Taken

Chapter 21

“Obviously,” Leo says from where he sits in the armchair beside me. “Your training can’t be done here. That call was too close for comfort.”

            “What are we going to do then?” I ask while leaning back into the plush couch cushions. “According to Lux, I need my powers before I can go get my sister.”

            Lux nods from her perch on my knee. “Beata told me that you aren’t ready yet, you have to learn how to at least control it.”

            I groan. “Why can’t she teach me then?”

            Vul and Leo give me questioning looks and I roll my eyes as I point to Lux. “Talking to the pixie,” I clarify.

            “She’s weak enough as it is, and trying to get in your dreams takes a lot out of her, which is why I’m here,” Lux says and pats my knee. “Don’t worry, you’ll get it. For now you need to focus on your concentration. You broke it in the middle of making that orb, which is why it exploded.”

            “So I need to, what,” I say as I blow my bangs out of my eyes. I wish I had my headband. “Meditate?”

            She nods. “Exactly.”

            I turn to the guys. “She says I have to work on my concentration; which means meditating and breathing exercises,” I say with a scowl. I’m not too sure I’ll be great at the whole meditating thing, especially with those two watching me. In addition, this will probably take forever and I so don’t have time for that.

            “Okay,” Leo says while standing up. “While you do that, Vul and I will come up with a plan to get you to the Bratus safely. For now, that’s all we can do.”

            “Actually, I won’t be able to do that until later,” Vul says, finally entering the conversation and stepping away from his brooding stance against the far wall. “I haven’t patrolled in over a week. The last thing we need is a Veti coming for an unexpected visit.”

            Leo nods. “All right, I’ll stay here then. Ari, you should probably meditate in your room. I’ll block off the window so we don’t endure another . . . incident.”

            “Okay,” I say as I stand with Lux coming to sit on my shoulder. I turn to Vul. “What’s patrol?”

            “I have to go into your world and make sure your people aren’t killing off my animal,” he says with an irritated growl.

            I put my hands up. “I have no hand in killing animals,” I say. “That’s not my thing, but,” I add, taking a step closer. “While you’re there do you mind, you know, checking up on my brother, Charlie? I want to know if he’s doing okay. He’s probably pissed that I left him alone.”

            Vul continues to scowl at me but gives a begrudged nod. “Fine, I’ll stop by on my way back.”

            I grin at him. “Thanks,” I say but he only rolls his eyes and heads to the front door. I sigh and follow Leo back into my room where he shuts the blinds and then covers them with a blanket.

            “There,” he says after tucking the corners in. “You should be fine if you start glowing again.”

            I nod as I climb on top of the bed and sit with my legs crossed.

            “Okay,” he says as he crosses to the door. “Good luck.” And with that he shuts the door, leaving Lux and I alone.

           

“So,” I say twenty minutes later as I stretch out my legs and roll my neck. My body’s sore from the constant uncomfortable position and my foot is numb. “You never told me what my supposed powers are—I mean, besides the whole glowing thing.”

            Lux shrugs. “I can’t be too sure. Powers vary by host, typically matching their personality so they have better control of them.”

            “Wait a second,” I say while holding up a hand. “Host? What host?”

            Lux gives me a quizzical look. “You’re the host. You’re Beata’s host, which is why you posses her power. In your family she merges with the first born girl of each generation to be her host. This way it balances out both words considering Mari’s gone.”

            “But,” I say as I squint at her. “I’m not the first born, Nina is. She’s older than me by a couple of minutes,” I clarify.

            “Then Beata must have seen more potential in you. That must be why your sister was taken, she was mistaken for hosting Beata because she’s the oldest.”

            I furrow my eyebrows and finger the hem of my shirt. “But why would they need to take her in the first place? What does it mean to host Beata?”

            “Mari was the Arco for humans, but one day in your world, she fell in love with a human and left her people behind. Beata decided to turn her mortal in order to live a full life with the man she loved, but in return, she had to sacrifice her first born daughter to take her place as Arco in Caelum,” she says as she walks over to my knee and leans against it. “But since the girls are mortal, they can only substitute Mari during their lifespan. During which time, the next generation is born, and when the eldest girl turns sixteen, she is taken to replace the current Arco.”

            “Okay,” I say with a slow nod. “And Beata fits into this how?”

            “She had a feeling that Mortem was rising around the same time Mari turned mortal, but chasing him weakened her, so she left part of her in the eldest daughter, that way her powers could be used to help take care of Caelum and keep the balance.”

            I glance down at myself, wondering how on earth I’m supposed to ‘keep the balance’ when I have absolutely no idea on what I can do or why I can do it. I frown.

            “Does that mean when I get my sister back, I can’t go home?”

            Lux gives me a sympathetic look as she pats my knee. “In order to keep the balance, you have to stay here and fulfill your roll as the Arco for humans.”

            I frown and fall back against the bed. There has to be some way around that. I can’t just be . . . stuck here for the rest of my life. I mean, can’t somebody else host Beata? Does it have to be me?

            “Wait,” I say and fly back into a sitting position. “Nina doesn’t have any powers, so what’s happening to her?”

            Lux leaps into the air so she’s hovering at eyelevel. “Without powers, they are draining her life force. If she’s been here for as long as you say, she doesn’t have much longer before they drain her completely.”

            “W-What does that mean, exactly?” I ask, my throat constricting and making my voice sound thick and choked. I grip the comforter tightly between my fists.

            Lux gives me a solemn look. “She’ll die.”