“So that’s all I wanted to say, I guess,” I said. “Don’t worry, I’ll be watching over Mia from now on and your mum too, I promise. I hope I can live up to everyone’s expectations.”
I pushed Pyke’s body back into the wall and closed the metal door. I was making a lot of promises lately and wondered if I could keep them all. I had always kept my word in the past and I wanted to keep doing so, but the promises I was making all seemed to be taking me away from Kyra.
Chapter Thirteen
Everything weighed on my mind as I walked home. Promises, betrayals, secrets. There was so much going on in my life and it was all becoming too much for me.
“Having a bad day?” an elderly voice asked.
Sylvia, the Guardjinn who had healed me before I left to rescue Kyra, was sitting on her porch in a rocking chair. She was quite short with silver hair and faded golden eyes.
“Bad week,” I replied. “Blooders attacked, you see.”
Sylvia grinned. “Did they now? News to me. Is that why everyone’s all up in a huff?”
I couldn’t tell if she was pretending not to know or actually had no clue.
“You look like you could use a drink. Would you like to come in?” she asked, getting up from her chair.
“I don’t really like tea,” I said, trying to be polite.
Sylvia was known as a pretty eccentric old woman who mostly kept to herself, but she seemed to have taken a liking to me since our encounter.
“Who said anything about tea?” she replied. “You’ve had a bad week. Tea’s not going to cut it. I’ll get you the good stuff.”
She opened her front door and stepped inside, leaving it open for me. I wasn’t too keen on spending time with the old woman, but how could I say no?
Her house was small with only two rooms; a lounge/kitchen area and a bedroom in the back. The place smelled like old mothballs and was decorated with faded furniture. I figured she probably had an outhouse in the back; toilets inside the house were a luxury for Guardjinn.
“Take a seat, Will,” she said.
I sat down on a padded green couch that threatened to swallow me whole and watched as Sylvia pushing a small wooden stool across the floor. She hopped onto it and reached up to the highest shelf where several dusty bottles lived.
“Did you want me to do that?” I asked, worried the old woman would fall and break a hip.
“Nonsense,” she replied. “I’ve still got some pep in me.”
She grasped a bottle and stepped down off the stool, grabbed two glasses from the sink and sat on the recliner chair next to me.
“Nineteen sixty-three,” she said, reading the label on the bottom. “Good year.” She popped out the cork and poured the amber liquid into our glasses.
“To our fallen allies,” Sylvia said, holding her glass up.
“To the fallen,” I said and we clinked glasses.
I sipped what smelled like whiskey and it burned my throat. I’d had whiskey before, but I’d never felt it like this.
“So what’s wrong with you?” Sylvia asked, leaning back in her chair. “I sense you’ve got more than the attack on your mind.”
“I’ve got a lot of things on my mind,” I replied and took another sip.
“I’ve heard it helps to talk about these things,” she said. “Bottling up stuff only ends in disaster in my experience.”
I had tried talking already, but I supposed the person I’d talked to couldn’t talk back. “I’m torn,” I said. “I’ve wanted to be a palace guard my entire life and have people look up to me.”
“From what I hear you’ve already got that,” Sylvia replied. “Jack speaks quiet highly of you.”
“You know Jack?”
“He’s my sister’s grandson,” she said. “He’s one of the few people who come to visit me. Such a lovely boy.”
“I wouldn’t call Jack a boy. He’s almost thirty,” I said.
“Everyone’s a kid when you’re my age. But enough about that, what is it has you torn?”
“I’m in love,” I said, “with someone I shouldn’t be.”
Sylvia considered my words for a moment and I had no doubt she knew exactly what I meant, but she didn’t yell at me.
“Sounds like you have a choice to make,” she said, swilling her whiskey. “Love or loyalty. Always a hard one.”
“You actually think I have a choice to make? Shouldn’t you say there is no choice?”
“Should I?” she cackled. “William, I’ve been around for a long time and if there’s one thing I know, it’s this – everybody has choices whether they are Djinn, Guardjinn, human, Blooder. Choices are what define us and make us who we are and let people see who we are. So the question is how do you define yourself?”
“I can protect people and I’m good at it. My ability makes me the perfect fighter.”
“Those are things you can do – but do you want to do them?”
“I like protecting people I care about and I believe if you make a promise then you should keep it …”
“Better. What about your heart?”
“If I followed my heart I’m not sure I could keep the promises I’d made or protect the people I needed too.”
“But love is strong.”
“I’m strong. I was strong before I met her when … when I didn’t feel anything. If it wasn’t for my ability I wouldn’t even have fallen for her and I would be exactly where I am now, but with nothing holding me back.”
I realised in that moment what I needed to do. It was something I should have done from the beginning and then maybe I wouldn’t have been in this situation.
“I have to go,” I said, standing.
“Looks like someone has made his choice. Are you sure it’s the right one?”
“Thank you for the whiskey.”
“For you, William, any time.” Sylvia took another swig of her drink.
Chapter Fourteen
My choice was made and there was no going back. I pulled out a piece of paper from my drawer and scribbled down my letter to Kyra. My goodbye note. I had to make it clear my decision was absolute and there was no hope of changing my mind. I wasn’t going to string Kyra along. Things were over and I wouldn’t be there for her anymore. Once I was done, I folded up the paper and put it in my pocket.
I had little time before I had to be at the palace to check the Blooders, so I moved quickly through the streets. I took up my place in the bushes which was beginning to feel all too comfortable. Kyra and Kellan were in the backyard in gym gear.
“Focus,” Kellan called and threw a tennis ball at Kyra.
She stood still without showing any sign she planned to dodge the attack. She clenched her fists, her jaw was set. The ball stopped in its tracks a few inches from her face.
“Good job,” Kellan said.
Kyra watched the ball for a few moments then let it fall, only for it to be snatched up by Keisuke. She was training. The last time I’d been here, Kyra had been in tears, her face exhausted, but today she looked strong. Her eyes still had bags, but the way she stood had a certain determination. What had changed in the last few days?
It doesn’t matter. Nothing about Kyra matters to you anymore.
I had made my choice and I was sticking with it. It was the only way I could be the best Guardjinn possible, the only way to protect my people, the only way to fulfil my promise to Lily and Pyke. I had to shut off my sense of feeling for good and go back to the way things were before.
I had tried before and failed to keep it off because having all those new sensations was too alluring, but this time I would stick to my word. There was too much at stake.
I let out a breath. “Keisuke,” I whispered.
I knew he would hear me with his canine senses. He dropped the ball from his mouth and darted towards my bush. Kyra and Kellan took no notice as they focused on Kyra’s training. Keisuke licked my face and nuzzled my hands.
“It’s good to see you too,’ I said. “I need you to deli
ver a message for me.”
I pulled the folded letter from my pocket and tucked it into Keisuke’s collar.
“Go to Kyra,” I said.
Keisuke barked and ran out of the bush. He zigzagged across the yard, jumped and caught a ball Kellan had just thrown.
“Keisuke,” Kyra groaned. “I’m going to have to lock you inside if you don’t behave.”
Keisuke barked again and pounced back and forth as if he wanted to play.
“What’s that in your collar?” Kyra asked and reached down to pull out my letter.
She unfolded the paper and I closed my eyes. It was time. I had to do it before she read the letter because I didn’t want anything to change my mind.
“Goodbye, Kyra,” I said and turned off my sense of touch.
The familiar numb sensation spread over my whole body and the feeling of sticks poking my skin and leaves on my face vanished. I felt nothing.
“Will …” Kyra said, cupping her hand to her mouth as she read the letter. Her eyes welled with tears, she fell to her knees and cried.
And I felt nothing.
Laura Catherine is a Young Adult author focusing on Paranormal Romance, Dystopia, Urban Fantasy, and Fantasy.
She writes stories full of action, secrets and magic. She loves creating worlds where anything is possible and everyone has a story to tell. She has an over-active imagination, spends a lot of her time daydreaming, and wishes pokemon were real so she could have one.
Laura Catherine lives in Melbourne, Australia.
www.quillwielder.com
Thanks
I want to say a big thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read my Djinn series. I appreciate your support in making my dreams come true.
I also want to thank my editor, Duncan Carling-Rodgers. My beta readers who tell me what’s what. Thank you, Lyall Haynes, Angelique Ormsby, and Karra Ormsby.
A Djinn Short
Out Now
Ever wondered how Will, Pyke and Mia were given the job of finding Kyra?
How did they track her down?
What was Will doing while Pyke and Mia watched Kyra at school?
Go back to the beginning and see what Will’s life was before he met Kyra. See the struggles he faced that no one knew about and get a better understanding of his relationship with Kyra.
See just how strong his will power truly is in this short prequel to the Paranormal Romance, Djinn.
Book One in the Djinn series
Out Now
Kyra’s life is far from normal.
She’s been on the run for as long as she can remember and her father is the only stable thing in her life, but everything changes when the people pursuing them finally catch up.
Kyra is abducted by the handsome and mysterious, Will. He takes her to a secret compound where she is told the truth: She’s a Djinn, a genie-like creature with super powers and a love of dogs.
Kyra has to adjust to the Djinn and their rules, but her new life is far from perfect. Everyone is hiding something and the one person Kyra cares about most is forbidden to her.
There are secrets around every corner and more dangers than Kyra could ever imagine as she struggles to find herself and be with the one she loves.
BLOODERS
Book Two in the Djinn Series
December 2015
Kyra knows a lot about herself:
She is a Djinn, a magical genie-creature.
She can move things with her mind, but only when she’s emotional.
She’s in love with Will, but he is forbidden to her.
But there are things Kyra doesn’t know:
Why are the Blooders after her?
What is her mother hiding?
Why is her best friend avoiding her?
The closer Kyra gets to the truth, the closer she gets to danger and devastation.
But nothing will stop her.
Will Choose: A Djinn Short Page 5
