Camille Prentice: The Complete Series

by S. A. Moss

  I sputtered, rage and disbelief stealing my ability to speak coherently. “Natural place? You mean humans will be slaves, food, or worse! Millions of people will die!”

  “Some will die, yes. But not all.” He narrowed his eyes, leaning toward me slightly. “All the more reason for you to join me. The Fallen may do what they wish, but you and I have a chance to be benevolent rulers. Come on, Cam. Stop hiding in the shadows, embrace your power, and use it for good.”

  I tilted my head to the side—a difficult proposition since I was still hovering suspended in the air. “Wow, let me think about that. No thanks.”

  Dad gazed into my eyes intensely. “Think about it, please. I have missed you, very much. I love you. I want to give you a chance to join me, but if you don’t, I won’t be able to protect you when Akaron is freed. As I told you, I did not come to this path accidentally. I have considered it and come to the conclusion that this is the right course. When you do the same, I hope you’ll see the truth of my words.”

  “Yeah, okay, I’ll consider it,” I grated out. “Why don’t you let me go and I’ll consider it right now?”

  A genuine smile lit my father’s face. “You’re funny, Cam. You got that from your mother, too. Of course I can’t let you go right now; you’ll just try to fight me. And trust me, you won’t win.”

  I gritted my teeth, resuming my struggles and trying ignore the fact that he was absolutely right. My dad was way more powerful than I was, and even if I was able to break these binds, I’d be hard-pressed to hold my own, let alone beat him in a fight.

  Helplessly, I watched as my dad walked back toward the copse of trees he’d emerged from. At the edge of the dark forest, he turned to me. “Please think about what I’ve said. You’re smart, Cam. Judge what I’ve told you against what you know.”

  Then he vanished into the shadows.

  “Daaaad!”

  I screamed into the darkness, then snapped my mouth shut. He’d told me he was alone, but I didn’t know what else might be lurking nearby in the overgrown Wild. The last thing I wanted was to draw attention to myself when I was essentially trussed up like a fly in a spiderweb; I’d be easy pickings for any monster that happened to get wind of me. And just because I couldn’t die didn’t mean I wanted to experience being chomped in half and living through it.

  So instead, I struggled silently for several minutes, tiny grunts escaping my mouth as I pressed my arms and legs outward with all my might.

  When the binds broke suddenly, my limbs flailed as the ground rushed up to meet me. I slammed into the vine-covered earth and rolled over.

  Struggling to my feet, I threw a look at the dark trees. My dad must be long gone by now—he’d probably only released me from the bind once he felt certain he was at a safe distance. Besides, worry for Alex burned like acid in my stomach.

  Eyes still fixed on the tree line, I faded back over to Earth. A woman crouching down to take a picture of her two sons in front of the Bean glanced over at me in surprise, but I barely spared her a glance.

  “Alex!” I yelled, dashing around the large silver sculpture. “Alex!”

  “Cam?” Alex was standing several yards away, and as soon as his gaze landed on me, he bolted toward me.

  I ran toward him too, and we collided in a tangle of limbs. He hugged me tightly, and I gripped him back. I didn’t care that we were supposed to be keeping our distance, or that the people around us were eyeballing our over-dramatic reunion like we were crazy.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, my voice muffled by his chest.

  “Yeah,” Alex said breathlessly. “Yeah, I’m fine. Are you okay?” He drew back slightly to read my face, his brow wrinkled in concern.

  I swallowed, shaking my head.

  “No.”

  11

  For the past several weeks, I’d spent every night practicing in the basement while Alex slept. Tonight, however, I couldn’t seem to maintain my focus. It was after 2 a.m., and Alex had gone to bed a couple hours ago.

  We’d spent the rest of the day searching a few more locations in Chicago but had turned up nothing. When Alex heard what happened with my father, he’d wanted to call off the search for the day, but I’d insisted on continuing. Part of it was a stubborn refusal to let my dad win, and part of it was the ticking clock counting down the hours and minutes until Akaron would be free. We had mere days until that moment came, and we couldn’t afford to take an afternoon off just because I’d had a traumatizing talk with my dad.

  I lowered my hands, dropping the shields I’d just built. I was working on throwing up multiple shields simultaneously—it didn’t actually take a lot more effort, just more focus—but what I really wanted to do was learn how to bind people like my dad and Arjun had done. And, more importantly, learn to defend against or break a bind. If that’s how my dad was holding all those Guardians captive, I had to figure out how to undo it.

  Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath in through my nose. My brain was all over the place tonight, darting from thought to thought like a hamster surrounded by cheese. The confrontation with my dad kept replaying over and over in my mind, and every time it did, anger bubbled through my veins.

  My mom was dead.

  Dad had left me alone on purpose.

  And now he wanted me to join him.

  I kicked at the water heater. My foot sailed right through it, and I didn’t feel any better. Dad must be freaking crazy if he thinks I’d just drop everything and abandon my friends and allies to join up with him.

  But…

  I balled my hands at my sides, shaking my head.

  But some of the things he’d said mirrored my own thoughts—much too close for comfort.

  Like him, I didn’t understand why Guardians had to keep their presence so carefully concealed from humans. Arcadius and the rest of the Council were firm on that point, but it made no sense to me. Of course, I didn’t want us to come out of the shadows so we could rule over humanity. I just thought it would be easier to protect humans if we didn’t have to do it in secret.

  Was there a good reason why we couldn’t let people know we existed? And was my dad right that after several generations, I’d feel differently about what Guardians owed to humanity? I tried to imagine eight hundred years from now—my foster parents, Sarah, Alex, all long dead.

  At that thought, a wave of panic washed over me, so powerful I had to crouch down and put my head between my knees.

  No. No, I’m not okay with that.

  But it would happen, whether I was okay with it or not. Maybe that was why the Council was so adamant about the separation. It was one thing to care about humanity in general, but another thing entirely to care about individual humans. And look what had happened to the one Guardian I knew of who’d fallen in love with a human—her death had driven him crazy enough to join the Fallen on a mission of mass extermination.

  I stood on unsteady legs.

  Screw this.

  Between the Council’s directives and my father’s whacko sermonizing, I didn’t know what I believed anymore.

  Giving up on training for the night, I trudged wearily up the stairs. I’d never missed sleep quite as much as I did in that moment. I wanted desperately to close my eyes, dream about talking cats or purple bunnies, and wake up tomorrow morning to a fresh start.

  When I passed through the door into Alex’s apartment, I jumped. He sat on the couch, the dim light from the TV turning his face a pale blue. He was wearing his usual sleepwear—a white t-shirt and gym shorts—and his hair was sticking up on one side. He looked really good all rumpled and casual like this.

  I hesitated briefly, soaking up the sight, then I faded back in, trying to make the transition slow so I didn’t scare the pants off him. Not that I would’ve minded—

  I bit my cheek. No, Cam! Bad. Very bad. Pants on at all times.

  Thankful he couldn’t read my thoughts, I cleared my throat softly. “What are you doing?”

  Alex looked up quickly then leaned b
ack into the couch cushions. “Couldn’t sleep. Were you running drills in the basement?”

  “Yeah. I gave up. Couldn’t focus.”

  He patted the couch cushion beside him. “Come here. Let Iko Uwais cure what ails you.”

  I chuckled, flopping onto the couch next to him. “My spot” was usually on the far end of the couch, but for some reason, I didn’t want that much space between us tonight.

  “I’m assuming Iko Uwais is some fighter guy I’ve never heard of.” I gestured to the screen. “What’s this now?”

  “The Raid. So good.”

  Alex quickly caught me up on what I’d missed so far—which apparently wasn’t much. The martial arts movie was light on plot but very heavy on ass-kicking. Perfect.

  Curling a little closer to him, I closed my eyes for a moment. Eight hundred years was a long time from now; and now, right at this second, Alex was alive and well, sitting next to me and smelling way better than any guy should be allowed to.

  I let the feel of his warm breath whispering over my hair, and the sounds of the movie block out everything else until my brain finally slowed.

  It wasn’t sleep, but it was definitely the next best thing.

  12

  “Oh my…”

  Pearl’s voice faded away on the other end of the line. As promised, she and Arjun had found a pay phone downtown, and she’d called Alex’s cell bright and early to give us an update—which unfortunately wasn’t much, except the news that more low-level Fallen were slipping through from the Shroud every day. The Council had pretty much given up on controlling the feral supernaturals that escaped the Shroud. There simply weren’t enough Guardians to keep up with the numbers coming through, and sending Guardians out after minor Fallen wasn’t worth the risk.

  The unfortunate side effect of the Council’s cautionary measure was that violent crime had spiked worldwide. After The Raid had ended and Alex had passed out on the couch, I’d switched over to watching the news. Unsurprisingly, major news outlets were still blaming human elements for the violence. Only the more sensationalized news shows and tabloids had picked up on the supernatural factor, and they were blaming everything from satanic cults to alien invaders.

  “Oh, Cam, I’m so sorry.” Pearl found her voice again, breaking me out of my reverie. I’d just told her about my run-in with my dad in the Wild, and I could feel her shock radiating out of the phone. “I can’t believe it. What a bastard!” She squeaked. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to… I know he’s still your father.”

  I laughed mirthlessly. “Believe me, I’ve thought way worse about him. Seriously. Go ahead and call him the rudest names you can think of.”

  She huffed into the phone. “What a… bastard!”

  Alex chuckled as he held the phone between us on speaker.

  “I think that’s the worst name she can think of,” he whispered lightly, and I grinned. It probably was. Still, I appreciated her using the harshest curse word she could think of to describe my dad. He deserved it.

  “Yep. Pretty much,” I agreed. “I can’t believe he honestly thought I’d just ditch everything I’ve been fighting for and join his side. Especially since he as good as said he wouldn’t even care about me at all if it weren’t for the fact that I’m a Guardian now. He never even apologized for abandoning me.”

  Pearl’s normally bubbly voice was more subdued than I’d ever heard it. “I’m so sorry, Cam. You deserve so much better.”

  Emotion gripped my chest, making it hard to speak. It was partly pain at my dad’s betrayal, but there was another, sweeter burn at the protectiveness in Pearl’s voice. I’d spent most of my life without a family, and I realized with a start that the Guardians had begun to feel like one.

  I cleared my throat, trying to get the conversation moving again. “Thanks, Pearl. Obviously, I told him to shove it, but it’s not like that’s really much of a blow to the Fallens’ plans. Even without me in their ranks, they’ve still got my dad. And as he proved pretty clearly yesterday, he can kick my ass six ways from Sunday. He’s just so freaking powerful.”

  “Yeah.” Pearl drew out the word thoughtfully, not even trying to spare my feelings by arguing the point.

  “I need to learn to do that binding trick that he does. Or at the very least, learn how to protect against it. I tried to figure it out myself last night, but I have no clue what I’m doing.”

  “Well, you—” Pearl broke off suddenly, and I could hear murmuring in the background. “Hold on. What?”

  The murmuring continued for a moment, and then Pearl came back on the line. “Arjun says you should go see Reeva Pickett.”

  “Who?” I shot a glance at Alex, but he raised his eyebrows and shook his head.

  “Reeva Pickett. She’s a—hang on.” More murmuring, increasing in speed and volume. “She’s a ghost who lives under the “L” tracks. She taught Arjun how to bind.”

  “A ghost?” My jaw dropped.

  “Yes. He says she—what? Oh for heaven’s sake, this is so silly. You talk to her!”

  There was a shuffling noise, and then Arjun’s voice came on the line.

  “Not all Guardians can manipulate aether well,” he said, not wasting time with small talk. “Some don’t ever seem to develop a knack for it, but I’ve seen you use it—you’re good, and you can already access a lot of energy. Reeva can show you some tricks that might help level the playing field between you and your father.”

  “But she’s a—a ghost?” I didn’t know why I was having trouble processing that particular detail, since it wasn’t anywhere near the strangest thing I’d encountered since I died. Maybe it was just because I’d finally started to feel like I was getting the hang of this new world, and finding out that ghosts were real threw my worldview for a loop once more.

  “It’s just semantics. Ghosts are souls that have been trapped but end up existing solely in the mid-plane. They can only visit the Shroud or Earth for very short periods, if at all. We don’t usually concern ourselves with them, since humans can’t see them and we can’t bring them back to the Shroud.”

  “Oh. Okay.” That made sense. Mostly. “And this Reeva woman can teach me how to use aether like my dad does?”

  “Yes. She’s… very particular, so be prepared. If she doesn’t like you, she won’t teach you anything. But if she decides you pass muster, she’ll tell you everything she knows. She loves showing off.”

  “All right.”

  Don’t piss off the ghost. Check.

  “She lives under the “L” tracks by Graceland Cemetery,” he added.

  “Thanks, Arjun. I’ll try to make a good impression.”

  He laughed. “Good luck. You need to talk to Pearl again?”

  “No, I don’t think so. Just tell the Council we haven’t found any sign of the Fallen encampment yet. We’ll keep looking. Oh, and make sure you guys tell them my dad is the one binding the Guardians. Tell Pearl she can fill them in what happened on yesterday too.”

  Whether I’d been unconsciously protecting my dad before or not, I was done now. He was a grown man—more than grown, since he’d existed for over eight hundred years. He’d made the decision to join the Fallen with clear eyes, and he should have to face the full consequences of that. I wasn’t sure the Council would be able to do much more than I could to stop him, but they should at least know the extent of his treachery.

  “Will do,” Arjun said, and I heard Pearl call out a goodbye in the background.

  Alex pressed the button to end the call and tucked the phone back into his pocket. “A ghost, huh?”

  I grinned. As brain-exploding as all these developments were, it was way more fun to navigate this strange new world with a partner. “Think you can handle it?”

  “Well, I probably won’t be able to see her. But I’ll hang out by the tracks with you and try not to look super sketchy. And I guess…” He hesitated, biting his full lip. I tried, unsuccessfully, not to stare. “I guess if you need someone to practice on, you can use
me as your guinea pig.”

  My eyebrows shot up to my hairline. “Really?” I sat back slightly. “Wow. That’s trust. Probably more than I deserve though. Some of these skills take a long time to master, and I don’t want to accidentally crush you or something instead of just binding you.”

  Alex grimaced. “Good point. Okay, I’ll just go along for moral support.”

  “That, and because we’re not supposed to be out of each other’s sight, right?”

  “And that.” He smiled, then his expression turned serious. “You know, I thought it was going to be strange having you stay here with me. I was so weirded out when I found out you’d been following me around in secret. I mostly just wanted you to stay visible so I wouldn’t wonder if you were stalking me. But it’s actually been—”

  “Fun?” I blurted out, voicing my earlier thought before I could stop myself.

  He nodded, looking bemused. “Yeah. It’s fun. Even with a bunch of evil supernaturals trying to take over the world. Is that weird?”

  I swallowed. “I don’t think so. I mean, we’ve gotten to be friends, right?”

  “Yeah. Friends.”

  Alex’s voice dropped, and my stomach dropped right along with it. I couldn’t seem to wrench my eyes away from his, but I wasn’t sure I even wanted to. I drew in a shaky breath as my gaze slipped to his mouth again. He hadn’t shaved in a few days, and the scruff only made his lips look softer.

  The silence stretched thickly, and neither of us moved. I wondered if we’d been trapped in some kind of stasis we’d never be able to pull ourselves out of.

  Maybe the only way out of it is to kiss.

  Just one kiss.

  What on earth would it hurt? No one would even have to know. We could just—

  Alex cleared his throat. “Friends. Right,” he repeated, more firmly.

  Reason rushed back in like a bucket of ice water over my head. Damn it.

  “Yes. Right!” I nodded too enthusiastically, my head bobbing like my neck was made of rubber. I leapt up from the couch, kicking myself internally.