Sweet Sleep (The Children of Ankh Book 1)

by Kim Cormack

  Lexy grabbed a knife off of the counter and sliced her palm. She placed her dripping hand on the side of the first tomb, sending a current through all of the attached tombs; they lit up and pulsated twice with a giant surge of energy. This would warn the rest of the clan that something was amiss back in the land of the living. Lexy grabbed her head and bent over, willing the violent toxic visions to stop repeating in her mind. It would be extremely helpful if the psychic visions had a time stamp.

  Back in the In Between Lily said, “How in the hell did you transfer your visions to my mind?”

  “We have to go home right now,” were the first words out of Kevin’s mouth, his voice raspy, and thick with emotion.

  “Lexy was torn apart … there was so much blood. I saw Lexy and you, Grey, being torn apart, too.”

  Grey threw his hands up in the air, “Awe, shit, not bloody again. I hate dying that way. Just tell me that I’m not being eaten, because being eaten really sucks.”

  Lily commanded the group’s attention again simply by the look on her face. The whispering panic lulled to a stop. Lily spoke solemnly, “This is why we have you here, Kevin. Now we know ahead of time so the events can be changed and shifted to suit our needs. As we train, the events will change. That is what would happen to us right now if we went back. After a couple weeks of training in the In Between there will be a different outcome.”

  Lily touched Frost’s shoulder and she whispered, “You give Chloe whatever she needs from you to find peace.”

  Grey continued to pace back and forth and curse like a sexy-accented truck driver cut off in traffic.

  Lily put her hand on his shoulder and whispered, “Grey, if something is going to eat you. I promise to stab you in the head. If every single piece of you is eaten and I have to find you a new body, I will make sure it’s just as sexy as this one.” Lexy gave Grey a condescending pat on the shoulder.

  “I don’t care about my sexy body, it friggin’ hurts,” Grey complained in his thick Aussie accent, causing smiles even in the face of dismemberment. This sent Grey into an over-dramatic hissy fit, “Oh, yeah, have a good laugh at my accent. You bloody idiots. Do you have any words that you want me to say today?”

  Frost piped up, grinning from ear to ear, “Say encyclopedia.”

  Grey attacked Frost, wrestling him into a choke hold while Frost was laughing hysterically.

  “Is it still funny, you asshole?” Grey hissed, completely out of breath as he struggled for dominance in his testosterone filled tantrum.

  “I’m going to pee myself. Stop, please, stop. It’s not funny. I swear it’s not funny.”

  Frost chuckled as Grey released him from the choke hold and threw him down. He thudded on his behind in the sand.

  Lily yelled harshly, “Enough fooling around, you two.”

  “Hey … where’s Kayn?” Kevin questioned.

  “I’m going to look for her, Kevin. Come with me. I think I know where she is,” Lily answered, “and I think you need to be there, too.”

  “Don’t we have to warn Lexy? What happens if she dies before we get back?” Chloe whispered in Frost’s ear.

  In that moment their symbols began to strobe. Lily held up her hand to show him that her symbol was glowing, but he was already staring at his own.

  She said, “As soon as multiple tombs began to flash, including mine. Lexy would have known something was wrong. Our symbols are going off like this in response. This warns us that something has gone wrong back in the land of the living. The rest of our clan is already on their way to the house. Lexy is a bad ass. We don't worry about Lexy.”

  As they began to walk away from the others, Lily grabbed Kevin’s hand and held it in her own.

  She said, “Understand one thing clearly, we cannot actually die. None of us can pass through here to the hall of souls to be reborn. You die, you come here. End of story. Lexy will secure herself in the basement, and she will heal us until the very last moment. When she shows up here it means the battle has come into the house. Then we just wait here for the rest of our clan to come and bail us out.”

  Chapter 25

  The Triad Connection

  Kayn opened her eyes. She was standing in Kevin’s grandmother’s kitchen. The pots hung as they always had above the small island in the center of the room. A faint lavender scent still lingered in the air. The herbs were growing quite large on the window sill. Slivered rays of sunshine crept through the vertical blinds making the room dark, yet warm and safe feeling.

  Kayn had been putting two and two together since she had noticed Granny Winnie’s amulet. She understood what had happened now. Kayn could sense someone else’s presence in the room. She turned to smile at Kevin’s grandmother who gave her a giant hug.

  Granny said, “You have no idea how glad I am to see you, dear.”

  “You died?” Kayn questioned, leaning out from the embrace as a shadow darkened Granny’s eyes.

  Granny replied, “I have known exactly when, and how I was going to die for a very long time.”

  Kayn embraced Granny Winnie again tightly. She was afraid if she let go that Granny would disappear into the hall of souls before Kevin got a chance to say goodbye.

  Granny Winnie whispered, “You do not have to worry, dear. I will be here for a long time. I couldn’t get through to the hall of souls if I wanted to. Granny opened the top button on her blouse to reveal a brand on her skin by her heart. Then she began to tell the tale of her life, or a horror story, depending on how you looked at it.

  “When I was very young I was taken into a clan. They had taken me from my orphanage. I was only sixteen-years-old and extremely naïve, but I was very smart—survival skills smart. I had always seen things that other people couldn’t see. The Triad said it was a gift. I felt like I had a family for the very first time. I knew that my clan took care of the business that the other two clans didn’t have the stomach for. I knew that the only chance I had was to turn off my emotions completely. I had to allow my heart and my soul to go dark. I had to assimilate in order to keep from totally destroying what little of myself I still held on to.

  I was quite pretty, and I caught the eye of the clan leader. I fell in love with him. When I realized I was pregnant, I knew the only way that I could leave was to pretend that my brain had been damaged. The clan leader that I had loved so desperately dropped me off at the sanitarium and walked away. There was only one person that came to visit me. She was the most exotically beautiful girl. She noticed I was expecting. I waited, terrified that a corrections team was coming for me. They never came and I named my daughter Lillian, after her.”

  Kayn smiled, knowing that it had been their Lily that had come to see her that day so very long ago. She had given Granny Winnie’s baby a chance to live by saying nothing of its existence.

  Granny continued to speak, “My plan was to be a model patient so they would see me as harmless and eventually let me go. I played nice and made friends with all of the orderlies and doctors. I showed myself to be a gentle, kind, spirited yet slightly vacant person. They released me without a hassle upon the birth of my child. I think they were hoping that a staff member had not fathered my child.

  I found a church where I told my story to a pastor who was an incredible man. I think he thought that I had been kidnapped and raped by some kind of demonic cult. They protected me and kept me safe, hiding me for a few years until my eighteenth birthday had safely passed. I had a beautiful baby girl and met a nice man named Paul who was a really incredible and gentle man. He had been a member of the church’s congregation.

  We got married and moved away to a new town for a fresh start. My husband Paul acted like the baby was his to everyone that we met. He died in a tragic accident when Kevin’s mother Lillian was only six months old, leaving me a widow, which was more acceptable in that day and age than an unwed mother. I always felt guilty that I had never truly loved Paul. I had allowed him to save me, and he did in a million different ways every single day. I did ca
re for him deeply though, and I was devastated when he died.

  I carried a part of Lillian’s father with me everywhere I went and always wondered if he had eventually gone completely mad with power. Kevin’s real grandfather was a very powerful and dangerous man. Kevin’s grandfather is Tiberius, the leader of Clan Triad.”

  Kayn’s heart froze inside of her chest. She had been following along, yes, but hadn’t absorbed the possible gravity of the situation until those words had been spoken aloud, “What exactly does that mean for Kevin?” Kayn whispered, afraid that if she spoke too loudly someone would hear her.

  Granny gently gave her a reassuring stroke and said, “Your future is a choose your own adventure story. You will both make decisions, and your futures will be altered accordingly.”

  Kayn felt as though she had been holding her breath for ten minutes, and she exhaled in relief. She couldn’t stomach the thought of ever losing Kevin. She loved him, yes, but they were way more than simple teenage words of love. He was her very best friend. They had been inseparable since early childhood. Almost every single beautiful, memory that she held dear included him in one way or another. Kayn could close her eyes and be transported back to a million memories of him. She could feel the bliss of lying in a field full of buttercups staring at the clouds above her. Kevin was always there by her side. They had been untainted by life and the only things they had complained about were his height and her sister’s magical, imaginary at that time, voodoo powers. They had played pranks on each other and talked about school and television shows.

  They had spent their time imagining their future. A future that was nonexistent now. For now, their future had no real end. Kayn wondered where everything had gone wrong for a moment and then came to the silent realization that the future that they had imagined had never been theirs to have. They had a completely different future that had been set in motion long before they were ever a twinkle in their parents’ eyes.

  Kayn whispered, “Kevin could be more than just a psychic?”

  “Nobody knows what Kevin is. He looks just like my side of the family, but I know that if anyone from Triad sees his brother, Clay, they would catch on rather quickly. Clay looks exactly like his grandfather. So close that they could be identical twins."

  Kayn realized that she’d missed an important fact. “You aren't dead?” She spouted, suddenly excited. “You can get a new body and come back with us.”

  Granny Winnie looked excited. She said, “I have other plans for my future.” She hopped up grinning from ear to ear and whispered, “Kevin is here—do not say a word to him. I want to see how much he knows all by himself.”

  Kayn could tell how much Granny Winnie loved the fact that her power had been passed on to someone in her family.

  Granny announced, “Kevin you’re finally here, my sweet boy.”

  Kevin walked into the room and said, “I thought maybe I could sneak up on you.

  “You can never sneak up on a psychic. It’s the whole point of being a psychic. To know things before they actually happen, silly,” Granny chuckled as Kevin walked towards her.

  Kevin was a little choked up as he said, “You died obviously. Couldn’t you have changed it?”

  She replied, “I was ready to go, Kevin. I let it happen because I know that if I had changed one thing about today it may have left you and your family exposed, dear. I had to pretend that I didn’t see them coming. Granny decided to clarify what she had meant and whispered, “If I had fought back, Kevin, I would have exposed your mother, your brother, and you.” She hugged Kevin. Granny began to squirm in his arms. Kevin pulled away from his Grandmother and stammered, “What in the hell was that?”

  Granny whispered, “I willed my ability to you. We are connected.”

  Kevin reached over and grabbed an apple out of the bowl on the table out of habit. He smelled it and took a bite. He smiled and passed it to Kayn and said, “Try this.”

  Kayn took it out of his hand and took a bite. It was real. It was the most delicious apple she had ever tasted in her life. She looked into his eyes and said, “That is incredible.” She took another bite and passed it back to him.

  Granny Winnie began to speak to them both, “Every day your futures are altered according to the decisions you make. That is where a psychic comes in handy. You will hear this in a million versions, but it all means the same thing. Out of great devastation comes a greater healing. Out of great pain comes victory. The three clans have a part in everything that happens. Sometimes you can be asked to do the unthinkable for the greater good. You must decide where that line of right and wrong exists within your own soul."

  “I could never kill a child,” Kayn said as if it were a simple fact.

  Granny queried, “What if the child had a virus that would kill thousands of people? What if one life could be traded for a thousand lives?” Granny was met by stone cold silence as both teens looked at each other with the recognition that they would not only be fighting other clans, but their own hearts.

  “Let me show you what I have been through, Kevin.” Granny grasped Kevin’s hands and laid them gently on her temples. “Try to see my memories again, dear. It’s important that you know everything.”

  Kevin’s hands made contact with his grandmother’s temples. He shut his eyes and held them there for a moment until he pulled them away as though they’d been hurt. He looked at his finger tips and then glanced up at his Grandmother.

  Kevin said, “So let me get this straight. I have a monster for a grandfather, and he is practically my brother’s double. I am Ankh now. I don’t have to be Triad?”

  “Yes,” Granny said, “You do not have to be Triad. Nobody in Clan Triad can ever see Clay. Your grandfather will want to use him as a new body, if his is destroyed, and Clay’s soul will be lost.”

  Kevin looked both mortified and amazed as he replied, “He would really just off his own grandson and steal his body?”

  “Without blinking,” Granny answered quietly.

  Kevin repeated, “You don’t have to die. You can come back with us?”

  Granny said, “I need to stay here for the time being. It’s too late to save my old body. I could experience being young again, and maybe I will eventually, but right now I would rather guide you. You have to trust me on this one. If I went back with you, it would complicate things.

  Kevin sat down at the kitchen table. He looked like he was trying to keep it together. He whispered, “What will Mom and Dad think happened to you?”

  Granny spoke cautiously, “They will never know what happened to either of us.

  Kevin looked confused and said, “I’m not ready to go anywhere”

  His granny shook her head and smiled sympathetically, “Oh, dear, you have to know there’s no choice. The Legion of Abaddon has seen Kayn.”

  “Come here, honey.” Granny whispered, signaling her closer with her delicate, bony finger.

  Kayn crouched beside Granny who stretched her hands out toward Kayn who felt her heart clench as her hands made contact with Granny’s soft veined skin.

  Granny said, “Kevin has his grandfather’s abilities. He will need everything I know to survive. Don’t try to stop it.”

  Kayn said, “Okay, I won’t try to stop it.”

  Granny Winnie summoned Kevin towards her. She took his hands and placed them on either side of her head. With his hands resting gently on her temples, he looked into her eyes, reddened from tears. Granny whispered, her voice tight, muffling her sobs and said, “I’m so sorry for everything. I thought if you never knew that you would be safe. I should have seen all of this.”

  “Can’t you just tell me whatever you need to say? I don’t want to do this again,” Kevin whispered back with an empathetic smile and misty eyes.

  Granny spoke now in a stern voice, “You need to force me to show you, Kevin. Try and see through the connection between us. Go inside of my mind and take everything that you need. And not a small piece like last time. You have to stay conn
ected to me until you take everything.”

  Kevin made an attempt to back away. Kayn touched his shoulder and said, “I think you have to do this Kevin.”

  Granny Winnie grasped his hands tightly and spoke sternly again, “You need to learn how to use this gift. If you can see someone’s memories, you can see what scares them. You will know what their worst nightmares are. You will know if they usually choose to run right or left—simple things that in a battle will give you the upper hand. You have to learn how to use it. It is going to hurt like hell, but you have to grow up and stop being a chicken shit.”

  “Did you seriously just call me a chicken shit?” Kevin chuckled. He placed his hands on his grandmother’s temples. Kayn was trying not to laugh as this was a serious situation, but watching Kevin be sworn at by his Grandmother was hilarious.

  Kevin appeared to be concentrating. “I can’t, nothing’s happening. I’m not sure what you want me to do?”

  He tried to drop his hands, but Granny held them there firmly and said, “The information you need is in there. Keep trying until you get it.”

  Kevin said under his breath, “I’ll try again.” He looked like he was in agony and he wanted to let go, but she held his hands firmly in place. Kayn had to fight the urge to stand up and slap Granny Winnie’s hands away. Kevin was scared. She could tell he was afraid. Then his eyes rolled back into his head, and he passed out cold on the kitchen floor.

  Lily walked into the room and said, “What happened to him?”

  Kayn rushed to his side. She whispered, “Kevin … Kevin wake up. She stroked his hair and kept repeating his name softly.

  Then Lily shoved her out of the way and said, “Oh, for heaven’s sake.” She hauled off and cuffed him across the face.

  “What in the hell was that for?” Kevin said, as he opened his eyes. “You three are practically on top of me.”

  Kayn began to giggle. All three of them were leaning over him staring right into his eyes. They all backed up a little, but were still over him.