Ascending the Veil

by Venessa Kimball

  Ascending the Veil:

  Piercing the Fold, Book 3

  By

  Venessa Kimball

  Published by

  Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing, LLC.

  Novi, Michigan 48374

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, duplicated, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  Text Copyright ©2013

  All rights reserved

  Published by

  Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing, LLC.

  This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this novel are fictitious and are products of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual events, or locales or persons, living or dead are entirely coincidental.

  Edited by Elizabeth Anne Lance

  Cover by SK Whiteside

  To Mom and Dad. Thank you for always telling me I could accomplish anything.

  Chapter 1

  Jesca

  Facility in Kyoto, Japan~

  I turn the small, clear, rectangular world in my hands, careful not to disturb the ants’ free will, their decisions, or their distinct and individual purposes. The thick plastic of the container seems to protect them from what is going on out here. What if the thick plastic was thinned into a sheath-like veil? How safe would they be in their little world?

  I feel a tear fall from my eye and rush down my check to rest on my lip. I quickly swipe my hand across my mouth to stop the tear from progressing, the feelings from progressing. I keep my hand there for a moment, close my eyes, and hold my breath to stop the anxiety from releasing. When the emotion passes, I carefully set down the small, plastic world; Ezra’s note is still attached.

  “Will you take care of them while I am gone?”

  I breathe out slowly and work to focus my blurred vision on the note. Of course I would; there was no question about that. The real question was how would we get Ezra and Nate back from wherever they have gone? They should be in this facility with me right now, not sucked into a wormhole. If Nate would have just held onto Xander and I, they would be here, but Nate took control of the situation and sacrificed both himself and Ezra; so stupid of him. I did not need saving. With Xander’s help we could have tossed Sam into the wormhole and sealed it. Our fellowship, our team, needs them here. The intersection happened and there is still more to come. We need Ezra’s strength, logic, and guidance right now more than ever. We need Nate’s ability to heal others and his link with both Xander and I. Yeah, the link has caused tension between the three of us, but it has also made the abilities we adapted through the Copula stronger.

  The image of Nate cupping my chin in the dark room of the villa back in Florida telling me, “We are stronger together,” crosses my mind. My heart aches remembering his closeness, the smell of him as he comforted me during my nightmare; eucalyptus and mint. I shake my head, clearing my mind of the memory. I’m still pissed at him and as soon as I see him I plan to let him know how stupid of a move that was to fall into that wormhole.

  Xander is at the door.

  The door opens and I hastily block my thoughts from him and wipe any remaining tears from my face. If I don’t block my thoughts he will hear what I was thinking and who I was thinking about. There will be questions that I don’t have answers to. And, with Ezra and Nate gone, I can’t help but feel confused and lost about everything.

  I turn to face him as he approaches me, locking eyes with him.

  “The ant farm. Where did you get it?”

  Xander stops in his tracks. “Balthazar and Angela got it in town.”

  I was about to verbally assault the stupid act and demand to know who would put their lives in danger when Xander eyes meet mine again. “Ezra. In my dream, he told me to get the ant farm.”

  It figures Ezra would do something like that. I shake my head and walk over to the side table, peer into the ants’ little world. Xander comes to stand next to me. “Everyone thought I was crazy, ranting about how I needed them to go out and find an ant farm in the middle of an apocalypse. Ezra said you would know what it meant.”

  My chest tightens imagining Ezra telling Xander about our bond over a tiny plastic world filled with harvester ants.

  Xander’s hand rests on my shoulder. “I’m sorry, Jes. I told him that it might upset you. Here, I can take it out of the room.”

  Xander makes a move toward the ant farm, but I stop him. “No, it’s alright. I just was thrown off when I saw it with the note. I know why it is here.”

  “Why? Ezra didn’t tell me.” Xander crosses his arms over his chest, waiting for an explanation.

  A knot forms in my throat now as I remember the first time I saw Ezra’s ant farm on campus in his office. “It is a reminder of the promise I have made to guard and protect our world. When I first met him in Georgia, he had one in his office.”

  I feel the pull of a smile on my face from the memory. God, it seems like that was so long ago, when it had only been a little over a year since the day I discovered my life was not ever going to be average by any means.

  I rest my hand on my neck expecting to feel the chain holding my remembrance, the Copula medallion. Ezra gave it to me before we left Florida, a gift from Sebastian. It is gone. I swivel around looking back at the bedside table, looking in the bed. “Where is it?”

  Seeing the panic rising within me quickly, Xander reaches into his pocket and pulls it out for me to see. “It’s right here.”

  Xander comes closer with the medallion dangling from a copper chain and motions for me to let him put it on me. I turn around slowly and pull my hair to the side for him to fasten it back in place. I can’t help but be hypersensitive to his closeness all of a sudden. His warm breath is dancing on the back of my neck. “I took it off of you when I...when I got you into bed.”

  Once it is secure, I turn back to face him. “Thank you.” Xander runs his hand through his hair and rests it on the back of his neck nervously.

  Wait, when he got me into bed? I look down at what I am wearing; a gauzy nightgown. My expression must have warned him to explain quick. “Jes, I wouldn’t let anyone near you when we got here, not even Elisha and she was not happy about that by the way. Your clothes were a mess and I had to change you out of them.”

  I feel the heat rise on my face and I freeze with panic. Dear God, Xander undressed me. The only word I can muster amidst my embarrassment is, “Oh.”

  Xander’s eyes hold mine tenderly and as he moves closer, my heart pounds beneath my chest. “I couldn’t leave your side, Jes. Not after what happened in the forest with Ezra and Nate.”

  Xander clears his throat and closes his eyes. Sensing his pain, I close the distance between us and run my hand along his arm. He opens his eyes and continues, “Before they left, Nate told me to protect you.”

  The image of Nate pulling Ezra from Sam, as Sam tried to pull Ezra into the wormhole flashes in my mind. Nate was anchored to Xander and me with one hand, and to Ezra with the other. A brief flash of Nate looking into Xander’s eyes as he holds me to him. I hear his deep voice bellow, “Protect her!”

  Xander shakes his head back and forth. “After seeing you that night, how you reacted after Nate released himself and Ezra into that wormhole, I couldn’t risk leaving your side. You broke inside, Jes. Monica sedated you for your safety and I carried you out of the forest. When we got back to the facility, you were still out. I was afraid to leave you.”

  I nod slowly, letting it sink in how much Xander had d
one to make sure I was safe and comfortable. I pull him in and hug him hard, whispering, “Thank you, Xander, for everything.”

  Xander’s arms encircle my waist and my knees weaken slightly. I pull back, needing to lighten the mood quickly. “So, do I have a clean change of clothes I can put on or do I have to walk around in this piece of gauze?”

  Xander smiles lightly, releases his hold around my waist, and walks over to a chest of drawers in the corner of the room. He rests his hand on the dresser and pats it softly. “It’s not much, but it’s clean.”

  I’m a little curious about who picked out the wardrobe.

  Xander says, “Nick threatened to blow the door off the hinges if I didn’t open up after being hulled up in here with you the first night. After that, I loosened up a little bit.” Xander winks at me playfully.

  Wait, I had my block up. How did he slip through? I smile hoping that I can hide the concern I have for his reading my thoughts. It could have easily been a good guess, Jes. I needed some space. My block was obviously not reliable right now in my state of mind. “Well, I need to dress. I will be out in a bit to talk with the others.”

  Catching my drift, Xander nods and walks toward the door. His hand lingers on the door knob and I sense that he is weary of leaving my side. I walk to the dresser and open the top drawer slowly, my eyes still on his. “It’s alright Xander. I’ll be okay.”

  His eyes are disbelieving, but he reluctantly opens the door. “I’ll be close if you need me.”

  I look down at the open drawer and pretend to rummage through the clothing. When I finally hear the door shut, I stop pretending and blow my lower lip out. Grabbing unmentionables, black pants, and a grey tank top, I walk back to the bed and flop down on the bed. My mind drifts to Nate being here only moments ago in my dream. I close my eyes and recall the words Nate said to me, “No nightmares.”

  Leave it to Nate to make reference of the nights he would comfort me in Florida after my vivid nightmares. When Nate joined our team in Florida, he would crawl into bed and lay with me, nothing more. I touch the linens of the bed and a wave of goose bumps start at my neck and move down over my body just remember how it became a habit of ours. I touch my lips, remembering the kisses and softness of his touch as the “sleepovers” became more frequent.

  Ugh!

  I can’t be thinking about him right now. I toss the clothes down on the bed next to me. Nate and I are just a manufactured connection from the Copula, that is all. Plus, Xander and I...we are trying to figure out what we are. I close my eyes and rake my hand through my unruly hair. I pull off the gauzy nightgown, put my clothes on roughly, stalk to the door, and pull it open not expecting to see Xander leaning against the wall opposite my door. I step back and try to compose the mad woman look I possess right now. His eyebrows rise curiously as he looks me up and down. “You okay?”

  Yep, definitely looking like a mad woman. I roll my eyes, shut the door behind me and start gathering my hair into a ponytail. “Yeah. I’m fine.”

  Feeling his stare burning a hole into the back of my head, I whirl around. “What?”

  Xander shakes his head, pushes off the wall, and starts walking down the hall without saying another word. I’m glad he doesn’t interrogate me any further about my frustration, but a part of me worries he already knows what is bothering me; him and Nate. I jog to catch up to Xander’s fast pace and try to cover my tracks. “Hey, I’m sorry I was so short back there.”

  Xander clenches his jaw and looks at me out of the corner of his eye as he keeps walking briskly. “It’s alright. We both have a lot on our minds right now.”

  Clenching jaw...yeah, he knows.

  Chapter 2

  Xander

  Jesca keeps my quick pace. I want to look over at her, but I don’t. If I do, I may wind up telling her everything weighing on me right now. She doesn’t deserve me taking the way I feel right now out on her.

  I hear her speaking, but I don’t want to listen. I don’t want her making excuses for who she has weighing on her mind. “It’s alright. We both have a lot on our minds right now,” is what I come up with to get her to just stop talking. It gets her to stop talking, but I am still thinking about Nate visiting me in a dream.

  * * *

  It had been a day and a half now and Jesca was still out. I had yelled at Monica, accusing her of over-dosing her with the sedative. I felt bad about it now. I probably sounded like a raving lunatic. I leaned my head against my closed fist and stared at Jesca’s body lying there, watching her chest rise and fall peacefully. I closed my eyes just for a split second. Well, I thought it was a split second. I shifted my body, leaned forward, and ran my hands over my face, hoping the movement would wake me up.

  “Xander.”

  Hearing my name called out in the dead silence made every hair on my body stand on end. I pulled my hands away from my face and stood in one swift motion. The room was dark, but I could make out the outline of a person by the door. “It’s just me.”

  I couldn’t believe it. “Nate?”

  How was he here? I imagined for a second that the last 48 hours was just a nightmare and I was really waking to Nate in the room with Jes and I. Nate moves closer. “No, it wasn’t a nightmare cousin. They aren’t nightmares anymore, they are reality.”

  His words were so true, now more than ever. My throat tightens in response to his words. I looked over at Jes, wondering if she would stir upon hearing Nate’s voice, but she was unshaken by his presence. I had to be in a dream state.

  Nate followed my gaze to Jes lying in the bed and stopped mid-stride. When he looked at me his eyes were burning with rage. “What happened to her? I told you to protect her!”

  His condescending comment pissed me off bad. I strode over to him. “I am protecting her! You, you are the one that threw yourself into that wormhole with her father!”

  Chest to chest, I continue to rant, “Jes and I could have held you until the others got to us. We could have fought Sam off of you and Ezra, but you didn’t give us a chance, you idiot! Sam would be the only one there right now and you would still be here helping us!”

  My whole body was trembling with frustration and fear; frustration for his stupidity and fear of not ever seeing him or Ezra again. “What were you thinking? That you would be the knight in shining armor and throw yourself into the wormhole to protect us? What if we can’t get you and Ezra back? What if you both are stuck there?”

  Nate shook his head and glared at me. “That would be perfect for you, wouldn’t it? You would have her and I would be out of the way.”

  Son of a... I ran my hands through my hair, keeping me from taking a swing at him. I have no idea if I would have made contact with flesh, but it would have made me feel better. Trying to hold back, I lowered my voice to a growl, “No, Nate, unfortunately it wouldn’t be perfect. When you were playing hero, letting yourself, Ezra, and Sam fall into that wormhole, you ripped her apart!”

  Confused by my words, Nate shook his head and looked at Jes. I guess he realized that he had affected her. I could see that it had meant something to him; that she cared about him more than he realized.

  I was jealous of the way he was looking at her, so I pulled his attention back to me. “Don’t worry cousin, I’m here for her. I will comfort her, take your place, and I will be the one to help her bring your sorry ass back. ”

  I had hoped my comment would affect Nate, instead he ignored it and moved closer to Jesca. I moved with him, to the other side of the bed, and watched his every move. He sighed deeply, closed his eyes, and mumbled something. He said it so softly, I didn’t quite catch it at first. “What?”

  Nate’s eyes met mine. “She chose you. In Tokyo, at the safe house, when I came to find you before you left to meet Sam and Corinna.”

  I felt my throat go dry instantly, remembering the exact event he was talking about. I had made the decision to go to Sam and Corinna before the intersection and act as a double agent. Try to stop Sam from fulfilling his mi
ssion under Michael Sanderson. I was in Jesca’s room and things between us got heated. I stopped us before we got out of hand. If this was one of the average women I was known to bed, I probably would have thrown caution to the wind and taken the intimacy to the next level. When Jes didn’t pull back, I knew I had to. Jesca would never be like those women. She deserved so much more. Hell, she definitely deserved better than me. Maybe that was the real reason I stopped her.

  Then she shocked the hell out of me and told me she loved me. Those words instantly filled the emptiness I had been starving for since my grandmother passed. Even though the emptiness was filled, I couldn’t help wondering what motivated her to say it when she did. I was leaving. Was it fear of possibly never seeing me again? I was on the verge of asking why now and not before, in the cabin, when Nate interrupted us. He had come to find me and tell me that plans had changed and it was time for me to go to Sam now.

  Nate saw her and I standing there in her room. The way his shoulders sunk and his face hardened, I knew he read the emotions between Jesca and I like a book. I have to give him credit, Nate held his anger. I don’t think I would have been strong enough to do that. When I told him that I needed a moment to say goodbye to Jes, it wasn’t to piss him off. A part of me was afraid that it might be the last time I saw Jesca. I needed to know before I left, if she told me she loved me for something other than fear. My hope was that our kiss would soften the block she had put up around her mind long enough for me to feel who truly had her love; Nate or I.

  I don’t think she was aware that she had let her block down for that brief moment. From that kiss, I learned that she was afraid she would never see me again and that is what motivated her to tell me she loved me. I didn’t want to believe it. I figured that once I returned to her after we stopped Sam and Corinna, and sealed the wormhole, she would reveal that it was more than a fear that moved her. It didn’t turn out that way. The moment she opened her eyes this morning, her thoughts were open to me. The person she was thinking of was Nate.