Lucas smiled at me. “I think if it’s going to help you sleep better, then yes you should. It’s getting late, so make it quick.”
I gave him a quick kiss and headed toward the door. I’m so glad he knew me well enough to just agree instead of trying to talk me out of things he knew I wouldn’t budge on.
I walked down the hall to the room Miah was staying in. I saw light peeking through the bottom of her door and was glad she was still up. I softly knocked on the door, but didn’t hear anything. I knocked a second time slightly harder, hopeful she would answer.
She finally opened the door and let me in. “Is everything okay? I thought you were going to bed.”
“Oh, yes. Everything is fine. I really just wanted to come check on you. I know you said you were fine earlier, but I’ve been in your position and I understand you’re likely far from okay right now.”
She smiled at me and nodded as we sat down on her bed. “You’re right. I am pretty freaked, but you guys have been good to me so far. I always knew I was different. I just didn’t realize how different. Before you came along, my visions were becoming more frequent and honestly, it was scaring me. Once I got back to work after you and Jordan stopped me, I was relieved. I’ve wanted an explanation for these visions my whole life and you guys are my best shot at learning more.”
I reached for her hand and gave it a light squeeze. “We will do everything we can to make sure you find out who you are and what kind of greatness you are meant for. Nobody knew about your visions or at least believed you when you told them?”
Miah’s face crumpled and my heart ached for her. “No. The one and only time I told people about my visions, I ended up being sent to a mental institution. I pretended to take my meds and convinced everyone I understood the visions weren’t real so I could go back home. My mother never treated me the same after that, so I left home as soon as I could at eighteen and never looked back.”
“I’m so sorry you went though that. I wish we had known about you and the others sooner, but there was nothing to alert us until the Fates sent word to Lorelle. We will be there for you now as long as you’ll let us. I hope we can become good friends and you’ll stick around.”
“I think that’s a likely possibility. So far, you all have kept your promises and I don’t want to regret not taking this chance to learn more.”
“That’s a good plan.” I yawned, then smiled. “That’s my cue. I’m headed to bed for reals this time. Get some good sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Four in the morning was going to come quickly and I had no idea how tomorrow would turn out. Once I got back to my room and slid into bed next to Lucas, I was asleep before my head even hit the pillow.
***
“Kali, get your butt up!” Jordan yelled as she barged into my room. “I’m going to get a nice glass of cold ice water for you if you don’t get up.”
“If you come near me with water, I will send it right back to you and it will be much colder by the time I am done with it,” I grumbled from beneath my covers.
She always threatened me with cold water, but thankfully had yet to follow through on any of those threats.
“Don’t be a show-off with your freaky water powers. Just get your lazy butt out of bed. If I have to be up at this ungodly hour, then so do you. Lucas is already up and you’re the last one.”
I felt like I had just gone to bed. How could it be four already? I was going to need a nap later.
“Okay, I’m up. I’ll take a quick shower and be right out. If I don’t shower, I’ll be a zombie the rest of the morning,” I said as I rolled out of bed.
Jordan walked out of my room, satisfied that she had done her job and I got in the shower. The water always gave me an extra boost of energy in the mornings. Without it, I was useless.
“Strix, are you coming with us?” I mentally called out to him. I hadn’t seen him since we brought Miah back to the house, but I could sense he was somewhere around our property.
“I need to head back to Arvata. I was waiting for you to wake before I left so I could tell you,” Strix replied. “Everything is okay, but my attention is needed elsewhere. There’s been news about the missing Lynx. I’ll see you when you get back to Arvata, if that is alright with you.”
That was good to hear and we had enough people here that we shouldn’t need his help. I knew he was going to be anxious to check on whatever he learned.
“We should be back in a couple hours at most. We can handle whatever is in Georgia. I’ll see you soon.”
I gave Strix a mental hug and dressed quickly. As soon as I was done, I went into the kitchen where everyone was gathered. Miah looked a little better this morning, and that made me happy. She was handling all this better than we expected. I was really glad I went to visit with her last night.
“Now that everyone is up and ready, let’s head outside and get to Georgia. Miah said we would be heading to a small town called Blue Ridge. I spoke with the Fates and found which farm he lives on. I’ll lead the port and get us all there,” Lorelle said and we all followed her outside.
Once we were outside Lucas and I stood on either side of Miah so that she could port with us again. She had a sparkle in her eyes this time and was ready to go. She eagerly grabbed on to each of our arms and glanced excitedly between the two of us.
A moment later, we arrived on a grassy hill with Miah still between us. Since she seemed so excited, we didn’t warn her when we started the port and I paid the price with feeling her nails digging into my arm.
I shook my arm to lighten her hold. “If you wouldn’t mind loosening your death grip… my arm would appreciate it.”
“Sorry.” Miah blushed. “If you don’t want a repeat of that, you could give me a heads up next time,” she teased and then glanced around where we had landed. “This is the same place from my vision. Down there is where the guy was attacked.”
I looked down at the barn she pointed to and took in the surroundings. It was a large building with wood siding and double doors that took up the whole front of the barn. The doors were open and I could see pens with animals on one side and hay stacked on the other. Horses roamed the fields in front of the barn with a few cows. Everything seemed quiet for now.
“What time is it here?” Jordan asked.
“It’s fifteen minutes until eight,” Lorelle responded first. “We need to find the young man from the vision and hope he doesn’t spook easily, so we can get him out of here. If the Parias shows up before he agrees to leave, then we just need to grab him and go. We can explain more later when we are safe.”
We started walking toward the barn and watched our surroundings as we went. Just because the Parias attacked in the vision after eight, didn’t mean it wasn’t hanging around and waiting for the perfect moment. We needed to be careful until we were back in Arvata.
It only took a few minutes to get to the barn and we quietly looked around. There were pigs, sheep and a foal inside, but no people. We walked back outside and headed toward the house. When we reached the yard in front of the house, a guy stepped around the corner holding a pitchfork defensively.
“Can I help you with something?” he asked in a southern drawl.
“Should we be worried about that pitchfork?” I asked Lucas mentally. He shook his head no and gave me a small smile.
“We were just passing through and got lost. I was wondering if you could help us,” Lucas said to him.
He eyed us suspiciously and I wasn’t sure this was going to go as well or as quickly as we needed it to.
“Actually, he’s lying. We are here because you have some sort of power and so do we. Something dark and evil is going to come attack you shortly. If you don’t come with us and this thing gets you, it will suck the life right out of you,” Jordan said matter-of-factly.
“Jordan!” I hissed. “That was not necessary.”
“What? Do you want to take the chance of this being dragged out and being here when the Parias shows up? I certainly don’t.�
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She had a point, but she could have worded it a little bit better.
“Let’s try this again. My name is Lucas. This is Kali and the loudmouth over there is Jordan. Next to her are Kane and Lorelle, and lastly, we have Miah. Jordan is correct, we are aware there is something special about you. We are all a little different as well and we’d like to help you if you’ll let us.”
He stood there looking at all of us and I could see the conflicting emotion crossing his face. He had no idea what to think of us.
“How about we start with your name?” I asked.
“My name is Dylan. How did you know where to find me?”
I peeked at Miah, silently asking for her permission and she gave me a nod. “Miah is like you, but she gets glimpses of the future. She saw that you would be attacked and we wanted to come save you.”
Lorelle held out her hands and created an orb of light to show him. Dylan backed up a little bit, but still didn’t say anything. I kept my eye on the pitchfork that was still pointed at us.
“I know you don’t know us, but we just want to help you. If you come with us, we can keep the Parias from finding you,” Lorelle said.
“Why are they looking for me?” he finally asked.
“Parias are dark spirits that have traveled to Earth and the only way they can stay on Earth is if they can take a physical form. They need magic to do that. You have magic within you and they can sense it. Do you mind sharing what it is that you can do?” Lorelle asked.
“I can—“ Dylan stopped mid-sentence and stared behind Miah with his mouth hanging open. We all turned to see what had caught his attention and it was the Parias. Unfortunately, we got its attention earlier than anticipated.
“Miah, watch out!” Kane called out, but it was too late.
The Parias flew straight at her and went right into her body. I looked back at Lorelle hoping she would already be doing something to get it out of Miah, but she appeared just as shocked as we were. Dylan was the first to react. He went from standing by the house to standing near the barn with Miah in his arms in a matter of seconds.
I looked back to where Miah had been standing only to see the Parias floating there. Lorelle gathered another orb and shot it at the Parias. As soon as the orb collided with the Parias, it faded away and everyone just stood there. It all happened in under thirty seconds and I still wasn’t sure what had exactly occurred.
“What the hell just happened?” Jordan asked before anyone else could.
I walked down to the barn with Lucas and checked on Miah. Dylan still had her in his arms. She was awake and trembling. Her skin was pale and clammy, but she was okay.
“Dylan, why did you do that?” Lorelle asked curiously.
“I don’t know. I saw that thing enter her and thought if I made it to her fast enough that I could yank it out of her.”
That was quick thinking on his part. I had no idea what we would have done if he hadn’t acted so quickly.
“I take it your power is super speed,” Kane said with a grin.
“Um, yeah. I can move from one place to another really quick, but that’s the only thing I can do,” Dylan said shyly. He then realized he was still holding Miah and slowly let her down. “Are you okay?”
“Thanks to you, I am,” Miah said and I saw a blush cross her cheeks.
I think our little clairvoyant had a crush on her rescuer, which was quite funny since she thought she was coming here to rescue him. Lucas caught on to my thoughts and had to hold back a laugh.
“Well, now that the excitement is over for the time being, we should get going before the Parias come back. Dylan, as you just saw, we were not lying. Are you willing to come with us? Do you have family here you need to notify?” Lorelle asked.
Dylan looked sad at the mention of family, but shook his head no. “I just need to let the owner of the farm know that the ranch hands will be filling in for me. Can I tell him how long I might be gone?”
“Unfortunately, we don’t know how long. Just tell him there is an emergency and you will be back as soon as you can. A couple weeks at most,” Lorelle replied.
I watched Dylan walk back to the house and was able to really see him for the first time since he didn’t have a pitchfork pointed at me. He had tanned skin from working outdoors and a lean, muscular frame from hours of hard labor. His hair was shaved short, but I could tell it was a dark brown color. I caught Miah watching him as well and confirmed my earlier thoughts about her crush.
“Will you quit checking out the new guy?” Lucas said mentally and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Oh hush, you know he’s got nothing on you when it comes to me,” I replied mentally. “I only have eyes for you, my love.”
CHAPTER FOUR
We had to get back to my parents’ house and grab our things before heading to Arvata to regroup. I wasn’t sure if Miah and Dylan would be joining us for the rest of this trip or not. They could definitely help, especially if Miah had another vision, but she didn’t know how to control them yet and no one knew when that might happen.
Kane walked over to Dylan and put his hand on his shoulder. “You ready to do something really cool?”
“Cooler than moving at super speed? Sure,” Dylan said with a shrug.
“How about going from one side of the states to the other in the blink of an eye?” Kane asked with a chuckle and Jordan rolled her eyes.
Dylan didn’t look too certain about this, but he agreed anyway. “Sure, why not?”
“Dylan, you’ll go with Jordan and Kane and Miah can go with Kali and Lucas again. Once we get to Arvata, I’ll be able to better read them and see what magic lies within,” Lorelle said.
We got Miah and Dylan ready. This time, Lucas and I went first with Miah so Dylan could see how it worked. Everyone else followed quickly and when Dylan appeared in the yard, he instantly leaned over and vomited. Thankfully, he leaned away from Jordan instead of into her or she might have hit him with an orb.
“It happens to the best of us. You’ll get used to it, don’t worry.” Lucas patted him on the back as we passed by to head to the house.
I turned to Miah, “Have you decided if you’ll stay with us for a while? Things happened pretty fast and I want to make sure you’re still okay with it all.”
“As long as I have the option to go home and pretend none of this ever happened later.” Miah bit her bottom lip nervously. “Then yes, I’d like to stay for a while.”
Thank the Fates! That made things so much easier. We needed something to be easy during all of this.
“What about you, Dylan?” Lucas said. “We didn’t get to talk much before the Parias showed up, but by the quick reaction you had today, I really hope you’ll join us in figuring this situation out.”
Dylan glanced from us to Miah before responding. His body was relaxed like he didn’t have a care in the world, but I had a feeling he was perfectly aware of his surroundings. I was impressed with how he handled the Parias and how comfortable he already seemed. Also, men were usually easier to sway when there was a pretty girl involved and he couldn’t keep his eyes off Miah for very long. I wasn’t too worried about his decision.
“I agree with Miah,” he said. “As long as I always have a choice, then I want to help. I want to find where I belong.”
That tugged at my heart and made me want to tear up. I couldn’t imagine never feeling like I belonged and not having a family to turn to. I made a promise to myself that we would be their family from now on. Miah and Dylan would always have someone they could count on.
Miah stayed behind and checked on Dylan. They were talking about something, but I couldn’t hear what about since we were almost at the house. I turned one last time before heading inside and watched them. I wondered if it was possible for them to be Merakis, but since they were only half-Guardians, who knew what would happen.
“Leave them alone, babe. If they’re meant to be, it will happen,” Lucas whispered to me with a smile as he ushered me
the rest of the way inside.
Everyone else went to their rooms and grabbed their bags. Poor Kane looked weighed down from carrying most of Jordan’s bags from our shopping trip.
“Seriously, woman? Did you really need all of this stuff?” Kane asked her as they walked outside.
“Hey! Some of that stuff is for you as well. I promise, you’ll enjoy it,” Jordan said with a wink and Kane shut right up. I held my hand over my mouth as I tried not to laugh.
We all walked to the gateway at the falls so Dylan could have a little longer to recover from the previous trip. Using the gateway didn’t mess with our equilibrium as much as porting, so hopefully he would be okay with it this time.
“Miah and Dylan, the gateway behind the falls is different than porting. You’ll feel like you’re floating for a bit before you appear on the other side. I’m going to have to cover you with magic to get you through, so stay still,” Lorelle said.
I watched in fascination as Lorelle made an orb with her hands, but instead of it staying round like usual, it moved with her hands. It was a golden color and I was mesmerized by it. Lorelle started at the top of Miah’s head and stretched the fascinating magic around her. She continued her downward descent until Miah was glowing softly from head to toe in the golden bubble.
Lorelle moved over to Dylan and did the same to him. It was a little more awkward because Dylan was so much taller than Lorelle, but she got the job done.
“Lucas, I want you to go through the gateway first. Kali, you will take Miah next, and I will take Dylan. Jordan and Kane, you follow behind us. We shouldn’t have any issues, but be on alert just in case,” Lorelle said.
Lucas headed straight for the gateway and went through quickly. I walked over to Miah and grabbed her hand to go through next. When I did so, my own hand started to glow with the same magic. I looked at Lorelle, a little worried.
“It’s okay, Kaliah. It just means Miah will go where you go. That’s good.”
I let out a breath and walked with Miah toward the gateway.
“Ready?” I asked her and she nodded her head yes.
From The Falls (The Falls Trilogy Book 2) Page 4