Jaden (St. Sebastians Quartet #1) (2 page)

A bit of the joy he'd seen on her little face had gone out, like someone had snuffed a candle, but she forced her chin up. "I am."

"Good girl." His heart was breaking. It was shuddering in his chest and breaking into a thousand pieces. Nevertheless, he gave them each a small hug and peck on the forehead, then stood erect and set his hands on his hips. His job wasn't only to take care of the people, his job was also to be strong for his daughters. He couldn't show emotion, wouldn't show sorrow. A drawn out goodbye would be too much for him. He'd never be able to rein his emotions. If his girls saw him cry, if they knew this goodbye might be their last, they'd fight him and Zuri. "Go and stand with Zuri again." He gave Sauda a pat on her shoulder to get her moving.

He knew Zuri's eyes were on him, but ignored her. He set his focus on the ceiling and allowed himself scant seconds to pull it together.

"Zuri, where are the guardians?"

Zuri shook her head, "I don't know. They should be here."

When the floor beneath him bucked, he nearly cursed. One look at the wide, fearful eyes of his girls and he was thankful he'd managed to hold his tongue. "Just a quaking of the ground. When you get back the quake will be over."

"We can't wait," Zuri said. "We have to send them. I can stay behind and go with the guardians when they arrive."

"No! You can't send the girls alone."

"Okay. But—"

"No."

Zuri hurried about the altar room, making the last of her preparations. "Come stand in the circle I've made on the floor in front of the altar and hold hands. No matter what happens, don't let go of each other, and don't step out of the circle."

"We won't," Adia agreed.

Winda gazed at him. "I want Baba!"

"Don't wanna hold hands!"

The Maliki hardened his features, forced himself to glower at his little girl. "Do as Zuri says, Sauda, or I'll spank you!"

Sauda jumped at the reprimand. Her lower lip began to quiver and her eyes instantly filled with tears. Impulse told him to go to her, to hold her and tell her he'd only been pretending to be angry with her, but he forced himself to remain where he was, hands held stiffly in place. All the while knowing her last memory of him would be one of anger.

"Don't wanna hold hands," she said again, but in a small, terrified voice.

"Come on, Sauda," Adia prodded. "An adventure. Like in our books."

The Maliki watched as his daughter dragged her little slippered feet to the spot Zuri indicated, and knelt. Winda was to her right, Adia to her left. Adia held the babe in the crook of her arm, with Winda holding tight to the infant's wiggling fingers. In the center of the circle was the enchanted book, the portal on which the future of all in Chimera was dependent.

Zuri rushed to the altar and fell to her knees. "We've wasted too much time, Bakari. He's close. Maybe too close. We need to send them away. Now!"

"Say your spells then, woman. But you go with them. They need you more than the guardians."

"Stand clear. When I'm through I'll need to have a clear path to the circle."

"Begin!"

The floor dipped suddenly, sending Sauda gliding along the floor. She would have slid entirely out of the circle had Winda and Adia not had her so firmly in their clasps.

The far wall began to whine and creak. The dark granite whitened. Small, crystalline fractures appeared along the sleek surface and spread like silken webs cast by a spider.

"The ganda!" The Maliki howled, "It's here."

Zuri bowed low before the altar and began speaking in a fast murmur. He could never understand the words she spoke when she was casting a spell, and such was the case now. Instead of trying to make out her words, the Maliki focused on his girls, made sure the ganda was far from them.

Sauda, his somber little Sauda, had fat tears running over her cheeks. She was sniffling quietly, trying so hard to be brave. It was all too much to ask from a child. She shouldn't be here in the altar room, she should be in her sleeping chamber with her toys and dollies. She should be running in the forests with her sisters and laughing.

The floor quaked, this time more violently. Though he nearly fell, the girls held tight to each other.

Tiny veins of ice were making their way across the floor and up the wall, freezing everything in its path. But the ganda was still a safe distance from his girls. There was still time for them to escape.

"Heaven above!" The Maliki stumbled back a step and forced a fist into his mouth to staunch any further outbursts.

Before him, before his very eyes his girls, his little babies were evaporating. Adia's legs had disappeared, Winda's little head was flickering in this world then out, and Sauda was entirely transparent.

His babies were leaving him.

"It is time!" Zuri rocketed to her feet and ran toward the circle.

A streak of white lightning shot through the room as she moved, piercing the altar where she'd been standing seconds before and sending her sacred candles flying in every direction. Zuri fell onto her side and skidded past the circle, toward the expanding icy series of seams and webs.

Without thinking, the Maliki ran to her. The thought foremost in his mind was that she couldn't be swept up in the ganda. All would be lost without Zuri.

"Your Malika knew of your treachery before she died, Bakari."

The ruler of Chimera launched himself at Zuri, collapsing on top of her before the deadly chill could sweep her up and into its eternally cold embrace. Even as he clasped her at the waist, the sorceress was twisting around and getting to her knees. "You're too late, Prodigy."

With droplets of moisture gliding down his face, the Malaki turned on the intruder, pure hatred making him brave when he should have been careful. "You've failed."

Prodigy, sorcerer of the Maliki of Sheol, sauntered deeper into the altar room. His glossy, black body sheath was unmarred, his pale blond hair was untouched by the destruction he'd created in Chimera, and his face was as expressionless as the sun. His ageless countenance gave him the façade of innocence, but the Maliki knew better than anyone that it was indeed a façade. There was nobody in the Sheol deadlier than Prodigy, save maybe the Maliki of Sheol himself.

Prodigy glanced at the circle, a smirk played at the edge of his lips.

The Maliki knew what Prodigy was seeing, for he saw the same thing when he looked at the circle. The flickering images of his baby girls. Their little mouths were spread wide in O's of terror, but they were barely in this world anymore, so he couldn't hear them scream. That was one blessing he was grateful for. But the only one, for the sight of that devil looking at his girls made the Maliki's skin crawl.

"I wouldn't be so smug if I were you, Bakari."

Zuri was on her feet, making her way toward the circle.

Prodigy stepped to the left and held his hand, palm up, for them to see. A small globe of solid ice twirled over the pale skin. It sparkled with light and spun. "Am I late or am I right on time?"

Zuri leapt forward even as the Maliki crawled on all fours toward his daughters, a wail on his lips.

"No!" Zuri cried, but even as her voice reached the Maliki's ears, he knew it was too late.

With a flick of his wrist, Prodigy sent the ice globe into the circle. Bakari watched as it flittered in the air, catching the rays of the sunlight along its white surface. It danced, descending as if in slow motion. But it wasn't happening in slow motion. Before Bakari could reach his girls and pull them free of the danger, the globe breached the perimeter of the circle and smashed into the enchanted book.

A blaze erupted from the center of the circle, red and orange flames shot toward the ceiling, sending a rain of ice and embers down on them. Smoke rose from the floor, an eddy of mist filled the room and blinded the Maliki.

When the smoke cleared, when the flames had died down and he could see once again, he fixed his eyes to the circle.

The howl that broke from him filled the room.

His girls were gone. The enchanted book had burned in the flames. There was no remnant of them left.

"Instead of an eternity spent in the ice," Prodigy began, "you've damned your daughters to an eternity of existence in the incorporeal mist of Midworld. They'll drift for time eternal in darkness. Perhaps they'll be together, perhaps not. Who can say?"

"No!" The Maliki rose to his feet and ran at the sorcerer, fists held before him. But even as he ran, his mind was consumed with the desire to murder the man who had hurt his children, Prodigy raised another palm, a fresh ice globe hovering inches above his hand.

The last coherent thought the Maliki had was of despair as Prodigy launched the orb at him.

Then everything became cold and the world went white.

CHAPTER ONE

Jaden Quinn sat at the traffic light, taking in the sights. St. Sebastians was more beautiful than she imagined it would be.

She'd driven into town with the windows down, breathing in the salty air. The sun was warm on her skin and made her feel like maybe, for once in her life, everything would be all right.

Or maybe not.

A rush of panic flitted through her. Again. Even while she took in the beauty of the town, the colorful buildings and the fancy street lights, she feared the panic would never go away, but remain her constant companion. There was the rush of panic, then the question: had she done the right thing? Could she escape him? Or was escape impossible? But she had to try. She'd never been away from home in her life, and it was about time.

She had to try.

Right or wrong, this had been her choice, and there was no turning back now.

At the toot of a horn behind her, Jaden looked up and realized the light had turned green. She pressed her foot against the gas and went forward, further into her future.

The streets, the shops, the fancy boutiques, the beautiful people, all of it said gorgeous beach town. She didn't really belong here, but this summer wasn't only about new beginnings. It was about playing pretend. She would be somebody else for a few months. So it was okay if she didn't fit in at first. She'd manage.

As she drove down Main, she noticed the people didn't wear much clothing around here. And they had perfect bodies.

She looked down at herself and grimaced. Writing for a living didn't give a girl the best physique. She'd have to use her time here wisely. Write that amazing book she'd always told herself was in her, and lose a few pounds.

She passed under a few more traffic lights, marveling at the sights; the beauty of it all. She couldn't believe she'd actually done it. She'd quit her dead end job, gave notice at her World War Two era apartment, and put everything she owned — except the clothes she'd brought with her—into storage. For all intents and purposes she was homeless, unless her aunt let her stay on when she returned in August. But Jaden couldn't worry about that now. If she did, she'd spend the next three months stressed and unable to plan her next steps. She'd needed to make a change. Her aunt's trip abroad couldn't have come at a better time, or her request that Jaden house sit for her while she was away.

Her mother hadn't been a fan of the plan. She'd actually called her sister, Aunt Edna, to chew her out.

"You've never been away from home before, Jaden," Carly Quinn had told Jaden. "You won't last a week out there on your own."

"It's the chance of the lifetime, mom," Jaden had said. "Why can't you be supportive?"

"You're not like everyone else, Jaden. And you know that. You've never been like everyone else. What will you do when you have a nightmare? Or when you see him in your backyard one night? You'll fall apart, like you always do."

"I haven't fallen apart in years. Can't you understand that I need this. Maybe in St. Sebastians things will be different. Maybe he can't follow me there."

Carly had turned away from her, shaking her head as she dried her hands on the dish towel. "I let you move out," she muttered as she retreated. "I let you move out. And now this."

Jaden tried to clear her head of the memories. Her mother had done everything she could to talk Jaden out of going to St. Sebastians, but on this, Jaden wouldn't budge. She had to go.

Main narrowed until it was a two lane street. She knew from looking at MapQuest that the land stretched into a peninsula, so both sides of the road were bordered by water. What the map hadn't told her was just how amazing the street was in real life. Beach houses lined the lane to her left and right. Some were simple two-story residences with sweeping balconies that wrapped around the entire first and second floors. Others stood four stories high with balconies, glass enclosed sun rooms, some even had beautiful towers that perched at the top of the home and must have taken in views of the entire beach. All of them were painted in bright pastels. Summer yellow, petal pink, sea blue, mint green. Every house was bordered by a white picket fence. It was like being in a fairy tale. The street ended at the ocean, a long pier meandered over the water and led to a gazebo.

People really lived like this?

She looked at the house numbers, then checked the scrap of paper she'd written her aunt's house number on. Twenty-four.