Daemons in the Mist (The Marked Ones Trilogy: Book One) (19 page)

“
Seriously
?” I asked, looking at Nualla.

“No Patrick, he’s just messing with you. If anyone would get in trouble, it would be
him
for making the damned things in the first place,” Nualla answered, putting her head in her hand. “Thanks Travis!” she yelled toward the door, though if she was thanking him for the kiss or the glasses, I didn’t know. Finally, Nualla looked up at me. “Did I
miss
something?”

“Nope, I have no idea what that was about,” I answered, looking at anything but her.

“You’re a really bad liar, you know.”

26

Reflections

Thursday, February 9th

PATRICK

“Y
our big surprise was taking me to an alley?” I asked as I stared at a dingy unremarkable space between two old buildings.

“Put the glasses on, Patrick,” Nualla said as she rolled her eyes.

I pulled them out of my bag, took a deep breath and slid them on. The alley was no longer an alley. The space now expanded outward to reveal a large galleria. Three floors of shops lined either side and walkways crossed the space at intervals. At the far end there was a set of escalators and a massive clock.

I looked back at her and tried not to get sucked into the unbelievable beauty of her eyes. I had a hard enough time resisting them when she had her human illusion up, but in her true form it was nearly impossible.

“What is this place?”

“The Kalo Galleria, basically a Kalodaemon mall,” Nualla answered with a pleased smile.

I looked back inside. “
Really
?”

Nualla took my hand and led me forward through the Kalo Galleria. I looked up in awe at the domed glass ceiling, which revealed an amazing view of the tall surrounding buildings. This place was incredible, but the fact that it was just hiding in the middle of the city was even more amazing. It made you wonder what else was hidden here in the city in the places that humans wouldn’t even think to look—or be able to see in the first place.

The daemons in the galleria didn’t even look twice at me as we passed which I found a bit odd. Was it normal for humans to just go wandering through here? I seriously doubted it. Then I caught sight of my reflection in the glass of a shop window and stopped. Two glowing horns flickered just above my ears.

“What on
earth
?” I leaned in closer to the window to get a better look at the horns.

“Oh right, you wouldn’t have been able to see that before,” Nualla said, leaning toward me. “Your Blue Card makes a hologram around you so no one gets ideas about killing you.”

“
Really
? That’s awesome!” I said, excitedly looking back at my reflection. “So this is more or less what I would look like with horns?” I had to admit, like this I looked pretty damn awesome.

“Well not at first; it takes about six months for the horns to grow in completely.”

“They
grow
?” I asked in disbelief as I turned back toward her.

“
Of course
, they’re not magic, you know. They’re as real as anything; like hair or fingernails.”

“Yeah really
awesome
fingernails,” I said with a huge grin.

We continued walking through the galleria passing the strangest collection of items. Formal clothing like the ones I had seen in The Embassy. Books written in what was probably Daemotic. Electronics that did God knows what. The more I was with Nualla, the more amazing her world seemed, but I couldn’t ignore the things in my normal human world like school, graduation, my future. I knew about our immediate future together, but what would our lives be like come the end of the school year; the fall; five years from now? I was almost afraid to ask, but like an idiot, I always did.

“So what school are you going to in the fall?” I asked as casually as I could.

“I’m not.”

“
What
?” There was no way she hadn’t gotten into an ivy-league school; she was smart as hell and more than wealthy.

“I’m an heiress apparent. I have to attend special classes at The Embassy to prepare to take over the rule of the region in the event my dad dies.”

“Oh.” I guess that made perfect sense.

“Why, what are you doing?” Nualla asked with a curious smile.

“Art school.”

She stopped, looking frightened for a second. “Where?”

“Here in the city, at the Academy of Art. It’s one of the best art schools in the country.”

“Oh, well that’s good. I don’t think I could do a long-distance relationship,” she said with a teasing smile.

I knew what she probably meant, but I still asked, “What do you mean?”

Nualla pressed close to me, looking up at me through her lashes. “I don’t think I could stand to be that far away from you.”

I swallowed hard. “I don’t think I could, either.”

Nualla took my hand and we continued walking through the galleria. I stopped to look at something in one of the windows and saw the reflection of someone behind us. Not directly behind us, more off in the distance trying to look inconspicuous. I had seen her before somewhere, I just knew it.

I moved away from the window, and we continued walking. A few shops later I looked back at the reflection, and sure enough, the strange black female daemon was there again. “Nualla, not to sound paranoid, but I think we’re being followed,” I whispered quietly as I leaned closer to her.

“Oh, you’re not paranoid,” Nualla said in an unbelievably calm voice with just a hint of annoyance.

“I’m
not
?” I asked, a little confused.

“We
are
being followed,” she stated with a huff as she turned around and made a beeline for the daemon.

The stranger was a daemon—no mistake about that—but she wasn’t pale like Nualla. I had mistakenly thought they would all look similar to Nualla, Shawn and Nikki; otherworldly pale with abnormally blue eyes. This daemon however was African-American; extremely pale but still dark-skinned with a pulled back fro. Her eyes were blue, not pale blue like Nualla’s, but a blue so dark it was nearly black like Travis’. The woman was wearing a black jacket with a blue and silver emblem on the left side and tight black pants tucked into long black boots. “Patrick this is Tylia, one of the Kalo Protectorate officers,” Nualla said calmly as she gestured to the daemon woman with the fro.

“The
what
?” I asked, completely lost.

“It’s our job to protect The Embassy and ensure the safety of the Chancellarius and his family,” Tylia answered proudly but without the annoying air of superiority that had been present in Natasha’s voice.

“Oh the Kalo Protectorate, that’s that thing Natasha’s in charge of, right? So she’s like your boss?” I asked Tylia. Now that I actually looked at the emblem on her jacket, I realized it was the same as the one that had been on Natasha’s kimono style top.

Tylia couldn’t contain her scowl as she answered, “Unfortunately.”

“Yeah, I don’t really like her either; there’s just something—” I shuddered, there was something off about Natasha, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. It was almost like I knew the answer, but it was lost somewhere in my brain; which was absurd because I really had only just met her. Then something occurred to me. “You’re what was on the other side of the wall in the parking garage.”

Tylia eyed me with amused smile. “You’re damn smart, kid.” Then her look soured into something deadly. “Though, if you call me a ‘what’ again, I will throttle you.”

“Sorry,” I said, taking a step back.

“Your job’s to
protect
us, not scare the crap out of him, Tylia,” Nualla pointed out as she glared at her.

NUALLA

T
ylia suspiciously eyed the glasses Patrick was wearing. “Do I even
want
to know what he’s wearing?”

“No, no you don’t,” I answered quickly.

“Travis?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

I nodded.

“That boy is going to get himself into a whole mess of trouble someday,” Tylia said as she sighed and folded her arms.

Yeah, like tomorrow, when I go yell at him for kissing me.

“Well, you two stay out of trouble,” Tylia said as she eyed Patrick meaningfully again. “And I’ll try to follow you a little less obviously.”

Oh, because that is
so
going to help me forget that you’re there.

Tylia stalked away as Patrick turned to me. “Do they normally follow you, or is it just because of me?”

Truthfully they were probably following me
more
now because of him, but I wasn’t about to tell him that. “No, it’s not you; they always follow me.”

As I looked at Patrick, I caught my reflection in the shop window behind him. The reflection moved, and I thought nothing of it until I realized
I
hadn’t moved. I looked closer in shock at the me in the window, and she did the same for a brief second before she bolted, disappearing further into the crowded shop. I turned to Patrick frantically. “Did you just see that?”

“See what?”

I turned back around, but the other me was gone; only my reflection was left. “I thought I saw someone just like me.”

“Well yeah, there is your reflection,” Patrick said with a slight smile.

“No, not me, someone
like
me.”

He looked confused and asked uneasily, “Like what, a
doppelgänger
?”

It sounded really stupid when he said it out loud. “It was probably nothing,” I said as I looked back at the window.

27

Playing with Fire

Monday, February 13th

PATRICK

“S
o what are we doing for your birthday? I know we normally do something
on
your birthday, but since you have a girlfriend now, we really can’t do that anymore,” Connor said as we walked casually through the Japantown Mall. Connor knew full well Nualla wasn’t my “girlfriend,” but I had told him if he ever let anyone know otherwise I would kick his ass.

“Nothing,” I answered, looking away from him at a nearby window display as we passed by it. “I don’t want to do anything; I can’t let Nualla find out I wasn’t eighteen.”

Connor stopped dead, causing a few people to nearly run into him. “Wait, you haven’t
told
her yet?”

“I don’t know
how
to tell her, Connor. It’s not like I can just walk up to her and say, ‘Hi Nualla, I know you thought we were married and all, but since I was a minor at the time I’m pretty sure we’re not.’”

“Dude, you’re playing against loaded dice,” Connor said uneasily.

“Tell me something I
don’t
know,” I groaned, leaning up against a nearby wall.

“How could you not think of something to say? You’re like the smartest person I know.”

“Connor, smart and intelligent are two
vastly
different things.”

“Apparently so,” Connor said with a smirk.

We walked into the extremely crowded candy shop near the bakery and began to carefully pick our way around. I grabbed an armful of things I thought Nualla might like; a cute little stuffed gray cat, a box of chocolate with coffee centers, even some candied violets. It was the day before Valentine’s Day and in typical guy fashion, I had waited till the last minute to get her something. I had been so wrapped up in the whole married-not-married thing I had lost track of the days.

“Dude, no amount of presents is gonna stop that girl from being pissed when she finds out,” Connor pointed out with a snort.

“Yeah I know, but it can’t hurt either, can it?” I asked with a shrug. “And besides, I haven’t really ever given her anything; well, aside from the ring—I think,” I admitted with a grimace.

“Wait, how can you
not
know—” Connor asked, looking at me dubiously. “Oh come on, you weren’t seriously
that
drunk were you?”

“Connor, that’s not the
only
thing I can’t remember. Actually, the truth is I really can’t remember most of it.”

Connor looked at me confused. “Then how do you—”

“There were—pictures,” I said with the straightest face I could.

“
Really
? Am I ever going to get to see said pictures?” Connor asked, arching his eyebrows.

“Not a chance in hell, Connor,” I replied as I stepped up to the counter.

After I was done, I stepped out of the crowded candy shop to wait for Connor who was buying something. Wait,
what
? “Connor, who are you buying a present for?” I asked, looking at the box of chocolate in his hands.

“Sara,” he answered with a huge grin.

I just looked at him a little shocked. “
Seriously
?” I knew he had gone with her to the dance, but they hadn’t given any indication that they were an “item.”

“Hey, if you weren’t
always
pining after Galathea you would know that,” Connor said, rolling his eyes.

“Hey it’s not ‘pining’ if I’m married to her now,” I said indignantly.

But you’re not really; not legally, anyways.

Connor laughed and turned around, but when he saw my face his smile dropped. “I’m fucked, aren’t I?” I said to my shoes.

“Yeah, probably,” Connor sighed. “But I won’t be the one who outs you.”

“Thanks, Connor,” I said. I finally looked up, but I didn’t smile.

We went back to walking through the mall. As we walked past the kimono shop I was reminded of The Embassy—and Travis. I wondered if what I was doing counted as “hurting her” in his eyes. I sighed in anguish. “And then there’s Travis.”

Connor stopped walking and turned. “Who’s
Travis
?”

“Someone waiting in the wings to take Nualla away when I fuck up,” I answered, kicking a discarded food wrapper on the ground. “He works—with Nualla’s dad and she’s known him like forever. He’s twenty-something, smart as hell, and cooler than I will
ever
be.” I looked out at the passersby as I leaned back to sit on a nearby railing. “And he kissed her like right in front of me,” I said, not meeting Connor’s eyes.

Connor just stared at me for a moment before saying, “Dude, you are
so
screwed.”

“Thanks Connor; you are
so
reassuring,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“So, since you will most likely
not
have a girlfriend by Friday, do you want to do something for your birthday then?” he asked before bounding a safe distance away.

I looked up with a slight smile before running after him. “If you
live
that long, Connor.”

I knew my plan wasn’t very well thought out, but denial is a very powerful illusion.