by Alicia Fabel
But his legs might as well be encased in cement. And somehow the space between them was shrinking. Annessa’s breath washed over his face, and then she closed the distance, claiming his lips with hers. Her arms looped around Elion’s neck, and he surged forward. Their mouths moved together. Elion snaked an arm around her waist. His other hand cupped her cheek, fingers threading through her hair.
He pulled back to take a breath, fighting to regain his senses. He should stop whatever was happening before… Soft lips pressed against his throat. His entire body tensed. Holy smokes, why did he want to stop it?
Annessa pulled back and gave him an impish smile. She knew exactly what she was doing to him, and she was enjoying it. Those blue eyes stared into his, and he loved her so much his throat ached from it. And that’s why he had to stop it.
“Ness, you need to walk away from me right now.”
“I don’t want to,” she complained.
A groan rumbled up from his chest. “Trust me, I don’t want you to either.”
Her fingers slipped under the hem of his shirt and traced over the skin of his hips.
Elion was quickly running out of willpower to push her away. And there was only one thing that might save them both from the inevitable heartache they were racing toward. “You need to catch Sam when her class ends in a few minutes and make new arrangements.”
Annessa stilled, the sensible wheels seeming to turn in her mind again. “What about you? I want you to be safe too.”
“Do you trust me?”
She deliberated for a brief moment and then said, “I trust you, El.”
He kissed her forehead and stepped back. “Then have a wonderful girls’ night, and I will see you tomorrow morning.”
“When Ian shows up for my riding lesson, tell him that something came up?” Annessa asked.
Elion nodded. “Good night, Ness,” he said. When she was gone, he added, “I love you.”
23
“This room is twice the size of my dorm,” Sam said appreciatively, then she halted and scowled at the corner. “Get out. If I catch you sneaking in here again I’ll tell your mother, got it?” When she turned back to Annessa, it was as if she hadn’t just scolded the corner.
“You are not allowed to pretend like that didn’t happen,” Annessa told her.
“I’m not.” Sam bit her nail. “I just don’t want to ruin the night.”
“Who was it?”
“You remember that boy, who delivered a message for me when you wandered onto campus?” Sam sat on the edge of the bed.
“The uber-scary one? Yeah, I remember him.”
“He’s not scary,” Sam argued. “But he has been around a long time.”
“And his mother?”
“Now that revenant is frightening,” Sam said. “Poor boy.”
“That ‘poor boy’ has been peeping on me,” Annessa reminded.
“Poppy says he hasn’t been hanging around or she would’ve told me.”
“Well that’s great. But I’m still never going to get naked again.”
Sam laughed. “That’ll make showers interesting.”
“How can people shower when a ghost could be lurking around?” Annessa asked.
“Most people don’t think about it because they can’t see them. And those of us who can see them, kick them out.”
Annessa shivered.
“I can get you a charm that will keep them out of your room. And when you’re away from here, chances are you won’t have to worry about it. The revenant population is much higher here.”
“So charms are a thing? They aren’t just your grandmother’s superstitious nonsense.”
“Turns out she wasn’t completely crazy,” Sam said. She started to bite her nail but caught herself.
“What’s up?” Annessa asked.
“It’s nothing. I just got a letter from my grandma the other day.”
“What did it say?”
“Don’t know. I haven’t opened it.” She twirled a lock of her raven hair. “Does that make me horrible?”
“After all your family put you through, no. I’m just glad your mom got you out of there when she did. And that she decided to bring you to my neighborhood.”
“She travels all the time now,” Sam said. “Not that she slowed down much when I was still at home. I don’t even know where she is most of the time, until I get an email with her latest crazy stories.”
“I’m glad you found the Academy,” Annessa said sincerely.
“Me too. Do you know there’s a botany class here? Only, unlike at a normal university, here they teach us how to use herbs and plants for supernatural occasions.”
“That actually sounds interesting. What else are you taking?”
“Astrology 101—because apparently shifts in the solar system affect the arts—Intro to self-defense, History of the arts, Chemistry—which I suck at, by the way—and Statistics.”
“Statistics?”
“I’m earning a degree. You didn’t think math was a requirement?”
“I guess I thought the degrees here would be different.” Annessa ran her fingers through her hair, untangling the knots.
“They still have to meet certain standards to be recognized as a legitimate institution. The only difference is that my transcript will say History of Art, and norms won’t know that means I studied the origins of telepathy and telekinesis instead of Van Gogh.”
“Or that you learned to fight a race of fangy people,” Annessa added.
“Exactly.”
“Is it what you expected going to college would be like?”
“It’s better. Because I get to be myself.” Sam nudged Annessa. “So what do you want to study?”
“I was kinda thinking physical therapy. After taking care of Aunt Jess, I thought wanted to help people like her recover from accidents. Only it turns out, that wasn’t Aunt Jess.”
“You still don’t want to help people like that?” Sam asked.
“I do. But now I’m afraid that every time a new patient comes to me, I’ll think of that thing inside Jess and remember how she lifted into the air while her eyes bled.”
“I’m so sorry, Nessa.”
“It’s not your fault. And I really wish everyone would stop apologizing. That word is starting to drive me bonkers.”
“Fine, I won’t say that word, but I do feel bad. If I’d stayed, I would’ve known it wasn’t her. I could’ve told you.”
“But then you wouldn’t have discovered there’s a whole community of people just like you.” Annessa fell back onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling. “I want to ask you something. And if you can’t tell me, I understand.”
“You want to know why I had to banish your mom,” Sam guessed.
“Yeah, I do,” Annessa admitted. She hadn’t cared much before because she just wanted to forget about all of them. And no explanations were going to change her mind.
“After you and Ian were caught by those Phyton, Elion said I could tell you if you asked. He used everything in his arsenal to rescue you, so his abilities aren’t exactly classified anymore.”
Annessa pushed herself up onto one elbow. “Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“You’d been through a lot—torture, almost dying, getting a new shadow—and I didn’t want to tell you anything you weren’t ready to hear.”
“Well, I’m ready to hear it now.”
“He was going to say goodbye to you that night. For good,” Sam began. “A team had received Intel that Phyton were nosing around. They’d become suspicious that the Legends had been born again and were coming into their powers. So it had become too dangerous for Elion to be seen with you. He had to give you up to protect you. But while you and Elion sat on the beach talking, he slipped you both out of the timeline without realizing it. Basically, he didn’t want the last night he had with you to end, and his subconscious made that happen for him. You were missing for a week. It was in all of the papers. Some people thought you’d both
been taken. Others wondered if Elion hadn’t done something to you.”
Annessa’s mind reeled. “That can’t be true. Someone would’ve said something—asked me where I’d been.”
“When you two popped back up, acting like it had only been hours instead of days, the Academy sent teams to rewrite history. They buried stories, rewrote memories, and official reports disappeared. One day it was national news and the next it was like it hadn’t happened. Of course, that was like shooting up a flare for the Phyton. We had to distance ourselves from you fast, so they didn’t realize you were a part of it.”
“And my mom was already gone?”
“Yeah. She refused to return to the Otherside while you were missing. By the time you walked back down that beach, she was too far gone to do anything except kiss you and ask me to honor my promise.” Sam swiped at her eyes. “Once a revenant has become twisted by darkness, there’s no way to bring them back from it. They either have to move on to their afterlife or the horrible things those demented creatures are capable of… Banishing her was the right thing to do, but I couldn’t face you after. To you it had only been hours. How could I explain without telling you the truth about how long you’d been gone? And I couldn’t do that without putting you in danger. So I ran here with Elion and his family.”
Annessa let the tears fall down her cheeks and tucked her head against Sam’s.
“Elion was devastated, but the Phyton were closing in. It all happened so fast.” Sam shook her head at the difficult memory. “I think he wanted you to hate him because he thought that’s what he deserved—that if he could tell you the truth about what he’d caused, you would hate him anyway.”
“Why would he think that?”
“It’s what I thought you would feel about me too.” A sob caught in Sam’s chest and Annessa curled around her friend.
“I don’t hate you. I just wish you hadn’t had to go through that.”
“I wish I could summon your mom back for you,” Sam said.
“I got to have my mom much longer than I should’ve,” Annessa replied. “Because of you, I know that she saw me off to my first dance, cheered at my most important games, and sat with me when I had my heart broken for the first time. Most people aren’t so lucky.”
“Well I was lucky to find someone who didn’t think I needed locked up when I said I could see ghosts,” Sam said.
“Shoot,” Annessa scoffed. “You’re lucky I knocked Jessica on her butt after she tried to bully you on the playground.”
Sam laughed. “That too.”
They sat in silence for a while, each lost in thought until Annessa’s stomach rumbled. “Are we going back to campus or raiding the kitchen for ice cream?”
“Do you have to ask?” Sam pushed to her feet.
“Since I kidnapped you as soon as class was over and refused your request for a shower—”
“Or to be allowed to pack anything,” Sam added.
Annessa pulled out one of her new sleep sets and some of the tension drained from her shoulders. “Why don’t you shower and I’ll go set up an ice cream buffet.”
“Done.” Sam went into the adjoining bathroom, and the water turned on.
Annessa headed for the kitchen. This time, she looked for any sign of the team watching over the mansion. Either Elion was mistaken or she was totally blind, because the halls were silent as always. She flicked on lights as she went.
When she walked into the kitchen, the silence was cut by Sam’s scream.
Getting to Sam was a living nightmare. No matter how fast Annessa ran, it was as if she couldn’t move fast enough. As she rounded the corner into the entryway, a figure dashed down the stairs, something cradled in his hands. Tapered fangs extended from his mouth. He saw Annessa but didn’t slow, just threw open the door and raced into the night. Annessa grabbed hold of the banister and propelled herself up the stairs. Sam lay on the floor near the bed. Blood pooled around her head and streaked down the bedpost. She must have hit her head. Around her, the room was a mess. The bedding and mattress were thrown to the floor, drawers were pulled out.
Ian Annessa screamed. She didn’t know if he would hear her, but if Ian didn’t, hopefully someone would. Out loud, she called for help too. There was no stampede of feet, no one appearing to help from the shadows. Where was the team?
Elion watched Ian saunter up the hall from the shadows. When he stopped at Sam’s door, Elion stepped out of the shadows to face him.
“Why are you here?” Elion growled.
“I knew you had it bad, but stalking her won’t help win her back,” Ian replied.
“I’ll ask you one more time,” Elion warned. “Why are you here?”
“Am I not allowed to check on a friend, who stood me up for our daily ride and then didn’t show up at dinner?”
“She and Sam are having a girls’ night.”
“I know.” Ian tapped his head. “Only, Annessa’s thoughts about their plans weren’t as exciting as the daydreams I created on my own.”
“I should’ve known something was off with you,” Elion said. “You just happened to show up right when we needed your help to fix my screw up in Florida last year? And then you delivered Annessa right to the Phyton to get to me.”
“You are talking like a paranoid crazy man,” Ian countered.
“Whatever you were planning to do tonight, it’s not going to happen.”
Ian rolled his eyes. “Seriously, I wasn’t going to do anything except say hi and maybe try to convince them to role play this pillow-fight scenario I’ve always dreamed of.” Ian tapped on the door.
“They aren’t here.”
Ian stilled. “Where are they?” And then Ian pressed the palms of his hands to the sides of his head. “Where are they?” he shouted.
“What’s wrong, Ian?” Elion sneered. “Did I mess up your plans, you traitorous bastard?”
“It’s Annessa,” Ian shouted. “She’s screaming. Where is she, Elion?”
Elion went numb. All thought fled his mind as he spun and raced for the mansion. Ian stayed right on his heels, one hand pressed to his head.
24
“Ness.” Elion knelt in front of her in the waiting area of the healing center.
“Is she okay? Can I see her?” Annessa’s skin pulled tight from the dried tears.
“She’s still unconscious, but the Charmer Guild called in their most talented healers, and they are doing everything they can.”
“But it’s not going to be enough is it?”
Elion shook his head. “They say she suffered a traumatic brain injury. There might be permanent damage.”
“What does that mean?”
“They won’t know until she wakes up.” Elion’s throat bobbed.
Annessa read the subtext and knew he meant if she wakes. “Can I see her?”
“It’s not good.”
“I already saw her covered in her own blood. It can’t be worse than that.”
Elion held out a hand and helped her to her feet. Annessa held it tightly as he led her down the short hall to the rooms at the back of the healing center—the ones reserved for the most severe patients.
“Shouldn’t she be moved to a hospital?” Annessa asked just as a man wearing scrubs walked out of the room.
“They can’t do anything at a hospital that we can’t do better here,” the man assured.
“No offense,” Annessa said. “But hospitals have surgeons and lots more equipment than I see around here.”
“Annessa,” Elion said gently, but the man waved him off.
To Annessa he revealed, “I was the head surgeon at a major hospital for a decade before returning here to head up the care of the guilded community. I learned all the ways of modern medicine, so when I tell you that she can have better care here than in a hospital, you can trust I know what I’m talking about.”
“But Elion said it might not be enough,” Annessa pointed out.
“Sometimes not even the work of miracles
is enough,” confirmed the doctor. “But that doesn’t mean we won’t keep trying for more miracles.”
“Thank you,” Annessa said.
“You guys are welcome to sit with her for a while. She’s sedated, though, so she won’t wake up even if she could right now.”
Elion pushed the door open and waited for Annessa to step inside. It was dim, and unlike the hospitals Annessa had been in, there weren’t IV’s or beeping machines. Just Sam lying on a bed with her head bandaged and Bee Girl sitting beside her.
Annessa moved to stand beside Sam. She never should have left Sam alone.
“Kill me now.” Bee Girl’s sightless milky eyes glanced unerringly between Annessa and Elion. “Please don’t tell me there are two of you now, Elion.”
“One me,” Elion said. “Gia, this is my friend, Annessa.”
“Hi,” Annessa said warily.
“You do realize that having a thing for your twin is only permitted in Missouri, right?” Gia asked.
“Annessa’s not related to me,” Elion assured.
Gia cocked her head. Sunlight from the window revealed copper undertones in her light brown hair. “Which one of you did I try to shoot the other day?”
“What?” Elion’s eyes widened.
“That answers that.” Gia turned toward Annessa. “Guess I should apologize. It’s a good thing you have the same Jedi tricks as dipshit. Although, unfortunately for you, that means your energies are practically identical, and someone might get the two of you confused.”
“No one knows that Annessa inherited my abilities,” Elion said.
“Ian knows,” Gia said. “He was there.”
“No one but Ian, me, and now you,” Elion clarified.
“Why keep it a secret?”
“Annessa was born normal,” Elion explained. “She doesn’t want to be in this world.”
