Earth Angel (The Kamlyn Paige Novels) (19 page)

“Kamlyn, come on!” Demi’s voice called out to me
with urgency as Sari grabbed me by the waist.

I turned just in time to see Adena lying still on
the floor before an avalanche of mud rushed through the walls, engulfing the
entire basement. We made it up the stairs and slammed the door behind us
without a moment to spare. Brown gooey sludge oozed through the crack under the
door before slowly coming to a stop at our feet. It had all happened so fast,
my brain was just beginning to process what had actually happened. I threw my
arms around Sari’s neck and held on to him tightly.

“I thought you were gone…” I whispered, fighting
back my urge to cry.

“I know, me too.”

His voice was so quiet, so serious, and so glad it
had ended the way it did. His arms tightened their grip around my waist,
warming my cold, wet, and shaking body. I hadn’t even realized I was soaked all
the way through until our bodies were pressed against each other.

“Come on, you two. We have to get out of here
before my sisters find us!” Demi shouted as she rushed for the front door.

“Wait, why did you do that?” I asked, too curious
to contain myself. “Why did you help us?”

Demi raised her radiant face to look at me. She
cocked her head, allowing her bangs to fall to one side and show her beautiful
brown eyes as she smiled.

“Adena was evil, but not all of us witches are.
It’s people like her that give us a bad reputation.”

I could see that she was having some moral dilemmas
about killing her own sister and was trying to justify her actions light-heartedly.
She knew she had done the right thing, but inside she still seemed sad for her
loss. She really was a good person at heart.

“I couldn’t let her kill you. There’s something
very special about you, I can feel it,” she said, taking a small step closer
towards me. “I was more of a slave to her than a sister anyway. Now I’m free.”

I decided to leave it at that and follow her to our
escape. As we approached the front door, though, our paths were intercepted. At
least we had a fighting chance this time.

“Demi, what’s going on?” Aura asked, tears welling
up in her eyes.

Brook stood there next to her with a bewildered
look on her face, as if she had no idea where she even was. Their confusion
slowly started to make sense to me. They had not been acting on their own free
will. Adena had put them under some sort of spell in order to get them to do
the things they did. As their younger sister confirmed my suspicions, the two
girls who once looked fearless to me now looked defeated and betrayed. They
turned and hugged each other while silent tears streamed down their faces.

“I really thought she had changed,” Brook wept
quietly, releasing her grip on Aura and holding her hand instead.

“Yea, I thought this was going to be our home…Guess
we have to leave again, don’t we?” Aura asked, taking in a ragged deep breath.

“It’s too risky to stay,” I told them with
sympathetic eyes.

Sari rested his hands on my damp shoulders, sending
a wave of relief and content through me. The whole ordeal was over. I wanted
nothing more than to change into some fresh clothes and call Cara and Don. I
hadn’t talked to either of them since Tom had died. I was slightly angry with
myself for not contacting them this whole time. So much had been going on that
the thought never had a chance to cross my mind. I don’t know if now was the
time to tell Cara she came close to losing her best friend as well, but I had
to tell someone I had almost ceased to exist.

“Do you want to borrow some clothes?” Demi asked
me, bringing my focus back to the present.

Under normal circumstances, I would have toughed it
out till I got back to my hotel to change, but all I wanted in that moment was
comfort. I accepted and let her lead me back into one of the bedrooms. Taking
one glance around, I knew it had been Adena’s. I stared at the deep red wall
that was the focal point of the room as Demi walked me over to the mirrored
closet doors. My face was pale and tired looking. The dark bags under my gray
eyes made my face look gaunt. My soaked, scraggly hair and damp clothes made my
body look frail and weak. I had been so close to death it showed in my face.

“Can you pick out something while I dry my hair?” I
asked Demi, only thinking about getting completely dry again before I left.

There was no way I could afford to get sick now.
Danny needed me more than ever. I could feel it.

“Sure. The bathroom’s right through those doors,”
she responded, pointing to another set of mirrored doors in the room.

I shut them behind me for a little privacy and
began looking through the cabinets for the hair dryer. I found a small red one
shoved in one of the vanity drawers next to a wide tooth comb and curling iron.

Once plugged in I let the hot breeze warm me all
the way through. My long tousled hair hid my eyes from my own reflection and
let me drift off for a bit. I kept seeing Danny, picturing what was happening
to him. I could see his sweet little face, his blushed rosy cheeks fading to
pale white…his once brilliant eyes turn worn out and tired. I could see Lamia,
perfect in her form and younger than ever, wrapping her snake-like arms around
Danny and pulling him closer towards her. A knock at the door pulled me back.

“Kamlyn, I found an outfit for you.”

“Thank you so much, Demi,” I responded, shutting off
the whirring sound of the dryer and opening the door.

Demi’s face was flushed as she smiled and looked at
her feet. I could tell that she wasn’t used to being praised or thanked. I really
felt bad for the life she had been forced into by her sister for who knows how
long. She really did deserve the freedom she had now. She stepped out of the
room to let me change, smiling to herself the whole time.

The outfit she had picked out was as unrevealing as
one could get from Adena’s closet. The jeans took some wiggling to get into.
They hugged my leg the entire way down and tucked into a fuzzy pair of white
snow boots. The sweater was form fitting and a soft pink. I felt like a
ski-bunny in the fluffy outfit. Looking at Adena, I could have sworn she had
more curves than I did, but her clothing fit me perfectly. The sweater, of
course, dipped down into a low V-cut, showing off my rarely seen cleavage. I
thought about changing it out for another, less revealing sweater, but decided
I probably wouldn’t be able to find one in her closet anyway. I pulled on the billowy
white down jacket Demi had laid out for me before leaving the room. I left the
jacket zipped only halfway, even though I was still cold. How often did I get
the chance to show myself off like this? And in front of Sari no less.

When I joined everyone in the entryway, they were
all wearing color coordinated fuzzy winter boots and jackets like mine. Sari
was still wearing his white t-shirt and jeans, which were now dry as well. I
was too tired to question what was going on or where the girls would go.
Without a word, the five of us walked out the front door and down the porch
steps.

“You might want to step back,” Aura suggested as
Demi and Brook led the way out of the yard. “And hold on.”

Seeing Demi and Brook kneel down and grip the base
of the tree next to them, Sari and I followed. He wrapped his arms around my
body first, hugging me close to him before holding onto the tree. The wind
began to pick up until it was a challenge to keep my eyes open any longer. I
closed them tightly after I saw a large black funnel form in the clouds and
make its way down to where the sister’s house stood. Before I knew it,
everything was silent and still again. There was destruction where the perfect
white house had once stood. Somewhere amongst the rubble lay Adena’s body to be
found. We all stood up slowly and checked ourselves over to make sure we were
all okay and untouched by any debris from the tornado.

The three young witches smiled at us before turning
to walk away. Sari and I smiled back before turning to walk in the opposite
direction towards the truck. I looked over my shoulder in time to see the
sister lock hands and turn the corner, out of sight. I didn’t know where they
would go, but I hoped our paths would cross again someday.

“Earth angel, Earth angel, will
you be mine?”

 –Death Cab for Cutie, originally
by The Penguins

“You have no idea how good it is to hear your
voice, Cara,” I said into the phone.

I knew she could tell something was wrong with me.
My voice sounded exhausted with a hint of relief.

“What happened? Are you okay?” Already her voice
was softening into her familiar comforting tone.

“It’s nothing,” I said not wanting to worry her
with things that had already passed, especially after all she’d been through.
“We just got into a sticky situation earlier, but we’re fine.”

I had forgotten about the fact that I hadn’t had
the time to tell Cara about Sari or why he was with me yet. She hadn’t seen him
like Don did before we left. She used to always tell me she didn’t understand
why I chose to be alone when I could have any good looking man by my side, and
she was ecstatic to hear that now I did. Don’s such a blabbermouth. I should
have known he’d tell her all about me and Sari.

“Yea, I heard you were traveling with a hottie
these days,” she giggled, waiting for me to spill the juicy details.

I could feel my cheeks turn bright red just
thinking about how I would describe Sari to her; gorgeous, sweet,
perfect…tempting.

“It’s not as scandalous as you think, I promise.
He’s just…”

This was the part I had trouble saying. As great as
it was supposed to be, it sounded so cliché.

  “…my guardian angel, I suppose.”

The silence on the other end of the line was
deafening. I could picture Cara sitting at the kitchen table with her mouth
hanging wide open in shock. Immediately I regretted telling her the truth. What
if she thought I was crazy? How could she not? Up until a week ago, I didn’t
even believe in angels. Now I have one following my every move, practically
joined to my hip. I looked around the small empty hotel room Sari had driven us
to; two small twin beds, separated by a large end table and a gaudy decorated
lamp. Sari ran down to the vending machine a few minutes before, saying he
wanted to make sure I had something to eat and drink. Really he had been giving
me the privacy I wanted to call Cara.

“So…” Cara finally piped in. “No sexy encounters
then I’m guessing?”

She couldn’t help herself. She giggled again before
falling silent. I knew she wanted me to explain all the burning feelings I had
for him, but what was I supposed to say? Nope, no sex, but boy do I wish there
was! Then she would really think I was insane. If she had met him and we were
having this conversation in person it may have gone that way. It’s a little
hard to think of Sari as anything but a perfect human being when he’s standing
right in front of you. The angel stuff flies right out the window.

“You like him, don’t you?” Cara asked as if she
already knew the answer.

“Yea, I like him,” I confessed while my cheeks
burned.

“Like who?” Sari asked, causing me to practically
jump out of my skin.

I hadn’t heard him come in, but now he was standing
right beside me as I sat Indian style on the teeny tiny bed.

“Huh? Oh…Josh Duhamel…great actor. Cara’s really
into him,” I stammered. “Yea, I like his movies too, although I could have done
without ‘When in Rome’. Okay, getting to the real reason I called, though,” I
quickly changed the subject before either of them could call me out. “I found
out who she is.”

There was no need for a long explanation of who I
was talking about. Cara knew exactly who I meant and snapped right into problem
solving mode as she listened, ready to start her research.

“Her name is Lamia and she’s a demon goddess, if
that makes any sense.”

This was the first time I was talking to someone
besides Sari about her and even to me it sounded kind of far-fetched and
stupid. I only knew what Sari had told me about her and I filled Cara in the
best I could.

“Why is it that every day nightmares have their way
of finding me, but the only one I
want
to find is practically impossible
to locate?”

I was frustrated with the whole situation. I felt
useless. Why hadn’t I received some sort of clue to where she was? Why hadn’t I
found her and stopped her yet? I told Cara about my vision with Danny when I
was knocked out by Adena, fighting back my urge to bawl my eyes out. I had to
be strong and in control for myself or I would never be able to defeat her once
the time came. Sari and I had a lot of work to do still. I could hear Cara sniffle
softly, trying to conceal the fact that she was crying. She was always worried
about upsetting me when it came to Danny. I knew inside it was killing her too.

“I’ll see what I can dig up,” she said once she had
composed herself enough to speak again. “And I’ll fill Don in on it, too.”

I smiled, glad I had actually picked up the phone
and called her instead of passing out on the bed right away like I wanted to. I
felt like I was one step closer already to finding Lamia. I told Cara to keep
me informed and that I would definitely be in contact with her again soon.

“Be safe, Kamlyn, and hey…” she paused for a
second, surely considering if she should say anything else. “…you deserve him.”

She whispered the last part just in case Sari was
close enough to hear what she was saying. I knew that no matter how quiet she
tried to be, he could hear every word that was being said between the two of
us.

“Thanks! Bye,” I said quickly before hanging up and
tossing the phone onto the bed.

I was very aware again of how tired I really was. I
struggled to keep my eyes open and my body moving as I got ready for bed in the
small bathroom. When I came out, Sari was already lying down on his bed with
his eyes closed. He had turned up the heat when we got into the room, surely thinking
I was still freezing from being wet, but now it felt like a sauna. Being too
lazy to walk over to the door to turn the temperature down on the thermostat, I
decided to take off my sweat pants and sleep in just my t-shirt and underwear.
I peeked over at Sari again to make sure he was really sleeping before taking
them off.