Macey's Missing: Taber Blood II

Chapter 6

Weeks later, Jared hadn't made much progress. Any thought of Brenda and he jolted to unimaginable speed to be by her side. Jared pops in at school, dance, library, and once again in the bathroom as she showered. The difference from before is he can disappear before Brenda realizes he's there. Jared hasn't mastered staying away from Brenda, but he did learn to leave the scene undetected.

For this reason, everyone agreed he could return to school. David stood for this decision more so than the others hoping Jared would be distracted with the schoolwork. The kid needed a break. 

While Jared studied at home, Brenda was about to leave the library. She grabbed her bag from the counter. Closing time was near as Brenda lurked among the books of witches. She caught the spiteful gaze of the librarian. A nightly ritual between Brenda and the elderly, Mrs. Bayliss, who never seemed to enjoy the presence of children.  Brenda had much of her mother's personality. She used every second the library was open before walking out onto the wide staircase leading to the street. She heard the echo of the locks behind her as she darted down the stairs. Mrs. Bayliss wasted no time making sure Brenda's absence remained permanent for the night. Brenda smirked and looked both ways before crossing the street. But when she stepped off the curb, a dark-colored van came speeding down the road. She was in its path. Jared appeared out of nowhere and yanked her by her shirt, pulling her to safety. The van came to a screeching halt. 

She gazed over her shoulder and saw Jared's face. 

"I wasn't here a second ago," Jared said, expecting her to lash out. 

"If you hadn't been here, that van would have,"

"I'll never let anything happen to you," Jared said as he stared into Brenda's eyes. His feelings for her were wide open. He had an urge to feel her lips against his. He pulled her close and held her to him with one hand supporting her back and seeing Brenda like this, a little fear coupled with a yearning for his touch. Her lips parted to receive his distracting him from the van. He leaned in, ready for their first embrace. 

The van backed up. Uncle Eddie appeared on the opposite side of the street. "Get out of there!"

Jared spotted Eddie and turned his attention to the van. He watched as the side door opened. Inside, a portal spun, ready to receive another victim or release another demon. That's when Jared realized the near-collision between the van and Brenda was no accident. He let go of Brenda, and she fell. He heard her grunt as she hit the pavement, but he never took his eyes off the menacing portal. 

Eddie turned into the whole beast. His seven horns grew more prominent than before. The ground rumbled as he crossed the street. Brenda palmed the sidewalk to balance herself. Then she saw Eddie and the portal inside the van. She rose to her feet, steadied herself, and stood next to Jared, fist balled at her side. 

They waited for the next move, and none came. The portal shrunk to closure, and the van rolled away. It was a warning as far as Brenda was concerned. 

The beast made eye contact with Jared.

"I don't know what that was," Jared said. "But, I know why we've been searching for an open portal for years and never found one."

"Because they've been on wheels the entire time," Brenda said. 

Jared thought of his mother, alone on the other side of the portal. Years of whatever hell she's suffered, and they were looking in the wrong places. "They created moving portals to throw us off and kept my mother imprisoned." 

Brenda took a couple of steps, biting her nail, and turned toward Jared, "So, why reveal this now?"

Jared looked at Eddie. "We should get home." 

"You go, we'll meet you," Eddie said. 

Jared sped away, leaving Eddie to watch over Brenda. He first appeared in the foyer, then the kitchen, "Roxanna!" He appeared in her bedroom to find it empty. He yelled, "David!" He landed in his mother's office, where David would typically study. The room was empty. The library, he thought, and off he went. Roxanna and David faced the tree with its portal open. Not one but two demons were at its center. David stepped in front of Roxanna just as one of the demons tried to slash her with long crooked nails. The demon made contact with David instead. David yelled and fell to the ground. Roxanna chanted a spell to close the portal. 

Before this moment, Jared would have attempted to travel through the portal, but not this time. His strength, now more powerful than the mesmerizing spin of the portal, sprung him into action without much thought. "Keep chanting, Roxanna!" he said and then set his sights on David. The demons grabbed David by his ankles and started dragging him into the portal. Jared rushed to the opening and captured both the demon's boney fire-scarred arms. He will not allow the demons to take David, who tried to do fatherly activities with him as a child in Macey's absence. Although David couldn't throw a decent ball or catch one, it was the attempt to provide some normalcy that mattered. It touched Jared's heart. 

So, when Jared grabbed the demon's arms, electricity dispersed from his hands into the monsters causing them to let go of David. Jared's defense of David didn't stop there. Electricity continued to circulate until the demons disappeared and the portal closed. 

Roxanna stopped chanting, and David gasped and crawled away from the tree before getting to his feet. Jared faced the tree staring in silence. What just happened? A new power defeated two demons and closed the portal. He gazed down at his hands dumbfounded and faced Roxanna and David. 

With a trembling voice, David said, "Thank you. I wouldn't be here now if you hadn't," tears formed in his eyes. Who knows where he'd be right then if Jared hadn't rescued him. Maybe burning in hell or imprisoned like Macey. He turned to Roxanna, " Are you alright?"

"I'm ok, Jared. Are you?" Roxanna said.

Uncle Eddie and Brenda burst through the library doors, "What did we miss?" Brenda said, catching her breath. 

Jared was speechless, but David couldn't wait to share, "Have we got a story for you? But first let's get out of the library, shall we," he said, voice still trembling. 

"I need a drink," Roxanna said.

"Yes, that too," David said. 

Together they gently held Jared's arms and walked him out of the library. Eddie and Brenda followed. 

In the den, they all had a drink, including Brenda and Jared. Eddie started with the van and the moving portal. Brenda told her side but let the part about her and Jared almost kissing out. "Jared got to me just in time."

"Then, when the van left, we thought of you two," Eddie said, nodding to Roxanna and David. "We told Jared to go ahead, and we'd catch up."

"Good decision, because Jared got there just in time to save me from two demons," David said and poured another drink for himself. 

"There's more," Roxanna said. 

"More?" Eddie asked.

David downed his whiskey and poured another. "Jared has new powers." 

Uncle Eddie turned his sights to Jared, "You seriously trying to outdo your uncle?" It was a joke, but Jared didn't laugh or react in any way. Eddie sat his glass down, "Jared, what new powers?" 

Jared stared at his palms, "Electricity or something similar shot out from my hands. It chased the demons away and closed the portal," Jared said without enthusiasm. "It just happened. The demons were trying to take David. I can't let them." 

Everyone talked at once. The most dangerous was the moving portal revealing itself, but to lure Brenda away, all while distracting them from the mansion to attempt taking Roxanna or David. The afterlife used trickery to separate them. It could only be that wicked witch Evalena, creating such a plan, they concluded. 

Jared spoke up, "Don't you see? I have yet another power I must learn before I can go and save my mother. In the meantime, what if I can't control the power? I could hurt one of you."

The room was silent for the first time.