As Thayde helped Gavran to his feet, the friend made his way to them. When he offered his hand to Thayde, Thayde gave him a welcoming hug. The boy was clearly astonished, offering a weak pat on Thayde’s back. Gavran looked elated. He wiped his red face with both hands and waved to me. I offered the best smile I could. What was going on?
All three of them made their way to the SUV and climbed in.
“Hi Morgan,” Gavran said as he closed the door.
“Gavran, hi,” I offered. “How are you?”
“Okay, I guess,” he sniffed. “This is my friend, Flynn.”
Flynn’s eyes pierced through me. “How do you do?” He murmured in a stiff Irish accent.
“I’m well, thank you.”
“Morgan, we’re going to have a little talk with Gavran and Flynn, okay?” Thayde pushed the SUV into reverse, easing the car back. “They have a few things they need to tell us.”
I barely thought about reading their minds and whispers of their past conversations swirled in my head. I don’t want to get in trouble. It was not his fault. She deserves to know. I don’t want to be a bad guy. Father always hated me. Their thoughts were so jumbled I knew they had to be about more than just one subject. Smiling, I turned in my seat and reached for Thayde’s hand. He squeezed it reassuringly.
“It’s okay,” he sighed, hinting that I could release the shield. “Lots going on, babe.”
“So I hear,” I hinted and Thayde shook his head.
“Wait until they tell you everything, okay?”
“Okay,” I agreed and rested my head against the seat. Things were about to take a huge turn.
When we reached our house, it was clear Flynn and Gavran couldn’t be any more nervous. Flynn’s hands drummed a rhythm on his knees the likes of which I was sure any rock band would be happy to recruit. Gavran bit at his nails, staring out the window.
As Thayde turned off the engine, Gavran opened his door and hopped out, landing with most of his weight on his right foot. Then he eased onto his left and closed the door. His limp had always intrigued me.
“What happened to your leg?” I asked Gavran directly and he froze, his hand still in mid-air from closing the door.
“Well,” he stumbled over himself, “I, um,”
“Morgan,” Thayde’s voice was stern, but I didn’t look at him. “Morgan!”
“I asked you a question, Gavran. Please answer me.”
Gavran looked from me to his brother in fright. He spoke, his voice unsteady. “My father broke it when I was eight. It’s never been the same since.”
“Morgan!” This time, I looked at Thayde and his face was granite. “What are you doing?” He emphasized each word.
I raised my hand to Gavran’s head. Instinctively, he flinched, as most abused children do. When he realized I wasn’t going to hurt him, he held still, his breathing hastened and light.
Lightly, I placed my palm over Gavran’s forehead and closed my eyes. Focusing on him, I ran a body sweep, beginning from the top of his head and flowing down through his chest, arms, legs and feet. His body had been badly beaten and bruised since the age of five. Limus had hurt him many times and the broken, lame leg was not the only problem he was facing; his heart was too big.
I focused on his leg first. All my energy surrounded the femur’s break, encasing the badly healed muscles, and when the energy was at its fullest, I said the word.
“Blenald!”
Instantly, the leg healed itself and Gavran screamed, dropping to the floor.
“Leave them – don’t touch them!” Thayde cried over the top of Flynn. “Morgan, what are you doing?” His voice was filled with anger.
Then, I focused on Gavran’s heart. It was twice the size of a normal heart; it would kill him one day. It needed to be shrunk and if I could do this, I would save his life.
I can do this.
A memory swirled into clarity. I saw hands. They were Troen’s and he had them wrapped around a woman’s heart, holding it, caressing it. In my mind, I did the same with Gavran’s. In one quick movement, I squeezed my hands together and repeated the word.
“Blenald!”
The sound of gasping and sputtering forced me to open my eyes. Gavran lay on his back, his eyes wide in terror, fingers grasping at the air. Blood spots covered his white shirt and face.
Horror swept across Flynn’s face and he dropped to his knees.
“What have you done?” Thayde grabbed his brother’s hand.
“His heart was too big,” I explained. “I shrunk it.”
“You’ve killed him!” Flynn cried.
Gavran continued to gasp for air, spitting up blood and unable to speak. I needed to finish the job. Raising my hand, I brought forth Mom’s silver healing power and in one sweeping motion, completely dissolved all the excess blood he was choking on.
Moments later, Gavran sat up, one hand at his chest, the other at his leg. The three of them stared up at me from the floor, speechless.
Irritation seeped from me; Thayde had not trusted me. Gavran was clearly terrified. Despite what I had just done, all three looked as if I had committed murder instead of righting a very wrong situation.
“You should be fine now.” I almost choked on my words. In disgust, I turned on my heel, and exited the garage.
Rain droplets followed me as I made my way to the side of the pool, past the newly built gazebo and the pretty palm trees.
“Morgan!” Thayde was angry. His footsteps pounded the path behind me. “Stop!”
I ignored him. The last thing I wanted to do was talk to Thayde. Instead of feeling good about what I had done, I felt awful. Thunder roared across the sky. I stormed toward my room, holding out my hand, willing the door to open. It flung to the side, allowing me to enter and slammed behind me, locking.
Morgan! Thayde thought from behind the door. Let me in.
I continued to ignore him and looked around my old room. I’d forgotten just how beautiful it was; the deep blue walls accented by the beautiful white, glittery floor I found so fascinating the first time I visited. The view from the French glass doors distracted me. Storm clouds were gathering so quickly, they looked like steam from a bath. Was I bringing them?
Let me in or I am going to come in. Thayde’s voice had changed; he was furious.
Go away, I ordered. Two seconds later, the door shattered and Thayde walked through the empty space, his body completely soaked by the rain.
“What the hell are you doing?” I cried, astonished.
“You gave me no choice,” he said through gritted teeth as he walked toward me. I backed into the French doors.
“I wanted you to leave me alone.”
“You’re acting like a child.”
“You pissed me off!”
“Is that so?” Thayde stopped directly in front of me. “Is this how you’re going to act every time you get angry?”
I didn’t answer – he didn’t understand.
“Don’t understand what?”
“You didn’t trust me!” I shouted, fighting tears. “You of all people didn’t trust me!”
“I do trust you,” he fought back, “but that was not the time or place to do that Morgan! Do you know how terrified those boys are of you? Do you?” He cried. “You just jumped right into reading him without permission AND you healed him without permission! I’m sure he would have given it to you, but honestly, in the garage? Was that really the right place to do that?”
“He needed to be fixed!” I faltered, realizing Thayde was right, but not wanting to back down.
“It was not the time or place, Morgan!” Thayde repeated, pointing at me with his finger. “You of all people should have known that. What were you trying to do? Scare them?”
“No!”
“Show off?”
“No!”
“Then what?”
“I just,” honestly, I didn’t know. I saw a problem and wanted to fix it. That was all.
“Don’t you remember a th
ing Hadassah said to you earlier?” Thayde’s beautiful face was marred with such an angry frown, he actually looked different than I’d ever seen him.
Hadassah’s words sang out to me: You must think before you act, otherwise you will not be a good ruler.
“Exactly,” Thayde said, allowing the words to sink in.
Rain pelted the glass doors. The stupid tears began to drip down my face. I’m stronger than this, I thought, blocking Thayde from hearing me. I don’t need to cry – stop it! I tried to wipe them away and Thayde grabbed my hand before I could. Reaching up, he rubbed the tears off my cheek, his face and voice softening.
“You can’t rush into anything now, especially with your new powers. Patience is going to have to be your new mantra or something.”
I almost snorted.
“Come here,” he slid his hand behind my neck and I fell against him, my body tired as if I had been swimming all day. “Hadassah is much older than Aletheia. I know you inherited all the previous ruler’s memories and experiences, but she could teach you a lot as well. If anything, remember everything she says.”
“I’ll try.” I promised. “I’m so tired.”
“It’s because we’re fighting,”
“Do you feel it too?”
“I feel it more than you do.”
“Why?”
“Because you don’t feel my pain anymore, remember?”
Sleep – I wanted to sleep.
“We should try and stay awake until it gets dark here.” Thayde’s hands ran up and down my back, jostling me. “Otherwise, you’ll stay jetlagged forever.”
I closed my eyes. Sleep. No, it wouldn’t work. Thayde was right, as usual. I leaned my head back for a kiss, which he planted on my lips.
“I’m sorry about your door.” He mumbled.
“It’s okay. You can pay for it.”
He nodded in agreement. “Yeah,” Cradling my hand in his, he held it against his chest. “We’d better find out what Gavran and Flynn have to tell us.”
They would only meet with Thayde and me. We escorted them into the depths of Tammer’s home, in the secret room where I took Limus’ powers from him only months before. Thayde dragged a circular table from the corner of the room and we pulled in the chairs, gathering around it. Gavran and Flynn sat in silence. I began the conversation.
“I’m sorry, Gavran.”
His eyes grew wide.
“I should have asked your permission to heal you before I did it.”
Looking down at the blood staining his shirt, he swallowed. “It’s okay. Thank you.”
I suddenly felt sorry for Gavran. Sorry for the years of abuse he’d been through, sorry for the way I’d treated him, sorry for the way he’d been treated by everyone his entire life. Though he was sixteen in Human years, he had been through so much harassment at the hands of his family and Humans. It was a wonder he hadn’t taken his own life. Indeed, when I had scanned him, I’d seen evidence of him trying on more than one occasion. In that moment, I felt love toward Gavran.
“You have something you need to tell us. You are suffering because of it.” I said. “I could read your mind, but I want you to tell me. Tell me everything.”
Flynn and Gavran exchanged glances. “Okay,” he took a deep breath. “A few days ago, I was contacted by Herra. She called me on my cell and said she needed me to get on a flight to Japan and meet her in Hong Kong.”
Puzzled, I looked to Thayde. He was so focused on his brother, he didn’t even notice.
“I asked her why and she said she needed me to be on her side. When I demanded to know what was going on she told me to just ‘do as I was told’. She wanted me to do something,” his throat caught and his shaking pulled at his hair nervously. “She wanted me to,” he voice wavered.
“She wanted Gavran to kill Limus.” Flynn said, finishing the sentence for him. His icy stare chilled me.
“What?” Thayde’s voice echoed off the walls. “Why? He can’t remember anything!”
“She said she didn’t want any loose ends. When Gavran said he wouldn’t do it, she said if he didn’t, she would make him pay dearly.”
Flynn wouldn’t lower his gaze. More than anything I wanted to read his mind, but I didn’t. Instead, I waited. Gavran shuddered and Flynn finally averted his eyes, patting his friend on the shoulder.
“You need to tell them the rest.”
Gavran looked up, tears streaming down his face. “I don’t remember killing him.”
The ensuing silence was deafening.
“Limus is dead?” Thayde finally broke the eerie quiet. “You killed him?” Thayde directed the question to his brother who nodded. “When?”
“This morning,” he cried out, dropped his head into his hands. “I don’t remember doing it. I just remember standing over him with a knife in my hands and blood all over me. He was staring up at me, his mouth open and his eyes, they were,” he pushed away from the table and hunched over himself in the chair. “I don’t remember doing it.”
Empathy pulled through me, forcing me to my feet and I made my way around the table and knelt before Gavran. When I touched his shoulder, his chin jerked up, his weary red eyes torn with conflicting emotions; disgust, anger, and fear. When I held my arms to him, he fell into my embrace, wrapping his arms around my waist, his head on my arm and lay in my lap on the floor.
Gavran had not been held properly since he was a child and he cried his heart out lying in my arms. I wrapped him in my aura, blanketing him in love and comfort. His sobs shook his frail body and when he finally became still, I leaned my head on his shoulder.
“I’m going to read your mind now, Gavran, is that okay?” I whispered into his ear and he nodded.
Pushing the orb slightly, his memories instantly flew into me. There was so much more he hadn’t been able to tell me. The guilt over killing his father had been too much to bear. He was suicidal. There was much I had to share with my family. However, the one thing I needed to tell Gavran was the most important for the moment.
“Can you please sit up?” I asked.
Embarrassed, he pulled away, wiping his red face.
“You did not kill your father,” I began and held up a hand as he began to object. “It was a Genif. Your sister sent one to invade a little girl’s body while we were in Moorea. She warned me that she was still coming after me. I got rid of it but I think it visited you before it came to me. You don’t remember it because it took over your body. It killed your father, not you.”
He didn’t understand. “But my hands did the deed,”
“No, you weren’t in control of them. You didn’t kill him.”
“I didn’t?” He looked at Flynn and his brother, hope splashed across his face.
“No.” I said with finality. “You could say that Herra did it as it was she who ordered the Genif.”
I stood, offering my hand to Gavran. He took it, standing awkwardly and hugged me.
“Thank you,” he mumbled into my neck, “for healing me. For bringing me back to my brother. For everything.”
“You’re welcome.” I patted his thin back and when he pulled away, I leaned into Thayde. “We need to sit down with the family. I’ll do the talking, okay?” The two friends looked relieved, though Flynn was clearly still angry with me. “I know everything.”
CHAPTER FOUR
NAIRA
“Lars, you need to sit down.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re not going to like what I have to say.”
My soon to be uncle-in-law plopped himself into our single couch and twiddled his thumbs. Aletheia placed herself along the armrest next to him and draped her arm around his shoulder. Mom and Tammer sat squished together, looking apprehensive next to Hadassah. Flynn and Gavran sat nervously next to Thayde and me.
“Herra is gathering an army. She’s in hiding and the reason why we haven’t been able to find her is because she has found the perfect hiding place.”
Tammer had that look
on his face he always did when trying to read my mind. But I had figured out how to block people from doing it and put up a shield. He stopped almost as soon as he started and smiled faintly, looking away. I continued.
“She’s in the Mariana Trench.”
Tammer’s gaze whipped back to me. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“She was so close!” Tammer exclaimed. “We were in Australia and she was just north of us!”
“What does this have to do with me?” Lars interrupted.
“It was Raif who told her where I was.” I tried to gauge his reaction.
He sat glued to the spot, not wanting to believe his best friend had betrayed him. No one said a word and Lars didn’t even blink. After a good minute, Aletheia rubbed his shoulder.
“Lars?”
“How do you know this?” His voice was but a whisper.
“Raif is Herra’s spy. He became your friend in university when he found out you were destined to meet The Link. He’s just been waiting around until you found me.”
Lars’ face drained of color. Aletheia took his hand in hers, but he didn’t notice.
“That can’t be,” he refused to believe.
“He’s with her right now. Raif is in love with her, Lars.”
“I don’t understand this,”
“Why do you think he left McCall so quickly?” Thayde asked. “He returned to Portland the minute he saw Morgan had The Look. He knew! He knew right then and there you’d found The Link.”
“I’ve known Raif for years!” He exclaimed.
“Things change.” I said, feeling the temperature in Lars’ body rise along with his temper. “Raif has changed.”
“That’s impossible. I know the man!”
“You knew the man,”
“He’s far too old for her. He wouldn’t fall for a girl that young!”
The conversation was going nowhere fast. Instead of arguing anymore, I threw the memory to him. It flew from my hand in a small gold and red ball toward him at lightning speed, hitting him in the head and dissipating down his neck. His body shuddered as it took in the information.
There was a collective gasp among the group as they watched. Thayde sighed heavily in disapproval and leaned back into the couch.
Forever Page 5
