Embry took a key from under a flowerpot and let us into the foyer, which wasn’t as dark and dusty as I expected.
“A flowerpot? Seriously?” I asked him. Gabriel was fuming, but kept it inside for the moment.
“Locks are easy to break if you really want to get in,” Embry said simply before bringing us to the kitchen.
“When’s the last time you were here?” I asked. There were eggs and milk in the fridge, along with other very perishable items. The pool in the backyard was spotless, with the jets running, and all the bushes perfectly manicured.
“I want to say months, but I think years would be more accurate.” He saw my look and elaborated, “I have someone who takes care of the place and he knew I was coming.”
“How?” Gabriel perked up as if ready to relocate me immediately.
“You’re not the only one with top-secret messaging systems,” he defended.
“What’s in here?” I asked, continuing the tour in an effort to diffuse the situation.
The room in front of me looked oddly familiar. There was an oak table covered in books and papers, an antique chair with extra cushions, an old gramophone…it looked like Embry hadn’t changed anything in the room since he got the house.
“This is storage; we don’t have to go in.” Embry hurried in front of me and shut the door before walking us through the laundry room, wine cellar, and his study.
Next, he brought us up the stairs. “Don’t worry about these rooms,” he said of the first two, that he didn’t even look at as we walked by. “This is a bathroom, and some spare rooms,” he said of the next ones. “And if anything happens, this is how you get to the panic room.”
He brought us through the master bedroom and pressed his hand to the wall to reveal a walk-in closet. It would have been a fashion enthusiast’s paradise, but other than one rack in the corner, there weren’t any clothes.
“Is this where you hide all the corpses?” I asked of the trunks.
“Just treasures,” he still had that sad smile. “I even have some first editions if you get bored,” he pointed to an ornate bookshelf, filled with incredibly old, yet pristine volumes. He had all the works of Jane Austen, J.D. Salinger, Ernest Hemingway, Shakespeare, some Italian playwrights, and a bunch of books whose authors I never even heard of. There were four books at the bottom that looked brand new compared to the others, all written by Laurel Haynes.
“Hopefully this is the first and last time I’m here,” I told him, walking out. I touched the carvings in the bed frame before everything disappeared…
I could tell I was in the same room, but while Embry’s closet looked dark and a bit like a shrine, this one was warm. I knew I was Beth, even before I caught a glimpse of her in the mirror, but her eyes were focused on the reflection of the closet, rather than on herself. She was in a red silk negligee, with her hair cut a few inches below her ears. She looked so happy. Happier than I had seen any of the girls in any of the memories.
“When are you coming to bed?” she called to the closet, where I could hear someone rummaging around. This must be the house she shared with her husband, David. It explained why the room downstairs was so familiar; it was the room Beth had been researching the prophecy in.
“Got it!” I was shocked to hear Embry’s voice exclaim, before he came into the bedroom, positively triumphant.
“You have less than ten pieces of clothing in there. What took you so long to find?” she asked, stretching around in the bed.
“This,” he said, hopping into the king-sized bed beside her, a small velvet box in his hands.
“You spoil me,” she said it like he should stop, but she was smiling. She kept her eyes on him, not even noticing the gift box.
“You deserve it,” he said, giving me a kiss on the forehead. I don’t think I had ever seen him so happy, or with so little clothes on, which was slightly awkward. I was used to Sam prancing around in his boxers back home, so it wasn’t a big deal, but if things went any further, we would have a problem. “Happy Anniversary,” he kissed her shoulder. Luckily, I wasn’t the one controlling her, because it tickled, and I would have burst out laughing.
Beth, on the other hand, chose happy tears as her response to the kiss and the ring with four stones that she found in the box. Birth stones by the looks of them, but I didn’t know enough to know which was which, and she closed the box before I got a good look. “These have been the happiest five years of my life,” she kissed him on the lips. It was incredibly strange to be kissing him like this, when I couldn’t control my actions, and could feel what she felt for him. I knew what was coming and willed myself to come out of the memory, but I was saved when knocking on the door made them stop.
“Come in munchkin,” Embry called, laughing.
A little girl ran into the room and climbed into the bed between me and Embry. I recognized her as an older version of Helen from my last Beth memory.
“I had a nightmare,” she said, cuddling into Embry. “There was a monster in my closet.”
“Do you want me to go make sure everything is safe?” he offered.
“No Daddy! He’ll hurt you!” Helen looked up at him. “Can I sleep with you and mommy tonight? Please?” she begged.
“This is why we needed the bigger bed,” Beth smiled before they lifted the covers so Helen could get under them. Beth and Embry looked into each other’s eyes over Helen’s head, holding hands, and fell asleep like that.
When I came back to the present, Gabriel was holding me up and Embry’s eyes were locked on mine, like in the memory. Instead of love, his eyes showed fear for what I could have seen.
“Oh my God, did I…” I remembered what I was doing in this memory, and my tendency to act them out.
“No, you passed out. We didn’t know if it was a memory or…” Gabriel kept his arms around me, even though I was able to hold myself up.
“It was just a memory,” I swallowed, exchanging a look with Embry, while Gabriel looked at me with concern.
“From who? What happened in it?” he was ready for clues.
I fumbled for an answer, but was saved from lying when an old man with white hair and kind eyes walked in.
“I was hoping it was you,” he said, his voice full of southern hospitality.
“Charlie.” Embry relaxed his shoulders and rushed over to the newcomer. He took the man in for a hug like they were old friends. “This is the man who watches over the place when I’m gone.”
“I had help this time,” Charlie assured me. “Eric!” he called into the hallway.
“Yes grandpa?” a voice drifted up the stairs.
“Come on up,” Charlie called. Eric was tall and tan with golden locks and his grandfather’s kind eyes, only the blue in his was piercing rather than calming like Charlie’s. He looked strong in a rugged way, like he helped run the stables and lifted barrels of hay. “You remember Embry, and his friend Gabriel.” Charlie paused for them to shake hands. “And this must be Lucy.” He reached over and shook my hand with an endearing smile.
“Which one did you know?” I figured Charlie was yet another Gifted.
“I’m old, but not that old,” he said with a wink. “Your grandmother and I used to run around and ride the horses here before she moved away. She became a treasured pen pal who sent a lot of pictures after that.”
“I didn’t know she had any friends,” I said before realizing how that sounded. “I mean, outside of the house. She mostly kept to herself.”
“She wasn’t always like that,” he told me.
“They were little troublemakers,” Embry cut in. It was weird to picture him running after younger versions of Charlie and my grandmother.
“I believe I have more than made up for it,” Charlie didn’t argue with Embry’s assessment. “We came over to make sure it was you and to invite you to dinner. It’s just a little barbecue, but---”
“We would love to,” Embry surprised me with his acceptance, and by the looks of it, Gabriel as well.
“I’ll give you a moment to get settled in, but we’ll be in the yard when you’re ready,” Charlie smiled at each of us before leading his grandson out. Eric shot me a smile and I could feel myself blushing, which was not something I was used to.
“You think it’s wise to leave the house and parade her around?” Gabriel asked Embry once our guests were gone.
“We share the land and no one else comes out here,” Embry defended. “She’s as safe there as she is here, and Charlie makes the best crawfish I’ve ever had. Ever.”
Gabriel still didn’t look happy, but he went to change out of his colorful outfit and came downstairs in dark jeans and a black t-shirt.
I changed into the last clean outfit I had, a dress. In hindsight, I should have packed more adventure clothes and less vacation ones. I made a mental note to do laundry when we got back, so I would have something to wear in the morning.
Embry was the last to come down, wearing black pants and a button-down shirt, that he rolled up at the sleeves. “Off we go,” he said with a smile that reached his eyes. The best description I had for his mood was that he was finally home after a really long and hard journey, so he delighted in and appreciated every inch of it.
We walked out the kitchen patio doors and went past the pool, to one of those really long picnic tables. Twenty people could sit at it comfortably without touching elbows.
“Blanquette de Limoux.” Embry walked over to where Charlie was working over a huge pot and handed him a bottle of wine.
“Thank you,” Charlie looked touched.
“Can I get you something to drink?” Eric came out of nowhere and offered, making me jump slightly.
“What are you having?” I asked of the amber drink in his hand.
“Iced tea. Well, my grandma’s version. It’s a combination of sweet tea and lemonade with a hint of secret ingredients.”
“Secret ingredients?” I asked, raising an eyebrow, but he just smiled. “I’ll try one.”
“Excellent choice,” he told me before going over to a pitcher in a bed of ice and pouring me a glass, which he topped with a slice of lemon. I watched him with curiosity, but Gabriel watched like he was making sure no one slipped anything into my drink.
“Do we trust them?” I asked Gabriel in a whisper, leaning closer to him.
“I trust Charlie.” He didn’t take his eyes off Eric.
“Eat, eat,” Charlie insisted, even though he was still busy cooking. I was fine with waiting, but Eric brought me the iced tea and led me to the food table.
“Have you been to the south before?” he asked me.
I considered it before saying, “Not really.” He didn’t need to know about our recent adventures, running for my life through a tropical jungle and passing the border from Mexico on a truck filled with poultry. It wasn’t like I was introduced to any new foods, at least none that looked like the spread in front of us.
“Do you like seafood?”
“I do…” I tilted my head and bit my bottom lip, trying to figure out if I should trust him, which made him laugh.
“Everything is amazing, so you can try it all and let me tell you what it is after, or I can tell you now and you might miss out,” Eric shrugged, showing a clear preference for the first option.
“Those are my only choices?”
“They are,” he was apologetic, even if it was mockingly so.
“In that case let’s try it all,” I laughed in spite of myself. Tonight was in such a crazy contrast to everything we had been through lately, that none of it felt real.
Eric scooped up things that were deep fried, some that were boiled, and a bunch of sides I thought I recognized, but on closer inspection, did not. There were none of the barbecue staples like hot dogs and hamburgers. Instead, there was gumbo, jambalaya, po-boys and various types of crawfish. My favorite was the deep-fried crawfish with a spicy mayo sauce, until I tried the jambalaya. It was a smorgasbord of sausage, seafood, rice and the perfect amount of heat. Everything was delicious.
I was laughing along with Eric’s story about a rogue crab when Sam’s face flashed in front of me, so proud when he finally caught the lobster Clara briefly adopted as a pet. For a second, I had forgotten that I was being hunted and caused my brother’s death. I was just a girl at a crawfish boil with a cute boy, trying new things.
“You okay?” Eric looked concerned, but he kept his smile.
“I’m fine.” I made an effort to smile back, hoping he didn’t see how fake it was.
“How long are you guys staying here?” he asked.
“I have no idea,” I admitted.
“Are you from New England also?”
“Boston,” I agreed. “Have you ever been?”
“I checked out MIT my senior year. And stopped by Harvard for fun,” he smiled at the mention of the Ivy League.
“Where did you end up going?”
“I’m at Louisiana State,” he shrugged. “Where do you go?”
“I was supposed to start Harvard in September, but I had to defer,” I tried to make it sound unimportant rather than admit that life changing events made me doubt if I would even survive to go to college at all.
“Harvard, huh? That’s pretty fancy.”
“I had a boring and sheltered childhood.” It was how I usually explained away my good grades, or lack of friends, but now I could see there was nothing boring about the way I grew up. I would give anything to go back to that sheltered life instead of this one, where I see the world from different hiding places and lose the people I care about.
“Mine was noisy,” he said after considering it. “I have three brothers and three sisters.”
“That sounds intense.”
“It can be,” he agreed. “I contributed to the problem, so they sent me here one summer and I loved it. I got my act together, then come spring, I had a full-on regression until my mom told me I could come here for the summer even if it wasn’t as a punishment.”
“What did you do?” I asked.
“Loads of things. Muck out the stables, repair the fences, lift heavy things, clean Mr. Embry’s pool…”
“Sounds like the ideal summer,” I teased.
“You’re missing the part where as soon as my chores were done, I got to ride the horses and swim in the pool and…”
“Jump the fences?”
“We tried, but my horse didn’t have it in him. I was too afraid to try it again with a different one.”
“Sounds traumatic.”
“It was,” he agreed. “But I didn’t let it stop me.”
“I always wanted to go riding.” There were stables on our property, but I don’t know the last time they held horses.
“I can take you some time, if you want,” he offered.
“That would be amazing!”
“Lucy!” Embry called over before I could thank Eric for the offer. Gabriel and Embry were already standing and ready to go, with neither of them looking happy.
“I’ll see you around.” Sam was a hugger, so I didn’t think anything of it when Eric took me in his arms to say goodbye.
“Come by anytime, Lucy,” Charlie told me with a hug as well.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as we walked to the villa.
“Nothing,” Embry assured me in a way that told me that was not the case.
“Are we leaving again?”
“No, we’re going to stay here a while.” I was surprised it was Gabriel who endorsed it.
“Get some sleep, Tesoro, there’ll be lots to do in the morning.” Embry kissed the top of my head once we got inside the villa, both of them setting off to their own rooms. I went up to the spare bedroom I’d changed in and wondered what they had in store for me.
Chapter Six
Henry had clearly stuck to his promise, as he was there beside me, walking through the countryside, making Annabelle laugh. She felt a familiarity towards him that told me he hadn’t only called on her once, but many times. Still, it wasn’t the
all-encompassing, can’t eat, can’t sleep, can’t breathe without him love she had once had with Gabriel, nor was it the surprising but steady love she had found with Embry. Being with Henry was doing little to make her forget the men she had loved before, and still did, judging by the thoughts swimming around in her head. At the same time, Henry was someone she could see herself caring about. Especially if Gabriel was no longer an option.
The more we walked, the more I got the feeling this was Henry’s property rather than a countryside. He had lovely gardens, just like Annabelle’s father’s, that you could walk in for hours. I saw lots of exotic flowers, as well as the most gorgeous roses. Some of the plants did not have much going for them appearance-wise, but they smelt heavenly. Every once in a while, Henry would stop so we could smell them, or regale her with all of the cooking uses and healing properties of a particular plant. “I’ve never seen eyes like yours before,” Annabelle said after a few minutes in silence, with him smiling down at her. It didn’t make her uncomfortable per se, but it scared her, because it was the way Gabriel had often looked at her.
“Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?” Henry inquired, looking into her eyes. They caught Annabelle off guard because she wasn’t used to it; how very dark they were. It was like the iris surrounding the pupil had simply absorbed its color, so the entire middle part of the eye was black. I spent the past fifteen years watching Embry and Gabriel’s eyes go darker and darker, so it was the knowledge that Henry was Gifted that shocked me.
“I’m not sure yet.” She looked closer, trying to figure it out. The darkness didn’t scare her, but it wasn’t welcoming either.
He sighed before telling her a story. “It was an accident. Years ago, I was playing with my nephew and ran into a woman who was carrying a pot of some chemical that got into my eye and turned it black.” I wondered how much of it was true and how much he came up with to answer such questions.
“That’s terrible,” Annabelle said, wondering what kind of chemical could change the color of one’s eyes. Both eyes. “Can you still see everything?”
Destiny Page 5
