Ever Fallen (Shadow Guardians Book 2)

by Elle Scott

  A dark expression fell over Summer. She glared at Sadie and said, “Oh, yeah. Totally fine. I’ve been kidnapped, kept in a dank beaten down cabin, and then saved by someone who I’ve been told wants us dead. Totes peachy.”

  Sadie tried not to smile. There was the Summer she knew, with a bite in her voice and scowl on her face.

  Noticing the look on Sadie’s face, Summer softened. Her hand reached for Sadie’s. “But thanks for looking out for me.”

  Sadie squeezed Summer’s hand, and as she settled back in her seat, she noticed Sebastian’s gaze quickly shift from her to the road in front of them. He cleared his throat and reached across the front of the car to ruffle Imogen’s hair. She pushed his hand away in defiance and returned the teasing gesture by shoving his shoulder playfully.

  Sebastian’s laugh echoed through the car. “Easy, sister. I’m driving.”

  An explosion of warmth spread across Sadie’s chest. There was no way Sebastian was even a little bit Fallen. He couldn’t possibly be dangerous. The way he treated his sister proved that. Sadie ran her teeth over her bottom lip and decided right then and there that Tessa was unequivocally wrong about him.

  The drive took six hours. Mostly silent, apart from Imogen and Summer’s impromptu karaoke sing along. Trees reached up around them as Sebastian parked his car next to Mr. Robertson’s. Sadie had no idea where they were. They’d passed through Yakima and somewhere after that they’d crossed the border into Oregon. Towns were few and far between. Deep in woodland, that’s all she knew.

  Everyone began climbing out of their cars, except for Sebastian, who turned in his seat. He glanced at Imogen, then Summer, and then kept his eyes on Sadie as he said, “Better stay in the car, until we know the area is safe.”

  Sadie nodded and watched him get out of the car to meet the others. As they all branched off, retrieving tents and goods from their cars, Sebastian leaned in through his open door. “Ugh, tents,” he moaned, “We should have gone to dad’s cabin.”

  Imogen frowned. “I’d rather stay in tents.”

  Clenching his jaw, Sebastian pushed off the car. “I’ll be back.”

  Curiosity taking hold, Sadie shuffled to the edge of her seat. “Why would you rather stay in tents than go to your dad’s cabin?”

  Imogen gave Sadie a side-eye, then sprung her door open. Without saying a word, she stepped out and slammed the door. It was almost uncanny, Sadie thought, how alike those Weir siblings were.

  “Don’t worry,” Summer said, opening her door. “She always gets like that when I bring up her dad, too. She’s only seen him a couple times in the last two years.”

  Sadie’s door swung open and Leila peered in. “Mom and Dad made a quick trip to the store before we left, they got us a few tents to share.” As Sadie climbed out of the car, Leila added, “Pretty sure they were hoping I wouldn’t share one with Riley.”

  “Will you?” Sadie asked as they wandered toward the cluster of sticks Kale and Riley had accumulated.

  “I don’t know. Maybe.” Leila hooked her arm through Sadie’s and whispered, “Most definitely.”

  Gabby approached, looking at the soon-to-be campfire. “This is not something I thought I’d be doing this weekend.”

  “Better than being kidnapped,” Sadie offered.

  Still staring at Riley pile sticks upon sticks, Gabby teased, “Wow, Sades, way to bring the mood down.”

  “Sorry,” Sadie said, guilt rising in her throat. “And sorry about before, too. I didn’t mean to throw you into the fire.”

  “Mmm?” Gabby faced her, eyes slitted. In a matter of seconds, a smile tugged at her lips. “I know. You were just trying to take the spotlight off Sebastian… for some reason I will never understand. But one I will accept.” She glanced back at Riley as he dumped a heap of sticks and ran off again. Gabby rolled her eyes and said, “I think these boys need some help.” She knelt at the campfire and began creating a pyramid with the sticks.

  Leila nudged Sadie with her elbow. Pointing in the distance, she said, “This will be funny.”

  Sadie turned around to see Riley sauntering across the clearing, carrying even more sticks. He spotted Gabby hunched over the pile he’d created and frowned. “What are you doing?”

  “If you want to light a fire, it needs air,” Gabby said, raising one brow at the collection in his arms. “I think we’re good for sticks. Once this thing gets going we’ll need bigger logs.”

  “He’s a city boy,” Leila defended.

  “Actually—” Riley half-shifted and his eyes beamed bright neon-blue. Fangs poked through his mouth as he grinned and said, “I’m also part wild.”

  The sight of him like that made Sadie lift her face to the sky. She took a long breath, trying to center herself. Forget the fire, she needed air.

  No matter how often she saw them shift, it still unnerved her. And that was just her friends, those whom she trusted with her life. What about the others, the Fallen, those who wanted to hurt her? Fear taking hold, she turned to Leila. “Do you think we’ll be safe here?”

  Leila’s face fell in the way it often did when Sadie was upset—eyes hooded and pained, head tilting slightly. “I won’t let anything happen to you, I swear it.”

  Leila’s words came with a heartfelt promise that Sadie almost believed. But still, she knew Leila couldn’t truly understand what it felt like to be in her place. She couldn’t know how intimidating it was to be surrounded by so much power.

  Trying to find the right words was going to be hard. She’d put her foot in it enough times in one day. So, instead of speaking she just smiled and nodded.

  On the other side of Leila, Sebastian walked past holding an orange tent under his arm, Imogen close on his tail. He glanced at Sadie, and as if noticing her fear, his eyes drifted straight to Riley.

  “Check yourself, bro,“ Sebastian scowled. “There are humans here, who believe it or not, may be afraid to see your ugly half-shifted phase.”

  By the time night had come, the fire was roaring and its sparks darted up into the darkness. Tents had been set up in a circle a safe distance from the fire, with logs placed between them. Sadie sat on one beside the tent she’d claimed, scraping her nails along bark.

  Gabby plonked herself beside Sadie, narrowly missing her fingers. She held a flask out. “Want some vodka?”

  Sadie gawked at the silver bottle in Gabby’s grasp. “You brought alcohol?”

  “Duh,” Gabby said, unscrewing the lid.

  “I’m good, thanks.”

  “Suit yourself.” Gabby lifted the flask to her lips and took a large swig. As she swallowed, Riley stepped out of his tent. Gabby leapt to her feet and ran toward him. “Riley! Have you asked Odette to join us?”

  Somewhere on the other side of the fire, Sadie heard Leila laugh. She was sitting with Kale and Kiko, and Sadie figured they were probably talking about all deeper things Guardian. A conversation she didn’t need to be a part of.

  On her other side, she could hear Summer and Imogen chatting quietly inside their shared tent. And Sebastian, silent and somewhat moody, lurked at the clearing’s tree-line, swiveling his head at every minuscule noise in the forest.

  A twig snapped behind her, sending her heart into overdrive. Sadie jerked her head around and squinted into the shadows of trees. A brown wolf with glowing green eyes moved toward her. She had the urge to scream but it got lodged in her throat, floating out as barely a gasp.

  The wolf returned to human form and Mr. Robertson moved in beside her. His hand clasped the groove of her shoulder and he gave a comforting squeeze. “I hope I didn’t scare you. I just went for a run around the perimeter.”

  At school, before Guardians or the dangers of death, she would have reveled in the moment her teacher crush gave her attention. But things were different now. She shrugged his hand off and glanced across the clearing to Sebastian. Lying she said, “I’m used to it.”

  “Jay?” Kiko called from the other side of the fire. She stepped into vie
w, high flames licking in front of half her body. “Anything?”

  “All clear,” Mr. Robertson replied.

  “Okay, I’ll do a sweep. You can take over from Sebastian.” Kiko’s eyes flashed as bright as the fire. She noticed Sadie watching her and smiled, letting her fangs poke through her lips. Then, she fully shifted into her red fox and bounced into the forest.

  Sadie’s stomach flipped. She glanced at her tent but the thought of going to sleep didn’t appeal to her. How could she sleep surrounded by shifters?

  “Want some?”

  Sadie looked up, surprised to see Sebastian standing in front of her. She glanced at a tin mug in his grasp. “What is it?”

  “Gabby poured some vodka in my soda.” He said it so nonchalantly, that it didn’t seem as big of a deal as it did before.

  “Gabby gave you something?” Sadie asked, taking his cup.

  Sebastian shrugged. “Hell hath frozen over.”

  Sadie lifted the cup to her lips and took a sip. The tang hit her throat unexpectedly. She scrunched her nose as she passed the cup back to Sebastian. It wasn’t like she hadn’t had alcohol before, that was inevitable with a friend like Gabby. But she’d preferred smoothies or hot cocoa or green tea.

  Sebastian sculled the rest of the drink and sat down. “You look lonely, Shorty.”

  Sadie shrugged. “Just a little out of place.”

  “You should try and squeeze into the tent with the girls. Might be cozy?”

  Sadie faced him, studying his expression to see if he was joking. He wasn’t. It was eerie how in tune he was with her. That he could tell what she was thinking. It felt like he took the time to see her, the real her.

  “I think the tents are a bit too small for three. Besides, yesterday was the first time in years that Summer looked at me like she didn’t hate me, I don’t want to push it.”

  Sebastian chuckled and placed his empty cup on the log between them. The cup wobbled for a moment, Sebastian’s hand hovering close to catch it if it fell, but soon it balanced in place. Sebastian curved his palms over his knees and let out a long sigh. “So… do you wish he was here?”

  “Who?” Sadie asked.

  Sebastian gave her a side-eye and raised his brow. “Damien.”

  Disappointment flooded her. Maybe he didn’t see the real her after all. She muttered, “No.”

  Sebastian smiled then, broad and toothy. He sighed again and slid his elbows to his knees. “You know, I’m not surprised that was your first kiss.”

  Sadie didn’t know whether he meant to offend her. She asked precariously, “Why?”

  A glint hit Sebastian’s eyes as he looked over his shoulder at her. “C’mon. Flirty Sadie one day, Frosty Sadie the next. That’s what they call you.”

  “I’m sorry what? When? Who?” Sadie swung around so fast her thigh hit Sebastian’s cup. It tumbled off the log and fell into a shrub behind them.

  Sebastian’s gaze followed the cup. He stared at it for a moment, before returning his attention to Sadie. “The boys. You do this cute little giggle and tuck your hair behind your ear, fluttering those eyelashes. And then, when someone wants to take it further, you run away.”

  Sadie’s heart pounded. How on earth did he manage to do that, peel her like an onion? Here they were again, talking about topics that revealed pieces of her she wanted to hide. “That’s just…” Sadie hesitated for a moment. But there was no use hiding, not from him. “It’s just not the real me.”

  “I figured,” he said, bumping her shoulder with his.

  She shrugged. “I don’t know why I do that. I’m okay until a certain point of closeness, then this wall goes up. I tried to be myself with Damien on our date. But by the end, I didn’t want to kiss him. Not because I’m frosty… but because he wouldn’t show me his real self.”

  “That’s understandable. It has to be a two-way street, right?” Sebastian stretched his legs out, crossing the ankles over. “You know, you’re not as fake and two-faced as people say.”

  “Sebastian!” Sadie gaped. She couldn’t believe the nerve of him sometimes. “That’s so mean.”

  Sebastian raised his hands. “Hey! Don’t shoot the messenger.”

  A fire rose inside her. She never bit back, always the nice one, but right then and there, she had to let the truth fly. “But you didn’t have to tell me. You were the one who decided to tell me what people have said about me. And in turn, that means you’re the one who hurt me.”

  Confusion settled on his face. “You’d rather me lie?”

  Sadie shook her head. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Just don’t say anything.”

  It was quiet for a while. Sadie considered running into her tent, just to get away from the feeling that had washed over her. But that would just prove his point. She was scared of her real self to be seen… the vulnerable side included.

  So they sat there in silence, Sadie picking at the bark that she sat on, and Sebastian staring into the cloudy sky. Finally, Sebastian lowered his head. He waited for Sadie to meet his gaze before he said, “Sorry.”

  His voice was low. Not quite a whisper but the power behind it reverberated to her core. He meant the apology. She could tell. She could also see that same softness she discovered a few days earlier. Her own vulnerability mirrored in his eyes.

  Staring into his blue irises, she said quietly, “You know, I see glimpses of you. The real you.”

  Sebastian raised a brow. “The real me?”

  “Yeah. You used to be…” Sadie cleared her throat, trying to find better words. “At the end of your sophomore year, you changed. You were nice before then. Remember? You introduced Leila to me because I quit the cheer squad and the girls pretended I didn’t exist. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten.”

  Sebastian breathed out a laugh. “I remember thinking how brave you were for quitting that bitch squad.”

  “See, you were nice.” Sadie nudged his bicep. “Then junior year started and you were different.”

  Sebastian dropped his head, staring at Sadie’s fingers as they pinched a torn piece of bark.

  “Why did you change?” Sadie urged.

  Turning his head away, Sebastian replied, “To protect myself.”

  “From what?” Sadie leaned around, trying to catch his eyes. “Surely Cap hadn’t turned you way back then.”

  Sebastian shook his head. “No, he turned me literally a few days before that whole… thing.”

  “Okay, so then something else happened?” Sadie hovered her hand above his, hesitating for a second before letting their skin touch. His knuckles clenched, then relaxed beneath her palm. She looked at his face, the edges of his eyes creased into a grimace. He looked a little bit like Imogen then, when she’d asked her about their dad. ”Something happened to your family?”

  Sebastian whipped his hand from under hers at the same time he swung his head back around to face her. His eyes fell to the log again. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”

  He didn’t want to talk about it? Sadie couldn’t accept that. She was so close. There he was, right in front of her. The old Sebastian. The somewhat kind Sebastian.

  A few months ago, it was Leila’s mission to find him in there and Sadie was so close she could almost grab him and drag him out of himself. She pushed, “Is it the same reason why your mom is sad?”

  “Don’t!” Sebastian said a little too loudly. Gabby and Riley glanced their way. Softer, he repeated. “Don’t.” He rose to his feet and moved in front of her. Eyes blazing a hole through her, he hissed, “You don’t get to speak about my mother. Ever. Get that, Itsy?”

  Leila

  Leila felt weird about leaving her parents, but it was probably for the best to keep them out of it all. Her dad thought it was a good idea anyway: “… to save any more smashed windows, holes in walls, and broken roses.” Leila knew he was downplaying the depth of it all. And she was a little grateful. The less they wanted to know, the better.

  Leila peered around the fire
. She watched Sebastian storm off into his tent, leaving Sadie alone, peeling bark between her fingers. She said, “I feel responsible.”

  A heavy arm draped around her shoulders and Kale pulled her into his embrace. “It’s not your fault.”

  She wished she could believe him.

  Kiko moved swiftly through the break in the forest and slid toward them. Smiling, she said, “My two favorite people.”

  Kale spread his free arm, inviting her to join them. Kiko nestled into the crook of his shoulder and sighed. Leaning around Kale, she said, “We’ll keep doing this on rotation. You want to go next, Leila?”

  “Sure,” Leila said, sitting up straight. A little run sounded enticing. “How far do you need me to go?”

  Kiko threw a thumb over her shoulder. “Just do a loop. Head out about a mile and swing around.”

  Leila nodded.

  “Jay will stand watch overnight,” Kiko added.

  Leila turned to look at Mr. Robertson. He was leaning against a tree, bored eyes staring into the fire. It was the same numb-like expression he’d held in the classroom for months.

  “All night?” Leila asked, feeling sorry for him. “Don’t you want everyone to take shifts?”

  “Yeah, someone can replace him at dawn,” Kiko replied.

  Leila balked and turned back around. “Dawn? That’s a long time—”

  “Leila,” Kale warned, bronze shimmering behind his eyes like a threat. “We get that Riley has been lax as your clan leader, but Kiko’s been a Guardian for a long time. Trust her.”

  “I do,” Leila said quickly, trying not to think about the insult on Riley. “I’m sorry, I never meant to—”

  Kiko reached across Kale and tapped Leila’s thigh. “It’s fine. I didn’t take offense.” She rolled her eyes in Kale’s direction and whispered, “He’s kinda protective. I don’t mind it.”

  Dark clouds moved in front of the moon, and Leila noticed a slight change in the air. It wasn’t just the moon covered by the clouds, it was the whole sky. The only light source was now the flickering flames of the fire and a moving torch inside one of the tents. She breathed in the cooling air, it smelled like snow.