Under A Blood Moon (Elemental Enchanters) (28 page)

“Do something,” Gillian yelled, trying to shield herself from the hail.
             

Ava
tried generating water, but nothing happened.

Focus!

She took a breath, but then
saw a woman unpinning laundry. The sky was gray with a building wind. She looked around at her own backyard. Then her eyes fixated on the woman who was taking down sheets from a laundry line and advising her daughter to go inside the house. Once the daughter was out of sight, she could feel a smile spread across her face. Feeling the building wind through her hair, electricity surged within her. Lightning cracked above her, waiting for her to tell it where to hit. Seconds later, the long beautiful veins reached down and struck the redheaded woman. Then, the woman collapsed, dead.

Ava
cried out and tried moving. It was as if she were stuck inside the memory. She was frozen. Her mother’s dead, bloody face lodged in her vision. She shook her head as if to remove the images from her mind.

Trudy
laughed heartily, and then Ava could see the present again. But something about the memory wasn’t right. It felt as if she were the one that coerced the lightning to strike her mother.

“Your mother was so weak, it was sickening,” Trudy said. “Too bad she died. Havok would have had one of the Elemental powers.”

“Devon killed her?” Ava clenched her teeth. Water ran down her arms, and then lightning cracked inches from her, breaking her hold on Trudy.

Another strike landed near
Jeremy and Milo and he jumped out of the way. A third strike hit another tree causing a fire next to Ava. Jeremy scrambled to his feet, created an intense wind that directed toward Trudy, like a freight train, but Milo moved to protect her. The callous wind ripped Milo’s head from his body. Trudy quickly escaped and disappeared into the curtain of heavy rain as lightning continued to connect to the ground and trees.

It seemed as if the hail and lightning stopped immediately. Once the wind stopped,
Milo’s head dropped onto the ground at Ava’s feet. His horror-struck eyes peered up at Ava and the rain rinsed the blood away.

She
turned her head but the nausea was too quick for her. She hurled until her sides ached. A hammer pounded inside her head and her eyes refused to focus. Without looking back, she ran in Trudy’s direction.

“
Ava,” Melissa called after her, and Ava guessed she had just awakened.

She
charged through the thick forest, ignoring the briars and branches that snagged her clothes and the raindrops that pelted her skin stinging it. Her eyes blurred from the water. She wanted to kill Trudy, but how could she if she was outnumbered? And why couldn’t she focus enough?

Her heart sped along with her legs as the tightness filled her lungs
. They ached for more air. Tripping on roots, she shoved the branches out of her way. The rain and the wind made her tremble even more through the thick fog that hovered in the woods.

Once she reached
a break in the woods, her legs wobbled, and she dropped to her knees. Tears leaked from her eyes as she rocked back and forth and held her stomach. Her body shook violently. An angry red glowed from her necklace. The images of her mother. The lightning strikes. Milo’s severed head flashed in her mind.

She knew
someone could place images in her head but didn’t really think it would feel as if she were there again. Reliving it all over, only to realize her mother had been murdered.

“
Ava?” She heard a trembling voice behind her.

Impossible
. He couldn’t be here. Everything ceased, including her breathing. She didn’t hear the rain splashing into the soft ground, or felt it against her.

“
Ava?” She felt strong hands on her shoulders.

She whirled around to see his face
. “Peter?”

Rain bounced off Ava as her knees sunk deeper into the muddy ground while Peter stood over her with wide eyes, mouth opened, and rushed breathing. His face paled as he bent over and gripped his knees, to steady himself. His brown hair, like hers, was soaked. 

“Wh-what’s going on
?” he shouted. “Is-is this your secret? Did you all just…
kill
him?” He glared.

“
What are you doing here?” she yelled. “How did you get here?”

“I followed you.
”

“
Why?”

“Why did you do that
?”

She opened her mouth to answer, but then saw Melissa breaking through the forest. Her eyes widened
as she made eye contact with Ava. She turned back and shouted to the others that Ava had left. There was no way her coven could see Peter here. And she didn’t know if Trudy was hiding out somewhere waiting to attack. She had to get him out of there.

“
Peter, we have to go,” she screamed, and stood.

“I don’t think—,” his voice wavered.

“Come on.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him along through the forest.

“
What’s going on?”

“Just keep running
.”

Once
they finally reached the cabin, she raced to her car.

Peter stopped and
bent over, resting his hands on his knees.

“Let’s go,” she yelled.

“I-I can’t believe…” he murmured, and then fell to his knees and collapsed onto the ground.

“Peter!
” She lifted him under his arms and dragged him inside her car. Then, she hurried onto the driver’s side, started the engine, and drove away.

Ava
’s mind raced as fast as her heartbeat. Savina was not going to be happy that Peter had followed Ava. She couldn’t decide if she actually wished Savina had gotten to him before he saw what he did.

Even if Savina decided not to erase his memory, he would never want anything to do with Ava. B
ut she wanted to try to salvage what she could by explaining everything to him. It was time he knew, especially after what he had witnessed. And maybe she could convince Savina to stop.

For now, she had to get him back to his house, and return to
the Manor.

Peter
groaned as he stirred awake. “What the hell happened?”

“You fainted.” Her voice was a dry whisper.
“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. F
ine.” His hand propped his head up.

The blue glow of the interior lights reflected
on him. Water dripped from his hair and rolled down his face.

“
What was
that
tonight?” he demanded.

“Guess you now know my secrets
.”

“
That’s
what you’ve been hiding?” He shook his head. “I thought I was dreaming. But I wasn’t, was I?”

“
W-what did you see?”

“What do you think I saw
?” he yelled. “The four of you terrorizing that poor girl and guy. And then…then…oh, Ava. You
killed
him.”

“Do you even know who they were?”

“Like it matters. Whatever they did couldn’t possibly have warranted you killing them.”

“They were the ones torturing you. How could you not want them dead?”

She could see out of the corner of her eye, his mouth agape. “What is wrong with you? You turn them into the police. What could ever make you want to kill someone?”

“
Do you remember me telling you that I wasn’t completely good? And you told me there wasn’t anything that could make you leave me?” Rebellious tears rolled down her cheek and she quickly swiped them away.

He
gave a disgusted laugh. “Seriously, Ava? I didn’t think you were
killing
people,” he shouted.

She flinched
. “Well, you shouldn’t have followed. I warned you.”

“I’m not sorry I did that
. At least now I know.”

“But you don’t know all of it
.”

“There’s more
? What could there possibly be?”

Ava
took a deep breath, and pulled into his driveway. The sleet had finally stopped. “Peter—.”

He opened the door, and got out. “Yeah I don’t need an explanation. I can’t believe you. Stay away from me,” he said with such venom in his voice, and then slammed the door.

Ava fumbled to open her door and got out. “Peter, wait.”

He turned around. “Stay away from me.”

“Do you still have the elixir I gave you?”

“Why? Is it poison?”

“If you want to forget everything that’s happened to you lately,” she paused. “Including me. Drink it.”

He
stared at her for a moment, and then marched inside the house without looking back.

Ava thought she prepared for Peter’s reaction, but the way the words twisted inside her ached more than she imagined.
Her breathing refused to calm, but she had no time to grieve. She jerked the car in reverse and sped back to the cabin.

She got out of the car, and five angry
Enchanters advanced on her. Her necklace warmed and glowed. There was anger, confusion, disappointment, and worry all bundled together.

Thomas took a step closer to Ava, and took her hands in his. “What happened back there?”

“I—.”

“
Where the hell did you go?” Gillian demanded, with a hand on her hip. Her black curly hair was now one big ball of frizz. Her eyes glared, and her face was crumpled. “Why didn’t you kill her? Why’d you leave us?”

Jeremy held Gillian back. “Calm down.”

“No,” she shouted. “We were supposed to kill her.”

Ava crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Well, what were you doing? You could’ve killed her too.”

“We were all unable.”

“Thomas, Lance, and I had passed out,” Melis
sa said. “What happened?”

“Ava was just standing there like an idiot
, and let Trudy go and made Jeremy kill Milo,” Gillian said.

“
I tried to drown her, but it didn’t work.”

“Why weren’t you focused?”

“I was. Nothing I did harmed her.”

“
You were distracted, weren’t you? It’s Peter isn’t it?”

Thomas stiffened. “What?”

“I know it’s him,” Gillian said. “He’s the cause of her weakness. That’s why she couldn’t kill Trudy.”

“G, get a grip,” Melissa said.

“She made me see my mother die,” Ava blurted. “I couldn’t block her.”

Melissa’s jaw dropped
. “She made you see that?”

“What’s going on?”
a voice demanded.

Ava turned around and froze. Savina
and Aaron walked toward them.

“What happened?” Aaron asked again.

“Trudy didn’t die,” Melissa said. “We tried, but she was stronger than us.”

“
She made me see things,” Ava said. “I couldn’t move. I couldn’t do anything. It was like I was someone else.”

“
She escaped.” Gillian added. “And because of Ava’s lack of focus, she made Jeremy kill Milo.”

“Stop it,” Jeremy told her.

“All of you, inside, right now,” Aaron demanded.

Gillian
tossed her hands up in the air, frustrated and stomped into the cabin. Ava hesitated, but Thomas tugged on her arm, and she went inside.

With a wave of
Savina’s hand, a fire appeared in the fireplace. Aaron stood next to her with his arms crossed in front of his broad chest and a stern look in his russet eyes.

“Tell
us what happened,” Savina asked.

Ava’s chin quivered before she spoke
. “We sneaked inside their house, and Trudy turned invisible instantly. Gillian lost her control over Milo and the rest of us went chasing after Trudy. I captured her, and tried to kill her, but then I saw my mom die again.”

“
And then there was the lightning and hail,” Jeremy said. “It was as if it were directed right at us. Like she was controlling it or something. And Lance, Thomas, and Melissa blacked out.”

“Trudy cannot cause lightning
or hail,” Savina said. “Someone else was there.”

Controlled lightning, Ava thought. “Kristen.”

“Who?” Melissa asked.

“Kristen Miller. It was her. Xavier made you three pass out, and Kristen was aiming lightning at us.
I knew they’d be there.”

“
Why weren’t you prepared for others to be there?” Aaron asked.

“We never saw them,” Ava replied.

Savina moved closer. “What happened after Trudy put images in your head?”

“She ran, and Jeremy tried killing her, but Milo got in the way.” Ava bowed her head. “I tried running after her, but—.”

“Please,” Gillian said. “You ran away like a scared little girl.”

“Enough,” Savina insisted.
“There is quite a lot of animosity. I hope you all have it sorted out soon.”

“You all will need more practice, for sure
,” Aaron said. “I thought we taught you to be on the lookout for others.”

“I’m sorry,” Ava said. “It’s my fault.”

“You should not take full blame,” Savina said. “We should have prepared you better. I realize it has been a while since they have made an appearance, but you should never let your guard down. I hope you all will learn from this.”

“We have,” Melissa said.

Aaron uncrossed his arms. “Get some rest. We will meet soon.” He gently took Savina by the elbow and they started for the door.

“What about
Devon?” Ava blurted. “Did you find him?”

Aaron turned back to them. “We will discuss
that tomorrow.”

That was a big fat no.

“Trudy kept mentioning Havok.”

She could feel everyone’s eyes on her now. “She told me he wanted the Elemental
powers so that he could wipe out all the Ephemerals. That was his goal all along, wasn’t it? To gain all our powers and become what Corbin never was.”

Aaron and Savina looked at each other as if they we
re having a silent conversation and then Aaron turned to them.

“
Do not leave this cabin,” he demanded. “And if you must, go home, or to the Manor. Those are the only safe places. We will discuss this tomorrow.” He opened the door and they left.

Ava felt as if the wind
had been knocked out of her. Their refusal to talk about anything only confirmed her worst fears. Devon, or Havok, was after them. The fear among her group was strong as all their necklaces glowed.

“Omigod,” Gillian said. “What are we supposed to do?”

“Why didn’t we see this before?” Lance asked.

“Because we didn’t take any of this serious enough,” Melissa said.

Ava wanted to get out of there. She hadn’t signed up for this. They weren’t ready. She walked outside and took several deep breaths. Melissa and Lance followed.

She paced beside her car and clutched her pentacle. “I can’t believe this.
”

Melissa put her hands on Ava’s shoulders and stopped her. “Calm down. We’ll figure this out.
”

“Why didn’t they see this?” Ava asked. “Aren’t they supposed to be our leaders or something?”

“I think now they realize there’s more to this than revenge,” Lance said.

“
What did you do with Milo?” she asked.

“
Thomas and I buried his body.”

Melissa lit a cigarette.
“Ava, what exactly did Peter see?”

“I don’t know.
But I know he saw Milo.”

“What did he say
? What did you do?”

“He was shocked,
angry. I didn’t really do anything. I took him home and he told me to stay away. I never meant for him to see this. To see me that way.” She broke down, and Melissa pulled her into a hug. Her body shook from the aching pain that enveloped her.

“We have to tell Savina.”

“Can we hold off on that? I need to talk to him.”

Lance
cocked an eyebrow. “Talk to him about what?”

“About me
. I have to tell him.”

His dark
eyes widened. “Whoa, I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

“I have to.”
She looked away from him. “I want to.”

Melissa exhaled smoke.
“I can’t believe how far out of hand this has gotten. You should tell him. He has a right to know.”