by Raine Thomas
James was quite handsome, she realized as she shifted her gaze, and he also looked no more than a couple years older than her. His straight hair, worn in a kind of choppy cut around his face, was that just in-between shade between brown and blond. He wore it long enough in the back to brush the neckline of the maroon tank top he wore. His eyes were the blue of dark, ripe berries, and studied her with obvious curiosity. He seemed to be processing the fact that she knew their names.
“Hello, Olaya,” he responded in a melodious voice. He attempted to return her smile, but it looked like an unfamiliar action.
Finding his behavior humorous, she sat up, using one hand to hold the fabric that had been covering her in place and the other to reach out and pet Aurora’s head. Looking behind her, she noted the long length of her hair and raised an eyebrow. But then, she imagined there were many things about her transition that would surprise her. The biggest surprise of all to her was that she had made it across. And she knew that she owed that entirely to James.
Turning back around, she said, “Thank you for all of your efforts to bring us across. I know words aren’t enough—”
He blinked in apparent surprise and interrupted her. “But that was my duty,” he said, as if that explained why he had gone to so much effort.
For some reason, that just increased her humor. “I’m sure it was. And you’re excellent at your job. But that doesn’t mean I’m not grateful for it.”
He didn’t seem to know what to say about that. He tilted his head slightly in consideration and then said, “Your assigned Orculesti is second commander Dalila. She will prepare you for the Becoming ceremony.”
“Oh. Okay.”
For another long moment, he just stood there staring at her. Then he turned and walked away. After taking his own turn to study her in silence, Alexius followed him.
Aurora gave a mental chuckle. Of all of the males here to see to your protection, they are the only two who stood by you until you awoke. I think I frightened the rest away.
Really? Olivia gave that some thought.
I think I like them, Aurora thought.
I do, too.
The male Estilorian who stood in front of Skye when she became aware was rather exotic in appearance. His skin color was somewhere between tan and very tan. His long, dark brown hair was a series of soft curls that he had tied back into a ponytail with three separate loops around it. But his most compelling feature, his almond-shaped, dark blue eyes, drew Skye’s full attention. She thought she could have gazed into those eyes until the world came to an end.
“Get up,” he said.
The smile that had formed over her thoughts of him suddenly froze. “Excuse me?”
“I said, ‘Get up.’”
Unused to such rudeness, Skye wasn’t sure how to react. So she sat up.
The Estilorian’s gaze shifted down and then back up, over her shoulder. “Cover yourself.”
Sighing, she did as he instructed.
“I am Caleb,” he said, “the Gloresti who watched over your Estilorian form and assisted in bringing you to this plane. Behind me are the Waresti who have stood in protection of you since your birth. Together with your assigned Orculesti, archigos Malukali, we will prepare you for the Becoming ceremony.”
“Well, isn’t that something?” Skye responded tartly, deciding she didn’t at all like Caleb’s tone. “I’m Skye Tomaganuk, and I’m here to save your entire people. So…how about that?”
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Okay. Take a look.”
Amber gave herself a mental pep talk before she stepped in front of the mirror. She once again thought of the analogy of Alice and the looking glass. Just too appropriate. Then she took two steps to her left and looked.
It was like meeting a stranger. This stranger was spectacularly beautiful. She had brown hair filled with luminous blonde and red highlights. The rich mass of that hair had been woven into an intricate plait and wound into a fancy bun of sorts at the crown of her head, leaving just a few loose tendrils curling along the sides of her face. Sparkling gold threads had been worked into the braid and glimmered in the light. Expertly applied makeup enhanced long-lashed eyes the deep gold color of newly-minted coins. The contrast between her dark hair and light eyes was striking, especially with the added effect of the cosmetics. Amber realized that she had, indeed, managed to inherit Olivia’s finely arched eyebrows and the shape of her forehead, and the thought brought a smile to her face.
Where had the dimple in her left cheek come from? she wondered when she saw it. She noticed that her mouth still looked much as it had…full, heart-shaped lips that were presently colored with a soft shade of lipstick. Would her sisters also have this mouth? Would they have the same defined cheekbones and delicate jaw line? The same slender neck?
Her skin was golden tan, more like Skye’s human skin color had been than her rather pasty white. The definition in her shoulders and biceps was notably improved in her current form. She looked more like she lifted weights daily than just a few days a week, as she had back in Newnan. As her gaze moved over her chest—which had gotten a bit fuller, as well—she realized that her abdomen could have been featured in any Sports Illustrated magazine. Even her long legs were seriously toned and pretty fabulous.
Holy cow—she was cut!
She guessed that was why her ceremonial garb designers had chosen not to cover much of her up. Around her neck was a flexible hoop made out of hammered gold. The hoop scooped down to just below the start of her breastbone. Around the hoop was what Kanika had described as specially-designed armor. It felt just like a slick, fluid fabric, but it would apparently stop any weapon. Amber certainly hoped it wouldn’t be put to any tests. Because it was meant to be ceremonial and not functional, the iridescent black fabric only covered her from the middle of her breastbone to the bottom of it. The only back to the top was a thin strap of the odd black material that crossed beneath her shoulder blades to connect it on either side. Dangling all along the bottom of the material from just beneath her breasts to just above her navel were varying lengths of delicate strands of gold that reflected the light when she moved.
A second, wider version of the flexible gold hoop sat low on her hips, beneath her navel. Hanging from this hoop was a skirt of the same clinging black armor that covered just enough of her to be considered decent, falling not even to mid-thigh. Black and gold sandals covered her feet, the thin straps starting from her ankles and wrapping around her legs to just a couple of inches below where the skirt ended on her thighs. The only other adornments she had been given were thin gold coils tipped with black gems that wrapped around each of her biceps.
She looked like she would wipe the map of her enemies and take names later. She could only assume that was what the designers had been going for. It was rather overwhelming.
Suddenly, it occurred to her that she had been just standing there gawking for several minutes. She watched her cheeks turn pink. How embarrassing.
“So…what makeup did you use to do these?” she asked Kanika finally, pointing to three starburst designs that appeared to be painted in gold along the outer ridge of each eye, one at the end of each eyebrow, one at the edge of each eye and one at the top of each cheekbone, all evenly spaced. They served as remarkably feminine enhancements to her already highlighted eyes. Since Kanika also had them, she figured they must be an Estilorian trend of some kind.
Kanika raised an eyebrow. “Those are not cosmetics. They are part of you.”
“What? Seriously?”
Now Amber moved closer to the mirror. She reached up to touch them on her face. How were they able to glimmer like that if they weren’t painted? Too weird. Then she turned slightly and looked again at her back. “So, these long, dark gold lines, um, crescents, tattooed along each of my shoulder blades. These are permanent, too?”
“Well, of course they are. We all have them. Did archigos Ini-herit not tell you?
“They are for your wings.”
> Amber wasn’t sure just how many more changes and surprises she would be able to process. Wings? She would be able to fly? Oh, not until after the Becoming ceremony since her “powers” weren’t fully activated until she and her sisters connected.
But, yeah. She would be able to fly.
Kanika led her back to the chamber she had arrived in, explaining that all Estilorians could fly, that their wings matched their eye color and identified them as belonging to a certain class, and that a few of them had certain powers in addition to those inherent to their classes. The elders had forbidden any of those caring for the girls after their transition from using any powers until after the Becoming ceremony. They felt it would be too much at once. Amber personally felt that she had accepted enough of what was happening to her that she was about to walk into a room full of strange Estilorian males wearing the most revealing outfit she had ever worn. Somehow, seeing someone exhibit power just paled in comparison.
“What’s your power?” Amber asked in an effort to turn her attention from the approaching chamber and the males it contained.
“Well, as an Orculesti, I can read and send thoughts.”
“Oh. Right.” She blinked at that. “You can read my mind?”
A frown appeared between Kanika’s eyes. “No.”
Relief flooded through her. She remembered Ini-herit saying that the mental connection had been disrupted when she and Gabriel exchanged their rings, and guessed that might have something to do with Kanika’s puzzlement. “Okay. What else?”
“I can retrieve objects using my mind. Just sort of picture them and make them appear. Not overly large things, mind you.”
“That’s probably pretty handy.” Amber said. Even she could hear the nervousness in her voice. She shut up.
Within a matter of a couple minutes, they reached the chamber. Kanika swept into the room first with Amber trailing reluctantly behind. Kanika clapped her hands loudly, gaining the attention of everyone milling around. Amber truly wished she hadn’t when all eyes turned to her.
“Ambryl is ready,” Kanika announced, as though it wasn’t incredibly obvious.
Simon stepped forward, his eyes wider than they had been and moving rather rapidly up and down as he absorbed her appearance. It made Amber highly uncomfortable. When he started to reach for her, she frowned and crossed her arms forbiddingly, standing her ground. He wisely backed up a step and instead gave her one of his smiles.
“You will be traveling with me to the ceremony location,” he explained. His expression had smoothed into sheepishness. “I promise to keep you from harm.”
She relaxed slightly, as she had figured she would have to be transported somehow without having the ability to fly herself. And if it brought her to Gabriel, she would have traveled by camelback through a sandstorm with demons at her heels. She could do this.
Inclining her head, she lowered her arms. “Fine.”
She looked around the chamber at the Waresti who simply stood and stared. With another flash of Mrs. B entering her mind, she decided that being among a group of people for any length of time without receiving introductions was unacceptable, regardless of her discomfort with social situations. She walked closer to the Waresti who stood in front of the others. His blond hair was quite short, giving him the appearance of an ancient Roman. If the muscles revealed by his rust-colored tank top and tight khaki-colored pants were any indication, he could bend solid steel into a ball and kick it to Kansas. Those muscles were liberally covered in burnt orange tattoos of some kind. His skin was dark enough to indicate a good amount of time spent in the sun. As she got closer, she realized the top of her head didn’t even reach this giant’s shoulders.
Holding out her hand, she said, “I’m Amber. I’m assuming you’re some kind of Waresti team leader?”
Taking the hint, he reached out and clasped her hand in a surprisingly friendly shake considering his lack of expression. “I am Harold. Commander of the Waresti class.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Harold.” She focused on his face and repeated his name to herself to memorize it. Then she turned to the Waresti behind him. This one had long blond hair and wore a green tank with brown pants. He stood only an inch or so shorter than Harold.
“I am Donald,” he said, following Harold’s lead and stepping forward to grasp her hand.
Obviously realizing what she wanted, the rest of the Waresti came forward to introduce themselves. Amber focused intently on each name as it was said, as well as some distinguishing feature of each of them. She was intrigued that they were a mix of all races and nationalities, but, as Kanika had indicated, they were all under forty human years in appearance. Probably due to their class, they were all huge and heavily muscled. She had to wonder what the Estilorians faced every day that they needed warriors of this kind. Just one more thing she had to learn.
After the last introduction was made, she stepped back enough that she could see all of them. “Okay. Let me make sure that I have this down.” And she quickly ran through everyone’s names again, making eye contact with each of them as she said their name, not moving on until they nodded at her to confirm that she was correct.
“Thank you. It eases my mind to know everyone who is apparently placing their lives on the line just to get me to this ceremony. I want you to know that I appreciate it, even if you just see this as another duty.” She smiled then, more at ease. “And I’ll do what I can to keep us out of trouble.”
Harold actually smiled then. She suspected it was something he didn’t do often, especially when it quickly faltered and he looked confused.
Laughing and suddenly eager to depart, Amber turned to Simon, who stood patiently behind her. “Thanks for waiting so I could do that, Simon. I’m ready now. Let’s get to the ceremony.”
Amber was mildly surprised to see it was early night when they departed the cavern. The Estilorians didn’t prepare to fly until they ventured outside. She had never seen anything as magnificent as their glowing, ethereal-looking wings.
Kanika’s segmented wings glowed dark green and had rounded edges, larger on the top and smaller on the bottom with slightly scalloped edges, like a butterfly. The wings of the Waresti, on the other hand, were not segmented and came to points at the tips. They looked like they were comprised of roaring orange flames, flickering at the tips. She wanted to get closer to them just to see if they radiated the heat that they appeared to. Simon’s wings were also solid rather than segmented. They glowed a cool, midnight blue. With a slight bend in the tops as well as the bottoms, they resembled the wings of a bird. The energy that created the colored wings pulsed within them in mesmerizing swirls.
Simon settled Amber in front of him so she wouldn’t hinder his wings. With a harness designed for this purpose, she was soon safely strapped with her back to his front. Then they were airborne.
It was a totally exhilarating experience. She pushed aside the fact that she was pressed rather intimately against a strange being. She focused instead on the rush of the wind as they soared. Lights twinkled from the dark landscape streaking beneath them. They watched the sun rise over an ocean. She had no idea which one it was. She had never seen the ocean up close before. Its vastness both terrified and awed her.
They stopped a few times to rest. It puzzled Amber that she wasn’t hungry or thirsty when she had been in her new form for more than a day. Simon explained that Estilorians required less sustenance than humans because their metabolisms were so vastly different. Amber wondered if she would ever learn everything there was to know about this other side of herself.
Finally, when the sun had again set and stars filled the sky, they reached their destination. She realized with some shock that they were approaching an ancient-looking coliseum. Because it was isolated and surrounded by darkness, she reasoned that it wasn’t the most famous one. She still figured they were probably in Europe somewhere. How crazy was that?
As they made their descent, she searched the crowd for Gabriel. She no
ted that her sisters were already there, but didn’t see any sign of him. She tried not to let that send her into a panic, but it was a hard thing.
“Amber!” Skye cried happily with a vigorous wave. The youngest sister was standing with one imposing-looking Gloresti behind her, about fifty feet from Olivia, who stood in the middle of the coliseum with her own Gloresti and Aurora. Amber’s eyebrows winged up over the cat’s new size.
Simon touched the ground gently, fifty feet on the other side of Olivia. As he unstrapped the harness, he said, “You must remain here with me until the ceremony commences.”
She understood, so gave him a brief nod. When he continued to stand right next to her after removing the harness, she took a deliberate step forward, away from him. He continued to make her uncomfortable, but she was now easily able to dismiss him from her thoughts.
She wanted only to see Gabriel at last. Nothing else mattered.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Gabriel hadn’t realized how long it would take to travel from his home to the site arranged by the Elphresti for the Becoming ceremony. Even the totally awesome thrill of flying didn’t make the time pass more quickly.
He wished that he could still hear Amber in his thoughts. The broken connection worried him. Was it just a natural result of the transition? Or had something gone wrong to affect her consciousness? He had no way to know, as communication between the groups of Estilorians protecting the girls was deemed unsafe. And he certainly didn’t want to compromise her safety.
Ini-herit and Knorbis had explained a bit about how the ceremony would proceed. All of the eldest and most trusted of each class of Estilorian would attend—except, of course, the Mercesti. Also in attendance would be the contingents assigned to each of the sisters. The ceremony would be led by the Elphresti elder, Jabari. Once the ceremony was complete and the sisters had Become, the elders would meet separately to discuss what should be done with the girls to prepare them for life on the Estilorian plane. Gabriel was deeply relieved that he would be among those making that decision. He didn’t want to lose Amber again.