Maybe Fate: A Novel (New Adult Paranormal Romance)
Page 10
Frowning, I wiped at some water when it rolled from my forehead to my eyelashes. Nethiun told me he ate emotions or whatever, the book does seem to confirm that. If that's true, then maybe the rest is, too.
But...
I'm having trouble thinking of Nethiun as someone who's 'evil' or whatever.
Pushing my hair from my face, I tilted back my chin until the shower grazed my cheeks. My line of thought was battling rationality. I still couldn't have said Nethiun wasn't out to destroy or kill or whatever, but if he was, why hadn't he hurt me?
I'm trying to understand things that I really can't. It's going to give me migraines forever.
Smiling cynically, I turned the water up even hotter. The only bad thing about Nethiun so far is that he likes to randomly vanish on me. Frustrating, but hardly sinister. It seems obvious that someone else is telling him what to do, which is still potentially bad news until I get more details.
Listening to the water rattle through the pipes, I took in a deep gulp of steam. On the other hand, he's saved me once, and he's been pretty open with information... in his own way.
He knows how to dance pretty damn well, too.
Thinking of last night, wrapped in the arms of the tall blonde, made my skin even warmer. I'm not seriously trying to vindicate the guy—the non-human monster thing—because he made my head a little fuzzy. Am I?
Twisting the handle violently, I shut the shower off. Standing there, staring down at my bedraggled red strands as they hung over my shoulders, I laughed reluctantly.
That's exactly what I'm doing.
Wrapped in a towel, I left the bathroom and sat down heavily on my bed. The papers, my sketches, were still stacked neatly.
Pulling them into my lap, I stared down at the top page, the copy of the circular seals I'd made. Maybe I should go over this another time, I might just be too burnt out to grasp anything useful.
Leaning over, I gasped as a few thick drops of water splashed onto the paper. Wide stains spread quickly, the size of dimes.
Scowling, I pushed my hair back, adjusting the towel on my head angrily. Damn water, why do you have to make such a...
Looking down at the drawings, at the damp markings, I remembered what Nethiun had told me while we swayed in the club.
'We're born from more powerful twaelin, they're the source of our power.'
Gaping down, my pulse racing faster, I lifted the pages in front of my eyes. Carefully, I lined the seals up, focusing on the areas the water had ruined.
'Think of it like rain.'
I had to fight back a nervous laugh. Nethiun had told me the answer to the puzzle I hadn't even fully seen yet.
These are the big guys, these are the source twaelin he was talking about. This is where Nethiun's power comes from.
I have their names, right here.
Spreading the pages apart, shuffling them until they were sitting edge to edge on the blanket before me, I bent close.
He'd told me last night, when I'd guessed he was going to report to someone higher-up than him. He gave me the answers, and I just didn't fit them together.
Dammit, it was all right here!
Rubbing my forehead, I laughed once more. This time, with exhausted relief. Great, so, if these are the names of the twaelin who are at the top, one of them is the guy Nethiun is answering to.
Peering over the titles, I grimaced. I hope it isn't this King of Corpses person, that sounds terrifying.
Tracing my finger over the circle of the Creation Duke, I sighed so hard the papers moved. This means whoever Ethlyn gets his whatever power stuff from is here, too.
I wonder, if I ask Nethiun, if he'd just tell me.
It seemed a long shot, but then, the mysterious young man had been more forthcoming when I had made educated guesses about things.
So far, anyway.
Scrubbing my soaked hair with the towel, I cleaned up and got changed, feeling much better about everything now that I'd made some progress.
It wasn't as overtly useful, but I had a feeling it might be. Generally, I was just proud to have figured something out about the people watching me behind the curtains.
Even if those people are apparently emotion-sucking god-beings who want to destroy everything. Thanks, unbiased literature.
Thinking about that, how the twaelin could possibly be so dangerous, drew my mind back to my friend Becky.
She hadn't returned still, and though I knew she was keen to spend time outside the dorms, it was too easy to think up worst case scenarios. Far too easy, actually. Please please be okay, Becky. Maybe I should go and find Nethiun, try to convince him to help me look for you...
When she finally rolled in after seven at night, looking a little frayed and exhausted, I felt massive relief.
“Becky!” I gasped, closing her laptop, ending the episode of another nameless reality show about nothing. “You're back! Are you alright?” She looks like she's in one piece! Thank goodness!
Giggling, she draped herself across her mattress and gave me a wicked grin. “Oh, way better than alright. Gale, I think I might be in love.”
That stopped me stone cold. “Excuse me?”
Kicking off her shoes, peeling off the dress she was still wearing from the club, she unapologetically stripped to her underwear. I politely shielded my eyes. “Gale, this guy. I just... wow. He took us to the hotel he's staying at, guess his apartment is being renovated or something. I didn't mind, it was so romantic! He's a god damn dream boat. Didn't you see him last night?”
Chewing on the inside of my cheek, I nodded without looking at her. I didn't have trouble remembering Ethlyn or his intense yellow eyes. They'd been aimed at me more than enough. “Uh, sure, but to call it love when you've only just met him?”
Pushing her lips together, she blew a wavering bit of air out. “Strong words from someone who's never been out on an actual date. No offense Gale, but you might not be so quick to give me love advice.”
“Hey!” I blurted, twisting back around. Finding her sitting there still in just her bra and not much else, I whipped my eyes back to the far wall. “Dammit, put on some clothes.”
Becky laughed, not unkindly. “You saw much more of me yesterday.”
That was not something I wanted to recall.
“Anyway,” she said, making enough noise as she dug around in the closet to assure me she was looking for something to change into, “Maybe you should be more open minded here.”
More open minded... but what she's talking about, with WHO she's talking about...
Tugging at the ends of my hair, I spoke quietly. “It just feels fast, to me. You're right, I don't know much about dating or guys or love or whatever. Even saying that, who falls in love overnight?”
Becky was silent, I didn't turn her way until I heard her mattress creak. She was sitting there in sweats and an old band shirt, her forehead crinkled. “What about you?”
“I—what about me?”
The corners of her mouth curled up playfully. “Well, maybe I'm just crazy here, but I seem to recall a certain girl who told me just a few nights ago that some random guy was following her around. A guy who was worth revoking a police report over. A guy who I'm pretty sure had his hands all over said girl last night.”
Dammit.
“Becky, it's not the same. I don't love Nethiun, I hardly know him!”
“You like him, I could see it on your face last night.”
Biting back a mean comment about how she couldn't see anything while her lips were stuck to Ethlyn's, I just stared at the floor. She's not entirely wrong, and I know that. But dammit, when she lays it out so bluntly, it reminds me it's been so little time since I met him.
“It stil
l isn't the same,” I muttered lamely.
Becky's bed squeaked again as she leaned forward, across the gap between us. “Gale, why do you fight so hard against this?”
Lifting my eyes suspiciously, I saw her concerned expression. “What do you mean?”
“You've been struggling against the idea of meeting someone, hell, the idea of other people getting together, ever since I met you. It's probably not my business,” she added, lifting her hands in solidarity, “but... what happened to you to make you feel this way?”
This was getting too personal, far beyond the scope of what my roommate should be getting involved in. “That isn't—that has nothing to do with...” Could it? Could what happened to mom...
Am I so oblivious, that I never considered the connection?
“Hey,” she said, watching me with those wide, empathetic eyes of hers, “you can talk to me. It might even help. I'm here for you, Gale. Okay?”
Smiling sadly, I looked her in the face as calmly as I could. “You've known me for a total of two months, Becky. As roommates, and nothing more. How can you—”
“As friends.”
Blinking, I tightened my hands in my lap. “What?”
Her smile was brazen. “I've known you as friends for two months. That gives me much more pull, didn't you know?”
I was close to laughing, on the verge of welling up with tears. “You're ridiculous.”
“No more than you,” she retaliated. “Look, if you're going to wedge your way into my life with advice on my relationships, I just think you should give me some credit and explain where this is coming from.”
I knew she wouldn't understand my cynical chuckle. This has everything to do with things I can't tell you, things like how your feelings are being aimed at a literal monster. It has nothing to do with...
With my dad.
Smoothing her hair absently, she watched me curiously. “Someone hurt you before, didn't they?”
Instantly I sat up, as if someone had jammed my lower back with a hot poker. “What?”
“That's the only thing I can think of,” she mused, shrugging casually. “I know you said you'd never dated anyone before, but was there someone at some—”
“No,” I said quickly. “No. Not like that. There wasn't ever someone like that. I—Becky, stop taking guesses.”
“I think you're giving me more information by omission than you realize,” she teased.
This must be how Nethiun feels.
Hunching my shoulders, I pulled my knees to my chest. “What happened to me doesn't have anything to do with you and Ethl—Ethan,” I corrected myself nervously, catching her confused look, “Ethan. Sorry. I'm just worried about you, that's all.”
“Gale, I know you are. I'll quit prying, but maybe you might want to talk to someone about whatever you're so set on burying down. Even if it isn't me,” she said, sighing dramatically, “I'll live if you turn to someone else. Just... talk to someone eventually. Keeping things hidden is never good.”
My eyes wandered over to my stack of notebook paper. Hidden, like her boy-toy's actual identity. How would she handle knowing that?
As far as the rest goes...
I have more things to worry about than anything to do with my father, I wish it was easier to just tell her that.
Chapter 11.
Gale Everette
Monday morning dawned red. It was a day I spent bundled up in my jacket, stumbling from one class to the next in a mental haze.
Focusing on my studies was impossible with everything else haunting me. I felt like a zombie, moving around sluggishly, searching for something so intently that nothing else around me mattered.
How could anything be more important than my worry for my own safety, and my friend's?
When the late afternoon rolled around, I wandered into my English class, amazed it was already time for it.
My foot had barely crossed the threshold when the prickling, static sensation rippled from my belly to my spine.
Jerking my eyes up, I found a familiar figure sitting at the back of the class. With his feet up on his desk, arms folded behind his head, Ethlyn looked as if he belonged perfectly among a bunch of bored college kids.
Any hope I had of not drawing his attention melted away. Those crisp yellow eyes flew my way, a muted grin chasing after it.
What the hell is he doing in here?
Frozen in the doorway, I stood there with clear fear plastered on my face. In my ears, the pounding of my blood muffled every other sound.
What do I do, dammit, what am I supposed to do?
Before I could fret longer, someone came up behind me. Clearing his throat, Mr. Birch leaned over me into the room. “Excuse me, Miss Everette? You're blocking the way, and I do have a class to teach.”
Startled, I jumped forward. My teacher stared down at me, spotting my nervous expression, or at the very least, the sweat I could feel sliding down my forehead. “Are you alright?” he murmured.
Glancing over at Ethlyn, who still hadn't moved an inch, I searched for my voice. “I'm—fine.” Dammit, really, should I just act like nothing is wrong? Ethlyn is here because of me, that's obvious, but what does he want?
I still knew too little. If the twaelin was going to cause trouble, hurt anyone, would he have done it by now? Did they think like humans, did they want to stay secret?
It all felt like information sitting just outside my reach.
“Please, Miss Everette,” my English teacher gestured towards my spot by the window, “have a seat so we can begin.”
If I leave, maybe it will draw him away. Maybe that's best, especially since he's got to be here for me.
“Miss Everette?”
Taking a step backwards, then another, I threw a fast glance at the twaelin in the back of the class. “Sorry, Mr. Birch. I think—I think I need to run, sorry. Really sorry.”
“Wait, Miss Everette!” He called out to me, but I was already out the door, power-walking down the hall. Every step I took felt heavy, my heels slamming down. The stampeding pattern, quicker and quicker, matched my heart beat.
What do I do, what do I do?
Briefly, I wished Nethiun was beside me. He'd protected me before, couldn't I rely on him to do so again?
Darting around a corner, I finally pushed out into the October air. The sky was dark, threatening rain.
Hugging my jacket close, I kept throwing uneasy glances over my shoulder, my pace taking me back towards my dorm.
Cutting through the gap between the main building and the library, I felt a flutter of excitement. The dorms represented safety to me, a place where I could hide... hide, and...
The world shimmered beside me, announcing what I'd come to learn as the appearance of a twaelin. Any hope that it was Nethiun was crushed.
Firm, a hand curled around my upper arm, stopping me in mid-stride. So fast, I thought in a daze, amazed at how he'd come after me instantly.
Thinking about my delusion of being safe in my dorm filled me with shame. How could I have dreamed I'd be any safer there, when these creatures could apparently move through the very air like it was nothing?
“You left awfully fast,” he mused, turning me around with an easy flex of his strength. I didn't need to know how powerful he was. If I hadn't had a clue what he was capable of doing, I would still have felt it.
Felt it in his casual stance, the cocky way he smiled down at me. The very aura that surrounded him, it radiated with energy. Am I just getting better at sensing it, now that I know what I'm looking for? Or is he broadcasting it because of... anticipation?
Looking up at Ethlyn, at the stylish peacoat he wore, the thick white scarf, I felt... angry.
“Why dres
s like that, if you aren't going to bother pretending to be human around me?” I asked, gritting my teeth against my warring waves of fear and frustration.
Ethlyn blinked, thin brows lowering slowly. “That's an odd thing to ask, shouldn't it be something about asking me to not hurt you?”
“Do people normally beg you not to harm them?” Narrowing my eyes, I dared to shoot a look around. Could I scream for help? Would that even matter?
Flooding with resentment over how easily he'd caught me, how helpless I felt, I gave my arm a yank. Amazingly, he let me go; so suddenly that I stumbled to keep myself from falling. “I—what?”
Lifting his hands, Ethlyn looked insulted. “Just relax, let me try to rephrase myself. I didn't want you to think I'd hurt you, of course not. That's just... well, I did pop out of the air next to you, that would normally scare most people.”
Rubbing my skin where he'd gripped me, I didn't stifle the distaste in my voice. “Guess I've gotten sort of used to that, then. Nethiun's already told me all about you guys. Sorry to let you down.” Dammit, I don't know what to do, where the hell IS Nethiun?
Wrinkling his nose, Ethlyn folded his arms with an irritatingly handsome pout. “Nethiun, yeah. I'm sure he's filled your head with some wonderful lies.”
That made me pause. “Lies? What do you mean?”
Snorting, he shrugged his shoulders until the sharp edges of his coat brushed his ears. “Exactly what I said. Nethiun is a terrible little liar who clearly has an agenda, and I'm sure he's done his best sidling up to you and pretending to be very nice. Especially,” he whispered, smirking tightly at me, “if last night was any indication.”
Dropping my jaw, my hands balled at my sides indignantly. “Why the hell would I believe you over him? What makes the word of my attempted murderer more trustworthy?”
Slowly, his gold eyes squinted at me. I could tell I'd offended him. “I didn't try to murder you! If Nethiun hadn't swooped in, I would have saved you in time.”
“You tried to drop a sign on me. That's hard to just explain away,” I snapped.