Hidden Worlds

by Kristie Cook

  “Not until we lift the shield,” Owen confirmed.

  A heavy weight lifted off me. We were safe . . . for now anyway.

  While the storm raged outside, Mom and I huddled in the living room, planning my weddings. They would obviously be small affairs. It wasn’t like I had anyone to invite anyway, but the first one—the one that truly mattered to me—had to be entirely secretive and done quickly. The longer we waited, the more chances the Daemoni had to attack before the September wedding, but Solomon and Rina needed a couple of days to arrive. They’d be marrying us.

  After Stefan and Tristan lit candles and double-checked security because of the power outage, we debated where to hold the wedding. Stefan said it would be too suspicious if we all gathered at one of our houses and I really wanted it on the beach but didn’t think it’d be possible. After concentrating on the options, Tristan came up with the idea of a secluded area on Gasparilla Island. He said everyone (but me, of course) could flash there without being noticed, it provided the necessary privacy for the ceremony and it would be easy for Owen to shield.

  I had no idea what that last part really meant, but I trusted Tristan. And, I supposed, I was learning to trust Owen. I had to. He was my personal protector. It was still odd to think of him like that. I knew now when he was around, it was because he was doing his job, which meant he would take a bullet for me. Or whatever the Daemoni use. I hated the idea of anyone risking their lives for mine. I now felt even more impatient for the Ang’dora, because it would make me strong and powerful, like them. Funny how a year ago I never wanted it to happen because I wanted to be normal. Now, normal meant vulnerable and I was too normal for everyone around me—everyone I cared about.

  Mom and Stefan started talking about the legal wedding—the fake one, from my point of view. Their plans became elaborate. If I didn’t know it was to throw the Daemoni off, I would have protested every idea. I didn’t care about that wedding; it was just a formality.

  My eyes grew heavy as we sat in the warm darkness, the voices becoming distant. I fought their desire to close, afraid of what I might see behind my eyelids, but sleep eventually won. I saw myself standing on the beach on a small island in a blood-red satin and chiffon dress, the wind whipping at it, shredding it into pieces. Four or five dog-thing creatures circled around me, baring their fangs and growling gutturally, while flying men swooped overhead, cackling and cawing. Two huge men came out of the trees, grinning nefariously. Tristan suddenly stood at my side, but as he moved forward to fight, the flying men swooped down and grabbed him, taking him away.

  I choked on a scream as I sat bolt upright and gasped for air. I looked around wildly. Tristan’s living room. Everyone had left the room except for Tristan, who still sat on the couch with me. I lay back down with my head in his lap and he smoothed my damp hair. I realized my clothes were nearly soaked with sweat.

  “It’s so hot,” I complained quietly.

  “No A/C. Turning on the generator will only confirm to the Daemoni that we’re still here. It may not matter, but we’re taking no chances.”

  I tried to spread out better on the leather couch, looking for cool spots against my skin.

  “Why don’t we let someone else have the couch?” Tristan pushed me up by the shoulders. He picked up a candle and I followed him upstairs. He stopped at his closet for something and handed me one of his t-shirts after ripping the sleeves off. I let my shorts drop to the floor as I headed into the bathroom. When I came out, Tristan was spread out on the bed, wearing only boxers. I wanted to run my hands across his bare chest . . . and kiss it . . . and . . . Damn, it’s been so long . . . . Voices floated over the loft’s balcony, reminding me we had very little privacy. It was just too dang hot to do anything anyway. I sighed. Not much longer. I lay on the cool sheets on the far side of the bed so only our hands touched. I let the steady sound of the rain against the shutters and Tristan’s calming touch lull me to a dreamless sleep.

  Chapter 23

  Edmund the storm brought very little damage, barely reaching hurricane force. The long-term damage from Edmund the Daemoni, however, was yet to be determined. Stefan and his troops were unable to gather much information over the next two days. We didn’t know if the Daemoni even knew about either wedding, let alone if they planned anything. We constantly talked about the legal wedding every chance we had, unnecessarily loud in case they listened. When the third day arrived, I woke up excited to finally be allowed to focus on my real wedding.

  I padded into the kitchen that morning, poured a cup of coffee and stared at the calendar while I sipped. July Thirtieth. The day that would change my life forever.

  “I have good news and bad news,” Mom said, rushing into the kitchen. Like Tristan, she had completely reversed her opinion about our marriage after Edmund’s visit. She wasn’t only supportive, but actually thrilled. Her voice sounded too happy for “bad news” to mean anything devastating—like an attack.

  “No bad news today,” I said.

  “Sorry,” she said, “but Solomon couldn’t make it. The timing was bad for him, but he sends his regrets and his love.”

  “We can still go on, right?” I asked. I thought he was part of the ceremony. He seemed to hold an important position on the council.

  “Oh, of course. We only have to have Rina, and Stefan can represent the council.”

  I exhaled the breath I’d been holding. Since I didn’t know Solomon well, I wasn’t too disappointed.

  “So, what’s the good news?”

  “The good news is . . . ,” she grabbed my hand and pulled me down the hall to her bedroom, “. . . the Amadis dress arrived.”

  “Really? I want to see!”

  We stopped in front of her bed. A white garment bag, seeming to have an otherworldly shine to it, lay like a pearl on Mom’s chocolate-brown duvet. It looked as if it came from somewhere magical. It scared me.

  “Go ahead, open it,” she said, bouncing with excitement.

  I hesitated with trepidation. I had no idea what a traditional Amadis dress was. Mom wouldn’t even describe it for me, wanting it to be a surprise. I carefully unzipped the bag and pulled the dress out by the hanger. Whoa! I was definitely surprised.

  “Seriously, Mom? I’m supposed to wear this in front of other people?”

  “You’ll look exquisite! Come on, try it on.”

  I raised an eyebrow at her. She’s got to be kidding. She started taking it off the hanger, fluttering her hands at me to undress. I reluctantly obeyed and let her dress me. I certainly needed help with the top of the two-piece dress—a tight, white leather bodice, cut low, with three leather straps on each side, front and back, leading up to a diamond-studded collar at the neck. The scalloped bottom barely reached the top of the white silk, a-line skirt, also scalloped at the bottom, ending a couple inches above my knees. It looked like something out of a gladiator movie. Mom gathered my hair and held it up on my head as she walked me to the full-length mirror. My mouth fell open.

  “Mom . . . you’re kidding, right? This is traditional?”

  “Traditional for us. Rina prefers silk and satin gowns, but a couple of centuries ago . . . this is similar to what the matriarch would wear. You look beautiful.”

  I shook my head. I just couldn’t see myself wearing it in public . . . around other people.

  “Tristan will love it,” she sang.

  “Tristan likes new, modern, contemporary. Nothing that reminds him of who he was.”

  “Don’t worry, this won’t. It’s not like women ran around in these dresses in the seventeen-hundreds. Trust me, he’ll love it. Especially on you.”

  It’s not like I had any choice. We’d shopped for gowns for the fake wedding, but I’d been planning on this dress all along for the real one, so I hadn’t yet bought anything. Tristan will love it. I sighed and nodded in resignation.

  “It’s like leather lingerie,” I complained as Mom showed me the trick to getting out of it by myself.

  She chuckled.
“No, the lingerie is in a wrapped box for tonight.”

  “You didn’t!”

  “Who else would?” She smiled mischievously and then went back to being a mother. “There’s also a box of condoms. No babies until you graduate.”

  “Yes, I know. We’ve discussed this a hundred times.” My stomach tightened. I wasn’t so concerned about babies yet . . . it was the actual activity that created babies I was worried about. “Mom . . . I’m kind of scared. I don’t know what to do.”

  “Oh, I’m sure Tristan will do it,” she said casually as she hung the dress back on the hanger. I stared at her in confusion. “Surely he knows how to put a condom on.”

  That visual made my insides squirm with panic.

  “I mean the whole thing! All of it!” I cried.

  “Oh.” She looked at me with surprise and then her expression dissolved into understanding. “Honey, it will all come naturally.”

  “How do I know what natural is, though? How do I know what’s right? What if I do it all wrong?”

  She smiled. “The thing about men, Alexis, is they generally don’t find any of it wrong. In fact, usually the more wrong it is, the more they like it.”

  “Mo-om . . . !”

  She shrugged. “I’m serious. There is very little you can do that would scare him away. Just don’t belch, fart or call out anyone else’s name and you’ll be fine.”

  “Sophia!” I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped, though. Just one. Before the panic set right back in. “I just want to do it right. I want to make him happy.”

  “Oh, you will, honey. Trust me—you’ll make him extremely happy. When I say it’ll come naturally, I mean it. This is something Amadis daughters instinctively do very well.” She smiled coyly and winked at me. I didn’t feel any better.

  Butterflies grew and multiplied in my stomach as the day went on. It felt like it dragged on forever and, at the same time, evening raced toward us, as if someone played with the hands on the world’s master clock. Mom and I spent the afternoon driving all over two counties, stopping at bridal stores and flower shops, trying to bore anyone who might be following. Finally, a little after six o’clock, Mom made sure no one pursued us and we headed out to Gasparilla. She followed Tristan’s directions down a road covered in sand from lack of use.

  I felt so nervous by then, I practically danced a seated jig in the car. Stefan said the Daemoni had learned about the September First wedding, but he had no indication they knew about this one. If we could get through this next hour or so, we’d be on our way to peace. Of course, then I would have more personal issues to worry about . . . .

  “Looks like this is it.” Mom pulled into a space of patchy grass and sand between palmetto bushes. “We’ll have to walk the rest of the way.”

  I changed in the backseat of Mom’s car. She checked me over and fixed my hair she’d piled onto my head, using her finger to curl the stray locks around my face. She straightened the dress, adjusting my boobs, which nearly flowed right over the top of the bodice. We hadn’t walked five steps on the uneven terrain when I decided the heels were a bad idea.

  “Love the shoes, Mom, but they have to go.” I stopped to pull them off and she frowned, but couldn’t argue. Bare feet on the rough ground didn’t work well either. I had no idea how far we had to walk and I grew more frustrated with each slow, careful step. I stopped, exasperated. “This isn’t working either! How am I supposed to get to my wedding?”

  “Can I help?” Stefan had come to meet us. He gently picked me up in his arms and carried me. He had a smooth stride, not affected at all by my extra weight. His pure vanilla scent brought back memories of when he carried me when I was little. “You look quite lovely. I remember your great-grandmother in a similar dress.”

  Wow. I never knew how ancient he was.

  “Thank you. But I feel like a helpless child playing dress-up in mommy’s naughty clothes.”

  He laughed, the sound of a baritone saxophone skipping through various notes.

  “Are we still safe?” I asked.

  “Yes, I am positive.”

  “I feel quite good about it, too,” Mom said.

  “All you need to focus on is becoming Mrs. Tristan Knight,” Stefan said.

  My heart pitter-pattered with delight to hear him say it. The statement also re-energized the butterflies and I was shaking by the time we reached the small, crescent beach—a little cove where the island indented just enough to be nearly surrounded by wild brush and trees. We had full view of the water and the lowering sun. Rina, Owen and Tristan stood near the water, waiting for us.

  “Your bride, sir,” Stefan said to Tristan as he set me on the soft sand.

  “Thank you, Sheffie,” I whispered. Stefan smiled and pecked me on the cheek.

  Tristan took my breath away as he strode over to us. Dressed simply in white slacks and a white silky t-shirt just tight enough to emphasize his physique, and the gold sparkles in his eyes shining, he was even more beautiful than I thought possible. He gave me a once-over and raised an eyebrow with appreciation, then took my hand and kissed it. I stopped trembling. He smiled and winked. I stared at him, completely loving him and totally forgetting why we were there.

  “Are you sure you still want to be my wife?” he murmured.

  “Uh . . . yeah,” I stammered, trying to clear my head. When the fog finally lifted, I smiled and said confidently, “Of course.”

  “Good,” he whispered, “because I’d never let anyone else have the pleasure of taking my place.”

  He led me over to Rina. She nodded at Mom, Stefan and Owen, who all stood in silence behind us. Tristan gently squeezed my hand as Rina began by reciting 1 Corinthians 13. I knew it by heart. It was one of the passages Mom made me memorize when I was five. We’d never gone to church, but Mom had taught me the Bible, saying she knew more than any pastor this side of Heaven.

  “‘And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.’ Tristan and Alexis, is this the love you both share?”

  “Yes,” we answered together.

  “Do you promise to uphold this love throughout eternity?”

  “Yes.”

  “Tristan, you may state your vows,” Rina commanded.

  He turned toward me, smiled warmly and looked into my eyes. I was sure he purposely set his voice to its loveliest tone.

  “Alexis, my love, with a happiness I had never known possible before I met you, I receive you into my life that together we may be one. I promise you my unequivocal love, my unending devotion, my tenderest care. I will love you faithfully through the best and the worst, through the difficult and the easy. What may come, I will always be there. Entrust me not to leave you or to return from following after you. For where you go, I will go, and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God will be my God. I will take care of you, honor and protect you, for as long as I live, into eternity. I lay down my life for you, Alexis, my friend and my love. Today I give to you, me.”

  Rina smiled and turned to me. “Alexis?”

  I took a deep breath to steady my voice and then recited my vows, blinking back tears.

  “My sweet Tristan, with deepest love I did not know could exist, I come into my new life with you. I thank you for who you are to me—my one love, my true soul mate. God created me for you and you for me. I will ever strengthen, help, comfort and encourage you. I will trust you and honor you. I will love you today, tomorrow and forever. Throughout life, as long as it lasts, even into eternity, I pledge to you my life as a loving and faithful wife, no matter what lies ahead of us. My love will never be taken from you. Today I give you my life to keep.”

  Tristan flashed the most sublime smile that reached into the depths of my heart. We turned back to Rina.

  “Tristan and Alexis, with these vows you pledge your lives to each other for eternity. Do you promise to fight for your love and for each other for as long as you both shall live?”

  “I do,�
� we said together.

  “Tristan, to come into this union, you must also give your life to God and to the Amadis. Do you promise to protect us, to love us, to serve us, to lay down your life for us, at all costs, for as long as you live, even into eternity?”

  The air suddenly felt still and heavy as we all tensed. If the Daemoni knew what was about to happen, this would be their last opportunity to stop it. Once Tristan took this vow, he became Amadis royalty, pledging his allegiance to us and severing all ties to his creators.

  Please, Tristan, just say it!

  “I do.”

  Just then, a powerful gust of wind blew through the cove. At the same time, a warm sun ray beamed directly on our little group. The sun itself seemed to shine a little more brightly as it hovered over the horizon. Directly overhead, though, a dark cloud formed out of nowhere, lightning shooting across it and thunder cracking, the wind whipping around us. It made me think that something very evil was very angry.

  Rina glanced up at the threatening cloud and a small, mysterious smile appeared on her face. She didn’t say anything, aloud or otherwise, but her eyes looked triumphant.

  She took a step closer to Tristan and me, placed a hand over each of our hearts and closed her eyes. I felt a warm tingling on my skin, then an unusual energy flow from her into my heart and throughout my body. A moment later I felt it flow down my arm, through my hand and into Tristan’s, while at the same time, a different kind of energy flowed from his hand into mine. The two energies combined in my chest then flowed throughout my body.

  Rina spoke mightily, her voice clear and strong, almost otherworldly. If there was any doubt before that she ruled something extremely powerful, it was blown away then.

  “I am Katerina Camilla Ames, matriarch of the Amadis, protectors of souls and servants to God and the Heavenly Host. Under my power, I join these two souls together as one, forever bound to each other with an eternal love and loyalty that cannot be severed by anyone or anything.”

  My skin under her hand burned and prickled and the warmth radiated, encircling my heart.