Chosen_Book One

by Rebecca Thomas

  Kiara held a hand out to Hallie, who took it and spun herself into the redhead’s arms with flare, attracting the attention of those around them. That didn’t help Caleb feel any less self-conscious.

  “Come on! I know you know how to move those hips,” Kiara encouraged him.

  “Yeah, in a fight,” he said.

  “Just feel the music, move to the beat, it’s easy,” Hallie instructed as she pressed her body against Kiara’s, the pair of them making him sweat.

  It was Lily who decided to act, pulling Caleb round so that he couldn’t see the girls anymore.

  “Don’t look at them, focus on me.”

  It was a smart move on her part, as it was much easier to relax when they weren’t trying to coerce him.

  “One dance. We can manage one dance.”

  “I think we can do a little more than manage,” he said.

  Fixing his eyes on her big hazel ones, Caleb enveloped her hand in his and placed it on his shoulder, letting his hips and torso begin to shift from side to side in time to the Latin beat. Lily smiled softly, her moves falling into sync with his as he secured a hand at her waist, their other hands finding each other without them having to look. The more natural it felt, the easier it was for them to lose themselves to the music.

  As the song built to the chorus, Caleb felt confident enough to change positions, twirling her round so her back was flat against his chest. It was like they were being carried by the guitars and drums, which were overwhelming all the other noises in the room, including the whoops of excitement coming from Kiara and Hallie.

  They slowly dissolved into the crowd, others following their lead as the floor came alive with passion. Caleb wasn’t sure he had ever felt this way before, so completely absorbed in another. The way Lily was looking at him made him feel like he could dance like this forever. And he probably could have if an angry cry hadn’t brought him back to earth with a thud.

  ~

  Hallie hadn’t been sure that they could convince Caleb and Lily to have any fun because of how uptight they were being about their outfit choices. But seeing them steam up the dancefloor restored her faith in both of them. All it took was a little, gentle nudging…

  Honestly, she’d been having a whale of a time all evening. The drinks were delicious, her babe looked smoking hot, and the music was old enough to be fun, but not too old to be disco. It was shaping up to be a pretty perfect night. Until some douchebag thought that it was okay to cut in.

  “Oi!” she growled, thrusting his meaty hands away from her. “Can’t you see that I’m with my girlfriend, jackass?”

  “You’ve got a mouth on you, haven’t you?” he said, trying to make another grab for her, but Caleb stepped in.

  “You heard her, she said no.”

  “Piss off, yank, I didn’t ask your permission.”

  The guy tried to shove Caleb out the way, but he held fast, like the guy had just tried to push over a mountain.

  “Leave her alone or I drag you out of here myself.”

  Hallie had never seen Caleb act this way before. It was like he was suddenly two feet taller, the most imposing guy in the room. She had no doubt that he could wipe the floor with the idiot, but then six of his friends appeared to back him up.

  “Ah crap,” she muttered.

  Two of them came at Caleb at once, but he stepped back out of their reach, watching as they bumped into each other. This only angered them further. Kiara made a move towards the guy who had tried to come between her and Hallie, swinging her fist right at his face. He grabbed her hand and twisted it behind her back, forcing her forwards towards the fire exit.

  “Let’s take this outside, shall we?”

  Despite their protests, the four of them were manhandled out the back of the club and tossed to the floor. Hallie had no idea where the bouncers were, but she hoped someone fired them.

  “Get back,” Caleb told Lily and Hallie as he got to his feet.

  They knew this was going to get ugly fast and they were no match for seven Londoners all looking for a fight. Hallie helped Lily up and they both ran over to the nearest trash container to give them some cover.

  Hallie knew that Kiara had been training so hard, but after her defeat at MI6 the other week, she wasn’t sure that her girl was ready for a fight on this scale. Apparently, she was wrong.

  Fierce as a lioness, Kiara wasted no time engaging the man closest to her. Her moves were so quick that Hallie had trouble keeping track of them. A kick to the stomach sent one stumbling back, but the next was immediately upon her, earning himself a nasty left jab.

  Caleb was just as fast, tight pants be damned. He slammed an arm so hard into one of the men’s chests that it looked like he had run into a metal beam, falling straight onto his back with a crash.

  The pair of them worked in tandem with each other, sending the brawlers this way and that way. At one point, Kiara even rolled across Caleb’s back to slam her foot into one of their faces.

  Meanwhile, Hallie was just standing there with her mouth open, Lily holding onto her arm tightly because of the tension.

  “Enough!” McGropey spluttered as Kiara stood over him, ready to give him a second black eye to match his other one. “We’ve had enough.”

  “Good,” Kiara said, kicking him in the ribs for good measure. “Maybe you’ll think next time before butting in.”

  “I doubt it,” Caleb said as he wiped some blood from his mouth.

  “Let’s just get out of here, please?” Lily called to them, probably worried that someone might have called the police.

  Hallie would have if she’d seen four people so outnumbered.

  Not wasting any more time with the idiots lying on the floor, they all hurried for the nearest tube station, not really caring which lines it had. They had a choice of places they could retreat to; the train would take them to one of them.

  Once they were safely bundled onto one of the carriages, Hallie was finally able to take a deep breath.

  “You wiped the floor with those guys,” she said, impressed.

  “Right?” Kiara grinned as she mopped some sweat from her brow with the back of her hand. “And in heels, too!”

  “You’ve really come on in leaps and bounds since your last fight,” Caleb agreed.

  “That uppercut to that guy’s jaw,” Hallie shuddered.

  “I thought I heard his teeth break,” Lily chimed in quietly.

  “Not quite what you had in mind for an evening of fun, huh?” Caleb said.

  “Everything else was good,” Lily smiled up at him. “Although, I think this dress is ruined,” she added, showing them the streak of mud up the side of it and her leg.

  “I know a great dry cleaner who will be, admittedly, very confused, but will get that out no problem,” Hallie said.

  “I think she was trying to get out of wearing it again,” Kiara snickered.

  “No, we’re not going back to that conversation,” Hallie told them, drawing a line under it with her hands.

  “What do you want to talk about then?” Caleb asked.

  “I don’t know. Socks!”

  “Socks isn’t steering us very far away from outfits, now, is it?”

  “Oh, sweet baby Jesus…”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Downtime between recruitment missions was usually a busy time for Diana. There was a whole camp to check on, relationships to maintain, supplies to collect. But now that they were nearing the numbers they needed, she could afford to spend a little time taking a breath and regrouping mentally before they made their final move.

  A large part of the camp had gathered in the center for a big barbecue to celebrate one of their birthdays, she had missed whose. It didn’t matter too much, so long as they were enjoying themselves. Sometimes there could be disagreements between the people here, which had ended in bust ups once or twice. She would have to keep an eye out to make sure no one got too drunk and decided to pick a fight.

  After collecting a veggie bu
rger from the barbecue, Diana found Aaren and Eshe sat away from the main group, talking among themselves.

  “I’m not interrupting, am I?” she asked, looking down at them.

  “No, of course not,” Eshe smiled.

  “Actually… Nah, I’m just kidding,” Aaren said, making room for Diana next to him.

  “Always the joker,” Diana shook her head.

  Usually there was some truth behind the ‘jokes’ that people made. Diana had seen the way that Aaren was looking at Eshe as they spoke, she had definitely interrupted something.

  “What is that?” Aaren asked her, looking at her food.

  “I’m a vegetarian,” she said.

  “I never knew that,” he said.

  “That’s because we’ve only ever drank together.”

  “True.”

  “Diana loves my shakshuka,” Eshe told him, which made him choke.

  Diana kicked him in the leg. “Such a dirty mind.”

  “I’m sorry,” he cleared his throat. “What’s shakshuka?”

  “It’s poached eggs with tomatoes, chillies and spices. Definitely not for the faint of heart or weak stomach,” Eshe explained. “My mother used to make it for me, and her mother used to make it for her, and so on.”

  “My Mom used to have a recipe like that too, but it was for tosca cake. It couldn’t make you breathe fire, but it could crack a tooth if made wrong.”

  “Sounds like the perfect combination,” Diana commented.

  “Ah, see, she cracks jokes too,” Aaren said.

  “They’re just a lot subtler than yours,” Eshe smirked.

  The sound of a shriek drew their attention, all of them quickly looking round to try and find the source. It turned out that Will had thrown Priya over his shoulder and was spinning her round and round, making her burst out laughing.

  Diana let out a quiet sigh of relief.

  “They seem to be getting along well,” Aaren said.

  “Will gets on well with everyone,” Eshe told him.

  “Where did you find him anyway?” he asked Diana, pulling her attention back.

  “Brisbane. I had been looking for a Chosen to help me in my endeavours. Will hadn’t been picked up by the Guardians yet. He was anxious, afraid of what the prophecy meant for him. I told him everything and he chose to come with me.”

  “There are quite a few people who wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for him,” Eshe added. “If they’re not entirely swayed by Diana’s words, then it’s usually his big heart that gets them.”

  “I can see that,” Aaren said.

  Diana didn’t always give Will enough credit for the part he played in all this. If she was honest with herself, she wouldn’t have been able to get this far alone. Eshe was often the one who reminded her. Even though Eshe loved to tease Will mercilessly about their first meeting, she was also his biggest champion.

  “How did Priya take it when you made the decision to come here?” Diana asked.

  “She was the one pushing me to say yes, actually,” he admitted. “I think she really likes the idea of us all being free to be who we want to be.”

  This was good. It was better if people didn’t feel forced to be here, it meant they were more likely to follow through when it was time for the final push.

  “How long does she have?” Eshe asked him.

  “Less than two years. It’ll be on her twenty-first birthday.”

  Eshe reached across to squeeze his hand comfortingly. It was hard to know that someone so young got such a short time. The youngest Diana had ever seen was sixteen, but they had seven years to grow into everything. This meant that they had so much time to fulfill their destiny, however, that it must have been hard for their Guardian to let them go when the time came. There were very few blessings that came with this job. The Chosen made it worth it.

  “Once we take the Citadel, you’ll be able to make every second of what life she has left count,” Diana told him.

  “I sure hope so,” he said. “How much longer before you intend to make your move?”

  “I’m waiting on word from a contact of mine about another Guardian who might be open to our cause. After that, I think we’ll be ready.”

  “Good, because I’m not sure how much longer I can stand sharing that toilet.”

  Diana rolled her eyes.

  “I’m being serious!”

  For such a big man, he sure could be a big baby.

  ~

  Will found it easy to talk to most of the people at camp. There were a lot of people who had been separated from their families, felt like they couldn’t go back to them, or who had never had a chance at one. So, they all had quite a lot in common. Some could be terse, but they kept to themselves or didn’t spend a lot of time at camp. Priya, though, was turning out to be a ton of fun to hang out with while everyone else was busy chatting or eating. They had left Eshe and Aaren to their own devices; if they were going to hit it off then they needed some alone time.

  After playing around and making a lot of noise during dinner, Will took Priya down to the beach so they could sit near the shore and watch the waves lap up by their feet.

  “It’s so beautiful here,” Priya said, looking at the fading colours of the setting sun.

  “Yeah,” he agreed. “The water and the temperature remind me a little of home.”

  The house his parents had owned when he was little wasn’t anything to shout about; it was quite small and about as far away from the ocean as you could get. When his Dad’s company took off, though, he bought a beautiful house right on the coast. All Will had to do was look out his bedroom window and there was the ocean, beckoning him to come and surf, swim, or muck about. His friends at school came over to his house all the time because it was so cool. His Dad was proud of that fact.

  “When was the last time you were back there?” Priya asked.

  “Just under four years ago. I’d just come back from a trip to see my sister in the states and was basically still packed. I went out to get a pizza when someone in the street dragged me to one side to tell me my future. I wouldn’t have believed them, but I almost got killed that night trying to get home. Then Diana found me before the Guardians could. I haven’t been back since.”

  Will wasn’t sure what would have happened if the Guardians had found him first. His life would probably look a lot different right now, maybe he would still have been in touch with his family.

  “Do you miss it? And your family?”

  “Of course. I miss my parents, even though me and my Dad were in a fight before I disappeared.”

  “What about?”

  “He wanted me to join his business, whereas I wanted to travel. He threatened to cut me off if I didn’t do as he said. I have no idea if he ended up doing it, I never checked.”

  “I’m sorry,” Priya said, looking sad for him. “Parents can be difficult.”

  Will and his Dad used to get along so well when he was a kid. He always said that Will was his mini-me. They used to go down to the beach or the park whenever his Dad had free time and play football or softball. Things got more complicated when his parents separated and then his Dad met Hallie’s Mom, but it wasn’t until Will started to become an adult that things between them became fraught.

  “What are yours like?” he asked.

  “My mother died when I was young, so that made it hard. I don’t think my father knew what to do with me. He remarried and left it up to my stepmother and stepbrother, but they never really understood me either. I spent a lot of time alone. Aaren coming along, with the Guardians, was sort of a blessing in my case. I was completely lost, then the Oracle gave me my prophecy and suddenly my life was full of people whose focus was all on me.”

  His family had always been so close knit that he couldn’t begin to imagine how lonely that must have been for her. Somehow, she had got through it and come out stronger for it.

  “It’s weird, the different ways and places in our lives that fate finds us,” he said. “I
freaked out at first. There had always been so much time left for me to find my feet. Having all that time suddenly taken away almost broke me. It probably would have succeeded if it hadn’t been for Diana.”

  “I didn’t have much time to think,” Priya said. “Aaren was there with a solution to all my problems mere hours after the prophecy. I welcomed it with open arms.”

  “You’ve come to terms with your death already?” he asked.

  “Yes. There is no greater calling than being a Chosen in my eyes. Whatever I do here will only mean more in my next life.”

  Will smiled. “That’s an interesting way to look at it.”

  “Do you have a religion?”

  The blonde shook his head. “Neither of my parents believed in anything religious. Hallie’s Mum was a Christian, but Hallie didn’t go to church. We put our faith and trust in each other rather than a God.”

  “That’s interesting too. Aaren tells me old tales about the Norse Gods sometimes, I find it all so fascinating.”

  Will found that was the best way to be: open to other people’s beliefs. If you could accept that their belief was real to them, then it caused much less animosity.

  Priya shivered as the cool evening breeze started to blow in from the sea. Will tugged her closer, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to keep her warm.

  “Thank you.”

  “I always used to do this for Hallie when she got cold, which was a lot because she’s always been skinny as anything. You remind me of her a bit.”

  “Because I’m tiny?”

  Will laughed. “Not so much. She’s a lot taller than you, for starters.”

  Priya would look like a dwarf standing next to his sister.

  “It’s because of your joy. She always saw the bright side of things and wanted to do what was best.”

  Priya smiled softly and rested her head on his shoulder.

  “Have you thought about going to see her? It’s not too late to check in.”

  “I don’t think I can. Besides, I wouldn’t know where to find her or how to contact her. She could have gone to college anywhere in the world.”

  “Sounds to me like you’re chicken.”