“I gave all I had. It’s still not enough to fight Thrane though.”
Kassy shakes her head. “It was still awesome,” she says and takes off toward the house.
Alexa links my arm through hers and pulls me outside. I shiver when air hits my skin, but I enjoy the breeze after the heat I’ve been experiencing.
“You should really talk to him about your feelings, El,” Alexa says, catching me by surprise.
I ignore her stare as I marvel at the surrounding nature. “I don’t have any feelings for Gavin.” Liar, liar, pants on fire.
She just snorts at me. “Anyone with eyes can see, or even those who don’t have eyes could feel the heat between you two. It’s practically overflowing out of both of you.”
I shake my head. “That’s just the warmth from my abilities coming out. You guys told me it was normal.”
“Um, that’s not the kind of heat I’m talking about.” She raises one eyebrow at me suggestively.
“Well, it doesn’t really matter, Lex. There’s nothing going on between us. We are only working together to protect Kassy.” I can tell she doesn’t believe me.
Alexa stares me down, trying to make me spill my guts to her. I don’t give in.
“Fine, you don’t have to confide in me, but I know you like him, and I do think you should tell him. You might be surprised at how good you two could be as a couple.”
I watch the ground as we walk, really wishing there were a way for Gavin and me to be together, but I know there is probably another girl out there waiting for him that he would rather have. One he is meant to be with. Why can’t Alexa understand that?
She nudges my arm. “We are having dinner at my house tonight. Gram is cooking so it should be amazing.” She smiles at me.
I give her a small smile back. “If it’s anything like the last time, sign me up. This should be exciting.” I say with a hint of sarcasm in my voice, really hoping this evening will be more demon-free than the last.
Chapter 7
Alexa, Gavin, Kassy and I pull up to the Cole’s picturesque house and each of us climb out of Alexa’s comfortable car. I can see the excitement on Kassy's face as we make our way inside.
"I cannot believe this was your home growing up. You guys don't even act spoiled! How is that possible?" Kassy asks, not looking at anyone in particular.
Alexa giggles. "We have a good family that would've kicked our butts if we acted like a couple of spoiled brats. We also learned to work hard."
"I can't wait to meet them all," Kassy says as we pass through the empty living room and into the dining room.
The whole family is seated around their massive dining table, laughing and talking with each other. I smile at the appealing scene in front of me, suddenly missing my adoptive mother. We don’t have much family, but we have always been happy and laughed together. I need to call Aunt Mags tonight and tell her that I miss her. I’m sure I seem like a terrible daughter lately since I have been lying about my school and all of the crazy stuff happening.
"There's the little cutie," Uncle Jack bellows while making his way over to us, his large frame looking every bit as intimidating as the last time I saw him. He sweeps me up into a big bear hug and whispers into my ear. "I'm so sorry that I hurt you last time you were here, I had no idea what I was doing." He places me back on the floor and looks at me with sad eyes.
I shake my head at him and punch him in his large arm playfully. "It's fine, but apparently I can look forward to some pretty big mood swings, so I'd watch out if I were you," I say, pretending to sound tough.
Jack laughs out loud for the whole room to enjoy, making everyone look our way. He sure can silence a room with his booming chuckle. I see smiling faces watching me and I smile back at them, enjoying the familial setting.
Cami comes into the dining room and smiles wide when she sees us all. "I'm so glad you guys could make it," She says and wraps me in a warm hug. She does the same for Gavin, having to stand on her toes to embrace him and then Alexa. She pauses in front of Kassy. "You must be Kassy. I'm Camilla, or Cami. I am the twin's mom. I hope my family doesn't scare you off, because they can be a little eccentric at times," she says in a low voice and then wraps her arms around Kassy as well.
Kassy returns the hug with wide eyes. When she pulls back, she looks Camilla up and down. "There's no way you are the mother of twenty-year-old twins!" she almost shouts. "You look like you're thirty."
Laughter comes from the people around us at Kassy's outburst. I agree with her statement though, I just never had the guts to mention anything. Leave it to my best friend to somehow always draw a crowd.
"I guess my niece and nephew haven't been teaching you about our kind as well as we'd hoped." Uncle Hagan's voice comes from across the room. His face is emotionless as what seems to be his usual, and he's seated at the far end of the table near his wife and their son Jed.
Gavin speaks up. "We've been more focused on Aella's physical development than anything else, considering the looming danger,” he says, still not looking at me.
"Yeah," says Alexa. "She has to develop her abilities, so she can protect herself and her friend. You know it’s a unique situation." She gestures toward Kassy.
"It's perfectly fine if you learn as you go, both of you," Camilla says, talking to me and Kassy. She turns to Kassy. "You are a part of us whether it's in your blood or not and I hope you can learn along with El.”
Kassy smiles. "Thank you. It would be an honor to be a part of this culture. Your whole mission in life is admirable and I hope I can help in any way to contribute."
Kassy gets smiles and head nods from the group, making me feel proud of my beautiful friend for her kind words.
I find my voice and turn to the stoic Hagan. "What is it that you thought we should know? About Cami’s age?" I look around the room at all of the hesitant looking faces. "Please don't tell me we’re immortal. I'm not sure I could handle that."
Hagen touches his chest. "I am sixty-two years old," he says easily. My eyes widen to twice their normal size I’m sure.
"That's impossible. You barely look like you could be forty," I say in disbelief.
Camilla places a hand on my shoulder. "It's true. Hagan has been alive for sixty-two years but when he turned eighteen and started to develop his abilities, his aging began to slow as well." I just watch her, unsure of what to say next. She continues. "I have been alive for forty-six years but I'm sure you probably thought I was no older than thirty, which is normal in this family, and all Seer families."
I shake my head, surprised by this new information. "That is insane," I say. I look over at Gavin who is finally looking my way. He looks sorry that he never told me about how I will age. "How old are you, then?" I ask him.
He shrugs. "Alexa and I are twenty, like I told you. Our slowing of age hasn't made much of a difference yet, but it will continue and eventually it will be noticeable."
I nod my head, trying to process it all.
Kassy lets out a loud breath. "Wow, you guys just become more interesting every day." She says, actually sounding entertained. “If that’s the case, how long do you guys normally live, then?"
Jack speaks this time in his loud voice. "A Seer can live to be over two hundred years old, though it’s rare. It pretty much just depends on how well you take care of yourself, although we heal better than humans too, so we don't get sick very often."
I gasp at his words. "Are you freaking kidding me?! I'm going to live to be two hundred years old!" I say louder than I intended. I look over at Kassy, realizing that I am going to way surpass her lifespan. How am I going to live with her loss some day?
Jack waves away my worry with a hand. "Don't worry, El. Disasters happen all the time. You could live two more years or two hundred more. Just try not to think about it too much."
I sink into an open seat at the dining table. "Thanks, Jack. I feel so much better," I say sarcastically, having a bit of a childish fit now.
He laughs on
the way back to his seat by his beautiful wife. Kassy sits by me and pats my shoulder. "Don't worry so much about all of this, El. It is what it is, and you have a chance to actually make a difference in the world. It's what you are meant to do."
I nod at her. "Thanks, Kass.”
"Pretty El!" I hear a small voice call behind me.
I turn in my seat and see Ethan running up to me. He jumps onto my lap and gives me a sweet hug. I hug him back and poke his belly, making him giggle. "Hey, Ethan. I missed you. You can just call me El, you know."
He smiles at me, showing two deep dimples just like Gavin's. "But you are pretty, so I say it. My mommy always tells me to not lie." He notices Kassy beside me and whispers loudly to me with a small hand covering his secret. “Your friend is pretty too!”
Kassy giggles at the adorable boy. “Holy moly. I think I’m in love.”
"Well, your mom is very smart. It's good to be truthful, so I guess I should tell you that you are very handsome." I say, making him smile wider.
He kisses me on the cheek and runs to his laughing mother. Sophia smiles warmly at me, making me glad that they don't all have a problem with me, like Hagan. I glance back over at him and he is still frowning like an old grumpy man. I guess he is over sixty, so it makes some sense. I just wish he'd smile at least once, so I can be sure he isn't evil.
Gavin passes up the empty seat next me and picks one on the opposite side of the table. My heart splinters at his choice, a piece of it disappearing within me. If I don't get over him and quit enduring this heartache, there won't be a heart left inside of me soon.
Gram joins us from the kitchen and brings the most amazing pork chops and buttery corn on the cob. I could eat her food every day and live a very happy, and apparently long, life. I wonder how old she is. I’m too scared to ask the question out loud.
I try to avoid Gavin for the rest of the meal, focusing on the delicious food in front of me and the silly family chatter filling the room. They have so many inside jokes from always being around each other that I keep losing track of the conversation, but it’s nevertheless entertaining.
As I tear into my second sweet roll, all of the guys leave the table to go check out some of Jack’s new building plans he has in his car. His architecture firm landed a big project, and it has gotten them all excited.
"Girls, why don't we all go to the living room and enjoy some time without those noisy boys." Sophia says, looking at Kassy and I. "I'd really like to get to know you both if y’all don't mind."
I smile, glad that she is distracting me from thinking about Gavin. "That would be great." I stand and wave Ethan over. "I guess one boy is allowed, though. Come on, little man."
Ethan grins from ear to ear and runs over to my side as we head to the front room. We all find a comfortable place to sit and Camilla puts some soft 1950’s music on with an old record player. Ethan snuggles close to me on the couch we share with Kassy and Gram.
"If it’s okay with you, I’d like to hear about your parents, El. I know they passed when you were young, but do you remember them at all? Did you know that they could see future events?" Sophia asks with honest curiosity. Hagan's wife, who's name I still don't know, sits near Sophia. She doesn't look mean like her husband, but she isn't exactly smiling when I look at her, either.
"It’s totally fine. I remember my parent's faces when I think about it really hard. I never knew they could see things in the future, or anything about Seers. They told me that someday I would have a gift of seeing things before they happen, and that it was important I never told anyone." I feel a small wave of guilt about not heeding my mother’s words. "Of course, I didn't anticipate meeting you guys. I remember my parents always looking over their shoulders and moving us around a lot. It’s like they were constantly worried, but they showed me a lot of love. They cared so much about one another and made me laugh. They took great care of me before they were killed. They actually saved me in the end."
"How did they save you?" Gram asks this time.
I think back to the night I lost them forever. "Well, I remember my parents being more stressed than usual about something that whole day and they seemed almost scared which was strange for me because they were pretty silly with me most of the time. I don't know why, but my mother had this cupboard in her bedroom that she always told me was my safe space. She stuck me in the cupboard that night and told me to stay very quiet because I would be safe there. I believed what she told me, and I stayed until my adoptive mother found me."
Everyone is listening intently to my story, so I continue. "Mr. and Mrs. Johansen were actually neighbors of ours and the year before, not long after we had moved to the area, Mr. Johansen had died from cancer. I had no known family members so Maggie Johansen, the wife, took me in that night. They had been foster-parents before, but Maggie was unable to have kids of her own. I guess she just saw me and decided pretty quickly that she wanted me to be her kid." I smile at the thought of the wonderful person that has always been there for me. "I call her Aunt Mags. She decided it was best to move away from that neighborhood after my adoption was finalized and soon after, I met Kassy. We went to school together."
Kassy bumps my shoulder. "And I haven't been able to get rid of her ever since. She's pretty clingy," she teases.
Everyone laughs, but I just roll my eyes at her with a smile, as usual.
Sophia sighs. "I can't believe you had to go through that at such a young age and you still turned out to be such a wonderful person who has held a beautiful friendship for all this time."
I blush at her praise. "Thanks, but I'm honestly not as held together as I seem. This whole Seer world is pretty terrifying," I confess.
Gram waves her hand at me. "Trust me, this life is scary to all of us from time to time, and we've grown up knowing what we are. You just need to have courage to push through, and know you’re doing something miraculous."
"And if you can't do that, just hope for the best and see what happens," Sophia says, making me feel better.
Gram laughs, causing her short curly hair to bounce on her head. "That's not what Cedric would say. He always said, 'when the hard times hit you, just hit them harder'. He could never turn down a chance to get stronger and better." Gram looks pointedly at me. "Gavin is a lot like him."
"Was Cedric your husband?" I ask.
She shakes her head and Camilla answers for her. "Cedric was Gavin and Alexa's dad, my husband." Her sad smile makes me feel her loss. "I actually remember him saying that in his bonding vows to me." She laughs softly and rolls her eyes. "Romantic, huh?"
I laugh along with her and everyone else. Kassy sits forward in her seat like she does when she wants information. "Alexa mentioned the bonding ceremonies and I’ve been so curious. How did you and Cedric meet? Did you know you were soul mates, or whatever it's called that Seers have?"
Camilla wiggles in her spot, getting more comfortable. "We call them Intendeds and we were barely eighteen when we met. It seems like forever ago. Every once in a while, some Seer families will get together for reunions. We know of the location of every family in the world because there are only ten of them. Here in the States, there are five families, with one in Canada. The other four families are in Europe, one in France, two in England and one family in Greece." She pauses for a moment. "Anyways, that summer Gram and her husband, Grandpa Leo, brought their family to my family's farm in Colorado for a three-day gathering that my parents were throwing for the Seers in the States. I was instantly enamored by Cedric and followed him around for the whole weekend. It seemed, to me, that he liked me too, but we never touched. He always thought that whole 'being with the one that's decided for you by fate' thing was stupid, I guess. He told me that he didn't want to be tied down like that, so he kept his distance from all of the girls like a typical stubborn teenage boy. I wasn't so willing to leave him alone, though. I sat and talked with him when he was in my father’s library one night and I brought him snacks when he was training with some of the other
men. He always smiled at me and sometimes I would notice his eyes linger on me a little longer than was necessary." Camilla smiles at the sweet memory.
Kassy sighs. "Did he tell you that he liked you?"
Camilla shakes her head and laughs at her own memory. "Actually, when the weekend was over, he just tipped his hat at me, like some proper gentleman and left. I was heartbroken because I was sure we had something."
"How long did it take for you to end up together, then? You didn't even get a chance to find out if you were Intended for one another," I say, wanting to know more, feeling the heartbreak that eighteen-year-old girl felt.
"Well, after we were away from each other for a couple of days, we started feeling the side effects of being away from ones Intended."
"What do you mean by side effects?" Kassy asks before I can.
Camilla touches her chest, where her heart is located. "I could feel the pain in here. When a Seer meets their Intended and starts developing feelings for them, it's like a string is tied around their hearts that connects the two. The stronger the feelings, and especially if they had touched before, the tighter the string. So, when the couple is separated, it's like the string is just stretching farther and farther. After a while it becomes unbearable, like your heart is being pulled tightly against your chest, trying to get back to its match. Even though we hadn’t touched, I knew that I cared deeply for him, enough to cause me pain."
The ache she describes is familiar to me. I listen closely to her next words, feeling like what she is saying is especially important.
She continues talking. "For the entire next week, I was constantly sick to my stomach and my chest was hurting so bad I could barely make it out of bed in the morning. My mother was so worried about me and figured I must have had the flu or something. She didn’t know of my feelings for Cedric. It wasn't until we got a call from Gram that we figured out what the problem was." She smiles at Gram before finishing her story. "I guess Gram noticed that Cedric was having the same symptoms as me and knew exactly what to do. She put Cedric on a plane back to me and told him, 'You better embrace that girl, young man and stop being so darn stubborn!'" Everyone but me laughs. "You know when Gram tells you to do something, you better do it. As soon as I saw him on my doorstep, he swept me up in his arms and kissed me until I couldn't breathe. Needless to say, the ache I had been feeling vanished pretty quickly."
Intended Series Collection: Books 1-6 Page 14
