Bonds That Beckon (Daughters of Anubis Book 1)

by Kelli Kimble

  “How did he learn that? The sheriff hasn’t told us what the evidence is.”

  She smiled. “McKinney has always been a resourceful guy. He called the sheriff’s office posing as a reporter and asked what the evidence was. They told him.”

  Jacob met my eyes from across the room. He nodded his encouragement.

  “The sheriff told me he planted those things,” I said.

  Mother and Tessa turned to look at me.

  “What?” Mother asked.

  I took a deep breath. “Today, at the house. When the sheriff took me aside. He said that he was making sure that Daddy would go to jail. When I said that he’d done it, he laughed and said that I’d never be able to prove it.”

  “So, he didn’t say exactly that he’d planted them,” Mother said.

  “No, not exactly. But his meaning was clear.”

  Mother and Tessa shared a look. “Did your friend say anything else?” Mother asked Tessa.

  Tessa shook her head. “He said there wasn’t much else he could assess.”

  “Hello?” Mr. Anu called from the kitchen.

  “We’re in the den,” Jacob said.

  Mr. Anu came into the room. “What’s all this?” he asked. He was wiping grease from his hands with a rag.

  “I asked a friend from the university to investigate the fire,” Tessa said. “He just called to give us the results.”

  “And? Anything to clear Mr. Hond?”

  “Not exactly,” Tessa said. “Just an inconsistency.”

  “I see. I’m going to clean up. Iris, Jacob, can I see you in a moment?”

  I nodded. Mother and Tessa followed him from the room.

  “What do you think he wants?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. But I’d like a kiss.”

  I giggled. “We said we’d hide it.”

  He came close and caught me by the hand, squeezing it. “Nobody’s going to see.”

  “Jacob,” I laughed. He laughed. We were huddled in close to each other, giggling when Mr. Anu returned. We jumped apart as he shut the door behind him.

  “I see you two have bonded,” he said. He went behind the desk and sat in the chair. There wasn’t a place for us to sit. I had the sensation that we were standing before a judge, our lives on trial.

  “I don’t know what you mean, sir,” Jacob said.

  “Come, come. I know you have exchanged a vow of some sort. I can see your souls merging.”

  “Merging?” I asked.

  “Yes. Because you are fated to be together. You’ve initiated the bond and you can never be apart. Excepting death, of course. Soulmates die very close together. Once they are together they cannot remember how to be apart.”

  I glanced at Jacob. His face was white.

  “That can’t be right,” Jacob said.

  “I assure you it is right. I know your urges are nearly insurmountable. You are like two polar opposite magnets, pulled towards each other. Though I wouldn’t say you are opposites at all. You are two peas in a pod. Exactly what is needed.”

  Jacob swayed slightly.

  “Do you need to sit down?” I asked.

  “Yes, Mr. Cucciolo. You are looking a little peaked. Please come sit down.” Mr. Anu offered his chair, and Jacob rounded the desk to sit in it. He hunched forward and put his head between his knees.

  “I know this is hard for you to imagine because of your human nature. But you’ll have to trust me when I say that I can see your souls. It is, after all, what my intended purpose was; to identify a soul in need of ushering to the afterlife, you need to be able to see them.”

  “What you’re saying is that just by kissing, we’ve become locked together?”

  “Ah, kissing. Yes. There are other more forceful ways to forge the bond. But a pair like you need only kiss. Even now I can see your souls twining together, becoming almost indistinguishable from one another.” Mr. Anu squinted at us. I was patting Jacob on the back and I self-consciously drew my hand away.

  Jacob started to pant.

  “Now, I sense a shifting of other feelings, as well. You have both come to believe in my story if I am not mistaken?” He tipped his head and gazed at me. I met his eyes and nodded. “Good, good. I cannot tell you how happy I am to hear that. The two of you will need to come into your full abilities soon, or you will forgo them. I should think we can perform the ceremony anytime you are ready.”

  Jacob sat up. “You haven’t explained what these abilities are.”

  “Oh. My apologies, I should be happy to tell you. First is physical strength. Iris has already managed to tap her strength once, but you’ll be able to do that at will, now, of course. You’ll be able to access it in short bursts.” He started counting out on his fingers.

  “Then you will also find your non-human abilities somewhat more refined. You already have a heightened sense of taste, hearing, and scent. After the ceremony, it will become even more instinctual, if you will. You’ll be able to smell fear, for example.” He extended another finger.

  “Finally, you’ll develop an alternate form.”

  “What does that mean?” Jacob asked.

  “Ah. You have not seen my true form. For me, this,” he swept a palm across his chest, “is my alternate form. I can show you my true form at will.”

  He brought his palms together and took a deep breath. The bracelets he always wore were accented with blue-and-orange stones. Where his shirt collar stood open, a wide necklace of a matching pattern appeared.

  But most notably, his head was replaced with that of a stylized jackal. His ears were pointed, straight, and proud, and his eyes shone with intelligence.

  Jacob scrambled from the chair and jumped in front of me. “Look out!”

  “It’s okay, Jacob,” I said. “It’s Mr. Anu as he really is. Anubis.”

  “That’s — what is that?”

  The image faded, and Mr. Anu was again standing on the other side of the desk. “Do not be alarmed, Jacob. I’ve only shown you how I really appear. I’ve chosen to walk as a man for so long that it is an effort for me to change into my true form. I cannot sustain it for long right now. However, I believe that once I resume my duties ushering souls to the afterlife, it will become easy once again.”

  Jacob relaxed his shoulders, but he didn’t move away from me. “I don’t understand. Did you change your appearance? With your mind?”

  “Yes. What you see right now is an illusion. I wear modern clothing to make the illusion easier, though, as I already said, now it is more difficult for me to show you my true self than the illusion.”

  “Wait,” I said. “You said we’d develop an alternate form.”

  He nodded. “You will. You are first and foremost human. You live among humans and always have; you have no frame of reference for an alternate form.” His eyebrows knit together in an uncharacteristic display of emotion. “This will be difficult to explain. Do you remember the story I told you of the princess who was fated to die from pricking her finger on a spindle?”

  “Sleeping Beauty,” I said.

  “What did you take from me telling you that story?”

  “Her fate was preordained, and any action they took would have brought about the same ultimate result.”

  “Yes. That is one potential takeaway. There was another, though.”

  I stared at him. What other messages could there have been?

  He clasped his hands at the small of his back and began walking back and forth. “I told you that the story was real. I was there to witness it.”

  “Okay. It was real.”

  “It was. As are many of the fairy tales and legends that humans have come to think of as fiction. There is an element of truth to them. Why do you think that many cultures have similar versions of the same tale? It is because they are not tales.”

  “Maybe you should just tell it to us straight,” Jacob said.

  “All right,” Mr. Anu said. “Your alternate form is what you humans sometimes call a werewolf.”

/>   Jacob laughed. “You mean like Lon Chaney?”

  Mr. Anu glared at Jacob. “No. I don’t mean like Lon Chaney. I mean a living, breathing werewolf.”

  I licked my lips. “I think you’re going to have to explain that a little more.”

  “Your humanity and Anubian traits combine together to form something different from me. You will have an alternate form that is a jackal, but also a man.”

  “But your form looks like a man,” Jacob said. “You only have the head of a jackal.”

  “That is correct. But your bodies are compromised by your human traits. Your entire body will look like that of a jackal, though instead of black fur like me, your fur will be the natural color of your hair.”

  “There is nothing natural about that,” Jacob said. “We’re going to turn into crazed dogs? And we’re going to run around trying to eat people?”

  Mr. Anu laughed. “Of course not. You won’t be crazed dogs or cannibals. The fairytales aren’t 100% true. They contain a kernel of truth. It is the same with werewolves. They are simply Anubians who have achieved their full potential.”

  Jacob looked from Mr. Anu to me and back again. “I’ve got to think about this.”

  He moved to leave the room, but Mr. Anu caught him by the wrist. Jacob’s tense expression slackened.

  “Like most humans, you fear what you don’t understand,” Mr. Anu said. “When you are in your alternate form, you will not be running around, trying to bite or eat other humans at random. You’ll be assisting me with ushering souls to the afterlife. When people report what they think are werewolf attacks, they are reporting the death of someone whose time had come. People fear death, and, by extension, they fear werewolves.”

  Jacob pulled his wrist free. “If they don’t understand, it’s because you’re slinking around in the shadows.” He left the den. I collapsed into the desk chair.

  “Why is this just coming up now?” I asked.

  “I don’t understand,” Mr. Anu said.

  “You’ve been trying to convince us of this Anubian thing for weeks. And you’ve never once mentioned that we’d become werewolves.”

  “That’s a question of semantics,” he said. “You won’t really be werewolves. That is simply the name that humans have given the phenomena.”

  I covered my face with my hands. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Yes, it does. Werewolves don’t exist. They are only Anubians who have reached their full potential. They perform my duties for me when I cannot. The legend of the werewolf springs from sightings of these Anubians. Even the violence humans attribute to werewolves comes from these sightings. Sometimes, the reason someone might die is violent. An actual animal attack, for example. When a human sees an Anubian coming to release a soul from that pain after the attack . . . what they perceive is an Anubian attacking and killing, though the Anubian’s role is peaceful in nature.”

  “There are Anubians out there right now, doing your soul-ushering thing?”

  “Not right now. They’ve all died. You and Jacob will be the first in some time.”

  Confusion churned my stomach. “This is a lot, Mr. Anu.”

  “I can see that it is difficult for you. Though I cannot say that I understand.” He went to stand in front of Joanna’s portrait. “I wish she were here to explain it. Our children . . . they made us proud. And I know that you and Jacob can do the same. Whatever you decide. I’ll leave you with your thoughts.”

  He left me in the den. Outside, the sun was setting. I sat in the desk chair, studying the portrait until it got too dark to see.

  Chapter 18

  I woke in the middle of the night, thinking the black dog was on my bed again. There was a crazy idea in my head.

  It’s not crazy if it works.

  I crept out of my room and downstairs. I could hear voices in the kitchen. Reflexively, I looked around for Mother — it wouldn’t do for her to find me eavesdropping — but she was either in bed or in the kitchen.

  I moved close to the door. It was Kal and Jacob.

  “So, you believe it, then? This alternate-form thing?” Kal said.

  “I don’t know what to believe,” Jacob said. “Werewolves are real? What about vampires and trolls and gremlins?”

  “I dunno. Have you asked him?”

  “No.”

  “Look. I know he’s really been working you over. Maybe you need to take a step back. Ask Tessa if you can go visit grandma or something.”

  “No. I can’t leave Iris. As crazy as it sounds, he’s right about that. She’s all I can think about. If we were separated, I’d go bananas. Anyway, you know Tessa won’t allow it.”

  “What does Iris want to do?”

  “I don’t know.”

  I took a deep breath. I had to go in there. I had to tell him that we were going to do it, and that the sooner we had Mr. Anu perform the ceremony, the better. Because I didn’t want to just be Anubian and usher souls. I pushed into the kitchen.

  “I thought I heard voices down here,” I said.

  “Hey,” Jacob got up and pulled out a chair for me. “Would you like a glass of warm milk?”

  “Is that what you were doing down here?” I asked. “Drinking warm milk?” I raised an eyebrow at Kal, who laughed. His drink certainly didn’t smell like milk. I frowned. I hadn’t realized there was anything alcoholic to drink in the house, and my thoughts went to Mother.

  “We were just discussing you,” Kal said, not noticing that I’d drifted off. “Were your ears burning?”

  “Something like that,” I said. “I couldn’t sleep.”

  “Mm.” Kal glanced at Jacob, who was still standing behind me. If I had to guess, there was some brotherly communication going on over my head. Kal chugged his drink and smacked his lips. “Well, I’m feeling a little tired now. You kids don’t stay up all night, right?” He winked at Jacob.

  “Shut up.” Jacob threw a kitchen towel at him.

  I waited until I heard the creak of the steps. “I heard you,” I said. “Talking about the alternate form. To answer Kal’s question, I want to go through with the ceremony.”

  “You do?”

  I nodded.

  He scratched the back of his neck. “I have to say, I’m a little surprised. Do you mind telling me why?”

  “Because I had an idea.”

  “I’m not sure I like the sound of that.”

  He was still standing, and I rose to stand in front of him. Something inside told me I’d only have this one chance to convince him to go through with it. I stepped into his space and put my hands on his chest. I’d never practiced using feminine wiles in such a way, but I’d seen Mother wield it over Daddy plenty of times.

  “I want to scare someone.”

  Jacob didn’t move. One eyebrow raised, and he frowned.

  “This isn’t just about my revenge,” I said. “If I can scare the sheriff into admitting that he planted that evidence, they’d have to let my father go free.”

  “I don’t know, Iris. This is an awfully permanent solution to your problem.”

  “Jail is pretty permanent, too,” I said.

  “We don’t know that. We’ve no idea how much time he’d have to spend in jail.”

  I tipped forward, letting my forehead fall against his chest. I’d intended to use a little bit of manipulation to get what I wanted, but now I just wanted to rail at the unfairness of the situation. What did the sheriff want from me, anyway?

  “The alternative is for me to go and tell Sheriff Stone that I attacked Gary.”

  “But why? You’ve already gotten past that.”

  “Because that’s what Sheriff Stone wants. He wants to charge me and throw me in a cell and make me tell people that it was me who messed up and not Gary. He thinks I’m getting away with something.”

  “But you didn’t. Gary attacked you.”

  “He doesn’t care about the truth!” I turned away from him to hide the tears that were starting to swell out of my eyes. “He�
�s only interested in protecting the people he thinks belong. And I don’t belong.”

  “Hey,” he stepped around me and put his hands on my shoulders. “Iris. Don’t cry.” He used his thumbs to wipe the tears off of my cheeks. But that only made me cry harder. Somewhere inside I was cringing at the horrible cry-face that I was making. But I couldn’t make it stop.

  He drew me into his arms, smoothing his hands over my back.

  “Shh. Shh.” He whispered it into my ear, and the sensation caused a rash of goose pimples up my arms to my neck. He tipped my head back and kissed me, then tucked my head against his neck. “I’ll have to think about it, okay?”

  “Okay,” I said. The tears were starting to fade, thanks to the melting sensation from his kiss.

  He stepped away from me. “We should go to bed. Before we get in trouble.”

  “What would we get in trouble for? We’re just having a glass of milk.” I turned my head away and quickly tried to wipe my face clean with the sleeve of my wrap.

  “Yeah. That’s all we’re doing.” He held my hand and guided me from the kitchen and back to the steps. “I’ll have a decision in the morning.”

  “Okay,” I said.

  I went to bed, but I couldn’t sleep. Should I have reminded him of the Sleeping Beauty story? But Mr. Anu had only told me about that.

  A dozen times, I nearly got out of bed to run to his side and remind him that our fates were sealed in Mr. Anu’s book. But Mother’s manners kept me rooted where I was. I couldn’t go into his room — certainly not at night.

  I pressed the heels of my hands into my eyes. I had to go to sleep so that I’d be ready if Jacob agreed.

  * * *

  Tessa took forever giving us our lesson and assignment in the morning. I kept one eye on the grandfather clock ticking in the corner of the living room until she left. When she’d gone to the kitchen and the door swung shut, I turned to Jacob. He was busying himself with his papers.

  Eventually, he looked up and saw me staring.

  “What?”

  “You said you’d have a decision in the morning.”

  “It’s still morning,” he said. He opened a book and then closed it. “This is really what you want? What you think is right?”