Flight of Life (Essence Series #1) (33 page)

Weston stared at him for a moment
before she spoke. “Thank you,” she said. “It’s beautiful.” She ran
her fingers over the surface of the glass and felt the gems under
her fingers. When Calloway saw it at the store it immediately
reminded him of her. It was the only gift he saw that matched her
unparalleled beauty.

He nodded then handed Breccan his gift.
It was a baseball set that included a bat and a glove. Breccan was
happier with this gift than the blanket that his mother
hand-quilted for him. “Alright!” he said. “We’re going to have to
play when the weather clears.”

When Calloway looked at his aunt he saw
the saddened expression on her face. Calloway felt insensitive for
getting Breccan a gift that he preferred over his mother’s. His
heart tightened in his chest when he saw his aunt’s smile falter.
It was never his intention to make her feel bad—now he felt like a
jerk.

Aunt Grace handed Calloway an envelope.
“This is from me and your uncle.”

Calloway stared at the package for a
moment. He wasn’t sure why he was getting an extra gift and Breccan
wasn’t. When he opened the letter, several hundred dollar bills
fell out and landed on the floor.

“
While we appreciate the
offer, we refuse your money.” Aunt Grace smiled. “That is yours to
keep.”

Calloway grabbed the money from the
ground and returned it to the envelope. He was disappointed his
ploy hadn’t worked; that his family didn’t take the money and
assume that they forgot about the extra cash. The reason why he
found a job was to help his family. He didn’t want them to pay for
his mistake. “I don’t want it,” he said. “It was my fault the
camera was destroyed. I don’t want you to pay for it.”

“
Calloway,” Uncle Scott
said seriously. “We don’t want it.”

“
No,” Calloway said. “You
shouldn’t have to pay for it. I really don’t mind.”

Aunt Grace smiled. “You’re very sweet,
Calloway, but this isn’t your responsibility. Please stop placing
money in my wallet.”

He felt defeated. Since his aunt and
uncle hadn’t said anything for several weeks he assumed his plan
was working. The stern look on Uncle Scott’s face convinced him
that he wasn’t going to win; they wouldn’t take the money. Calloway
sighed. “Okay.”

“
Thank you,” Aunt Grace
said.

Calloway placed the bills inside his
wallet and leaned against the fireplace, astonished that his aunt
and uncle refused his aid. The whole reason why he got a job to
begin with was to pay for the camera. He wished they would let him
help.

“
I’ll take it,” Breccan
said.

Calloway smiled at him. “What would you
buy? Food?”

Breccan shook his head. “Where did this
label come from?” He laughed. “Yes, I like food but that’s because
my mom knows how to cook. If she was terrible at it I would
probably hate eating.”

“
Well, Calloway lives here
too and he doesn’t have an eating problem,” Easton said.

“
I don’t have an eating
problem!” Breccan said. “I’m thin.”

“
For now.” Weston
smiled.

They sat around the fireplace and
talked for a few hours before the darkness of night descended
outside the windows. None of the house lights were on and only the
hearth illuminated the living room, sending shadows across the
walls. They had more cups of hot cocoa and drank their mugs by the
warmth of the fire, lying under their hand-quilted blankets while
they lounged on the floor. Aunt Grace and Uncle Scott eventually
went upstairs to bed while the rest of them stayed
downstairs.

Easton was leaning against the couch,
tucked underneath the warm blanket Aunt Grace made for her. Weston
was staring at the fire while she played with a strand of her brown
hair. The lock slid through her fingers then fell to her shoulder.
The light of the flames highlighted the color of her cheeks, and
Calloway could see the dancing flames in her eyes. Calloway forced
his gaze away and looked outside the window before he became
hypnotized by the sight. Breccan was sleeping on the floor with the
baseball glove on his hand.

The blackness obscured the outside
landscape but the street lamps illuminated the patches of grass and
the fencing around the house. Christmas was almost over and
Calloway didn’t want it to end. This was one of the best holidays
he ever experienced and he didn’t want it to slip away. He
suspected such a magical day would never come into his life again.
Next year Weston may not be sitting across from him and he wouldn’t
be able to stare at the beauty of the world through the reflection
in her eyes. Soon, he’ll be back at school where he would be
tormented again, harassed because he couldn’t afford a change of
clothes or a new backpack. He didn’t want to return to reality—he
wanted to live in this moment forever. Even Breccan’s quiet snores
were a comfort. Calloway sighed as he stared out the window, trying
to slow time by sheer will alone.

A slight movement outside caught his
attention and made Calloway stiffen. It happened so fast he wasn’t
sure what he saw. He was feeling sleepy and lethargic, so perhaps
he didn’t see anything at all—just dreamed it—but then he saw it
again. There was a quick movement but it was difficult to
distinguish in the darkness. Suddenly, a shape moved under the
light of a streetlamp and stood still. A Hara-Kir stopped and
stared directly at Calloway through the window. Their eyes locked
for a moment before the Hara-Kir disappeared back into the
night.

Calloway stood up and felt his heart
race. He stepped closer to the glass and peered through the window,
trying to locate the wandering Hara-Kir. It was his worst fear—the
creatures knew where he lived. What if they tried to attack his
aunt and uncle when they went to work? Calloway knew he had to kill
it before it communicated his location to the others.

Easton caught his stern expression.
“What is it?” she asked.

Calloway turned to her. “A Hara-Kir is
outside,” he whispered. “I just saw it.”

Weston was on her feet before Calloway
could react. She marched into the kitchen and pulled long knife
from the drawer and returned to the living room. Breccan woke up at
the sound of their conversation and he rubbed the sleep from his
eyes.

“
I’ll take care of it,”
Weston said. “Stay here.”

“
We’re coming,” Calloway
said firmly. “One of them is at my house. I need to make sure it’s
killed.”

“
What?” Breccan asked
sleepily.

“
A Hara-Kir is outside,”
Easton said.

Breccan rose to his feet.
“It’s
here
?”

Calloway nodded. “Let’s take care of
this before it can report to the others.”

Weston pressed her hand against his
chest. “You’re staying, Calloway.”

“
We don’t have time for
this,” Easton snapped. “We are helping—get over it.”

“
You promised,” Weston
said.

“
We aren’t hunting them,”
Calloway said. “At this point we are defending ourselves. I won’t
let them harm my family. You can’t stop me, Weston.”

Weston stormed to the front door.
“Fine,” she said. “Do you have weapons?”

They pulled out their knives. “We never
go anywhere without them,” Breccan said.

“
Okay,” Weston said.
“Let’s go.” They walked through the door and closed it behind them.
The cold winter chill immediately dampened Calloway’s jacket and he
missed the warmth of the hearth. It was slightly windy and it blew
Weston’s hair around her shoulders. They marched to the driveway
and looked around into the night. None of them spoke as they
searched for the Hara-Kir in the darkness.

“
There,” Weston whispered.
She pointed to the figure down the street. They saw the cloak of
the Hara-Kir fly in the wind underneath the light of the streetlamp
then it disappeared. “Come on.”

They ran across the street and toward
the corner. Easton ran alongside her sister.

“
Why is he running from
us?” she asked. “Why would he come to Calloway’s home and then take
off?”

“
He probably didn’t
anticipate so many of us being inside,” Calloway said. “He could
see us through the window.”

“
That still doesn’t make
sense,” she said in between breaths. “Instead of lingering outside
he could have killed us before we realized what was happening.
Something isn’t adding up.”

“
It doesn’t matter,”
Weston said as she rounded the corner. “It needs to be killed
anyway.”

They turned down the street and saw the
Hara-Kir sprinting down the road, heading toward the abandoned
houses of the neighborhood. His form was difficult to distinguish
under the street lamps and he disappeared altogether when he
reached the abandoned street. They sprinted down the street toward
the running Hara-Kir.

“
He’s getting away!”
Weston yelled.

The abandoned district had houses that
were run-down and beyond repair. The wood of the buildings was torn
asunder and weakened by the termites that chewed through the bark.
All the windows in the houses were shattered and the pieces of
glass littered the road. Refuge from the houses were scattered
across the wild grass of the lawns, and kitchen sinks and broken
bathtubs were randomly dispersed across the front of the houses.
There was a large field that stretched out behind them toward the
farmlands of the city. They stopped when they reached the deserted
lane.

“
Where’d it go?” Breccan
asked.

“
We’re never going to find
it in this rubble,” Easton said.

The front door of a house creaked as it
moved and they all heard the sound. Calloway stepped toward the
entranceway. “It probably went inside.” He didn’t like the
situation they were in. It was as if the Hara-Kir lured them to
this exact spot. He felt his hands go numb. “I’m not sure about
this. It doesn’t feel right.”

Weston walked to the door. “We’ll be
fine,” she said. “There are four of us. Plus, I’m a trained
professional.”

“
I still don’t like this,”
Calloway said as he looked around. “Something is off.”

Weston opened the door and walked
inside. Calloway immediately sprinted after her, not wanting her to
enter the house alone. Her powerful skills as a fighter were not
novel to Calloway but he couldn’t let her walk into the house
unprotected. Easton and Breccan followed right behind
him.

When they were inside, Weston looked
around the empty living room with her blade held at the ready. The
house was too dark to decipher anything and Calloway could barely
see Weston standing in front of him. He grabbed her hand. “I don’t
like this,” he said. “Let’s leave.”

“
No,” she
whispered.

Calloway didn’t want to reveal his
glowing orb to Weston but he didn’t have a choice. If he abandoned
her to the darkness he was afraid she would be killed, so he pulled
out the orb and squeezed it. The light illuminated the room and
Weston glanced at the orb in his hand before she focused on the
room. A Hara Kir was standing in the corner staring at them, just a
few a feet away. Calloway felt his heart explode in his
chest.

It started to hiss as it breathed
heavily, and Calloway gripped his blade tightly. The four of them
could kill this creature quickly—there was no doubt about that—but
he was still frightened at the same time.

The front door burst open and Easton
screamed. The sounds of running footsteps could be heard on the
staircase to their right and Calloway realized what was
happening—they were being ambushed.

The Hara-Kir in the corner rushed at
Weston and she swung her blade at his heart and attacked him with
ferocity. Calloway knew she could protect herself so he turned to
his two friends and came to their aid. Five of the creatures were
attacking them and Calloway swung his blade at the first Hara-Kir
he saw. Easton screamed again and Calloway sprinted toward her. She
had a deep cut on her arm and Calloway shoved her behind him, out
of harm’s way, and pursued the Hara-Kir that tried to kill her. He
stabbed the Hara-Kir in the heart then he saw Easton add her own
blade to his chest. Calloway pulled out his blade and stabbed it
once more and the creature finally fell backwards onto the
floor.

There were too many for the three of
them to work together, so they stabbed at their individual
opponents and tried to avoid the punches and attacks by the
Hara-Kirs. Breccan’s Hara-Kir had a short blade and he was aiming
it for Breccan’s throat. Calloway jumped in the way and punched the
creature in the face. The Hara-Kir stepped back and tried to disarm
Calloway without hurting him. Finally, Calloway killed the creature
and it fell to the floor. When he looked up, he saw Weston being
held against the wall by the throat. The Hara-Kir was holding a
glowing orb next to her chest. Calloway knew what he was doing just
by watching—he was stealing her essence. Calloway ran to her and
stabbed the creature in the back. It hissed in pain but continued
to channel her soul inside the orb. Calloway pushed the creature
with all his might and threw it to the floor. It didn’t fight as
Calloway stabbed it in the chest two more times.