by K J Bell
While watching the coral-pink sun set, I reflected on everything that happened to me over the last few days. My life would never be quite the same as it was four days ago when Brent literally stormed into my life. My parents were gone. My grandparents were gone. My aunt was gone. I was completely on my own. Ironically, a few days ago, all I wanted in life was to have complete independence, and now that I had it, I wanted nothing more than to give it all back.
We were quiet on the drive to Maggie’s house. No one was quite sure what to say. Occasionally, I inhaled sharply and bit my quivering lip to catch my breath in between crying spurts. How did Kace know where to find me? It was suspicious. After all of these years, Kace somehow knew where I was. Logan had surely spilled everything he knew, but how had Kace found Logan to start with?
CHAPTER 11
“We recognize a soul mate by the supreme level of comfort and security we feel with that person. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t issues that remain to be ironed out. Rather, it means we know intuitively that we can resolve issues with our soul mate without losing his or her love and respect.” – Linda Brady
Brent parked the car in front of Maggie’s house – my house now – although I was pretty sure I would never be able to live there without her. Thinking about what happened to Maggie, I felt like the night sky – black and empty – vacant of anything bright and colorful. Thankfully, in our hurry to leave, I had left most of the lights on so we wouldn’t have to stumble through the darkness to find the front door. Brent’s hand was on my knee and he gently squeezed.
“You ready? We don’t have to do this now if it’s too much for you.” He spoke the words so tenderly and I saw his worried smile. It must have been hard for him as well, and I loved that he was here for me. I needed him.
Upon entering the house, I found myself in front of the antique mirror once again. I breathed in and out slowly, looking into the glass, mentally begging for an Agent to come. Staring back at my reflection, I noticed how red and puffy my eyes were from crying. Brent and Reese were seated on the bed regarding me carefully. I kept my eyes focused on my reflection.
Dammit! Come on, I know you’re in there. Show yourself.
I squeezed the sides of the frame thinking a little pressure would make something happen. Feeling hopeless, I saw tears begin to swell.
“Claire,” Brent said delicately. I knew what he was going to say and he was not going to like my response. “You’ve been in front of that mirror for a half an hour. They’re not coming. We need to go.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Brent,” I said through gritted teeth.
I had to find out how Kace had found me so easily. My intuition screamed that Kace had help. I was determined to find out who was helping him, because whoever it was played a part in Maggie’s death.
“Goddammit, Claire. Listen to me. We’ll find another way. I promise you. You can’t continue to put yourself in danger. It won’t bring Maggie back. It won’t.” Brent emphasized his last few words, placing his hands firmly on my shoulders.
I clenched my fists by my side. “You don’t have to be so controlling, Brent. Seriously, that’s enough.”
He cocked his head and raised his brow. With a deadpanned expression he asked, “Really?”
“Yes,” I sighed, feeling a soft warmth come to my cheeks. It was his design. Something was ingrained in every fiber of his genetic makeup to take charge and protect me.
“It’s all I’ve ever known, Claire,” he confessed, honesty emitting from his gaze.
He was right, just as my parents had been before him. This was all for my safety. I hated it. Knowing he had to be this way, but that wasn’t going to change until Kace was no longer a threat to us. I reached up and placed my hand on his, looking at him through the reflection.
His face was concerned and sincere, rousing emotions inside of me.
“Okay, we’ll go.”
But just as the words left my mouth, light filled the room around us and the mirror began to glow. We waited apprehensively, anticipating what would happen next.
Side by side, we stared into the blurry mirror, no longer able to see our reflection. As it came back into focus, a man was looking back at us.
“Hello Claire, I am Omni. I’ve been expecting you,” he said, surprising me with this news.
The man’s voice was gentle, bringing my nerves to a peaceful flow, shutting down my emotions, and storing them away while he spoke. I wasn’t sure what I expected, but was truly baffled as Omni was a man like anyone else. I guessed I had pictured a ghost. Not like a sheet with two eye holes cut out, often seen on Halloween, but more spirit-like. Thinking of the shows my Dad used to watch, ghosts were always streaks of light that resembled human form. The image in the mirror was very much a man in the flesh. Omni had long graying hair – salt and pepper – as my Mom would have called it, and he could have been anyone of our neighbors. But he wasn’t. He was the person I needed for answers.
Brent squeezed my hand reassuringly. Reese looked as though he was about to faint.
Lifting my head to Omni again, I asked, “My aunt, is she okay?” The memory of the last time I saw her was still strong. Those pesky tears threatened to return as I waited for his response.
“Maggie is fine,” he reassured me. “The Agents have taken good care of her.”
His report brought only a miniscule amount of relief.
Omni noticed Brent’s fingers tangled in mine and I expected him to be upset.
“I see you have discovered that Brent is your Paramour and Reese is not,” he stated, obviously not bothered by it. The Doyens and their Agents apparently knew things had changed.
“Yes, well, it seems many things have differed from the original design.” Brent and I flung our joined hands in the air. “That’s why I brought you here. We don’t know how this happened. We have other questions, too. Kace found me, although I have no idea how. I don’t think he did it without help.”
“He didn’t,” Omni replied. He shot a glowering look over at Reese who shifted uncomfortably.
I turned to Reese and pinned him with a wide-eyed glare. “What did you do?” I demanded.
“Nothing,” Reese said defensively. “I told you, I kissed Brooke.”
Spinning back to the mirror, I looked to Omni for answers.
He ignored me, addressing Reese. “Why aren’t you telling her about your betrayal? This is your opportunity to redeem yourself Reese.”
Reese had betrayed me?
Did he tell Kace where to find me? The walls started shaking and paraphernalia started to fall from the shelves around me. I knew I was creating the disturbance but I was helpless to stop it. Too upset to control my rage, the quake continued.
“Calm down, Claire.” Both Omni and Brent’s voice acted as a bridle to my thoughts and I steadied my anger until the vibration ended. Reese’s shame-faced expression aggravated me further telling me he had the answers I longed to hear.
“I didn’t mean to, Claire. I wanted to take the words back the second they flew out of my mouth.” He stumbled over his words, hanging his head apologetically.
“Out with it, Reese, now!” My patience was extremely thin, but I forced a smile his way, concealing my soaring anger.
“Kace came to me the day before school started. He told me he knew I was your Paramour and must be sick of the waiting. I was. I just wanted to be with you, Claire.”
“So, you told him where to find me?” I folded my arms over my chest, exercising every bit of control I had, to rein in my anger.
“God, Claire, no,” Reese insisted.
“What then?” Brent growled. I squeezed his hand to keep him from lunging at Reese.
“Kace said if he knew where you were, the waiting would stop,” Reese continued. “I told him I would never tell him how to find you. He said if I just gave him something, then we could be united. It was inevitable. We were designed to be together, so why wait? I thought about it and realized he was right. I didn’t th
ink there was any harm in hurrying something along that was going to happen anyway.”
“You’re still stalling.” I had a difficult time controlling myself and then suddenly, it hit me.
“Logan…,right?”
Reese’s expression confirmed it.
“I knew Logan thought you and your family were a bunch of freaks. He pointed you out in the market one day telling me what he thought of you. I told Kace this information and figured he’d use Logan and eventually it would lead him to you. I just thought it would take longer. You would have your abilities and we’d be this strong force that could bring Kace down like they said we would,” he confessed, pointing to Omni.
“How could you!” I yelled, moving toward Reese. Brent grabbed both my arms before I reached him. Fortunately for Reese, Brent was there because I would have hurt him. “Maggie’s dead, Reese. You killed her, you did this. I hate you, do you hear me? I fucking hate you!” I swore and I didn’t care how inept my vocabulary sounded.
Reese was ashen. “Please don’t say that, Claire. I never meant for anyone to get hurt.” He cowered, begging my forgiveness. I would never forgive him. I wanted to strangle him.
“But someone did get hurt Reese, more than hurt. Maggie’s dead. Gone! You killed her. Get out! Get out right now! I can’t even look at you. You knew this all along and you kept quiet. Go! Go away now!” I shouted so loud my throat constricted and I swallowed against the dryness.
Reese’s footsteps were heavy as he descended the stairs. Since I didn’t hear the door close behind him, I assumed he was waiting to see if I would calm down. Fat chance! He was probably sitting downstairs in Maggie’s favorite chair. I should march down there and throw him right out the front door. How could he stay here after what he did?
Omni began talking and again, his soothing voice was like a drug, forcing me to relax.
“When we discovered what Reese had done, we suspected we made an error. He would not have been so easily manipulated by Kace if he was you Paramour. It was your denial of him that confirmed it. You should not have been able to fight your feelings for him. A bond should have formed quickly between the two of you. When it didn’t, we knew we had made a mistake.”
“Don’t put this on me. Reese is the one that betrayed me,” I shouted defensively.
“He did, and he lost his abilities because he betrayed you.”
Good! At least there was some retribution.
“Please don’t be angry with him. You need him,” Omni continued. “There is a strong connection between your seals. They’re nearly identical. This will make you stronger when the time comes. We mistakenly exchanged the connection for love because we failed to analyze it. It was love. But not the romantic bond between seals like we thought. It was stronger than any seals we had seen before. We knew it was exactly the connection needed to trap Kace for good.”
“There is no connection,” I insisted. “I promise you that. I mean no disrespect, but I can’t even look at him. I sure as hell won’t forgive him.”
Omni smiled with the look of an understanding parent. “You will, Claire. It’s inherent in a family to forgive. You cannot fight it.”
“I can fight it, Omni. I will never get over what he did.” I fumed, tapping my foot furiously.
Family?
Reese wasn’t family. Not even close. Thanks to him the only family I had left was dead. I would never speak to Reese again and damn sure would not forgive him.
“You will get past it, Claire,” Omni coaxed. “The bond between you and Reese is strong. It will always be. Reese is tied to you eternally because he is your brother.”
Gasping in shock over what I just heard, I swallowed hard against the lump in my throat.
“What are you talking about? He’s not my brother, you have to be mistaken.” I wanted badly to lose control, shake the walls and bring the house down. As long as Omni kept talking, his voice controlled my emotions, and hindered me from exploding.
Omni began to unfold the story of how Reese was my brother. His words would change everything in my life, its course altered by a single night years ago.
“It’s not a mistake, Claire,” he began softly. I clung to every word. “We were just as surprised as you are. A year or so before you were born, your parents were having a difficult time. They separated for a while and your father rented a room above Reese’s family store where he stayed for several months.”
I recalled my mother telling me she had left my father for a short time while they were dating. She felt she was too young to be so serious with my father. She regretted the split. Was this why?
Omni continued, “Reese was conceived one night when his mother went to check in on your father. They both regretted what happened and never spoke of it again. Your father reconciled with your mother, vowing to be a better man and husband. Reese’s mother married her boyfriend and he raised Reese, believing him to be his own.” Omni’s words whirled around in my mind, struggling to settle down.
“I can’t believe this,” I sighed. My father shared a child with another woman. He hid a secret from us all these years. I had a brother. “How come you didn’t know this before?”
“When we discovered you to be The Locket child, we searched for your Aegis and your Paramour. Your seal was drawn quite powerfully to Reese and his to yours. We should have examined the connection more thoroughly. But we didn’t. Instead, we concluded he was the match to your seal. He was gifted the abilities needed to be your Paramour, and to love and serve you in a way only he could. The kinship the two of you shared masked your true Paramour,” Omni explained, nodding towards Brent.
He had to be wrong, I thought. The man I knew as my father would have never strayed from my mother. He was always the doting husband and treated her like a princess. Was it guilt?
“That’s a pretty big mistake, don’t you think? How could you not have known?” I scolded Omni, unable to hide the anger in my voice as I addressed him.
“We only serve to guide humans. We try not to interfere or look at their past mistakes. Wrong choices are sealed for God’s eyes only,” Omni preached. “The spirit world allows humans to find their match freely even if they chose incorrectly. Sometimes a miss-match is necessary for seals to grow.” Omni expressed how important it was they had found my seal’s match. When I came of age, there would be no time to experiment with the right-of-passage that most girls went through. I had to be matched from the beginning in order to be strong enough to fight Kace. “A match for you is your lifeline. Now that you have bonded, you’re sealed, with purpose. As long as you’re together you’ll feel the strength your seal provides.”
Slumping into the bed, I processed every word, my heart heavy in response. I had a brother. For the first time, I saw the resemblance. The sandy-blonde hair, the jawline, and even the way he creased his brow, looked like my father, our father.
Looking back, I recalled seeing Reese as a child, playing catch in his yard with the man he knew as his father. Reese was happy, and his father was obviously a good man. I shook my head and the memory dissipated.
It was going to be hard for Reese to learn the truth, and I shuddered at the thought of what this secret would do to his parents. Could their marriage survive this? They would surely find out. Reese’s mother should have known better. Secrets do not hide forever.
“What happens now?” I asked Omni.
Omni continued talking, picking up his earlier explanation.
“You may have noticed some of Brent’s abilities are not as strong as they once were,” he spoke, directing his gaze at Brent questioningly. Brent nodded. This explained why Brent could not see that Logan was the Anchor, why he could not stay awake as long as he should have, and why he had developed feelings for me beyond the parameters of being my Aegis.
“Omni, is that dangerous?” I was concerned that without his abilities, Brent would be left vulnerable to Kace.
“There’s no danger, Claire. Brent’s abilities will return now that you’re to
gether. He has been given some new gifts as your Paramour. Your brother will acquire some new abilities as well. Reese is to be your Aegis now,” Omni told me. Hearing references to Reese as my brother caused a strange pull at my heart as I struggled to accept it.
“It will take all three of you to defeat Kace,” Omni continued. “But it will be done. The fated ones have seen it. You must find a safe place to go. Give yourself some time. Your abilities have surfaced and will develop over the next couple of days. If Kace finds you before you’re ready, it can change the outcome.
“Omni, I’m not sure about this. I don’t think I can stop Kace,” I admitted, feeling insecure.
“Claire, you are the chosen one,” Omni replied.
“Why me?” I asked
“Your strongest ability as The Locket is a gift that very few attain,” Omni said, smiling proudly.
“And what would that be, exactly? So far, all I have been able to do is shake a few walls and encase myself in a glass bubble. I’m sure those are things Kace can counter easily.”
“Those are abilities that control energy. They will develop, grow stronger, and be useful. Your greatest gift however, is controlling the mind. That is what you will need to trap Kace.” Omni assured me my abilities would be enough.
“I’ve been having visions of the past and the future. Is that what you’re talking about?” I asked.
“The visions are part of it but there is so much more. Your ability to control the minds of others will grow, and you’ll discover its power and how to control it. It is important you wait until your ability is strong or it will not work on Kace. He knows you are the chosen one, designed to return him to The Realm. Kace will do anything to stop you. Make no mistake about it, Claire. Kace will kill you if you’re not ready for him,” Omni warned, again stressing the need to develop my ability.
“How will I know when I’m ready?”
“You’ll feel it, Claire. Brent and Reese will help you. They were designed to complement you. Whatever you do, you must stay together,” Omni concluded, disappearing behind the glass.
