Intended Series Collection: Books 1-6

by Abigail Grant

  Liam stands up and wraps his arms around her small waist. “So, you’re planning on seeing me every day, huh?”

  She has to look up to see his face. “Is that a problem, babe?” She asks, her eyebrows raised in question.

  He sighs. “Not at all. I actually really really like the sound of that.” He leans down and plants a kiss on her smiling lips. The kind of kiss that heats up the whole room and really should be saved for when they’re alone.

  I look away and groan. “Is this what I have to look forward to from now on?” I pretend to gag at their show of affection.

  Kassy’s giggle is squeaky as she steps back from Liam. “I’m sorry, El. I almost forgot you were here for a moment.” A small blush stains her cheeks.

  “Well, thanks,” I say sarcastically.

  Liam heads toward the door. “It’s all right, El. I’m leaving, so you don’t have to avert your eyes anymore. Well, maybe once more.” He gives Kassy one more slow sweet kiss and then winks at her. “Feel free to gossip all about me while I’m gone.”

  The door shuts behind Liam, and Kassy turns back to me with apologetic eyes. “I really am sorry. I can’t help it, he’s just so freakin’ adorable.”

  I hold up my hand to stop her apology. “It’s fine, mostly. And holy heck! Did the temperature get turned up in here or what?” I fan myself with a small notebook.

  She turns beet red. “Aella!” She shouts at me, embarrassed. “He really does make me happy, and I feel like we are connected in some way, like it’s just meant to be.”

  “That must be pretty great, to feel that way with someone,” I say, although I know exactly what she means. It’s how I felt when I spent time with Gavin, and I miss it, even after just one day without him.

  Kassy sighs, lost in thought. “It’s awesome.” She comes out of her fog and heads to the kitchen where her smile vanishes.

  “What’s wrong, Kass?”

  She holds up a written address on a sticky note that was left on the counter. Above the address and in all caps reads “THE VINYL CLUB”. Kassy throws the paper in the garbage and clears her throat. “Did you hear about what happened to Max?”

  I shake my head. “What did he do now?”

  “He died yesterday.” She stares down at the countertop. “I saw it on the local news app earlier.”

  “Seriously? How did that happen?” I dread to think of Thrane getting his hands on Max.

  Kassy pulls up the article for me on her phone. “Here. You can read it.”

  I scan the page and see that Max’s body was found with no noticeable wounds about a mile from the college behind an abandoned home. The police say it has been a location for drug dealers in the past and that he likely died from an overdose.

  “I’m sorry, Kass. I probably shouldn’t feel sad about this news considering what he did to us, but I kind of am.”

  She takes her phone back and nods. “Honestly, I feel the same way. I don’t know what he was going through to make him act the way he did or especially go out and overdose on drugs, but I feel like he wasn’t that person.” She shrugs. “I guess I just didn’t know him well enough.”

  I wrap her in a hug. “I am glad that you found someone who truly cares for you.”

  She wipes her eyes. “Me too. There’s no need to look back now. Let’s move forward. Speaking of which, how was your day with that, Alexa girl? Is she pretty cool?”

  “Yeah, I think you’ll really like her.” I struggle to find the words for the bomb I need to drop on her.

  She studies my face, reading me like a book in an instant. “El, what’s wrong now?”

  I turn away from her and sit on the couch. Hesitantly, I wave her over. “Come sit with me, okay?”

  Her face reflects the epitome of concern as she slowly makes her way over. Without a word, she takes a seat on the couch and places her folded hands in her lap, waiting for me to say something else.

  I suck in a deep breath and hold it for a moment before exhaling. “All right, um… So, are you ready to hear something that I have been keeping from you since we met all those years ago?”

  Her face shows no emotion and after a moment she speaks softly, as if talking to a scared cat that will run away at any second. “I am, as long as you’re ready to tell me.”

  “Are you sure, though? Kass, it’s a big deal and it could make you think differently about how you feel about our friendship.”

  She looks at me with disbelief. “I’ve told you, nothing you say will ever make me not want to be your sister. Come on, El. I’m ready.”

  I take another deep breath and before I can change my mind, I begin blurting it all out. “Okay, then. Since I was a little girl, I’ve had visions that make me black out and I see things before they happen, and I can even change them. Well, I just barely found out that apparently there are a lot of other people in the world like me. We are called Seers and I guess when one of us turns eighteen, they can start training to run super-fast, like Edward-from-Twilight-fast, and hear things that people are whispering from over a hundred yards away. It also turns out that my mother was a part of some family that used to live around here that are like me and they are all dead for some reason that I don’t know about yet. Gavin’s family are all Seers, and they have missions, or assignments where they protect people from freaking demons, Kass! Like, literally hell demons! They can fight really well and are insanely creepy. And now I’m going to be training to be a real Seer and kill things. It’s all really ridiculous and terrifying, but true, and I don’t know what to do or how to feel about any of it.” I talk so fast that I have to breathe heavily while I wait for her reaction. I’m fairly sure she missed everything I said because she doesn’t immediately get up and run away from her lunatic best friend.

  Kassy just watches me for a moment, not saying anything. I start to imagine all of the worst things that could be going on in her mind right now. Is she going to scream, hit me, faint or call an ambulance? “Kassy, I’m so, so sorry if I scared you or if you don’t believe me…”

  She cuts me off before I can finish apologizing. “I knew it,” is all she says.

  I lean back, not understanding her. “You knew what exactly?” I ask.

  “I totally knew you could see the future, El,” she says calmly.

  I sit with my mouth open as she explains. “I mean, I couldn’t be certain, but I just had this feeling that you had some sort of gift, when you saved me from that jerk, Noah, in the tenth grade. El, he had me alone in his car in a dark parking lot. Not one person even knew that I was out with him and you still found me, when I was sure he would end up scarring me for life and there was no hope of stopping him.” Her eyes start to water at the horrible memory of almost being raped.

  I grab her hand as she continues. “I couldn’t figure out how you were able to save me. But when I laid awake that night, too scared to sleep, I thought about the other times you were there for me when tragedy was about to strike. You came out of nowhere and grabbed me when I started to fall off the roof at the fireworks show when we were eight. Then, that time we were swimming at Baker beach during the seventh-grade field trip, a wave went over my head and I couldn’t figure out which way was up to take a breath. I was so scared and sure I would drown, but there you were again, pulling me out.”

  I am in shock over what she is telling me. “You knew? Just because of those times I was there for you?”

  She shrugs. “Well, I actually had a few theories. For a minute, I thought maybe you were my guardian angel, but I figured that was too far-fetched, considering you fell off the trampoline in my backyard and broke your leg when we were seven.” She laughs softly. “It wasn’t until my eccentric aunt Sarah took me to that bogus fortune teller just after my sixteenth birthday that I figured it out. She told me she could see my future and I just knew that’s what it had to be.” She smiles and jabs a finger at me. “And I guess I was right.”

  I just shake my head, completely at a loss for words. I can’t believe she has known
for over two years that I can see the future and I had no clue. I let out an exasperated dry laugh at the craziness of this ridiculous situation. “Some gift, huh? I can’t even keep it secret.”

  She chuckles along with me, her long hair flipping behind her back as she ruffles it up with her fingers. “Yeah, but even though I was pretty sure I knew about your secret, I had no clue about all that other stuff you said before.” She speaks with confidence but her expression is soft. She looks up at her forehead as her brain mulls over this new information, and her face becomes worried again. “Um, I really hope I heard you wrong when you mentioned something about demons and if not, please start from the beginning and tell me everything you know because I’m officially kinda freaked.”

  My face falls along with hers. “All right, I guess I’ll just tell you everything that has happened since we moved here.”

  I take a steadying breath and begin relaying everything that has happened since arriving in Oregon. I mention how my visions have become clearer and more frequent, describing in detail the visions I've had about her in the past week. I tell her about the guy dressed in all black who kept saving me and turned out to be Gavin. About his family and the little bits that I've learned about Seers from them. I tell her about each encounter I've had with the demon, Thrane. She tears up again when I tell her about him hurting my back and show her the healing wounds.

  Throughout my long and exhausting story, Kassy sits quiet and amazingly attentive, gasping only occasionally. I'm grateful for her belief in me and the insane words I am throwing at her. It's remarkable how understanding she is when I have always unnecessarily feared her hating me for what I am.

  "So, I'm hoping my telling you this will help keep you even safer from that creep, Thrane. Maybe, now that you know, you can be careful about where you go and who you talk to," I add after finishing my story.

  Kassy just shakes her head and releases a very heavy breath. "Goodness gracious, El! I cannot believe you have been going through all of this for the past two weeks and I have just been off in La-La Land, as if the world isn't insanely screwed up." She rubs a small hand over her face, looking tired now. “I really was wrong about Max. I knew the situation felt off but how could I have guessed he was being mind-controlled!”

  I try to force a small smile, but it likely comes out as a disturbing grimace. "Hey, the world is mostly wonderful, and I like having you in La-La Land, Kass. I feel like I am meant to protect you and that's exactly what I plan on doing, even though it's not my official assignment, or whatever."

  "You've always been my protector and I am so grateful for that. I just can't wrap my head around the fact that a demon wants to take my soul from me and hurt you in any way.” She lays a hand on my leg and scrunches up her face. “This is some seriously messed up stuff and I think I need time to process it all. Why don't we just continue this conversation later.” She stands. “Right now, I'd like to drink hot chocolate and eat popcorn while watching something super bright and happy with my completely normal best friend." She does a little shake, releasing her worries, and hops into the kitchen to start making her snacks.

  I lean into the sofa and let my body relax, feeling twelve times lighter. "That sounds really amazing, actually. Just, answer me one thing that I need to know."

  She spins around on one foot to look at me. "What is it?"

  "Do you really believe everything I've told you tonight, or are you just waiting until I fall to sleep to run away and leave me forever?" I push the words out at warp speed, and I wait patiently for her answer.

  She tilts her head, looking at me like a mother looks at a kid who just asked a really dumb question. “I know you’re telling me the truth, dummy. You are a horrible liar, remember?"

  I nod my head once, not giving a hoot about her kind of insult. "Right, I guess that's not some magical Seer ability. That'd be pretty sweet, though." She knows I am speaking my truth but that doesn’t mean she believes my truth is fact.

  She pops a bag of popcorn in the microwave and types some numbers before the whir of the machine kicks on. "It's actually more like you have a superhuman ability to be the worst liar in the world. That's a pretty high honor, El." She winks, getting an eye roll from me in the process. It’s nice having things light and easy between us.

  "Thanks a lot, Kass. I feel so blessed. Super Bad Liar, to the rescue!" I shout in as deep of a voice as I can.

  She giggles lightly and hands me a cup of hot cocoa before putting on The Princess Bride, her favorite movie. I grin at her predictable choice.

  "El, I think it's good that you are going to be training with Alexa. I think you owe it to yourself to discover who you really are and focus on taking care of you, for once. You've saved me so many times that now I'm going to do my best to help you save yourself and learn more about who you are." She doesn't look in my direction but I can see her lips set in a determined line as she watches the television.

  I keep my eyes forward as well, and nod for my own benefit, solidifying my decision to be all that she wants me to be, and more.

  Chapter 4

  I jolted out of bed this morning with a dreadful fear that my best friend had left me forever. Thankfully, Kassy didn't run away from me as I slept through the night. She actually still drove me to school this morning with the same old smile on her face. It seemed a little awkward trying to just be normal with her after everything I finally revealed last night. I know a lot has changed between us and that’s for the best. I just hope we can still be silly now and again without the unspoken tension.

  Today has been almost too quiet, which I normally would have absolutely no problem with, but I still haven't seen Gavin since Sunday night. It doesn’t make sense considering the fact that we just met, but my body physically aches from being absent from him, which scares me because I can’t risk changing my mind about us.

  I sit at the usual lunch table outside the cafeteria, feeling like we might need to find a different spot with the fall chill coming earlier than I thought it would. I can see Liam out of the corner of my eye as he sneaks up behind me and shouts "boo!" trying to make me jump, but failing horribly.

  I just turn to him with one eyebrow raised in amusement. "Good try, pretty boy, but I have to be looking at your face to be truly scared." I laugh at my own joke, earning a scowl from Liam.

  He shakes his head at me. "Ha ha, you're so funny." He takes a seat across from me and throws a hot French fry in my direction.

  I snatch it off the table and plop it in my mouth, savoring in the salty heat. "Thanks, Liam. It could use a little ketchup, but I love fries."

  His glowering intensifies. "You know, if you’re not nice, I'm going to tell Kassy on you!" He sticks his tongue out at me which only makes me laugh harder and unwittingly release an embarrassing snort.

  Kassy sits next to Liam with her plate of messy nachos and kisses him on the cheek. "What's so funny that El is in snort mode?"

  Liam turns toward her with his bottom lip sticking out. "El is being mean to me." He says, sounding like a four-year-old.

  I gasp and cover my mouth in mock surprise. "Who, me? I would never."

  Kassy rolls her eyes at the two of us. "Do I have to tie your hands together for the rest of the day, so you guys can learn to get along?" Kassy says, sounding like a mother to toddlers. “That’s going to make bathroom breaks really awkward, you know.”

  "Ew!” Liam and I both shout at the same time.

  She shrugs. “Hey, I’m not the jealous type so I’d do it!”

  “Okay, okay. I'll be nice," I say and reach my hand out to Liam. "Truce, before mommy sends us to our rooms?"

  He chuckles and shakes my hand. "For now, pipsqueak," he says with mischief in his eyes, and then throws another fry at me for good measure.

  I just shake my head and continue rubbing my arms for warmth.

  Kassy does the same and shivers. "Maybe we should start eating inside. I think winter is coming before fall," she says, frowning at the thought of her leas
t favorite season.

  "Agreed," I say and drape my long hair around my shoulders like a blanket.

  "So, are you working out today with your, uh...personal trainer?" Kassy asks, trying to keep my secret from Liam.

  He turns to me with wide eyes. "You got a personal trainer? Cool. You are like ten pounds though, so why do you need one?"

  I raise one shoulder. "Maybe I just want to be healthier and stronger. Exercise is good for everyone," I say truthfully.

  Kassy nods nearly too emphatically, her ponytail whipping back and forth. "Yeah, I was actually thinking about it and maybe I could go with you today and see what it's like. It sounds like fun."

  I clap my hands together in excitement. "Sounds good to me, then you can meet Lex!" I say, grinning now at the thought of finally being able to be completely open and honest with her.

  Liam slouches. "I guess I'll have to just go to my dorm and do homework today then," he says, sounding disappointed. "You know, isn't having a girlfriend supposed to make you cool and slack in school?"

  Kassy “awww”s at him. "It'll be good for you to get some schoolwork done, babe. I like smart guys." She rubs his arm.

  "Yeah, yeah," he says, defeated and nudges her playfully with his elbow.

  We sit in comfortable silence as we finish our lunches and then head to our separate classes. On the way to my literature class, I feel someone watching me, but I try to just ignore it and get to class. I can’t shake the feeling, so I turn and scan the surrounding buildings. I catch a quick glimpse of short messy brown hair disappearing around a corner of the library and my stomach twists with need. I don't understand why I feel so sick without him near me, but I sincerely hope it doesn't last.

  ***

  "Hey there, cuties! You guys ready to sweat and wish you were dead?" Alexa says with a wicked gleam in her golden eyes, inviting Kassy and I inside Gavin’s house.

  I instantly feel tired just thinking about what lies ahead as she wraps me in an excited hug. My whole body is still sore from the last workout. "Yay, I can't wait," I say with absolutely no enthusiasm. They both laugh at my sarcasm. "Lex, this is my lifelong best friend, Kassy. Kass, this is the woman I will be hating in a few hours, Alexa."