Ambrosia Shore (The Water Keepers, Book 3)

by Christie Anderson

  Voss could think of only one plausible explanation. The girl had a Water Briolette. And it had to be big. He shot her at point-blank range. It would take weeks, if not months, for Voss to recover from such a hit with the aid of the small crystal inside his chest. Orion had appeared upset with Voss during their confrontation, but not nearly as livid as Voss expected him to be. If Orion was ignorant of the girl’s injury, then she must have healed before anyone found her, within a matter of minutes.

  It was unheard of. That kind of power was yet to be imagined. He could almost feel the endless potential, the possibilities, gathering round to call him from obscurity.

  A sinister grin cut through Voss’s face. Hamlin’s precious little girl had something he wanted, and he knew, without doubt, that he was going to take it from her.

  24. RECONNECT

  Heather hugged me so hard I thought my lungs might pop.

  “Okay,” I laughed. “I missed you too.”

  I glanced over her shoulder, half expecting one of Orion’s men to burst down the school hallway and remove her grip from my body by force.

  “So, does this mean your mom is finally over her break-up with the doctor?” Heather asked. She released her embrace and leaned back against my locker. “She must be taking it pretty hard to yank you out of school for a week.” Heather lowered her voice. “She’s not, like…suicidal or something is she?”

  The question caught me off guard. A picture of my mother’s face when I first got home, dying and staring blankly at the wall, flashed through my mind, but I shook it away. “Um, no,” I finally said. “She’s a million times better now. But, there’s something I kind of wanted to tell you.” Heather listened intently as I continued. “Dr. Jensen didn’t really break up with my mom. He…died.”

  Heather’s eyes froze open. “Are you serious?”

  I winced. “Yeah. I’m serious. His funeral was last week. My mom was too overwhelmed to even go.”

  Actually, my mom was in shock and dying of a broken heart, but I thought I would spare Heather the details.

  “Oh my gosh,” she said, shaking her head in slow motion. “That’s so sad.”

  “I know, and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about it earlier, but my mom didn’t want me to tell anyone. I think she just wanted to be alone, you know?”

  “That’s seriously crazy,” Heather said with concern. “No wonder your mom was so upset.”

  “Yeah, well it gets even crazier…” I began. Just as I finished the sentence, the warning bell rang, signaling time to go to class. “Oh, that’s the bell. I guess I’ll have to tell you later.”

  Heather grabbed my arm. “No, you have to tell me!”

  I hesitated. It probably wasn’t the right time, but for some reason, I just had to let it out. “I met my father,” I blurted.

  “What!” Heather said, jaw dropping.

  The bustle of students around us started to thin. “We’ll talk about it later,” I said in a rush. “We have to get to class. And don’t tell anybody.”

  A couple hours later after second period, I ran into Nicole in the hallway just before the end of break.

  “Sadie, you’re back,” she said, surprised. “Um, it feels like I haven’t seen you for forever.” She didn’t seem like her usual cheerful self.

  “Yeah, I know,” I replied.

  Nicole looked down and rubbed her arm. “So, I heard you and Rayne got back together after the bonfire last week.”

  Nicole’s hesitance immediately made sense. I hadn’t seen her since she got drunk and tried to kiss Rayne in front of everyone at the party. She probably thought I was still mad at her, but so much had happened since then, I hardly even cared anymore. There were way bigger things to worry about in the world.

  “Listen,” I said, “let’s just forget about that whole thing. You weren’t yourself. It could happen to anyone.”

  “Really?” she whimpered. “You don’t hate me? If I were you, I would totally hate me right now.”

  I shook my head. “No, really. I’m over it. I mean, technically Rayne and I were broken up at the time, and we worked everything out. So we should just move on, right?”

  Suddenly, Nicole’s arms flew around my neck. “You are the most awesome friend ever! I’m so sorry. I promise I will never, ever do anything like that again.” The way things were going, there was a chance Nicole would never see Rayne again anyway, but even if she did, I wasn’t worried. I knew Rayne loved me now more than ever before, just like I felt the same way about him.

  Nicole pulled back. “Oh, and you don’t have to worry about anything at work; I covered for you at the yogurt shop last week. My dad just thinks you were sick.”

  My parents had barely agreed to let me go back to school today. I had no idea if they would let me go to work too.

  “Thanks,” I said, hesitating, “but there’s a chance I might not be able to work again this week. I’m going to try, but we’re having some family issues and—”

  “I’ll take care of it,” Nicole insisted. “I kind of owe you.”

  “Thanks,” I said again.

  “And if you’re interested…” she added hopefully. “A bunch of people are coming to see my play this Saturday. Heather said she was planning on coming. I could make sure you don’t have to work that night if you wanted.”

  “Wow, that’s already this weekend?” I said. It felt like just yesterday Nicole was running to our lunch table, squealing that she’d been given the lead role as Sandy in our school’s production of Grease. I wasn’t surprised she got it. Nicole had an amazing singing voice. “Of course I’ll come,” I said. “I wouldn’t miss it.”

  As Nicole flitted happily away, I realized I just made a promise I wasn’t sure I could keep. Hopefully, if nothing went wrong all week, it wouldn’t be hard to talk my parents into letting me go. My father seemed pretty nervous as he watched me leave the house this morning though. I had to make him promise not to listen in on my conversations all day long through the tracker, unless they had a good reason to be worried about my immediate safety. Personally, I wasn’t even scared of Voss anymore. As long as I had the Water Briolette, I knew he couldn’t hurt me, at least not permanently.

  When I entered my physics class for fourth period, Heather was already waiting for me near our usual seats.

  “I am seriously dying from the suspense,” she said as I moved up next to her. “Hurry, before Justin gets here; you have to tell me what happened with your father.”

  Luckily, Heather had finally learned that when Justin Crane was in the room, you didn’t talk about anything private. It didn’t matter if he appeared totally preoccupied or out of hearing range, he always managed to hear every word we said.

  Just in case, I shot a glance at the door. I couldn’t exactly tell Heather that my father came here because Rayne sent a secret agent who was pretending to be Nicole’s cousin back to another planet to tell him an escaped convict who was supposed to be dead was planning to kill my mom. So instead, I just said, “Well, he just sort of…showed up one day.”

  Heather leaned forward. “Was this before or after, you know…the doctor…”

  “Actually, it was on the same day.”

  “No way,” she gasped. “So did your mom see him too? If I were her I would probably have a heart attack. I mean, can you imagine your boyfriend dying on the same day that the long-lost father of your child comes back from out of nowhere…”

  “My mom was there,” I said. “And believe me; she was in mega-shock.”

  “Is your father still here?” Heather asked. “Did you talk to him and everything?”

  I checked the door for Justin again, then whispered, “Not only is he still here, he’s staying at our house. He basically told my mom that he wants to get back together, and even though he already said he probably has to leave soon, my mom is totally falling for him again. I’m telling you; it’s awkward-city, USA at my house right now.”

  “Wow,” Heather said in disbelief. “I don’t kno
w what to say.”

  I shook my head. “There’s nothing you can say. The whole thing is beyond words.”

  We both nodded and went quiet.

  Heather glanced at her lap for a moment, but finally broke the silence. “So, I feel kind of shallow for bringing this up right now,” she began, “because you’ve obviously had the craziest week ever, but I promised Nick I would say something.”

  “That’s okay. What is it?” I asked.

  “Well, you do realize that prom is in two weeks, right?”

  My expression dropped. “Oh, right. Prom.”

  “I guess Nick’s been trying to call Rayne all weekend, so the guys can plan the limo and everything, but he hasn’t been answering his phone.”

  “Um, Heather, I don’t know how to tell you this, but I don’t think we’re going.”

  “What do you mean?” Heather cried. “Please, please, please tell me you two aren’t on a break again. I swear I can’t keep up with your boy-drama these days.”

  “No, that’s not it. We’re totally solid right now, better than ever. Well, sort of.”

  Heather rolled her eyes. “What happened?”

  Suddenly, I had to swallow back the tears. “We’re still together,” I pushed out. “But Rayne’s not here. It’s…a work thing. They sent him out of town. Like, out of the country. He might be gone for a while. I might not even be able to talk to him while he’s gone.”

  Heather frowned with sympathy and reached out to offer a supportive hug. “That really sucks,” she said.

  “What sucks?” came an offhand voice from behind.

  “Oh, hey, Justin,” I said, wiping my cheeks discreetly.

  Heather rolled her eyes at him. “It’s just girl-stuff; nothing that concerns you.”

  Ariana followed in a second later. “Sadie!” she cheered. Her dark curls bounced as she scurried over to greet us. She stopped short, noticing my puffy eyes. “Oh no, what’s wrong? You didn’t break up with Rayne again, did you?”

  “No, we didn’t break up,” I said quietly.

  Ariana grabbed Justin’s arm, as if trying to balance herself. “Wait, someone died, didn’t they. I knew it. I knew that was why you were gone. Please tell me it wasn’t Rayne.”

  Heather sighed impatiently. “Rayne is not dead.”

  “You shouldn’t get our hopes up like that,” Justin joked under his breath.

  Heather shoved his back and pushed him toward his desk. “That’s not even a little bit funny, Justin. Now everyone sit down and let Sadie have some space.”

  Heather shot me a glance that said, I am so sorry I brought this up during class, then she nudged Ariana’s worried stare away from my face and back to her seat.

  Even with the uncomfortable subjects that came up today, being at school was still better than being stuck at home with my parents. For me, it felt weird to even think the word parents. It was always just me and my mom—and then there was the totally distant idea of this guy who got her pregnant back in some other unknown dimension of time. A guy who had nothing to do with us and didn’t even know I existed. The world looked so different all of a sudden. Within a couple of weeks, I had been shot twice, gained a father, lost a boyfriend to prison, saved my mother’s life with a magical crystal, and discovered life on other planets. Needless to say, I felt like an entirely different person.

  By the time we left class to go to lunch, I was back in control of my emotions again. It felt good to sit outside and feel the sun’s warmth surround me. I practically forgot that Orion’s agents were secretly stationed all over the place. I never saw any signs of them the entire day.

  Heather started getting protective of me again when some of my friends brought up the subject of prom while we ate, but I assured her that it didn’t bother me anymore. I missed Rayne like crazy, but I still wanted my friends to have the opportunity to feel excited about it. Just because my plans weren’t working out didn’t mean I couldn’t be happy for everyone else. The more I thought about it, the less important a high school dance seemed to be. And yes, senior prom wasn’t just any high school dance; it was the high school dance, but it seemed trivial compared to all the things I had recently learned and experienced. If Rayne were here, we would definitely go and have a wonderful time, but he wasn’t here, so it was better not to care about a silly thing like a dance.

  “If Rayne can’t go then you could probably go with Brandon,” Nicole offered. “I’m pretty sure we’re not getting back together, and I’d rather see him go with you than some other lame girl that none of us want to hang out with.” We could all hear the bitter insecurity in her tone. It was obviously more of a cry for help than a sincere suggestion.

  “Brandon’s going to ask you,” Lindsey insisted to her. “He was talking to me and Zach about you just yesterday.”

  “But everyone’s already making plans,” Nicole complained. “If he really wants to go with me, then what’s taking so long? I don’t want to end up going alone.”

  “You won’t,” Lindsey promised. “I think he’s just nervous because you guys broke-up and everything. He totally wants to get back together with you.”

  Nicole’s eyes lit up. “Really?” Then she shot a glance in my direction. “Well, if Brandon’s really gonna ask me to the dance, then who’s Sadie gonna go with?” Everyone turned to stare at me.

  I shrugged. “I’m just not going to go. It’s not a big deal.”

  “No, you have to go,” Nicole pouted. “It’s senior prom.”

  “What about Trent Freeman?” Julie chimed in hopefully.

  “He can’t,” Heather said, hesitating, “he already asked Sarah Bergman.” My friends all groaned in reply.

  I stood from the table, forcing a smile, trying to sound as casual as possible. “Don’t worry, you guys. It’s not a big deal. I’ll just meet everyone at the after party or something.” Then I left before anyone could protest.

  I rushed quickly around the corner of the nearest building. Once my friends were out of sight, my pace slowed and my thoughts took over. It’s just a dance, I told myself again. It’s not a big deal.

  At this point, I still wasn’t sure if it was the dance I cared about missing, or if it was really just Rayne. The sound of his voice was the sound of home—and I was homesick. It was like the feeling of home couldn’t exist anywhere if he wasn’t there with me, not even here. I missed Rayne’s warm arms, his soothing touch, the sweet freedom of being completely myself with nothing to hide and knowing that it was enough.

  I wandered down an empty hallway, searching inside myself, reaching to find that feeling again, wishing it were possible without Rayne here.

  A force suddenly clamped around my arm. My mind jumped into focus as my body was yanked sideways and disappeared behind a door. The light flipped on in the tiny room. My eyes went wide with surprise.

  “Ja—” I started to exclaim, but he shoved his hand over my mouth.

  Jax looked amused as he released his hand, placing one finger over my lips to shush me. He reached in his pocket and pulled out what looked like a pen. He clicked down on the button at the top, while at the same time twisting the silver body.

  “Okay, it’s safe to talk now,” he said. He checked his watch then raised his eyebrows with a mischievous smile. “This device will scramble the signal from your tracker. It should give us ten full minutes to talk about anything we want.”

  Without thinking, I leapt forward and threw my arms around him. “Jax! What are you doing here?”

  “Wow, somebody missed me,” he teased.

  I wasn’t sure why I was so happy to see him; maybe because I thought he might have an update about Rayne, or maybe I just knew he would be good at cheering me up again.

  “I thought you couldn’t get through the border anymore,” I whispered with intrigue. My tracker may have been blocked, but that didn’t mean the janitor closet was soundproof to anyone passing by the door in the hall.

  “As soon as my father left Banya he reinstated my clearanc
e,” Jax said.

  “But how did you know I came back here?”

  Jax’s mouth rose with a grin. “I know a lot more than that, Sadie. I mean, I was a little disappointed to learn you weren’t some top-secret spy for the Ambassador, but half Earth-girl half Banyan is kind of sexy too.”

  I was pretty sure my cheeks were turning bright red. “So…how did you figure it out?”

  “Once my father was gone I was free to do a little snooping. And my father’s assistant kind of has a thing for me, if you know what I mean.”

  “Tessa?” I gasped. “She told you about me?”

  “Yeah, well she may seem a little rigid at first, but once you get to know her…” Jax raised his eyebrows suggestively.

  “Maybe I don’t want to know,” I said, cringing.

  Jax leaned in closer and whispered, “What can I say…when you have the skills, it’s a shame not to use them. She was begging me to persuade her for more information.”

  I swallowed and sunk back against the shelves behind me. “Um, will you be staying in the area for a while, then?” I knew it was a ludicrous idea, but I was almost tempted to ask Jax to fill in for Rayne at the prom. It didn’t hurt that my friends still thought he was Nicole’s cousin Derrick.

  “No, I’m leaving tonight,” he said. “Even I have to do a little work every once in a while. I’m being shipped off with a team to raid some Russian science lab. I’m kind of looking forward to it actually.”

  “Sounds like fun,” I joked.

  Jax’s expression went serious. “Sorry I can’t stay and help. Is everything okay here with you? Is there anything I can do before I leave?”

  “Not unless you can persuade the Council to let Rayne go,” I said sadly.