by AR Colbert
“Yes, she’s upstairs in the study.”
I looked back down the hall to see a wide-eyed Millie shooing me away silently with two hands. I shrugged and mouthed it’s locked.
Tate whispered through the door. “Alright Driskell, just be quiet. We have company.”
Thank goodness Claudia was complaining loudly as she made her way up the stairs, otherwise she would have heard him for sure. But Tate and I were still trapped in plain sight at the end of the hall, and Claudia’s footsteps were growing closer.
“Millie, darling. I hope you don’t mind me barging in, but I have to vent about the council to someone. They are on my last nerve.” Claudia’s whiny voice carried from halfway up the stairs. I glanced back at the window, wondering if we could survive a jump outside, down into Millie’s courtyard. But Tate yanked me across the hall into a linen closet before I could make my move. The door closed silently behind us right as we overheard Claudia reach the top of the stairs.
“There you are!” she exclaimed. “Whatever is the matter, Millie? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
For a moment, all of my awareness was focused on my breathing, trying to bring it down into a slow and steady rhythm that couldn’t be heard out in the hall. But then my body reminded me of how close I was to Tate.
We were practically wrapped around each other, a tangle of limbs as he held himself upright with arms extended over my shoulders against the wall behind me. My nose couldn’t have been a full inch away from his Adam’s apple, and I became acutely aware of his breathing and racing pulse. The air seemed to sizzle around us, the skin on my left knee prickling where it rested against Tate’s leg. I couldn’t move it away because of how the shelves pressed hard into the outside of my thigh.
“Yes, of course I’m fine,” Millie’s voice rang out from the hall, followed by a nervous laugh. “You’re having problems with the council again? Come, let’s talk about it in the study.”
I reached for the door handle, anxious to put some space between me and Tate. If I didn’t get away from him soon, I might wrap my arms around him and never let go. And that didn’t seem like a wise decision.
“Wait.” Tate’s whisper was barely audible. I might have missed it if not for my better Keeper hearing and the rustle of his breath in my hair.
“I just don’t know what to do anymore!” Claudia despaired. She strode down the hall, and I watched with dread as her shadow passed under the crack of the door, pausing just outside of where we stood, likely stopping to look out the same window I’d been eyeballing moments earlier. When she spoke again, her voice was louder. “They’re asking too much of him. There is just no way—”
“Claudia.” Millie’s voice was stern. “I must insist that we take this conversation back into the study.” She dropped into a whisper. “The help may overhear you.”
A Charley horse was developing in my thigh where it was still shoved against the shelf. I shifted slightly to ease the cramp, and inadvertently bumped my toe against a basket of cleaning supplies tucked under the shelves on the floor. The movement was small, but it was just enough to knock one bottle of cleaner over into another, causing a soft tap where the plastic bottles met.
Tate’s arms instinctively dropped and he pulled me toward him, pressing our bodies together. My cheek smushed against his chest, where his heart was beating as fast and hard as mine. And in this position, with our bodies placed perfectly together as though we were formed from the same mold—two pieces of the same puzzle—the burning, tingling, prickling sensation stopped. It just felt… right.
“Did you hear something?” Claudia asked.
Tate’s hands pulled me against him even tighter to keep me quiet. Or maybe it was because he felt the same undeniably pull toward me that I felt toward him.
“It was probably just Jeeves downstairs,” Millie said quickly. “I told you, we need to get back into the study so we can speak freely.”
“Right.” Claudia hesitated for just a moment longer before following my aunt down the hall.
Neither Tate nor I moved even a millimeter until we heard the click of the study door. Then, he couldn’t get our door open fast enough. “See ya,” he whispered.
I peeked out of the closet just in time to see him slip out of the window. He jumped down to the courtyard with ease, and disappeared over the side of the fence.
Driskell’s door opened then, and his bushy brows lifted at the sight of me. “Why are you all red?”
“I don’t know,” I whispered. My heart still pounded in my chest—a mixture of nerves over my close call with Claudia and… something else. I peered out the window again, hoping to catch one more glimpse of my Agarthian prince.
No, not my Agarthian prince. He was just Tate. Just a guy I needed to look out for. A master manipulator and potentially a man who could destroy the prophecy before we even got started.
“Well, come in.” Driskell interrupted my thoughts. “You can wait with me until the woman is gone.”
CHAPTER 5
Tate was back the next morning, but I made no attempt to talk to him this time. I’d tossed and turned all night, thinking over the effect his nearness had on me. I’d even gathered a few books from Millie’s secret stash of Keeper text to try to understand my reaction to him a little better.
Though it wasn’t common, there had been a few reports throughout history of Agarthian sirens whose mere proximity could move their victims to submission. Most of the stories were from back before they’d developed the technology currently used to extract souls, so they still relied on archaic means of removing life back then. It was where rumors of vampires began.
Apparently these insanely attractive men and women would identify fractured souls and lure them alone, where they would extract the victims’ souls through a fatal puncture wound—via their teeth—in the neck. Typically, they used the same glamour that was still so effective today, but occasionally no glamour was needed at all. The closer the “vampires” got, the more willing their victims became.
I refused to let Tate suck the life out of me like a vampire—even if it was only figuratively. I needed to maintain strict control over my actions and remain clear headed. It was time to put some distance between us.
That was a lot easier said than done when he spent so many hours hanging out at Millie’s house. And though I had protested and made what I thought was a really compelling argument to go back to my apartment with Gayla and Dom, the majority ruled against me. They wanted me to stay here with Driskell, off the streets and away from anyone who might catch a glimpse of my white aura.
That meant hours and hours in the same house as Tate.
After another pouty lunch with Jeeves and Pierre, I was startled to hear Millie’s voice call out from the stairs. “Everly! Come here!”
Her excitement was palpable. Had they figured something out?
I tried to put some energy into my steps, but I wasn’t eager to see Tate again. I couldn’t be trusted to control myself around him. Millie took my hand as I reached the top of the stairs and anxiously pulled me into her study.
“We did it!” She closed the door behind her and clapped her hands together.
“You found a way to conceal my aura?”
“Not conceal it.” Tate’s voice called out from the opposite wall. He’d placed himself as far from the doorway as possible. “But change it to blue.”
“No way.” My shoulders relaxed as the impact of the news overshadowed my earlier concerns about Tate. If they could turn my aura blue, I would be free to leave the house again. I could even use my powers around other Keepers and no one would be any wiser.
Millie nodded, her grin stretching from ear to ear. “It’s true! We think, anyway. Everything adds up on paper, but obviously we need to test it on you to be sure.”
A jar sat atop Millie’s desk containing a muddy brown paste-like substance in the bottom. I eyed the goop suspiciously. “Are you sure it’s safe?”
“Of course!” Millie
’s smile stayed strong, but there was a definite twitch in her eye. “But even if it’s not, you happen to be in the presence of a very skilled healer.” She took a bow. “And I promise not to let anything hurt you.”
Tate moved forward just a few steps, carefully keeping Millie’s couch between us. “We found a way to infuse one of Millie’s concoctions here with some of my glamour.”
“I thought you couldn’t glamour inanimate objects.”
Tate held up a finger and smirked. “I can’t glamour unliving objects. But technically, plants are living.”
“He enchanted my kava.” Millie gestured toward a bowl full of heart-shaped green leaves. “It acts as a booster for some of the other herbs I’ve muddled together here in the jar. We hypothesize that the enchantment will stay with the leaves, even after they are pulled from the plant and dried. It only has to be living when the spell is initially cast. When used with an Atlantean amplifier, and a hefty dose of borage for the blue color inducer, we think we should be able to make your aura appear blue.”
“And taking a constant amplifier won’t be damaging?” I remembered her warning from the day before.
Millie shifted on her feet. “I’ve done my best to counteract those effects as well. But I would caution you to only consume this when you absolutely need to go out in public.”
I frowned, turning the jar around in my hand. I would still be a prisoner most of the time, sentenced to remain locked up in this house as much as possible. But at least it wouldn’t be forever.
“Go on.” Millie handed me a soup spoon. “If it works, I will put it into capsules to make it easier to transport and consume. But for the test, just take a small amount in the spoon here.”
My gaze drifted momentarily to Tate, but he wouldn’t meet my eyes. That wasn’t reassuring. But my aunt wouldn’t do anything to harm me. I believed that with my whole heart. I mentally counted to three, then shoved half a spoonful of the disgusting brown mash into my mouth and swallowed before my tongue could register just how bitter and nasty the stuff was.
“Blech! Is there any way to make it taste better?”
“Once it’s in the capsules it—” Millie’s words cut off and her hand flew to her mouth with a gasp.
“What?” I looked down, but saw nothing. I felt nothing, either. “What is it?”
“It worked.” Tate smirked. “I knew it would.”
“Am I blue?” I raised the back of my hand closer to my eyes for better inspection.
“A gorgeous cerulean.” Millie clapped her hands together. “Well done, Thaddeus!”
“It wasn’t just me.” Tate dropped his chin and ran a hand through his dark tousled hair. Then he turned those glistening golden eyes on me. “How are you feeling, Ev?”
I wiggled my fingers. “I feel… exactly the same. What does an amplifier do, exactly?”
“It enhances your natural powers,” Millie said. “Which in your case, well, is still undetermined.”
“Undetermined.” I could stop storms and breathe underwater. But both of those could still be related to standard Atlantean abilities to control and manipulate water. I couldn’t heal or teleport or run faster or jump higher like the others. My powers were undetermined.
“Well, I obviously didn’t inherit my mom’s abilities. Perhaps I got my dad’s powers.”
Millie frowned. “Since our souls are reincarnated, we don’t exactly inherit powers from our parents. And even if we did, I’ve told you, I truly do not know who your father is. Your mother has always been a fierce secret-keeper. It’s one reason she was so valued as a messenger.”
“Right. Then I guess I’ll just have to add ‘search for long-lost-father’ to my ever growing to-do list. Who knows… maybe he’ll stumble across my path when I go to Atlantis to find another part of the prophecy.”
“Oh!” Millie turned back to the desk and shuffled around through some papers. “That reminds me, there was something positive that came out of Claudia’s impromptu visit yesterday. I got some good intel on where the royal prisons are located.”
“What? The secret ones in Atlantis? Did she know if my mom was there?”
Millie grimaced. “I couldn’t ask her that. And this is vague at best. But Sean’s dad works with the Atlantean council. He’s a guardian, like Sean, but his work is confidential. I know he doesn’t work in the common prison, but I definitely heard her mention prisoners in her frustrated rant session yesterday. I also happen to know that he works beneath the palace.”
“There’s a real palace? Under the sea?”
“Yes.”
I sighed and looked up at the ceiling. “I wish I could be part of your world.”
Millie shot me a disapproving look. She obviously didn’t appreciate my cartoon mermaid humor. “I can only assume it’s the royal prison.”
“So how do we get there?”
“Well, I refuse to let you go anywhere until we’ve had more time to test this aura-changing amplifier. But it certainly won’t be easy when you do go. You can’t access it from outside of the palace.”
“And if the queen is anything like my father, she won’t let you into the palace without a really good reason.” I’d almost forgotten Tate was still in the room. If anyone knew about breaking into royal Keeper palaces and prisons, it would be him. He was an Agarthian prince, after all.
“So what do we do then?”
“First, we keep an eye on the effects of this medicine. We’ll worry about devising a plan into Atlantis once we know you can safely leave the house.”
Little did she know I was already devising my plan. But there were a few things I had to take care of first. My gaze drifted to the window, wondering if Al had made it back yet. Now that my aura was blue, I definitely needed to find Rossel.
CHAPTER 6
The medicine, or potion as I liked to call it (Millie hated that word), stayed effective for just over thirty hours, which seemed pretty remarkable to me. But Millie thought we could do better. She and Tate continued to experiment over the next week until they reached a product both were satisfied with. I had a potion pill that would keep my aura blue for two solid days.
It was supposedly an amplifier, but since I had no discernible power to amplify, I didn’t see any effects on that front. Maybe I could swim faster, but I hadn’t tried. Without the amplification in use, it also meant that the pills didn’t seem to have any draining effects on me when they wore off. They did their job—my aura was blue, and that was all that was necessary for me to get out of the house. And get out I did.
It felt good to walk back onto campus with Gayla and Dom. “Is it still blue?” I muttered out of the side of my mouth.
“Yep.” Gayla grinned. “You look just like one of us, just like a Keeper.”
I looked like one of them, but I wasn’t really. They still considered me different. The image of my friends all bowing before me on the island where we found Driskell was a memory I’d tried hard to burn from my brain. I didn’t want to be different.
The girls did a good job of making me feel normal for the most part, but every once in a while I would see a strange expression dance across Gayla’s face, or Dom’s eyebrows would turn up in a way that reminded me of how they truly saw me. I wasn’t one of them. I would never be one of them. But I certainly didn’t feel like anyone special.
Thankfully, the other Keepers on campus didn’t see me as anything special, either. I was just an average Atlantean girl in their eyes. And yet, it still wasn’t enough to ease the glares I got from the group of Agarthian girls we shared our Review of the Ancient Languages class with.
Camille, the siren who’d lured me into a trap after the girls saw me with Clayton, feigned a look of smug indifference as I passed her group on my way to class, but it still sent a chill down my spine. I wouldn’t let her know it though. I smiled sweetly, and gave a little wave. She rolled her eyes and turned back to her cat shifter friend and the wind-wielder to her left.
“They’re brats.” Gayla shrugg
ed. “Don’t let them get to you. You look great.” She nodded toward the library. “This is where I’ve gotta split. We still meeting for lunch?”
“Yep. We’ll meet back at the apartment at noon,” Dom said. Then turning to me she asked, “You ready to go talk to Brossard?”
“Let’s do it.” It was convenient that my first class this morning happened to be with the same professor who had lied to me about the tablet just a few weeks earlier. Since he was Driskell’s former colleague and partner in the archaeological sites, I had some insider tips now for how to handle the man. According to Driskell, Brossard was a bit of a coward. Driskell wasn’t surprised at all that he had pretended not to recognize the tablet. Brossard was afraid of the curse.
Dom and I took the steps up to our classroom building, and as I reached for the door, the hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention.
“What is it?” Dom asked, sensing the tension that had just come over me.
“I don’t know.” I looked over my shoulder, scanning the sidewalks and trees around us. Groups of students—both Keepers and mortals alike—moved in pairs and small groups, chattering and laughing as they went about their mornings. Nothing seemed out of place. “I just got the sense that somebody might be watching us.”
“I don’t see anyone.” Dom surveyed the area as well. “But let them look if they want. I promise, nothing seems off at all.”
“Okay.” I cast one more wary glance across the campus, then followed Dom inside and down the hall toward our class.
Brossard was late, as usual. He wouldn’t make eye contact with me at all through class, though he had to have noticed my new blue aura. He could ignore me during the lecture all he wanted, but I’d missed a week of school, and he had no choice but to talk to me after class. It was his job to help me get caught up with my assignments.
“Ready?” I asked Dom as he finished up the day’s lecture. She’d agreed to accompany me after class. I wanted to toy with the professor a little bit. There wasn’t any new information he could provide that Driskell hadn’t already told us, but I hated to let him get away with a lie. He had no idea that I was the Deliverer mentioned in the prophecy, so it didn’t seem like it would hurt to let him know I’d discovered the meaning of the tablet. I didn’t appreciate being lied to, and I wanted to let him know it… and maybe watch him squirm just a little.
