by Jo Holloway
She started to shake her head. “Maybe I’m like all the people we hear about in the news these days not acting like themselves. No, I’m serious. Something’s going on. How do you know it’s not affecting me too, whatever it is?”
Her stomach knotted with a wave of regret she couldn’t place and she glanced at Jenner. She didn’t think she’d ever get used to being struck by random feelings out of the blue.
“Fine.” Wes turned and started down the path.
“Wait up. Where are you going?”
“If you won’t listen to reason, maybe a more permanently cheerful friend can make you see things in a different light.”
Cara rolled her eyes but fell into step beside him. Jenner followed.
“Even if you’re right, it’s Pyx whose feelings I absorb, not people.”
“Not even exceptionally sunny people?” Wes shot her one of his rare smiles.
The corner of her mouth twitched up. She scoffed. “Worth a shot I guess.”
“Besides, getting away from this area can’t hurt. If you’re feeling this mad, they could be close. They could even be watching us.”
She glanced over her shoulder. Shafts of pale winter light split the woods, filtering through the gaps above and illuminating some of the shadows. Nothing jumped out at them but a tingle worked its way up her spine as she hurried forward.
By the time they stepped out of the trees into the open clearing of the school campus, the tingle had receded and her dark mood began to lighten. She rolled her head from side to side, loosening the tense muscles of her neck while they strolled past wooden fences along a wood chip path.
A figure sat on the fence ahead. His familiar crown of golden-blond hair glowed in the late afternoon sun. Jory turned his head at the sound of their approach.
He took in Cara’s appearance with a grin. “Wow, Cares. Did you leave any mud on the trail?”
“Ha ha, Sunshine. Very funny.” She climbed onto the bottom railing of the fence to punch him in the shoulder.
Puddles dotted the sand arena in front of them. A big bay horse trotted along the far side, extending his stride down the long edge before the girl on his back sank back in the saddle and gently coaxed him to compress before the corner.
“Seriously. You know running doesn’t usually involve rolling in the dirt, right? You’re doing it wrong.” Jory chuckled when she sneered at him.
“You try running while every muscle fibre in your body gets tight for no reason, and your thoughts spiral off to—” She cut herself off with a small head shake. She didn’t feel like discussing where her thoughts had been when she fell, and she forced herself to focus on the horse and rider now coming toward them instead of letting herself spin back down that particular dark spiral.
Wes climbed up the fence on her other side and swung his legs over to sit on top like Jory. Cara allowed herself a moment to appreciate the support of the two guys sitting on either side of her. In spite of their differences from each other—a bright, cheerful grin on one side and a dark, thoughtful expression on the other—they shared a fierce loyalty, both to each other, and now, to her. They were the best friends a girl could ever have asked for, and all she’d done lately was snap at them. She needed to do better. Somehow she had to shut out the feelings of these Pyx strangers and return to herself. She turned back to Jory, whose grin had slipped from his face.
“It happened again?” Jory looked across to his childhood best friend. He and Wes barely had to speak to understand each other and he grimaced at the look on Wes’s face. “Damn. We gotta figure out what’s going on.”
The girl on the horse stopped the animal in front of them and loosened the reins. “Figure out what’s going on with what?”
“With Cara and the random fits of rage.” Jory gave her a wink to let her know he was teasing, and then faced the girl in front of them. A sweeter smile crept across his face.
“Again?” She stood in her stirrups and swung her right leg over the horse’s rear end, dropping to the ground in one fluid motion. Holding the reins in one hand, she slid her helmet off with the other and shook out her shoulder-length auburn hair.
Cara nodded, still clinging to the top rail of the fence. The horse took a step forward and raised his head. She leaned over the fence and held out a hand for him to nuzzle against. His velvety lip brushed against her stinging palm, twitching as he started to search for treats. She managed a smile.
“Sorry, Charlie, I don’t have anything for you.”
He snorted into her hand. She jerked it back but not before he’d coated her with slime.
“Yuuuck.”
She grimaced and wiped her hand across her thigh adding a green-tinged stain to the mud smeared below.
Lovely.
Three snickers from all around her brought a flash of irritation, but it was nothing like the burning anger from before. She shot dirty looks at her two best friends on either side before facing their newest friend in front.
“Control your beast, Liv.”
Liv smiled up at her. “Sorry, Charlie’s a real snot-breathing dragon sometimes.”
Cara joined in the laughter.
“So the Pyx still aren’t telling you anything?” Jory asked.
“No.” Wes shifted on his perch atop the fence. “But we did say we’d trust them a while longer.”
“I want to know what they did with that evil...”
She missed Jory’s words when the swoop in her stomach hit her again, causing her to lean out from the railings and wrap one arm across her belly. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Jenner slinking away into the undergrowth. She bent at the waist. Was this feeling coming from Jenyx? What was he feeling guilty about?
“Cara?”
A smooth, clear voice from behind them jerked her upright again. She resisted the urge to clap both hands across the wet spots on the seat of her pants. Good thing, since it would have meant letting go of the fence and toppling over backward.
She stepped down from the railing and spun around to put her back to the fence, facing the person approaching.
“Hey, big bro,” Liv called out to him.
Rhys waved in Liv’s direction without taking his eyes off Cara. “Are you okay?”
She dropped the arm still wrapped across her middle and nodded. “Cramps.”
Holy crap, Cara. What did you just say?
Heat surged across her cheeks. The gorgeous eyes in front of her twinkled—a perfect thunderstorm of swirling grey with a gold limbal ring that flashed like lightning when he was mad . . . or amused, as he clearly was now.
Say something! Fix it.
“Running . . . running cramps. Stitch in my side,” she blurted.
The thoughts that had consumed her while she was running with Wes, the ones that distracted her to the point where she tripped over her own feet, came surging back. Rhys.
His eyebrows raised and he scanned her filthy clothes. There was no hiding the streaks of mud or the green horse-slobber stain on her pants, no matter how much she wished she could disappear. The warmth in her face grew to a raging fire by the time Wes drew Rhys’s attention away.
“She tried to beat me in a sprint at the end.”
“And you can’t beat her so you tackled her instead?”
Wes shrugged one shoulder. “It’s the only way.”
Cara eased out the breath she’d been holding and tried to calm her blush when he looked away.
Wow, Cara. Next level humiliating.
She stared at her feet but peeked up when Rhys folded his long, lean frame between the middle railings of the fence and swung his legs through to stand up on the other side. Her fingertips tingled as he ran a hand through his dark blond locks. Wes gave a tiny snort from the top of the fence and she realized she’d been staring. As usual, he was too observant for his own good—the downside to being friends with another Pyxsee who shared her heightened observation skills. Her lips pursed together as she glared him into silence.
Rhys stoppe
d to pat Charlie’s neck before stepping over to drape an arm around Liv, towering over his sister and squeezing her in a sideways hug. Cara couldn’t help a small smile. After all they’d been through, it was no surprise they were as close as any siblings she’d ever known. It warmed her heart to see them together now, both of them whole and happy.
The rest of the thoughts that had clouded her focus during the run came back. Rhys with a happy smile while he talked to Liv at breakfast with them, or even when he talked to Wes. Rhys with the same easy smile when he sat with Emma at meals, or walked across campus with Emma, or waved to Emma when he was with his other friends between classes. Tall, beautiful, graceful, kind, perfect Emma... Cara sighed.
“So what’s new?” Rhys asked, glancing around.
She never got that smile.
When he talked to her, she got quiet Rhys—reserved Rhys. Maybe she reminded him too much of a bad time in his life, when they’d gotten to know each other while trying to save Liv from the Pyx who had attacked her. It couldn’t be easy being around someone who’d helped plot and carry out his sister’s murder, even if it had been necessary to save her life and rid her of the Pyx trapped in her mind. At least he was here. She shuddered to think what might have happened to him, or any of them, if they hadn’t been able to resuscitate Liv afterward.
Residual guilt trickled through her at the thoughts she’d been having about him and Emma before she tripped. She hoped her friends were right that the feelings weren’t hers, because she hated herself for the bitter jealousy toward someone she liked so much. She should be glad he had Emma. She should be grateful Rhys had someone who could let him relax without thinking of those dark times. He deserved that much after everything he’d been through.
It wasn’t like she wanted this. How many times had she wished she felt this way about someone else? Anyone else. She’d had her chance with Jory last summer, but she couldn’t help how she felt and it would have ended in disaster anyway.
Jory had clearly fallen head over heels for Liv the moment they met. It was obvious in the way he looked at her, the way they reflected each other’s expressions without trying, and the special smile he only had for her. If Cara had been dating him, she was sure it would have ended the moment Liv came into their lives. Her friendship with Jory might not have survived if that had happened. Cara was still grateful they’d never gone down that path, glad she had her sunny friend by her side and could count him and Wes as brothers. She was also frustrated that Jory and Liv hadn’t figured it out yet—or, at least, they hadn’t made anything official even though Liv’s feelings were equally obvious.
Coming back to her own problems, Cara gritted her teeth. It didn’t matter how much mud was on her pants or what kind of embarrassing things she said. It’s not like Rhys would care. She was a sophomore, and his little sister’s friend now, regardless of how they’d first met. All that mattered now was that the five of them were together, conveniently away from anyone who could overhear them. It mattered that they were the only five people around who knew about the hidden world of the Pyx.
Jory and Liv might not have been Pyxsees, but they knew everything. Wes had brought Jory in on the secret from the moment he began to discover his abilities. Liv...well, Liv had first-hand knowledge after being attacked and living with an evil Pyx trapped in her mind for a year and half. And as for Rhys, the gold ring in his eyes meant he was the third Pyxsee in their midst. Here at Scovell Academy, the five of them were the only ones who knew.
She stepped up to the fence again.
“What’s new is Jenyx thinks there was another unfamiliar Pyx near us today.” She managed not to wince when Rhys’s smile vanished at her words.
“Seriously?”
Wes nodded. “Not a friendly one if Cara’s emotional radar is any indication.”
“It is true,” Jenyx said. Jenner had reappeared from the forest. “They are turning up with increasing frequency.”
“Do we know what they want?” Jory asked.
“We do not. It is most unusual for any Pyx to avoid communication with the others in the area, but this one, or more than one, does not appear keen to make themselves known.”
Cara recapped for Jory and Liv who, not being Pyxsees, couldn’t hear Jenyx’s response. “They aren’t talking.”
“Do you have a guess? Does the council?” Rhys straightened and took a step toward the fence. “Do we know if it’s safe for her—for anyone, I mean—to be out on the forest trails?” His eyes darted to Cara, sending her heart skittering for a second.
“We aren’t certain of much, however we do have some ideas,” Jenyx replied.
“And?”
“Now is not the time.”
Cara huffed. “Figures. How do you know we can’t help? Did you think of that? When is your precious council going to tell us what’s up?”
“Soon, child, very soon.”
READ THE REST IN DARKNESS in Green & Gold
Acknowledgements & Author’s Note
WITHOUT READERS, THERE would be no books, and the world would be a darker place, so the first thanks goes to you, reader, for brightening my day. If you took the time to leave a review, know that I truly appreciate it. Reviews are the best way to help an author out. They help with exposure and trust to find new readers, and the positive ones are pure fuel for an author’s soul.
Thank you to my advance review team who gave me great feedback to improve this book. You are amazing people who fill my spirit with the generosity of your time and comments. A special thanks to my wonderful critique partner, Angelina, and to the test readers who helped me early on—Lauren, Mandi, and especially Erika, who always reads the first, worst words and lifts me up. The credit for polishing this book to the state you see now goes to my wonderful editor, Courtney Umphress, and the amazing cover designers at MoorBooks Design. Thank you for doing the things I cannot and making this book into the best version of itself.
Finally, thank you to Carrie Pike, MSN, RN-BC, and Dr. Marisa Hucal, ND, for your patient and invaluable advice on the medical aspects in this book. You helped make those scenes more real for me and pointed out details I would certainly have overlooked. Thank you for the amazing work you do in the world. Any mistakes or inaccuracies are entirely of my own making and no reflection on their expertise.
WHEN I READ, I’M IN it for the characters. There has to be a good story to follow, of course, but I’ll follow great characters almost anywhere. This book was a blast to write since there was much more interaction between our trio of friends. I had a great time witnessing their evolving group dynamics and individual relationships. I hope you had a good time going along for the journey and spending time with Cara and the gang.
I always love to hear from readers. Connect with me on Facebook @johollowaybooks to share your thoughts on any of it, or contact me through my website johollowaybooks.com.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JO HOLLOWAY IS THE Canadian author of the Green & Gold series. She lives with her husband and dog in Alberta. Although always an avid reader, she never really planned to write a book. But some stories demand to be written.
She refuses to choose between cheese and chocolate, but does hold a firm anti-soup stance for reasons no one understands. She loves animals, but traded in riding horses for riding a motorcycle because they don’t think for themselves!