Chapter 9
Outside, the air was uncharacteristically cold for October. A stiff breeze pulled at their clothing and chapped their cheeks. Meredith wished she had put on a jacket over the shorts and tee shirt she’d worn to bed the night before. Had it really only been a day?
The moon blazed down at them on the clear night, but the halo of light rising up from the desert city prevented them from seeing many stars. As Meredith’s eyes adjusted to the relative dimness, she tried to decide where to go. The parking lot was meagerly lit by the occasional streetlight, and she could see a brightly lit gas station across a busy intersection to the north, about a quarter of a mile away.
She nodded toward the station and looked at Vi questioningly.
“Do you think they’re going to follow us?” Vi asked, glancing back toward the double doors they had just come through. “Because if they do come after us, that would seem a bit obvious.”
“Okay, where do you think we should go?” Meredith snapped. Vi looked at her defensively, and Meredith’s expression softened contritely. “Sorry, I am beyond stressed out with all of this.”
Vi nodded, accepting her apology. “I think we should cross the freeway that way.” She gestured in the opposite direction from the gas station. “There’s bound to be a fast food place or something a little farther down.”
The air was growing chillier by the moment as the breeze picked up. Goose bumps rose up on Meredith’s bare arms and legs in response to the cold. “It’s freezing,” she said, “so we need to make it fast. Can you keep up with me?” Meredith was wearing her tennis shoes, while Vi wore her heavy black lace-up boots. Meredith looked down at Vi’s footwear skeptically.
Vi scoffed. “Mere, you run almost every day. No way can I keep up with you. But I’ll try, so let’s get out of here.”
They set off at a brisk jog, which warmed Meredith up considerably. As she ran, she could see her breath coming out in little white puffs. Behind her, Vi sounded miserable as she huffed along. Meredith reigned in her pace out of consideration for her friend. They crossed the parking lot, being careful to avoid the streetlights, and Meredith lamented the fact that she was wearing a white tee shirt, which reflected the moonlight and made her easier to see.
They made it out to the main street and turned and ran toward the freeway. They crossed the street at the freeway onramp against the signal, but traffic was light in this direction. A wire fence came up on their right as they began to cross the overpass, giving them a view of the speeding cars below. About halfway across, Vi called Meredith’s name through wheezing breaths.
Meredith stopped and turned to look at her friend, who was stopped several feet behind her and looking through the wire fence into the distance. “What?”
Vi gestured impatiently at the view. “Look, Mere.”
Meredith followed her gaze and blanched. A huge wall of dust was heading toward them at an alarming speed. The dust storms in Phoenix could be dangerous and unpredictable, reducing visibility to zero, downing trees and power lines, and making the roads an extremely hazardous place to be. Though the haboobs were common, Meredith had never before seen one look so menacing or move so fast. “We need to get inside, and fast!”
“No shit!” Vi broke out into a flat-out run, catching Meredith’s hand as she came by. The women ran together, occasionally sparing a glance toward the oncoming storm.
A few minutes later, the dust storm hit them, and swirls of stray palm tree fronds and sand whipped at their bodies. They could only see a few feet in front of them as they clung to each other. Meredith reached up and pulled her tee shirt up and over her mouth and nose to try to keep from inhaling the brown cloud while Vi covered her face with her sleeve.
They continued to run wildly as the temperature dropped considerably, and their teeth clacked together despite the physical exercise. Meredith’s hair twisted around her face and covered her eyes, and she did her best to hold it out of the way. Over the roar of the wind, they heard a loud squeal, followed by a deafening crack, as a large mesquite tree tore from the ground in a yard next to them.
Meredith’s arms shot up over her head protectively as the tree came crashing toward them. She turned her face away and squeezed her eyes shut, expecting the worst. In a flurry of leaves and snapping bark, the tree landed a few feet to their right, and Meredith opened her eyes, gaping at it dumbly.
Vi looked at the tree and then at Meredith, astonished that they weren’t buried under hundreds of pounds of tree trunk. “How did that tree not hit us?”
Meredith had no idea. After a moment of shocked inactivity, Meredith called over the storm, “We have to get out of this.”
“I can’t see past that damned tree!” Vi replied. “Where can we go?”
The tree had fallen from the front yard of a house on a residential side street, and Meredith pulled Vi toward the structure. They ran across the front yard and hunkered down in the corner between the wall of the house and the block fence that enclosed the backyard. They were partially sheltered from the wind as they huddled close to each other, with their faces close together. Out of the corner of her eye, Meredith saw an SUV drive past the house slowly, likely having trouble seeing through all the dust.
“The storm can’t last that much longer,” Vi said through chattering teeth.
“It might, Vi.” Meredith wrapped her arms under Vi’s jacket for warmth and was silent for a moment. She groaned, “It’s so freaking cold.”
Vi returned Meredith’s embraced and squeezed tightly in agreement.
Meredith’s entire body shivered and the storm raged around them. Then she said in a shaking voice, “You were right.”
“About what?”
“Air.” Pausing for emphasis, she added, “We were thinking about t-tornadoes in the M-Midwest, but forgot about us.”
“But it’s not tomorrow yet,” Vi protested.
Meredith let out a small laugh and her body continued to shudder uncontrollably. “So you think M-Mother Nature lives on M-M-Mountain S-Standard Time?”
“Good point.”
Over the roar of the wind, they heard a car honk. They ignored it, until it honked insistently, several more times.
Meredith peered out into the brown swirl over Vi’s shoulder and could make out the shape of a dark colored sedan that had pulled up to the curb in front of the house where they were taking shelter. A hand was waving frantically through the window, beckoning them to the car.
Vi turned her face around and regarded the car warily. “Who do you think it is?” she asked. Her voice trembled as she forced it to work in the cold air. The temperature was continuing to drop.
“I don’t know, but if we stay out here we’ll freeze.”
They leaned on each other as they stood up, knees creaking and protesting from being in their crouched position for so long. They made their way across the lawn toward the car, hanging on tight to each other as the wind howled in their ears and tangled their hair into a dusty mess.
The car was a dark green Chrysler sedan from the early eighties, and it looked its age. Meredith pulled on the handle of the passenger side door, and after initial resistance, the latch gave. It took both hands for Meredith to open the door against the wind, and then they both leaned down to see who their rescuer was.
The ER nurse, Eleanor, sat in the driver’s seat, still wearing her scrubs and name badge from the hospital. The red stone in her necklace glinted in the dome light inside the car. Meredith took a step back, ready to run, when the older woman declared, “I wrote the note.”
Meredith hesitated, shouting over the wind, “Why?”
Eleanor gestured irritably to the weather outside the car. A large palm frond sailed past the car, disintegrating in the wind. “Just get in,” she snapped.
Meredith met Vi’s eyes and shrugged. It didn’t seem like they had a better option. She slid down into the passenger seat as Vi yanked open the back door. Once they were both in the car, the doors slammed shut under the o
nslaught of the wind.
The air in the car was still and warm, and Meredith felt immensely relieved to be out of the elements. The wind drummed against the side of the car, as if angry at them for escaping. Eleanor reached down and turned the heater on full blast, allowing them a few moments to warm up. Finally, she observed, “Your getaway timing couldn’t have been much worse.”
“We didn’t have a choice; they moved the surgery up,” Meredith explained. She buckled her seatbelt as Eleanor pulled away from the curb.
Eleanor drove slowly and carefully, accounting for the lack of visibility outside. Eleanor said, “Normally I’d just wait one of these things out, but we need to get you as far away from here as possible.”
Meredith turned in her seat to look at the nurse and asked again, “Why?”
Ignoring her question, Eleanor responded with a question of her own. “How are you feeling? Your pain should be mostly gone now. Is it?”
Meredith turned her attention inward and then confirmed that Eleanor was correct.
Eleanor nodded curtly. “Good.”
From the back seat, Vi asked, “How did you find us?”
Eleanor gave her a small smile in the rearview mirror. “I knew where to look.”
Meredith could hear Vi grumbling to herself, dissatisfied with Eleanor’s cryptic response. Feeling dissatisfied herself, Meredith said sarcastically, “You’ve succeeded in scaring us shitless, so if that was your goal, congratulations.”
Eleanor glanced at her sharply. “I saved your life,” she said.
“From where I’m sitting, you might have cost me my life. For all I know, I need that surgery and will die without it. You had better start explaining, or we’re heading back to the hospital.”
They had reached the end of the street, and Eleanor turned left onto another larger street that ran parallel to the road the hospital was on. She drove a few blocks before speaking. “What you were experiencing was growing pain--”
“Growing what exactly?” Meredith interjected.
“Are you going to let me tell you?” Eleanor growled, annoyed at the interruption.
Meredith remained silent, and Eleanor waited until she was sure she wouldn’t be interrupted again. “You have grown what is called The Second Heart, the first I have seen in a long time. This organ--yes, those damned reporters were right--allows you to exert an influence over the world that is denied to physical strength or science.”
“What do you mean, exactly?” Vi asked flatly.
“For lack of a better word, magic,” Eleanor said.
Meredith cut in. “I’m sorry, but I don’t really believe in that stuff.”
Eleanor looked at her and chuckled. “That doesn’t seem to matter, now does it?” Eleanor’s eyes returned to the road just in time to see another mesquite tree falling down into the street in front of them. She slammed on the brakes and swerved into the center lane, narrowly missing the tree.
They all paused and caught their breaths before Eleanor drove around the tree, keeping an eye on the weather more closely than before.
“Where are you taking us?” Vi asked.
“Home?” Meredith added hopefully.
“No more questions, now. I’d like to get us all there in one piece,” Eleanor said, without taking her eyes from the road ahead.
They were heading south into the suburb of Chandler, and Meredith marveled at the destruction they saw along the way, all as a result of the dust storm. They saw trees that had smashed through walls and houses, an aboveground trampoline that had ended up in someone’s swimming pool, and several car accidents.
After a while, Eleanor turned into a modest neighborhood that Meredith estimated was only about five miles east of her own. The neighborhood was full of tract homes that had all been built in the Spanish style, with red tiles roofs and stucco walls that were painted varying shades of pink and tan. The front yards looked like they were normally neatly tended, ranging from lush lawns to more spartan desert landscaping, though now they were all littered with debris from the storm. After a few more turns, Eleanor pulled into a small single story home that had a two-car garage. She reached up and hit the button to open the garage and then pulled inside, closing the garage door behind them.
They all got out of the car, and Eleanor led them through a door that opened into a kitchen. Meredith looked around curiously. The space was small, but clean, and she detected a slight sweet and spicy smell that she didn’t recognize. Across the kitchen were a small breakfast nook and a set of sliding glass doors that led to the backyard. To the left was a family room and a formal dining area, along with a hallway that Meredith assumed led to a couple of bedrooms.
Eleanor removed her coat and draped it over the back of one of the chairs in the breakfast nook. Then she returned to the kitchen and filled a teakettle, setting it on the stove to boil. Vi and Meredith watched her silently. Outside, the storm appeared to be abating, as the palm trees in the neighbor’s yard appeared to be thrashing around less violently than when they had first arrived. The dust in the air seemed less thick, too, as they were now able to see the back of the neighbor’s house instead of brown nothing.
Unable to stand the quiet any more, Meredith said, “You have a lovely home.” It was an old standby, but she couldn’t think of anything else to say that didn’t involve grabbing Eleanor by the collar and demanding answers.
Eleanor grunted in acknowledgment. She busied herself by removing three chipped and mismatched coffee cups from the cupboard and placing tea bags in them. The kettle whistled, and she poured the hot steaming water into the cups before replacing the kettle on the stove. She offered them the tea with a slight nod, and then picked one of the cups up for herself, swirling the tea bag in the liquid before tossing it into the sink.
Meredith and Vi followed suit, and then Eleanor beckoned them to the family room. A faded sofa and loveseat set were oriented in front of a fireplace that had a few ceramic pots and a kerosene lamp arranged on the mantel. To the left of the fireplace, an antique teacart held an aged TV set with a DVD player on top. A few DVDs leaned against the TV, and Meredith smiled as she recognized some of her mother’s favorite titles.
Eleanor sat on the loveseat, and the two friends sat on the couch facing her. Eleanor took a long sip of her tea before setting it on the coffee table and regarding them coolly. “Before I begin, I think we need to dispel you of any lingering doubt. Vi, can you please fetch the lamp on the mantel and place it on the coffee table?”
Vi did as she was asked and then returned to her seat next to Meredith. Eleanor gazed at the lamp for a moment, and the wick inside the glass shade lit up with flames. Vi’s eyes lit up excitedly while Meredith’s lips parted in disbelief, though she still felt that it could be a trick.
Eleanor noticed her skepticism. “Oh for Pete’s sake,” she muttered, again looking intently at the lamp. The ball of flame from the wick rose slowly out of the fluted glass lampshade and toward Eleanor. She reached out an open hand, and the flame came to rest in her cupped palm. She held it there for a moment before blowing it out with a small puff from her pursed lips. Eleanor looked at them with a smug smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. She raised an eyebrow in question at Meredith.
There was no explanation for what Meredith had just seen, other than what Eleanor asserted. Magic. Eleanor showed them her unburned palm for their inspection, and Meredith looked at her with amazement. “How- how did you do that?” she stammered.
“With my Second Heart,” Eleanor said gently. “The same sort of Second Heart that you have growing inside you now.”
Oblivious to Meredith’s shock, Vi blurted, “Man that is wicked cool! What else can you do?”
Eleanor sighed. “Whatever I put my mind to, I suppose.”
“So you’re a witch? Like a real-life witch?” Vi continued excitedly. “Man, the coven is going to shit a brick when I tell them about this!”
Eleanor looked at her sharply and snapped, “You will do no such thin
g.”
Vi’s smile drained away from her face at the vehemence of Eleanor’s response. She sat quietly, chastised but feeling rebellious.
Meredith’s tea sat cooling in her hands as she realized that her life had fundamentally changed. She had a Second Heart. A Second Heart that meant she was a real-life witch. She thought about the dinner she still owed Miguel, and the homework she had left to do. She felt far removed from the person that had worried about those things, and wondered what sort of person she would become. She wasn’t sure she wanted to give up the woman she had been planning to be. In a quiet voice, she asked, “So if I don’t want to be a witch, can I go back to the hospital and have them remove it?” She couldn’t bring herself to say its name out loud.
Eleanor looked at her sadly. “No, my dear. Your Second Heart is now as important to your continued life as your first heart. It is an integral part of you now. If you were to remove it, you would die.”
Meredith blinked furiously, trying to hold back the tears that blurred her vision. “Then can I just ignore it?” she asked forlornly, though she feared she already knew what the answer would be.
Unable to contain herself, Vi turned toward Meredith and exclaimed, “Why would you want to? Just imagine the possibilities! You literally can have anything you want.”
Meredith frowned at her friend. “I’m not like you, Vi. I want a normal life. School, a job. Maybe marriage and kids someday. This is the opposite of normal.” Noticing that Eleanor seemed to be waiting to speak, Meredith turned back and looked at her expectantly. “So? Why not? Tell me why I can’t just ignore it.”
A wave of pity washed over the nurse’s face. “Because, you have power. And just as there will always be people who have power, there will also be people who want to take it.”
“The queen of the cryptic strikes again,” Vi sneered.
Eleanor reached down and drained the last of her tea. “It is very late, and the story I have to tell you is a long one.” She looked from Meredith to Vi, who were both wide-eyed and hanging on to her every word. She smiled resignedly. “I can see that you aren’t tired, so let me get some more tea and we can begin.”