Hi, Readers! So excited to bring you this chapter. (Still another part to come.) Thought I would mention, I've added some gifs (repeating video clips) to the book. Here are a few of the chapters they're in if you want to look back and check them out: Blurb & Pitch, Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 7, Chapter 15, Chapter 24 and there's one below in this chapter too. I will be adding a few more as well and will try and keep you up to date when I do.
"Love sometimes comes like a dream and leaves like a nightmare." —Unknown
"You went through my underwear drawer?"
His eyebrows raised, then a grin spread across his face. "What? It's not like I've seen you in those. Oh, wait—I have." He nodded and whispered, "Definitely, wear the lace bra."
"Argh..." I washed my hands down my face, then grabbed a pillow off the bed and chucked it at him. "That was an accident! It's not like I intentionally arrived in your bedroom half dressed."
He shrugged, then gave a look that suggested maybe I had. "What can I say, I must be one of your most inner desires for that to happen," he said with confidence. "Besides, I'm happy to consider all clothing unnecessary when it comes to you. See how flexible I can be." He chuckled and brushed something off his shirt.
Utterly intolerable. How did he end up in my life? Ugh. I let out a long sigh, then shook my head. "Very kind. Now, if you can get out." I pointed toward the door.
"What? I don't get to watch?"
"Uh, no, you don't."
"Fine. But I can't say I'm happy about that," he said, closing the door.
I hopped out of bed and quickly changed into the clothes he had tossed at me. I contemplated grabbing a different bra out of the drawer, just to spite him. But it ultimately didn't matter. It wasn't like he was going to get to see it anyway.
When I draped last night's dress over the chair, I noticed the large blue knapsack sitting in the seat. Kellan must have brought it in this morning. I could feel my fingers itch to get inside and snoop a little.
"Do all girls take this long to get some clothes on? You better hurry up, or I'm going to come in and get you."
"Don't you dare! I'm almost done, just give me a minute."
Curiosity was killing me. I unzipped front pocket of the bag and a leather bound book slid out and landed on the floor with a thud. Crap. I grabbed the book and gave the pages a quick fan. It was a journal of sorts. The pages were filled with notes, drawings, and folded papers stuffed between the pages.
The knob on the door rattled. "Okay, time's up," he said, opening the door. I bent my arm and hid the book behind my back. "What is taking you so long? Oh, you are dressed," he said, with a disappointed look. "But before we go downstairs," he said, running his hands down my arms, "Let's just see what you have behind your back." He plucked the book from my fingers and held it above my head.
Nooo! I grimaced, knowing he totally busted me for peeking through his stuff.
"My journal?"
"My underwear drawer."
He folded his arms across his chest. "Slightly different, don't you think?"
"Nope. I don't."
He stuffed the book back in the front pocket and zipped up the bag. "Fine. Enough snooping through each other stuff—truce." He held both hands out suggesting he was unarmed.
"Truce." I smiled, satisfied that I was totally going to get away with my peeking through his things.
"Oh, before I forget," he paused, then took something out of his pocket, "this is for you." He held out a small package wrapped in yellow tissue paper. "Nebula said I had to buy it for you. And she's so freaky strange, she's kind of hard to say no to." He lifted my hand a placed the folded tissue in my hand.
"What it is?"
"Good question. She had it wrapped up before I even told her I was there to pick you up."
I unfolded the delicate paper and pulled out a long silver chain, with empty pendant cage that hung from its center.
"Weird. Isn't there a stone in the package as well?"
"She isn't just freaky." I shook my head. "I think we might need to add eerie to that list." I leaned over a plucked the Dekarta stone off my dresser and squished the silver cage around it. "I don't know how she knew, but this is exactly what I wanted." I reached up on my toes and kissed his cheek. "It was nice of you to buy it for me. I love it, thank-you."
"Uh, that stone is impossible to come by," he said, looking at it hang in front of my shirt. "You probably should wear it on the inside. It's not something you want to advertise that you have."
"Really? What's the big deal?" I dropped the necklace on the inside and felt its cold metal brushed against my skin.
"The bigger deal is, how were you able to get one? Only been a handful of people in Acklemarian history have ever had a Dekarta stone. Whatever you do, make sure no one sees it."
Well, to be more accurate it was two. But I wasn't about to tell him that Sage had one if he was making this thing out to be so all-important. "Got it. Keep it hidden. Will do, sir." I responded with a salute and bit my lip so to contain the fit of laughter I was holding back.
"Ah-ha-ha, very funny. Come on." He reached for my hand and interlaced his fingers with mine. "Let's say hi to Sage."
The stairs creaked in complaint, with each step we took on the same tread. The smell of pancakes wafted through the air making my mouth water. When we stepped off the last stair and into to the kitchen, the first thing I noticed was the exposed pipes and charred marks on the floor.
"Hey, you two. It took you long enough to make your way down here." Sage beamed with a mouth full of food. Then her eyes went wide, and her fork stumbled out of her fingers and clanged against the plate. She swallowed, got up from the table and walked over. "Are you two crazy?" She cocked her arm back and released her fist into Kellan's arm. "Jaxon is going to kill you, and then her! Good God, of all the stupid, dumb..." She threw her hands into the air and walked back to the table shaking her head, mumbling something about violet eyes.
"Well, that went better than I thought it would," he whispered, rubbing his arm.
When she threw her arms up, I couldn't help notice the burnt blistered hand print on her forearm. "What happened to you!"
"Oh this?" She bent her arm and took a good look at it. "Someone had a little tantrum when you disappeared from the party."
"So he burnt your arm? Oh, Sage. I feel awful. I should have insisted you come with me."
"Ah, it's nothing that can't be fixed up with some of Rosemary's cream," she said, holding up a jar.
"Can't you just heal yourself?"
"Nah, common misconception—even in Acklemar. Healers have no problem giving medical attention to others," she said stuffing her mouth with more pancakes. "But when it comes to healing themselves, not so good. It's too difficult to pull energy from the circle and receive its power at the same time."
"All right you two," Gran interrupted. "Here, sit and eat," she said shoving a plate of short stacks at us.
"Gran..."
"Don't." She held up a hand. "It was the same for your father. Those unnatural violet eyes of yours speak volumes. I know what they mean." She sighed, then looked up at Kellan. "I only hope you can..."
BOOM!
An explosion sounded outside. The floor of the old house shook, and one of my pancakes landed on the floor when I jerked to steady myself. That was when Gran looked at me and said, "Jaxon is here, and his anger is radiating off him."
Kellan peeked out the front window curtains. "Argh, he just blew up my truck! Well, I guess he knows I'm here."
I stood there stunned and frozen, with all three of them running around me in circles.
"Wren snap out of it. Here put these on," Sage said, handing me a pair of sunglasses out of her purse.
"Kellan!" Jaxon bellowed. "I know you're here! You know our laws as well as I do."
Kellan bounded up the stairs to my room.
"Thank God for never putting things away," Sage said, lifting the lid off a blue lipstick. "As far as Jax is concerned you're recovering from last night, blue lips and all. So if you have any skills from drama class, now's the time use them."
Kellan jumped off the last stair into the kitchen carrying his backpack. "Please don't make me go out there," I said, turning to face him, shaking out my hands and trying to breathe.
"Wren! We have an agreement. Time to live up to your end of the arrangement." Jax hollered again.
Kellan took my hand and kissed the top of it. "Wren, my love. You have to go out there and face him. But that doesn't mean I'm letting him take you away."
Sage looked up and replied, "I hope you have a plan water boy because we all know he's well within his right."
He unzipped the top pouch of the bag and pulled out a pair of sunglasses and put them on his head, then flipped his hand open to reveal Jaxon's ring. "If you're not wearing it when you go out there, I'm not sure what he'll do."
I could think of a few things I wanted to do with that ring. Wearing it was not one of them. But he was right. "Fine." I stuffed the ring on to my finger.
"Don't worry you won't be alone. There's now way, you're going out there without me," she said, hoisting two bags of stuff and her purse over her shoulder. It looked like she was planning on moving in with the overflowing bags she had with her. But this was Sage who knows what she was planning—it was probably better I didn't know.
Gran dusted her hands off and untied her apron. "I don't know how much help I'll be. But there's no way you're going out there without me."
I'm here too, Kellan said in my thoughts. "Ready?" He smiled and rubbed my arms.
No. Definitely, not ready. I took a deep breath and let it out. Then pushed the screen door open and stepped outside.
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