Arise (Awakened Fate Book 4) (12 page)

A ragged gasp escaped me.

Noah grabbed the phone. “Chloe, you–”

“What happened?” Zeke demanded.

I swallowed hard. “Th-they have my parents. They’re taking them to the coast.”

Zeke looked away, swearing.

“You can’t go after them,” Noah insisted.

I shook my head. Breathing was difficult and the ground kept trying to spin beneath me. I knew he was right. Logically, rationally, Noah was right. It’d be suicide.

The idea of what could happen if Wyatt threw Mom and Dad into seawater flashed through my head.

I felt like I was going to throw up.

“I can’t let him hurt them,” I managed. “I-I know what Mom and Dad did. What they’d try to do a second time if they could…”

Shivers rattled through me. I hated them. I didn’t want to go anywhere near them, and if I never saw them again…

Funny how that idea had never included ‘because they were dead’.

“I-I can’t,” I repeated. “Wyatt and the others are on their way to the ocean. They’ll be there by tomorrow. If I don’t go–”

“He’ll
kill
you,” Noah snapped. “And chances are, he’ll kill them too.”

“Chloe, we have to call the cops,” Baylie insisted. “Harman’s connections
can’t
go all the way–”

“Chief Reynolds said all the other elders agreed with Harman,” I countered. “What if they’re in this too?”

“We could still try!” Baylie cried.

“I believe the chief was lying,” Olivia added. “Or Harman was. I can’t imagine
all
the elders would support what he did.”

“See?” Noah argued. “Come on, Chloe. Cops, FBI,
something
. You can’t just go in there and–”

“They’ll throw them in the ocean,” I told him. “That’s what Wyatt said. They’ll throw my parents into the ocean.” I turned to Olivia and Dave. “What happens? If they do that to a landwalker, what…”

I could see the answer on their faces. My head shook of its own accord. “I can’t let them. Mom and Dad are probably already sick. If I don’t get them away from the coast in time–”

“Could she help them?” Zeke interrupted, directing the question at the elders.

They appeared confused.

“The projection thing we talked about,” he continued to Ellie. “How she got me here. Can it really work both ways?”

“You can’t
seriously
be arguing that Chloe go there?” Noah snapped, glaring at Zeke.

Zeke ignored him. “Can it?”

Olivia’s brow furrowed. “Yes… possibly.”

A breath escaped me.

“Hey!” Noah pressed. “You’re
not
sending Chloe to them, get it? I won’t–”

“I know that,” Zeke retorted. “I’m going.”

I stared at him.

Noah made an incredulous noise. “Those guys will tear you apart.
Literally
. If anyone’s going, then I’ll be the one who–”

“Second they see you, they’ll kill her parents. You–”

“So what’re you planning to do? Those are
greliarans
. ‘Created to kill you’, remember? You won’t stand a–”

“And you will? One against–”

“Enough!”

My shout rang through the forest and at it, they both fell silent. I swallowed, glancing around. Anyone could have heard that. Yelling had been stupid.

I wasn’t sure I cared.

“You’re not doing this on your own,” I told them, my voice and body trembling. “Either of you.”

They both hesitated, looking as though they wanted to continue arguing.

“I mean it!” I snapped.

Still shaking, I turned away, my gaze skipping across the forest while my heart raced. I wasn’t sure what to do. We had no weapons – nothing but an empty shotgun in the trunk, anyway – and we were up against a bunch of greliarans who knew we were coming and who probably had a strategy for tearing us apart. It didn’t matter, though. I refused to allow Zeke or Noah to get themselves killed.

There had to be another solution.

“We’ll think of something on the way,” I said, looking back at them. “Alright? We’ll all work together and we’ll come up with a plan.”

Without waiting for their response, I turned to Olivia and Dave. “How far is it to the cars?”

Dave twitched his head toward the path, not taking his eyes from me. “About five miles.”

“Good,” I continued. “Then come on.”

Pushing past the others, I strode down the trail. I didn’t care what Noah or Zeke said. How horrible those greliarans were. I wouldn’t lose them. Either of them, or anyone else for that matter.

Not if there was a thing left on Earth that I could do about it.

Chapter Nine

Wyatt

On the back porch, I listened to the waves as they tumbled toward the shore. The air was cool from the wind coming off the ocean, and the sun was still a couple hours shy of rising. Shadows surrounded me, cast from the forest around our house, though moonlight shone down on the sand and the water, making even the gray grit of the beach seem brilliant in the night.

We’d gotten home a little while ago and tossed her parents into the basement before Clay and Owen trudged off to bed. Dad had stayed in the front room – listening to her parents or watching for her, I didn’t know.

But I couldn’t sleep. Anticipation for what would happen when the fish finally arrived would barely let me close my eyes.

The breeze picked up, strengthening the salt in the air. I drew a deep breath. It felt better, being back on the coast compared to where we’d been. Like I wasn’t stretched between here and someplace else anymore. Like some weird tension inside me was gone.

Not that I’d ever admit that to my brothers.

She’d get here soon, though. She’d probably drive like the wind, given how scared she’d seemed on the phone.

My lip twitched. Damn, I’d loved the sound of that.

I couldn’t wait to see her face as well.

My smile grew and I struggled to keep it under control. Arkansas
was
a long way from here. I had to be a
little
patient.

Drawing another breath, I scanned the beach.

Three guys were walking along the sand.

My brow furrowed. There wasn’t another house near us for miles. That was part of the deal with the landwalkers. We stayed isolated, got to do what we wanted here, and random people didn’t wander onto our property.

In swim trunks. And no shirts. With wet hair like they’d just come from the water.

A shiver crept over my skin like it wanted to change. Dehaians. I would’ve bet money, even if I couldn’t believe it. There was something weird about them too. Something off, just like there’d been with her or that black-haired guy.

My shivering grew stronger. After all these years, dehaians had just walked onto–

One of the guys paused, bringing the other two to a stop, and even if I couldn’t see his eyes glowing, he still studied the yard like he’d spotted me in the shadows.

He jerked his head at the other two and then cautiously walked closer.

My heart was racing. I had to let them get close. Dehaians were fast. Faster than us, the bastards. And there were three of them. I needed to wait till they didn’t stand a chance of escaping.

“Hey,” the guy called as he walked up. His tone was guarded, but strangely dismissive too, like he was used to being listened to whether he gave a damn about the conversation or not.

“Yeah?” I managed.

“We’re looking for some people. Maybe you’ve seen them? A guy. Dark hair, blue eyes, about my height. A girl too; teenager with red hair. Their names are Zeke and Chloe, though they might be going by something else now.”

Surprise brought everything else to a halt.

“They’re runaways,” the guy continued. “And criminals. Dangerous ones. There’s evidence they came ashore several miles from here after their boat crashed. Have you seen them?”

I stared at him. This couldn’t be happening.

How many people had those fish pissed off?

I struggled to push the thought aside. I needed to be smart here. This was more complicated than some dumbass dehaians wandering onto our property. These guys were looking for the same scale-skins as us. They might have others looking too, elsewhere, and maybe I could convince him to bring them to the house as well.

Then we’d have even more of them to kill. More than we ever could have
dreamed
.

A smile twitched across my face before I could stop it.

“Hey? You hear me?” the guy asked.

“Yeah,” I responded, trying to think fast. “I, uh–”

The door flew open behind me. I barely stopped my skin from changing in shock.

“You’re looking for them?” Dad demanded, striding outside.

The first guy paused, looking more wary than alarmed, though the other two behind him seemed a heartbeat shy of growing spikes in surprise.

“Yeah,” the guy said.

“Well, we’ve seen them,” Dad replied. “That son of a bitch killed my son.”

The scale-skin’s brow rose.

“You want to find them,” Dad continued. “So do I. Maybe we can help each other.”

I looked to Dad in confusion. Help? Wait, why did he think we needed this scum-sucker’s
help
?

The guy made a noncommittal sound.

“Anyone else with you?” I asked into the silence, glancing to the beach and struggling to keep the hope from my tone.

The guy’s gaze flicked from me to Dad. “They’re around.”

“Good,” Dad replied. “They can meet us here.”

He jerked his chin to the house.

The guy didn’t move. “Why’d Zeke kill your son?”

Dad paused. “The girl. He thought Brock was a threat to her.”

The scale-skin seemed to consider the words. “And what makes you think they’ll come back here?”

I looked to Dad. We couldn’t tell him about her parents. Hostages sort of destroyed the whole ‘wounded family’ thing Dad had going.

“Because we’re close to the girl’s parents,” Dad said. “So she called us yesterday. Told us
she’d convinced him to come back so she could see her mom and dad.”

The guy’s eyes narrowed.

“We’ve known them for a while,” Dad added darkly. “They want to get her away from him. But that guy is dangerous. They felt safer meeting her here. I want your help making sure he doesn’t hurt anyone else.”

For a moment, the fish regarded us, and from something in his face, I could tell he didn’t believe a word of what Dad had said.

But he wasn’t leaving either. He was simply studying us, like he didn’t care that we were lying, that we were half again his weight, or that he was standing on our territory. Instead, he was just fitting us into some kind of plan in his head.

“The girl’s really coming back here?” he asked.

“What I said, isn’t it?” Dad drew a breath, clearly trying to calm down. “I guarantee it.”

The guy’s brow shrugged. “Alright,” he agreed with a brief glance to his companions. “We’d be happy to help.”

“Great,” Dad retorted. “Then I’m Richard. This is Wyatt. Nice to meet you and all that.”

The guy’s lip twitched like he found Dad’s anger amusing. “Nice to meet you too,” he replied dryly. “I’m Niall.”

Chapter Ten

Zeke

I hadn’t been on many car rides in my life, but this had to be one of the most uncomfortable and awkward.

And Ellie wasn’t even here.

I grimaced. That wasn’t fair. The girl was edgy as hell on a good day, but she’d been getting better. She’d barely hesitated when she’d taken my hand in the cave, and she’d trusted me to guide her through the dark.

Least I could do was not make a joke of her, even to myself.

But it
was
uncomfortable in here.

I scrubbed a hand across my tired eyes, trying to stop their burning, and then glanced to the seat beside me. On the other side of the car, Noah was finally asleep. Baylie was the same in the passenger seat ahead of him, while Chloe was driving.

It’d taken hours, and even now, I couldn’t be sure Noah was unconscious. Or that he’d stay that way.

Greliaran hearing was infuriating.

Scowling briefly, I unfastened my seat belt and then scooted forward, watching him from the corner of my eye. He didn’t stir.

“Chloe,” I whispered.

She gasped, flinching.

I winced. “Sorry.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I replied, the word mostly a lie. A ton of things were wrong, running the gamut from the greliaran who wanted the girl I cared about, to the Sylphaen that might be on the coast, to the
other
greliarans we
knew
were there and who had her parents. And that didn’t even get into the past few days and the questions I had about that time.

Damn near everything was wrong, if I wanted to be honest about it.

“I just need to talk to you,” I continued.

She grimaced, her eyes on the road. The eastern sky was finally shifting toward a lighter shade of indigo, but the night hadn’t quite given up its grip on the road. Up ahead, the taillights of Olivia’s car still glowed red, leading the way as they had for the entire night of driving.

“Not right now, Zeke.”

“Then when?”

Chloe gave an awkward shrug, like she was trying to pull away even if there was nowhere to go, and her gaze twitched to Noah before returning quickly to the highway. “I-I can’t. I just… I have to focus.”

I glanced over. The guy still appeared to be asleep.

Though of course he could be pretending.

“I understand that,” I assured her, turning back. “But Chloe, I need to know… did something happen while I was at that lab? Something with you?”

She hesitated.

“It’s just,” I continued, “when I was there, the pain of my distance from the ocean came back. Not fully, but pretty strong for a while. And I… I can’t help but think about what Ellie said. How it wouldn’t do that as long as… well, as long as you were alive.”

She tightened her hands on the steering wheel. I couldn’t tell if she was breathing.

“Chloe?”

“Yeah,” she whispered. “Yeah, it was bad.”

A shiver ran through me, whether of nausea, horror, or the desire to hit something, I couldn’t be sure. My hand slipped from the back of the seat to her shoulder. She tensed.