Dirt (The Dirt Trilogy) (17 page)

The door slams, rattling the windows.
“It’s gone! It’s gone! All
of it!” Ivy’s voice echoes through the house. I’ve never heard her
demure voice move beyond a loud hush.

At the sound, Rowen jumps from the bed and opens the door.
“What’s going on?” he asks Alder.
“Don’t know.” Chaos floods the air.
I rub my eyes trying to wake up. Rowen rushes out of the
room. I jump out of bed and run out behind him.
Ivy sits at the kitchen table, her white robe painted with dirt.
“It’s gone, all of it. I’m supposed to be its keeper…and….it…it’s
gone.” Her demeanor goes from panic to despair.
“Did you check everywhere?” Arcos asks. By now the entire
house has come to life and everyone is standing in the kitchen, their
faces blank with confusion.
“Everywhere. The entire area.” She’s out of breath. “They’ve
taken it all. How did they know?” Ivy’s crystal eyes pour clear blue
drops like a tropical fountain. It’s yellow muck, but she acts as if
she’s lost a loved one.
“Ruis,” Coll speaks up. Up until now, he’s hardly said a word.
“He’s told them everything.” His brethren is falling apart. I thought
I’d lost everything, but in fact Coll is losing his entire world. At
least, I’ve got Rowen. I’ve taken him from Coll’s world into mine.
The window provides a perfect view of the mounds of dirt
cluttering the ground. The once immaculate yard surrounding Ivy’s
house now looks like a graveyard waiting for freshly assigned
corpses. The serum is gone.
“What’s Ruis up to?” Rowen asks panning the disrupted view.
I take his hand to try to relieve his despair.“What will we do now?”
he asks.
“We go back to Montana. I know where there is more muck,” I
hold up the key.
Rowen towers over the empty holes in the ground. “I don’t
know if we can go back. Straif has the sister key, which locks the
Doorway of Feda from this side. If he’s locked it we won’t ever be
able to go back unless we get his key, plus bringing your father out
of hiding would put him at risk too. Straif can never find out he’s
here, especially now that he knows about the serum. Your father is
our only hope for the future.”
“Come on,” I say pulling him away from the yard and leading
him back to the house.
Ivy sits on the couch her face pale and empty.“Aunt Ivy, it’s
going to be okay,” I say kneeling at her feet.
Everyone sits around the room discussing options, while Cy
perches in the corner of the room with his eyes closed, apparently
trying to see something in his mind. As they ramble on amongst
one another without a viable decision, I speak up, “I know where
there is more serum.” I look back at Rowen for assurance. Everyone
stops at my comment.
“Where?” Alder asks.
“In Montana, buried in my yard.”
“Impossible. We can’t risk it,” Coll interjects. I knew he’d be
the first one to dismiss anything I said.
“Not impossible,” my grandfather says patting Coll on the
back. “She does have the key. But returning will be dangerous. And
we have to hope Straif has not already locked the door.”
“We understand that,” Rowen says, “but we have to find more
serum and Henry must remain in hiding to work on the formula. It’s
our only choice.”
Cy speaks up from his trance, “If you’re going to go then you
need to go now. Ruis is headed to the Doorway of Feda. He is
going to lock you in. You must go without haste.”
“I’m going with you,” Coll says staring in my direction. I’m in
total disbelief.“I want to make sure you bring my brother back.”
“You must go now,” Alder urges.
As we head toward the door, Ivy grabs my hand, her porcelain
face stained with tracks of tears. “Come back to us, Ashe; I could
not bear to lose you, too.”
“I will,” I say as I hug her tightly. Montana only has a limited
supply of muck and it will have to last between the three of us.
We’ll have to return in order to survive. Hopefully, we’ll have
enough to last us until Dad can conjure up more. I’m not dead and I
have Rowen, so it seems hope is enough…at least for now.
We rush out, mount the horses, and fly toward the Doorway of
Feda. I hate leaving my father behind, but I know he’s safer in Durt
than he’d be back in Montana.
I’m not thrilled about having Coll with us, but I know we need
him. His gift is irreplaceable. There is uncertainty of what we are
about to face, but I know having Coll can only increase our odds of
success.
Rowen pushes Ruamna to her limit, and the horses soar like
eagles, the wind blustering against us. On the ground below us, I
see black capes flowing on the backs of huge spotted creatures. The
Thorn is on the ground headed for the doorway. Instead of horses,
the black carpets ride massive cheetahs, their heads twice normal
size. Their bodies are muscular and they run at speeds defying the
capabilities of any car I’ve ever seen.
We race them from the sky and at this point we’re ahead of
them, but only by a small margin. They spot us overhead and force
their creatures onward.
Hitting the ground hard on the landing. I almost fall off of
Ruamna, but Rowen keeps me astride. We dismount and run for the
oak tree. It’s the same monstrous tree we portaled through in
Rowen’s Camaro. Its branches are twisted and tangled, reaching out
over and empty meadow as if it owns the land. Its trunk is several
feet wide and the bark a smooth rusty brown. There’s no time to get
Rowen’s car. We have to make a run for it.
The Thorn burst through the forest wall with their beasts
gnashing and gnarling. With only two or three strides, they are on
our heels. Coll runs through first, a burst of golden light beams
from the tree on his entry. The Thorn is right behind us. I pause for
a moment looking back. Ruis watches me as Rowen pulls me along.
The lost sentry locks eyes to mine. I think I see an ounce of his
true self seep through the vapidity of his eyes, but hope will not
help him. He’s gone and he isn’t coming back. He wants my blood
as Straif does. He’d drink the elixir of life at my sacrifice and never
give it a second thought.
Ruis stands alone with no sign of Straif. The dark leader must
have sent Ruis to do his dirty work.
“We’ve got to move, Ashe, let’s go,” Rowen says.
As we lunge into the trunk of the tree, a rush of light flashes in
front of me. As I float through the portal, I’m in a moment of
weightlessness. Then, something grabs hold of my heel. It’s a
member of The Thorn. I shake my foot and lose him for a split
second as we are flushed out of the doorway onto Montana’s soil.
Rowen pulls the key from my pocket and pushes it through a knot
in the tree. Instantly, the bark of the tree begins to change to a
glowing brown, surging up through each limb and every leaf. A
loud squeal pierces our ears and a hand protrudes from the trunk,
turning into wood. The hand looks like a malformed branch and
becomes a part of the tree itself.
“That’s what happens when the door is locked and someone is
still in the doorway. Gotta hurt,” Coll says.
I’m breathing heavily. The brothers are also a little out of
breath, but not as much as I am.
“We made it,” Rowen says.
We walk toward the highway. I’m so glad to be home, to see
something familiar.
The sun starts to set and we need to get to the Birches’ house as
soon as possible. We can figure things out in the morning. Even
though my house is gone, I’m home and it feels good.
“So, this is your beloved Montana? Not much to look at.”
Coll’s sarcasm is going to get old.
As we approach the Birches house, Coll’s face changes. He
blushes a bit. Their home is immaculate and bigger than anything
he’s seen before, except for Acrimony. He isn’t going to admit it,
but he’s impressed.
I’ll sleep better this night alongside Rowen. I know with the
door locked from this side, we’re safe from The Thorn. Maybe, he
could stay with me here in my world, but then I think about it and
know without my dad, I can’t stay anywhere. Without the yellow
muck I’ll disappear. I’m unsure of how much muck Dad has buried
and I don’t know when we’ll have to return to Durt, but I’m going
to enjoy my time here while it lasts.
When I wake early the next morning, I notice the air doesn’t
have the same refreshing feeling it usually does and I quickly
remember I’m not in Durt anymore. I look to my left and Rowen is
sleeping peacefully his face glowing as it did in his homeland. I
brush the back of my hand on his cheek and he grins. His eyes still
closed, he pulls me closer, and kisses me fully. I want him more
each second.
“It’s only us here you know?” I say, trying to be seductive,
something
I’m not skilled at and probably
have
no business
attempting.
“No, we’re not alone. Coll is here.”
“That’s an excuse,” I say. “Are you scared of me?” I’m trying
to be flirtatious, but I know I’m failing miserably.
“Yes, I am scared,” he says.
“Of what?” I’m sure the look on my face spells loser.
“Of what might happen if we did.”
“There’s no one here, except for Coll. Nothing will happen if
we don’t want it to.” I think I’m starting to sound desperate, but my
feelings are overpowering. For the first time I feel we’re, well,
adults. Alone. No one here to tell us no.
“Did you ever think about what might happen if we had a
child?” he asks.
Honestly, until this moment it hadn’t crossed my mind. I know
I want him and that’s all I can think about.
“Our child would be the first…well…the first of its kind. I
don’t even know what it would be capable of.” I have the biggest
lump in my gut. This is the worst kind of rejection I could have
imagined. He kneels down beside me on the bed, looks deep into
my eyes. “I want you more than anything. You have to know that.
I’d sacrifice anything for you. I’d sacrifice anything to be with
you…except…except our child. I don’t want him or her to go
through what you have gone through.” I know I look pitiful. “We’ll
work through all of this, but it’s going to take time. For now, know
I love you.”
“I know you do…but…why do you have to be so sensible?”
He chuckles. “You think I’m sensible? The first time I laid
eyes on you I lost all sensibility.” And he kisses me softly again. I
don’t want him to stop…ever.
“Hey, how do you turn the water on in here?” I hear Coll
calling from the kitchen. He’s lost and I love it, but he stops Rowen
in the midst of our ecstasy and I don’t appreciate that at all.
“Come. We have a lot to do and a lot to figure out.” Rowen
takes my hand pulling me away from the bed.
“Hey, somebody show me how to find the water in here?” Coll
is flustered. An unfamiliar feeling he doesn’t like.
I turn the respective knobs, “hot and cold.”
I pull some dried cereal together for breakfast. The milk has
gone bad and the bread molded.
After
breakfast Rowen tries
to crank the Birches old
Thunderbird, but it won’t start. It’s been rebuilt like Rowen’s
Camaro. “Needs water.”
“No problem. I’ll get the hose.”
“That’s not going to help. We have to use water brought here
from Durt. The water here has too many contaminants.”
I once thought Darby was the purest place in the world. Really,
there isn’t a place as clean and perfect as Durt.
“We’re going to need a car. I can call Taylie.”
“Can she keep her mouth shut?” Coll says.
“We’re going to have to hope she does. She’s the only person
around here I trust.”
“That doesn’t say much.” Coll cuts everything I say with a
butcher knife.
Rowen jumps in.“You two are going to have to get along if
we’re going to get anywhere.”
“I’m not about to try and meet him half-way. I didn’t ask him
to come. He volunteered.”
“Get hurt again and I bet you won’t say that, bithling,” Coll
sneers.
“Enough! If you don’t want to be here, Coll, then go back to
Durt. I’ll gladly open the door for you! Why did you come?” I’ve
never heard Rowen raise his voice before. “I love her and you’re
going to have to accept it…or leave.”
Coll doesn’t say a word. He sits in a state of morose silence
when he finally finds words to respond. “Because you are my only
brother. Because I don’t want to lose you. That’s why I’m here.”