The big guy uncrossed his arms and spread them out while his lips curled into a smug smile. “So, how’s my light look to you, baby?”
Greta glared at him. What could she say? She could see auras as well as I could, and she had to have noticed that this guy’s aura was the most bright, beautiful thing we’d seen since Brighid arrived in the Umbra Perdita.
“Well?” he asked.
Greta stared at him a moment, then turned and left him standing there. Greta never admitted to being wrong, so if she left a fight, it was as close as you’d ever get to a concession from her.
I went to Jake and his friend.
“I’m glad you came,” I said. I gave him my most sincere smile and hoped he could see that I truly meant it. “And who is your friend?”
“Tristan Fields, at your service,” he said and bowed. He rose from his bow and looked straight into my eyes. Tristan’s eyes twinkled with mischief and warmth. He held out one of his beefy hands to me. As I put my hand in his, he put his other hand over mine, and my pale hand was swallowed in his warm grip. “Nice to meet you.”
Tristan held my eyes with his. My hand was still swallowed in his, and I found my mouth didn’t work as well as I wanted it to. “It’s … it’s nice to, you know, nice to meet you too. I’m, I mean, we’re, well, you’re a good thing, I mean, it will be good to, I mean, it’s … Welcome, Tristan.”
He’s going to think there’s something wrong with me. And Jake will think he’s made a mistake and leave.
“Thank you,” Tristan said, and he released my hand.
I turned my head to face Greta. Her arms were crossed across her chest, and she wore a scowl directed at Jake. I guess she was pissed that Jake hadn’t followed the law she’d laid down for him.
I turned back to Jake. He regarded me coolly but didn’t make a move to run away from my sputtering idiocy or my motley crew of Lucents.
“Greta, I’m sorry I didn’t follow ‘the rules’. But Tristan here, well, I figured you could use a guy like him.”
“Don’t worry about it, Jake,” I said. “But how did you know he was Lucent?”
“I can tell a bad dude from a good one.”
I’d gotten so used to the fact that I could see auras, I’d forgotten that most people had other senses they relied on to tell them the same thing.
“Of course. Well, come in and meet everyone. Then we need to get to work.”
I introduced Jake and Tristan around to everybody. Then, as if no one new had entered the room, everyone went back to what they were doing before Jake and Tristan arrived. The crowd dispersed, and Jake stood in the middle of the room alone. He looked lost.
“Hey, Julie,” I called. Julie walked over, and I said, “Why don’t you work with Tristan today. You can practice that uppercut that I showed you.”
“Good idea,” she said. She whispered to me, “How old do you think he is?”
“I don’t know. Twenty maybe.”
“Hmm, that’s not too young, is it?”
“For what?”
“How old are you?” she asked.
“Seventeen. I’ll be eighteen in April,” I said.
“Come talk to me in April and I’ll tell you.” Julie winked at me and walked over to Tristan.
I closed the gap between Jake and I. “I’m glad you came,” I said.
“Okay,” he replied.
Okay? That’s it? His face was impassive.
“So, this is the group that’s supposed to save the world from the darkness?” He looked around the room as he asked it and made no effort to hide the disappointment written on his face. I followed his eyes around the room.
Greta was working with John, trying to show him how to do a roundhouse kick. Despite her repeated demonstration of a perfect roundhouse, John kept kicking inward instead of outward, which caused him to stumble each time.
“No! Kick to the outside. Like this.” Greta again exhibited a beautiful roundhouse, kicking to the outside so that her foot came down in a perfect and stable plant.
“Okay. Got it,” John said. He kicked again, and again he kicked to the inside and stumbled. Greta rolled her eyes and let out a big breath. Her face was beet red. I could see in her face that she was trying to be patient with John and not kick him as a lesson.
Tanner worked with Ashley and Megan. Tanner had taken karate classes when he was a kid, so he knew a few things. But Ashley’s eyes were glued to Tristan, not Tanner. And Megan … Well, let’s just say that Greta and I knew that we better never let Megan walk alone. She was as sweet a person as you’d ever meet, but a strong wind could blow the girl over.
“A bit pathetic, huh?” I said.
“You can say that,” Jake replied.
“Look, that’s why they need me – us. And why we all need to stick together.”
“I guess.”
Awkward, stiff and cold. Before the Umbra Perdita, Jake and I had never had an awkward conversation with each other. It was like he was trying his best to be in a room with me and still avoid me. Awkward had become our new normal.
“Well, no use standing around,” I said. “Let’s train.”
I walked over to the ‘weapons’ table. Okay, it was more of a repository for junk we’d collected that we thought maybe-sort-of-could-be used as a weapon. We had a lovely assortment of worn ball bats, big sticks, old hunting knives, rusty kitchen knives, a few beat-up swords from Greta’s father’s collection, and a total of one mid-twentieth century handgun. I picked up two long sticks that Tanner and I had sanded and smoothed into makeshift bo staffs.
I walked back to Jake and tossed him one. I was a bit surprised that he caught it. Jake had never been the athletic type. His only form of exercise had been typing on a keyboard, switching channels on the remote, or opening a can of Coke.
“Nice … stick. What are we training for here? Building a campfire?”
“Ha, ha. It’s a staff.”
“Sure it is.”
“It works.” I swung my staff toward Jake with the intention of smacking him across the legs with it, but he blocked my swing. “Nice block.”
He didn’t answer but came at me full force with a two-handed thrust intended for my face. I’ll admit it caught me off guard. I didn’t expect him to recover from a block with such speed or to come at me with such power. I was able to block the hit, our wood pieces clacking against each other.
Jake’s eyes were wide, and his pupils were dilated, which made his eyes look dark. He really wants to do me some damage.
“Don’t take my head off.”
He didn’t answer with words or wait for me to get my bearings. He came at me again with a strong swing, and he didn’t let up. We became locked in a fight. He thrust that stick at me again and again as if I was his mortal enemy. It forced me to stay on my toes to keep blocking his aggressive hits.
“Jake, I’m not your enemy,” I panted.
“We’re supposed to be training to fight off the shadow people, aren’t we? They’re tough. Or is this too hard for you?” He found an opening, and his stick hit me hard across the ribs.
“This? Too hard? I don’t think so.” I’d been mostly blocking. But I decided to stop playing a solely defensive game and add an offense. “Is this too hard for you?” I asked and landed a solid uppercut to his chin with the end of my staff.
You’re never going to kill anyone with an uppercut to the chin. The jaw is a solid piece of hardware. But if you catch it the right way and open up the skin, it sure does bleed like it’ll never stop.
Jake’s neck and shirt were instantly covered in blood. He instinctively stepped back from me and held his palm over his chin, trying to stop the flow of blood.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you so hard,” I said. I went to him and reached out to put my hand on his shoulder.
He flinched away. “Sure you didn’t,” he said. “Don’t worry about it. It wasn’t that hard anyway. A lucky shot.”
Not that hard? He’s full of crap.
/> But I didn’t argue with him. I’d just made the man bleed all over himself. I didn’t want to hurt his manly pride any further.
“Greta! We’ve got blood over here. Can you grab a towel and those bandages?”
Greta came over with a worn-out hand towel and an old box of large band-aids. She handed the towel to Jake, rolled her eyes at him, and walked away without a word. A small crowd of people had come over to see who was bleeding and why, but I sent them packing.
“He’s okay. Just a stick to the face. Get back to it,” I said. Everyone dispersed, and Jake and I were once again alone. Jake held the towel against his leaking chin, trying to stop the blood.
I’d knocked his male ego down a few pegs. Smooth things over, Emily. Don’t play the bitch because he’s being a turd. Take the high road.
“You’ve gotten … stronger,” I said.
“Yoga,” he replied.
“Cool.”
Damn, Jake, throw me a bone here. I’m trying to be nice.
“And you’ve got moves with that staff. Have you taken classes, or is it natural talent?”
Jake pulled the towel away from his face and looked at the bloody mess he held in his hands. He felt his chin with his hand. It still bled a little, but no longer gushed crimson.
“I’m here to help this little band of misfits and out-of-shape middle-agers stay Lucent. I’m not here for you. You and I aren’t friends anymore, so you can cut with the small talk and trying to get on my good side.”
“We haven’t been friends for over a year, Jake.”
“No, we haven’t, thanks to you.”
Damn, will he ever stop throwing it in my face? I couldn’t hold in the blow of exasperated hot breath that escaped my lips and the roll of my eyes.
“Okay, you got it. Not friends. But we’ll be here together every day. I need to understand the boundaries. If we’re not friends, what are we?”
“We’re going into business together, not bed together.”
“That was a presumptuous asshole statement if I ever heard one.”
“Well, consider your business partner an asshole, then.”
“Whatever you say. Oh, and you’re bleeding like a stuck pig again, partner,” I said. I turned my back on him and took my staff back to the table.
Go to bed together? He wishes. He wants a business relationship? Fine, that’s what he’ll get. I’ll give him business.
When he’d walked into that room, my heart raced at the sight of him. I’d felt instantly happy at the possibility that we’d at least be able to resume our friendship. And who knows? In time, maybe we’d even become something more.
But my hope was like a wooden rowboat smashed to smithereens on a rocky shore. I had my back to the room, and it was a good thing too. I felt the hot liquid well in my eyes.
Don’t cry. Be strong. Don’t let them see you cry. Don’t let him see you cry.
I needed to hit something – hard. The only release for my anger, hurt and frustration and – let’s be honest – sexual tension was to punch and kick things.
I sucked in a deep breath, gathered myself, and turned to face the room again.
“Tanner, Megan, Ashley and Julie. Time for a new skill.”
The new skill I taught them was fighting off a raging maniac. I figured between the four of them I’d be able get out my frustrations and teach them some defensive moves without anyone going home broken up too bad.
After about ten minutes of sparring with them, everything got quiet. Swords stopped clanging, and wooden sticks stopped clacking. Hand-to-hand combat abruptly ended. I was showing Julie how to land a swift kick to the groin to bring a guy to his knees. She stopped paying attention too. Someone was banging on the door.
It was almost five-thirty and near the end of our session. There were a few people in our group who hadn’t shown up that day, but they wouldn’t come that late.
Everyone looked at me, and I looked at Greta. I walked towards her, and the others began to gather round. “Did any of you invite anyone new?” They all shook their heads.
I began to walk toward the door. “You’re not suggesting that we open it, are you?” asked Greta.
“Not sure,” I said.
I got to the door, closed my eyes, and grounded myself with breath. My hands reached toward the door, and I placed them flat and allowed my palms to touch the cold metal. I couldn’t see what was on the other side of that door, but I sensed Lucent Energy.
“Greta, come open the door.”
“Are you crazy?” yelled Greta. “I’m not opening the door for a stranger.”
“It’s okay,” I said.
“Emily …”
“Trust me.”
Greta hesitated a minute, but then came over, punched in the code, and swung the door open.
Outside was a lone woman. Her eyes were wide with fear, but her aura glowed Lucent.
“Hurry, get in where it’s safe,” I said. I gestured with my hand for her to come in. The woman hesitated for a moment as she looked behind her, but she stepped into our space.
The woman looked like she was probably in her mid-thirties. She had mocha skin and tightly cropped hair. She was of average height, wide-hipped and even wider-eyed.
The group began to walk slowly toward her and surround her. I sensed her fear. I could almost feel the vibration of her heart beating from where I stood.
“Is this another one of your uninvited guests, Jake?” Greta asked.
He shook his head in response. Greta turned back to the woman. “This is a private group. Invite only. Did someone invite you?”
The woman shook her head.
“I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” Greta said.
The woman’s eyes got wider still, but she didn’t move.
“Look, I’ve asked you nicely. Don’t make us show you out the hard way.”
The group moved closer. Some of them hadn’t yet had the opportunity – no, need – to test their new skills. They looked like they’d welcome the chance to see some action. One word from Greta or I and they’d kick her out.
The group crept closer, surrounded her, but still the woman didn’t move. She looked around, found my eyes, and looked straight at me.
She’s looking me in the eye. Doesn’t she realize never to do that with someone you don’t know?
“They took her,” she said to me.
I moved closer, and the group parted for me as I walked to where the woman stood.
“Took who?” I asked.
“My daughter, Brianna. My sweeting,” she said. Her wild, dark eyes filled with tears.
“I’m very sorry,” I said. “You’re not alone. They’ve taken a lot of people.”
“They’ve taken my sweeting,” she repeated.
“Look, she wasn’t invited,” Greta said. “We’ve got rules for a reason.”
“I know, Greta. But look at her.”
I hoped that Greta knew what I meant. I didn’t mean just look at her face or body. I meant her aura. By the way Greta looked, I knew that she’d gotten my point.
The woman who stood before us had an aura that was as bright and clear as almost anyone that I’d seen. It was almost as bright as Tristan’s. Most people who have experienced the violence and loss from the Dark Mob that she had experienced had auras that were smudged, or at least filled with dark spots. That she could live through her daughter being taken and still be filled by Lucent Energy was rare and remarkable.
“Do you see it?”
“Yes, I see it. But–”
“But nothing,” I said. “We need all of the Lucent Energy we can get. And this woman is practically glowing with Lucent Energy!”
I took her hand in mine, and it was warm and dry. I gave it a squeeze. She forced a small smile at me.
“Have you come to join us?”
She nodded.
“How did you learn about us and our location?”
“It wasn’t easy. After they took my daughter, I vowed to find her. So
I started talking to people – other people who’ve lost someone.”
“Most people have lost someone these days,” said Tristan.
“Yeah, so I figured if we banded together, we’d have a better chance of finding our lost ones. Most people are too scared to talk ’bout it. But a few talked, and we shared what we knew. A few days ago, I met a guy – said he’d heard there was some group getting together and that they were going to fight ’em. He gave me some other guy’s name, and then I was passed along through a bunch of people until I finally found someone who’d tell me where y’all meet.”
“It looks like we’ll have to change our location soon if we’re that easy to find,” John said.
“If you want to fight the Dark Mob, you’ve come to the right place,” I said. I gave her the best smile I could muster.
“I need to find her,” she said.
I wanted to turn away from her. She’d come to us for hope. I didn’t want to dash her hope with a look on my face that said ‘good luck with that’. But that’s what I was thinking. We weren’t even sure yet what, exactly, the Dark Mob was. Was it a cohesive group with a leader? Or was it just a bunch of random acts of violence with no master plan? We kept saying things like ‘they took her’, but we didn’t know who ‘they’ were. And if there was a cohesive group – a ‘they’ – we didn’t know where ‘they’ were. We didn’t even know if the people who’d been snatched were still alive. And if they were alive, were they still Lucent?
All I had were questions, no answers. But that wasn’t the right thing to tell her. Not then. Too much reality can be a bitch.
“I can’t promise that I can find your daughter. But I can promise you this: I’ll give my last breath trying.”
She hugged me tightly to her. Her hug was full of strength and warmth. I hugged her back and felt glad that she’d come to us. As I hugged her, some of her pain at the loss of her daughter seeped into me. We both shed a few tears as we hugged.
That’s how we met Taisha, and how I got another mission. I’d search for Taisha’s sweeting, and I had a suspicion that when I found her, I’d again be in a fight for my life.
The Akasha Chronicles Trilogy Boxed Set: The Complete Emily Adams Series Page 53
