“But she’s Sanrak.”
“She’s the daughter of an Azura Lord, too,” Micah reminded him. “The Dark Realms always lay claim to their own.”
“What should we do?”
Micah smiled grimly. “Nothing much we can do. She has to flush it out of her system.”
“Why are my hands stinging so much?” Sera stared at her right palm where the mark flamed red. “First, it was that one, now this one, and now they’re both burning like crazy. What’s happening to me?” Her veins shone in stark contrast against the pale skin of her arms, darkening as blood pounded through them.
“It’s the seals,” her father said, examining the scars on each of her hands. He was careful not to touch either of them. “You were born with two, marked by both Illysia and the Dark Realms. My guess is that this one would have remained dormant but, when you went through the portal, the very fabric of the Dark Realms made it awaken.”
“Xibalba claims its own,” Kyle murmured, repeating Micah’s words.
“Awaken? W … what does that mean?”
“It means that you belong to both now,” Micah said slowly, “which changes everything.” His face held a strange expression for a moment and then turned blank again. “I must take my leave now.” He turned to Sophia. “I must seek the counsel of the Trimurtas about this.”
“Micah,” Sophia began, clutching his arm. Her face look pained. “Please, we have to protect her.” Micah pulled away gently, taking her fingers into his hands.
“I know, and we will. I will return soon.” He brushed a hand against her face, nodded to Sam, and then was gone.
Sera stood confused at what she’d just witnessed, but the pain in her palms soon obliterated everything else. She was starting to feel dizzy, as if she had vertigo. “Can I go to my room now? I need to lie down. Kyle can stay with me to make sure nothing happens.” Her father nodded his consent.
“Just for a little while,” he agreed. He turned to Kyle. “When is Carla back?”
“She’s back from her trip in a couple days.”
“Sam—” Sophia began.
“It’s OK, Sophia. We all need to get some rest. Kyle can stay here tonight. I’ll make up the bed in the basement.” He kissed his wife’s cheek. “Why don’t you go up with them, get Kyle settled with a shower, and check on Nate while you’re upstairs?”
Sera made her way to her room while Kyle followed her mother up the stairs. She heard the sound of the shower down the hall and lay on her bed in silence, staring at the ceiling. After a while there was a soft knock on the door, and Kyle walked in wearing a pair of her father’s sweatpants and a T-shirt. His springy dark curls fell around his face.
“Lose the mohawk?” Sera said, grateful for the company and the familiarity of him, especially in a world where everything felt like it was tilting beneath her. Kyle sat on the floor and leaned back against the side of the bed.
He tucked some wet ringlets behind his ears. They covered most of his tattoo. “I figured it might make your mom a little more comfortable.”
“Looks nice,” Sera said, and went back to studying the lines in the ceiling.
“You OK?” he said after a while.
“Not really. How much of this stuff did you already know?”
“I tried to tell you, but I didn’t know how to.” Kyle turned to look at her. “Would you have believed me? You thought I was nuts when I told you about the Fyre stuff, remember?”
“You’re right,” she agreed. “I wouldn’t have. I still feel sometimes like I’m in the middle of some unending dream, and that I’ll eventually wake up, but I never do. And it just gets worse and worse.” She twisted her body across the top of the bed so that her head was next to his shoulder. “Thanks for coming to get me,” she whispered.
He smiled, and the sweetness of it melted her. “Any time.” Her eyes dropped to his lips and she flushed. She couldn’t avoid it forever.
“So about that kiss … ”
“I was going to ask you about that,” Kyle said, turning so that his face was inches from hers. “What was that about?”
Sera flushed, embarrassed by the memory. “I don’t know. I was just so happy to see you, and it just happened. Are you mad?”
He laughed and stared at her as if she were crazy. “Are you kidding? I’ve waited to kiss you for years. Are you mad?”
“No, it wasn’t what I expected. I mean it felt nice.” She blushed and turned her face into her arm.
“Not nice like kissing-your-brother nice, right?”
Sera laughed at the look on his face. “No, definitely not like kissing my brother.”
“Good, then.”
Suddenly a flash of Dev’s kiss filled her head and Sera banished the thought furiously. She didn’t mean to compare them but once the thought got stuck in her head, she couldn’t avoid it. She’d only ever kissed two guys, and by most standards at Silver Lake, she was way behind in adventures with the opposite sex.
Dev’s kiss had been effortless, and the sensation that she’d done it before, even though she hadn’t, still baffled her. Everything about it had felt right. Perfect—like a Cinderella kiss. But when she’d kissed Kyle, it, too, had felt right, just in a different way. Their kiss had been desperate and filled with friendship and longing and something else she couldn’t identify. There’d been something dark in it, something fierce and primal. It had scared her, but it had thrilled her, too.
“What’s wrong?” Kyle asked, as if noticing her stare.
Sera flushed and tucked her head back into the crook of her arm. “Nothing. Thinking,” she muttered. “I was wondering about portals. How do they work?”
“You want to talk about portals now?”
She feigned interest. “Well, considering I just went through three of them, sure, why not?”
Kyle shot her a strange look. “There are special areas made for portals between the realms or even to other portals in the same realm. Most Azura and Daeva can’t portal unless they’re with a stronger deity that can. Sanrak like Micah and your mom use the ones between the realms. You have to be very powerful to travel via the portals or even to travel with someone who can take you through safely.” He stared at her hard then, as if trying to work something out in his head.
“You mean, like I did.”
He nodded. “You’re strong, Sera. No one could have done what you did—survive in Xibalba and travel through multiple portals to get back.”
“But what about the portal at Carla’s? Or the one I saw Azrath make? They weren’t in any portal area.”
“Azrath is an Azura Lord. He has the power to open a portal anywhere he wishes in Xibalba. At Carla’s—” He broke off for a moment, studying the floor. “I thought that the nekomata had created the portal, but I was wrong. Micah said that demons couldn’t open portals. I know what I saw, but maybe the portal was there before.”
Sera rolled onto her stomach and propped her chin in her hands, frowning. “No, I saw the tails draw the mark on the wall, too. And when I was in Xibalba, when I wore its shade, smaller demons there seemed afraid of me.” She paused, thinking. “It spoke too, remember? Is that normal?”
“Only for very strong demons, so you may be right.” Kyle fidgeted with the edge of the bedspread.
“It was strong. Ra’al trusted it. What do you think it wanted?” Kyle’s face tightened more, but Sera didn’t notice. “It wanted to eat me, remember? They do, you know. Eat people. I saw them doing it. You wouldn’t believe some of the things I saw when I was there. Horrible, horrible things. I can’t even close my eyes right now.” Her fingers gripped the sheets in a death-white hold. Kyle twisted around to face her, stroking her numb fingers gently, his other arm laying across the edge of the bed between them.
“It’s OK, Ser, I’m here. I’ll stay here with you as long as it takes.”
They sat in silence for a while, each lost in their own thoughts, with only the bedside lamp’s muted glow lighting the room. At a loss for words, she fol
lowed the lamp’s shadows flickering on the ceiling. They looked like black wings. She reached over and moved the hair off of Kyle’s head, outlining the edge of the tattoo with her fingertip.
“Did you get these because of Jude?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Did you know what Jude was?”
Kyle looked into her eyes. He didn’t want to lie anymore. “Yes.”
“Why, Kyle?” she whispered. “I mean, you knew what they did, what they do. I don’t understand what you thought they or Azrath could give you. What was so important that you’d risk your life for them?”
“I … you … ”
Kyle held her face between his hands. His lips moved but no words came from them. Sera remained still as his thumbs stroked her cheeks. His eyes were pained and she could see that he was struggling to voice what was inside of him. She leaned forward and pressed a quiet kiss to his lips.
“What was that for?” he whispered, taken aback.
“Just because.”
Kyle smiled and leaned his forehead against hers. They stayed like that for what seemed like forever, until a knock at the open door startled them both.
“Time for bed guys,” her father said. “It’s late.”
Kyle stood, and placed a kiss on the top of Sera’s head. “Try to get some rest, OK?” He turned off the main light and then stood at the door, looking as though he wanted to say something more.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
He shifted his weight between his feet, still hovering. “Sera, I—” His face was tormented.
“I know, Kyle. Me too,” Sera said. She knew how he felt.
Kyle smiled, the corner of his mouth curling upward, and walked into the hallway, pulling the door closed behind him. “Thanks for letting me stay here, Mr. Caelum,” Sera heard him say to her father, and then, “Night, Sera.”
“Goodnight,” she said. “Dad?”
Her father poked his head in. “Yes, Ser-bear?”
“Am I going to be OK?” Her voice broke and Sam came quickly into the room and gathered her tightly into his arms.
“Yes. You always have us with you. We’ll get through this together, I promise. Get some sleep. I love you very much, don’t ever forget that.”
“I love you too, Dad.” He moved to turn off the bedside lamp. “Can you leave it on for a little while?” she asked like a small child. Sam nodded and drew the covers up to her neck. He kissed her on the forehead.
“Night, sweetheart.”
After her father left, Sera lay in bed, exhaustion driving her eyelids closed but fear wrestling them open each time they slid shut. She was weary. She felt battered and bruised. Every part of her ached: her stomach, her head, her shoulders, her palms. Sera held her hands up and stared at the sigils that lay like flags on her skin, one white and one red.
One for each side of her.
Now that she’d been to Xibalba, that other part of her had been awakened—the part that made her want to punish her parents by making out with Kyle, the part that made her feel so suddenly connected to him, the part that had made Micah run in alarm to the Trimurtas.
Sera wondered what it meant for all of them.
The red sigil flared hot and she shivered.
THE PLACE BETWEEN
Ser, just stay close, and everything will be fine. Hide in plain sight. It’s part of the plan.”
Sera pulled her sweatshirt hood over her head and tucked her hands under her backpack straps. She nodded dumbly to Kyle. Her mother had been summoned to an audience with the Trimurtas, no doubt to discuss what had happened to her in Xibalba and all that followed. Now that the second rune had awakened, she’d become a liability … unpredictable. Her eyes smarted and she squeezed them shut.
“Your dad called the Ne’feri and they’re all looking out. The Daeva, too. It’s only for one day. You’ll be fine.”
“I saw Beth just before,” she said. “I feel so conspicuous. They’re watching me.”
Kyle held her chin with his thumb and forefinger. “Sera, that’s their job. They are here to protect you.”
“They’re our age, Kyle. What do they know about anything?”
He stopped again to look at her. “They know a lot. You knew how to fight, with deifyre, didn’t you? Micah told me that knowledge is passed down through the ranks. It’s genetic or something.”
“How many are there?”
Kyle shrugged. “Your dad said there’s a couple kids, and I think he said the janitor too, but I wasn’t sure.”
“Great,” Sera sighed. “Two kids and a custodian to save us from certain death in hell.”
They reached the steps of the school and Kyle glanced at the paper in his hand where he’d written out their entire day. “So, Beth’s in the classroom next to us. We have calc and then geography. After that, we’ll navigate the cafeteria. Clear?”
Sera shot him a look. “Wait, I’m not sure what’s going to happen at zero eleven hundred hours.”
“This isn’t a game, Sera,” Kyle snapped. “Look at what happened with the portal. Your dad put your safety in my hands while your mom’s gone.”
“I’d be safer at home with him. You really think school is such a good idea?”
“Yes. More people. Azrath won’t risk drawing so much attention this early. And I’ll be with you all the time. So will a bunch of people we don’t even know.” He stuffed the piece of paper into his pocket. “Everything’s going to be fine. We just need to stick to the plan.”
“I can’t believe she took Nate with her,” Sera said sourly. “I’d prefer to go there than stay here.”
“I thought you said you didn’t want to go to Illysia under any circumstances.”
“I don’t. But I’d take that over school any day.”
Kyle gave her shoulder a sympathetic squeeze as they walked into calculus class. “If you stop being such a baby, maybe we can get through today.”
Sera glared at him, slamming her books down on a single desk at the front of the class and ignoring him pointedly. She stared blindly into her book as the teacher began to speak. Her palms itched under the extra-long cuffs of her sweatshirt. She ignored that too.
Sera knew exactly why she hadn’t been able to go with her mom and Nate. The Trimurtas were worried. They’d planned all along to keep her in Illysia, but her mother had somehow persuaded them to let her stay in the Mortal Realm as a child. The dreams had been the first sign of the appearance of her abilities, but Sera had hidden them cleverly. And Sophia hadn’t wanted to lose her daughter, so she’d convinced herself that Sera was fine. The Trimurtas had not been pleased. What had happened with the portal to the Dark Realms had been unforeseen, but it now meant that Sera could not be hidden in Illysia, not while the Trimurtas tried to understand the full extent of her power.
She vaguely heard Mr. Barnes announce that he’d be giving a pop quiz in the next class. She didn’t know if she’d be around for it, though. She stared at the numbers on the board ahead of her, the squeal of chalk grating in the silence.
Sera felt an odd darkness at the edges of her vision and grew confused as Mr. Barnes and the chalkboard blurred into one dark mass. Her palms stung again and she pressed them against her thighs, agitated. A burning sensation spread across her shoulders and neck, deep into the bone. She could feel Kyle’s stare on her back along with the sweat breaking out under her clothes.
She raised a shaky hand. “Mr. Barnes, may I go to the bathroom?”
He nodded in her direction and she shot like a bullet from her seat. She spared a glance at Kyle, whose frown was fierce. She ignored his obvious warning. If she didn’t get out of that classroom, the same thing that had happened in the bathroom was going to happen again, in front of everyone. Every part of her ached. The last thing she heard before the door closed behind her was Kyle asking to go to the bathroom and Mr. Barnes’s response about the one-at-a-time rule.
The hallway was deserted. She stared at the entry doors at the end of the hall. Eve
rything inside of her wanted to escape. But deep down, Sera knew that what she wanted to run away from most of all was herself. And that was impossible. She fled to the girl’s bathroom and turned the lock on the inside of the heavy door after checking that all the stalls were empty.
Sera stared at the spot where she’d collapsed when she was with Beth, then averted her eyes. She walked over to the sink and splashed some water on her hot face. It helped a little. She’d never be able to make it through the day. It had only been fifteen minutes since the first bell and already she was having a major panic attack. Even Beth had stared at her earlier like she was some kind of pariah, and Beth was Ne’feri—she knew the stakes.
Sera didn’t know who to trust. Everyone had kept secrets, had hidden things, had lied.
She thought about Ra’al and about seeing Dev’s face. There was only one reason she’d think about Dev when faced with the worst Demon Lord in hell—she trusted him. But after only a few months, how was it possible that she trusted a stranger more than her own family or even her best friend?
She frowned as a vision of Dev’s golden eyes and bronze skin danced across her mind. She tasted the tartness of marigolds and flushed, confused as her heart skipped a beat.
She liked Kyle. She loved Kyle. Didn’t she?
Suddenly uncomfortable with the turn of her thoughts and the fact that she didn’t have a clear answer on what she felt for either Kyle or Dev, she turned the water to ice cold and splashed her face again. The coldness was numbing for a second, masking the growing warmth inside of her until it overtook everything else. She couldn’t think anymore.
The heat bloomed again across her chest and back, and Sera ripped the hoodie off, then the T-shirt beneath it. Twisting to see her back in the mirror, she examined the smooth, unblemished skin. There was nothing there—nothing around her shoulder blades to indicate the presence of anything abnormal. She rotated her shoulders back, watching the bone undulate beneath the skin, and willed the aura to appear. A lacerating sensation slashed through her body, and then, like magic, it was there.
Alpha Goddess Page 16
