Trinity Found: The Lost Daughter Of Angor Series - Book 1

by Settle Myer

“We have minutes until the shields collapse. More shields have been deployed, but they won’t be here for another fifteen minutes at least.”

  I look across to Hyde’s army and notice rebels dropping to the ground one after the other. I barely spot Chanel and Chad popping in and out. They are like fireflies, lighting up the night for mere seconds before fading into oblivion. Only, fireflies don’t snap necks.

  Hyde’s troops finally begin to thin out. He must not be able to replace them as fast as they’re being taken out - not only by Julian’s murderous spree, but by Team Trinity showering the insurgents with trees and other debris, and Chanel and Chad’s snapping necks like ninjas in the night.

  The line of armed rebels part, and Hyde steps to the front. He places his hands on his waist as if he’s some sort of superhero, then nods my way. The anger that sparks deep within my soul takes over. I spot a knife on the ground, likely dropped during the battle, and pick it up with my mind. I hurl it towards Hyde. Though, instead of it cutting deep into my uncle’s stomach or chest like I had planned, one of those damned soldiers jump in front of the blade. The knife pierces deep into the man’s throat, squirting blood down his chest. The man collapses to the ground.

  Hyde raises his eyebrow. “Missed again.”

  I’m about to unleash my wrath. I’m thinking hurricane. I'll use the water from the mighty Mississippi. The ground starts rumbling, and just before I focus my energy on the river a few feet away, Reed places his hand on my shoulder.

  “Your Grace,” he says, pointing at the line of shields.

  One has collapsed. The others sway on the brink of unconsciousness. Julian, who finished sending a telephone pole into a dozen of rebels, jogs over to where we stand. He takes my hand in his, and we wait.

  The telekinetics continue their work. Chanel and Chad are making their way through the crowd of insurgents, amazingly avoiding getting pummeled with flying debris. Skyler is burning bodies left and right. Behind us, a thunder of footsteps. More Royal Guards have joined us, carrying high-tech guns and wearing protective eyewear, vests, and helmets.

  The shields are one huge blow away from dissipating. And that’s when Hyde holds up his hands, palms towards us to unleash a stream of electricity. The previously invisible shield lights up with luminescent cracks that break apart like a cracked windshield.

  Gunfire erupts around me, fired off from both sides. I dodge bullets, stopping most inches from my face and body. Reed jumps in front of me.

  “Here!” he yells, handing me a bullet-proof vest.

  It's covered in blood. Clearly, he had just taken this off a Royal Guard who had just died. My stomach turns, and instead of some emotion brewing in my gut ready to take over, it’s puke. I throw up.

  Julian is by my side in an instant. He holds back my hair with one hand while stopping bullets whizzing by us nonstop with the other. I pick myself back up quick, wiping my mouth. I find the vest on the ground and begrudgingly put it on. I try not to think about the poor soul who was wearing it just moments ago.

  I make sure the vest is secure and turn to Julian. He's as still as a statue in a museum. I wave my hand in front of his face.

  “Julian?” I whisper, poking him in the chest.

  “My dear Trinity.”

  Hyde.

  I creep around. My uncle is now an arm’s length away. “What did you do?” I spit.

  “Just a little time manipulation.”

  I scan the parking lot turned battlefield. Balls of fire are suspended in the air. Streaks of lightning flying out of hands now stilled. Cars hang over heads, inching ever so slightly towards nearly frozen rebels below. Chanel cusps the head of an insurgent, her lips curled into a gnarly growl. Reed is clear across the pavement, on his back. I assume, tossed like a rag by Hyde the moment my back was turned.

  “What? You can stop time?”

  “More like, slow it down.”

  I throw out my arms. “Great. You have me where you want me. Now what? Are you going to kill me? Isn't that what you wanted?”

  Hyde chuckles, though I'm not sure why he’s so amused. He starts walking circles around me, hands behind his back.

  “Perhaps I’ll keep you alive. Let you watch as I destroy your precious Earth.”

  “And what’s your plan, exactly? To become their God?”

  Hyde laughs again. Glad he thinks I'm a comedian. “I see that spy Shiloh has been hard at work.”

  Hyde stops in front of me and grabs my head. His movement is so fast I don’t have time to stop him. His grip is too strong, and I am unable to escape his hold.

  “I will show you,” Hyde seethes.

  My vision blurs, and I'm taken back to Angor. I stand in a dim hallway with sandstone floors and walls. Tables are placed throughout the hallway, decorated with books and bouquets of flowers. A few paintings hang along the corridor, but one of two people sitting on thrones catches my eye. It’s Hyde and, next to him, a young woman with dark brown hair and flawless yet pale skin. She's about half the size of my uncle. Both wear decadent outfits topped with jewels and crowns.

  “My love,” a small voice sounds out. Hyde turns to face the same young woman from the painting. Instead of the magnificent dress from the artwork, she wears a simple black blouse and jeans. Her face is devoid of makeup, and it makes her appear at least ten years younger compared to the woman in the painting.

  “Bella, back from the doctor already?”

  She smiles, her eyes lighting up with joy. Hyde is consumed by her love and excitement, and it overpowers me as well.

  “I can’t hold it in anymore. I’m pregnant!” she blurts out.

  Hyde’s heart skips a beat as he scoops the tiny woman into his arms and twirls her around. “That’s why you have been feeling ill this past week? This is amazing news. Do we know the gender?”

  She shakes her head, her doe eyes full of tears. “It’s too early to tell.”

  “How wonderful that you will be giving birth around the same time as Queen Shaylin. Cousins! They will be the best of friends, I know it.” Hyde’s elation breaks my heart. I don’t know the man at all. I’ve only known him to be evil. Yet, at one point, he seemed to be a good man with a loving anima mate and plans to have a family. Until...

  The vision blurs once again, and I'm taken to a crime scene. The car crash. The night Bella died. A medic is covering her body with a sheet. Hyde walks slowly towards the stretcher, like a zombie.

  “The baby?” he sobs, reaching out to the white cloth.

  “We tried, your Grace.”

  This was too much. I had to get out of this memory. I pull all my energy to my core then send it through my veins, my nerves, and out of my skin until it shocks Hyde. It's strong enough that he finally releases me from his grip.

  I fall to the ground and crawl on my hands and knees to get as far away from Hyde as possible. Tears stream down my face, making a sad little puddle on the pavement below.

  “So, now you see. I was going to have a child. Your cousin.”

  "I'm sorry this happened to you,” I sob.

  Hyde’s face drops. He's quick to shake off his torturous memory. “The man driving that night took my family away. A man who was allowed to enter our world thanks to your father.”

  “And you want to punish my father by killing me? And then kill him all so you can take the throne?”

  Hyde stands over me. “That was the plan. Then, your mother escaped to Earth. Turns out, Earth has potential. My plans have changed. I will destroy the portal. And I’m afraid you will have to stay here with me. Elijah will come after you. That’s when I will kill him. And then, once I'm done conquering Earth, I will return to Angor. Ruler of two worlds? You can’t get much more powerful than that.”

  I attempt to stand to run away from my uncle. It was a bad plan because Hyde catches me immediately. He digs his fingers into both of my arms, squeezing hard enough that I will surely have a hand-sized bruise tomorrow.

  “Now, Trinity, you can’t leave just yet. The sho
w is about to start,” Hyde raves.

  He drags me back over to Julian, who remains frozen in Hyde’s time slowdown. He throws me to the ground, and I land on my hands, the hard pavement tearing the skin of my palms.

  “Anima mates are a problem because when you lose your soulmate... your entire world is crushed.” Hyde pauses, clenching his jaw as if that would stop his vulnerability shining through at this moment. “Julian here is yours, yes?”

  I don’t speak. I don’t nod.

  “Right, well, we can’t have him alive and here on Earth searching for you. That anima mate bond will lead him and the Royal Guard right to where I'm going to be hiding you.” Hyde pulls out a knife. I gasp.

  “No, please. He’s not my anima mate. We’re just two kids with crushes. That's it,” I plead.

  Hyde walks over to Julian and places the tip of the blade at his stomach. “Really? What's the phrase you kids say... Here's the tea? I heard through Commander Myers, who heard from Shiloh, who found out from Skyler that you two ARE soul mates and you’re always causing power outages and light shows every time you hook up.” Hyde cackles like a wicked warlock brewing spells to steal the lives of children.

  “Wow, a grown-ass man believing some high school gossip. We haven’t hooked up. The power outages, the light shows – that was just me practicing my virtues.”

  Hyde cocks his head to the side. “You’re lying, Trinity.” And with that, he plunges the knife into Julian then pushes him to the ground.

  I scream. Loud enough to pierce the sound barrier, for sure. My world goes silent as I fall to Julian’s side. I place my hand over the wound to stop the blood from pouring out.

  Hyde has resumed time, and the battle rages on around me. I look around, desperate to find a medic to help me. They're nowhere in sight, likely off at a staging area for their safety.

  “Julian,” I cry. “Please don’t die on me.”

  “What happened?” he says, weak and quiet.

  I pull up Julian’s shirt. The blood drips thick and slow. Tears blur my eyes, making it hard to see straight. ‘Come on, Trinity. This is the love of your life. You have to focus!’ I tell myself.

  “Trinity,” Julian whispers. “I love you.”

  Julian closes his eyes, and I frantically pat his cheeks. “Stay awake. I can help you.”

  Julian’s head bobbles from side to side, but he manages to lazily keep his eyes open.

  Hyde chuckles. “Don’t do this to yourself, Trinity. He’s going to die. You don’t want to witness that.” He stands a few feet away, watching me in despair at Julian’s side like a sick sadist.

  “I love you, too, Julian,” I say and place a gentle kiss on his lips. “Don’t die on me. Okay?”

  Julian flutters his eyes and coughs, then nods.

  I stand and turn on my heel to face Hyde. I start throwing mental punches his way. Head, stomach, jaw, nose, stomach again. The hits land multiple times at first before he starts dodging the rest of my assaults.

  He wipes a drop of blood from his lips. “Well, look who’s been practicing their telekinesis.”

  I hold out my hands, letting my senses search for dropped weapons; knives, swords, a few guns. I mentally pick up as many knives as possible and send them towards my target. Hyde ducks left and right, not a single blade finding his body.

  Hyde lifts a discarded tree trunk and hurls it at me. I crouch down in time for the massive log to pass over my head and crash into the cement, splintering off into thousands of pieces. A gun flies through the air and ends up in his hands. He starts firing. I stop bullets one after another. Except one, which hits me in the shoulder. I stumble back as the burning pain spreads like a virus. But I’m quick to mask the stinging ache.

  “You really are like your mother, huh? Stubborn and fiery,” Hyde muses.

  He cracks jokes and witty comebacks, but he clamors backwards. He's trying to get away from me with every step I take towards him.

  “I didn’t expect you to be this strong,” he laughs nervously. “Kinda throwing me off guard here, kid.”

  The ground shakes underneath me, and I falter. The cement cracks, and I hop out of the way just in time.

  The battlefield stills once again. Hyde chuckles, but his face drops the moment he sees me. “You should be frozen,” he growls. “I can’t kill you if you’re still moving. How are you not affected by my time manipulation?”

  I wasn’t sure how Hyde's time manipulation works. Maybe, earlier, he didn’t freeze me because he wanted me to hear his villain speech. But this time, he wanted me frozen, and yet, I’m not. I ignore Hyde’s complaints and spot several chunks of burning wood and mentally hoist them from the ground, one-by-one. Hyde dodges the first one, but the other three slam into him. One hits his chest and singes his t-shirt, another pummels his arm, and the third grazes his head.

  Hyde is knocked to the ground. He holds the arm burned by the flaming debris. Blood starts dripping from the cut on his head. Time resumes, and a team of rebels charges towards me, I'm assuming an attempt to save their leader.

  I scan the field for Chanel and Chad and pick up on their thoughts. I mentally shout a warning ‘retreat!’ hoping the protectors received it.

  I search for any and all energy sources in my vicinity. Cables underground, power lines surrounding the parking lot, even nearby homes. I hold up both hands to the line of insurgents and discharge a shock wave. It’s big enough to level the parking lot full of rebels. They fall to the ground, either dead or severely injured.

  Now that that’s taken care of... back to Hyde.

  He shakily stands following the triple tree assault. While he’s distracted, I hold out my left arm, hand open, and reach my thoughts to the line of trees I remember seeing at the side of the parking lot. I pull the roots from deep underground, ripping them through the dirt until a string of them land in my palm.

  Hyde finally stands straight. “I can do that, too, my dear.”

  But before he can use his elemental manipulation virtue, I fire the vines his way. It wraps around his body like an anaconda trapping its prey. Hyde falls to the ground, rolling from side to side in an attempt to break free.

  I walk to him, leaning over the helpless rebel leader.

  “So, are you going to kill me now?” Hyde asks, nerves filling his voice.

  I shake my head. “Death would be too easy. Death would be a cop-out. You don’t deserve to die. I’m sending you back to Angor, where you’ll rot in jail for the rest of your life.”

  I'll let my father and the courts of Angor decide Hyde's fate. I do not want that responsibility. Relief wipes across his face. He never wanted to die. Perhaps me letting him live is a mistake. There's always the chance he could escape again.

  Reed rushes to my side. His mouth drops open at a cocooned Hyde writhing on the ground.

  “Stay with him,” I say.

  I run back over to Julian. Karson, the same medic who helped Shiloh earlier, has arrived and is observing the wound. He digs into his bag and pulls out antiseptic and bandages.

  “How bad is it?” I ask, crouching down to Julian’s side. He's passed out, his breathing slow and labored.

  Karson shakes his head. “It’s bad. I need to stop the bleeding or slow it down. He’s lost a lot already. His heartbeat is weak. I'm not sure if he’ll make it to the tent where the ambulances are stationed.”

  Maybe I can do something. Could I use the elements, fire perhaps, to cauterize the wound? What if I'm a healer? It seems as if I discover new virtues every day. What if healing is one of them?

  I hold my hands over Julian’s injury and close my eyes. Not exactly sure what to do here. I start by picturing the cut, the blood dripping out of it, so it's burned into my brain. My palms begin tingling. A surge of energy starts flowing out of my hands and onto the wound. I imagine repairing the pierced skin, from inside out, and it starts closing, slowly. How the hell am I doing this? I wasn’t sure, but I can’t stop now. The inundation of life pouring from the body to his ign
ites into a near blinding ball of energy.

  I look away, and the last thing I hear before passing out is Julian gasping for air.

  Chapter 14

  My sweet Julian smiles, his blushed lips spread across his perfect white teeth. The blue in his eyes as pure as the cerulean sky. We lay in a field full of flowers painted ruby red, magenta, dandelion yellow, and shades of orange. Blades of dark green grass surround us, tall enough to keep us hidden inside our personal garden getaway. The sun catches Julian’s blonde locks casting a golden halo above. My throat clenches with fear. Has he died? Did I imagine healing him? How dumb of me to think healing was one of my virtues.

  Julian sits up and leans on his elbow, reaching his tanned hand to cup the side of my face. His palm, warm against my skin. I sigh at his addicting touch, letting the euphoria spread throughout my body. He places a soft kiss on my lips, and I close my eyes to savor the sweet taste of anima mate. This moment, whether a dream or a premonition, I never want it to end. This idyllic world we’ve entered where clouds don’t exist and flowers are bright and never die. Where fields of tall grass allow us to escape for cuddles and kisses. Is this heaven?

  My eyes shoot open, and I sit up straight.

  “Julian!”

  “Shhh. I’m here. I’m here,” Julian whispers. His voice calms me, and I lay back down.

  “What happened?”

  “You’re a healer, apparently. You saved me. Then passed out.”

  Julian sits in a chair at my side. I scan the room, realizing I’m in a king-sized canopy bed. The wood-work design has detailed swirls and shapes and appears to be hundreds of years old. Across from the foot of the bed, a massive wooden bookcase lines the wall. It's packed with books from floor to ceiling, and all I want to do is hop out of bed to read the spines, shelf by shelf. Blackout curtains hang over two large windows, making it hard for me to determine if it’s night or day. Or even where I am.

  “How long have I been asleep?”

  “About twenty-four hours.” Julian takes my hand and kisses the knuckles. That same euphoria from my dream world and the field seeps through and consumes my reality. I want to cry, to laugh, to scream joy at the top of my lungs because it’s over. Hyde has been captured, and I no longer have to run for my life.