They didn’t have to go. They could have released him, sent him into the vortex, and I could have sealed it. Game over. None of that matters right now though. What matters is finding where they are. “Where are you?”
Ezra speaks up, “We’re on the other side of the black hole.
Nate interrupts, “It is exactly like our world. Well, what we can tell so far.”
I recall Adam Claiborne speaking on what could lie beyond the black hole and Ezra’s idea of what they are after. The soulless are seeking what they don’t have––our souls.
Fear claws at my chest. “Have you seen anything? Come in contact with any beings?”
The both look at each other before Ezra responds. “Yes, but we haven’t interacted. We aren’t taking any chances by communicating with them. I’m sure they already know more about us than we’d like.”
Nate suddenly releases my hand and rises, walking back to the foot of the bed, next to Ezra.
“Tell the others everything we have told you,” Ezra’s words begin to echo as him and Nate starts to fade, becoming transparent.
“Wait, don’t go!” I call after them urgently, but they continue to dissolve.
“You have to—”
Nate’s echoing whisper falls away as Xander’s soft voice carries the rest of the message, “—wake up Jes.”
The cool contact of a cloth being laid on my forehead has me blinking awake to see Xander’s face looking down on me. I start to sit up and look around at the room that I just dreamed about, but Xander tries to stop me by gently resting his hand on my shoulder, keeping my back to the bed. “Slow down. You’ve been through a lot Jes.”
I remember the moment Nate tells Xander to protect me before he and Ezra draw Sam into the wormhole. “He told you to hold me back didn’t he?”
I don’t need to tell him I’m talking about Nate––he knows as he looks down, pained by my bringing it up. He nods quickly, “He sent me his thoughts. He’s been sending them to me, since we learned of our link.”
I try to shift my body and stretch my legs, but every muscle feels like overcooked noodles.
Xander lays his hand over mine, making me meet his level stare. “Jes, I’m going to keep you safe. I made a promise to him, but above all, I’ve promised myself. Nothing will happen to you.”
I don’t fight him on it, knowing that his resolve is solid right now and I’m still too damn fuzzy to get in a pissing match with him.
Like he’s noticing the dulled movements in my head, Xander says, “Monica gave you a heavy sedative after—”
Pausing, he continues to focus on the blanket covering me. “You were hysterical and we needed to calm you to get you to safety. You’ve been out for two days Jes.”
Days? Has he sat by my side the entire time?
His eyebrow rises as he looks up at me. “Yes I have. Not even one shower and I’ve barred the others from coming in here until you were awake.”
Xander takes the cloth from my forehead and tosses it onto the nightstand to my right. The cloth lands next to a lavender gift bag with pale pink tissue billowing from the top.
“What’s that?”
As I look back at him, he glances at the bag. “Sebastian told me to give it to you when you woke.”
I start to reach for it, when Xander takes hold of my hand again, pulling my attention back to him. He looks down at my hand in his and says, “There’s something I need to tell you.”
Seeing the concern in him spikes my own worry. “What?”
Xander breathes out deeply, and then looks up at me through his dark eyelashes. “Nate and Ezra came to me. The thing is I don’t know if it was real or just me wanting him back. Listen to me, I wished for him to go away for days and now that he’s gone—”
He shakes his head and turns it further from me. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have––”
I interrupt, not wanting to go down that road of guilt with him. “No. It’s okay. It was real. Before you woke me they were here.”
Xander looks down at our hands, and then he squeezes tightly as he pinches his eyes closed.
“Whatever it takes, Jes! If you and I have to run to hell and back to get them, we will.”
I squeeze his hand in return feeling the determination he holds coursing through me.
“Have you told the others?”
Xander shakes his head. “No, I came straight to your room when I woke up.”
I start to kick off the covers when he says, “Where are you going?”
“We have to tell the others.”
As I scoot to the edge of the bed, nudging him to get up, he says, “Wait. You shouldn’t be walking around if your legs are still weak.”
How does he know my legs are weak?
He looks up at me suspiciously. “Just a guess. They are, right?”
I nod and stay put as he walks to the door.
“Don’t move, all right?”
“Okay,” I say just as he pulls the door shut behind him.
While I wait for him and the others to return, I look down at the lavender gift bag by my side. I reach for the string handles and lift it, bringing it onto my lap. A small card slides down one of the handles and I turn it over to read it.
Will you take care of them while I am gone?
Ezra
I close my eyes, trying to figure out how he was able to leave this with Sebastian for me. Was it before we left for the forest? As I continue to question his reasoning and purpose, which there always is with Ezra, I gently pull the tissue paper from the bag. Reaching in, I feel something solid. Taking hold of it, I pull it slowly from the bag. Once the gift is revealed, I bring it up closer to eye level. The gel-filled habitat is being explored by the red ants just as they had the first night Ezra Kahn pierced my simple, average life back in Marietta, Georgia. As I watch two ants tapping their antennae against the hard plastic casing of their world, one of them moves away while the other tries to climb the small gelatinous pile they have created.
I see our world’s evolution has had little effect on their progressive tunnels, exploration and desire to seek out the unknown––something more. I hear the memory of me asking him, “Friends of yours?”
His voice echoes in my head from the last time I asked him this in Miami only weeks ago. “Will you take care of them if something happens to me?”
The climbing ant becomes cloudy as I hold in the tears. I shake my head knowing that even then, he knew something I didn’t. A revelation that he needed to keep from me.
As the ant ascends, determined to seek out the unknown, I whisper, “I promise. I will.”
Please continue reading for a sneak peek of Book 3 in the Copula Chronicles series, Ascend.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Having always been passionate about the written word, Venessa Kimball embarked on writing what would become her debut novel, Piercing the Fold: a young adult urban fantasy series in 2010, with a 2012 release with Crushing Hearts Black Butterfly Publishing, it quickly finished out as a four book series. Venessa has also written a compelling teen contemporary series, the Evan series.
Venessa also writes New Adult and Adult romance under the pen name V. Angelika. When she isn’t writing, she is keeping active with her high school sweetheart and three kids, chauffeuring said children to extracurricular activities, catching a movie with her honey, and staying up way too late reading.
Connect with her at:
www.VenessaKimball.com
http://www.facebook.com/venessakimballauthor
http://www.twitter.com/venessakimball
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I have said this a million times, and I will say
it a million more: It takes a village to produce a novel. The village I have been blessed with has helped bring this novel from imagination to realization. It could not have been accomplished without the energy of so many behind the scenes and I thank you with all my heart. Rebecca Poole, thank you for bringing the covers of the Copula Chronicles to life and formatting the content with all the pretties. Kristina Circelli with Red Road Editing and Dawn Miller for their keen eyes. Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing for believing in this series.
Dawn Miller, thank you for being an extraordinary friend first and a meticulous critique partner second. Your critiques, opinions, fine tuning edits, and nudges to push the characters make my stories more compelling than I had ever imagined.
To my beta readers, I have always asked you for brutal honesty and you have obliged. Thank you for that!
To my launch team, Darlings, thank you for embracing and spreading the word about my writing and being my biggest cheerleaders on my writing journey. I am truly blessed to have fans as great as you!
Austin DD gals, I love you dearly. Thank you for the inspiration and motivation you infuse into the atmosphere every month at our gatherings. I owe you a cheese tray and antipasti tray next time my friends.
To the bloggers and community of readers that have put energy and time into posting and spreading the word about my writing, you have been the life line for my books as they make their way into sea of novels and novelettes. I have the utmost respect and appreciation for all that you do to spread the word for authors worldwide.
Much love to all of you,
~V
Other Novels Published by Venessa Kimball
New Adult/ Adult Urban Fantasy- Sci-Fi series
The Copula Chronicles
Origin, Book 1
Descend, Book 2
Ascend, Book 3
Legacy, Book 4
Copula Chronicles: The Complete Collection Boxed Set Books 1-4
*previously titled as the Piercing the Fold series.*
YA/Teen Contemporary Fiction Series
the Evan series
Dismantling Evan: Book 1
Saving Gavin: a Novelette, vol 1
Resurrecting Gavin: a Novelette, vol 2
Reviving Evan: a Novella 1.5
Novels Published by Venessa Kimball
Writing as V. Angelika
New Adult Contemporary Romance
Crossing Stars Duet
Cross the Stars (Crossing Stars Duet #1)
Steal the Moon (Crossing Stars Duet #2) - Coming Soon
***
SNEAK PEEK OF ASCEND: A COPULA CHRONICLES NOVEL, BOOK 3
CHAPTER 1: ON GUARD
Jesca
Kyoto, Japan
As I lay on the bed, my eyes still damp from the tears I shed, I watch the small digits of the ants work in their small, rectangular world. Two ants are cautiously feeling around with their digits as they slowly enter a dead-end tunnel that has claimed one of their own. Watching the stillness of the trapped ant, I know they are too late. They won’t know until they get to it. I close my eyes and see a flash of Nate and Ezra pulling Sam into the wormhole. The image brings all of the fear I just settled from back to the surface. That’s how it’s going to be until we get to them—constant fear and worry.
Opening my eyes again, I watch one of the ants going in for the rescue; get to the other that has already passed. Using its senses, it discovers as much then begins its ascent back to the ant lingering at the top of the tunnel. What if the plastic casing of the ant farm were thinned into the delicate veil that separtes our world from those wanting to attack us? I glance at the note dangling from the bag just to the right of the ant farm.
Will you take care of them while I am gone?
Ezra
Of course I would take care of them; there’s no question about that. The real question was how would we get Ezra and Nate back from wherever they have traversed? They should be in this facility with me right now, not sucked into a wormhole that could have killed them. The only reason I’m grasping for hope is the lucid dream Ezra and Nate gave Xander and me last night. Bottom line, they sacrificed themselves for me and they shouldn’t have. Our fellowship––our team, need them here with us more than ever. The intersection has taken place and while I don’t know what that entails––what has happened while I’ve been unconscious for days, I know that their being here would benefit us more than sacrificing them for my safety.
We need Ezra’s strength, logic and guidance. Nate’s ability to heal others and his link with both Xander and me has left me feeling more vulnerable than I had before learning about my guardianship to the Dobrian fellowship. Yeah, the link caused tension between the three of us. And yes, my growing feelings for each of them have created a rift. But it has also made the abilities Xander and I share with Nate stronger and protected. With Nate and Ezra out in some unknown world with Sam and God knows what else, they’re sitting ducks––especially for Sam, if it’s even Sam.
My mind reverts to the image of Sam just before he was pulled into the vortex––his shifting face to the one hell bent on killing me, Michael Sanderson. My breath catches in my throat and I clear the obtrusive phlegm resting there. The other times I’ve encountered Michael have been elusive. The dark shadowy aura he embodies before transforming into his true self. The shifting of his face revealed in Sam’s just before Nate and Ezra pulled him into the vortex. Both instances made me feel like Sam and him shared the same presence. Yeah, it sounds freaking insane, but so is everything else in this world right now.
Just then the door opens behind me––it’s Xander. I don’t need to look to know that, I can feel him––his block is down. As he walks around the bed to look at me straight on, I don’t let my own block fall. Feeling a sand-like dryness, I clear my throat again before I ask. “Where are we again?”
As he stands over me, I feel his eyes waiting for me to acknowledge the question burning in his mind––why did I block him?
“A facility in Kyoto.”
His answer is short and lacking the gentleness, he had in his voice before he left to tell the others I was awake. As I slowly sit up, intent on getting out of this bed, Xander asks, “Why’d you block me just then?”
Well shit, so much for changing the subject. I sigh, “I’m just––guarded right now. That’s all.”
I look up at him, hoping my vague answer is enough to keep his questioning from going any further. Suddenly, the radiating frustration he’s letting off dissipates, and Xander becomes an unemotional and thoughtless blank slate. He sits down in the chair opposite me and leans his head against the wall behind him. His concealment is obvious and with the way he’s staring at me, he’s resentful that I don’t trust him right now.
“It’s not just you Xander. I just need some privacy right now.”
I slide forward off the bed and place my bare feet on the cold tile as he mumbles. “Yeah, I get it.”
I look up at him from my feet and notice the genuine concern as he leans forward, ready to help me if I need it. “Be careful. It’s been a few days since you’ve used those,” he says before looking up at me then to the bedside table. “I see you opened it.”
My legs are strong enough to hold me up, but they’re still weak. As he stares at the ant farm, I lower myself back down to the bed to sit. “Yeah.”
Seeing me sit down seems to relax Xander as he sits back in the chair. I’m guessing that was his stationed post while I was unconscious. Continuing to watch the ants moving within their confines, he leans his head against his hand as he rests his arm on the armrest. “How’d he know?”
The same questions burn in my mind, but what burns deeper is where Ezra and Nate are and if somehow Michael Sanderson survived my anchoring my dagger into his chest as he plummeted into the depths of Lake Motosuko. An even deeper c
oncern is what if Michael Sanderson had found a way to traverse into the wormhole with Sam, giving logic to why I saw his face in Sam’s moments before he disappeared into the vortex. As I stare at the ant farm and think, Xander interrupts, “Knowing Ezra, it means something more than just a few ants.”
A knot forms in my throat as I recall the first time I saw Ezra’s ant farm on campus in his office back in Georgia. I look down at my hands folded in my lap as I try to tell him without giving into my emotions. “It symbolized us––guardians, our world, our curiosities, our successes and failures, everything.”
God, it seems so long ago even though it’s only been a year since everything in my life snowballed and I learned of my purpose as a guardian. I place my hand just below my neck, expecting to feel the chain holding my remembrance of that purpose, but it’s gone. I look on the bedside table first, and then up at Xander. “The Copula Medallion, where is it?”
Seeing my panic setting in, Xander quickly pulls it from his pants pocket and holds the Copula in his open palm. “It’s okay. I just took it off of you when I put you into bed.”
Even though he’s showing me the medallion, I’d feel better with it around my neck. I take it from his palm. Fumbling to open the clasp, Xander sees my frustration and offers, “Let me help you.”
I keep fumbling with the clasp, but each attempt fails as he covers my hand with his and takes the Copula from me with the other. “It’s okay Jes. Let me help.”
It’s crazy how the smallest failures can work on you, especially when you are already tense as all hell. I release the Copula into his hands and he moves to sit next to me. I’m surprised at how my hair isn’t a rat’s nest as I turn my back to him and collect it to the side for him to fasten the medallion in place. Did he brush my hair while I was out? What else did he do while I was out? I look down at the grey tank top I’m wearing and the white and blue pinstriped pajama pants. I think on what he said a bit ago––getting me into bed. Once the necklace is secure, I turn to him and put a little distance between us in the same motion. “Who changed me?”
Copula Chronicles: The Complete Collection: Origin, Descend, Ascend, Legacy Page 49