Copula Chronicles: The Complete Collection: Origin, Descend, Ascend, Legacy
Page 51
“He’s right, but you came out of it fast.”
Ezra’s voice carries through the room and I get my bearings before scanning for him. He’s standing on the other side of the bed, looking down at Jesca. It’s easier to see him as the lighting in the room has changed. I’m not sure how.
Ezra takes a hand from his pocket and scratches the side of his nose. “Different dream. Different atmosphere. It all depends on the projector of the dream. Nate shouldn’t have come to you without my knowing.”
What the hell? I ignore his frustration with Nate coming to me and focus on the fact that I just fell out of one dream and into another. “I’m in another dream?”
Ezra looks back down at Jes with concern, but speaks to me. “Yes.”
He places his hand on hers. If I was able to feel Nate’s presence, can she feel his as he touches her?
Reading my thoughts, he says, “She can’t. She’s too far under. You sedated her?”
He looks at me accusingly. Shaking my head, I respond quickly, “Monica did. She was fighting us.”
Ezra continues to stare at Jes’ face as she sleeps. “She’s a fighter like her mother.”
He quickly clears his throat, and then looks at me. “I know she’s in good hands.”
His words should make me feel confident, but they don’t. “She’d be in better hands if you and Nate were here.”
Ezra shakes his head slowly. “She’s with who she should be with. We had to take him down. It was the only way to ensure it and use both of our abilities to seal the vortex.”
Seal the vortex sounds permanent; a finality that I had considered, but Sebastian and Balthazar denied saying we would be able to get to them eventually. “Where the hell are you Ezra? Nate just said we would find you.”
He seems to ignore my words as he closes his eyes and leans down to Jes, resting his forehead on hers. His lips barely move as he whispers beneath his breath––I can’t understand what he’s saying. As I try to slip into Ezra’s mind to get a read, the wall he’s built around it is impermeable. I’m assuming praying for her.
He lifts his head after a few moments and releases Jes’ hand, rising to face me. “When she wakes, Sebastian has something I left for her.”
He looks down at her as he continues, “She’s lost. It will help her find herself again.”
His voice wavers suddenly, “She’ll know what it means and with you by her side—”
He clears his throat and looks at me. “She needs you by her side Xander, even if you believe you’re unworthy.”
I’m about to ask him again how we can get to Nate and him, when he turns away and walks to the farthest corner of the room. Just before he disappears into the wall, he says, “The link will help you find us.”
As if his disappearance forces my awakening, I blink my eyes open to a brightly lit room compared to the dim light of my dream. The bedside table lamp is on; I’m standing at the foot of Jes’ bed, dormant from my sleep walk, watching her sleep. Ezra’s suspicion of Jesca’s reaction when she woke had me guessing again. What would she do when she woke? Would she be calm? Cry out? Fight against me? Would we need to sedate her again? God, I hope we won’t have to.
Would she be able to read me, see that I had seen Ezra and Nate? I would tell her. She needs to know they survived going through the wormhole.
I look at the clock. It’s still early and the chance of anyone roaming the halls right now is slim. I had to get whatever this thing Ezra talked about in the vision from Sebastian before she wakes up. I should have asked him what it was, but hindsight is twenty-twenty.
I enter the briefing room where Sebastian is reading documents, and scrolling through a laptop. He takes off his glasses quickly and asks, “Is she awake?”
I shake my head as I lean against the doorframe. “Ezra and Nate came to me in a vision. They’re alive.”
He places the glasses down on the table and stares off as he grins. “I should know better by now than to doubt him.”
I assume he’s referring to Ezra as his looks back at me. “He told you to come for the ants.”
“Ants?”
I clear the doorway, unsure of what ants have to do with this “something” Ezra told me to ask for.
He nods, “Yes, the ant farm.” He rises from his chair and walks over to a door––I assume a closet.
When he reappears, he’s holding a bag, with tissue paper peeking out of the top. It looks like it’s been wrapped like a gift, which is just as odd as Ezra giving Jesca an ant farm to help her find herself once she wakes. Hesitantly, I take the bag from Sebastian, making sure to hold it from underneath like he is. “So, she’ll know what this means, right?”
He confirms with a nod. “It holds sentimental value from what I understand.”
When Jesca starts to stir, I take a cloth and dip it in the basin of water Elicia brought in earlier. As I run the cloth over Jesca’s forehead, she mumbles something that I can’t decipher. But while her words are unintelligible, her thoughts are clear––Nate. Even though hearing her thought of him is a reminder of where her heart lies, I swallow it down and whisper to her, “Wake up Jes.”
***
Jesca and I are silent as we fall into step on our way to the briefing room. The chaffing of our clothes and footstep from our boots are the only sound between us.
End of Sample
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Published by
Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing, LLC.
Novi, Michigan 48374
Copyright 2016 Venessa Kimball
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, duplicated, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
Published by
Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing, LLC.
Novi, Michigan 48374
This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this novel are fictitious and are products of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual events, or locales or persons, living or dead are entirely coincidental.
Edited by Kristina Circelli -Red Road Editing
and
Dawn Miller Editing
Cover and Formatting
Dreams2Media
To Mom and Dad. Thank you for always telling me I could accomplish absolutely anything.
ASCEND
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: ON GUARD
CHAPTER 2: LINK RULES
CHAPTER 3: RISKS
CHAPTER 4: THE TRAVERSE BEYOND
CHAPTER 5: HEALER
CHAPTER 6: SAFEGUARD
CHAPTER 7: ILLUSIONS
CHAPTER 8: SIGHT FOR SORE EYES
CHAPTER 9: PULLED UNDER
CHAPTER 10: PROMISES
CHAPTER 11: PREMONITION
CHAPTER 12: WATCHER
CHAPTER 13: ON MY MARK
CHAPTER 14: GUIDE
CHAPTER 15: NUMB
CHAPTER 16: DISLODGE
CHAPTER 17: ILLUSIVE
CHAPTER 18: SIDE EFFECTS
CHAPTER 19: CALAMITY
CHAPTER 20: DISGUISE
CHAPTER 21: INFESTED
CHAPTER 22: PAPER HOUSE
CHAPTER 23: LOST SOULS
CHAPTER 24: PURPOSED
CHAPTER 25: SET FREE
CHAPTER 26: FISH OUT OF WATER
CHAPTER 27: UNBOUND
CHAPTER 28: PROPHECY
CHAPTER 29: INVASION
CHAPTER 30: DELIVERANCE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
AC
KNOWLEDGEMENTS
SNEAK PEEK OF LEGACY: A COPULA CHRONICLES NOVEL, BOOK 4
PROLOGUE: INCANTATION
CHAPTER 1: HERE AND NOW
CHAPTER 2: BLUEPRINT
CHAPTER 1: ON GUARD
Jesca
Kyoto, Japan
As I lay on the bed, my eyes still damp from the tears I shed, I watch the small digits of the ants work in their small, rectangular world. Two ants are cautiously feeling around with their digits as they slowly enter a dead-end tunnel that has claimed one of their own. Watching the stillness of the trapped ant, I know they are too late. They won’t know until they get to it. I close my eyes and see a flash of Nate and Ezra pulling Sam into the wormhole. The image brings all of the fear I just settled from back to the surface. That’s how it’s going to be until we get to them––constant fear and worry.
Opening my eyes again, I watch one of the ants going in for the rescue; get to the other that has already passed. Using its senses, it discovers as much then begins its ascent back to the ant lingering at the top of the tunnel. What if the plastic casing of the ant farm were thinned into the delicate veil that separtes our world from those wanting to attack us? I glance at the note dangling from the bag just to the right of the ant farm.
Will you take care of them while I am gone?
Ezra
Of course I would take care of them; there’s no question about that. The real question was how would we get Ezra and Nate back from wherever they have traversed? They should be in this facility with me right now, not sucked into a wormhole that could have killed them. The only reason I’m grasping for hope is the lucid dream Ezra and Nate gave Xander and me last night. Bottom line, they sacrificed themselves for me and they shouldn’t have. Our fellowship––our team, need them here with us more than ever. The intersection has taken place and while I don’t know what that entails––what has happened while I’ve been unconscious for days, I know that their being here would benefit us more than sacrificing them for my safety.
We need Ezra’s strength, logic and guidance. Nate’s ability to heal others and his link with both Xander and me has left me feeling more vulnerable than I had before learning about my guardianship to the Dobrian fellowship. Yeah, the link caused tension between the three of us. And yes, my growing feelings for each of them have created a rift. But it has also made the abilities Xander and I share with Nate stronger and protected. With Nate and Ezra out in some unknown world with Sam and God knows what else, they’re sitting ducks––especially for Sam, if it’s even Sam.
My mind reverts to the image of Sam just before he was pulled into the vortex––his shifting face to the one hell bent on killing me, Michael Sanderson. My breath catches in my throat and I clear the obtrusive phlegm resting there. The other times I’ve encountered Michael have been elusive. The dark shadowy aura he embodies before transforming into his true self. The shifting of his face revealed in Sam’s just before Nate and Ezra pulled him into the vortex. Both instances made me feel like Sam and him shared the same presence. Yeah, it sounds freaking insane, but so is everything else in this world right now.
Just then the door opens behind me––it’s Xander. I don’t need to look to know that, I can feel him––his block is down. As he walks around the bed to look at me straight on, I don’t let my own block fall. Feeling a sand-like dryness, I clear my throat again before I ask. “Where are we again?”
As he stands over me, I feel his eyes waiting for me to acknowledge the question burning in his mind––why did I block him?
“A facility in Kyoto.”
His answer is short and lacking the gentleness, he had in his voice before he left to tell the others I was awake. As I slowly sit up, intent on getting out of this bed, Xander asks, “Why’d you block me just then?”
Well shit, so much for changing the subject. I sigh, “I’m just––guarded right now. That’s all.”
I look up at him, hoping my vague answer is enough to keep his questioning from going any further. Suddenly, the radiating frustration he’s letting off dissipates, and Xander becomes an unemotional and thoughtless blank slate. He sits down in the chair opposite me and leans his head against the wall behind him. His concealment is obvious and with the way he’s staring at me, he’s resentful that I don’t trust him right now.
“It’s not just you Xander. I just need some privacy right now.”
I slide forward off the bed and place my bare feet on the cold tile as he mumbles. “Yeah, I get it.”
I look up at him from my feet and notice the genuine concern as he leans forward, ready to help me if I need it. “Be careful. It’s been a few days since you’ve used those,” he says before looking up at me then to the bedside table. “I see you opened it.”
My legs are strong enough to hold me up, but they’re still weak. As he stares at the ant farm, I lower myself back down to the bed to sit. “Yeah.”
Seeing me sit down seems to relax Xander as he sits back in the chair. I’m guessing that was his stationed post while I was unconscious. Continuing to watch the ants moving within their confines, he leans his head against his hand as he rests his arm on the armrest. “How’d he know?”
The same questions burn in my mind, but what burns deeper is where Ezra and Nate are and if somehow Michael Sanderson survived my anchoring my dagger into his chest as he plummeted into the depths of Lake Motosuko. An even deeper concern is what if Michael Sanderson had found a way to traverse into the wormhole with Sam, giving logic to why I saw his face in Sam’s moments before he disappeared into the vortex. As I stare at the ant farm and think, Xander interrupts, “Knowing Ezra, it means something more than just a few ants.”
A knot forms in my throat as I recall the first time I saw Ezra’s ant farm on campus in his office back in Georgia. I look down at my hands folded in my lap as I try to tell him without giving into my emotions. “It symbolized us––guardians, our world, our curiosities, our successes and failures, everything.”
God, it seems so long ago even though it’s only been a year since everything in my life snowballed and I learned of my purpose as a guardian. I place my hand just below my neck, expecting to feel the chain holding my remembrance of that purpose, but it’s gone. I look on the bedside table first, and then up at Xander. “The Copula Medallion, where is it?”
Seeing my panic setting in, Xander quickly pulls it from his pants pocket and holds the Copula in his open palm. “It’s okay. I just took it off of you when I put you into bed.”
Even though he’s showing me the medallion, I’d feel better with it around my neck. I take it from his palm. Fumbling to open the clasp, Xander sees my frustration and offers, “Let me help you.”
I keep fumbling with the clasp, but each attempt fails as he covers my hand with his and takes the Copula from me with the other. “It’s okay Jes. Let me help.”
It’s crazy how the smallest failures can work on you, especially when you are already tense as all hell. I release the Copula into his hands and he moves to sit next to me. I’m surprised at how my hair isn’t a rat’s nest as I turn my back to him and collect it to the side for him to fasten the medallion in place. Did he brush my hair while I was out? What else did he do while I was out? I look down at the grey tank top I’m wearing and the white and blue pinstriped pajama pants. I think on what he said a bit ago––getting me into bed. Once the necklace is secure, I turn to him and put a little distance between us in the same motion. “Who changed me?”
Seeing the writing on the wall, Xander takes a deep breath and looks away from me before speaking. “Look, I wouldn’t let anyone near you when we got here. I didn’t trust any of them with you, not after what happened out there. Shit, I even sent Elicia away and she wasn’t happy about that at all––banging on the fucking door—”
He pauses and closes his eyes, seeming to clear his thoughts before opening his eyes and finding mi
ne. “Your clothes were covered in blood Jesca and you weren’t in any condition to change yourself.”
I look down at my arms. The blood––I remember holding Miriam to my chest. I would have had blood all over my arms and dirt from the struggle with Sam at the vortex. I’m spotless though, wiped clean. An echo of Balthazar wailing and the baby’s hoarse cries fills my head––a husband widowed and a child motherless. A shiver sets off through my body, constricting and tightening my anxious limbs. I wrap my arms tighter around myself, hoping that the compression will give me security as I look up into Xander’s green eyes.
Steadily looking at me, he explains the best he can. “You’re the only part of what happened that I could hold onto and keep safe Jes. With Nate and Ezra gone now––I’m not leaving anything up to chance when it comes to you.”
Xander clears his throat and looks down at his intertwined fingers. “Monica sedated you for your safety, but it wouldn’t save you from breaking inside and God, I even felt everything breaking inside of you Jes.”
I notice his breath picking up as his chest rises and falls faster in time with his words as he recalls moments in the chaos after Ezra and Nate were gone. “I held you to me the whole way to the truck and I held you on the drive back here. I didn’t want to let you go with anyone else. You never left my sight.”
Seeing the turmoil pass through his eyes and feeling his thoughts and emotions returning to me with his mental block releasing, I rest my hand on top of the one rising and falling on his chest. Clenching my fingers over his, I keep my eyes steady on his, wanting to show him how my appreciation isn’t just a sentiment. For all that he has done––taking me out of the forest, keeping me safe, watching over me while I’ve been unconscious, a simple thanks isn’t good enough. I let down my mental block and show him what I can’t explain in the simple, mundane words.
His movement is so fluid, from him searching my eyes to enveloping me in his arms tightly, I don’t have time to respond, other than to be in his arms and let go. I wrap my arms around his neck and hold him just as tight as he is. “Thank you Xander.”