Ambrosia Shore (The Water Keepers, Book 3)
Page 36
My hand stopped just before I touched his skin. It was strange. I could already feel the injury. I didn’t even have to touch it this time. Now that I understood what I was searching for it was so much easier to see.
I let my hand hover just above Rayne’s leg, maybe an inch, and then I closed my eyes to concentrate. The harmful energy moved to the surface as I connected myself to it, enveloped by the longing to take away his pain. I sensed that I could remove the damage with little difficulty, and with hardly any effort, I knew the injury was fully healed.
I was ready to let the connection go, sever the bond once the repairs had been made. But just as I was about to pull the tethers away, a new sensation overcame me. I saw something, a shimmer of light. It called to me, pulled me in from somewhere deeper inside him, and I yearned to find it.
All the other desires within me disappeared as I searched for it in longing. It was so familiar, so warm, like a burning in his heart that I couldn’t live without. The deeper I pulled myself to it, the stronger and brighter it became.
The glimmer of light embraced me so fully that I moved right to the center of its strength. It was suddenly so clear. I knew it completely. It was love, Rayne’s love. I could see it like a tangible thing, like a vision of inner strength that surrounded his entire being. Emotion poured through my soul, radiated through me until I could hardly contain it. The power was too strong. The force of it overwhelmed me, and I could feel my body collapse to the floor as the vision of light disappeared.
My mind lingered inside itself for only a moment, searching for strength, but I could sense movement around me, and I pushed my eyes open.
Rayne fell to his knees beside me, gazing at me with a look of both concern and admiration.
“I’m okay,” I told him. I lifted myself up, moving to stand, and Rayne took my hand to help me.
As soon as I reached my feet, I found three stunned councilmen staring at me in awe.
Councilman Thompson could hardly utter the words. “So then…it’s true…”
Gibbs reached forward, taking my hand and holding it with a strange sort of reverence to his chest. His voice was low, almost a whisper as he said, “Aurora… I knew you would come.”
The name sent a shiver up my neck. What did it mean? Why did I keep hearing that name?
Before I could even think of a response, Orion stepped forward. “Sadie’s right,” he proclaimed. “You both saw it. She belongs at the Academy. When the other members of the Council hear of this, I am certain they will approve. This talent cannot be wasted. I will mentor her myself.”
Councilman Thompson still looked bewildered. “Yes… I believe…I agree.”
The throbbing in my heart finally went still, and I knew that everything was just as it should be. I was more certain than ever before. This was right. This was my future.
After that, everything seemed to fall into place. I took my oath of allegiance to Ambrosia without a stutter or doubt. Then they escorted us away from the beautiful big house, up a short pathway outside that would lead us to the border gate. I couldn’t help but glance behind me as we walked. Past the flowers and the green grass along the path, past the faces of the agents surrounding me, there was a magnificent view of the ocean and of the world I was leaving behind.
We reached the plain concrete door that would take us to the border, and I glanced back at the view one last time, feeling at peace, knowing that it would not be goodbye forever. I had a reason to return. I had a gift to share.
Then, I walked through the door, finally ready to embrace the destiny that was calling to me. When we reached the bottom of the stairs, the Threshold glistened before us, my mom, my dad, me, and Rayne. And we stepped forward through the shimmering wall of light, my mom’s eyes wide with wonder, to a new life, a new world, a new future, together, as a family.
44. ORION NEEDS TO TALK
The old Bennett family estate stood, with all its prominence, up in the high hills of Banya. It was one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the city, not only for its unequaled views and landscapes, but for its nearness to the Sacred Pool.
The large bedroom door creaked as Orion pushed it open. His father’s nurse looked up with a start from where she stood beside the bed.
“I need to speak to him,” Orion said, “alone.”
She glanced at a food tray sitting on the table. “I was just about to feed him.”
“It can wait,” Orion replied.
Without speaking again, the nurse nodded quietly and exited the room. When the door closed behind her, Orion moved beside the bed.
The old man strained to shift his head. His voice wheezed. “You have…good news?”
“Well, I have news,” Orion replied. “Some good, some… questionable.” His father’s eyes followed him carefully as Orion continued. “Hamlin has been discredited in the eyes of the public, and the Council has forced him into hiding. He will no longer have a voice with the people to rally support of the Keeper program.”
His father managed a nod. “Very good.”
Orion’s mouth curved upward. “It won’t be long now. The Ambassador’s chair is right within my grasp, just as we always planned.”
“And the bad news?” his father asked.
Orion swallowed and took a step closer. “There’s something I must show you.” He reached into the inner pocket of his suit jacket, grasped the Briolette between his fingers, and held it out for his father to see.
His father’s eyes grew wide. “Is it real?”
Orion nodded. “Yes. I fear the time to complete our purpose is growing short.”
His father’s arm strained to reach off the bed, holding out his hand for the stone. Orion set the Briolette inside his father’s grasp and helped him lift his arm closer.
His father marveled down at it. “Where? How?”
“A girl,” Orion explained, “born outside the Threshold, yet she bears the mark of the Sacred Pool. She had the stone in her possession.” He paused to take a breath as he said the words they both were dreading to hear. “She is… the Aurora.”
His father inhaled so quickly he almost choked. As he struggled to find his voice, he closed his eyes, wrapping his shaky fingers around the Briolette. “I feel it,” he finally said. “It holds the power of the source, the key to igniting the three spheres…the Aurora, the Threshold, the Sacred Pool.”
His father’s eyes opened abruptly, voice straining to continue. “The girl must not get it back. Prevent the unification at all costs.”
“It’s too late,” Orion said. “The power of her mark glows white and ceases to end. She heals without the Healing Water. She projects the healing power outside herself to others. I saw it with my own two eyes.”
His father’s hand clenched tighter around the stone, his jaw trembling. “Then it has already begun. The Aurora is here.”
Book 4 of The Water Keepers
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