CRYSTALLUM (The Primordial Principles Book 1)

by McMann, Laney

  "Yes, sir. You don't know me, and Kadence is new to Boulder. I just wanted to say thank you for your time."

  The front door creaked slightly before Kade heard a deep sigh.

  “Jake?" her dad called.

  Kade stepped onto the threshold of the stairs.

  "Yes, sir?" Jake's voice sounded small, and Kade guessed he must have been halfway across the front yard.

  "I appreciate your honesty."

  What?

  "Let me give some thought about you taking Kadence to the dance. She'll let you know my decision at school."

  Kade edged her way down the stairs.

  "Yes, sir." Jake's voice boomed. "I'll have her home early. We'll go straight to the dance, and straight back home. Nowhere else—"

  "Don't get ahead of yourself." The door shut, and Kade found herself at the bottom of the stairs, staring at her dad like he'd been replaced by some other life form.

  His expression was tense when he turned, mouth in a hard line.

  "Dad?"

  "I can't keep you locked up forever." He gave a pained smile. "I'll think about the dance. If I agree, you have to promise you won't get into any trouble."

  "I won't," she said way too quickly.

  "Kadence, this is very important. I know you don't want to move again."

  "I won't get into trouble, Dad." She knew she sounded like a ten-year-old Girl Scout, salute and all.

  "And your Latin, you've barely cracked your book since we moved."

  "I'll study. I promise. Every day." Not that she wasn't practically fluent in Latin already, having been forced to learn the language since she could read. God only knew why.

  "I'll think about it," he said.

  She nodded, too stunned to respond further, as he walked past the staircase and into the kitchen.

  15

  "HE'S REALLY LETTING YOU GO?" Giselle jumped up and down the next morning. "I thought it was impossible."

  "Me too." Kade was still too shocked to absorb it. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do. Shop for a dress? Did her dad even know what going to a dance entailed? She doubted it.

  "This afternoon it is. Dresses." Giselle's face glowed like a light bulb. She rambled about open-toed shoes versus closed toed because of the cold, and said something about having to wear coats over their dresses. Kade lost track of her chattering, unable to take it all in.

  I'm going to a dance? The dance? With Jake? It was huge deal, and she should've been excited, ecstatic, but she wasn't. Not at all.

  ***

  During first period, Cole didn't even look at Kade. Not once. She glanced over her shoulder a few times, acting like she was checking the clock. Nothing. Jaw clenched, muscles working as if he was grinding his teeth to nubs, his hands gripped the sides of his desk, and his right knee jumped up and down in a steady rhythm like he was ready to pounce. No smart remarks? No usual cocky attitude? No hello?

  The second the bell rang at the end of class, he was gone. He moved so fast, if Kade hadn't been paying attention, she doubted she would've noticed. That anyone would have. He moved that fast.

  Too fast.

  The stairwell leading to the first floor was overly crowded, causing everyone to move slowly. Maybe because it was nearly ten degrees warmer in the tight space between floors. Kade kept her focus on her feet. Concrete stairs and rubber soled boots were definitely at odds with one another. On the landing, she turned and started down the second flight, when dark brown Vans fell in perfect sync beside her footsteps. She glanced to her left, wondering why someone would be deliberately holding up the flow of traffic. Cole grinned, a quick, tight-lipped smile that instantly faded.

  "You're going to the dance with Jake?" His eyes were an angry color.

  Stunned by the question, and her own eyes not being where they should be—on her feet, she tripped, and went flying. Like a bullet shot from the barrel of a gun, Cole was directly in front of her, underneath her, stopping her body, and her head, from splatting against the concrete. She landed on top of him at the bottom of the landing.

  "I'm sorry," she breathed, trying to push herself up.

  "You've been on top of me so much, I feel like I should propose or something." Cole grinned, but he was breathless, his arms wrapped tightly around her waist, eyes wide. "Seriously, are you okay?" All his cockiness vanished.

  A familiar thrum, accompanied by a pulse, almost like a heartbeat, shimmied through Kade's body. They stared at each other and she was acutely aware that their bodies were directly in line—molded together like puzzle pieces. Something was familiar about that, too. Like a memory.

  "I'm okay,” she breathed.

  Cole's lips parted, his gaze smoldering, and the energy in Kade's core radiated outward. She tried to stop it, but it was building. Like the energy that propelled her to fight the Shadows, or to run, except this energy was propelling her to do something else. Something very inappropriate. Cole seemed to sense it because his breathing increased, as Kade's gaze trailed over his mouth. He was so close. Close enough to...

  She gripped his arms with both hands and wrenched herself up, but her unbalanced weight lurched forward. She threw a hand out to stop her head from colliding with Cole's face, and ended up brushing his neck with her face. The sweet, spiciness of clean cotton and fire flooded her senses. She jerked back.

  "Oh, my god.” She stared down at him.

  His eyes darkened further. "Damnare," he whispered. The Latin word for damn. Or she thought that was what he said, but she couldn't really concentrate—not with the memory of falling in the snow...busting her head, and someone, someone, rushing her home faster than... faster than...the speed of light. Someone whispering her name. Warmth wrapping her body, stopping her from shivering. The sweet, familiar voice telling her she was safe, to sleep.

  Oh, god.

  Kade pushed onto unsteady feet, and the motion drew Cole's sleeve up his arm. Red tendrils wound his right wrist, radiating from his palm. The tattoo was beautiful. Long, flowing lines that resembled a lightning strike when it hit the ground. It looked exactly like...

  Her breath seized up in her throat, and she could no longer focus.

  Cole yanked his sleeve down, and pushed to his feet, touching her cheek with a gentleness she would never have associated with his arrogant personality. A gentleness she knew.

  "That was...almost bad." He sounded stricken, face paled to white, chest rising and falling.

  She nodded, finding it hard to think with his hand lingering on her cheek. She wanted to lean into it, into him. It would be so easy, so natural.

  "You're bleeding." The butterfly bandages over his eye were splitting, tiny red spots seeping over the long narrow cut. Kade pressed her fingertips against the bandage, and her voice died in her throat as Cole placed his hand over hers, lacing their fingers together.

  "I don't care."

  Her brow cinched at the pain in his tone, and she realized everyone in the stairwell had stopped, and they were all silent and staring. The new girl was always such fun to look at. New girl falling down a flight of stairs and landing on top of the hottest guy in school? Bonus.

  "Kade?" Cole tilted his head. "You're staring at me like usual, but you're not really talking." He cracked a smile. "You didn't hit your head again, did you?"

  Again? He said again.

  He moved his hand away from hers and slid it down the side of her head with the same tenderness. A sharp pain radiated over her skull and she flinched. "Yep. There's the culprit. You've got a little bump right here." His hand moved back, cradling her jaw as he lifted her chin to look at him. "You have to be careful on the stairs."

  "You called me Kade." Out of all the things she should've thought to say, or question, that was the only thing that came out of her mouth.

  His smile widened. "I thought you didn't like it when I called you Sparrow."

  "No. I mean, yes. I do…like it.” Her words weren't coming out right. “Thank you…for... thank you."

  Brown locks
waved across his glittering blue-gray eyes, and he moved his finger over her cheek, drawing on her face. That was familiar, too.

  "And for yesterday, with Kyle," she said relishing in the motion, the air around them humming.

  "Anytime."

  The crowd of students started moving again. Show over. Cole seemed to realize it, and he lowered his hand, took a step back, but his eyes didn't shift from hers.

  "Cole...are you..." Kade wanted to say something—to tell him she knew he was different. That he had to be. I know you killed a Shadow in Crystalline. I didn't want to believe it could be true, but it had to be you. And you were outside my house during the weird color light-show. It was you who rushed me home, kept me warm and safe from Dracon...what else happened that night? I only remember...clips of things, but I remember you. A shiver rushed through her body. Why can't I remember?

  Cole had kept her safe from Dracon. That couldn't be a memory. She had to be confusing things. Dreams and memories. Cole couldn't know about Dracon. Know about her. Right? Something about it wasn't right, though. Not at all.

  Cole took a step closer. "Am I what?"

  Keeping her thoughts to herself like she was expected to do, Kade shook her head and pressed her fingers to the side of her skull. Ow. "Nothing."

  Cole glanced toward the floor with a quick, hard exhale. "Okay."

  "Okay." She didn't know what else she could say.

  He turned and grabbed her backpack off the ground as the warning bell rang, and handed it to her. "So, Jake?" His customary cocky grin spread over his beautiful face. "Really?"

  She couldn’t help but smile. ”Why?" The words fell from her lips and she instantly wished she could take them back.

  He rubbed his forehead and said, "Please be careful on the stairs," and headed toward the door leading to the first floor. "I can't watch you like a hawk, you know?" His hand hovered over the doorknob, eyes downcast. "Vos exterruerat me,” he said so low and soft, she barely heard him.

  Kade stood in stunned silence, as he walked out, leaving her in the empty stairwell.

  You scared me. He'd said in Latin.

  "Paenitet me," she whispered to no one. I'm sorry.

  ***

  Cole walked into Physics in a daze. He could've kicked himself for asking Kade if she was going to dance with Jake. The Warden's specific order was for him to keep his distance, and he had. Sort of. He'd tried not to engage in conversations with her while still being friendly, maybe too friendly at times, but friendly. That was the best the Warden could hope for because ignoring Kade altogether was clearly impossible. But flat out asking her if she was going to the dance with Jake? God, that was almost as bad as asking her if she wanted to go with him. As bad as kissing her.

  Danny leaned across the aisle. "Did you get the text from Plumb?"

  "Yep." Cole sank in his seat. He'd been so close to repeating everything he'd told Kade while she was unconscious. Everything that happened between them at the Kinship. Everything she was supposed to forget. He wanted to ask her why she hadn't recognized all the other Primordial in school. How she could possibly be a Primeva if she wielded a crystal telum? All the questions he should've asked her when they were alone together, but didn't.

  Mostly he wanted to ask her how her corona was red. Whatever he had expected, it wasn't that. Primevas were usually lower on the color scale because of their descent. Devil's Children were always silver or gray, and if a fledgling showed those colors in their corona they were expelled from the Ward. Primevas were almost always brown or blue, but Kade wasn't—and it was clear that she had a strong ability to conceal herself. Like a sparrow, he thought. Masters of flight and camouflage.

  She was also clearly skilled at playing human. Cole had never met a fledgling who gave no signs of acknowledging what they were. From fear or pride, it always eventually showed in one way or another, but besides tackling him in Crystalline, the only other sign he'd seen that would have exposed her true nature was when he purposefully tried to scare her outside her house the evening before, and in her frightened flee, her corona blazed red.

  "Cole?" Danny tapped his shoulder. "Cole?"

  "Hm?" He blinked.

  "What's up?"

  "Nothing." Cole straightened in his seat. "Plumb said the Warden got a lead on another Hive?" More like a lead to take Cole's mind off the Araneum. And Kade.

  "There's a new gateway near Marshall Shaft."

  Cole groaned. "I hate going down in those old tunnels."

  "I think that's point. Who's going to follow the Nefarius in there? No humans are climbing down an abandoned shaft. I thought you'd be excited. You live for this stuff. Maybe we'll get a lead on the crystal we found."

  Danny was right. All Cole ever wanted to do was track Daemoneum Hives and shut down blacked gates. He lived for it. Almost got a high off of it, but it was the last thing he wanted to do. "I'm tired as hell." It wasn't a lie.

  "Not my issue you're playing personal protector to Kadence every night." He fell quiet as Ms. Schultz, the Physics teacher, handed him a work packet.

  Cole took his with a polite smile before glancing at Danny again. "Guarding. There's nothing personal, just guarding until she moves into the Kinship."

  "Whatever. So, we're checking out a few minutes early. Plumb set it up.”

  Cole nodded, pretending to inspect his physics worksheet, his mind so far from school and hunting Daemoneum it wasn't funny.

  ***

  Kade stood in the empty stairwell staring at the red lines on her palm. She opened and closed her hand, pain traveling to her fingertips. The sensation was familiar, and she knew why now. It was the same feeling she'd had when she'd laid in her bed the night she'd fallen in the snow. When she'd been unable to close her hands, too out of it to function properly, if she remembered correctly. She remembered voices, too, now that she thought about it. Faint, but they were there. The staircase door swung open, and Kade closed her hand into a fist, and left.

  "Miss Sparrow. Strike one," Mr. Thomas said as she entered class late.

  "What happened to you?" Jake asked, as she plopped down in her seat.

  "I fell down the stairs."

  "What?" He half-laughed, which spiked her already racing blood pressure higher. "Are you okay?"

  She wasn't sure if he was concerned or laughing at her.

  "Fine." She took out the notebook she wouldn't need to take the notes she wouldn't understand, and reached for the pencil she'd likely end up twirling through her fingers for the next fifty minutes, while staring blindly at the whiteboard. "Cole took the brunt of the fall."

  "Sorry?" All the laughter from Jake's tone was gone.

  "Cole stopped me from busting my head open at the bottom of the stairs." Kade dared him to say anything else. She wasn't sure why she was so mad, but if Jake said one negative word about Cole, it wouldn't end well.

  He seemed to pick up on it, and only said, "Well, thank god Cole was there." Letting out an exaggerated breath, he sat back in his seat.

  Yeah. Thank god. He had no idea. Neither of them did.

  If Cole hadn't reacted as quickly as he had and caught her, she would've exposed herself. The second her brain registered she was going to hit concrete, her instincts had taken over, and energy flooded her, ready to propel her body upward. Cole's arms had wrapped around her waist at the exact same time, and it was almost as if he'd pulled her down to him, rather than held her up. She still couldn't help but wonder if he'd felt the steady throb of adrenaline that hummed like an electric wire through her body. Surely he had.

  "So, we still good for the dance?" Jake asked in a tentative tone.

  Kade glanced back. "Yeah, we're still good."

  He smiled.

  "Are you wearing a suit? Or?" Kade had no clue what guys wore to a fall dance. "Not a tux, like prom. Right?"

  With a laugh, Jake shook his head. "No. Unless...did you want me to? I mean, I can. I'm totally down with that if that's what you were thinking."

  Kade put a ha
nd on his arm in a polite way, and a zing, like a small shock passed from her skin to his. Jake sucked in a quick breath, and Kade balled her outstretched fingers into a fist.

  Shit. How'd that happen?

  He stared at her.

  "You can wear whatever you want," she said, praying he didn't play much into the charge other than maybe thinking it was static electricity from the cold weather, instead of the literal shock she'd administered to his arm. "I just didn't know," she rattled on like a mindless idiot. "I haven't been to many dances." Any dances, actually. "I'm going shopping with Giselle this afternoon. For a dress."

  Jake held her gaze, as if seeing her for the first time. "Whatever you want." He stared with an intensity that made her blood speed. "Tell me the color, and I'll match it if you want me to. I'm down with whatever you want."

  A slow simmer welled in Kade's stomach, and his blue eyes darkened. He looked dazed, out of it. Oh, hell. Did I just electrocute him?

  His gaze stayed locked on hers. "I have seriously underestimated you, haven't I?"

  "What?" A chill ran up her spine. He was staring as though...he knows.

  ***

  The rest of the class was spent with more focus than Kade had ever mustered in her life trying to understand Calculus. She didn't turn around. Didn't glance once at Jake. He couldn't know anything. That wasn't even possible. It was a simple shock. A teeny bolt. Nothing more than static. He probably didn't even notice it. Kade stared at the whiteboard, scribbling furiously along with the rest of the class. She had pages of notes, and still, after forty-five minutes, had no clue what any of it meant. So much for all her muster.

  Jake tapped her shoulder. "I think we need to talk."

  No, no. No talking. I'm good. We're good. It's all good.

  “Can’t. Have to go shopping after school. And I have Art next. Mrs. Johnson freaks if you're late." She barely looked at him, knowing it was a complete lie. Kade could've walked into Art with the carpet taped to her head and Mrs. Johnson wouldn't have noticed.

  She hurried out of class the second the bell rang. This is not how I wanted the first week of school to go. Not even close.