Autumn (28 page)

             
The Elemental held out the long golden cord and again it moved toward Arabel, slithering in the air toward her like a hypnotized reptile.

             
Arabel grasped the cord and felt the quick pull of it as it propelled her out of the white sky grove and through the dank tree roots of the gateway and plopped her out onto the snowy ground in front of the crooked tree.

             
“You will come again, when you destroy the Dorojenja! You will not forsake your quest,” the Elemental’s voice echoed in Arabel’s brain like recurring ripples, and then she heard nothing, nothing, nothing at all.

             
And then, out of a blank sphere of nothingness, Arabel perceived her own name.

             
Eli, calling her name. His voice shaken, not calm, not in control, calling her name quite desperately, in fact.

             
Arabel struggled to open her eyes but her lids felt so heavy. She moaned softly as she felt herself come back into her body, which was stiff and cold and she knew with a desolate certainty that her pretty lilac frock was most certainly and irrevocably ruined.

             
“Arabel!” Eli called to her again, and Arabel felt her head now; it was in Eli’s lap, his fingers stroked the side of her face, he rubbed her cold hands. Ira cawed loudly and Arabel could hear the relief in his cries.

             
“Eli,” Arabel responded weakly and she could feel the relief course through Eli at her voice.

             
“Arabel! You gave us quite a shock,” Eli said, his voice steadying.

             
“Where did you go?” Zander asked excitedly.

             
Arabel finally was able to open her eyes and glance around at her surroundings. She saw that they had moved her away from the crooked oak and Eli was sitting on a fallen log, and she was sprawled across him, partly balanced precariously on the log as well. Arabel moved to sit up, her brain cl
earing and her body settling in
to its normal rhythm once more.

             
“I went into the tree, where I was trapped; it was horrible! And then the Elemental came and fetched me and we traversed to some strange land with an endless white sky and a grove of oaks. He made me tea and spoke of my mother.”

             
“What does he say of the shield?” Zander wanted to know.

             
Arabel relayed the Elemental’s instructions as to how they must destroy the evil talisman and the three pondered where and when it would be best to do so.

             
“Shall we do it here, now?” Arabel asked.

             
“You are forgetting it must be in a place you feel only strong positive vibrations in,” Eli reminded her.

             
“We could do it in the Glen, if you are energetically compatible there,” Zander put in. “We will need to figure out how to transport the heavy thing, however; no small task.”

             
“We will need to return for it,” Eli suggested. “Bring a wagon, or a pallet with which to carry it, perhaps.”

             
Arabel glanced back at the tree. The last rays of daylight were hanging in small bursts at the top of the crooked oak. Orange and amber flame seemed to light up the sky as the sun prepared to relinquish the world to the dark.

             
The shield leaned against the tree, as it had before. It looked innocuously innocent.

             
“Let’s hide it,” Arabel said. “Anything with power that could be used against us we must hide until we are able to destroy.”

             
“Yes, but where best to leave it?” Zander pondered.

             
“Over there,” Arabel said decisively, pointing to a small thicket overgrown with rambunctious maisie vines. Rocks and boulders stood in between the predatory vines and it looked as though a small landslide had occurred recently, thus dislocating them to the thicket.

             
“We can camouflage it within the thicket, move some vines over it, prop up some boulders, no one will find it.”

             
They began immediately to transport the heavy shield to the thicket and ended up rolling it to the hiding spot. Arabel moved the fat vines easily around in the thicket and soon the shield was covered with vegetation, snow and rocks.

             
Relieved, the three quickly returned to their mounts and rode hastily away from the crooked oak and toward the path which led to Crow’s Nest Pass. The evening was clear and cold and Arabel saw thousands of glimmering stars in the indigo sky. She made a wish on the brightest one and wrapped her arms more snugly against Eli’s warm frame.

             
“I am a mess,” Arabel declared brightly, a sudden bubble of laughter overcoming her. “My poor, sad, ruined frock! How I will be able to manage invisibility from grandmother whilst covered in dirt and grime, I honestly cannot fathom!”

             
“You, missy, could also most certainly use a bath,” Eli concurred and Arabel gave him a sharp smack on the ribs.

             
Eli laughed and the rich sound of his delight warmed Arabel’s heart. She smiled in the dark and wished everyone could feel as loved as she did right at this moment.

             
Behind them, Zander grinned as well. He had a feeling that finding the shield meant they were one step closer to securing the safety of The Corvids, and he was pleasantly surprised to find his new companions as agreeable as he did. But then again, Zander got along easily with most everyone; he considered it his most valuable charm and it certainly came in handy whenever evil was afoot.

             
At the fork between Crow’s Nest Pass and Ravenswood Glen, Zander took his leave of Arabel and Eli after making plans to meet up the next day to discuss the transportation and destruction of the Dorojenja’s evil talisman. Arabel waited until she could no longer hear his horse before she spoke.

             
“I believe he knows more than he is telling us,” she said.

             
“Undoubtedly,” Eli agreed. “Zander will do as his brother commands and we will only be privy to whatever knowledge the Council decrees fit to tell us.”

             
“Hmm, I am quite certain that displeases me mightily,” Arabel remarked slowly, a note of rising speculation in her voice.

             
“You are not meant to like it,” Eli interjected. “Doesn’t mean that’s not how it’s going to play out however.”

             
“Then I shall do everything in my power to make sure we stay connected to the end of this, for Alice-May, and Klara.” Arabel shivered, picturing the stiff, dead limbs of the savaged girls in their forced macabre poses on the Great Torch.

             
“And I will assist you,” Eli promised.

             
When they reached the back gate of Arabel’s home, Eli dismounted and Arabel clambered down after him. Arabel turned to Eli and he held her closely, their bodies melding together in the deepening shadows, forehead to forehead, heart to heart.

             
Eli kissed her softly and Arabel pulled his head down closer, deepening the kiss so that their pulses raced, their blood heated, and the longing for further intimacy was a tangible presence between them.

             
“You haunt my dreams; I can no longer sleep for wanting you,” Eli breathed unsteadily against Arabel’s ear.

             
Arabel took Eli’s face in her hands and gazed deeply into his almond brown eyes. Love and desire were coursing through her veins with an insistence she did not want to ignore.

             
“Stay with me,” she said.

             
A pause ensued. The moment seemed to tick by in a tricky, slippery, slow-motion manner, and Arabel felt her senses on edge, her heart hammered against her ribs and her very skin ached with unfulfilled desire.

             
The back door of the house was suddenly banged open and Amelia Bodean was revealed as she stood in the doorframe, waving a glass in her hand and gesticulating wildly at Arabel.

             
“I knew it!” Amelia Bodean exclaimed and Arabel could tell that her grandmother was quite far gone into her private, rum-fuelled escape and Arabel knew that events, in short order, could potentially become very messy indeed. 

             
Arabel moved toward her grandmother and Eli grabbed her hand, holding her back as Amelia Bodean launched herself at him and threw the remaining contents of her glass in his face. Eli was instantly doused in rum and his eyes stung from the alcohol.

             
Amelia Bodean dropped the glass and it shattered loudly on the stone walkway.

             
“Stop it!” Arabel cried, pulling at her grandmother as Amelia Bodean fisted her hands together and smacked Eli repeatedly on his arm, head, and back.

             
“You horrible man! You’ll be jailed for this!” Amelia Bodean threatened and Arabel suddenly realized her grandmother thought she’d been attacked, and given the state of her dress, and hair, and hands, it was not an unlikely scenario.

             
“I’m fine, Grandmother! I’m fine! Eli was helping me, not hurting me!”

             
“Your dress! Your hands! What have you been doing? Digging graves?”

             
“No, ma’am, I fell in the forest, took a tumble off a horse, I’m fine now. Eli didn’t harm me!”

             
Amelia Bodean staggered back, slightly mollified, momentarily appeased with Arabel’s explanation.
             

             
“Sneaking around, meeting young men in the dark! Just like your mother!” Amelia Bodean accused, switching tactics.

             
“What do you mean? Just like my mother?” Arabel demanded, thoroughly horrified at her grandmother’s behaviour. She glanced at Eli. He’d yet to say a word. He stood still, his eyes narrowed tightly and his lips pressed together. Arabel felt heat flush her face.

             
“Inside with you, this instant, young lady!” Amelia Bodean demanded, grabbing Arabel’s arm tightly.

             
“In a moment! I will come inside in a moment,” Arabel fired back and her grandmother’s eyes widened at her tone.

             
Arabel never fought back. She’d given up on openly defying her grandmother years ago so this fresh mutiny shocked Amelia Bodean into a rare submission.

             
“Do not return here,” Amelia Bodean muttered angrily to Eli then turned on her heel and marched into the house, slamming the door mightily behind her.

             
Arabel blew out a breath. She moved to Eli and touched his face. “I am so sorry,” she whispered, tears threatening to pool within her vivid blue eyes.

             
“It’s not your fault. And she didn’t hurt me,” Eli retorted, making a valiant attempt at brevity. “She hits like a girl.”

             
A fat tear slid down Arabel’s cheek. “I’m so embarrassed,” she murmured.

             
Eli wrapped his arms around Arabel and held her closely. He kissed her eyelids and then her forehead. Arabel brought his lips down to cover hers. She sighed deeply, wishing they could stay together like this forever.

             
“I will miss you tonight,” she finally said, and they embraced one last time before Arabel turned and entered the house to confront her inebriated guardian.

             
Eli watched Arabel walk away. His heart lay heavy in his chest. He had known it would only be a matter of time before Arabel’s grandmother found out about them and put an end to their romance. Eli turned away slowly and made his way back to Jovah. He searched his mind for some way to sway Amelia Bodean into accepting him as a part of Arabel’s life, but tangled himself in frustration as he could see no clear way to forge an alliance with her.

             
It seemed quite hopeless but there was no way Eli could give up on his beloved. Arabel mattered too much; he would leave her only if she herself demanded it. He’d never been in love before and he wasn’t about to be pushed out of it by any interfering or judgemental parties. Eli tapped lightly on the reins and urged Jovah forward into the frosty evening air.

             
Eli resolved to ask his mother. Mireille would know just what to do. She always did.