It was jam-packed with people scurrying to classes, over to the gym, and down to the common rooms. This place was the heart of Caelum, and each corridor that ran from it was an artery or vein.
Over six hundred people, four hundred of them kids, roamed these halls, and it was easy to mistake it for anything other than what it was—a training camp.
The shutters had long since been pulled from my eyes. Caelum was a haven for our kind, sure, but it was a haven that came with a double-edged sword.
You lived here, you became a part of their cause. I didn’t have a problem with that, but at times like these? Yeah, a bit of softness would have been nice.
The only way they’d let you stay in the sickbay for longer than a day or two was if you were unconscious. The second you were awake, you were out of there.
Eve pushed me down the foyer and toward the staircase that led to the building where my quarters were housed. As we moved, I noticed the looks we were receiving, and though at first, I thought it, was because I was in a wheelchair, that the students were flickering through the gossip over what had gone down in Aboh, I soon realized it wasn’t.
They were aimed at Eve.
What was that about?
The looks were nervy, edgy. Like she was a loose cannon, and they were terrified they’d be caught in the backlash…
But the question was, what backlash?
Christ, I’d been in the sickbay for two days, not two months. I hated being kept out of the damn loop.
Though I inwardly grumbled, I took note of each kid, older and younger than me, that shot Eve a look from the corner of their eye before scurrying along. It made the journey go faster than anticipated, which meant the dreaded stairs drew nearer.
The prospect of being stuck in my quarters for a few days didn’t please me either, to be honest. Not unlike Eren, I didn’t spend much time there. The pair of us didn’t sleep that well, and when we did, it was usually anywhere but our rooms. Eren had a habit of falling asleep in the common room we’d staked out as ours many moons ago. Me? I usually camped out on Dre’s sofa. It was comfortable as hell.
For however long it took me to get back on my feet, though, I’d be in my bedroom and that? Fuck, it scared me more than I wanted to admit.
As we bypassed the foyer with its intimidatingly high walls, which were loaded down with creatures who’d made Caelum proud over its relatively short lifespan, I had to admit to feeling crowded.
Expectations were high here at the Academy, and the fact we were the only people in the world who were capable of defending against Ghoul attacks was something we all had to wrestle with from a young age.
Fighting the good fight, as it were, was an ageless and thankless battle. Nobody except for our Pack cared if we lived or died, and that was hard. Very hard.
As we paused in the foyer to let a long phalanx of fourteen-year-olds head toward the gym, Eve patted me on the shoulder. I wasn’t sure what made me do it, but I reached up and grabbed her hand, entwining her fingers with mine. The second our palms connected, I released a soft sigh. Relief swirled inside me, and the connection of being grounded was close to overpowering.
I was almost disappointed when the kids finally made it out of the way, each one having shot Eve a furtive glance that bounced off our connected hands, and we could head on toward the staircase that led to my part of the building.
Unsurprised to see my brothers waiting for me there, I nonetheless cocked a brow at the sight of Frazer, Reed, and Samuel hovering too.
Still, I wasn’t about to say anything when Frazer had been the one to save my ass.
Thinking that now was the best time to get it over with, I shot Frazer a tight smile. “Thank you. I owe you a life debt.”
Frazer’s smile was equally as tight, equally as uneasy. “Not necessary. At least, not anymore.” He shot Eve a look, one that had the tension in her soaring until she cleared her throat and shuffled around so she could peer down at me.
“Nestor? How are we going to get you upstairs?”
I winced. “With great difficulty.”
“It would be a lot easier if you were a girl. I’m sure one of them,” she stuck out her thumb and motioned over her shoulder at the gathering of six, “would carry you up the stairs.”
My lips curved. “I’m sure life in general would be a lot easier too.”
Her nose crinkled. “I think it’s easier peeing standing up than sitting down, Nestor,” she told me, her tone earnest, and behind her, the guys all started snickering. “What?” she demanded, glowering at them. “It’s true! I’ve always thought that.” A shudder washed over her. “Back at the compound, the outhouses were vile. The men never used them save for…” Another clearing of her throat. “How did we get onto this topic again?”
“All you,” I assured her with a small laugh, but my smile was genuine this time. How did she always know what to say to make me feel better?
Even if it wasn’t with words, it was with tone.
She held out her hands and planted her feet. “Come on, let’s get you upright.”
“Erm, Eve? I think we’d be better off helping him,” Eren pointed out, but I sensed his amusement too.
“Nope,” she replied. “He’s going to be stubborn about this. I can feel it in my bones.”
Because she wasn’t wrong, I just gave her a sheepish shrug, grabbed her hands, and let her haul me up onto my feet.
Pain instantly cascaded through me. How I contained the whimper that longed to fall from my mouth, I’d never know.
With a shudder that caused more pain, I managed to straighten up and was rewarded with an agonizing hug from Eve. She curved her arms around me, squeezing me so tightly I could feel her relief that I was well.
Touched, I tipped my chin and pressed my face into the curve of her throat. She smelled divine, and my gouille, quiet and sulking since Aboh, flickered to life in response—her own Gargoyle was in charge today too.
The desire to kiss her was overwhelming, and I didn’t understand it, didn’t really know why it was there, burning a hole in my gut when I was hurting from the Ghoul’s attack. But regardless of why, it was there, and it was powerful and felt like it took over everything that made me me.
I struggled to force myself away from her embrace, and when I did, I was surprised to see the unease on Reed, Frazer, and Stefan’s faces.
Deciding that whatever was going on with them could be dealt with later, I switched my focus to the stairs. They were beyond a nightmare, but I allowed Eren to haul my arm over his shoulder, and let Dre do the same to my other side.
As they helped heft me up the stairs, I turned to Dre, panting, “You’ve bulked up since…” I frowned. “Fuck, how long was I out for?” I knew I’d been in the sickbay for two days and the evening I’d arrived—not enough time for my brother to turn into a bodybuilder.
Dre snorted. “Long story. On the good side, my knee is healed now.” Behind us, Stefan cleared his throat, and Dre pulled a face then mumbled, “We can explain more when you’re in your room.”
The cloak and dagger shit had my eyebrows pinching. And what the fuck was this with his knee?
He’d been injured in a car crash when he was a boy, and ever since, his knee had been a mess. Now it was healed? Was there a genie around handing out wishes or something? If that was the case, then I’d wish for a dreamless night’s sleep without being awoken after Padre Jimenez flung holy water in my face…
“Okay,” I drawled, then winced as my knees almost buckled when the steps curved and we had to change the angle of our path.
Behind me, I heard a sudden hissing sound, but turning around just wasn’t in my wheelhouse at that moment.
Eren looked over his shoulder though, and when he did, he frowned. “Eve? What is it?”
“My palms,” she rasped, and her voice was loaded with such acute agony, that regardless of my own suffering, I had to look back at her. When I did, I saw her staring down at them, and then my eyes widened at the st
ate of her palms.
Both of them were bright red from the ink that was being etched into the tender flesh. As we watched, two emblems were formed by the writing scrawling around them. It was like someone had put a pattern in the center and had written around it. Like iron filings around a magnet.
On one palm, there was the open maw of a bear, and on the other? The distinctive wings of a gouille.
What the fuck had just happened?
❖
Reed
“Why can't I just be normal?”
Two days later, Eve’s words still saddened me. I kept regurgitating them around and around in my head, trying to figure out what it was about her that was so different.
So abnormal.
There was no denying that she was. The second we’d learned that she had more than one mate, we’d known something was off with her. And ‘off’ was a gross understatement.
If that wasn't bad enough, this new development was definitely concerning. Mostly because there was no way to understand what was happening, and what we couldn't understand, we couldn't control. Over the next weeks and months, we’d have to train Eve, help her learn how to control her souls so she would appear as normal as possible. But if these things were out of her control, then how would we ever be able to help her?
I wouldn't deny these recent developments had me stressed. My Hell Hound was clawing at my skin on a far too frequent basis. I felt nervy and on edge all the time because even though we weren’t as close as I'd have preferred, Eve was it for me. I was her Chosen.
Most creatures actually did meet their mates along the way. We lived long lives, after all, and the only thing that put an end to those lives were attacks from Ghouls. It was sheer misfortune if we didn't meet our One, but even though mates weren't unusual, that didn't make them any less unique. To have found one so early was a blessing, truly. Even more, to have found one I was attracted to, and someone who I liked was especially wonderful.
Just because you were somebody’s Chosen didn't mean you were always attracted to them, or would consider them friends.
Nicholas, the principal of Caelum, was a perfect example of that. Janvier was his Chosen, and the dislike between them was evident. Christ, it was more than that, it was glaringly obvious.
Everybody knew when she was around because Nicholas was always in a bad mood. She only came a couple of times a year, and even then, that was because of duty. Females didn't do well long term without their Chosen. Males did okay, but females?
No.
The females of our species were strange in that their mental health was far more precarious than ours was.
They were fragile mentally, but incredibly strong physically.
After a childhood in the human world, it had always amazed me how different our society was to theirs.
We had far more respect for the women in our world—they weren't our rulers, and we weren't a matriarchal society—and certain things were definitely female dominant. Just because of the way we had to shield them, mostly. But rather than subjugate them for that, we empowered them. Lifting them up because, the truth of the matter was, a female who was backed into a corner, especially from a young age, had more chance of turning Ghoul than not.
There were more female Ghouls than males, which was a statistic that was beyond worrisome. For the past hundred or so years, as a species, we’d started treating women differently for a reason. They needed our help, and we weren't about to allow them to turn Ghoul.
So, not only was I grateful for Eve, I was happy to be her Chosen. My major concern was these abnormalities. Who could blame me?
But it was the main reason why I was stressed at the moment. Stress and the Hell Hound never went well together. They rammed against each other in a way that always put me on edge. I was harder in the ring, meaner during training. Just an hour ago, Frazer had told me to fuck off and go surfing because I’d pounded him into the mat, and that’s what I was currently doing.
It was just me against the ocean, and those were odds that I was never going to win. I thought that was why I liked it, though. The ocean was a force that could crush me in its maw. I had no chance of besting it, no chance that its rage wouldn't swallow me whole.
Caelum had an interesting surf.
There were many coves, and over my years here, I'd explored them all. Not only by foot but by surfboard. I took great comfort in the many different ways there were to surf around here. Body board, paddle sailing... I'd done them all.
At the moment, though, I was using Cruckshanks Bay as a means of burning off this temper. In perfect conditions, it was capable of twelve-foot waves, and even better, there were funnels. There was nothing more exhilarating than pitting myself against Mother Nature.
As the tide pulled at me, the sea frothing against my skin and trying to freeze me, I was warm and toasty underneath my wet suit. Deep inside? I was the same, and I released a bellowing laugh that was loaded with joy.
Happiness filtered through me as I flung myself into the belly of the beast, focusing as I made it onto my board, my feet settling firmly in place as I began the smooth glide toward the shore.
The surf was with me today, and I was grateful for that. I truly did need the downtime. I hadn't felt this out of control in a while, and I knew it was because of Eve’s predicament, but also due to the fact that she was technically mine while she technically wasn't.
There was nothing I could do about that, though, and understanding why she wasn’t ready to Claim me, wouldn’t calm my Hell Hound down.
With the sun beating down overhead, my eyes strained slightly against the brightness, and I knew they'd be stinging later on from the salt. But even as the sun burned, the sea chilled, and I loved it. Beneath my wetsuit, my body temperature was perfect for once. The only time the Hell Hound’s higher temps were controlled was when I was in the ocean. I had issues with maintaining it on a normal day. When I was angry? It was even worse. I always felt overheated, to the point that it could surprise somebody if they happened to touch me.
But here, I felt wonderful.
When the tide flung me back to the shore, I decided I'd had enough. The hours swung by here, and I only knew the difference in time by the passage of the sun across the sky.
I had endless patience when I was doing this, and an endless amount of hours to spend on the ocean.
When I dragged myself onto the shore, I let myself relax against the sand. It would make a mess later, the sand burrowing even deeper into my wet gear, but that was what sand did. I didn't really care. I was used to it. There was a comfort in the normalcy of the tasks ahead—returning to Caelum, switching into clothes, and rinsing off my gear and my board. I'd need to wax the board too. Keep it in tip-top shape for the next time.
With the short to-do list buzzing in my head, even as I lay there cooling down from my intense workout, I felt guilty for not rushing off to clean my board because the salt could do a shit ton of damage as the water dried off, but I just needed to chill for a second, needed to get my breath under control.
With my back flat on the sand, I raised my knees and dug my heels into the shoreline. It was wet there. The water kept my toes damp as the tide curled along, the endlessness of the motion soothing something inside me that found no other peace.
There would come a time when Caelum wasn't my home. Not just because of Eve, but because that was how it worked. Caelum was our base, but not our home when we graduated. I wouldn't always have this much access to the sea, and that prospect terrified me. This past year, I'd been surfing more and more as a result. Trying to take advantage of the beaches here while I could as though I was trying to save it up for a later date.
I knew it wouldn't work that way, knew that it might make me miss the ocean even more, but I had no alternative.
My hands were tied in so many ways that it was no wonder my Hell Hound was raging.
Over the past year, the Hound had started to dominate the others. More than usual. I'd always known that mine had
been closer to the surface than was considered normal—so Eve and I were perfectly weird together as I'd known from the start that I was strange in comparison to those in my year. But ever since I’d turned eighteen—when our dominant soul began to draw more powers from the others—I'd been aware that the Hound had even been present during the others’ days.
I wasn't looking forward to the time when I had nothing but the Hound to control. I wasn't sure what it would do to my temperament. Wasn't sure if it would make me angrier, and quicker to burst into flames of rage than was already the case.
As I buried my feet deeper in the sand, I did the same with my fists, finding a strange comfort in having my extremities covered with the grainy substance.
My face burned from the salt, the wind, and the sun, but I didn't care. It was a moment’s peace, and I really needed it. As I flexed my fingers, I frowned when I felt something. It was strange. Not a stone, because it wasn't cold, but shiny.
Plasticky.
My frown deepened as I felt the rounded edges of the object, and I pushed my hand deeper into the sand to get a firmer hold of the item. When I realized it was stuck, I sat up as curiosity drove the movement, and I pulled my hand free, then with both sets of fingers, dug to where I'd burrowed, the ocean helping me as the tide moistened the sand.
A sharp wave surged over me, filling the small hole I'd made with water. It made the sand easier to shove out of the way, and stopped it from sinking where I'd dug. Within thirty seconds, I'd found the item. And seeing it was a key ring, surprised me. The water came again, ever helpful, and rinsed off the piece. When I squinted against the sun, shading it with my fingers, I peered at the object, then froze.
What in the ever-loving fuck?
The picture was faded, but I'd recognize it anywhere. The text was barely visible, but I recognized the font too.
Coolangatta.
When I turned it over, I saw the back of the key ring, and the coincidence morphed into an impossibility.
One side contained a picture of Coolangatta beach, but the other was a picture of me and my mum all those years ago when we’d vacationed there.
Eight Souls: The Caelum Academy Trilogy: Part TWO Page 9
