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

She had a
fleece blanket on top with the picture of a wolf howling at the moon.  Raven
rather liked it. Putting her arm around Jade’s shoulder, she said, “Head
between your knees.  Don’t lose your connection to Air.  Think of the voices. 
Don’t try to see anything. Focus.”
    Jade focused.
    “…started.”  Jade
heard the words and realized it was Harold doing the speaking, “Bertha, if you
give us your oath of passage, we will leave the girls alone.”
    Still closing her
eyes with her head down, Jade said, “She’s giving an oath of some sort so that
we’ll be safe.”
    Raven had done
enough spying through Air to know that Jade needed to pay attention. She just
made a small noise, enough so that Jade knew Raven had heard.
    Bertha said, “And
my niece?”
    “Once you’ve
passed and I’ve verified receipt of the gift of Time, we will release Amy,”
Harold said, full of himself.  Jade wanted to punch him.
    “I may live to one
hundred. Let her go now.” Bertha said.
    “Sorry, we’re not
bargaining for your niece. We’re bargaining for her daughters, and their
continued freedom,” Harold sounded so self-satisfied that Jade wanted to hit
him. He acted like he was playing a game that he had already won and was just
waiting for the finale.
    “Tell me what to
do,” Bertha said.
    “Stand in the
circle.”
    Jade accidentally
connected her vision to Air for a moment and received a blurred sea of faces. 
One seemed particularly clear.  A man with silver hair and slate grey eyes who
watched the ceremony with concern.  Jade realized that Bertha was leaning on
his arm as he walked her to the center of the circle.  The world tilted again. She
felt her gorge rise and closed her eyes.
    While Bertha got
into position, Jade asked Raven, “Have you ever seen a guy with silver hair and
grey eyes around town?”
    Raven shrugged,
“It’s a retirement community.  There are hundreds of people here with silver
hair.”
    Bertha was in
position to give whatever oath was required. She stubbornly said, “Your oath
first.”
    Harold grumbled,
but when Bertha refused to back down, he said, “As Master of Death and Holder
of the Universe’s Death Gate Keys, I promise that Bertha Skye’s nieces, Jade,
Raven, Claire, and Mindy Gray will be left to live their lives in peace by every
person here and anyone who has taken a Keeper oath.” 
    While Jade
listened, Bertha said, “I, Bertha Skye, daughter of the Universe and Keeper of
the Secrets therein, do give this oath of my own free will.”
    Jade repeated the
words for Raven.
    “Free will.  Hah,
that’s a laugh,” Raven lay back on the bed.  She felt strangely betrayed. 
Bertha was giving up her gifts to some unknown group of men who threatened the
family. First of all, there was no free will involved there.  Anything taken by
threat of force, was stolen, not given.  Second of all, she hadn’t even
bothered to talk to anyone before giving up her gifts.
    Jade said,
“Shh…she’s still talking.”
    “I do bequeath any
Gift of the Universe that ever belonged to the Death Keepers and is in my
possession to Wayne, leader of the Bend, Oregon Keepers. Any gift provided to
me as an Elemental from the Universe will pass to my family as the Universe
sees fit. This oath is binding until the day I die and can not be reversed or
changed.  Upon my death, such Gifts will pass in accordance to the Gifting
Laws.”
    A ripple passed
through the group.  Harold said, “To me. Bequeath it to me and not just the
gifts that once belonged to the Death Keepers. We want all the power you
possess.”
    Bertha lifted a
withered hand and adjusted her glasses, “Do you want this to work?  Because I
can’t in good conscience give Gifts passed down through the Elements.”
    The man with the
silver hair said, “Don’t get greedy.  We are here for the gift of Time, not to
take her powers over the Elements.”
    Jade repeated
everything for Raven.
    That was the
problem with