by Jan Harman
Her eyes widened and scanned the room, alighting upon Shade. They exchanged a brief nod. Voices quieted as she stepped forward to stand beside my aunt. “It seems Warden Ethan read us pretty well. He had the foresight to protect Olivia from us, his friends and his people. See how easily we can be frightened into turning away from our principles. Shame on all of us. What must Olivia be thinking of her people and her new home? How truly terrifying this must be for you, dear.”
“Our apologies, Olivia. We do enjoy a vigorous debate. Tonight’s frightening events have left us riled up and shall we say less than tactful. My wife was right to remind us of our manners as well as our obligations to our young heir,” Mr. Cassidy announced as he strode purposefully to my side.
I had to work hard to keep from leaning away. The Cassidy’s were old family friends. I should be grateful for his show of support, but he was just so domineering. He’d almost reached the loveseat when Shade glided forwarded, so he was the one standing at my side. Mr. Cassidy’s nostrils flared and his eyes flicked over to the hearth. Shade crossed his arms and met Mr. Cassidy’s narrowed eyed stare, forcing the elder to talk around him.
“While these are dark days, Olivia, they aren’t your doing or responsibility. Rest assured your elders will see these viscous criminals brought to justice. As for your time away at college, naturally the clans will honor a father’s last request.” He paused dramatically with his hands outstretched, including the entire room while others murmured their support. When the voices quieted, he reached past Shade to squeeze my shoulder. “On the day you return home to the valley, you’ll have the full backing of the Cassidy’s and our clan. We are your extended family. You are dear to us. Turn to us for support and comfort.”
“Our sentiments exactly,” Shade said, pulsing his voice gently across my cheek.
Mr. Cassidy sputtered and turned in a huff, heading in the direction of my aunt.
Even though he’d sounded quite sincere, when he’d looked me directly in the eye, I couldn’t shake the feeling that Mr. Cassidy’s speech wasn’t entirely for my benefit. It almost sounded like he was campaigning. That led me to wonder how positions on the Elder’s Council were obtained. Great, apparently fearing for my life was making me jaded.
The rapid tapping of a jacket zipper against the wood trim on the loveseat drew my attention to the rigid-backed man at my side. Poor Shade, he’d been forced to kill a man, and yet, no one seemed concerned with how he was doing. I couldn’t imagine what was going on inside his head. If only he wasn’t so determined to see me as a kid with baggage, I was a great listener. I tried to catch his eye. Instead, I caught both brothers leveling speculative gazes upon the back of Mr. Cassidy’s head. Their eyes veiled over as though they were one person. Then, they turned towards each other in silent communication.
Aunt Claire gave Sadie a quick hug then announced, “I call for a full council meeting tomorrow at one, so we can hear from all the elders before deciding how to handle the situation. Until then, Commander Bradeck will investigate the dead man’s background. I want a file in my hand before the meeting,” she said to the man who stood in the doorway with Mason. “I will forgive comments that were voiced in anger here tonight. Understand that I won’t have the situation escalate into a mob action or some personal vendetta. Now I suggest we each go home, take care of our children, and get some rest. Hopefully in the light of day, calm reason will keep us from setting a match to this valley.”
***
When I reached the front foyer, I found Trent leaning against the wall next to a suit of armor. Strands of damp hair clung to his square jaw. A sweatshirt in the school’s colors of gold and maroon darkened the yellow sunburst in his eyes, making him appear on edge. He uncrossed his ankles and rocked onto the balls of feet, looking much like he did out on the field, filled with contained energy, prepared to react.
“Are you alright? They said you were, but things were pretty crazy for a while,” I asked in a rush of words that irritated my dry throat.
“Me? I should be asking you that question.” He swept my hair off my forehead. “That goose egg on your temple needs more ice. I wish Shade had prolonged the guy’s agony. It would’ve sent a clear message to the rest of them.”
“Trent!”
“Don’t sound so shocked. You didn’t grow up with them lording their abilities over you like their so superior. After all these years of keeping them safe from prying eyes, suddenly we’re the bad guys here? If they hate the valley so much, let them experience the fun of a government lab.”
Taken back by the hatred in his voice, I shoved his hand aside. “I refuse to believe the answer is to become merciless.”
People were coming down the hall. He pulled me into the front parlor and out of sight. “They’re not going to ruin the entire night.”
I wasn’t sure to what he was referring until he stepped closer, his hand sliding around my back, fitting me snug. I inhaled a light woodsy scent from his body wash before he kissed my lips. His ragged emotions spilled over, turning the kiss rough as though he was using it and my body pressed against his to erase the evening. I twisted my face away; his fingers clenched my hair, stretching it away from my scalp.
“Ow! I’m a flesh and bone girl not some nameless enemy. We’ll talk when you’ve calmed down. I’m going home,” I said my voice shaking.
“Not yet.” He pressed me into the corner, trapping me between an antique writing desk and a credenza. His wide shoulders caged me in the cramped space. “I can’t believe you’d be selfish with your kisses?” he said, spitting out the words. Thick fingers gripped my chin, easily turning my face towards his.
Hard and demanding his lips crushed mine, forcing them open. I shoved at his broad chest, stinging my scratched palms. Splayed fingers slid down my side, to rest possessively on my hip, pulling me in tighter. I stomped on his foot, wrenching my head to the side, gasping for air. Anger flared in his eyes. Fingers dug into my hip bone.
This desperate, hard side of Trent shocked me. I tried to be understanding, but I couldn’t help but wonder if this aggression was intended—unconsciously I hoped—as a means to bully me to his side. The thought was ugly. I was ashamed of myself for thinking ill of Trent after what he’d gone through.
“Just because you’re bigger that doesn’t give you the right to expect me to do what you want. I’m your girlfriend by my choice. Try to remember that.” I tried to push past, but I lacked the strength to even knock his fist off the credenza.
He caught my wrist and rubbed his thumb over my rapidly beating pulse. “I think you protest too much. If you need to cover your feelings with a charade of shocked innocence, I can live with that for a while,” he said intimately.
“Olivia, I’m ready to leave,” Aunt Claire called from the foyer.
I searched Trent’s heated expression for any indication that he was calming down. “Move. You’re scaring me. I’ve had enough of that tonight.” The angry set to his mouth relaxed when I touched his clenched fist. His knuckles caressed my lips then he leaned down and kissed me twice very gently.
“That’s the abbreviated version of what I had in mind,” he said in a husky voice. “It’s just you know, everything. Come over after lunch. Let me have a do over. My folks will be out. We’ll watch a movie among other activities,” he whispered in my ear with his usual confidence. A hand slid to the small of my back, pulling me in tight.
“Slow down, I need some time.”
His nostrils flared and the hand on my back was no longer gentle. “For what?”
Where was the Trent I’d fallen for with his easy laugh? I know I’d been guilty of too many nasty scenes myself lately, but his anger was seriously misplaced. I pulled back and said in a rough voice, “For starters, you’re not the only one who had a brush with death. I bet that didn’t even occur to you. I need some time. Call me when you can treat me like I’m not a possession.”
To my relief, my aunt was busy reassuring Mrs. Cassidy when I made my escape ou
t the door. I kept my head down when Shade pulled up in Aunt’s Claire’s car. By the time he got out and came around to open our doors, I was confident that any remaining pink coloring in my cheeks could be chalked up to the windburn I’d gotten earlier.
Headlights fell in behind our car as we exited the long drive. “Who’s following us?” I asked, despite Dr. Long’s order to avoid unnecessary conversations. Shade would keep us safe of that I was certain, but I still needed to know to get through this car ride without breaking down.
“Shad and Mason,” he answered, increasing the speed of the car way past the speed limit.
“I’d like to get home in one piece.”
“Excellent reflexes,” he countered. “Until this situation is resolved, neither of you ladies should be without around the clock protection. I’ll sleep on the sofa tonight. First thing tomorrow, the Protection Bureau will assign shifts to their personnel.”
“Guards all the time?” I protested.
“Shad and Mason will take shifts patrolling the grounds tonight.”
The clouds had thinned, revealing a thick forest that could easily hide an army. Headlights and shadows sculpted body parts out of tree limbs. I sat straighter. Nervous tension made the shakes return. Worse, I’d fallen back on expecting to see something out of the corner of my eyes. Silence taunted, so I asked, “You’re expecting retaliation.”
“I’m not taking any chances. I’m afraid it’s just a matter of who moves first.”
“Something has been planned?”
“Claire, it would be better if you told her before I have to.”
“Olivia, let me handle this,” my aunt pleaded.
Like I’d been doing, she was staring into the night, her body twitching at every curve. I leaned forward so she’d have to include me in the conversation. “Being kept in the dark isn’t comforting. Don’t make me order Shade. Show me that you believe I’m not the same fragile girl that you brought home.”
She sighed tiredly. “When the second culprit is apprehended, Sister Willow and I will interrogate him.”
I sucked in a shaky breath. “You mean access his mind?”
“The matter is distasteful I know, dear. As the Warden, it falls upon me to invoke certain procedures laid out by the Pact. We must learn the identity of those who lead the purist. There is no other way if the man doesn’t willing volunteer the information.”
“I was at the meeting. When was all this decided?”
“Some things are best not spoken out loud.”
“You didn’t want me to know,” I accused, wondering what else had been decided in the pauses between sentences.
“Out of concern for you, the elders and I set things in motion,” Aunt Claire replied, her tone brusque and all business.
“Yours isn’t the only home in the valley that plans on posting guards. It would be best for all if the individual is caught before neighbor begins accusing neighbor,” Shade said, giving the car more gas.
Now I could see what my aunt had meant by lighting a match to the valley. I settled into the back seat with my arms folded across my chest staring into the night. I had the distinct feeling Shade was hoping they would try something.
“More fun in Spring Valley,” I muttered crossly, knowing perfectly well that his excellent hearing caught every disgruntled word.
Chapter 23
Etched against the night sky, smooth parallel lines and abrupt right angles took on substance as I stepped out of the underbrush onto the tidy lawn. The knowledge that victory waited behind weathered wood and delicate flesh brought on the frenzied unifying purpose that I’d so longed to take up. Eagerness quickened my footsteps. I tossed my head back, drinking it in. Suddenly, amongst the nondescript features, light washed away a tiny portion of the darkness.
***
Flee! I surfaced, panting hard as though physically my body had out run the danger. I blinked aside beads of tears clinging to my lashes and turned to check the time on my smiley face clock. Stones surrounded me. Still a dream. Wake up! Voices beat me down, binding off my thoughts, throttling my will. Malevolence invaded, twisting and contradicting absolutes with its poison. My boulder capsized. Tossed into the surge, I grappled to hold onto the basics: name, birth date, sanity, love . . . hate my aunt. I had not . . . had murdered my parents.
Voices crowded me off to the side, leaving me to wither away in despair. I sketched out a rudimentary mental picture. Mocking voices belittled my effort, overriding my confidence with derisive commentary. I clung to the threads of my vision. Edges faded. Lines blurred. Heartsick, I realized something about the eyes was wrong. The whites had spilled out of blue pools. Mental erasers left shimmering streaks that dropped diamond tears. The yearning to hold one in my hand consumed me, forcing the voices back.
“Livi, wake up. You’re safe.”
“No!” I screamed, fighting against tangled sheets that had wrapped about my body during my thrashing. Cotton fabric slid between my fingers. I swung my fist, smacking a muscular chest. Lavender from my aunt’s relaxation candles filled my lungs. Relief swamped me, ripping a sob out of my chest. I was awake. Shade was real.
“Sit up. Everything’s alright. It was just a bad dream,” Shade said gently.
Unable to stop trembling, I burrowed my cheek into flannel stretched across his broad chest. My head rose and fell with his deep, soothing breaths. Long, warm arms wrapped around my body, nestling me tighter as my quivering continued. “Talk to me,” I pleaded.
“What do you want to hear?” he asked, speaking into my hair.
“Anything that will chase the ugliness away.” And the voices, I feared to say.
“What did you dream? Was it the accident or the attack at the Cassidy’s ranch?”
“No, you’re supposed to make it go away,” I said, twisting my hands into the front of his shirt, no longer certain I was awake. “Everything is so dark. I can’t see you. Shade!”
My bedside lamp flipped on. Gentle fingers cradled my cheeks. His brow furrowed. “Maybe we should make an exception tonight. Sit tight; I’ll get one of your sleeping pills.”
“It wasn’t a dream. I’m not crazy either,” I said, my tone challenging him to agree. I stared past him at my bedroom window. It was ridiculous; Shade would detect another Whisperer in my room. An icy shiver trailed down my spine. The feeling of being observed persisted; its pull drawing me to my backyard, forming another image in my mind.
“Someone’s at the gazebo,” I said my voice dreamlike. Based on my hysterics, he had no reason to believe me. I stumbled for words to prove my sanity and ended up hanging onto his serious gaze with wide, desperate eyes.
Seas churned up angry waves that quartered and subdivided spiraling white bands until the seas were overrun by the sky-scraping, glacier eyes of a diamond level Whisperer. Warm hands gripped mine tight. “What else do you see, my warden?” he demanded in a crisp, forceful voice that reeled the words past the chorus of smothering voices.
“The backyard, the house, my light,” I answered, rocking back and forth.
“The objective?” he pressed when I hesitated.
“Terror. Submission. I can’t. Too many . . . hurts.” I groaned and clasped my head.
He slid off the bed. “Shad’s checking it out,” he said distantly as though he was out there in the night with his twin. “Get up.” He yanked my blanket off my bed and tucked it around my shoulders. “I’m going to take you to your aunt in the clan room. Tell her what’s going on.”
I was ushered into the dark hall and pressed against the opposite wall with his body acting like a shield. When we reached my aunt’s open bedroom door, Shade angled his body in front of mine like something out of a movie with him starring as the Secret Service agent cut off from the rest of his detail. I imagined men carrying scary weapons, crashing through windows and kicking down doors. An arm curled about my waist and lifted me off my feet. Shade sprinted for the stairs. I may not have been able to see him in the dark hall, but if the sensatio
n of barbs stabbing my skin through the blanket was any indication, he’d amped up his vibe to upper garnet level. At the bottom step, Shade whisked me to the other side of his body and then dashed across the mudroom past the door that opened into the kitchen.
Scorching hands pressed on my shoulders, indicating that he wanted me to sit on the narrow bench. “Is Shadow alright? Did he find someone in the yard?” I asked, keeping my voice down.
“They hunt each other,” he replied in that bone-chilling, distant voice that was part growl.
“He’s a teacher not one of your bureau officer. Get him back in here. Call for backup. Where’s Mason?”
“Shad always excelled at the game.”
Shade pulled on his jacket, my orders not even fazing him in his highly focused state. Next, he rummaged in the dark guided by the glow of the porch light coming in around the edges of the mud room’s curtains. “Slide on your boots. I want you to stay downstairs until I come for you,” he ordered, thrusting them into my arms.
When he started towards the back door, I grabbed his arm. “This isn’t a game. What happened at the Cassidy’s wasn’t either. Don’t do this on your own.”
“No orders. I will safeguard your life. That is my job.”
My right hand slid towards my hip. Reaching for what? Was Shad checking my empty yard while I was having an anxiety attack or worse a break with reality? A blink betrayed me, stealing me away from my Shade.
***
Did my enemy cower beneath blankets tucked under a trembling chin? One dim light would fizzle beneath the strength of unity. The time of the cleansing was upon the valley. The supremacy of the Whisperers would be acknowledged and feared. A focused breath and I became the weapon cool, sleek, and deadly intent upon the perfect target.
***
“Olivia, why is your arm outstretched?” Shade demanded, pulsing his compelling voice in a tight spiral next to my ear, vibrating the tiny bones in my ear canal. “Answer!”