Siphon (Siphon Chronicles, Book One)

by Cyndi Goodgame

  And then I heard her shoe hit the floor. Then the other. The lock clicked and there she was before me. Her eyes were red, her skin pale.

  “Wrong about what?” she tried to clear her throat.

  Stupid as it was, I wrapped my arms around her. Her warmth was amazing to me.

  “I am not going to let anything happen to you.”

  A few quiet seconds passed before a loud resounding boom hit the wall beside us. A middle-aged woman fell against the hair dryer on the wall and Jason with her. The Hispanic lady righted herself and cursed Jason in her native tongue. It was like a scene out of the worst sitcom ever.

  “I couldn’t stop this one. She was insistent.”

  Jason stood up and brushed off his leather jacket making the buckles jangle around. His eyes went to where my hands were on her. He was lying if he denied having feelings for her. No guy went through this much crap for a girl he didn't care about.

  “No matter. We have little time now. And you two have a lot to learn.”

  In the Jeep again, we were alone. She said goodbye to Jason who agreed to go get his affairs in order. Turns out, he’s not in high school anymore. He graduated last year, but goes to the football games to keep an eye on Lark. She did not see his obsession with her, but I did. And I understood it completely.

  “How old are you?” she asked.

  Now was the time for small truths. “I am twenty-six.”

  “What? You don’t look it.”

  She saw my frown. “Hence the reason I receive the jobs for high school.”

  She huffed and folded her arms.

  “What? I am just telling the truth.”

  She crossed her eyes and mocked me. She was truly a vixen. “What kind of chips do you like?”

  LARK ✜ Boiling Lava

  “What?” he asked coming up short in front of me. His hands waved over the glove box but he never opened it.

  “You bought pickle chips. They do not seem your...type.”

  His million watt smile flashed at me. “My type?”

  I blushed. He was singularly good at saying one thing and meaning another. Guess I’d done it too.

  He rubbed the scruff on his chin making the sound do amazing things to the shivers running up my back.

  “Barbeque.”

  Huh?

  “The chips I like.”

  Ohhhh! Duh!

  “You don’t say much, ever." He sideways glanced at me. See!

  “Mr. Dark and Mysterious one minute, then telling me your chip preferences the next.” Okay. That was A#1 stupid. That had to be worse than the age statement I’d fed him earlier.

  “I’ll go with Dark and Mysterious and even throw in an extra. I really like blondes.”

  Oh, he did know exactly what to say to make my lava boil.

  He watched me now with a certain curiosity like he couldn’t reason my existence. Or at least that’s what I imagined he was thinking.

  He loves the way his Jeep bounces and never has a smooth ride. I didn’t mind it. Maybe a little more than him.

  He hopes to go to a lighthouse one day. It’s the one thing he hasn’t done that he wants to see. That makes me wonder what all he’s done. Been? And just what was his entire job as a Retriever as he called it?

  DANE  Just For a Moment

  I thought about what Jason said before we left.

  “There is no get out of jail free card here. Pass go either. You have to take her in or risk your own existence. How do you plan to get her off the radar when she’s the whole prophecy chick?”

  I’d wanted to bust his lip for saying it out loud where she could hear it. She didn’t hear it, but still. As far as an answer, I didn’t have one yet.

  The dude was right, but could I really go through with the job I had to do or the right thing to do. I’ve decided they have it all wrong. She is not the villain. Which means I have to have an alternative plan. And I know what it has to be.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Somewhere?”

  “More mysteries,” she guessed. Her trust was undeniably unfounded.

  “Yep.”

  At the last turn to the shipyard, she started naming different places of interest. I noted them all. Her face wrinkled up at the thought of a beach, but lit up with the romanticisms of a boat.

  I’m glad I chose wisely.

  “Why are we here?” she asked as we stepped across the bow.

  “A place I like to go. You’ll see.”

  LARK ✜ Privacy

  He pulled me up from the step and held my hand to land on the deck. It was more like a yacht, but not near the size of one. I wouldn’t call it a boat either.

  Before I could blink, he’d kicked off his shoes and was walking away. “You coming?” he goaded from the top of the steps that led to a deck. His shirt and jeans look made him just that more appealing.

  “Is this your boat?” I asked hesitantly.

  “Trust me,” he dazzled a smile at me.

  That’s the problem. I do, but I shouldn’t. He wasn’t evil and conniving, but he wasn’t the good guy either. Reason told me I was being a stupid girl being led into the lion’s den.

  Reason lost.

  “You’re nuts.”

  “You’re with him,” he reached into a deck bench and pulled out a blanket.

  “You’re dangerous,” I admitted.

  Daniel finished yanking the corner back down and stood an inch from my face.

  “You’re right.”

  It was a warning, a chance to change my mind. Turning back would mean being in the dark. Turning back would mean no Daniel, of that I was sure. I was too involved now to turn back.

  Eye to eye, I could feel his breath on me. Even as I tried to hold it in, I knew he could feel mine. His eyes left mine and traveled to my lips. I’d tasted those lips. Only twice, but I wanted to again. And it meant a surge of energy. The urge, when in his presence, seemed to always be there after that first kiss.

  His hand stayed near my cheek, hovering a flicker of a distance away. His fingertips brushed the side of my mouth, his thumb across my parted lips. They left my face and inched their way into my hairline as I closed my eyes. I wanted him to know I was completely okay with this. I was ready for this moment. I lied when I said I wouldn't kiss him again, I just shouldn't.

  Logic kept telling me to push his hand away, that he might still be the enemy. I told myself that I didn’t want anything to do with him, that he was just like any other. That I didn’t want this.

  But I did.

  His hand moved forward again, resting on my neck in a soft grip poised just under my jawline. I gave up waiting and exhaled the breath I’d been holding. Opening my eyes, his own were glazed over and non-blinking. I shuddered from head to toe and he’d barely even touched me.

  “Are you sure I am still invited?”

  I broke free of Daniel and leaned across the deck bench. "Malarkey."

  “Sorry to interrupt,” Jason said grumpily.

  “I’m not,” Daniel said too cheerily.

  I looked from guy to guy to survey the reason behind it, but I couldn’t decipher the meaning. I think my reasoning on boys and their ways will take a few more years. I heard my stepmom once say that men were like a carpenter’s saw. Jagged in places, smooth when they want to be, and irreplaceable once you find the perfect fit. I didn’t know anything about saws, and it didn’t help me understand Daniel anymore than I did before. Or Jason.

  "Good to know your vocabulary choices are still a part of you. I can't imagine anyone trying to change you."

  "Malarkey," I smiled his way and we both laughed. Daniel's sneer caused me to straighten and get started on the pizza.

  We ate the pizza Jason brought on the deck with no listening ears to overhear. Turns out, Daniel really is the son of the head of the council and his father is a tyrant. Daniel claims he wasn’t always known for the reputation he holds, but when he turned eighteen, his father felt his “too nice attitude” needed a change if
he was to take over the council one day. His father felt a nice guy could never lead the group the Siphon Council had become. I learned from Jason that the council hadn’t always been on the shady side of the fence. Before Daniel’s father, it was a kinder, less harrowing people who took years from others in the way Jason and I did, but was now looked upon as weak.

  Our kind, the mercy seekers as Jason termed us, had escaped at the time. That piece of information led me to ask about my parents.

  “Do you know what happened to my parents?”

  Daniel kept his head down, but Jason answered for me. He apparently learned a lot. However, Daniel's scathing looks didn't escape my attention.

  “The Spur’s were part of the original team who fought against the council that resides now. As the head of the resistance, your father ended up giving his life when Crawford’s father took over. They pushed him out of the seat and your mother with it. The story tells that your mother hid you away and all thought you were dead. Your birth was foretold and your abilities with it as well as boy wonder here. Something in your parent’s genetic makeup mixed perfectly, so to speak. They just didn't know if you harbored them or not and now they want to get a looksie. They circulated a prophecy that you were to come back one day to return the council to its original order. Therefore, you’re a wanted girl at the moment.” Jason told all this like it was a fairy tale and it might even have a happy ending. I couldn’t see how that could happen.

  “His account is correct however he came by it. I listened to my father when he said the jobs I would need to conquer would make me a better leader. I know now he was wrong, but fighting against him could prove to be as hard as it was for your father. As for me, there is no prophecy. I am only popular because of who my father is. Whoever gave you your facts, was off on that part.”

  Jason ignored him at first, then felt compelled to vindicate himself with, "Or you are in denial. If all your people know the first of the story, it stands to reason they know the rest."

  "Or fabricate gossip sent away with the foolishly convinced."

  I waited for them to but heads like bulls or goats going head to head like at the nursing home, but this time they stayed where they sat and both turned to me. Each of them gave me a telling look of what I interpreted as, "Take over or I am going to kill him."

  “Where is my mother?” I asked already ahead of what I wanted to know.

  Daniel dared a look at Jason to answer, but neither made a move or comment. Daniel gave first. “She was never found.”

  "If my mother was against your father, I wonder the real reason for wanting me there."

  "I wonder myself, but it isn't the reason he gave. One of the men you siphoned from died making you show up on his radar for questioning though I get the hint he knew where you were all along. Mostly that means he wants to see if you are a team player for his team."

  His voice was so demanding, sure of himself. I’d never picked up in it as royal or political, but here it was—he was like some sort of prince in the siphon world.

  Serves me right for reading those dang fairy tales as a child and dreaming up knights and towers. I really was stuck in a tower and he was here to take me out as an enemy, but saving me instead. I hope.

  There is cruelty in every reality whether we sugarcoat it or not. Sometimes we just overlook it for its ugliness so as to not face the inevitable. Or...we succumb to its worst propositions in favor of tricking the unsuspecting varmint into submission. That’s the real heroic deed in this equation.

  “Fine. Take me to the council.”

  His face was lit up, but not with excitement. Oh no! Not excitement at all. More like “the bleepity heck I will” and several other unsaid wordy dirties.

  DANE  Girlfriend?

  “Dane, please.”

  “Oh, no you don’t. You cannot reduce my name to get what you want. You can’t just walk in there.”

  Jason chuckled beside her on the deck bench. “Better take a buttload of pennies as backup.” He folded the empty pizza box over and said he’d find a trashcan. Once alone, I slid beside her. The moon was shining gloriously above lighting our faces in just the right way even with the deck lights in the floor.

  “Why not?” she asked me and then to the useless one beside us, “What does pennies do?” Thankfully, he never told her.

  “Because they will take you the second you go in there and change you.”

  She looked up at the moon making her face framed by it. “Then I will go in acting the part. If I’m already the evil minded robot they expect and want, then there is nothing to change.”

  She doesn't see the outcome. Before long, her charade would be found out and she'd want to leave. He wouldn't let her if I wanted to be truthful with myself. Unless she could prove she is not the prophecy girl. They could be mistaken.

  “They will not believe it. My father does his homework. When he found you, though I question that now, he was elated. He watched you for over a month before he sent me in.”

  “That’s not creepy is it?” she wiggled her nose in disgust. “Either way, they will believe that you changed me yourself. If they think I am following your lead, back your position, and speak of your father’s belief system, they won’t have any doubt. All you have to say is I’m your...”

  She stopped. What was she saying? That she’d be my evil girlfriend.

  “What?” I urged.

  “Say she’s completely besotted under your spell and will do anything you say,” Jason surfaced and stood before us.

  I was speechless. I’d never had a girlfriend much less discussed the idea with anyone. I felt like a wimp fifteen year kid again asking a girl to go on a date or something. And no way had I ever seen such.

  “Or not,” she moved off the bench and stood on the bow of the deck. The boat was anchored, so I wasn’t worried where she stood.

  Jason grunted aloud.

  “What?” I snapped his way.

  “Go to her. She thinks you don’t want her.”

  “That’s not it at all.”

  “Duh. I know that, but she doesn’t. Dude, she’s a girl. She just offered to be your girlfriend and you turned her down.”

  “No I didn’t.”

  “Dimwit. Saying nothing at all to a girl is the same as turning her down. You can’t tell me you’re that green.”

  “’Effing get off my boat. I’m tired of you.”

  “NO! Dude. You’ve never had a girlfriend. I can’t believe it.” He only laughed louder.

  “Shut the hell up already. I’ve had plenty of women.”

  Whether it was true or not, I wouldn’t tell another dude. I’d screwed up once worse than the rest and it was awful. I ended up taking ten years away from the girl. I hated myself ever since.

  “Not the same, dude. This one’s worth it.”

  I looked at where she sat now leaning her head on the rail. “I know that.”

  “Then if you don’t want me working to take her from you, get your ass over there and fix this.”

  I stepped up the three-stair lift to the bow and sat beside her having no idea what I should say. I’ve never done this.

  “Lark. I didn’t mean I didn’t agree. I only didn’t say anything because it shocked me.”

  She didn’t move nor did she look my way. Her hands were folded around her knees up near her chin. The moon behind us, her face was dark and unreadable.

  I went with the truth no matter how lame it sounded. “I’ve never had a girlfriend.”

  That worked. Her face shot up to mine landing a mere few inches from me being able to kiss her.

  “Why not?”

  I wasn’t out of the clear yet. Her lips were pressed into an even line and her guard was still up.

  “Any girl I’ve ever tried to get close to, I take their years, siphon expert or not. It’s not something I want to do for real. I only started taking from the young for my dad. Once I did, it wasn’t the same. The old make me feel sick even with the gained energy to sustain ou
r own lives whereas the young make me stronger. I assumed my father was right and something was wrong with me.”

  LARK ✜ Acting Class

  Forget the part where he really didn’t take from the young as a general rule of evilness. Forget even the part where he said it made him sick and it doesn’t when he took from me. I focused on the part where he’d just said he’d never had a girlfriend.

  I dared a look in his face and shifted my freezing hands. I didn’t want to be rejected twice in a night. Such a gorgeous man stood here acting nothing of the proud, arrogance he held at meeting him.

  His hand covered mine over my knee. “I would be honored to stand beside you if you are still willing.”

  Hands clapped behind us. “Great kiddos. It’s all settled then. Now we arrange something that can be believed as evil and she complies to confirm it. If she’s your wicked witchy girlfriend and not the enemy they see her as, they will not see it coming when we take over.”

  “Tactfulness has never been his greatest quality,” I whispered to Daniel.

  “And do tell what my greatest quality is my dear Lark since we have had the pleasure of knowing each other intimately for three years now.”

  Daniel grabbed my hand tighter and helped me to stand. I took the first step down giving away some of the mysterious Jasonisms. “Jason here likes to make others think he is all bleeping tough, but my guy here writes the most beautiful poetry I’ve ever heard.”

  Daniel snorted.

  “Ha. You laugh. But Jason will be famous one day. He’ll write songs for people. And he makes the best smoothies.”

  Jason dropped his head at that. “Every Friday he never fails to bring me one of his homemade smoothies.”

  “I thought you said you didn’t know this guy very well,” Daniel squeezed my hand.

  “I guess I don’t. I’ve never been to his house.”

  “That’s a relief.”

  I looked at him oddly. What did that mean?

  “Let’s get our plan ready. We have to be really great actors in this play.”