salem’s. He stared out the window at the changing scenery and occasionally pointed out the lakes and mountains as we would pass over them.

I was relieved when we finally touched ground again and I could get off of the plane. I was sick of being cramped in the tiny seat and wanted to call Jason as soon as I could. We waited patiently for the rest of the passengers to shove their way through the tight area, some of them pushing others out of the way. I didn’t care to be the last one out – for now I had all of the time in the world to waste standing still watching the mortals scramble from the plane. Soon, however, I would be back on the same ticking time bomb called life – never knowing when it might go off.

Once we were off the plane and inside the terminal, I immediately pulled out my phone, turned it on and dialed Jason’s number. This time he answered instantly.

“Hey, where are you?” he asked.

“Florida, we just landed. I have to ask you something really important,” I replied and adjusted the strap of my bag. “Did I leave a leather bound book in your car?”

He didn’t reply right away. I heard the door shut as he must have gone out to re-check. “There’s nothing in here that I see.”

Then it hit me all at once; the object that had fallen out of the car that I had so easily disregarded must have been the book. If only I had looked down. This was not good at all.

“Jason, are you sure? Check the driveway! Check under the car!”

“Umm…okay.” After a few minutes of the unmistakable sound of gravel being walked on he spoke again, “Nope, nothing. What’s so important about this book anyway?”

I seethed with frustration. “If Paul got a hold of it…he could know where we are going,” I sighed and rearranged the importance of my concerns. “You and Mitch are safe, right? The Wrangler…was it gone?”

“It wasn’t here when either of us got home. I think he was just scouting the place in case you showed up or something.”

“Or he found the book and left…I’m just glad you’re safe. Keep an eye open for that book if you can, it’s really important. And call me if you see Paul so I know he isn’t following us, okay?”

“Yeah, no problem. Be careful, Alex.”

“I’ll be fine, just keep an eye out for Paul.”

Salem watched me as I began dialing another number: Hannah’s.

She was still trying to convince the strange man to show her the fountain without us but had still not succeeded. Thankfully we would be there soon. The Northeast Florida Regional Airport was only five miles from St. Augustine, maybe fifteen minutes by taxi.

After getting the exact address from Hannah we hurriedly exited the airport, caught the first cab we saw and climbed into the car. Our driver was a polite man with a very orange tan and blonde hair. He was a very curious and talkative person, but I somehow didn’t mind.

“Where are you kids headed?” he asked and glanced back at us for a minute.
“The beach maybe? Sure looks like you two could use a little Vitamin D if ya know what I’m sayin’. No offense.”

Salem and I laughed. “We just need a ride to St. Augustine, please,” I replied. “Specifically near the Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park.”

“Sure thing,” he smiled and took off driving. “Been quite a few people headed that way lately it seems. The beach used to be all the rage and that museum was near empty all the time.  Prefer the beach myself…but hey, what do I know?”

I shrugged, although the driver couldn’t see. “We’re just meeting a family member there.”

“Well honestly it is a nice place, but just don’t go believin’ in their stories. There never was a fountain, never will be. Can you believe some people think there is? Marketing gimmick in my opinion. Everything always boils down to money. Hell, if water could make you young I wouldn’t have these wrinkles!” He burst out laughing.

“Oh, don’t worry,” I said with a subtle smile.

My focus was turned to the idea of getting to that fountain. While I was excited to get there, I was also terrified. I would never be one hundred percent sure that this was what I wanted to do. All I wanted was to be with Salem, and this was how my life would ordinarily have been…so what difference did it make? I had less than a year of immortality; it wasn’t that big of a deal to give it up…right? No matter what I told myself, I knew I couldn’t convince myself that it was the right choice. Why be with Salem for a lifetime when we could be together forever? How didn’t he see this too…?

The car stopped suddenly and I realized we had arrived at our destination. Just as I had expected based on the map online, it wasn’t a very long trip from the airport. This was a huge relief – I was sick of being cooped up all the time. Salem paid the driver, said goodbye, and we both left the car and watched it zoom away down the street. Glancing around, I wasn’t sure where Hannah could possibly be. The only thing I could do was to call her again and have her direct us. My attention was instantly drawn to the archway reading ‘Fountain of Youth Park’. I was surprised by how many people were flooding through to see the fabled site.

After walking around the outside for a little bit I finally gave up and decided to give Hannah another call. 

“Hey,
it’s Alex…where are you?” I asked hastily as a group of children ran past, right under my nose. The smell was intoxicating but the instinct to feed quickly faded as the notion made me feel disgusted with myself.

“Ignore the ‘park’. John, that’s his name by the way, I finally got it out of him…even though he really doesn’t look like a John to me…”

“Just tell me where you two are.” I interrupted unintentionally, dwelling on the memory of Mr. Williams at the mentioning of his same name. The smell of all this blood racing through nearby people was becoming too intense. Each person who passed by reminded me of how long it had been since I had fed myself.

“Oh, right. Like I said just ignore the Park, John says it is nothing…just a tourist spot. Walk past it until you see the end of the gated off part, then keep going. There are a few little rocky hills, climb over them and you’ll be pretty close to the beach. Then look really far to your right…no, I mean left and you’ll see like this rocky cove looking area. It’s pretty plain, to be honest, but this is far as he said he will take me before you guys meet us. I’ll step out from the cove area and wave so you can see me. Just hurry up,” she instructed and hung up.

We walked past the park, despite my urge to go inside to see what all the fuss was about, through a few trees and some grass, and over the little hills – just as Hannah had said. As we came down the second of them I could see sand all around me, and the little cove in the distance. Even further to my left, I could see the faint shape of an old lighthouse. The further we walked, the more my shoes filled with tiny little specks of sand. I didn’t bother stopping to empty it out as I knew that once I had, even more would fill them up and I’d just have to stop again. Salem’s voice caught my attention when he pointed in front of us and said he could see Hannah.

He began running toward her, then paused suddenly. I caught up to him within seconds and discovered his hesitation. Hannah and John weren’t alone. There were three masked men in total, each of them cloaked in black and yellow robes that concealed their identities. After I emptied my shoes, we cautiously approached the group who spotted us immediately, their eyes never blinking or drifting from us.

“Hannah…?” Salem said slowly, glancing back and forth from one man to the others.

“Hi there, Salem,” she replied with a smile. “This is the man who informed me of the location of the fountain,” she gestured to one of the men. “The other two are friends of his, I guess.”

“…Are you sure we can trust them?” I asked skeptically.

“Sure. Well, John has been nothing but nice to me so far…despite his vagueness. I know they dress a little funny, but so does fancy boy there.” She smirked towards Salem.

Salem glared at her. “I dress perfectly normal in comparison to them, thank you very much.”

I ignored them and looked to the three men. “I am Alex, and this is Salem…who are you three?”

In a dull, monotone voice, they said in unison – “We do not share our names. You can refer to us as The Keepers of the Fountain.”

I side-glanced at Salem and he shrugged. “Hannah already told us one of you had a name, but whatever. Where is this fountain?” I asked, more than a little bit annoyed. This all seemed to be some sort of weird hoax to me.

“I gave her the name John, but that is not my name.”

Hopefully these people were not wasting our time. It seemed suspicious that Hannah had found them so easily, and they had been so forthcoming about this fountain on only the stipulation that we all come together. I glanced at Hannah, hoping she could read what was on my mind, but before she could acknowledge anything the three spoke in unison once more.

“Come, let us show you the way.”

I was already unsure of the situation – something seemed seriously off about it, but Hannah again insisted that they were trustworthy. Salem seemed just as hesitant as I was. They formed a straight line and began walking toward the edge of the shore,
following along the side of it and letting the water lap at their bare feet. Salem, Hannah, and I stood a few feet away as we followed them along the curve of the water.

The sun was a bright, radiating orb in the sky, beaming down on us. The men must have been sweating profusely underneath their robes, yet they seemed unaffected by the heat. There was definitely something strange about them. There was a rock formation in the distance against the side of the land. Above it was the lighthouse I saw from earlier. It appeared vacant and unused for many years. I could clearly see a ‘No Trespassing’ sign hanging onto the side of the surrounding fence, even from so far away.

“How close are we?” I asked as I took my eyes off of the lighthouse.

“Close,” they said.

Salem grasped my hand and didn’t let go until we reached what appeared to be a barely distinguishable, thin crevice in the side of the rocky wall. It was just wide enough that someone could squeeze into it if they held their breath in and laid down on their belly. Had it not been for the pointing fingers of the three I would have thought nothing of the crack.

“Crawl through,” the men instructed and stood aside.

“What?” I asked, bewildered. “You expect us to go through there, without any idea what is waiting on the other end?!”

“The fountain is waiting on the other end.”

“Of course it is,” I said and rolled my eyes. “One of you go first, then maybe I will think about it.”

Without argument or hesitation one of the un-named members of the three stepped forward, lowered himself into a prone position and glided out of sight as easily as if he were a snake.

Knowing it was at least safe enough for one of them to voluntarily go first; I stepped forward for my turn. As I did I suddenly felt something strong grasp my shoulder. When I turned to give the robed figure a nasty look, I was surprised to see that it was Salem who had held me back.

“Let me go first,” he said despite my obvious hesitation. “I will be fine; you can follow in after me.”

“Okay,” I said reluctantly.

He gave me an alluring smile and kissed me tenderly. “I love you, little raven,” he whispered against my cheek.

“I love you, too, Salem…but if you’re so sure it is safe…” I started but his lips were against mine again before I could finish.