Pushing the information aside, I went into the house, where Cali and Gabe waited. They looked worried. As soon as I caught the look on Cali’s face, I knew I’d be hearing about my outing. I figured it made the most sense to say that I’d gone for a walk alone, since William followed me in. I couldn’t see any point in telling him what really happened. After all, he could’ve been the one responsible.
Pulling Cali into my arms, I kissed her. “I’m sorry.”
Cali placed two palms on my chest and pushed away with all of her might. “What were you thinking? You could have been killed! Get off of me, you jerk!”
“I just went for a walk. I didn’t mean to go so far. I’m sorry,” I apologized. Staring at her hard, I tried to communicate with her that I’d been tricked, that I’d been led into the woods and forced to go there, without saying those words in front of William.
“You know better than anyone that that’s how they…” She put both palms up in front of her, but a frustrated-sounding “Oooh!” escaped her lips.
My brow creased as I glared at her. Had she been a goddess, she probably would have performed some sort of magic on me now. She had always used her powers when she was angry, probably a violation of some goddess code. However, they’d never been directed at me before and I had no doubt that I would have been toast right then if she hadn’t turned mortal. The very idea of Cali using her powers on me without my consent was both disturbing and painful.
Turning to William, I said, “Thanks, William.”
“Don’t mention it,” he replied, that mocking smile of his returning. Freaking bastard.
Looking to Cali, I said, “I’m going to bed.” Before she could reply, I went down the hall to search for a room that didn’t smell like she’d stayed in it. I could feel her anger surrounding me as I left the room, but I couldn’t deal with her just then.
Taking the first bedroom that I could find, one that Gabe had said we could use, I walked in and shut the door firmly behind me. Stripping to my boxers in the dark, I got into bed, burrowing under the mountain of blankets that someone, probably Gabe, had set at the footboard. The room was freezing despite the heat having been turned on earlier that day, but I didn’t want to sleep in my jeans caked with undergrowth and sand. I couldn’t remember what room Gabe had put my new clothes in and out of sheer exhaustion I couldn’t bring myself to ask. Sleep claimed me almost at once.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CALI—INTRUDER
Standing in the living room of Gabriel’s house, the anger that had seethed inside of me only a moment ago began to dissipate as I watched Kellen walk away from me. I didn’t get a chance to ask which room he’d be sleeping in. However, after my behavior, I imagined that he wouldn’t have been very welcoming if I went to find him.
I hadn’t meant to try and use my powers on Kellen. If I still had them, I would have stopped myself. He had to know that. Though if I was being honest, did I know that? Getting to know my mortal self had been an ever-changing and confusing experience.
“So…this has been fun,” Gabe said. As generally was the case, Gabriel made me smile. He probably said this to find a polite way to get William to leave. I wanted William to go. He watched me constantly, which made me feel uncomfortable.
“I’m going to sleep,” I said, smiling at Gabriel and William, taking care to back out of the room lest William’s eyes follow me, which they did.
“Night, C!” Gabe said.
“Cali,” William said, bowing his head as though to royalty.
I could still hear Gabe speaking with William when I reached one of the open rooms. Walking inside, I shut the door behind me. Darkness enveloped me, broken up only by a slim beam of light that slid between the heavy window hangings. Listening to the sound of Gabe and William talking, I stayed there for a long time, letting the sounds of the still room calm me, listening for the sounds of a departure. Eventually, I heard the door close and the sound of the light controls being shut off.
Looking at the bed, I knew that I didn’t want to sleep. I couldn’t sleep with Kellen angry with me. Padding back down the hallway, I found the main rooms darkened. Gabriel must have gone to bed. Though it had grown colder, I wrapped one of the thick blankets from the great room around me and stepped out onto the balcony. I needed one more moment on my own before I found Kellen.
An unforgiving wind pummeled me the moment that I stepped outside. The sea tide churned below me, rocking back and forth. Unwelcome tears sprang up in my eyes. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d cried. Crying wasn’t something that I often indulged in as an immortal. After all, I’d had everything I’d ever needed or wanted, so there had never been much need for crying. The last time had probably been when my sister, Rowan, married a mortal and went away. I missed her so much. I missed all of my family, especially my parents, Lugh and Brigid, and my brother, Cabhan, who’d become an angel now in the mortal heavens.
Shaking, I looked out to the sea and tried to imagine being back home on the other side of the water. If Kellen and I had gotten married, we would have been on a honeymoon now. None of this would have been happening, however it clearly had become too late for ifs.
Where were my parents? Because I was no longer an immortal could they not see that I—we—were in trouble? Did they not understand that I still needed them?
Then the idea came to me. Cabhan. Angels communicated with mortals, right? Could Cabhan get a message to my family that we needed help? He would know what to do, wouldn’t he?
Walking to the railing that protected the entire balcony, I whispered into the night. “Cab. Cabhan, can you hear me?”
The sound of the waves on the rocks filled my ears. But there was no response.
“Cabhan?” My quiet voice broke on his name. Still nothing. “Cabhan!” Yelling his name, I practically leaned over the railing. Still there was no answer. Standing there shivering in my blanket, I waited. I’d been acting like a fool. Of course he wouldn’t answer me. Did I think he could just pop by for a visit and solve all of my problems?
Then a snowflake landed on the very center of my nose, directly below the bridge, and perched there. Cross-eyed, I stared at it, waiting for it to melt, but it didn’t. Other snowflakes soon joined it until small piles of them were perched on the center of my nose.
Laughter made me shift, causing the snowflakes to slide off. “Calienta.” Cabhan’s voice caught me off-guard.
I leaned over the railing. A smile rushed to my face as my relief at seeing him overwhelmed me. “Cab!”
“I don’t have much time…You’re in danger here,” Cabhan said, looking around as he spoke.
“They’ve found us out, haven’t they?” Even as I asked the question, I knew the truth. We should have been able to experience a quiet existence without magick, but it had followed us.
“Yes, you are all in danger. Calienta, open the door for me, let me in!” Cabhan spoke these words softly from the ground below.
Spinning, I turned to open the door to the house behind me. No sooner had I done so than fear started to contort my insides, making my hand grow even number upon the ice-cold door handle to the house.
I wanted this person to be my brother so badly. For just an instant, I’d been about to walk into the house and open the door and invite him in. But the real Cabhan wouldn’t have needed an invitation to enter the house. The only protection that we had at our disposal was the house, and I would not relinquish it.
“If you are really Cabhan, then you don’t need to be invited in. This is a trick!”
Cabhan laughed, but it wasn’t the same carefree laugh from earlier; instead, it sounded darker, more ominous. “Very good, goddess,” the fake Cabhan said. “I am impressed that you are not just a pretty face.”
Before my very eyes, “Cabhan” transformed from a perfect likeness of my brother into an ugly creature with four limbs flailing about in the shifting moonlight. “Now you will open the door and let me in.”
“Cali, get in the house!
” At the sound of William’s voice behind me, I jumped and turned, running straight into his broad chest.
Yelping like a small dog, I backed up, but William pulled me into the house, slamming the door behind me. Quickly he mumbled a series of incoherent words and ran his hands along the doorframe. The entire process took a matter of moments, but when he’d finished, the inside of the house seemed calmer, as though the evil from outside had been repelled, pushed back somehow.
William backed me up against the wall and my knees started to shake as he barred my way. Get control of yourself, Calienta. You are from a family of gods and goddesses that dates back to the beginning of time. You will not be weak. My knees stilled.
“How did you get in?” I asked. My heart pounded again, making banging sounds inside me like the one the door had just made.
“I have a key,” William said. “When I went outside to leave before, something felt off. I thought it best to stay and watch the house.”
“We don’t need your protection,” I said.
William smiled in the filtered light, letting out a short breath. “No, it didn’t look like you did.” He moved closer to me, his proximity making me uncomfortable.
“Please leave now.” I made my words sound as formidable as possible. He didn’t move, but instead watched me again with a mocking smile.
After another silence, he spoke again. “You did well to refuse them. They are of the other world. They wanted to get in pretty badly, but I don’t know why.” His breath came fast as he looked into my eyes, like he’d been running.
“Of course you do,” I said, my annoyance at his closeness making me confrontational.
William placed his hands on my shoulders. “Listen to me, Cali. You aren’t safe here-”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The lie slipped easily off my tongue and my cheeks burned. Part of me wanted to look away from William’s eyes and part of me couldn’t.
He shook his head. “You know more than you let on. You know about everything.” William’s voice held wonder, as if he’d just puzzled out the secrets of the world.
His eyes, an unusual shade of blue not unlike my own, bore into mine, holding me hostage. I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t. He’s putting some sort of spell on me. I have to get him out of the house!
“I love you, Cali,” William said on a whisper. “After only one night in your presence, I’m in love with you.”
My breath caught as I stared into his eyes. Before I could respond, William placed both of his hands on the sides of my face and kissed me. It was a sweet, gentle kiss. It mesmerized me, making me feel something down to my bones, making me want something that I didn’t understand.
No! I don’t want this! I need to get away from him…
William deepened the kiss and it became hungrier, more intense. He pulled me right along with him. That’s when I realized that he hadn’t placed a spell on me. I kissed William of my own accord. I kissed William because…
“Come away with me. I love you, Cali. I can protect you,” Willock whispered, kissing my cheeks. “You can come away with me and be mine forever.” His mouth moved down to my jaw and back to my lips again.
We could stay there like that, kissing, and no one would know. No one except Kellen. Kellen always claimed to sense my emotions. Would he be able to tell I’d been kissing William, or was I far enough away that it wouldn’t matter? I’d never tested that, but the realization hit me that I didn’t want to. Because as inexplicably intoxicating as William’s kisses were, I didn’t want this.
Because William wasn’t Kellen…
All conscious thought returned to me then. What had I been thinking? I’d gone temporarily insane for a moment. I didn’t want William! Kellen was the one that I wanted more than anything, whose kisses drove me to distraction. To lie in the circle of his arms and hear his breathing or listen to him talk about what he’d written lately…
Placing my hands on William’s shoulders, I pushed him away, but gently. Cognizant of the notes on the chalkboard, of the missing Thomas, I didn’t know if William would become unhinged by my actions. I couldn’t risk it. “William, I’m sorry, but I chose Kellen a long time ago,” I whispered.
Though William’s kiss rocked me unexpectedly, I knew he didn’t love me. Kellen did. Kellen had risked his life more than once to be with me, but more important, he just understood me, though we had nothing in common. William could never be Kellen. He didn’t even come close.
“Your lips said something different.” Slowly he touched his finger to his lips.
Fear warred with anger. Though I knew I had to get William out of the house, I refused to be told what to feel. Brow furrowing, I responded, “My heart disagrees. Kellen is the one that I’m meant to be with. I love him.”
My mind drifted to earlier that night, when Kellen and I had clung to each other, kissing. My body had been on fire. Had that only been a few hours earlier? It seemed like days ago.
William looked like he was going to challenge me again, but then he lowered his hands to his sides. “If only you would choose me, I could protect you,” William said.
“But so can Kellen,” I said.
Surprisingly, William didn’t argue that point. Instead, he reached up and touched my cheek. It took all of my reserve not to pull away.
“Think of me when you sleep.” His voice sounded sad, soft.
“I won’t,” I said, again trying to soften my words. “Please give me your key and please leave,” I said. I knew that he didn’t need a key to get in, but it seemed like an appropriate mortal gesture.
He stood there for a moment, staring at me. “I could make you want me,” he said.
Swallowing, I looked into his eyes again. “Then you’d be living a lie.” Maybe that didn’t matter to William, but there had been something in his kiss, a tenderness maybe, that made me wonder. Was there only evil in him?
Nodding, he said, “Goodbye, then.” Reaching into the front pocket of his oversized coat, William extended a key to me. When I didn’t reach for it, he laid it on a nearby table. He looked at me one more time. “You will be in my dreams for the rest of my life,” he said. “I will always want you.”
My jaw set in a hard line, I watched him walk away from me, down the steps, and out the front door, letting it bang behind him. How long would it take him to leave? Would we be able to be on the road in a few minutes? Where would we go? How could we escape without them knowing?
Those last thoughts were drowned out as Gabe’s shout woke me from my reverie. Something’s wrong. Unthinking, my feet carried me down the hall, toward the sound of Kellen’s cries and the unmistakable smell of salt water.
CHAPTER THIRTY
KELLEN—NIGHTMARE
I’d been convinced that I’d never be able to sleep in the cold room without Cali. However, within moments of hitting the pillow, sleep overtook me and I crashed right into a dream. This time, I walked the path again that I’d traveled earlier that night along Compass Harbor.
Shuddering, I walked on, knowing somewhere within me that I dreamt. Unlike earlier in the evening, I walked freely along the path, nothing trying to lure me elsewhere. I was just about to turn back when the voices caught my attention.
They drifted in and out like a cell phone call with a poor signal. “Do not like it…”
“We’ve never done this before and—”
As quickly as the voices rose up, they disappeared, only to be replaced by the sound of music and a party. Tossing caution to the wind, I headed in that direction, my curiosity getting the better of me. I wanted to see the party.
My pace quickened. In the distance, a blue light bobbed ahead of me. It was hypnotic and soon I practically glided along the path after it. When I turned around a bend, the house loomed over me. It was magnificent. Lights winked merrily at me from every window. I started to climb the forbidding set of stone steps that led toward the light and the sound. The music got louder there and was circa nineteen-thirti
es. Billie Holiday, maybe?
“What are you doing here?” A dark-haired man stepped out of the shadows. Though his clothing blended into the night, a lamp illuminated his face, swinging back and forth on a stick that he carried in his hand. The frame of the lamp gave the light a blue haze.
“Sorry. I took a walk and heard the music. I just wanted to see the party.” It sounded stupid, like I’d been up to no good. Yet he nodded, his face not unfriendly.
“The party is over.” And as he said this, it was like he’d flicked off a light switch. The strange man was gone and so was the light that I’d followed. Looking back at the house, my heart seemed to jump out of my body and lodge itself in my throat. Moments ago, it had been lit up, bustling, but now there was nothing there. Nothing except the charred remains of the stone steps that led to nowhere.
Panic squeezed my heart and the fight or flight instinct kicked in. The problem was that I had no one to fight. I’d ended up alone, at night, in the woods…again. What a dumbass.
Turning, I ran down the steps, back the way that I’d come, the last vestiges of the Billie Holiday tune still clinging to the air like moisture on skin after a high-humidity day. Though my flashlight illuminated part of the way, I couldn’t focus, and I wasn’t watching where I was going. Was it the path that forked to the left or to the right?
I stumbled on gnarled tree roots that popped up out of the ground like elderly hands, trying to trap me, pull me down into the earth with them. Too late I realized my mistake, coming to a stop at the bottom of the path where it met the water. The ocean seemed closer, bigger here, as if it tried to eat up all of the land. A beast waiting for a sacrifice.
My feet halted and I looked up just in time to see the gigantic wave crash over my head. The tide pulled me underwater, the currents jerking me down into the sea, then up again, tossing me around like a rag doll. The water froze every part of me, making my body take on the posture of a stiff board. It had gotten even colder outside since my last visit.
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