by AR Colbert
My aunt turned around then and dropped the glass jar containing the powder. It hit the floor and shattered, sending up a cloud of white dust and spraying shards of glass across the floor into a broken mosaic around our feet.
Devon turned to the source of commotion and froze as they locked eyes. So it wasn’t a hallucination, then. Millie could see him, too. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears, and a smile slowly found its way to her lips.
“Do… do you recognize me?” she asked.
Devon shook his head. “I don’t think we’ve met, but… yeah. It’s weird. I feel like I do recognize you.” He stepped forward and lifted a hand toward my aunt, then dropped it again. In his other hand, he held a red envelope.
“This is Sean’s friend, Devon. Devon, this is my aunt Millie. How on earth did you just appear here?”
Neither of them paid me or my words any attention. They continued to stare at one another like a child might watch the flames flicker on her birthday candles. There was awe and wonder and longing. And it creeped me out.
“Guys?”
Millie finally pulled her gaze away from the boy and focused on me as a single tear broke free from her lid and rolled slowly down her cheek. “I think I should be the one doing the introductions, here. Everly, this is my soulmate.”
My jaw dropped. I turned to Devon. “What? Is that true?”
He still had his eyes glued to my aunt. “I—I don’t know. Maybe? I’m only eighteen. I’ve never met my soulmate before. But… I—yeah. Yeah, I think it’s true. It feels like your name is written on my bones. I know that sounds crazy, but I don’t know how else to say it. I can’t describe this feeling. I just—I just want to hold you in my arms.”
Another tear fell from Millie’s eye. She nodded and extended her arms. Devon rushed forward and they wrapped each other in an intimate embrace, the way lovers would do. I had to look away.
“She’s like four hundred years older than you. Maybe you shouldn’t rush into things,” I said, staring into the opposite corner.
They ignored me. After a moment, I laid my head back on the table and closed my eyes, tuning them out and breathing in the smell of the incense that finally began to fill the room. I wasn’t sure how much time had passed before Millie finally spoke again.
“Everly’s right. You’re so young. We don’t have to rush back into a relationship. But when you’re ready, I’m here. I’ve been waiting for you to return, just like I promised.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t remember.”
“I know.” Millie wiped her eyes. “The mind is weak, but the soul knows. I’ll catch you up on everything when you’re ready. But your past life shouldn’t diminish your current life. We’ll be together, but only when you’re ready.”
“I’m ready now,” Devon said. “Now that I’ve met you, I can’t imagine not being with you.”
It was the craziest thing I’d ever seen, and I’d seen plenty of crazy things over the last several weeks. As if he just remembered I was in the room, Devon turned to me then with a goofy grin. “Mind if I marry your aunt?”
“You just met! Maybe you should date her first.” His eighteen year old body had just begun to fill out into that of a man. His muscles were lean, and his curly brown hair was a mess. Next to my aunt’s perfectly put-together figure, he looked like a joke. She was hundreds of years old, and even to the average mortal eye, she appeared to be about forty. They would certainly draw negative attention. And yet, I suspected neither of them could care any less.
“Oh!” Devon held out the red envelope. “I almost forgot why I came. This is for you.”
Millie took the envelope with a frown. “Urgent? What could it be?” She slid a thumb under the seal and pulled out a small note.
While she read silently to herself, I turned back to Devon. “So, are you a messenger?”
He nodded. “Yeah, normally I’d be busy with school, but since the Order of the Keepers convention is coming up, they’ve called upon all of us to help with the increase in correspondence.”
“So you just squeeze in teleporting between classes?”
Devon laughed. “Yeah, pretty much.”
It was amazing to see it happen. I knew it was possible—after all, my own mother was supposedly a messenger just like this—but to actually witness it in person was beyond incredible.
Millie clutched the note she’d received and looked up to the ceiling. With a heavy sigh, she refocused her attention back to me, and took the chair across from me at the small table. “Everly, dear. I’ve just found the source of your headaches.”
“Great! What is it?” I was ready for some relief.
She slid the note across the table for me to examine. The paper was just a lab report. I picked it up and scanned the words, my pulse picking up in speed with each line of text. This wasn’t an ordinary lab report. This was a Keeper lab, specializing in elements outside of human comprehension. And my last vitamin—the one I’d given to Millie to research—brought up some very interesting results.
“How sure are you that this is accurate?”
Her face split into a full smile. “One hundred percent.”
“But… why?”
“She wanted to keep you safe.” Millie’s smile vanished and she grew serious again. “Everly, darling. This changes everything. Those vitamins were designed to bind your powers. Keeper powers. There’s no way your mother would have utilized something with such a high strength if you were fractured.”
“So I’m a Keeper?”
She nodded and reached for my hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Welcome to life as an Atlantean.”
CHAPTER 7
“When will they kick in?” My heart was thundering against my chest. I was Atlantean. Full blooded. A Keeper. With powers. Holy cow!
“How long has it been since your last dose?”
“About a week,” I said. “Maybe eight days?”
“I expect it will be soon, but it’s hard to say. Most binding substances are designed to be stored in the body long term, so that if you were to miss a dose, you would never know it. But with these specific pills coming from an unaccredited supplier…”
“Is that the nice way of saying black market?”
Millie frowned and ignored my question. “It’s hard to say. It could be any minute. Or it could be a few more weeks. For many young Keepers, their powers aren’t ignited until some kind of outer stimulus forces them into action.”
“Right, I’ve heard about that.” That’s why Tate and Clayton had brought me to the edge of my life so many times. They were trying to terrify the powers out of me. Which gave me an idea… “Thank you, Millie!” I wrapped her in a hug, nearly squeezing the life out of her. When I released her, I noticed Devon still standing awkwardly off to the side. “I’ll uh… let you two get back to catching up.”
I dashed through the curtain back into the front of the shop. Atlantean. I still couldn’t wrap my mind around it. I had to test it out, and I knew just the thing. I would just have to get alone, first.
“Hey Abby, I’m gonna go grab some lunch. If Millie asks where I am, let her know I’m with Sean.” The lie slipped out too easily. I would probably get caught, but hopefully it wouldn’t matter by then. I planned to have my powers kicked into high gear in no time. I wouldn’t need a guardian anymore.
I practically skipped down the sidewalk back to my apartment. Nothing could keep me down today. I was a powerful immortal being.
About three blocks away from our building, just on the outskirts of campus, I spotted Viv, the Olympian dealer from the St. A’s, chatting with some scrawny human-looking boy. A smug smile pulled at my lips. Sorry, Tate. Your girl is cheating on you with a mortal.
Except, she wasn’t. She pulled an envelope from her pocket and covertly handed it off to the boy. I took another look, just to be sure I knew what I was seeing. That kid was definitely mortal. There was no way such a sickly looking boy could be a Keeper. But his smile wasn’t sickly at all. No—it was st
rong, and menacing.
Viv gave the boy a stern look and then disappeared around a corner. His grin widened, and then he looked up and locked eyes with me from across the street. The smile faded into a scowl and he scurried off in the opposite direction.
That was strange. I should have probably just let it be, but a nagging curiosity urged me to follow him. I couldn’t resist a good mystery. Why would a black market dealer be conspiring with a mortal? Unless he wasn’t a mortal.
Not a Keeper. Not a mortal. That only left one other option. This kid was a fractured soul.
I picked up my pace, fully convinced now that I was going to catch him doing some dark magic in an alleyway somewhere. I shouldn’t have cared. I knew now that I didn’t need the fractured souls or Rasputin anymore. All I had to do was take one of the vision-inducing pills to locate my mother, and with Keeper powers, I could search their territories until I rescued her myself.
But then again, the visions might not work—not for an Atlantean. Wouldn’t it still be easier to dream waltz right into her mind and ask where she was being held? There weren’t any Atlantean powers that would give me such an advantage. Even when mine did emerge, it didn’t mean I’d be able to locate her.
So maybe meeting up with Rasputin wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all. I would just have to do it before my powers emerged, or he would refuse to see me. I was certain he wouldn’t agree to meeting with a full Keeper, but if I could convince him that I was fractured…
I’d been so wrapped up in my thoughts that I lost track of the fractured boy. Shoot. I stopped on the sidewalk, looking down the road to my left and right, before deciding to stick to my original plan. All this fractured soul and black market dealer nonsense was going to get me in trouble if I wasn’t careful. I turned back in the direction of my apartment and nearly ran right into the last person I wanted to see.
Osborne sneered at me. “Looking for someone?”
“No.” I shrugged him off and tried to pass him.
“Oh, I think you were. I saw you spying.”
“Spying on who?”
“The fractured boy. Is he one of your friends?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I tried to push past him again, but he reached out and grabbed my arm. “Ow! Get off of me!”
“I know you’re involved. And I’ll put the pieces together soon. Mark my words.”
I yanked my arm again, hard, but Osborne’s dirty fingers gripped me even tighter. I would probably be bruised.
“She said get off.”
A wave of electricity danced across my skin. Tate. My dark knight was saving me yet again.
Osborne’s grip loosened, but he didn’t let go. “You need to do a better job of keeping your pet on her leash. She’s stepping dangerously close to my territory, and I won’t hesitate to do your job for you if the occasion presents itself. I’ll gladly take the credit, too. Especially if it gets me into that shiny seat they supposedly have reserved for you.”
“Enough!” I’d never seen Tate so angry, except for maybe when Clayton tried to drown me. “Get your hands off of her. Now.”
Osborne’s lip curled into a seriously frightening snarl. He did as Tate asked, but not before giving my arm one final squeeze as hard as he could. I bit down on a whimper. He wouldn’t get the satisfaction of knowing he’d hurt me.
I waited until he turned away before trying to rub the feeling back into my bicep. Tate reached out to see the damage, and a soothing warmth spread from his fingers the moment his hand made contact with my arm.
“Oh, wow.” I closed my eyes briefly and inhaled, appreciating the comfort of his touch. “Is that some kind of healing power?”
“What?” Tate’s head tilted to one side, but he left his hand lingering gently on my arm. The feeling of his touch spread through me like hot cocoa on a cold day, warming me from the inside out and completely distracting me from the pain.
“That warm feeling.”
“You can feel that?” He yanked his hand quickly away. I wished he would put it back, but at least the soreness had disappeared before he removed it. “No. I can’t share any healing powers.”
“So what is it, then?”
He shrugged. “Probably your imagination.”
That wasn’t true. He’d admitted to feeling it, too. I wondered if he also got the tingling sensation when we were near each other. Maybe that’s how the hunters knew when they were close to their prey.
Tate turned back toward Riverside Dr., but I wasn’t going to let him get away so easily. This wasn’t a frequently traversed area outside of the campus, so he better have had a good explanation for how he suddenly appeared when I was in danger again.
“It’s strange how we keep running into each other in a city this big.” I pursed my lips and shot him an accusing look, scurrying to keep up with his long strides.
“Nah, it’s not strange. I’ve been following you.”
“What?”
“You knew that. I told you as much the first time we met in Central Park.”
“But I haven’t seen you around much, lately. It kind of seems like you only show up when I’m in danger.”
“Well, that’s when your powers are most likely to appear. I need to be there to catch you when it happens.”
“So you can lure me back to your lair and extract my soul?”
Half of his mouth pulled into a crooked grin, somehow looking more charming than calculating. I was such a fool for being attracted to a guy who just admitted to stalking me so he could eventually kill me.
“I like the word lair. It makes me sound like a mastermind.”
It struck me that Tate and I actually had similar goals now. He wanted my powers to appear just as badly as I did. And I didn’t have any reason to fear him anymore. Now that I knew I was a full-blooded Atlantean, he wouldn’t be able to extract my soul. I wasn’t fractured, but I didn’t have to tell him that.
“You know, if you’re going to follow me around the city, you may as well walk beside me instead of lurking in the shadows.”
He stopped and looked me dead in the eye. Side by side, it was much more evident how tall he was. He stood a good foot higher than my five-foot-six frame. I had to lift my chin to maintain eye contact.
“You’re not afraid of me anymore,” he said. “Why?”
“You don’t look very scary to me. Besides, if you were truly evil, you would have let me die when I fell off the yacht. Or when the gallery exploded.”
“That’s an over exaggeration—the gallery didn’t explode.”
“Or when Clayton tried to drown me. Or when Osborne tried to break my arm. Should I go on?”
“You do have a habit of getting yourself into trouble.”
“If you’re so determined to take my soul—assuming I’m even fractured—why don’t you try to get my powers jump-started yourself?”
Tate paused, and I could practically see the wheels turning in his mind. “Do you know something I don’t?”
“Guess you’ll have to wait and see…” I touched my fingertip to his chest on the last word and turned to walk ahead without him, ignoring the jolt of electricity that still had my hand tingling from where we touched.
I risked a quick glance over my shoulder and spotted Tate standing motionless on the sidewalk, his hand over the spot where I’d touched him.
CHAPTER 8
I chickened out. I couldn’t bring myself to take the vision-inducing pills. Maybe it was my conscience… or intuition. Or maybe it was the glowing yellow glare of my owl’s eyes through the window. But every time I picked up the envelope, I heard a voice in my brain that told me to set it back down again.
Technically, I was still a mortal until my powers kicked in, and taking an unknown substance like that now could be deadly. I would reconsider taking the pills once I was officially Atlantean. Until then, I would just dream of what having powers might feel like.
I tried to play it cool the next day. I didn’t want to reve
al the news about my powers to my friends until I had proof. It almost seemed too good to be true, even to me. But it must have been written all over my face.
“I don’t mean any offense by this, but are you feeling okay?” Sean studied me a little too closely on our walk to campus the next morning.
“I feel great. Why?” My voice came out in an overly enthusiastic high pitch, destroying any plausibility that I was telling the truth.
His eyes narrowed further. “Something’s up.”
“Nope. You’re wrong.” We stopped outside of my classroom building. Normally Sean would have waved goodbye here and continued toward his own class, but he seemed dead-set on getting to the bottom of my mood. He crossed his arms over his chest and opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off. I knew just the thing to keep him moving. “How’s Abby doing? She mentioned you guys might hang out this weekend.”
His jaw snapped shut and he shook his head. “See ya after class, Ev.”
Ha. Sucker. I was about to turn for the building when I spotted a familiar face across the lawn. He was too far away for me to be certain, but he looked a lot like the sick little mortal boy I saw the day before. He checked his watch and glanced around, like he was waiting for someone. Was he doing another deal with Viv, maybe? This seemed like a bad place to go unnoticed.
I knew I should have ignored him and gone to class. It was the right thing to do. It’s what Dom would have done. But who knew how long it would be before my powers came in? Millie mentioned it could be weeks.
And here was this fractured soul, right in front of me. I could talk to him now, and possibly find my mom today if he was willing to lead me to Rasputin. Why would I wait for my powers to come in when I could get my mom back today?
Ignoring the faulty logic behind my scheme, I moved for the boy. He glanced up and locked eyes with me again. As soon as he realized I was heading for him, he turned and jogged off toward the opposite side of campus.
I picked up my pace as well. That same voice in my head that urged me to set down the pills at home was screaming at me now to stop and turn back for class. But there was adrenaline pumping through my veins now. I was high on the thrill of a good mystery, and common sense went right out the window.