Book of Life (18 page)

“Well hello there.” She winked at me.

I took one large step back.

The woman smiled. She was as beautiful as her voice, her eyes as gold as the sky overhead.

Emily touched my arm and stepped past me. She thrust her chin in the air, being brave as she presented herself to the woman.

“Is this her?” The woman stood, dropping a small group of pawns in her hand.

Srixon stepped in beside Emily. “This is.” He placed a hand on Emily’s back. “Genevieve, this is Emily.” He ushered Emily forward.

“Please call me Gen.” The woman reached out and took Emily’s hand, whether or not Emily wanted to give it or not. In my imagination, I saw a fight begin.

Emily did not seem to respond.

I looked to the man that was still seated at the table, he had his head down, examining the figurines in his hands—he didn’t seem very social.

The woman’s eyes lit up. “I can’t tell you how excited I am to meet you. We saw what you did today and I find it quite innovative. Not often do we get the opportunity to meld minds with a person still living as you did. Well, with all the laws over it and all, it’s a wonder we get to see anything at all!” She laughed boisterously, as though this was some sort of inside joke only a seer would understand. She looked to Jake and winked.

Jake seemed surprised if not a little nervous. I wished I knew what he was thinking.

“It seems our friend Greg hardly follows the rules, however.” She chuckled. “But, enough time spent chatting. Let’s do it again. Let’s give you another trip down memory lane—I’m quite anxious to see it in person!” She clapped her hands together before frowning. “I fear that even I can’t be certain what Greg is up to. There are a number of dark things he’s playing with and he hides quite a lot from my brother and I.” She made a ‘tisking’ noise as her tongue clicked. “That Avery is more powerful than you can imagine. I am ashamed to admit that she could even trick me.”

I could literally see Emily’s eyes flash with fire at the mention of Avery’s name.

Gen swayed her hips then, a new smile growing. “But I’ve still got my tricks. Max has been doing a wonderful job with her lately.”

Emily’s lips parted and I was afraid of what would come out. “Max is with Avery?”

Gen nodded.

“Is he going to
kill
her?” Emily blurted rudely, a sharp dose of spite on her tongue.

Gen just smiled, looking down on Emily. “That’s not for you to know. Let’s just focus on what you can do, shall we?”

My initial infatuation with the beauty of Gen had quickly faded. She was a viper in the grass. I looked back to her brother. I couldn’t blame him for remaining silent—why compete with such an alpha female as Gen? Then again, Emily was that way—perhaps it was a seer prerequisite.

Gen put her hand out, palm side up. “The pills?”

Emily reluctantly looked to me. I reached in the pocket where I had stashed them, not able to trust Emily with their safe keeping. I handed them to Emily and she passed them, lips sealed tightly, to Gen.

Gen took the bottle and shook it gently. “Lovely.” She struggled with the cap before pouring the two pills into her hands. “I’m happy to see there is more than one.” She slid one back into the bottle, handing the other to Emily. “Take it.”

“Right now?” Emily faltered.

Gen nodded. “When else?”

Emily stood with the pill in her hand. It was nestled into the crease of her palm, looking so innocent. The look on her face seemed torn between fear and delightful anticipation—I wasn’t sure I liked it. I grew up with the Emily of before—a drug induced, edgy, and admittedly troubled girl—and it pained me to see her revisit that life. I had fallen in love with the girl she had become—a girl much more like Jane.

Emily shook her head and threw the pill into her mouth. Everyone watched in anticipation as though her head would sprout a tiny image of Greg talking—it didn’t.

“Can you perhaps give me some space?” Emily tarted, looking around the group. “It’s not going to happen right away. Give it a minute.” Her gaze came to rest on June. He was quietly rolling a pawn around in his hand, still sitting at the table. Emily brushed past Gen and took a seat across from him. She crossed her arms against her chest and slumped down in her seat.

June slowly looked up at her and smiled. “Do you want to play a game?”

Gen looked astonished that June would ask this, or perhaps it was the fact that June said anything at all.

Emily smiled politely. “No, but thank you. I fear my attention won’t be there. I don’t want to ruin a perfectly good game.”

June nodded in return, looking only mildly disappointed. “Perhaps another time?”

Emily laughed. “Sure. Any other time I’d love to.”

EMILY:

I watched June as he went back to inspecting the figurines in his hands. He rolled each over and over before placing them in a line before him. His actions were so simple—so childish—it helped to distract me from the coming demon my mind was about to face.

A few moments passed and I felt my arms begin to relax and fall to my sides. My mind began to relax as well, like my brain was slowly unraveling. I felt the tight ball of emotion melt into a loose, frayed pile of yarn. It was then that I began to hear his voice.

“Avery, what do you mean?” he spoke, sounding angry.

“I can’t go with you,” Avery whimpered.

Was she crying?

“Why?” Greg demanded.

“I just . . .” Avery’s voice trailed into a bout of sobs.

“What’s changed? Why now? This was your war!” Greg yelled so loud that even I jumped.

Doing this alerted the others around me. Gen approached and I felt myself shying away from her advance. I couldn’t afford the distraction.

“Come with me.” Greg demanded.

“No.” Avery was still crying. “Stay here with me. Talk with me for a while.”

I heard Greg grumble. His voice echoed off the walls of wherever he was. “I’m not that type of person, Avery. I thought we were in this together? I thought this was what
we
wanted?”

“I don’t know what I want.” Avery’s voice began to sound braver.

“You
don’t know? You?” Greg taunted rudely. “You always know what you want.”

There was no reply.

Greg sighed. “I can’t stop this, Avery. I have to move forward. This is what I’ve always wanted.”

“Is it?” she challenged.

“What do you mean, ‘is it’?” he mocked. “Since I was a little boy I knew that the human world and the magickal world did not belong together. Look at what it did to me? I was cast out of my own family, cast out of society, and for what? Because I was normal?”

Avery once again said nothing.

Greg went on. “Magick is a disease. It infects everyone. The human’s don’t know it yet, but left untreated, this magickal pandemic will swallow them until there isn’t a single human left!” I heard a loud shattering noise as though he’d thrown something. “They’ll all end up damned like me!”

“We’re not
damned
!” Avery yelled with surprising fervor.

There was a pause before Greg’s low voice cut the silence. “Not
damned?
You’re changing sides, aren’t you? That’s why you’re acting this way. What happened in my absence? What made you change your mind?” he demanded. “You said so yourself just days ago, ‘we’re all damned’. Have you forgotten what my brother did to you?”

The sound of Greg’s voice, so dark and full of hate, made my heart rate quicken.

“It’s not his fault,” Avery sputtered.

I nearly fell out of my chair as I heard her say that. Gen gasped, and June’s hand jolted, knocking his figurines off the table. The voices were as audible to them as they were to me. I was allowing them to be a part of it.

“What?”
Greg’s voice was eerily calm. “I thought we had something here, and now you’re just going to change your mind? Forgive him?” His tone began to build in a jealous way I’d heard before.

“Had
something? What did we have?” Avery sounded intrigued yet fearful.

I heard Greg snort, the sound of his feet pacing as it echoed in my head. “We are a team, Avery. We were going to do this together.”

“But why, Greg? Why me? There are plenty of others just as angry as I am.”

Greg chuckled. “Don’t try to make something of this. I picked you because you too where cheated by my brother, but you seem to have forgotten that. We have, or rather
had
, a common enemy.”

“Not everything is permanent. I can have my life back.”

Greg laughed loudly this time. “Have it back? Are you serious? What has gotten
into
you today?”

Their voices were beginning to fade, but I didn’t want them to. I leaned forward and gripped the edge of the table, trying my best to listen hard.

“You can have your life back, too,” Avery offered.

Greg laughed again. “What life . . .?” His voice faded.

I was left with my eyes squeezed together, fingernails digging into the table. I’d tried my best to hold onto his voice but it was useless. I came out of the trance, coming back to my reality and out of Avery and Greg’s.

“What does that mean?”
I stammered. I felt weakened by the drugs. My eyes opened, gaze locking with June’s as he stared back at me, mouth parted.

“It worked. I can’t believe your idea worked, Gen,” he barked, again dropping the figurines he had been trying to gather off the ground.

Gen stepped forward, hand outstretched between June and I. “Quiet, June,” she said harshly.

June cowered.

I was confused. “What worked?” I challenged. “What made her change her mind like that?” I demanded, standing from my chair as it tipped backward onto the grassy earth. I wasn’t a prophet, I was just a seer, but her mind and that of June’s was so tightly locked away, there was no hope for my feeble abilities to break through. They knew something, but they didn’t want me to know.

“It’s not your concern,” Gen addressed me like she would a child.

That irritated me as I tried to take a step, the world still swirling around me. I thought hard, trying to put the pieces together when my mind refused to cooperate. “Where is Max? What did you make him do?” I had a sinking feeling that Max, though he loved my sister, was so hungry to save the magickal world that he would sacrifice that love in order to do it. Would he be the type of man to lie to Avery, tell her he loved her, just to end the coming fight? Perhaps I was wrong, but that’s what
I
would probably do. I know it sounded harsh, but given the choice between the two I would. I loved Wes, but—but, then again . . .

I looked at Wes.

. . . maybe I didn’t know what true love was.

Standing there, the world swirling, a bout of exhaustion smothered me. All I can remember was the golden sky turning black, the cold chill of the ground as I hit it, and the way that blue light danced over my head as Jake failed to catch me. The light followed me into darkness, and there it remained to comfort me. As long as it was here I wasn’t lost. As long as it was here, I was loved . . .

STELLA:

Still leaning against the locked door, I was now an owl again. I was slumped in a very human fashion on the floor, tired, discouraged, and angry. I looked up at the handle, cursing at it with my thoughts.

I was wrestling with the realization that all I could do was wait. I took a deep breath and sighed, but as I did so, I heard the main doors to the temple open. A flood of light filtered through the yards of fabric, streaking across the floor toward me. I hopped up, coming to my feet as I fluffed my feathers. Quickly, I looked to the golden altar and flew up into the shadows to hide.

Footsteps approached.

“Srixon?” A man’s voice asked.

I remained silent, not wanting him to hear me rustling about. The temple doors finally shut behind his approach, sealing the room in the dim light offered by the few torches at the altar. Soon, the man appeared through the yards of fabric, coming to a halt before the door.

He was tall, his features dark. He wore a leather coat that looked dull and soaked. His dark hair was combed with wind and his face kissed with white chill. He casually tucked his hands into his pockets.

“Where is he?”
he whispered to himself. He turned, backing his way to the steps that led up to the altar base. Here he sat.

I watched as his hands moved to his face. He swept them over his eyes and through his hair. He looked tired. Leaning forward he dropped his head between his knees, arms resting on his legs. He stayed like this for some time as I remained as silent as possible, mind as closed as I could manage. I did not know if he had the same abilities to read thoughts as Jake. I had to protect myself. Moments passed as pain soon found its way to my frozen legs. Stupidly, I moved one talon to position myself better. It proved a foolish thing as I heard my nail scratch across the soft gold of the wall I clung to.