Secret Keepers: The Complete Series

by Jaymin Eve

  “We didn’t lose it.” Peter sounded slightly defensive. “Part of the initial security when the treaty was formed was that neither Daelighter nor human would know of its location. Except for four secret keepers. Human children chosen from a select group of one hundred families who were in on the initial treaty. All sworn to secrecy. All part of this sector of government.”

  My father spoke for the first time in ages: “My family was one of the originals who dealt with the treaty. So, when your mother was pregnant and they called out through our group for any who would have a child born in 1999, we answered the call.”

  I was on my feet now, staring between my father, mother, and Peter. “Explain everything to me right now,” I bit out.

  “You’re one of the four secret keepers,” my mom said in her soft voice, confirming my fears. “I never knew anything until I married your father, and then I had to be initiated into their world. You’re the third keeper, born in Overworld, in the waters of House of Leights. Your blood holds energy that could lead the rogue Daelighters to the starslight stone, a powerful object, that in the wrong hand could destroy everything.”

  “House of Leights is one of the four lands of the Daelighter people,” my father added.

  I stumbled and almost fell back into my seat. Brad grabbed my hand, but I shook him off. “I need some air. I need…”

  I dashed toward the door. I knew where the bathroom was, so I ended up in there, staring at myself in the mirror, breathing in deep gulps. The words born in Overworld continued to run through my head, over and over, taunting me with the fact that I was connected to these aliens – to aliens who were trying to kill me.

  I was a secret keeper? That didn’t feel right. It didn’t make any sense to me. I was an ordinary eighteen-year-old girl. School and cheer and stupid boy drama. I had no qualifications to be part of something that could destroy Earth and … Overworld. I couldn’t even choose a damn college!

  Panic clawed at my chest and I knew I was very close to hyperventilating. Scrabbling for the tap, I turned on the cold water, dropping my hands under the stream. Splashing my face a few times helped calm me.

  I turned at a light knock against the door. “Maya, little one, can I come in?”

  My mother would never think to barge in on me when I needed privacy. “Yeah, Mom, you can come in.” I managed to keep my tumultuous feelings out of my voice.

  She pushed the door open and crossed the room without making a single sound. She was so graceful, which I was thankful to inherit, even though I’d never achieve her level.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said as she reached my side. “You deserved to know the truth long ago, but I knew that the moment you did, your life would cease to be normal. I didn’t want the same responsibilities for you that we have. Not until you absolutely had to deal with the reality.”

  I lowered my eyes, staring at my black Converse. “This is why you’ve been gone so much through my life. Dealing with these Daelighters?”

  She took a moment to reply. I lifted my head, and when my eyes met hers she let out a sigh. “Yes. For the most part they exist among us in peace, but there are always incidents. We also deal with their business ventures and liaise when they cross over to Earth.”

  Sucking in more deep breaths, I forced myself not to act like a petulant teenager, even though I was angry that I’d missed out on so much of their lives because of these aliens. Mom must have seen some of that in my expression, because she hurried on to say: “Mostly, it was to keep you safe. Being here allowed us to be at the forefront of every piece of information coming in from Overworld. You’re one of four secret keepers, and until today, only your father and I knew how special you are. We hid you in plain sight, as close to the headquarters of our sector as possible.”

  I should be appreciative of all the years I’d had being normal, but part of me felt like it had been too normal for me. How would I adjust to this new reality? I wasn’t prepared for it. I couldn’t handle it.

  “You can handle this,” my mom said, and I realized I’d spoken the last part out loud. “You’re one of the strongest people I know. You’re more than capable of handling anything that comes your way.”

  I wanted to believe that, but it sure as heck didn’t feel that way right now. Maybe if I had more information, it would make more sense to me. “If I’m the third secret keeper, and they’re after me now, that means the first two are…”

  Please don’t say dead.

  Chapter 5

  Mom shook her head and immense relief hit me. “They’re not dead,” she told me. “But the rogue – Laous – has taken the secrets from their blood. Secrets that will lead him to you. We can’t let that happen. We can’t let the stone fall into his hands.”

  I was still far from being okay with everything I’d learned here today, but I felt some of my natural resilience reasserting itself.

  “I’m ready to go back,” I told my mom, and she linked her arm through mine.

  We left the bathroom, rejoining the room of suits and my family. “So, what’s the plan?” I asked the moment my butt hit the seat. “How are we going to stop him from getting his hands on me?”

  Peter blinked, and it almost looked like I’d taken him by surprise. His forehead even crinkled slightly. “We’re transferring you and your family to a more secure safe house. You’ll be under the protection of very powerful Daelighters. Leaders of their houses.”

  I tried not to show how much that shook me, knowing I’d be seeing these Daelighters soon … it was a lot. I couldn’t even imagine what they looked like, I mean, surely they weren’t little green men. They had to look like us. Otherwise they’d never blend in with the human population.

  Peter was still talking: “…they’re going to try and use your blood to find the final secret keeper. If we can find her first, we should be able to find the stone.”

  “And move it before this Laous gets his hands on it,” I finished.

  He nodded. “We’ll move and protect it. The old way is flawed, as we’ve all come to realize, so it’s time to rework the treaty and make it even more secure. But we need to find it first.”

  “Wouldn’t her parents be part of this government organization? I know that it’s secret and all, but couldn’t you just round up all one hundred families and inform them of what has happened. She will come forward then…”

  Peter nodded, but his expression wasn’t as positive. “It’s true that all secret keepers and their families are part of our government sector, but they were given the option to fall off the grid. To hide. Your family were the only ones to stay close and active. As for the others, we had only one way to track them, with a stone that was entrusted to the first secret keeper…”

  “And Laous has it now?” I guessed.

  He nodded, confirming my thoughts.

  “How would you have found the first, then, if she fell off the grid?”

  Probably all useless information, but I needed the entire picture. I wanted to know it all.

  “I knew who the first was,” my father said, startling me. I was sad to see his eyes so tired and puffy. It had been a long night for us all. “I volunteered to hold that information, because I wanted to know if the first was compromised. If she was compromised, then I knew you would soon be after. Somehow, though, I missed the signs. We grew complacent…”

  His voice broke. Peter quickly added, “All of the families were required to check in on occasion through a secure, encrypted phone line. But none made the last call.”

  Slumping back into my chair, I let this information roll over me. Movement from across the table caught my eye and I realized it was Brad, staring at me like he’d never seen me before. “Why did you let Brad hear all of this?” I asked, sounding disconnected. “Now he has no choice but to be part of this.”

  “They’ve seen him,” Peter said simply. “He’s been compromised. Until we can sort this situation out, it’s safer for him to be part of it. He’ll be going with you to the safe house
.”

  I’m sorry, I mouthed to him, and some of the shock cleared from his face as he fiercely shook his head.

  “I chose this,” he said to me, ignoring everyone else. “You gave me the option to stay behind. This was my decision.”

  Yeah, but he’d had no idea what he was getting into. That sticking with me might turn out to be utterly life changing for him. I was pretty thankful, though, that Gracie hadn’t been with me. She might go on to live a normal life, no matter what happened here.

  Brad asked the next question: “Will I be able to talk to my parents, at least let them know I’m okay?”

  “They’ve already been informed,” the director told him as he got to his feet. “Your transport will be here in twenty minutes. Only a select few will know your new location. It’s not going through the normal channels, so you should be safe there. I’ll be in touch.”

  With those final words he left the room, not looking back. The other suits followed; none of them had spoken a word during the entire meeting, and I wondered what the point of them had been. Probably they were the ones behind the scenes organizing things.

  When it was just my parents, Brad, and me, we all sat in silence. I was exhausted, scared, and confused, wondering if I’d stumbled into some sort of alternate reality. Or maybe I was dreaming.

  Like I’d be that lucky.

  “I owe you the hugest of apologies,” my dad said to me. His eyes were red, and he seemed smaller than normal. “When the first call went out in our group, I was so proud that I had a child to provide for the cause. But that was before you were born, before I knew the vibrant, funny, clever child who should be free to go out into the world and leave her mark on it.” He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry that I never took into consideration how it might affect you. Your life. It was selfish of me.”

  Pushing myself up, I moved around the table to hug him. “It’s okay, Dad,” I mumbled against his chest. “Things have been fine for the first eighteen years. I’ve had more than most kids get.” And the truth was, I’d never felt “normal,” I’d always been empty and searching. I’d thought it was because of my absent parents, but maybe it had been more to do with the world I was born in but never knew about.

  As we went to leave, Dad stopped and spoke to a few of the suits. Brad wrapped an arm around me, offering comfort. When we started moving, he half-carried me all the way to the elevator. Once we were back on the street level, a black SUV – waiting out the front – took us to a nearby airfield. A helicopter was already powered up and ready to go, blades rotating and sending strong air currents across the tarmac.

  My father helped us in, handing us all noise-canceling headphones. The pilot, who I didn’t recognize, took off as soon as we were buckled in. The chopper moved so fast that for a second I was afraid we were being chased, but there didn’t look to be anyone on the ground below.

  I’d never flown in a helicopter; it was far louder and rougher than I had expected. Eventually I got used to it, and watched with fascination as the city passed below. It was early morning, the sun rising in the sky, washing the world in low, golden light. I couldn’t talk to my family without everyone hearing through the headsets we wore, but as familiar landmarks disappeared, I really wanted to ask if we’d ever see our home again. I literally had nothing except the clothes on my back and my bag that had two credit cards and my school ID in it.

  That was it, like the rest of my identity had been wiped clean. Gone.

  A hand wrapped around mine, and I lifted my chin to meet Brad’s gaze. Seeing his familiar face, the boy I grew up with, who had been with me through so many of life’s obstacles … it made me feel a little better. Not everything was gone. I still had him. And my family.

  I must have fallen asleep, my head against Brad’s shoulder, only waking as we landed. Blinking to clear my vision, I tried to figure out where we were. The only things I could see were trees, and I was really hoping that this “safe house” wasn’t like a tent or something. Nature and I, we were not exactly simpatico.

  We had landed in an open area no bigger than a quarter of a football field, the only break in the endless trees. We filed out quickly, and then before I could ask what we were doing out here, the metal beast lifted again and was gone over the trees in less than a minute, leaving the four of us standing there like morons.

  “Please,” I fake begged, hands in the prayer position, “please tell me this is not the safe house. You know how I feel about camping.”

  My mom tsked at me. “Maya, come now, you need to focus on right now and stop worrying about what you cannot control.”

  Her favorite mantra: do not waste energy on what you cannot control.

  My father took a second to look around; he was clearly as confused as me. “I imagine they needed to land off the grid to leave no record of where we were dropped. No doubt someone else will be by soon to pick us up.”

  Bet right about now he was regretting leaving the finer details up to Peter.

  After a few minutes of waiting, the four of us grew restless and started to walk. I didn’t like being out in the open like this. Dad led us toward the closest trees. We stuck close together, stepping into the forest. It was very green, and it felt even colder than Washington, D.C. I had an open sweater on, which was barely keeping me warm.

  The forest floor was quite dense in places, filled with messy undergrowth, and no doubt a ton of bugs. I was not a fan of bugs, one of my major reasons for declining every school trip that included camping. Hell, no. Not for me.

  My mind flashed to my house and pool, to my soft mattress and organic cotton sheets. Gods, I missed my room. I was a total spoiled brat, but I’d really grown accustomed to the luxury of my life. It felt decidedly unfair that it had all been torn away from me now.

  “How are they going to come for us?” I asked, following my father as he pushed further into the trees. “Can you see a path anywhere?”

  He shook his head. “No path yet. I don’t want to get too far from the drop-off point. Just trying to see if there is a main road somewhere close.”

  Great. I’d probably get bitten by something that would give me a rash and cause my arm to fall off. “Do you think those men who tried to take me were Daelighters?” I asked my father, gingerly following in his footsteps, trying not to cringe as I brushed against leaves and spiky plants. “Is there a way to easily identify a Daelighter?”

  “They would have been Daelighters or humans recruited to Laous’ cause,” he replied. “And … they look like human, but in general they’re taller, more athletic, and quite intimidating. There’s an ‘other’ feeling about them. Special.”

  Definitely humans chasing me, then. None of them had seemed particularly “special.” My father circled us around the drop-off point, getting a little wider each time. I started to worry that we’d been dropped into the middle of nowhere because the government was cutting their losses. I’d seen enough movies to assume there was some truth to their actions when they needed to tie up loose ends.

  Just as I finished that thought, my stomach flip-flopped and my chest got tight and tingly.

  It was the feeling…

  The feeling from the party and the alley where my attackers had been snatched away. Back in the government lair, I’d tried to explain to my parents what had happened. It was clear they didn’t quite believe me, but I knew the truth – we’d been saved by my mystery guy.

  I turned to stare out into the trees, spinning around to take it all in. It took me longer than it should have, but I finally found … them? Three men stood in the shadow of a huge tree, still and calm.

  Stepping closer, I blinked more than once to make sure I was seeing them clearly. Because they were so … beautiful. All of them were tall, with dark skin and long hair. None of them were the guy from the party though, and I was just wondering if my stomach feeling had been wrong … when he stepped out from behind the other three. Our eyes met and those feelings in my body intensified. My body almost jerked forward.
Just like at the party, I wanted to move closer to him.

  By this stage my father had noticed them, too. When a relieved smile broke across his face, I figured we were dealing with friends. He hurried forward, pausing before the tallest of the four. The one – the guy from the party, who I was pretty sure had saved my life in the alley. His hair, unlike the other three, was short, dark, and cropped close to his head, save for a few braids that hung past his shoulders. It also looked like one side of his head was tattooed, the marks hard to clearly make out under his hair. Maybe symbols or words.

  It was too dark under this canopy for me to tell the color of his eyes, but they looked light, contrasting beautifully to his dark skin and hair.

  “Chase from House of Leights,” my father said, holding his hand out for him to shake. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. Will you be leading us to the safe house?”

  Chase acknowledged my father with a nod, but it felt as if his eyes remained locked on me. I wanted to go forward and take his hand as well, but something held me back. The pull I already felt to him was not natural or normal. For someone who’d been pretty lackluster with most things in life, this sort of strong emotion was really freaking obvious.

  House of Leights!

  I realized then what my father had said. Even though an idiot would know that these four were “special,” the reality took a moment to register fully. Holyfreakingshit. He was an alien, a Daelighter. Why were the good ones always gay, taken, or aliens? Seriously.

  For a brief moment, I contemplated that he might evoke such feeling in me because of some sort of alien power, but the other three men at his sides, who were almost as stunningly handsome, did not make me feel anything except wariness.

  There was something more about this Chase. And I wanted to panic about that. But I couldn’t seem to produce that emotion around him. He was just … calming.