The Akasha Chronicles Trilogy Boxed Set: The Complete Emily Adams Series

by Natalie Wright

  10. Business Partners

  Jake

  ‘Business partners’? What an ass.

  To her credit, Emily didn’t pound the fudge out of me. I’d aimed to keep my distance. Keep it cool. But everything I said came out like I was running for douche bag of the year award.

  Tristan dragged me to the crap-hole, boarded-up retail space that Emily and Greta referred to as ‘headquarters’ for their ‘Lucent Tribe’ for about two weeks. Emily never asked me to spar with her again, and she did her best to avoid me. She was pretty good at it. And she kept it all business like I’d asked her to.

  And it pissed me off.

  Maybe I wanted her to beg me. At least when she was buttering me up, I felt like I had the upper hand. But she’d gone and done what I asked of her, and with each passing day, I felt more and more attracted to her. It was like I was a sack filled with iron pilings and she was a magnet.

  It would have been easier to keep my distance if she’d turned out to be the same self-centered girl who’d taken my heart and stomped on it. But she wasn’t the same old Emily. Sure, she was still a sarcastic smart-ass most of the time, a trait I’d always found endearing. But she was also patient and helpful with everyone in the Tribe. And she didn’t show off with her magic like she used to.

  Emily had grown up, and she was more beautiful than ever.

  And I’d been a royal ass-hat to her.

  It was Saturday morning, and in keeping with my ‘new normal’, I walked to work, my head down, and tried not to find my way into any trouble before I got to the store. I was breaking Greta’s ‘walk only with a buddy rule’ and hoofed it solo. I wasn’t about to call Tristan over to walk me to work like I was some kind of pantywaist.

  Please let me get to work without running into any shadow dudes.

  The sky was clear blue, the air crisp. It was coat weather, but not parka weather. In the old days, it would have been a lovely, warmer-than-usual November day. But there weren’t any kids out playing football or people raking leaves or walking their dogs. The sidewalks were empty except for me. A chill ran down my spine that made me shiver more than the cold gave me cause to. I pulled my jacket around me a little tighter.

  My cell phone vibrated in my pants pocket and about made me have a stroke. My shaky hand pulled the phone out. A text from Emily?

  “I’m sorry to bug you, but I need you. Can you please come to my house? Now.”

  She’s asking me over to her house?

  “Can’t. On way to work,” I texted back.

  I kept walking while I typed and waited for an answer. After a couple of minutes without an answer, I figured maybe whatever it was could wait and she’d given up. But then my phone vibrated in my hand.

  “Something has happened.”

  What the hell is she talking about?

  “Can’t help right now. Gotta work. Call Greta.”

  Her text back was faster this time.

  “I know I have no right to ask, but I need YOU. It’s about my dad.”

  Liam?

  After Ireland, Liam had welcomed me like I was his own son. Remembering Liam giving me his firm, man handshake and kidding me like I was his own kid; feeding me his burnt food and strong coffee and talking with me about physics and Dr. Who while Emily rolled her eyes at us, leaving us to our geeked-out discussion like it was as normal to have me there as it was to breathe …

  Is she trying to manipulate me? Emily knew how much Liam meant to me. He was the father I’d never had. If she’s making up something lame about Liam to get me over to her house …

  I turned in the direction of her house before I finished texting her back. “On my way,” I said. I was going to be very late for work. I hope I don’t get fired. The job sucks, but I need it.

  Emily’s house. I’d been in that house more times than I could count. I’d been there when it was filled with her mother’s singing and colorful paintings. I’d been there, too, when it was dull grey and filled with her Aunt Muriel’s meanness and shrill yell. And I’d been there when it was once again filled with the warmth of family love, the gentle ribbing of Emily and her dad. But I hadn’t been there in over a year.

  I rounded the corner onto her street and knew immediately that something was wrong. The air didn’t have the crisp autumn smell. It smelled slightly sour and a bit like sulfur. It reminded me of …

  The Umbra Perdita.

  My legs began to run before I told them to. I ran as fast as I could down the deserted sidewalk, but stopped cold in my tracks as I approached her house.

  It was as if the entire house was in a bubble of super-cooled air. Goosebumps broke out on my arms and legs, making my hairs stand on end uncomfortably. And her house looked dead. There’s no other way to describe it. The fall Chrysanthemums they’d planted were brown and withered, the colors faded to dark brown and tan. The trees were naked. The leaves once green with hope were dead and withered. The bright white exterior seemed dulled, almost grey.

  But it had been a while since I’d seen her house. Maybe they’d just let things go. Most people are letting things go these days.

  When I got to the sidewalk leading up to her house, I texted her. “I’m outside your house.” In a few seconds, I heard her begin to unlock the deadbolts.

  I took the porch steps in one leap and bounded in one more step to the door. Before I could even knock, I heard the chain rattle and she opened the door. She took my hand and yanked me in, then quickly bolted and chained the door behind us.

  Before I could say hello or ask her what was up, she said, “My dad’s gone.”

  “What do you mean, gone?”

  “He’s been taken.”

  “Maybe he’s out running errands or something.”

  Okay, even I didn’t believe that. No one just went out to run errands. I looked at her face and knew that she didn’t believe it either. Though she wasn’t crying, her eyes were rimmed in red and puffy from crying she must have done before I got there.

  “Emily, what happened?”

  “I got up early and went out for a run …”

  “By yourself? Are you crazy? What about the ‘only with a buddy’ rule?”

  “That’s Greta’s rule.”

  “Yeah, but it’s a good one.”

  “Look, I couldn’t stand being cooped up anymore. I had to get out. Besides, you walked here by yourself. I might ask you the same.”

  Touché.

  “Anyway, I came up the street, and as soon as I came near the house, I knew that something was wrong.”

  “The smell?”

  “Exactly. I’ve searched the whole house. My dad’s gone, Jake. He has my dad.”

  “‘He’? Who are you talking about?”

  She hesitated, like it was hard for her to say.

  “Ciardha,” she said flatly.

  Prickles ran up and down my spine, and the hairs on my arms were on end again. Something inside me knew it was true though my brain argued against it.

  “No, it can’t be. He’s imprisoned in the Umbra Perdita.”

  “Was imprisoned in the Umbra Perdita. He’s here now, and he took my dad.”

  “Even if your dad was taken, how do you know it was Ciardha? Did he leave a note or something?”

  “No, he didn’t; he didn’t have to. He left his stink. Ciardha wants me to know he was here. He intentionally left a lot of Dark Energy behind for me to pick up on.”

  Even though the goose bumps covering my body and the chills up and down my spine sent me the message that what Emily said was true, my mind couldn’t accept it. The Umbra Perdita had been a prison for Ciardha for countless millennia. How could he escape?

  “Brighid’s Lucent Energy created that prison. It’s what kept Ciardha contained. When he beat her, she was unable to hold him any longer.”

  As soon as we got back from Ireland all those years ago, I began to work on closing my mind to hers. After years of practice, I’d gotten pretty good at it. It was like I’d feel this tickle in my head
and knew she was trying to probe my mind. I’d imagine a brick wall around my thoughts, and focused on keeping her out.

  But I was out of the habit. She’d read my thought and answered my question without me even needing to ask it out loud. Everyone needs at least a little space that’s not open to public consumption. I’ve got to remember to close my mind to her.

  “Ciardha here? This isn’t good.”

  “Jake Stevens – King of the Understatement.”

  I’d missed her sarcastic barbs. I’d missed a lot about her.

  In the past few weeks, I’d tried my hardest to be cool about her. But the truth was, she was all I thought about. When I thought of her, I’d try to push the thought away, but instead found myself remembering how she looked during training, her hair coming out of its braid, stray strands flying wild and sweat making her skin look sleek. The only reason I hadn’t given in to my urge to kiss her instead of hate her was because she’d done such a good job of staying away from me.

  Emily ribbing me. It was almost like old times. I couldn’t help but smile.

  “Goddammit, Jake! Ciardha’s here, my dad has been taken, and you’re smiling?” She hit me in the arm. Inside, I winced. Man, she hits like a dude. But I swallowed the pain.

  “I’m sorry, I wasn’t smiling about that. It’s just that, well, I’ve missed you.”

  There, I said it. And it’s the truth. I miss you.

  She smiled then. It was the first genuine smile I’d seen on her face since we went into the Umbra Perdita. She’s so hot when she smiles.

  I wished things could be different. I wished that we weren’t living in a world of darkness. I wished that I could see her smile like that every day. And I wished that before she’d said another word that I had taken her into my arms and kissed her so hard our lips got pasted together.

  “You missed your ‘business partner’?”

  I began to stammer out an explanation, but she silenced me.

  “I’ve missed you too.”

  I smiled back, and it was a real one. I could feel it all through me, not just on my face. She missed me too.

  Be cool. Just because she missed you, doesn’t mean she loves you. And even if she loves you, it doesn’t mean you should start something with her. She’ll hurt you, like she did before.

  But things had changed. We had changed.

  I wanted to hang out with her and hear her laugh and receive her gentle ribbing and watch the sun dance on her hair and make it look like it was on fire. I wanted all those things and to have Fanny back and to find Liam and to help people like Taisha find her daughter, and all those other loved ones that people had lost. And I wanted to be able to walk down my own street to the bus stop without being on guard against someone coming out of the shadows and offing me.

  Priorities, man.

  The silence swelled between us until it was awkward. We never used to have awkward silence. But back then, between Emily and Fanny jabbering constantly, I never got a word in edgewise. Turns out, I don’t have much to say.

  I had to break the awful silence before what ray of sunshine that we’d built between us got lost. “Do you think Ciardha’s responsible for all the missing people?”

  “Maybe. I don’t know why he’d do that, though. I mean, why go to the trouble to take people, especially kids? It makes more sense that it’s just the darkness that has come over people. We’ve always had the kids on the milk cartons. It’s just gotten worse.”

  “True, but my gut tells me Ciardha’s behind it. It’s something one of the shadow people said.”

  “You been conversing with shadow thugs lately?”

  “Not conversing, fighting. Tristan and I had a little tussle a few weeks back, a few days before we came to join you guys. Anyway, one of them was this scrawny girl, and she said something about being chosen by ‘the master’ and she’d be immortal.”

  “Scrawny girl? Hey, I think I know that girl. She went to our, I mean my, high school. She’s a git talking smack.”

  “Before, I’d say you were right. But think about it. Master? Immortal? That girl and her dark compadres were trying to take a little boy from his mom. Now Ciardha shows up at your house and takes your dad? These aren’t coincidences. They’re connected.”

  Emily didn’t say anything. I could tell she was thinking because she pulled on her braid and creased her brow. She always gets that look when she’s concentrating on something.

  Finally she said, “You could be right. It doesn’t make sense to me, but I get what you’re saying. But there’s one thing I do know for sure: he has my dad.”

  “But if it doesn’t make sense for Ciardha to be taking kids out of their mother’s arms, it makes even less sense for him to take your dad.”

  “Sure it makes sense if you think like Ciardha. He’s got the mind of a spoiled brat. It’s part of his game, like the ones he played in the Umbra Perdita. If he takes my dad, he knows it will make me suffer. And he knows I’ll come look for my dad, so he gets the added bonus of hide-n-seek.”

  “Cat and mouse.”

  “Exactly. And he’s using my dad as the cheese.”

  “Okay, so we’re the mice. What do we do now?”

  Emily thought for a minute. “We need to call an emergency meeting of the L.T.”

  “Good idea. What do you think we should tell them?”

  “The cat’s out of its cage.”

  “Tanner and some of the others will want to go after him. They’ve been itching for real action, not just practice.”

  “Oh, he’ll get action.”

  “You’re not seriously considering going after him, are you?”

  “Of course. That’s what we’ve been training for, Jake.”

  “I thought we were training to protect each other and others from the shadow people.”

  “Yeah, that too. But if he has my dad, maybe he has other people that have been taken. Kids like Taisha’s daughter, Brianna. And if he does, then we have to free them, don’t we?”

  “The L.T. definitely should try to free them, but you’ve gotta sit that mission out.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You’ve got to stay behind.”

  Emily laughed. “Yeah, right.”

  “This is what the chode wants. He’s luring you in.”

  “And it’s working.”

  “But he’ll take you – or worse.”

  I felt a shudder through me as my brain went to that place I’d been trying hard not to go. If Ciardha got hold of Emily at last, what torture would he inflict on his hated sister’s ‘chosen’ one?

  “Jake, it’s my dad. He’s all …”

  Her chin quivered, and a tear came to her eye. But I heard her suck in a deep breath and will that tear not to fall.

  “What would you do?” she asked.

  What would I do if the God of Dark Energy had kidnapped my dad? Probably not a damned thing. I hadn’t seen my dad since I was six. He ran off to chase a dream and left my mom to raise three kids on her own. If he was the one that’d been taken, I probably would have felt like he got what he deserved.

  But Liam? If Liam was my dad, I’d want to hunt that bastard Ciardha down and do everything in my power to destroy him. And for Emily, Liam was all the family she had.

  My brain was still telling me to keep my distance, but my instinct got the better of me. I reached out and took her right hand in mine.

  “We’ll find him. I promise.”

  Emily forced a weak smile. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” she said. But she quickly added, “Thank you.”

  I didn’t say a word but squeezed her hand in reply.

  It was the perfect moment to land a kiss on her soft lips. We were already so close, only a foot of empty space separated us. A space full of expectation. All I had to do was lean forward ever so slightly and touch my lips to hers.

  But something held me back. My damned conscience, always thinking things through. Emily’s standing there grieving her dad�
�s disappearance and what? You’re going to swoop in like some vulture and take advantage of her weakened emotional state?

  No, I didn’t want it to be like that.

  Then, the moment was lost. Emily’s cell phone played a barking dog ring tone, startling us both. Our hands parted as Emily reached into the pocket of her sweat jacket to pull out her phone.

  “It’s Greta,” she said as she swiped the screen to answer the call. I began to walk to the family room to give her privacy. But she touched my arm and mouthed the word ‘stay’. So I did.

  “Greta … Greta … Greta! Stop talking for two seconds. You can rant about Tristan later; I have something urgent to tell you.”

  I listened as Em laid it down for Greta. About her dad’s disappearance, that Ciardha had escaped from his prison, and her plan to hunt the bastard down and try to rescue lost loved ones.

  Even though I heard only one side of the conversation, I could tell Greta raised the same concerns I had. But in the end, Greta accepted it just as I had. Hell, I’m not sure we had much choice but to accept Emily’s decision. Once she makes up her mind to do something, there’s about zero chance you’d be able to reel her back in from it.

  By the time they’d hung up, we had a plan to meet with the whole L.T. Greta volunteered to begin the phone call notices of a special meeting. I was glad of it. I’m not much for talking on the phone.

  “Jake, I’m sorry I called you over. I know that we’re no longer … I mean, we’re just two people in the L.T. now. But I didn’t know who else to turn to. With Fanny gone, you’re the only one left who understands what my dad means to me.”

  “It’s cool. You know how I feel about your dad. I’ve missed … him.”

  You. I’ve missed you.

  Standing there, less than a foot away from each other, I could feel the heat from her body. Her eyes were bright and flecked with gold. Her full, pink lips looked soft and moist. The moment was there, asking me to take it. I could have – should have – swept her into my arms and carried her up the steps. I should have laid her down on the bed, gently undressed her and, with each kiss of her body, tell her how I loved her. How I’d always loved her.