I want to follow him, but my feet won’t budge. It’s like I’m being pulled in various directions, and no matter what direction I take, I’ll end up at a Porterson brother.
“Sky,” Max says in a cautious tone. “Can you tell us how you feel about all of this? Because at the end of the day, it’s not just about how my brothers and I feel about keeping the link. You’re a part of this… You have to deal with all of this too. In fact, it affects you more than it does the rest of us.”
I stare at the doorway that Foster went through, part of me longing to run out of it and down the stairway. When I reached the bottom, I’d bolt into the trees and keep running until my legs gave out. But that’d be a cowardly move. And besides, the last time I took off after hearing some bad news, a human guy tried to kiss me and he nearly died.
Sucking in a breath, I turn and face Max. “If keeping the link altered protects me, then I guess we should probably leave the link altered for now… As long as everyone else is okay with it.”
Max’s green-eyed gaze carries mine. “Are you sure? Because we can fix the link now and then find a place to hide you. Maybe we can put you back into Enchantment, if you and Foster can get another portal opened up to it.” He lowers his voice. “I know the altered link’s been a lot to deal with—that all of us are a lot to deal with—so we’ll understand if you want to fix it.”
I’m grateful he’s giving me an option, but deep down, I know there’s really only one answer. And besides, even if the link is fixed, my life isn’t going to return to normal, not with the god of darkness chasing me, not with my soul being tethered to Porter, not with the blood promise I made with East alleviating some of the guilt I feel about Brody. At least, I’m fairly sure that’s what’s happened, even if East won’t admit it.
“We don’t need to fix it.” I try to sound confident, but my tone is a bit wobbly. “I’d rather deal with the… weirdness of the link and be protected then fix it, go back into hiding, and hope that the god of darkness doesn’t find me. And besides, I know it’s not just about me. It’s about being able to find the rest of the power sources so we can fix Elemental.”
A trace of a smile touches Max’s pierced lips. “You’re very brave. And don’t let anyone tell you differently.” He tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear. But hastily pulls away, clears his throat, and glances at East. “Are you okay with the link staying altered?”
East shrugs, glancing at me with a hint of amusement. “I guess so. I mean, I was looking forward to a break from lightning eyes’ emotional drama, but I guess I can deal with it for a bit longer.”
I roll my eyes at him but his grin just broadens.
Max turns to Porter with his brow arched. “What about you?”
Porter shrugs, pouring himself another drink. “The altered link doesn’t affect me as much so why should I care if it stays the same?”
“Keep telling yourself that,” Max mutters, then shakes his head and turns to Hunter, his brow cocking.
Hunter shrugs, pushing away from the door. “If it needs to stay then it needs to stay.”
Max stares him down. “Are you sure? Because with…” He wavers. “Are you sure?”
Hunter briefly hesitates then shrugs. “I can control my shit.”
Max holds his gaze for a bit longer, making me question what the hell is going on. If it was Foster and East looking at each other like that, I may have asked, but I’m not as comfortable with Max and Hunter as I am with East and Foster.
Max gives a nod then he glances at Holden. The two of them trade a long look and I swear their reading each other’s minds, which I guess considering what Max can do, maybe he is.
“We should leave it,” Holden utters, his gaze straying to me then back to Max. “It’s too risky to fix it.”
Max nods again then the room grows quiet again, their gazes drifting to the doorway.
“I’ll go talk to Foster,” East says, hurrying across the room. He gives a quick glance in my direction, winking at me before walking out.
He may be pretending everything is okay, but he leaves a trail of concern dripping down the link.
The room grows silent again.
“Is Foster going to be okay?” I ask to no one in particular.
Max nods, but skepticism flashes across his face. “Yeah, he’s tough.”
“I know,” I agree.
But I also know how he feels right now, like he’s about to crumble.
I’m about to go check on him, but Hunter suddenly mumbles, “There’s one more thing I need to mention that Camille told me.”
Max glances at him with a frown. “Why do I get the feeling you’re about to tell us something really bad?”
“It’s not bad… It’s just… weird…” The way his eyes roam in my direction makes me grow fidgety.
More bad news—I can sense it.
“When Camille read you,” Hunter says, looking directly at me. “She saw something that was very old living inside you.”
“So what does that mean?” I ask, chewing on my thumbnail.
He shrugs. “Honestly, I have no idea. It could just be the elemental enchanter god’s energy inside you.”
“But that energy was only put in me eighteen years ago,” I point out. “That’s not very old.”
“When it was put in you wasn’t very long ago,” Hunter explains. “But the energy itself is very, very old.”
“True.” Still, I feel like there’s more to it then what he’s saying.
Apparently Max thinks so too because he says, “You’re withholding something. I can tell.”
Hunter blows out an exasperated sigh and dramatically plops down into a chair. “Well, I didn’t want to bring this up because I know it’s going to stress everyone out more, but clearly you guys aren’t just going to except my easy answer.” He sinks back into the chair. “While it could very well be the power source, I couldn’t help but think about how Foster and East mention that when the god of darkness showed up in that portal, he said something about Sky belonging to him… That she always has. And that she would be his queen again, like she had been his queen before.”
“But I haven’t,” I assure him. “I didn’t even know this world existed until a few weeks ago.”
“According to your mind, you haven’t,” Hunter says to me, absentmindedly twisting a ring that’s on his finger. “But as you’ve probably caught on already, almost anything is possible in this world, including memories being erased and altered. In fact, if someone was powerful enough, they could plant the idea of an entirely fake life into a creature’s mind and they’d believed that life existed, even if it didn’t.”
A pucker forms at Max’s brows. “Are you seriously trying to say that you think Sky’s been around for a while, but someone wiped her mind clean and made her believe she’s been around for only seventeen years.”
“You of all creatures should know the power of mind controlling abilities,” Hunter says.
Max gives a silent, distracted nod. “Yeah, you’re right.” He mulls it over with a worried look on his face, making my worry deepen.
“I’m not… There’s no way my life could be fake,” I try to protest.
Hunter eyes me over with a strange, curious look on his face. “Honestly, this is just a theory I have and I have no proof to what I’m saying. I was just merely making a point that while we can say the power source is what caused Camille to sense an oldness from you, there’s a ton of other options.”
Max grows quiet, trading a worried look with his brothers. Even Porter looks a bit concerned, which makes me even more worried.
“No.” I shake my head, panic flaring through me. “There’s no way the life I thought I lived is fake.” Although, would it really bother me if it was?
No, probably not. But that doesn’t mean I like the idea of my mind being tampered with, or that I may have been the god of darkness’s queen at some point in time.
Max takes my hand and gives it a squeeze. “Relax. More than
likely it’s just the power source, but we’ll have my parents look into it just to make sure.” He laces his fingers through mine. “If the god of darkness was a king at sometime, they’ll be able to find out.”
I nod, hoping Hunter is wrong, that I was never the god of darkness’s queen. I’m hoping that everything will be okay, but I have a feeling this is just the start to a very long, complicated, and emotional breaking journey.
Easton
I don’t have to search very far to find Foster. He’s sitting on a log right in front of the tree house, staring up at the lightning blazing across the sky.
“Is that the world doing that or you?” I keep my tone light as I take a seat beside him on the log.
He lifts a shoulder. “Does it really matter?”
“It does if you don’t want the fey to find out what you are,” I say, stretching out my legs in front of me.
He grinds his teeth, then looks away from the sky, the lightning fizzling.
Silence stretches between us, but I wait for him to speak first because that’s the way it needs to be right now. Yeah, we’ve both been through some tough shit and we’re all dealing with this whole altered link thing, but it’s affecting him more than us—I know that.
“This isn’t fair,” he mutters, kicking at the dirt.
“Life never really is,” I mumble. Pain clenches at my chest as memories of the past creep up on me, but I hastily shove it away. “Look, as much as this sucks right now, at least you know Sky is protected. And like Max said, it won’t be like this forever… Eventually, after we find all the power sources and fix the world and all that hero shit, things can return to normal.”
He rests his arms on his knees and lowers his head. “You know as well as I do that nothing is going to return to normal. The altered link is already affecting all of you.”
“A little,” I admit. “But I think you’re making it a bigger deal than it is.”
He lifts his head and narrows his eyes at me. “Maybe you should stick out your palm and say those words to me again.”
I curl my fingers inward to hide the icy mark on the palm of my hand. “The only reason I made the blood promise with Sky was to try to help her deal with Brody’s death.”
“By bearing some of the pain for her,” he stresses. “You’ve never been so selfless before, so what else am I supposed to think other than maybe you do like her more than you’re letting on. And that blood promise is permanent.” He sits up straighter, his glare deepening. “And does she even know what you did? Or did you just feed her some bullshit like you normally do?”
“I gave her a vague idea of what was going on.” I close my hand, feeling the chill of the mark against the inside of my fingers. “She doesn’t know I’m taking on some of her guilt, though. If I told her that, she would’ve never made the promise.”
He glares at me. “You like her.”
I lift a shoulder. “As a friend, sure.”
“No, you fucking like her—I can tell. And I know that means something since you’ve never really liked anyone, at least enough to make a damn blood promise with them.”
I roll my eyes. “You’re looking too deep into this, man. I’m not that deep of a guy—you know that.”
“No, I know you pretend not to be,” he says, “But deep down, there’s more going on with you then you let on. And usually I’m okay with letting you be. I figure if you want to talk about it, you will. But it’s pretty damn clear you have feelings for Sky and the fact that you won’t admit it is annoying.”
His accusation makes the muscles in my jaw pulsate. He’s getting too close to the truth and it’s annoying. No, what’s annoying is all of these emotions trying to emerge inside me.
“You know what’s annoying?” I say. “The fact that you’re more focused on my feelings instead of Porter’s. He’s the one who has his soul tethered to Sky’s.”
“His connection to her is because of magic,” he snaps. “You felt something for Sky before this link was altered.”
His accusations are irritating the shit out of me and making me feel too exposed.
I rise to my feet. “You know what? I came out here to check and make sure you’re okay, but clearly you just want a punching bag. And a tree will work just fine for that.” I move to leave, but he jumps to his feet and blocks my path.
“No, you don’t get to leave,” he snaps and so does a bolt of lightning across the sky. “Not until I hear you admit that you like her.”
I should try to calm him down. Clearly, he’s losing control over his powers, which can be dangerous, but he’s got me too pissed off to care.
“Why does it even fucking matter?” I ask as rain begins to pour down from the sky and flood the ground. “Whether I like her or not, it’s never going to go anywhere, so what’s the fucking point of making me say it?”
His hands clench into fists as he says in a low, shaky voice, “Because it’s driving me crazy that no one will admit anything. You’re all being a bunch of damn liars.”
I shake my head in annoyance. “We’re lying to protect you.”
“Well stop,” he bites out. “And just say the damn truth.”
I throw my hands in the air. “Fine. I like her.” As soon as the words leave my lips, panic zips through my body. “There are you happy now?”
He looks utterly miserable as he shakes his head. “No, not really.”
My shoulders slump as his miserableness slips through the link. “Well, neither am I so at least we’re on the same page.” I rub my hand across my forehead. “Look, I know this is hard for you, but you really need to stop stressing out about it because at the end of all of this, no matter how any of us feel, the fact of the matter is Sky and you belong together.”
As he takes in my words, the rain slows down to a drizzle. I peer up at the clear sky, then back at him, relieved to see that some of the anger has vacated his expression. Figuring I’ve gotten through to him, I start to relax too.
But then he looks at me with a defeated look on his face. “That’s the thing, though. All of this—the altered link, us being able to make a portal into Enchantment—her being a power source… it’s all new territory for everyone. And no one really knows how Sky works since she’s the power source on top of being an elemental enchanter, so who’s to say that she can’t just be with an elemental enchanter.”
“Her kiss killed Brody,” I remind him. “And wounded that human guy at the party.”
“Yeah, but they weren’t linked to her, were they?” he says with a raise of his brows. “And if you really think about it, your guy’s feelings toward her have already kind of crossed a line. Sure, neither of you have actually kissed her, but you’ve felt stuff toward her that should’ve made her powers have an effect on you, yet they haven’t.”
As his words sink in, I shift my weight. What if he’s right?
But then I shake my head. “It doesn’t matter. None of us are going to test out your little weird, and probably incorrect theory, not only because it’d be dangerous, but because we wouldn’t want to hurt you.”
“You can’t always control how you feel about someone,” he says in a defeated tone. “Trust me, I know. I had feelings for Sky before I thought I could be with her.”
I’m not sure I agree with his logic, since I’ve always been damn good at controlling my emotions.
“You can pretend all you want, but eventually you’re going to have to deal with what you’re feeling,” he adds as if he can read me. “And I’m going to have to too.”
Quietness stretches between us as I realize he’s right, but that doesn’t make it any easier to deal with. If anything, it makes it harder. While I’ve known I’ve been developing feelings toward Sky, in the back of my mind I always thought it could never go anywhere. But now with the spark of a possibility that it could…
Pain sears at my chest as images of the past emerge and try to tear me apart from the inside.
No… I can’t deal with this… I can’t…
Hands all over me…
Touching me…
Laughter…
“I’m going to ruin you,” she whispers in my ear.
“Are you okay?” Foster asks, staring at me with concern.
I shove the images away, bury them deep inside me. “I’m fine… I’m just thinking about stuff.” I pause, pulling my shit together and say very calmly, “We should probably go check on Sky and see if she’s okay. I’m sure she’s having a hard time dealing with this.” I can feel that she is, but don’t say that aloud, not wanting to remind him of the altered link and how it’s not going to be fixed yet.
He nods and backs toward the entrance to the tree house.
“We’re okay, though, right?” I ask as I follow him.
He nods, giving me the same fake smile I give everyone. I’ll admit, seeing it hurts like a bitch. All of this does. It makes me crave a taste of numbing magic, but I can’t ever go back to doing that, to being who I was while I was a magic addict.
Still, as I step back into the treehouse with intensely confusing emotions pressing against my chest, I have to wonder if maybe it’d be easier for everyone if I temporarily numbed my emotions, at least until the link is fixed.
No, I can’t go back to that, to being an addict.
But deep inside my mind, a hunger starts to emerge and I have to wonder if maybe I should just give in and feed it.
Skylin
After Hunter informs me that an old power is inside me, the guys clear out of the room, telling me that they’re giving me some space. But I have an inkling they want to discuss some things they don’t want me to hear. Their secrecy should annoy me a bit, but honestly I’m too drained right now to care.
After everyone leaves, I lie down on the bed and stare up at the ceiling, contemplating everything that’s happened. How the god of darkness can’t touch me right now because I’m linked to the Porterson brothers and how they all seem to be on edge about it. Well, except for Porter and Hunter, who look intently curious about something whenever they glance at me. While I’m starting to understand why Porter looks at me that way, I worry about the cause behind Hunter’s intense looks. I don’t think it’s anything to worry about, though, since I’ve never felt anything malicious flowing down the link from him or any of the other Porterson brothers. Honestly, all I’ve felt down the link over the last several minutes is worry and a drop of anger. I’m not sure who’s angry—maybe all of them—but it has me tossing and turning as I try to take a quick powernap.
Iridescent Chaos: (Enchanted Chaos, Book 3) Page 13
