by Jenn Nixon
Chapter 12
Cyndra ran off the dock first, happier to see the lighthouse than she expected, and ignored the rumble in her belly when Zorin’s energy cocooned her as he glided by. Jack, beaming and teary-eyed, ruffled Rune’s hair playfully as he gazed around the island.
“Well?” she asked, eyeing the mansion, just as an added precaution.
“Looks the same,” Jack responded, shaking his head slightly as he tilted it up to view the top of the lighthouse. “Does it still work?”
Hasn’t been on since we’ve been here. Rune shook his head and followed Zorin’s trail to the door.
Cyndra took up the rear, leaving the heavy unpacking for later, yet unsure she was ready to be near him in such a small space again. Chatting up Jack had distracted her long enough to make it to the island without thinking much about what happened when Zorin siphoned her in the woods. He was keeping it open, fully, perhaps testing her or trying to entice her, for reasons she didn’t understand, yet thrilled her equally. Zorin didn’t stand a chance if she decided to break his chaste resolve.
With the vanishing sunlight too dim to appreciate the garden, and no good excuse on the tip of her tongue, Cyndra entered the lighthouse and climbed the lengthy staircase spiraled along the wall, hoping they’d eat and not talk, unless to figure out who was crashing where for the night. Not that she intended on sleeping anytime soon.
Taking extra time on the last few steps, Cyndra sighed when the gorgeous living space came into view.
“Omigod, you have a working shower! Does it get warm?” Jack gaped, standing in the middle of the room near the few bags Zorin carried upstairs.
If it’s sunny out, usually it’s lukewarm.
“Still, better than what most trailers offer,” Cyndra added as she crossed the room and set her bag on the table. Zorin glanced back from the stove with a knife and head of lettuce in his hand. Looking at her gargoyle for longer than a second made her cheeks burn. She turned to Rune. “What’s for dinner?”
Salad, with dressing. Seared chicken and veggie rice.
“Ooh, you found rice? Awesome. Gonna tell me what else you got?” Cyndra sat in one of the three chairs near the table and reaching for the journal, wishing it had a chapter labeled caster tips for couples.
Cyndra listened to the long list Rune acquired with the extra dollars she’d given him and tried to keep her eyes off Zorin as he prepared the meal. The close quarters really didn’t help. When Jack sat down, Cyndra showed him the book and let him read it over while she went into the living room to unpack her kitchen items from the trailer.
As she carried a stack of plates, bowls and a handful of utensils to the kitchen, Jack sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. Rune, never one to miss the chance to lend an ear, sat across from him, having a private conversation.
Cyndra hated to interrupt and set everything down on the icebox then stared out the window near the staircase. It only took a second to feel Zorin staring at her. What?
Look at me.
She did. Are you teasing me on purpose?
No, he inched closer.
Your siphon is open. She stepped back. All the way.
I know.
You know what it does to me.
Yes, I do, he replied, breathing heavier.
Cyndra shuddered. I thought you wanted to wait.
I need it to remain open. He pressed his lips together. I couldn’t sense the soulless because I wasn’t strong enough, Cyndra.
“Why didn’t you tell me,” she snapped, furrowing her brow.
“I’m telling you now.”
Limiting the siphon, though helpful to her libido, weakened Zorin. “Idiot.”
“Everything okay?” Jack asked carefully.
Cyndra nodded, taking the last seat at the table, and motioning to the book, doing her best to ignore the sensation of Zorin’s on the back of her head again. “Useful?”
“Very,” he said and shut it closed. “I’ll read it through in the morning, after the grand tour of the mansion and garden.”
Rune grinned. Between the three of us, we can quadruple the size, and maybe start an orchard.
“Fruit is a must,” Cyndra nodded.
“We bought plenty of seeds,” Jack added.
“Dinner’s ready,” Zorin announced, setting a spoon in the pot of rice. “Enjoy.”
Jack frowned. “You’re not—”
Thanks, Zorin, Rune interrupted.
Cyndra met his gaze just before he disappeared upstairs.
Both casters turned to her.
“Complicated, we’re trying to stay focused.” Cyndra sighed. “I’m sure now that we’re back here it’ll be easier. I can honestly say suppressing my elements on the mainland sucked.”
I know what you mean. Rune got up to fix everyone a plate full of more food than any of them deserved.
Overjoyed, Cyndra wasted no time sampling the home-cooked meal and taking her time enjoying her friend’s company, even the strength of the siphon connecting her to Zorin as he flew further away.
While the conversation ebbed and flowed from the journal to their memories of the island, and humorous stories from their past, Cyndra decided not to bring up the mirror or Mergan or the missing wraiths, aware tomorrow would be here soon enough.
When Rune yawned, Cyndra smirked and started cleaning up the table. “You two can flip a coin for the bedroom.”
You take it, Jack. It’s your first night here. It’s lumpy but worth it. Cyndra can have the couch. I have that roll-up mat.
“Only if you sure,” Jack said while Rune nodded.
“I’ll be fine on the floor, want to finish cleaning up,” Cyndra said, scraping the plates and stacking them on the stove, more than happy to delay going to sleep. “I still have to unpack the rest of my bags anyway.”
After the group parted for the evening, Cyndra washed the dishes in the bathroom, put everything away, and took a break to shower and change her clothes. By the time she finished, Rune and Jack were both sleeping soundly and Zorin was upstairs in the service room.
Stifling a yawn, Cyndra shut her eyes and rubbed her forehead, still not ready to sleep, vowing to keep Mergan or the nightmares out of her head as long as possible.
She spent the next three hours quietly taking the pieces of her life out of her backpack and a duffle bags and sprinkling them around the lighthouse, hoping it didn’t seem cluttered when the others woke. Cyndra wondered if the windows were large enough to get her solar clock running again, it was hard to tell time from so high up.
It seemed the middle of the night and she still had no desire to sleep.
Thinking a fire would likely wake someone, Cyndra went to the kitchen and found her water bottle, went to the sink to fill it, then took a healthy sip.
Halfway through reading the journal, again, she heard scratching on the ceiling above. Remembering Zorin clawing the floor last week, she jumped from her seat and dashed to the stairs.
“Enough,” he murmured from above.
Cyndra darted up.
“Lies,” he growled, digging his fingers into the floor where he slept.
“Zorin,” she called softly as she moved closer.
“Stop!” he cried.
Cyndra set her hand on his shoulder and knelt beside him, pushing calming energy into his body. Zorin, wake up.
Zorin flew over golden fields letting the sun warm his skin and the wind whip through his hair. When he landed near a crystal blue pond that couldn’t possibly exist, he understood where he was, and spun around, looking for Mergan.
Cyndra came out of the water in a long white, wet dress that hugged her curvy body. Something he’d never imagine her wearing.
“Where are you,” he rumbled, turning from the vision of Cyndra coming toward him.
Then she spoke with a different voice. “Always near, my pet.”
“I’m not releasing you, Mergan.”
Cyndra’s likeness slithered closer, seductively, locking onto him with eyes
he could never ignore. “Do you think she truly needs you, cares for you?”
“You will not rile me.”
“No need, you already know the truth. You’ve seen her in his arms. She’ll choose Jack-Jack in the end; he’s not a monster like you.”
“Enough.”
“Only the truth, pet.” The false Cyndra licked her lips. “And a monster you’ll remain. Once she sees the pain you’ll both endure, she’ll refuse to turn you back.”
“Lies.”
“I can show you,” she snickered, lifting her hands.
Zorin’s wings spread outward, pulling at the muscles on his back. His skin shrank and cracked, falling off his body.
He dropped to his knees. “Stop!”
Zorin, wake up.
His eyes flew open. Both hands shot out, capturing Cyndra’s arms. He shifted to his feet in a heartbeat, trapping her against the wall. Enough, Mergan.
“Just me, Cyndra,” she gasped, staring into his eyes as her body shook.
Zorin absorbed her power by mere touch, filling every inch of skin with her fire, devouring her energy. “What do you want, caster?”
“To make sure you’re okay,” she said, lifting her hand toward his face.
He jerked back and uncurled his hands from her arms.
“More than a bad dream?” Cyndra’s worried eyes softened.
“Where’s Jack?”
“Sleeping, what does he—” She tilted her head. “What did Mergan say?”
“Nothing I haven’t seen myself.”
“Don’t try using jealousy with me, you know how I feel about you,” she snapped. “That’s not what this is about.”
“You told me to siphon you if I needed to.”
“I know and I almost hurt you with my flare because I wasn’t prepared,” Cyndra said, shaking her head. “I got so excited, I lost control.”
“This is becoming dangerous, Cyndra. If we cannot focus or—”
“What?” Cyndra met his eyes, staring at him with hot cheeks and growing power. “Can’t we just see what happens when we stop trying to help each other by holding back?”
“Yes,” he said, cupping the back of her head. “Not yet. Not while the dream lingers. She had your face in the dream, to taunt me.”
Cyndra placed her hands on his chest and pushed off. “Then go fly, clear your head. I’m done containing or suppressing or ignoring this, I think that’s more dangerous. If it’s too much, tell me, and I’ll do the same.”
Zorin brushed his finger along her jaw as she backed away wanting her power yet unsure he was ready to feel her inside him so strongly. He nodded and stared down. “I will take the brunt of our struggle if you ask it of me, Cyndra. I’ll draw down your power so it won’t sway your feelings and alter your elemental control.”
“If I need you to, I’ll ask, promise,” Cyndra replied, moving toward the staircase. “I’ll cut up some fruit for breakfast and everyone can have a quarter of the pastry. We didn’t get to it yesterday afternoon.”
“I’ll check Rune’s tea plant on my way in,” Zorin said, offering a weak smile. “I meant what I said, Cyndra. Soon.”
Her cheeks flushed as she disappeared down the stairs, freeing the excited energy from her usual constraints. Instead of stimulating him, he felt balanced and clear-minded, ready to see where the new arrangement led them.
The final wall between him and Cyndra may be the hardest to admit. He knew she’d empathize, possibly deny herself what she wanted when he confessed. As much as he wanted her, needed her, right now, he was not himself. She needed to know his truth before it went any further.
Zorin exited the lighthouse and circled the walkway as he used to do every day, for twenty-five years before Cyndra, Rune, and Jack returned to his life, this island.
Whatever came of his attraction to Cyndra could not distract from his mission to protect the last casters of Earth. If they found no way of unlocking the prison and came across no other newly awakened casters, these three needed to help the world heal before their kind vanished for good.
Chapter 13
Cyndra set the last plate of fruit on the table, hearing Jack in the bedroom and Rune finishing up with the shower. She didn’t look forward to telling them about Zorin, but maybe it would speed up the process. They needed to decide.
Jack came out of the room and winked, making her blush again, like a brother teasing her, and smiled at the spread on the table as he sat. “Pleasant morning. Did you do all this?”
“Yeah, we have a lot to talk about and do today,” she began, turning to the lavatory as the door swung open. “Mornin’.”
Same to you, Rune replied, filling the last seat at the table.
“Zorin should be back soon. He needed to clear his head,” Cyndra said, sitting down and plucking a strawberry from the plate. “Mergan hijacked his dream. Fucking with him again.”
“Isn’t there a way to stop her?”
We thought the mirror-prison was enough.
“Also one of the big consequences of unlocking the barriers, she’ll get out and we’ll have to stop her again.”
If we go in, we can get more information. People Mergan manipulated are in there, they know what she did, how she created the mirror.
Jack frowned. “And the only tether we really have is the crystal bond...”
Zorin’s heavy footsteps echoed through the living space as he ascended the staircase. When he reached the landing, holding a pile of tealeaves in his hand, Rune grinned and darted around the kitchen searching the cabinet for her teapot.
“In the cabinet.” Cyndra motioned with her head.
“Good morning,” Zorin said, placing the leaves on the stove so Rune could prepare them before boiling.
“Same to you,” Jack replied. “Hungry?”
“Fruit is always welcome.” Zorin smiled, meeting her eyes for only a moment as he chose a slice of plum from the dwindling selection. “Did you sleep well?”
“Not bad, we can make better mattresses with cloth and old foam from couches and chairs,” Jack said with a shrug. “I’ll show you how when there’s time.”
“I would love that. Plenty of abandoned houses to check out south of here. Maybe even some with decent mattresses leftover,” Cyndra said, smiling at Rune as he neared with the teapot and dried leaves. “You know I think you’re close to mastering fire too. I saw the size of your last casterguard.”
“Agreed. I didn’t think it possible, so soon after awakening, but you’re both more powerful than I remember being.” Zorin nodded, reaching back to the cabinet for two mugs while Rune found the bowl and another cup.
“I would have preferred the slow lane,” Cyndra mused.
“I have a lot of catching up to do,” Jack said, dropping leaves into one of the mugs.
“The journal is the best way to start.” Zorin signed thank you to Rune as he poured hot water into the bowl.
“Practicing definitely helped,” Cyndra offered, relaxing for the first time in a long while. “There’s not much to see in the tower, so you’ll have plenty of time to do both.”
Rune returned to his seat and sampled his tea. It’s getting better.
“Best I’ve had in years. I can’t wait to learn more so I can try,” Jack said before taking another drink.
“Rune and I have several sections mapped out. The island is the perfect place to strengthen your skills. Can you evoke water?” Zorin asked.
“Only control so far. I saw a few tips in the book I’d like to try later.”
Every bit helps, right?
Zorin smirked. “Right.”
“So, are we ready to go?” Jack lifted his eyebrows.
“Guess so.” Cyndra finished her tea and started to clean up, sensing Zorin’s stare from behind, and though she wanted to talk, Rune and Jack were excited to go to the mansion and followed her lead. As she threw out the trash, Rune put the fruit away and Jack went to the stairs. When she glanced back to the icebox, Zorin was staring hard.
> That’s not helping.
What? He lifted a brow.
Your gargoyle stare.
His jaw locked and face blanked.
Cyndra stepped closer and set her hand on his chest, keeping her fire from him, but not the trembling that touching him created. It excites me, Zorin.
He narrowed his gaze.
“Cyndra?” Jack called from halfway down the lighthouse stairs.
“Right behind ya,” she said, stepping back, easing her hand from Zorin’s skin, still holding his stare. “Tonight.”
Light sparked in his eyes. Tonight, caster.
Cyndra pushed some of her fire and energy into his chest before she lifted her fingers away and bounded down the staircase. She reached Rune and Jack in the field just as Zorin’s presence soaked the air. Before they approached the trees, he was soaring above, catching Jack’s attention.
His face fell as he watched Zorin dip down toward the opposite side of the woods. Rune, usually the first to notice, was ahead, walking through the thick trees. Taking his advice to heart, Cyndra jogged to Jack’s side, glanced over and smiled. “What is it?”
Jack shook his head. “It’s silly.”
“You’re joking, right? Derp, our entire lives are silly.”
“True.” Jack tilted his head up, following Zorin’s shadow. “I was one of the first kids on the island. It was safest for us during the war. Rune was almost three when he arrived. You and Pristy were last I think.”
“How long were you here?”
“Two years. Zorin was my friend, Cyndra.” Jack rubbed his water brand. “He looked out for me that last year after my parents died and he doesn’t remember me.”
“It’s the worst feeling, and he’s terrified of what he still hasn’t remembered. He doesn’t mention it, but Mergan controlled him for a really long time,” Cyndra said, kicking a rock off the path.
Nodding, Jack walked a bit faster, seeing the shape of the mansion through the trees.
“You should talk to him more and let him get to know you again. The bond is still there, just needs reminding.”
“Thanks, Cyndra.” Jack bumped into her shoulder and winked.