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Contents
Scale of Elements, Red, Book 1
PROLOGUE: SUMMER OF FIRE
Red
1 ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE?
2 REDBIRD
3 EMPTY TRUTHS
4 JORDAN’S RUN
5 RAI DOESN’T DANCE
6 JADE STRIKES BACK
7 THE SPY
8 EMMA’S TRAVELS
9 RAI’S SECRET
10 SHERLOCK AND WATSON
11 THINGS HEAT UP
12 REFLECTION
13 IT’S HER PARTY
14 AFTERMATH
15 TAKE ME TO CHURCH
16 THE DATE
17 JUST COFFEE
18 A MODEL STUDENT
19 A VISITOR
20 INVENTORY
21 JASONS
22 FIGHT
23 BROKEN
24 FOLLOWING MONDAY
25 POWER
26 MAGGIE’S MANSION
27 THE RATING GAME
28 HOW ‘LO CAN YOU GO?
29 PROM NIGHT
30 MAYHEM
31 HOME EARLY
32 THE MOUNTAIN
33 SLAYER
34 RED
35 THE LUNCH CLUB
EPILOGUE: THE GATHERING
Pronunciation Guide
ENJOYED READING RED?
About the Authors
More from Rigoli & Reeves
COPYRIGHT
Book 1
RED
Rigoli & Reeves
PROLOGUE: SUMMER OF FIRE
Time was short. The League would be arriving soon, and then the place would be in complete chaos. If only she had known that they were going to make their move tonight.
There had been no time to change into something more suitable for prowling before she rushed out to the warehouses in lower Wimberley. Her entry into the storehouse started sloppy and got worse from there. Luckily, no one had heard. The guards outside were too busy chasing down a runaway forklift to notice the sound of a little window-breaking.
She had gashed her arm coming through the window’s remnants. That had been a clumsy, amateur move. She bound the wound and shifted into a quiet trot before swiftly sprinting through the rows of shelving. There was no use dwelling on mistakes. Address them and move on, she told herself.
She noted the small, dimly lit screen fastened to her wrist and compared it to the row of unmarked crates in a far corner. Feeling relieved, she went to work.
***
Jason Jones’ eyes snapped opened when his phone rang. He leaned over and grabbed the device to see who was calling at such an hour. The disgruntled tone from his wife beside him echoed his sentiment. The caller-ID finally registered, and he sat up quickly.
“Yes?” he said. His voice managed to be crisp and professional as he made his way out of the bedroom.
The voice on the other end of the call was tense. As Jason listened, he felt blood drain from his face. “You need to contain this. I’ll head there now.”
He slipped back into his bedroom and tiptoed toward the closet. The light on the nightstand came on, his wife eying him. “What’s going on? It’s three in the morning…”
“There’s a problem at the warehouse.” He sighed and pulled out a fresh shirt. “I need to go.”
***
She finally found the item in one of the last crates. Securing the bundle to her back, she took off through the trees. It felt much lighter than expected. She noted the first light of dawn brightening the sky behind her and stopped. Something was not right about it. It was too early. She had at least another hour, and besides, the light was coming from the West. Then she saw it.
Bright orange flames flared up into the sky beyond the tree line. They were burning the warehouse! The League must have found the empty crate. But, why burn the place down? They wouldn't do it unless they needed to make sure no one knew they had been there. It was terrible, and it was all her fault.
The flames rose. For a single moment, it was tempting to go back and see if anyone was trapped or injured. The slight weight of the bundle reassured her. She was doing the right thing. All would be well because of it. For now, she needed to find a safe place to hide her prize.
RED
1
ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE?
A car alarm startled Emma Vanora from her sleep. Bleary-eyed and confused, she crawled out from bed. In the pre-dawn dimness, she padded through the living room toward the wailing sounds. Sudden sharp pain shot through her shin as she struck the corner of the coffee table. She bit down on her lip to stifle a curse while hopping the rest of the way to the window. She fumbled with the tangle of strings on the right side of the window and pulled the blinds up with an angry, impatient jerk. A muted whine came from the top. The blinds were stuck. The cords bit into her fingers, and she only managed to raise the blinds on one side of the window a fraction of an inch.
Emma raked back loose hair from around her face, parted the blinds enough to see out, and darted her eyes along the street. Diffused red clouds billowed in the distance over the hill-country horizon, but she didn’t know if there was—
Shockwaves suddenly shook the living room. Emma recoiled, fell over the loveseat, and landed flat on her back. Wincing in pain, she stayed down as the vibrations shook the house and dust drifted from the ceiling. Something shattered in the kitchen, and she hoped it wasn't her favorite mug.
Great! There's a disaster movie going on outside, and Mom's working late. Emma sighed, getting up as unexpected wild banging came from the front door.
“Em!” a familiar voice yelled through the door, followed by more pounding. Emma looked out the peephole and saw a light brown eye looking back at her.
“Come on. Let me in!” It was her friend Olivia, and she seemed panicked.
Emma’s phone rang, and the word “Mom” flashed on the screen. She accepted the call while unlocking the front door. “Yeah, Mom, I’m here.”
Olivia burst into the house, slammed the door shut and slid the bolt into place. Then, she scurried through the house turning off all the lights. Emma held the phone to her ear as she curiously watched her friend.
Finally, Olivia went to the front windows, tried the stubborn blinds before yanking the drapes closed. Crouching low under the sill, she poked her head through the curtains and scrabbled at the blinds.
“I don’t know what that was, Em,” she whispered and tightly clenched the edge of the fabric in her fingers. “It looks like a fire over there, and then something big just blew up!”
“No, Mom. It’s Livs,” Emma said aloud and received a keep-your-voice-down glare from Olivia. “Yes, we’re safe. I’ll call you back if anything happens here. Be careful out there,” she whispered before ending the call.
Somewhere, a siren from a fire engine blared to life, and then faded, joined by others off into the distance. Pulling her long hair into a ponytail with a band from her pajama pocket, Emma sat with her friend at the window. “Why are we hiding behind the couch?”
“We aren’t hiding,” Olivia pointed out, her face edged with fear. “Okay, maybe we’re hiding a little bit.”
Emma leaned above her friend at the window. The bright orange glow to the north lit the street in a creepy way. Several of the neighbors gathered around outside, pointing skyward. Emma eyed her empty driveway in suspicion as a realization clicked.
“Livs, where’s your car?”
“I ran here.”
“You ran?” she asked with a disbelieving tone, “From six blocks away?”
Ever since Olivia got her license, she was surgically attached to her bright-red VW Beetle. She would even drive it down her own driveway to the mailbox.
Olivia scanned the streets again and muttered, “So? I ran. I got scared and dropped my ke
ys somewhere and couldn’t find them.” She turned her head and looked at Emma, her eyes slightly wild. “There was no time. I’ll look for them later. Everything’s weird right now. There were fires all over, but nobody’s out doing anything about it.”
“Maybe they were hiding in their houses like us?” Emma glanced out at her neighbors and then back to Olivia. She noticed a large bandage on her friend’s left arm. "I thought you said there wasn’t any time? What’s with your arm?"
Olivia made a face. "Okay! So, I dropped my keys in the little gutter next to the garage!" she blurted out.
Emma smirked. "You got your arm stuck in the grate again?"
"I was worried about you, okay?" Olivia replied in anger. "You didn’t answer my texts."
Emma regarded her friend in the odd light from the window and smiled. "Thank you for looking out for me, but I was sleeping. Besides, the fire looks like it’s miles away. My coffee mugs are in more danger than we are."
Olivia shifted uncomfortably, her voice quiet and purposeful, “Something’s going on out there. It’s like a Zombie Apocalypse!”
Emma gazed at Olivia for any hint of humor, but her friend looked deadly serious.
“Really?” Her tone was more irritated than she intended, and Olivia looked hurt. “That’s what we’re going with, zombies!?” She got up from behind the couch. “Oh, my God, Livs! You’ve got to stop listening to Rai.”
Olivia shook her head, and tufts of raven hair fell over her cheek, casting her eyes in deep shadow.
“No, no, no,” she explained, “He said that one of the first signs is a cataclysmic event. You know, fires and explosions. That stuff never happens here.” To Emma, Olivia started sounding exactly like their geeky friend Rai.
“He got that from a comic or something, Livs. We don’t even know what’s really going on. People could be hurt or losing their homes, and you’re talking about zombies!?”
Emma frowned and slumped down onto the couch facing the television. Drawing away from the window, Olivia paced behind her.
“But Em, that fire looks huge, and it was like nobody even noticed! I ran all the way here. Where were the alarms? I didn’t see anyone or hear sirens the whole way.”
“There’re plenty of sirens, now.”
“Sure, now there are, but only after that bomb or something went off!” Olivia shot back. “There’s a massive fire over there, and we’re barely hearing the fire trucks?”
That last statement gave Emma pause. It was a small town, so fire engines would have been almost instant. She bit back her next comment to consider it for a moment before speaking.
“Okay, Livs, you’ve got me there. That is strange, but can we wait on declaring the Apocalypse until we check the news.” Emma grabbed the remote and mashed a button.
The television flared to life and bathed the room in soft blue light. Emma flipped through local channels and scanned for news of the explosion. There was no mention of the fire, which seemed odd. The increasing, bright orange glow from it was visible through the curtains now. In the end, she found coverage of the event on one of the neighboring stations.
Copter-9, from San Macros, hovered over a large fire burning up an entire block of Wimberley warehouses. Olivia, seeing the scene, moved from behind the couch and settled stiffly beside Emma.
The two friends gasped as they saw the destruction. Tyronne, or “Ty-in-the-Sky” a local news reporter, said that fire crews had arrived, but no containment percentages were available. Thick black plumes of smoke unfurled from the fire, blotting out the sky. Unfortunately, on the ground, the blaze spread to nearby buildings. Both girls gasped at the broadcast. They huddled on the cushions in silence, transfixed to the screen.
“Wait!” Olivia exclaimed as she sat up. “Isn’t that Rai’s family’s warehouse down there? That one, right there in the middle!”
Emma leaned forward, recognizing the area.
Rai Aoi had been friends with Emma and Olivia since childhood. As the girls gazed at the horrible ruin of his family’s business, all thoughts of zombies vanished. Immediately, Emma tried calling Rai, but it went straight to voicemail, and her texts went unanswered.
Emma and Olivia sat through the rest of the morning worrying about their friend, hoping no one was hurt or worse.
2
REDBIRD
Weeks later, the local news stilled reported about the warehouse fires. Emma closed her laptop with a sigh and finished dressing in her preferred attire of jeans and a brightly colored tee-shirt. She grabbed a disappointingly healthy muffin from the kitchen bar and headed out for the first day of junior year. As she exited the front door, a wall of heat greeted her from the late August, South Texas summer.
A poppy-red convertible VW Beetle waited at the edge of the driveway with her friend Olivia waving at her from behind the wheel. Their friend, Rai Aoi was in the passenger seat, wearing a pouty expression.
“What’s with the face, Rai?” Emma asked as she climbed in the back.
“Oh, he’s mad that his dad still won’t let him drive,” Olivia replied as she carefully backed out to the street.
“One little mishap,” Rai griped, “and I’m restricted forever.”
“How much did the new garage door set him back?” Emma asked teasingly.
“It wasn’t even the whole door!” Rai shot back.
“Guess you’re stuck slumming it in ‘Flower’ with us for now,” Emma said.
“Slumming!?” Olivia snapped, and then patted the dashboard soothingly. “Don’t listen to them, mi corazón.”
“Do you and the car need some private time, Livs?” Rai chided.
“At least, I have a car.” Olivia stuck out her tongue at Rai, prompting Emma to snicker. Olivia turned a mock-glower at Emma. “You don’t get to laugh, you’re still in trouble for that ‘slumming’ comment.”
“Touché. All good-natured abuse aside,” Emma said, and changed the subject, “Any update on your warehouses?”
“Not really. It’s all tied up with Legal right now,” Rai said, drumming his fingers idly. “They’re sure it all started at our place, and from there, it spread to half the district. It’s a huge mess still.”
“That really sucks,” Olivia said. “How’s your mom and dad doing?”
“Dad doesn’t talk about it much, but he gets all focused like that when he’s dealing with stuff,” Rai replied. “Mom is worried, though. I can tell. She already has enough with her MS and all.”
“You know we’re here if you need anything, right?” Emma said as she reached forward to put her hand on his shoulder.
“Yeah, I know.” Rai nodded. “Right now, we have to wait and see what happens.”
The friends finally pulled into the parking lot of Cypress High School. Emma gazed at the dark, ruddy bricks and limestone of the school buildings set on steep, rocky hills with several flights of stairs going up. We should get P.E. credit for hiking all those steps.
As they got out, Emma turned her head toward the stadium. She could hear the marching band drum-section echoing up from their zero-period rehearsal. The band and the football team began practices in early August. The heat was oppressive, and she was glad she hadn’t taken band again.
Emma watched as a wave of bodies flowed from the lot, up the fifty steps and switchback ramps, into the main building. Sounds of laughter and greetings from students resonated within the tall, arched ceilings of the central foyer.
As Emma, Olivia, and Rai walked in, a loud squeal echoed down the main hallway. It was their friend, Jade Jones, making her way to them against the flow of traffic. Her mahogany skin and cascade of light brown curls made her the near-physical opposite of Emma.
“Em! Livs! Rai!” Jade wrapped her arms around her friends in a rib-bruising hug. “I have so many amazing things to catch you all up on!” Emma continued with her friends down the breezeway while Jade listed sarcastic titles to what she wanted to share, “I think I’ll start with the Tale of the Possessed Washing Machine, or maybe The
Mystery of the Supernaturally Oppressive Bedroom Wallpaper!”
“I’m going to assume this is Jade-speak for a completely boring summer break?” Olivia cut in with a laugh.
“You have no idea!” Jade complained.
“You know you live like five minutes away from most of us,” Rai griped. “Why you disappear for the entire summer every year and then complain endlessly about being bored the whole time is beyond me.”
“I know,” Jade sighed. “But you don’t know what my dad is like. I have to-do lists you wouldn’t believe.”
“Well, break is over,” Emma smiled and put her arm around Jade’s shoulder. “Welcome back!”
A sudden waft of heated air drifted down the hallway from the outside as Kendra Radcliff entered the building with her entourage and her brother. Jade stiffened and suddenly turned from their direction to look Emma square in the eye.
“I can't stand them.” She crossed her arms tightly. “Whenever I see Kendra, I see red. I can’t help it.”
Emma knew and disliked Kendra ever since grammar school. But for Jade, the dislike had developed into a true, burning hatred. The Radcliffs were from a prominent family in Wimberley. Their father was rumored to be from England and that his family was from old money, really old money. The siblings had a way of making sure that everyone knew it, too.
Kendra paused near Emma and her friends, and then leaned close to the taller blond girl walking with her. “Sarah, I thought you said they cleaned this school up over the summer.” She sniffed the air and wrinkled her nose. “Do you smell something?”
Except for being about five inches taller and having fairer hair, Sarah was nearly a twin of Kendra. Emma always compared them to two annoying versions of the same Barbie Doll. Rai would often joke that Sarah only existed because Kendra possessed too much of the Dark Side for one body to contain. That one always made his friends laugh.
The Rads covered their noses and made mock-choking sounds as they continued past. “Rads” had become the catchphrase for the growing collection of socially popular kids who orbited Kendra, and there were six of them in her wake this morning.