Awakening (24 page)

* * * *

I don’t know how much time passed. I
stared out the window, lost in my thoughts. It took me a minute to
realize Freddy was standing in front of me. He handed me a cup of
coffee and put a pair of gray sweats pants next to me on the
couch.

“
Luke filled me
in.”

I wrapped my fingers around the hot
cup and took a sip of coffee. The heat felt good against my cold
fingers.

“
Where is he?”

Freddy sat across from me. “He took
the car. Said he had to get some things.”

I couldn’t believe Luke had left me
alone with a complete stranger. And Luke was out there. Were the
men still looking for us? What if they spotted him? The alarm I
felt must have shown on my face.

“
Don’t worry. He told me to
tell you that he won’t be long. Do you want something to eat? I
have cereal.”

I forced a smile. “Cereal sounds
fantastic. Thanks.”

Freddy gestured toward the closest
door. “The kitchen’s through there. Come in whenever you’re
ready.”

“
Thanks again.”

Freddy got up and left the
room.

I took my time finishing the coffee.
When I held up the sweat pants, I noticed that they were three
times my size. I stepped into them and pulled the string as tight
as it would go. They were still not tight enough, my first step
forward they started to fall down. I grabbed one side of the pants
with my left hand, and made my way into the kitchen.

Someone liked the color yellow. It was
everywhere. From the walls, to the utensils and even a kettle on
the stove.

Freddy was rummaging through the
fridge.

“
Cheerful
kitchen.”

“
Thanks.” He pulled out a
jug of milk.

There was a box of cereal, a bowl and
a spoon all ready set on the table. I made my way over and sat
down.

“
Sounds like the two of you
had quite a night.” He placed the milk on the table in front of
me.

“
I’m just happy to have
survived it.”

He sat across from me. “So you’re
becoming a death dealer.”

“
I am.” I poured cereal
into the bowl.

I seemed to have Freddy’s full
attention.

“
And it’s something you’re
doing by choice?”

“
It is.” I chose this path,
this crazy twisted path that was now heading in directions I’d
never imagined. And now that I was on it, I didn’t have any choice
but to follow it to the end.

He leaned back in his chair. “It’s
just that you don’t hear of many people choosing to go into
something like that. Usually you’re born into it.”

Freddy seemed nice enough, but I
wasn’t about to pour out my soul to someone I’d just met. I
wondered how many questions he had. I guess I was about to find
out. He didn’t look like he planned to leave anytime
soon.

I poured milk over my cereal and
didn’t say anything.

My silence didn’t seem to deter him.
“Luke said you used to be a healer.”

“
I was.”

He leaned forward and a frown formed
on his brow. “I’ve never heard of a healer becoming a death
dealer.”

“
Neither have I,” I
answered honestly. I knew theoretically magic is magic, but healers
and death dealer were on the opposite ends of the spectrum. More
powerful clans could do different types of magic, I’d heard, but my
clan had always been healers. In theory, I should be able to do the
basics of the dark arts, even if I didn’t have the in-born talent
to become a master of them.

Whether possible or not, the rules
against it were clear. My clan would either shun me completely or
lock me away for even trying. It occurred to me that, at some dim
point in the past, it had to have been tried, and it’d gone badly
enough that a rule was necessary. Was I going to turn into some
kind of a monster? The thought shocked me, but I tried to keep to
the alarm off of my face, apparently without much
success.

“
You don’t have to worry.
Your secret is safe with me. Luke and I’ve been friends since we
could walk. Our parents have known each other for
years.”

My surprise must have shown on my
face, because he continued, “I know his kind usually sticks to
themselves, but our fathers grew up together. They aren’t related
by blood, but they were raised together like brothers.” Freddy’s
expression changed. He looked angry. “Luke says someone has Darla.
Someone’s holding her hostage. I told him that I want to come with
you guys and help.”

We could use all the help we could
get. But it wasn’t my call to make. “What did Luke say?”

“
That I’m not mage born.
But that doesn’t mean I can’t be useful. When he comes back will
you help me persuade him to let me come along? I can’t just sit by
and do nothing if Darla’s in danger.”

Luke had made it pretty clear he
didn’t want Freddy coming with us. I doubted anything I said would
change his mind. I shrugged my shoulders. “I’ll try.”

Freddy nodded and got up from the
table. “Help yourself to as much cereal as you want. There’s orange
juice in the fridge.”

“
Did Luke say when he’ll be
back?”

“
Nope.” Freddy gave me a
smile. “Don’t worry, Luke’s always liked to be a bit
mysterious.”

I took a spoonful of cereal
and tried not to worry. But my thoughts kept going back to the last
ritual. Every time I heard Luke’s words “
take a life
” ringing in my head, I
couldn’t help but shudder. I had survived the first two rituals. I
had no choice but to do this last one to gain power. I wanted to
save Darla, but I knew deep down revenge remained my main motive.
No matter how many times I kept repeating it to myself, I couldn’t
stop wondering if, when the time came, I could actually go through
with it. And if I did this awful thing, what would that make me? A
savior?

Or a Murderer?

* * * *

Luke came back at dusk. He offered no
apology for leaving me behind with a stranger and forcing me to
worry about his hide for hours. By the time he walked through the
door, I was more than a bit testy.

Luke smiled as he walked into the
room. “Hi.” He’d dressed all in black. A black sweat shirt, black
jeans and boots.

“
Hey,” I answered from the
couch, before continuing to flip through TV channels.

Luke had a gray duffel bag in each
hand. He walked over and put them down in front of me before
joining me on the couch. “How are you doing?”

“
I’m just fine and dandy.
Been here all day, watching TV and eating cereal.” I turned and
gave him a glare. “How’s your day been?”

“
I went back to
Pagan’s.”

I gasped. “You didn’t. We decided it
wasn’t worth the risk.”

“
I know we did, but there
were things I needed for the ritual I couldn’t get anywhere else.
Not out here.”

“
And were the
men…”

“
There was no one around.
They trashed the place though.” He frowned and ran a hand through
his hair. “They didn’t take anything that I could tell. It looked
like someone went through the place and just smashed stuff up for
the fun of it.”

A chill went through me. Pagan’s
beautiful converted barn, ruined. “Did you find what you were
looking for?”

“
I did.” He gestured toward
one of the duffel bags. “Just about everything we need. I also
stopped and did some shopping.” He took in my clothes. “I figured
you might want to wear something that actually fit.”

“
Thanks.”

He looked around the room. “Where’s
Freddy?”

“
Upstairs.”

“
We should get going soon.
There’s something else I need to get, and it may take a bit of
time.”

“
Freddy wants to come with
us. He wants to help.”

Luke shook his head. “It’s a bad
idea.”

“
I know he doesn’t have any
magic, but-”

“
I’m going to help get
Darla back.” Freddy’s voice sounded from the stairs.

Luke stood up. “I told you, it’s not a
good idea.”

Freddy walked down the stairs and over
to Luke until he stood toe to toe with him. “I’ve known Darla all
my life. If she’s in danger, I’m not just going to sit here and do
nothing.” He looked over at me. “If nothing else, I can hang back
and be a look out. Or be back up. If you two get caught, someone
has to be around to tell your family where to find you.”

Luke’s expression turned grim. “If we
get caught we’ll probably be dead by the time the family comes
back.”

Freddy crossed his arms. “All the more
reason you need my help.”

“
The magic they have is
powerful.”

A stubborn expression crossed Freddy’s
face. “I’m willing to take the risk.”

Luke didn’t say anything for a moment.
“Okay. You can help when we go after my sister. But you can’t come
with us tonight.”

“
But you might need
me…”

Luke held up his hand and stopped him.
“What we’re doing tonight isn’t something you can be a part of.
We‘ve put you in enough danger by coming here. Somehow they keep
finding us, and the longer we stay the more likely you’ll end up on
the bad guy’s radar.”

The two guys stood glaring at each
other.

Freddy was the first to break the
silence. “You promise you won’t head off to save Darla without
me?”

Luke nodded. “I promise.” He reached
out, and Freddy took his hand. “Thanks again for the use of the
car.”

“
You know whatever you
need, it’s yours,” Freddy answered.

Luke turned toward me. “Are you
ready?”

I nodded. Luke picked up
the bags and headed out the door
.

Apparently we were leaving.
Why the rush? I had no idea. Luke didn’t give me a chance to
question what he was up to. Nor was I going to get a chance to
change my clothes. Wherever we were going, apparently we were in a
hurry. I stood up and grabbed at the sweat pants before they fell
straight to the ground. A fist-full of material in one hand, I
headed
toward the door. Halfway there I
stopped and gave Freddy a half smile. “Thanks for
everything.”

“
Anytime. Hey, good
luck.”

We were going to need it. I
straightened my shoulders and headed out the door.

* * * *

I sat in the backseat of the car,
attempting to get into a pair of black jeans. Dressing was a lot
easier when you could do it standing up. Dressing in a moving
vehicle took agility and balance. They should turn it into an
Olympic sport, I thought, groaning as I tried to twist my leg up
high enough to get it into a pant leg.

“
How you doing back
there?”

“
Fine.” I finally wiggled
into the jeans, pulling them up and zipping them. “Where are we
going?”

“
There’s a certain plant I
need for the ritual. Not the plant actually, but an ointment that’s
derived from it. A woman who lives out here makes a lot of
ointments, teas and tinctures for the magic shop.”

My outfit now matched Luke’s--black
sweat shirt, black jeans and boots.

I slid over the front seat and settled
in next to him. Plants. I knew a lot about plants. Mama used to
make her own ointments and teas for the sick. I had just started to
learn how to make some of the more popular ones. “What are we
after?”

“
Devil’s
berries.”

I gasped. A nightshade plant. One of
the most toxic plants found in the eastern hemisphere. “You said
what you do isn’t murder, but to poison someone…”

He held up his hand. “This ointment
isn’t for the person you’re helping to crossover.”

“
Then for who?”

“
It’s for you.”

I was too shocked to answer. What did
he mean by that?

We drove in silence for a while before
Luke spoke up. “Have you heard of the twilight sleep?”

I nodded. “Something they did in the
eighteen hundreds. A way of putting you under, yet you weren’t
really under, you were still conscious. They did it for childbirth,
to deal with the pain. If it worked and, if it didn’t kill you, it
made you insensitive to the pain.” I stared at him in shock. “Using
devil’s berries to bring on the twilight sleep is crazy. They’re
too unpredictable.” I searched my memory for the lessons my mother
had given me on the nightshade plants. “They can cause vivid
hallucinations, delirium-”

“
-Paralysis, convulsions,
and even death. I know what can happen when you take the plant,
Colina.”

“
And you still want me to
use it?”

He took his eyes off the road a moment
to look over at me. “I do. You’ll have to trust me. It’s part of
the ritual.” He turned his attention back to the road. “I went by
the woman’s place earlier, but she wasn’t there. There was a note
on the shop’s front door that she’d be open again after
dinner.”