The Everly Davis chronicles

by Amelia K Oliver

  "Garrot!" I moan as he speeds up, clearly close to the edge. As am I. Faster. Harder. I moan and he groans. The bed rocks against the wall.

  I cum in thick, long streaks across his stomach. My whole body feels alive.

  "I love you, Leyland!" He yells, gripping my hips tighter as he spills himself inside me.

  I remember. I remember falling in love with Everly. Her kind, caring heart called to me the second I met her on the platform. Every day after I fell in love with her a little more. I remember my feelings developing for Garrot, how my heart felt so full with them all in there. The problem is, I feel nothing.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  VICTOR

  Day 80

  I stand next to Karl on the south bay, our feet are bare, and my toes are cold as the ocean laps at them.

  "Are you ready, brother?" I ask, resting my hand on his bulky shoulder. Staring out to sea, he doesn't blink as the sun rises higher over the horizon.

  "As much as I'll ever be." His words sound sure, but the slight shake of his hands tells me he’s nervous. I pat him once and turn to Garrot.

  "Let's begin." I say and help him pick Leyland off the sand.

  "This won't work, you know." He attempts to struggle, but we have a firm grip on him, his hands are shackled to his feet. We need them free, but we have bound his back so his wings cannot come free.

  "Shut up, Leyland." Garrot grumbles as we position him next to an unmoving Karl. This morning, before Leyland arose, Garrot confessed they had slept together. That his hope the show of love would bring Leyland back from the darkness, didn't work. How his guilt ate at him for it.

  "Everly is lost. In Atlantis. They could be torturing her, and here I am, making love to the man I love, but who also isn't." Tears brimmed his eyes as Karl took him in an embrace.

  "We understand, Gar. Everly will, too." Karl soothed. It didn't help much. Garrot is still in a sombre mood. The wind picks up, spraying a fine mist into our faces. The ocean, she calls out to me. I slip father in, up to my knees.

  "Vic?" Garrot calls after me, but I barely hear him. Memories of Everly marking me flood my mind. A wave of sadness crashes over me. Her striking red locks floating in the crystal ocean. Her alabaster skin turning pink as she gave and received love. My heart squeezes. I... miss her.

  "Victor!" Karl barks, his tone snapping me out of my mind.

  "Sorry, I," I shake my head and join them in a line.

  "Ok lads, it's time." Karl takes Garrot's hand, who takes Leyland's. I reach out and grab his. We form a line on the shoreline. Our hands joined and our hearts screaming out for our woman. I don't know if this is possible, but it's worth a try.

  Karl

  Day 80

  The waves lap at my feet as I stretch my hand out towards the line where the sea meets the ocean. I close my eyes and tug on my inner light. It comes willingly, almost as excited to do this as I am. I feel brown light pouring from my skin as the sand below our feet rumbles. Concentrating, I think of Everly. Of everything she means to me. To us. To the world. Of the tiny, innocent child inside her. I pour everything I feel into my power and watch as it swells inside of me.

  Everly.

  Please, mother, let this work.

  Leyland

  Day 80

  The ocean twists and turns, its waves become angry and wild. Karl is deathly pale when I look around Garrot to watch the light pour from him and disappear into the waves.

  "Let me go, Garrot. I don't want her back. She is nothing to me."

  "Le, I swear if you don't shut the fuck up, I will gag you. Your shitty little mouth isn't needed." He warns not taking his eyes off the sea.

  "That's not how it was last night." I tease. Maybe if I piss him off enough, he'll let me go.

  "Last night was a mistake, Leyland. I thought I could bring you back, make you whole again." Tears roll down his face. His hand squeezes mine.

  "I remember not too long ago, after a fae stole and tortured me, Everly cried. She cried for the man I was. The one I lost and never really found again." I speak as the memories flood my mind. She cried because she loved the man I was. Would she cry for the man I am now if I perished?

  "She exploded the fae." He replies laughter in his voice. I look to him; the tears have dried on his cheeks. "She brought you back then, she can do it again. This time, we are never letting you go again." His green eyes flick to mine briefly before returning to the ocean.

  Everly brought me back once. I can't let her do it twice.

  Everly

  Day 13 in Atlantis

  "Shit!" The ground shakes so hard I almost topple over and land on my arse.

  "What's happening?" Darcy yells, panic sending her to her knees, scrambling for something to hold onto.

  "It is but an earth tremor. Fear not, today is the day. Everly, you will take your crown and then," he stumbles towards me, his eyes wide with madness, "I will rid this world of its many flaws."

  I panic and throw my hands out, silver light bursts from my palms and sends Poseidon flying. He hits the fireplace with a shower of dust as his body explodes the bricks. Selkie rush me. Their claws dragging across my skin leaving my tunic in tatters. Darcy jumps on one of their backs, screaming incoherently as she hits her fist into its skull over and over.

  Luckily, there are only three in the room, the others stood outside. Gordon blocks the doorway.

  "Don't let them in!" I yell as I make my way to Poseidon. He pushes off the floor and throws a hand up.

  "You thought that would kill me?" Spittle flies from his mouth as an invisible force wraps around my throat and lifts me off the floor. "Pathetic attempt, child. You are weak! Your mother blessed you with power beyond comprehension and you waste your time among humans, mating with the dregs of Other kind." He stalks closer. I raise my hand and try to push him back, force him to let me go, anything. I can't breathe past the fingers of nothing squeezing my airway. It doesn't work.

  "Father," Gordon calls out, the Selkie in front of him all have weapons raised and pointing at him. Poseidon turns, the grip on me loosens enough for me to drag in a small breath. My head spins. "You cannot kill her yet. You need her to take the crown, do you not?" His voice is calm. Eerily calm considering the tip of a trident is mere centimetres from his eye.

  "That doesn't mean I can't torture her some." Poseidon spits back, his face bright red with anger.

  "The people would revolt, father, if you harm her and she has visible marks."

  Darcy falls from the Selkie's back and picks up a vase. She raises it above her head and smashes it down over its head. The Selkie falls to the floor and doesn't move.

  "Kill her, Gordon," Poseidon points a gnarled finger at Darcy. "Or I will." His tone is lethal.

  "No," I gurgle, drawing the attention back to me. My feet hit the floor as the pressure threatening to burst veins lets me go. "No. Spare her and I'll take the crown." I beg between gasping breaths.

  "Such a human notion, loyalty." He spits the word out like it leaves a bad taste in his mouth, "Disgusting. Fine," he waves a finger in the air and the Selkie in front of Gordon backs away, Darcy cries out as she’s lifted into the air. "Have it your way. But make no mistake, daughter, I will kill them, slowly, if you try anything." He lets her drop to the floor. "Come, Gordon, we must prepare." The floor beneath us shakes again, only this time, I fall over. I land next to Darcy; she grabs my hands as dust rains down on us from above.

  "Gordon," I wrap my arm around Darcy, the other around my belly, the baby kicks. "He will kill us all. Not just every being on land, but you, me," I look down at the pink woman shaking beside me, "Darcy. He won't stop until we’re all dead and he has every ounce of power." He blinks, long and slow, then spins on his heel and leaves. Just before the door swishes closed, the sound of something hitting the floor catches my attention. He dropped something. The door closes and the room falls into silence once more.

  Gordon

  My mind desperately tries to come up with reasons as to why
my father should not kill Everly and Darcy. I believe somehow, my mother’s spirit resides in Darcy, I do not know how or why, but it doesn’t mean I’ll allow my father to kill her. His need for vengeance against my mother is not on my behalf. It’s not to avenge the fact she abandoned me, left me to be eaten by sea creatures. No. his need to punish her has nothing to do with me. I might hate my mother for what she did to me, but I do not hate Darcy. Nor my sister.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  GARROT

  Day 80

  Sweat drips down Karl's face, mixing with the sea water below us. The more he concentrates, the further out we are pulled. The strain on his face pulls at my heart. He gives it his all. Victor and I stare off into the distance, looking for any sign it's working. Nothing. Nothing happens despite so much light pouring from Karl, it doesn't seem to be working. His legs shake as he stands waist high in freezing cold water. Snow flutters down from the cloud darkened sky. They land on my lashes, but I don't bat them away. The sun disappears behind a cloud, leaching the warmth from our bodies. The temperature of the ocean drops until I can't feel my toes.

  "Told you it wasn't gonna work," Leyland pipes up, his lips blue with cold, and his wings constantly shift against the rope around them. Blood drips into the water behind him.

  "Quit it, you're hurting yourself." I scold him without conviction. The cold is making me tired. I'm not even doing anything. I turn to Karl again. I bet he is exhausted. "Karl?" I try to get his attention, but he doesn't open his eyes. I squeeze his hand and look up at Victor over Leyland's head. "How long should we let him try? I mean," I shift from one foot to the other. "He could cause himself serious harm."

  "Karl had me swear an oath." He replies without looking at me.

  "Did he now? What the fuck was it?" I ask, even though I can guess.

  "To not stop him, no matter what happens, we mustn't intervene."

  Shit a duck up its arse.

  GORDON

  The whip connects with my bare flesh and with it a flash of agony. It lasts only for a second, but it is enough to scramble my mind.

  “The coronation happens today!” Father lays down his whip and picks up an apple from the table he uses to hold his punishment items. “Someone tell me what that incessant rumbling is.” Poseidon yells from his throne in his private rooms. The ocean beyond the view wall is empty. The inhabitants know better than to come too close. The only time I have ever seen them do it is when Everly is in the great room. It was how I knew she had the power to speak to them. A slave hands me my tunic and I slip it on, the material catches my new slash marks and makes me wince. Not that I`d let anyone see it, though.

  “Yes, father. I will have all available hands dealing with the event, do you want me to assign a sector to the phenomenon?” The world of Atlantis has suffered from quakes since the beginning of time, but it was never like this. It usually lasted a few moments, then stopped. The rumbling and shaking of the earth have been going on for just over an hour now.

  “Yes, make sure the dome is intact and all shields are set to maximum.” Poseidon grumbles as he shoves a chicken wing into his mouth.

  “As you wish.”

  “Son,” he calls out as I’m about to walk out of the door. I freeze in my tracks. “I saw what you did back there.”

  I swallow thickly. If he truly saw, then I am about to die.

  “You saved the slave’s life, chose her over me. Even disobeyed orders in order to protect her. She is your consort.” He doesn’t say it like a question, but I know he is waiting for me to confirm it.

  “Yes, she is.” I confirm without turning around, “Everly confirmed it.”

  “You believe her, again, despite the fact I told you there would be no such ending for you.” He sounds disgusted, like the thought of me having any happiness in my life made him sick.

  From the moment I felt Everly`s powers trying to explode me when she was trapped in the pod, I knew she was going to prove a worthy adversary. I did not; however, know she would affect me so much. My mind is changing, I do not see things the way I did before meeting her. My heart has changed too, I feel. There are emotions inside me. I turn to face my father, barely holding onto my anger.

  “I believe what my heart feels, father.” I push between my clenched teeth.

  “Oh, and what is that, boy?” He throws the empty bone onto the floor and a small, blue slave rushes across the room to pick it up. I watch as he turns to leave, presumably to throw it away. I see him shove it into his mouth with a barely perceptible moan. I frown and watch him leave. Not really understanding why the sight of the starving man has made me feel so oddly.

  “That not all is as it seems here in Atlantis.” I turn and leave the great room and head for the small command centre I use to organise the guards. Angrier than I ever have been. I try to pull myself together as I stare at the wall of screens showing me every area of Atlantis. Father is panicked and wants my sister to take the crown today. Of all days. The images on the screens shake as Atlantis is bombarded with quake after quake.

  I watch as the people rush around preparing for a crowing that could end in the death of the only person who has ever truly shown any tenderness towards them. Father would be sickened if he knew she allowed them to talk to her, to touch her. He would have ordered them killed if they had touched or talked to him. She is different. So different I hardly know what to make of her. In such a small amount of time, she has undone years of my father's conditioning.

  “Sir.” The door behind me opens. One of the Elite stands in the space.

  “Yes,” I bark, upset at being interrupted.

  “The hall is ready. The gown has been delivered. The seamstress had a problem adding the material for the girl’s brat, but she managed it.” The vile creature utters. Disgust in his tone. I spin and grab him by the throat, squeezing until his blue-green face pales and he gasps for breath.

  “That girl is your Queen and you would do well to address her with respect, you putrid animal!” The anger I felt earlier bubbles over and spills forth upon the Selkie. “Get out of my sight before I crush your bones to dust and send them to your family inside a whale's blow hole.” His already large eyes grow wider with fear.

  “Do you like that they fear you?” Everly`s words resound inside my mind. The creature in my hand is not an Atlantean. It’s the dregs of all lifeforms. Barely Other, more of an abomination than a true being. They follow orders to the letter. Never deviating from their mission. They make good soldiers in a war, terrible company to keep, though. They have no emotions, no fear, no empathy. As I stare into the cold, dead eyes of the Selkie, I realise I have become one of them. Barely able to muster emotions when my one true consort is almost killed before my eyes. When my sister is mere moments from death and forced to fight for what is mine. Shame fills me as I drop the creature. He scurries through the door and disappears. I am damaged. But am I broken beyond repair?

  Everly

  Day 13 in Atlantis

  By the time Gordon comes back, Darcy has calmed down and sits on my bed. Her body curled up on itself. I wear a path in the plush carpet as I pace in front of the window. The streets are empty below. An hour ago, they were filled with colourful beings all headed towards the palace we’re trapped in. I guess they're here to watch me take a crown I don't want. To watch me be killed by Poseidon. Maybe he plans to kill me in private, though. Who the fuck knows? All of Atlantis still shakes. Darcy tells me there have been several times earthquakes have happened, but not like this. Not for this long.

  "Sister," Gordon speaks behind me.

  Damn, I didn't even hear him come in. "It is time." His face is a mask of nothing. No emotions. Just blank.

  Darcy springs to her feet. Chest puffed out. Defiant look on her face. "Mother."

  "What?" I finally pay attention. "Mum?"

  "Yes, dear. You didn't think I'd leave you to do this alone, did you?" She turns to me and winks. Whether Gordon sees it or not, I have no clue. The room jerks, I slip to on
e side, almost crashing into the window. A strong hand snags my hand.

  "I've got you." Gordon whispers.

  "Like hell you do, boy! She shouldn't be here!" My mother/Darcy yells and snatches me from him. "Call yourself a brother?" She shakes her head and slips something I dropped back into the belt around my tunic.

  For a second, Gordon's eyes flash with emotions. A patch of shark skin appears on his cheek. Both are gone in the blink of an eye.

  "Come, he will not be kept waiting." Gordon lays his hand on my shoulder and pulls me through the door. It is lined on both sides with Selkie Elite. Huge tridents in their hands.

  "Fuck me sideways."

  Karl

  Day 80

  Inside my mind I visualise what I want to happen, then push my will through my hands, sending it out into the ocean. The bitter cold bites at my skin, but I ignore it. I concentrate harder. Every single thought in my mind is of Everly. Her flame red hair. Her intelligence which keeps me on my toes. Her smart mouth that rules my world. How she grabs life by the horns and rides this bitch like a boss. Her wide hips, thick thighs. Her ocean blue eyes. Her love. I let her saturate me. Head to toe.

  After what feels like hours, I feel my power tug on something. The ocean is now up to my chin, I can feel it. I pull with everything inside of me. Digging my toes into the rough sand, I call on the earth to help me.

  "Everly," her name on my lips like a prayer.

  Ari

  "What are you doing here, sucker?" The overly large man before me asks. The club I stand outside states Other kind only. Well, you can't get any more Other than a blood sucker. Right?

  "I need a place to stay. I heard this was the place to come." I make sure my voice is like velvet. I make myself appear small, innocent. Not that I'm innocent. "I have info on the Queen of the sea." I add, knowing the mention of her will either get me into major trouble or it could save my life.

  "Go straight to the bar, ask for Nollie. Eat anyone," he grabs my jumper I borrowed from Karl and pulls me off the ground until my face is level with his colossal one. "You're puppy chow." A slow smile spreads across my ruby red lips.