by Ainsley Shay
His eyes went wide. “You did that?”
The thought I’d screwed something else up slashed through me. “Was it a no-no?”
Macias slowly shook his head. “It should be impossible.”
28
Albert Einstein was smiling down on me when I woke. I glanced around, realizing I was in the church. Kelios! I touched my neck. Two small welts were sore under my touch.
“They should go away in a couple days,” Macias said. He set down the book he was holding, then came over to me. “The amount of blood taken was significant. I think we should consider you extremely fortunate. Since I’m not a doctor and going to the hospital seemed out of the question, you’ll have to take it easy for a while so your body has a chance to replenish what was taken. I think you’ll be back to yourself in no time. You already have some of your color back.”
“I’m not going to turn into a vampire, am I?”
He shook his head. “No. That process is not as easy as it is in fiction.”
I tried to sit up to look around for—
“Cameron left a little while ago. He stayed here for most of the night to make sure you were all right.”
He had been so nice. I’d have to remember to thank him for saving me.
“Does my aunt have every cop in the state searching for me?”
He chuckled. “No. Cameron sent a text to her from your phone telling her you were sleeping at Mina’s.”
Although I was grateful, that wasn’t my first thought. “You let him lie while in church?”
“That kind of lying saved a lot of worry, dread, and fear,” he justified.
I’d have to think about that later when my brain cells could equate things again.
“Everly, how did you transfer the magic to the jade heart?”
I told him what happened after I threw the bracelet against the wall. He nodded in thought.
“Something tells me, the White Ones and the immortals will all be coming back here for you. I don’t know what makes you so special. I’d known since you were young that you had a gift. But the things you’re capable of are far more magical than should be possible.”
I swallowed. “I just want to be a regular girl with boyfriend issues, having the difficult decision of wearing gray or white Converse. I did not sign up for being some immortal creatures’ sacrifice or moving elemental things.”
“I know you didn’t. But sometimes, things are out of our control.” He sighed. “Everly, you have abilities that can be used for good.”
“If I don’t get boiled in a giant black pot with lizard guts and spider eyes first.”
The preacher laughed.
“It’s not funny!”
“It’s a little funny.” He pulled the damp cloth off my forehead. “While the immortals are gone, let’s try to work on your skills with the elements.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
“Now I don’t have experience with actually manipulating them, but I can help you get into a state of relaxation so you’re able to focus easier.”
“Okay.”
He helped me to my feet. “But first, let’s get you something to eat.”
When I stood, I wasn’t as sore as I thought I would be.
Holding onto the pew, I paused. “Macias, what happens now?”
He frowned. “I’m not sure. Only the immortals and the White Ones know when the ritual will take place. I’m not sure how much time we have.”
I didn’t like that answer.
Taking it easy consisted of doing all the things I normally did: work, school, hanging out with Mina, preparing dinners with Aunt Juju. Cameron came into the store while I was working on Saturday. It was good to see him. Since I had stayed home from school for the week, I’d missed seeing him there. Thanking him for saving me needed to be done in person.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hi.”
“I—” we said in unison.
“You go first,” he said.
I had practiced a million times, so I had my speech down, but none of what I prepared came out. I simply said, “Thank you for helping me the other night. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you.”
He smiled. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Thanks.” I twisted my hands together. I really needed to get another bracelet. “What did you want to tell me?”
“You’re part of something that’s frightening as hell. Most of it, I don’t understand.”
That makes two of us.
“But if you need me, I’m here for you, whatever it is.”
I wasn’t sure if I was out of line or not, but I hugged him. “Thank you, Cameron. I may need to take you up on that one day.”
When I pulled away, he was smiling.
“Can I ask you something?” he said.
“Sure.”
“Did you really used to cliff jump where you used to live?”
I was so caught off guard by his question, I felt like I was back on the bluff when he came up behind me and scared the bejeezus out of me. I’d spent so much time concocting lies and using them, I was too tired to do it anymore. “No.”
“I didn’t think so.” He smirked. “What were you doing there if it wasn’t to check out the cliffs?”
One corner of my mouth lifted, and I prepared to get laughed at. “I was looking for the beach.”
Cameron laughed out loud. So loud, Boone screeched. “Ev, we don’t have beaches.”
I widened my eyes, trying to look surprised. “Really?”
He pulled me back in for another hug. “Really.”
Cameron left a little while later. I was in the back checking on the dragon eggs. Isla had moved Scotty’s aquarium to the table in the corner. She was at her desk doing paperwork.
“Are these guys going to hatch or what?”
She took off her glasses, then let them hang on the chain. “A few more weeks of incubation, and we should see some baby dragons.”
“That gives me a few more weeks to convince Aunt Juju we need to get one.”
She laughed.
While I was dusting the jewelry shelves, the glint of silver caught my eye. It was ring with a sacred seven stone. I wasn’t sure why I was just now noticing it for the first time. After I slid it off the black velvet tube, I put it on. It fit perfectly on my forefinger.
“Isla, I would like to purchase this, please.”
She glanced at the ring and huffed. “Oh, dear girl, consider it yours. I’d no more take money from you than I would from Buddha himself.”
There was no point in arguing. I hugged her. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Why don’t you get going? You had a crazy day on Monday, and I got it from here.”
Normally, I would stay despite her telling me to leave, but I was tired and the thought of lying in bed sounded amazing.
I had stayed clear of the magical side of things for the last several days. In fact, I didn’t feel a surge of it until I saw him. Well, more like ran into him. The mystery guy from movie night was less than two feet away from me. He was even more beautiful up close.
“I’m so sorry, were you going in here?” I held the door to The Warlock’s Workshop open for him.
“I was, but I don’t need to now.”
Slightly baffled, I didn’t say anything, just started walking to the parking lot where I now parked my scooter.
“Are you Everly Shade?”
I stopped, swiveling to face him. “I am. And you are?”
“Dragan.”
Fluttering creatures took flight in my stomach. “Let me guess… you shift into a dragon.”
He laughed. It was throaty and sweet. “No, but that would be wicked cool.” His face grew serious. “Although I can shift, but only partly. I’m an Artisan of Fire.
“Wait! You have two abilities? I thought—”
“It’s rare. I’m the only original who has two.” He began walking next to me. “And, apparently, you’re the only offspring we know about with more than
one. Which I’m sure you know by now is exceedingly rare. So rare in fact, we’ve never seen it in all the years we’ve existed.”
All the years we’ve existed. I still wanted to know exactly what that meant. “So I hear.” I shifted my bag to the other shoulder. “What does shift partly mean? Like you grow a crow head, but keep your human body?”
“I see you’ve met Onyx.”
“Yes, both human… and not the human side of her.” I shrugged. “She’s not too crazy about me. Actually, none of your kind are.”
“Why? You’re our kind.”
My heart thumped a little faster. “You’re not just being nice so you can set me on fire, are you?”
Dragan chuckled. “Damn, what have they done to you?”
I ignored his question. “So how do you know me?” I asked.
“My brother told me about you.”
I kicked a stone out of my path. “Who’s your brother?” And then I realized I didn’t need to ask that question; he looked exactly like the unscarred half of Spiro. “Wait let me guess—Spiro.”
“The one and only.”
We stopped by my scooter, and I found myself disappointed the walk with him had gone by so quick.
He stepped a bit closer, examining the mark on my cheek. His hand reached up to touch it, but halted in midair. “It’s beautiful.”
“I’m still getting used to seeing it when I look in the mirror.”
He lowered his hand. “You’ll have more than a lifetime to get used to it.”
Those were the first positive words about my lifeline I’d heard in a long time. “What’s it for?”
Dragan smiled. “You really don’t know anything, do you?”
“Ouch!”
He lightly touched my hand. It was warm, and it sent the good kind of shivers down my spine.
“That came out really bad. I’m sorry, let me try that again. The mark is called a hieroglyph. It depicts what you’re capable of, what your gifts are.”
Lifting his sleeve, he showed me the hieroglyph on his forearm. It was a dragonfly inside a flaming triangle.
“Oh shit!”
“What’s wrong?” he asked, pulling down his sleeve.
I swallowed the lump of disbelief in my throat. “You’re the one who sent me the package with my bracelet.”
He nodded.
“Spiro told me you tossed something into the water, so I went to find it.” He frowned. “I wasn’t certain it was yours, but I took a chance that it was.”
“Thanks, I think.”
“You’re welcome, I think.”
He cupped the back of his neck and looked at me, really looked at me. “So what’s your story, Everly Shade?”
“I’m not sure I have one. Just a few weeks ago, I was just a normal, boring girl who got straight As, had a curfew, and loved donuts.” I shrugged. “Now, I’m some freak no one quite knows what to do with except sacrifice.”
“I don’t see you as ever being boring.”
Did his bluish-green eyes just sparkle? Probably not. It was most likely my own imagination acting up. But then he smiled. Yep, they sparkled all right. God, could he be any more of a dream?
He dragged his hand through his clean-cut sandy hair. “Well, maybe I can help you try to figure all that out,” he suggested.
“What, in exchange for my life?” I put the key into the ignition. “No thanks, I’ve already been offered that deal and it wasn’t too appealing.”
“No, not as a sacrifice, but maybe a friend.”
As much as I wanted him to be a coach in all this, I was afraid to take the chance. Could this really be happening to me right now? Did the hot dreamy supernatural guy want to just be my friend, and not want to bake me over a fire for everlasting life?
I was scared.
“Listen I don’t know much, but I’ve been here for a long time. As far as my brothers and sisters go, most of them are good. They came into this world the same way that I did. But during the year of the renewal, they can get a little selfish. Not by choice. It’s a matter of survival, that’s all—the instinctual need to survive.”
Too much had happened for me to jump right into this, as much as my teenaged girl side was attracted to the guy standing in front of me. Trust meant more than just getting my heart broken; it had become a matter of life and death.
I offered him a thin smile. “That was a great speech and all, but I need to think about it.”
He nodded, and the corner of his mouth hitched upward. “I get it.” He touched my hieroglyph ever so lightly. “I’ll be around; let me know if you change your mind.”
“I will.”
As I watched him walk away, I spun the ring on my finger and wondered if I’d ever see Dragan again. Something in my heart told me I would.
This was only the beginning.
I was part of another world now. One that wasn’t accepting of me. A world where artisans, witches, vampires, and shifters lived together—not killing one another, but looking out for each other. There was a huge chunk of their history I was missing, and I was determined to find out what it was. Kelios had warned me. She even went as far as to threaten my life. But what kind of life would I be living if I chose to live in fear?
There was nothing for me to do now except prepare myself for their return. The battle between the White Ones and the immortals may not be my fight, but the outcome depended on whether I lived or died.
I needed to figure out whose side I was on. Because I refused to die.
The End
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Afterword
Thank you to all of my amazing readers for spending your precious time to read my books. I truly hope you enjoyed the first installment of The Immortal Trials. If you have a moment, please consider leaving a review. Your feedback means the world to me, and it helps others decide on their next read.
~ Ainsley
Also by Ainsley Shay
THE STATUES TRILOGY
Prison of Statues
Adelina’s Curse
The Carving Witch
ECHO RITUALS
Iridescent Moon
Moon Gift
THE FORBIDDEN
Delicate Thorns
Jagged Feather
Iron Petals
UNDERWATER ISLAND
Shore of Graves
Nether Tears
After the Curtain Falls
About the Author
Ainsley Shay’s passion for writing sparks from her love for the fantastical world of fiction. It’s in those enchanted and mystical places she dwells and conjures cursed and magical beings, spells, hope, madness, desperation, and love; all the ingredients for an unputdownable book.
She surrounds herself with positive people and strives for balance in everything (rarely finds it, but she’ll never give up looking for it!). She sleeps with dreams and stones in her pillowcase, loves audiobooks, and has more jeans with holes than without. Ainsley lives in South Florida with her incredible husband and three amazing daughters.
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Read more from Ainsley Shay
www.ainsleyshay.com
