Entropy (The Countenance Trilogy 3)

Entropy

(The Countenance Trilogy 3)

Addison Moore

Edited by: Sarah Freese

Interior design by: Regina Wamba of
www.MaeIDesign.com

Interior formatting by: Amy Eye of
www.theeyesforediting.com/

Cover by: Gaffey Street Co. Design

ENTROPY Copyright © 2013 by Addison Moore

http://addisonmoorewrites.blogspot.com/

This novel is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to peoples either living or deceased is purely coincidental. Names, places, and characters are figments of the author’s imagination. The author holds all rights to this work. It is illegal to reproduce this novel without written expressed consent from the author herself.

All Rights Reserved.

Books by Addison Moore

New Adult Romance

Someone to Love (Someone to Love 1)

Someone Like You (January 28, 2014)

Someone For Me (Spring 2014)

3:AM Kisses (3:AM Kisses 1)

Winter Kisses (3:AM Kisses 2)

Beautiful Oblivion

The Solitude of Passion

Perfect Love (A Celestra Novella)

Young Adult Romance

Ethereal (Celestra Series Book 1)

Tremble (Celestra Series Book 2)

Burn (Celestra Series Book 3)

Wicked (Celestra Series Book 4)

Vex (Celestra Series Book 5)

Expel (Celestra Series Book 6)

Toxic Part One (Celestra Series Book 7)

Toxic Part Two (Celestra Series Book 7.5)

Elysian (Celestra Series Book 8)

Ephemeral (The Countenance Trilogy 1)

Evanescent (The Countenance Trilogy 2)

Entropy (The Countenance Trilogy 3)

Ethereal Knights (Celestra Knights)

There is a shift in your mental state when death comes to knock you off balance—you become the odd pendulum, swinging too quickly—the clock on the wall with hands spinning out of control—the haunted door opening and shutting at an alarming pace for no one in particular.

It is a dimension within a dimension, of sight and sound, with no eyes and no ears. You are the world’s. They can see you, touch you, feel you. You are so real in their fantasy it is almost unfair. But there is balance. After all, this is an orderly universe, created by an orderly God, who gives consideration to His every form of entropy.

For so long, I thought I was lost, meandering, a still life on some incomprehensible canvas, swimming in the torrential river of someone else’s dream. Shattered, I watched as He put together the pieces, dislodged the bone of grief that dammed up the words I was choking on. The consolation came right on time but not before I walked through the valley of the shadow of death.

Laken

Time travel. I’ve never put much thought into the subject with the exception of recently. For so long it was relegated to some dusty science fiction slot in my mind that I had no real use of. It was nothing more than fantasy. That is until my life took a turn for the supernatural, and I discovered I was resurrected from the dead by a band of crooked angels known as the Countenance. And now fantasy and reality merged. Time travel, of all things, was not only possible—probable—it was doable, and here I was about to do it.

Cooper wraps his muscular arms around my waist inviting me to mold over his rock hard body. I had imagined doing a lot of things with Cooper Flanders, but an interdimensional jaunt wasn’t one of them.

Coop holds me tight as we sail through time, two years into the future. A dark cloud boils around us, locking us in a tempest as every age and era groans and shifts under our weight.

An ashen forest materializes around us. Tall spearing evergreens, black as midnight, the purple sky glows through their branches as the fog wafts in and out like a dream.

“We’re here.” Coop pants it out. A smile flickers on his lips like a flame. Coop is handsome in a disarming way with his dark, golden hair, his high cut features, eyes that glow like a pale, grey sunrise. “Welcome to Paragon, Laken.”

The sound of laughter rises through the air, buoyant and light. Some moody love song bleeds from the south, and we head in that direction.

“Did we nail it? Halloween two years in the future?” The words string from my mouth in a white plume as the fog expands around us. The woods disappear and reappear under the supervision of the murky veil.

“Let’s hope.” Coop wraps his arm around my waist. I’m still in my cheer uniform, dressed to unimpress as a cheer-zombie, and Coop is my favorite football player. Wes used to be my favorite football player, once upon a time, but, as it stands, he plays water polo and doesn’t believe in our past lives at Cider Plains High. He would probably gag on his Hermes scarf if I told him he was once proud to be called a Hedgehog. He was the star player both on the field and in my heart, and now I’m not sure where he stands in either.

I take up Coop’s hand. He can hear me if we touch. I’ve been suckling off his neck, drinking his magical Celestra blood, and now I have that power, too. But my bloodlines belong to the Countenance—the exact bastards I’d like to throw in a heap and bathe with gasoline before I gladly torch the entire lot of them. Well, maybe not the entire lot, just their ridiculous leaders.

“Look.” Coop pulls me back into the shadow of a pine and points over to a sea of bodies dancing and laughing within the well-manicured yard of some ritzy estate. “Skyla is in there somewhere. We just need to find her.”

I met Skyla in the Celestra tunnels tonight for the very first time. Technically, it wasn’t the first time. She told me she tried to save my life in the Transfer, whatever that means. I’m assuming that’s where I ended up after I launched through the windshield and met my orchestrated demise, only to eventually wind up at Ephemeral. They tried to make me believe I was a resident of the haunted academy all along, but I’ve never bought their lies. I believed Skyla, though. She knew my real name—Laken Stewart—and my knees turned to water just hearing her say it. Up until now only Coop believed me. The Counts gave me a new name—Laken Anderson. I have never been Laken
Anderson,
nor will I ever be.

The truth and all of its mysteries have become an exotic elixir, and Skyla Messenger seems to be hoarding it in barrels. Both Coop and I are here from another time and place just begging for one more sip. If we’re lucky she’ll quench our thirst. I’m so incredibly parched for her knowledge that it feels irresponsible to be this calm knowing she’s in that crowd. A part of me wants to run over and shake every person until they lead me right to her.

We step out of the woods and into the pale night as a few stray people meander around us. Mostly couples looking for some privacy in their ghoulish getups.

Up ahead a white gleaming mansion sits perched against the backdrop of the lavender sky like a mountain that dropped out of the blue. It looks Grecian, fairytale-like, and most certainly out of place for almost any reality.

“I bet there’s a Count attached to that real estate blunder,” I whisper. “What’s with them and money, anyway?”

“The Counts are greedy as hell.” Coop digs a smile into his cheek. His lids lower as if he’s flirting with me, and the moon outlines the definition of his biceps with a laser-like glow. “No offense. I don’t really
count
you in their number.”

“None taken.” I wrap my arms around him and pull his hips close to mine until his jeans dig into my skirt. “I meant what I said back at the hotel room—about already being yours.” I glance down at his body and press in closer until I can feel his steely chest against mine. “I guess I was
thinking
it, but some things need to be verbalized, the right way.” I lock onto his stone-grey eyes and don’t let go. “Coop”—my heart starts drumming against him as if it were putting his body on notice—“what I’m feeling between us is far more than friendship. I know we’re past that little revelation, but I wanted to say it again.”

“It’s okay.” Coop presses out a dull smile and shakes his head. “You don’t have to say anything else.”

“Yes—I do.” Grief the size of a boulder lodges in my throat, making it impossible to push out another word—the exact words I’ve been dying to say all night. I reach up and cup the side of his gorgeous face. His strong jaw twitches in my palm. “I’m in love with you, Coop.” A lone tear runs down my cheek because I may as well have denounced my love for Wesley at the same time. I think I did. “I’m not going to hide it anymore when we get back to Ephemeral. This is it—you and me. I hope you feel the same because I’ve never been so far gone in love, so appreciative of being treated the way you’ve treated me. I think you’re beautiful both inside and out, and I don’t want to live a single day without you by my side.”

The fog lifts, and the moon shines its glory over Cooper’s hotter-than-hell eminence as if the universe were revealing who he truly was all this time—my earthly savior, my one true love, my destiny.

“Laken,”—the corners of his lips curl, his chest expands with a never-ending breath—“I have been in love with you from the moment I saw you. I thought you were too good to be true with your beauty, your kind, gentle heart.” He touches his forehead to mine a moment before pulling back. “And when I thought I would never have you, a part of me died. I knew I’d spend the rest of my life pining after Laken Stewart whether I liked it or not.” He gives my ribs a quick tickle. “And deep down I knew I’d like it no matter who you decided to give your heart to.” His features grow serious as the smile glides off his face. “I’m honored that you would want this with me.” His eyes glint like fractured stars. “I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I’m damn glad. But I also know we need to tell Wes about the body in the Cider Plains cemetery.”