Ascension (The Gryphon Series)

by Rourke, Stacey

  Gabe’s back rounded as he spun on his bride. “All this time, you knew.” His upper lip pulled back in a livid snarl. “We spoke our vows in front of God and everyone. And never once did you clue me in that my father was alive. Who does that? Are you even human?”

  Alaina’s chin trembled. A wash of tears brightened her moss green eyes to a brilliant chartreuse. Before she could utter a syllable in her defense, the Council Master interjected on her behalf, “She was doing her job, Gabe. In a fashion I commend her for. She realized that the three of you have a destiny that far surpasses mortal comforts or whims.”

  “Mortal comforts?” Gabe erupted, his face red with fury. Spittle foamed in the corners of his mouth as he raged. “I took a barb to the chest! Keni got infected by a spider demon! Grams—your own mother—landed in the hospital after a run in with Barnabus. And Celeste …” My brother glanced over his shoulder at me. Pride and sadness jockeyed for position as his primary emotion. “She gave up everything: school, love, normalcy. This has nothing to do with mortal comforts. This is about you deciding the course of our lives without giving us the courtesy of a choice in the matter.”

  My gaze flicked one way then the other, scanning the otherwise vacant arena that provided the backdrop for this emotional purging. I knew I should feel more at that moment. Sadness. Elation. Anger. Something. Instead, all I felt was a kinship to the arena itself; an empty vessel others used for their own purposes.

  “The Council respects all the sacrifices you have all made. Speaking of, if it provides you any piece of mind at all, I can assure you that Caleb is quite safe.”

  My head snapped up at that treasured name.

  Before I could question that particular topic further, Dad pressed on, “As to the rest, saying it’s been for the greater good seems a weak argument, but it’s all I have.”

  “Three times,” I breathed the words so softly they sounded distant and foreign to my own ears, “I nearly died. I heard your voice … felt your presence. What was that?”

  Dad hesitated before answering. His tongue flicked across his bottom lip as he clasped his hands behind his back. “It was an incantation. Similar to the one Bernard used to communicate with you mentally during battles. Nothing more.”

  In my numb state, I somehow managed a weak nod. “And the scrolls? Where those you, too?”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alaina jerk her head side to side signaling me to stop as subtly as she could.

  In an instant my father’s haughty Council posture returned. “Scrolls? What scrolls?”

  “Twice, Council Master,” Alaina interrupted and quickly rose to her feet, “scrolls written in a language none of us could read arrived for Celeste. As we couldn’t make out the message, and couldn’t identify the source they originated from, we disregarded them.”

  A language none of us could read? It was Gaelic and I could read it perfectly. The lies and secrets between the people I trusted my life to bred nothing but unease in my gut.

  “That matter should’ve been brought to my attention at the time.”

  “Yeah, well, she doesn’t work for you anymore,” Gabe snapped. His inner turmoil forced him into a partial change. His irises narrowed to feline slits as his ears elongated into points. The bones of his face cracked and popped outward into a twitching muzzle.

  It was all too much. I stared down at my dust-covered ballet flats. Slowly those same flats began to inch me back toward the exit.

  “All the lies. All the secrets.” I peered up at my father, desperately longing for the man he had once been. “Never have I wondered if I was fighting for the right side, until this very moment.”

  “Celeste, if we could talk about this …” I back pedaled further as he extended his hand to me.

  “There’s nothing to say. I’m leaving.” I spun around in hopes that my overwhelmed brain could somehow manage to find the exit.

  “Do you even know how to get home from here?” Condescension oozed from his tone.

  Big Mike, silent observer to our family’s dysfunction, stepped forward. “I’ll take her.” His steely gaze locked with mine. Hidden in it was a compassion I didn’t know him capable of. “If a person is going to be asked to risk their life they should at least know the truth of why. I can’t undo what’s been done to the three of you, but I can make damned sure, from now on, you won’t face it alone.”

  My pathetic attempt at a “thank you” came out a strangled grunt. Whether Big Mike got the message or thought I was having a stroke, he nodded just the same.

  Sadness and disappointment etched harsh lines in Gram’s brow as she searched her son’s face for … something. “What you’ve subjected your own children to is unforgivable. You weren’t there to see how they’ve suffered. To see them coming home laden with fresh scars daily. And some of those scars—the ones on their hearts—will never heal.” Her shoulders sagged in defeat as she turned to join Big Mike and I.

  “I gave them an amazing purpose!” Dad bellowed, his deep voice echoing through the arena.

  Grams paused, but didn’t look back. “The fact that you believe that proves how lost you truly are.”

  The pull of indecision anchored Gabe where he stood. His broad face jerked from me, to Alaina, to our father and back again.

  Fear she would lose him yanked Alaina from the stands. She took the stairs two at a time. Her long legs pumped as she sprinted to his side. “Gabe, please! We can talk about this!” she pleaded, scrambling for his hand.

  He recoiled from her touch as if it were venomous. “Even after the wedding you continued to betray me by withholding the truth. I don’t know if I can ever forgive that.”

  “I may not have worked for them but I still had to uphold my sworn vow!”

  “And what about your vows to me?” Emotional anguish overpowered his fury and sharpened his features to human. “You’re either married to them or to me. It can’t be both.” He stared hard at the ground, no longer able to meet the gaze of the woman he’d promised forever to. “I think you need to stay here until you figure out which it’s going to be.”

  He turned his back before Alaina could argue. Three wide-gait, feline strides and he stood before the exit. The force he used to throw open the door caused it to reel back and bounce on the hinges.

  “Gabe, please!” Alaina called after him. “Don’t do this! I’m—”

  Grams snapped her fingers, cutting off Alaina’s almost-revelation abruptly. “Anything,” she emphasized the word with the subtly of a sledgehammer, “you have to tell him can wait until that boy has had a chance to get his head about him. Are we clear?”

  Shame cloaked Alaina. She cast her gaze to the dirt-packed ground as tears zigzagged down her cheeks. Dutifully, she nodded.

  Every fiber of my being wanted to leave this place and never return. There was only one reason left to linger even a moment longer.

  Kendall.

  She hadn’t budged from our father’s side. I raised my eyebrows at her in expectation.

  Ocean blue eyes glittered with unshed tears barely contained. “Cee … it’s Daddy.”

  I swallowed hard to force down the lump of sorrow that rose in my throat. “I love you, Kendall. You know that. But I won’t come back for you.”

  She linked her fingers with Dad’s, sadness crumbling her pretty face. “I know.”

  I couldn’t say good-bye. Not to her. Biting the inside of my cheek to distract myself from the swell of emotion that threatened to envelope me, I followed Grams and Big Mike from the arena.

  One lone thought plagued me as those double doors slammed shut behind us; the very Council that created my team just tore it apart.

  Chapter 8

  The implosion of our family severely tarnished the novelty of inter-dimensional travel. We made the journey home in silence, all of us wrestling with our own thoughts and emotions. Once back in Gainesboro, Gabe and I dutifully trailed Grams, the Garrett matriarch, because it seemed easier than deciding for ourselves what the next
step should be. Gram’s shoulders sagged. Her lips—which hadn’t received a fresh coat of gloss in hours—curved into a deep frown. Every year of her age weighed heavily on her as she shuffled into the garage carrying her shoes in one hand. She didn’t bother to turn on the light, but snatched a box of wine from the shelf where she stored them. Without even the slightest acknowledgment to those of us on her coattails, she wandered out of the garage and into the house. The backdoor banged shut behind her, a clear indicator we were not invited to her private pity party.

  Gabe ran a hand over his face and recently buzzed hair. “She’s gonna stab a crazy straw into that and drink it like a giant juice box.”

  I gnawed on my lower lip and nodded. “I give it two hours, tops, before she’s in the middle of Main Street singing Lady Marmalade … again.”

  “Here’s hoping this time she keeps her pants on,” Gabe added, his voice a flat-line of emotion.

  Big Mike shoved his way between Gabe and I, into the cluttered garage. He yanked the cord to click on the bare overhead light. It swung from its receptacle, casting long shadows through the cramped room. Without a word, he unhooked the punching bag from the center of our training space and leaned it up against Grandpa’s dusty old work bench.

  “Big Mike,” I pushed my hair behind my ears and tried to think of a diplomatic way to explain that I’d rather jab a spork in my eye than train, “I appreciate your enthusiasm to tackle your new role and all, but after everything that happened tonight we’re really not in the mood for sparring.”

  “I’m trying to remember asking. Pretty sure I didn’t.” Big Mike untied the robe knotted at his shoulder and let it fall to his feet. Thankfully, he had shunned tradition and kept his slacks on for the ceremony.

  “Wow … rude … uh, how can I put this in terms someone completely devoid of emotion can understand?” I steepled my fingers and pressed them to my lips. “We have had what some would call a ‘rough night.’ Our own feelings aside, our Grams is in the house right now and—whether she wants to admit it or not—she needs us. She’s probably in there …”

  “Crying her eyes out?” Mike filled in for me. One roll of his massive shoulders and his hawk wings snapped out in a wide arc behind him. He looped his thumbs in the front pockets of his jeans—a simple act that made his pecs dance and tattooed muscles ripple. “Yeah, she probably is. But let me tell ya something, little girl, she’d be crying a heck of a lot harder if she realized what really happened here tonight.”

  When I came up empty on what he meant by that, I cast a glance to my brother. He shook his head and shrugged.

  Mike pulled a fresh cigar from the case in his back pocket and shoved it between his teeth. Flipping open his lighter, he took a couple of deep drags to light it. A cloud of white smoke haloed his head. “I’m beginning to think if you two ever thought before you acted we’d have to throw a friggin’ parade. We just walked out on the Council. To put it in the simplest possible terms, that’s a big no-no.”

  “So?” Gabe sneered. “The Council doesn’t take rejection well? That’s the least of my problems right now.”

  Big Mike arched one russet brow. “You don’t consider never seeing your wife or sister again a problem?”

  “They aren’t prisoners. They could leave if they wanted to. Couldn’t they?” Even I noticed the nervous lift at the end of my question.

  Big Mike paced the length of the garage. His wings bobbed with each step. “The very people that hold magicks powerful enough to turn one of you into a lion and the other into a Conduit now believe you to be traitors.”

  I shifted from one foot to the other as a knot of unease clenched my gut. “The Gryphon granted us our powers, not the Council.”

  Mike pivoted my way and folded his arms over his broad chest. “Gryphons and Phoenixes were created to protect divinity incarnate on Earth. Their kind first founded the Council, but they’re not the sole members. Nor do their votes carry any more weight.”

  “The Gryphon wouldn’t allow our bond to be broken.” My voice rose and fell with a nervous lilt. Sweat dampened my palms as I proceeded straight into overly-attached girlfriend mode. “Not after everything we’ve been through.”

  “He tell ya that the last time you two hung out?” Big Mike asked, slathering on the sarcasm. “You don’t know him like I do—or at all for that matter. He will do it if the Council votes it in. Matter of fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if you start finding your powers waning. They giveth and they taketh away.”

  Gabe took a protective step in front of me. His chest expanded and contracted with each fuming huff. “If we’re going to lose our powers anyway, what’s the point of training? We don’t stand a chance without them, thanks to the hot mess your buddies dumped us in.”

  My hair whipped across my face, churned up by one flap of Big Mike’s wings. That simple motion was enough to launch him forward, chest-to-chest with Gabe. He removed the cigar from his teeth to blow a perfect smoke ring in my brother’s face. “I walked out right alongside you. Don’t forget that. If your name is on their list, mine is right beside it. That being said, you best back down, son.”

  “I’m not your son,” Gabe growled as his fangs lengthened to deadly sharp points.

  “Oh, for crying out loud.” I rolled my eyes. My hands fell to my sides in exasperation. “There’s probably a ruler out here somewhere if you boys wanna save us some time and just whip ‘em out. Or … you can get over your testosterone induced haze and realize that, like it or not, we’re in this together.”

  It took one long, tension filled pause before Gabe retracted his fangs. “I don’t need a whole hand to count our allies. Right now we need all the help we can get.”

  I jumped in to redirect the conversation before Gabe could reconsider opting out of violence. “So, what’s the plan?”

  “The plan is to keep you alive above all else,” Big Mike stated in no uncertain terms.

  “I like this plan. It’s a good one.”

  “Kendall’s gone and you could lose your powers at any moment.” Big Mike clasped his hands behind his back and paced along the perimeter of our sparring square. “But, that’s not gonna stop demon’s from coming at you. You need to learn to protect yourself without relying on your feathered shield. And don’t count on me. I could die at any moment, just as easily as you could.”

  “Ah, the power of positive thinking …”

  Big Mike ignored my snarky jab and pressed on, his tone stern and serious. “We’re going to spar. I want you to focus on nothing but defense. Do you understand?”

  I puffed up my cheeks and tried to blow out all my tension and frustration as I nodded my agreement. I didn’t want to do this, but, it was probably more productive than my alternate plan of going inside and moping whilst eating my body weight in Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey.

  Mike gave me a snort of approval then jabbed his index finger in Gabe’s direction. “You love your sister?” He didn’t ask this with any kind of accusation, just a straight up honest inquiry.

  “I don’t always like her, but I love her,” Gabe smirked and mussed my hair. I ducked under his arm and swatted it away.

  “Good.” Big Mike pulled himself up to full height and stared down his nose at both of us. Dark fury churned in his slate eyes. “Then do not hold back.”

  “Here we go,” I muttered under my breath and stepped to the center of the room.

  Gabe fell on all fours. One sensory extravaganza later and our lion emerged.

  Big Mike stormed at me in a mad fury. I could still feel the sting across my neck from our earlier encounter and acted fast to avoid a repeat performance. My arm flew up to block his jab. An effective upper cut to his ribs seemed the perfect counter.

  “Huunh! Don’t hit, block!” he sputtered and fought to reclaim the breath I’d knocked out of him.

  “Sorry, Mikey, pure instinct. I’m not a big fan of getting hit.” Despite my protest, I did my best to adhere to his guideline.

  I kept my arms up
to deflect each slam of his sledge hammer-sized fists. Not one hit landed. Until … the hair on the back of my neck rose. Gabe-lion stalked behind me. I could sense him. His belly skimmed the ground as he crept closer. His lurking presence distracted me enough to fall for Big Mike’s faked jab. My forearm rose to block the nonexistent swing, allowing him the perfect opportunity to seize my wrist and spin me around, my own arm wrapped tight around my throat in a constricting choke hold. Gabe picked that moment to lunge. Flesh shredding claws swiped across my midsection. Had I not instinctively sucked in my gut it would’ve been more than my shirt reduced to ribbons.

  “Dammit!” I yelped and clasped Big Mike’s giant mitt with my free hand. Channeling my strength, I kicked my legs up and propelled free of my winged captor. Convenient timing allowed my feet to connect with Gabe’s chest, hard enough to send the hefty lion careening backward into the wall where the outside tools hung. His potent thud shook the tiny garage. Together we disproved the myth of cats always landing on their feet as he fell in a heap of shovels, racks, and lion—oh my.

  “Good move.” Mike glowered. His broad chest glistened with a sheen of sweat. “You forgot one thing, though.”

  I danced on the balls of my feet in a swell of cocky bravado. “Oh yeah? What’s that?”

  “Waaatcchhhhh yooouuuurrrr backkkk,” Gabe roared and leapt into the air.

  I ducked my head and rounded my back. Just as the spongy pads of his paws brushed over my shoulders, I lurched up and used Gabe’s momentum against him to launch him over my head. Mid-flip his legs went rigid. He landed hard, all four paws stiff in the air.

  “Whoa, what happened to feline grace?” I said with a light-hearted chuckle that betrayed me by wavering with concern that I may have actually hurt him.

  At any moment I expected him to spring to his feet and shake it off. He didn’t. Not a paw twitched, or a whisker fluttered. In fact, he lay there bearing a striking resemblance to an overturned stuffed lion.