Gravity (The Eclipse Series, Book 1 of 2)

by M. Leighton

  “Who has been waiting for her? And what do they want with her?”

  “Well, it’s complicated. With the oracle comes one who will bring out the darkness in those around him and one who can affect the oracle’s ability to absorb. Any Order in possession of all three would be invincible.”

  “Order?”

  “There has long been a war between creatures of the day and creatures of the night. It is said to have begun as a game between the god of the moon and the goddess of the sun, but it soon got out of hand and the one true God was forced to intervene to correct what the gods and goddesses, His fallen angels, had done. He created the oracle to bring peace. But the Druids cast powerful dark magic on her. There is little that can be done to undo magic.”

  That was when I found my tongue. “But you said you gave Trace something to strip away the magic.”

  Shawn nodded. “Yes. I am hopeful that it will not only strip away Rebekah’s magic, but the Druidic magic as well.”

  “What will stripping that magic accomplish?”

  “Well, for one thing, he won’t be bound to you. And if he’s not bound to you, he won’t be as valuable. If they don’t want him anymore, they won’t chase us when we run.”

  I felt the bottom drop out of my stomach. Trace’s father had purposely taken away what we had together, the special bond we shared. That hurt. But what hurt even more was the knowledge that it hadn’t even been real in the first place. It had been an elaborate mirage, a magical joke, not real feeling or real love. It had all been fabricated.

  The ache in my chest argued that I was wrong, that it was much more than that, but logic screamed with a louder voice this time. And it didn’t stop until my heart was a barely-discernible mumble in the background.

  “So what we had wasn’t real?”

  It was Trace who asked, voicing my thoughts as if we’d shared them.

  “If it was real then the magic won’t matter. It will still be there.” Shawn paused for a moment to let us absorb what he’d said before he moved on. “You’re missing the point, though, son. You’re safe right now, but I have to make it so you can leave here one day and have a life of your own.”

  “How can we really be safe here when there are witches doing magic like this?”

  “Well, you won’t have to worry about that now. And as long as you make sure they don’t know you’re free from it, you’ll be fine. As far as being safe in Two Lakes, none of you can really hurt each other with your powers. Yet. You can’t fully change. You’re sort of like baby animals, just getting your legs, learning your strength, how to hunt and feed. But there is a darkness that is alive in all of you, and we need to make sure that no one gets out of here with that darkness. People on the outside will die if it gets loose.”

  “Where does it come from? I mean, does someone actually make people, like, evil?”

  “There is darkness in everyone, most people just usually suppress it. Unless there is some supernatural influence that interferes with that.”

  “So you’re saying there is a person that interferes with it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Who?”

  Shawn hung his head uncomfortably for a second before he looked up and turned his face toward Brady.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  It was obvious where his eyes were trained, even though we couldn’t see them behind his glasses.

  “What?” Brady asked, taking a step back and holding his hands up. “Man, you’re nuts. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Brady? It was Brady? That’s who was unleashing the darkness?

  I thought about it for a few seconds while Trace, Lacey and I all stood, mouths agape, looking at Brady. It didn’t take long for puzzle pieces to fall into place, pieces that told me Shawn might be telling the truth. At least in this.

  It made sense now that I saw people’s powers come out around Brady. He was accidentally triggering them. But where was all this supposed darkness? We hadn’t really seen anything that seemed that bad. Anger, yes. A bit of maliciousness, yes. But something that black, like evil? Where was it?

  “It’s nothing that you can control, nothing that you do on purpose,” Shawn said. “It’s simply who you are, who you were born to be.”

  Brady looked as if Shawn had slapped him. But then he recovered, his sharp mind always working, thinking.

  “Well can’t you get rid of it, like you did for Trace?”

  “I could try.”

  “Then do it. I didn’t ask for any of this and I don’t want to be a part of it,” Brady stated vehemently.

  “You’ll have to come back tomorrow. I don’t have any more of the herbs with me. I’ll have to get more.”

  “Fine. Whatever it takes.”

  Unease prickled up and down my spine. I searched my heart, looking for the source, for what it was that Shawn had said or done that made the situation suddenly seem not quite right, but I found nothing. And yet I still felt…

  “All right then, we’ll meet back here tomorrow night. Same time.” Shawn’s declaration interrupted my troubling musings.

  “Fine,” Brady agreed sharply.

  “Trace, remember that it is of vital importance that no one, especially Rebekah, know what has happened or find out that you’re no longer under her influence.”

  “I understand,” Trace assured docilely.

  “It’s time for you to go. It’s not safe for you to be here very long,” Shawn explained.

  “Dad, before you go, what were those things last night?”

  “They were the children of the moon. They’re second nature is tied directly to the lunar cycles. They are slaves to it, they’re bound to it. Some are werewolves, some are windegos, some are grendels. There are many manifestations of that power.”

  I saw Trace swallow nervously. “So, I’m like them? I’m one of them?”

  Shawn nodded.

  “Why? Why aren’t I like you?”

  Shawn shrugged. “No one knows what their second nature is until it manifests after exposure to the power of Two Lakes. It changes you. That’s why you can never go back once you leave. You’d die.”

  “We’re not in Two Lakes now. Why doesn’t this count?”

  “You’re at the outside realm, which is like a buffer zone where a small amount of the power still leeches out. That’s why I can meet you here. It’s not so much that I can’t be here, and not enough that you can’t go back.”

  “So what did Two Lakes change you into? What are you?”

  “I’m a gorgon.”

  “A gorgon? What’s that?”

  “Gorgons have some traits that are similar to a reptile. We can taste the air, sensing other supernatural beings in the vicinity. Our bodies are difficult to harm, as our bones can shift easily. Our defenses are the most notable thing, though, and the reason for the glasses. My eyes can turn people to stone.”

  “All the time? I mean, you can’t control it? The eye thing?”

  “Well, I can control it most of the time, but sometimes it’s reflexive. That’s why I wear the glasses. I don’t want to accidentally hurt someone. You know, friendly fire and all.”

  Trace laughed. Brady laughed. But I couldn’t find Shawn’s glib “friendly fire” comment amusing for some reason. He’d begun to tickle my internal danger antennae in an unpleasant way that I couldn’t put my finger on. All I knew for sure was that I didn’t trust him. Beyond that, he was a bit of a mystery.

  “Well, you’d better go. We’ll have plenty of time for explanations and catching up later. Besides,” he said, his head shifting in Lacey’s direction. She’d been quietly standing behind Brady, listening and observing with a slightly stricken expression on her face. “I think you owe this young lady some answers.” After what I felt was a slimy smile, no pun intended, he turned back to Trace. “You all need to get back before you’re caught.”

  All of us seemed to be reacting to the entire run-in with Shawn in a different way. Lacey just looked lost, of course. Nei
ther Trace nor Brady seemed suspicious of Shawn or anything he’d said. I, on the other hand, found myself questioning everything.

  As we walked away from the river, everyone else was thankfully preoccupied, giving me the space I needed to stay completely lost in thought. Somehow, despite the innumerable questions that undoubtedly cluttered her mind, Lacey managed to hold her tongue. And, strangely, the boys talked about football. After everything that had happened recently, after everything we’d been through and learned and seen, they were talking about sports. I couldn’t really be mad. I was just thankful that it seemed their impasse was over. At least temporarily. That or Brady had a sense that things had changed between Trace and me and he had nothing left to fear. I would much rather it have been the former, but I had the sinking feeling that it was the latter.

  “All right, man, we’ll talk tomorrow,” Trace promised veering off to walk between the Jeep and his truck. “Later,” he added, hopping in behind the steering wheel and quickly shutting the door. And with that—without a single private word or indication that he’d ever harbored deep feelings for me—he was gone.

  I felt the sting of bitter tears bite at the backs of my eyes as well as at the bottom of my heart. How could something so amazing happen so quickly and then disappear without a trace? As I stood watching him go, I realized with a nearly-unbearable heaviness that it was because it hadn’t been real. That’s how he could so easily and so blithely walk away. Our love had been some form of ancient magic—unfathomable and irretrievable—not anything based in reality.

  But if that was true, why did it hurt so badly?

  “P, you coming?” Brady asked.

  My head whipped toward him guiltily. He was standing in the V of the door, holding the driver’s side seat up so I could climb in the back. Lacey was already seated in the front passenger seat. I swallowed the lump of emotion that had formed in my throat. “Yep, I’m coming.”

  He waited for me to reach him, but rather than stepping aside so I could climb into the back, he curled his forearm around my neck and pulled me in for one of his rare brotherly hugs. He said nothing, only gave me a light squeeze, but I knew exactly what the gesture meant. Brady was an excellent non-verbal communicator. He was telling me that he was sorry things were over between Trace and me.

  And so was I.

  On the short drive home, I listened as Brady confessed his secret to Lacey and Lacey pretended to be surprised. Bravely, she ended up telling him about her second nature, which she expressed was a concern to her until she learned from Shawn that none of us could really hurt each other until we were fully mature and away from Two Lakes. I think she reiterated it as much for Brady’s benefit as her own. I could tell she was relieved and I was happy for her.

  All this played as a hum-like background noise to the other myriad thoughts in my head, most of which pertained to Trace. After their big revelations, Brady tried to draw me out with some teasing. His mood was light and I knew he was trying to cheer me up. I could tell. Little did he know, it was no use. Some integral piece of my heart, of my soul, of me, was missing and no amount of joking or small talk would numb the pain of it being torn away.

  We were nearly home when the familiar whispering began. As I struggled to make sense of it, Brady took notice of my expression in the rearview mirror. When I could finally hear past the voices in my head, I realized he was calling to me.

  “Peyton, answer me! What’s wrong?”

  I gasped when I realized what “they,” the voices, were trying to tell me, what it all meant. “It’s Trace. He’s in trouble.”

  “How could you possibly know that? Is this about you wanting to—”

  “Brady, I’m serious,” I interrupted. “And no, this has nothing to do with me or my feelings. I just learned something very important, something that makes a huge difference.”

  “And what’s that?” he asked skeptically.

  “Witches are bound by their powers to do no harm. It’s part of their gifting. They have no choice in the matter. They can’t use their magic for bad.”

  “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “It means that Rebekah was never trying to hurt Trace. She’s not the bad guy here.”

  “All right, so she’s not what Shawn thought. What’s the big deal?”

  “But that’s the thing, Brady. Think about it. If she didn’t use her magic to mislead Trace like Shawn said, then what really happened? ”

  “What are you getting at? Who is the bad guy then?”

  I sighed in exasperation. “To be so smart, you can be incredibly dense at times,” I grumbled. “It means that Trace’s dad is not who we think he is. He’s not the good guy trying to rescue his son.”

  “What? Yes, he is. He helped Trace.”

  “I should’ve paid attention to my gut,” I mumbled. “I knew something didn’t feel right about him.”

  “Peyton, you sound like a friggin’ lunatic. The guy is just trying to save his son from this…this…from this freak show.”

  I looked at Brady, dead in the eye, my gaze never wavering. “No, he’s not, Brady. He is up to something and I promise you it’s no good.”

  Brady flung his hands in annoyance. “Peyton, there’s no way you could know that.”

  “Yes, there is! I can know this the same way I’ve known about all this other stuff. Whatever is happening to me hasn’t failed me yet. I’ve known what’s going on before anyone else. It helps me understand, Brady. How can you doubt it now?”

  “Dude,” Lacey said from the passenger seat, finally piping up. “Trust her. She knows what she’s talking about.”

  Brady eyed Lacey before growling in frustration.

  “Why don’t you want to believe me?”

  Brady looked back at me, his eyes flashing angrily. “Because I was hoping that he could help get us out of here, away from all this. I was hoping to avoid growing up into some sort of mutant, ya know? Is that so wrong?”

  For a moment, I actually felt sorry for Brady. So much had happened recently, he’d learned and seen so many disturbing things, it was no wonder he was wigging out a little. He had yet to have a meltdown, which I felt sure all of us deserved at some point. He’d come to terms with his condition and he wanted out. And no one, least of all me, could blame him.

  “It’s not wrong, Brady, but it’s not gonna happen. At least not this way. Right now, we have to tell Trace. And he’s not gonna like it.”

  “Now? It’s the middle of the night.”

  “Brady, just go!”

  With a huff, Brady slowed to a stop and took the next left to circle back around and head toward Trace’s house. I felt a nervousness that I hadn’t felt before. I knew Trace wouldn’t like what I had to say, and I was afraid he’d be mad at me for saying it. The loss of our connection would only exacerbate matters, but still I would try. I had to try.

  The closer Brady got to Trace’s house, the more anxious I got. When he turned onto their street, we were easily able to see that stealth would not be a problem. It appeared that literally every light in the house was on. There was not a window that did not have a brightly-shining glow behind it.

  “That can’t be good,” Brady said direly as he pulled along the curb in front of Trace’s house.

  “That’s exactly what I was thinking.”

  He cut the engine and we sat staring at the house.

  “What should we do?” I asked.

  Brady shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “Brady!”

  “Go home?”

  “We can’t.”

  “Then what?”

  “Front door?”

  “You think?”

  “Why not?”

  “It’s late.”

  “They’re up.”

  “Good point.”

  “You ready?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “Look.”

  Through the picture window at the front of the house, we could see two shadows, pr
esumably Trace and his mother, embracing.

  “Looks like he’s not gonna be doing anything rash tonight. Give the guy some credit, P. He’s actually pretty smart.”

  “I know that, Brady. Smart has nothing to do with it. We’re all in over our heads.”

  “True dat,” Lacey mumbled from the front seat.

  “So what now?” Brady asked.

  As I sat there debating, I could see lights being extinguished throughout the house, one by one, until the house was dark. They were turning in for the night. If I’d had a chance, it was now officially gone.

  With a sigh, I leaned back in my seat. “Let’s just go. Maybe I can talk to him tomorrow.”

  And with that, Brady drove us home.

  ********

  All day Sunday, I consoled myself with the fact that I would see Trace and be able to tell him about his father. That made me happy for two reasons: that I would get to tell him my important news and that I would get to see him again. Sadly, the latter felt much more significant than the former, which was totally wrong and incredibly selfish.

  Only Trace never showed. When eight o’clock had come and gone, both Brady and I had tried many times to call him and had driven by his house as well, all to no avail. There was simply no sign of Trace. Anywhere.

  Brady wanted to drive back out to the meadow to look for him, but I finally managed to talk him out of it. I knew that the worst thing we could do would be to get anywhere near Shawn Kramer. And that was an incredibly difficult decision to make, because I felt sure that I wanted to find Trace more than any of us. But I had to think with my head, not my heart, and my head was screaming for us not to go. So we didn’t.

  Now it was Monday and the day was dragging by. It was only the third period of the day and I felt like it was midnight. I was that tired, yes, but more than exhaustion, I felt a darkness permeating my day, my life. It didn’t help that I was functioning on a little over an hour’s sleep. I had lain in bed and wallowed in my misery and worry over Trace most of the night and, as a result, was feeling more like a zombie than a human—even an “enhanced” human.