WAKENED (The Silvervane Chronicles Book 1)

by Rachel Berlynn

  “You look really uncomfortable,” he said, staring down at her.

  “Stone floors aren’t made for sitting on,” she mumbled.

  He was thoughtful for a moment. There was a loveseat on the opposite side of the room that he never used. It was an antique and existed merely for decorative purposes. It was sitting against the wall in a dark corner and he knew Aylie wouldn’t want to be that far from the fire. It was clear that she was freezing, even with his down comforter wrapped around her. “I can move that loveseat over here,” he said, nodding toward the antique. “But it will be much quieter if you help me move it...I don’t think it would be good to wake the housekeeper.”

  Aylie stood to her feet, dropping the comforter to the ground where she’d been sitting. She shivered and practically sprinted over to the loveseat. He had to stifle a laugh as he hurried to lift most of the weight on his end, maneuvering it over to the agreed upon spot. Then she sat down on it, pulling the comforter onto her lap and all the way up to her chin. He sat down beside her, journal in hand.

  “This is what I wanted to show you.”

  “You want me to read your journal?” She raised a questioning brow.

  “Well, it’s kind of a like a journal, I guess—but it’s not mine. It’s been passed down in my family for several generations.” He handed it to her.

  She touched the worn leather cover carefully, running her fingers across its tattered edges. Then she opened it, letting her eyes fall on the inscription on the inside cover. “How much do you want me to read?” She asked. “All of it.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  T he tales recorded in Ryder’s journal were very similar to popular Greek mythological legends like those of Zeus, Achilles, or Hercules. She tried to read them with an open mind, but couldn’t help noticing the obvious parallels. It seemed all too possible that everything Ryder’s father had believed was nothing more than a retelling of famous stories imagined long ago. She tried to mask her skepticism from Ryder, however, pausing frequently to ask him questions. By the time she’d reached the end, she found herself so fascinated with the legends that she wasn’t even tired anymore. Even if none of it was true, it was still an interesting narrative.

  When she had finally finished reading, more than three hours had passed. Ryder was sitting next to her on the loveseat, his shoulder pressed against hers as they examined the pages together. She secretly wished there were more so they could continue on this way forever. She felt perfectly content just being close to him, though how she’d gotten to the Mansion in the first place still remained a mystery. She closed the manuscript carefully and handed it back to him. “It’s almost dawn,” she murmured, gazing up at the fading glow of moonlight that was streaming in through the high window.

  Ryder nodded. “I’ll be able to take you home soon.”

  Aylie stared solemnly into the fire. “How do you think I got here tonight?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t understand it.” He relaxed his shoulders, leaning against the back of the loveseat with his legs stretched out in front of him. “If you didn’t walk here, you must have transported somehow.”

  “Transported?”

  “It’s basically the science fiction concept of teleportation.”

  “Oh!” Aylie’s eyes widened. “Is that something you can do?”

  His eyebrows puckered. “Usually you can’t transport unless you have an enchanted ring, like the one I wear when I transition. Mine was supposedly made by Edryd, himself—those tend to stay in the family.” He smiled darkly.

  “Can you transition without one?”

  Ryder shook his head. “Without it, the urge can be present and my body might even try to undergo the change, but I can’t fully transition without the ring. It’s the way Edryd maintained control of his followers, I suppose.”

  Aylie yawned. “Do you believe everything written in this journal?”

  “I didn’t used to—my dad and I got into arguments about it all the time.”

  “And now?”

  “I’m not so sure anymore.”

  Aylie hugged her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. “What else can you do?”

  “Besides transitioning when I hunt, transporting is the only other thing I’ve ever really attempted, with regard to my inherited abilities. I’ve probably only done it three or four times in my entire life. Transporting is extremely difficult and my dad discouraged my brothers and I from practicing it. He said it drains your body’s physical energy to an extreme breaking point and is usually very difficult to recover from, unless you do it constantly and build immunity to the aftermath of the metaphysical changes. ”

  “So you can change into a demon creature and teleport from one place to another—that’s it?”

  Ryder laughed. “You sound so disappointed.”

  Aylie shook her head. “I just wondered if there was more.”

  “If I were to fully embrace my druid roots by binding my spirit—or life force—to Edryd’s, I would be able to conjure dark curses and manipulate molecular structures and other elements, but that kind of magic always leaves a mark on a person’s soul. If you practice it long enough, it dulls your conscience completely and eventually destroys both your physical body and your mind.

  Aylie shuddered. “I can’t believe this stuff is real.”

  Ryder looked down at the journal on his lap. “I wish it wasn’t. My family would still be alive right now if it weren’t for the Order.”

  “I’m so sorry, Ryder.”

  He set the journal aside. “Hopefully my uncle will come visit. He’s managed to stay alive all these years, as far as I know. He must know something that could help us.”

  Aylie’s heart skipped a beat when he said the word, “us,” but she knew it wasn’t really something to be happy about. The danger he spoke of was real and she couldn’t afford to take any of this lightly. They had to find the killer soon or her own family could be in danger.

  “Come on, Aylie,” Ryder said, standing to his feet. “Let’s get you home before sunrise.”

  He offered to let her borrow a pair of his shoes but they were so much larger than her feet she refused them. All she had to do was make it to his car and then into her house…she could handle the snow if it was only for a moment. She followed him out of his room, through passageways and down several flights of stairs through the mansion’s front entrance. Just before her feet touched the snow, he came up behind her, scooping her up into his arms. Aylie flailed in surprise, demanding that he put her down, but Ryder only laughed. He carried her through the long courtyard into the garage where he kept his cars and set her down. She was flushed with embarrassment and climbed into his silver Camaro feeling like a two-year-old.

  He took the drive back to the Ranch slowly, maneuvering snow drifts and rock slides simultaneously. The gentle, swaying motion of the car was the perfect rhythm to rock her to sleep. She didn’t even realize she had fallen unconscious until she felt someone touch the side of her face. Her eyes flew open as Ryder’s cool fingers traced the warm skin of her cheek. Her breath caught in her chest. His eyes were piercing into hers and his face was so close she could hardly stand it. Her stomach was doing somersaults as she gazed back at him. She couldn’t remember ever feeling this way about a boy before—even Marcus. She tried to force herself to look away to break the spell and end the unbearable tension between them. Before she could summon the willpower to follow through, he leaned over and kissed her.

  Ryder Payne was kissing her. It was the only thought in her head. She felt like her heart would burst. It was like being kissed for the very first time, only better. This kiss was long, but gentle. She felt it in every part of her being. When he pulled away, she stared at him in astonishment. He must’ve read her mind, because his mouth broke into an extremely satisfied grin.

  “What was that for?” She breathed, in a voice hardly above a whisper.

  He smiled again. “In case I don’t get another chance.”

&nb
sp; “Why would you say that?” She asked, finding her breath.

  “I’d rather be safe than sorry.”

  He leaned forward and kissed her again, a light brushing of his lips against hers, before reaching across her to open her car door. She climbed out feeling a little shaky and out of sorts. The frozen snow beneath her bare feet was a jolt of reality that gave her the incentive to tear herself away from him. She darted through the snow, around to the back of the house where the door was usually unlocked.

  Aylie looked out her bedroom window as the morning light slowly began to creep into the sky. She watched Ryder’s silver Camaro disappear down the winding, forest road until it vanished completely into the trees. Sleepiness washed over her, but it was almost time for her barn chores and there would be no chance for sleep now. She wearily changed into her warm clothes and headed for the stairs, just as her brother Sam appeared in the hallway.

  “Where did you go this morning?” He asked innocently, rubbing his eyes. “I heard you come in.”

  Aylie felt a spasm of panic. “I thought I heard something outside so I went to check and make sure the animals were okay,” she lied. “But I haven’t finished my chores yet.”

  “I bet it was that grey fox again,” Sam said with conviction in his brown eyes. “Wake me up next time and I’ll bring my BB gun.”

  Aylie smiled, grateful that he’d believed her. “See you in the barn.”

  It took her longer than usual to finish her chores. Yawning through most of them, she dragged herself and the pails of goat’s milk back into the house two hours later. Her mom was just starting on breakfast. She was so tired she wasn’t even hungry, but she knew she had to be present at the table or people would start asking questions.

  Tomorrow morning she’d be back at school again. It was strange how different she felt after the events of the last few days. She and Ryder were becoming closer; they potentially shared a cursed bloodline that entitled them to unknown supernatural powers and abilities. Ren was half in love with Eli, who had appeared to Aylie in a dream and seemed to be hiding a few secrets of his own. And let’s now forget the fact that the former love of her life was about to start dating her best friend, Lacey. Could life possibly get any weirder?

  Aylie pushed all of these thoughts aside and got cleaned up for breakfast. There was no time to contemplate the future now. Her family was spending the day together before Lucas returned to the dorms and they probably wouldn’t see him again until the Christmas holiday. He popped his head into her room just as she finished getting dressed to tell her that the food was ready. She reluctantly followed him down the stairs and they sat down at the table together. Aylie forced herself to participate in their conversations. Sam mentioned the noise she’d heard outside and told them all about his plans to catch the grey fox. Lucas glanced at her suspiciously, but said nothing during Sam’s narrative. Mr. Bryant smiled at his youngest son, praising him for his well thought-out plan, while Mrs. Bryant fussed about the food getting cold.

  It was a typical Sunday morning like any other at the Bryant Ranch. Even though everything was as it should be, Aylie couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen. She could tell that Lucas wasn’t buying the lie that she’d gone out before sunrise to catch a thieving fox. Could he have seen Ryder dropping her off? Or worse, did he know she’d been missing in the middle of the night? She stared down at her plate, waiting for everyone else to finish. She was so tired she could hardly think straight and the last thing she wanted to do was sit through an interrogation from her older brother. He had become much more cynical and distant since going away to post-graduate school. Even though the campus was only twenty minutes away, he rarely came home to visit and didn’t associate with any of his old friends. He was like a completely different person—one that Aylie could no longer connect with and she hated it.

  They had been nearly inseparable as kids. They were less than two years apart, and Lucas had always been her affectionate older brother. He had looked out for her, no matter what situation she’d gotten herself into. He always bailed her out. He’d taken the fall for things she’d done on countless occasions, even accepting consequences that were harsh and unfair at times.

  She looked up at him from beneath her lashes to see him staring at her with his eyes narrowed almost accusingly. She dropped her eyes instantly; afraid that he might be able to see in her face the secrets she was fighting so hard to keep hidden. She hated to admit it, but she felt instinctively that she could no longer trust Lucas and it was killing her inside.

  After they had all finished eating, Aylie helped her mom clear away the table and wash the dishes, while the boys went outside to chop and stack a fresh cord of firewood. They carried in armloads to restock the fireplaces in both the living room and the den. Then they all gathered in the living room to spend the rest of the morning together. Sam wanted to play Monopoly, so they quickly set up the board while Mr. Bryant turned the news on quietly in the background. Being one of the town’s officials, he always made it a point to keep up with politics and current events. He rarely talked about what went on behind closed doors at the government building, but at home, he was a loving and affectionate husband and father.

  Sam went first, landing on Reading Railroad, which he purchased grudgingly. Lucas took the next turn, smiling at his good fortune as he landed on the Boardwalk. It was Aylie’s turn to roll the dice. She threw them across the surface of the board and moved her token to the Chance space, which required her to draw a card. She groaned, moving her token to the corner spot marked “In Jail.”

  “Looks like there’s a lot of that going around today,” Lucas commented with a smirk, his eyes fixated on the television.

  Aylie glanced over to see what he was talking about and gasped. Mr. Bryant turned the volume of the television up with the remote, as a picture of Ryder Payne in handcuffs flashed across the screen, followed by footage of him being escorted from the mansion by the police chief.

  “When did this happen?” She asked, trying to fight the hysteria rising up inside of her.

  “About an hour ago,” Mr. Bryant replied, indifferently. “Looks like they might’ve found the real murder weapon, too. Apparently the one they confiscated a few weeks ago was a decoy.”

  Aylie swallowed the lump in her throat. Her heart started pounding and she couldn’t breathe. She thought she was going to be sick. She ran out of the room and locked herself in the bathroom. She fell on her knees in front of the toilet, lifting the lid as quickly as she could in case she vomited, but nothing happened. She leaned over the toilet seat in total shock, as tears began to stream down her cheeks. She hovered there for what felt like several minutes before her mom started knocking on the bathroom door.

  “Aylie, what’s going on? Are you okay?”

  “I’m…fine,” she managed. “I think I might have a stomach bug or something.” She wiped the tears from her face and attempted to pull herself together.

  “Do you need me to call the doctor?”

  Aylie could hear the panic in her mom’s strained voice. “No, mom. I think I just need some rest.” She forced herself to stand up, unlocking the bathroom door.

  Mrs. Bryant stood back, allowing her to pass. “I’ll make you some soup,” she offered. “I’m sure your father and brothers will understand.”

  “Thanks, but I’m really not hungry. I don’t know if I could keep anything down.” She started walking up the stairs to her bedroom.

  “I’ll be up in a little while to check on you,” Mrs. Bryant called after her.

  Aylie crawled into her bed. She had no idea what happened or why Ryder had been arrested out of the clear blue, but she was afraid for him. She couldn’t hold back her tears. The secrets she had been carrying were catching up with her. She felt completely overwhelmed and helpless. Pulling her comforter up over her head, Aylie cried herself to sleep.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  F or the next two weeks, Aylie walked the halls of Silvervane Pre
p feeling the emptiness of Ryder’s absence. She missed him terribly. He had no family to speak up for him and no alibi for the night his father was murdered. The story was all over the news again, as if his father’s murder had just happened. The pictures of Ryder’s arrest were front-page news in every paper in the county. They were labeling him a danger to himself and others, claiming to have diagnosed him with a mild form of psychosis. Since no one but Aylie really knew him, there was no one who could argue to the contrary. His court hearing was scheduled for the day after Christmas.

  Aylie was so miserable she could hardly hold herself together. There was no one she could turn to for help. She needed to see Ryder somehow, but there was no way for that to happen without her parents finding out and she knew they wouldn’t agree to let her go by herself. She was trying to work up the courage to ask her mom to go with her to visit him in jail, but she hadn’t been able to find the right opportunity. She had to make sure the moment was right.

  In the meantime, she had to find a way to finish out the semester without losing everything she’d worked so hard for. The last thing she wanted to focus on was school, but since it was the only thing she had control over, she threw herself into her studies with a vengeance. She skipped lunch nearly every day, working through her study breaks. She started going home right after school instead of sticking around to hang out with her friends. She ignored their calls and avoided them in class as much as possible.