“Suit yourself. I’m taking a shower and leaving for Emain in fifteen minutes.”
Ten minutes later, Elena returned to her room to find Derek gone. She assumed he’d left to swing by his house, but she hadn’t heard him walk out the front door. Then again, he could turn himself invisible and walk through walls.
And—wow—this was her life now.
She shook her head and rushed into the kitchen to make bacon and egg burritos—enough for the three of them if Derek returned in time.
Keen stationed himself on the couch like a Fae prince, as she rushed around the kitchen. “Don’t worry, Keen. I’ve got it,” she said, heavy on the sarcasm.
Keen stretched out his legs, tapping his watch as if to say, Hurry it up.
Damned Fae. He could help with the dishes, or something.
Derek walked in the door right as she wrapped the last burrito in tinfoil. His hair was a wet mess per usual, but his clothes were fresh and seemed less baggy.
He picked up her backpack. “Get a move on, Elena, we gotta go.”
“Oh, for the love of—you were still asleep fifteen minutes ago! And I’m feeding you, so don’t give me any lip.”
He peeked over the kitchen peninsula. “What’d ya make?”
“Breakfast burrito.”
“Just one?”
Mateo amazed her with the volume of food he consumed, and he was half the size of Keen and Derek. She hadn’t taken any chances. “Three. For each of you.”
A boyish, unbelievably hot grin spread across Derek’s face, nearly making her drop the pan in her hand.
Keen scooped up his burritos and opened the door. “We must go.”
Elena gently set the pan down. She ducked her head, glancing slyly at Keen as she came around the peninsula. “Sure, just let me grab a book. I have a test today.”
For so long Elena’s priorities had been clear: family, school, self. Now they were a jumbled mess, with the Fae mixed in. She’d put off thinking about exactly how far behind working with the Fae had made her in school, because what she was doing for them was important. Possibly the most important thing she’d do in her life. But she couldn’t ignore the exam she had today. She’d already missed numerous class hours and one small test, but her O-Chem midterm was critical to her overall grade. A black mark on her transcripts could ruin her chance at medical school.
Elena had realized long ago that she loved chemistry far more than biology. But her family wanted her to become a doctor. They’d come from nothing and built everything they had. She couldn’t let them down, and she figured she’d turn the MD into a career as a medical chemist anyway, so it wouldn’t be a loss.
Keen pressed his shoulder against the doorframe and crossed his long legs at the ankle. He wore the Fae combat boots, but he had changed into dark jeans and a dark, long-sleeved T-shirt. Trying to blend with the student population? “Leo will not be pleased. You haven’t the time for classes right now.”
Elena pulled stiff fingers through the wavy hair at her temples. Saving Fae lives was important, as was keeping her family safe. On the other hand, if she failed in school, it would crush her family. They didn’t know their lives were at risk.
Keen seemed to sense her hesitation. “Elena, school, your grades—they do not matter. More is at stake than you realize.”
Derek stopped chewing his burrito and stared at the Fae.
What more could be at stake than her family’s lives and the survival of a species? “What if I stay late and make up the two hours I miss? I can work however long Leo needs me to.”
“We were in Emain until after midnight last night,” Derek said, irritably.
She looked at him. “You’re not helping.”
Keen straightened. “This is all very stimulating, the married couple banter. But I’d like to point out that you are no longer late. You are very late.”
Elena performed more tests with Leo, then Derek and Keen joined her for the second phase of experiments, like yesterday.
Keen quietly took up residence on a stool by the door, and Derek went to the back of the room to work on—whatever it was he worked on during her elemental manipulation sessions. He always seemed to show up once Elena couldn’t hold up her head any longer, as though he had one ear to her training no matter what he was doing.
Leo had a new battery of chemicals and glassware waiting for her for the afternoon session, and he was drumming his fingers on the counter. Which was bizarre. Did the Fae have nervous tics? “This school exam you wish to take should be the least of your worries.”
Elena shot Keen a dirty look. She’d wanted to smooth things over with Leo herself.
Keen shrugged with an innocent smile and crossed his arms over his chest. Traitorous bodyguard.
School had been everything—before she discovered the truth about her mother. Keeping her family safe and helping the Fae were her top priorities now, but if she could do both? Take her midterm and help with the virus?
“I’m trying to stay in school and make something of myself,” she said to Leo.
Leo cocked his head. “And are you not, Elena Rosales—making something of yourself?”
What did he mean by that?
“I understand the stakes you face, and believe me, I’m doing my best to help, but the only thing I have besides my family is school.”
“I’ve given you a new education.”
“I liked the old one! None of this is a comfort.” She stared around the lab, taking in the walls of Emain. “None of this is predictable. I don’t know where I fit anymore.”
Derek stood and walked over to her side.
She expected Leo to order her back to work after her outburst, but instead, he stepped forward and placed his hands on her shoulders. “You cling to what you feel you can depend on, but you are missing the opportunity before you. By building your powers, you have a new life with which to explore. A life kept secret from you until now.”
She’d been so focused on tasks—saving her family, doing what the Fae asked—she’d lost the big picture. Her life had changed and she was still trying to travel down the same road she’d laid out for herself.
Leo turned away. “We don’t have time for your classes. That should be obvious.” He glanced back, but his expression wasn’t hard—it may even have been a shade sympathetic. “You will remain here. It is best.”
And for the first time since all this began, she wondered if he was right. She’d clung so hard to what was familiar she hadn’t embraced something that might be her true purpose in life—not school and becoming a doctor to make her family proud, but her powers and the life of a Halven chemist.
Hours later, Elena stared quizzically at the four-inch blue crystal she’d created. “It looks like blue glass. Is it real?”
“As real as any manmade diamond,” Leo said. “Under extreme pressure and heat, humans can create diamonds that are optically, chemically, and physically identical to mined diamonds. Though it is expensive without magic.”
And she’d done it with nothing but carbon, a little boron to create the blue hue, an atomic diagram, and some hand waving.
As long as she knew what to turn the elements into—from personal experience with the end result or an atomic diagram from a book—she could create anything. Scary and fantastic at the same time. Her ability with the elements was like performing chemistry on steroids, and how could she not love that just a little bit?
The experiments had gone more smoothly this afternoon. She’d managed to make multiple elemental manipulations without draining herself, which was a huge step. Now, the only problem was to create something without firsthand knowledge of the end result.
A cure for cancer? Didn’t exist. A cure for the Fae virus? Didn’t exist either. So where did that leave her? Pretty much nowhere at the moment, with the exception of a rather impressive raw diamond and all sorts of interesting possibilities, none of which would help her cure the Fae.
She needed to figure out how to modify known i
nto unknown. “How have people achieved transmutation in the past?” she asked Leo.
He didn’t answer at first. He turned his back and put away chemicals. “Only one Fae in recent history possessed the ability to transmute elements,” he said over his shoulder. “He was the first to succumb to the virus. We believe they targeted him to prevent development of a healing elixir.”
“What about his family? Maybe one of them has the ability and they don’t know it?”
“We are well aware of the abilities of his descendants. I am an expert on the lineage of Fae nobility, and particularly his line. That is why I chose you.”
God, he was annoying. How about a direct answer? “Just so I’m clear, you said abilities are passed genetically?”
A pause. “Yes.”
“If this other guy was the only Fae with the ability to transmute and he was a part of the nobility, then… I’m related to a friggin’ Fae nobleman?”
Leo stopped his busywork, his pale eyes grave as he finally looked at her. “Yes.”
Her jaw dropped and she snapped it shut. “What about my mother? If I have the ability, she must—”
“Powers run in ancestral lines. That does not mean everyone acquires the same abilities. In this, Fae genetics work similarly to those of humans. In your world, a grandfather with dimples may see the feature in his granddaughter, but not his son. Similarly, your mother cannot manipulate elements the way you can. But this talk detracts from our goal. All you need to know is that your powers differ from those of others.”
Leo never wanted to talk about her mother. Why?
Elena paced a few steps. “What about pooling resources? You can’t work with Fae from Tirnan without risking exposure, but shouldn’t Fae in Emain with like abilities work together?”
“We are utilizing those with applicable abilities, but power manifests differently. Tapping into that power differs as well, so they would not be able to help one another with the magic. And”—another long pause—“your powers are unique.”
Derek had kept quiet, surrounded by his books after the initial argument over her missing the O-Chem exam. He paid attention when she did something interesting—or stupid, depending on your perspective, like when she’d accidentally melted a dropper—and when Leo provided nuggets of information on the Fae, such as now.
Right now, Leo had Derek’s attention. He walked over and joined her again.
“Why are my powers unusual? Is that the reason my mother left me?”
Leo didn’t answer, and Derek put his hand on her arm. “She deserves to know about her mother. Tell her the truth, Leo.”
Leo’s eyes narrowed. “The Fae do not lie.” He turned to Elena. “Your mother gave you up, Elena, as penance for her disloyalty to our people. We followed your progress. It was inevitable you would come into powers.”
Elena swallowed, her throat dry, body shaking in anger. “Where is she? What did you do to her?”
Leo’s head tilted up. “Nothing she didn’t deserve.”
Elena held back the burning behind her eyes. She’d been orphaned after her father’s death. If it hadn’t been for the Fae and their punishments for the crime of bearing a half-human child, Elena could have had a mother all these years.
Derek pulled her close and she pressed her face to his chest, breathing in his familiar scent. She took a shuddering breath and tilted her head to Leo. “What did you mean when you said it was inevitable I’d come into powers? If all Halven have abilities, why haven’t you asked others for help?”
“Not all Halven inherit powers. You and Derek are…special.”
She shook her head. “That makes no sense. How can we have powers and not others?”
No response.
He wouldn’t lie to her face, but that didn’t mean he’d tell her everything. “I want to see my mother.”
“No. Reuniting with your mother was never an option. The agreement was to save your mother’s life and the lives of your family. That is all.”
He hadn’t said she could see her mother. It was Elena’s hope, not a promise from the Fae. “You can’t keep her from me!”
Leo raised his brow. “We can. We have. You would do well to perform your job and not press your luck, as the human saying goes. Unless you wish to risk your mother’s life?”
Elena sucked in a sharp breath. Leo was hot and cold, showing signs of compassion one moment and threatening her in the next. She was exhausted, and with Leo keeping her mother from her, she wanted to scream. To run from this place. But the threats they’d issued hung over her head. She wouldn’t risk the people she cared about, even the one she’d never known.
They might not help her see her mother, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t lead her to her.
In only a few days, Elena had come closer to her mother than she’d ever been in her life. She wouldn’t give up hope now.
12
Leo removed his lab coat and stepped to the center of the room. “I’ve asked Beatrice to introduce you to the Tertullian Codex. It is a seventeen-hundred-year-old text said to possess the key to transmutation, among other things. Now that you’ve mastered elemental manipulation, it is time to move on to the next level.”
“Why can’t you show me the book?” Elena didn’t trust these people, but at least she knew Leo.
“The Codex is written in a dead language. Beatrice has the ability to place a glamour over the text. You will see the words translated in your language, but the writing is convoluted like poetry, and subject to interpretation. Only the reader may decipher the meaning.”
The Tertullian Codex didn’t sound like the perfect solution, but it was a book. Books she understood.
He looked toward the door, and a slender girl about Elena’s age and only a couple of inches taller—all the Fae were taller; this one just seemed slightly shorter than the rest—entered the room. “Here is Beatrice now.”
Beatrice wore the same fitted clothes as the other Fae, her strawberry-blond hair swept rigidly from her face in a ponytail.
“Go with her. The Codex is integral to devising the antidote. Some spend months studying it. Perhaps you will be lucky and have a sense for its meaning the first time you read it.”
The look on his face said he wasn’t convinced. She would have to make the best of the time she had.
Elena nodded and followed Beatrice out the door, along with Derek. The girl’s shoulders were stiff as she led them down the mazelike corridors of Emain, the walls blood red above mahogany paneling. The inside of Emain looked like a Victorian building that had mated with the Pentagon, with numerous wide hallways and modern fluorescent lights buzzing and clicking above her.
Their guide wasn’t giving off a friendly vibe, but it seemed strange to work with her and not know anything about her. “Are you one of the Fae researching a cure?” Elena asked.
Beatrice’s mouth tightened. “Do what you’re told and don’t ask unnecessary questions.”
Ouch—definitely not friendly.
Derek stopped Elena, glaring at Beatrice’s back as she continued down the hall. “I don’t want to leave you with this chick, but I’ve got to take care of something. Will you be okay for a bit?” He leaned down, warm, peppermint-scented breath brushing her ear, sending a shiver down her spine. “While you’re looking at that crusty old book, I’m going to my lab to check things out.”
She peered up to find his sapphire eyes intent. “I’ll be fine, but are you sure it’s safe for you to go back? What if Marlon returns?”
“I have skills.” He winked. “No one will know I’m there.”
She considered bringing up the We Stick Together Inside Fae-U policy, but a library was about as sedate as it got. No point in making him stay for that.
“I’ll be fine,” she said, but he seemed to hesitate.
After a moment, he must have decided it was safe, because he squeezed her arm. “I’ll meet you back here at five. Be careful.”
The Fae would be stupid to hurt her when she was h
elping them. But if Derek’s mentor was involved in creating the disease and suspected Derek had betrayed him, Derek could be in danger. “You be careful.”
His gaze dropped to her mouth and a splash of heat spread through her belly, reminding her of the near kiss last night. “I will.”
At first, it annoyed the heck out of her that Derek had followed her to the Fae classroom and insinuated himself into her drama. But now…now she valued having him near.
Elena didn’t trust these people. Why she trusted her neighbor she couldn’t explain. But she did. It was the way he watched her, the look in his eyes when he worried over her safety. And the fact that he wasn’t anything like the cold pretty boy he first projected.
Beatrice hadn’t slowed, and Elena worried she might lose her in the labyrinth of hallways. “I better go,” she said.
Derek nodded, and she gave him a quick smile before hurrying after the girl.
Elena turned the last corner where she’d seen Beatrice go, and came to a skidding halt. Beatrice was there, but so was Keen. And they were in some sort of heated discussion.
Beatrice reached up and slid her hand behind Keen’s neck, drawing him closer. She brushed her mouth along his cheek and the corner of his lips. Not a kiss—more of a caress—then she whispered something in his ear that Elena couldn’t hear from this distance.
Keen straightened and blinked several times. He walked away, never once looking at Elena.
Wasn’t he supposed to be guarding her?
Keen rarely made a sound while shadowing her and Derek, and sometimes she’d forget he was there, but he always was. She hadn’t realized he hadn’t been behind her until now.
They suspected a Halven had created the virus, not a Fae. Keen must think it safe for her inside Emain. In that case, she needed to have a little chat with her bodyguard. If he was going to pick and choose his lax moments, he could quit following her to the bathroom.
Beatrice glanced directly at Elena, as if she’d known she was there all along. She opened a door and stepped inside, the door closing silently behind her.
Fates Divided Page 8
