Run To Earth (Power of Four) (25 page)

“I don’t
want
hot cocoa,” Rose said, visibly struggling to remain calm. “I don’t want to
drink
chocolate. I want to
eat
it!”

“Rose?” Sam reached out to hold on to his sister. “Calm down.”

“No!” Rose pulled herself free, and shot to her feet. “I’m sick of this!” she cried. “I’m sick of keeping quiet! I don’t
want
to keep quiet any more. I don’t want to bite back my words. I don’t want to peel potatoes day in and out!”

“You don’t have to,” Aaron said, stepping towards her. “You don’t have to work if you don’t want to, Rose. You can do what you want.”

“What I want?” Rose repeated angrily. “What I want? All I want is a freaking bar of chocolate!” she cried. “And I can’t even get that!” She stepped back when Sam tried to hold on to her. “No! Let me go!” She pushed him back, staggering away from the table, not caring that every eye was on her. “You know what I want? I want my room, with
my
things in it,” she said. “I want to eat at
my
kitchen table, not out in the street!” Tears slid out of her eyes, trickling down her cheeks. “I want to go home,” she said, her voice breaking. “I just...I just want to go home.”

Sam stepped forward and wrapped his arms around his sister, holding her close as she wept.

“Sam, I want to go home.” Her words were muffled against his chest, but everyone heard her nonetheless. “Please, I just...I want to go home.”

Aaron watched her, feeling his blood run cold with guilt. He pushed the remorse aside. He wasn’t going to let self-recrimination stop him from comforting his friends. He walked over to them and Rose pulled herself out of her brother’s arms, hugging Aaron tightly.

“I want to go home, Aaron,” she sobbed.

“I know,” Aaron whispered in her ear, at a loss of what else he could say. “I know, Rose. I know.”

From the corner of his eye, he saw Kyran get up from the table and walk away.

***

“You feeling better?” Aaron asked.

Rose nodded, sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall. She sniffed and wiped her cheeks with the end of her sleeve. Sam and Aaron had taken Rose away from the table and to the closest place they could to give her some privacy – the Stove.

“What happened to you, Rose?” Sam asked, eyes crinkled in concern and face pale at the sight of his sister in tears.

“I don’t know,” she replied. “I just lost it.” She rubbed at her cheeks again. “It all just...came pouring out.”

Aaron held on to her hand. “I’m so sorry, Rose,” he said, guilt thick in his voice.

Rose shook her head before leaning back to rest it against the wall. “Don’t, Aaron,” she said. “Don’t apologise. You know none of this is your fault.” She closed her eyes and breathed out a sigh. “I really made a scene out there, didn’t I?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Sam said. “Who cares what a bunch of mages think?”

But Rose was shaking her head again, eyes tightening in a grimace. “God, I bit off Mary’s head,” she said, opening her eyes to look over at Sam. “And for what? Because somehow it’s her fault this stupid world doesn’t have chocolate?” She shook her head. “I need to apologise to her.”

She made to get up, but Sam and Aaron stopped her.

“Why are you going to say sorry?” Sam asked.

“You have every right to get upset,” Aaron said.

“Maybe,” Rose said. “But I shouldn’t be taking it out on others. It’s not their fault.”

Rose stood up and opened the door, walking into the warm night, Sam and Aaron following behind her. Mary and the other helpers were busy gathering the dishes and cleaning up the table.

“Mother Mary,” Rose started, her voice rough and hoarse from crying. “I’m sorry I yelled at you. I...I don’t know what came over me,” she said honestly. “I just got so angry and I know it was a stupid, ridiculous thing to get upset over, but...” She trailed off. “I don’t know. I can’t explain it.”

Mary smiled at her. “It’s okay, Rose.” She nodded. “It was bound to happen, sooner or later.”

“What?” Rose asked, frowning. “What was going to happen?”

Mary’s smile dropped at the corners of her mouth, but she continued staring at her with a softened gaze. “You crashed,” she said. “It happens.” She nodded in a placated manner. “When humans first come to this realm, they’re shaken up – some in denial and others in shock. They spend a few days here in Salvador before they’re taken to different cities in this realm. They are integrated into our world. Slowly, the realisation dawns on them that they are here indefinitely. There’s no going back.” She reached out to cup Rose’s face. “It’s not easy to admit that your life has changed forever. That you can never return to your former life,” she said quietly. “When people eventually realise that, they have a breakdown of some sort.” Her hand lowered from Rose’s cheek to her shoulder. “Mages aren’t all that different either. Some of us go through the same thing. We lose our family and are brought here to Salvador. Some of us stay, others move to different cities and attempt to start over.” She tilted her head to the side, looking at Rose through glistening eyes. “We crash too, Rose.”

Rose nodded, willing her tears to stay back. “I’m sorry,” she said in a small voice.

“There’s no need to be,” Mary replied. Her grip on Rose’s shoulder tightened. “Time is the best healer, Rose. Have faith in it.” She smiled. “One day this place, this realm, will be your home and you’ll be happy here. I promise.”

Rose didn’t say anything, but her pained expression showed her disbelief.

“Go. Rest.” Mary pulled her hand away. “I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow.”

Rose looked to the messy table. “I should help clear up,” she said. “I haven’t been much help otherwise.”

Mary looked surprised at her comment, but she stopped Rose. “No, it’s okay,” she said.

“But–”

“It’s cool,” Aaron said, stepping up beside her. “I’ll take your shift and clean up.”

Sam didn’t say anything but headed towards the table. He took a tray and started loading up the dishes. Aaron sent the reluctant Rose towards their cottage and began helping clear the table.

The whole walk up to the cottage, Rose kept looking back, seeing Aaron and Sam do her job. She knew, though, if she went back they wouldn’t let her do anything. With a resigned sigh, she walked into the cottage. The lamps were already on. Kyran had made a habit of leaving a few lamps on in every room – for their benefit, of course.

Rose trudged up the stairs, feeling exhausted. Her breakdown had really drained her. Who knew crying could take so much out of a person? She noticed the door to the third room was slightly ajar, but she couldn’t be bothered to close it.

She walked into her room, rubbing at her eyes, but stopped at the sight of the bag on her bed. She blinked at it, surprised by its sudden appearance. There was nothing on Sam or Aaron’s bed, save for a few books they had been reading, but in the middle of her bed sat a little blue plastic bag with the handles knotted.

Hesitantly, Rose approached her bed and picked up the bag. She undid the knot only to stare in surprise at the contents. She reached in and pulled out a handful of chocolate bars. The bag was filled with bars of chocolate, ones she recognised from the human realm: Mars bars, Bounty, Kit Kat, Snickers, Twix and about a dozen others. Rose stared at them in shock.

She turned at the sound of footsteps coming from the third room. Kyran, still clad in his jacket, crossed past her door. He paused, catching sight of her, the bag in her hands. Rose didn’t say anything. The truth was, she couldn’t find the clarity of mind to speak. She stared at Kyran, stunned that he had gone to the human realm just to get her chocolate.

Kyran smiled, and walked away without saying a word.

17

Like Father Like Son

Over the next few days, the individual groups of Hunters began taking their leave, having recovered from the effects of the full moon and the Q-Zone hunt. Their departure was just as loud as their arrival had been, with all the Hunters joyfully meeting everyone with promises of returning soon.

Zulf’s team was the last to leave. Aaron was pleasantly surprised when Zulf took the time to bid him goodbye. No other Hunter had paid him much notice. Zulf clasped Aaron’s hand in his own big, strong one and shook it.

“Stick around, kid.” He grinned broadly. “Things might just get interesting with you here.”

Aaron stood back to see everyone else say goodbye to Zulf. Even Skyler shook Zulf’s hand. Zulf met Kyran last, embracing like brothers who didn’t know if they would see each other again. Clapping a hand on Kyran’s shoulder, Zulf regarded him at arm’s length.

“You’re not going into another Q-Zone,” he said strictly. “Not without me, understand?”

Kyran smirked back.

They hugged one last time before Zulf climbed onto his green and black Kawasaki Ninja bike and led his group of Hunters out of the Gate. The door sealed for the final time that day and Salvador was left feeling rather empty.

***

Aaron was pretty sure the moment the cottages were empty, Kyran was going to kick him and his friends out. He was therefore rather surprised when he found Kyran didn’t say anything to him. Wanting to make sure they wouldn’t be made homeless again in the middle of the night, Aaron sought out Jason to request a cottage, only to be told that the cottages were being cleaned thoroughly before anyone could move into them.

“You really took Rose’s words to heart,” Aaron said.

“Aye, well.” Jason scratched his head. “She ha’ a point.”

Aaron nodded. “How long will it take?”

“Few days, th’ee at the most,” Jason assured.

Aaron nodded. “Okay.”

Jason was about to walk away when he stopped and turned back to Aaron with a smile.

“I bet you jus’ make yerself com’ortable with the per’ect cottage and yer folks’ll come back, wantin’ to leave.” He walked away chuckling to himself.

Aaron’s heart jolted at the thought of his parent’s return. He wished with all his might that what Jason said came true. Six weeks had passed since his parents left him in Salvador.
Six weeks.
Aaron couldn’t help the shiver that ran down his spine.
They should be back by now,
the voice in the back on his mind whispered over and over again, sending a spike of pain through his heart. Negotiating with Neriah couldn’t possibly take six weeks, could it?

Aaron had spent every waking moment around his mum and dad. He knew his parents – knew what they were like, what they were capable of. He knew, believed with every fibre of his being, that leaving him alone in a strange place for six long weeks with no communication was something his parents were not capable of doing. The thought had been niggling at Aaron, stealing the sleep from his eyes. He had found himself clutching onto the worn, tattered letter at night, praying his parents were okay, as Sam and Rose slept soundly in the beds next to him.

Sitting at the table waiting for breakfast, Aaron couldn’t hide his dejected mood. His fingers traced the edges of the letter as he told himself repeatedly that his parents were okay, that nothing ill had befallen them, that they would return soon. He felt Rose’s hand close over one of his, making him look up at her.

She smiled tightly at him. “You okay?” she asked.

Aaron nodded.

Rose eyed the letter hesitantly. “Don’t worry,” she whispered. “They’ll be back soon.”

Aaron didn’t say anything.

“You know what I’ve been thinking?” Kyran’s question distracted Rose and Aaron. Both turned to look at him, but he was walking to Ella.

“What?” Ella asked.

“Why we don’t interrogate demons?”

Ella raised her eyebrows, a slow grin crossed her face. “You playing?”

“No, I’m serious,” Kyran said. “Think about it. We could halve our problems if we got the information out of demons rather than relying on Lurkers.”

“Yeah?” Ryan asked. “And how exactly do we do that? We can’t bring demons into safe zones since they can’t pass the Gates.”

“I know that,” Kyran said, “but we can question them in their zones.”

“We could,” Ella said, “but just the once.” She leant forward with angry lines on her brow. “Come on, Kyran! We barely have the time to get in and kill the filth and you want to hang around demanding answers from them?”

“I didn’t say we had to ask them questions.” Kyran replied coolly. “I’m talking about
taking
the information, not asking for it.”

Ella sat back, frowning at him. “How would that work?”

“How else?” Kyran smiled. “Focus, find the flap and pull it open.”

“These aren’t flesh memories, Kyran,” Ella said. “You can’t just lift the flap on demons.”

“How do you know?” Kyran asked. “I say we should try it next time.”

“Fine,” Ella sighed. “Next time we have a demon and we’re feeling particularly suicidal, we’ll test out your theory.”

“Is all I’m asking.” Kyran held up both hands, smiling.

Alan appeared at the head of the table, ready to lay out the dishes. “Morning, y’all,” he said.

Everyone returned Alan’s greeting, everyone except Aaron. He was still staring at Kyran, his mind reeling. Quite abruptly, Aaron got up and practically ran back to his cottage, the letter clutched in hand. If he had looked back, he would have found a smirking Kyran watching him.

***

Aaron closed the door and sat down on his bed. He held the folded, crumpled paper in both hands, forcing out several breaths before his heart rate slowed to an even pace. He thought about what Kyran had said.
Focus, find the flap and pull it open
.

What did that even mean? Aaron forced out another breath and closed his eyes, rolling his shoulders. Focus. He could do that. He had to focus.
On what?
came the question. Aaron felt the coarse paper between his hands and he concentrated on it. He brought up the mental image of the letter, complete with all its creases and water damage. His fingers felt every crimp in the paper, the rough sharpness of the edges.

Find the flap and pull it open.

Kyran’s voice echoed in his head.

Aaron didn’t have the faintest clue what that meant. He sat for long minutes, trying to find the flap. In his mind, he imagined the letter had a little overlapping corner. He tried to visualise it, so he could pull it away and reveal the memory hidden inside.

Footsteps rushed up the stairs before his door was slammed open.

“Aaron?”

Opening his eyes, he saw both Sam and Rose at the threshold, staring at him.

“What was that?” Sam asked, walking over to him. “Why’d you leave the table?”

“What happened?” Rose asked. “You ran off like a shot.”

“The memories,” Aaron replied, holding up the letter. “The flesh memories – the ones Alan was talking about. I know how to get to them. Well, I mean, I’m trying to get them.”

Sam frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“You want to see the memory attached to the letter?” Rose asked. “Why?”

“’Cause maybe that memory will tell me what’s going on.” Aaron said. His brow creased and eyes clouded with worry. “It’s been six weeks, Rose. They should have come back by now.”

Sam stiffened, like he always did when Aaron mentioned his parents, but Rose walked over and sat next to him.

“I know it seems like a really long time,” she said, “but considering they’re negotiating their stay here, it’s bound to take some time.”

“If that’s even the case,” Aaron said. “Zulf only
thinks
they’ve gone to see this Neriah guy, but I don’t know if that’s true.” He held up the letter. “Maybe when they were writing this, they talked about what they were going to do, where they were going, how long they were planning to be away.” He held her gaze. “I need to know what’s going on, Rose. It’s driving me crazy.”

Rose nodded in understanding. “Have you seen the...the memory thing yet?”

“No,” Aaron replied. “I can’t get it to work.”

“What do you have to do?” Sam asked, his voice uncharacteristically quiet.

Aaron stared at the letter. “Kyran said to focus, find the flap and pull it open.”

Rose and Sam frowned.

“What does that mean?” Rose asked.

“I think I have to imagine there’s a flap on this.” Aaron held out the folded paper. “And if I pull it open, I’m opening the lid to the memories stored in it. Alan said I had to
unlock
the memories, so I’m not sure if
pulling the flap
is unlocking them.”

The twins just stared at him.

“I’m confused,” Sam said, blinking like he was seeing spots. “You have to imagine a flap and then
pull it open
?”

“Yeah,” Aaron replied.

“That’s...” Sam grimaced. “...stupid. Where did you hear that?”

“At the table,” Aaron said. “Kyran mentioned it when he was talking to Ella.”

“I didn’t hear him,” Sam said.

“That’s because you were too busy staring at Ella,” Rose said. “Seriously, Sam, she’s going to kick your ass one of these days if you don’t stop ogling her.”

“I wasn’t ogling her,” Sam said defensively. “I was paying her attention. It’s called being a good listener.”

“So why’d you not hear her talk about flesh memories?” Aaron smirked.

Sam threw him a furious look but refrained from answering.

Rose turned back to Aaron. “Why don’t you ask someone what to do?” she suggested.

“I asked Alan but he doesn’t know how to explain it,” Aaron replied. “And I asked Kyran but he was a git about it.”

“Really?” Rose said.

“Why the tone of surprise?” Aaron asked.

“No, it’s just...” She shifted on the bed, dropping her gaze. “I just thought Kyran would help you, that’s all.”

“Why would he help Aaron?” Sam asked.

“Just...’cause.” Rose was starting to blush. “You know, compared to the rest, Kyran isn’t so...so....”

“Bad?” Aaron suggested with a slow smile. “You think Kyran’s not bad?”

“Comparatively speaking,” Rose said. Her neck, cheeks and nose were pink now as she averted her gaze. “Anyway, we better go to get breakfast before it’s all gone.”

“Before breakfast’s gone or...Kyran’s gone?” Aaron teased.

“Oh, shut up,” Rose said, but her eyes flashed with amusement just the same.

“I don’t like this,” Sam warned, walking behind Rose, following her out of the room. “Kyran is bad news. All mages are bad news.”

“Um, hello?” Aaron called, gesturing to himself.

“You’re not a mage,” Sam said. “You’re Aaron. I’m talking about the prats out there.”

“Like Ella?” Rose countered.

“She’s different,” Sam said defensively.

“Uh-huh,” Rose mocked.

Aaron got up from his bed and pocketed the letter. He was going to try to unlock the memories later on. Preferably when his friends couldn’t distract him.

***

The good thing about working in the Stove, Rose decided, was that it was so busy there wasn’t much time for idle talk. For this, Rose was grateful. Ever since her breakdown, or crash as Mary put it, Rose had felt so ashamed she could barely meet Mary’s eyes, let alone talk to her. So it was to Rose’s great discomfort that Mary sought her out this morning.

“How are you finding things?” Mary asked with her usual gentle smile.

“Fine,” Rose replied, keeping her gaze on the carrots she was peeling.

“I was thinking,” Mary started, “about what you said–”

“Mother Mary.” Rose turned to look at her. “I’m sorry. I said a lot of stupid things that day.”

“No, no.” Mary shook her head. “It wasn’t stupid. Nothing about what you said that day was stupid. You got your feelings out and that’s never a bad thing.” She paused for a moment, staring at Rose intently. “I was just wondering if there’s anything you enjoyed cooking, before coming to Salvador?”

“I wasn’t in the kitchen much,” Rose replied. “My...my mum...” She choked on the word a little. “She would always ask me to help with dinner and...and half the time I would just ignore her.” She fell quiet, her remorse stealing her voice.

Mary watched her carefully. “But the other half
of the time, you did help her. What was your favourite thing to make?” Mary pushed.

A small smile tugged at Rose’s lips. “Popcorn.”

Mary chuckled. “There must have been something other than popcorn.”

“Not really,” Rose said. “There was one thing, though. We used to make these chocolate and coconut ball things. I don’t know what they’re called, but they were pretty decent. We didn’t make them all that often but they were fun.”