Janine entered the kitchen, and Camille followed behind. Seeing her wipe a tear from her cheek, I jumped up.
“What’s wrong?” I caught her hand as she swiped another tear from her face.
“Nothing, let’s get some lunch.” She brushed past me.
“If it were nothing, you wouldn’t be crying.”
Her eyes bore into mine. “Let’s talk later?”
“Please tell me.” I used my best puppy-dog face.
“Fine.” She pulled me up the stairs to our room.
Inside, she shut the door and sat on the bed. More tears pooled in her eyes, and I knelt before her.
Looking to the ceiling, Camille took a deep breath. “I’m putting everyone in danger. My dad, mom, Tyler, my grandparents.”
“It’s going to be okay. Nothing is going to happen to anyone. I’m not going to let it. We’re all safe now.” I tucked her hair behind her ear.
“For how long? Getting the sword is going to be dangerous. And Dad is worried about my grandparents.”
“Your mom’s parents?”
“Yes.” She nodded.
More tears pooled in her eyes, and I wrapped my arms around her. “What do you need?”
She pulled away. “I want everyone to be safe and happy. Dad is preparing a safe house in the States for them. What if I never see them again?” Her eyes dropped to her lap. “All this is because of me, because of—”
I placed my hands on her shoulders and forced her to look at me. “No, this is not your fault.” I gazed into her eyes, searching for something to give her, to help her not feel sad. “What if your grandparents go to my Nan and Pop’s place? You can take a break, go visit them there. Take your mom and Tyler and go be with them while Grady gets their house ready. Plus, I’d love for you to meet Nan and Pop.” I cupped my hand to her cheek.
Nodding her head, she wiped her cheeks again. “I would like that. That’d be nice. But I can’t leave Alena and Hunter.”
“You don’t have your magic yet anyway. You’d be perfectly safe with me, Tyler, and Grady.”
“I do want to see them, and I think my mom could use some normal time. Seems like she’s been through a lot.”
“She has.” Relaxing my position, I sat on the floor.
“We can’t split up. We just found you. It’s too risky. What if something happens?” Alena threw up her hands when Camille told Alena and Hunter about wanting to spend a week with her family.
“I don’t have my magic. They have no way of tracking me, and I’ll be with my dad, Tyler, and Jude. It’s only a week. My mom has Dimitri’s blood in her system. You can track her if something happened.”
“But your mom isn’t you.”
“She’s not drinking Dimitri’s blood,” I insisted. I didn’t want to add that she needed the time off, but I’d use it if I had to.
“Guys.” Hunter stood. “Alena, you might be overreacting. Camille has been through a lot. She’s been estranged from her family for months. Is it that dangerous?” He turned to Orm and Chalondra. “What do you think?”
Orm rubbed the back of his neck. “We can spare a week.”
“How will you meet up with us again?” Alena asked.
“Leave us a date and time for a pick up, and we’ll be there,” I told them.
“Then we can do the chelation, I get my magic back, and we’ll be back in business.” Camille’s eyes scanned the room.
“Okay, I guess that’s what we’ll do then.” Alena released a large breath and walked away.
Hunter approached Camille. “Sorry, she gets stressed and can be a bit intense.”
“No, I get it. Thanks,” Camille told him.
I wondered if Camille felt let down about her reunion with Alena and Hunter. There would be plenty of time for bonding once we met up with them at their safe house though.
The next morning, we packed our bags and the five of us took a cab to the airport. Grady instructed his assistant to box their things in Reykjavik and send it to a storage facility in the US.
“Are you sad that you’re not going back home?” I asked Camille as we found our seats on the plane.
“A little. But we’ve moved around so much home is wherever Mom and Tyler are.”
“We should message Frida when this is all over.”
“It would’ve been nice to see her. She’s going to be mad when she finds out we faked our whole break-up.” She wrapped her hand around mine. “But at least she’ll know you’re a good guy. Does it bother you that we may never have normal lives?”
“I’ve never had normal. At least all of this explains it.”
Laying her head on my shoulder, she closed her eyes. I wondered how our lives would be different if we’d never met in Iceland. If Miguel hadn’t invited me to Italy.
With the darkening sky and the days of stress we’d had, I fell asleep easily and woke to the sun setting over the ocean.
“Now, this, this is how a seaside city should feel,” I told Camille as we exited the terminal.
“What? Warm and sunny all year?”
“Yes, exactly.” I lowered my sunglasses over my eyes.
“Oh, my goodness, you look so thin.” Nan covered her mouth as I entered the room. “Did they feed you?” She wrapped her arms around me.
“It’s been a rough couple of weeks.” I stepped out of her embrace. “Nan, Pop, this is Camille.” I took Camille’s hand. When I looked to her face it turned rose colored.
“Oh, it’s so good to meet you.” Nan hugged Camille.
Pop shook her hand as she offered it. “Nice to see you’re safe.”
“It’s so nice to meet both of you. Thank you for having us.”
“No trouble at all, come in. Let’s get you all situated.”
Janine claimed a room with Camille, and while I couldn’t blame her for wanting to be close to her daughter, it disappointed me. I told myself we’d have plenty of time together once we got to Alena’s safe house. Tyler, Grady, and I were sharing a room so Camille’s grandparents could have a room of their own.
“So, no magic talk I’m assuming when the humans come?’ Nan asked when I met her in the kitchen.
“Janine and Grady are picking them up from the airport this afternoon. I’m not sure what they’re telling them.” I took a pot from her and dipped it in the soapy water.
“Have you thought about your parents, maybe like seeing your mom?” Her eyebrows rose.
I dried the pot and stashed it in the cabinet. “I’ve thought about it. I haven’t decided yet.” I backed out of the room.
Finding Camille and her family in the living room, I chose a seat beside Pop on the couch.
“Chess?” He pointed to the board in front of us.
“Sure.” I arranged the pieces into their positions.
As we took our turns, my attention was split between the game and Camille’s family. I watched as they talked and joked with each other. Seeing them interact as a cohesive and happy unit made my feelings vacillate between joy for her and jealousy over what I’d never had.
“I know your mother would love to see you.” Pop brought me out of my thoughts.
“I may take Camille to meet her.” My eyes darted to Camille.
Pop leaned towards me. “Really?”
“Yeah, why?”
He moved his knight. “Just surprised.”
“I think I get her a little better now.”
“What led you to that grand epiphany?” He knocked over my rook.
I laid his king down. “Don’t make a big deal out of it, okay.” I made my way to my room and changed for a work out thinking that may be the only place I’d be able to have some alone time.
Camille found me thirty minutes into my lifting routine. “So, what’s the plan, are we hiding out here all week?”
“Actually, no, I was thinking we could go to Catalina Island, maybe drive down the coast to San Diego, or visit Joshua Tree National Park, all very cool things to do in Southern California.”
“Do you think those would be approved trips?”
“I have no idea, but if we wear caps, I don’t see why it would be a problem. Plus, why would they think to look at the most populated spot in California. We’d have to be idiots to venture out in public like that.” I rested the bar on the stand and stole a kiss.
“Hey.” Her cheeks reddened.
“No one is here.” My eyes darted to the door and back to hers.
A smile spread across her face. “I know. It’s weird with my family though.”
“Tyler is going to have to get used to it.”
“Between you and Alena, he’s going to lose it.”
“What’s up with him and Alena?”
“Well, he feels this magical obsession with being near her, but Hunter’s always there.”
I moved to the leg station. “Does he like her, like, like her, like her?”
“I’m not sure he can separate the two. Could you?”
“With someone like Alena, yes.”
“You have to get over this thing with her.” She circled around me as I raised my feet.
“I don’t have a thing with her.” Finishing my leg reps, I reached for a towel. “I was thinking we could go visit my mom, just you and me.”
She pointed at me. “You do.” A smile spread across her face. “And really?”
“She doesn’t live too far from here, and it’s remote.”
“I would like that.”
“Are you sure? She’s a little hokey.” I popped the towel in Camille’s direction.
“Of course. Like being a witch isn’t hokey.”
“I guess so.”
She stood on her toes and kissed me. “Anyone who is important to you is important to me.” Swiping my towel from me, she strode from the room.
I could hardly believe I’d committed to visiting Mom. Nan and Pop had made me visit before I’d left for Iceland. In and out of rehab until she moved to the communal farm, it took me a year to get past the anger and talk to her. What kind of mother abandoned her own son and checked out of normal civilization? Sure, she’d tried job after job, where her anger or drug issues always ended up getting her fired. As a child, I learned to prefer her manic and angry moods to her drunk stupor or drug-induced haze. At least she paid attention to me when she wasn’t high. I wondered if the guilt drove her away. But then I realized she was happy at the farm, had moved for herself, which further enraged me. And under the resentment lay pain, fueled by Dad’s lack of parenting. Couldn’t one of them decide to be there for me?
Jumping on the treadmill, I thought back over the past year. The visions started on my seventeenth birthday. I’d always had random reoccurring nightmares, but these were different. I hallucinated about angels, demons, biblical occurrences, the rapture, heaven, and hell. Realizing these were awakening my magic, conjured animosity for my father. I poured my pent-up feelings into my workout, increasing the treadmill’s speed to a seven-minute mile.
“Are you trying to kill the motor?” Pop’s voice startled me, and I slammed my hand against the stop button.
“I’m taking Camille to visit Mom tomorrow.” I wiped my brow with the towel he offered.
“That will make Emma happy.”
“I want to be able to forgive her.”
“Maybe tomorrow will help. Wash up. Tyler said Grady and Janine will be here soon with her folks, and dinner’s almost ready.”
“What did Janine tell them about why this place is so secure? Do they know why they’re relocating?” I asked Tyler as I waited with Camille for their grandparents.
“Mom said she wanted to move back here soon and wanted them nearby. Grady found a house at a winery inland. They won’t even realize it is a safe house. We told them that your family is very paranoid.”
“Wonderful.” I rolled my eyes and stretched my arm behind Camille.
Camille leaned into me. “They don’t need to know about all of this.”
We heard the bell notifying us someone was at the door.
“Here goes nothing.” Tyler crossed to the entrance, punching in the code to open the outside door.
We met them in the outer foyer. Janine’s mother and father craned their necks, surveying their surroundings as they hugged Camille and Tyler.
“This is Jude.” Camille took my hand and pulled me towards them. “We’ll be staying with his grandparents until the house is ready.”
“You can call me Charlie. This is my wife, Ella, except her singing isn’t nearly as nice as the other one.” Chuckling, her grandfather thrust his hand out.
“Well,” Ella took my hand in hers, “any friend of Camille’s is a friend of ours.”
We ushered them inside to where Nan and Pop waited to greet them. Nan prepared a big spread, and I felt guilty I hadn’t helped more. When I voiced my apology, Nan put her hand to my cheek.
“You’re a good boy. I was okay. Janine and Camille helped while you were working out. I know how important that is for you.”
My face warmed. “Thank you.” I looked between them. “This is amazing.”
“What should we do tonight?” Camille asked.
“Monopoly?” Tyler offered.
“It’s on.” Camille held her fist out to her brother. “I pick Jude and Dad.”
“Well, I have Mom and my grandma.” Tyler pointed at Ella.
After the dishes were cleared and kitchen cleaned, we set up the game while Nan, Pop, and Charlie made small talk. Their idea of a Monopoly game turned out to be more like a tournament to the death, and we played until after midnight.
“Jude.” Camille found me in the hall after I’d washed up for bed.
“Yes.” I smiled at her, thinking I’d never met anyone so beautiful.
“Sorry about the sleeping arrangements.”
“It’s okay. I had my pass in Italy.”
She stood on her toes and kissed my lips. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“Ugh, stop.” Tyler rounded the corner.
“Good night.” I spun and waved my hand behind my head.
I watched as a naked woman snapped a round fruit from a tree. She cowered under the tree beside a serpent and took a bite from the red fruit. A voice called to her. “Why have you disobeyed me?” When she looked up, her face was that of my father’s.
Sweat covered my body, and I threw my covers off and jumped out of bed. Seeing the dark furniture, I realized I was in my room at the safe house.
Still, the dream haunted me, and I tiptoed down the hall to Camille’s room. Opening the door, I saw her sleeping next to Janine. Convinced that she was safe and well, I made my way back to my room.
“Is everything okay?” I jumped at the sound of Pop’s voice.
“Yeah, just a nightmare.”
“Witches don’t have nightmares. What did you see?”
“Nothing, it’s fine. Thanks for checking.” I spun to my door.
Quicker than I’d ever seen him move, he zipped around me and placed his arm on the doorframe, blocking my path. “Tell me what you saw. You went and checked on Camille. Did you see something happen to her?”
I shook my head and moved to enter my room. “No, it was a dream, a weird dream.”
Lying down again, I tried to sleep, but the dream played out in my head again and again. What if Michael’s coven found out where our safe house was? What if they tortured the information from Dad? No, I told myself. Dad told Nan and Pop to go there. He wouldn’t have if he didn’t think it was safe. Praying my dad’s judgment or knowledge hadn’t been compromised, I tossed and turned until five. I dressed in my workout clothes and went to the gym. It wasn’t an hour before Grady, Tyler, and Pop joined me.
“Since when do you practice magic?” I asked Pop as he started sparring with me.
“If your father thinks we’re in danger, I figure it’s best to be prepared. Maybe I only got a hundred or so years in me, but I’d rather have them than not.”
“Tell me about your life.” I
flung a blade above his head.
Reversing the blade’s path, he explained how he was born in Spain during the holy wars. How he and his family survived the Spanish influenza. When the Spanish came to the new world, he and Nan crossed to Cuba and then settled in Florida. “After that, we kept moving west, drawn like all the other witches to this city, the city of Angels.”
“You think there’s something special about this area?”
“No, I think a lot of witches came here because it is a beautiful place to live.”
“When all this is finished, I want to come back and read all our family’s histories.”
“Come this way.” He led me into a room filled with books. “Here.” Crossing the room, he lifted several texts from the shelf. “I think these will be most helpful. They’re all the spells our family has accumulated over the centuries.”
“This is amazing.” I leafed through the pages.
“Breakfast,” Nan called through the doorway.
“Ugh, and I didn’t help again.” I hugged her.
“Don’t you worry about that. You’ve got more things to think about than cooking food.”
“I know.” I followed her down the hall. “But there are a lot of people. I want to do my part.”
I sat down beside Camille, and Nan set an insulated container in front of me. “Just for you.” She patted my shoulder. “I figured you could use some extra nutrition today.” She winked.
I tasted the drink and realized it was blood, human blood. Glancing at Pop, he nodded my way. I guessed they decided I needed the extra energy after my sleepless night. Trying not to think about who made the donation, I downed the drink and finished breakfast.
After the meal, Camille and I dressed and packed for our day in the country.
“Are you sure this is safe?” Tyler asked as we made the last arrangements.
Kingdom of Honor (Kingdom Journals Book 3) Page 18