Unsurprisingly, Ember had been pissed after I left her – especially when I refused to give her a reason as to why I ran off. I didn't want to tell her that Kaden was in town, because that meant revealing that Ryder and I had seen him the day before.
Even when we got back to the café, Ember refused to tell us what the symbol meant. She suddenly turned weary.
"Can we please go find this house? I really need to rest... I feel like shit." She admitted, slumping down and resting her head on the table.
"I thought you spent all last night resting." Ryder scoffed; Ember's night was nowhere near as active as ours.
In response, Ember shot him an icy cold glare.
"We're all tired, okay?" Thea stepped in for a change, "So how about we find this house, get settled in and unpacked, then have a discussion or something?"
"Like a pack meeting?" Ryder cocked an eyebrow up at me.
I hissed at him, "You know we're not really a pack without an Alpha. We're technically all Betas."
Glancing at the bill, I left a few notes on the table. "By the way, umm...we're kinda broke."
"We know, Theo. Don't worry." Thea smiled tiredly at me, her eyes barely open.
"C'mon, then." Ember picked up her bags – as we'd taken our bags to the café after leaving the hotel – and she walked out the door.
"You okay, man?" Ryder asked as he walked alongside me, letting Thea go ahead.
"Never better." A let out an exasperated sigh, tone dripping with sarcasm.
He clasped his hand onto my shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
With our bags slung over our shoulders, we followed the vague instructions Al had given us. Before long, the dilapidated house with peeling cream paint rose up amongst small, pretty and well-kept cottages.
"It's bigger than I thought it'd be." Ryder spoke his thoughts aloud.
I took a quick glance to check no one was watching as Ryder threw his weight against the front door. A curtain on a nearby cottage twitched, or so I thought – my mind very easily could've been playing tricks on me. The roads were fairly quiet; almost as if the entirety of Hopecliffe had been affected by the full moon. Though, of course, it hadn't.
The natural world kept turning whilst the supernatural one was constantly ruptured with tremors and quakes.
"Oh shit, it's freezing in here!" Thea exclaimed from inside the house.
"It's probably not connected to any mains electricity anymore." Ember explained, folding her arms and rubbing them.
Ryder's voice came through, muffled from a cupboard on my right, "There's blankets in here!"
"It'll have to do." I finally stated, the grimness in my voice inescapable.
This was no five-star hotel. But it would have to do.
After deliberating whether to try and reconnect the house to the mains, we decided to leave it for a while; not wanting to draw any unneeded attention to ourselves.
Ryder and Thea sprinted upstairs to claim their bedrooms – separate bedrooms, thankfully. Al was right; there were four bedrooms, all with beds, mattresses and sheets remaining.
The smell of mothballs clung to everything in the house, but I wasn't sure if we could risk opening windows or not. Whilst we were staying in an empty, borderline-derelict house, we'd need to keep our presence on the down-low, to the say the least.
After dropping my duffel bag on the bed in the only remaining room, I slowly started to unpack. Inevitably, I unpacked with the mind of having to running away quickly and quietly in the middle of the night.
By now, I guess it had just become part of my life. I could almost live out of this duffel bag if I had to; I was pretty sure I had a sleeping bag somewhere in there.
There was an undeniable part of me that was angry at Ember for being unable to reconcile with her mom. Mine and Thea's mom, and Ryder's mom were all dead. Ember didn't seem to get that.
Shaking the thoughts out of my head, I finished unpacking and went to find Ember.
"Happy with your room choice?" I popped my head into Ember's room, checking in on her.
"It's fine." She was sat on the edge of the bed with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders.
"You're cold. Here." On a whim, I strode into the room, pulled off my hoodie and handed it to her.
She hesitated, but then took it from me – eyes grateful – and dragged it over her own clothes.
"It's almost like not having my fire again." She shivered. "I hate being cold."
Perching next to her, I offered my open hand to her. "Maybe I can help warm you up? I mean...not in a sexual way."
Hesitantly, she slid her hand into mine, and I squeezed it tightly.
"Your hands aren't any warmer than mine." She laughed a little, the pure sound of her happiness lifting me up on some sort of emotional high. But those highs never last long.
We both stayed silent and seemed to cling onto that moment; a bright ray of happiness amongst the shadows of anxiety and panic. I felt the urge to confess my love for her, but I stayed quiet, not wanting to shatter this newfound tranquillity between us.
"Theo..." Ember turned her head, facing me and searching my eyes for some message of some sort.
"Yeah?" My mouth went dry as her gaze only seemed to intensify.
"You'd tell me if you saw Kaden, right?" She asked, her blue eyes only showing trust.
Trust that I had betrayed; torn apart and shredded.
All I could bring myself to say was, "We need to talk, all four of us." I then added, "We should get something to eat."
Somehow it was late afternoon already; time was really screwing with me. I couldn't help but wonder if it had something to do with Kaden's presence – whether he was messing up the natural world as well as the supernatural one.
Much to my surprise, Ember didn't get mad at me. Instead, she got to her feet, hand still in mine, and led the way downstairs.
Frowning, half out of shock, I said, "I doubt there will be anything in the cupboards."
"Al gave me a loaf of bread and some berries whilst I was with her." Ember shrugged a shoulder.
From the sounds of their heartbeats, Thea and Ryder were still upstairs, so I decided to steal a moment with Ember. After following her into the kitchen, I shut the door softly behind me.
"Hey, Em." I brushed her shoulder softly, and she turned around to face me, both of us drawing closer, "Can I kiss you?"
She blushed fiercely, though didn't hesitate with her response. "Yes."
I leaned down and gently pressed my lips to hers. Her arms instantly looped around my neck and shoulders; I held her hips lightly and pulled her ever closer. Our mouths moved in sync, slow and steady – showing only love.
In an instant, Ember's chemosignals flooded with comfort and warmth; the smell of her love was intoxicatingly beautiful, and like nothing else I'd ever experienced.
"I'm sorry for lying to you." I broke the kiss and whispered against her lips, keeping my eyes locked on hers – finding myself drowning in their depths once again.
"I know you were just trying to protect me, with whatever it is." She forgave me, pressing her lips against mine for a moment.
I then chose that moment to repeat what I told her the night she fell asleep: "It kinda gets hard for me to open up and actually talk when we're facing imminent danger."
"How can I help?" She clung onto me, even when I tried to pull away – of course, the first thing she wants to do is help...
"Just be patient with me, okay?" I pressed a kiss to her forehead.
<Ryder and I are coming down now, so finish up whatever you're doing with Ember.> Thea warned me telepathically.
<Thanks for the warning this time.>
I opened the kitchen door to find Ryder about to knock.
"Oh. Hi." His eyes darted between the two of us.
"We're fine, Ryder." Ember rolled her eyes. "All four of us need to talk."
After having a few slices of bread each, we sat at the kitchen island. The wooden table had years of wear-and-tear imprinted into it eternally. Running my fingers over the uneven surface, I could almost visualise all the events that had happened in the kitchen – first smiles, first words, first steps, first days all the way to last smiles, last words, last breaths, last days. Then the cycle would commence all over again with every new generation.
The cycle of life would always remain constant; that alone was comforting to me. Likewise, my feelings and dedication to Ember would always be constant. Ephemeral.
"So, you know what the pattern was?" Thea shot her question across to Ember.
Swallowing, she nodded, "Yeah I do. It's an Egyptian hieroglyphic."
Ryder stood up and rummaged in the drawers, before producing a piece of paper and a pencil. "Draw it out." He insisted, pushing the art materials across the table to Ember.
"But I already drew it out on the beach to show her." I frowned across at him.
He raised his hands in the air, "Just trying to be helpful."
<Chill, bro. We'll figure things out.> Thea's eyes slid over to mine.
Unable to find the words, I didn't respond to her.
Ember traced over the paper, replicating the exact pattern we saw up on the moors only the night before. Once she was happy with it, she slid it into the middle of the table. "It looked like that, right?"
"Exactly like that." I nodded.
Underneath the table, Ember's hand found mine and squeezed it – a silent comfort that was more reassuring that she could've known.
"It's an Egyptian hieroglyphic, called an ankh... It means the key of life, or the key of the Nile." Ember explained, "The Nile was a river that was the livelihood of the Ancient Egyptian people. They depended on it for everything. It was even though to be the first, or even original, cross – like in Christianity."
"The key of life..." Ryder echoed, his eyebrows knitting together.
"What else could that mean?" I pushed Ember; we needed as much information as we could get.
"Umm, well." She ran her hands over her face and smoothed down her hair, "It could also be interpreted as immortality."
"Why the hell would someone burn the symbol of immortality into the moors?" Thea asked incredulously.
"Yesterday, Ryder and I saw Kaden on the beach." I blurted out, finally starting to tell the truth. "And this morning, when I left you, Em, I was chasing after Kaden."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Ember frowned at me; but there was confusion in her blue eyes, as opposed to anger.
"Because, at first, I thought it was nothing." I bit my lip, mentally reminding myself to bide my time with my words.
"And then...? What happened to make you change your mind?" Thea read me like a book, regardless of the fact we weren't communicating telepathically.
"Then that symbol." I planted my hand on the replica Ember has drawn, "That symbol meaning immortality confirmed."
"Confirmed what?" Ryder butted in, anger shadowing across his face.
"What Al told me this morning." Shutting my eyes, I let the words slip out – leaving a bitter taste on my tongue as I spoke, "What's going on with Kaden isn't just a darker side of him. Whatever happened when he came back from the brink of death altered him – something triggered that part of him, and now he's like an entirely different person."
"So what?" Ryder stood up, chair scraping against the tiled floor, "We're hunting down some random kid with multiple personalities disorder?"
"He's not just some random kid." Ember glared at him – and I'm pretty sure that if she was a werewolf, she'd be growling at him too. She turned to me rapidly, "He isn't just your friend, Theo. He's my friend as much as yours."
"Was." I corrected, unable to keep my eyes fixed on hers, "He was our friend. I don't know what he is anymore."
"What're we gonna do, then?" Thea looked around all of us, "I mean, we have to help him – right?"
"I don't know..." I shook my head.
"We came back to the UK to help Halia, remember?" Ember suddenly snapped, jumping to her feet and pacing the kitchen, "You don't just get to go back on things you've said you'd do."
"Well, if we're going to start arguing about the reasons we came back to the UK, then how come you didn't at least try make things right with your mom?" I threw at her, with just as much energy as she'd shown.
Her mouth dropped open, filled with unspoken angered words, and her eyebrows arched. "You don't think I tried? She's the one that's always pushing me away."
"I don't think you get it: you're the only one out of the four of us that still has a mom. And trust me, life without one sucks." I threw a glance at Thea, she was sitting with her head bowed, and Ryder was staring into space.
We fell into a silence that was instantly consumed by my thoughts.
Is it necessary for every supernatural to have a broken family? Or is it just a part of who we are...a result of not living 'normal' lives?
"Speaking of Ember's mom...she may have given me something that could help us." Thea announced, after clearing her throat in the silence.
"The leather book she gave you?" Ember glanced across to her, cocking an eyebrow up – but not unloosening her crossed arms all the while.
"I'll be right back." Thea got up and raced upstairs.
My thoughts raced into an anarchic assortment of pandemonium, until Thea returned. Then it was like my mind calmed slightly.
<Is that something to do with telepathy?> I unwillingly thought to Thea.
<Nope, but it could have something to do with me being your twin sister. Who you love and feel calm with.> Her words could've held humour, but I'd never heard her sound so serious – even in her thoughts.
"It's gone. The book Mrs Milburn gave me is gone." She sat down, slumped at the table.
"Where and when did you last see it?" Ember's attention was captured once again.
Running her hands over her face, Thea shook her head quickly, "I don't remember."
"Is it, like, this massive, old, brown book?" Ryder stretched his hands, indicating the size of it.
"Yeah, exactly like that." Thea's eyes shot over to him.
"I saw it when we were in the café." He hesitated, "It was just on the table...I didn't think it was important. But when we left, it was gone."
"What if that's what Kaden was in Hopecliffe for today?" Thea's frown cut deeply into her forehead.
"Shit. He could've taken it." I realised, before checking, "What was even in the book?"
"I..." Thea paused, but soon continued after Ember shot her some sort of look, "I didn't have a chance to look through it much, but it's something related to Phoenix lore."
<What that about? Have you two got something going on that you're not telling us?>
She ignored me, pretending she hadn't heard me; though I could tell she had.
"It'll turn up." Ryder reassured Thea, reaching across the table and squeezing her hand.
Whatever was going on between those two seemed to flip between friends and more-than-friends... It was simply one of the other confusing things going on at that time.
Needing to get the conversation back on track, I decided to tell them my suspicions about the figure we met on the moors during the full moon.
"I think that it was Kaden we saw up on the moors last night." I told them, "I mean, Killian – that's his name when we can't recognise him as Kaden. It was Killian that left the symbol of immortality, the ankh in his wake."
"So what, the dude's immortal now?" Ryder scoffed; his distrust worried me greatly.
Whilst I was also sceptical of it, I couldn't find words to answer him.
"Slow down a sec. What do we know so far?" Thea spoke up, intending to bring order back to the meeting we were holding.
It was so much like a pack meeting; despite the fact I'd told Ryder we couldn't be a pack without an Alpha. Though I wasn't exactly the most clued up on lycanthropy-lore. Maybe Wednesday would know something that could help us – well, me more than the others.
"We know that Kaden now has a dark alternate personality called...Killian," Ember began counting on her fingers, "Killian was most likely on the moors last night, and he left behind an Egyptian hieroglyphic that means immortality. Oh, and he may or may not have stolen the book on Phoenix lore."
She seemed hesitant to call it Thea's book; maybe she wished her mom had given it to her instead.
"Now what?" Ryder asked – his impatience only building; it was now tangible through his chemosignals. Impatience smells and tastes bitter, lingering at the edge of your tongue.
Then, it looked and felt like Ember and Thea's energy was completely and instantaneously drained from them. Their faces paled and both had to clutch onto the table to stay sat on their chairs.
"Are you okay?" I turned to Ember, searching her face for answers – before frowning at Thea too.
"We're...we're fine." Ember spoke with great effort, a few beads of sweat forming on her forehead.
Well, that was a lie. Her heartbeat jumped when she said 'fine', but I didn't pick her up on it. Something was seriously wrong with both of them.
"C'mon Ryder, let's get them into their beds." I stood and took Ember gently in my arms.
Her arms and body were cold to touch – almost like she'd lost her fire all over again. Reaching over to Thea, I discovered she was just as cold.
After walking them upstairs slowly and laying them down in their respective beds, Ryder and I piled layers and layers of blankets on top of them.
"I'll be okay, Theo." Thea told me, looking up at me through the slits of her eyelids that she was struggling to keep open.
She's not lying, I noticed, having been listening to her heartbeat. I leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
"Get some rest." I told her, but she was already sleeping.
I stepped out and quietly shut the door behind me.
Walking into the hallway between the bedrooms, I asked Ryder in a lowered voice, "How's Ember?"
"Same as Thea." He shrugged a shoulder, "You should probably go see her."
I nodded, planted a hand on his shoulder and squeezed reassuringly.
"If you're not going to bed right now, just be quiet in the house – okay?" I checked with him, looking him in the eye, "I have no clue what's going on with the girls, but they need to rest for now."
"Got it." Ryder forced a smile, "And, Theo, if you wanna talk about anything, I'll keep it between the two of us."
"Yeah..." I trailed off instantly, unsure of what I was supposed to talk to him about.
"Well, when you realise you wanna talk about something, I'm here." Ryder repeated.
He left me, and I was still clueless.
~
With the return of my insomnia came the return of me reading classic novels through the night and into the early hours of the morning.
How exactly my insomnia returned was a mystery to me – perhaps it was due to the fact every single dream I had orientated around Kaden. And if it wasn't Kaden I was dreaming about, I was reliving the hallucinations both Ember and I experienced when the hunter Evan Woodman drugged us.
As far as I could tell, the two of us had lived through similar hallucination, at least, the second half of it involved both of us, conscious and together. The river of blood; me drowning in the blood before Ember gave me CPR; Ember burning me; Ember killing me.
Shaking my head, I focused my attention back on my book at hand – 'The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' by Robert Louis Stevenson. The ground-breaking horror, science fiction novella of the late 1800s.
In the silence of the night, a scream penetrated the darkness. A scream that I instantly recognised as Ember's.
In a heartbeat, I flung the covers off me and threw my book to one side. Adrenalin pulsated through my veins as I rushed along the corridor to Ember's bedroom.
"Make it stop!" She cried out, "Please, I never meant to–" Her words cut off by more screams.
"Ember! Ember, I'm here." I shouted through to her as I kicked her door open – she'd locked it, and the lock had somehow seized stiff.
The door finally gave way; I rushed in to see her clutching at her sheets and writhing in bed. Her eyes were squeezed tightly shut.
She's dreaming.
"No, no, please!" She sobbed in her sleep, the sound tearing my heart in two.
"Ember, I'm right here." I came over to her and took her wrists in my hands.
As opposed to calming her down, it only freaked her out even more – she started thrashing out at me. Her hands curled into fists and her knuckles hit against my chest repeatedly.
"Ember. It's me, it's Theo." I grabbed her shoulders and shook, knowing that she needed to wake the hell up.
"Theo...what's going on?" Ryder's groggy voice sounded from the door.
"She's having a nightmare, I've got it. Just go back to sleep." I told him bluntly, though not too harshly.
He wandered back to bed and left me to deal with Ember.
I looked down to see that she'd stopped struggling against me; instead, tears were sliding out of her closed eyes.
"Ember...?" I whispered, letting go of her shoulders and bending down to her – feeling the most immense relief when her breathing started returning to normal; her heartbeat regaining a constant pace.
Theo..." Her eyes snapped open and were instantly brimming with fresh tears.
"It's me, I'm here. It was just a bad dream." I scooted a little closer to her and tucked some of her sweaty hair behind her ear. She was beautiful, regardless of how deranged she looked.
"It wasn't just a bad dream..." She spoke, her voice echoed with shadows.
"A nightmare, then." I kept my eyes fixed on hers, whilst hers flitted around the room, chasing away the monsters in her mind.
"More like a night terror." She shuddered, suddenly clutching at my arm. "Will you stay with me for the rest of the night?"
My eyebrows shot up in surprise, but I didn't say a word as I slid under the covers and into bed with her. Her skin was sticky and hot to touch; she was very clearly still sick.
"Stay with me till the morning?" She asked as she began drifting back to sleep.
"Of course."
"You sure it's okay?" She asked, getting ever drowsier.
"More than okay." I kissed the back of her head, wrapping my arms around her body and moving closer to her. The proximity was comforting for me as well.
As I felt myself sinking down into the bed, I realised I didn't have my book with me. It didn't matter, though; I'd spent the night watching over Ember – making sure she was safe.
I'd keep her safe no matter what.