The Secret of Spruce Knoll (21 page)

At first Eren had no idea what he was talking about, and his excited smile didn’t help clarify things. Then she saw him and Aiden exchange a sly look and she realized Fane must have seen her push back Camilia’s power.

“Explain,” Alin prompted.

“Eren pushed Camilia’s power all the way back down! And Aiden just healed her,” Fane exclaimed.

“That’s not possible. Camilia’s a Rector and I’ve never heard of anyone commanding both sides of a channelers power,” Alin said with a shake of his head, eyeing Aiden suspiciously.

Sylvia stared at Eren with wide eyes before turning to give Aiden the same look.

“But you’re a warrior channeler. I’ve seen you use your power,” Sylvia said.

“I know it sounds crazy, but I’m both. And so is Eren,” Aiden said.

Fane exclaimed something in Romanian that Eren didn’t understand. He was smiling and shaking his head.

Zolin turned to Eren and grabbed her hand, a huge smile lighting up his face. “Truly?” he asked with something that sounded like hope in his voice.

She nodded and turned to show everyone her back. There were several gasps of surprise. Aiden must have healed the wounds a lot more than she’d realized.

“But how?” Alin asked.

“Tell them dad,” Sylvia urged.

Alin turned wide eyes to his wife and looked completely perplexed by her smile.

Well, at least I’m not the only one confused here,
Eren thought.

“You’re too young to remember, Alin, but there was a time when there were those among our kind who could command both sides of their power,” Zolin said.

He took a long drink of his coffee before going on.

“A few hundred years ago, when I was just your age,” he nodded toward Alin and Sylvia, “our kind was used in battle. Our most powerful Rectors could both fight and heal and they could also command the power of other Rectors. That’s what Victor meant by you being the one who could stop them. Obviously, he didn’t know about Aiden,” he explained.

“That’s amazing!” Fane exclaimed.

Eren did not share his enthusiasm.

“Yes Fane, it is,” he paused and looked pointedly at Eren and Aiden.

She squirmed on her stool and clung tighter to Aiden. Her? A Rector? Could it really be possible? For that matter, did she want to be one? Rectors were leaders and protectors of their Societies.  She wasn’t really sure she was cut out for all that.

“Such powerful Rectors only arose during times of great strife, times when heroes were needed. Eventually, we stopped being used for battle and most of us went into hiding to avoid persecution. The dual ability sort of evolved out of us, or so we thought,” Zolin finished.

Eren shook her head. “But, I’m no hero,” she protested.

“Are you sure about that? Only a hero could have exposed those two for the monsters they are,” her grandfather said.

Eren was pretty sure she didn’t want to be a hero.

“That is so cool,” Fane said.

Hard as she tried, she couldn’t return his admiring smile. Sure, it may seem cool if it was happening to someone else.

“If this ability evolved out of us, why would it be coming back now?” Alin asked.

That was a great question. Eren wished she had thought of it. Why was everyone else able to keep their cool and concentrate when she felt like the whole room was spinning? She looked at her grandfather expectantly, hoping she was going to like the answer.

“The Earth is dying. There will be a final battle for it and we will be needed. And it could have something to do with the attack Victor and Camilia are planning to make,” he said.

Eren groaned. That was
so
not the answer she wanted to hear. Knowing they were going extinct along with the dying earth was one thing, knowing there was going to be a last battle for it and she was going to be involved, was something altogether different. This took it from something that was going to happen to something that was happening. But if they stopped Virgil then they stopped whatever he was planning from happening.

“What about Aiden? The other Rectors couldn’t force his power back,” Fane said.

Eren was starting to wonder if there was anything he missed. Aiden’s hand tightened around hers and she looked up at him. He had a guilty look on his face as though he had done something wrong, which was silly, because he hadn’t.

“Really? That level of control could mean you’re a rector as well, which isn’t surprising since you possess control over both halves of your power. How long have you been able to fight the influence of Rectors, my boy?” Zolin asked.

It took Aiden a moment before he could speak.

“Almost since I began channeling. At first Virgil could force my power back down. But it wasn’t long before I could resist him,” Aiden said with his head bowed.

Sylvia gasped and looked horrified. “Why on Earth would your own dad force your power back?” she asked.

Everyone went still. The only sound in the room was the ticking of the clock as the second hand made its rounds. Knowing how much this was going to hurt, Eren cringed.

“So he could put me in the chains,” he finally mumbled.

“What?” Alin nearly shouted.

Aiden flinched as if expecting a blow. Eren jumped up and put her arms around him.

“Virgil chains him in the basement when he gets mad. Please, that’s enough, don’t ask anymore,” Eren said.

Alin started to head for the door but Sylvia grabbed his arm and stopped him. “Where are you going?” she asked.

“To kill Virgil!” Alin snapped.

Fane leaped out of his seat and dashed for the door. “All right Dad! Let’s go,” he exclaimed.

“Settle down. No one’s going to kill anyone tonight,” Zolin said to Alin as much as to Fane.

“Come on Alin, Dad, we should talk,” Sylvia said.

Zolin agreed that it was a good idea and he helped Sylvia escort an irate Alin upstairs to her office. Part of Eren wanted to go with them and hear what they were going to discuss. If it had to do with her and Aiden stopping some final battle then she had a right to know. But she was far too exhausted to protest let alone get up and try to follow them.

Fane lingered a moment, giving Aiden a very serious look.

“I’ll just be in the other room,” he warned as he turned and walked away.

The silent calm in the kitchen felt so wonderful that Eren was reluctant to break it. She jumped up and sat on the bar, pulling Aiden close. The movement hurt her wounds but only a little.

“Be careful. Since that was done with a channelers power I couldn’t heal it completely,” Aiden said.

He buried his face in her hair as she wrapped her arms around him. They stayed like that for a long time, just listening to each other’s hearts beat. Her fear of him had disappeared completely. She knew no matter how bad his temper was, he wouldn’t hurt her. Tonight he had proven that and then some.

“This is almost over. Then we can go back to the way things were this summer,” he sighed.

“Better, because you won’t be living with those horrible people.” 

“Better,” he agreed as he bent and kissed her.

When he moved to pull away she clutched his spiky hair and held him to her. He gave into her with complete abandon. A few minutes later, they were interrupted by someone loudly clearing their throat. She pulled away as if Aiden’s lips burned—which they kind of did in a wonderful way—expecting to see Sylvia or her grandfather. But it was Fane who stood there with his arms crossed, looking agitated.

“Fane, what are you doing?” Eren grumbled.

“Protecting your virtue. Isn’t it about time you went home Aiden?” he said.

Aiden laughed and pressed his forehead to Eren’s. He kissed her once more—this time short and sweet—before he pulled away. Hanging onto his hand, she jumped down and followed him to the door.

“He’s right. I wouldn’t want the Murphy’s to notice that I’m gone. That’s hardly likely since my room is in the attic, though,” Aiden said with a laughed.

Eren tensed and stopped, her hand gripping his tighter. “What?” she asked.

“Don’t worry. It’s only because their house is small and they already have a kid. The attic is big and I can lock them out instead of them locking me in,” he reassured her.

She relaxed a bit but frowned when he reached for the door. There was no denying that it was getting late, but she didn’t want to let him go. He opened the door and she moved to follow him, but he held up his free hand to stop her.

“If I kiss you one more time, then I won’t leave and Fane will definitely have to protect your virtue,” he said in a voice husky enough to make her blush.

His eyes locked with hers and he gave her a smoking look that made her weak in the knees. In that moment she knew Fane would have to protect her virtue because she was pretty sure she wouldn’t. That made her blush worse and she looked down quickly. Aiden let go of her hand and her heart dropped.

“Watch over her for me will you Fane?” he asked as he walked backwards down the steps.

The low, smooth tone of his voice drew her gaze back to him. By the sound of it, he was having just as hard of a time parting from her as she was from him.

“Of course,” Fane said.

“Don’t worry, E, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Aiden promised with a smile.

Just as he started to turn away Fane closed the door. Eren sighed and made it to the couch before she collapsed. This had been both the worst and best night she’d had in a long time. Finally, she could see a light at the end of a long, dark tunnel of despair. The best part of it was; she knew when she walked out of it she’d be holding Aiden’s hand.

Chapter 37

At first waiting for the week to get over wasn’t so bad. Six days to go didn’t seem that long. The second day felt more like a year and each day after that only got worse. When you were waiting for judgment to come down on the people who killed your parents, a week was forever.

Aunt Sylvia insisted on keeping Eren out of school, which was fine by her. Sylvia was so worried about someone trying to hurt her that she wouldn’t even let Eren leave the house alone. The good part was, the Murphy’s kept Aiden out of school too, and thankfully they weren’t as strict about letting him out of the house. If Eren hadn’t been able to see him, it probably would have driven her crazy. Zolin brought their homework to them so they used the excuse to spend even more time together working on assignments.

Fane remained close by as often as possible, claiming he wanted to make sure homework was all they were working on. Eren was pretty sure it had more to do with his hero worship of Aiden though. Most of the time she didn’t mind. She liked having him around.

A few days later, November brought cold winds with it, but Eren and Aiden didn’t let that keep them from their morning runs. If they met at the road that cut west through Mayan and Irish lands it was the same distance for each of them. Aunt Sylvia insisted Fane escort Eren until she met up with Aiden. Most of the time he left them alone once Aiden arrived.

Every afternoon they channeled and ran in the woods behind Aunt Sylvia’s house. Eren felt way behind the curve when it came to channeling and she wanted to work on it as much as she could. Since Zolin insisted that both of them were Rectors they wanted to work on their control even more. Her grandfather agreed and encouraged her despite the fact that this meant she’d be alone with Aiden.

Friday afternoon they sat out on the back deck, huddled together beneath a blanket on a porch swing.

“How did you push back Camilia’s power?” Aiden asked.

“I’m not sure. I was so mad at her for hurting you and I was so scared you’d have to go home with her, I just did it,” Eren said.

Aunt Sylvia and Uncle Alin had been encouraging them to work on pushing against another Rector’s power. They swore they believed this ‘last great battle’ thing could be stopped if they stopped Victor and Camilia but their insistence about training made Eren wonder.

Aiden’s prior attempt at this had resulted in destroyed clothing when he had tried to force back Alin’s power. It had started out hard for Eren too. At first she needed to be mad or ready to fight, like at the party. But after a few days of practice she had it figured out. Aunt Sylvia and Uncle Alin let her push their power though. She wondered what it would be like when someone resisted.

“I don’t want to ruin another set of clothes,” Aiden laughed.

That made Eren flush, but she was determined to help him work on this. If things came to a fight again she wanted them to have every possible advantage. Since Grandfather said they were both Rectors, they had started practicing on each other. She had to get him to stop holding back though. She suspected he was afraid of losing his temper and hurting her but she didn’t believe he would anymore. Convincing him wasn’t as easy though.

“Think of how good it feels to be running at my side with your power flowing. Just the two of us out in the wilderness,
free
,” she said.

A smile spread across his lips and his eyes fluttered half closed in a contented look. Eren could feel his body vibrating with the need to channel. She called her power up and felt it surround her almost like a physical part of her.

“Now feel my energy, push against it,” she told him.

His energy touched hers, stimulating every nerve in her body. It wasn’t an unpleasant feeling, not by a long shot. The feel of his energy was even better than his physical touch. It felt much more personal. Resisting was hard when she wanted to just melt into him but she did it. He pushed against her and succeeded in shoving her energy back slightly.

“I knew you could do it!” she exclaimed.

He put an arm around her shoulders and hugged her tight.

“Thanks E. This could make all the difference,” he said.

He was right. It could make all the difference. If they truly were accessing an ability that no one had for hundreds of years then there was a reason for it. More pressing than that though, others would be jealous once they found out, which would put the heat on them. His ability to do this brought up a question that had been eating at her for days. Not knowing how he felt about the situation, she was afraid to ask. He must have felt the tension in her body and knew something was up because he pulled back and drew her hair away from her face.

“That didn’t hurt did it? I won’t do it again if it did,” he asked.

“Not at all. That’s not it. I like it when your energy touches mine,” she said. Saying it caused her to blush hotly.

“Knowing you felt that way would have made it a lot easier to do! What is it then?” he asked.

“This probably means something bad is coming and we’re meant to be some kind of warriors. How do you feel about that?” she asked as she looked down at her hands in her lap.

“I’m excited! Our ancestors who had this ability were the ultimate warriors! I’ll be able to protect you better,” he said.

“Really? It doesn’t bother you that I’m a bit of a freak?” she asked.

“What? No way! You’re special, just like me. Does it bother you that I’m different from other channelers?” he asked.

Eren turned her body in to snuggle against him.

“No, you’re still you. And when you put it that way it does sound kind of cool,” she admitted.

Leave it to him to make her actually feel good about being a freak. She was pretty sure he was one of the last truly great guys on earth. It was just a bonus that he was drop dead gorgeous. Of course she was a bit biased considering how she felt about him. That was something she didn’t allow herself to think too long about, because if she was honest with herself, it kind of scared her. Getting this close to someone had not been something she wanted, not after all she’d lost. But it was too late to pull away now. She couldn’t if she wanted to.

A normal life was certainly out of the question, but at least now she had a chance at happiness. Tomorrow’s meeting would hopefully be the end of a lot of bad things and the beginning of a new life for both of them. To think her parents’ murderers might finally be brought to justice, made her shake, and not from the need to channel. She hoped and prayed this would prove to be true, for Aiden’s sake just as much as hers.