“Dad-”
“Dimitri-”
“Ryder here!” Her dad yelled, causing Ryder’s eyes to widen and then wince as if waiting for the blow. The only one he felt was the huff of air her father expelled before releasing him completely, sighing heavily and turning to gaze back her.
He knew.
How did he always know these things?
“Ryder here is going to ask our permission to court Jaeden. They think they’re mates.”
Everyone exploded into conversation, except Reuben, who actually appeared to be watching on as if fascinated. That confused Jae, who would have thought that the reminder that she belonged to someone else would piss him off. However, he didn’t look at all bothered. Merely bemused by the ruckus her family were causing. She didn’t have time to ponder how weird that was, because Julia and Lucia were hugging her tightly, exclaiming happily. Her father and brother on the other hand were glaring at Ryder like they wanted to rip his head off. She couldn’t leave him there to stand alone. It wasn’t right.
Heaving a sigh of her own, she marched across the space to take hold of Ryder’s hand. He nodded gratefully and squeezed tight. “This isn’t going exactly to plan,” he murmured, even though they could hear with their super sensitive ears.
Jae chuckled humourlessly. “Nothing ever does.”
13 - The Proposition
Strange, how over the last few days she had become something of a favourite at the Centre, and with that new found status her loneliness had only intensified.
After one young magik approached Caia on a dare, and then been surprised and relieved to find out how friendly she was, word had spread that the half-Midnight in their midst wasn’t actually the daemon they’d thought. Gradually others had come forward to talk with her, and now she found herself with a constant cloud of groupies under her feet.
The silence here was particularly wonderful.
She sighed, resting her head back against the pew she crouched in front of, hidden behind it and from anyone who decided to enter the altar. Desperate for the possibility to be able to breathe in air that others weren’t sucking out of her immediate vicinity, Caia had remembered Marion telling her about the altars. Maybe she should have paid a visit to Artemis, but she’d found herself entering the quiet marble sanctuary of Gaia instead. This was the goddess who had made her existence possible after all.
There was no doubt in her mind that in this place of worship Gaia could hear her. But what was there to say? She had only questions that required answers, and being trapped on Mount Olympus kind of cut off Gaia’s vocal chords here on earth. If she wanted something, perhaps then Gaia could see that it was done, but what she wanted even Gaia couldn’t give her.
Not being able to confide in anyone had brought on a fresh wave of grief over losing Sebastian. If she’d been given the chance to tell Seb she thought Midnights might not be so bad after all... he’d have believed her. No questions asked.
A flash image of him lying on the truck bed with his stomach torn to pieces, telling her he loved her, burned behind her eyelids and Caia felt her chest tighten around her lungs. She found herself dragging in air just to catch a breath.
Sebastian.
She choked on a sob, clapping her hand against her lips to quieten the sound in the peace of the altar. What she wanted was her friend back, the most loyal friend she had ever had, but Gaia couldn’t give her that. And truthfully she didn’t deserve him back. She was failing miserably at whatever it was the prophecy said she was supposed to be doing.
She’d begun to fail when Sebastian had drawn his last breath.
Prying her eyes open, Caia slowly lifted her gaze to the marble statue of Gaia that presided over the altar in its centre. Her face, though cold to the touch, was lit with a warmth that should have soothed a desperate soul. Instead it only frustrated Caia more. Gaia’s eyes bored into her with a mixture of sympathy and impatience.
“Tell me what you want from me?”
“You know, there was once a time the goddess Herself would have answered you.”
Caia gasped in fright and looked up from her crouched position to see Vanne gazing down at her.
“You scared me.” She drew in a shuddering breath as she clambered to her feet. Even standing the magik towered above her with almost as much intimidation as Lucien.
His mouth quirked into a small smile, his eyes soft on her. “I’m sorry.”
A moment of awkward silence ensued.
Vanne cleared his throat and glanced from her to the marble statue.“I didn’t mean to disrupt... I like to come in here and gaze at her when things feel...”
“Overwhelming?”
He threw her a self-deprecating smile. “Yes. Overwhelming. She has such a soothing presence for a piece of a marble.”
Caia nodded. “I thought so at first.”
“Caia.” He suddenly leaned in close, his strong hand gripping her upper arm intently. She felt herself flinch back merely from the change in his demeanour, which was usually so light-hearted, as if he didn’t take any of this seriously. Now he was serious. “I think She would tell you the one simple truth that we all like to pass off as cliché.”
For some reason she found herself leaning closer to him, desperate for any kind of guidance, no matter the source.
“She would tell you that in the end we only have ourselves, no matter how many friends, allies, or loved ones are in our lives. You have to trust yourself before you can trust anyone else. Trust yourself, Caia. Do what you think is the right thing to do.”
“And the prophecy?”
“Why don’t you stop looking so far ahead? Stick with the now and see where that takes you.”
***
Vanne was right. Caia had already decided she needed to find the boy, Vilhelm, so she could determine how he felt about Laila; maybe find an ally in him and get him to help her free Laila. The last few days that resolve had withered under paralysing self-doubt, but surprisingly, and completely out of nowhere, Vanne had helped her.
Who saw that coming?
“Ooh, Caia!”
She turned and pasted a bright smile on her face as she entered the communication hall only to be beset by a couple of her groupies. Desdemona and Ophelia were nineteen year old twins who looked a little like her. They were both small in stature with long blonde hair and green eyes, and had decided that this made them all like sisters.
Eek.
Caia wanted to grimace at their puppy dog enthusiasm but managed to control the urge. The girls were Caia’s complete opposite, bubbly, outgoing, perhaps a little annoying… but they were sweet. And they actually thought they had something to learn from Caia, which was just so...
“Ooh, Caia!” Desi repeated, rushing at her and throwing her arms around her, causing all of her classmates to stop and stare. Once Caia was free from her, Ophelia entrapped her in one of her own girlish hugs.
“I can’t believe you’ve to come to one of our classes!”
It was true she had spent all of her time in the advanced classes, such as natural materialisation and water element lectures, but after spending the last day and a half strolling through them all, trying not to make it obvious she was looking for someone, she still hadn’t found Vilhelm. It was then it had occurred to her at lunch yesterday, when Ophelia had bemoaned her and her sister’s loser-like place in the Centre’s posse system, Caia had only been in the beginners and intermediate classes for communication spells. Apparently at the Centre there was an advanced communication spell class and an advanced specialist communication spell class. Desi and Ophelia were advanced specialists, meaning that neither of them had shown much aptitude in natural materialisation or glamour. They were extremely adept at utilising their element, which for them was air, and excellent at communication spells. They were what the Centre called Travellers. Whilst most magiks used the communication spell to journey quickly between places they were familiar with in order to relay information, Travellers could journey anywhere for
long periods of time whether they had been there before or not. Caia thought it was pretty damn neat, but other magiks were kind of snobby. Because they couldn’t really do much of anything else they were, well, outcasts.
Hence why they were so eager to please Caia.
Caia shrugged, smiling. “You know I’m in awe of you people.” She swept her arm around the room, trying not to be embarrassed that she was the centre of attention. She really should be used to it by now. “I just wanted to stop by, thought you could introduce me to your class?”
In truth, I just wanted to stop by and see if there was a tall, cute Scandinavian kid hanging around.
Desi laughed excitedly. “Uh ye-uh!”
With that she found herself doing the uncomfortable task of pretending to be the most sociable person on the planet. But whilst investigating, it suddenly occurred to her that dropping by had its added upside.
Allies.
The whispering that met her sensitive ears told her she had just become the coolest kid on the block for these guys. No other VIP magik had ever taken an interest in them before. That she had, for some reason gave them hope that maybe things could change around the Centre. Maybe people would open their minds and stop clinging to traditional thought.
I couldn’t agree more.
Moving on to another group of magiks, Caia began to feel... good?
Yeah, good.
She almost laughed out loud at the thought. These guys were exactly the kind of people she needed on her side: non-traditionalists who were prepared to welcome a new outlook.
OK, so maybe they were only referring to the inner workings of the Daylight Coven, but if they weren’t completely satisfied with how things were running at present, then who knew... maybe they would be the first to believe the war with the Midnights was based on misinformation and misunderstanding. She smiled brightly, genuinely, as she talked with the Travellers, a small weight lifting from her shoulders.
She could do this.
She had to believe she could do this.
“And, Caia, this is Vil.” Ophelia turned her around to face a tall magik. “He’s my secret crush,” she giggly whispered in her ear.
Her heart began to pound immediately as she took in the sight of the Scandinavian. His ice blues eyes were nothing like their colour; instead they were soft and shy, as was his smile as he reached out a nervous hand to shake hers.
“It’s an honour.” He shrugged uncomfortably and quickly pulled back from her clasped hand.
“Vil?” Caia breathed. “Is that short for Vilhelm?”
He nodded, blushing as Ophelia sidled up to him to squeeze his arm affectionately. “Vilhelm is the best Traveller here. We can all go places we’ve never been before, but we can’t track a person or anything using the communication spell. Vil can.” Her eyes glittered with awe.
Caia’s mouth fell open a little as her eyes washed over him, “Like trace?”
“No, no,” he was quick to refute, his eyes wandering around nervously, “I can’t feel a person’s thoughts or energy… but if you tell me to go to someone in particular, I get the impression of them from you and I can travel to wherever they are.”
Was that right, Caia mused, well that might just come in handy. “Impressive.”
“I told you he was like totally cool.”
A queasy, icy feeling suddenly enveloped her as Desi and her sister chattered away; her brain and all her senses battered by new information from Nikolai. Jeez! She sucked in a huge gulp of air. She fought to catch her breath. This was good news, she shook her head, good news. Or was it? It kind of meant her time at the Centre was up.
Her eyes snapped up to Vilhelm and the girls, who were staring at her wide-eyed.
“Caia, are you OK?” Desi whispered.
She managed to nod, throwing them a tremulous smile. “Just tired. It was nice meeting you Vilhelm. Ladies, nice to see you again, but I’m going to go lie down for a while.”
“Do you need anything-”
“Can I get you-”
“No!” She raised her hands in supplication. “Please. No. I’m just... gonna... go.”
Outside of the communication hall, Caia strode determinedly to the telecom system mounted on the wall next to the elevator.
“Centre Reception, Chloe speaking.”
“Chloe, it’s Caia Ribeiro. I need to speak with Marita immediately.”
“One second, please.”
This gave her very little time to rescue Laila. OK, she had to think fast, think fast, think fast, think fast, think fast....
“Miss Ribeiro, Marita will see you. If you please make your way to the Reception someone will be there to escort you up.”
That someone was Marion.
“What’s going on?” She asked immediately, her pixie face creased in concern.
“I’ll explain once we get there.”
“Lucien and Anders were with me when Marita called to say you had news. Lucien is already up there waiting. I didn’t know what it was about so I didn’t see the point of letting Anders in on it.”
“This affects Anders.”
“The MacLachlans then?”
“The MacLachlans.”
Marita and Vanne were standing around the dining table in their suite, Lucien standing off to the side, his dark face brooding and troubled. Caia had only seen him during training sessions for the defence of the MacLachlans and had skilfully avoided talking to him. Not that it mattered since Rose was constantly attached to his side. In fact, this was the first time she had seen him alone since Rose’s arrival.
Avoiding his eyes, she strode resolutely to stand at the head of the table, Marion’s soothing presence right beside her.
“What has happened?” Marita frowned impatiently.
“The attack is off.”
A shocked silence resonated around the room.
“How?” Lucien managed.
“Nikolai must have become aware of Du Bois’ plan. He’s rounded up Du Bois’ rebels and given them immunity in exchange for their evidence against Du Bois. Du Bois is now in prison and the attack has been stopped.”
Marita moved forward, her lips pinched together in anger and confusion. “And you can’t feel any plans from any other Midnight for the go ahead on the MacLachlans?”
Caia shook her head. “I’ve been searching, but there is nothing. The attack is definitely not going forward.”
Lucien shrugged now. “Well, that’s good news.”
Marion seemed to agree. “Indeed.”
“Caia and I will return to the pack tomorrow.” Lucien began striding towards her, and at his declaration she couldn’t stop herself from raising her eyes; they clashed with his. He seemed tired, angry, frustrated, and concerned all at the same time. Surprised at his words, she could only stand gaping at him with her jaw slightly dropped. She thought he’d want to stay for Rose. His impatient bristling, however, told her that Lucien was clearly missing the pack and ready to get back to them as soon as he could.
The problem was that no matter how much she might want to go back with him, she had a little prison break she needed to orchestrate, and leaving before that wasn’t really part of the plan.
***
“Leave?” Marita snapped. “I don’t think so.”
Lucien felt his hands curl involuntarily into fists at her tone.
“We came here to do what were asked to do... now we’re leaving,” he said between clenched teeth, watching in annoyance as the Head sauntered past him with barely a glance and came to a stop before Caia. Her usually frozen face had softened in a way he hadn’t seen before, as her eyes washed over his mate imploringly.
“Caia, you can’t leave yet without considering a proposition I have for you.”
“Proposition?” This was asked by himself, as well as Marion and Caia.
The witch nodded, never taking that sharp gaze from Caia. “I wasn’t going to mention it until after the defence of the MacLachlans, but since that’s not happening... Anyway
I wished to sit down and discuss the possibility of you staying at the Centre.”
Caia narrowed her eyes. “For what?”
Relief washed over Lucien. It was good she was just as suspicious and unsure of the magik as he was. He didn’t want her rushing into anything that might say... take her away from the pack. And these days who knew what was going on in her head. He hadn’t been able to get a hold of her for one second to discuss, well anything. Caia was constantly bombarded by magiks, lykans and vampyres alike, all eager to befriend her. Not to mention the fact that she had been avoiding him. Something more than just the Rose situation was plaguing Caia and the fact that she wouldn’t talk to him, confide in him, trust him… killed him. That she might be running to her precious pretty boy, Mordecai, with all her troubles made him want to go for the jugular, but he was holding back until he had hard evidence that his mate was really slipping from his grasp.
“I would prefer if we discussed this is in private.”
“Surely we can all be trusted here.”
The witch pinched her lips but didn’t dispute it. Instead she sighed and nodded. “Very well. I want you to stay and help me train an elite force of lykans I’m working with.”
Lucien felt his gut twist.
“Elite force?” Caia raised an eyebrow.
“An elite force. I won’t go into specifics until you agree to aid me.”
“How can I agree to help if I don’t know the specifics?”
Lucien felt himself growling. “Exactly.”
“The special training these lykans will undertake is highly classified. All Caia needs to know is that I think she has the abilities needed to not only train them, but to lead them into battle.”
Red washed over his eyes. “No way!” He ripped out, his chest heaving with anger at the mere suggestion. For the first time in what felt like forever Caia’s soft touch wrapped around his wrist, squeezing it reassuringly, asking him silently to calm down.
Vanne had taken up beside Marita, glaring at him. Marita herself was not impressed. “May I remind you to whom you are talking, Mr Líder, and that this decision will be Caia’s alone. You are not her mate in actuality after all.”
River Cast: Part Two in the Tale of Lunarmorte Page 13