by Amanda Perry
“Do you dare question your gods and goddesses, boy?” Hakan roars.
The volume hurts my ears, and I bring my hands to cover them until he stops yelling.
“Perhaps we should show him this is no dream-gripping or mind-bending trick,” Niyol suggests, his voice deathly calm. I want to ask what kind of mind-tricks the Fallen are capable of but, now, doesn’t appear to be the best time.
Without further prompting, a small spark leaps from Hakan’s fingertip and lands on Jaxon’s bare foot. He yelps in surprise and hops around on his other foot while holding the hurt one. The sight would be comical if I wasn’t worried about him.
“You know you cannot feel physical effects from mind-bending or dream-gripping. Have you ever felt physical pain like that in a dream, Jaxon?” Niyol demands, his voice still steady and quiet.
“Shit,” Jaxon curses. “No, sorry! I believe you.”
“Very well,” Hakan growls and turns to Cassie. “Miss Montgomery, are you skeptical of us as well?”
Cassie shakes her head so fast I worry she may strain her neck. “No, sir!”
“Good, then we must get down to business.” Binda’s voice is soothing, like the sounds of the ocean, and it suits her. “Riley is The Chosen, you have all figured that out already. What you don’t know is that she will be responsible for taking down Samael. He is leading the Fallen, assembling an army. He wants her by any means necessary. He will try to bring her to the Fallen side and use her power against the Elementals. If she refuses him, he will want her dead. He will do anything and everything he can to get to her one way or another.”
“It will be Riley’s job to learn to fight,” Mikaia adds. “She needs to be ready. You all must help her, or she will fail. It will take hard work and dedication. It will take a lot of time, but she must still care for herself. She is very bright and learns quickly. We don’t anticipate her having any troubles mastering the skills needed to further her control over the elements if she simply believes in herself and her abilities.”
“This is bullshit,” Caleb hollers. It’s the first thing he’s said, and I’m pretty sure it’s the wrong thing to say. “Pick someone else, you can’t have her!”
“Caleb?” His outburst stuns me.
“No.” He shakes his head emphatically. “This isn’t going to happen, Riley. I just found you, and they want to take you away. They can pick someone else to be The Chosen.”
He turns back to Hakan and Niyol. “She’s been through absolute hell her entire life. She knew nothing about our world until less than a month ago. Why are you doing this to her? Just find someone else, I’ll take her home and take care of her. She can’t deal with all of this!”
To say I’m surprised watching Caleb yell and curse at our gods would be an understatement. I’m completely frozen and speechless. I watch Hakan, and he’s about to erupt like a volcano. Niyol is the embodiment of the calm before the storm. I ready myself to step in if they try to hurt Caleb. Though I know I won’t be much help, but I don’t want them to do anything to him.
“We completely understand, Caleb,” Binda speaks smoothly.
“What?” Hakan turns to his mate, less than amused.
“How would you feel if I had been through what Riley has been through?” she asks him quietly.
“That has nothing to do with her now,” Niyol growls.
“It most certainly does,” Mikaia chides softly. “Dear, I have some memories of you being quite overprotective of me, and my past was not like Riley’s. Caleb has just found his soulmate, and we are here to tell him there is a chance he could lose her. What would you do if it was me, and someone told you there was a chance you would lose me?”
Niyol and Hakan remain completely silent for a few moments, simply staring at the loves of their lives. I hold my breath and try to get a read on the emotions of the angry gods in front of us. Finally, after what feels like an eternity, Hakan lets out a loud, dramatic sigh.
“We understand,” he tells Caleb calmly. “You should have let me finish my explanation of what’s to come before your outburst, though. But we understand your anxieties.”
Caleb folds his arms stubbornly, showing he’s still upset and unwilling to relent. I step up to him and hug him from the side. He looks down at me, and his eyes soften a bit. He unfolds his arms to wrap one around me.
“You are her family.” Mikaia turns our attention back to them. “You all are. You will be responsible for her training. Teach her how to perfect her control. Teach her how to fight back when someone tries to hurt her. Keep her safe, support her, and be by her side for what’s to come. You will need to be patient with her. Listen to her, understand she does not come from the same background as the rest of you. Trust her!”
“This is all we can tell you now,” Binda admits quietly. “If you do not communicate with each other, you will fail. Please, listen to each other, and to us. You all have a long and emotional journey ahead. It is important you have each other every step of the way.”
With that, the four of them turn and walk away. The room fades to black, and before I know it, my eyes open to find Caleb blinking down at me with a frown. I shut my eyes tight again. I get the feeling this will be yet another long and stressful day.
At first, I think Caleb is upset with me for what happened, until I feel a gentle kiss placed on my forehead, then the tip of my nose, and finally my lips. “I have to ask,” he starts, pausing to place another kiss on my lips. “Did that really just happen?”
I hesitate. “Did what happen?”
Caleb falters and frowns. “I had a dream we all met with the gods and goddesses.”
“Oh,” I sigh. “That really happened.”
He’s quiet for a long time, and I worry he’s angry with me. “I really expected Hakan to be taller,” he muses.
I peek up at Caleb and can’t help but giggle at his unexpectedly cheeky grin. “Time to get up, baby. We’ll need to talk about all of this with everyone later, but I think I need a lot of coffee first.”
I wish I had the nerve to ask him to try to wake me up with more kisses. Instead, I roll out of bed and drag myself to the closet for some clothes, wondering what the day will bring.
Chapter 4
While we ready ourselves for the day, neither of us talk about what happened during the night or yesterday. I can tell Caleb is still trying to sort through what was said, and I don’t want to push him. It’s also a lot for me to process. I only hope Caleb comes around soon. There’s no changing what’s to come; we can only prepare and do what we were told.
Caleb suggests heading over to my dad and Leanne’s room so we can figure out our plans. I agree and go grab my shoes and socks.
“Baby,” Caleb’s voice directly behind me surprises me as I slip on my shoes. I swing around and pause at how close he is. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” He grins.
“Huh?” I’m a bit distracted by his nearness and almost forget he startled me. “Oh, it’s fine.”
He smiles knowingly and kisses my forehead. “As much as I would like to keep you to myself, your brother just texted me. He has a surprise for you today.”
“A surprise?” My slight disappointment at not spending the whole day lounging around with Caleb vanishes at the mention of a surprise. “What kind of surprise?”
He chuckles and takes my hand. “The surprise kind, baby girl.”
I grab my bag, and we head down to the front of the hotel. Jaxon, Cassie, Dad, and Leanne already made it down to wait for their car from the valet.
“Jaxon and Cassie are riding with you guys this time. Is that okay?” Dad gives me a slightly guilty smile. I can tell he feels bad about what happened yesterday, but I’m too excited about my surprise to think about it. I can’t remember ever having a good surprise before, so I hope Jaxon’s is a good one. The thought of a terrible surprise awaiting me crosses my mind, but I refuse to allow it to stick.
I nod and smile, his shoulders relaxing a bit as I do. After the valet bri
ngs the cars around and we pile in, I turn to face the back seat and grill Jaxon about where we’re going. His only reply is “somewhere fun.”
“Can I have a hint?” I pout when he won’t give in.
Jaxon scoffs. “Not a chance.”
“Jax, maybe we could give her a little hint?” Caleb mutters, watching me pout out of the corner of his eye.
“Don’t even think about it, Montgomery,” Jaxon growls. “It’s a ten-minute drive, she can wait.”
With a playful huff, I turn around and plop back down in my seat. I’m secretly happy about it staying a surprise. It’s thrilling to wait and wonder where we might be headed.
The ten-minute drive may as well take ten hours, but we finally pull into a large parking lot. I can’t sit still in my seat. Caleb laughs at my exuberance as he parks. While walking up to the entrance, I let out a squeal when I finally see the sign for the Sacramento Zoo.
“The zoo? You’re taking me to the zoo?” I beam up at my brother. “Thank you, Jaxon. I always wanted to go to the zoo.”
“I’m glad you’re so excited.” He laughs and gives me a side hug. “I figured you probably never went to one as a kid, and it’s a fun place to go, especially for us.”
I smile wide and skip to Caleb, who heads for the entrance. Dad and Leanne go ahead of us to buy the tickets. Jaxon laughs again as he and Cassie catch up with us.
“Come on, sis, let’s go walk with the animals, talk with the animals, grunt and squeak and squawk with the animals.” He snickers at his own joke.
“Jax, did you take your meds this morning?” Cassie jokes.
“Nope!” he shouts with a goofy grin.
“Oh boy,” Cassie mutters, trying to hide her amusement behind an eye roll.
“What can we see first?” I bounce on my heels. “Do they have lions or tigers?”
“Or bears? Oh my!” Leanne chimes in as we catch up to them.
“I think the reptiles are over here, let’s go there first.” Dad leads us to the right.
We spend the next half hour with all different types of lizards and reptiles. My favorite are the turtles. They’re adorable, and Cassie and I name them all.
“These four can be Raphael, Donatello, Leonardo, and Michelangelo,” Cassie insists.
I quirk a brow at her. “Why?”
“I’ll show you later,” she promises, sauntering off to find Jaxon by the snakes.
“I know who they are,” I mumble to myself, though Caleb hears me.
He takes my hands and leads me to the next section in the exhibit. “You’ve seen that show?”
“Show?” I frown. “There’s a show about Renaissance painters? Is it a documentary?”
Caleb smirks. “Not quite, baby. Remind me to show you tonight.”
I let the subject go and continue to watch the little lizards and frogs around the humid room. My attention goes back to the turtles several times, and Caleb threatens to get them all for me if we didn’t move along. As tempting as his offer is, I don’t want turtles as pets. The idea of a pet always intrigued me, but I wouldn’t know the first thing about caring for a turtle. At least, with dogs and cats, the caretaking is relatively straightforward.
My least favorite part of the reptile exhibit is the giant spiders in glass cages. They’re creepy and ugly. I stay behind Caleb in case they break free somehow. For some reason, he finds it funny. He can laugh all he wants. A year ago, people with abilities to control elements would be funny to me. Now, it’s my real life. I won’t take chances with mutant, glass-breaking, hairy spiders attacking me.
“Can we move to the next exhibit?” I ask, finally unable to look at the eight-legged beasts any longer.
Cassie readily agrees with me. She hooks her arm with mine, and we rush to the next exhibit. We end up in the Australian Outback exhibit with the kangaroos, emus, and something called a kookaburra.
“I wish I could have a kangaroo.” I sigh. “They’re adorable animals.”
Caleb laughs. “I’m not sure we’d have a place to keep it.”
He may be onto something with his logic. They’re likely better off in a big space. The backyard may be large, but it isn’t a zoo or the Australian outback.
“Hey, sweetheart,” Jaxon singsongs to Cassie when we make our way to the koalas. “Would you like for me to get you a drop bear?”
Cassie narrows her eyes and punches him in the arm, stomping away muttering about jackass boys. He follows her, apologizing through his laughter.
I want to ask about the drop bear thing, but some odd murmurs catch my attention. During the day, I’ve heard odd sounds, almost like conversation. Every time I notice them, I search the area but never find the culprits. The tones are hushed and out of place. The speech is in a language I’ve never heard before, yet I can make out some of the louder words and understand them. Chalking it up to my imagination, I push the strange conversation from my mind and enjoy the rest of the outback.
After the Australian outback, we stop at the Asian exhibit. We watch the pandas, snow leopards, orangutans, different types of birds, and tigers. The tigers have little cubs, and I love to watch the mommy tigers take care of their babies.
“Look how good she is with them,” I whisper, worried I’ll startle the cubs. “The little guys start to fight, and she just calmly breaks them up. They’re all such a happy little family.”
“They are.” Caleb pulls me into his side and kisses my hair. “They’re very happy.”
Reluctantly, we move on and make our way to the Americas exhibit. There, we see jaguars, sloths, and otters, which I fall in love with. They sleep floating on their backs, holding hands, and I’m convinced no animal could be cuter than they are. I wish we could stay and watch them all day. But Caleb promises we will get to see lions if we move on, so I follow him.
As we pass the monkeys and chimps, the odd whispered language grabs my attention again, and I can’t ignore the strange voices anymore.
“Cassie?” I ask while everyone else is distracted by the monkeys.
Her gaze remains fixed on the animals, but she acknowledges me. “Hmm?”
“I was just curious if you hear that?” I whisper, not wanting people to think I’m crazy.
“What?” She turns away from the animals to focus on me.
“Well…” I bite my lip, looking around to be sure no one is paying attention to us. “I heard some weird talking. It’s not in English, but I think I understood it. At least, I could make out some words, and I think someone was talking about picking bugs out of their hair.” I cover my hair subtly, worried there may be something there.
“What?” Cassie screams, drawing the attention of the entire room.
Heat rushes to my face, and I cover my cheeks with my hands. She puts both of her hands on her hair and frantically searches around the room in a panic.
“Nothing, never mind,” I mutter.
“Oh, nice try,” Cassie hisses, her volume significantly lower. “What in the world are you talking about?”
“What’s going on?” Dad takes in my bright red face and Cassie’s utter confusion.
“Riley said she heard a strange conversation,” Cassie whispers. “About bugs in some hair.”
“Ohh,” Leanne and Jaxon mutter at the same time.
“It’s fine, Cassie. She just heard the chimps,” Jaxon whispers. “Part of her affinity for Earth.”
“T-t-talking? They were…?”
“It’s okay, Riley,” Leanne insists. “It’s normal. You learn to kind of ignore it unless you need to use it. It isn’t actually talking like a cartoon. You can just understand them the way others of their species can. Right now, they’re grooming each other.”
Jaxon tilts his head to the side. “It usually takes years of studying and practice to understand their ways of communication. I’m surprised you could make out as much as you did.”
“This just gets weirder and weirder.” I shake my head.
Caleb laughs and leads me out of the monkey ex
hibit. We move onto the African Safari section of the zoo. Cassie and I catch each other scratching our hair throughout the day. The idea of bugs makes us both squeamish.
While we move from animal to animal, I find myself focusing on their language and ways of communication. Each one is different, but I understand them all.
We finish our zoo tour with the bats, zebras, giraffes, and lions. The whole park is filled with amazing animals and listening to them communicate—after I realize what I was hearing—is pretty amazing. Jaxon and Leanne promise to help me learn to block out non-human communication. I don’t want to accidentally answer an animal, though it isn’t likely with the language difference and the way they communicate being more primal. I’d rather be safe than sorry.
Before leaving the zoo, Caleb insists we stop at the gift shop. “You’re supposed to stop here when you come to these places. You look at all the random crap and beg your parents to buy you everything. At least, that’s what you do as a kid.”
“But I’m not a kid anymore,” I remind him.
He winks at me. “Trust me, I know. Still, you have to at least look around.”
“Sure, I don’t mind. It seems like a fun, little shop,” I admit with a shrug.
We end up at searching through everything they offer. My favorite treasures become the stuffed animals. “Cassie, they have your artistic turtles.”
Cassie lifts her brows. “They have my what?”
I nod toward the stuffed turtles. “The turtles you named.”
She snorts and picks up one of the stuffed turtles. “He’s pretty cute. He looks like a Donatello.”
She hands him to me and moves on. I can’t help but fall a bit in love with the turtle and his friends, the otter, kangaroo, monkey, and tiger. For a second, I consider purchasing one of them, but a quick check of the price tag has me choking on air. I can’t bring myself to ask if I might be able to get one. Before we leave the gift shop, I ensure they’re all lined up together and ready to be taken home by someone.