Under A Blood Moon (Elemental Enchanters) (25 page)

Ava waited for her favorite part of the day when Peter entered the chemistry lab. Student after student walked in disappointing her further. She watched as each student walked inside, and saw that the clock was winding down. The bell rang, and Peter still hadn’t come inside.

It had been almost
two weeks since they kissed, and every time she had texted him, he told her he was still sick with a stomach virus and nothing more. Keeping their relationship a secret was easier than she imagined, but they hadn’t seen each other, or talked. She’d felt Thomas’ss anger, confusion, and guilt throughout the days. Who knew he could feel so many things at once? He had apologized over and over, but Ava was determined they were done.

During class,
Ava stared at Peter’s empty seat with an ache in her stomach and chest that had been there since the first day of his no-show. Peter had never missed this many days. She wanted to go check on him at home, but she didn’t want to lead anyone to his house.

So she
waited.

Another week passed, and still no show. And
same with the next. Something wasn’t right. Peter responded to her texts, but what was really going on? Was he really sick, or was he avoiding her? It was strange seeing his seat empty every day. Something Peter had said when Kristen Miller went missing popped in her mind. ‘
It’s really weird seeing her seat empty every day. She never misses a single day of school.’

She stiffened, and then her pulse quickened.
Xavier’s attendance the last month had been rather spotty. And he wasn’t in class today, but she’d seen him earlier. She remembered hearing about a couple of students who were absent as well, but no one reported it. Her pendant warmed, and as the teacher lectured, she scooped up her books and fled the room. Her body shook and she couldn’t calm her breathing. Ava pushed open a bathroom door and the books dropped to the floor.

He’s been kidnapped
.

She leaned against the wall for support and felt sick to her stomach. How could she not have seen this sooner? Where was he? Was he going to come back
as Xavier’s friend? But maybe he really was sick and her mind was being overactive. Perhaps Xavier was prepping for his end of the year party tonight.

She jumped when her phone vibrated, and then she pulled it out of her pocket. It w
as a message from Melissa. Then, a toilet flushed, and Kristen Miller emerged from one of the stalls.

Her hair was sleek and straight, and her brown eyes looked tired. She wore too much eye makeup now.

“You’re looking a little pale,” she said, and turned on the faucet. “Guess you came to the right place.”

Ava glared at her. “What happened to you? You used to be nice.”

Kristen shut off the water and grabbed a paper towel. “Was I not being nice? I’m sorry. Are you sick because Peter isn’t here? I bet you really miss him. He really is a nice guy.”

She clenched her teeth and lunged at Kristen, pressing her against
the wall. “Where is he?” she yelled.

“Hey,” she cried. “
What’s wrong with you?”

“What did you do with him?”
She slammed her against the wall.

“You really should let me go.”

“Not until you tell me where he is.”

“Water and electricity don’t mix well.” Kristen grinned.

“If you shock me, we both go.”

She tilted her head to the side, and pursed her lips. “Didn’t your mother die of lightning? Wouldn’t want her daughter dying of the same thing.”

Ava loosened her grip on Kristen.

“I wouldn’t threaten me anymore either.
Or Peter may not come back. Have a good day,” she said with a friendly smile, and then walked out.

It was true. She was right all along
. What could she do? How could she find him? Maybe she could enlist Jeremy and Melissa to help follow them so they could save Peter. 

The bell rang, and Ava rushed out, pushing through the crowd to the lunchroom. Her heart raced as she ran to their table. No one was there yet, but she sat, trying not to explode.

Melissa walked up with a worried expression, and sat. “What is it? I texted you.”

“I’ll explain when everyone gets here.” And a few
seconds later, the rest arrived.

“What’s with you?” Gillian asked.

“Xavier’s taken Peter.”

Thomas groaned. “Not this again.”

“Listen to me. Kristen admitted it to me. We have to follow them today.”

“You are so paranoid,” Gillian said
, and pulled out her compact mirror.

“What did Kristen say?” Lance asked.

“She has an electrical power. Or lightning. And said if I bothered her again, Peter wouldn’t come back. She asked if I missed him. Why would she ask that?”

Gillian rolled her eyes
, and reapplied her glittery lipstick. “Probably because she knows you have some bizarre obsession with him.”

“We have to save him.”

“Save him?” Thomas shook his head. “If Xavier did take him, he’s not going to kill him. We don’t have to do anything.”

“Thomas, I never went to Savina’s to tell
her you burned me. Or that you beat up Peter. I’m just asking for your help.”

“Why should I?”

“This is what we’re supposed to do. To protect the Ephemerals.”

“There’s no proof Xavier even took him.”

“Forget it. I should’ve known I could never count on you.”

“I’ll come with you,” Jeremy said.

Gillian wrinkled her face. “What?”

“Yeah, I’m going too,” Melissa said.

Lance reached across the table and took Melissa’s hand. “Whoa, hold on. We need to make sure they’re Enchanters.”

“Why would Kristen mention electricity? She knows I’m a Water
Enchanter.”

“How?” Melissa asked.

“I don’t know.”

Thomas turned around. “They don’t even look like
Enchanters. They just look like normal high school kids.”

“So do we,” Ava said. “
Okay, so here’s the plan. When the bell rings, we follow them. If they split up, I’ll follow Xavier. Melissa, you follow Seth. Maybe he’ll break and tell you something. He was Peter’s friend. Jeremy, follow Link. Are you coming, Lance?”

“Yeah.”

Thomas shook his head. “You guys are stupid. You think you’re some hero or something. You didn’t care this much when the others were absent.”

“
Actually, I did.”

“And what do you plan on doing if you find Peter?
You think you’ll be able to hide all this from Savina and Colden? You know he would never become one of us.”

“Why do you have to be so mean?”

“I don’t know. Maybe because my girlfriend decided to cheat on me with some guy that for the life of me I can’t figure out what’s so damn special about him. That what you feel for this guy isn’t even a tenth of what you feel for me.”

“If you really loved me
, you wouldn’t have hurt me like you did.”

“And I apologized for that. I hope you’re right about this Xavier guy. Because if you go after innocent people
, Savina and Colden won’t be happy.”

“Thomas, enough,” Melissa said.

“I can’t believe all of you are siding with her,” Gillian said.

“And I can’t believe you aren’t
being supportive.” Melissa glared at her.

When lunch was over, Ava walked behind Jeremy, Melissa, and Lance
. They waited outside the cafeteria in a circle, pretending to socialize. As Xavier and his group passed, they kept a trail on them but then they split up. Ava followed Xavier and Kristen until they stopped in front of a classroom. She stayed just around the corner, and hoped she wouldn’t lose sight of them. Students walked by in both directions and Xavier had his tongue down Kristen’s throat. Ava silently groaned. How much of a goodbye could they possibly need before class? They stayed like that until the late bell rang. Then Xavier pulled away, and Ava hid behind the corner again.

“Are you ready?” She heard
him ask.

“Of course,” Kristen said. “Are you?”

He laughed. “Baby, I have been patiently waiting for this for months.”

“Sorry I’m late,” she heard Link say. “One of them was following me.”

“Did you get rid of them?” Xavier asked.

“He’s in the trunk of my car.”

Ava silently cursed. How had Link gotten Jeremy in his car? What happened? Her necklace hadn’t even given a warning.

A phone rang, and
Xavier let out an exasperated groan. “What now?”

A few seconds of silence.

“Well, try harder. Look, it’s the only way to break this girl…If we get him, she’ll follow, then the rest…I don’t care…Just don’t kill him…Because when he finally does break, he’ll be useful, you idiot…Don’t argue…We’ll be there soon.”

“
Still can’t break him?” Kristen asked.

“No. Come on, let’s get this over with.”

“My pleasure.”

There was a loud crack outside, like something
exploded, and all of the lights went out. Ava crouched to the floor. Muffled excited voices came from the students in the classrooms nearby. They were probably expressing their enthusiasm over the power being out. Had Kristen done that? What was going on?

Then another explosion erupted from down the hall, like a volcano. Ava
saw a flash of orange and then was flung through the air and landed hard on concrete floor. She heard glass shattering. Debris and dust collapsed on her. She coughed from the thick smoke that filled the hallway. The fire alarms sounded and sprinklers went off. Screaming kids rushed out of the rooms and sprinklers went off.

She felt arms grab her just as something else detonated, shaking the building. She could barely hear anything and couldn’t see. Her eyes and throat burned from the smoke.

“This was easier than I thought.” Xavier. He was talking to her and carrying her.

“What are you doing?” Her voice sounded weak. She felt a liquid running down her face.

“Getting you out of here.”

Ava couldn’t move or struggle against him. She heard muffled screams and cries. What was going on? And then darkness came over
her.

Ava slowly peeled her eyelids back, but all she could see was black. Her teeth chattered, and her face pressed against something hard and cold. Her body was sore and there was still a loud ringing in her ears. She slowly sat up, ignoring the pain in her back and head, and then her hand brushed up against something.

Someone groaned.

“Hello?” Where was she? What had happened? Why couldn’t she see?

“Ava?”

“Jeremy?”

“I can’t see anything.”

“Neither can I. Where are we?”

“I have no idea. Last thing I
remember was following Link.”

The conversation Ava overheard between Xavier, Kristen, and Link slowly came back. “The trunk.”

“What?”

“Link put you in the trunk of his car.”

“How?”

“I don’t know. I overheard him talking to Xavier and Kristen. And then there was so much chaos. Kids were screaming. Something exploded and there was debris and the fire alarms were going off.”

Someone moaned and stirred.

“Lance?” Jeremy asked. “Melissa?”

“It’s me,” Lance said. “Where are we?”

“I’m awake, too,” Melissa groaned.

“We don’t know,” Ava said. She touched her face and felt a sticky substance, and then licked her lips. She tasted something metallic and salty. Blood. “What happened?”

“I remember bombs going off,” Lance said.

“Bombs?” Ava asked. That would explain the ringing in her ears. “Why would Xavier bomb the school?”

“This was his party,” Jeremy said. “Think about it. They tattooed this date and even on that invitation it said explosive.”

“He’s been planning this all along,” Ava said.

“What happened when you followed him?” Melissa asked. Ava could hear the pain in her voice.

“He and Kristen were talking. And then Link came up and they were asking each other if they were ready. Then Xavier got a phone call. Talked about not being able to break someone and that they needed to keep him alive.”

“Do you think they were talking about Peter?”
Jeremy asked.

Ava eyes filled with tears. It made sense.
“Probably,” she said, her voice cracking. “We’ve got to get out of here and find him.” She slowly got to her feet and steadied herself from the dizziness.

She blindly walked forward with her hands out in front of her until she felt something. It was cold and smooth and there was a gritty substance along the surface of the wall. Dirt probably. She moved slowly and traced along the wall with her hands, feeling for a door.

Her foot caught something and she fell on top. The object was pliable and the more she touched it, she realized it was a body and quickly moved away.

“What are you doing?” Jeremy asked. “Did you find a door?”

“No. I tripped on a body.”

“Omigod,” Melissa moaned.

“Wait,” Lance said and then a light came on.

Ava blinked and when her eyes came into focus, she saw that it was a fire. The last thing Lance had absorbed was fire.

“Oh thank you,” Melissa said. There was a large gash across her forehead and her blond hair was matted and dirty.

Lance looked like he was in better condition and he stood. He walked over to the body near Ava
and as soon as the light touched it, she stiffened.

It was Peter. He was still in the same clothes from the day
after they had kissed.

“Peter,” she shouted.
Her breathing accelerated and she reached for him. Jeremy and Melissa came over and held Ava.

Lance kneeled
beside Peter and pressed his unlit hand to Peter’s neck. “He’s alive. But his heart rate is slow.”

“Omigod, Peter.” Ava didn’t care that she was crying. She took his hand in hers, and brushed his hair from his eyes. His bottom lip was split open and his left eye was swollen shut. His leg rested in an abnormal position.

Melissa rested a hand on Ava’s shoulder. “He’ll be okay.”

“Savina has to heal him,”
Ava said, and then met Melissa’s eyes. “We have to get out of here. Do you think you can break open these stones?”

She nodded.
“I might need some help.”

“Okay,” Lance said.

“Wait.” Ava held out her hand. “We should see if there are others in here that are hurt.”

Lance nodded and then with his flamed hands, walked to the other side of the room. Ava gasped once she saw two still bodies and then she returned her attention to Peter. She didn’t want to know if they were dead.

“They’re alive,” Lance said. “But we have to get out of here now.”

“How did we even get in here if there’s no door?” Jeremy asked.

“I don’t know,” Melissa said. “Come on, Lance.”

He extinguished the light, and Ava clutched onto Peter’s hand, hoping they could break through the stones.

The room began to shake, and then she felt a wind tunneling around them. Ava reluctantly released Peter’s hand to help the others. Water dripped from her hands and she concentrated hard. It built and when she felt strong enough, she threw the water in front of her.

Finally, the wall gave and
earth collapsed inside. Moonlight flooded into the gray-walled room. Once the dirt settled, Ava saw that they were deep underground in some room.

“They buried us?” Melissa said.

“There has to be a way in and out of this place,” Jeremy said.

Lance climbed over the heap of earth and helped Melissa out. Ava and Jeremy grabbed Peter’s limp body and handed him to Lance.
Then, they helped the others out.

Ava
clambered on the moist dirt and rocks, and pulled herself higher. Her head broke through the opening, and she looked around. There were surrounded by woods in a deep fog and there was a small house with a few lights on resting on the hill. Lance helped pull her out of the mysterious room, then Jeremy.

“Where are we?” Ava asked.

“I don’t know, but there’s some cars up there,” Lance said. “We can take one and get out of here.”

Ava looked up at him. “Without attacking? This is our chance to kill him.”

“Be quiet,” he whispered loudly. “We can’t go up there and start a war right now. Not with these injured people.”

“Lance is right,” Melissa said. “We need to be healed first. We’re in no shape to fight. I promise we’ll come back.”

Ava wanted Xavier dead for what he had done to Peter and all those kids. For what he had done to her coven. But they were right. Now wasn’t the time. “Okay. But do you know how to steal a car?”

Lance grinned. “Yeah.”

“How do you know?”

“Thomas taught me.”

She shook her head. “Of course.”

“I’m going for the silver SUV.” He pointed to the one furthest away from the house. “
Ava, put it in neutral and steer and I’ll push. Just until we get to the road. Melissa and Jeremy take the other two bodies with you through the woods and we’ll meet up. We’ll take Peter with us.”

“Why are we splitting up?” Ava asked.

“Because Mel is weak right now, and I need you to help me while Jeremy helps Mel. Besides, the less movement, the better.”

Jeremy and Melissa hoisted a body over
each of their shoulders and walked through the woods as quietly as they could. Lance carried Peter, and Ava followed him in a crouched run toward the SUV.

Her heart was racing and she hoped the car was unlocked so they wouldn’t have to break a window. Lance slowed behind a tree
and Ava watched the house. She saw shadows of people moving around inside beside the windows. Luckily, there were curtains covering them. When they moved away, Lance and Ava continued.

They finally reached the SUV, and Ava suppressed a sigh of relief once the door opened. Lance lay Peter down
in the backseat and motioned for Ava to get in the driver’s seat. She got in and carefully closed the door. The car still had a new car smell to it. How in the world could one of them afford a Cadillac?

Her body shook as s
he waited for Lance to come out from underneath the car. How did Thomas even know all this? Had they stolen cars before?

Ava shook her head. None of that mattered now. They had to hurry in order to save Peter and the others. A light came on in the back, flooding a vast majority of the woods. She froze. And then she saw shadows of a couple of people walking toward the storm cellar where they had been kept.

Lance popped up and she jumped, and then pointed toward the woods. Once he saw, he moved to the front of the car and pushed. It slowly rolled backwards on the grass. She turned the wheel and then Lance moved to the back and she turned it once more. He pushed until they were a ways down the long drive. She braked and then opened the door for him. Ava climbed to the passenger seat and Lance got in, put a key in the ignition, and started it.

“Where did you get the key?”

He jerked the car in motion. “Someone apparently locks themselves out of their car often,” he said. “Found it under the car.”

She couldn’t believe their luck. With this being a new car, she was sure the alarm would have gone off. “They’re going to know we escaped.”

“I know.”

“They’re going to come after us,” she shouted. “We should have attacked them.”

“Ava, calm down. We’ll go to Savina’s and be safe. Then, we’ll go after them.”

“What if they aren’t there when we come back?”

“I don’t know, okay? Right now, we need to get to the Manor.”

He slowed the car once he saw Melissa and Jeremy. Ava moved to the back with Peter and Melissa and Jeremy put the two unconscious people in the very back and then climbed in.
Then, they left.

Ava cradled Peter’s head in her lap.
She couldn’t believe she’d endangered Peter’s life. It had gone too far. Warm tears rolled down her face. “This is all my fault.”

“Don’t blame yourself,” Jeremy said.

She looked up at him. His face was covered in black soot and had several cuts and gashes. The blood had dried.

“If I had stayed away from him, Xavier wouldn’t have used him for bait,” she said. “What if they
made him into an Enchanter?”

“I don’t think he is,” Jeremy said. “Didn’t you say Xavier and Kristen were talking about him before the bombs went off? Maybe he blocked them somehow.”

Melissa twisted around to face them. “That makes sense. You don’t feel pain around him. Maybe somehow he can protect himself or something.”

“I don’t know,” Ava said. “He could’ve been talking about any of the ones we found
tonight.”

Peter groaned, and opened his eye.
“Ava?”

“Peter,” she cried, and leaned down and
kissed his forehead. “How are you feeling?”

He looked around and wrinkled his face. He wheezed and held his stomach. “It hurts to breathe.”

Lance turned on the interior light.

“What happened?”
She carefully lifted his shirt and gasped. His skin was dark purple from bruising all around his ribs. “Oh no. What do we do?”

“
We’re almost there,” Lance said.

“What’s going on?” Peter asked, struggling with each word. “What happened to you?”

She realized she must have looked bad, after surviving an explosion, and who knows what in that underground room.

“
Xavier. We’re getting you help, Peter.”

“It hurts.”

Ava hated seeing him in so much pain. “I know. I’m sorry.”

Lance drove through the entrance to the
Manor, but it wasn’t fast enough for Ava. The car came to a stop and he put it in park.

“I’m sorry, Peter, but we’re going to have to move you now.”

He nodded, but she knew he was bracing himself.

Jeremy got out first and slowly pulled him out. He cried out
but they kept on. Jeremy lifted him and then the door to the manor opened.

“Good gracious,” Savina said. “What has happened?”

Ava was relieved that she was there because Peter would be healed, yet afraid that she’d gone against the rules. She hesitantly
walked closer. “We found some injured Ephemerals. Xavier kidnapped them and us. They need help. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know where else to go.”

Savina held up her hand
. “Bring them inside.”

Ava followed Jeremy inside to the parlor. He eased Peter down on the red couch.
Then, Melissa, Lance, and Savina came in with the still unconscious bodies.

Savina knelt beside Peter. “What is your name,
dear?”

“Peter.”

“I am Savina,” she said calmly. “You are safe here. I will heal you, but it may hurt.”

He furrowed his eyebrows, and held a
look of fear in his brown eyes. Then, he looked to Ava as if asking what was going on.