“Aidan, you are the most compassionate person I know. I may not have known the details, but it suits you.”
“You should probably know that I can sense when someone is in pain. I feel a shadow of what they feel,” he added reluctantly.
“My Awakening?” Her eyes narrowed to slits. “You felt it?”
“Keep your hair on. I have a high tolerance for pain.”
“Aidan, why would you willingly put yourself through that!”
“You needed me.” He shrugged as if that settled it.
Allie couldn’t fathom the sacrifice he’d made to be with her through the most terrifying day of her life.
“Why did you cut yourself?” He stroked his thumb across her injured palm.
“How did you know I did it to myself?”
“My gift.” He thumped his temple. “I can tell it was self-inflicted, but I’m afraid I can’t heal an equal.”
“What does that mean?”
“We’re all powerful, Lex—some more than others. It seems you and I are equally powerful, so we kinda cancel each other out. It would take a lot of practice and most of my strength to heal this little cut and it still might not be enough. For you. Anyone else wouldn’t be a problem.”
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“Do you have any idea how hard it’s been to dodge your questions?” He leaned back against the gnarled tree, draping his arm around her with a reluctant sigh.
“In the past, when you’ve encountered others like us, what have you felt?”
“Curiosity, like I desperately wanted to connect.”
“Did you ever fear for your safety?”
“Just once.”
“This morning?”
She nodded. “You’re…dangerous?”
“So are you. I’m told most Immortals feel fear when they encounter an equal or more powerful Immortal, but today was a first for me. I’ve felt intimidated by the few extremely ancient ones I’ve met, but never anything like that.”
“So you’re saying…in all your life, you’ve never met anyone more powerful than yourself?” Her mouth went dry as she tried to swallow.
“I have not, but you are within a hair of being more powerful than me.”
“So that’s what this is between us? Power?”
“You know it’s more than just that, Lex. But yes, we are equals.”
“I don’t feel powerful.”
“You must have experienced the isolation?”
“People are afraid? Of me?”
“Sometimes it’s fear, sometimes fascination or deep loathing. Like how Vince hates me for no reason.”
“I’m not so sure it’s for no reason,” she muttered.
“It's instinctual. They can't help it.”
“But, I'm not even remotely scary.”
“You’d be surprised.” He smiled. “I’ve told you how much your friendship means to me. I’ve never—ever, been with someone who feels one hundred percent comfortable with me the way you do. My own mother flinches if I get too close,” he said sadly. “You saw it that day in the grotto and you knew enough to offer me the comfort of your touch. You can’t possibly know what that little gesture meant. It still amazes me that I can hold your hand and you don’t recoil the way Sasha did with you earlier. You’ve got a lot on your plate, but I’m here for you; whatever you need, whenever you need it.”
“So what else can you do?” she asked, eager to change the subject.
“Not much. I have enormous potential, but I’m still very young so I have a lot of work ahead of me. I have the typical enhanced senses. I’m fast, but not as fast as Graham and Sasha. I regenerate a little quicker than others my age, which probably has something to do with my gift.”
“Speaking of crazy, rapid healing. You did burn your hands in the fire, didn’t you?”
“Yes, but your burns were much worse at first. You were within days of your Awakening, and it seems your body managed to speed your healing along when you weren’t looking. You were so distraught and so pissed off when we wouldn’t give you answers. We were actually afraid the whole thing might send you into an early Awakening, which would have been catastrophic. You would have suffered the consequences forever. I was an absolute wreck trying to steer you away from all the questions, and I hated myself every time you insisted you weren't crazy. You didn’t deserve that. I shouldn’t have let any of it happen. Everything just fell apart so fast!”
“Aidan, how could you have stopped it?”
“I started it, Allie.”
“How? Wait…you were the accelerant?”
“I have a volatile connection with fire. I’m still struggling to understand it. If I let my concentration slip and I happen to be near a fire, it just goes crazy responding to my power and it’s almost impossible to rein it back in. That night, I was too busy sulking over you and Vince.” His eyes flashed with a spark of anger.
“It happened so fast and then Kayla was in so much pain—”
“Oh God! No! Aidan!” she cradled her head in her hands. “She risked her life for nothing?”
“I’m so sorry, Lex. I wish I could go back and keep you both safe. I panicked when I saw her trapped. I was so desperate. All I could do was beg the flames to stop burning her, and somehow they did. I had control again. But I should never have lost it! I was weak for one moment and I almost killed her!”
“Gregg was right.” She reached for his hand. His tone of self-loathing tore at her heart. “Kayla is lucky you were there to give her such good care.”
“Trust me, she would have been ‘lucky’ if she’d never met me.” He scowled. “When I finally got her free, I managed to extinguish a small portion of the flames to give us a way out, but after that, I was tapped out. She was waking up and in danger of going into shock. I did what I could to keep her lungs and heart functioning, but I hadn’t slept in days, and I was losing her. Then you wrapped your arms around me, and I stopped shaking, my head cleared and I had the strength to go on. I didn’t even know it was possible to revitalize someone like that, but you did it before your Awakening, which is just freaking nuts. Once I understood what you were doing, I took advantage of it and I’m afraid that’s why you passed out. You helped me save her, Allie. I can never thank you enough for that.”
“But how? How could I do that and not know it?”
“Instinct. You are much more aware of your power than you know. I’m still trying to help Kayla through her recovery,” he continued, not giving Allie time to dwell on that particular subject. “That’s why the doctors say she’s bouncing back so swiftly. I just have to be careful not to do too much too fast, but it will never be enough. She is scarred for life because I was a jealous idiot.”
Allie felt tears burn her eyes. She felt like she was staring at a complete stranger. She didn’t know him at all. He cared more deeply than she ever realized.
“Hey, no more of that.” He pulled her close.
“You’re my best friend and it’s like I don’t even know you.” She wiped furiously at her tears.
“It’s okay,” he said. “Remember? Open book. What else do you want to know?”
“What really happened the first morning we met?”
“A crazy redhead tackled me and turned my life upside down.” He grinned.
“Be serious!”
“I am serious! I sensed you on the trail just ahead of me, but I was so not in the mood for a typical first encounter. Most Immortal girls our age are terrified of me and I just couldn’t deal.”
“It is considered very bad manners for a strange Immortal to show up unannounced, and I was prepared to tell you off, but I didn’t want to scare you. I called out for you to stop, but you couldn’t hear me. I thought you might be a little freaked, so I crashed through the woods to get ahead of you. I wanted you to see I wasn’t a threat.”
“I knew you were behind me.” Allie smiled. “And I also wasn’t in the mood. Most boys our age don’t deal so well with me. But something ha
ppened when you approached. I got really dizzy and nauseated.”
“You were sensing me. So close to your Awakening, that was probably a first for you.”
“So that whole time you thought I knew what I was?”
“I didn’t have any reason to think you didn’t.”
“What was your first clue?”
“You were completely unimpressed when I mentioned my parents. And then again, when you commented on my mother not changing her last name. Immortal women never change their names when they marry. I was confused that you seemed so ignorant of our ways, so I changed the subject just to be safe.”
“I knew you were distracted by something.”
“All I could think about was the way it felt when my hand closed around yours and you didn’t react. When you helped me up and I met those crazy beautiful green eyes, I couldn’t stop staring. I fell hard, right there in the woods, Lex.” He smiled sadly. “I foolishly thought you did too.”
“Not foolishly, Aidan.”
“But later that morning in the coffee shop you were different, like something turned you off. What changed?”
“You were just so…not you.”
“Fake Aidan?” he growled. “Allie, they’re more comfortable with me when I play the arrogant, stupid jock!”
“I didn’t know. I just felt something telling me it was a bad idea for us to be anything more than friends. And then I met Vince—”
“And I missed my chance,” he sighed sadly.
She bit her lip. She just didn’t have an answer that would make him feel better.
“I couldn’t get a read on you, so I made the mistake of touching you with my gift,” he rushed on. “I wanted to see what you were feeling. You should have been scared, which I could have sensed, but you wouldn’t let me.” He grinned.
“So that’s why I snarled at you?”
“You must have felt uneasy with me after that.”
“Not really. I was very drawn to you. Aidan, my whole life most people have kept a respectful distance, like there’s some huge gulf between me and everyone else. But with you…from that first moment, there was nothing between us and I was fascinated with you.”
“Me too. I suspected you might not know what you were, so I didn’t want to leave you. I was afraid you might disappear. Once I realized your parents were mortal and you really were clueless, I stopped to consider what your life must have been like. It put a lot of things into perspective for me,” he said softly. “I’ve always dealt with that same respectful distance, like I’m in a bubble all by myself. But at least I had my family; at least I knew why the whole world reacts to me so strongly. Allie, do you have any idea how amazing you are?”
“It’s nothing.” She shrugged. “It’s just coping.” I’ve had my family too, Aidan, she wanted to say, but she felt a strong urge to keep her family out of it.
“So, I guess in a way, you really are holding a sign that says ‘WARNING: dark and dangerous. Keep out,’” she teased, attempting to lighten the mood.
“I suppose I am.” He winked, but didn’t smile. “They’ve been deferring to you too. Surely you’ve noticed?”
“Yeah, and it totally creeps me out.”
“We are substantially more powerful than our friends. They will always show us their respect. It’s a visceral response, but you can tell them to knock it off, and they usually do.”
“When did you realize I was your equal?”
“The second morning on the ferryboat. That’s when it hit me. When you first met Chloe, you could probably sense that she wasn’t quite the same as the rest of us.”
“Yes. It was more subtle with her.”
“Her power hasn’t emerged yet. You should have felt like that to us, but the strength of your power masked the fact that you weren’t manifested, so I had to connect the dots. When I finally put it all together it was life altering.” The look on his face was nothing short of rapturous.
He just doesn’t see how high he’s put me up on that pedestal. When I fall off, it’s going to kill us both.
“This life can really suck. It won’t be easy and it’s totally not fair, but I’m so grateful to have you in my life.”
She could understand his overwhelming relief. She felt it too, but his feelings for her were so tangled up with his loneliness, she wasn’t sure he would ever see her clearly.
At that moment, a loud rumble shot through her belly and she doubled over.
“Jeez! What’s with this appetite?”
“We eat aggressively. Especially at first, so don’t fight it. Come on, let’s get you some lunch.” He reached for her hand and she heard his stomach growl.
“Not just me, then?”
“Definitely not. You’re not alone in this, Lex. My family is weird and loud, and totally crazy, but we all love you, and we’re here for you.”
“Thanks.” She smiled. She knew he was right. She desperately needed their guidance and was grateful for it.
<><><>
CHAPTER
FOURTEEN
Allie nearly choked when they entered the kitchen to see Naeemah locked in a shocking embrace with a young man. His rusty, silver flecked hair was tousled as if she’d just run her fingers through it.
“Embarrassing, aren’t they?” Aidan grimaced.
“Oh!” she laughed. It’s Gregg!
“Allie, you’re a remarkable girl.” His smile was mischievous, “but you must be starving.”
“The hunger is painful.” She stared at a plate of chicken like she hadn’t eaten in weeks.
“Eat, sweetheart.” That was all she needed. She dove in without a thought about manners—much less a plate.
“Our appetites are rather robust,” Naeemah explained. “We require an extraordinary amount of calories to fuel our metabolism, which gives us the strength and stamina our powerful natures demand. Just after your Awakening, you can expect to be hungry most of the time because your body will burn off everything you take in faster than you can consume it. You’ll eventually find a balance and you will manage the diet more easily.”
“Despite the absence of anything remotely nutritious in this particular meal, a balanced diet is very important.” She shot a reproachful glance at her husband.
“Aye, I made a salad, didn’t I?”
“With Caesar dressing and fried chicken?”
“Caesar had no such dressing, I can assure you.”
“Da, you need new jokes.” Aidan rolled his eyes.
“You will find if you eat too many processed foods you’ll feel sluggish and cumbersome,” Naeemah continued. “We will set a better example at our next meal. A diet rich in protein, clean whole foods, and complex carbohydrates is very important...not to say you can’t enjoy dessert.” She frowned at Aidan who was helping himself to a slab of chocolate cake.
“Hey! Save some for the starving redhead?”
“You know I’m hot for you babe, but I draw the line at sharing cake. Around here, if you’re slow, you starve.” He winked.
“Rude!” she snorted.
“Unfortunately, you’ll have to hide your appetite from your parents. You will take your meals with us. I’ll not have you going hungry,” she added firmly. “We always have a meal ready after school and you will join us. We also spend every afternoon in training, which you will begin tomorrow. During this time, you will learn everything you need to know and we will work with you as your power manifests and your gifts emerge.”
“Naeemah, I—”
“Sweetheart, you have no choice but to join us, and I’ll not hear another polite protest.”
“Yes ma’am.”
<><><>
“Your grocery bill must be astounding,” Allie said as she helped Gregg load the dishwasher after lunch.
“Thank God for good investments or we’d go broke trying to feed ourselves. It was easier back in the day when you could just roast a boar and have at least two, maybe three, meals.” He winked.
Jeez, how old is this guy?
“Come on, Red. They’re waiting for us.”
She sat beside Aidan and slipped her hand into his. She was grateful for his silent offer of support.
“I know you have a great many questions,” Naeemah began, “but I’d like to tell you a story you would have learned had you grown up in our world. You may find it familiar if you’ve read the works of Plato, but I’m sure you have never seen a story quite like mine.”
“During the time of Mount Olympus, the human race suffered.” Her voice was melodic and soothing as she used her gift to animate the story. Allie gasped at the sketched figures and hastily scrawled Mount Olympus hovering before her eyes.
“These ancient humans were not like us, for they each had four legs, four arms, and two heads, but shared only one soul. Zeus, the king of the gods, especially favored these creatures, but despite his protection, they faced extinction.”
“In a desperate attempt to save them, Zeus used the power of his lightning bolt to divide them. With the more capable bodies we have today, they flourished, but only a fragment of their shared souls survived the trauma.”
“While most were pleased with their new forms, a select few mourned the separation. Zeus took pity on those who so obviously belonged together. To make amends for what he had done, he gifted them with Ambrosia, leaving them forever immortal.”
“Zeus’ daughter also admired these creatures and granted them a powerful gift. Although they were now entirely separate beings, she forged an unbreakable bond between their fragmented souls, ensuring they would always be drawn to the one who was their Complement.”
“As the years passed and the Immortals grew in number, they spread throughout the world and the younger generations were lost to their Complements. However, as these young ones came of age, they gained an intuitive knowledge of their true companions. This intuition strengthened over time and eventually brought them together. Once bonded, the two grew stronger than they ever were apart,” Naeemah finished with a flourish, and Allie, deeply engrossed in the animation of the story, was sad to see it end.
“That was incredible!”
Emerge: The Awakening Page 9