From The Falls (The Falls Trilogy Book 2)

by Heather Renee

  I could still see the glow of magic around Miah as we entered the gateway and she seemed to be doing well. Her eyes were wide in fascination and she was glancing around at the blackness surrounding us. Moments later, we arrived in Arvata with Lucas waiting for us.

  “You ladies alright?” Lucas asked while grabbing my hand to bring me closer to him.

  I looked at Miah first, hoping she was actually okay with everything that was happening.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. That was better than porting since I could look around, but still weird,” she replied.

  “Strix, you around? I want you to meet the half-Guardians,” I said mentally.

  Instead of responding to me, Strix came soaring around the corner. I held my arm out for him and he landed on my forearm. I pulled him into my chest and gave him a slight squeeze.

  “You might want to explain me to our new friend. She looks a little pale,” Strix said mentally.

  “Oh Miah, I’m sorry. This is Strix. He is the animal version of us. He has magical abilities and we’re connected mentally.”

  Miah just stood there with her mouth hanging open for a moment before recovering.

  “Uh, nice to meet you?” she said more as a question.

  “I know it’s weird talking to an animal, but you’ll get used to it. You’ll need to get used to weird if you’re going to be around a while, which we hope you are.” I smiled at her.

  The others came through the gateway and we headed to town. Miah and Dylan needed to get settled in their temporary housing and then Lorelle would need to do a thorough scan on them to see what magic they might hold.

  The sooner we figured out what similarities Miah and Dylan had, the sooner we might be able to figure out how it was even possible they existed.

  Tiana and Lela were able to secure housing for Miah and Dylan. Once we were confident that they were settled in, all eight Elders, plus Lorelle and Strix met in the Elder room to go over everything we’d discovered. We didn’t want Miah and Dylan there and risk frightening them more than they probably already were.

  “You actually saw a Parias?” Lela asked astonished.

  “We did, but not for very long,” Lucas answered. “Dylan can move ridiculously fast and was able to get Miah safely away and the Parias disappeared after Lorelle sent an orb its way.”

  “Where did it go?” Tiana asked.

  “Might have gone back to the Otherworld or somewhere else to find an easier target,” Lorelle said. “Parias can slip through realms easily since they don’t have a physical being. Makes them very hard to catch and destroy.”

  We should have learned more about these things before. I really didn’t want to feel like we were in the dark all over again. Most of us had to trust that Lorelle was going to give us the correct information or that Lucas, Jordan and Oliver would know.

  “We defeated them during the Dark Spirit War. We will keep doing it for as long as it takes to keep the humans and Guardians safe,” Lucas stated. “What I want to know is how these half-Guardians were created and whether or not we should be worried.”

  I glanced at Lorelle, but she wasn’t giving anything away with her facial expressions.

  “The Fates have an idea on how they were created,” Lorelle replied. “I’ve been given bits of information to help me track the half-Guardians down, but I am not at liberty to disclose that information yet.”

  I rolled my eyes and let out a huff. At least she was being somewhat honest and admitted to knowing more than she let on before. I knew she had been keeping something from us. Damn the Fates for not letting her tell us everything at once.

  “It’s okay, babe,” Lucas said mentally. “They’re just doing their job and Lorelle had to listen to them. One day we will be in her position. She’s on our side, we just need to have some patience.”

  “You know I’m not known for my patience.”

  I didn’t enjoy surprises and I hated waiting. Knowing Lorelle had more information was going to drive me crazy.

  “I know that it’s frustrating,” Lorelle continued, “but I am only doing what the Fates think is best. The fewer people who know the whole truth right now, the better. If the Parias are able to attach themselves to you, they can see inside your head. We don’t want them to know what we know.”

  Lorelle really should have started with that information. I could certainly understand that reasoning for now.

  “So, what now?” I asked. “Are we searching for more half-Guardians or focusing on the two we have?”

  “I will do my scans on Miah and Dylan and see if we figure out anything new, but then we must head back. There are two more locations that I’m aware of. We will go to those tomorrow.”

  I glanced around the table and smiled. We had all grown a lot in the past year and I was glad to have these people around me. I knew we would figure it out together.

  “What are you grinning at?” Jordan teased.

  “Even though this is a new problem for us to figure out, I’m glad I have all of you here with me. Thank you, Tiana, Oliver, Lela and Ryan, for holding everything together while we’re gone. That makes part of this a lot easier. We may not know everything right now, but we know a lot more than we did last year when we faced Damien. We can figure this out and keep the half-Guardians safe.”

  Lorelle smiled at me and nodded. I was going to need to trust her and the Fates. We were a family and needed to work together.

  “Well said, Kali. I need to go see Miah and Dylan,” Lorelle stated. “Get some rest and we will meet in the morning.”

  We said our goodbyes to Lorelle and the rest of us stayed around the table.

  “Why don’t we take the rest of the day off and have a barbeque at the lake?” Lela suggested.

  “Might be the last time we can relax for a while,” Jordan said. “Let’s go pretend we’re not responsible Elders. Great idea, Lela!”

  I gave Lucas’s hand a squeeze and he nodded in agreement. I couldn’t wait to have some much needed down time.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  I was laying on my lounge chair with my eyes closed, thoroughly relaxed. My stomach was full of the food we cooked and my skin tingled from swimming in the lake. We needed to do this more often. It was blissful.

  A shadow fell over me and I groaned. I was enjoying soaking up all the vitamin D. I cracked my eyelids opened and let a heavy sigh out.

  “I thought we were meeting tomorrow morning?” I asked Lorelle, who wore a grim expression on her face.

  “We were until I found something in my scan and the Fates decided you guys needed to know the full story now, instead of later.”

  I sat up immediately and looked around for the others. Jordan was in the water with Kane looking extremely entertained. The others were playing a game of volleyball in the sand pit. Boys versus girls and the girls were winning. I didn’t want to disrupt their fun, but Lorelle wouldn’t have come if it was necessary.

  I called the others over and when they noticed Lorelle, they had the same expression I’m sure I had when I saw her. Utter disappointment, because anything she had to tell us wouldn’t be good if it couldn’t wait until tomorrow.

  “What’s going on?” Oliver asked as they walked up.

  “We should have this meeting in the Elder room so it’s secure,” Lorelle said. “Meet me there once you’ve cleaned up.”

  Lorelle’s face was tight with tension. She had been working on this for a year and I felt for her. This couldn’t be easy on her. I nodded my agreement and she disappeared in a port.

  “At least we had half a day of fun,” Ryan said. “That’s more than we’ve had in months.”

  “Agreed,” Lucas said. “Let’s pack up and get to the Elder room. The sooner we know, the sooner we figure out a solution.”

  My Meraki was always so leveled-headed and calm. He balanced out my many freak-outs over the last year. Especially since our bonding ceremony six months ago. I had never thought it was possible to be as close to someone emotionally and physical
ly as I was to Lucas. We were as one on so many levels and I enjoyed every moment of it.

  Lucas picked up on my thoughts and wrapped me up in his arms. “We balance each other out, love. Don’t ever forget that. You made me whole.”

  I brought my lips to his briefly, “Love you.”

  “And I love you,” he said. “Let’s get this cleaned up and head out. We will continue this later at home.”

  Lucas pulled back and flashed his dimples at me. I loved that his smile still gave me flutters in my stomach. Affected me every single time.

  Five minutes later, everything was packed up. We each ported home, dropped off our things, and changed into more appropriate clothes. Lucas and I arrived first, and Lorelle’s expression was still somber.

  “Ha! We weren’t last,” Jordan said as she and Kane walked in.

  “There’s a first time for everything,” I teased.

  Jordan rolled her eyes at me and they took their seats. Everyone else arrived soon after and tension was thick in the room.

  “I really do apologize for not telling you more before,” Lorelle began. “I didn’t like keeping it from you anymore than you did.”

  “We understand,” I said. “You had very good reasons to keep it from us, but why did it change?”

  “When I did the scans on Miah and Dylan, I found small traces of dark magic.” Lorelle paused while everyone else in the room gasped or dropped their jaws. “I don’t know whose dark magic though. I went to the Fates with what I found and they believe they know what happened.”

  Lorelle’s shoulders were tight and the dark circles under eyes were even more prominent. I felt so bad that she had been dealing with this for so long on her own. Not anymore, though. The Fates never should have let it go on for so long.

  Lorelle continued, “The Fates believe that someone gained access to the list of Guardians who decided to return to Earth and forget that they were Guardians. Once that person found the Guardians, they somehow made their magic reappear in the Guardian’s genes so that it could be passed on to offspring.”

  “Why would someone want to create half-Guardians? What purpose would it serve?” Oliver asked.

  I wondered the same thing, but was pretty sure I knew what was coming next and we weren’t going to like it.

  “To create an army of hybrids with powers unlike regular Guardians,” Lorelle answered. “You’ve noticed by now that even though Miah and Dylan don’t seem to have the same magic as us, they can still do things we are unable to. Very unique things.”

  Nailed it. Some idiot thought he’d create an army to take us down, but they forgot about free will and the fact that most people wanted to be good. We just had to hope that the remaining half-Guardians we found were all going to want the same as Miah and Dylan.

  “So, do the Fates know who is doing this?” Jordan asked.

  “Not yet, but we tracked the magic to the Otherworld,” Lorelle said. “Once we find the other half-Guardians, we will have to make sure they’re all secure and travel to the Otherworld. Once we are there, I should be able to figure out where the source of dark magic came from if the Fates haven’t figured it out by then.”

  Cheese and rice, I did not want to go to the Otherworld. That was something we had learned quite a bit about this last year. There were too many beings that lived there that I wished weren’t real and I had no desire to meet them.

  Lucas grabbed my hand and gave me a reassuring smile. My rock, always there to remind me everything would be okay.

  “We can do this,” Lucas said through our mental link. “We can’t leave these children unprotected.”

  We wouldn’t leave the half-Guardians vulnerable. I had made a promise to myself earlier that Miah and Dylan would never be alone again. That promise was now extended to any of the half-Guardians who needed it. I wouldn’t let the darkness take over.

  “Where are we headed next?” Kane asked. “I’m assuming getting to these half-Guardians is even more important now.”

  “You’re correct, Kane. We need to find them before whoever did this realizes we know about the half-Guardians,” Lorelle said. “The next one is located in Rhode Island, but off the shore on Block Island. We’re unsure about his magical abilities, but still need to get there quickly. We’ll leave first thing in the morning.”

  I needed to have a chat with the Fates. I wanted to hear everything directly from them. Hopefully, they’d answer my request tonight. I got the sense that Lorelle was either hiding something else or the Fates were keeping more from her and I didn’t like it one bit.

  “I now have the complete list of half-Guardians, so we will be able to move quickly,” Lorelle said. “I was able to track them even easier once I did the scan on Miah and Dylan. There are only three left. Protectors are now watching over the first five I’d found, at least until this is figured out. Miah and Dylan will stay here in Arvata and we will assign someone to them to teach them about Arvata.”

  Ten half-Guardians total. This wasn’t someone trying to create an army, this was a test run. Whoever did this was going to come for the others. They would attempt to find what worked and what didn’t. What powers they were able to cultivate in the half-Guardians. And if whoever did this finds the half-Guardians before us… we just may have an army to worry about after all.

  ***

  Lucas and I arrived home later that evening mentally exhausted, but the day wasn’t over yet. I planned on going to my yoga room and attempting to connect with the Fates to demand the full story. I didn’t want any surprises like what we went through last year with Damien.

  I took my shoes off and hung my purse up on the hook by the door. The hardwood floors were cold and felt amazing on my feet after the long day. I let out a sigh and walked to the kitchen to find something to make for dinner.

  Lucas came up behind me and rubbed my shoulders. I let my head fall forward and groaned. He was way too good with his hands. They slid down my arms and came around to my stomach. He kissed my neck and I was like putty in his hands. He knew it too.

  “So, where’s my dinner, woman?” He whispered in my ear.

  I turned around and smacked him upside the head. So much for thinking he was going to be sweet and romantic.

  “Your dinner is at whatever restaurant you want to go pick it up at,” I said. “I’m no longer in the mood to do something nice for my husband.”

  I turned to walk out of the kitchen. Two could play that game if he wanted to be a brat. Lucas grabbed my hand and yanked me back in his arms. He smiled at me and then gave me pouty lips. Damn him! He knew just how to make me cave.

  “Oh, my wife. You know I’m teasing, but you did have a long day. I will go pick up dinner while you relax.”

  I wrapped my arms around his neck and leaned up like I was going to kiss him. I was millimeters from his lips and whispered, “That’s a good husband.”

  I turned and ran for our bedroom. Lucas chased me down the hall and tackled me into the bed as I made it through our door. I couldn’t help the laughter that escaped me. I loved these moments. They reminded me how lucky I was that he had waited two hundred years for me. I couldn’t picture my life with anyone but him. The Fates did something right the day they matched us together.

  Thinking of the Fates reminded me what I needed to try to do tonight and my body tensed up just thinking about it. Communicating with them was odd. I missed when they would write in our books more often. Now we had to meditate and our spirits went to a different plane to meet with them in spirit from.

  Usually only one or two of us went at a time and relayed the information to the others when we got back. The Fates said since we were Elders now, we needed to have two-way conversations as opposed to the cryptic messages we used to receive in our books. I liked getting more information, but I missed the ease of just opening my book whenever I wanted.

  “Quit thinking about what needs to be done and think about what’s happening right now,” Lucas whispered against my neck. “Right now, we have
a few moments of free time and as husband and wife, we should really take advantage of that.”

  “You’re right. My brain just doesn’t know how to shut off sometimes.”

  Lucas doubled his efforts in making me forget about the Fates for now. I lost myself to the love he was offering. I needed this closeness with him while we had the time for it. We had no idea what the coming days would bring to us.

  CHAPTER SIX

  A while later, Lucas left to get dinner and I went to my yoga room to chat with the Fates. The sooner I got this over with, the sooner Lucas and I could enjoy some more time together.

  I pulled one of my teal foam mats out of the closet and laid it in the center of the room. The room was painted a light yellow with wood shades on the windows. The floor was made from bamboo and we added extra insulation to keep outside sounds to a minimum. I walked to the corner shelf where my music player was and turned on my water sounds. Listening to the water tracks always helped me to meditate fastest.

  I sat down on the mat and crossed my legs. I let my hands rest on my knees and closed my eyes. I took a few deep breaths and centered myself. I pushed everything else from my mind and focused on my intentions of communicating with the Fates. If they were willing to speak with me, then this part normally didn’t take long.

  I felt a tug on my core a couple minutes later and let my spirit be pulled. This was the weird part. The Fates had to separate me from my body. I was terrified the first time Mathias, the Elder who trained me, explained what I had to do. I was used to it now, though.

  I looked down as I was guided to the plane where the Fates lived and watched as I floated further away from my body. Normally, I didn’t do this unless Lucas was around to watch over my body, but since I was home and Lucas wouldn’t be gone for long, I figured I was safe.

  I appeared in front of the Fates. There were eight of them and they all looked like angelic beings. They were four Meraki pairs who made up the Fates. When I first learned that, I freaked out. It was one thing to become an Elder, but I never wanted to be a part of the Fates. Then I learned that the Fates had been our founding Guardians and they would always hold their titles. Phew!