The Evensong (12 page)

I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed my hands over my ears, directing energy towards him. He was still standing in the same place, and I started the gentle feel for the aura.

It all seemed normal at first, just a kind of blue feel, a calm one. Yes, he seemed completely normal, just a person like anyone else in this town. I was almost convinced but I paused when there was a strange glitch in one spot. I looked into it further, pressing more energy into it, realizing there was a different feel here . . .

A last burst of energy cracked the façade of normality I thought had been there. It was a good cover, I had to admit, but what was under it was incredible. A burst of pain exploded behind my eyes and it was the same sort of pain I’d experienced twice before, both times having to do with Linden.

I pulled back and opened my eyes as the pain disappeared. My hands were shaking, and I stood slowly, looking towards the door. It was true . . . Linden was an Elemental, which was awful in my situation.

I opened the door and walked out, keeping my hands in the pockets of my hoodie. Linden was sitting on the stairs and flipping through the book. He
looked
so normal there . . .well not very normal, but not what I might expect of an Elemental. It might have been my kiddy imagination that blew the idea out of proportion.

“This stuff is awesome, it has every myth you could—”

“I know you’re an Elemental,” I interrupted. I waited for his reaction, keeping an eye on the door in case I needed to run. He didn’t look at me immediately, but closed the book and slowly looked up.

“Really?” he asked quietly. I nodded, unable to tell if he was being sarcastic. “Well, I know you’re a witch.”

“I don’t think that’s the right word to use,” I replied automatically.

He laughed and put the book on the stairs before he stood. “How long have you known?”

I shrugged. “A week. You?”

“Since I met you.”

I nodded, a little surprised. I wondered why he kept seeing me there, and I was tempted to ask, but I was reminded of what Alysana had said. Maybe I knew.

“I have to go,” I said, turning to the front door.

“Riley.”

I ignored him and kept going. I hurried down his steps, angry that he still followed me. He wasn’t making this easy.

“Riley, wait.”

I kept going, determined to just leave, but he caught my arm before I had even reached the trees.

“Where are you going?” he asked as he swung me around.

“Home, Linden! I have to go home,” I cried. I was surprised by my outburst but still tried to shake him off. “I wanted to know for sure, I found out, so now I’m going. It was nice knowing you.”

“So just because I’m an Elemental means I’m automatically some kind of leper?” he asked, still holding on.

“Don’t tell me you aren’t biased against ‘witches’. I bet you know the history better than I do.”

“So?” He looked at me hard. “I knew what you were when I saw you in the swamps but I wasn’t
repelled.
”

“I’m not
repelled
I’m just doing what’s
right,
” I snapped, pulling away.

I wanted to get the image of his hurt out of my head, especially after my last comment.

“Right?” he called after me. “Who the hell says what’s right here?”

He was behind me again, though he didn’t touch me this time. “I didn’t think you were one to—”

This couldn’t go on anymore. I turned around fast enough that he didn’t expect it and almost ran into me. I put a hand behind his neck and pulled him down to me, kissing him firmly. He froze and I didn’t move for a few seconds, then pulled away fast and took off towards the swamp. I ran and kept running, even when I heard him call out to me one more time.

I couldn’t sleep at all that night. Despite the fact that my bed was warm and comfortable, I was tossing and turning after a two-hour doze. No matter what I tried to think of, I kept thinking what I’d done was ultimately stupid. Linden’s face appeared every time I closed my eyes, and worse: that kiss was engrained in my memory.

I flipped onto my back for the hundredth time, staring up at the glow-in-the-dark stars on the low ceiling. Elementals—they were so strange. I started thinking back to the lessons I’d had in the very beginning, ones all about the basics. There were the dos and don’ts, and one of the major don’ts was Elementals.

From what I could recall, they just weren’t on the same level as people like me or anyone else in the house. They were above us,
far
above us. I recalled Rene saying they were more of a type of spirit, but I’d always wanted to argue with that fact. Weren’t we all spirits in one way or another? Didn’t we each have one, or at least a soul? I definitely believed that, so maybe an Elemental was just a physical manifestation of the spirit we all had.

But did that make him human?

Yes it does. He is human, just look at him,
I thought fiercely. The anti-Elemental theme had been drilled into my brain, but I wanted to break it. I didn’t care if he was an Elemental—not really. My initial worry was in Rene finding out, but was that really such a big deal?

I sat up as thunder rolled overhead. I’d had a headache since the afternoon, and it further reminded me of Linden. Grabbing the blanket from the end of my bed, I wrapped it around my shoulders and made my way to the door.

I used the random flashes of lightning to make my way downstairs where I stopped in the living room, facing the bookshelves. Rene had returned her books to their places, and I leaned in close to scan the spines. When I found the one I was looking for, I pulled it out and went to the couch, sitting close to the lamp on the table next to me.

I clicked it on and blinked hard in the light. I turned to the index and looked at the names there, thinking back to Linden. I visualized his arms, mostly because that’s what made me assume he might be associated with water. Then again, what I’d seen of him in my projection proved it, too.

So I turned to the chapter on undines, taking a deep breath before I started reading. It was all vaguely familiar. They were a kind of water spirit, able to control different types of things associated with water. That confirmed Rene’s idea that he might be the cause of the rain. Reading on, I was a little dissuaded to hear the some people thought undines were evil. I thought this was blatantly inaccurate, but felt a little better when it said later that this could be mistaken as mischievous. This I could believe.

The rest was an interesting bit on the idea that undines—and all other Elementals—don’t have souls. There were different ways to acquire one, but in my opinion spirit and soul seemed one in the same. This was all such a wonder though; no one would ever really know the truth unless Linden explained.

I slammed the book shut when I heard faint footsteps on the stairs. Omar rounded the stairs, squinting in the light, still looking like he was half asleep.

“What are you doing?” he asked, scratching his head.

“I couldn’t sleep,” I replied quietly. “Did I wake you up?”

“No, no, I was awake and I heard you leave your room. Are you okay?”

“Yeah—couldn’t sleep,” I repeated, hoping he hadn’t noticed the book. So far he hadn’t. He just stumbled over to the couch and sat next to me, eyes closed as he rested his head on the cushions. I tucked the book into the cushions next to me and draped the blanket over the edge that stuck out.

“Rene’s looking for other people like me near the college,” Omar mumbled after a few minutes.

I didn’t respond immediately but just watched him sit there with closed eyes. “Already?” I’d totally forgotten about the college thing in all my concentrating on Linden. Being reminded at the moment wasn’t what I wanted to hear.

“Mm. It’s not really vital, but I should know a few if they’re around,” he said.

I nodded, hardly aware of him much anymore. When he and Alysana were gone, who would I turn to if Linden were out of reach, too? The idea was something that made my heart pummel into my stomach.

Omar shifted on the couch, resting his head against my hip as he wrapped his arms around my waist. I sighed and draped an arm over him.

“You could just put it off for another few years,” I suggested.

He laughed tiredly and looked up at me. “You could just go to college, too.”

I just shook my head. “It’s not for me.”

“How do you know? You’ve never been to school, it’d be a good experience.”

He didn’t seem convinced as he let go of me and sat up. “Has this decision further been decided by that Elemental?”

“What?” I looked at him sharply, wondering how many people Rene had already warned.

“Come on, I’m not stupid. I know you’ve been hanging around with him kind of frequently—”

“So? Am I incapable of having friends outside the house?”

“Yeah, but did you let it go further than that?”

The accusation in his face flared up anger in me, and I threw the blanket off me as I stood.

“Everyone here is unbelievable. Except Alysana, and I thought you’d be sensible enough,” I said as I turned off the light. I went towards the stairs and hurried up, glad Omar didn’t try to follow. If only he wouldn’t bring up this stupid argument, we’d be getting along fine. Lately it had just been awful.

I locked my bedroom door behind me and went back to bed, lying flat on my stomach while I watched the storm. I thought about what Omar had said; did I let it go further than just hanging out? Only in my head, and there was no harm in that.

FRIENDS
AND
ACQUAINTANCES

A week and a half went by that I didn’t see Linden at all. I heard close to nothing about him from anyone, except the day Rene sat me down and explained he was an Elemental. I gladly remained sour the entire conversation, telling her I already knew and I hadn’t seen him since. Again she tried to drill it in my head that they were a bad sort, but I cut her off and assured her I knew that very well.

I wasn’t sure if she ever told Meryl to lay off, but she stopped watching me so closely at work. For about half of the first week I was watching the door carefully, wondering if Linden would come in to buy something—anything. But there was no sign of him at all, and after I stopped watching so closely, work became boring again.

“How’s the weather treating you lately?” Meryl asked one evening before we closed.

“It’s fine,” I shrugged, putting my apron under the counter.

“No migraines?”

I shook my head and fished the keys out of my pocket as I went towards the door. I was just saying bye when Meryl stopped me, holding the door.

“Rene already talked to you about Linden, didn’t she?” she asked quietly.

I looked at her for a long moment, wondering where she was going with this. “Yeah, but I already knew before that.”

“I can tell you haven’t seen him for a while,” she went on, looking guilty. “Now, I sort of understand this Elemental thing but—”

“You don’t have to understand. I’m not going to see him, if that’s what you were wondering.”

“No—I was just going to . . .” Her voice trailed off, and she seemed to struggle with what to say next. “Well, nevermind. I’ll see you later.”

She walked away and I stayed where I was for a minute, confused. What she could have possibly wanted to say, I wasn’t sure, and I just left the store, going to the car.

After hearing what Meryl had to say—and tried not to say—I briefly considered going to the swamps. I’d been avoiding them since the last time I’d seen Linden. Somehow I felt that he might be able to sense that I was there or something. I wasn’t really afraid of him, but was he angry? He sounded at least frustrated the last time I’d spoken to him.

Glancing around, I knew what I was looking for, or rather, who. As usual, I didn’t see him around, and I drove home, disappointed.

Most of the cars were in front of the house, including on that I recognized as Sharon’s, the realtor. I parked next to her and then made my way towards the house, dodging the soggy parts of the lawn. Muddy footprints went up the porch and stopped at the doormat where shoes were piled up. I paused to remove mine and brace my hand on the door for balance. I almost feel when the door suddenly opened, but I caught myself in time. Alysana looked at me in surprising, apologizing.

“Sorry, I didn’t know you were there,” she said, stepping out.

“It’s fine,” I replied, happy I hadn’t fallen over completely. “Where are you off to?”

She suddenly looked embarrassed and she smiled sheepishly. “I’m meeting someone in town.”

“Someone?” I repeated, grinning.

“Yeah—someone from the school.”

She wouldn’t look at me now, so I knew she wasn’t talking about the high school. “From your college?”

“Rene suggested I at least talk to him about it,” she replied.

“That’s good. I mean, good you get to talk to someone who’s been there.” The comment was forced and she knew it, but I was trying to be optimistic.