Hidden Worlds

by Kristie Cook

  Karl grins, shaking his head. “You know Giules. She can’t help herself.” He pauses. “By the way, her soup is excellent.”

  “Karl. It was canned.”

  “Oh, well, that makes a difference.”

  “Do you hear this?” Cora says to me. “Poor babies. I wish someone offered to feed me some soup.”

  “You didn’t break your arm, Cora,” Karl says.

  “Chloe smashed in her head and I didn’t see you babying her,” she snipes back.

  Karl grinds his teeth together but doesn’t say anything. For the millionth time that day, I find myself telling her to knock it off.

  She grabs onto my arm. “I just think—” But after a serious frown from me, she backs down, muttering a terse apology for being bitchy.

  “The fact is,” Kellan is saying, “Guard brass knew we moved. I notified them before we left.”

  Karl rubs at his jaw. “Zthane wasn’t given your note. He’s all sorts of pissed off right now.”

  “And another thing—why wasn’t I told ahead of time what’s going on?”

  “Believe me, I had a similar conversation last night with the higher-ups.”

  Cora is silent the entire ride to the Whitecombs’ house. But I know my Cousin—she’s watching and listening. Judging. She insisted I sit in the backseat with her, so in order to talk to Kellan or Karl in the front, I need to lean forward. Every time Kellan turns to speak to me, she tenses. Every time he touches me, she practically flinches.

  It’s beginning to piss me off.

  When we get to his house, Kellan tells Karl he expects to be briefed that evening about the current situation. Cora finally speaks. “Aren’t you a little young to be giving orders like that?”

  Kellan and Karl ignore her. Kellan comes round the car to my side and opens the door. “Call me if you need anything.”

  I don’t want to let him go. It’s crazy, especially since I know Jonah’s in the house in front of us, just behind the door somewhere, but I’m already sad to see Kellan go. Then he leans in, kisses me, and leaves.

  Karl pulls away from the curb and clears his throat. “Now, that was interesting.”

  Cora jumps on this, eager for whatever dirt she may think Karl can throw her. “Oh?”

  “Remember, I love those guys. But Chloe, I hope you know what you’re getting into with Kellan Whitecomb.”

  “Do tell,” Cora gleefully insists.

  “He’s always been quite … popular, if you will, with the girls. If you catch my drift.”

  “And Jonah?” Cora continues relentlessly.

  “J’s not like that,” Karl says. “That’s not to say he didn’t have his fair share of chasers, but he certainly hasn’t … um … dated as much as Kel has. Don’t get me wrong—you’ll have a lot of fun with Kellan. I just want you to be aware that no one has managed to keep his attention for long. Sorry, but it’s true.”

  Cora chortles unattractively.

  “Whatever you’re thinking about him, though, Cora,” he tells her, “is probably wrong. He’s a great guy, extremely smart, and loyal to those who earn his trust.”

  “Ah, yes,” Cora say derisively. “A saint who sleeps around.”

  Karl nearly chokes on this. I end up smacking her. “I have to admit, Chloe,” Karl continues, “I’m a little surprised it’s Kellan you’re … with? Dating? Friendly with?”

  “Yes, Chloe,” Cora says. “Tell us exactly how you categorize your relationship with Kellan Whitecomb.”

  “It’s none of your business,” I hiss to my Cousin.

  “I’ve made it my business,” she replies calmly. “Just the way you would if the situation was reversed.”

  “I would’ve placed good money that it was Jonah you were interested in,” Karl says. “I mean, I knew something was up with you and those two. But … I don’t know. The vibe I got was that there was something between you and J. I’m not usually wrong about these things.”

  Cora doesn’t smile. Neither do I. The rest of the ride is done in silence.

  Later that night, Lizzie’s standing in front of the bay windows, looking out. The sun’s begun to set, casting long, dark shadows across the grass, which eerily resemble the things that attacked us yesterday. I am unsettled enough to lay my hand against the wall, solidifying the wood until it’s virtually indestructible.

  She’s clearly upset. “I’m sorry we weren’t there to help you guys yesterday. It makes me mad that we didn’t even know what was going on until everything was over.”

  Hell, if there wasn’t anything I could’ve done, there sure wasn’t anything a Muse, Intellectual, or a Joy could’ve accomplished. But I thank her for her concern.

  Karl, who has so far been listening to my Cousins in silence since telling them the basics of the situation, frowns. “Technically, this doesn’t concern any of you.”

  “Bullshit,” Alex says from his chair nearby. “First off, she’s considered family, and we protect our own. Secondly, if I’m not mistaken, this sort of thing concerns the Magical worlds in general. We may be young and ignorant, but we’re still part of that population.”

  “The Council and the Guard are taking care of matters.”

  Alex rolls his eyes. “Great job you’re doing. Because from what we’ve just heard, until yesterday, you didn’t even have enough eyewitness accounts to accurately describe these things, let alone have someone actually attempt to fight back. While you Council members have been yapping, people have been dying. No one knows who these things are. No one knows where they’re from. No one knows what they want. So, by my book, that’s a big fat fail coming from Annar.”

  Karl doesn’t say anything, but he’s definitely glowering.

  Cora picks at a few of the brighter pink strands in her hair. “Guys. I was there. I can safely say that there’s nothing that anyone in this room could have done to counter these things, save perhaps Chloe. Sorry, Karl—I can’t see how an earthquake would have stopped them, either.”

  “You’d be surprised,” Karl says through clenched teeth.

  Lizzie squats down next to Alex. “I agree with you on the grounds that none of us possess the powers to be able to really stop these things, based on what Karl’s said. But that doesn’t mean we can’t do anything. What’s to say that, gods forbid, they get past Karl to Chloe? Are any of you willing to take that risk?”

  “They’re not getting past me,” Karl insists. When Alex questions this, his eyes flash. “You think you can protect her better?”

  “No,” Alex admits. “I have no defensive skills that would serve in the heat of an attack. But I’ve got other skills, man. Skills that can help in other ways.”

  “Meaning?”

  Alex takes off his glasses and polishes them on his shirt. “I’m damn good at what I do, even if I’m not Council bound.”

  “Are you talking about research?” Karl asks skeptically.

  The Intellectual side of Alex kicks in. “Obviously, they’re Magical beings of some sorts with extreme speed and the ability to attack while not fully corporeal. You yourself admitted they have emotions that can be triggered, which leads to the assumption that they’re beings. They coordinated an attack—they moved in teams and yet were able to break apart and strike in different locations if necessary. This leads me to assume there’s intelligence.”

  Karl simply stares at him.

  “They’ve been active for a certain amount of time. Such a timeline could help pinpoint facts. And they’re moving in between the worlds, unless there are teams on each plane. They have to have come from somewhere.”

  Warily, Karl asks, “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying I’m going to find out what they are.”

  “Alex,” Meg interjects for the first time this afternoon, “don’t do anything that will make you a target!”

  “How can that make me a target? I’ll be researching. If they can sense me reading books, then they’re far more powerful and worrisome than we’ve been lead to believe, bec
ause at that point, they’ll be close to omnipotent.”

  “Knowing someone is reading a book has nothing to do with omnipotence,” Cora snorts.

  “Sure, we can figure that out by surging,” Alex says. “And we can do it by sight. But no Magical, as far as I know, can actually tell if someone is doing something. Am I wrong, Karl?”

  “Mostly,” my Guard friend murmurs.

  “I’m with Alex,” Lizzie says. “We may not be strong enough to physically protect Chloe—”

  How many times do I have to say it? “I can take care of myself!”

  She ignores me. “But we can do other things. We can aide Alex in research.”

  “Yes,” Cora says, grinning wickedly. “I like this line of thought.”

  “Oh good lords,” Karl mutters.

  One of Alex’s eyebrows quirks up. “Do you have the authority to stop us?”

  “Yes, actually,” Karl says. “I’m on the Council and act, at all times, as a representative.”

  “Chloe outranks you,” Cora smirks.

  “Chloe will outrank me. But as she’s not officially seated—she hasn’t gone through the induction ceremony. She can’t yet act in the Council’s stead.”

  Cora waves a hand dismissively. “Are you going to help us or not?”

  “I am helping. I’m assigned to watch over Chloe until she moves to Annar.”

  “Yeah, but that’s not really helping,” Cora says.

  As Karl looks like he’s about to strangle her, I interject, “Don’t you remember how he’s here instead of back in Annar, with his wife? Think about how long pregnancies last. You think that’s not a sacrifice right there?”

  Cora finally shuts her mouth and has the grace to look sheepish.

  “I’m glad you’re here, Karl.” Meg wrings her hands. “I’m so scared something will hurt Chloe.”

  “Nothing’s going to hurt her. Look. I know you guys are apparently a bit sheltered around here, and I’m sorry for that. I really don’t get why your folks aren’t teaching you guys what you need to know, like how the Guard works. But Chloe’s a top priority to the Council and the Guard. There’s nothing we won’t do to ensure her safety, which is why I’ve been sent here.”

  “But you’re the only Guard around,” Lizzie points out.

  “No,” Karl says. “Giuliana is here, too. And if Giules and I fail, then you still have Kellan and Jonah Whitecomb.”

  “Really,” Cora sneers. “You’d put Chloe’s safety in the hands of two teenage Emotionals.”

  It’s enough to push Karl to his limit. “I’m going to ignore the insult you’ve just issued, because you’re obviously ignorant about the different crafts out there. You have no idea what those two are capable of. Put it this way: there have always been Emotionals on the Guard. They’re always involved in the most difficult missions, because they can get things done that no one else can. You think they’re just all anti-war sentiments and community-building efforts? Think again. Yeah, they can make you happy. They can even make you fall in love. But they can also take you to the worst, darkest places a soul can go. When we want someone stopped, we unleash an Emotional on them.”

  Everyone stares at him, mouths open. Including me.

  He points a finger at her. “I told you before. Those two just happen to be the most powerful Emotionals ever born, and that’s even before Ascending. If Giules and I both fail, then you can count on them.”

  Alex clears his throat. “Girls. If we want to keep Chloe safe, then we’ve got to trust Karl. We’ve got to trust the others to do what we can’t.”

  “Since when?” Cora says, arms folded tightly across her chest, “When have we ever been able to count on anyone other than ourselves? See, Karl, I figure you’ve been raised as a good Magical. You have a support system. You have knowledge. We don’t. We only have each other to rely on.”

  “No,” he says firmly. “You don’t. You have me.”

  chapter 19

  The next few days are probably the most stressful I’ve had in forever. Jonah is … angry. Wounded. He won’t even look at me.

  Every day in math, I struggle to find a way to talk to him. Every day I believe I’m going to, but then something comes up and we end up not speaking. Yet, I keep telling myself that some kind of mistake has been made, that whatever’s going on with Kellan is a fluke. That somehow, I’m not really dating him.

  But I am. Because when I’m with Kellan, something in me switches on. A sense of rightness, contentedness. And love, as impossible as it sounds. These are all familiar feelings I’ve felt with Jonah. Still feel for Jonah.

  I bring this up to Karl in a roundabout way one afternoon while he and I play video games. “Is there such a thing as true love?”

  He hoots unattractively as he wins a round. “Sure.”

  “Magically,” I clarify. “A Magical sort of love.”

  He pauses the game and turns towards me. “Yes.”

  “Yes? That’s it?”

  “It’s a little more complicated than that, but yes. It’s rare, but some Magicals have what’s called a Connection. It’s a tie between two people, making them soul mates. It can never be broken.”

  “How do you know if you have one?”

  He thinks about this. “Well, there’s a pull to the other person, like you’re magnets. You can’t resist them. Love is pretty much instantaneous, passionate, and only builds, never dulls. There’s a sense

  of … safety, I guess. Belonging.”

  Holy crap. He could be describing what I feel toward both Jonah and Kellan.

  “Nobody else does it for you.” Karl shrugs. “Best way to really know, though, is for a Seer to confirm it. It’s typically the first question a Seer gets. Most people desperately want one.”

  A bit of what Astrid was hinting at makes sense now. Could I possibly have a Connection? “You said it’s rare?”

  “Yeah,” he says, smiling a little. “Not everyone is lucky enough to be assured of a soul mate. Doesn’t mean you won’t find love, it just won’t be the same.”

  “You know anyone who has a Connection?”

  Now he grins. “Sure. You’re looking at one.”

  “I’m assuming it’s with your wife?”

  His scowl could wither plants. “Obviously.”

  “And … only one Connection per person?”

  “Yep. That’s the way it works.”

  This isn’t the answer I’m looking for.

  Karl is leaving for the weekend, which is good, because I think he’s missing his wife a lot lately. I’d bugged him a little more about what it’s like to be away from your Connection. He’d said that if the separation is done in anger, pain, or is forced, it’s unbearable. But when it’s on a mission, and done in understanding, it’s tough but doable. He still refuses to consider getting someone else in to permanently watch me, citing the need for the best. Which is him, of course.

  Kellan is over as Karl packs sporting a faint black eye. He shrugged off my concern earlier, claiming he smacked his face with his surfboard, but I saw look that got passed between him and Karl. And I definitely noticed when Kellan quickly changed the subject.

  I get a little jealous when I hang out with both Kellan and Karl, and it’s not so much their friendship I envy. It’s the fact that they’ve grown up how Magicals ought to grow up: knowledgeable, part of the worlds, and fully understanding what’s expected of them.

  “Who’s coming in your stead?” Kellan asks Karl. I am snuggled in close to him in the oversized chair in Karl’s room.

  “Raul’s on his way as we speak.”

  When Kellan groans, I ask, “Who’s Raul?”

  “Raul Mesaverde is possibly the biggest flirt you’ll ever meet,” Karl says with a sly grin.

  “You know him?” I ask Kellan.

  “Sure. I know most of the Guard.”

  Another reason to feel jealous. “What’s his craft?”

  “Raul’s a Cyclone,” Karl answers. When I patiently make no comment, he
continues, “He’s sort of like Giules, but specializes in tornados, hurricanes, windstorms. That sort of thing.”

  Frankly, that sounds awful. “I guess I’ve never really thought about how many horrible jobs are out there,” I admit, twisting one of Kellan’s belt loops on his jeans in my fingers. It’s hard to keep my hands off him for extended periods of time, even when I’m constantly wondering where his brother is, what he’s doing, is he thinking about me?

  Yes, I’m completely messed up.

  “Not horrible,” Karl says, appearing offended. “Necessary.”

  “I didn’t mean you,” I quickly say, but he winks.

  “Earthquakes are horrible, too.”

  Kellan plays with my long hair. “We all have to do things we don’t like. It’s just how things are.”

  “Yin and yang,” Karl offers.

  “Two sides of a coin,” Kellan counters.

  “Butter and toast,” Karl says, and I laugh.

  “Okay, okay. I get it. Are there any natural disasters that aren’t caused by Magicals?”

  “Nope,” Karl says. “All of them are Council ordered.”

  Kellan motions to a nearby newspaper. “Speaking of, Iolani did a great job.”

  Karl nods. “Ever expanding her growing island fleet.”

  I hold my hands in time-out formation. “Who’s Iolani?”

  “A Volcanic,” Kellan answers, as if it’s obvious.

  “Iolani Popolohua is a descendant of Pele,” Karl adds. “Anytime a major volcano goes off, she’s the one triggering it.”

  I’ve asked Karl a thousand questions about the Guard so far, but now the most basic one comes to me. “How does someone go about joining the Guard?”

  Karl gives me a weird look. “Chloe. Are you serious?”

  “Uh … yes?”

  “The Seer at your birth tells your parents, just like they would about a Council placement.”

  “Oh. Well, that makes sense. So you two have always known?”

  “Chloe,” Karl says again. Both he and Kellan look surprised. “You do know, don’t you?”