The Secret of Spruce Knoll (11 page)

While she stood frozen in shock, the fight raged on outside. A loud yelp of pain drew her attention back to the present like a slap to the face. This was crazy, she had to stop it. She couldn’t let her aunt get hurt. And she had to get to Aiden. Finally, her feet moved toward the door. The bear tumbled off the deck and out of sight and she stopped.

Before she could make the decision to move again, Sylvia appeared in the open doorway. Eren’s eyes searched desperately out the window for any sign of Aiden. She was afraid that she’d find his bleeding body lying out there, but he was nowhere to be seen.

“He’s gone,” Sylvia said.

Panic tightened its grip on her throat. Aunt Sylvia didn’t look hurt, at least that was something. But how could Aiden have just disappeared? It didn’t make any sense. 

“We have to find him. He could be hurt,” Eren said as she went for the door.

Sylvia grabbed her arm and stopped her.

“He isn’t out there. Someone took him away.”

A chill flooded through Eren at the words.

“What happened?” Sylvia asked again as she closed the door behind her.

“Aiden was showing me how to channel and then he was attacked by a bear. It almost looked like the bear was being forced to attack. Is that even possible?” Eren asked.

A long sigh escaped Sylvia and she ran a hand through her short black hair.

“Yes. Some of our kind can control the energy of animals,” she said.

“But why would someone do that? Why would they attack Aiden?” Eren demanded.

Letting go of her arm, Sylvia turned and bolted the door. She didn’t look back at her as she said, “Because they don’t want him with you.”

A sob worked its way up Eren’s throat and she clenched her teeth against it as she buried her head in her hands. It had to be Aiden’s adopted parents. Only they could be so horrible as to attack their own son. He was out there with those monsters alone, and she couldn’t help him.

Tears dripped down into her fingers. There was no way she could deal with her aunt’s questions on top of what had just happened. Shaking her head, she turned to the stairs and fled to the privacy of her room.

Chapter 20

Eren waited and waited, but Aiden didn’t come back. That night she eavesdropped on her grandfather and aunt as they discussed the fight. Sylvia seemed almost as concerned about Aiden as Eren was. She was angry about the attack. Their concern only made her worry more.

Days passed. Eren was lying in bed late at night when the inevitable finally happened. The moment the full moon crawled above the horizon Eren knew it because it felt like it was trying to tear her apart. So lost was she in the pain that she didn’t even realize she’d been screaming until Aunt Sylvia came rushing up the stairs and threw her bedroom door wide open.

“Eren honey, it only hurts because you’re fighting it. Just let the energy out and it won’t hurt anymore,” she told her.

Eren shook her head as she sweated, thrashed, and fought back her power. After what had happened there was no way she was about to let it out. Sure she had healed Aiden but she had also used her energy to kill fish. It was hard to say whether she was a warrior channeler or a healer. Part of her had wanted to tell her aunt and grandfather about the healing but it was too painful to talk about Aiden. And there was a tiny doubt eating at the back of her mind that the channeling could unleash the horrible fury over her parents’ deaths that she had been suppressing.

There was a good chance that if she let her energy out she could hurt someone. She wasn’t about to let that happen. Pain tore screams from her and bowed her back up off the bed. It felt like she was going to explode. Surely that meant the energy would hurt whatever it touched.

“Please don’t fight it. When you’re young you can’t resist during the full moon and trying will only make it worse when you do channel,” Sylvia pleaded.

Swallowing her screams and forcing the pain back enough to where she could open her eyes, she turned to her aunt and fixed her with a determined gaze. There was no way she was going to be able to speak so she hoped the look made her intentions clear. It must have because Sylvia shook her head and looked completely frustrated.

“I’m going to get your grandfather, maybe he can talk some sense into you,” she snapped.

Spinning, she stormed out of the room. The moment she was out the door Eren’s body began to buck and thrash again and she had to fight for all she was worth. It felt as though this massive, magnetic force was pushing out from deep inside her, trying to shove her power up from her very soul. More out of anger than fear, she battled and resisted it.

The moonstone necklace her mother had given her felt cool and soothing against her chest. It brought her a little bit of comfort and gave her strength. With it she didn’t feel quite so alone.

She had no idea how long Aunt Sylvia was gone. Time ceased to have meaning. All she knew was the pain and the pressure. When her grandfather finally came in sunlight was starting to stream in the window. The pressure had decreased by then and she was starting to think that maybe the worst was over.

“My God, Eren I can’t believe you fought through that,” her grandfather marveled.

Eren’s jaw had been clenched tight all night and she found it very difficult to open it to talk. Finally, after wiggling it around a bit to loosen it, she managed.

“Women are tough,” she said.

“You don’t understand. I don’t know of anyone who’s ever been able resist during the full moon in their first year of channeling. At least not for the last three hundred years,” he said.

Okay, that was a shock. But she figured it had something to do with her being raised among normal people and valuing the illusion of her normalcy. She was too wiped out to mention it though. Talking just that little bit had taken a lot out of her.

“You just rest now,” her grandfather said as he tucked the blankets around her.

She was working on a protest but the second she laid her head back on the pillow she was out. As she sank down into unconsciousness she thought she heard her grandfather murmur about how amazing she was.

Later in the day, Aunt Sylvia came up with a bowl of soup and a huge glass of water. Eren made quick work of them both and asked for seconds. It made her feel better and renewed some of her strength. But the exhaustion remained so she lay back down and got a few more hours of much needed sleep.

Just before it started to get dark, she decided she was feeling good enough to get up and try stretching her muscles out. But when she swung her legs off the bed the pain hit her like a semi truck.

Oh God, it’s happening again.

She fell back onto the bed and curled up in the fetal position. The convulsions soon had her sprawled out and thrashing.

Sometime in the night, the pressure dulled a bit and the convulsions started to become fewer and farther between. It wasn’t that the moon had set. She could still feel it hanging full in the sky like the terrible magnet that it was. In a way it almost felt like she was willing the pain and convulsions to lessen. Her grandfather had already said she’d done the impossible and it occurred to her that maybe she could stretch the perimeters of normality just a bit further. If she could fight off the need to channel she didn’t see any reason why she couldn’t fight the pain off as well. She had healed Aiden, after all.

Eventually, the sun rose and the pressure went away, taking the lingering pain with it. She slept most of the day and managed to eat and drink a little bit, but she didn’t try to get up. Both her aunt and her grandfather tried to talk sense into her, but she drove them away by insisting that she needed to sleep. While that was true, it wasn’t why she didn’t want to talk to them. Only one person could change her mind right now and he wasn’t here.

When the sun started to set the next day, it happened again. Only this time was different, there was very little pressure and no pain. There was the sickening feeling of being stuck in an undertow, like the powerful currents of the ocean. That she could handle, it was better than the pain by a long shot. She got through it.

No one had ever actually explained to her that the moon was full for three days. By the time it was over she was so exhausted she could hardly move. But she had succeeded at not channeling.

Aiden wouldn’t have let her go through that alone. Something had to be keeping him away. That or he was disgusted by her weakness and wanted nothing to do with her. As illogical as that sounded she couldn’t help but wonder if it were true. She had caught a glimpse of a dark side of him after all. How much did she really know about him?

Chapter 21

A day she feared almost more than the full moon, finally arrived. The first day of school. The only thing that got her out of bed that morning was the hope that she might see Aiden there. If he had abandoned her so he wouldn’t be dating ‘the freak’ then she had a few choice words to say to him.

Aunt Sylvia was cheerful and encouraging over breakfast and Eren did her best to smile and reassure her that she was all right. But she wasn’t. She was an absolute wreck. However, her anxiety wasn’t trying to trigger the channeling. Getting through the full moon had gained her a level of control that most teenagers never possessed. At least that’s what her aunt said.

But Sylvia hadn’t sounded encouraged when she told her that. Her aunt feared that she was giving up learning to be a channeler by learning to stop being one. Sylvia stressed to her that she didn’t want Eren to be afraid of who and what she really was. To keep herself disconnected from her power and be only half a person was not healthy, she preached.

While Eren didn’t want to disappoint her aunt, right now she was grateful for her control. She was going to a school filled with channelers. There couldn’t be anything that would make her more anxious than that. Her control was about to come in very handy.

At first she’d been appalled to learn that no one drove to school. But then her aunt had reiterated how everyone in town was very earth conscious, especially the next generation. She assured Eren that if she drove to school she would be the only one and it would definitely hurt her chances of fitting in. So her Passat sat in the garage and she rode her mountain bike to school. It wasn’t a big deal. She’d always felt better on her bike than in a car anyway. It did kind of bother her that she wouldn’t be able to practice her driving though.

Despite being on a bicycle, the miles flew by way too fast. Before she was ready she was turning into the high school parking lot. Sylvia had been right, it was completely empty. There were two outrageously large bike racks that took up the sidewalks to both sides of the wide staircase leading up to the school. The rack on the right side was completely full, and the one on the left was beginning to fill up.

There were a few kids securing their bikes as she rolled up. They turned their noses up at her and hurried off whispering. But she heard what they said and they probably knew it.

“There’s the mixed blood!”

“Yeah, I heard she was raised with regular people.”

Their tones were derisive and cruel. Apparently normal kids had a lot in common with channeler kids after all. She felt foolish for hoping that would be different.

Ignoring them, she locked up her bike and repositioned her backpack before starting up the stairs. When she opened the double doors onto a crowded, locker-lined hallway her heart sped up and her breathing became shallow. There must have been a hundred faces in that hallway and every one of them turned to stare at her.

School had never bothered Eren before. With her athletic ability and exotic looks, she had been the envy of every girl back in her California prep school. She had dated the quarterback and then the Captain of the basketball team. People had flocked to her, competing for her approval and friendship.

As she looked out across a sea of faces that made her feel very plain, she knew things were going to be different here. That was okay, prestige and popularity didn’t matter to her anymore. Popularity did little good when your friends scattered the moment your life got hard. All that mattered was finding Aiden.

Eren didn’t have to wade through the other students like she thought she would. The moment she stepped in the door they made a trail for her. Everyone pulled away like she had the plague or something. Steadying her breathing, she walked through them with her head held high. She told herself that it didn’t bother her, that she didn’t care about their approval. It wasn’t an easy lie to believe but she had herself halfway convinced.

Her eyes searched the crowd, but Aiden was nowhere to be seen. By the hostile, sometimes disgusted looks she was getting, she knew it would do no good to ask anyone. She found her first classroom and eagerly left the press of bodies and the hard stares, only to walk into more. She made her way to an empty seat in the middle of the room.

The moment she sat down, people scattered and desks opened up all around her. She just sighed and took out a notebook and a pen. At least this way she could put her feet up on the seat in front of her without bugging someone. Everyone glared at her. She could feel their eyes boring into her. Ignoring them, she scanned the room. Aiden was supposed to be in this class with her but she didn’t see him.

The teacher floated into the room with a grace that made it look like he didn’t even touch the ground. He was a slender Tibetan man wearing a loose button up khaki tunic of linen with pants to match. He looked like he could have walked out of a monastery a thousand years ago. His dark eyes met hers and he gave her a small smile, the first kind look she’d been given all morning. Then his gaze shot around to the other students and he looked irritated. He dropped his armload of books onto the desk and they smacked so loudly that everyone in the room but her jumped.

Eren tried to hide a smile as the students’ attention turned abruptly to their teacher. He picked up a piece of chalk and wrote his name in big, flowing letters on the green chalk board. Yep, chalk board. Eren had heard about chalk boards, but she’d never actually seen one. During the summer her grandfather had said something about enjoying the smell of chalk in his classroom and she had asked if he was serious. He was. Spruce Knoll didn’t use dry erase boards because the pens created waste and the boards didn’t biodegrade. It was one of those little things that Eren had never thought about.

Her next two classes weren’t much different. The kids snubbed and ignored her, muttering rude comments under their breath. At her old school there were times when people had called her names, but it had been rare. Her family was wealthy and that had helped make her popular. No one here seemed to care how well off her family was. Names like “half-blood” and “freak” stung like tiny darts embedding into her heart. Some of the teachers were even cruel. Her third period teacher was a woman whose hawk-like eyes held nothing but contempt for Eren. That had been an uncomfortably long class.

After that, she finally found her way to her locker. The hallway was packed with students that did their best to avoid her while she did her best to ignore them. The juniors and seniors lockers were together, and unfortunately, the juniors were on the bottom. That meant she practically had to kneel down to get in her locker. It seemed pointless to have senior lockers when there were so few of them. No doubt she’d appreciate the lockers next year.

It raised the hair on the back of her neck when she’d found out there were only a handful of seniors. Almost an entire generation had been skipped. What did that say about how the earth was doing? It made the whole going extinct thing that much more real.

Her arms were loaded with books and she was digging deep into her locker when someone bumped into her and sent her books flying. A group of girls snickered and whispered “freak,” as they sauntered away, glowering back at her.

“Real original,” Eren mumbled.

They just turned their backs and kept walking. A boy about twenty lockers down gave the girls a dirty look and shot a derogatory comment at them. Their over-lined eyes widened in disbelief and they began whispering about him. Eren smiled her thanks to him and he surprised her by smiling back.

She froze in shock. Aside from the teachers, he was the only one who had been even remotely kind to her. He stood up and waved before turning and walking away. Eren couldn’t help but notice that he was handsome in the tall and dark kind of way, probably Romanian.

She was so distracted that she didn’t notice the girl helping pick up her books until she actually placed some of them in her hands. Eren jumped and almost dropped them all over again. Quick reflexes saved her from another embarrassing moment. The girl had long, dark brown hair and overly red lips. She was pretty, but her face had such hard angles that she could probably go from lovely to fierce in a heartbeat. And, she looked familiar. It took Eren a moment to place her. Oh yeah, she worked at Aiden’s parents’ coffee shop.

“Don’t let them bother you. They’re stuck up and afraid of anyone different,” the girl said.

“Thanks,” Eren mumbled. She didn’t know what else to say. What they were was prejudice against mixed bloods, but she wasn’t about to say that to this stranger.

“I’m Elisabeth, see you around,” the girl waved as she dashed off.

The warning bell rang before Eren had time to answer.

Fourth period was physical education. It was the only subject where students were separated by race. It wasn’t a racial thing she was told, but a way of preserving their distinct cultures. Since she resembled her Maya half more, Eren was placed with the Mayans. She was mortified when they put her with a class filled with grade school children. It quickly became clear why.

Her teacher was a brown skinned man with long black hair that was pulled back into a neat braid. He spoke with the same thick accent that Eren’s grandfather did. As he paced back and forth before them he explained why they had been separated from the other races.

“This is our way of protecting each culture’s fighting style. Every channeler has to fight for their place in the Societies and every channeler had to be prepared to fight for their Society.”

As he talked he paced back and forth with his hands clasped behind his back, eyeing each of them as he passed.

“You will learn hand-to-hand combat as well as the traditional art of spear fighting. Over the years you will move on to more advanced techniques.”

Looking at some of the young children, Eren shivered to think of how advanced those her age were.

He went on to explain that Spruce Knoll did not compete with other school in sports. There was too big of a chance of exposing themselves. Eren understood that, and she also understood the need to fight to protect one’s Society. But the idea of having to learn to fight for her place in a Society terrified her. She had no knowledge or skills when it came to that. And unless she wanted to stay with the children, she would have to learn fast. Her competitive spirit would help with that she was certain. Without track she had to have something to do, and if this was it, so be it.

Unfortunately, her teacher had different plans. They spent the hour working on stances and blocks. At least some of the children smiled and even talked to her. As much as she had been dreading it, she ended up enjoying the fighting more than her classes.

There was no hairdryer in the kids’ locker room, so Eren sported wet hair on her way to the cafeteria. At least the showers had been completely empty. This was both a good thing and a bad thing. Grade school kids saw no point in showering in the middle of the day. She
so
had to work her way into a higher level class with kids her age.

She walked in a daze, her mind going over the moves she’d learned, trying to memorize every one of them. So engrossed was she that she was completely taken by surprise when someone came up and looped an arm through hers. Her heart thumped as hope coursed through her but when she turned to look she didn’t find Aiden on her arm. It was Elisabeth. She forced a smile and tried not to look disappointed.

“You must have lunch with us,” Elisabeth insisted.

Eren was speechless for a moment as Elisabeth ushered her up to the counter and handed her a tray.

“Us?” Eren asked.

Picking mostly fruits and vegetables from the assortment, she shuffled along with little enthusiasm. Since they were the only two on the line Eren had no idea who ‘us’ could be. And really, she didn’t care. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate Elisabeth’s kindness, she did. She was just beyond frustrated and absolutely depressed about not having found Aiden.

“Yeah, us.” Elisabeth nodded her head in the direction of a table as she walked away from the line.

Most of the tables were either packed or filled with very unfriendly faces. Elisabeth was walking to a small table by the window with a guy sitting at it. It was the same dark haired, good looking guy who had smiled at her and stood up for her at the lockers earlier. Elisabeth put her tray down on his table and slid into one of the seats.

“Eren, Luke. Luke, Eren,” she introduced them.

Luke smiled and flew to his feet to pull out a chair for Eren. She returned the smile and mumbled a thank you as she sat down. She really did not want to do this. It was nearly impossible to fake being friendly when she was so worried about Aiden. But for the sake of self-preservation she decided she would try.

Halfway through her apple it occurred to her that Luke and Elisabeth looked remarkably alike. She couldn’t help but stare back and forth from one to the other. Elisabeth laughed and almost spit a mouthful of pop everywhere.

“We’re twins,” Luke explained as he poked an elbow into Elisabeth’s ribs.

Eren’s eyes grew huge and she struggled to swallow the bite in her mouth. They laughed and talked all through lunch, slowly making her relax and feel more comfortable. Then they walked her to history class and promised to meet her afterwards. Watching them walk away, Eren wondered if they’d really come back around. It wouldn’t surprise her if they didn’t and she wouldn’t blame them. Right now, hanging around her would be social suicide.

This time when she sat down she chose a seat in the corner, away from everyone. The rude comments ceased the moment the teacher walked in and sat his coffee cup on his desk. Upon seeing him, some of the day’s tension drained away. Her grandfather smiled at her and turned to the chalk board. It turned out to be the only class during which no one said a mean word to her or even dared to cast a cruel look her way.

Elisabeth and Luke actually did meet her after class and they were kind enough to escort her to her last two classes as well. People started to look at her differently and the rude comments were decreasing. Instead, they were starting to look somewhat confused and fearful. Not afraid of Eren, but of Luke and Elisabeth. Apparently the two of them didn’t have to worry about their social standing after all.