Lost Seraphine (The Seraphine Trilogy #2) (23 page)

“Aren’t we funny? And ungrateful,” Paige scoffs.

“Look, you two. Chill,” I begin. “Yes, Kyle, I asked Paige to look after you. And no, Paige, Kyle doesn’t want to die.”

“Good. I don’t have time to lose on
humans
who choose to waste themselves.” Paige narrows her eyes at Kyle.

His gaze drifts to Gia standing beside me. “What’s up, Gia? Or should I say, what’s up Mergirl? Maybe you can make sense out of what these two tack heads are saying.” I don’t ask what makes him think Gia’s a mermaid.

“I’m saying there’s a reason I asked Paige to look out for you,” I begin, still feeling crappy as hell for keeping my friend hanging on the outside the way I’ve been doing, but getting a bit happy he chose to come to my house. It’s time to change things. I open my mouth and get ready to explain, however my thoughts get cut off by Gia’s gasp.

I glance at her. She’s covering her mouth with her hands, her eyes wide and filled with terror. I follow her gaze toward the end of my driveway. About thirty Dark Agents have appeared. Paige swings around and pulls out her orb, her expression fierce and her body tensed.

“Who are these freaks?” Kyle asks and then he focuses his gaze on the same thing Gia’s seeing. “That’s him! The winged dude who hurt Shani.” His lips are turned up in a grimace. I’m not sure, but I think he’s snarling, too.

I swerve around. The Dark Agents aren’t what caught Kyle and Gia’s attention. Nah. It has been a trend lately for me to be the lucky winner of all things strange and just plain crazy. What I’m seeing right now wins the gold for the most insane moment ever.

Strolling up the driveway as though I hadn’t watched a sea witch shove a bolt of lightning through his chest months ago is Gia’s brother, Raze.

Caleb

Long black hair, tanned skin, muscular physique, silver chains hooked on his jean pockets, dark clothing. Now, all we need to do is add the big black wings. No, I’m not describing my Halloween costume wish list. This is the best way to help you picture the guy walking up my driveway… Raze’s new look. He takes the badass fallen angel fad to a whole new level.

Considering he’s supposed to be dead and the Dark Agents are hanging around him like he’s some new Celtic god, I’m thinking this visit won’t be a kiss-and-welcome-me-back-home kind of thing.

Dark Agents shuffle onto the scene behind Raze as he comes closer to where my friends and I are standing. At least fifty Agents stand in various spots throughout the yard. Something about them seems different. More vibrant. More... alive. Faces with defined features. They’re moving more like humans, too, instead of lost souls drifting between the worlds.

“You can see my brother?” Gia asks in a raspy voice, her eyes a mixture of fear and disbelief.

“Oh, I can see him just fine,” I answer.

Sorry ass has been fooling his sister all this time. He’s not a walker or a spirit. I can tell. I want to slam him down and finish what the witch started a few months ago.

“Do you know how much she has suffered because of you?” I ask and step toward Raze, my chest buzzing with heat, my fists clenched.

“I have an idea. Didn’t want to hurt you, little sis, but hey, this is all business,” Raze answers in a smooth voice.

“How could you do this to me?” she asks.

“Still thinking about yourself. How do you think I feel?” Raze’s eyes blaze a strange gold color. “Knowing that my father could’ve come back for me, but didn’t. The Melusine caught me. Tortured me. Made me wish I’d never been born. But I found my savior. And it isn’t a played out god with a washed out succession plan. You can come out now, hun.”

Erica steps forward, smiling, her gaze drifting toward Kyle. She’s wearing the black clothing and pink scarf getup again. She moves to Raze’s side and says, “Kyle baby, you didn’t listen to me. You were supposed to shove Caleb into the water, but you jumped in, instead, you idiot. Screwed everything up.”

“What the freak?” I swerve around to face Kyle.

“It was a weirdo dream. I didn’t promise her anything,” Kyle explains. “She told me those girls in the water would bring Shani back if I handed you over. I couldn’t do it, Caleb. I wouldn’t have done it.” His voice is pleading with me.

“I believe you. No worries,” I assure him.

“How quickly human boys change sides. So annoying,” Erica says icily, but she’s staring at me and Gia.

“No matter. He’ll be mind-wiped tonight along with your parents, Caleb,” Raze says to me. “And you, my gorgeous sister. We got a special wipe reserved for Poseidon’s daughter.”

“You and your dead soul army won’t get through this,” Paige says, extending her orb until a blue staff glows in her hands. “Tuck your little tail and run along home, dark babies.”

Raze grins wide as he places an arm over Erica’s shoulder, moving her to the side of my driveway. The other Agents step forward, surrounding my friends, and remove orbs of their own, lighting up the evening with a rainbow of beams.
We are so screwed.

“You were saying, Paige?” Erica asks, a smug grin on her face. “Thanks to your sister, Mel, we have our own slice of undersea power.”

“My sister wouldn’t help you hurt me, liar,” Paige says, but I can tell she’s feeling doubtful by the softness in her tone.

“Your sister thinks you’re a lost cause. Fighting for the Seraphine king. Unlike my sister, who refuses to admit I exist,” Erica says, narrowing her eyes at Gia.

“You’re not my sister,” Gia retorts, scowling.

Erica shrugs and rolls her eyes. “Suit yourself.”

I move over to Gia, putting my body in between hers and Raze’s crew. “Don’t block my view. I want to see what my ex-brother has planned for my
boyfriend
.” She glares at Raze and then the beaming Erica. Girls can pick some really strange times to go territorial on one another.

Raze holds his hands up, shaking his head. “Tell you what. Why don’t you ask the source himself?” He lifts his black pitch fork. “Time for us to go now, Wood and lil’ sis.”

Golden light bursts forth from his fork, forming a large circle in my driveway. It brightens the evening so much I almost think daylight has arrived early. The Dark Agents screech. Even Raze flinches under the intensity of the glow coming from the weapon in his hand.

What’s even more mucked up about all this?

He’s holding a trident. Yeah, that would be the one Poseidon carries in the pictures I see all over the Internet.

“How—that’s our Father’s trident,” Gia says, pointing, her lips trembling. The voices stir in my head.

Soiree Suna.

Not yet, damn it!

“What have you done, Raze?” Gia asks.

He gives her a bright smile and I already know the answer’s going to tick me off. “Nothing much. I overthrew the sea king, that’s all. Made them all think I came home to fight against the Fallen. The good son. Father wrapped his arms around me, the boy he abandoned, and I put the sword of Titan through his belly. Simple enough.”

Gia’s knees buckle and I catch her. Kyle grabs her other arm, passing an apologetic look to me as he does so.

Shoving us away, she glares at her brother. “Why? He was our father!”

“Yours, yes. I never belonged to the sea king,” Raze roars, his long, black hair blowing in the wind, his arm muscles rippling as he paces back and forth across the yard. “I was a mistake, a guilt trip. A bastard he adopted after he killed my real father, Bernael’s most trusted assistant.” Gia looks crestfallen.

“What’s the matter? Didn’t know my daddy was a fallen angel?” Raze asks in a mockingly sweet tone. “There’s more to this fairy tale of mine. He banished my mother to the swamp lands. That wasn’t enough to satisfy dear old dad, though. He cursed her. Made sure no man, fallen or otherwise, would ever want to look at her again.”

“The Seer is your mother. Oh my God, I’m so stupid. That’s why she hinted at having so much in common with me. You’re her son. One of my father’s heirs,” Gia says more so to herself than Raze. I wonder how much of what this Seer told Gia is the truth.

“History lesson’s over, Gia. Either come with us or stay and die with your friends,” Raze says without even blinking. I’ve never wanted to beat the shit out of someone as much as I do right now.

Beside him, Erica releases a small orb of her own, a child’s toy compared to the trident Raze holds. “Come with me, Caleb. Save your family and friends even more heartache. It’s your destiny. Your obligation.”

The voices in my head get louder. Hearing Erica say “your obligation” fires up whatever thing Mabry wants to see me do. Sure, Raze is holding a big freakin’ weapon, an immortal one, too, but he has hurt Gia and Kyle and even Paige for the last time. His screwed up excuses don’t fly well with my sympathy gene, either.

“You want Caleb, fallen freaks, then you gotta go through me,” Paige threatens as she comes to stand by my side, surprising me. She’ll never be able to go home now. They’ll call her a traitor and probably torture her, too.

“Yeah, and me, too, brah,” Kyle says and pulls out a BB gun with a strange metal cylinder on the tip, a result of his fascination with weapons no doubt.

“Me, too,” Gia says, taking my hand.

“What’s the point, you stupid idiots? Poseidon is dead!” Erica yells at us. Gia makes a muffled gasp.

“Us lost cause folk
s—
as you say my sister, Mel, so nicely described m
e—
fight for our own reasons,” Paige says to Erica.

The Agents take a step toward us.
Okay, dude. Time to take control.
A strong jolt of what feels like electricity strikes my body, winding me for a second or two.

Use the gift you have been given.

Do not silence your voice.

The Alchemist’s words echo in my head. I didn’t understand them at the time, but now that I do...

“This is my house.” Toes sizzling. Legs throbbing
.
“Get the hell out of my yard!” Thighs burning. Stomach on fire. Vision blurring.
What the freak?

Whispering voices fill my head. What are they saying? Arms melting. Yeah, seriously, I feel like my whole body’s on fire and shutting down.
Great!

“Caleb! What’s happening to him?” I hear Gia ask someone, her voice fading, the area around me darkening.

One last stab of pain in the center of my chest.

My vision goes dark.

Caleb

My world doesn’t stay dark. It never does.

I’m inside a void, standing on what looks like a pool of black water. The old man sitting by a fire—the dude I saw the last time I died—appears before me. I know who he is now. There’s no raging flames or desert scenery this time. It’s like I’m stuck in outer space, but somebody forgot to add the stars.

“Freaky.”

“My daughter will need your assistance,” he begins, confirming his identity.
Poseidon.
“She is now my sole living heir, a Princess of our White Throne. When the time comes, you will be the one to take her home, to her rightful place on the throne. Do you accept this task, son of the Wanderer?”

I don’t answer him right away. Last time somebody accepted a deal with a supernatural dude this way, my life got tossed onto the gambling table as the prize.

I’m not letting that crap happen to me again.

“I thought you didn’t want Gia to come back.”

Sadness clouds his eyes. A long, white beard brushes across his bare chest, reaching down to the dark gold pants he wears, giving him the look of a Santa Claus style god. “I sent my daughter away to protect her. For the longest time, I have been aware of my adopted son’s treacherous intentions. I only wanted the best for the child; to lift him out of the shadows of his trickster mother and his fallen angel father. Oh, how I have failed.”

“Nah. I think he’s been screwed in the head for a while. No disrespect intended, Sir,” I add quickly.

“None taken. Your answer,” he urges.

“I’d die for Gia, so there’s no need to ask.”

“Good choice.” He smiles, the intensity of his sky blue eyes reaching inside me, stinging the skin on my neck at the place where Bernael’s mark is etched into my skin. Nothing happens to the other three tats, the ones that serve to protect me, according to Gia. I clutch the back of my head and fall to my knees, crying out.

After a while, the pain fades, leaving my body feeling lighter. “Freedom from Bernael’s dark embrace is my gift to you. If I had known who you were long ago, I would’ve done this the first time we met,” he explains, his gaze lingering on the bracelet Mabry gave me, the one that belonged to my real father. I shuffle to my feet. “I am afraid however; I cannot prevent the other half of your fate. That will be decided by someone else.”

“Do you mean the prophecy?” I ask, watching him slowly drift backward, his image fading. “Don’t leave Gia. She needs you,” I call out.

“She needs you more,” he answers, pausing to let his words sink in. “Do not fret. I will always be watching over my daughter. She is the greatest accomplishment of my mistake driven life. Be well, Son of the Wanderer.” He turns and glides away, his image disappearing inside a misted waterfall that now fills the darkness.

I snap back out of whatever has been happening in my head in just enough time to dodge a lightning bolt zipping straight towards me. I dive to the right, almost colliding with Kyle. He pushes me down to the ground, aims his BB gun behind my head and releases a blast that takes out a couple of Agents.

“About time you snapped out of la la land,” he scolds, but then grins as he hops to his feet and pulls me up with him. Holding his gun up, he says, “Told ya these babies would come in handy.” I take in the scene around us.

Both humans and creatures are fighting one another. Everybody except Raze who’s having too much fun using Poseidon’s Trident to toss golden flames at my friends.

I scan the area until I find Gia. She has an orb and she’s using it to fight Erica. The sight of my girl using her gift stirs something inside me.

Another bolt zips by me, grazing my left arm and ultimately striking the side of the house. Brick crumbles to the ground.

“Oh hells no!” I shout. Mom’s going to kill me.

I look inside my mind and shout out the phrase the voice has been whispering in my head, a deep tone thundering out of my mouth. The whispers stop at once. Hell, I think even the wind stops blowing for a moment.

“Whoa, my man! D—did you do all that?” Kyle asks, his face wild and excited and his gaze moving to focus on something I’m holding in my left hand. I’m almost afraid to turn my head and see it, but I can feel the icy smoothness of the strange metal, can sense the goodness of the current flowing from inside it and through my body, giving me chills and making me shudder. Poseidon’s Trident. I turn my head, gasping as I focus on the silvery weapon I’m holding as though I’ve been mucking around with the rod of gods my entire life.

The Agents and everyone else fall silent as they all stand still in their positions and stare at me, mouths gaping and weapons still poised to strike. You could hear a toothpick drop in the silence that remains after the freak show. Wait! I think it’s more like the silence before the storm.

‘Cause the weirdness hasn’t finished yet. The trident slowly begins to evaporate, turning into what looks like a ghost of the mighty golden weapon it used to be. Slithers of smoke trail a path over my arms, illuminating the invisible scrolls tattoos, winding me the tiniest bit during the process. I can’t see my legs, but I can feel the same thing happening to them as well. It’s like Poseidon’s trident is becoming a part of the scroll tattoos I saw on my arms and legs. Yeah, that would be the ones from inside the recurring dream of Gia. The last traces of the trident merge with my tats. The marks darken, changing from a bright silver back to a flesh tone in a matter of seconds.

Gasping and feeling all kinds of crazy shit in my head and body, I massage the skin on my arms.

“You’ve been keeping secrets, love. Impressive,” Paige blurts, her voice crisp as it cuts through the silence. Across the way, Gia’s gaze locks with mine. Even after all that has happened, she manages a shaky smile, as though she can’t believe what she has just seen.

“What did you do, Wood? Borrow a trick or two from my dead dad? That why you were hiding in the bushes a few minutes ago?” Raze teases, easing back down the driveway, his face raging as he stares at me.

That’s right. I got the hookup.

I can tell Raze doesn’t like it, either.

“We exchanged a note or two. Jealous?” I tease. Raze growls. I think the dude might explode.
Good.
That’s what he gets. “Now get the hell out of my yard before I decide to cremate your ass.” I lift my hands up; and no, I don’t have a clue on how to use my new built in trident.

Erica and the Agents shrink back, but badass Raze holds his ground a moment. That is, until a wind gusts through the yard, pushing the Agents and Raze’s crew back, reminding me of the tornado from a couple weeks ago.

“You know what they say. This isn’t close to being over,” Raze threatens, his long hair blowing in the wind.

“Your lines are almost as corny as your skills,” I answer back. Thunder booms through the yard, shaking the area around me.

Am I really doing this?

A dude could get used to something like that.

“Go, Erica. He’s made his choice.” She passes a worried glance in my direction. “I said go!”

Raze turns around and takes off running toward the street. I hear Gia shout out something just before she bolts across the lawn after him. A black circle forms at the end of the driveway, reminding me of a sea creature I saw in one of my Naruto shows, but this ain’t no anime. This is the real deal.

Erica hops through the void first then Raze, and yeah, my hot tempered water angel dives in next, the hole closing up behind her. I start after her. “Gia! Dammit!”

“Let it go, Love. She’s traveling the veil. Translation, she’s moving too fast for you to catch,” Paige explains, holding my wrist.

“No way I’m going to let her deal with this by herself.” I snatch my arm away from Paige, stumbling a tad because of the force I use to break free.

“You keep watch for any Agents who still might be hanging around. I don’t want my parents getting caught up in this,” I tell Paige. I’m a tad surprised when I get a nod and no sarcastic remark about bossing her around. With Poseidon dead, or whatever happens to Greek gods in the afterlife, she no longer has an obligation to protect me.

I turn and head toward my car. I don’t know why, but I can still sense Gia’s spirit inside me. It’s almost like we’ve joined as one. I know exactly where she’s moving toward.

“Be careful, man,” Kyle warns as he runs up to the car. “I’ll make up a story for the parents. Now go after your girl.”

I nod, get in my Challenger and spin tires as I take off toward Sunset Beach, thinking only of finding Gia. If my sense-a-girlfriend meter’s on point, then it’s telling me they’re headed for the Cave of the Cobias, the one located in the swamps near Uncle Mashu’s house.

I’m lost in these thoughts and don’t even realize how fast I’ve been driving. It takes me less than ten minutes to arrive at the river near the cave. Easing the car to a stop, I glance around at my surroundings. I’m sitting on the side of the road that’s located beside the Neuse, a river located down the street from my Uncle Mashu’s house.

My chest stings so badly, I begin to feel as though I might die.

There’s no Raze and no Gia in sight.

The bracelet Mabry gave me flares to heated life on my wrist. Gasping, I reach down and try to slide it over my wrist. No luck. The damn thing won’t move. In fact, the metal has tightened around my arm.

I don’t get much time to worry about weirdo bracelets. Shortly after I kill the engine, a girl’s voice cries out in the distance.

“Gia!” I shout.

I hop out of the car and take off running down the deserted road, heading in the direction from where I heard her voice. There’s a spread of forest on my left side and water beyond the woods to my right. If my sense of direction still half-ass works, then that means I’ve almost reached the cave at the end of the road.

My run doesn’t last long. I find Gia outside the cave; it looms over her like a stone dinosaur. She’s beating on the walls and screaming. Raze must’ve escaped, and somehow managed to shove Gia out of the veil. How did she get shove out here? I rush over to her and grab her from behind. “Stop it, Gia!” I order, tightening my hold on her body.

“Leave me alone! He murdered my father. I won’t let him get away with this!” Gia yells and slowly slumps in my arms, sobbing and turning around then she starts using me as her new beating board.

“Stop before you hurt yourself.” Surprisingly, she does. She collapses on my chest and I stroke her hair, wishing I could use my new whisper power to pull every ounce of pain out of her heart. For now, I’ll comfort her by holding onto her and never letting go the way we promised each other all those months ago when we didn’t think we’d see each other again.

My heart beats strong enough for her, too.

We stand this way for a long time, listening to the owls and crickets and frogs; a song of nature against a melody of the river thrashing its way toward the sea.

“I guess there’s one good thing that came out of all this,” she finally says.

“What’s that?”

“I can use someone else to travel along the veil. That’s how I got here so fast. I followed that traitor brother of mine.” She sighs loudly and stares at me, her gaze expectant. “What’s your secret? How did you manage to find me?”

“I have no freaking idea,” I answer, wiping away her tears. Not completely true, dude. Wait. I suspect it has something to do with Mabry’s peace offering here.”
And the little visit I had from the sea king earlier this evening.

Her gaze travels to my bracelet. “I agree.” I don’t tell her about part two of Caleb’s visit to the in-between world just yet. She needs time to calm down before I hit her with more news about her father.

Gia takes my arm and runs her hands across the bracelet. The surface is a lot cooler now than it was a few minutes ago. “I can feel the magic easing out of it.” She’s wet and shivering, her face a raging storm of fire and grief as she stares past me, her gaze raking over the cave’s collapsed entrance.

I bend down and kiss her; a soft, easy going one. We’ve been through hell tonight. We both look the part, too.

“Come on. There’ll be a time for revenge. Not tonight, though,” I tell her. “Uncle Mashu’s house isn’t too far from here. Let’s get you warm and dry. All right?” She nods, takes my hand and wraps her arm around my waist.

With our bodies entwined, Gia and I make our way uphill and back toward my car.