by Bailey, G.
“When the history and prophecies of our ancestors are so important. You would do well to ask our kidnapping aunt to show you the real history of this house,” she suggests with a cold smirk. “You were always reading books as a kid. Did you lose the habit?”
I step closer once more and reach up, placing my hand on her arm. “I miss my sister who loved blueberry cupcakes, and I loved stealing her clothes even when she got so mad at me. I miss Bethany Noble, whose life mission was to get her sister in a dress, and look at me now. I’m in a dress, and you’ve not even commented once. Has this place and all its secrets taken the real you from me?”
Bethany smiles and covers my hand with hers. “I will always be your sister, but we have to grow up and accept who we are. Mum and dad might have run away from here, but it doesn’t mean I want to. I don’t want to die in the human world with my kids having a shit life in foster care. I want everything the Familiar Empire owes us.”
“They ran away for a reason, and if—”
“That reason was more about you than me. Haven’t you worked out the dates, little sister?” She leans in closer, her eyes burning with hate, and it scares me. What has this place done to my sister? “Mum must have been pregnant with you when she ran away, so who’s fault is that?”
I nervously laugh to hide my pain. “You think it’s mine?”
“It wasn’t me, after all. I was living here, happily. You were the problem, just like the prophecy says you are,” she sneers and steps back. Tears fill my eyes, and I shake my head.
“Bitter doesn’t suit you, Bethany,” I snap. “Neither does being a total bitch.”
“Takes one to know one, sis,” Bethany replies with a cruel smile. I spin around and rush through the crowd and out of the room. I only get to the stairs before the tears fall and make the corridor blurry as I head back. With a shaky hand, I open my bedroom door and step in, only someone closes the door behind me. I turn, and I’m in Alex’s arms in seconds, and he simply holds me as I let out all the tears I’ve been holding back. For my parents, for my past, for Bethany. All of it, until I can cry no more. Alex picks me up and takes me to my bed, sitting us both down. He kicks off his shoes, and I slide mine off as he lifts a sheet over us and I lie on his chest. I soon drift asleep with Alex softly running his fingers down my spine and his heartbeat under my ear.
Chapter 11
Anastasia
Miss Trouble. Times double.
“Hello, Miss Trouble. I need a favour,” I say, popping my head into Skye’s room after I’ve spent the day wandering around the castle and finding out that most of the doors are locked. The attic got my attention, being as it’s not locked, and it’s full of old boxes. If I didn’t want to escape tonight, I would be going through them.
Skye looks up from her desk where she is making something with mud and sticks. I don’t want to know, so I pretend she is playing with toys instead. “I helped you two days ago when Alex snuck out of your room and I made a distraction. Do you know how embarrassing it is to pretend cry?”
“Your pretend crying made Phoebe really cry,” I tease, and she rolls her eyes at me.
“What do you want?” she asks, wiping her muddy hands on her trousers. I grin at her, and she groans. “Another distraction or a way to sneak out?”
“Sneak out,” I answer, and she mutters under her breath as she walks to me, glancing at the clock. Sometimes I forget Skye is eight years old and not the same age as me, she sure as hell has the sarcasm of an adult.
“I’m coming too; I want to see Dorothy and ask for her help on my project,” she informs me, grabbing her coat off the back of her chair and slipping it on.
“Can’t you ask Courtney?” I ask, wondering if she is close to her at all. For all Courtney’s many, many faults, she did bring Skye up since she was a toddler.
“No, because she would buy a new one or have someone make it for me,” she tells me, her opinion not giving me a slight bit of information on how she feels about Courtney. “And I want to do it myself. I need to do it myself.”
“What is it?” I question.
“A secret,” she smirks, just like her brother. I ruffle her hair as we head down the stairs and into the ballroom. Skye leads me to the back of the room and pushes on a glass door to let us outside, and we quickly run down the hill into the treeline. Skye grabs my hand and tugs me behind a tree just as three armed guards walk past. We wait in silence until they are gone, and then start running through the forest, towards where I can feel Shadow waiting. We come out of the dark trees and find him sitting in the road with Skye’s bird on his head. I guess they are friends now. I stare at Shadow’s eyes as I step closer, feeling our bond so alive under my fingertips. In my soul. Shadow joins us as we head through the forest, and I breathe in the pine scent surrounding me.
Just as we come out of the forest, I pause, hearing a familiar hawk’s cry. As I look up at the moon, a shadow of a massive hawk fills the light and is heading right in our direction. Skye’s hand slides into mine as Hex lands right in front of us in the clearing, the gust of his land kicking branches and dust in a cloud around him. Mason effortlessly slides off Hex and walks over to us. He bows his head at Shadow before smirking at me.
“Want to go for a fly?” he asks, nodding at Hex.
Skye clears her throat. “What about me? I’m a tiny girl, and you’re going to leave me in the forest all alone?”
“You’re a little girl who has two daggers in her boots and is more badass than any girl I know,” Mason points out.
“You have daggers in your boots?” I question Skye, and she winks at me.
“Maybe.”
“But…how…why?” I blurt out as she walks away into the trees, her bird flying off after her.
“Ask my brother!” she shouts back before she disappears. The second she is gone, Mason’s hand finds mine, and he links our fingers.
“Are you going to explain her?” I ask Mason. “And should I be scared of an eight-year-old now?”
“Your aunt should be,” Mason replies, tugging me towards Hex. I dig my feet into the ground when we get closer, and the reality of flying on a giant hawk comes to mind.
“I don’t think—”
“Let Hex fly us into the city. He won’t drop us, and maybe one day you can change Shadow into a bird of some kind,” he suggests, and I’m shocked he will talk about that with me at all, let alone so openly.
“You know about that?” I ask.
“I can do the same thing, and I’m glad you don’t talk about it. It’s dangerous here,” he warns.
“But how can we do that?” I ask.
“How do we have ancient familiars when only the original five familiars had them?” Mason counters. “How is there now five of us, and two of them wolves like the originals, who were also sisters?”
“The original five familiars?” I question as he somehow tugs me along. Sneaky boy. His hands wrap around my waist as he distracts me with his answer.
“There isn’t much history of our race or where we really came from except for this place. In the city, there is a museum with some things on show, but I’m sure there is more hidden. The things they show us are a painting of two women and three men, with their ancient familiars,” he explains. I gasp as he lifts me on Hex, and I try to trust Mason as he jumps on behind me, and I feel Hex move under my hands. Mason wraps his one arm around my waist and his other hand into Hex’s feathers just before Hex runs, flapping his wings. I close my eyes, even as my stomach fills with butterflies and the air gets colder.
“Open your eyes, Ana.” I don’t for a long moment until it feels like I have no choice but to look. Stars and the night sky welcome me, looking closer than ever as I look and stare at the sight around me. Hex glides through the sky, keeping us steady as I take in the view. The stars almost seem close enough to touch, and the moon lights up everything so brightly up here that I almost miss how we are flying and how scary that is. “The original familiars were said to climb over th
at mountain there.” He points his finger at the tall mountains that cut into the sky in the distance. “And they found this hidden paradise where no one would judge them, and their children could be free. In time more people came to the familiars with small animals and marks on their hands. They became an empire with the five leaders who founded this place. Their five houses lived on for generations, as did many others, but after thousands of years, there aren’t many houses left from that time. You might know the three that are left…even if one was nearly destroyed.”
Dawn, Violeta and George.
“What is the prophecy?” I question, turning my head back and pausing as I search Mason’s eyes like I can find the answer there when I know I can’t.
“No one can tell you it. You have to see it for yourself, and only your aunt or uncles can show you,” he informs me.
“That doesn’t make sense,” I sigh.
“Yet it is true,” he whispers to me almost in a teasing manner and clicks his fingers. A scream clogs my throat as Hex dives down to the city and flies effortlessly through the high-rises. People stop and stare, some wave and others look in awe until Hex gets to the back of the city and to a clearing in the middle of trees which are the base of the tall mountains.
“Why are we on the other side of the city?” I ask as Mason helps me slide off Hex and jumps off himself. Hex bows his head at Mason and me, and I do the same back before he takes off and flies away, leaving us in the silent forest. Mason wraps an arm around my waist and guides me down a small stone path towards the treeline, where I can hear something now and see distant lights.
“I’m taking you to your first familiar party,” Mason answers me as the music finally registers in my ears, and I smell the thick scent of smoke. “We used to host most these parties when we were young teenagers, and then they just became a regular thing.”
“What about the party in the basement of the library where we danced?” I reply. “That was my first party with familiars.”
“I have to admit that was a good dance, but that wasn’t a party. This is,” he answers me just as we get to the edge of a small cliff and see what is at the bottom of a big crater with a river through the middle of it. Hundreds of people dance around five bonfires on the stones, and others are in the river which is lit up by tiny blue lights with animals sleeping or running around the edges. So many different types of animals from small foxes to bunnies to alligators by the water’s edge, and they are each at peace with one another. Two waterfalls end the river at either side and snake off into the forest, and steps wrap around the crater, with people sat on them. The mixture of colours of the people’s clothes, the lights, the music played from somewhere and the cold air of the forest are amazing. “We are young and trapped, but it doesn’t mean we can’t be free.”
My lips tilt up as I look up at him, his eyes shining in the light of the fires. “Let’s be free then, Mason.”
His laugh fills me as he takes my hand and we run around the crater to the steps, but we pass them, and I flash Mason a questioning glance as he leads me to the slow stream of the river that leads to one of the waterfalls. He lets go of my hand and steps back, kicking off his shoes. He grabs the edge of his blue shirt and very slowly—or at least I see it slowly,—he pulls his shirt off and chucks it on the floor. He keeps his shorts on as he walks to the edge of the water, and my eyes trace his muscular back, the tense way he holds his arms at his side and his tanned skin. This man is too perfect for me, and I don’t even care. I want him more than I’ve wanted anything in my life…and he is right. We are young, trapped and slightly lost, but we have each other.
And sometimes that simply is enough.
He looks back, meeting my eyes. “Freedom is better when you jump in rather than simply walk.”
I can barely move as he runs down the river and jumps right off the edge into the waterfall.
Holy shit.
I kick my shoes off without thinking of it and pull my hoodie over my head with my shaky hands. I peel off my skinny jeans, leaving my tank top, panties and bra on as I walk into the water. The cold water trickles under my feet, getting higher with every step as I get closer to the edge of the waterfall, and I stand there, looking at the moon hanging above the forest.
I’ve never lived, not really. My life has been about responsibility for Phoebe and keeping Bethany sane when she was always close to breaking. I have always been the middle sister who did what was needed and never second questioned it.
But right now?
I want to be myself and jump into the waterfall and let a guy I’m sure I’m in love with catch me under it.
“So that’s what I’m going to do,” I whisper to myself as I push my feet off the rocks and jump into the waterfall. The heavy water pushes me down, and I close my eyes as I crash underwater, trying not to gulp in the cold water. Warm hands wrap around my waist and tug me against a hard body as I blink my eyes open just as Mason kisses me, letting dozens of air bubbles float up around us. We break out of the water, still kissing, still with our arms wrapped around each other, and Mason’s hands grab my ass, lifting me in his arms. My back hits a cold wall of stone, and Mason presses his hard cock into my core, and I moan into his mouth. In seconds he has lifted me onto the stone before pulling himself out of the water. He picks me up, wrapping my body around his as he devours my mouth, and I can’t think straight.
Suddenly I open my eyes to see we are at the back of the cave, hidden in darkness under the waterfall. This place is perfect, and I know what I want. The little light in here reflects against Mason’s eyes as he hovers his body over me.
“Are you sure you want this?” he softly asks me. I don’t have to think about my answer for more than a second, and I give him his answer by leaning up and pressing my lips to his. He answers me with a groan, lowering his body over mine. He tugs the rest of my clothes off and pushes down his jeans before he starts to kiss down my body. His lips tug and tease both my nipples, and my senses are on overdrive as his hand cups me. He slowly rubs my clit as he slides a finger inside me, his forehead resting against my stomach.
“Fuck, you feel amazing,” he groans against the skin on my stomach, and it makes me shiver. Pleasure builds up and up until I can hardly take anymore, and suddenly an orgasm crashes into me. In seconds Mason is climbing up my body, and he kisses me as he slides his hard cock deep inside me in one go. Pain mixed with pleasure makes me gasp against his mouth, and he groans like being inside me is everything he ever wanted. He slowly pulls out before thrusting back into me, and the pain soon disappears as I arch my back, and his hands sink into my hair as he thrusts into me. I don’t know how long it lasts, I only know it’s perfect and everything I could ever want.
Unexpected pleasure starts building in my core every time he thrusts, and soon I feel an orgasm coming along. Mason grunts against my lips, and I cry out as pleasure blasts through me and I tighten around Mason as he groans and comes with me. We both lie in together, and I imagine he has a smile on his lips even when I can’t exactly see him in the dark cave. He slides out of me and pulls me onto his chest. I listen to his heartbeat for a long time, watching the waterfall at the entrance to the cave.
“We didn’t use protection,” I randomly blurt out, feeling stupid. We should have, and I hardly doubt I’m going to find a chemist that will give me a morning after pill here. God help me if I have to ask Courtney for help.
“Shit, sorry, I should have mentioned that I took a pill when I was a teenager that made pregnancy impossible. Everyone here takes it, and there is a tablet to reverse it if need be,” he softly explains, and I sigh in relief. “I know Liam and Alex had the tablet at the same time as me. I’m sorry I worried you; I would never put you through a pregnancy without both of us making that decision.”
“While we are on the subject, how many girls came before me?” I quietly ask, feeling stupidly jealous.
He sighs and runs his hand down my back. “Before you, there were odd one-night stands, but I do
n’t even remember what they look like now. I remember nothing before you, if I’m being honest.”
“I’m sorry I asked that,” I admit, thankful the darkness hides my burning cheeks.
“I’m not. I don’t want any secrets between us…I love you, Anastasia Noble, and if you want me, Mason Olesen, I’m forever yours,” he whispers, and my heart pounds hard in my chest. I softly kiss his chest, right above his heart.
“I love you too, Mason Olesen.”
Chapter 12
Anastasia
A not so fun family day out…
I push the cornflakes around in the bowl in front of me on the glass table we sit at every morning, my mind completely focused on the party two nights ago and Mason. A smile pulls at my lips when I think of everything we did and how good it felt. We both said we loved each other before having sex again, and then we joined in the party. A few drinks later and roughly ten minutes of dancing was all Mason could take before he chucked me over his shoulder and took me back into the waterfall cave, where he showed me cool and sexy skills with his tongue.
I should have told him I love him one more time before we had to leave, considering any time we get together is limited right now. The same can be said of Liam and Alex. I miss our cosy cabin, the fire and homely kitchen. I miss the way the cabin always smelt like home cooked food from the boys cooking all the time. How it was simply my home. I know deep down anything else isn’t going to be enough anymore. I lift my gaze as Phoebe laughs at something Skye said. The two of them are complete opposites of each other but somehow perfectly good friends.
“I’m taking you out somewhere today before you go to your uncles’ tomorrow,” Courtney states, reminding me there is a wicked witch at our table and everything isn’t all great. I tighten my lips as I turn to look at her at the head of the table. Her long blonde hair is all curly today, falling down her shoulders, and that lizard familiar is making her hair move every so often.
