“First of all, nothing is forever.” He held out a finger as if counting. “And second, why focus on that? I didn't raise you to give up easily.”
“I'm not giving up.” I couldn’t give up on Daisy.
"You wanted to." Hailey walked into the room. "You should have seen him dad, he even had a beard."
"Yeah?" Dad studied my face.
I shrugged off my annoyance at Hailey’s words. It didn’t matter. "I needed time to process things."
"You gave up."
"I'm not giving up now. I'm ready." I jumped to my feet.
"What's your plan?” Dad asked Hailey.
I wasn't going to let my little sister call all the shots. I answered before she could. "We are starting with Georgina’s friend Mayanne. She knows more than she's told us about the Allures."
Dad nodded. "That's a smart place to start. There's also your Uncle Jim."
"Uncle Jim?" That was a name I hadn’t heard my dad mention before.
"You've never met him."
“Is there a reason we haven’t met him?” Hailey asked the question on my mind.
Dad appeared to mull over his answer. “He left The Society. I didn’t think you were ready to understand his decisions.”
“Uh, when did you think we would be ready?” Hailey narrowed her eyes.
“I didn’t know if you’d ever be.”
“Yet you’re telling us about him now?” Evidently my situation had changed his mind.
“You fell in love with an Allure, a creature The Society claims doesn’t exist, and you accept that. I figure that means you’re ready to accept The Society isn’t infallible.” Dad smiled.
“And I’m included in this?” Hailey rested a hand on the doorframe.
“You’re willing to help your brother in all this. That says all I need to know.”
“Where is this mystery uncle of ours?” Hailey walked over and sat on the arm of the couch.
“Baton Rouge.”
“As in the capital of Louisiana?” I asked.
“Yeah. Not far.”
“Exactly.” Hailey hopped off the arm. “We have an uncle living less than two hours away, and you really kept that from us?”
“You weren’t upset a minute ago.”
“That was when I was picturing him living on another continent.” Hailey sounded exasperated, and I understood. She’d always wanted a bigger extended family.
Dad was used to Hailey’s outbursts and wasn’t bothered. “Your mother and I made the right decision. We wanted to protect you and my brother.”
“Because The Society can’t know where he is.” Understanding dawned on me. “You’re only telling me because I walked away from my position.” But then I thought of something else. “Hailey hasn’t.”
“I trust Hailey understands the importance of discretion.” Dad gave her a serious look.
“I understand the importance of family.” Hailey’s words were weighted, and we all knew it.
“Do you really think Levi would do anything?” I knew my best friend was powerful, but he was also reasonable.
Dad looked down at the floor and then back at me. “Levi is your friend. He is a good king, but kings have rules to follow.”
“Did Uncle Jim do something wrong?” Hailey asked.
Dad shrugged. “We all do things that are seen as wrong by certain people. The question is whether what we do is right for everyone else.”
Hailey shook her head. “Because that isn’t a sketchy answer.”
“I can let your uncle fill you in. Some stories are better told by the person who experienced them.”
“Is Mom going to be okay with us meeting him?” Hailey adjusted the strap of her tank-top.
“Yes.” Dad nodded. “You’re both adults now, and I think Jim may be able to help you. Or at least he’ll know who can.”
Hailey looked at me. “What do you think? Do we try our secret uncle before Mayanne?”
I appreciated Hailey throwing the decision over to me first. “Mayanne has held information back from us before, which makes her riskier.”
“True. But she’s a little closer.” She made a reasonable point.
“You’re Pterons. Distance shouldn’t be such an issue.” Dad laughed.
“That’s true.” Hailey nodded. “Ok, let’s meet this uncle. I want to know why he’s been kept from us.”
“You really think he can help?” I desperately hoped this wasn’t a worthless detour, and I wanted to trust my dad. He’d never let me down before.
Dad nodded. “I do. Or as I said, he’ll know someone who can.”
“So when do we go?” Hailey shifted her weight from foot to foot.
“Let me talk to Mom, and then I say we head over. There aren’t too many hours of darkness left.” Dad rose to his feet.
“Good point.” And I’d wasted enough time already.
“I’ll be right back.” Dad headed out into the hallway.
“Wait, Dad?” I called after him.
He turned back. “Yes?”
“What were you going to tell me? About why you were up?” I hadn’t forgotten his sleeplessness. Pterons don’t sleep much, but we do some.
“It can wait. This is more time sensitive.”
“You sure?” I wanted to make sure there wasn’t something major going on I needed to know about.
“Positive. Get ready to go.”
He disappeared through the doorway, leaving Hailey and me alone in the dark den.
“We have an uncle we’ve never met.” Hailey said it out loud, but I sensed she was saying it more to herself.
“That we do.”
“How many other secrets do you think they’ve been hiding from us?”
“How many have we been hiding from them?” Daisy wasn’t the only secret I’d kept over the years. I wasn’t sure when I’d stopped confiding in my parents, but it had been years. I either dealt with things on my own or went to my friends for help. That was probably a really normal part of growing up, but there was something almost sad about it.
Hailey got a serious look. “Promise you won’t do that to me anymore.”
“Do what?”
“Keep secrets. You’re my only brother. I need you to always level with me.”
“Same to you. I know you hide things from me.”
“Only the important things.” She grinned.
“Don’t ever change.”
“I don’t plan on it.”
“Good.” I smiled. My little sister could be annoying, but she could also be awesome. And she was definitely closer to the awesome side at the moment. “Thanks for helping me with this.”
“Like I said, you’re my only brother. If I had more I might have to divide my time.”
“Glad Mom stopped with you then.”
She laughed. “Although I did always want a sister.”
“I wanted a brother, but it all works out in the end.”
“It does.” She stretched. “And you’ll pay me back after this is all over.”
“Will I?”
“Yes. You always find ways to help me out.”
“I thought my sage advice was enough,” I teased.
“It is. Sometimes. Although I’ve been the one dishing out the sage advice lately.”
“Isn’t that a bit frightening?” I laughed.
“Yes. It is. It means I’m getting older.”
“You can’t freak out about your age when you’re in your early twenties.”
“I’m not freaking out. I’m facing reality.”
“Ok, well let’s face this reality in Baton Rouge.” I headed out into the hallway ready to find Daisy.
5
Daisy
“You want to manipulate here?” I tried to understand why the others had brought me to a cemetery in the middle of the night. I stopped right in front of the wrought-iron gate with a sign that clearly read ‘Closed at Dusk.’ “Everyone here is dead.”
“I specifically said we weren’t manipul
ating. Remember the amusement park?”
I thought back to the abandoned park they’d brought me to what felt like ages ago. Violet had been in a state of euphoria. She had talked about all of the mixed emotions running through the air. The happiness, the fear. The Allures seemed to nearly get high off the experience. “But this is a cemetery, won’t all the feelings be of mourning?”
Violet shook her head. “No. People come here to remember, to think about the happy times too. But even the sad emotions aren’t bad.”
“What are we waiting for then?” I was tired of the numbness. “Why are we standing out here?”
“Why don’t you lead the way?” Hugh smirked, which made me hesitate.
“What’s the catch?”
“What makes you think there’s a catch?” His eyes twinkled.
Now I knew there was a catch. “Why are you telling me to go first?”
“He wants you to have the experience alone for the first time.” Violet pointed to the gate.
“Hugh never does stuff like that. He wants entertainment, which means there’s something else going on.” I spoke calmly. I wasn’t upset by his actions and motivations because I couldn’t be.
“The first time can be a bit overwhelming. That’s all.” Roland walked to my side. “We can do it together.”
“Ok.” I was anxious to try it out. I needed to get rid of the numbness, and manipulating didn’t seem to be doing the trick. Maybe this would work better for me.
I climbed the wrought iron gate with Roland right beside me. We jumped down onto the manicured lawn on the other side.
My head swam with thousands of voices and thoughts. My chest tightened and felt like it might explode. I grabbed onto Roland for support.
Somewhere in the background I heard Hugh laughing, but that didn’t matter. I was too busy trying to zero in on individual emotions, trying to savor them.
Happiness swirled through me, and I could almost feel myself being swung around like a little girl by her father. It was dizzying, and it was wonderful. Tears of happiness spilled down my face. But then the happiness stopped and was replaced by a sadness. It felt like a hole in my heart had opened up and everything was being sucked inside. The dad was no longer swinging me. He was lying on a bed and he looked pale as a ghost. The happy tears turned to sad ones. The pain in my chest intensified, and it took everything I had to stay standing.
“Keep moving. The intensity will break you.” Roland’s voice sounded far away.
I let him lead me. I wanted to get away from the sadness that had me ready to fall to my knees.
Anger flooded through me. Then panic. Then another wave of extreme sadness. And then acceptance. I never knew acceptance had such a unique feel. The emotion didn’t get as much credit as it should have. I held onto it, wanting to keep it for myself, but it started to drift away.
And then a sweetness twisted with pain flooded me. It was so beautiful but so hard to handle. Two sets of lips kissing. Two people dancing. Two old wrinkled hands holding each other. My chest compressed; I struggled to breath. I felt two arms coming around me as my head spun. Memories came back to me in waves. A familiar set of lips. A different set of hands. Whispered words, and a movie on the lawn. I gasped for air, struggling to surface to a place I had believed was forever gone.
Owen’s voice echoed through my head. His laughter filled me, and my tears started again. This time for myself. I could taste his lips. I could feel his body pressed against mine and the passion we’d shared in the short time we were given. And then, just as suddenly, it was all gone.
I opened my eyes. I was lying on the grass, completely numb again.
“Daisy?” Violet kneeled next to me. “Are you okay?”
“Why did you stop it?” I sat up. “It was amazing. Why did you pull me away?” Anger surged through me. I didn’t know if it was my own emotion or not, but I felt it.
“You had a more intense reaction than most of us. But it was positive?” She wrinkled her brow.
“It was him.” Most of the experience was slipping away, but I struggled to hold onto what I could. The pure joy.
“You felt the Pteron?” Roland said with disgust. “That’s impossible.”
“Unless it isn’t.” Violet ran her hand over my forehead. “There’s something wrong. The transformation is messed up. We all know that.”
“It’s just delayed.” Roland shook his head. “It’s all going to work. We need to be patient.”
“We’ve been waiting weeks. It should have taken days.” Violet fell back into a sitting position next to me.
The feelings flitted away, and I accepted the numbness that replaced it. “What does this mean?”
“It means we’re going to have to go Louie.” Hugh sat down beside Violet. “We can’t have a half-baked Allure running around.”
“Half-baked?” Anger surged again. I latched on to it, letting it flow through my veins.
“Uh, Daisy. Calm down there.” Violet gave Hugh a look.
Then just as suddenly the anger disappeared.
“No more trips to graveyards until we figure this out.” Roland paced. “And I still think there is one easy solution.”
“She doesn’t want you, man.” Hugh returned to his feet. “Maybe she’ll want Louie now. If that’s the case you’re going to have to deal.”
“She’s not going to want Louie.” Roland gritted his teeth.
“For once I agree with you, Roland.” He was far too creepy for my taste.
“You haven’t seen him since your change, so you don’t actually know.” Hugh shrugged.
“My messed up change.”
“Maybe there was something else in that witch’s potion. Something that needs to be cleaned from her system.” Roland seemed to be talking to himself.
“And how do you suppose we clean it?” Violet asked.
“Wait. No one is cleaning anything from my system.” The thought brought all sorts of negative connotations with it.
“You’d feel better.” Violet looked into my eyes. “The numbness you complain about will be gone. You should be able to manipulate all emotions. Wouldn’t that be nice?”
“I liked my own feelings.” I wished I could feel the loss. I wanted to remember their significance.
“They aren’t your own. Or they shouldn’t be.”
“Why not?” I sat up.
“Oh no.” Violet looked up at the sky.
“What?”
“You’re trying to convince yourself you can turn back.”
“No I’m not.” My head was foggy, and all I wanted to do was go for a swim.
“He’s gone to you.” Violet scooted over and put her hands on either side of my face. “This process may be taking longer, but it’s happening. And you want it to.”
“Why?”
“Because if you don’t the Elders will kill you and the Pteron, and they won’t make the death pleasant.” Hugh cut right to the chase. I was learning to appreciate his bluntness.
“Hugh.” Violet frowned.
“It’s the truth and you know it. You like her, so let’s try to keep her alive.”
“Why would they kill me?”
“They will think you tricked them. You didn’t accept their option, so you had to take the consequences. To do anything but change would be to throw it in their face.”
“Louie might kill her too…” Roland stopped his pacing.
“Why? I have Taylor’s essence. I thought that meant he’d want me.”
“He would, but not if you’re not an Allure. Otherwise he’d try to get the essence out.”
“He wouldn’t kill her.” Hugh shook his head. “The essence wouldn’t survive it. He’d find a way to push the change.”
“We don’t know that for sure.” Violet moved to her knees.
Roland froze. “We have to keep this quiet. He won’t know if she doesn’t tell him.”
“He’s her maker, he’ll know.”
“We only know because we’re a
ttuned to her. We can hide this. Especially if she stays with me. I can mask it.” Roland’s eyes gleamed.
“Or we can try to fix it before Louie shows up,” Violet suggested.
“And how do you suggest that? You keep shooting down the one plausible method.” Roland rolled his eyes.
“I’m going home.” I was bored listening to them argue. If I couldn’t go back to my old existence, I didn’t care. Whatever it was that was messed up was making it impossible to move on.
“You will eventually enjoy this life.” Violet linked arms with mine.
“So you say.”
“You were happy in the graveyard.”
“Because of my feelings that you say I have to lose.”
“No, you were happy before that. Your whole body absorbed the emotions. It was clear on your face.”
“Do you miss your old life?” Maybe focusing on Violet would help dull the numbness.
“Sometimes. The longer I’ve been an Allure, the harder it is to remember, but the more I notice it’s missing. But it’s all part of our existence. There are so many emotions out there to take.“
“Can we move on?” I asked as I slipped into the passenger seat of her car.
“To a new place?” Violet started the car.
“Yes. Somewhere different. Maybe a city.”
“You want more options to manipulate?”
“I want new scenery.” Something different to help pass the time.
“Where do you want to go?”
“Somewhere I’ve never been but with a history. I liked that graveyard thing.” It had been the rush I needed.
“I know the perfect place.” Violet smiled.
“Daisy, you have no idea what you just got yourself into.” Hugh laughed.
6
Owen
Flying was different now. The enjoyment I always found from being airborne was gone and replaced by a longing for Daisy. The adrenaline was missing. The sense of feeling alive had disappeared.
“You okay?” Hailey spoke softly as she flew beside me. “You look sick.”
“I’m fine.” I shrugged off her concern. I would be fine if I could get Daisy back.
Lost (The Allure Chronicles Book 3) Page 4