I expected a blow up of monumental proportions. Instead, a newfound appreciation calmed Big Mike’s rage. He gave me a brief nod to proceed.
“Who’s that?” The other Glee Clubbers moved in tight behind Eddie.
“Let me introduce myself.” Kat adopted a sickeningly sweet schoolgirl grin that completely contradicted her black spandex bodysuit, and stepped into the middle of the crowd. Gabe rounded his back and growled, but she looked right through him—to the Glee Club. “You know the new force rising that your boss lady is just panting to know more about? I represent them.”
Eddie’s “geek” façade’ fell away completely. Deadly steel replaced it. “She doesn’t get out of this room alive.”
Red’s hands ignited into flame.
A raging inferno of barely contained violence brewed in Kat’s eyes. Slow and easy her metal barb slid from her wrist. “And who exactly is going to keep me here?”
Gabe’s features widened and stretched into an appearance more feline than human. A king of jungle rumble quaked from his twitching muzzle. He shoved Alaina toward me to keep her safe as he morphed. The twin’s omitted high-pitched squawks of response. Their necks stretched and elongated as their own reptilian change began. Big Mike sprang from his chair fast enough to send it crashing to the ground and expanded his wings out wide. Everyone in the room struck a defensive posture of some sort—some significantly less menacing than others.
Alaina poked her head around from where she cowered behind me and grasped my Aerosmith tank top in both fists. “Celeste, think of the centerpieces! They can’t do this here!”
I shook off her grip as Kat sauntered toward the stage. “Not really helping, Alaina!”
In a blur of speed, I intercepted Kat and grabbed her in a bear hug that pinned both her arm to her sides. “What are you doing?” I hissed in her ear. “Do you want to start a war? Because that’s exactly what’s going to happen.”
“Get off me!” she spat and struggled against my hold. “I just came here to introduce myself. No harm in that!”
“And the flowers! They’ve already placed the flowers!”
“Everyone is going to get out of here in one piece!” I announced, still gripping a squirming Kat tight enough to leave marks.
Alaina whimpered.
In exasperation I tagged on, “Without harming any decorations or flowers!”
The resident Bridezilla heaved a sigh of relief.
“You’ve got something to say to me?” I glanced over my shoulder at Eddie. “Say it and leave.”
He ground his teeth together and weighed his next move. The idea of taking Kat back to the Countess created an alluring prospect for him. The longing to achieve such a feat caused a sheen of sweat to dot his brow. Yet to accomplish that he had to go through me, which made that option considerably less appealing. I watched him mull the idea over for a moment before common sense prevailed and Eddie’s tense posture relaxed slightly.
“The Countess wanted us to remind you of something. A little warning she’d given you about claiming your loved ones whenever the mood strikes her?” A wicked smile curled his lips and a victorious glint sparked in his eyes a second before they blinked to black. “Awful lot of family around for the wedding … Speaking of, no one close to you is acting odd at all, are they?”
His buddies tittered with laughter behind him.
Kendall. Ice ran through my veins. His threat and the possibility that it may have already come to pass sucked the air from the room. No one moved. No one spoke. The wall clock ticked off the seconds in time with the thud of my pulse in my ears.
Alaina broke the silence with a tone so dead of emotion it chilled me. She rose to her feet from her crouched and frightened position, her stare cold hard stone. “Celeste, let her go.”
I didn’t think, but simply acted. Kat charged the Glee Club with her barb poised for attack. Red and orange flames whizzed past my face close enough to singe a chunk of my hair.
The first explosion came from the kitchen.
CHAPTER Twenty-one
Water streamed down the street and soaked my tennis shoe. Seated on the curb with my hands hanging limp between my knees I gaped at what was left of Gainesboro’s beautiful library. Once a three-story masterpiece of sunshine yellow stucco, it was now nothing but scorched kindling and smoke from the second story up. The very structure had been weakened by the gigantic holes blasted in it. Not every tank had blown … yet. The fire department worked tirelessly to douse the flames. As long as the heat was kept far enough away from the remaining tanks we would be spared another teeth-rattling, eardrum blasting explosion.
I’d never been inside an exploding building before. I wasn’t a fan of the experience. After Red lit up two tanks everyone inside scrambled to vacate the premises. The Glee Club poofed off first—to the tune of Talking Heads Burning Down the House. Kat ran for the door with her arms shielding her head. In mid-stride she became one with the smoke and vanished as air. Big Mike grumbled and kicked out a window. He drew his wings in tight and stepped off the edge, plummeting straight down. I gave him the benefit of the doubt that he was going after Kat and not just abandoning ship with no forethought of those he was leaving behind.
A ceiling rafter splintered over our heads. Any second the roof would cave. “That’s our cue,” Gabe yelled and scooped up Alaina in his arms.
We sprinted for the exit and made it halfway down the stairs before the third tank exploded. The roof thundered down and sent a wall of flame surging after us. Tufts of tulle, flower petals and bits of decorations pelted down. I grabbed Gabe’s arm and dragged him behind me as I slipped into super speed. I threw open the door at the bottom of the stairs and pulled us to safety. The three of us eagerly gulped fresh air into our smoke scorched lungs.
In exhaustion we’d collapsed on the curbside, where we watched through sore, bloodshot eyes as the fire department worked to save the treasured community landmark.
“The ceremony is still on track because that’s at Grams’ church.” I winced at how raw and raspy my throat was. “We just need a new venue for the reception. Grams’ backyard isn’t huge, but maybe we could make it work?”
Gabe gently rubbed Alaina’s back. “What do you think, Lani? We could get a hold of the caterer and just tell them the location changed. Wouldn’t be too tough.”
Alaina said nothing but kept her knees pulled in tight to her chest and her face tucked in the nest of her arms.
I wiped a layer of soot from my face then rinsed my fingertips in the small puddle by the curb. “It might even do Kendall some good to turn her loose on the decorating. She could have that place looking like a fairy land in no time and it might snap her out of her funk.”
A muffled noise came from within Alaina’s cocoon.
Gabe bent his head to her. “What, babe?”
“I said no!” Her head snapped up to reveal soft green eyes made more brilliant by the tears she silently shed as her dream went up in smoke.
“It’s just a place, Alaina,” I encouraged softly. “The wedding can still happen.”
Her lower lip quivered and she shook her head. “It’s not just the place. My dress and the bridesmaids’ dresses were in there, too. I hung them in the ladies room while we decorated.”
Gabe dropped to his knees in front of her and took both her hands in his. “I don’t care what you wear. I just want us to start our life together.”
“But what can that life possibly look like?” Tears streamed down her face, leaving zig zag tracks through the ash that covered her. “It won’t be normal. Your calling won’t allow for that.” She jabbed her thumb in the direction of the charred skeletal remains of the building. “This is what happens when we try for normal.”
Gabe brushed the hair from her face. Sorrow cut deep creases into his brow. “It may not be normal, but we’ll be together.”
“For how long, Gabe? How long will we be allowed to be together before some rogue demon lands a lucky shot that takes you away f
rom me forever?” Her head fell. An auburn curtain of waves blocked her face from view. “It’s just a matter of time. Love can’t thrive in the midst of all this.”
“That’s not true.” Even I heard the lack of conviction in my voice. But that couldn’t be true … because I didn’t want it to be.
There was no malice in her voice, only pity when she murmured, “Oh yeah, Celeste? How’s Caleb?”
Pain stabbed my heart and ground in so deep that it prevented any argument from forming on my lips.
“With an environment riddled with pain and violence love doesn’t stand a chance.” Alaina pushed herself off the curb and stared down at us. Rowan picked that moment to saunter up. He read the mood of the group well enough to keep his mouth shut.
“It’s just a matter of time until that violence claims each of us in one way or another.” Alaina looked first to Rowan, then to me, and finally let her gaze settle on Gabe. “Whether we submit to it, are pursued by it, or are overcome by it, one way or another none of us will get out of this alive.”
Alaina slid her engagement ring off her finger. My mouth fell open and I felt my brother’s pain as if it were my own.
Gabe’s broad face crumbled in anguish. On his knees before her, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pleaded with her with every pore of his body. “Alaina, please don’t do this.”
Her shoulders shook from the impact of her sobs, but still she pushed him away and held out the ring. “I’m so sorry, Gabe. I love you so very much. But … ”
He shook his head, denying both the words and the ring. “Don’t. Please.”
“I can’t marry you.” She set the ring on the curb beside him and darted off, quickly getting lost in the sea of fire gawkers.
Gabe scooped the ring up and mashed it into my hand.
“Don’t lose that,” he growled. His features started to widen. His eyes glowed like polished topaz. Before the transition progressed further he leapt up and sprinted for the mountain range.
Rowan flopped down on the curb beside me and whistled through his teeth. “Tense.”
I turned the ring over between my fingers, letting the light play across the princess cut solitaire. “If we can’t have love or joy what can we have?”
I didn’t even realize I’d spoken these words out loud until Rowan chimed in, “A pint?”
I snorted a dry laugh completely devoid of humor. “I just … I don’t understand what we’re supposed to be fighting for. I’m the Chosen One, by definition I’m destined for a world of crap. I get that and I accept it. But I never wanted that for them. I thought I could protect them from it. Take it on for them—somehow.”
“Fate can only tear it away from them if they let it. Which—sadly—it seems they are.” He held out his hand, offering me the relief I had come to depend on.
I stared at his offered hand and considered it. But in that moment I didn’t need an emotional fix. What I needed was a friend. I felt him tense when I leaned my weary head on his shoulder, yet he didn’t pull away. “No. For right now I want to feel it … and pray for a miracle.”
CHAPTER twenty-two
“Think Gabe can get his deposit back on their apartment?” Mom asked while her finger trailed along the rim of her coffee cup. “It seems so sad for him to move into it alone.”
At that moment we should all have been shimmying into uncomfortable formal wear and posing for umpteen-million pictures. However, no one had heard from the bride since the “incident” or the groom since he came home after midnight smelling of pine needles and wet cat hair and shut himself in his room. Wedding merriment looked extremely unlikely.
Grams pursed her red glossed lips. “I refuse to think about that. Those two love each other. This’ll work out. I know it will. What do you think, Celeste?”
I drained the last of the sweet tea from my cup before answering. “I think the fact that her engagement ring is dangling off my Gryphon statuette upstairs is a bad sign.”
Grams shook her head and brushed the crumbs from her bagel off the table and into her hand. “I didn’t know she gave the ring back. Poor Gabe. I can’t even imagine what he’s feeling right now.”
I opened my mouth to say, “I can,” but quickly snapped it shut. That was a conversation I didn’t want to start right then … or in front of my mother. Instead we sat in silence and listened to the wall clock tick off seconds as we waited for—something.
We tiptoed around the house and talked in hushed whispers most of the day. A chorus of honking horns interrupted our melancholy vigil around two o’clock. I pushed aside the curtain to see three deluxe travel buses parked in front of the house. The door to the lead bus slid open and out hopped Alaina and … Rowan?
“Ah, crap. What did he do?” I grumbled under my breath and scurried to the door. Mom and Grams rushed out after me.
Alaina met us at the stairs. Her face gleamed like a freshly polished pearl. No traces of her sadness remained—which was suspicious considering her choice of company.
“Is Gabe here?” she bubbled. “I really need to talk to him.”
Mom, Grams, and I all answered in unison:
“Is the wedding back on?”
“Are you getting back together?”
“If you hurt him again I’ll break every one of your fingers and maybe a kneecap.”
Alaina winced. Grams and Mom shot me surprisingly similar looks that seemed to question my mental stability.
“What? I’m just sayin’.”
“I’d really like to talk to Gabe first, if that’s okay?” Alaina’s cheeks blossomed with the color of pink carnations.
“No problem!” The heels of Gram’s wedges thumped against the wood porch as she darted back to the screen door and bellowed, “Gabe Allen Garrett! Get your fanny down here!”
Alaina’s mouth fell open in shocked confusion. “I … I was kind of hoping I could go talk to him alone.”
“Oh, of course!” Grams smacked herself in the forehead with the palm of her hand then opened the door and held it open. “Go on in, honey.”
“Thank you, Grams.” Alaina smiled meekly before she trotted inside.
Grams watched her disappear up the stairs before muttering out of the corner of her mouth, “Come on, Julia.”
“Yeah, I suppose we could head into the kitchen and give those kids some privacy while they talk.”
Grams crinkled her nose and gaped at my mom like she’d just declared animal print clothing should have an age limit. “Privacy nothin’. If we stand in the foyer we can hear every word they say.”
“Even better,” Mom giggled and the two disappeared inside. It occurred to me that Grams might be a bad influence on my mother—and the general population.
I turned my glare on Rowan and the entourage he brought to our doorstep. I narrowed my eyes and studied his face, wishing I were a mind reader instead of an empathe.
As I approached he shoved his hands into the pockets of his khaki pants and gave me his trademark smirk. “Something you need to say, Mo Chroi?”
I stepped in close and hissed through clenched teeth, “Please tell me you didn’t brainwash the bride.”
“I didn’t brainwash the bride.”
“Really?”
“No, not really.” He laughed. “But you told me to tell you that.”
“Rowan!”
“What?” Palms raised, he shrugged. Clearly he wasn’t picking up on the line of questionable ethics that he crossed. “We both know she wants to marry the guy! I just gave her a … nudge. A little boost back to the land of common sense.”
My hands curled into claws and I fought the urge to throttle him. “You’re messing with people’s minds about life altering decisions. You understand that’s wrong, right? I mean, I know you’re thick headed and a borderline sociopath, but you at least get that, right?”
“We can stand here and debate the grey area of my ability all day, or we can focus instead on the fact that your little sis is curren
tly shimmying her way out of your bedroom window. Your call.”
I glanced over my shoulder. A lime green Chuck Taylor emerged from my window, followed by the other.
I groaned and rubbed a hand over my face. “Fine. But this isn’t over. We’re putting a pin in this conversation.”
“Stupendous.”
Rowan stayed put while I marched across the yard, and waited for Kendall just below the window. She shimmied out the frame on her belly and dropped gracefully to the ground below.
She turned with a victorious grin that quickly vanished when she saw me. “Ah, crap.”
“Hey, Keni! Where ya goin’?” I chirped with mock exuberance. “And what the heck did you do to your hair?”
“Not that either of those things are any of your business,” she huffed with her newfound obstinate nastiness and folded her arms over her crystal studded skull t-shirt, “but I’m going out and I dyed it black. Deal with it.”
Her hair wasn’t a pretty, glossy black, but the dull matte offered by cheap hair dye … or Crayola. She may have been going for butt-kickin’ goth chick but the combination of the hair color with her rosy cheeks, big blue eyes, and skin the color of fresh fallen snow resulted in her bearing a striking resemblance to a very specific Disney princess. If I didn’t think it’d make her head spin around I would’ve pointed that out.
Before either of us could utter one more word that would’ve surely escalated things into a fight, Gabe and Alaina burst out the front door.
“The wedding’s back on!” Gabe thundered and swept his bride-to-be off her feet to spin her in wide circles in the yard.
“What?” Grams feigned shock as she stepped back onto the porch. “Oh! It’s back on! What a surprise!”
Mom followed her out, rolling her eyes at the awful performance.
In between giggles and squeals Alaina tagged on, “Oh, and you’re all going to need to pack a bag! Rowan turned our wedding day into a whole weekend event!”
Sacrifice (The Gryphon Series Book 3) Page 13