Free A Time to Die (Elemental Rage Book 2) by Jeanette Raleigh

to push open the door for Mindy, but Aunt Bertha
didn’t have the energy to get out of the car.  She rolled the passenger window
down and turned her head, calling to Mindy, “Over here.”
    Bertha knew full
well her voice didn’t go that far.  Earth was kind enough to relay the
message.  Mindy didn’t look up, but walked faster toward the car, as if making
eye contact with another being on the school grounds would kill her.  Aunt
Bertha couldn’t blame her, after everything that had happened in her young
life.
    Mindy opened the
door and crawled into the car.  A teacher’s aid closed the door for Mindy. 
Bertha said, “What do you say?”
    Mindy lifted her
head and stared at Aunt Bertha as if to challenge her.  Aunt Bertha’s eyebrows
lifted, “Only polite children eat dessert.”
    “Thank you, Ms.
Harp.” Mindy mumbled, covering her face with her teddy bear.
    Aunt Bertha
smiled.  You couldn’t win every battle, but that didn’t mean you gave up. Ms.
Harp waved to Aunt Bertha and with a nod returned to the school. Mindy dropped
the bear to her lap. She didn’t say anything else.  School wore her out.  Often
Mindy rode the whole way home in silence.
    Claire ran flying
out of the door to the school, black hair streaming behind her.  Aunt Bertha
checked behind her in alarm, thinking perhaps she was chased.  Claire tore open
the door, jumped in and shut the door with a sharp thud.  “I hate school. Let’s
go.”
    Aunt Bertha waited
until Claire and Mindy were buckled in, then she drove off. Jade had
volleyball, and Raven couldn’t ride with Mindy. Bertha would have to fight the
Void soon.  Her back hurt something fierce.  The Void would weaken her.   
    The cancer was
spreading quickly. Between the upcoming fight with the Void, the interference
of the Keepers, and the cancer eating her body, Aunt Bertha feared that six
months to live was optimistic. It was time to tell the girls. 
     
     
    ~~ Raven ~~
     
    Aunt Bertha was
acting strange when Raven got home.  Mindy was in the kitchen, so Raven
couldn’t fix a sandwich, at least not without her little sister experiencing a
major melt-down. Aunt Bertha kept looking at the clock and asking the girls if
they would be all right alone for a few hours. Raven wondered what she was up
to. 
    At six o’clock
Bertha said she had to go somewhere, but wouldn’t say where or why or for how
long.  Jade was taking an after-volleyball nap, which meant she didn’t notice
anything.  Even though technically Jade now shared the room with Mindy, they
hadn’t moved all of their stuff yet. Raven shook Jade awake.
    “What?” Jade
sounded cranky.
    Raven hissed,
“Shhh.  There’s something wrong with Aunt Bertha. She said she’s leaving in an
hour. I don’t have Air to spy on her.  I need your help.”
    “What can I do?”
Jade rolled over and covered her head with the blankets.
    Raven poked her in
the back, “Hey. Come on.  I need your help.  I’ll show you.  Don’t you want to
know where Aunt Bertha is going? What if she disappears like Mom?”
    “Fine,” Jade
grumbled.  She looked at the clock, “It’s only six-thirty. If she’s leaving in
an hour, wake me up then.”
    “Seriously, Jade. 
You’re going to spend a third of your life asleep. You can spare an hour. Now,
hush. I don’t want her to think we’re watching,” Raven jumped on the bed next
to Jade, purposely invading her personal space.  Jade hated it when other
people got on her bed.
    “Get off or I’m
not helping,”
    Raven rolled off
the bed. “What a Crankster. Fine, go back to sleep. I’ll wake you when it’s
time for dinner.”
    Jade punched her
pillow, “You could have let me sleep longer and told me after she left.”
    “Yeah, could
have.” Raven said with a grin and sauntered out.  She went to her own room
across the hall.  Strange, she wouldn’t have thought she would miss sharing a
room with Jade, and yet she did.
    Aunt Bertha left
around seven-thirty, almost