by Kristie Cook
Eli turned to the guard. “I need to speak to you about this one.”
***
If I was glad to see the kid’s school bus arrive, I was even more thrilled to see it drive away. It disappeared around the corner with eleven kids going home and one on his way to juvie.
The moment the yellow vehicle disappeared, Eli abruptly headed for his bike. “Let’s go,” he said harshly.
I could feel the animosity oozing off him. At that moment I didn’t have the energy to wonder or care what his problem was with me now. I simply turned and followed him to the Harley. I felt weak and overwhelmed. All I really wanted was to sleep.
Eli turned the bike around in the parking lot to start for the school but slammed on the brakes. My face and body squashed into his back. “What the hell?” I muttered into his leather jacket.
Eli’s body was tense, and all his attention was on something in front of us. I peeked around him to see a tall, gorgeous man leaning against a railing in the parking lot. He smiled at me, but something in his eyes told me he was anything but friendly.
“What are you doing here, Lorcan?” Eli inquired.
The strain in his voice put me on edge. The name sounded familiar, but I forgot where I heard it.
“Not a very polite way to greet your brother.”
Brother. Right. I heard the name from Ryan.
I could now see the family resemblance. Lorcan was a few inches shorter than Eli, and he had an oval face unlike his brother’s angular facial structure, but that was the major difference between them. They shared the same color eyes and hair, but Lorcan’s hair was cut close to his head. He looked to be older but still had to be in his twenties.
“I am not a very polite guy. Blame it on my upbringing,” Eli responded.
Lorcan smirked, propelled himself off the railing, and sauntered toward us. I knew was in the presence of another Riders of Darkness member. I sucked my breath through my teeth. Running in the opposite direction was now looking like an extremely good idea.
“So are you going to introduce me to your friend, Eli?” Lorcan’s eyes were locked on mine as he proceeded closer, like he was stalking me.
The desire to run and hide overwhelmed me even more. In an anomalous moment, Eli became my safety. He had always scared and unsettled me as if at any instant he would turn on me. But right then, Eli’s body heat was like a security blanket that I wanted to wrap myself into, protecting me from Lorcan.
Eli glared at his brother. Through gritted teeth, he said, “Ember, this is my brother Lorcan. Lorcan, this is Ember.” He hit the kickstand with his boot and swung off the bike.
“Ember, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” Lorcan reached out his hand to help me off the Harley. I instinctively jerked away from his grasp as I slid off the back of the bike.
“Finally?” I stepped away, putting distance between us.
“Yes, he’s been keeping you from us.”
“What do you mean? I haven’t known him long.”
My eyes darted to Eli in confusion, but his gaze was lost in the surrounding forest. I felt a strange sinking sensation. "What is he talking about?”
“You are important, Ember. To me, to Eli … but I’m afraid it’s not in the way you are hoping.”
“Lorcan,” Eli growled. It was so deep and guttural it forced me back in fear.
“What is going on?” I demanded.
“Yes, Eli, what is going on?” Lorcan crossed his arms with amusement. “Maybe you can enlighten me on what you are doing.”
“Lorcan, I’m warning you.” Eli stepped closer to him. “Don’t forget who is in charge.”
“How can I forget, little brother.” Lorcan’s voice was filled with abhorrence and anger.
“I think it’s time you go.” Eli stepped even closer to Lorcan and puffed up his chest. Lorcan’s eyes narrowed, but he averted his gaze. It was like watching animals in the wild claim their territory, and it was obvious who won this round. The authority Eli had over his brother was clear.
“Are you really willing to give it all up?” Lorcan spat at Eli. “Get your head on straight, brother.”
He turned to look at me with disgust. “Take care, Ember. We’ll be seeing each other really soon.”
His voice sent chills shooting down my spine. He pivoted and in an instant disappeared into the forest. Eli and I stood in silence. There was little doubt as to an underlying threat in Lorcan’s words.
FIFTEEN
“What the hell is going on, Eli?” My voice shook slightly. I hadn’t noticed until then my body was trembling.
Eli rubbed his forehead as he looked at me. “Nothing. Don’t worry about it. Lorcan is full of it. Forget about him.”
“Forget? Are you joking?” I shrieked. “Tell me what is going on because none of this is making any sense.” A muscle in his jaw twitched. The determination to remain mute on the subject was clear on his features. He wasn’t going to tell me anything.
I let my shoulders sag. My energy was still low from the “saving Kevin” episode. I felt depleted by the day.
Closing my eyes, I willed myself to stay upright. When I opened them, Eli was studying me like a lab rat, and that was exactly how I felt. I let out a strangled laugh, and turned, and walked away from him. My security blanket had returned to its normal prickly state.
I needed to get away from him, from everything. I couldn’t wait to get home. The walk to the bus stop would take forever. I was still in the middle of nowhere. It wasn’t something I looked forward to, but it was my only option.
I wasn’t watching where I was going as I hurried down the road. The sound of grinding tires slid over gravel as a Harley came to a stop in front of me. I jumped back with a startled yelp.
Eli’s chiseled jaw protruded with arrogance under his helmet. “Get on,” he said curtly, without even looking at me. Shock, anger, and frustration welled in me and caused me to stand there mutely glaring at him. “I won’t ask you again.”
“You’re asking me? That was more an order,” I spat back.
“Ciach ort!” He hit the handlebar with his fist. “Get on.”
I crossed my arms. “What did you call me?”
Eli sighed deeply, sounding even more annoyed. My stubbornness kicked in, and I moved around the bike and continued to walk. I stomped through the puddles, my anger giving me strength as I plodded on. A muffled string of profanity came from behind me. My lips twitched into a satisfied smile, which quickly disappeared at the sound of a bike engine being cut.
Dammit!
“Brycin,” he called, his voice low and strained. “Will you please get on the bike?”
“Why?” I whirled, but dizziness made my vision spin. Eli was there. His solid hand caught me as I stumbled.
“Because it’s …” He paused and seemed to think better of what he was going to say. “Because you can barely stand.”
“What do you care?”
He gave me a level look and stepped aside to make way for me. I wanted to protest, but I didn’t have the energy or the desire. I let him walk me back to his motorcycle. He took off his helmet and pushed it roughly at me. I put it on without argument. I fastened the strap under my chin, feeling the warmth from his head still clinging to the inside of the helmet.
I climbed onto the rear seat. He mounted the bike and scooted back into me, my arms wrapping around him. As angry as I was, I found myself hyper-aware of his incredible physique pressing into mine. The intense heat from his body warmed mine, making me feel the need to sleep—or throw up—I hadn’t quite decided yet. I only knew the closeness to Eli stirred contradictory feelings in me; he both unnerved and relaxed me.
Most of the way we rode in silence. I tried to stay awake but the hum of the motorcycle started to lull me to sleep. My life had changed today, and it left me feeling exhausted.
We came to a stoplight, and the sound of Eli’s phone buzzing brought me out of my haze. He dug into his pocket, looking at the screen. There was a picture of a
stunning, dark-haired girl blowing a kiss. She definitely wasn’t Sam. Before I could stop myself, I blurted out, “Girlfriend?” My voice sounded more clipped than I had wanted it to. It wasn’t as if I cared if he had a girlfriend or girlfriends. Did I?
“Something like that.” He shrugged as he stuffed the phone back into his pocket.
“Right …” I got his meaning and quickly looked away, bile rising in my throat.
We continued riding in silence until he steered off the road into my driveway. I slipped off the Harley and was unhooking the helmet when it hit me. I never told him where I lived. A meshed warning of confusion and alarm hit me.
“How did you know the way here?” My eyebrows scrunched down.
“Don’t go walking into the woods or anything,” he said, ignoring my question.
“What?” I looked at him, baffled.
“Don’t. Go. In. To. The. Woods,” he spoke slowly, as if to an imbecile. It made me want to hit him—excessively.
“Answer my question. How do you know where I live?”
“Just do what I say, please.” He sighed again, sounding put out and extremely tired.
A guttural, agitated noise bubbled up. I shoved the helmet hard into his chest and started up the stairs to the door.
“Brycin?” I turned. “This changes nothing between us. This is only a truce for now.”
I felt so zapped of energy, of pride, of emotion I merely nodded and turned back to the house. The roar of motorbike echoed through the air as he tore out of the driveway. I was tempted to throw my backpack at his head.
I unlocked the front door and let myself in. Dropping my book bag in the entry, I went straight for my room, fell onto my bed, and welcomed the sleep my body had been longing for.
***
“Wake up, mo chuisle.” Torin’s voice settled sweetly into my ear.
My eyes opened to him leaning over me. Air hiccupped in my chest as I took in his beauty and his proximity.
“Torin.” I sat up. I felt the forest around me, how it was breathing and communicating. It was as if I were part of it, but it didn’t scare me.
A red fox sat in a patch of grass nearby, staring at me. The familiarity in its huge, beautiful eyes tugged at something in my gut. It cocked its head and whined. The pain and longing in its gaze made my heart break. I had to look away.
“Ember, I need you to understand what I am trying to show you … what you are. Your powers cannot be hidden any longer. Others are now aware of your existence, and she will find out about you soon.”
“Who will find out about me?”
A whimper came from the small fox as it stood. Torin’s piercing gaze silenced the animal. It lowered its head and sat again.
“I am forbidden to say.” Torin looked down, nervously licking his lips. My gaze latched onto them. I imagined what it would feel like to kiss him, to have those soft lips on mine.
I really needed to learn to focus.
“Ember, I am trying to keep you safe, and the only way to do so is for you to be ready for what is coming. You know what you are capable of. Stop denying the truth. You are not one of them.” His warm hand cupped my face. “Your mother did a good job hiding you, but she can no longer do that. She left clues for you. Clues you can and need to reason through.”
The fox whined again, sounding more desperate. When I looked back to where it was, the fox was gone. When my head snapped back to Torin, I found he had disappeared, too. I was alone.
***
My lids cracked open, and I saw the sun was setting. I lay there, getting my bearings before I swung my feet onto the floor. Torin’s face was still so vivid in my mind.
It was funny I had dreamed about a red fox. They had been my mother’s favorite animal. She would go to Canada for weeks to study and take pictures of them. She had her articles and pictures featured a lot in National Geographic and with WWF. The fact they were in danger of becoming extinct made her crazy with rage. I guess dreaming about them was the same as dreaming about my mother.
Torin’s voice replayed in my head. “Your mother did a good job hiding you. She left clues. Clues you can and need to reason through.”
I stood and made my way to the door. Even if it were only a dream, my curiosity got the better of me. After what had happened today with Kevin and the incident with Lorcan, how could I keep pretending all these things didn’t mean something?
As long as I could remember, I had had certain abilities—the way I felt the energy of nature when surrounded by it, the way I healed in record time, the way fire seemed to be attracted to me as much as I was drawn to it. It wasn’t until after Mom’s death did I think there was something wrong with me—that these things weren’t normal, that I was a freak. How could a mother not know something was strange about her child? She had to, right? Did she really leave clues for me, like Torin said? But why? What was it that she couldn’t simply tell me?
***
The only place I knew which had any important documents or ties to my past was the trunk at the end of Mark’s bed. It was full of photo albums, old report cards, and other stuff my mom had saved that neither Mark nor I could get rid of. If she had been aware of my “talents,” this was the only place I could think of that might hold some answers.
I opened my door, listening for any movement in the house. “Mark?” I shouted. “Are you home?” Silence greeted me in response. Maybe he was still at work.
Mark wouldn’t care if I went into his room, especially to look at my mother’s old photo albums and documents. He would have joined me, but that was exactly what I didn’t need. I didn’t want to be asked why I was going through them.
I snuck into Mark’s bedroom. As I had suspected, he wasn’t there. I knelt in front of the old wooden steam trunk. The lid whined in protest as I opened it. On top were several shoeboxes filled with my drawings and paintings. My heart stung as I pulled out one that had “Mommy, I love you” in crayon across the top. I flipped it over to see my mom’s handwriting: “Ember, 5 years old.” I traced her handwriting with my finger, the pain in my heart growing. I placed my drawings aside and continued searching. There were several photo albums full of Mark and Mom’s wedding and our camping trips. It hurt so much to see my mom’s beautiful face smiling, laughing—alive.
I shut the books and moved on. Grabbing my baby book, I flipped through the pages. I had never noticed or cared before, but my baby book didn’t start until I was at least a few months old. There were no pictures of me at the hospital or pictures of us coming home—nothing. That seemed odd. Most people take a video or pictures of every moment of their new baby’s life. Granted, I didn’t have a father who would’ve been there with a video camera, but you’d think someone would have been. No friends or even a nurse. If not, then wouldn’t Mom take pictures when we got home? I also found it odd she didn’t list any of my firsts—my first steps or my first words. It was like she didn’t want any written record of me.
I was about to toss the album aside when I noticed a cut on the back of the leather cover. Sliding my fingers inside, I felt a soft piece of fabric. I tugged it out. It was a two-inch cut of cloth. The fabric was nothing I had ever felt before. It seemed as if it was made of something softer than fleece, cotton, and velvet all rolled into one. It was a beautiful yellow. It must have been from a baby blanket of mine. One I couldn’t remember.
Something along the edge of this fabric caught my attention. I examine it, and a gasp escaped me. Woven into the cloth creating a border on the blanket was my tattoo design. It was the exact motif of symbols I had seen in my dream after my mother died and was the same design I had sketched and had tattooed on my back.
Thoughts tumbled around in my brain like clothes in a dryer. I found it difficult to breathe. My subconscious must have made me dream of the markings. Somewhere deep in my brain, I must have had remembered the blanket. It was the only thing that made sense.
I didn’t want to probe into old memories anymore, which only seemed to conjure mor
e questions than answers. Returning the contents to the trunk, a paper slipped out of one of the albums onto the floor next to me. I picked it up. It was my birth certificate. Without knowing why, my heart pounded as my eyes ran over the document.
Name: Ember Aisling Devlin Brycin
Date of Birth: November 28
Place of Birth: Sedona, Arizona
Mother: Lily Brycin
Father: Unknown
***
So many things stood out that didn’t seem right. First thing was my date of birth, which said November 28 but without a year. It was smudged beyond recognition. My birthday was October 23. Why would they have mistakenly listed my birthdate over a month later? And why didn’t they fix the mistake, if it was one? The next was my place of birth. As far as I knew I never set foot in Arizona. Mom had never mentioned I was born there. I always thought I had been born in Colorado. We lived there until I was two, then moved to California. Why was my birthplace wrong? Everything on the paper, except my name and my mother’s name, was incorrect or different from what I had believed was the truth.
The certificate only brought up more questions. It made no sense. Why had my mother lied? What else had she kept from me? They could have been simple errors, but something in me said there were too many coincidences in my life right now for these to be mere mistakes.
SIXTEEN
The next morning an old red 1969 Ford Bronco was parked outside my house. I stiffened with apprehension. Eli leaned against the car. “What are you doing here?”
He ignored my question. “You ready?”
I sucked in a deep breath. Is it too soon to start on that future alcohol problem? “Sure.” I shrugged, tugging my bag higher on my shoulder. I was tired of trying to figure him out.
I climbed into the Bronco and watched his lean, muscular form swagger around it. His hair was still wet from his shower and slicked back off his face. I had to force myself to look away, a flutter stirring deep inside me as he climbed in. The smell of soap and something else I couldn’t place filled the car. The flutter turned into a pounding. “Whose car is this?” I tried to distract myself.
