Eternal Island (Book 1 in the Eternal Series) (3 page)

“You’re a witch?”

“Finally! You should play Jeopardy; someone’s got to lose.”

“I am crazy.”

Rainey didn’t comment. She wasn’t in the mood for any more twisted conversation, at least until they were airborne. Once outside, she put a spell on the whole hospital, to be sure, and then rushed Ariana to the van.

After dropping their beautiful transportation outside the airport/auto rental office, now in darkness, Rainey led Ariana to the plane.

“We’re flying?” Ariana asked, her face a mask of terror.

“Yep.”

“Ooohh, I hate flying.”

Rainey took Ariana’s hand and pulled her up the steps. “Just buckle up and quit whining. You’ll be fine. I’m a pro. Or do you want me to knock you out for the duration?”

“I’ve had enough of being
out
, thank you very much,” Ariana mumbled, fastening her seat belt with shaky fingers.

She leaned back in her seat and looked out the window, trying to focus on calm thoughts so she wouldn’t pass out in fright. Rainey was right – she didn’t seem to handle fainting all that well.

The plane took off and they were on their way to some place she had never heard of. She didn’t know anyone there or even what they were, for that matter. Ariana wasn’t sure what she was getting into, but she had a feeling it was something very big. Despite having been in a coma for so long, she found she was simply exhausted by the recent events. She rubbed her stiff neck and shoulders and her eyes drifted closed. A dreamless sleep consumed her.

C
HAPTER 4

She woke to Rainey singing along to music coming from the cockpit speakers. It was now daylight and she wondered as she blinked from the glare how long she’d slept. “Tell me more about witch-land,” she said as she sat up a little straighter in her seat.

Rainey tapped one of the controls, and the tunes of Matchbox Twenty subsided. “About what? Oh, Eternal Island?”

“Yeah. I mean, I can’t back out now, so you may as well tell me everything. If you expect me to live there, I’ll need to know as much as possible about it.”

“It’s a big kingdom, and there are a lot of humans that live on the island; I don’t want you to think that you are the only one. You will make friends fast and… What’s wrong with you? Are you crying?”

Sniff, sniff. “No.”

“Why are you crying, Ariana? I told you – you will be happy there.”

“But I will never see my friends or my husband ever again. Janie will be so upset when she finds out I’m gone.” Suddenly she stiffened, her shoulders tense. “My husband! Michael! That’s the bad news that put me in a coma, isn’t it? Michael’s dead,” she wailed.

Rainey passed her a tissue and stayed silent, waiting for Ariana’s sobs to quiet down. When the tears subsided, Rainey spoke again.

“Well, I can’t do anything about your husband’s accident, but there might be a chance your friends could come, too. But first we’ll have to ask the King.”

“Who’s the King?” Ariana asked, her body still quivering with dry sobs.

“One very nice specimen of the other beings that inhabit the island.” Rainey shot a sideways glance at Ariana, to make sure she had her full attention. Her breathing was almost back to normal, a good sign. Oh, well, here goes, she thought. “Eternal Island is run by vampires.”

“What? So they’re ready for dinner and you suddenly thought of me? Thanks a bunch, but I’m not fast food.”

“Chill out, they aren’t monsters, and they’re not going to eat you. They look just like you and me. Sheesh, Hollywood has a lot to answer for, scaring people like that. Honestly. Vampires are nothing like the movies. Well, not exactly like the movies. They can’t go out in the sun and they do drink blood, but apart from that… most of them have a soul and are nice. Well… some of them aren’t. But they can love and be heartbroken, and feel emotions, just like us. For blood, they use the island’s meekers – humans or witches who give them their blood willingly. They get some kind of high when a vampire takes their blood. I wouldn’t know; I’ve never tried it.”

“Is that what I am supposed to become? A meeker?”

“No, no.” Rainey thought fast. She couldn’t tell her the real reason she was being brought to the island. It would have to appear Ariana was no different than anyone else on the island. “You will be a maid in the palace, unless you choose otherwise.” She breathed a sigh of relief, glad Ariana had said ‘meeker’ and not ‘vampire’. She moved on quickly, to keep Ariana’s thoughts from straying to alternatives.

“The King and High Vampire’s name is Abe and he is over nine hundred years old. He is respected by all who live on the island and I am his personal psychic witch.”

“Vampires don’t exist!” Ariana mumbled quietly, shaking her head.

She put her hands on either side of her face, trying to stop its dizzying spinning from the information she’d had to digest in just the past few hours. She wondered vaguely if this plane was some sort of new model of mental hospital, and she hadn’t left at all. Memories of the nurse’s stunned and blank expression weaved their way through and she was forced to concede that there could be witches. Rainey had proven that much. But could she be right again, about vampires?

“Vampires are everywhere, and some of them are bad. You might have been living next door to one, you’d never know. Abe doesn’t tolerate bad behavior. He already has and will again kick vampires, witches, and humans off the island for insolence and insubordination.”

“Is he gross looking? Really wrinkly? I mean, he’s so old.”

Rainey laughed. “No, Abe was thirty-four when he was changed into a vampire and he still looks thirty-four.” Rainey glanced at Ariana and gave her a wink. “You’ll see.”

“I am actually going to live on an island with real witches and vampires,” Ariana spoke, eyes unfocused, as if she was trying to convince herself she wasn’t crazy. “This is so freaky, I must be still in a coma, having medication-distorted dreams.”

“You’re perfectly healthy. Now, do you want to hear more?”

Ariana didn’t answer, so Rainey kept going. She wasn’t sure how much of this would actually get through to her, but it would keep her calm until they landed, hopefully.

She cleared her throat and spoke in a calm, soothing voice.

“Eternal Island is very large. We have all the modern conveniences there: electricity, restaurants, clubs, even a shopping mall. There are tons of things to do. There are a lot of humans, witches and vampires and they all act like normal people. You will make friends fast, I promise, Ariana.”

“The vampires made the island theirs about four hundred years ago because some of the human population found out that vampires and witches weren’t just a fairy tale. They started burning people at the stake, even innocent people who merely looked or acted different, and there were gangs of vampire slayers searching every settlement in every country in the world. An old vampire from Europe named Calsonic traveled the world and found a large piece of land about a hundred and fifty miles off the coast of California and he called it Eternal Island. He invited vampires from all over the world to come live on his island. He swore it was safe. He laid down the law, that humans could come but they couldn’t leave. They would live among each other in peace. He didn’t want the slayers to find out where the island was. If a human was insolent, they were given a choice to die or be turned.

“Eventually, the slayers did find the island and murdered many vampires, but they were all killed before they could get away. Then Calsonic had the idea to invite witches to stay on the island, as well, so they could protect the vampires during the day while they slept, and the vampires would protect the witches at night.

“The strongest witch, Magnagail, told Calsonic of her special power, which was to make things appear as if they weren’t there, and so he approved of her idea to make the island invisible to humans. She also said she could erase memories, and so he agreed to let humans leave if they so wished, but only if their memories were erased first. A lot has changed, and there are witches living with vampires, humans with witches, even humans with vampires.”

Rainey looked at Ariana as she said this last part to gauge her reaction. Abe would die if the girl found him repulsive because he had fangs or had to drink blood to live. She may think it scary, and that was to be expected, but if she didn’t want to be around the vampires because of their lifestyle, Abe would have a serious problem. The look on her face didn’t seem to be of disgust, another good sign. Rainey smiled to herself, wishing she could tell Ariana that the most powerful vampire on Eternal Island was madly in love with her. All in due time Rainey, soon, very soon.

“Oh no. Bad timing. Really bad timing. Ariana, I need you to do me a huge favor. Please?”

“What?”

“I feel a vision coming on and I really need to see what it is. I won’t be able to fly the plane and see the vision, too, but if you will…”

“Are you serious?”

“As a heart attack.”

“No! Absolutely not! I don’t know the first thing about flying. I am scared to death of heights, and that’s when I have solid ground under my feet.”

“Ariana…”

“Please don’t make me, Rainey. I can’t. I’m sorry.”

“It’s either that or crash. Now, I don’t want you to be frightened, okay? There really is nothing to flying. All you have to do is keep an eye on the controls, anyway. I’ve got it set on auto-pilot. Don’t touch anything. Just watch this panel. If that light there turns red, shake me out of my trance. Are you comfortable? You’re flying.”

“I’m flying? I’m flying!”

“You’re flying,” Rainey repeated, matter-of-factly. “You’re the one in charge now. It will only take me a couple of minutes, I hope. If you need me just punch me in the arm and I will come out of it. Not too hard or I’ll hit you back,” Rainey joked, trying to ease Ariana’s tension.

It didn’t seem to have worked. Ariana’s teeth were clenched and her eyes were glued to the control panel. She looked completely unable – or unwilling – to blink.

“Okay. Just hurry, please.”

Rainey leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes. The vision slammed into her frontal lobe. Julia planning something, but what was it? It wasn’t clear. Abe, Julia, Max, Jonah and herself were there and she sensed… Ariana was in trouble. What was Jonah doing there? It was a double-sided vision. One whose outcome is controlled by a choice that is made by the person the vision is intended for. But who was it for? There were so many people in that vision. This can’t be right, she thought. Rainey continued to pick at the abstract thoughts in her head. Abe looked pissed and he was crying. And Julia was smiling. Something was definitely wrong. The last vision she’d had on the island was of Ariana’s arrival, and how it would all work out for the better. Why was Abe so upset?

I’ve got to get out of this vision and call him right now, Rainey thought.

C
HAPTER 5

Rainey opened her eyes to find she was hyperventilating. She couldn’t remember the last time a vision made her do that, in fact it hadn’t ever happened.
I’ve got to calm myself down or I’ll be the one passing out, and this plane is as good as crashed if that happens,
Rainey thought to herself.

“Please tell me
that
is normal,” Ariana said. Her eyes were darting from the plane’s control panels to take in Rainey’s expression and back again, tension radiating from her every limb.

Rainey glanced at the controls before she answered. “Actually… no, it isn’t, but it wasn’t a normal vision, either. No need to worry. Yet. I think. I just need to…” She trailed off, thinking hard. “You seem well in control to me, so I’ll just go make a quick phone call.” How the hell am I supposed to have a majorly important conversation with Abe when Ariana’s right beside me, hearing things I’m not supposed to tell her? Damn! If I’d just kept the vision of Ariana to myself none of this would be happening. She wouldn’t be here, Abe would be his usual annoying vampire self, and everything would stay perfectly normal.

“Wait! What do you mean – I seem well in control? I’m not. I’m really not. Some machine is
in control
of my life right now and you’re asking me to trust it, as if being in a
witch-controlled
plane wasn’t bad enough. Then you tell me to keep an eye on it, as if I had the faintest idea what to do if something did go wrong. And you look like you’ve just met death face to face. You look scared, I’m scared, so it can’t get any worse. Spill it. What was that vision about?”

Rainey snapped her eyes shut and prayed for divine inspiration, or the last half hour’s travel to become one minute, or a modestly good idea to pass her mind, at least. This girl was much too clever to fob off with soothing words.

“Please tell me about it, Rainey. Please. I won’t faint, I promise.” Ariana waited to gauge the witch’s reaction. The determination and tightly clamped lips had given way to a resigned look and shallow breathing. Seizing her chance, Ariana pressed again. “Didn’t you know? A problem shared is a problem halved. I’m here and I can listen. You want to talk about it?” She really wasn’t sure she could handle it, but she was going to damn well try.

“Do I want to talk about it? More than you know, princess. I do appreciate your offer and I would gladly talk, under different circumstances. But, this time, I can’t. I swore I wouldn’t say a word.”

A moment’s silence filled the cabin. Ariana’s eyes were staring, unseeing, at the controls. Rainey’s gaze was totally unfocused, though inspiration, good ideas and further visions remained infuriatingly out of reach. Time dragged just as frustratingly slow as expected.

“We still have a good fifteen minutes to kill, so what shall we talk about? What kind of music do you like?”

“I don’t know. All kinds, I guess.” Ariana took a deep breath and blurted out. “What’s so bad about this vision, that you won’t tell me? Was it about me? Am I going to die?”

“I told you, I can’t tell you. Stop pestering.”

“Why? Don’t you trust me? I can keep a secret, you know? I mean, we’re friends now, right? I wouldn’t have set foot on a plane, comatose or not, if I didn’t think of you as a friend already.”