Infinity Chronicles Book One: A Paranormal Reverse Harem Series

by Albany Walker

  Tugging my keys from my front pocket, I hand them over to Ares before he even asks. “I only want to check. But you’re right, I don’t think she randomly decided to leave me. Not after all this time, and without telling me.”

  Ares places his hand over mine, not taking the keys right away. “We’ll figure out what happened.” I’m grateful he doesn’t make empty promises to find her, or bring her back to me. But I’m even more grateful I have someone who can help me and I’m not alone anymore.

  I toe off my sneakers in the entryway and I’m too drained to bother lining them against the wall. Ares keeps his steps close to mine. He hasn’t said much since we left the RV, no one had been there in my absence. At his insistence, I took most of the rest of my stuff, which consisted of a few pieces of dirty clothing and my toiletries. He stood vigilant as I sorted through our things. He didn’t bat an eyelash when I removed the drawer next to the bed and pulled out and envelope with a few bucks inside. I’d already taken my sock money the other day and this was my new hiding spot since the one from the freezer was emptied.

  With a small plastic grocery bag in hand I turn to face him. “Do you mind if I do a load of laundry or two? It’s already late but I’d like to get it started so I’ll have stuff for school tomorrow.” I know he said they’d been waiting on me to eat, but I really need to get this taken care of.

  Ares looks away from me. “We already took care of the that.” He urges me further into the house.

  “What do you mean?” I’m walking with is hand on my back but looking over at him.

  Ares ignores my question and keeps moving to the kitchen. I can already hear the sounds of the guys banter as we near. “Ares?”

  “Hope you like bruschetta chicken, I took a chance since you like lasagna so much. I’m betting you’ll like it.” He tells me like I didn’t just ask him something completely unrelated to dinner. “And bread, there’s lots of garlic bread. I have to admit it’s a weakness of mine.”

  “Hey, finally,” Ollie calls once we round the corner. He rushes over, stopping just shy of touching me. His mouth opens, and he looks over my shoulder at Ares who’s still behind me. Ollie snaps his mouth shut and glances back down at me. “Who’s hungry?” he asks unnecessarily loud, spinning on his heel away from me.

  I narrow my eyes at Ares’s back because he’s now stepping away from me too. What is going on here? I have a feeling I’m not going to like it.

  We’re all sitting around a long dining table just off the kitchen. The table is already set with plates and silverware, even little goblets of water. I feel like I’m being buttered up for something, only I have no idea what.

  Ares takes the seat at the head of the table with Dante to his right. Milo pulls out the seat on Ares’s left for me, then sits down on my other side, while Ollie takes the spot next to Dante. I look around, the room is formal, like where you’d expect to have holiday meals and such. I felt more out of place here than I have anywhere else in the house.

  Crossing my legs and placing my linen napkin on my lap, I wait for the others. Ollie lets out a muffled snort. I look over at him and watch as he uses his hand to hide the obvious smile on his lips. “I told you this wasn’t a good idea.” Dante rolls his eyes.

  “We have a lot to discuss, I thought it would be easier here than in the kitchen,” Ares adds, sounding like he’s scolding young children.

  “Can’t we just sit on the couch like normal?” Ollie asks, a slight whine to his tone. “This room makes me feel like I’m about to get in trouble for sneaking wine.”

  Milo shakes his head. “Probably because every time you were in here, you did.”

  “Couldn’t be helped. I needed to take a bit of the edge off, you know I can’t stand all the stuffy bastards that would always show up.”

  “You were twelve,” Milo adds drolly.

  “Let’s just eat,” Ares interrupts, passing me a plate piled high with buttery garlic toast. Everyone starts filling their plates with tomato and herb topped chicken and creamy rice.

  The table is quiet at first, only the clatter of dishes and cutlery to fill the silence. Ares’s roll of leader is becoming more clearly defined with each passing day. He begins the conversation by saying, “Laura, what more can you tell us about your mom, about how you came to be here in Canton?” I swallow a delicious bite of chicken and wipe the corner of my mouth with the napkin.

  I feel self-conscious telling them about our life—will they judge me? But I decide the truth is the best way to get to the answers. “We moved around a lot… I mean a lot. Usually like three schools a year.”

  “Why?” Milo’s question makes me pause and think.

  “Well, I’m not sure now. Once I was old enough to understand it wasn’t normal, I started to realize that my mom wasn’t like other moms.” I shrug, hoping they can understand it was all I knew. “My mom would go into these manic moods, where anything could set off her paranoia, and I thought she had some mental issues. But now that I know about you guys and what you say we are, I don’t know if everything I’d always thought is wrong.”

  “You need to eat more. Tell us about the moods and paranoia,” Ares demands, his full attention on me.

  I can’t do both, so I settle on giving him more information. “Like I said, at the time I thought she was bipolar or something, she would have anxiety attacks if she had to go out of the camper. She wasn’t always so bad. I’d say it got worse when I was about ten, maybe twelve.” I shovel a bite in my mouth.

  Ares steeples his fingers, covering his lips. “Do you know the event that precipitated the change?”

  “Not really, I can’t even remember what city we were in. I know it wasn’t long after I was noticed in school for scoring high on a test—you know, one of those whole grade level tests for the state?”

  “Got noticed how?” Milo questions.

  I feel a slight flush in my cheeks, so I look at my plate. “They made a big deal about my score, sent a letter home with me saying I was eligible to test up into another grade.” My confession is met with silence. I push the rice around my plate. Do they think I’m bragging? I always felt kinda funny about being called smart. It’s nothing I do, it’s just something that is. I can’t help that it’s easier for me to retain useless information.

  Finally, I hear a deep chuckle, and I look up and meet Dante’s light amber eyes. “I always go with the D, C, D method.” I frown, unsure of what he means. “When we have to do those tests I just fill in random bubbles.” He shrugs his shoulders like it’s no big deal. I lift my lips in a small smile. I know he’s trying to make me feel better.

  “Do you think that was the reason she became more… paranoid?” Milo asks, drawing us back to the topic.

  “I’ve never really thought about the why, before she disappeared I always thought it was just who she was.” My hands fall to my lap as I gaze out in front of me. “I came home from work one night and she was gone, and so was some of her stuff. At first, I thought she might have had an episode, and was hiding out or something.” Thinking back to that day, I wonder why I didn’t go out and start looking for immediately. I shake my head, there’s no use wondering now, it won’t do any good.

  “It was only a day or two later when you asked me over for the first time. I’ve been a little overwhelmed with everything going on to actually think about everything, especially from years ago. I thought she abandoned me.” Guilt eats at my stomach, if I hadn’t been so self-absorbed I would have given this more thought. I drop my head into my hands, pulling my hair.

  A heavy palm lands on my back. “It’s okay Laura, we’ll figure it out together.” Milo glances from me to the others, including them in the promise.

  I blow out a breath, tears prickling my eyes. “I should have known right away, she didn’t even go outside anymore.”

  “How was she right before it happened? Any changes in her behavior?” Ares leans forward, his elbows on the table.

  I nod my head, wiping under my nose with the
napkin. “She had been sleeping a lot more than usual, right after we moved here she would sleep all the time.” I sit up in my seat remembering the night I woke up. “There’s something else. One night I woke up and I swear I heard her whispering. I thought she was getting sicker, you know, but I was so sure she was talking to someone, so I got up to listen. But the floor made a noise and she went completely silent. Maybe there was someone there with her?”

  Ares looks at Dante. “I think your mom knew what you are, hell she had to know something. I think there’s a reason she hasn’t ever told you, and why she kept moving you guys. But I can’t figure out what it is. I’ve showed the picture you gave me to Maggie and her Infinity, but none of them recognize her and I can’t go posting it everywhere. Now that she’s missing it gives me more than enough reason to believe she was right to hide you. I don’t want to put you in any more danger than you already are,” Ares finishes, his eyes drilling into mine.

  “But, then how will we find her?” My voice is small. Please don’t let them give up already. Milo’s hand, still on my back, starts making circles. It’s comforting but not what I need right now.

  “We’ll find her Laura, we just don’t want too many people knowing we’re looking for her,” Dante adds, making me feel a little better.

  “I think it’s best if only a few people we trust actually know that we’ve found you, and who you are to us,” Ares adds. If it will help find my mom I don’t care if I’m a secret, at least now I know the reason why.

  Slowly the guys start eating again, my appetite is pretty much gone, but what I did eat was delicious. I push around my food waiting for them to finish. My mind starts to ponder the events of today and I remember how Ollie acted in class. “Ollie.”

  “Hmm?” He looks up at me, waiting.

  “Why did you yell my name is class?”

  His eyes go wide, and he swallows the bite in his mouth. “Did you feel funny?”

  My brow furrows and I tilt my head. “Um…” I look at the others. Thinking about the moment I remember feeling his touch, the warmth from his hand on me.

  “Did you feel different?” Dante probes.

  “I remember thinking you felt warm, that I wanted to be warm,” I admit, and trying to keep the blush away from my cheeks, I down my glass of water.

  “You were warming up, that’s for sure.” Ollie chuckles. “I could see little sparks of energy jumping off your skin. It looked like flint when you strike it.” Ollie wiggles his fingers in the air. “Like you hand fireworks dancing on your skin. It was awesome.”

  I nearly spit the water I just drank out of my mouth. “What… you’re joking right?”

  “No, I’m totally not joking, I was worried you were going to light up, so that’s why I yelled, to distract you.” Ollie raises his hand like he might reach out to me. “Can we try it again?” There’s a glint in his eyes that shows off how excited he is.

  I look around the room. “Like right now?” I’m torn between not believing him and worrying we’ll set the room on fire.

  “Yeah, come on.” He pushes away from the table and comes around to meet me. I’m still seated when his hand circles my arm and pulls me to stand. Ollie’s eyes roam over me from head to toe, before he grabs the loose fabric of the long sleeve shirt I’m wearing. “Can you take this off?” My eyes go wide, and my mouth drops open in surprise.

  Ollie ducks when Ares reaches out and swats the back of his head. “Geez, you don’t have to get naked. I just want to see your skin, at school I could only see your hand. We need to know if it was only on your hand because that’s close to where I was touching, or if it was all over but I couldn’t see it because it was under your clothes.” He lowers his head, looking a little sheepish. “While I would love to remove your shirt, that is totally not what I meant.”

  I push up the sleeves of my shirt, exposing my arms up to the elbows. “Let’s just see what happens first.” Ollie nods and biting his lip, he steps closer.

  First, I feel the slight brush of his fingers as he traces them from my hand then up my arm. Nothing happens. I do feel the warmth of his touch, but I don’t have the same heated desire to grab on to the feeling. He steps even closer. “What were you thinking this morning? Was it different then?” Ollie asks in barely a whisper.

  I nod, swallowing hard, what if something does happen? I’m afraid. “Okay good, try to think about what you were this morning, try to recreate that feeling.” It’s Dante’s soothing voice from behind me. I know he’s close, but he’s not touching me.

  “But what if something bad happens, what if I explode or something?” I can’t help but express my fears, I’m scared all this is true. Not as afraid as I am that it’s not, but still nervous enough that my fingers are shaking.

  “Nothing bad will happen, even if you did explode Ares would stop it.”

  “Damn it Oliver, ignore him Cara. You aren’t going to explode.” Looking over my shoulder I find Ares, he’s standing just a few feet away, near enough that should something go wrong he’s close. I don’t really want to think about all the powers he possesses that would make it possible for him to stop me from exploding if it were to happen. But I’m happy they are confident enough to think he could.

  Ares nods his head to me, so I turn back to face Ollie. I close my eyes and think about the way his hand glides up and down my arm in a gentle caress, the heat trailing along with his touch and warming me from the inside. Just like in class this morning, I think about how much I like the heat, how I want to feel it all over me, how I want to feel that warmth inside me.

  “Holy shit,” Milo mutters before he gets shushed.

  Opening my eyes slowly I look down at Ollie’s hand, which is no longer moving on my arm, but his eyes are glued to my skin. Sparks of light are popping off my arm like tiny little sparklers under my skin. I can’t feel anything but the warmth. Reaching up with my other hand I hover my finger over my arm. That arm is covered in dancing light too, when they get close together they arc to each other like a visible static charge.

  “Whoa…” Ollie jerks once, he eyes leaping up to mine. “Can you control the arc?” His voice is soft with wonder. I shake my head, I have no idea.

  “Is it all over?” I run my eyes down my legs, but I don’t have any visible skin, so I reach for the hem of my shirt and lift. My skin is pale, but otherwise unremarkable. I let the shirt fall, a little disappointed.

  Ares moves in closer, his dark eyes trained on my arms. “What are you feeling?”

  “Nothing really, it’s like I can feel a shadow of the sparks but not any pain, do you know what I mean?”

  Ares nods. “What changed? How did you make it happen?” His hand reaches out and one of the arcs jumps to him before he’s even touching me. He grunts, but the electricity snaps back to me.

  “Does that hurt?” I whisper, afraid of his response.

  Ares shakes his head quickly in denial. “Do you know how you made it happen?” His voice is firm, he wants me to concentrate on the question.

  I stop to think of how I can explain it, “It’s like I said, I felt the heat of his touch and I wanted it, like I wanted to pull the feeling inside.” I shrug not knowing if I’m conveying it well enough.

  “Okay, focus on that, can you pull it deeper, or pull more of it to you?” Ares is really close now, just out of range of the sparks.

  I look up at Ollie. “What if I take too much? Is it his gift giving me this? Could I hurt him?”

  Ollie grins down at me, his face smooth, showing no signs of concern. “Laura, you aren’t taking anything I wouldn’t give. Try it, see what happens. I promise you hurting me is the last thing that’s happening.” Ollie lets his head fall back and he closes his eyes.

  Trusting him I grab the heat and tug it down deeper, pulling it into my core like I’m sucking in my stomach. Instinctually I lift my arm to shield my eyes, but it only brings the lights closer to my face. What I called sparklers before have now become bright flares, like you’d see i
n the sky for a fourth of July firework show.

  “Uh oh…” I start to pull back from Ollie to break the connection and I push away the heat, hoping the sparks will go away. Instead of the heat leaving I feel it pooling in my hands, heavy pressure making my fingertips ache. One last shove has an arc of what looks like lightening shooting out my fingers and jumping right for the light switch. In the next moment a boom rocks the house, and all the lights die.

  “Oh my God, oh my God, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry,” I chant in the darkness. Hands reach for me in the dark, but I shove them away. What did I just do? I can’t do that again, what if it would have hit one of them, what if it did hit one of them? I back away from where I think they are. “Ollie, Ares… Milo, Dante, are you guys okay?” I can’t keep the panic and fear from my voice.

  “It’s fine Laura, just a little power surge. Relax, everyone is okay, are you okay?” Ares’s words are spoken calmly and I can feel him closing in on me. I know he has much better vision in the dark, so he’ll know exactly where I am.

  “I’m okay. Are you sure you guys are okay? I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean…” I stop talking when I feel his cool palm land on my neck. Ares’s thumb traces up and down from my pulse point under my jaw to my collarbone.

  “Shhh,” he whispers to me, his mouth at my temple. “Calm Cara, we are fine.”

  “Ares?” I hear a woman calling his name from further in the house. “Merda, it’s dark… Ares.”

  “Mia, you okay?” It’s Dante who answers. Ares still has his hand on my throat and his mouth at my temple. He’s breathing, but just barely.

  “Yes, just a little shaken up, what was that?” Her voice is closer now, probably in the same room, or very close to it.

  “We think it was a power surge. Here, let me get you a flashlight and I’ll help you get back to your room. Ares is checking out the generator. It should have already kicked on.”

  “Oh, there you are. Thank you,” Mia’s replies.