Adamant Spirits, page 25
She shook her head. "Who are you?"
He slumped back and closed his eyes. "I'm not sure anymore."
"Why are you here?" she whispered.
He debated for a moment what to say, then decided the truth would be best. "I am in the middle of my final test to become a Druid."
"That's why you can talk to the plants," she said.
"No, that's why I can show you how to talk to plants." The two sentences were vastly different.
"That makes no sense." Her gaze kept drifting behind him to look back at the tree in the other area.
He sighed. "I never have been able to do what you just did with no training. But if I succeed at my test tonight, I will be a Druid."
That brought her focus back to his face. "Does that mean I can become a Druid too?" Her voice caught, and she held her breath and seemed to wait for his answer.
"I don't know." He felt an odd heaviness in his heart at the glimpse of sadness that settled over her features. "Help me tonight, and I can introduce you to the right people to find out."
She studied his face for a long time and then slowly nodded.
He took out the picture showing the view of an altar from above as if looking through a star-shaped window. "Do you know where this is? We need to go there."
"How did you get this?" She took the picture. "This is at Mark's house."
"Mark's? The guy from the mall?" He ran his hand through his hair. It didn't seem to be a good sign that her ex was somehow involved. "You're kidding."
"No. This is a room in the attic." Distaste and a touch of fear flickered across her face.
"Can you take me there?" he asked.
"Sure, but there's no way you are getting to that room," she said.
"Why not?" Rex focused on the picture.
"Mark and his family have money. Lots of it. Their house is a mansion with security guards and security systems. It's the best money can buy."
Even with the security, he would have to try. It was the only way to pass his final test. "Show me, please," he said.
"Not until you answer my questions." The stubborn set of her chin stopped him.
"I don't have answers. The answers to both of our questions will be at the place we're going." The place they were going was Mark's place. Rex clenched his teeth. "So, what's the deal with Mark?"
She shrugged. "We dated for a long time. My father thinks he is perfect for me."
"What do you think?" His jaw hurt from clenching his teeth.
"I broke up with him. He was smothering me." She reached out and touched his arm. Her smile was warm and lit up her face.
Rex relaxed. Maybe when this was over, he and Suzanne could see each other.
As they left the Arboretum, they walked past the snowman in the parking lot. Rex felt a strange chill, and he glanced over. Had the snowman moved closer to the car? The scarf was now draped over one of his stick arms, and a grimace rearranged his face. Rex skirted around to the other side of the car and kept his eye on the snowman.
He opened the door for Suzanne, hoping to get her into the car and away quickly.
The world went dark. Cold engulfed him, and he struggled against the constriction around his chest. Adrenaline surged through his system. Heat rolled off his body in waves. When he opened his eyes, a wet scarf lay in a puddle by his feet and an even bigger puddle sat behind him.
Suzanne was gone.
Panic sent a shiver down his spine. Not only was his Druid task probably a failure, but Suzanne had been taken by the people who had set-up the attack with the snowmen at the Firebrand’s property. That fact couldn't be a coincidence. The only option that had any chance of success was to follow the cold. Perhaps everything that had happened these last days was related.
An hour later, Rex parked just down the street from what had to be Mark's house. He flipped on his hazards. Across the street and back a block, a cop car blocked the driveway which wound its way to the top of a heavily wooded hill. Even though it was still within city limits, the house rested on a large parcel of land and had a wide buffer between it and the nearest house. The steep roof peeked between the bare trees. The snow seemed especially thick on the hill. He saw no easy way to get to the house.
Someone knocked on the passenger window. Rex jerked and heat filled his belly. He took a breath and saw Lawrence's face peering in. He opened the door and slid into the passenger's seat. "Start driving."
Confused, Rex hesitated, but Lawrence's tone hadn't been a request. Rex pulled out onto the road and drove down a hill to the traffic light. He glanced at Lawrence's expression, but with his attention focused on driving he couldn't gather much. They were heading away from the house toward a stoplight on a busier road.
"Someone kidnapped the girl in the picture." The window next to Rex fogged.
"I was afraid that would happen." Lawrence gazed out of the front windshield. His normal, calm demeanor seemed off. The normal layer of calm and serenity seemed paper thin.
It wouldn't hurt to ask Lawrence about Suzanne. "Any idea where she is now?"
"Turn left and take the next left."
Rex turned left and the next left took him into a neighborhood. "Why are you here?"
"Helping you get in through the back."
"Why?"
Rex held his breath, waiting for the answer. The silence grew heavy.
"Lawrence?"
After a pause so long Rex wondered if Lawrence would answer, he responded, "I am not balanced in this matter." He stared ahead with his clenched fists resting on his knees. "Turn left and pull up in there."
Rex hadn't expected any help with his final test and wasn't even sure how Lawrence had found him. Lawrence did seem to be guiding them behind Mark's house. He'd said he wasn't balanced in this matter and earlier today he’d told Rex he wanted Rex to succeed. The true answer felt more complicated than just Rex's success on his final test to be a Druid. He wasn't even sure where to begin to ask questions.
Rex stopped the car on the curve of a cul-de-sac with four houses. Without a word, Lawrence got out, walked between two houses, and continued through their backyards. Rex ran to catch up.
They walked for five minutes in silence until the gradual upward slope steepened. Tracts of twisted bushes and small trees spiked out of the snow. Rex couldn't see a clear path up the steep climb. He would have to circle to find a way to the top.
Lawrence leaned against a tree and closed his eyes. Vines slithered along the ground like snakes. They wove together and pushed the snow and bramble to the side to form a tunnel which led up the hill.
"The plants warned me that something bad is up ahead closer to the house." Lawrence held out his hand. "Good luck, son."
Rex knew Lawrence would answer no more questions. He'd helped as much as he could. Rex shook Lawrence's hand and then climbed up the steep hill using the tunnel for leverage. His feet slipped as the hill got steeper, and he grabbed a bent branch to steady himself. Each step brought him closer to the top. He paused to catch his breath and peered through the trees.
A pale blue lizard, the size of a large dog, fluttered past the exit of the tunnel using impossibly small wings. The lizard must be the something bad that Lawrence had warned him of. Rex crept forward until he was almost to the edge of the tunnel.
"We sense you. Come out and play with us," the creature called from the left.
Us?
"Or shall we come? Kill off the pretty plants you love so well?" another voice asked from the right.
There was more than one and they knew Rex was a Druid. He scrambled out of the tunnel and picked up a solid branch from the ground. His gaze darted around looking for them, but they were gone. He backed up and switched his sight to see auras.
There! Fractured blue auras to his right. The club connected with the nearest one who yelped and landed hard in a snow pile where it shattered.
The wind picked up and snow fell.
Rex growled and tackled the other one to the ground, pummeling it as he fell. The feeling of soft, warm, grass beneath his hands caused him to pause. He stared up from the bottom of a three-foot deep pit with walls of snow. The blue creature was gone. Shaking, he stood up and scanned the area. Nothing.
A small tree next to his grassy crater called to him in a sleepy voice. For the first time, he heard the voice of a plant. Snow and ice bowed the tree, so its branches were forced to the ground. One of its branches had been at the edge of the pit. The branch stretched toward him.
He reached out and touched a frozen branch. His belly felt like a simmering pot. The heat bubbled up to his chest, and then a spark traveled up his arm to the tree. Nothing happened at first, but then the snow melted and the leaves bloomed.
Rex backed away, shaking his head. He glanced around to look for some other explanation but found he was alone in the woods. While he couldn't really speak to plants, could his heat be useful to them? He tucked the idea away for later.
He climbed out of the pit and hurried to the side of the old Victorian-style house. The peaks of the roof were covered in snow. A porch wrapped around the ground floor like a ruffled skirt. A simple wooden door with flaking white paint stood at the center of the porch. There were no cameras or sensors he could see nor movement in the windows.
He'd have to chance just going in the door. At a touch, the door opened and revealed a dark stairway going up and a hallway leading deeper.
That strange chill settled at the small of his back. The front door should not be open. It felt intentional. The room from the picture would be at the top of the house, but where was Suzanne? He bit his lip and tried to feel her essence as he rotated in a slow circle.
There. A faint island of peace and an even fainter hint of licorice had to be her. She was on this floor.
He crept down the hallway and listened at the heavy wooden door at the end. There was no sound. He eased it open to find a formal dining room with dark mahogany paneling. A table set for twelve on a lacy white tablecloth graced the center of the room. Tall, dark chairs with a vase of flowers carved on the backs flanked the table. The room seemed coldly formal and added to his chill.
He stepped in and closed the door, the feeling from Suzanne was coming from nearby. A glimpse of red brought his attention to the back corner. Suzanne sat on a high-backed chair in the far corner, but she gave him no welcoming smile. In fact, she didn't respond to his presence at all. Even though a book sat open on her lap, she stared, unblinking, straight ahead. Her normal animation and intelligence were completely gone. It was like she was in a trance.
Her aura looked bruised with mixed blues and purples. What had happened to her?
Rex glanced around the room, and then knelt beside her. He waved his hand in front of her eyes. She still didn't move. He leaned forward and kissed her gently. After a moment, she responded to the soft press of his lips. Once he saw her aura brighten and the earlier sparkle return, he closed his eyes and enjoyed the feel of her lips and the chai tea taste of her mouth. Heat pooled in his belly.
After a couple minutes, he broke the kiss and stared into her eyes. "You okay?"
She nodded and smiled, showing the dimple on her right cheek. The dimple sent a thread of relief through his chest. He still had no idea what was going on, but at least Suzanne was no longer in a trance. He reached out to help her stand.
She flinched away from him and her eyes went wide. "Get away."
"It's okay," he said.
"No." Suzanne shook her head. "You're on fire."
"Fire?" Small flames flicked up his hands and arms but left the skin beneath untouched. Little Red had never come without Rex's call before. Now Little Red flickered on his hand and had brought some friends. He'd never had so much flame on his hands.
She gave a tight smile. "Now you look as uncertain as I feel."
"Does that make you feel better?" He stared at his hands and kept moving them closer and then farther apart. The flames leapt across the gap between his hands when they were close enough. Little Red sat on his thumb directing the rest.
"For some reason, it does." She hesitated and reached out to grasp his hand. The flame backed away from her touch. The flames seemed to understand she was not to be harmed. He was sure the same couldn't be said about this house.
Everything from the flame to the apparent lack of security made Rex nervous. It made no sense for the house to be empty and for him to be able to walk in. The whole situation felt too good or too lucky to be true. It reminded him of how a Venus Fly Trap lured its prey in by making the fly think everything was fine. It used a seductive smell as the bait that lasted until the fly couldn't escape. Rex didn't want to be a fly. But what choice did he have except to continue? His final test had to happen tonight and had to happen in a room in this creepy, empty house.
"Which way is the room from the picture?"
"This way." She led him out of the dining room, down a narrow hall, through a door, to a set of stairs.
As Rex ascended the stairs, he glowed brighter and brighter and lit the short hallway. His illumination revealed a white painted door at the top of the stairs. Blue symbols appeared across the door as they drew near. The writing was made of strange crawling letters in a language he didn't understand.
Chills raced up his arms. "Is there any other way up?"
"I don't think so." Suzanne's voice was hushed.
"Then we have to get through this door. It's the only way to the room from the picture."
Rex reached out to touch a symbol. It leapt off the door and landed with a hiss on his arm. His flames died out as the blue power crawled up. The symbols brightened and dragged him toward it. He leaned away, but skidded closer one inch at a time, until Suzanne grabbed his arm and yanked him back. The magic flickered and disappeared leaving a normal door.
"What was that?" Suzanne asked.
Rex rested against the wall and breathed heavily. The blue symbols flickered wildly until the glow reestablished itself on the door.
"No idea. Maybe a ward? Let's see if there is another way around." He turned to go back down, but the closed door at the bottom of the stairs had the same symbols visible. They were trapped.
Rex shook his head and sat down with his head in his hands.
Suzanne touched the door and nothing happened. "Why did it..." She struggled with the words. "Attack you?"
The magic had attacked him. It didn't seem to be interested in Suzanne at all. Why was that? If not for her, he would have been sucked into the ward. "Thank you for saving my life."
"I saved your life?"
"Yeah, that door would have gleefully fried my ass." Rex shivered. "The magic was nothing like what I studied. It's almost as if..." He knew there was more magic in the world than Druid magic. Whatever this magic was, it didn't like his fire. The sinking feeling in his gut at that thought was closely followed by a blast of heat. He focused on bottling the fire and calmed himself.
"As if what?" Suzanne asked, unaware of his inner battle.
"I am not a Druid at all," he whispered. Somewhere inside he knew that this was true. He was not a Druid, and had never been. He would never be a Druid. It made no sense that Lawrence would take such an interest in him.
"Would it matter?"
"I've wanted nothing else in my life but to be a Druid." He swallowed a couple of times and looked for his center. "But me not being a Druid makes sense."
"I don't understand." Suzanne tilted her head.
"I could never see the plant spirits." He hunched his shoulders and stared at his hands. He felt as if a great tree had fallen on him.
"But you showed me." Suzanne slid down the wall to sit across from him. She hugged her legs and rested her cheek on her knee.
"No." Rex shook his head. "I used your power and taught you the lessons my mentor was trying to teach me."
"You still think I could be a Druid?" Suzanne laughed softly. "Just because I have a green thumb..."
Suzanne had accomplished more in his short lesson than Rex had managed to do in his years of training. Whatever gifts for being a Druid were required, Suzanne had it. He had something else. "It's more than a green thumb, isn't it?"
Suzanne stared. "When I was little and I got lonely, I used to pretend the tree outside my window sang me songs and told me stories."
"The tree most likely did." If he was not a Druid's apprentice, then who was he? Why did he have fire, and why could he see auras when no one else seemed to be able to? Perhaps his family had lived at the house and it had burned down while they were defending themselves from the snowmen. The idea seemed incomplete. If that were true, how had he ended up with Lawrence? And why would Lawrence insist on training Rex to be a Druid?
They sat in silence. Somewhere nearby a clock tolled. The room smelled of mold and the faint trace of mint.
"What now?" she asked.
"Assuming we can get out of here, I have to take you to the place in that picture I showed you before midnight."
"If you are not a Druid, why try to finish the test? Can't we just flee?"
"Because Lawrence wants me to." Druids were about balance. If Lawrence was actively helping Rex, and he needed Rex to be here with Suzanne, then Lawrence’s motivation was something big and personal. "I have to help him. He's been like a father to me."
He stared at the door. A slight motion caught his eye. The wallpaper next to the door had peeled and a flap twisted in the air. He pulled the flap and revealed an older wallpaper with oak leaves and acorns.
"Any way to make our own door?" Suzanne wrapped a lock of her hair around a finger.
Rex's magic wouldn't work on the door. With it warded, he wouldn't be able to break it down. Although, breaking down a door in this overly quiet house seemed foolish. He needed to do something unexpected which would get them through the door. He traced one of the oak leaves and then pressed the acorn. If only Suzanne was trained enough to do something with the outside plants. He glanced out of the window to see how close the trees were. They were too far away. If only there was something close by them that she could grow. He knew sometimes very old houses had the oddest things in their walls. Rex rested his hand on the wallpaper’s printed acorn. Maybe an actual acorn or some other seed they could use hid in the walls.
