Wicked Thing (C.O.A Series Book 2) (17 page)

Giggles erupted within the group of immortals lying in the grass.

Kayn randomly added to their conversation, “One of you will have to teach me how to drive.”

Grey playfully chucked a handful of grass at her face as he volunteered his services, “I will. We can start after the banquet.”

Kayn shook her head and asked, “What banquet?”

Grey sat up, plucked a flower from the earth and tried to tuck it behind her ear. Lexy started swatting him away as he replied, “There’s one for the survivors of the Testing and their clans. We have some time here to unwind before we have to go back there.”

She had once again deciphered Kayn’s thoughts
. Lexy leaned over and whispered, “Don’t worry, you’ll sit beside me. I’ll remind you that you are badass and strong until you feel that way again. That’s what friends are for.”

Haley and Astrid were standing above them smiling. Astrid smiled and asked, “Mind if we join you?”

Grey nonchalantly tossed a handful of grass up into the air and it came back down and landed on his face, he spit it out of his mouth and replied, “Feel free. Come lie down and guess what the clouds look like.”

Haley was beaming as she made herself comfortable and sighed “I can’t even tell you how much I’ve missed this place. I never thought we’d see it again. It feels like coming home.”

She might as well join in
…Lexy pointed to the sky above her and said, “I see a Dragon.”

Grey winked, looked into her eyes and whispered, “Isn’t it magnificent.” Lexy glanced at her Handler and smiled.

Kayn sighed, “Yes...yes. I guess it is.” Zach threw a giant handful of fragrant grass directly at Kayn’s face and she blew it out of her mouth with a gust of air. He shifted around in the grass and said, “I must be some kind of strange anomaly. I made it out of Testing, became Enlightened and I still don’t know what I am.”

Lexy replied, “Worry about your position as Brighton’s Handler. Your abilities will come.”

Grey shifted, sat up again, averted his gaze to Melody and asked, “How are you doing with the whole Testing thing, Mel?”

Melody didn’t meet his eyes, but continued to stare at the clouds. She replied, “I’m healed on the outside.”
They all understood what she meant.

Grey plucked another handful of grass out of the ground and tossed it behind him. Kayn was staring at him with a look on her face that Lexy couldn’t quite place.

Astrid looked directly at Kayn and chuckled, “Isn’t that the story of our life?” She nudged her and Kayn nodded mechanically, giving her a response without laughing.

Zach shuffled closer to Kayn in the grass and whispered, “Frost knows you know about the whole getting Kevin to kill you deal they made with Tiberius. I have to be honest. Yes, it’s messed up, but it was the means to an end. Even I can see that, and I’m not the deepest guy around.”

Kayn cracked an enormous grin. She whispered, “Whatever do you mean? You are super deep?” She nodded and said, “I’ll go talk to him. I think I just need a few more minutes of this.”

Zach sprawled out flat on his back beside her and placed his arms behind his head and teased, “Oh, look at how emotionally evolved you are. I’m personally impressed.”

Kayn sighed, sat up and started to brush the grass Grey had tossed into the air off of her sparse white attire.

Zach sat up and said, “Wait a second.” He plucked some grass out of her hair and chuckled, “Now, you’re all good. Go get him tiger.”

Kayn rolled her eyes and shook her head slowly from side to side as she stood up and wandered away from the group.

The group of them remained there, sprawled in the luscious grass to await Kayn’s return. There were many places they go while in the in-between and so many miraculous sights to see but right now in this moment all they really wanted was each other’s company, each of them knowing that times of madness always seemed to follow closely behind the calm. She rested her head in the cradle of Grey’s crossed legs and peered up at him. The glow from the sun had created this otherworldly halo of light behind him. He’d commented on how beautiful she’d appeared while seeing her from a similar vantage point, twice in the last couple of days but she couldn’t imagine herself appearing more angelic than her Handler did in this moment with his blonde hair and crystal blue eyes. Grey had lovingly begun to play with her hair and it tickled, causing her to smile as she met his gaze of adoration. He was her tether to everything of beauty and when she thought about what it meant to truly love someone Lexy knew she’d never be capable of loving anyone more than she loved Grey.
I will always love you most.

As he lovingly ran his fingers through her hair he smiled and whispered, “Me too.”

Lexy’s eyelids had grown heavy so she closed them to the hum of the steady stream of voices and then she must have fallen asleep…

Lexy opened her eyes with her head still resting on Grey’s lap.

He leaned forward, kissed her tenderly on the forehead and whispered, “You dozed off there for a while.”

Lexy groggily struggled to sit upright.
That was rather odd timing for a nap?
She questioned, “How long have I been asleep?” Before Grey could answer, the group was waving someone over. Lexy turned around to see who it was.
It was Kayn and Frost.
Kayn strolled up and scooted back into the spot she’d been sitting in before she’d gone to find Frost.
Well, they’d obviously worked things out.

Lexy gave Frost an ominous look and teased, “You’d better be nice to her.”

Frost winked and flirtatiously responded, “Whatever do you mean? I’m always nice.”

Every last one of them ganged up on him and began throwing grass at his face. Frost ducked out of the way, while shielding his face from their playful attack. The glare of the sun dimmed as the backdrop of the in-between changed. The group of immortals sprawled out in the lush silken carpet of green to watch the fading expression of the day. This particular spurt of time appeared to be run by their emotions as the final two had made peace they were given the reward of an exquisitely breathtaking sunset. The crimson hues appeared in circular patterns across the sky, and it was as though someone had swirled an invisible paint brush across the heavens, creating the masterpiece of an awe inspiring sunset on the canvas above. As always Lexy turned to watch the awestruck expression on Grey’s face.
For her, the sight of Grey’s joy was more wondrous than the crimson hues that had been artistically painted across the sky.
Lexy smiled as she watched him
. This never-ending devotion for her Handler, it was the thing that she’d always felt the full strength of. He was undeniably the most beautiful soul she’d ever seen.

Haley randomly piped in, “After 20 years in Astrid’s happy place. I keep expecting there to be clowns.”

Well, that was random.
Lexy grinned as she glanced at Haley.
She’d missed the girl with the fluorescent pink hair and the wit that sparked up conversations as quickly as matches left on the ground in a brush fire.

Grey rolled over on one elbow, knit his brow and chuckled, “There were clowns?”

Haley grinned as she replied, “There were always clowns.”

Zach exclaimed, “I can vouch for that. Her happy place was getting more than a little bit warped.”

Frost’s eyes lit up as he said, “For old times’ sake. I say we all go and check out this happy place right now.”

Grey gave an immediate response, “No, thank you. I think I’m good.”

“Oh, come on. Don’t be a wuss,” Lexy teased as she tossed some grass at her prissy Handler.

Kayn came to his defence by saying, “The last time I was in her happy place. The balloons were really chainsaws and the clowns tickled us when they caught us.”

Grey stammered, “Like hell!”

Well, this promised to be more entertaining then staring at clouds than mocking each other. She was in.
Lexy leaned over and kissed Astrid square on the lips.

Grey leapt to his feet and sprinted away from her, shouting as he ran, “Don’t you bloody dare!”

Don’t you dare was just like saying, I dare you to her.
Lexy grinned, launched herself up. She caught him in no time, tackled him into the grass and planted a kiss on his lips.
He’d kissed her back.
In the moments before the hallucinogenic poison took hold there was a look of confusion on his face. Lexy couldn’t think about that now. There were dozens of clowns wearing brightly colored outfits, each of them towing a bouquet of swaying balloons behind them. The seriously creepy hallucinations were skipping through a field of floating bubbles towards her. In the background there was the tinkling music of an ice-cream truck. She’d seen some epically messed up shit over the years but this was kind of awesome. Lexy staggered around, clutching her head in the palms of her hands, while giggling, “This is so messed up.” The group scattered in terror. Lexy glanced towards the sound of laughter that she heard through the insanity. It was Kayn and she was laughing hysterically. The sound of her laughter snapped her out of it and the image began to flicker on and off. The entire group had joined in on the twisted clown game just as the hallucinations lost their hold on her. She could tell the difference between reality and the fantasy Astrid’s remarkable ability had created. Lexy could still see the clowns but they were an obvious hologram, having lost their hold on her conscious mind. She glanced at Kayn and she also appeared to be able to tell the difference.
Did she have a healing ability too?
There was an explosion of light and the rest of the clan appeared. The group of freaked out Ankh sprinted past the others squealing.

Markus hollered after them, “What in the hell are you guys doing?”

Lexy recalled how entertaining Astrid’s ability had been to experiment with back in the day. Out of nowhere Kayn dropped to her knees, and she appeared to be finding it difficult to breath. Lexy snapped out of it and rushed to her side.

Markus had beat her there, he whispered, “It’s going to be okay, Kayn. The Enlightening... it’s not one moment. Sometimes it’s a process that can take days, or even weeks. The Testing was only the beginning.” Kayn began to laugh through her agony as Grey sprinted past them with a frightened expression on his face.

Lexy grinned at her terrified Handler as he fled from the imaginary clowns.

Markus crouched down beside Kayn and whispered, “What are they running from?”

Kayn glanced up, smirked and said, “Clowns...they are running away from the clowns.”

Markus chuckled, held out his hand and helped her up. Melody wandered over to Lexy already healed and the two of them laughed as Grey bolted past them again.

Markus watched Grey as he sprinted away from his imaginary assailants and he laughed, “I guess we can let Grey do a few more laps before we go.”

Jenna appeared and joined the group as they stood together watching Grey run his comical laps. He was the only one left under the influence. Jenna repeated, “What is he running from?”

Kayn grinned as she replied, “Imaginary clowns.”

Jenna watched Greydon and giggled, “I always miss all the good stuff while I’m off having these Oracle conversations with Azariah.” Jenna left Kayn’s side and walked over to Markus. She whispered something his ear and he glanced at Kayn with concern in his eyes.

Wonder what that look was about?

Kayn took a deep breath and asked, “What is this banquet?”

Lexy looked at the fledgling Dragon as she gave her a bluntly honest response, “They’ll bathe you, and dress you up. There will be some form of entertainment. Oh, yes and there will also be food and dancing.”

Kayn knit her brow and replied, “Refresh my memory as to why would I allow a stranger to bathe me? I’m not a toddler.”

She could empathize with that feeling
. Lexy grimaced and sparred, “If I had to allow strangers to bathe me, then you do too. It’s a respect thing. Trust me; we take any tiny bit of respect that we can get from the third tiers.”

Markus announced, “Is everybody ready to go?”

They all began to disintegrate into the air. Lexy watched Kayn, and there was no panic in her eyes. She held her palm in front of her face and observed as it turned to sand and the delicate grains of her essence floated away on a gentle breeze.

Chapter 10
Once Upon a Banquet

T
hey solidified as a group about twenty feet in the air in the center of the deserted colosseum. They all dropped, and even though they had no time to stop themselves the Ankh landed side by side on their feet in perfect unison. An explosion of red dust rose around the group. Somebody cleared their throat and Lexy turned to see Silas strolling towards the group. He was staring directly at her, flirtatiously eyeing her up and down.
This was getting weird.
For so many years, it had felt like she was the last girl in the group that anyone would make eyes at and now, it was happening quite often. He signalled for the group to follow him. Lexy caught up with a few long strides and kept pace beside him.

The scantily clad muscular Adonis of an immortal leaned towards her and whispered in her ear, “You look absolutely gorgeous.”

Lexy smiled back at him and teased, “Even without the fancy dress and jewels?”

He grinned and added, “Especially, without the fancy dress and jewels. Save a dance for me later?”

She wasn’t a fan of dancing, unless it was with Grey
. Lexy glanced back at her Handler and he definitely wasn’t amused by Silas’s flirtations.

Her undeniably buffed suitor whispered, “As much as I’d like to ignore everyone but you. I should go and greet your newest clan members.”

“You probably should,” Lexy agreed as she shooed him away with one hand. He chuckled and lagged behind her to go and meet the newbies. She wasn’t going to worry about how Grey felt tonight. They’d talked everything out. She’d more than likely be spending the evening after the banquet with her friend, Prince Amadeus.
Lexy smiled as she walked towards the large intricately engraved arches that led out of the colosseum and into the adjoining network of stone and marble corridors that attached the colosseum to the castle. Lexy glanced back at the rest of her clan and smiled.
She felt powerful here
.
She’d more than proven herself at the Summit.
The breeze picked up and blew Lexy’s scarlet hair around giving it the appearance of fire. Her crimson flames flickered in the wind like a victory flag.