Shine: The Knowing Ones (29 page)

Drip...drip...drip...Sam floated in darkness, weightless, at ease. In the distance a repetitive sound persisted.

Drip...drip...drip...A necklace—floating before her in the darkness, a golden chain with a rounded stone the size of a quarter. Shiny and smooth; cabochon cut, rounded like a marble that had been cut in half and set in gold. Morphing hypnotically back and forth from red to green, its most intriguing characteristic was a slash of white light shooting through its center giving an eerie cat’s eye quality. It floated, beckoning as its color continued to shift—red...green.

The darkness peeled back, revealing her dorm bedroom. She hovered above her bed watching herself sleep. A sudden shift in the corner. Ashbel appeared in the room. Panic pouring through her, she watched him move toward her sleeping body. She screamed out in warning—no sound. Ashbel reached the side of her bed. The everchanging pendant still floating with her, watching, waiting.

He reached out, touching her shoulder. Upon contact Trin’s shield erupted around her, shielding her from the enemy, daring him to come forward. Sam watched, heart hammering.

Twisting his head, his gaze lifted to the ceiling with a feral, mocking grin, his eyes searing into hers. In frenzied hysteria, Sam grabbed the pendant, and plunged into darkness, falling, plummeting faster and faster. With an abrupt jolt she found herself standing in her childhood bedroom. Pale yellow carpet, floral white wallpaper, and a twin sized bed covered in a yellow bedspread trimmed in white lace.

Drip...drip...drip...

Sam turned, walking across the room and out into the hallway, all familiar, taupe, lush carpet, white walls, and a wooden banister at the stairs. At the end of the hall an open area offered three doorways, one to a bathroom. Sam moved toward it, hypnotized.

Drip...drip...drip...

The bathroom door was ajar, the dripping more pronounced. She pushed the door all the way open, small in size, pink porcelain fixtures, a bathtub to the left, sink and toilet to the right. The window in front of her reflected night, dark, alone. She turned to her right, expecting a dripping faucet. She found it, but also saw Trin standing beside her in the mirror above the sink.

She broke into a huge grin, fear gone. “You’re back!” she exclaimed, turning around to embrace him, but he wasn’t there. She jerked back to the mirror. His reflection remained. “Trin?” She reached out to
him, fingers meeting the glass. “Trin?” She pushed against the mirror in frustration. “Come get me!”

He didn’t move, his gaze troubled, vacant. “I can’t.”

“Trin!” she screamed, pounding at the mirror. “Please!”

The drip became a torrent of gushing water colored by Trin’s energy. She jumped, her eyes shooting to the faucet as the radiant golden blue gushed forth. She looked back to Trin. He reached for her, drifting further away. “Don’t leave!” she screamed.

Sam’s gaze snapped back as the roiling, churning water began steaming, temperature rising, boiling before her eyes. She looked to Trin for help only to find sinister jade eyes staring back at her through the glass, masculine jaw set in victory, eyes reflecting rancid light. Sam turned with a cry, slamming right into his massive chest, muscled arms catching her in a vice grip.

Sam woke, jolting forward in a sweat, shaking all over, hazy, disoriented, her eyes darting around the room. A stab of horror flashed as she caught sight of the corner—Ashbel. Crying out she clutched her blanket to her mouth, switching on the lamp. The corner was empty.

Sam stared. She had seen him. It was a good few minutes before she was able to move. Her hands went to her face, covering her eyes as she took a deep breath. She turned to look at the clock on her bedside table. Nine thirty a.m.

She jumped as her cell phone began to ring. Looking around for her purse she saw it in the corner, the same corner she had seen Ashbel standing in. Fighting back her irrational fear she pushed the blankets aside and scrambled across to the foot of the bed, grabbing her purse, retrieving her phone. She hit talk without checking the I.D. “Hey,” she said.

“Did I wake you?”

“No.”

“What’s wrong?”

Sam breathed. Lying to him would be next to impossible, even over the phone. “Nothing,” she said. “I just miss you. Are you in Vegas?”

“Yeah, we just landed. Something’s wrong.”

“Nothing’s wrong,” She said. “I just woke up and remembered you were gone. I’m just a little freaked out. I’ll be fine,” she said praying she was right. This had been the very first nightmare where
Ashbel
had come for her. “I’m shielded,” she said. “He can’t break your shield.”

Trin was silent.

“I just feel vulnerable without you here, that’s all.” Sam said.

“No,” Trin replied.

“Nothing’s happened, Trin. You can’t come home. I wish you could but you can’t. You said yourself there’s no way for Ashbel to break your shield. Your team needs you. You‘ve got to stop worrying about me. I’ll be fine.”

Trin exhaled. “I can’t wait until this is over.”

“I know...”

“When do you leave?”

“I have to be at the dance building by one o’clock,” she replied. “What time is your meet?”

“Noon. You don’t perform until two o’clock, right?”

“Right,” she replied. A male voice sounded in the background.

“I gotta go. I’ll call you after the meet before you go on stage. In the meantime, just be
really
careful, please.”

“I will.”

“Okay,” he said. “I love you, Sam.”

“I love you, too.”

“See you tonight.”

“Okay.” The phone went dead. She stared at it for a moment and then set it on her night table with a sigh.

She took a long hot shower trying to wash away her own sense of trepidation. While dressing, she heard a key in the door and walked into the sitting area to see Anna coming in. “Hey,” Sam said. “How’s Vig holding up?”

Anna shut the door. “He’s fine, still sore. I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t have jumped in if he had known he was going up against Superman,” she grinned, glancing at the ceiling. “How exactly do you warn someone about something like that?” Sam laughed.
Poor Vig.

“Speaking of Superman,” Anna continued walking into the kitchen. “Trin already leave?”

“Yeah,” Sam replied.

Anna reached into the fridge for a bottled water and crossed the sitting room to the couch and sat down. “You’re bummed,” she said, “like more than you should be. What’s up?”

Sam sighed. “I don’t know. When he left this morning it felt wrong, you know? There was this looming finality.”

Anna curled up on the couch next to her. “Nothing’s going to happen. You are both too powerful, too important.” She paused a
moment. “You know I don’t have a specific belief in a higher power or anything, but having you in my life has forced me to believe
something
greater than us is out there somewhere because you can do all this stuff I can’t do.”

“According to Trin you can.”

“Okay,” Anna replied “that further illustrates my point, I guess. Since Trin showed up even more...evidence I guess you would call it, that we aren’t alone. And if we aren’t alone, and the bad guys exist, which apparently they do, then a good guy must exist too, and the good guy would be the one who created you and Trin, and I don’t believe he or she or whatever would leave you out to dry without a plan, you know?” She cracked a slight smile. “Doesn’t good always win out in the end?”

“I hope so,” Sam sighed. “What would I do without you?”

“Wither up and die, I’m sure.” She stood. “I have to shower. Then let’s go get something to eat. We haven’t had any girl time in forever.” Sam glanced up and smiled. “That is an awesome idea.” The truth was Anna had saved her sanity time and again throughout her life. The past few weeks would have been a nightmare without her, another bit of “evidence” someone greater was watching out for her because Anna was a gift.

Ten minutes later Anna emerged from the shower in yoga pants and a T-shirt. She grabbed her jacket and Sam grabbed her purse, not noticing the previously closed zipper on Trin’s bag was now open. She closed the door tight and walked out of the building with Anna.

In the silence of the vacated apartment a sinister gasp punctured the quiet. Ashbel moved through the room, standing for a moment taking in Sam’s energy. Then he walked into her bedroom, over to the side of the bed and slipped the object back into Trin’s gym tote. He stared, a ghost of a grin flitting across his features. His eyes lifted, went flat, and in an instant he was gone.

CHAPTER FORTY

A
nna and Sam grabbed a quick bite to eat. Anna brought her up to speed on all the intimate details she hadn’t had time for. The cross country team was doing really well and Grand Master Sanchez was very possibly opening for a huge band touring in the spring. Sam reveled in not only her friend’s success and Vig’s good fortune, but in escaping her own chaos for a little while.

Sam looked at her phone. “It’s almost noon. I gotta go.”

“Sounds good,” Anna replied. “I’m going to hit the library. I am way behind on an English paper,” she groaned. “I already speak English. Why do I have to learn about a language I already know?”

Sam smiled, shaking her head. “Let’s go.” They stood and walked out of the café.

Upon returning to the dorm, Anna went to her room and grabbed the books she needed for her English assignment. Sam went for her dance bag, which sat on the floor in the corner next to Trin’s overnight bag. She reached down to pick hers up when she noticed something just inside Trin’s bag; a small black box, ornate with gold trim, unlike anything she had ever seen before. It was the inscription on the lid that grabbed her—Cyrillic letters.

Against her better judgment she reached in, retrieving the box. She was certain if Trin had wanted her to see this he would have already shown it to her. She hesitated, then moved to replace it but didn’t let go.

“What are you doing?”

Sam jerked around in surprise, then collapsed in relief at Anna’s presence in the door frame. “You scared me to death.”

Anna walked toward her, a suspicious grin on her face. “Why Samantha,” she breathed, putting a hand to her chest. “Are you snooping in Trin’s things?”

“Look at this” Sam said, ignoring the implication, shoving the box toward Anna.

She gasped, grabbing the box out of Sam’s hands. “This is jewelry, Sam.”

“Be careful,” Sam said, “it’s not just jewelry.”

Anna looked at Sam in surprise. “You mean you know what this is?”

Sam took the box. “I think I might,” she said, gazing down at the lid. “Look at this inscription.”

Anna took it back, studying the top. “I’m assuming this is Russian. Do you know what it says?”

Sam gazed. “It says Veduny. It’s inscribed on Trin’s bracelet.”

“I love that thing,” Anna said.

Sam stared.

“It’s sexy.”

Sam rolled her eyes, reaching for the box. “I should put this back.”

“Are you crazy?” Anna said pulling it away. “
I
at least get to see what it is.”

Before Sam could move Anna had unlatched the box and popped the lid. “Wow.”

Sam reached out. “Let me see.”

Anna turned, handing her the box. A twinge of guilt peaked as she took it from her, until she saw what was inside.

The pendant—the one in her dream, a solid gold chain with a rounded red stone. The slash of light from the center to the edge was so pronounced it almost seemed to glow. A soft gasp escaped her lips as she lifted her fingers to the enchanting stone, touching the surface. The first thing she noticed was the immediate absence of Trin’s warmth. Having been sealed in it for nearly twelve hours she had grown accustomed to it. Now it was gone, shut off like someone had pulled a plug. Searing dread crawled over her, knotting in her stomach, the color draining from her face. She turned to Anna who was growing more frightened by the second.

“What?” Anna begged. “What’s wrong?”

Sam looked to her hands.
“What have I done?”

Trin stood in position on the starting block at UNLV prepared to race. After hanging up with Sam at the airport earlier, he had forced
himself to accept she was safe. He had done what was necessary and now he needed to focus on his team. By the time he mounted the platform his anxiety was gone. He was no longer a Keeper. Instead, he was Trin Kosolov, Olympian swimmer for the University of Utah.

“Swimmers take your mark.”

Dropping in position, his muscles tensed, fingers grabbing the edge of the platform, ready to spring. As the buzzer sounded he shot into the water, clean, perfect, all around him an explosive kaleidoscope of color welcoming him, embracing his essence. It was an unparalleled partnership that never failed him and he soared through it, euphoric. This was his high. He was built to win. As the freestyle segment came to an end he switched to the butterfly, charged energy igniting even further as his powerful shoulders rotated forward, plunging into the water time and time again. He was far ahead of all the others, more so than usual and he realized how much he had been missing this. All the tension, fear, panic, and stress flew off him with every forward thrust, soothing him, setting him free.

The swimmers switched strokes, the last leg of the race. Trin ripped through the water, feeling for the first time in weeks the sheer elation of knowing he was going to win. This time he really felt the accomplishment. He appreciated it with a sense of gratitude and pride that had been missing for a long time, pride which had been clouded by panic, the anguish of uncertainty and inadequacy. In the water there was never an unknown, no self-doubt. It brought him home, reestablishing his worth. For the first time in weeks he was in control.

He pushed through the water, as he approached the wall at a remarkable rate of speed he reached out for the touch. His whole body seized. Horror replaced euphoria as he felt the energy he had left with Sam...
return to him
.

“What is it, Sam?”

Sam looked up at her but couldn’t speak. She glanced at the pendant. “Anna...”

“What?”

Sam pushed past her, heading for the bathroom. She looked in the mirror, touching her face. “
What have I done?”