by Abigail Owen
Adelaide muttered, “What’s Alex doing home?”
Ellie realized that she’d managed to keep casually walking despite the havoc occurring inside her. Alex hadn’t noticed her yet, first talking to Lila and then Nate as he joined them. She willed him to glance up and feared it at the same time.
And then he did. He looked up directly into her eyes… into her soul. It could only have been a few moments. Just seconds. Heartbeats. Adelaide gasped beside her, and the sound was sharp enough that it caused Ellie to break eye contact. She turned to a startled Adelaide, and without even thinking, put her hand on her arm. They both jumped when an electric jolt passed between them.
Ellie jerked her hand back. “You shocked me,” she accused Adelaide jokingly. Deliberately. Adelaide gave a somewhat distracted, half-hearted shrug and started walking again.
Ellie didn’t know how she did it, but she somehow pulled her thoughts away from what she’d just seen when she’d touched Adelaide and followed her. She kept her eyes lowered when they first approached the little reunion going on in the parking lot. She made sure to stop and stand just far enough back so when they were introduced Alex wouldn’t try to shake her hand.
“Ellie, this is Alex,” Lila said, waving a hand in her general direction. “He’s our older brother.
Ellie took a deep, silent breath, and pasted a blandly pleasant expression on her face. This usually had the effect of putting people at ease and causing them to not study her any further.
She looked Alex directly in the eyes and offered him a slightly lopsided smile. “Hi.” Her voice sounded a little too breathy to her sensitive ears.
In return, he gave her a long, lazy grin that caused her heart rate to increase even more. It hadn’t yet settled down from the first moment she’d laid eyes on him. All Ellie could do was stare back and try desperately to get her erratic breathing under control.
“This is Ellie…” Adelaide broke the spell. “She just moved here this week.”
Glancing at the other three, Ellie gratefully realized that nothing had seemed odd to them.
“I see. I hope you like it here, Ellie,” he replied in a deep, velvety voice.
Get a grip, girl, she scolded herself silently. She’d read tons of books with female heroines who swooned at the sight of their true love and had thought them to be incredibly wimpy. And now here she stood, barely able to keep herself upright. Not that she was in love… far from it. But a girl could appreciate a bona fide hottie when she saw one, right?
“So far so good,” Ellie said with a nonchalant shrug.
It suddenly dawned on her that she needed to be keeping her distance from everyone in this family. She turned to Adelaide. “I guess I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” she said. Throwing another glance Alex’s way, she added, “Nice to meet you, Alex.” And with a brief wave to all of them, she turned and headed to her own car, her mind reeling.
Chapter 3
As soon as Ellie got home, she could tell Griffin wasn’t there. Her heart sank a little. Maybe he wasn’t coming after all. Maybe he’d changed his mind.
She ran upstairs and changed out of her generic, trying-to-blend-in high school outfit and into something better. She nodded at her reflection, appreciating the way the red, cowl-necked sweater brought out the color of her violet eyes, and the way the black stretch pants clung to her slim figure. A look more suited to the woman she was, rather than the teenage girl she pretended to be.
Feeling more like herself, Ellie returned to the kitchen and got busy making dinner, trying to ignore the loneliness that crept up on her.
“Well, at least they picked a nice place to live,” a low voice grumbled.
Ellie jumped and let out a little yelp. Then she turned to see her twin brother standing by the back door. “You came!” she squealed as she flung herself into his arms.
Griffin hugged her back, his bronze, muscular body engulfing Ellie’s petite frame. His golden blond hair, cropped short, was a stark contrast to Ellie’s long, ebony locks. To look at the two of them together, one would never think they were related, let alone twins. When they were little, their mother had teasingly dubbed them Artemis and Apollo after the sibling Greek gods associated with the moon and the sun, the night and the day.
Griffin pulled back and regarded her silently with solemn concern clouding his tawny, almost leonine eyes. With a sigh of frustration, he glanced away.
“I won’t have anything to do with these people,” he eventually replied. “But I also won’t leave you alone. You’re the only family I’ve got.” His expression was resigned as he added, “I guess you counted on that fact.”
“No… but I hoped. You know things just don’t work without you.” She gave him another big hug to emphasize her words. “I’m so glad you decided to come. And I won’t push you to get involved with my… little project.”
Leading him out of the kitchen into the main floor of the house, Ellie couldn’t keep the chuckle out of her voice as she pointed and said, “Your room’s right down that hall…the master bedroom.”
“Nice pick for the house,” he said, as he headed down the corridor.
“Hey, it’s cozy,” she called after him. “And it’s bigger than it looks on the outside.”
The three story house appeared to be deceptively small, and because it sat fairly high up on the hill, it had an unhindered view of the entire valley. There was a spacious wrap-around porch from which to enjoy the beautiful scenery. But with all the snow, Ellie hadn’t spent much time out there yet. Even so, she’d caught glimpses of the wildlife from the panoramic windows, including some elk and even a bear. It was quaint, comfy, and unlike any place she’d lived. Which was saying something, given how long she’d been alive. Ellie adored it.
Returning to the kitchen, Ellie choked back a laugh when she heard her sibling’s low grumble of annoyance. When she’d moved in a few weeks ago, she’d set up his room exactly as she knew he’d want it, hoping Griffin couldn’t stay away too long. At the sound of his footsteps in the hall, she swiftly hid her amusement.
“So what are you planning to do while we’re here?”
He took a seat at one of the three stools at the bar situated between the kitchen and the dining room. Reaching for a bowl of candy, he popped a couple into his mouth.
“Why do I have a terrible feeling that you’ve already got something lined up for me?” Griffin eyed his sister suspiciously.
She threw him an innocent look over her shoulder. “Not really.”
“What’s your set up?”
She lowered her gaze and grimaced. “I’m a student at the high school…Again. Today was my first day, actually.”
Griffin’s eyebrows shot up. “Why on Earth would you do that willingly?”
“Three of the people in the family still attend high school—”
Griffin held up his hands. “Forget it. I don’t want to know.”
“There’s too much I need to tell you,” Ellie confessed, shaking her head.
“Jeez, Elle,” he growled. “You’ve only been at school one day. How much trouble could you get into in that amount of time?”
“I’ll tell you more about it while I’m making dinner. But you should know that you’re playing the role of my guardian while we’re here. I’ll be introducing you as my older, though not necessarily wiser, brother.” She set a bowl of salad on the table and gave him a playful nudge to the ribs on the way by.
“Huh,” Griffin grunted. “And why is that?”
“Same reason we always use. If you’re not in school with me, you couldn’t be my twin. You’d have to be older. And as a high school student, it would look odd if I didn’t have adult supervision. You know how it goes.” She opened a drawer, scooped up some silverware, and handed it to him along with some plates.
“Yeah, but you didn’t even know I’d be here until today,” he grumbled. Taking the hint, he hopped up to set the table.
Ellie ignored his comment. “Also, while you’re here, I want
ed to know if you’d mind if I tapped in periodically to help me with my—”
“Snooping? Spying?”
“I was going to say investigation,” she corrected with a grin. “Thanks!”
“Hey! I didn’t agree to anything—”
“You will!” She laughed and returned to the kitchen.
Chapter 4
Ellie thought about her day as she browned some ground beef for the spaghetti sauce. She had a lot to think about. Like her immediate acquaintance with the three people she’d come here to watch. That alone is an issue, she thought. If she wasn’t careful, she could place them in extreme danger.
And then there was Alex…Ellie bit her lower lip as she remembered the way his eyes locked with hers, sending shockwaves of awareness through her in a way that electrified…and terrified…and amazed her. A delicious combination of feeling she’d never experienced before.
And then there was Griffin. She was thrilled that her brother had finally showed up. She had known he’d come to his senses eventually...he’d never abandon her. They’d been each other’s only companions, hiding from the world together for so long, she didn’t know how to function without him. Especially now that I need to tap into his power.
Her own powers were quite handy in their own right, but could only get her so far when she couldn’t use them overtly. Griffin’s ability to read minds was a little more subtle. Oh boy, it would’ve been especially useful to have had access to his power this afternoon with Adelaide, Lila, and Nate.
As children, Ellie and Griffin had always assumed abilities like theirs were perfectly normal. Everyone in their tribe had them. As they got a little older, they’d begun to understand how unusual that was, and that most individuals—let alone an entire clan—didn’t have any special abilities. It took even more time for them to realize that their people were unique. Their people called themselves the Darane Svatura, and they existed as the largest assemblage of people with extraordinary abilities in existence. Or at least that’s what they’d all thought.
From what Ellie and Griffin could tell, people with these gifts were extremely rare and tended to roam alone, or sometimes in pairs as the brother and sister did now… ever since their entire people had been slaughtered. Their murderers continued to roam free, still a threat, and the reason they had been hiding for so long.
Ellie still missed her family, especially her mother. It hurt to breathe whenever she thought about her. Her mother had been a lovely, gentle, kind soul who’d made her husband and her children the center of her world. Ellie suspected it was the same for Griffin with their father.
They were on their own now. Ellie was used to it being just her and Griffin.
A small frown marred her smooth brow as she remembered the nickname Ellie’s mom had given her as a young girl – Artemis. In mythology, Artemis was the huntress. Ellie felt she was anything but a hunter. She’d never tried to find her kind before, let alone track them. She had no idea how to go about it.
“Ugh. High school again.” Griffin’s voice cut into her thoughts. “Are you absolutely sure about what you’re doing? It’s not too late to quit.”
The Svatura people, along with their powers, also inherited a gene that extended their lifetime. They were not immortal. Eventually they did die. But they lived much longer than regular humans. So while Ellie could currently pass as a student, she had actually been born in the late 1800’s and had been through high school several times. Her great-grandfathers had long had a rule that their tribe attempt to blend into society as much as possible. Once Ellie and Griffin had found themselves on their own, the rule still made sense for them.
By pretending to be in school, Ellie and Griffin could then stay in one place for longer, and interact in society more easily… without attracting undue attention. Possibly more given how young they looked. It also had an added benefit of protection. By appearing to be normal humans, they hoped that it would disguise them from others like them, and from their pursuers.
Glancing over her shoulder, she saw the worry written on her cautious sibling’s face. “You know I can’t do that, Griff. My dream--”
“Doesn’t mean anything. It was just a dream.”
Ellie tapped the spatula on the side of the pan and laid it on the counter. Turning to face her twin, she crossed her arms over her chest. “It was not just a dream, and you know it. I know that premonition is not one of our gifts. But that vision, or whatever you want to call it, somehow led me to the Jenners.”
“But why did you suddenly dream about them?” Griffin countered with his typical argument. “For all you know you are walking straight into a trap. Those people could be hunting us.”
“They’re Svatura, like us,” Ellie insisted. “How can you walk away from that? We’ve been alone for so long. Don’t you think it’s worth the risk just to know they exist?”
“The risk to us might be worth it… maybe. But you’re putting them at risk too.” He stood up, placing both hands flat on the countertop to emphasize the seriousness of his point.
Ellie looked down and then slowly turned back to finish cooking the sauce. “I know,” she acknowledged softly. “But I can’t help thinking that dream led me to them so that we could protect them…save them.”
“And if we did have to protect them? What if you morph into that monster inside you? What then? I’d have to protect your new family from you.”
“That won’t happen,” Ellie insisted. “I can keep from shifting into that form, you know that. Besides, I’d never hurt them.”
Ellie poured the sauce into a large bowl, picked up the cooked noodles, and headed to the dining room. Griffin remained silent while they served themselves.
“So now you’ve found them. Now we know they do exist. Time to go home,” he started back in on her.
“And where exactly is home?” She took a big bite of spaghetti.
“That’s not fair,” he muttered.
“It’s the truth, though. You know as well as I do that after our entire clan was decimated, we stayed in hiding for too long.”
“Because of the Vyusher!” Griffin slammed his fork down and yelled. “They will hunt us down and kill us if we’re not careful, and you know that! And deliberately seeking out our kind is not being careful. These people you dreamed about might be Vyusher for all we know.”
Ellie stopped eating, folded her hands in her lap, and silently regarded her twin for a moment. “Griffin, we were raised to be in a community. We were part of the Darane Svatura.” Pride practically pulsed off her in waves… evident in her posture, the tilt of her chin. “We were a part of the largest gathering of our people in existence, an extraordinary assembly of abilities in one single tribe. Hundreds strong—”
“And every single one is dead… except for us.” Bitterness laced Griffin’s words.
“—and much as I love you, I need a family again. I need to be able to share who and what I am with others like me. No matter the risk.”
Griffin remained silent for so long Ellie started to worry. In all of their arguments about this, she’d never told him that she needed family. That she needed more than just him.
Finally Griffin nodded. “Okay.” He forked some food into his mouth, slurping up a loose noodle.
“Okay?”
“Yeah. Okay. I get it. I understand.” Griffin ran a hand through his golden hair, a sure sign of his agitation. “So, these people you’re following, have you thought about how they’ll react to us?”
“Yeah, you are a bit hard to take,” Ellie teased. Then more seriously, “Yes, I’ve thought about it. We are a bit… overwhelming, I guess. But we don’t know how many Svatura there are in their group. Maybe some of them have multiple gifts, too. I’m hoping there’s enough that our possessing more than one power isn’t terrifying at least.”
“More than one power is a bit of an understatement."
Ellie wrinkled her nose as she got up to head back into the kitchen, knowing that he was right. She and Griffi
n were extraordinary, even compared to other Svatura. Abilities were genetic, passed from parent to child, but with a subtle variation. Of course, having any powers was so rare, most only had one. But Ellie and Griffin, fourth generation Svatura, and coming from a longstanding and large clan, had more. Ellie remembered her mother once telling her that when she’d been pregnant, she’d worried about one child with four distinct powers. She’d felt like it would be too much for anyone to handle. Instead she had given birth to twins, and the babies had somehow split their parents’ abilities between them.
But even more than that, Ellie and Griffin were unusual in a way that no other Svatura had ever encountered.
Chapter 5
Ellie and Griffin were made even more exceptional by their ability to use each other’s powers. Ellie suspected it had something to do with their being twins.
Griffin eyed his sister as she made her way around the kitchen cleaning up from dinner.
“Stop worrying,” Ellie suddenly spoke up, interrupting his thoughts.
“I can’t help it if I’m concerned about you. It’s obvious that you’ve put a lot of hope in these people. What happens if it doesn’t work out? Are you prepared for that?”
“I’m prepared for anything at this point. Anything is better than nothing.” She dried her hands on the dish towel, walked over to where he leaned against the kitchen island, and gave him a hug. “It’s time,” she whispered in his ear. “We knew we’d have to come out of hiding eventually.”
After a slight hesitation, Griffin hugged her back. “Like I said… okay.”