Slowly I shook my head.
"I won't leave you mom. And I won't hide what I am."
"If White Beard sees you-"
"Is that his name?"
"You've- dreamt of him?"
I nodded. White Beard. It was better than what I'd been calling him.
"Yes. But I've been calling him Ghost Face."
My mother cursed, fear twisting her features.
"I'm so sorry, Kaylia. I should have warned you. Now it's too late... If he's seen you, he will never stop trying to find you."
"Who is he?"
She closed her eyes as if struggling with something. Then she looked at me.
"He is my husband."
"You married him?"
Her features twisted in a grimace.
"It wasn't a traditional marriage. It was a wolf marriage. He's an alpha. He didn't exactly ask permission."
Heavy footsteps rang out behind me. My mothers eyes widened in fear. She leaned into the door, her eye once again filling the keyhole.
"Wake up! He's coming!"
I blinked and woke up an instant later in my bed. I was covered in sweat from fear and exersion. But it didn't matter. None of it mattered now.
She was alive.
My mother was alive.
Chapter Ten
Dylan
✠
I pulled up outside Kaylia's Grandmother's house. I'd been driving for hours and now I was here. I had no idea how I was going to get Kaylia to come with me. Or agree to the plans I had already set in motion.
I stared at the tiny dilapidated bungalo for a moment before I got out. The neighborhood was poor, the houses ill tended. It was a far cry from the manicured lawns that I'd played on as a child.
The only thing about this house that stood out was the late roses that still clung to the house, covering it on either side of the small entryway. They should have been dormant, but they were still blooming in a stunning profussion of pale pink blooms. It should have made me smile.
Instead it brought home the truth. Kaylia was a witch. Her mother had been a witch and the woman who grew these flowers in the middle of early winter was a witch.
I was keenly aware that Kaylia's life had not been easy. And being with me- being who and what I was- was about to make it exponentially more difficult. I felt a pang of guilt. But there was nothing I could do about it now.
If I could go back in time and not meet her, or not acknowledge her... I would not. I could not have stayed away from her if I tried.
For the first time in my life, I believed in love. I believed in destiny. I believed in sacrificing myself for someone else. No matter the cost.
I gripped the steering wheel hard, turning my knuckles white.
I would keep her safe.
I had to.
A curtain fluttered. Someone had seen me out front. Kaylia must have realized I was here. She always seemed to know.
We were magnets. Always drawn together. Instead of frightening me, the thought gave me comfort.
I climbed out of the car and walked to the front door. I was not surprised when Kaylia opened it before I could even knock. I smiled at the sight of her in her oversized cardigan, with a kerchief tied over her head.
She had the same effect on me as always. I felt the wind knocked out of me as I looked at her. Her beauty, so fragile and yet enduring. Her size, small and curvy and somehow just right. Her smell... her energy... Her soul.
Her big brown eyes blinked up at me. I smiled, relaxing instantly in her presence.
"Hi."
She smiled tentatively. She looked worried. She should be worried.
I was about to rock her world.
"Hi. What are you doing here?"
"I'm bringing you back to school with me a few days early."
She stared at me. She seemed to know there was more to the story than I was letting on. I wasn't ready to tell her yet. But I would.
Soon.
"Okay."
"I got us a place to stay. A house near school."
"You did?"
"We can talk later. Is it okay if we leave now? There's some stuff we need to get before it gets dark. We can get your stuff from the dorm tomorrow."
She nodded and led me into the house. I met her Gran and had a surprisingly good slice of homeade pie. An hour later we were on the road.
In fits and starts I tried to fill her in on what my parents had told me. I didn't want to scare her. But I made sure to impress on her the danger she was in.
That she needed me to protect her.
She had to be cautious, awake and asleep. I would keep her safe, but she still had to be on her guard. The others would be coming for her.
Maybe they already were.
I'd already started making a plan to keep her safe. I was listing the security measures we would take when she interrupted me.
"Dylan-"
I glanced at her. She was staring out the window looking like a lost, delicate girl. She was so beautiful it made my stomach ache.
"I know where my mother is. She's alive."
I tore my eyes off the road to look at her again. This time she was turned to face me. This time I saw her eyes. I'd been wrong.
Kaylia didn't look lost.
She looked determined.
"We're going to go and get her."
Thank you for reading The Hidden. This edition has been completely rewritten in an effort to better tell the cursed love story of Kaylia and Dylan. The story will continue in The Gate, coming soon!
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Turn the page for the following bonus materials from Pincushion Press:
Excerpt from The Gate- book three in the Heartfire Trilogy by Celeste Davis
Excerpt from Second Sight- a supernatural adventure story by author Kara Sevda
HEARTFIRE
Book Three
The Gate
By
Celeste Davis
Dylan
✧
Running.
I was running blindly, crashing through the tall grasses. I had no idea what was in front of me, but I knew what was behind me.
Someone was chasing me.
No. They were chasing Kaylia. She was hidden in the dreamscape, not far west of here. I was on the coast, running on all fours from a pack of them. I had no idea how many of them there were.
But I knew that if they caught me, they would finish me.
I didn't know what would happen if you were killed in a dream but I didn't want to find out. Especially since my dreams were far from ordinary.
I woke up with a shudder, reaching for Kaylia. She was beside me, sound asleep. Her breathing was shallow. She drew in a ragged breath and cried out. Something was happening to her in the dream.
Gently I slid my arms around her and began to whisper in her ear. We had developed a system for waking each other up. Almost every night now, one of us had to escape from the dream.
They were getting closer. I wondered what would happen when they caught up with us. I knew I didn't have long to find out.
"Wake up now, Kaylia. Wake up. They are too close. You have to wake up."
Her eyes opened with a snap. The warm golden color looked darker in our bedroom at night. She looked at me, reaching out to touch my face. I smiled at her, pulling her into my arms.
Our bed. Our room. Our house.
I'd rented us a place off campus, figuring a single family house would be easier to protect. It was on a pretty residential street with sidewalks and families. It would be hard to sneak up on us.
I was still setting up security measures outside and inside. Video cameras. A fence. An alarm system. Bars on the windows.
I'd had to pay extra to the landlord to do all that, and promise to take it down when we left. But I didn't care. It was worth it.
&n
bsp; Kaylia was worth all the money and time and effort in the world.
All the blood, sweat and tears I had to give too.
But it wasn't just that. The past few weeks had also seen the first real normalcy we'd had in a long time. And a glimpse of what the future might bring.
Living in a cute little house with her made me feel like we were married. A normal couple who loved each other. A couple who wanted to grow old together and start a family.
And I liked that. More than I could have ever imagined. I hadn't mentioned it to her yet, but I would.
I wanted her to be mine, forever. In name. I wanted everything.
I was going to marry Kaylia Thomas.
If we survived this.
We had to survive it.
Turn the page for more from Pincushion Press
Second Sight
Kara Sevda
1800's... Italy
He almost caught her. Almost. His hands nearly caught on the soft cotton of her white blouse. But she disappeared in the flutter of falling apple blossoms. Behind a tree. And then another. Twisting and turning through the orchard.
Gone.
"Lisetta!" He whispered her name harshly. He was growing nervous, afraid. He didn't want to miss a moment of this. Their long awaited secret meeting. It had been weeks since he last saw her face, held her, touched her.
Today he had something important to tell her.
Hands closed over his eyes suddenly, making him jump in fear. But the hands were delicate, soft. They followed him as he tried to spin around. A girlish giggle warmed his ear. A sweet, familiar scent washed over him.
"Pietro..." She caressed his neck teasingly before releasing him. He turned around, reaching for her. This time he caught her easily. She was ready to be caught.
He looked down at her. His beautiful girl. His forbidden girl. Her dark hair curling around her jaw, the gentle curve of her cheek. She stared at him with her large brown eyes. She reminded him of a doe, something wild, but temporarily tamed.
Pietro watched her carefully as he lowered himself onto his knee. He held her hand tightly, certain she would bolt.
The mischievous look in her eyes was replaced by astonishment as he pulled something out of his pocket. A ring. One his father had given to him when he became a man.
He looked up at her, his handsome face solemn. They were not supposed to be there in the orchard. They were not supposed to venture to this hill, overlooking his home and hers. They were supposed to be enemies, not lovers. But they had been drawn to each other from the start, from the first time he had seen her sweet little face in the square. Before his mother yanked him away. Before her father drew the hood of her cape down. He had seen her. She had seen him. And they had known.
Present Day
Professor Weilright sat behind his desk, looking over the folder. Not just any folder. This was her folder. It was overstuffed with papers and notes and God knows what. Lizzy could see red writing here and there, making corrections, comments, leaving a final unsatisfactory mark. God knows there had been enough of those this year.
She shifted in her chair impatiently. A slim girl with long golden brown hair, she was prettier than she thought she was. But even if she knew, she wouldn't have cared.
She rolled her eyes, sighing heavily. How long was this going to take? She knew what he was going to say to her anyway. She didn't really need an encore of what she'd heard from three other teachers already.
Her fingers drummed the armrest of the stiff backed chair. The sound must have been kind of annoying because Professor Weilright stared at her pointedly. Lizzy stopped drumming.
The office was dim, a bit dusty, but comfortable. She wondered idly the last time Professor Weilright had straightened up. The leaded glass windows didn't let in much light, but maybe the was a good thing.
The Forsythe academy was ancient. The ultra exclusive prep school had been in existence for two hundred and thirty seven years, and the formerly private estate it resided in, at least one hundred more. Some of the girls complained about the drafts and creaky floorboards but secretly Lizzie liked it.
It reminded her of the Museums she had visited as a child with her mother. It was... substantial. There wasn't much she liked about being sent away to boarding school but there was that.
She liked old shit. It was a good thing too, all things considered.
Professor Weilright exhaled and leaned back in his chair. She looked up sharply, sensing that the moment was at hand. Here we go.
"Elizabeth-"
"Lizzy."
"Lizzy. You are a smart girl."
"Thank you."
"You are a very smart girl who is either purposefully failing or is obviously suffering from..."
She looked at him expectantly. This ought to be good. Lizzy leaned forward in her seat as he peppered her with rapid fire questions.
"Drug addiction?"
"No."
"Eating disorder?"
"Um, no!"
"Teen pregnancy?"
"At an all girls school? That would be impressive, but no."
He held up his hands.
"Okay Lizzy, I tried. We are supposed to ask these questions. But with you I suspect it's more complicated than that. Have you been keeping up your sessions with Dr. Allen?"
"It's a waste of time. Dr. Allen doesn't know his ass from his elbow."
It looked for a moment as if Professor Weilright agreed with her when he struggled to conceal his smirk. It was too bad she had decided not to try this year. Professor Weilright was smarter than most. His class was almost enjoyable.
Almost.
"Well, be that as it may part of your acceptance at this school was contingent on your... continued therapy sessions."
She looked out the window over his head, at the floor, anywhere but at him. Her mental health (or lack thereof) was by far her least favorite topic of conversation. Of course, adults always wanted to talk about it. They thought they could understand, make sense of it somehow. Solve the puzzle girl and win the prize.
But she knew they couldn't.
"Not to mention you are failing my class. You won't be allowed back for senior year if you can't get a C minus at the very least. And continue with Dr. Allen."
Her fingers started tapping again as she studied the pattern in the faded afghan carpet. It really was a lovely shade of aubergine. Aubergine. That was whale puke, right? Yum.
"Lizzy. Lizzy!"
She took a deep breath and looked back up at him. It was time to face the music. Might as well do it with some dignity.
"You don't want to fail do you?"
She shrugged. Lizzy had learned long ago not to fight city hall. Or her own lack of interest in pleasing the powers that be. Apathy was the safest course. Besides, she'd noticed that adults were more than happy to brush lost causes under the carpet. If she didn't have wealthy parents, or an annoying ability to do well on standardized tests, she wouldn't be at this school to begin with.
"Do you want to be sent home to repeat the eleventh grade in... dare I say... public school?"
"No. I mean, no I don't want to go home." It was true. As much as she resented being shuffled off half way around the world, getting sent back in disgrace would be much worse. Much. Her stepmonster would never shut up about it.
Plus she couldn't leave Al to face the wolves alone.
"But you don't really like it here, do you?"
"It's alright."
He stared at me over his folded hands. 'Alright' wasn't the response you expected when asking about one of the best schools in Europe. But she never lied. It wasn't because she was on some moral high horse.
She was just too lazy.
"So, what are we going to do about this?"
"Pass me anyway?"
Lizzy looked up at him hopefully, doing her best puppy dog eyes. He frowned, not buying it. She sighed. She knew he wouldn't. It was one of the things she liked abo
ut him.
she quickly lost respect for people who took things at face value. Especially when sarcasm pretty much leaked out of her bones in this sort of situation. She didn't like confrontation. Lizzy went out of her way to make it as uncomfortable for everyone else around her as well.
"I wouldn't be doing you any favors with a free ticket. No, you are going to do an extra credit make up essay. On which I will base..."
The Hidden (Heartfire) Page 6