The Changeling's Source (Evedon Legacy Book 1)

by Sarah Lynn Gardner

  Asher supported me. “I can take you to the hospital.”

  I nodded quickly.

  William entered. “The good news is he’s alive.” He sighed, then pulled out his cellphone. “What’s your mother’s number? I’ll call her.”

  Barely above a whisper, I recited it to him, and William typed it in, then retreated down the hall.

  As he did, Asher’s phone buzzed with an incoming text, and he pulled it out. “Jack wonders if he can take Nathaniel and Oops over to his home for the rest of the afternoon. Nathaniel wants to stay with Oops to keep her happy. She still doesn’t have a clue about what’s happened. Jack says they were inside Jerrick’s when the ambulance arrived.”

  Jack kept showing up when we needed him the most. “That would be good.”

  William reappeared. “Your mom will meet you at the hospital. Apparently, she’d been on her way to pick up a heart medication for him.”

  That wasn’t a regular check up. I breathed out to release some of the built up tension. So...was he already having heart problems or did someone put poisonous source inside him that aggravated the attack? “Thank you, William,” I rubbed tears from my eyes.

  “Asher, don’t worry about curfew tonight. I’ll handle Mom and Dad.”

  Nodding, Asher squeezed his arm around my waist. “Let’s go?”

  I nodded.

  However it got there, one thing was clear. My fighting with Sam had definitely spurred the attack, in addition to the years of strain I’d dumped on him, not to mention the dark source I’d thrown on him in the spring.

  If Daniel died, I would never forgive myself for killing him.

  30. Waiting Rooms

  Waiting rooms kill the family.

  Mom paced back and forth in front of Asher and me. “Don’t blame yourself,” she repeated. “His father died younger than he is of a heart attack. It’s genetic.”

  “Mom, that’s not helping me!”

  Mom was whiter than a hotel sheet and paced back and forth in front of where I sat in the ER waiting room. Tears slipped down her cheeks.

  “Can you stop pacing?” I asked.

  Asher rubbed his thumb on the back of my hand.

  Mom took a deep breath. “The way I’ve treated him.” She covered her mouth, and I could tell she wanted to bawl. “Why won’t they let me see him?” Mom scowled, her grief turning to anger. “He needs me as much as Dr. Wren.”

  “Mom, they don’t know you’re a healing alv,” I growled.

  Mom collapsed in the seat beside me.

  I needed to distract her. Maybe I should tell her about what I’d discovered during the attack. That someone had weakened his heart with poisonous source. I hesitated. It could freak her out even more.

  Instead, I rested my head on Asher’s shoulder.

  Mom grew antsy again, and I could sense she was about to dive into another rant. I shoved aside my concerns about freaking her out more. She was already. At least telling her would give her something different to focus on while we waited.

  Sitting up, regretting the lack of contact with Asher, I leaned over to her. “Mom, I found poisonous source in his heart after the attack that I pulled out.”

  “Poisonous?” Mom repeated. “But only an alv with healing capabilities can do that…” Her voice trailed off. “Did I accidently put it there?” She looked even more troubled.

  I doubted it; instead, I wondered if whoever brought the flock imps was somehow responsible.

  “What if...” It would have been an alv who’d let the flock imps into my home. What if the same one had somehow poisoned Daniel’s heart? He or she would have had to be close enough to touch him. I gave Mom minimal details about the demon attack, saving her, for now, that I’d been possessed.

  Mom’s expression hardened and anger stirred in her blue eyes.

  “Jack said Dad was worried about someone coming after me when I was younger. Is he—still a threat?”

  “No, he has life in prison for murdering your father.”

  My brows rose. Oh. The friend that Dad had tried to free of a fiend was the same one who— “Why did he want me?”

  Mom clenched her jaw, closed her eyes, and shook her head slightly. When she opened her eyes again, they were filled with tears and her breathing came in short gasps.

  Fool. I made her think of Dad’s death.

  “It was Chiara’s ex fiance,” Mom whispered. “He’d thought you were his and refused to accept the results of the paternity tests that proved you weren’t. Hiskia thought the demon inside him was addling his decision-making. They’d been close friends in college.”

  I nodded slowly. “But he betrayed him.”

  Mom nodded.

  “Does he have any friends who’d want revenge?” Asher asked.

  Mom closed her eyes as tears slipped one by one down her cheeks. “That could be possible.”

  “Jerrick asked Cam to come look at our house,” I said. “Maybe we should let them know?”

  “What’s his number?” Asher asked. “I could call him.”

  Wisps of stray hairs had fallen from Mom’s ponytail, catching around her slender facial features. She pulled out her phone and scrolled through her contacts before displaying Cam’s number to Asher. Of course she still had Cam’s number; he was better about responding to her than Holden was.

  “When did Daniel start having heart troubles?” I asked.

  “About—”

  A nurse approached us. “Dr. Evedon? Dr. Wren and Mr. Schuster would like you to join them.”

  “Is he all right?” I asked.

  “You are?” she asked.

  “His daughter,” I said.

  “You can come back, too, if you’d like.”

  Leaving Asher behind, I followed Mom through the heavy double doors that barricaded the ER exam rooms from the waiting area. We passed a nursing station on the right and several rooms on the left. For a place of emergencies, the atmosphere was almost too calm.

  In his room, Daniel sat on the hospital bed, looking more alert than I’d expected after a heart attack. Shirtless, with a blanket over his lap, he had some sort of monitors strapped to his chest with an IV hooked to his wrist. Otherwise, he looked almost normal. Just tired.

  “And you said,” Daniel looked at Mom, “And I quote, ‘Just because your father had a heart attack, doesn’t mean you’ll have one.”

  “You have too big of a heart.” Mom shook her head.

  “It’s actually Grinch small—” Daniel bantered.

  Mom crossed the room and kissed him into silence.

  All my bitterness about their marriage had flown. In its place, hope burned that something better was on the horizon.

  I lowered my gaze, then watched intrigued as Mom slipped her hand on his chest paused with her hand over his heart, whispering something before kissing him again.

  “Tara, how are you doing?” Daniel asked, waving me toward him.

  “I should ask you.” I treaded carefully toward him.

  “I’m alive and expected to live for many years.” Daniel smiled.

  I sat down on the bed by him.

  “I’m sorry for scaring you,” he said.

  My lower lip trembled. “I’m sorry, so sorry. I can’t even imagine the amount of stress I’ve caused you.”

  Daniel picked up my hand. “This wasn’t your fault.”

  “But I’ve put you through so much.” No matter how many times anyone told me that, I would blame myself. Tears built in my eyes. “I don’t want you to die.”

  “I’m not going to, Tara.”

  I rubbed the back of my hand against my eyes to wipe away tears. Pressing his hand between both of mine, I studied it. It looked so strong compared to Gran’s, but today he had visited as close to Death’s door as she was.

  The thought sent a sharp, piercing pain through me. “I wish I could go back and not be so mean to you.”

  “Come here.” Daniel pulled his hand free of mine. “I could use a hug.” He prodded my should
er toward him.

  Slipping my legs onto the bed, I let him wrap an arm around my shoulders.

  Leaving the hospital, hand in hand with Asher, I asked, “Can we visit the beach?” It was the last place Daniel and I had gone together, and I wanted to go back.

  “What?” he asked, surprised.

  For good reason, too. It would be almost dark by the time we arrived.

  But I also wanted to avoid confronting the figurative and possible literal demons back at home.“We’re halfway there now,” I said.

  “The logic behind that is faulty.” He got my door for me. “But why not?”

  After getting phone call permission from Mom and William, we drove out to Lake Michigan.

  Enroute, I told Asher all I knew about pure and changeling alvs. About Holden and his father, Iago Bastian. About how Dad had been killed by his demon-possessed best friend.

  That friend, I now knew, had been my biological mom’s fiance and thought I was his. He’d been after me.

  “If he’s in jail now,” Asher said, “what other alv in town would be after you? Are they the ones responsible for stealing your journals and hacking your account?”

  “I don’t know.” I frowned. “Hopefully Cam can figure that out when he looks over the house.”

  “Earlier…” Asher hesitated.

  “What is it?”

  He glanced briefly at me. We were driving the long stretch between the forest before the road curved right along the shoreline. Thirty minutes earlier and the fall colors would have been more beautiful.

  “Asher, what?”

  “What’s the Facility?”

  I took a deep breath and sighed. “It’s a place for underage alvs who are in trouble. One wing is for those who’ve broken laws or taken on demons but aren’t considered dangerous. The other is like a boarding school for those having trouble at home, whether they cause it or their parents can’t handle them. Holden’s uncle is the director of the Facility. Mom’s parents put her there in high school after her younger brother ended up on the law breaking-side.”

  Asher’s brows rose.

  Wait. Daniel’s foster father was Holden’s uncle. Is it the same person? And was that possibly how Mom met Maurine?

  “You getting possessed today—they won’t, I know you said earlier—”

  “As long as I’m not currently possessed, or didn’t purposefully take a demon inside me, I don’t think Iago Bastian can make me go to the Facility. So you don’t have to worry. Plus...” I thought back to Jerrick’s comment about Daniel not letting him. “He has some sort of respect for Daniel.” Now that I thought about it, Cam, Jer, and Holden all had some underlying admiration and respect for Daniel. Even Cam and Jer’s younger brother Pat did.

  Daniel’s not even an alv.

  “Okay,” Asher said. The glint in his eyes didn’t look reassured.

  I gnawed on my lip. Would Iago come after me if Daniel wasn’t in the picture?

  And why the respect?

  Suddenly, I didn’t want to go back home while Daniel was at the hospital.

  Asher parked in the spot closest to where the picnic area was. No other vehicle lined the sidewalk.

  A gray mist lurked over the lake, and clouds filled the sky. The lap of the waves crashing on the shore with the receding rush echoed back and forth. The repetitive sound regularized my breathing. It was calming after a day filled with life altering revelations and chaos. That morning, I’d been to Chicago with Jack to see Gran and found out Daniel and Maurine had almost adopted me, but now it felt like a week ago.

  We walked down the beach, holding hands. The temperature dropped quickly, and it seemed ludicrous to even contemplate swimming in the lake, yet Daniel had two days ago. The memory of how youthful he’d seemed in that moment made tears burn in my eyes. Daniel had been my age once, doing reckless things, but now he was in his early forties, each day growing older. I couldn’t believe I’d wasted the last six years trying to drive him away.

  What if the heart attack had taken him—right as I was beginning to want him as a father figure?

  Wind blew inland, circling around us, and I wished I had a scarf to protect against it. Asher wrapped his arm behind me, pulling me right alongside him, serving as a fairly good wall to the torrent of air. As well as to the inner cascade threatening to overwhelm me.

  “How are you doing?” he asked, then kissed my head.

  “There’s a bittersweet feeling seizing my chest. Makes it a little hard to breathe.” I looked up at him and was caught off guard at the love in his concerned eyes. The misty glow of a hidden setting sun cast a strange halo around him. I traced the lines of his high cheekbones and long thin nose and found myself wanting to run my fingers through his dirty blond hair. A static energy coursed between us, beckoning me to forget the day’s chaos in him. My gaze fell to his lips, yet a hesitant, unsure feeling held me back.

  Asher brushed hair from my face and tucked it behind my ear. “Are you coming to school tomorrow or staying home?”

  “If you’re going to be there, I will too.”

  He pressed his forehead to mine, staring into my eyes, locking our gazes together. My heart pounded at his nearness. “Tara.” He touched my lips with two fingers, then fondly rubbed the back of his hand over my cheek, sending a rush of warmth through me. “You were possessed by a dozen imps and your stepfather had a heart attack.” He cupped the back of my head, letting his thumb slide over my ear.

  I shook my head. “I want to be there with you. I’m not going to leave you alone.”

  “I wouldn’t be alone,” he said. “There are hundreds, thousands, even, of other—”

  Closing the remaining gap between us, I interrupted by barely kissing his lower lip.

  Asher pressed his mouth to mine, igniting positive source throughout me, which I bled back into him before abruptly pulling back, breaking the kiss, a little overwhelmed by the feeling it inspired.

  His jaw dropped forward like I’d stolen a lollipop from his mouth, and afterward, an agitated dragon lurked in his eyes. The murky light didn’t do the green within them justice.

  I pressed my lips together, licking them inside. This is really happening between us. At that moment, it felt unreal. That he’d want to be with me. “Of course, if you don’t want me at school with you—”

  A wrinkle appeared on his forehead. “I’d love having you there with me.”

  “I can’t believe you would say that after watching me go crazy—”

  “You like me, don’t you?” Asher asked.

  “Yes, but I’m—”

  “Loveable. Can we stop talking? I want to kiss you.”

  My brows furrowed for a second. He seemed too good to be true. Does he just want to feel positive source? Or is he just clingy to the next girl who wants him?

  No. Earlier, after showing him my baby pictures, he’d told me he was falling in love with me. After the demon attack, he’d told me he loved me.

  I’d be a fool to think he was sticking around to feel glimpses of positive source. Plus, he could have had Sam who arguably would have brought him less drama and lots of kisses.

  I reached my arms around his neck. Let my nose kiss his, before tracing his lips with mine.

  He pressed his lips gently against mine, and I closed my eyes. The light touch sparked flutters in my stomach along with swirls of positive source. I pulled him closer, letting him be an equal partner with the positive source he inspired, then enjoyed the little smile that flitted across his face. His fingers trickled through my hair, massaging my scalp.

  This time, only the crashing waves interrupted us.

  When I thought of a future without Asher in it, my heart ached.

  I think I might love you, too, Asher Scoville.

  I sank to my knees to catch my breath, and he left a lingering kiss on my forehead.

  As the darkness of night deepened around us, we made our way to the steps up toward the sidewalk. When we reached them, Asher swooped me up in arms, t
hen, grinning, he ran the whole flight, leaving me little time to get a good grip on his shoulders.

  I laughed, and it felt good.

  At the top, a smile still illuminated his face and was replaced by a thoughtful expression.

  “What is it?” I asked as he set me back down on the ground.

  “I was thinking about how a year ago, I was laid up in a hospital bed, with a bunch of casts and bandages, still hovering in death’s shadow.” He put his hands on his hips and studied the uneven, steep flight of stairs he’d raced up. “Definitely nowhere near able to do that.”

  I half-smiled. “I can’t even picture you that way.”

  “I have some photos on my phone...would you want to see them?” Asher asked.

  The image of the car crash from the news story I printed off flitted across my mind. The picture alone had been devastating. An uneasy feeling stole over me as I remembered that I’d left the article on the top shelf of my locker.

  “Unless…”

  “Of course, Asher. Especially if it’s important to you for me to see them.”

  Asher studied me for a second, then a smile quirked the corner of his mouth. “Yeah, it is.”

  He opened the passenger door to the car and let me in before going around to his side.

  As he crossed in front of the car, the glow of his phone lit up his face as he scrolled. Once he got in, he handed the phone over to me.

  “Oh my.” My heart leapt in my chest. The image was of a dark haired boy in a hospital bed. He wasn’t even dressed in a hospital gown, with a blanket over his midriff to keep him warm. A mask with a tube coming out covered his bruised and bloody face; there were other tubes as well; his right arm was up in an L-shaped cast affixed to a moveable pole, while the leg on the same side was casted and supported on a pillow. The unbroken, yet bloody arm had several IVs attached to it.

  “That’s me the morning after the crash,” Asher said. “They still thought I was going to die when that was taken. My brain had some internal bleeding, so they’d had me in a medically induced coma while they figured that out.”

  I pressed my lips together, for the millionth time that day on the point of tears. “I can’t believe this is where you were a year ago either.” My voice felt sticky.