by C. L. Stone
Table of Contents
Tempest
Glow
Silent Pleas
When the Devil Chases You
A Strange Reunion
The Road to Recovery
An Illusion of Normal
We Don’t Run
Prep Work
Shopping
A Different World
I Am Not Waiting
Unsettled Ground
With Bated Breath
What You Mean to Me
Time’s Up
Waiting is the Worst
Thieving Never Changes
Homeless
Better Than Stealing
Captured
Traitors, All of Us
Your Enemies are Mine
Together, to Get Her
The Lucky Surviving Few
Join Us or Leave Us Be
~ A ~
Thank you!
Books By C. L. Stone
Prologue
Dust
About C. L. Stone
I went to the lanky body. I hadn’t really recognized it, but now looking at it, it was odd to see some old scars along his shoulder and at his lower back. Scars that were familiar to me, as I had similar…
I touched the black bag on his head but the moment I did, the body jerked around, coughing, body gyrating like he was retching.
“Get it off!” Buble called to me.
I gripped the top of it and yanked up.
My brother’s face appeared. Wil.
The Academy
The Scarab Beetle Series
TEMPEST
♠
Book Six
♠
Written by C. L. Stone
Published by
Arcato Publishing
Copyright © 2019 C. L. Stone
http://clstonebooks.com
All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.
BOOKS BY C. L. STONE
The Academy Ghost Bird Series:
Introductions
First Days
Friends vs. Family
Forgiveness and Permission
Drop of Doubt
Push and Shove
House of Korba
The Other Side of Envy
The Healing Power of Sugar
First Kiss
Black and Green
Love’s Cruel Redemption
Unsung Requiem (Coming Soon)
The Academy Scarab Beetle Series
Thief
Liar
Fake
Accessory
Hoax
Tempest
Gone (Coming Soon)
Charleston’s Leading Ladies
Evelyn
Celeste (previously published as Smoking Gun)
Rainee
Other C. L. Stone Books:
Favored (Kindle Unlimited Exclusive)
Melody
Girl in the Bearskin (Once Upon a Harem)
Thank you for downloading this book. Keep in touch with the author to find out about special releases and upcoming events, including spoilers, author chats and swag.
Click here to sign up for the newsletter.
It’s the best way to stay up to date with the latest from C. L. Stone.
Website: http://www.clstonebooks.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/CLStoneX
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/clstonex
GLOW
A hospital room is a horrible place to sleep. There’s always a light on, and nurses come to check on you at odd hours.
I stared at the popcorn ceiling panels, anticipating another nurse coming in to check the IV bag, again. A floor light cast an eerie glow that reflected against the shiny tile, and there was another light somewhere behind my hospital bed. The IV needle itched in my arm, and the stupid plastic getup they made me wear, I just wanted to rip it off and go naked.
Corey was asleep in a chair next to the bed. His head was tilted back, mouth open in an O shape as he breathed. He wore a dark sweater and jeans. His arms crossed over his broad, strong chest. How could he sleep in here? I hadn’t really slept, except for short naps, in days.
Maybe it was the medication I was on, but I was wired and antsy.
I was restless.
I wanted out.
I felt fine, but my uterus wanted to bleed all the time, which was annoying. I wanted to tell them to go ahead and take it out. Kayli Winchester, eighteen, having major surgery to stop herself from dying. That’s me.
Yet, I didn’t. As annoyed as I was, I stayed in the hospital, hoping they could fix me.
Hoping this wasn’t the cancer that killed my mother that they just somehow hadn’t detected yet.
I watched Corey sleeping, the rise and fall of his chest. He’d been here the most, and I was pretty sure it was because he managed to keep me reined in when I was ready to leave. I didn’t need to be here. I wasn’t sick enough to need supervision.
Part of me was sure they did it to keep me safe. They claimed the hospital was the safest spot in Charleston.
I didn’t want to be ungrateful, but a week in a hospital, staring at the same four walls and having nurses bark at me to take medication on time, was getting to be too much for me.
The sound of soft-soled shoes scooting along linoleum out in the hallway directed my attention to the door, anticipating another nurse.
The door opened.
A tall figure with wide shoulders loomed, looking in.
I couldn’t tell exactly which one, as his face was in shadow, backlit by the lights in the hallway, but I was sure it was one of the guys.
He came in and touched Corey on the shoulder. “Hey,” he said. “Awake?”
Axel. Still in shadow, but now I could at least recognize his shape, the way his shoulder-length hair was tied back on his head at the base of his neck. The jacket he wore bulked out his shoulders, but his waist was narrower compared to the other guys.
Corey sat up quickly and rubbed at his face. “Did I miss something?” he said in a groggy voice.
“No,” Axel said. “Just wanted to give you a chance to go home.”
“I can stay,” he said, stretching and yawning, sitting up. He looked at me. “How are you?”
“Perfect.” I let the sarcasm drip heavily. “If you don’t want to go, want to change places?”
He stood up and came to stand next to the bed. He towered over it since he was so tall. “Need anything?”
“Steak,” I said, picturing a sirloin in my brain, my mouth watering already. “Proper steak. Not the chopped mush they serve here.”
Corey glanced at Axel. “If I go find her something...”
“I’ll stay with her,” Axel said. He turned, and a reflection of light glinted off the glasses he wore. The lines of his face deepened with dark shadows, making his face a little eerie.
Corey nodded to him and then leaned over, kissing my forehead. “I’ll sneak you in something.”
“Two steaks,” I said. “And apple pie.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” He shuffled to the door, closing it behind him.
The room darkened. Axel came close to the bed. He stood at the foot, reached over, and grasped my ankle. “How are you?”
“I wish people would stop asking me that,” I said, and sat up completely, pulling my leg from his hold. I swung my body over to sit on the edge of the bed then stood, stretching as much as the IV line would allow.
H
e put his hands back into the pockets of his jacket. Keys in his left inside, wallet in his right front pants pocket.
I’d been practicing with the doctors since I got here. After nearly losing it to a concussion, I was getting better again about guessing what was in people’s pockets.
He was quiet for a long while, like he was waiting for me to answer him truthfully.
“Do I have to stay here?” I asked.
“Do you want to get out of here for a while?” he said at the same time.
I opened my eyes wide and pushed my hand to the center of my chest, between my breasts. “Can I go?”
“Not officially,” he said, but he nodded to the door. “But if you want a break, I could sneak you out for a while.”
Hell yes.
He came over, and as gently as possible, took the IV needle out of my skin and left it aside. He pushed a few buttons on the IV machine, shutting it down.
I found a pair of sweatpants one of the guys left behind. Axel took off his jacket and passed it to me, leaving him in a T-shirt.
He was wearing sweatpants as well, an odd look for him. Had he just put on whatever to come break me out of here?
I passed him back his keys from his pocket. I was ready except for being barefoot, but he peeked out into the hallway and then motioned for me to follow him. “Keep your head down,” he whispered.
I followed close behind him, becoming his shadow, keeping my face to his back.
We walked through dim hallways and some areas where I was sure it was supposed to be doctors only.
Eventually, we were downstairs and going through a hall of doctors’ offices.
At the end of the hallway stood Dr. Green, a familiar face to me now as he had stopped by often, usually to check in and drop off a piece of candy. I liked him a lot.
However, I was pretty sure he wouldn’t allow me to leave the hospital.
He had his back to an exit and looked at Axel and me.
I braced myself to be sent back to my room. At least I’d gotten to walk around the hospital a bit.
Axel approached him, and as he did, Dr. Green pushed his back against the door, opening it to the outside.
“I’ll have her back before sunrise,” Axel said as he hurried past to the sidewalk outside.
“I never saw a thing,” Dr. Green said, sharing a conspiratorial wink with me as I walked past.
He was letting me go! I really liked him now.
Axel’s red Jeep Cherokee was parked out along the sidewalk.
“You planned this,” I said as we approached the vehicle, stepping carefully since I was barefoot. “You got him involved.”
“You could have said no,” he said then opened the passenger door for me.
I got in quickly. I breathed fresh air, so different from bleach and the cleaners used in the hospital. I nestled into the seat and even put my seatbelt on.
Axel got in, buckled up, and drove out of downtown.
I thought he was just going to drive around downtown, but he got on the interstate and headed toward Folly Beach.
I had my head back, eyes gazing out the windshield, not talking, just curious. He seemed to have a destination in mind, and since he wasn’t talking either, I was letting him surprise me. I didn’t even care what it was, I was just so glad to be free. I absorbed the sight of trees and buildings as he drove us past it all. Most everything was lit by the bright moon. Its seemingly bluish light reflected off windows and dewy grass blades.
We crossed several bridges on the drive out to the island. Once we hit the main strip on Folly, he went all the way to the last road and made a right.
The south end of Folly Beach was a park. It was supposed to be closed. Restricted from being built on, it was all naturally flat, with green beach grasses growing. There was a parking lot close to a small sand dune. A wooden bridge crossed over the dune, giving access to the beach beyond it.
He parked, and I jumped out the moment the car was still. The cool air hit my lungs. I snuggled the jacket I wore around me.
I strained to hear the ocean, but on this side of the sand dune, it was hard to hear.
Axel came around the Jeep and took my hand, guiding me toward the steps. “I hope we’re on time,” he said.
“For what?”
He said nothing but urged me on.
I followed behind, glad to be barefoot and to feel the sand under my feet. The beach here, once beyond the dune, was very flat, and the waves were barely cresting white. There was the smallest breeze, which made it a little chilly.
There was no one around that I could see. We had the beach to ourselves. There was one lone lifeguard tower nearby, but it was dark. The moonlight gave everything around us a bit of a surface glow, but it wasn’t enough to see clear details.
There was something odd in the waves, some sort of whiteness just below the surface.
He brought me to the edge of the water and then motioned to my feet. “Roll up your pants. It’ll be a little cold.”
It was November. Or was it December already? I wasn’t sure, but I was more than sure it would be freezing. “Are you nuts?” I asked.
“You won’t want to miss it.” He bent over, rolling up his own pants.
I did, too. Was the water exceptionally warm for some reason? Some sort of strange tide?
I rolled the oversized sweatpants up to mid-thigh, tight so they wouldn’t fall back down.
He let me go in first, urging me out.
He had to be crazy.
The whiteness in the water started to follow my feet, and as the first splash of a gentle wave rolled over my ankles, it became a blue, luminous glow.
Sea sparkle.
I stood in the water up to mid-calf, letting it wash over my legs again and again as the waves rolled round me. The water was cold, numbing. With each wave, very, very tiny marine life reacted, glowing around me.
I tugged off the jacket, not caring that I was half naked now. Maybe I should have kept the hospital gown on, but no one was around, so it didn’t matter. I wanted to reach my hands in and prolong the glowing.
Axel took the jacket from me, and I bent over, sticking my hands into the water.
The more vigorously I shook my hands, the more the shimmery blue illumination glowed around me.
“It’s the dinoflagellates,” Axel said quietly. “There was a lot floating this way. It’ll be gone tomorrow. I knew you wouldn’t want to miss it.”
I stood up, looking at him, feeling only a little odd that I was standing with my pant legs rolled up so high, my bare breasts exposed under the light of the moon, with little, glowing organisms crashing around me with the waves.
My heart was wild—for what was going on around us, and for him. I couldn’t talk. I wouldn’t dare let him know how I shook internally, too overwhelmed with joy to make words.
The air around us seemed to still, or I managed to ignore it. I could only see him. I reached for him. He came closer.
I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling my body against his.
I kissed him hard, hoping he felt the fire he ignited in me.
Axel replied, his kiss intense. He pulled back only once to toss the jacket as far onto the beach as he could, and then returned.
He held me, his arms around my back, eventually pulling me up and out of the water to wrap my legs around his waist.
He kissed my lips, my cheeks, my eyes, then trailed back to my mouth.
I wove my fingers into his hair, loosening the tie that bound his long dark locks.
He loved me. I knew it. He didn’t have to say it.
I could feel it coming from him. I needed him, loved him.
I’d do anything to prove it to him.
SILENT PLEAS
We weren’t out in the cold for long. After our feet got too numb to continue, Axel and I got back into the car, throwing the heat on full blast for the drive back.
“I’m sure Corey’s back by now,” I said. “And a nurse probably knows I’m gone.”
Axel said nothing, driving with one hand and leaning an elbow against his window. He gazed at the road, lost in thought.
I didn’t want to interrupt him. It couldn’t be illegal for me to leave the hospital, right? What was wrong with a bit of fresh air?
Or was that what he was worried about?
The sun was on the horizon, just behind the trees and buildings, and brought enough light to make pink and purple clouds across the sky. The roads were mostly empty along the way, except for the street just in front of the hospital, where more than a few had lined up to get into parking spaces. I wasn’t sure who was up at this early hour. Maybe the morning staff was coming in to relieve the night crew.
Axel parked his Cherokee in the back of the lot near the hospital. We took the long way around the building to find another side door to enter from. I was still barefoot and had the jacket zipped up completely. Axel followed beside me, his head down, his lips tight.
He was preparing, like I was. There wasn’t a chance a nurse hadn’t noticed I was gone by now. They checked in on me all the time.
When Axel and I got back to the wardroom, we stalled outside the door. There were voices inside.
“I don’t know where they are,” Dr. Green was saying. “She could just be walking around the hospital.”
“For this long?” Corey asked. “It took me a while to get the food she wanted. I thought she really wanted this steak.”
At the mention of food, I stopped snooping and opened the door. With Axel behind me, I headed inside, trying to appear completely innocent. I was ready with a comment about taking a tour of the parking lot on my lips.
I only stalled when it wasn’t just Corey and Dr. Green standing next to the bed, inspecting it. Dr. Roberts had joined them. The older gentleman was a nice guy, but he was starting to be a real pain in the ass lately.
He turned first, followed by the others, who seemed curious and bemused I was waltzing in.
“Hi,” Corey said with a small smirk. Relief flooded in where he’d looked tense before.
“Hey,” I said as casual as could be. I was going to crawl into bed like I was supposed to, but with the three of them in the way, I just stood and eyeballed the restaurant takeout Corey was holding.