Raikidan didn’t respond, too shocked to say anything, so I left him to think about it. If Seda was right, and my fate could be different, then maybe I’d be able to help him. Maybe.
The cool water lapped over my feet and the coarse sand slipped between my toes as I wiggled them. I looked for the island in the middle of the lake that I loved gazing at from afar. I wanted to find some way to get over there, to discover the hidden secrets it may hold, but the fog around me was too thick. I shivered from the slight chill that hung in the air. I didn’t know why I didn’t leave to go elsewhere. Thanks to the fog, I had no reason to stay.
I spun around when footsteps crunched behind me. A dark shadow appeared in the thick fog and I took a step back, but only one. My body wouldn’t budge as the shape drew closer, even though I wanted it to. I tilted my head when the shape became clear enough to identify as a male humanoid.
Most the fog dispersed around the figure, revealing a tan-skinned man, wearing only black denim pants. An aura of familiarity surrounded him, but I couldn’t figure out who he was, due to his face still being hidden in the fog. The man didn’t speak; he only offered his hand to me and stood waiting.
“Go to him.” I blinked at the sound of the voice that came from all directions. “Remember who he is, and go to him.”
“Stay away from him.” There was another voice that sounded similar to the first, but colder. “Stay away—and stay safe.”
“Remember.”
“Forget and leave.”
The man, oblivious to the voices, continued to offer his hand to me. A part of me wanted to remember. A part of me felt that it was important, and that if I remembered I’d be safe. But another part told me it wasn’t safe. That part told me I was only safe when I was alone.
“Trust him.”
“Forget him.”
“Stay.”
“Leave!”
Before I could make the choice for myself, the fog around me darkened and began to distort. It wrapped around me and pulled me away.
“No!” I shrieked. “I want to make my own choice!”
I struggled but the fog tightened its grip on me.
“Eira!”
I looked up to see the man moving closer to me. The fog tried to push him away, but he fought against it and continued his advance.
“Remember.”
I wanted to remember. He was trying to get to me. He was trying his best to help me. My eyes closed a little when he grabbed me and pulled me close. I felt safe. I felt like I could remember.
“He’ll only hurt you!”
I gasped as I was ripped out of the security of the man’s embrace. He reached out for me again but the dark fog engulfed me and plunged me into darkness.
“Remember the pain of the past and stay away.”
Chapter 26
Ipulled out several bottles of liquor from the cabinet and placed them on the counter with the rest I had pulled out. Shva’sika took out glassware next to me, and Ryoko grabbed several of the bottles on the counter and brought them into the living room. Seda and Genesis sat on the couch watching us, the latter looking a bit nervous.
Since Genesis had finally been able to age her body, Ryoko thought it best she had her own coming of age party. This meant forcing her to consume copious amounts of alcohol since she was long overdue. Genesis had been a bit unsure, but when the boys offered to let it be a “girl’s night” affair, she became a bit more comfortable with the idea. I suspected that since she didn’t know how she’d act under the influence of alcohol, she didn’t want to run the risk of making a fool of herself in front of the men. Why we women were different, I would never know.
Raikidan left my room and poked his head into the kitchen. “You sure you don’t need help?”
I went to speak, but the bottles on the counter began levitating and then shot into the living room where Seda set them down on the coffee table. “Nope, we’re all set.”
He looked at all of us for a few moments longer, as if hoping we’d change our mind, and then secluded himself in my room again.
“Is it me, or did he look disappointed?” Shva’sika asked.
“Oh, he was,” Seda said. “Poor thing is bored.”
“He needs a hobby,” I said.
Ryoko eyed me slyly as she left the kitchen with some snacks. “He does, she’s just here with us.”
I glared at her. “Don’t you start.”
“What, I’m just stating a fact. He could be down in the garage with Rylan and Raid working on their lost-cause project car, but instead he’s silently hoping he can hang out with us girls.”
Raikidan poked his head out the room. “Am not.”
He then closed the door and the room filled with laughter. We all sat around the table and I mixed several drinks for Genesis to try—some she liked, and others she didn’t. Those she didn’t like, typically the less sweet drinks, Ryoko downed like a champ, regardless of whether she’d like it or not.
“My head feels fuzzy,” Genesis said after consuming four full drinks, four shots, and at least seven sips of drinks she didn’t like.
Ryoko giggled. “Lightweight.”
“To be fair, these sweet drinks she likes have higher alcohol contents,” I said.
Genesis held up her shot glass with an amber liquid with cream layered on top. “I really like this quite a bit. I didn’t like the other shots you gave me, but this one is nice. What’s it called?”
I grinned. “A slippery nipple.”
Genesis choked on her drink and everyone laughed. “That’s not what it’s actually called.”
“Yes, it is,” I said.
She shook her head. “What an absurd name.”
Ryoko giggled. “There’s some pretty interesting ones out there.”
I mixed up a red sweet drink and passed it to Genesis. “Like this one.”
“What’s it called?” Genesis asked.
“Drink it first.”
She sighed and sipped it. She smiled at the taste and drank more.
“Bend over Shirley.”
Genesis choked on the drink and I laughed. “That’s not funny!”
Ryoko gasped. “I know what she should drink!”
She looked at me and popped her lips. I laughed, understanding what she was thinking, and mixed a layered yellow and orange drink. Genesis took the drink, but hesitated to down it.
“It’ll taste good,” I said. “Weird name, but don’t let that stop you.”
Genesis sipped the drink and her eyes lit up. She drank more and Shva’sika grew curious. “What’s it called?”
I waited for Genesis to stop drinking so she shouldn’t choke this time. “Pop my cherry.”
Ryoko slammed her hand on the coffee table as she laughed and Shva’sika’s hand flew up to her mouth. “I never thought I’d ever hear something like that come from your mouth.”
“Isn’t it great?” Ryoko said. “She’s growing up!”
I pushed her. “Shut up. I’ve been working at the club long enough to get used to these names.”
“Right, it’s not like she’ll use any of these words seriously around another person as if she’s interested in them,” Seda teased.
I tossed my thumb in her direction, agreeing with her.
“Yeah, we’ll see about that,” Ryoko said.
I shook my head and made her another drink to keep her quiet for a minute or two. I also made up a drink for Shva’sika, who admitted she wasn’t as experienced with our “city drinks”, and also made one for myself.
“Seda, you need to have at least one,” Ryoko said when Seda refused to try something.
“Sorry to disappoint you, Ryoko, but Psychics can’t drink,” Seda said. “Alcohol reacts negatively to our power, and can cause peo
ple around us a lot of pain, or worse.”
Ryoko pouted. “That’s no fun.”
Seda laughed. “It’s okay. I can still have fun watching you four get wasted.”
“Well, I think we need to do something more than just drink,” Ryoko said. “Let’s play a drinking game!”
My brow rose. “What do you have in mind?”
She grinned wickedly. “Truth or dare.”
I rolled my eyes. “That’s not a drinking game.”
“It can be,” she protested. “You pick truth, and refuse to answer, you take a shot. You answer and it’s a lie, you take two shots, and every time you are caught lying, or you refuse to answer, that number goes up. Same with choosing dare and refusing the dare or failing it.”
“I like it,” Shva’sika said. “Sounds like it can get rather interesting as we drink, and Seda can catch a lie.”
Seda smiled. “I can also make it easy for us to see a dare if it has to be done in another room.”
“How?” I asked.
Seda stood up and left. After a few minutes, she returned with a large, clear sphere in one hand and a golden circular stand with hexagram designs all over it.
“Is that a crystal ball?” Ryoko asked.
“Of course,” Seda said. “There are reasons stereotypes exists. We use crystal balls to concentrate our abilities. This will make it easy for me to show you all what happens in another room.
Ryoko’s eyes lit up. “You’re so smart! This will make this game so much more fun.”
Everyone but me was on board for this game. I knew better than to get excited, because I knew Ryoko. She had a master plan, and I knew it involved Raikidan and me being intoxicated enough to be convinced to do a few things. She was too predictable for me not to know this. But being the odd one out, I’d have to agree or I wouldn’t hear the end of it.
“So, how do we want to figure out the turns and such?” Genesis asked.
Ryoko thought for a moment and then snapped her fingers when she came up with an idea. She left the room, and after about ten minutes came back with two pieces of cardboard no bigger than her hands. “I may not be all artsy-fartsy like Laz, but I can make something neat in a pinch.” She placed the cardboard pieces on the table, revealing a drawn circle on each, with our names written in colored sections and a plastic needle fastened to the center. “We can take turns at random. This spinner, with the reds and oranges will be the person who asks the truth or dare, and the one with the blues and purples, will be the person on the receiving end.”
I nodded. “Creative. Could be a bit one sided, but I’m going to guess you hope it is.”
Ryoko faked insult. “Whatever could you mean?”
Shva’sika giggled. “You’re not fooling anyone, Ryoko. We all know what you’re up to.”
“I just wanted to play a fun game with you ladies,” she tried to claim.
“Yeah, sure.” I poured several shot glasses full with a clear, pure alcohol that didn’t have much of a smell. “We’ll drink this premium agave liquor if we fail our truth or dare. We’ll all take one shot before we start. Might as well make this an interesting game from the start.”
Ryoko clapped her hands. “I like the way you think!”
Everyone but Seda picked up a shot and took them like champs. Even Genesis downed hers in one swallow.
“Okay, let’s see who goes first!” She spun the needle on each name chart and when the needles stopped, I groaned. “Danika gets to challenge Laz something!”
“Truth or dare,” Shva’sika said, wasting no time.
“Dare.” I needed to get one dare in, or Ryoko wouldn’t let me hear the end of it for playing too “safe.” And since this was Shva’sika coming up with something this round, I thought I’d be safe. I was wrong.
Shva’sika grinned. “I dare you to seduce your dragon Guard.”
The girls burst out with laughter and I stared at Shva’sika in shock and mortification.
“Wow, right out of the gate!” Ryoko said. “And you were trying to pin the attempt on me.”
I shook my head. “No way in hell am I doing that.”
Shva’sika shrugged and then pointed to the shot waiting on the table. “Take the shot then.”
I picked up the glass and downed the liquor.
Shva’sika spun the two needles. The spinner for the red and orange names landed on Ryoko and the spinner for the blue and purple names fell on Genesis’ name. Ryoko beamed and Genesis looked worried.
“Okay, truth or dare?” Ryoko asked.
“Um… let’s go with truth,” Genesis said.
Ryoko grinned. “Now that you’ve had time to adjust to this new you, including the new hormones, you found a guy that catches your fancy?”
Genesis made funny faces as she thought. “Well, I don’t know, honestly. I’ve found guys to be very attractive, and that’s been weird for me, but I’ve been so caught up with adjusting and dealing with the rest of The Council, that stuff hasn’t really crossed my mind. Doesn’t help I don’t come in contact with other guys much beyond our housemates and members of The Council, and I haven’t found myself wanting to be super close to any of them.”
We waited for Seda’s assessment, though most of us were pretty convinced Genesis was telling the truth.
“Truth,” Seda announced. She then smiled. “Though, future dictates that she has met someone with potential to change that.”
Ryoko squealed. “Who, who?”
Seda looked at me instead of replying. Everyone also looked at me and I remained puzzled. Then it dawned on me. “No.”
Seda shrugged. “Nothing may come of it, but it’s a potential.”
“No!”
Ryoko’s brow rose. “‘Kay, now I want to know why she’s mad.”
Shva’sika giggled. “She’s not mad, just being overprotective.”
Ryoko gasped when she got it and Genesis’ eyes widened. “No…”
I reached over and spun the needles. “Let’s focus on something else.”
The two needles spun, and one landed on Genesis, to ask the question, and the other landed on me, to be the victim. “Truth or dare?”
I sipped my drink. “Truth.”
“Have you ever been in love?”
Of course she’d ask that. “No.”
Seda chuckled. “That’s a lie.”
My livid eyes snapped to her and she smiled as Genesis and Shva’sika looked at each other wide-eyed in surprise and then looked at me. Ryoko smiled, but otherwise said nothing. I couldn’t believe Seda said that.
“I have never been in love,” I said.
“That’s not what your past says,” Seda said. “Just because you want to ignore the past, doesn’t mean it didn’t really happen.”
I ground my teeth together and then begrudgingly took the double shot for “lying”. Now that this had gone down, I was going to have to deal with either a dare from Ryoko that I knew she was dying to use, or more truths about that part of my past I refused to revisit.
Ryoko flicked the needles and the spun until one landed on Shva’sika to ask, and me to answer. Of course I wouldn’t get a break. “Truth or dare?”
“Truth,” I said, knowing it was risky.
“What was the name of the guy you loved?”
I took three shots and leaned back on the couch. The girls looked at me with surprise at my quick refusal, but they didn’t understand. This wasn’t something they should poke at.
Seda spun the boards, and the needle landed on Ryoko to challenge and the other on me to be challenged. Seriously? Another one for me?
“Truth or dare?” Ryoko asked.
“Truth.”
Ryoko grinned. “Do you love Raikidan?”
“No.”
Ryoko looked at Seda, obviously hoping for a particular answer. Seda remained quiet for a moment. “Truth.”
Ryoko’s brow rose. “Why the long pause?”
Seda chuckled. “Because love is complex and I needed to analyze the extent of her feelings before coming to a conclusion.”
“It didn’t take you that long with Genesis.”
“Genesis hasn’t had the same life experiences.”
Ryoko pouted, but I was glad. Seda’s mention to the complexity of feelings made me uneasy, since it sounded as if she were hinting my feelings were close to love, as absurd as it was, but luckily Ryoko didn’t catch it. Or I hope she didn’t.
I spun the needles and they landed on Genesis asking and me being challenged. Okay, this is getting old.
“Truth or dare,” Genesis said.
“Dare.” Somehow, I knew Genesis wouldn’t be able to come up with something that would be humiliating or awkward, and I didn’t need her asking another question about my past.
“Rylan and Raid are working on that project car. Steal a tool they absolutely need, without getting caught.”
I grinned. “Too easy.”
“Well, then,” Shva’sika said. “Let’s up the stakes.”
Ryoko’s eyes widened and she made impressed and excited sounds. “I like how this is going.”
“I add to Genesis’ dare by having you take the tool, and store it on one of them, without either of them knowing,” Shva’sika said. “Fail, and you have to take seven shots, and your future truth and dare failures start over from that point.”
“Challenge accepted.” I stood up. “I also have a counter challenge. If I complete your dare, and am also capable of taking another item of important use, and bring it back with me, both of you have to take on the drinking addition.”
“Fine,” Shva’sika said.
Genesis frowned. “I don’t think I’m going to feel very good by the end of the night.”
I chuckled and headed downstairs as soundlessly as I could. I doubted either of the boys could hear me with the noise they were making, but I needed to be as careful as possible. Keeping low, I snuck into the garage and slipped between some cars near Rylan and Raid. I observed their work habits and noticed one particular wrench they always went for. My time in the shop had me aware of its use, and for such an old car, I knew this was the tool to move on them.
Secrets Page 31
