Ending ELE (ELE Series) (2 page)

The memory of something horrible tickles the edges of my
mind. My hand starts shaking and Tony pulls me tightly to him. He pets my hair with his hand in a soothing gesture. “Don’t think about it, Willow. Not today. Today is ours—not theirs. We won’t let them take away this moment,” he whispers into my ear.

Then I hear the sound of a door opening. Frosty air rushes over me and the world goes dark for a minute.

The frozen air sends a wave of icy shivers through my body. Instinctively, I feel behind me for Tony but he’s not there. I open my eyes to find him near the front door, taking off his snow-covered boots. His head lifts up and his gaze meets mine. His eyes brighten and a smile warm enough to melt away the cold crosses his lips. With a handful of logs in his arms, he quietly steps over my family and friends, who are spread out in front of the warm fireplace. He places the logs on the hearth, takes two of them, and sticks them into the fire. Then he turns to me.

Conf
usion washes over me as I recall the dream I was having before the cold air woke me. I look down at my dad and Sabby, who are sleeping soundly on the floor near my friends. The dream had felt too real. One minute I’m in Tony’s arms and the next I’m waking up. It doesn’t make sense. Then again, I’ve had enough visions to know that dreams aren’t always just dreams.

Apparently,
Tony notices that I’m lost in thought. He places his cold hands on my bare arms.

I almost squeal
at the icy touch. “Cold,” I tell him in a breathless whisper, careful not to wake anyone up.

Suppressing
a laugh, he places his warm lips on mine. “Morning,” he says on my lips.

Flashbacks from the earlier vision invade my thoughts
again. “Hey, what day is it today?” With all that’s been happening, I’ve completely lost track of time.

“
December 12
th
, why?” He looks at me with his tornado eyes and I can’t help but reach out and touch his cheek with the side of my hand.

Two months until
Valentine’s Day. Two months until… until I’m engaged? The thought makes me nervous and giddy at the same time. Then reality clouds my vision. Why was I so worrisome in the vision, if that’s what that feeling was? Where did everyone go? Tony said they were safe… but were they really?

“
Hey,” Tony says, interrupting my thoughts. He places his hand on mine, the one that was caressing his face just moments ago. “What did you see?” he asks.

I stare at
him, stunned for a second. “Huh?” I ask.

“
Your eyes, they’re copper,” he says knowingly. “Did you have a vision? What was it?”

I blink a few times, not sure how to answer him.
Instinctively, I throw a block up in my mind.

Tony looks taken aback at my sudden use of the shielding power, but what am I supposed to tell him?
Yes, I just flashed forward to Valentine’s Day and guess what… I accepted your proposal to become your wife
. Yeah, that’ll go off really well. Plus, would the proposal really be genuine if he already knows ahead of time that he’s going to ask or that I’m going to accept? What if my vision prompts him to ask me the question? What if he doesn’t really want to ask me to marry him but he feels compelled to because I’m already expecting it? I roll my eyes at the game of twenty-one questions that I seem to be playing with myself this morning.

“
Are you okay, Willow?” Tony’s look turns to worry, his eyes creasing in the middle.

I nod my head and try to soften the mood.
“I had a strange dream. I don’t remember much of it though.” He doesn’t seem to buy my excuse so I change the subject. “Hey, thanks for bringing in the wood. The fire was about to go out.”

He eyes me for a second longer before he
stands up and breaks the connection. Crossing over the sleeping bodies, he pokes the fire with the iron rod.

“
It’s cold out there,” he says, making small talk. “Looks like we may get more snow.” He can tell I’m hiding something but, thankfully, he doesn’t pry.

Claire stirs next to
me, followed by Connor. Soon, everyone is sitting up, rubbing their eyes. Connor’s hair is sticking up every which way, with a handprint left on his face from how he slept.

“
Hey hot stuff,” I say, shooting him a grin.

The confused look he gives me is priceless.
Claire seems confused until she looks at Connor. Pretty soon, we’re giggling like schoolgirls. This wakes up Alec and Marya, which makes us laugh harder because Alec’s hair mimics Connor’s. Everyone is looking at us like we’ve lost our minds. Marya grins at us, understanding our inside joke. She playfully pats down Alec’s messy bed head. He gives us a grimace when he sees we were laughing at his hair, the annoyance never reaching his eyes.

After a few minutes, the laughter dies down and w
e all fall into a quiet silence. My dad and brother are still heavily asleep. I stare at my dad with concern. His breathing seems labored and I can see his eyes moving back and forth under his eyelids. Every few seconds, he makes a spastic movement.

Eventually, my dad
’s unrest wakes Sebastian up just enough to crawl into my lap. He falls back asleep as he curls into my arms. I rub my hand across his curls. His hair is a lot longer now and I notice that it’s losing the tight ringlets it once possessed. Now his curls are looser, making him look older. Like the five year old he’s about to become. The thought reminds me—if today is December 12
th
, then that means Sebastian’s birthday is in three days, on December 15
th
. I make a mental note to find a way to make it special for him.

With a heavy intake of air, my dad shoots up into sitting position. He breathes heavily as he looks about the room
frantically from side to side. His eyes are glowing with intensity. They are a fiery pit of melted copper. His gaze finally lands on my brother and me.

“
What happened? What did you see?” I ask in alarm. Knowing that a startling wake up like he just had has to mean he was in a deep vision entrancement.

“
We have to go now! They’re coming.” With that, he jumps to his feet and grabs Sebastian’s coat. I wake Sabby up and he gives us a grouchy look but doesn’t say anything.

We don
’t wait to ask more questions. Within seconds, the room is one huge blur of frantic activity. Tony, who is already dressed for the cold weather, is stuffing food supplies, blankets, and flashlights in a duffle bag. “How much time?” he calls out to my dad, who is helping Sebastian get on his shoes.

I throw on my coat and take over
, helping Sebastian so my dad can focus on answering.

“
I don’t know. With it being overcast outside, I couldn’t tell the time of day. I know they will come when the sky is filled with snow. So much snow that we won’t see them coming through the windows,” my father says.

“
Was it the soldiers, Dad?” I ask.

He blinks his eyes rapidly as if
trying to put some pieces together. “No...” He runs his hands through his hair in frustration. “No, at least I don’t think it was. They didn’t have on any uniforms like the ones we saw last night. This was a smaller group but they came...” His eyes nearly fill with tears but he swallows the emotions down. “They came for you, Willow. They don’t plan to take hostages. They just wanted you and were not going to let any of us stop them. They will use lethal force if necessary to achieve their goal.” His gaze lands on Sebastian and I can only assume that something happened to my brother in that vision.

My heart lurches. How many times will my loved ones be put in danger because of me?
Why do I keep putting them in this situation?

“
You are not the one putting them in danger. The ones who are against us are to blame. Don’t confuse the two, Willow. You have done nothing to deserve any of this,”
Tony says inside my mind.

I finish tying Sebastian
’s shoes and look up to catch Tony staring at me from across the room. I merely nod, not convinced that everything he’s saying is true. The danger has come to us
because
of me.

“
No, it’s because of them,”
Tony demands. His face is full of emotion.

“
You don’t always have to listen to my thoughts.”
I don’t realize I’m glaring at him until his expression drops. Guilt rushes in and over me.
“I’m sorry Tony. I... I hate this. All of this!”
I gesture around the room
. “Running, we are always running.”

He crosses the room
swiftly, using his unearthly speed. I stand up when he reaches me.

“
It won’t always be like this. I promise. We will find a way in this crazy world. I promise you,” Tony tells me in a whispered voice. He tenderly tucks a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

My eyes well up with tears and the emotion is thick in my voice when I say,
“I hope so.”

His hand rests on my cheek and for a
moment, it’s just Tony and me in this room. He leans in to kiss me.

“
Ewwww! That gross!” Sebastian calls out before our lips meet.

We both let out an
embarrassed laugh and look down at my little brother. His face is all scrunched up, like he smelled something horribly stinky.

Tony ruffles Sabby
’s hair. “You won’t always think that way, sport.”

“
Yes I will!” Sabby throws his hands on his hips and stands up tall, prompting another round of laughs from us.

“
Let’s move,” my dad calls out from behind us. His voice holds a serious tone, reminding us of the severity of the situation. “Now!” With that call to action, the room is a blur of movement again. We grab our things and step out into the blustery cold together.

“
The snow is picking up,” Marya says. Alec instinctively drapes his arm around her.

When we
’re almost to the lake, I look back at the cabin. The snow is falling in thick sheets now. I can barely see the light from the fireplace at this distance.

Tony looks back at the cabin too.
“They’re here,” he whispers.

Our whole group stops
, crouching in the snow and we try to stare through the blizzard-like conditions. A black silhouette crosses in front of the lit-up window. We hold our breath as two more silhouettes walk to the front of the cabin. I can see the outline of the assault rifle hanging from one of their backs. We watch one of them kick open the front door. Two more large figures come up behind the group of three. Armed, they enter the cabin.

We should probably be putting some distance between the cabin and us, but something has us glued to this spot. We watch for several minutes as they search the cabin in silence. After a few minutes, a man steps back out into the cold. I can barely make out his frame but something about him is familiar.
“Search the forest!” he yells to the others.

It was loud enough for us to hear his order from here. Alec and I turn to each other in the next instant. Recognition of that voice is clear in both of our expressions. This was no stranger hunting us. That was Alec
’s dad.

Without another word, we
’re on our feet and running. With Claire and me keeping everyone invisible, we make our way around the lake and through the forest. Tony stays behind, wiping away our tracks in the snow. My dad guides us in the direction of the second safe house. We don’t stop running until after a few hours have passed. We all take turns carrying Sebastian and doing our best to keep him warm. Needing to take a break, we stop behind a large grouping of evergreens. We listen intently for several minutes to verify that we weren’t followed. Everyone takes the time to catch their breaths. A few of us take sips of water to make sure we stay hydrated.

I shiver as the sweat turns icy on my forehead. Tony throws his arm around me to lend me
his warmth. My lungs feel like they have been cut up and down by the icy intakes of air I breathed during our quick escape. It takes only a few seconds and my healing ability for me to heal whatever parts of me are weary. I put my hand on my dad’s shoulder and focus my healing on him. Alec and Tony catch on and do the same for the others.

With
Sebastian being carried most of the way, he seems to be fine but I put my hands on him anyway. He giggles a little. “That feel funny, Wello.”

Although my stomach is still filled with the dread of seeing Alec
’s dad back in the picture, I manage to muster up a smile for my brother. I turn my attention to Tony and my dad, who are talking about the safe house.

“
How much further do you think we have to go?” he asks my dad.

“
I would guess we can be there within a few hours,” my dad answers.

“
Do you think the soldiers found that safe house?” Connor asks.