Gray (Awakening Book 1)

by Shannon Reber

  I stepped forward and poked him in the chest. “Ben has nothing to do with anything, Francis. What’s this really about?”

  He sneered. “Of course it’s about him. You and London can have a cat-fight over him now.”

  “I’m not fighting with anybody but you right now.”

  “You don’t even know the guy. He almost got kicked out of school last year and has been arrested like six times, but you’re just going to throw away our friendship over HIM?!”

  My heart started to pound. “Throw away? What are you—”

  “Yeah, throw away. I don’t hang out with shallow, idiotic broads.”

  I reeled back, hurt and baffled by his reaction, though the anger won out. “I’ve recently started remembering some of the things I went through when I was gone and this one thing sticks out to me. See, I was chained to the wall in a cave after this one really bad beating and the thing which got me through, helped me not to lose my mind, was the memory of my best friend. I remembered laughing with you while our moms dragged us shopping with them, laughing over nothing, like we always did.” I wiped away a tear which slid down my cheek. “The friends I’ve made in the last month have been a serious comfort, a great distraction from everything which could have broken me. You, Ben and JJ made me feel like the world wasn’t crashing in around me. Hopefully, they won’t turn out to be the kind of guy you are.” I turned away. I wanted to punch him, but didn’t. He wasn’t worth the energy it would take to pull back my temper.

  By the time I got home, my bad mood had escalated to something foul. Francis. What was wrong with him? Why would he go from such a sweet, cheerful guy to that obnoxious, angry kid I didn’t even want to know?

  I didn’t go inside, too irritated to bother. Instead, I walked to the back yard and sat down in the grass. The stones around me called out. They wanted to cheer me up, but there was nothing which could do that.

  “Gray One.”

  My head jerked up. My eyes met a pair of bold, black ones. “Dorian,” I whispered, then jumped to my feet and threw my arms around his neck. He was safe. He was there with me. No stupid fight with my former best friend could affect me in the least. Dorian was there.

  He pulled me back after a moment and squeezed my hand. “You look well, Gray One. I am pleased to see this,” he said like it was entirely normal for him to speak to me in the human world.

  I kind of wanted to pop him one, but decided to wait. I just motioned toward the house. “Come inside,” I said. It was not a request.

  He bowed his head slightly. He obviously recognized it as an order. He followed me up the back steps and inside, like it was all just the most normal thing we’d ever done.

  My sister didn’t look surprised by the sight of Dorian when I led him into the living room. She just nodded in greeting and went back to the paperwork she had been doing.

  “So do you two know each other?” I asked, my arms folded.

  Kassia let out an exasperated breath. “Shayla, whatever your problem is, it has nothing to do with me or your friend there, so retract your claws and try speaking without the tone."

  I glowered at her, but she was right. I was mad at Francis and at how crappy my day had been. It had nothing to do with either of them.

  I did my best to push back my anger, but it simply would not fade. It grew until my body began to shake, my face so hot, I felt feverish. That was not right.

  Dorian stepped forward and laid his palm on my brow, his face set in lines of determination. The contact of his hand cooled my feverishness, but nothing changed. He had lied to me.

  “Focus on the water, Gray One. The water will calm you.”

  I took a step back from him. The house vibrated under my feet. What was happening to me?

  Dorian leaned closer and took my hand. “You are angry with me, I know. I lied to you on many occasions, hid much from you. Focus on me, Gray One, not the stones. The stones around us feel your anger and call to you. You will destroy this place if you do not hold back your power."

  “Why did you lie to me?” I asked, my teeth clenched. I tried to do as he had said, though nothing happened. The stones vibrated, then began to shake.

  My sister stared at us, her eyes wide. “Ben helped her get control last time. You want me to call him?”

  Dorian shook his head. “No. She needs to learn to control the elements without assistance.”

  “You’re assisting her,” Kassia said challengingly, her arms folded.

  He didn’t respond to that, but fixed his black eyes on mine. “Gray One, hear me. I lied to you to protect you from the pain. You were so young when the Black Queen had me take you to Svartálfaheimr. I only wished you to have some peace.”

  The ground around us shook all the harder, each and every stone in the entire town called out to me. They wanted to help and oh, I wanted to ask them to . . . no. Dorian was not the one the stones should go after.

  I focused on the anger inside me and shoved it down deep. Whoever had killed my mom and dad were the ones who deserved to die, not Dorian. He had done as he had been told, but those killers, they would pay.

  Dorian nodded when the world stilled. “You must listen to me, Gray One,” he said, like nothing had happened at all.

  I took in a shaky breath and did my best to push back the feeling of betrayal. So he had only come because he had something to tell me. Had he ever really been my friend, or was I nothing more than a responsibility?

  He turned his eyes from me, to Kassia and let out a world-weary sigh. “The Black and the White have lived separate since the beginning of time. They are different as night and day, but when the Black and White are joined, the magic of their offspring is phenomenal. I am of a far weaker bloodline than you, so my magic is a mere drop in the bucket in comparison to what you will hold when your awakening begins.” He gave me a searching look and shook his head. “The boy with the sight who you have become friends with, he is a danger to you.”

  “How so?”

  “You need peace in order to access your magic at this point. He is the peace you have found, but not one which can be relied on.”

  I threw my hands up into the air and groaned. “Dorian, say what you have to say and stop beating around the bush!”

  “His existence is common knowledge to the immortals on this side. If you do not learn to access peace without him, when he is killed, you will be a danger to everything and everyone in this world.”

  My heart started to pound. Ben. He was a good guy, a great friend, he could not be hurt. I wouldn’t allow it.

  I dug my phone from my pocket and searched for his name in my contact list with shaky fingers, terrified by how long it took me to find it.

  It rang over and over. My heart pounded. Pick up, Ben. Pick up. Pick up.

  He didn’t answer, but his voicemail clicked on. “This is Ben Connelly. Leave me a message or something,” and it beeped.

  “Ben, this is Shayla. Call me right away. It’s an emergency,” I said and hung up.

  “Gray One, listen to—”

  “Dorian, shut up. Ben is my friend, one of the most important people in my life. I will not let the White hurt him,” I said and began to send him a text.

  “It is not only the White who could hurt him.”

  “I won’t let ANYONE hurt him.”

  Dorian continued to look at me before he nodded. “Ayanna can contact him,” he said wearily, like he was entirely frustrated by me.

  I turned back to look at him, fury in my heart. “So you sent Ayanna here to keep an eye on me, but when the Dísir showed up to steal my sister’s soul, you can’t be bothered to—”

  “What?” he broke in, his eyes wide as he stared at me.

  I stared back, unsure what to make of his expression. He appeared genuinely shocked even to have heard that Dísir had shown up.

  I told him what had happened in as much detail as possible while my mind continued to spin. Who had sent those servants of Fate? Why did they want my sister’s soul? Wh
y didn’t Kassia appear not to care one way or the other about it?

  I looked over at her and all of a sudden, it made sense. Ayanna had said that Mom was kicked out of Álfheimr because of Kassia. The White didn’t want anything to do with me, so why would they care about my sister?

  “Kassia, do you know why the Dísir were here?”

  She tipped her head back with a groan, then slowly shook her head. “I know the immortal world doesn’t like the fact I’m alive, but I don’t know why. I just assumed they came because of that.”

  “What if it wasn’t?” I asked and moved to sit on the couch, my head in my hands. “What if the reason you were attacked, is because your magic is a weapon Fate wants to bind to herself. If she has your soul, she can control every move you make.”

  “Why does it matter, Shayla?”

  “It matters, because Fate can’t have you. I will not let you be a prisoner.”

  She looked from me, to Dorian, then back, her eyes narrowed. “It doesn’t matter, Shayla. All that matters is that I’m your legal guardian. I’m supposed to keep you safe and you are not safe when you’re around me.” She stood straight and looked at Dorian. “You took her when she was little to save her life. I need you to do it again.”

  I opened my mouth to speak, to shout, to tell her there was no way she would be left to face that battle alone.

  Dorian shook his head. “You are bound together, both by blood and by the awakening. If I take your sister away again, her magic will not thrive. She will crumble.”

  Kassia scowled. “How am I supposed to keep her safe?” she asked, her voice more like that of a whiney little girl than a grown woman.

  “Your magic will protect you. You two together are a formidable weapon.”

  I raised my hands into the air in a sign for them to shut up. “I don’t care where my magic is strongest or whatever. I will not leave here.” I stood up and faced my sister, my arms folded tight to keep my shaky hands from being seen. “Stop trying to get rid of me. I’m not leaving.”

  “I’m not trying to get rid of you. I’m trying to protect you.”

  “Then stop,” I demanded, relieved when my phone beeped to tell me there was a text.

  I pulled it out. Thank God. It was from Ben. He was safe. My sister would be made safe as well. Dorian was safe too, but he appeared to be as in the dark as I was. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered other than to make sure those I loved were safe from every form of danger in this world.

  What I needed was to figure out precisely what my sister’s magic was. If I could find out who her father was and ask his help to keep her safe, we would have a fighting chance.

  Fourteen

  My heart skittered in my chest when I saw it. Bright blue. In perfect condition. Convertible, well, sort of. The little Jeep Wrangler had its top down and the thing would not let me walk away.

  I ran my hand across the hood, every part of me at peace. It was freedom. It was tough and that thing had bucket-loads of pizazz. I had decided it was my car before even looking at anything else.

  Ben smirked at me, his eyes fixed on the description of the car which had been pasted to the window. “You sure you don’t want something newer. This thing’s got a lot of miles.” He moved his eyes over the vehicle in a critical way, the mechanic inside him doing his thing.

  I shook my head. “This is the perfect car for me,” I stated and pulled out my phone to send Kassia a text.

  The arrangement we had worked out was that Ben and I would find a car, then Kassia would come to do the paperwork and whatever else needed to be done. If she didn’t do her annoying big sister thing and black-ball the Jeep, I was set.

  In the last week, I had spent so much time in front of the computer, in search of some small reference to my sister’s birth, my brain hurt. I had found nothing . . . yet. My plan was to go an entirely different route, once I had a car.

  Since said car was directly in front of me and was perfection incarnate, I was excited. My license was in my wallet, ready to be used and I was all kinds of ready to do just that.

  “So is this your getaway vehicle?” Ben leaned back against the fender as he looked at me, his crooked grin in place.

  “No. This is my armored personnel carrier.” I stepped up to get in behind the wheel, a wide smile on my face.

  Everything about it felt perfect. Kassia would have a fight on her hands if she tried to tell me not to buy it. I had never wanted anything more than that Jeep.

  Ben snickered and shook his head. “It’s only going to fit two, maybe three other people, so maybe you should just call it your armored truck.”

  “Shh, we’re communing,” I said with a loving stroke of the dashboard.

  He grinned. He appeared honestly amused. “You two do look good together,” he said and walked to the front to open the hood.

  I followed, but had no idea what to look for. It looked like an engine to me. “So since I’d prefer not to be reliant on anyone, looks like I’ve got some online videos to watch so I know what to do if something goes wrong,” I said, not very happy about the idea, but it would work.

  “Or you could ask me. I’m better than any video.”

  “Cocky,” I said with a smirk and rushed toward my sister when she pulled in behind me. My eyes were alight with excitement. “If you say this one is cool, I swear to be nice to you for the rest of your life and I might not even steal things from you anymore.” I snagged her keys and put mine together in a prayerful way.

  She took her keys back and rolled her eyes at me, but didn’t look displeased as she began to inspect the car as well. “It’s not what I expected you to want, but I like it.”

  Ben chuckled. “Agreed. I figured she’d go for a motorcycle,” he said, his eyes full of mirth.

  Kassia let out a derisive cough and walked over to inspect the engine with Ben. “All I know about cars is where to put the windshield washer fluid and gas. Looks like you know something about it, so what do you think?” she asked, her arms folded as she gave the engine a speculative look.

  Ben nodded. “It looks good. It’s well taken care of, but you’re going to want to drive it before you make the buy.”

  I beamed at them both. “I definitely want to drive it.” I smiled all the wider at the salesman who walked over.

  And the Jeep drove like a dream. I got to take it everywhere from side roads, to the highway and it was all it needed to be. I was thrilled by the time the paperwork was signed and the money had been paid.

  Freedom. It was mine.

  I patted the hood when we got home, suddenly sure my car needed a name. There was no chance such a cool car could go without one. “I think her name is Jord,” I said with a wide smile as Ben and my sister got out of their own cars and walked over. Both of them appeared just as happy as me.

  “Jord?” Ben asked, his head tipped to the side in a quizzical way.

  I nodded. “The Norse goddess of earth,” I said, pleased by everything at that moment.

  My sister snorted out a laugh, then turned to go into the house. “I’m just happy you didn’t go with Nanna, the goddess of joy and peace.” She lifted her hand in a slight wave, then went back inside.

  I snickered at the idea of naming my Jeep Nanna. It was not nearly a cool enough name for my fabulous car. “You know, I think I’m going for a drive.” I sent my sister a quick text to let her know.

  “You mind some company?”

  I motioned him toward the passenger seat, sure he knew my plan.

  When we had gone down the block, I glanced at Ben, my brows raised high. “So did you really want to come, or are you running an intervention?”

  He looked at me before he shook his head. “This has to do with me too, Shayla. If I’m being hunted because of what I am, there’s no way I’m just going to sit back and there’s even less chance I’ll leave you alone to figure everything out.”

  I tipped my sunglasses down to look at him. “I don’t need to be protected, Ben,” I said, disappoin
ted he would have that kind of reaction.

  “Neither do I, Shayla.”

  I rolled my eyes at him and slid my sunglasses back into place. “The thing is, it would be good to have your help.”

  He let out a relieved gust of air. “What are we doing?”

  “Talking to a witch.”

  He gaped at me, then smirked. “Okay, that is the last thing I would have expected to hear from you,” he said, still chuckling quietly to himself.

  I grinned at him, pleased by such a reaction. “Well, she’s not really a witch. She’s listed as a psychic, but from what I’ve been able to find out, she really is gifted, not a fake.”

  “You really think a psychic is going to be able to help us figure this out?”

  “I have no idea,” I said, unsure what else to do.

  Ben laid his hand over mine on the gear-shift and gave it a light squeeze. “We will find the answers we need,” he stated without the slightest sign of doubt in his tone.

  It took a little bit and a few wrong turns before I found the place. There was nothing unusual about it in the least. It looked like an ordinary house, other than the fact a sign was in the front yard which read ‘Madam Freeda’.

  I jumped down from my Jeep and stepped toward the house. Something inside me cringed back as though in fear. Weird. Why would some psychic who was probably a fraud anyway, frighten me?

  I took in a deep breath of air and knocked on the door. My skin crawled. I was desperate to run away, but there was no other way to find the truth.

  The woman who opened the door looked just as normal as the house, maybe in her sixties with blonde hair and a friendly face. “I’ve been expecting you,” she said and swung the door open to beckon us in.

  I raised my brows, unsure what to make of such a statement. Hey, I’d come to a psychic. What did I expect other than strangeness?

  I stepped in, Ben right behind me. Both of us stayed close to the door.

  The woman motioned us further in. “Come on, kids. I don’t have all day,” she said and walked to a couch. She sat down, her eyes fixed on me. “You don’t strike me as being a coward, Shayla.”