The Equinox (23 page)

“Can I?” I hold out my hands to touch the
cloth. He extends his arm in answer.

As I sit beside him I examine the rest of
him. It seems his only wound is from the crate that hit him instead of me.

“Thank you for taking that hit for me.” I
slowly remove the bright red cloth from his arm and set it aside. The gash in
his arm is deep and continues to pool with blood. I make a face.

He pulls his limb away. “You don’t have
to do this. I can handle it.”

I pull his arm back to me and look in his
eyes. “Let me. I’m good at this.”

After a breath-holding stare between us
he gives in and relaxes his arm in my hands.

Johnny says nothing as I empty a water
bottle onto a clean rag and apply pressure to his arms, trying to get the blood
to slow. I could use magic to heal his wound completely but I can’t risk him
noticing, so I continue to mend him the old fashioned way.

As I’m applying pressure on his arm I can’t
help but notice how strong he is. Not the steroid-induced strong, but the
ruggedly alluring, I-work-outdoors strong.

After a few minutes I unwrap the towel
and notice the blood has stopped significantly. “You know what you’re doing.”
Johnny says, impressed, as I fill his wound with ointment.

I smile but steady my eyes on his cut. I
place a pad on it and wrap a gauze around his arm, securing it with a silver
clip.

“There.” I smile up at him, happy to know
that I’ve helped in some way.

“Thank you.” A smile reaches his eyes
more than his mouth but that’s okay. It’s a look of appreciation all the same.

His eyes linger on mine, and I think that
they flicker to my lips and back up. He has beautiful eyes—the kind that you
can immerse yourself in as they wash over you. His thick, full lips. His strong
jaw. How could someone be blessed with such perfection? I can only imagine the
girls he dates. Older, sexier, feistier.

“I should go help clean.” Because it’s
all I can think to say. I stand but I don’t want to leave.

“Okay, well, thanks for working your
magic on me.” Johnny says this nonchalantly so there’s no reason for my nerve
endings to alight, but they do. Maybe I used a little magic on his wound, but
not enough for him to notice anything strange—I hope.

Arabella, her sisters, and King Isaac are
sitting in the Great Room with Charlotte and Rose when I return home. The girls
have red-stained eyes and everyone is talking so quietly that dread washes over
every inch of me. It’s an eerie reminder of when I walked into a room full of Enchanters
and the news of Darryl French’s death.

“What’s going on?” My voice is barely a
whisper. My hand rises slowly to my stomach, a quick knot tightens. What’s
happened now? “Is Brent okay? The others?”

“Kat. Sit. Brent is in the same
condition, but others…”

I take a seat quickly, hoping Rose will
just blurt it out.

Rose tries again. “Two people died
tonight after they were taken to the hospital. An Elder and one Follower. The
Equinox symbol was found on one of the tables that held the food.”

I gasp. “No.” Not again. Not another
death.

Rose nods with sad eyes. Tears flow down
my cheek before I can attempt to stop them.

“There’s more,” Rose clears her voice,
most likely in an effort to mask her sadness. “The Valli’s are here to discuss
the growing pollution. It seems to be effecting sea life already. We’re seeing
early signs in the bay. Fish are already dying. Obviously this is really upsetting,
as we’ve seen this before.”

“Is there anything we can do to stop it?”
I look around the room, searching to see if anyone has an answer.

The girls are nodding. “We have teams out
there cleaning it up. Whatever the substance is it doesn’t stay poisonous. We
think it was created to kill on first impact, but then it just vanishes.”

I make a face. “That’s strange. Why
wouldn’t they make it stronger?”

“Creating poisons isn’t something that
comes naturally to us. There’s a science behind it,” Rose begins. “But that’s
exactly what this stuff is that’s entering the water. It’s possible that they
are trying out different
recipes
and
they haven’t yet gotten it right.”

King Isaac clears his throat. “So what is
this about a manatee getting injured yesterday? Did you find him?”

“Yes, but Johnny, my co-worker—he
knew what to do. The Manatee rescue boat came and took him. He’ll be fine, but
he had a marking on him.”

There is a loud gasp from Arabella and
her sisters. “The Equinox?” Arabella shrieks.

“Johnny said that he had some broken
bones. I found the marking on his back, close to his neck.” I scramble to take
out my phone and scroll to the photos. “It looks like a tattoo. Here.”

I let Rose peer at the image first; she
turns pale. Then I hand it off to the girls to view. They finally pass it to
Isaac and Charlotte but I’m already speaking. “Johnny said he was hit by a
boat. I guess it happens a lot. So I’m not sure why the Equinox symbol is
there.”

“Because the Equinox hit him,” King Isaac
tosses my phone to me from across the room. “Why are there manatees in this
area anyway?” he shakes his head.

“Johnny said he’s been seeing a few at a
time come in, earlier than usual.”

Isaac shrugs but then turns to Rose. “Okay.
That’s it. We can’t keep this from everyone anymore. There are too many things
going on. We’ve seen the Equinox marking four times now.”

I quickly count through the incidents one
by one and realize Isaac is right. First the Fourth of July fire, and then Darryl’s
death, the manatee, and most recently at Trisha’s Enchanting.

Rose is shaking her head. “We can’t,
Isaac. We’ve been through this before. People are already scared because of
what happened to Darryl and the other victims. Some Followers have already
moved on. If we tell them a poison has entered our water we’ll have no support
left.”

Isaac looks furious. “There are people already
dead and in the hospital, Rose. How can you want to keep this a secret? Maybe
you
should
let them move on. Maybe
you
should move on too.”

Even I glare at Isaac now. He may be
right in wanting to tell people the truth, but to ask Rose to leave her home
and everything she’s built is a bit much.

Rose shoots daggers at him. “You know why
I can’t just pick up and move, and you know why the others shouldn’t leave
either. There is more good in this town than bad. The Equinox can never destroy
us. Erebus may try, but he will
not
succeed.”

Isaac backs off. There’s something there,
a secret that the two of them share that he agrees with. “Okay. You’re right.”
His voice is gentler now. “But we still can’t keep this from everyone. It
shouldn’t even be a discussion. You cannot let people live here knowing that
there is no safe house anymore. Their blood would be on your hands if you
refuse to let them make their own decisions. You don’t want that.”

“I don’t want people to feel like they
should have a reason to leave. This is our home.” Rose says this and my heart
instantly breaks for her. I can hear the emotion in her voice. I never thought
I’d see Rose’s strong demeanor falter. I reach down to grab her hand. I want to
stand by her. No matter what decision she ultimately makes.

Rose squeezes my fingers and I suddenly
feel a rush of emotion come over me. I look around the room again and notice that
everyone seems to have given up. Eyes are without light. Shoulders slumped.
Permanent smiles have turned to frowns. I stand.

“I know that everything happening right
now is terrifying—for so many different reasons, but giving up is not an
option.” I try to meet everyone’s eyes but most everyone is looking down. “I
agree with Isaac.” Now I’m getting attention. “We need to tell the others.” I
phrase this sentence gently and turn my eyes toward Rose who is frowning but
listening.

“I don’t think telling them will scare
them away. It will empower them to make the decision that all of us have
made—and that’s to keep fighting for our lives. Isn’t that what this is
all about? Isn’t this why Astina became a goddess in the first place? We help
others. We make the world right. We promote good decisions. No one is going to
run away, Rose. You’ll be giving them a purpose.”

Everyone is staring at me now. Although
they have blank stares, it’s an improvement over gloom and doom.

“We’re all in this together. Descendants,
Followers, and whoever else is out there that I don’t know about. We all have a
choice whether or not we give up
or
face what’s in front of us. Maybe we all need to remember why we’re
descendants. Our ancestors wouldn’t stand for us to sulk in all that’s happening.
Or hide from it. Let’s start spreading awareness, and I’m not just talking
about awareness among our community—but the Normals deserve to know too,
to an extent, of course.”

“We can’t tell the Normals.” Marabella says
anxiously.

“They can know that something out there
is deliberately sabotaging our town, and pollution spreads. Others must know
that our water isn’t safe right now, but there’s something we
can
all do about it. This isn’t just
about us anymore. It’s about everyone. The Equinox will see that they aren’t
just up against Enchanters—but against an entire community.”

I feel another squeeze of my hand and I
know that Rose is on my side. She stands and wraps an arm around my waist. I
smile back, knowing that we’ve broken down a wall.

Isaac speaks up next. “Well, now I
believe she’s a Summer.” He stands and walks the few feet to me to shake my
hand. I blush.

“Girl doesn’t speak much but when she
does she makes some sense.” Latuana smirks at me and I take it as a compliment.

“What should we do, Kat? What do you
suggest?” Arabella is looking at me with all seriousness.

“Let’s start a campaign.” The words just
come out. I haven’t thought any of this through yet. “We can get others
involved to create flyers. I’m sure the volunteers that are helping with the
carnival will be happy to help with this. We can post them all over town and
use the Summer Island Carnival as a venue to really promote environmental
awareness. If anything, it will help open some eyes. If anyone sees anything
suspicious, we can give them a number to call. Rose, can we set up a hotline at
the meeting center?”

She straightens her posture proudly. “Oh
yes, dear.” She turns to the rest of the room. “I’ll set a meeting for two
nights from now. We already have an Elder meeting tomorrow night where I’ll
discuss this with them first. If they are all nods then we’ll get started right
away.”

Everyone seems to be reluctant but satisfied
with the end of this meeting. I know it’s not a solution but it’s a means to
one. We all just need to stick in there.

* *
*

I go to the hospital early the next
morning, unable to wait any longer to see Brent. There are a few others here
but I don’t know them. I may end up paying them a visit anyway. Trisha sits in
the hallway leading to his room and she’s crying. Panic takes hold of me.

“Trisha, is it Brent?” I’m doing my best
to hold myself together but I know if she gives me bad news I will lose it
right here.

She shakes her head. “No, no. Brent is
fine. I’m just a mess.”

I wrap my arms around her and hope to
offer her some sort of comfort. It must be awful coming into a world full of
such heartbreak. I’ve had a couple of months to adjust. “Everything is going to
be okay, Trisha.”

“People are here because of me, Kat. Because
they came to my Enchanting.” She blubbers. “I didn’t even know it was an Enchanting.
Who are these Equinox people anyway?”

“Shh.” I shush her and pull her into the
closest empty room I can find. “You need to keep quiet about that, Trisha. We
don’t know who the Equinox is. They could be anywhere so you need to keep your
voice down.”

And maybe I am too harsh because tears
explode from her eyes and all I can do is hold her again and wait for her to
calm down. “Trisha, I’m sorry, but what happened at your party is not your
fault. The Equinox feeds off of these public events. It’s where they get the
most attention and cause the most pain. There’s nothing you could have done to
prevent it.”

“Sydney is in critical care.” She sobs
next.

I don’t know who Sydney is but now I feel
like crying too. “Has anyone tried to heal her?”

Trisha bobs her head frantically. “My
parents are with her now. A few other Enchanters are making rounds too. They
say she’ll be fine, but two people died last night.”

I shudder. “I know. It’s horrible.”

“We were here all night,” she continues.
“I found out what I am
here
, in the
hospital. My parents tried to tell me it’s this magical thing—but look at
what happened because of what we are.”