Rebirth: The Sacred Isle Series

by K. E. Miller

  “Is that okay with you?” Aaron’s surprising question pulled me out of my thoughts. He smiled at me and didn’t seem to notice that my face resembled a strawberry.

  My jealousy melted away.

  “Of course,” I said. “Jade wouldn’t ask for help if she didn’t really need it.”

  “Hey!” she protested.

  “Well it’s true,” I laughed.

  “Yeah,” she admitted. “It is true. I’m really lost.”

  After dinner, we went our separate ways. I headed up to my room wishing I was the one Aaron was spending his evening with. I put on some sweat pants and a t-shirt before settling in for a long night of homework.

  Chapter 8

  Aaron

  Jaden and I entered my dorm room. I shut the door behind me, curious what it was she wanted to talk to me about.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “Your friend from the Council was hanging around today,” she said.

  “What? For how long?”

  “Until dinner. I followed him after my class and made sure he left school property. He appeared to be satisfied that you weren’t up to anything, but I still thought you should know.”

  I sighed and ran a hand through my hair; a nervous gesture that I rarely noticed anymore.

  “This is bad,” I said. “I told him to leave. How much has he seen?”

  “I didn’t know there was something to see,” she replied.

  “More than you know,” I told her.

  “So what do we do?”

  “We?”

  “Isn’t this what you trained me for? Either way, I’m in.”

  She looked serious. There were still too many unanswered questions. I still had too many doubts about the Prophecy to tell Jaden everything. I did want Shaylee protected, however.

  “There’s something here, at the school. It may or may not be important. Whether it is or not, the Council will see it as a threat and eliminate it as well as anyone who the Council thinks may be involved.”

  “What do you need me to do?” Jaden asked.

  “I need you to stay close to Shaylee,” I told her.

  “How is that helpful?” she scoffed. “That’s just doing what I normally do.”

  “If the Council comes, Shaylee is at the most risk of anyone.”

  “Because she’s human?”

  “Shaylee is totally defenseless,” I reminded her. “She has no idea what world she’s living in and she has no defenses against a Council attack.”

  “Why can’t I protect whatever it is the Council is looking for and you can protect Shaylee?” she asked.

  “Jaden, this is what I need you to do. Please just trust me. If the Council sends Warriors and Mages, I know exactly how it’s going to play out. Next to Shaylee is where I need you to be.”

  She exhaled loudly and her shoulders sagged.

  “Despite what I know about your history, you’ve never given me a reason not to trust you. So if that’s really what you need from me, okay.”

  “Thank you,” I said, hoping that there was enough emotion in my voice that she knew I was sincere, but not enough to divulge my true feelings.

  Jaden left and I turned to my laptop, knowing if I wanted to hold off any further visits from the Council, I had to call Dominic. I took a deep breath and carefully sculpted my facial features into a bored and unemotional expression, before making the video call.

  “Tremain!” Dominic yelled into the computer. “You’d better have a damned good reason for ordering a Council Warrior to leave that school. You haven’t given me any information or made any progress in your investigation.”

  “I’ve managed to cultivate a secure place among the students at the school. The students and the staff all trust that I am here to study with the new generation, as they were told prior to my arrival. Having a Council Warrior poking around draws attention, attention that hinders my investigation.”

  “If your investigation is going so well, how come you have no new information to report?” Dominic sneered.

  “It is my belief that the call in question was a Resistance ploy to draw the Council’s attention to this school, which is a well-known to be affiliated with the Council, in an attempt to distract us from a real threat elsewhere.”

  Dominic’s entire demeanor changed as he considered my lies. He was pleased with this train of thought and with the idea that I was still unerringly loyal.

  “Any ideas what the real threat could be?” he asked.

  “No. Until I find a connection between the Resistance and the school, there’s no way for me to have that information. I still have leads that I’m running down. I’m getting closer, but I don’t believe the actual culprit is at the school.”

  “Very well,” Dominic said with a nod. “We can spare you for a bit longer. Get me answers as soon as possible.”

  “Yes, sir. I’ll have information soon.”

  Then screen went blank and I released the tension I’d been holding. If Andrew was right and Shaylee was a Mage, we only had a week until her Transition. After that we would know for sure if the Prophecy was real. I’d hopefully bought us enough time that Shaylee would be safe until then.

  My thoughts dwelled on Shaylee, who was nothing like I’d expected. There were things she said and did that were so reminiscent of my past. There had even been moments when I wondered if some part of her recognized who and what I was. Other times she was unfamiliar in every way and did things exactly the opposite of what I expected. I’d been slowly trying to get to know her since the holidays, but everything I learned about her only left me with more questions.

  I left my room, deciding to patrol the school grounds. It was boring to say the least, but Jaden wasn’t going to be Shaylee’s first line of defense, she was going to be the last. Anything or anyone who wanted Shaylee was going to have to get through me first.

  Chapter 9

  Jaden

  When the sun finally rose, I was grateful. It had been an agonizingly long night listening to Shaylee’s various bad dreams. I wanted nothing more than to spend the entire day in bed recovering from the lack of sleep, but I knew that wasn’t to be.

  Shaylee and I walked down to the Dining Hall. We were both quiet. I was too tired to make conversation and Shaylee seemed distracted. Aaron was already sitting at our table when we arrived. I couldn’t help but notice the smile that formed on Shaylee’s lips when she saw him waiting for us. That was a new and interesting development.

  Aaron smiled at Shaylee as we sat down. I tried to remove any hint of disapproval from my expression before he looked at me, but when his smile vanished, I knew I’d failed. I looked down quickly.

  When I glanced up again, Aaron had returned his attention to Shaylee and was attempting to make small talk. I noticed the way they leaned toward each other, as if attracted by magnetism. There was a connection between them that I’d never noticed before and I ran the last few weeks through my head attempting to remember when it had begun. I wondered what was happening between them, but I pushed those thoughts away and focused on the fact that he shouldn’t be interested in Shaylee no matter what had happened.

  I picked at my food. I had no appetite and I knew Shaylee would be suspicious if I didn’t eat anything.

  “Jade?” Shaylee asked, grabbing my attention.

  I looked up startled. I glanced from Shaylee to Aaron, realizing that I must have missed something.

  “Sorry. I missed it,” I said.

  “We were wondering if you wanted to go into town with us,” Shaylee replied, with an uncertain smile and I knew that my friend had picked up on my mood.

  “I’m actually super tired, because I didn’t sleep well. You guys go ahead. I can meet up with you for dinner later,” I responded.

  “Sure,” she said.

  Seemingly satisfied with my answer, Shaylee stood up and stacked all three of our trays. She picked them up and walked over to the trash.

  As soon as she was out of earshot, I leaned
forward and accusingly asked, “Why are you so interested in her? I thought you wanted me to protect her because she’s human, not for your own benefit.”

  Aaron grinned. He leaned towards me.

  “That’s for me to know. Why does it matter to you?”

  “Maybe because I could have been guarding something important instead of your pretend girlfriend.”

  His smiled disappeared and I briefly wondered if I’d crossed a line.

  “You were where I needed you to be. That’s all you need to worry about.”

  “She isn’t even one of us. How could you develop feelings for a human?”

  His gaze darkened.

  “It certainly didn’t take long for you to become just like the others,” he said, icily.

  “Who?”

  “Madalynn and the others. Distinguishing between us and them.”

  He shook his head and I was filled with the sense that I’d disappointed him.

  “I expected more from you than that, Jaden,” he said.

  My heart stuttered a little as I realized how much his obvious disappointment saddened me. He looked toward Shaylee. She was walking back to the table.

  “Just keep those skills of yours ready for action,” he whispered before standing and walking out of the Dining Hall with Shaylee.

  ***

  I spent the day sleeping and didn’t even make it to dinner. When I finally woke up, I rolled over to see that Shaylee was sound asleep. I stretched and prepared myself for another long night of boredom.

  I sat up and grabbed a book off of my nightstand. I fumbled around before finding a book light. I turned it on and settled in, pleased that I’d at least grabbed an interesting book and not a textbook.

  I read for hours, getting distracted only once when Shaylee started crying out in her sleep. I debated waking her, but decided against it. I put the book away about an hour before dawn, deciding to try and sleep some so my schedule wouldn’t be too off.

  Instead of waking up with Shaylee, I somehow managed to sleep until one in the afternoon. I cursed when I saw the clock and jumped out of bed. I hopped in the shower and got dressed in a hurry, before realizing that I had no idea where Shaylee was. I picked up the book I’d been reading all night and sat down on the futon. I was tired of reading, but I needed to kill time until dinner.

  When the time for dinner finally arrived, I was starving. I massaged my neck as I walked down to the Dining Hall. I’d mostly finished the book, if I was going to stay up all night again, I needed to find a different book to read.

  I sat down at our table; surprised to see they weren’t already there. I watched them walk in. They were both laughing. With jealousy, I thought about how much fun they must have had without me.

  “Glad to see you’re finally awake,” Shaylee said when she sat down at the table.

  “Yeah. One night without sleep really did a number on me,” I replied. “Did you guys have a fun day?”

  “We went to town. Mostly we spent time in that old bookshop browsing for hidden gems. It’s really too bad it’s such a small town. We would have more luck in a city I think,” she said, obviously having enjoyed her day.

  “That sounds like it was a lot of fun,” I told her, trying to push aside my lingering jealousy. “If you guys want to hang out own your own after dinner, I can just go back to the room.”

  “I was actually thinking we could all watch a movie,” Shaylee said.

  Her cheeks were a little flushed and she avoided meeting my gaze. It was obvious that she felt guilty about all the time she’d been spending with Aaron while I was asleep. Although, I was feeling left out, I knew I shouldn’t blame her for wanting to spend time with people other than me.

  My discomfort about Aaron was separate issue. I still couldn’t understand why he was interested in Shaylee at all. I doubted I’d feel any easier about it until I got to the bottom of why he was even at our school.

  “A movie sounds good to me,” Aaron chimed in, drawing me out of my inner thoughts.

  “Yeah, okay,” I added.

  “Excellent,” Shaylee said, happily.

  We finished our meals and headed back to the dorms. After only about forty-five minutes, Shaylee was deeply asleep, her head resting on Aaron’s shoulder; the slow pace of the film not being enough to keep her awake.

  “I know it’s been hard for you, but I do appreciate you trusting me,” Aaron said, quietly.

  “It’s not like I really have a choice,” I replied.

  “Of course, you have a choice. If you really wanted to get rid of me all you’d have to do is call the Council and report me.”

  I stared at him, shocked.

  “I think I have a little more sense than to call the Council on you…even if I don’t understand your interest in me or your relationship with Shaylee,” I scoffed. “Besides, like I said before, you haven’t given me a reason not to trust you.”

  “Things are about to get very dangerous,” Aaron said. “They’re already dangerous. You’re the last descendant of the Anders family. That makes you the most powerful Warrior within a hundred miles and you happen to care about the reason I’m here.”

  “Wow. That explains everything,” I said, sarcastically. “The time for riddles is over. Why are you here? What do you want with me? What’s your interest in Shaylee?”

  “You aren’t going to let this go are you?” he asked, clearly already knowing the answer.

  “No, I’m not.”

  He nodded once and carefully stood. He picked up Shaylee with ease and carried her to her bed. He placed her on top and meticulously pulled the covers over her. It took a lot of effort for me to hold in a gasp of surprise when he bent down and kissed her forehead.

  “Follow me,” he whispered and walked out the door.

  I expected him to take me to his room, but instead he led me across the campus to the Faculty apartment building. Andrew let us into his apartment without so much as a curious glance. I sat down on the sofa and waited for the truth.

  Chapter 10

  Shaylee

  I sat up. I knew I was in bed and that the hands on me were Jaden’s, but the room swirled around me as I fought to regain reality. I shook uncontrollably and I could feel the sweat covering my body. Flashes of my dream still clung, but were fading as I tried to catch my breath.

  “It’s okay. It was just a dream,” Jaden said, soothing me.

  Her voice calmed me. My friend was sitting with her arms protectively wrapped around me. I took several deep breaths to calm myself before looking around the room. I noticed that Aaron was no longer there and I wondered how I’d gotten into bed. Jaden’s bed looked untouched and she was still wearing her clothes, which was odd since I was fairly certain I’d been asleep for a while.

  “Why are you still dressed?” I asked.

  Jaden looked startled by the question and it took her a while to answer.

  “I stayed up working on my project again,” she said.

  It was obvious that she was lying and I saw right through it. I looked at her, trying to find a clue about what she could be hiding from me, but I was too tired to push it.

  “When did Aaron leave?” I asked, deciding it was best to change the subject.

  “Right after you fell asleep. He picked you up and put you in bed.”

  Jaden’s voice was distant, as though she were thinking about something else and not really paying attention to our conversation.

  “Go back to sleep, Shay,” she said. “I’ll be right here if you have another dream.”

  She moved to her own bed and pulled out a book and a book light. She apparently didn’t see the need to put on her pajamas or get any sleep. This was becoming a very strange pattern for her.

  Jaden’s strange mood bothered me. I didn’t know what she was hiding, but it seemed to be bothering her. I was still trying to decide whether or not I should ask her about it when I drifted off to sleep.

  When I opened my eyes the next morning, I was surprised to s
ee that Jaden was already awake, despite her late night. She was sitting on her bed reading a book. I briefly wondered if she had gotten any sleep at all or just stayed up all night reading.

  As we walked to breakfast, my heart seemed to beat faster with the anticipation of seeing Aaron. My excitement was only slightly dampened by Jaden’s continued distraction and strange mood. I made a mental note to ask her about it later.

  “Good morning,” Aaron greeted us, as we sat down at our table.

  I noticed that he seemed distracted as well and I wondered what I had missed when I fell asleep the night before. Had I snored? Did I drool on him?

  “Good morning,” I replied. “Sorry about falling asleep last night. I guess I haven’t been sleeping very well. I’ve been having weird dreams.”

  Surely whatever I’d done couldn’t be bad enough that my blanket apology wouldn’t smooth things over.

  “It’s alright,” he said, giving me a reassuring smile that caused my heart to stutter.

  I smiled back, confident that Aaron wasn’t upset with me. Perhaps the two of them had argued about something. If so, I wasn’t sure I should get in the middle of it. On the other hand, I didn’t want there to be unnecessary drama.

  I turned my attention to Jaden and noticed that she was picking at her food again. Her chin rested on her fist and she stared out the large window that was next to our table. I’d never seen her with such a lack of appetite before. It was starting to become worrying.

  “Is everything okay, Jade?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking.

  “Huh? Yeah, I’m fine,” she responded.

  “You seem a little down. Maybe we need a girls’ night,” I suggested.