by Carly Marino
Pigeon? I snickered, but quickly swallowed my laughter and closed the door behind me.
Nora’s lips parted. Her hands quivered over her mouth. “What? How are you…” Tears streamed along her cheeks. “I hate you. I thought you were dead.” She swung, and my lips parted. Whoa.
Logan ducked. “Pigeon … I’m—”
Nora growled. “Don’t call me that, you arse. How could you? Where the hell have you been? Have you been alive this entire time? I don’t even care anymore. Get out of my house. I don’t ever want to see you again.”
He cupped his arm around her waist and pulled her to him. She struggled. Her face scrunched as if holding back more tears. I stared, horrified and intrigued by their body language. She relaxed into him. Their eyes gazed at each other, and they leaned in to kiss.
I cleared my throat.
She shoved him. “Get away from me. How could you do that to me?”
He sighed. “Nora, you assumed I was dead. I never led you to—”
“Drake told me a Resparé drained you. Probably to make it easier on me since you ghosted me.”
“Ghosted? You’ve been across the pond for too long,” Logan teased.
“You infuriate me.” She glared. “Did Cole know, too? I’m assuming so since you’re here with Thea.”
Logan fidgeted with the collar of his shirt. “I made Cole swear not to tell you the truth. Figured after a few years I’d surprise you, and you’d be too excited to be pissed.” He flicked his hands in a firework-like gesture. “Surprise.”
She scoffed. “Well, your brilliant plan backfired. You have no idea how hot my blood is boiling right now.”
Logan fingered one of the dark ropes of hair cascading over her shoulders.
She swatted his hand away. “Don’t touch me. Never again.”
Why would he let her assume… I gasped. “Holy shit. Logan is your Yuenfan? You’re the friend?”
She groaned, threw her hands up, and stormed off.
I gave Logan a side-long look and chased after her. “Nora, wait. I swear I didn’t know.”
“Are you getting even with me or something?”
“I’m really sorry. He didn’t tell me. I never would’ve brought him here if I’d known.” The corners of my mouth pinched. “Cole told him to come here.”
Nora adjusted her off-the-shoulder sweater and exhaled. “Enough with the sad puppy dog eyes, Thea. It’s fine. He’s been dead to me since freshman summer. Cole would never send him here if it weren’t important. Especially after lying to me all these years. Now I know why Cole never spoke of him.”
I brushed my hair into a ponytail. “Why did he bail?”
“No clue, but I don’t want to talk about it. It’s annoying enough I have to look at him.” She drew circles with her finger on the table behind the sofa. “This had better be life and death, because if it isn’t, I swear—”
“It is.”
She craned her neck to peek behind me. “Just don’t leave me alone with him. I might kill him.”
I chortled behind my hand. “I’ll do my best.”
Logan popped into the living room, flashing a toothy-grin. “Let’s get to this. We probably don’t have a lot of time before the wuss comes back.” He stretched out his arm toward the couch. “Ladies.”
Nora dropped down with her arms crossed. Logan sat next to her. She groaned and moved to the loveseat so I sat next to him.
“My brother got a call from a friend. Said he’ll be gone for a few days.” Nora looked between us. “What’s this about?”
Logan rested his elbows on his knees. “Cole went after his dad.”
“Bloody hell. What for?” Nora hopped to her feet.
Logan blew out a long breath. “Lyra.”
She rubbed her temples and lowered herself to the cushion. “I thought he was over this nonsense. Lyra’s gone. He’s got to know that Larc is lying. How could you let him leave? You know what this could do to him.”
Her face fumed with anger. I didn’t know what to say. Should I tell her about Mnemosyne? The bracelet? I couldn’t. Cole might trust her, but I didn’t. Not yet, anyway. Creepy or not, Drake was calmer and gentler. He cared about society and wanted to help people. Nora had her good moments, but she was also selfish and carried a grudge. I couldn’t risk her past interfering with helping Cole and retrieving the memcap. If Cole hadn’t insisted Logan come here, I’d have suggested somewhere else. Somewhere far from every Inflexaen we knew.
Logan shifted to the edge of the coffee table to face her. He held her hands in his. “I didn’t want to. Trust me, I tried to change the moron’s mind. Once Larc told him he had Lyra, there was no convincing him otherwise. I’m just glad he didn’t drag Thea into it.”
I frowned. The thought of anyone hurting him made me sick to my stomach. Cole’s Yuanfen and I were one and the same. He might die, and I could’ve stopped him. Now I could lose my soulmate. The back of my throat swelled, and I blinked my tears away.
Nora groaned. “You’re way too emotional, Thea. The first thing we need to do is work on your emotional mask. I don’t need to touch you to know what you’re feeling.”
“Sorry.”
“Oh, bloody hell.” Nora moved around Logan’s knees and grabbed my hand. My sadness crept into her and relieved me from my pain. She raised her brows. “So, on with it.”
I glanced at Logan. He lifted a shoulder.
“Larc wanted Cole to exchange me for Lyra. He stole my bracelet, probably hoping it would work instead.” Without heartbreak, my voice didn’t crack or stutter. Not a single tear spilled over my eyelashes.
Nora stood and strolled behind the couch to the wheeled cart against the wall. She poured herself a shot glass from the crystal bottle. A soft sigh escaped her lips before she chugged the liquor in one swift gulp. “Much better. Why would he want a tacky charm bracelet? And what the bloody hell would Larc do with some half-breed Inflexaen? No offense.”
Cole said no one could sense me. How had she known? Chills spider-crawled my spine.
“Oh, come on.” She smirked and set the glass onto the cart. “I took essence from you at school, remember? I knew something wasn’t right after. I confronted Cole, and he told me. I can be extremely persistent.”
“More of a pain in the ass,” Logan interjected.
She glared at him. I smiled at Logan’s comment, despite my irritation. Her sticking up for me had nothing to do with ‘protecting our own.’ She wanted to use my essence to find out why she couldn’t sense me. Why I was different from her.
“You’re an arse,” Nora said to Logan before directing her attention to me. She shuddered. “Thea, enough with the disappointment. I didn’t alter those girls’ emotions to steal your essence. I helped you because for some crazy reason … I don’t hate having you around. Maybe I’ve gone mad.” She waggled her finger. “If you repeat that, I’ll hand you over to Larc myself.”
My head tilted. That was the first time she’d ever said anything kind to me.
She batted the air. “Ugh. I can’t believe how strong your emotions are. If Cole had known, he would’ve let Drake or me teach you to mask emotions first. I’ve never met anyone I didn’t have to touch to read. As annoying as it is, it’s also quite remarkable.”
Logan clapped his hands. “We don’t have time for this gushy crap. If we’re going to get this bracelet back before Cole kills himself, we’ve got to move. Nora, you have to teach her to mask emotions and she needs some basic training because…” His eyes turned down. “Cole isn’t stable when it comes to his feelings for Lyra. He spent a lot of years following some instinct he had. If whatever he’s planning to do with your bracelet doesn’t pan out, I—I think he’ll come for you, and you need to be ready when he does.”
I furrowed my brows. Cole would never turn me over to Larc. Regardless if he knew about Lyra and me, I honestly didn’t think he’d put me in harm’s way. He always caught me when I fell. Me. Not Lyra. Why would he care about me, if he’d just hand
me over to the enemy? Logan hadn’t seen him for a few years maybe—
“He’s right,” Nora said. “He’d come for you. Sorry, luv. He’s downright mad when it comes to her. Right up until he moved here, he’d run away looking for her only to get his arse kicked by his father when he came home. He was quite sickly growing up. I always suspected his dad starved him. Whenever his dad went on holiday, Cole always got better.” She bowed her head. “He’d hide at our house. I’d sneak him in my window and set up a sleeping bag on my floor. His father is a terrible man. I think it’s why Cole finally moved here to live with us.”
“I know. I saw Larc kill his mom,” I mumbled.
Nora tinkered with the crystal glass. “What are you talking about? Cole’s mum died shortly after childbirth.”
Had I mistaken the woman in my dream for Cole’s mother? Mnemosyne said mine died to save me. If that was true, who was that woman?
Logan shrugged again but didn’t speak.
I chewed my pinkie nail. “I’m a little unsure myself. Doesn’t matter. Cole won’t trade me over. We just have to find him. That’s what’s most important.”
Nora waggled her finger. “We aren’t going after anyone until you learn to mask emotions.”
“Mask emotions? We don’t have time for a lesson. Cole could be in trouble.”
“She might be right,” Logan said.
“You can’t read her emotions. Any skilled Fector will feel her a mile away. If she doesn’t, she’ll get us all killed.” She wrinkled her nose. “She’s some kind of empath. It’s nearly impossible for me to concentrate around her.”
Logan flashed his teeth. “I thought I only did that to you.”
She groaned.
“Okay. Fine. I need to mask my emotions. How are we going to track Cole down? He’s not answering his cell phone.”
“Once you can hold your emotional mask, Logan and I’ll use light trails to find the Resparé.”
“Light trails?” I asked. “Like the ones from your memory.”
Nora gave a curt nod.
Logan’s eyes glinted in my direction. “They’ll give us Larc’s twenty.”
I rose from the sofa. “I’m ready. Teach me.”
Nora cupped her forehead. “We can’t stay here. Too risky.”
She exchanged glances with Logan. Without speaking, they had some kind of communication flowing between them.
“Do you still have that house a few miles from here? The one your parents bought for the wuss?” Logan asked.
“We do. Why? You think we should go there? I’m pretty certain Drake rented it out. I’ll phone him.”
“Don’t call him. His Buddha act bugs me.”
Her irritated gaze traveled skyward. “He’s my brother, and we need his help. He’s mastered his powers better than any of us, and he can fight. Plus, how are we going to kick out the tenants without him?”
“We don’t need him.” Logan’s eyebrows cocked in a mischievous way. “I think they might start to fear the place, don’t you? Maybe remember they saw a ghost or something. I mean, who’d want to live in a place where they have memories of shit flying all over. Fear is a strong emotion. Don’t you think, Pigeon?”
Nora smirked at me. “You think you can help me and change their memories?”
I thought about what Mnemosyne had told me. I was a Roamer. I returned her smirk with one of my own. “I can do much more than that.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
I slid from the back seat of Nora’s car and widened my eyes at the gorgeous beach house. I’d expected a small cottage on the ocean, not this. Rocks covered the exterior. The two wooden posts that flanked the entry stood as large and thick as pine trunks. To the left of the stone front porch, a circular tower with a tiny window at the very top reminded me of a tower in a castle.
A grassy front yard sloped toward the sea cliffs where a wooden gazebo overlooked the crashing waves. The fresh smell of wet sand and seaweed blew in the chilly breeze. I zipped my jacket closer to my chin.
Nora hid her keys in the visor mirror before she got out.
“You’re just going to leave your keys in there?” I asked.
She gave me a side-glance. “It’ll make for a quick getaway.”
“Do you think we’ll need one?”
“Probably not. But you never know.”
Great. “Did you get a hold of Drake?” I really hoped she had. Using my ability with Nora made me nervous. Best case, I would fast forward these people right out of the house. Worst, I’d alter their memories to believe in ghosts. I fidgeted. Both scenarios sucked.
“Seems he’s already here.” Nora pointed. “That’s his car.”
I exhaled, thankful we wouldn’t have to use our abilities, and observed the fancy sports car and black pickup truck parked in the driveway. “Whose truck is that?”
“Probably Drake’s as well.”
Of course, it was. Why would I think anything else?
Logan slammed his door shut and whistled. “Nice Maserati.”
“Mum and Dad bought it for Drake’s birthday. He’s thinking of selling it. You should buy it from him.”
Logan lowered his aviator glasses just enough for me to see his eyes. “That’d be a huge hell no.” He flicked up the hood on his gray sweatshirt. “Let’s do this.”
I sighed as we trekked along the dirt pathway.
Nora pressed the doorbell next to the two large wooden doors. She glanced at her watch and then pressed the button again. “Drake! Open the blasted door.”
The doors creaked open, and Drake smiled on the other side. He stepped out, holding the handles of the door behind him. “What are you doing here?”
“We needed a place to hang. Figured you wouldn’t mind, yeah?”
“I’m busy at the moment,” he said in a hushed tone. “You should go, Noralee.”
“Move out of the way, you arse.” She shoved past him.
“Well, I suppose she isn’t going to listen to me.” With an outstretched arm, he invited us in.
“Drake.” Logan nodded as he walked inside.
“Logan. Glad to see you alive and well.”
Logan scoffed, ignoring the sarcasm in Drake’s tone.
The interior was beautiful. Logs lined the ceiling and every wall. Light wood floors glistened under deep-brown leather sofas and rustic tables. The side had a wall of windows where a sliding glass door led to a patio overlooking the beach. Several white rocking chairs swayed in the wind.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?”
I jumped at the sound of Drake’s smooth voice.
He placed his hand on the small of my back. “Is everything all right?”
“I thought you rented this place?’” Nora examined a statue of a horse on the end table.
Drake flinched, and the moment Nora’s fingers left the iron saddle, he realigned the statue. “The tenants moved out a year ago.” He glanced at me with a closed-mouth smile.
I tilted my head. I’d give anything to live the way he and Nora did. Lavish homes and no worries. I thought of Aunt Karen and how hard she worked to support me. Little did she know we weren’t even related.
Clinks and rattles came from the kitchen as Logan searched through the open, wood-paneled refrigerator and piled condiments on the tan and black granite countertops. He squeezed mustard onto a sandwich.
Nora rolled her eyes at Logan as he bit into a giant sandwich. “I’d ask you to get our bags, but I see you have your mouthful at the moment.”
Logan grinned, his cheeks stuffed with the sandwich.
Nora threw her hands up. “You two can get your own duffels.”
“Noralee, you can’t stay here.”
“Oh, yeah? Try and stop me.”
“Nora…” Drake trailed behind her, rambling.
Outside, the lavender and pink sky kissed the dark water. Trees that provided privacy for the house bent in the wind. I slid the glass door to the side, strolled across the patio, and down the sloped hill to the gaze
bo.
I scrunched in my scarf to keep my neck and face warm. The soft fabric had a faint scent of Cole’s cologne. I inhaled, missing him, and took in my surroundings. In the distance, a rock the size of a shed rose from the water and reflected on the surface. The sunset painted wispy, low-hanging vermillion clouds, and gulls called out as they swooped to grab fish from the waves. I leaned over the railing to watch the tide capture shells and rocks from the shore.
“Hiding?”
My heart jolted. “Geez, Drake, you scared me.”
He rubbed the side of his head. His gunmetal-blue eyes glinted at me.
“I feel like I haven’t talked to you much lately,” I said. “How are you?”
His lips pressed together. He zipped up his camel-colored jacket. “I should be asking you that question. It’s very difficult to be around someone like you when you ache inside. I’m very sorry for whatever ails you.”
I met his gaze. He could read my grief through my fake smiles and cheerful tone. I sighed. “I’m okay. I have a lot on my mind.”
He bumped my shoulder with his. “I’d love to help you with that.”
If I let Drake take the sadness from me, he might learn I was half-human. As much as the easy way out sounded great, I had to face reality. “You can help me but not by taking my emotions. I’d like to learn to mask them.” Between Drake and Nora, I’d rather he be the one to teach me. I had an inkling she wasn’t as patient.
Drake nodded. “Have a seat.”
“Now?”
“Nora and Logan are bickering inside. It’s as good of time as any.”
I chuckled and sat on the built-in bench. They had bickered the entire way here, fighting about everything from directions, what we’d eat for dinner, to sleeping arrangements. If I didn’t know the story, I’d think they were still a couple. “What happened between them?”
He rested his arm on the railing. “They met when she visited Cole at the training facility in New York. She says Logan’s her Yuenfan. Did she tell you that?”
I bobbed my head.
“They dated long distance for quite some time, but one day he just stopped returning her phone calls. Basically disappeared. Cole told her he was dead to get her to stop pestering him. At the time, I thought it was for the best.”