When Shay emerged from her bedroom later that day, Callie was having trouble standing still. She was leaning against the counter, twisting her fingers between each other and tapping her heel in rapid motion. She had never been able to be calm in the face of stress.
She heard Shay come out, and turned to find a solemn look on the woman’s face. “Are you ready?” Shay asked.
“Should I be nervous?” Callie asked.
“That is not for me to decide,” Shay replied.
“Thanks for the reassurance,” Callie said, her legs beginning to feel shaky. She allowed Shay to lift her, though she was amazed at the woman’s strength given her slight height.
When they flew across the canopy, time seemed to be passing in slow motion. Callie couldn’t squelch the mammoth-sized butterflies that had taken up residence in her stomach. This all seemed so official and alarming, like something horrible had already happened. She couldn’t stop herself from thinking about the first night she had met Emeric, the way he had told her that she was a security threat. What if they decided to take that stance again?
It didn’t help that the sun was beginning to set, and Callie knew that night would fall quickly. Last night had been nerve-wracking, every shadow seeming a threat. She didn’t know how she would handle tonight, knowing that she could be in trouble.
The trees broke apart and Callie saw a beach, washed of color in the evening light. From way up here, the sight of hundreds of creatures below, standing on the sand, took her breath away. They looked like doves. Their wings blended together into patches of cream and ivory, fluttering and swaying in the breeze. It seemed a peaceful sight from so far away; only when Shay and Callie descended did Callie hear the frantic buzz of suspicion and paranoia in their voices.
When Shay landed, she placed Callie on the ground and began to walk towards the water. The hum of voices faded, giving way to the sound of the ocean. Callie, not knowing what else to do, and not wishing to stay solitary in the sea of probing eyes, followed her. The crowds split for them, making a broad pathway. Callie was consumed by their gazes; so many eyes regarded her warily, some even hatefully. She walked more quickly, staying close to Shay.
After a while, Shay stopped, her attention trained on something in the distance. Callie nearly ran into her, but managed to still her pace. She saw immediately what Shay was looking at. Emeric stood atop the tide, the waves crashing around his ankles, looking out at his people. Alex stood a bit behind him, calf-deep in waves. Emeric’s eyes met Shay’s, and then Callie’s. He didn’t look away from Callie for a moment, and she felt as though he were speaking to her. He seemed determined, authoritative.
In a flurry of wind, he lifted himself several feet into the air. The crowd hushed, all eyes pulled to Emeric’s floating figure. “Friends,” Emeric began. “We will speak in English tonight, as we have an American guest. We all are aware that we have a human in our midst. She is the reason that we gather here this evening.”
Callie was impressed by his tone. He seemed relaxed, fully in charge. And yet she couldn’t keep herself from dreading that his next words might be orders for her death.
“I cannot, at this point, tell you why she is here. Simply understand that, at the time being, she does not pose a threat. She is closely monitored, and she has the potential to be of great use to us in the coming weeks. We all know that it is a volatile time amongst our people. The Sirens have become more threatening with each passing year. This human may be what we have been searching for in combatting our enemy. You are not to associate with her, as she is none of your concern, and doing so may inhibit her progress here. Your orders are simple: ignore her, and she will cause no harm to you. Interfere, and I am afraid that there will be consequences.”
He finished speaking, though no one began to talk. His stony stare pinned each village member in attendance with the spoken threat, and they acknowledged him by remaining quiet. Callie shifted, uncomfortable with the way he had talked about her. He had referred to her like she was a poisonous snake, fatal to any who came too close. Honestly, what could she have done to them?
These powerful, intimidating, majestic creatures couldn’t actually be afraid of her. They were so other-worldly, so unapproachable, that she felt like a child in their presence. The absurdity in the thought that they might actually be afraid of her made the whole meeting seem unreal.
From the back, one woman cried, “What about the threat of exposure?”
“What do you plan to do with her later on?” another asked. “How do we know she isn’t one of them?”
Emeric held up his hands. “All valid questions,” he said soothingly.
“If she is so harmless, why should we ignore her?” a third yelled.
“She’s a spy!”
“She will spread word of our existence among her race.”
“We will be hunted by the humans soon enough.” And a cacophony of angry shouts in various languages began to take place. Callie inched closer to Shay, her heart racing as she stood in a crowd of people hungry for her blood. She felt close to tears, close to unconsciousness, but she remained frozen. Emeric, meanwhile, was attempting to get the crowd’s attention with his shouts, but none could be heard atop the livid mob.
“We should simply kill her now. This has gone too far!” a last yelled.
Suddenly, a cracking sound rippled through the crowd, and several people gasped. Others cried out in wordless sobs.
Callie craned her neck, barely able to move, and saw that a man had fallen. His back was marked with two parallel rivers of blood, each spurting out onto the sand, drenching the ground a ruby brown. Behind him, Alex stood, holding a wing in each of his hands. Callie realized suddenly that these were this man’s wings, that Alex had ripped them out, and that now this man was dead. She grabbed Shay’s arm for support, the sight robbing her of her ability to stand steadily. A soft keening sound tore from her throat, though no one could have heard it. She hadn’t seen so much blood in four years.
She understood in the back of her spinning mind that this must have been the man who had uttered her death sentence. The murderous expression on Alex’s face bespoke his vengeance, and Callie saw that he was fairly twitching with fury. He looked around, daring others to cross him.
When no one did, he threw the wings on top of the man’s lifeless, bloody body, and walked slowly through the crowd. Only then did Callie notice that the crowd had begun to gather more closely around her, having prepared to move in for the kill. They dispersed now, distancing themselves from the irate beast walking towards Callie. Alex continued to move until he was positioned just behind Callie, and, without looking at her, nodded to Emeric.
Emeric cleared his throat. “As I was saying,” he started again. “Interfere, and there will be consequences.”
Silence dominated once again, the group holding its collective breath, afraid to say a word.
“I dismiss you,” Emeric said. No one moved, each petrified into stillness. Emeric watched them for a long moment, and then roared, “Now!”
And then, in a tornado of wind, wings were whipping forth in every direction, and a layer of people lifted into the air. They disappeared into the trees, each eager to flee before they, too, became a victim.
Callie looked around, her eyes snagging on a straggler. One woman was left, standing alone on the beach, watching Callie with curious irritation. It was the blond woman that Callie had seen once before, and she now crossed her arms and regarded Callie, seeming almost impressed. In another moment, she spread her wings and flew away, and Callie shivered.
“Are you alright?”
Callie turned and saw Emeric standing beside her, having drifted down from the sky. His voice was soft now, having lost the dictatorial edge he’d used to address the masses. He was looking at her with gentleness, his gaze almost tender. Callie nodded, drawing a breath.
“Alex, leave us,” Emeric said, and Callie realized that Alex was still at her side, though Shay had flown home. Alex left with
out another word, though he didn’t fly. She saw that he only moved further down the beach, and, while he didn’t look at them, she could tell he was keeping an eye on the situation.
“They will listen, you know,” Emeric said. “They will not disobey me.”
“They seemed so angry,” Callie said, chafing her palms against her arms as the cool evening breeze set in.
“They are afraid,” Emeric said. “The decades have been threatening, and now any new member is cause for suspicion. They are unsettled, and looking for villains where there are none. But they will not,” he said, his words falling slowly now, meaningfully, “disobey me.”
She nodded again, looking down at her feet. Emeric placed a cold hand on her shoulder, and the gesture should have comforted her.
“Tomorrow we will practice Perception again, alright?” he asked, leaning his head down, causing her to look at him.
“Okay,” she murmured.
“Alexander,” he called, and suddenly Alex was beside them once more. Emeric looked at Callie, catching her with his impenetrable grey eyes. “Sleep well,” he said softly, just as Alex lifted her into his arms and began to carry her back to Shay’s house.
She looked back down at the beach as she ascended into the sky, and saw Emeric still standing there, looking up at her, growing smaller with each second.
They landed in Shay’s cottage more quickly than Callie had expected. She fairly leapt from Alex’s arms, eager to put distance between them. The thought of the ruthlessness she had just witnessed scared her, and she was fairly sure that those were splatters of blood on his bare chest.
“Well, thanks,” she said shortly, walking towards the couch, hoping he would get the hint and leave. She didn’t hear anything, and once she was at the couch, she turned to find him staring after her. Something resembling disappointment crossed his face, but was hidden when he turned and walked to the door.
Callie sighed and sunk to the couch. At the last minute, Alex turned back. Callie saw that he was about to say something, and braced herself. She knew she was being unfair; he was only trying to protect her. She prepared herself for his wrath now. But then he sighed, looked at the ground, and stepped into the air.
Chapter Eight
Serena
The night passed quickly. When Callie awoke, the morning light swelled around her, wrapping her in a soft glow. She had slept well, and felt that the fear from yesterday’s meeting was slowly subsiding.
“You sleep very much,” Shay said.
Callie tilted her head and saw that Shay was sitting on the floor at the coffee table, books spread across the small face of the glass table in crammed piles.
“Yeah,” Callie yawned. “I think that’s a symptom of teenageritis.”
Shay blinked.
“Joke,” Callie clarified, sitting up. Shay wrinkled her nose and returned to her books.
Callie stood and walked to the kitchen to pour herself some coffee. She looked out the window, half expecting to see Alex there, standing guard. But all she could see for miles was a green tangle of leaves and the knotted arms of tree branches. The thought of Alex brought something to her mind.
“Shay?” Callie asked, walking back to the couch.
“Hmm?” Shay answered, distracted.
“Yesterday, you said something. When you got back, and Alex left, you said that Emeric wanted to have a meeting and that Alex would have to agree. But why? I mean, why would it matter if Alex agreed or not? Doesn’t Emeric sort of have final say?”
Shay looked up, seeming reluctant to pull her eyes from the pages. “Alex must approve of all matters concerning you.”
“Why?” Callie asked.
“That isn’t for me to say,” Shay said.
“Well, that’s cryptic,” Callie said. “Whose is it to say?”
Shay looked behind Callie’s shoulder at the precise moment that Callie felt a gust of wind at her back. She turned, and saw that Emeric and Alex were standing in the doorway. Emeric nodded to Shay as he strode in. Callie’s eyes stayed on Alex, who remained close to the door. He met her gaze for a brief moment, and Callie looked for any sign of condemnation for her behavior last night. But he looked away just as quickly, his face devoid of emotion.
“Good morning, Callista,” Emeric said, pausing next to the couch. Callie stood up.
“Good morning,” she replied.
“I trust you slept well?” he asked. She nodded. “Good. Then shall we begin?”
“With what?” Callie asked.
“Practice, of course,” Emeric said, offering her his hand. She took it, unsure of what he meant to do, and allowed him to pull her away from the sofa. “Today, I want you to practice entering Alex’s memory without using your trigger. In battle, you will not always have time to prepare yourself mentally before you enter a person’s mind. You should be ready to go in with only a moment’s notice.”
“Okay,” Callie said. “How?”
“Focus,” Emeric said. “Close your eyes. Think about inserting yourself into Alex’s mind. It will happen quickly, and more easily than you might expect.”
Callie exhaled slowly, closing her eyes. She pictured the waterfall, but the image was foggy in her own mind. Then, slowly, it became clearer, and the temperature in the room changed. When she opened her eyes again, she found that she was standing in the cave.
“Wow,” she breathed. “Okay, I’m here,” she called, knowing that they could hear her.
“Very good, Callista,” Emeric’s voice sounded.
Callie recognized every feature of the cave now. She couldn’t see Alex, but she knew where he was.
“Where are you in the memory?” Emeric asked.
“I’m in a cave,” Callie replied. “I’m looking out at the waterfalls.”
“Alright,” Emeric said. “Now, this is very important. Where exactly in the cave are you?”
She looked to her right, and then to her left, and then, lastly, at the ground. She saw a large, wet spot beneath her feet, and, looking up, she saw a trickle running along the underside of the cave’s roof, dripping in front of her.
“I’m standing on top of a watermark in the center of it,” she said. “I see the forest to my right. Why?”
But before she could receive an answer, Alex suddenly appeared in the cave mouth, and sprinted towards her with unmistakable bloodlust in his eyes. He was in front of her before she could even react, and she barely made out his features. All that she saw was that, somehow, everything about him was flipped, like she was looking at a reflection of him.
Callie gasped as he flew at her, and saw with horror that his hands were outstretched, he was reaching for her neck….
And then, abruptly, she was transported into darkness. She froze, breathing heavily, trying to make sense of where she was.
It was like a shadowy hallway. She saw bright spots in front of her, floating orbs of light that bobbed lightly in the darkness. She looked down to see if there was anything below her, but there wasn’t. To her amazement, there didn’t even seem to be a floor. She was hovering in midair, no sign of life around her.
She looked around, panicked, and gravitated to the nearest orb of light. Somehow, even though she couldn’t walk, she was able to shift herself closer to it. With a hesitant hand, she reached towards the light. The moment her finger touched it, she felt herself being sucked forwards at an unbelievable speed, the air torn from her chest as her surroundings changed once more.
And then, in a confusing turn of events, she was standing on the beach again. The sun was setting, and she was surrounded by angry Guardians. She recognized the scene; she had found Alex’s memory of last night.
She looked down again, and was relieved to find that her feet were planted firmly in the sand. To her immediate right, Alex stood, a pair of wings in his hands. She flinched, realizing that this was the second right after he had killed the Guardian. But he wasn’t looking down at the dead man. He was looking ahead.
She followed his gaze,
and a wave of shock rolled through her when she saw her own face. This, too, was flipped, and she understood that she was seeing her face as it looked to others, as opposed to the way it looked in the mirror. But her face was almost unrecognizable now. This memory-version of herself was staring at Alex in fear, appearing wholly stunned, even disgusted.
A pang of guilt took over, but before she could meditate on it, the world was drawn forward, away from her, and she blacked out once again.
When Callie came to, she was looking up at the ceiling of Shay’s cottage. She winced as she sat up, and she felt a hand gently pushing her up, helping her. She looked back over her shoulder, and saw Emeric helping her to sit.
“What happened?” she asked, squinting as the room spun. Her head felt light.
“You transported yourself into another memory,” Emeric replied.
She moaned, and stood up. But she must have done so too quickly, for she staggered backwards once again, into Emeric’s chest.
“Let us sit,” he said, guiding her slowly to the couch. She allowed him to seat her upon it, and felt the couch move as he sat next to her. “Do not worry,” he said now. “The first time most Guardians attempt this, they have similar reactions. The act drains you of mental power for a few moments until you become accustomed to the exercise.”
Callie nodded, not really paying attention, and tipped her head back against the couch. She was completely exhausted.
“How did I do it?” Callie asked, closing her eyes. She felt strangely disconnected from her body. “And how did he see me? I thought you said people couldn’t see you in memories.”
“They can’t,” Emeric said. “By allowing Alex to know your location, you gave him the ability to manipulate that particular memory. He pictured himself rushing at that spot in the cave, knowing you were there. The fear he caused you by doing so allowed you to transport yourself.”
“Hmm,” Callie sighed. Vaguely, she realized that this was why Alex’s image had been flipped. He had seen himself rushing at Callie, so he had used the reflection he was used to seeing of himself.
The Guardian (Callista Ryan Series) Page 9