“I am here to warn you,” Nick said, and he subtly bowed his head.
The chieftain lowered his massive body onto the ornate chair. It creaked as he squeezed between the armrests. He adjusted his long shirt and let if fall between his muscular legs. “And who is this threat that I am to fear? How do you know of them? Are you a betrayer, spy, or virtuous bystander who wants to save the innocent?” Molloy drummed his fingertips on the end of the armrest. “And what am I to think of these two?” He pointed at Alex and Sarah. “You haven’t even told me their names yet. HA!” he bellowed. The men in the room laughed as they gripped the hilts of their swords.
“Forgive me,” Nick said. He bowed his head and looked at the man who still clasped his arm.
“Sean, release him.” Molloy ordered. “He will not trouble me.”
Sean released Nick’s arm, but kept his hand on his dagger. His eyes stayed trained on Nick as he talked. “I am Nikolas. These are my companions, Alexander and Sarah. We have traveled a great distance in order to help you. We heard rumors of an attack on your people. We thought we could help.”
“Bring the girl forward,” Molloy ordered.
Guards gripped Sarah’s arms and shoved her thin frame towards Molloy. Her long russet skirt ruffled against the men’s bare legs as they pressed against her. The smell of mead and body odor clung to the men who grabbed her. “Sirs, please, I know how to walk,” she said as she looked disdainfully at them. They released her, and she walked forward, her head held high. “Sir,” she bowed and smiled at Molloy.
“You’re a pretty little thing, aren’t you?” Molloy said, rubbing his chin. “Why are you traveling with these two? It seems a dangerous mission for one so fair.”
“Even the fair enjoy a little action at times,” Sarah replied. The men in the room burst into raucous laughter. A blush graced Sarah’s golden cheeks. “I am perfectly safe. I am confident that nothing here can harm me.”
“Such confidence from one as tiny as you. I am impressed indeed.” Molloy tilted his head and studied Sarah. “You think your little band of three can best my warriors? I think you’re outnumbered,” Molloy leaned forward in his chair.
“I think you and your warriors wish us no harm. You are more interested in what we have to say than in harming us.”
“Ha! What could you say that I would need to hear?” Molloy leaned back in his chair and studied Sarah.
“You need to know that a force far more dangerous than the Vikings that once attacked and raided these lands is on its way to your village.”
“More dangerous than the Vikings?” Molloy leaned forward, interlocked his fingers and rested his elbows on the armrests of the chair. “Tell me. Who are these people? I have not heard of them?”
“They are a wicked curse upon us,” Sarah replied. “They go by the name Reapers.”
“How many of them are there?” Molloy stroked his bearded chin. The faintest of smiles peeked out from his curtain of whiskers. “How do we stop these Reapers?”
Sarah looked around the room at the men who surrounded her. “Your men will not be able to stop them.” The men laughed and fiddled with the pommels of their swords. “No army could possibly stop them.”
Molloy stuck his hand out towards the men and quieted them. “Then why are you here? Are you here to prophesy our deaths?” He smiled and narrowed his eyes at Sarah. “Tell me. What is it that these Reapers want?”
“They want a sacrifice.” Sarah looked around the room and her eyes landed on Hayden.
Molloy laughed and leaned back in his chair. “It is a good thing you are so pretty, or I would not enjoy this conversation so well. You come here to swindle me. How much would it cost to keep these Reapers from attacking? Huh?” Molloy flicked his wrist and darted his eyes towards Nick and Alex. “Did they send you to collect the ransom?”
Sarah shook her head. “Not at all.”
Molloy touched his chest. “What am I to do with these ruffians?” He looked at the men in his great room. “What is the punishment for thievery?”
“They do not want your gold or lands.” Sarah looked hard into Molloy’s eyes. “They want blood.”
Harsh pounding filled the air and cut short the scene playing before me.
“Kate! Are you up?” Reese called out. He barged into my room. “Lover boy is here.”
I rubbed my eyes with my palm. What’s he doing here? “Yeah, tell him I’ll be right there.” I rolled over as I tried to remember if I was going to meet him this morning. Things had definitely improved between us since we’d been to the other dimension. We were almost back to normal, but I didn’t remember him saying he was coming over this morning.
“What’s he doing here?” Reese ran his hand through his shaggy hair. “Doesn’t he know it’s Saturday morning? Does that guy ever take a break?”
“Probably not,” I sighed. I gripped the edge of the mattress as I sat up and let my feet dangle from the side of the bed. “Something must be up.”
“Yeah, we’re up, now that he’s here,” Reese mumbled as he stalked away. “She’ll be right down!” he yelled to Nick. Reese’s bedroom door slammed shut, and I listened carefully as Nick quietly chuckled. Reese would never hear Nick, but my Asteri hearing picked up the quiet laughter.
I grabbed my bathrobe and cinched it tightly around my waist. I ran my fingers through my hair in an attempt to untangle my bed-head before I met Nick.
He stood at the bottom of the stairs. “Hey,” Nick said, “we need to talk.”
“Now?” I breathed in his fresh cologne as I gave him a quick hug.
“Why not?” He shrugged. “You’re up.”
I laughed. “I’m up now.”
“Do you want to go back to bed?”
“No, come on.” I led the way through the kitchen. “We’ll talk on the porch.” I pulled open the French door and stepped onto the hardwood decking. The air felt cold when it first hit me, but I mentally switched off that sensation and made myself comfortable. I sat on the sofa and drew my legs up under me.
Nick followed me outside, clutching the blanket Mom kept draped over the sofa. “Here, you still need this. Appearances are everything.”
“Keeping up the façade,” I said wryly. I smiled and tucked the blanket around my legs. “Do you want some?” I held up one side. “I’ll share.” I tilted my head and gave him a flirty smile.
“Yeah.” Nick sat close to me and let the blanket cover his legs. “This past week, I went back,” Nick looked at me, “to our special place.”
“You went back without me!”
“Yeah, each night while you were sleeping.”
“You said we shouldn’t go alone.”
“We said that you shouldn’t go alone.” He squeezed my knee. “I can handle myself. Anyway, I went looking for the Dolum, but I couldn’t find it.”
“Do you think that’s a problem?”
“I don’t know. It may be hiding. It may have moved on.” He inhaled and slowly let out a long sigh. “I’d feel a lot better if I could kill it.”
“You do seem to enjoy killing things.” I rolled my eyes. Was the answer to every problem going to be death? Was life ever going to be an option in my new existence? “If it’s moved on, why not just leave it alone. Isn’t it doing what animals do?”
“Kate, this isn’t just an animal hunting for food. Dolums are dangerous predators that destroy whatever they come in contact with. Sometimes, if they find a good hunting ground, they will signal other Dolums. We don’t want to end up with a surplus of Dolums on our training ground. Besides, I have a responsibility to protect the innocent.”
“All right. I get that. We definitely don’t want Dolums running around, but we don’t even know if that’s going to happen.” My nail scraped lightly across the sofa cushion as I drew circles in the fabric. “Right now, let’s focus on real problems. Why go looking for trouble in a different dimension when there are problems here to deal with?” I grabbed Nick’s hand and pressed my palm against his
. “You’re always talking about my transition and having to focus on that. Why don’t you focus on helping me get through this stage? Don’t I have things I need to learn? Stop worrying about stuff that isn’t our problem.”
Nick looked into my eyes and swallowed hard. “It’s hard to stop protecting those you love when that’s all you know. It defines me. I’m thinking ahead, trying to prevent a problem. I can’t let this go.”
I bit the inside of my cheek and remembered when Alex told me that Nick was a hunter. Perhaps Nick couldn’t let this go. Perhaps hunting for this Dolum was so ingrained in his nature that he couldn’t stop looking for the Dolum any more than the Dolum could stop hunting for its prey. If it was in Nick’s nature to remove this predator from the environment, then my best bet was to persuade him to be cautious. “Will you at least take Alex with you the next time you go? It’s not safe to go alone. What if it has already signaled other Dolums? You don’t know how many of them there could be.”
“And who will watch you?”
“Oh, let’s see. I’m sure Zoe, Evan, or Justin could handle that job.” I counted their names off on my fingers. “I’m not that much of a problem. Am I?”
“That’s debatable.” Nick interlocked his fingers and stretched his arms out in front of him, cracking his knuckles. “And you’re right. They’d be more than capable of watching over you.”
“Besides, I’m not a baby. I don’t need to be watched constantly. Nothing’s going on, so just relax a little. Chill out.” I playfully shoved his knee and hoped he’d remember what it was like to have fun.
Nick gave me his classic half-smile and laced his fingers with mine. “I’ll think about it. I’ve had fun with you this week.”
“No kidding,” I said. “Being in a real relationship is better than just keeping up appearances.” He leaned closer, his fingertips pulled my chin towards his, and his lips touched mine. The butterflies flitted about in my stomach and sent sensations throughout my body as our kiss deepened. When we finally pulled away I said, “What are we going to do today?”
“I thought we’d go swimming?”
“At Jordan Lake?”
Nick playfully tilted his head back and forth. “Sort of. Come on.” He stood, and I followed along behind him.
Nick parked, and we walked through the woods to the clearing. Not a cloud obscured the Carolina blue sky, but a light breeze whistled through the bare trees and playfully lifted the ends of my ponytail. We stepped up to the portal in the clearing and took hands. I looked at him, and then focused on the vertical lines shimmering before me. They looked like glistening droplets of colored water. As we stepped through them, their warmth washed over my body.
Beauty and pleasant fragrances bombarded my sensations. The sun reflected off the lake, almost blindingly bright. The fragrance of flowers filled the air and with each breeze a different scent surrounded me. The colorful flowers in the woods provided a beautiful backdrop to the lake’s crystal blue water.
“I hope I never get used to this,” I said as I took in the incredible surroundings.
“I know.” His hands gripped my waist and he pulled me to him. “It’s beautiful.” We kissed, and my heart raced as his body pressed against mine. My hands traced up his back and reveled in his touch as we continued to kiss.
A screech filled the air and broke our connection. A bald eagle circled above us, and then it shot straight for the water. It quickly skimmed along the lake’s surface. As the eagle ascended, a fish squirmed, trapped in the eagle’s talons. The eagle dropped the fish on the grass near the forest’s edge. The large fish flopped, its tail and head alternating like a see-saw as it fought for its life. The eagle jabbed its beak into the fish and ripped out a chunk of flesh. The fish now lay motionless on the grass as the eagle continued its feast.
“The circle of life,” I said.
“Survival of the fittest,” Nick replied. “Once the eagle spotted that fish, it didn’t stand a chance. You need to remember that when you come here. You are the fish. The Dolum is the eagle. Whatever you do, don’t come here alone.”
“I won’t. I have no intention of being prey.”
“That’s good, because that’s exactly what you’d be. I couldn’t live with myself if that happened.” Nick’s strong arms wrapped around me and I felt protected and safe. I knew he wanted to keep me safe, that was just part of his nature, but he knew better than to believe that he could promise my safety. There was no way he could predict the future.
“Now, let’s get back to why we’re here.” Nick pointed to the lake. “We’re going to take a swim,” he said. We headed towards the water. He shrugged off his backpack and dropped it on the grass beside the sandy bank.
“Sounds good.” I stepped out of my shoes, pulled my sweatshirt over my head, and stripped off my yoga pants, revealing my tankini and board shorts. “At least I won’t be cold today,” I smiled at Nick. “Having super powers is awesome.”
“Yes, I’m grateful I won’t have to listen to you moan and complain,” he teased.
As he dropped his shirt on the ground, I stared at the Trojan horse amulet that lay against his chest. He pulled off his jeans and adjusted the waistband of his swimsuit. “What are you staring at?” he asked.
“I was just remembering the first time I saw your amulet. We were at the Wager’s in Asheville. We’d been in the hot tub.” I gave a little chuckle. “I had no idea how significant that pendant was.”
He smiled. “I was furious I couldn’t figure out a way to get your amulet on you. It was too soon to give you such an obviously extravagant gift, but you needed it. You’d already been attacked, and I didn’t want you to draw any more attention to yourself.” He slowly shook his head and placed his hands around my hips. “At least Christmas wasn’t far away. I had that working in my favor.”
I slipped my arms around his waist. “You told me to never take it off. I never do.”
“Smart girl.” We rubbed noses and our lips pressed together. “I’d know if you did,” he said. “We all would.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, your scintillating glow would go off like a homing beacon.”
“Wait…Would I see your glow if you took off your amulet?”
“My glow would be a little different because I’ve already transitioned,” Nick said. “But you would be able to see me, especially if you went to sleep and looked for me. Remember how I told you I walked towards the light to find you. That’s what you would do.” He bobbed his head. “You would see my “light” in your sleep, and then you’d be able to look for clues to my location when you found my light.”
“This is crazy.” I chuckled. “Seeing people’s light in your sleep, magic amulets, Dolums that can possess people. I think I’m ready for some ‘normal’ in my life.”
“How about a swimming lesson instead?”
“I already know how to swim.”
“Not in this water.” Nick unzipped his backpack and pulled out a snorkel and a pair of ugly, bulky goggles.
I burst out laughing. “You don’t actually expect me to wear those, do you?” I asked.
“What’s wrong with them?” He examined the set in his hands.
“They’re huge… and ugly. You better not post a picture of me on the internet in those things, or I will kill you.”
“I’d like to see you try.” Nick winked. “That would be entertaining. Anyway, you’ll need these today.”
I grabbed the ugly set and pressed the large goggles to my eyes. “Is swimming in this dimension really going to be that different?”
Nick chuckled. “Those do look nice on you. Where’s my phone?” He patted his swimsuit.
“Ha, ha.”
“And no, the swimming part isn’t different, but you might get distracted. There’s a lot to see, and I don’t want you passing out from lack of oxygen.”
“I’ll be so distracted that I’ll forget to come up for air? Really?” I said. “Honestly, Nick, I don’t know which is worse,
these ugly goggles or that you think I’m too stupid to remember not to breathe when I’m underwater,” I said with a laugh.
“I’m not even responding to that,” he said. “Have you snorkeled before?”
“Yes, on vacation in the Caribbean.”
“Good, then you’ll catch on quickly.” With a quick flick of the wrist, he pointed towards the water. “Come on.”
“Where’s your set of attractive swimming finery?” I dangled the goggles and snorkel in the air. The plastic clanked together with a soft thud.
Nick smiled and touched the end of the snorkel. “I don’t need that stuff. I know how to hold my breath. Give yourself a little time and you’ll learn that skill too.”
“Hold my breath? You mean for long periods of time? How long will that take?”
“That depends on how quickly you focus and develop your lung capacity. It’s entirely up to you.”
I held up the ugly set and looked at them with disdain. “I’ll be mastering this skill very quickly.”
Nick nodded his head. “You better, if you want to swim with the big boys.”
“Ha, ha!” I laughed as the water rose higher up my body the farther I walked into the lake. My fingertips and goggles roamed along the surface and make tiny waves as they dipped slightly below the water and then reemerged. My other hand held the snorkel out of the water.
With each step, the sandy lake bottom squished between my toes and oozed around my feet. The water lapped against my chest, and I placed my foot down on something both squishy and firm. I screamed as it wriggled out from under my foot and brushed against my leg. In the crystal blue water, the details of the fish were clear: greenish-yellow spotted body, flat head, large fins, and a few whiskers protruded from around the catfish’s mouth. “That’s disgusting!” I yelled and pointed at my attacker with the snorkel. “It touched me.”
Nick doubled over as he laughed. “Welcome to swimming with the big boys.”
“It slimed me!” I pointed at the massive fish as it swam away. “Did you see that thing? It was huge!”
“Things grow larger than normal here. We think it’s because the climate and environment are more ideal. So, like I said, things can get a little distracting sometimes. You never know what you’ll see.”
Symbiosis (Scintillate Series Book 2) Page 5