Invisible (The Curse of Avalon Book 1)

by Sariah Skye

  “Oh god yes…” I moaned.

  “As long as I’m here, there’ll be none of that!” My father called from the other room.

  I snickered, exchanging a laugh with Mathias, and a wink with the other boys: Bash, Trystan, and Xander.

  Oh yeah. This was going to be interesting.

  Interesting indeed.

  EPILOGUE

  A week had passed since I’d informally moved into the guys’ place. I hadn’t really wanted to go back home, so it worked out well.

  Though we had to go back for my mother’s strange little dog—I wasn’t about to leave him there alone, no matter how much he hated me. But, he was gone. In fact, everything in my mother’s place was empty.

  I had no idea how she’d gotten there so fast; we went back literally the next morning, but it was too late. Any sign of my mother was gone.

  Summer was staying with her new girlfriend in Uptown Minneapolis. She was apparently, a red-haired cage dancer in the Underground. That’s why she wanted to go there so often, so suddenly. Her name was Naomi—a pretty name for the pretty girl. We didn’t know for sure, but given where she was working, and the guys’ assumptions…we thought she was a fae. I didn’t know of course, but they were pretty sure about it. I’d met her once so far, and liked her well enough though was slightly bummed not to be living with my best friend anymore. At least—for now.

  At this particular moment, Xander, and Mathias were standing over the kitchen island, poured over a set of blueprints, trying to map out just exactly where to build a set of small houses at the edge of their property. Apparently, they were planning to move my father in with his partner, Nadina, and have a house available for Summer, should she want it. And a third one for me—if I wanted some privacy.

  But so far, I hadn’t wanted any. Being around them—all of them—brightened my spirits and lifted my mood. And around them, my libido was fully charged, but I fought it for dominance. Soon I’d give in, but we needed to lay out some ground rules. We had no idea what those would be, so I settled for a few stolen kisses, and cuddles here and there. Turns out, Bash especially, and Mathias were huge cuddlers.

  Trystan was laid back, but a huge flirt. And Xander was an extreme romantic. Any time I woke up, I woke up to various colored roses, along with a sweet, handwritten note on my pillow. If I hadn’t fallen asleep in my room—if I’d fallen asleep with Bash—it’d appear on my vanity, when I’d get out of the bathroom. He never missed a beat, that one.

  We’d fallen into a sort of domestic rhythm. So far, none of them were letting me lift a finger. Mathias was the master chef—of course, but Bash was meticulous about laundry. I tried to do my own, but he wasn’t having it. Finally, I obliged, secretly thrilled with the idea of him touching my silky underthings.

  Xander was the cleaner. Not much got passed him; he claimed in his family growing up, filth was just wrong. It was wrong here too, but it bothered him immensely, so everyone just let him do his bizarre OCD cleaning rituals.

  Trystan wasn’t domestic at all—neither was I—so we were left to get dirty out in the barn, caring for the animals. I’d finally met some of the bears, and Nessie’s pack of lone wolves, and even hugged a mother fox after she had her babies (Trystan said she just needed a hug; I guess a loving mother does after such a tough ordeal.)

  Trystan would always stare wistfully overhead at the bald eagles that flew overhead. There was a nesting pair in a tree in the middle of the property, and he watched them fly, with tears in his eyes. He never let them fall, but I knew he missed the sky.

  “Soon…” I told him. I hoped that somehow, I’d eventually be able to help him with that.

  My father, as promised, was going to start helping me hone my abilities. He said it’d come in handy in the upcoming months. Just because my mother had disappeared for now, doesn’t mean she’d stay gone. She needed the power of the isle to stay young; without it, she’d surely die. Despite what she did to me, I stupidly felt sad, thinking about her betrayal. For many years, she was the only family I’d ever known. Besides Summer.

  So far, the powers of Avalon hadn’t done anything to me but made me super horny, which I figured was normal. Half of the Avalonian witches’ healing power was sexual in nature, apparently. Not all incubi were created with the magic of Avalon, but a lot were. There were others out there, my father insisted, but right now the only ones that mattered were the ones in this house.

  It was a Saturday, and we were all lounging around in the middle of the day, snacking on leftovers from Mathias’ big dinner the night before. My father was in attendance, as he and Bash were helping to plot our next move.

  Bash had spread out papers and pictures of anything on the old Arthurian legends he could find from the internet, whether it was true, or not. Of course, most of it wasn’t, but could hold some sort of clue, Bash had claimed.

  My father held a particular paper in his hands, and he smirked, while shaking his head.

  “What’s that?” I asked, and he showed me. It was a crude painting, depicting the deceased king, holding a long, golden sword. My father cringed.

  “Arthur looked nothing like that,” he said, with a chuckle. In the painting, Arthur had thin, puckered lips and narrowed eyes, with dark brown hair, and a long beard.

  “Is that Excalibur?” I asked, pointing at the sword.

  “Supposed to be.” He and I exchanged a glance; in my ‘vision’ of Avalon, his sword appeared nothing like that.

  “It looked nothing like that, though,” I said, reassuringly patting the gem in my pocket.

  “Nope.”

  “When did you last see it?” Bash inquired. “I mean, for real, not just in a vision?”

  My father thought back. “Hundreds of years. One night, a mysterious woman took it from me as I slept on a shoreline in Scotland, many years ago.”

  Bash smacked the table with his hand. “The Lady of the Lake.”

  Lachlan nodded. “Right. Truthfully, she’s the rightful owner of it, bestowing it upon the temporary owner when it’s needed. But you have to find it first,” he said, grumbling.

  Bash smirked. “Well…this is the land of lakes. Chances are good…we can find her somehow.”

  “She doesn’t just travel lake to lake, Sebastian,” my father explained. “If she’s even still alive after all these years.”

  “Why do we need the sword?” I asked, confused. “I have the gem, it’s in my pocket.” I patted my pants pocket; I now carried the stone—a blue sapphire—in a sachet, and kept it near me at all times. I tried to give it back to my father, but he refused, saying it would help “bring him to me” in times of need. Well, it worked once, so I didn’t doubt him on that. I felt ten times better just having it near me.

  “The gem isn’t enough. Arthur used this sword in battle to get an edge on his opponents,” Bash explained.

  Mathias nodded. “Yes, I saw it. Years ago, when the Roman empire was falling. Arthur had no equal in battle. I never fought him—I wanted the empire to fall—but he was remarkable. Of course, at the time, I didn’t know it was because of his sword, but I figured he just had powers like mine.”

  Lachlan shook his head. “No, it was definitely the sword. Arthur was entirely human, but he had the favor of many supes. Including the dragon that made this sword. The legend says that the sword can only be wielded by one who is worthy—is true. He gave it to me as he died—and the sword deemed me worthy somehow. After a time, it was just a paperweight for me. Probably why the Lady of the Lake took it back,” he said, with a shrug. “I haven’t had need for it in years. However, the gem was pried out, she said I’d ‘need it.’” He gave me a proud smile. “She wasn’t wrong. In the vision I shared with you Avie, I pried it out, but really it was only symbolic to help prove my point. That you could take and accept the stone of Excalibur—and you did.”

  I beamed.

  “So, stands to reason, this sword could help take out Morgaine, yes. She’s desperate now, I assume. I don’t know just ho
w much power she gained,” Bash continued, “but I doubt it’ll be enough to sustain her forever. She’ll be looking for a new source.”

  “What if she just…you know…decides to die?” I suggested.

  Bash exchanged a look with my father. “It’s unlikely. According to all the texts and stories of her over the years—including my own personal dealings with her. When I knew her, she was a brunette named ‘Faye’,” he cringed at the thought. “She isn’t likely to give up. I am not sure what her end game is, but we can be assured that she’ll come for you eventually. We thwarted her whole plan. But she isn’t likely to give up.”

  “So, we find this sword, aye. How do we do that?” Trystan asked.

  “We start in the last spot it was seen.” Bash pulled out another map, slapping it on top of the table. He X’ed out a spot along the shore of North Scotland. “Right there. Too bad we don’t know anyone familiar with the area,” he said, nudging Trystan.

  “Aye, ye smartass,” he said, shoving his friend in return.

  I leaned back against my chair, Mathias had his arm draped over my shoulders, softly grazing his fingertips over my bare shoulder (I wore a black tank and black and purple capri pants). Xander sat in his chair so his knees just brushed against mine. We smiled at each other.

  “So, when do we leave?” he asked.

  “Just a minute,” my father piped up. “You aren’t going anywhere, and leaving my daughter unprotected. I can only do so much.”

  I wanted to open my mouth to protest that I could protect myself, but I didn’t. This time I was in over my head. I did need help.

  Trystan spoke up first. “She can come. We won’t let anything happen to her. Or Bash and I—or whoever—can go.”

  He shook his head. “No, you’ll need Ava to find it. She has to go.” He cleared his throat before continuing, appearing serious. “So, you swear you won’t let anything happen to her? You’re the new protectors of Avalon?” He asked, an eager glint in his eyes.

  We all looked at each other, shrugged lightly, and nodded.

  “We are,” Mathias said, pulling me closer to him.

  “Aye,” Trystan responded.

  “Of course,” Bash said.

  Xander nodded quickly. “We wouldn’t let anything happen to her.”

  My father slapped the table. “Congratulations, you are all now the Knights of the New Round Table.”

  “What?” I said, giving him a strange look.

  “Well…okay so this table is square, but still. You’re all knights now, swearing your fealty to Avalon. This time, Avalon just happens to be my daughter instead of just the isle. You definitely accept?”

  Without missing a beat, the four men looked to each other, and nodded once. “Yes!” They said in unison.

  I felt a charge of power pull at me, and I held out my hand. A faint gold, shimmering string wrapped around us, pulling myself, Mathias, Xander, Trystan and Bash together. “Whoa…” I said, wide-eyed as everyone else, as I lifted my hand.

  “Now it’s official. Since I’m the closest thing to Arthur that exists, I have the power to determine this, I guess.” He glowered at the four men, shaking a finger at them each. “Do not disappoint me.”

  The four men swallowed nervously, but held up their heads. “We got this,” Bash said confidently, and everyone else nodded.

  Yes, this was definitely going to be interesting.

  THE END.

  FOR NOW.

  AUTHOR’S NOTES

  If you’ve made it this far: congratulations! I sure hope you enjoyed my new little take on Avalon, and the legends of King Arthur, Morgaine Le Fey, and Sir Lancelot. Rest assured, I have much more in store in further books.

  If you’re out there, scratching your head going “Hmm…I don’t remember King Arthur being exactly like that…” Well you’re probably right. Haha. According to my mother’s 1991 World Book Encyclopedia (a/k/a “Prehistoric Google”), little is actually known about the real Arthur; only that it is “assumed” that he existed. From Geoffrey of Monmouth in the 12th Century, to movie King Arthur: Legend of the Sword from 2017, starring Charlie Hunnam, and everything in between, writers and actors have been spinning their own take on the legends for hundreds of years. I tried my very best to keep true to a lot of the known legends, while spinning into something new. As well as all the historical points regarding various witch trials in American history, the Roman Empire, etc…

  At a few points in the story, a couple of the characters speak in their native tongues; I tried my best to properly research both languages (Chinese and Gaelic). I never would wish to offend any language speaker, so if you have a correction, please contact me at sariahskyeauthor@gmail.com, and please be assured no offense or confusion was meant.

  If you’ve read my Fated Saga—my epic/urban fantasy books—you might notice some similarities. You’re not crazy, it was intentional. My Curse and Fated series’ are set in the same “world.” You can expect further cameos or mentions to other Fated characters, species, towns, places in further books in both series’! Both series’ can be read alone, though, so don’t feel you’re missing out on anything! Though, I’d love it very much if you’d pick up my Fated Saga books, too! (*winking emoji*)

  Hopefully you loved the book as much as I enjoyed writing it! And I love this story immensely! Please consider leaving a review on Amazon or Goodreads if you liked it! If you didn’t, thanks for giving me a chance!

  Thank you to all my friends and family who supported me in this endeavor! A special thanks to the readers—without you, none of this is possible! Much love to you all! The biggest thanks to my private group of friends and “readers”, the Shenaniganators, for putting up with all my ‘antics’, posts, etc! You’re ALL the greatest!!! Super special thank you to author Montana Ash for the friendship and support!

  Xoxo,

  OTHER WORKS:

  The Fated Saga (available exclusively at Amazon and Kindle Unlimited! Also in print!)

  Fated Souls

  Fated Magic

  Fated Hope

  Fated Fury (work in progress, due in 2018)

  The Curse of Avalon

  Invisible

  Inevitable (work in progress, due in 2018)

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

  Sariah Skye lives in southern Minnesota with her two kids, her husband, and a silly black lab. When not writing, editing, or trying unsuccessfully to be a functional adult, Sariah usually has her head in a book (anything but non-fiction or horror), is watching one of many 90’s TV reruns, obsessing over Star Trek or Doctor Who, or possibly playing World of Warcraft. Maybe. She doesn’t take herself too seriously and makes jokes at inappropriate times. She also hates sarcasm. Hates it. Don’t even bother.

  She loves chocolate, wine and spaghetti (not necessarily together), but hates selfies, parties and large groups of people. She doesn’t quite get the point of Twitter or Instagram, but she has them, and you’re welcome to follow her sad attempts at socializing at:

  http://www.facebook.com/SariahSkyeauthor

  www.twitter.com/realSariahSkye

  www.instagram.com/sariahskyeauthor

  Or drop her an email at sariahskyeauthor@gmail.com or private message her on Facebook.

  She also has a private group called the Shenaniganators for anyone who might possibly want to follow her works, progress or just share a silly meme war (though she really doesn’t understand why anyone is there, she loves them all nevertheless). If you want to join, you’re more than welcome:

  https://www.facebook.com/groups/1181871955189542

  You can also find out more about her ARC and review teams there. If you want. You can also subscribe to her newsletter, Sariah’s Shenanigans, to keep up with sales and new releases. Despite living in Minnesota, the SPAM capital of the world (*makes gagging noises*), she hates it, and will never spam your mailbox unless you ask her to…sign up here at: http://eepurl.com/cqSJWD

  Curse of Avalon Book 1)