Redshift, Ashlynn Chantrea [early reader books .TXT] 📗

for me, mourn for me. But I didn’t really feel the need to mourn over them. And that made me far more depressed than anything else.

“What about you, Adam?” Laney asked after a moment of silence. I guess she had been waiting for me to volunteer something like she had.

“I’ll miss getting coffee every morning at the little café off campus. I’ll miss the little hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant that I went to for their chicken alfredo.” I admitted casually. “And the pie shop down the road from my place. They had the best banana cream pie in the world.”

“Really?” Rain said in disbelief. “Of all the things in life,” Zephyr continued. “You’re going to miss food the most?” Meadow finished.

It wasn’t so much food itself as it was variety and comfort. It felt good to go to the same place every morning and have people know what you wanted. There wasn’t any worrying about what to expect or fear of the unknown. But there was also the privilege of options; numerous options. Something I didn’t have anymore. At least in terms of food.

But rather than explain it to them, I only shrugged.

The triplets were appalled, but the others snickered softly.

“You’re kinda strange, Adam.” Hector commented, amused.

“Honestly, with your love for food, I’m surprised you weren’t fat.” Bianca said, still giggling.

“Oh, come on. They wouldn’t have picked me if I was fat. I’m surprised I made the cut with how old I am. I've got at least five years on everyone that was drafted.”

“Drafted?” Hector asked.

“Yeah, the mandatory call to serve in the Volturi army. Training to fighting against the mysterious enemy clan we’re trying to find now.” I explained.

“I don’t know why I didn’t notice that before.” Pim said. He sounded like he was talking to himself.

“Probably because you’re so close in age to everyone else that was there. I noticed right away because it made me feel old. I guess older people don’t survive the transition process as easily as young people do.” I replied.

“How old are you…were you…whatever.” Bianca asked.

“Twenty seven.” I answered.

“Wow, you are old.” Hector said. He sounded sincere and a little shocked.

“Shut up, Hector!” Laney snapped at him, “Twenty seven is not old.”

I laughed, “It never mattered to me. I wasn’t ever concerned about growing old. Seems ironic. The person that never cared about eternal youth will never grow old.”

The conversation stalled. We walked the streets in silence. I wondered if they had thought about the fact that they would forever be stuck in their teens before now. Or had I sprung this heavy news on them. They would always be exactly as they are now, never being seen as anything other than children.

We took refuge in a department store, hiding from the setting sun.

Everyone but Laney and I migrated over to the electronics department. Laney and I just wandered the aisles from department to department, watching the others from a distance. They seemed to be having fun, amusing themselves with stereo systems.

“I’m sorry if I brought everyone down with my talk of eternity. I guess I didn’t think about how they would handle the idea of never aging.” I whispered to Laney low enough so only she could hear me.

“There’s a lot about this life we haven’t had the opportunity to consider until now. I don’t think any of us thought we’d make it out of there alive.” She turned my way, “Until you came.”

“I didn’t do anything. Rain’s the one that deserves the credit. Without her, we’d all still be there.”

“Maybe. But I get the feeling you would have found a way to get us out of there eventually. None of us even entertained the idea before you came along.”

“I love this song!” Hector said loud enough to attract the attention of the people around him.

He started to dance, moving in perfect time to the beat. It was amazing to watch, he was fluid and graceful.

Then the people near him started to dance just like him. They moved into a triangle formation, Hector at the head, still dancing flawlessly to the music. I counted six humans in line behind him. He had good control, they each moved at exactly the same time. They followed his movements. I wondered if that was because he was thinking about the moves as he danced or if he had to move his body to get those around him to do the same. I thought back to his fight with Lars. He had caused Lars to stumble. And with the three vampires he sprung on Jane, Felix and Alec, Hector hadn’t moved at all. No, he was just taking the lead of his own personal dance group. Taking the stage, so to speak. As more humans started to flock towards the commotion, more joined in. Soon, he had more than twenty dancing in step with him.

“Adam!” Rain huffed quietly, but I could hear her just fine. “Make him stop!” Zephyr whined. “He’s embarrassing us!” Meadow sighed.

The display was attracting considerable attention from all around the store but I was curious about Hector’s abilities. I wanted to see the extent of what he could do. His powers weren’t limited to vampires. He had no trouble controlling humans. It was good to know. Could come in handy in the future.

“Lighten up!” Bianca said, laughing a little.

She skipped over and joined Hector, moving to his side. She moved flawlessly in step with him. I wondered if she was the one moving or if it was him making her dance like him. Either way, she seemed to be having fun.

Pim stayed back with the triplets, laughing quietly as he watched. He seemed to study Hector until just before the music ended. Then his attention shifted to Zephyr. He looked back and forth between the two a few times. I wondered what it was that got his attention.

When the next song came on it looked as though Hector was going to start up again but his eyes darted to Zephyr as well and he froze. She was talking to him, communicating with her mind, probably telling him to stop.

“We’d better get over there,” I told Laney, “Before Zephyr starts screaming at Hector.”

We joined the group. People were clustered around where they had been dancing, talking excitedly. The people that had been dancing seemed confused. They didn’t recall what had happened and were becoming anxious.

Mental note: people under Hector’s control don’t retain memory while under his influence. I wonder if it’s the same for vampires?

The anxiety level of the dance group was becoming an issue. I walked closer to Bianca.

“Think you can convince them they were part of a spontaneous dance mob?” I asked.

“You mean a flash mob?” She asked, smiling at me like I was so out of touch.

“I don’t care what you call it, just convince them nothing strange or scary just happened.” I snapped.

“No prob, bossman.” She replied, smug, “I got this.”

She talked to them for about ten seconds. By the end of it they were smiling and talking about how much fun they had. She came back to us with her chin lifted, feeling proud of herself. It was a useful talent; I’d give her that.

The sun had gone down far enough that the buildings in the skyline provided enough shade for us to keep moving. When we finally made it to a less occupied area, we were able to move faster.

“Did Zephyr tell you she was going to use her talent on Hector?” I asked Pim as we ran.

“No, you could just see it on her face. She was glaring at him like she wanted to kill him.” He replied, smiling.

“How did you know to look at her? Something she did got your attention.”

Pim’s smile vanished, “How do you know that?”

“I’m observant.”

Pim didn’t answer. I wondered why. And it occurred to me; the question none of us had thought to ask.

“Pim, what’s your talent?” I asked.

My question got the attention of the others. We all looked at him curiously. Pim looked deeply uncomfortable.

“I’m sort of…a tracker.” He answered hesitantly.

“How does it work? Do you have to know the one you’re tracking before you can find him?” I asked, my mind already at work.

“Not exactly.” It was obvious he really didn’t want to tell us about his gift. “I can’t track everyone. Only specific…individuals.”

“What makes these individuals different? Do they have to be human? Vampire?” I was interrogating him now.

He stopped running. I stopped right when he did but the rest had to back track a bit.

He pleaded with his eyes, begging me not to ask.

“What is it you don’t want to tell us?” I asked softly, trying to be as non-threatening as possible.

“It doesn’t matter what they are. It’s what they can do that I can track.” He admitted.

“You can sense the powers others possess. That’s how you knew Zephyr was using her gift. You could sense it.”

He nodded.

“Can you track the clan we’re looking for? They have a large group of powerful vampires. Can you sense them?” I asked.

Pim concentrated for a moment. He closed his eyes and held very still. Then he opened his eyes and looked at us.

“They’re to the west about two and a half thousand miles.” He responded confidently.

“You’re sure?” Laney asked.

Pim nodded.

“They would be on the west coast.” I sighed. “Come on, we better start moving. We should head for the Canadian border, run the line through the trees.”

“We need to move fast.” Laney warned us, looking to the east, “They’re on their way.”

That was all the motivation we needed. We ran as fast as we could, keeping to the forest as much as possible and away from any civilization. It took all night but as the sun started to rise we made it there. Pim had been able to direct us better the closer we got. It was overcast, no sunlight to worry about.

As we approached through the trees, we slowed down, not wanting to scare anyone. We slowly made our way to our only hope for survival.

Chapter 5

It was beautiful country. Everything was green, even though it was the end of fall and growing cold. Everything was covered in moss and a dampness hung in the frigid air. I noticed that although it was chilly, the temperature didn’t bother me. No temperature really made an impression on this body. It had no bearing on comfort.

I heard movement a couple miles ahead. People walking. No, not people. They were too quiet for humans. Vampires were walking.

My friends froze in place, suddenly overcome by the stress.

“It’s okay,” I told them softly, “We’ll be fine.”

They followed me, staying slightly behind me. I wondered if that was because they felt like I was the leader of this group or if they just wanted as much distance between them and the unknown clan as possible.

I could see them now, lined up in front of a huge, stylish house. I counted eight of them. The male standing just slightly ahead of everyone else was blond, in his early twenties, dressed in nice expensive looking clothes. He wore a neutral expression but his eyes seemed kind.

And then the color of his eyes grabbed my attention. They were yellow, the color of honey in sunlight. They all had varying shades of yellow eyes.

When we made it to the tree line, we stopped. I was still at the front of my group. As much as I didn’t want to intrude on their property without invitation, I felt a much stronger inclination to have