Out in the Open (Tèarmann Chronicles book 4): A Christian Urban Fantasy Read online

  Out in the Open

  TR Moore Ede

  Tèarmann Chronicles

  Copyright © 2020 TR Moore Ede

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Edited by Rebecca Reid

  Cover design by Eugene Chugunov (Wickard)

  Formatted by Nola Li Barr (Tapioca Press)

  ISBN 978-1-7773550-6-7 (paperback)

  ISBN 978-1-7773550-7-4 (ebook)

  trmebooks.com

  To my brother, John, who without him, some of the characters would not exist.

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Epilogue

  Thank You

  About the Author

  Acknowledgments

  Prologue

  Little six year old Victoria was excited. Not only was it Saturday, but her dad was finally home from work. She sat bolt upright as soon as she saw the sunlight streaming into her room. She threw off her covers, ready to barge into her parents’ room. Victoria slid out of bed, anticipating her feet hitting the ground, but it never happened. She froze as she found herself floating upward. She tried to swim down, but that did nothing. She looked over at the mirror on her wall to try and figure out what was going on. She screamed as her body began to disappear.

  Her parents, who were sleeping, leapt out of bed and ran into her room. Her father’s heart almost stopped when he couldn’t see her.

  “Do you think they took her?” her mom whispered, squeezing his arm.

  He kissed her cheek before moving farther into the room. There was no sign of anyone taking her. “Victoria! Sweetheart, can you hear me?”

  “Daddy!” he heard her call, her voice wavering and sounding like it was coming from above.

  He flinched when he felt a drop of water land on his cheek. He looked up and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw his daughter’s shadow.

  “Daddy, what’s going on?”

  “It’s all right, sweetheart. You’re okay.” He sighed before flying toward the shadow.

  Victoria’s eyes widened in surprise. Since when could he do that?! Suddenly, she was falling.

  Her dad gently caught her and held her close.

  “What’s going on?” she whispered. She glanced at the mirror, relieved to be able to see herself again.

  He kissed her forehead before landing and setting her down.

  Victoria ran and hid behind her mom. What was happening?

  “It’s all right,” her mom said gently, squeezing her shoulder.

  Her dad sat on the bed and motioned for her to come sit next to him.

  She stared at him for a moment before slowly going over.

  Her mom followed and sat on the other side of her.

  As her father held them both close, her parents explained what was happening to her and that she should never tell or show anyone her special powers.

  She didn’t really understand, but because she trusted her parents, she agreed.

  Four years later, ten year old friends, Zack and Frank, were running around in a field near Frank’s house. On this particular day, there was no one else around while they played.

  “Race you to that pole!” Zack called, pointing.

  Frank grinned. “You’re on! On your mark, get set, GO!” The next thing he saw was a blurry Zack and felt a small gust created by the speed.

  A moment later, Zack was on the ground at the base of the pole, holding his face.

  Frank ran over. “Zack? Zack!”

  Zack moaned and gave a whimper.

  Frank ran over. He flinched at the bruise down Zack's face. “How'd you do that?”

  “I don't know…” He blinked back tears before sitting up. “My head hurts…”

  “Yeah… Did I black out for a second?”

  “You would have fallen over.”

  Frank pulled at the grass. “Well, the only other option is that you were so fast that you disappeared in a blur.”

  Zack looked over before looking away. His face hurt, but he didn't want to cry in front of his friend. He knew what Frank had seen but didn't understand it himself so he couldn’t explain it. What was going on?

  “Do we tell someone?”

  “Tell them what?”

  Frank blinked a few times. “We should go to my house…”

  Zack didn't move. He didn't want to get up in case whatever had occurred happened again. But he wanted the pounding in his head to go away.

  Frank took his arm and helped him up and toward his house.

  As time went on, and his powers seemed to progress, they didn't tell anyone, even their parents. How could they? Since when did people get powers?

  Chapter 1

  Victoria

  It had been about ten years since my powers appeared and I was able to keep my secret. But then this school year started and other things began to happen.

  School. ‘Yay.’ When I arrived, pretty much all my friends were there, although I didn’t see Malissa Crop, which worried me. She went through some pretty traumatic things during the summer, and after that, we lost contact with her.

  During lunch, I looked around for Malissa. Maybe she had just been late so I didn’t see her before the bell or perhaps we had no classes together and maybe we could have been walking through the halls at different times. Deep down, I doubted either of these things were true. I continued to scan the cafeteria, but there was still no sign of her. I let out a long breath as a tight feeling formed. The people after her had thrown her off a cliff! I was hoping, praying, that she just wasn’t ready to come to school yet. I would understand that.

  I plopped down at my usual table and set my tray down slightly harder than I meant to.

  A pair of green eyes turned to look at me. “Hey Vic, you all right?” Zachary Cazard said.

  “Fine,” I mumbled with a sigh. I rubbed my face with both hands.

  “Liar,” he said, poking me.

  My blue eyes glared before I grabbed a fistful of his red, spiky hair. “Zack.”

  He held my wrist. “Vic. Seriously, what’s up?”

  I let go. “Sorry… things going on.”

  He stared at me before giving a small nod. “Hey, have you seen Malissa?”

  I swallowed. “No.”

  Malissa had long blonde hair that was, well, different than any other I had seen so it made her hard to miss.

  “Hey Vic, Zack,” said Robert, or Bob, as we called him, Power and his identical twin Frank as he sat. His blue eyes looked between the two of us. “Talking about the lack of Malissa?”

  “What do you thin
k?” I muttered, leaning my face against my fist.

  Frank ran his fingers through his blonde hair. “Should we call her?”

  “Haven’t we already? Multiple times before school even started,” I said with a small frown.

  “We could try again,” Bob mumbled, pulling out his phone.

  “We’re not supposed to use our phones at school,” Julie Snaggle snapped, sitting down. “Put it away before a teacher sees it.” She ran her good hand through her red hair before glancing at a nearby teacher. Six years ago, she was in a car crash that severely injured her left arm. She had minimal feeling and slow movement, so she rarely used it. She closed her blue eyes for a moment before sighing. “Mali-”

  “Nope,” Zack said, patting my head.

  I whacked his hand away.

  “Vic, stop worrying.”

  I glared at him before looking away.

  His face softened. “Vic, what’s wrong?”

  “Just stop it.” What if the people after Malissa had captured her again? Our friends didn’t know what had happened to her, but I did. Either way, wouldn’t her parents at least tell us that something has occurred? I rested my chin on my fist. The people who kidnapped her had access to a pool and the floor could open up and suck people in. They probably weren't some small group either. I mean, they found and nearly drowned her! My hand rolled into a fist. But why would they still be after her? Did the man have a lot of information? Or was there something else?

  “Earth to Vic!” Zack said, snapping in my face.

  I jerked back a little. My arm went up for a fraction of a second, ready to punch.

  Zack noticed and held up his hands. “You are not okay.”

  “I’m allowed to get lost in thought.”

  “Enough that you don't say hi?” Tommy asked.

  Wait, Tommy? I blinked a few times. Everyone else was there. Tommy Lawrence, Katie and Dave Pole, and Peter Rust. I swallowed. I usually observed things faster, because of all Dad's training, so when I didn’t notice four people sitting down, it was concerning.

  Tommy stared at me, his green eyes starting to turn yellow, which was what happened whenever he was stressed or worried.

  Peter's blue eyes almost glared at me, like he thought I knew things about Malissa.

  Katie wasn’t paying attention to me at the moment. She was shooting dagger eyes at her cousin, Dave, who was teasing her. They acted like siblings and were born a week apart. She reached over, grabbed some of his brown hair, and pulled.

  “Ow ow ow, Katie,” he said, grabbing her wrist.

  She continued to glare. “We’re worrying about Vic-”

  “There’s no need to worry about me,” I snapped.

  “Well then, Malissa. I don’t think I saw her after we visited her in the hospital,” Peter said, running his fingers through his black hair.

  There was a short silence.

  “Weren’t you the last one there?” Katie said, looking over at me as she played with her brown hair.

  I discreetly let out a long breath, trying to control my small bit of panic to appear calm. “I think so.”

  “Hey, do you think Malissa being in the hospital connects at all to her not being here?” Bob asked, leaning forward.

  There was another silence.

  “... Does anyone know why she was in the hospital?” Zack asked, looking around.

  “Aside from her probably being drowned, no,” Katie whispered. “Yo-you don’t think she was trying to-”

  “Don’t finish that sentence,” Peter said, his muscles tense. He let out a long breath before trying to relax. “Malissa has never been that low. She wouldn’t do that. And besides, it’s Malissa; since when has water ever gotten her down?”

  “There’s a first time for everything. And Malissa’s quiet. She wouldn’t want to burden us if she was going through some sort of depression,” Tommy whispered.

  I swallowed, squeezing part of my arm. I knew what had happened. Malissa wasn’t that low, she was almost murdered! But I couldn’t tell them that, they would freak out.

  “Malissa looked more frightened than annoyed at the hospital,” Julie said, taking a bite of her lunch.

  “I noticed that, too. She was kind of pale,” Peter mumbled before looking at me. “You said you were the last one there, right?”

  I looked around, making sure he was talking to me before nodding.

  “Did she tell you what happened?”

  Everyone turned to look at me.

  “We talked.”

  “About what?!” Peter snapped.

  I always found that Pete was more worried about Malissa. “We talked and she asked me not to tell-”

  “That’s pretty much saying that she told you,” Frank said, resting his arms on the table. “Why did she tell you?”

  I hung my head forward and gave an audible groan. Should I tell them? Was there a point? Was it a good idea because none of them look pleased. I lowered my hands and closed my eyes for a moment. “... Do you remember that story in the paper about Swim Fins?”

  “About the floor and all that? Yeah,” Julie said as she rested her bad arm on the table. “So-”

  “Malisss was the one who rescued the man from the pool,” I whispered. I bit my lip. I’m sorry, Malissa. “The day after she rescued him, I went over and she told me.”

  “You pried it out of her because you knew something was wrong?” Zack asked, leaning his elbows on the table.

  “Yes. At the hospital, after you all left, she confirmed that… that the people she saved the man from… they…”

  “They tried to get back at her,” Peter whispered, sitting up, his eyes wide. “They tried to drown her…”

  I looked away. “She didn’t want you to worry and probably didn’t want to have to explain the whole story.”

  Tommy’s eyes turned completely yellow.

  Katie hit her head against Dave’s shoulder. I think she was praying.

  He squeezed her hand.

  “Details?” Zack asked.

  I shook my head. “You don’t want to know.”

  “We do. Malissa’s our friend,” Bob said.

  I bit my tongue. No, I shouldn’t tell them.

  “Please?” Katie whispered.

  No, no I shouldn’t.

  “Vic,” Peter mumbled.

  I gave a huff before looking away. “Hands tied, off a cliff with a weight,” I muttered.

  Silence filled the table.

  Katie went bug eyed, looking as if she wanted to cry.

  “Where’s blondie?” Connie asked, walking up. She brushed her long, colored bangs from her eyes. Her dark brown eyes matched her smirk.

  “You realize that multiple of us have-” Frank started.

  “You know who I’m talking about!” she snapped. “Did I scare her away?”

  “Scat before I scare you away, twerp,” Bob hissed.

  She laughed. “Are those fighting words, Bobby? Isn’t it a sin to get angry?”

  “No. It's just how-” Zack started.

  “I don’t care. Little Bobby going to blow his top? Getting detention on the first day? Aw, bad little boy. You’ve gotten more-”

  “Shut up!” Frank snapped before glancing at Bob.

  Bob’s face was starting to turn red with anger and his hands were in tight fists. He had a bit of a temper and it was easy to rile him up.

  She snickered before pulling her hands on her hips. “Aw, are you mourning the loss of Malissa? She abandoned you, didn’t she-”

  “Whatever the reason that she isn’t here, I’m sure it’s a good one,” Peter snapped.

  Connie smirked. “Oh, of course it is. My mistake.”

  He glared at her.

  “One down, nine to go.” She whirled around and started to leave before looking over her shoulder. “And if she didn’t abandon you, why didn’t any of you hear about this before?” She gave a little taunting wave before leaving.

  Zack slammed his hands on the table and stood. “You know, ju
st because you don’t have any real friends, like we do, doesn’t mean you can pick on people who do. I’m sure there is a good reason why she isn’t here and she’ll tell us when she’s ready.”

  Connie turned and went over, her hands in tight fists. She was going to punch him.

  I quickly got in front, caught her wrist, and twisted her arm. “Just don’t.”

  She scowled before yanking her wrist away. “Even you can’t seem to stand him sometimes.”

  “I get annoyed with him, but never to the point where I actually want to punch him,” I hissed.

  She rolled her eyes. “Right, of course.”

  Peter grabbed Bob’s arm before he could do anything.

  Connie noticed and her smirk got bigger. “I’ll be sure to wave at you while you’re in detention, Bobby.” She turned and left.

  Peter looked just about as angry as Bob did. He glanced over at Connie as she sat down at her table with her group.

  Just then, her water spilled onto her lap. Her face turned bright red.

  Peter turned back to us, blank faced, but with a hint of satisfaction in his eyes.

  I wanted to ask but couldn’t find the words, so I left it. I huffed before eating.

  Right before the next class started, I asked my teacher about Malissa.

  “Malissa Crop? Oh yes, she’s one of your best friends, isn’t she?” he asked.

  “Yes, sir. Do you know if she’s coming tomorrow?”

  He frowned. “Didn’t you hear? It sounds like they’re homeschooling her or something.”

  I blinked a few times. “No, none of us knew that.”