The Caelian Cycle Boxed Set

by Donnielle Tyner

  “You’re right and you’re wrong,” Luca’s deep voice vibrated like a low hum. “You do need to find strength in yourself and not rely solely on others to support you, but you also need your friends. I can’t speak for the others, and I know our friendship is new, but our friendship is a source of strength, and I don’t think I’d be stronger without it.”

  One corner of my lips turned upwards as I squeezed Luca’s hand. “Thanks.”

  He returned the squeeze before letting go. “I believe if you can find your way through all the pain you’ve suffered and come to terms with who you are now—then you will finally know peace.”

  “Are you a philosopher now?” I teased, bumping my shoulder against his.

  “No, just a lesson I had to learn the hard way.”

  “Oh,” I whispered. The vulnerability and pain in his voice felt like a dagger in my heart. Since we became friends, I had known Luca carried some heaviness deep in his soul. I had demanded once that when the time came, he would tell me what had happened. What my grandfather had done to him. Was now a good time? Luca had never been so open with me before, but I was hesitant to ask. Thanks to the hell I’d been through, I understood pain you want to hold close, as if it were precious, while you hope and pray that someone will rid you of the burden.

  “Sadie.” Luca’s spoke just above a whisper. “I want to tell you.”

  My eyes shot to his in shock; he seemed privy to my inner turmoil. I wanted to demand how he knew what I was thinking. Some kind of pheromone-related mind reading ability he never disclosed? He sniffed the air but didn’t have that cocky grin he wore when he smelled your feelings. Instead, his features relaxed, revealing peace with whatever he was about to say. His naked openness felt too intimate. It was too much. I squirmed as I tried to gather my thoughts.

  “Luca, I don’t think now is the time.”

  “It’s the perfect time.”

  “Oh. Okay.” I relented. My curiosity overcame my reservations. Luca kept his personal life to himself and hadn’t revealed anything to me about it before the HCA other than frivolous details.

  Luca sucked in a deep breath, filling his lungs as if preparing to dive into the depths. But instead of blue ocean, he was plunging into an old wound. “You know how you wanted to know what your grandfather had done to me. Well, three years ago, he murdered my brother.”

  Chapter 6

  “Oh my God. Your brother?”

  “Yeah.” Luca’s posture stiffened, and I waited for him to continue. So many questions buzzed inside my head demanding to be let loose, but I kept a tight rein on my mouth, refusing to add pressure to his obvious pain.

  “I was raised in the Solas family. Both of my parents worked at Solas Industries and were two of the best marketers the company had on staff. They had clients from millionaires to Hollywood starlets. I lived a charmed life, and it only got better when my brother, Nico, was born. We were almost 6 years apart but best friends. Even after I started working for Solas Industries, I made time for him. I went to every school function. Every soccer game. Anything he wanted of me, I gave. I loved him.”

  I didn’t move as Luca paused for a moment. His lips, which had lifted in a gentle smile while he remembered his love for his brother, twisted into a pained grimace.

  “About a month after my eighteenth birthday, Nico came into his Talent. He was twelve and hadn’t grown much in a few years. My parents were concerned, but the doctors they sent him to always gave him a good bill of health. The older he got, the more his skin tone shifted from a normal olive to a yellow, jaundice-like coloring. He had a hard time socializing with his peers and had nervous breakdowns when his environment became too much. He was often bullied.” Luca’s voice broke. He cleared his throat with a loud cough before squaring his shoulders.

  “So it was no surprise when his Talent manifested as a defensive mechanism. Under extreme duress, Nico’s sweat glands would secrete a mixture of toxins excreted through his skin that hyper-stimulates the nervous system to the point of overload, eventually causing death. Doctors were never sure if Nico’s Talent caused his lack of growth and meek personality, or the reverse. But they all agreed that his coloring was a form of aposematism—a warning signal to others that he was poisonous.

  “Not long after his Talent manifested, a couple of norms cornered him after school. Nico tried to warn them, but one of the boys grabbed Nico’s arms while his Talent was in full flare, and 10 minutes later the boy died. There wasn’t even time for the ambulance to show up. Lucky for my brother, a security camera caught the entire confrontation, and we showed plenty of medical documentation about my brother’s Talent to prove it was self-defense. However, he was no longer allowed to go to school with other children until he controlled his Talent.” Luca released a slow, shaky breath.

  “That doesn’t seem too bad of a punishment,” I offered when Luca paused again, lost in his memories.

  “No it wasn’t. Mom had to give up her job to homeschool Nico, but it wasn’t a big deal. Everything seemed like it would turn out okay. Nico had Talent training lessons with an Australian man who had the same poisonous Talent, and he was doing great until the day he didn’t come home. I remember every detail about that day. It was warm, early spring. The air was thick with moisture from a rain shower the day before. I was walking home from work when my mother called me, frantic. Nico always took a cab from my parents’ apartment directly to and from training with no stops between, but he didn’t return. His trainer said Nico had left at his normal time, but Nico slipped out when another student walked in. The trainer didn’t see what happened.

  “We waited weeks for new information. When the police arrived at our door, I knew they had discovered something big. They had found a body matching Nico’s description and wanted one of us to come with them to identify the body. Neither one of my parents was able to attempt it. Their nerves had frayed from the weeks of emotional torture, so I volunteered.” Luca rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands before raking his fingers through his minty locks and pulling roughly at the strands before letting go.

  “It was awful, Sadie. My brother’s body was almost unrecognizable from being out in the weather for days, but that wasn’t what shook me. He had these clean, straight cuts on various parts of his body that looked as if he’d had multiple surgeries. Before I arrived, the medical examiner had already finished his analysis. Before they dumped my brother into an old dried-up river bed, someone removed every lymph node and gland in his body. He said it looked as if Nico had been tortured and injected with a plethora of chemical concoctions probably designed to test Nico’s resistance to poisons other than his own.”

  My hands covered my mouth in horror. Long-dormant anger began to stir at my core. I wanted to reach out to Luca, to give him the comfort that he had freely given to me after my capture by the HPC, but his body language clearly showed he wouldn’t have any part of it.

  “For months we thought the norms related to the boy my brother accidently killed were behind Nico’s death. We petitioned the courts to file injunctions against the norm family. We tried to find evidence to go after them, but there was nothing. Then one day, I came home from work to find a thick file leaning against my door. It held a few interoffice documents from the Koenig family talking about CaEx- 1436, a test subject with eerily similar characteristics and Talent to my brother, and a disc with one video file on it. It was a thirty-second black-and-white clip of a man handing off my brother to Miles Koenig.”

  “Did you see who the man was?”

  “No, just the back of his head. I’m certain whoever delivered the evidence edited the video so I wouldn’t see who gave my brother up to his death.”

  “Shit. That’s just … wow.”

  “Yeah.”

  Luca’s muscles had relaxed a fraction and he seemed more open to comfort. So I reached out and grabbed his hand, giving it a firm squeeze before laying it back to rest on his thigh. I left my hand on top of his, trying to push everything I wante
d to say, but wouldn’t, through my skin into his.

  “Thank you for telling me. I understand it was hard.”

  “I don’t like to think about it, but I wanted you to know. It takes more than your own self to handle a trauma that great. That’s why we need others. Friends lean on each other.”

  I laid my head on his shoulder, thanking the chaos controlling my life for giving me Luca as a friend. I’d find a way to let McCredie and my aunt know how much I appreciated them bringing him to me.

  We sat there in silence, sparring lessons forgotten, lost to our own thoughts, while my deeply repressed seed of rage grew a little more.

  You are too distracted. The words of the Talent coach rang in my mind as I walked toward the library where Dr. Sokoloff would be keeping his temporary office until he could heal the sickness of my mind.

  The coach wasn’t wrong. Ever since Luca’s confession about his brother, the imagery had burned itself to my consciousness, continuously stroking the inferno deep within. It reminded me why we needed the underground, where lost souls like Luca could find a purpose to fight against the evil in this world. Why the government needed to change so organizations like the Human Purists Coalition wouldn’t rise again to torture the minds of Caelians. But most of all, I remembered why I was there at the Moreau estate instead of safe in my room I shared with Rebecca at St. Vincent’s.

  If the world were truly perfect, there wouldn’t be places like St. Vincent’s to begin with.

  Beep! Beep! My communicator drew my attention away from wandering down dangerous mental paths. Thinking about the “what ifs” wouldn’t help me. Wallowing in the wistful sorrow of what could have been would only lead me to further destruction.

  Lacy: Two Weeks!! :D

  Sadie: What?

  Lacy: The gang and I will be coming to you in two weeks.

  Sadie: Everyone?

  Lacy: Yep! You can thank me when I arrive.

  Sadie: That’s awesome!! I’ve missed you guys so much.

  Lacy: We’ve missed you too. Have you spoken to Rebecca and Madison today?

  Sadie: This morning. Their schedules were packed so I won’t be able to speak with them until tonight.

  Lacy: Good. I haven’t had the chance to share the good news with them since McCredie just approved everything and I want to be able to tell them in person. They’re going to flip.

  Sadie: Okay. I won’t ruin your fun.

  Lacy: You can go ahead and tell Kian. He hasn’t been in much since you left. McCredie’s kept him busy.

  Sadie: Oh. I haven’t exactly spoken with him either.

  Lacy: I don’t have time to jump into that pit. Call me after evening chow and I’ll make sure the girls are here. We will talk it out.

  Sadie: It’s okay. I’m just dealing with stuff.

  Lacy: No. You will tell us. I don’t want us walking into some emotional warzone when we get there. Love you!!! Gotta run.

  Sadie: Okay. Bye.

  I smiled at my friend’s stubbornness. It didn’t surprise me that she would jump right in and attempt to solve my problems. Just like it wouldn’t surprise me when later, after I was completely transparent with them, Madison would argue in favor of smashing Kian’s man-bits to powder while Rebecca would try to encourage me to talk with him first. Rebecca and Madison—my shoulder angel and devil.

  Dr. Sokoloff’s head poked out of the library door. Although I’d seen his signature in my mind, I had been trying to ignore the bright colors in my head, and the sudden movement scared me out of my thoughts. Two days of training with Luca must have reconnected some malfunctioning wiring. Instead of stumbling back and screaming in terror, I crouched into a fighting position and released a shriek that rang more of alarm than fear.

  “I’m sorry for giving you a fright.” Dr. Sokoloff’s soothing voice, coupled with his hypnotic purple and teal eyes, wrapped a soothing calm around me like a warm blanket. “Why were you lurking in the hallway?”

  “My friend and I were messaging each other. I had stopped outside the door to finish the conversation before starting our session.”

  He nodded his understanding. “Are you okay, Sadie?”

  Realizing I was still poised to fight, I pulled myself together and gave Dr. Sokoloff an embarrassed smile. Heat radiated from my cheeks down my neck. “Yes. I’m fine.”

  “Well that is good and I can see now why I have been receiving frantic messages regarding your startling behavior.” Dr. Sokoloff’s lips twisted into a wry grin as he chuckled at his own cleverness.

  “Did you just make a joke? And at your patient’s expense?” I asked in mock horror. “I am disturbed.” I struggled to keep my lips from smiling, but failed.

  “Ah. Yes. Good one.” He pushed the door open and swept his arm in front of him. “Now, it’s time for me to enter that dexterous mind of yours and fix what has come unhinged.”

  “That one was okay. You’ve done better.”

  “Yes. Yes. You are the only client who appreciates my sense of humor, and since it’s been a while…”

  “You mean no one else enjoys being ridiculed by their psychiatrist? That’s insane!” I wiggled my brows at the doctor.

  He shook his head at my lame pun. “Get inside. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover.”

  “Yes, sir!” I mock saluted him before entering the library. Just being around the doctor lessened the sting of my PTSD and filled me with hope that the part of me lost to this messed up world could return.

  Chapter 7

  Press Release

  Phoenix, Arizona

  “After the brutal death of my beloved wife and head of the Lane family, the elders and I have come to an agreement that we will no longer stand by while norms persecute our fellow Caelians.

  We have searched the sacred texts and have come to believe that we Caelians are indeed the evolutionary better of the human race. The Creator sent the sacred Caelum Meteor to bring humanity into a golden age of glory.

  It is for those reasons that the Lane family and the Order of Caelum will be standing with the Koenigs in their struggle to raise Caelians to their proper place above norms. We give them our full support in all of their endeavors.”

  -Lane family address at the One People Conference

  Chapter 8

  With two extensive healing sessions with Dr. Sokoloff spanning three days and the morning’s sparring with Luca out of the way, I began to feel more like myself. However, my secondary Talent still pulsed behind my eyes every waking moment, and my Talent surged at the weirdest times. I hadn’t noticed before Luca arrived, but throughout the day, I’d feel my Talent trying to force my body to do something different, beyond its desire to drain. It was frightening and overwhelming to say the least. With each sparring session, I felt the pull become more urgent. I now had a legitimate reason to worry about draining someone by accident.

  I’m sure my anxiety would have been lessened if I was being helped in the Talent department, but the man Marianne had chosen to train me was a complete idiot. His ego could fill a room. I hated even his name. Byron. A pretentious name for a douche of a man. Even when I thought his name, I’d hear it in the most pompous, nasally voice my imagination could muster.

  For all of his blustering, Byron couldn’t hold a candle to Mrs. LaMotte. All he would try were exercise drills and mental dexterity tests. He was either unwilling to risk someone’s life to properly train me, or it was a rule from Marianne.

  And then one morning I completely lost my mind on the guy. He’d been training me for a week with nothing to show for it. My Talent hardly buzzed in his presence and I was tired of wasting my time. Did he deserve the right hook that broke his nose? Probably not, but I felt better afterwards. And judging by the look of pure terror on his face when I clenched and released both fists as my Talent surged forward in response to my intense emotions, there was a good chance I wouldn’t be seeing him again.

  A girl can hope, right?

  He released me from class with a warning that he
planned to report the incident to Marianne. I knew he meant it as a threat and hoped I would cower under his perceived power over me, but I smiled at him before Luca dragged me away.

  “You really shouldn’t have done that,” Luca scolded as he ushered me up the stairs.

  “I’ve been wanting to do that since the first day I met him. Who the hell does he think he is? God’s gift to Caelians? My savior?” I released the kind of un-ladylike sound that would make Francis turn red and sputter.

  Luca rubbed his temples and mumbled something unintelligible under his breath, but I thought I heard the words “insane” and “migraine” somewhere in the mix.

  “What was that, Luca?” I asked, stopping in front of my bedroom door.

  “Nothing.” Luca’s pale pink eyes locked onto mine. “You do remember that Dr. Sokoloff said that it will take longer to heal if you don’t at least try to rein in your temper.”

  “Yes I remember, but I cannot work with that guy. He doesn’t have a clue as to how to train my Talent. He’s unwilling to try anything that could be dangerous. News flash! My Talent is dangerous and it’s not something I can help. How am I supposed to find my Talent’s true potential if Byron is in charge of bringing it out? Huh?”

  Luca grasped my shoulders and gave me a little shake. “Calm down. I am not your enemy!”

  My brow wrinkled in confusion before I realized I was standing in a strike pose designed for combative Talent users that Mrs. LaMotte had taught me. I’d almost attacked my friend, and not just with my fists. The realization that I subconsciously prepared to use my Talent on him splashed over me like a bucket of ice water. I jerked away from him and wrapped my arms across my stomach.