Wicked Fate (The Wicked Trilogy) (21 page)

“Stop i
t! Leave him alone!” I scream.

I lift my hand, blue flames shoot from my fingertips knocking
her onto her back once more. Her ear pierci
ng laugh cuts through
my ear dr
um like lightning. 

Adam drops
to
his knees beside me and starts to hyperventilate.  I lean down to help him up, but he holds his hands out in a defensive manner like he’s afraid of me.

“Do you agree?” she asks
Adam.

He
looks up at me, his eyes glistening with unshed tears.
The pain on his face breaks my heart. He’s hurting so
ba
d and I don’t even know why.

“Adam
,
are you ok
ay?” I whisper.

“I asked you a question, boy! Do you agree?” she yells
at him.
“Speak now or I’ll do it!
”

Adam looks
at me one last time before
directing his attention towards Eris. I’
d rather die a million deaths than to see him in so much pain.

“Adam, what’s happening?” I ask
.

“I agree,” he swallows, as if he’s choking on his words
.

Eris smiles sweetly and then turns to
walk away.

“Wait, what’s ha
ppening?” I call out to her.

She laughs.

“
I’m leaving you now, but I’ll
see you again soon.” She winks at me then turns to walk into the
thick trees beside t
he garden. Within seconds she’
s gone.

I go to Adam and he looks away from me. He’s acting so strange.

“What was that about?” I ask
.

I reach out to him, but he waves my hand away.

Suddenly, a new thought develops
in my mind.
If my grandfather is
supposed to be t
his great blocker, how the hell
did she find me? There could only be one answer to that question.

“Adam, I have
to go check on my grandfather. I think he might be hurt. Stay here
,
okay? I’ll be right back. Don’t move from this spot!”

“Mage, I need to go,” he replies
hoarsely.

“No! Just stay here or come with me. Don’t lea
ve yet, I want to make sure you’re
safe in case she comes back.”

“She’s not coming bac
k,” he says.

He won’t even look at me.

“Just don’t move a muscle
—I
’ll be right back, okay?”

He doesn’t respond and I begin to panic.

I have to trust Adam to stay put because right now I have to check on my grandfather.
He’s the only family I have lef
t. I turn and run towards the house. Sire’s right behind me. I can
hear his large paws tearing
through the grass and dirt. I run faster than I’
ve
ever ran in my life. My heart’
s racing.

I barrel
th
rough the front door and immediately call for my grandfather—there’s no answer. Taking the stairs two at a time I crash into his room without knocking—he’s not there.  I search every room upstairs, and then check every room downstairs. He’s
not in the house anywhere.

The panic i
s
controlling my every move. I ru
n back outside through the fron
t door yelling for him. Jumping
down
from the front porch, I land at a run. Sire’s
on my heels.

I finally find him in one of the newer gardens—his favorite. He’s perched on an old iron bench with a happy smile on his face.
Beside him my gr
andmother’s smiling as well. Relief runs through me and then suddenly I notice
the difference. My
grandmother and grandfather are holding hands. His ice blue eyes are now gray
.

I
fall to my knees as I cover
my face with my ha
nds. The scent of rain assaults my nose and I
feel the ra
in against my arms as it starts to fall. My tears begin to flow unheeded. Thunder rings out when I
cry harder.

I can’t lose him; he’s the only family I have left. But he’s gone—d
ied alone without me by his side. I
didn’t know he was that sick! I didn’t see this coming! What kind of person doesn’t notice a
man dying i
n the room down the hall
?

“No! Pop
, No! You can’t be dead!” I hear myself cry
. “Please
,
tell me this isn’t real! O
h God, this isn’t real!” I sob
.

My grandfather’s dead. A
fac
t that’s confirmed the minute I see his lifeless body on the ground. My grandparents smile sadly, and then disappear.

“P
lease, don’t leave me,” I cry
into my hands.

Chapter 14

All Good Things End

The walk back to the garden takes longer than usual. The weather
t
hat was so sunny and bright has
now developed into a horrible thu
nderstorm. The harder I cry
for my gran
dfather, the harder it thunders and rains. The tears continue
to
stream down my face as I walk
through the pouring rain soaked to the bone.

I don’t care. I need to get to Adam. I need
him to hold me and te
ll me that everything’
s going to be ok
ay. He and Bernie are my last human connections and I need some kind of connection to hold me to the earth because I feel like I’m going to disappear.

I see
him through the rain standing against part of the iron fence that had recentl
y been transformed. I try to smile through my tears as I walk up to him. When I get close enough I throw my arms around him—I feel safe again. I lean
against him
, breathing in all that he i
s and letting his scent calm me from my craziness. 

The rain hides my tears and I can’t bring myself to tell him that my grandfather’s dead. I’
d explain everything lat
er, but right now I just need him to be there
.

“I’m so glad you’re here. I need you,” I say against his chest in a moment of weakness.

I’d never be so open with my feelings any other time, but the idea that everyone around me might be taken away at the drop of a hat makes it easier. Plus, things are different now. Adam and I are close enough that I don’t feel like he’ll run at the first signs of emotional attachment.

Hi
s body tense
s
in
stantly and his breathing
seems
to stop. I look
up into his
face, something’s different, something’
s wrong.

“What is it?” I ask.

The look on his face is unreadable. I’ve
never seen so many facial expressions
on one person at once. I see hate, pain, sorrow, and grief. A flicker of some foreign emotion flashes in his eyes and for a brief moment he looks like a man who’s miserably in love. But as quickly as it comes, it’s gone and his mask of indifference returns. It’s as if a big, black door is slammed in my face and all that’s left is the enigma that he used to be.
I can’t
explain it, but in my soul I know things are about to
get a lot worse.

“I can’t do this anymore
, Mage,
”
he narrows his eyes and looks away.

He doesn’t need to say anything else. Part of me understands. His life’s been full of chaos since the day he met me. The burden that he carries for me is too much, and I can’t expect him to carry it forever.

The other
part of me
doesn’t want to be understanding; the other part is slowly dying inside. I curse
myself
for
allowing myself to get this close to another human being. How could
I have been so naïve? I
curse
mysel
f for falling in love with him since I now know that that’s what’s happened. Even against my better judgment, I’ve allowed myself to fall hard for the untouchable.

My chest constricts with hard emotions as I stand there staring back at him.

“Why?” I ask
.

Why bother to ask? I already know why. I mak
e his life a livi
ng hell! These stupid powers mak
e me differe
nt. These stupid things I can do mak
e it impo
ssible for me to be loved. I’m just fun to watch. It’
s fascinating
for him to watch me do
bi
zarre things. But now that it’s getting dangerous he’s going to walk away and once he walks away I’ll
be all alone in the world.

“Stay away from me,
”
he says.

He doesn’t flinch and it lets me know that all the times we’d spent together meant nothing to him.
I
mean nothing to him.

“What?”

“If I don’t stay away from you, they’ll kill you,” his wall breaks for a second and I see raw pain in his eyes.

This isn’t what I expected. He’
s leaving me al
one to keep me safe? How sick is that?

“Who?
What are you talking about?”

“She showed me, if I don’t leave you alone she showed
me all the horrible things
they’re going to do to you.
I can’t let that happen. I won’t
!”

His eyes fill with tears and he angrily wipes at his face with the back of his arm. I step towards him to comfort him. He steps back quickly and holds his arm out to block me.

“No! Don’t touch me! Just stay away.
”

“Who are they
,
Adam? Tell me who they are?”

“I don’t know!” he growls
l
oudly. “That woman and two men—T
he Lords of the Night or something like that!”

“What do you mean she showed you?
When?”

“I don’t know!” he yells at me and I flinch.
“She put it in my head! I don’t know how she did it, but I have to leave you alone or they’ll kill you.  I agreed to stay away from you
, Mage, and it’s what I’m going to do.
I could never forgive myself
if
something happened to you.”

“Adam
,
please stop this! We just have to figure out what to do. As long as I can keep you safe it doesn’t matter. I can take care of myself. You just saw with your own two eyes wh
at I can do. My fire’s better than
hers, it’
s more powerful. I don’t know
how, but if we could just dig through the library a bit
we could get the answers. Please…I need you
.”

“No,” he says with finality.

He looks away like he can’t stand to look at my face anymore.

My heart’
s hammering wildl
y and my choked sobs are
be
ginning to smother me. I reach up, grabbing
his face forcing him to look at me.

“But, I thought..
.”
I can’t even say the words.

He eyes are hard, green jewels of hatred. “You thought what? That I cared about you? You thought because I bought you a necklace and we spent time together, that this was forever?” his deep sarcastic chuckle cuts my heart.

He won’t look me in the eye, I’m not even worthy of eye contact anymore.

“I thought we were in this together,” my voice breaks through my dry sadness.

“
No, you’re in this. I’m just a guy…a
normal
guy.
I can’t defend you against these people. Do you know what that feels like?
” his voice cracks.
“
Do you have any idea what it’s like to not be able to protect
a person you care about? I’m useless to you!” he growls
.

I think I’m going to be sick. My stomach is churning and I feel hot all over. Adam’s telling me that he “cares” about me and that he never wants to see me again in the same sentence. This is really happening, I’m about to lose everyone that I love in the matter of a day.