CRYSTALLUM (The Primordial Principles Book 1)

by McMann, Laney

  Before Kade had even closed her mouth, Cole was at her side, and Dracon's taloned hand was wrenched off her neck. A hard surge of energy hit him straight in his chest. Cole caught Kade's limp body as she fell from Dracon’s grasp. A blur of blue careened on the right, green on the left, and Jake and Danny sped from the trees. Dracon flew straight up into the sky as they converged on him, nothing but a silver streak.

  "Take her!” Cole shifted Kade’s body into Danny’s arms and transformed into the falcon, standing six feet tall, and like a bullet shot from the barrel of a gun, the falcon dove. Not down, but up. Straight up into the black sky, like a rocket, and true to all hunting falcons, it went straight for Dracon's neck. Talons dug into red flesh. Dracon shrieked, and with blinding speed, the falcon dove again, straight down, the demon in its grasp, and shifted its trajectory in mid-air. The falcon tucked its wings, and like a missile homed in on a target, it shot toward the side of the mountain. Careening its body upward at the last second, it let the demon go.

  Blood splatted against the rock.

  Kade screamed.

  27

  THE FALCON PERCHED OUTSIDE the window on the highest branch of an Umbrella Pine tree overlooking the Ward's infirmary, its large black eyes seeing clearly into the hospital room. Kade lay in bed sleeping, her small hands curled into fists overtop white sheets. She'd been that way for hours, and the falcon hadn't moved.

  "Are you going to come down at some point?" Danny yelled up into the tree. "The Warden summoned you."

  Cole didn't answer. It was the third or fourth time that Danny had come yelling at him to come down and transform. The Warden could fly up to Cole in his true form as an eagle for all he cared, but until he knew Kadence was okay, Cole wasn't answering anyone's summons, wasn't coming down, wasn't transforming.

  "None of this is your fault, Cole.” Danny sighed. "You did what you had to do. Jake and I already told the Warden we would have done the same thing. No one blames you."

  Cole kept his eyes fixed on Kadence. Kyle was dead, and not one single bone in Cole's body regretted that action. He knew days ago that he would have broken every rule he swore to uphold to protect Kade, and he hadn't even flinched when he'd seen Kyle next to her in the clearing. He had kept his word. Getting near Kade had been the last thing Kyle ever did.

  But Dracon was different, and even though Cole knew he would have done the same thing all over again, he still wasn't sure it had been the right thing.

  "You can't stay up there all night," Danny said. "You need to eat. Sleep. You're not helping Kade by sitting outside her window. The doctor said she's okay, Cole. Minor damage to her larynx and trachea. A sprained shoulder. The blood on her chest and neck were only a flesh wounds. She’ll be okay in a few days.”

  That opened up the line of communication. "What about emotional damage? Did the doctor diagnose that? The fact that she's probably damaged for life now?"

  Danny sighed. "No, he didn't. But what were you supposed to do? I would have done it, Jake would have done it."

  “Dan, I threw her dad into the side of a mountain!”

  "You threw Dracon."

  "Same thing!”

  "It's not, and you know it."

  "You can go now."

  "Cole...I'm sorry. That I wasn't there faster."

  "I know that, Dan.”

  ***

  As daylight turned to dusk in Rome, the landscaping lights surrounding the Ward clicked on, highlighting the sidewalks and pathways running through the maze-like garden grounds. The falcon waited. As the moon rose and darkness settled, it released its grip on the branch of the Umbrella Pine and swooped down to the window ledge.

  Over the past twelve hours, it had memorized the nurse's schedules and waited patiently for the current one to leave. The nurse adjusted one of the tubes in the crook of Kade's arm before leaving the room, the wide door swooshing closed behind her.

  The falcon opened its wings. A rush of energy preceded a blast of air, the quick current finding every crevice in the old wooden window frame, and unlocking it from the inside. With another rush, the window slid open, and the falcon flew into the room, settling on the footboard of Kade's bed.

  Wide, black eyes took in every part of her body, from head to foot. The bird tilted its head to the side to get a better view of her face. Her skin was unscathed, but her throat and neck bore vicious red and purple bruises, and her arm was in a sling.

  She breathed normally, her small hands folded loosely over the crisp hospital gown. Her hair lay out like a fan over her shoulder, the little gold loops she'd been wearing the day before glinted on her ears. With a rush of electricity that crackled like a lightning storm, energy filled the room, and Cole transformed with a small cry, standing over the bed.

  He opened his mouth, but words wouldn't come. It seemed like he was being punished as he stared at her. Kade should never have been put in this position. He should never have left her alone. He thought about how he'd made her laugh at the Kinship when the doctor had pricked her finger. She'd listened to all of his stupid stories with life in her eyes. As if she'd never been told a story or read a fairy tale in her life. Cole wondered now if she had. Probably not.

  Of all the conversations they'd had, she never said much about herself. Cole always found himself having to pry things out of her, and as he gazed at her, he wished he'd asked more questions. Had more answers. Known more about her. Everything there was to know. Not just about the moon on her palm, or the fact the she was an Anamolia, but the other things. What her favorite color was, her favorite song. What movies she liked, books she'd read, food she ate. All the little details that seem so simple, meaningless, until someone realizes that they don't know any of them. All the details that bring a person to life. That make them who they are. Cole didn't know enough of the details. He doubted anyone did. Kade truly had always been alone.

  He reached for her hand, aligning it with his own. It was cool under his touch and he hoped she was warm enough. Colorado wasn't a place for someone who couldn't get warm unless they were submerged in a hot spring. He smiled a little, picturing her yelling at him for jumping in the water with her fully dressed, but his smile vanished just as quickly, and he laid her hand back on the sheets.

  “Give all to love; obey thy heart.” He sighed. “Ralph Waldo Emerson.” Cole touched the tip of her finger. "I'm so sorry, Kade." He headed toward the door. Closing it behind him, he lifted his head and his eyes met the Warden's, sitting in a chair in the stark white hallway.

  “You love her." The Warden's hands were steepled under his chin.

  Cole didn’t answer.

  “Love comforteth like sunshine after rain.” He placed his hands in his lap. “William Shakespeare. I would have let you see her, had you asked.”

  "I know." Cole leaned against the wall.

  "Danny and Jake told me what happened. Jake confessed of his wrong doing, egging you on to engage in another fight."

  Cole nodded. "He's not so awful, really."

  "No. He envies you. He also assured me that he would have taken care of Kyle in a similar manner, albeit not snapping his spine."

  "I didn't plan to do that."

  "I am sure you didn't. Anger gets the best of us at times and Kyle was a threat. To all of us. You did what your true nature told you to do. No one can fault you for that. The fact that Kyle was masquerading as a Primeva is quite disturbing. What I do not understand is the story I was given about Dracon. At least not fully."

  "I don't either." Cole crossed his arms over his chest. "He said he was Kade's dad. That he knew my dad."

  The Warden bowed his head. "A Keith Sparrow was in the Brotherhood with your dad, years ago, that is true. But the person I know to be Kadence's father is not the same man. Although he goes by the same name."

  "What?"

  "I have kept tabs on the Sparrows for a long time, not closely enough, clearly, but tabs all the same, and the Keith Sparrow who went to school with your father isn't the man Kadence knows.
"

  "Huh? Wait, you know. Don't you? What Kade is." It wasn't a question.

  "I have known for a long time."

  "Why didn't you say anything?"

  "Why didn't you?" He raised an eyebrow. "Kadence posed no threat to anyone. She was a shy girl who kept to herself, was moved from state to state by her father because of his various hospital transfers. I thought it best, given the circumstances, that we leave her be. There were no outward indications that she had a clue of her birthright. And like you, I would assume, I did not think it fair to subject her to being the Ward's new lab experiment."

  Cole's jaw might have well been on the floor.

  "Furthermore," the warden continued. "Her father was a prominent surgeon who also posed no threat to the Ward or humankind, and seemed to want to live a normal life. He'd lost his wife when Kadence was very young." He shrugged. "I suppose the old man in me wanted to give him some peace. Of course, now I believe I made a terrible mistake."

  "Grandfather..." Cole was speechless. "You knew she was born a Primori?"

  He waved a hand in the air. "Of course I did. No Primordial is born into this world without my knowledge."

  "But...you knew he turned her into an Anamolia and you didn't do anything?"

  "Of course not. I had no idea that her father had done it. As I said, Kadence was a lonely child. She kept to herself, played in abandoned churches from time to time, and in the woods. She had no friends to speak of."

  Cole frowned. Everything she'd told him had been true, and he'd doubted her when she needed his trust the most.

  "I had people keep an eye on her," the Warden continued. "Make sure she wasn't getting into trouble, but as soon as we located her, her father would move again. It was like trying to track smoke. I assumed that she simply found a fusionem crystal somewhere. She wouldn't be the first Primordial to do so, and quite frankly, no one knew how they worked. Did one simply have to hold it? Touch it to be turned into an Anamolia? I chose to leave her be."

  Cole was dumbfounded. "I read that the crystal only works if it's held between two opposing forces, positive and negative."

  "And that may be, but no one was sure. We still aren't. When her father moved her here I was not surprised. A seventeen-year-old girl who knew she was different from everyone else ... questions of her origin would have eventually risen. So, I welcomed them with open arms, knowing there would be a risk involved. Kadence's father still wanted very little to do with me, only speaking to me on the phone, but he was adamant that Kadence be placed in one of the common houses because his work had become too much for him to care for her as he needed to. I waffled about where to place her for quite some time. A true born Primori, turned into a devil god."

  "So you put her in the Kinship because of the Devil's blood."

  "Yes. I thought it wiser, not knowing her personally, to go that route. I thought it best that you keep your distance from her for the same reason."

  "I don't even know what to say." Cole rubbed his forehead.

  "Tell me what you know."

  "Dracon said that he was Kade's dad, that he turned her into an Anamolia when she was a baby with a fusionem crystal. He needed her to shut down the Araneum."

  "And you were hoping to beat him to it?"

  "Basically," Cole admitted. "I thought if Kade learned how to reroute the lines, we could move its location, minimize the threat."

  "And that is the reason why you will inherit all of this. Your judgement has always been on the mark.” The elder man gestured toward the building and rose to his feet. "We have plans to make."

  "What? But...” Cole motioned to Kade's hospital room.

  "Kadence will be fine. Angry, but okay. She will need a friend when she wakes. I assume you want that role?"

  "Yes, but, I...killed her dad."

  "No." He retrieved a photo from his suit pocket and handed it over. "Do you recognize this person?"

  "That's Mr. Sparrow."

  "True." He nodded. "A Mr. Kevin Sparrow, not Keith. They are twins, or they were. Keith died years ago, along with his wife, leaving a baby behind. I didn't confirm it until just about an hour ago."

  Cole sucked in a breath.

  "Kevin Sparrow was a born a Primori, as was his brother, Keith, but he was a frail child. Unfit to join the ranks of the Primordial within the Ward, as his brother had. He was bitter about the Ward’s choice, wanting to have the same respect his brother, Keith, had as a Primori. It is not frequent that we turn our backs on our own. It seems as though that bitterness turned him into a monster of sorts. This man in the picture is Kadence's uncle, not her father."

  Cole's head was spinning. "She doesn't know?"

  "Why would she?”

  “I…”

  “It looks as though Kadence’s mother's accident was not an accident at all. We are still looking into the specifics, but it seems Kevin Sparrow is responsible for her death, as well as his own brother’s. He simply assumed the role of his twin brother.”

  “I…my, god,” Cole let out a breath. “I don’t even know…who would do that?”

  “Someone who is not of their right mind. Someone who has something to prove. Kevin, I am sure, hates the Ward, the entire Primordial race, and everything we stand for. He wanted to be one of us. Since he could not, it seems he wanted to destroy us. Hatred manifests itself in terrifying ways.”

  “Either way, I killed the guy who Kade thinks is her dad. I killed her uncle. This is insane.” He shook his head. “I'm the last person she'll want to see."

  "You did your job, Cole. A job that you do exceedingly well.” The Warden put the photo back in his pocket, and strode off down the hallway. "I'll be in touch. Oh,” he stopped and turned around, “and given the circumstances, I have no issue with Kadence staying in the bunker underneath the Brotherhood. That is probably the safest place." He winked. “Although, explaining the situation to Tiffany may be tricky. You know what?" He tapped his temple. "Just tell her to see me about it if she gives you too much trouble. Kadence being an Anamolia needs to stay within the confines of these walls until our investigation is finished. Well, these walls, and your little rat pack of hellions." He grinned and walked back down the hall. “Oh, and you and Danny should remove Kadence's belongings from her house as soon as possible.

  “Grandfather?”

  He stopped and turned around.

  “Thank you.”

  The man smiled. “Thank you for being my grandson.”

  28

  "RAT PACK OF HELLIONS?" Danny carted the last box from Kadence's room down the stairs. "That's what he calls us?"

  "Apparently." Cole carried the boxes out to his Jeep. “You know, I wonder if he meant Plumb, too?"

  When Kade was ready, they would come back and get anything else she wanted, but for the time being, he and Danny had literally disassembled her bedroom. Cole thought she would like to have all of her own stuff, so he broke down her bed and loaded up all her furniture into a U-Haul truck. He even packed all of her towels from her bathroom and the shower curtain. Halfway through, he wondered if she would even want any of it after she learned the truth. Maybe she'd rather buy all new stuff. He packed it anyway. Better to have it and her not want it.

  "So, what's the plan?" Danny asked.

  "Lay low for a while. Keep Kade under wraps. See if anything develops. Go from there."

  "You mean we get a break? An actual break? I could take up a hobby."

  "You do that."

  ***

  Kade sat in her bedroom in the bunker, staring at her baby album. Flipping through the pages, she landed on her favorite. The one with her gold Astrum necklace. She'd never wondered before why her mom and dad weren't in any of the photos. She'd assumed that they were just proud parents taking pictures of their new baby. Now, she wondered if that was true, or simply a notion she'd thought up to make herself feel better.

  Growing up, there were never any framed photos on the walls. No family or friends to boast about, have Sunday dinners with, o
r holiday picnics. Now she knew why. Her parents had been killed, and she'd grown up with her uncle.

  The Warden had explained everything to her when she'd woken up in the hospital a few days before with her ribs aching, a sling on her arm, and her voice sounding like it belonged to a toad's. The Warden was a kind man, older, with a loving smile, and eyes that reminded of her of Cole's.

  Someone had set up her bedroom in the bunker with all of her stuff from her house. Her bed, her dresser and nightstand. Her comforter and pillows. Even her bathroom was decked out in clean towels and wash cloths, her shower curtain lining the massive garden tub. Her desk and laptop had also been set up underneath the faux window.

  Kade wondered who had done it all. Probably Plumb. Besides the Warden, she was the only person Kade had spoken to since she'd left the infirmary. Plumb told her that Cole and Danny had been investigating some recent Daemoneum activity near the Colorado Springs abandoned mine, but Kade knew that wasn't the reason she hadn't seen Cole, and part of her wasn't sure she wanted to.

  She’d barely come out of her room—not that she had anywhere to go. The bunker was like a safe haven, and even though she still felt alone, she was thankful to be there.

  Kade closed the photo album and placed it on her bed. It did no use to cry anymore. She never knew her parents, and the person she thought was her father had only used her for his own purpose.

  A knock on the door had her crossing the bedroom.

  Plumb stood in the long hallway with two cups of hot chocolate. "Want to talk?" She offered a gentle smile.

  "Sure." Kade opened the door and walked to the couch.

  "How are you holding up down here?" Plumb handed her a mug.

  “Okay.” Kade took a small sip of hot chocolate. “Shoulder's better." She rotated it with a little pain. "And my voice is only scratchy. Throat's still sore, though."

  "And the bruises are a better," Plumb supplied, with a glance at her neck.