The Zodiac Collector (33 page)

“Nothing.” I shake my head.

Her mouth puckers. “I know that look. What're you thinking?”

“Gamma should've told us about Z.”

“What if she couldn't? We weren't able to talk about her for a while, either.” I really hate it when Mary is so reasonable.

I suck on my bottom lip. “And she should've never given me the spellbook.”

Mary huffs. “A little late for woulda, coulda, shoulda, isn't it? She gave you the book because she thought you could handle it. She wanted to share it with you. How could she have known Z would show up at the faire? We haven't seen her before.”

“Obviously I couldn't handle it. I bet my chanting is what brought her here.” I roll my eyes.

She claps both hands on my shoulders. “Hey, we don't know that, so stop moping. Okay, so you've made mistakes, but we all make mistakes. What matters is that we keep trying and that we stick together.”

I take a deep breath. “You're right.”

“I know. And don't forget it.”

I smile. “Okay.”

Evan clears his throat. “Sorry to interrupt, but don't we have an alternate plane to escape from?”

Mary nods. “Let's see if the signs listen to us.”

I take off my pity pants and straighten my spine. Gamma owes me an explanation, but I have to get home first before we can talk about it. “I'm ready.”

William draws a circle in the air. “Gather around and hold hands. Anne, lead us.”

I have a hard time focusing on anything but the whirlpool of emotions circling in my gut, so I concentrate instead on the warmth of his skin. I close my eyes and clear my throat. All I have to do is grab the attention of five Zodiac signs. No pressure.

“You can do this. They'll listen to you.” William kisses my cheek.

I bite my lip to keep my heart from popping out of my mouth and floating away. “Okay. Here goes nothing.”

I chant:

Energy courses through me like a cascade of falling marbles. My eyes fly open. A golden glow emanates from me, a yellow one from William, and an amber one from Mary. They blend into a brighter yellow while red glows from Evan, blue from Trevor, and green from Callie.

In a flash, the lights we produce shoot from our heads and into the sky. Beams of yellow, red, blue, and green pulse above us. The beams fracture and fly apart, forming a multicolored “X.”

“They must be connecting to their energies—fire, earth, wind, and water.” I yell.

Mary nods.

Trevor opens his mouth, but I can't hear what he says.

The ground shakes and we're tossed in different directions.

Lightning bolts course in jagged tracks along each beam of color. They join one another and thicken at the crossroads, then shoot down to the ground directly in the middle of the field. The strike triggers another earthquake, and a plume of smoke and dirt rises from the impact site.

“Wow.” William stands. He helps me to my feet while Evan helps Mary and Trevor helps Callie.

Kids stumble out from their hiding places, jaws slack and arms limp at their sides like a horde of dazed zombies.

I take a breath. And another. Then a third. “William. Now's your chance. The others will listen.”

He takes his cue and strides toward the group.

One by one, they focus on him and drift in his direction.

“Zodiac signs. Hear us. The Zodiac Collector, has trapped us here and turned us against each other. She wishes to keep us for her own power. If we work together, we can beat her and find a way home.” William's voice is clear and strong.

He turns to stare at me and extends a finger in my direction. “Anne knows how to chant. She can help you access your sign's power. Who's with us?”

Seven hands extend into the air.

My heart warms.

“It's working!” Mary squeaks.

William ushers the kids to us.

“Everyone, I need you to line up according to your sign.” I count out all twelve, erm, thirteen if I count myself. We stand in a circle, in alignment with our distant arches, and hold hands.

After invoking the remaining signs, we're ready to ask for freedom.

My heart pounds faster than the beat of hummingbird wings.

Four kids separate me from William. He stares at me, squares his jaw and gives a quick nod as if to say, “You got this!”

I try to take a deep breath.

Colors of the elements surge around us—green for earth, yellow for wind, red for fire, and blue for water—mixing and clashing together, rumbling where they touch.

“Anne!” Mary yelps.

“Hold on!” I cry.

Above us, a dozen tunnels form out of the smoke. The colors mingle, turn darker, and blend into a murky brown. This is different from before. I scream as the funnels rush down to meet us.

I latch onto Mary just as we're pulled into the spinning vortex.

Unlike before, my body doesn't shrink and my bones don't feel like they're being pulverized, but the air is so compressed that it's hard to breathe. When I think my lungs will collapse from the lack of air, everything freezes like a cosmic pause button has been hit. My heart leaps into my throat. Mary slips away from me. I fumble for her ankle, but miss. I scream.

I'm still screaming when I land in a heap on the ground.

Real ground this time. Hard ground.

I groan, lifting my head, despite the dizziness that follows.

It's night and damp from a recent rain.

Something soft is next to me. “Anne.” It's Mary. “Where are we?”

I sit up and rub the back of my head. “No idea.”

We stand and lean on each other for support. I scan the landscape, searching for anything familiar. I see trees, a path, bits of shoppes illuminated by the moon. In the distance, street lamps mark a nearby road.

“We're in the faire grounds.”

“Not ours,” Mary counters.

“No, we're at the one we transported to,” I reply.

Spires of red, blue, yellow, and green impale the earth. They flare to an ultra white on impact and fizzle into a puffs of smoke. All of the kids from the Zodiac plane are left in their wake. They gather nearby, marveling at the grass, trees, buildings—you know, normal earthly plane things.

“Where's William?” I ask.

“And Evan?” Mary whirls, scanning for him.

A thrashing comes from the woods behind us. I whip around in time to see William fighting the underbrush. He stumbles over to us, picking leaves out of his hair. “Hey.”

I raise an eyebrow. After everything that's happened, he says “hey”? We survived. We escaped. We beat Zeena. Where's the ultra-romantic moment? Isn't the hero—William—supposed to kiss the heroine—me?

I squeeze some life into my fingers by curling them into fists. Mary went for gold and kissed Evan. I could do the same. “Will—”

He pins me with his gaze. “Yeah?”

I step closer and stare into his eyes. “We did it.”

“Yeah.” He grins and his dimples blitz out.

I lean close and open my mouth slightly and—

“Guys! There you are.” Evan pops out from behind a nearby shoppe and jogs our way.

I clamp my mouth shut and roll from my toes to my heels. “Thanks for your help.” I pat William's shoulder.

He blinks away a squint of confusion. “You're welcome.”

Mary and Evan embrace. They don't waste any time locking lips.

For goodness sake. I purse my lips, kicking myself for being such a coward and stuffing down the green jealousy monster pawing at my stomach.

There are way too many people around anyway. It'd be too weird to kiss William in front of them. And, he may not even want to.

And that would be too devastating to face.

Out of nowhere, a bolt of lightning punches the ground with a
thwack!

The old witch pops into view, walking through an invisible door torn into our earthly plane. She locks onto us immediately. “So you thought you'd escape, did you?”

Mary's eyes widen. “She'll never give up, will she?”

I square off with Gamma's sister. “You've lost all your power now. The signs chose us.” I nod at William, Evan, Mary, and all the other kids who've joined us. We complete the entire Zodiac.

They all nod back.

I open my mouth to chant. A flash of lightning zings over our heads, zapping away the words I'd planned to say.

The bolt impales the ground between Zeena and us. Dirt sprays and smoke billows from the crater. A hazy figure rises from the hole. There's a familiar hunch and fluff of curly hair.

“Gamma!” I cry.

She climbs out of the hole, grunting with every step. “Eneaz. Stop this at once.”

Zeena's dark eyes spark with rage. “Edith. It's been a long time.”

They circle each other like heavyweight boxers sizing up their opponents.

“It's foolish of you to pick on my granddaughters. They're your flesh and blood, sister.”

Zeena sneers. “If you cared so much about them, you'd have taught them properly.”

Gamma shakes her head. “And the other children? How many families have you destroyed in your greed?”

The old witch points a finger at Gamma. “Had you joined with me, we'd have been unstoppable. I'd never have had to go to such lengths to draw the signs' attentions.”

“You manipulated the order of things to suit you. I could never agree to such a thing.”

A white glow pulses from the tip of Zeena's finger.

“Gamma, look out!” I yelp.

Too late. A light rope lashes out from Zeena and snaps around Gamma's waist like a whip.

Gamma yells and drops to her knees. “Eneaz, stop this madness!”

“Why must you fight me?” She shoots another light rope and pins Gamma's upper body.

Mary claws at my sleeve and whimpers. Evan wraps her in a protective hug.

I grab onto William's shirt and he circles my waist with an arm. “Hold tight, guys.”

I step forward. “Great Aunt Eneaz.”

Zeena whips her head toward me. Her upper lip is curled back. “Eh?”

“Aunt Eneaz. That's who you are. You aren't a kidnapper. You're a twin. You have a sister and a family.”

The wrinkles in her forehead deepen with her frown. “What?”

Mary joins me, shoulder to shoulder. “That's right. Your family misses you. We can be together if you let go of the Zodiac power and join us. Must be lonely being by yourself all the time.”

She faces Gamma again.

Gamma lifts her head. “It's true, Eneaz. I searched everywhere for you. I chanted for years. No matter where I looked, I couldn't find you.”

“No you didn't. I would've felt it,” Zeena snaps.

“Our bond was broken. When I gave the spellbook to Anne, I'd hoped her and Mary's bond would be strong enough to mend the tear. I'd hoped to find you with their help.”

My jaw drops. Bone-crushing agony riddles my ribcage, steals my breath, and tears at my heart. “You used us.”

Gamma crawls toward us. “I'm sorry, Anne. I never meant for this to happen. We were supposed to do magick together. I was supposed to guide you.”

“But I didn't listen.” Tears stream down my face. “I screwed it up.”

“
I
did, dear. It's my fault. I wanted my sister back. I hope you can forgive me.” Gamma collapses to the ground.

“Gamma!” I dash to her and drop to my hands and knees. She's made mistakes, but so have I. And I still love her. She's my Gamma. I guess I understand why she wanted to save her sister.

“Anne!” William cries.

I press the back of my hand to Gamma's cheek. Her skin is cold. I tug at the light ropes binding her. “Zeena, let her go! She's your sister. She loves you.”

Zeena's sneer fades. The hardness of her eyes cracks, revealing a soft, creamy center inside. “You're lying.”

“Mary.” I hold my hand out to her.

She rushes to my side, kneels next to me, and laces her fingers with mine. It gives me the strength to keep talking. “Let us go, Zeena. Don't hurt Gamma. You can't live without your sister. I know I can't live without mine,” I say.

I grab Gamma's hand and squeeze Mary's. Mary gestures for Evan and William to join us.

All our energy combines on contact. Our auras glow gold, amber, yellow, and red. Zeena squints and holds an arm in front of her face.

I slide my fingers toward her light ropes. They fizzle and snap apart under my touch.

Freed, Gamma stirs. She moans and opens her eyes. “Anne.”

Mary, Evan, William, and I help her sit up. She centers her red glasses on her nose. “Thank you, dears.”

“Are you okay, Gamma?”

Gamma nods at us, then addresses Zeena. “You see, Eneaz? Your power is not omnipotent. The bonds of friendship and family overrule it.”

Zeena fists her hands and throws her head back to the sky. “Zodiac signs unite! Smite my enemies. Draw on their powers and claim them for me!”