Betrayed (12 page)

Coronis kept them under her thumb, but now that she’s gone, we have an infestation.” She shuddered.

I went to hug Grampa, stopped, and held my nose. “Eew, Grampa!? You reek.”

He grinned, popped a morsel of meat in his mouth. “So Janel e keeps tel ing me. Shouldn’t you be working with Haziel right about now?” His gaze swung from me to Bran, then back to me.

“He gave me an hour off. I’l change.” I hurried out of the kitchen but could hear Janel e lecturing Grampa.

“Let the child take time off, Ares. You read the report. She not only vanquished a Lazarus demon on her own, she used what Haziel taught her to command one out of Gavyn.”

Grampa humphed.

Grampa humphed.

Oh, he wasn’t impressed, was he? I glared at him over my shoulder and caught him watching me with an indulgent smile.

Good job, sweetheart,
he telepathed.

You should have seen me, Grampa.

A little humility, child. A little humility goes a
long way,
he added.

I hid a smile.

“How’s your brother doing, Bran?” Aunt Janel e asked just before I closed my bedroom door.

When I came out a few minutes later, Bran and Celeste were gone. Grampa and Janel e had their backs to me near the dining room table. Seeing them side by side reinforced my belief—they were perfect for each other. At six-foot-three with a neatly trimmed beard and shoulder-length black hair sprinkled

with

gray,

Grampa’s

tal

body

complemented Aunt Janel e’s statuesque one.

I gulped when I realized what they were staring at. My cel phone was stil where Cade left it.

When I joined them, they looked up with identical expressions—concern.

“Bran said he broke it,” Grampa said. “I believed him. What I didn’t ask him was
why?”

“Valafar cal ed me,” I whispered.

Aunt Janel e’s eyes widened while Grampa’s narrowed. He lifted my chin and studied my face. “He didn’t threaten you, did he?”

“No. I refused to talk to him and hung up,” I said quickly to reassure him. “When he cal ed again, I removed the battery from the cel .”

“That’s my girl,” Grampa said. “I hope he got the message you don’t want anything to do with him.” I shook my head. “He didn’t. The phone kept ringing. Bran took it and told him to leave me alone, then he smashed the phone. Later, it rang again.” Grampa exchanged a worried look with Aunt Janel e. “That’s the energy we detected on the device,” he said.

“The people helping him are powerful,” she added, her brow furrowed.

Dread washed over me. “There’s more than one medium?”

Instead of answering, Janel e touched one of the pieces of the broken cel phone. It slid along the table and into place. As though the piece started a chain reaction, the other bits shifted and locked, crack lines blending until the cel phone was whole again. She picked up the restored phone and passed it to Grampa.

“What did he say before you hung up on him?” Grampa asked. His voice was too calm for my liking. I expected him to get pissed.

My gaze vol eyed between Aunt Janel e and Grampa. They kept exchanging glances, which bugged me. “He, uh, wanted to talk to you about my safety and the List. He said you shouldn’t search for it, which is ridiculous. He also said he sent me presents. I don’t want anything from him. Is there more than one medium?”

Grampa shook his head. “He lied to you, sweetheart. If he had sent anything, we would have received it and I would have given it to you.”

“I know. And the mediums?” I asked again, getting frustrated by his lack of response.

Once again, Grampa ignored my question.

He pinned me down with an unflinching gaze. “I want you to go to the Academy library and check out a book on mediums. You need to understand what we’re dealing with. I’ve already told Haziel to cancel training for today. As for this,” he turned the cel training for today. As for this,” he turned the cel phone over and over in his palm, “I’l keep it for now.” I stared at my phone with a mixture of longing and revulsion. “Wil I get another one?”

“Later, after we find the medium. Now run along.” He dropped a kiss on my temple.

I turned to leave.

“Ah, Bran and Celeste wil be staying in the val ey until Gavyn’s condition improves,” he added.

My heart skipped. “With us?”

“No,” Grampa answered.

“They’l stay with me,” Janel e added. “That way, we keep an eye on both of you.”

My face grew hot again. She worried too much about us. Bran and I had discussed our relationship and we were ‘okay’ with the way things were. For now.

***

I teleported to HQ. With Civilians taking shifts doing

business

and

conferring

with

their

counterparts around the world, the place never slept.

Stil , my fear of confined places had me hurrying toward the newer part of the underground building and clasping my amulet.

Once I passed the offices, the hal way split into two. One headed straight ahead to the vast, dark room where the Civilian Psi team monitored demonic activities on the Psi-dar—an energy source I’d seen only once and swore never to go near it again. Its tug on my psyche had given me a severe headache.

The other passage led south to the huge, wooden double doors of the Guardian Academy.

Battle scenes of Guardians fighting demons were etched on the wood and doorframe. The demons depicted were mainly Werenephils with human bodies and bat-like wings, horns, or black eyes, or heads of animals. Some showed fangs typical of the Nosferatus, and a few were Neterus—handsome and elegant in their red cloaks and black pantsuits until one looked into their rage-fil ed, malevolent red eyes.

I waved and the doors opened before I reached them to reveal a rotunda with a dome roof.

Built in less than five months by Civilians from around the world, it stil amazed me that humans had no clue of its existence. But then again, it was imbedded deep inside the mountains. The earth tremors that shook the val ey when the builders carved it were thought to be natural.

Stone pil ars with carved battle scenes rose from the floor and soared up like ancient Roman columns. Torch-like glowing crystals dotted the wal s, il uminating beautiful paintings of the Circle of Twelve, our leaders in Xenith. Dominating the ceiling was a drawing of Goddess Xenia in a flowing white robe and huge white wings, glorious red-hair tumbling down her back and the Kris Dagger in her hand. Her face was radiant, her pale skin unblemished. Below her on the floor was a painting of the six-sided star Cardinal Guardian amulet with the ancient symbols of the six powers.

The administration offices to my left were closed with lights turned off, which wasn’t surprising.

The principal was stil trying to lure teachers from other Academies across the globe. The last group of North American Guardian Academy teachers was kil ed during a demonic raid years ago.

A sudden surge of power drew my attention to the classrooms on my right just as I crossed the hal . I checked my watch. Quarter past five. Weird.

The regular classes should be over and in the pit doing martial arts.

I walked to the first door and peered through the glass panel. Mrs. D and about a dozen students were seated in yoga poses on mats, channeling their psi powers. I grimaced, remembering how I found the breathing exercise boring. Then we used the dojo in the downtown area. The dojo was no longer run by us. Whenever I tel Kylie and the others I had lessons, they just assumed I stil went there.

Want to join us?
Mrs. D asked.

Our gazes connected and I waved.
No,
thanks.

I’d like you to talk to them sometime. Would
this week be okay?

I groaned. I hate speaking in front of people. It served me right for peeking into her classroom.
Do I
have to?

No, but they’re new and would probably
appreciate hearing from someone who’s gone
through the process that it’s not as hard as it
seems.

Right, put it in such a way that I’d appear self-centered and unsympathetic if I refused.
Okay.

Friday?

Friday?

Friday is great. Five-o’clock after your
lesson.

In the next room, Sykes had a giant alpha energy bal above his hands, the coiling core blue and the flares on the outside blinding. Considering the size of the orb and the cocky grin on his face, he was showing off. I rol ed my eyes at the awe on the students’ faces. If they knew how lethal an alpha bal was, they wouldn’t be inching closer for a better look.

I recognized a few of them from Cache High. The rest probably just arrived from Xenith and wouldn’t start going to high school until next year.

Izzy was talking to two boys in the next room.

Cardinal Time Guardian Hsia must have found potential Cardinal Time Guardian trainees. The ability to control time was uncommon, so both students and teachers were in short supply. The time-instructor was one of the positions that hadn’t been fil ed yet. Izzy was trained by Cardinal Hsia.

With her curly black hair held up in a ponytail and her brown skin free of make-up, Izzy looked about the same age as the two sixteen year olds she taught.

She saw me and came to the door. “Going to the pit later than usual, aren’t you?” The pit was the special training room Haziel used for our sessions. “Not today. I’m picking up a book from the library.”

“You want to step inside and help me teach?” she asked with a teasing gleam in her hazel eyes.

I laughed. Control ing time wasn’t one of my specialties. “I think I’l pass. Mrs. D just asked me to talk to her students. Do you guys help out everyday?”

“Nah. I fil in for Hsia whenever she’s hunting. I can’t wait for them to find her replacement. As for the others, the principal asked them to talk to the new students. Are you hunting with us tonight?”

“Now that I know about the List, I think I am.” Her eyes widened. “You know about it?”

“Yep. I don’t understand why you guys never mentioned it before. Even when I asked earlier in that building in Seattle, you al pretended you didn’t know what the Lazari were after.”

Izzy closed the door behind her, furtively looked around the foyer then leaned closer to me.

“Who told you?”

“Bran.”

“You’re not angry with him?” she asked slowly, enunciating her words.

“No. Why should I be?”

“He kept it from you. That’s the kind of secret that would make anyone go bal istic. Are you sure you’re okay?”

I laughed. “Please. Bran can’t keep a secret if his life depended on it, not from me anyway. When wil you guys be done here?”

She looked at her watch. “About forty minutes.”

“Can we meet at the guys’ place? I have something to share.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You’re mad, aren’t you?

That’s why you want to see us. You’re just holding it in because of where we are.” She waved to indicate the school.

Shaking my head, I turned to leave. Her behavior was beyond weird. “Later, Izzy. Oh, Bran and Celeste are moving to the val ey until Gavyn gets better. They’re going to stay with Cardinal Janel e.”

“Aah, that explains the stupid grin on your face,” she teased.

Stupid grin or not, I was beyond happy. Bran would be living right next door. I stuck my tongue at her before she closed the door.

I would’ve moved past the Earth Class without stopping if it weren’t for the girl. She stood in front of the other students with a cross-bow as though about to demonstrate how it worked, but her face was pale.

I didn’t need to touch her and engage my empathetic abilities to know she was terrified. Mrs. D was right.

We needed to reassure the new students that the training wasn’t bad.

Take a deep breath and exhale. You can do
it. If you mess up, that’s okay too. We all did and
still do. Take me, for example. I still can’t teleport
without bumping my head or elbow on something.

She looked around frantical y then our gazes met. Her eyes widened when I waved and added
,
yeah, it’s me yapping.

A pink tinge colored her cheeks. She probably didn’t know how to telepath yet. I smiled and gave her a thumb-up signal. Her gaze went to my thumb. From her puzzled expression, she had no idea what the gesture meant.

She gave me a shaky smile and faced her class. The metal and wood lost their shape and melted into a gooey, brown mass that dripped melted into a gooey, brown mass that dripped through her fingers. The expression on her face was comical, horror mixed with amazement as the class broke into applause. Remy and his former teacher Neo came into view. Both men grinned in approval.

I guess the rumors that none of the new students were powerful enough to become a Cardinal Guardian trainee had been false. That girl would be kicking butts in a few months.

Looking at me one more time, a broad smile settled on her flushed face. I gave her the thumb-up signal again. She looked at her hand and imitated my gesture.

It means good job,
I telepathed her.

I moved on before Remy could see me, walked past an arched doorway leading to the other two classrooms and the pit—the huge theater-like room Haziel used when we trained. I wondered if Kim was talking to the air students tonight too and whether Bran had taught the Water Class yet. I would love to watch him teach. He’d be awesome.

The door to the Academy’s library opened automatical y to reveal another round room like the lobby. The librarian’s desk occupied the center of the room. Shelves fil ed with leather-bound books fol owed the wal s al the way to the high ceiling.

Comfortable reading couches and tables were scattered al around the room though the only occupant was the librarian, Rachel. She was a senior at my high school.

“Haven’t seen you in here since we opened,” she said in greeting.