Chapter 15
Lucas
Today the training room was set up like an indoor football field with bleachers lining one side and boot camp equipment lining the other. A domed glass ceiling arched over the field, letting in bright sunlight. Savannah and Mason were jumping around like cheerleaders when Lucas and Percaline joined them.
“About time you guys got here,” Savannah said. “Mason and I were having to entertain ourselves.” Lucas saw her look at the hand he had firmly clasped around Percaline’s.
Percaline looked at her watch. “We’re early,” she said.
“Mason, you look great,” Lucas said, impressed with his recovery time. It had been a little over a day and Mason’s wounds were almost completely healed, now mostly just faint red scratches.
“Stop hitting on me, Lucas,” Mason laughed. “Your girlfriend is right there.” He pointed at Percaline.
Lucas knew that Mason meant this as an interrogation of his relationship status, so he played along. “Savannah. Mason. I would like for you to meet my girlfriend Percaline.” He spun her around in a circle, showing her off. Percaline played along too. She finished spinning and curtsied. “It’s very nice to meet the family of my boyfriend Lucas,” she said.
“So when’s the wedding?” Mason asked, steepling his fingers.
“Ooo. I call maid of honor,” Savannah shouted.
Lucas looked at Percaline and they both smiled. Savannah and Mason were genuinely happy for them and this was their way of showing it. Marriage wasn’t that far off since they had known each other for years, but it was definitely not something that was going to happen any time soon. They had a battle to fight first.
“What are you guys doing here?” Lucas asked as he drew Percaline into him. He knew he should be focusing on training. He wasn’t usually one for PDA but he couldn’t get enough of her.
“I wanted to ask Percaline some questions about her new abilities.” Savannah paused. “I’ve been doing some research and I wanted to see what she was capable of.” She shrugged. “For fun.”
Savannah never did anything just for fun. Just like her sister, everything she did had a purpose, but since she clearly didn’t feel like sharing that purpose with Lucas he let it go. “Well, since we have a couple of minutes before our training begins, what if I show you some basic self-defense moves?” he asked. “Mason, you can just watch if you’re still too weak.”
Mason responded. “Yeah, I don’t want to wear myself out. I spent most of yesterday in an exhaustion coma and I’m feeling faint from all the cheerleading.” He and Percaline sat down on the bleachers while Savannah and Lucas made their way to the field.
“If at any time you feel threatened and unable to get out of my hold, I want you to tap me twice,” Lucas said. Savannah shook her head. “I could also just scream Scott Baio.”
He laughed. “That would work too.” He went behind her. “The first move I’m going to show you is called the sprawl. It’s when someone has their arms around you like this.” He hugged Savannah tightly from behind. “What you need to do is push down with your hands on my arms and at the same time push me out using your butt.” Savannah tried it a couple of times without luck. “I think you’re just too big, Lucas,” she said, struggling. She hadn’t tapped him yet so he hung onto her. “Try again.” She did and as soon as his grip on her started to break she stomped on his foot and elbowed him in the rib cage. That got him to release her.
“How’s your elbow?” Lucas asked with a laugh. “I think what you just did hurt you more than it hurt me, but you got away and that’s all that matters.”
“It feels like I smashed through a pallet of cinder blocks,” she said, rubbing her elbow.
“Well, next time you could always tap out,” Lucas replied, knowing that she wouldn’t. Savannah and Percaline might look different but they were cut from the same cloth. Their mannerisms were the same, their speech was the same, and their unwillingness to give up was the same.
“Okay, let me show you a move that you can use on your opponent.” He stood with his hands out to his side, circling Savannah, who was mirroring his actions and circling him back. He pounced on her without hesitation. Before she knew it, he had his arm wrapped around her neck.
“Don’t kill my best friend,” Mason shouted from the bleachers. Savannah threw him up a thumbs-up to let him know she was okay. She double tapped Lucas on the arm.
“Okay, show me how you did that?” she said.
Lucas showed her step-by-step what he’d done until she was able to do the same to him. “You always want to take their back,” Don said as he came walking towards them. Lucas wasn’t sure when he entered the training room but he was watching like he had been there for some time.
“Got it,” Savannah said and she hugged Lucas. “By the way, I owe you one of these.” She held her hand up for a high-five. Lucas laughed and shook his head, knowing exactly what that was for.
Savannah
“Way to go, buddy,” Mason said as Savannah took her seat next to him. She was covered in sweat. She thought that it was mostly hers but some of it could have been Lucas’s. She glanced at Lucas. Nope, he was dry as a bone. “Damn Gargoyles and their athleticism,” she cursed to Mason. Lucas had always been strong but now he was like stone. In fact, she had a bruised elbow that could prove the dude was solid.
“So we just need to find out what abilities Percaline has and compare them to those of a phoenix and those of Zeus?” Mason sent in a text to Savannah.
Savannah answered out loud, “Yes.” She didn’t want to take the chance of Don overhearing her plan so she’d told Mason that they should text about their project for the day instead of saying anything out loud about it, and most of the time Mason listened to directions.
Savannah looked at her notebook. Each of the pages was covered in drawings of Nyx. House of Phoenyx was written on the scarf that covered her naked body. It was like a suit of arms for the House. Savannah had stumbled upon Nyx when was researching the phoenix earlier and she figured out that the powers of the phoenix were also the powers of Nyx. In one column on her list she had Nyx’s abilities listed and another column listed the abilities of Zeus. Each time Percaline demonstrated one of any of the abilities, she was going to put a star beside it.
Savannah had written the word twin at the top of the page. Mason pointed to it. She texted him, “I’ll fill you in later.” He nodded in agreement.
After hearing about Nathaniel and his twin brother, she started to think of the possibility that Percaline had a twin. She wanted to explore the idea more and had written it down at the top of the page so that she wouldn’t forget. She doubted she would, but whenever she had a fleeing thought she had to write it down just in case.
Don was instructing Percaline and Lucas to compete in hand-to-hand combat. “Let’s see what you’ve got,” he told them and they started to wrestle. Savannah watched for a minute and then looked down at her list. She put a star next to “strength” under both the Nyx and Zeus columns since that was one of the powers they both possessed.
Savannah knew how strong Lucas was and Percaline was keeping up with him, so that proved that she was as strong as him if not stronger. She also put a star next to “water” on Nyx’s list since Percaline had proven she had control over that element her first time entering the house. She thought about putting a star next to “can go between worlds” in the Zeus column because Percaline was able to travel between the Underworld and aboveground like the rest of them, but then she remembered that Nyx was able to travel to Tartarus, so maybe “worlds” could mean Tartarus and/or Purgatory as well.
Lucas and Percaline were interlocked, hands on each other’s shoulders and Lucas was pushing her back. Percaline was trying to gain traction but was failing because her feet were sinking into the field behind her. She stopped and kicked Lucas in the chest, sending him flying backwards. He twisted in the air and landed on his feet, gouging the field underneath him. He smiled and Percaline wi
nked at him. Percaline was also not breaking a sweat. Savannah marked “stamina” and “speed” off both sides of the list. The last of the abilities that Nyx and Zeus shared was “precognitive” and she didn’t think she was going to see Percaline do that today. She would just trust that Percaline shared that ability with their mother, so she put a star next to it as well.
Lucas ran towards Percaline and Percaline flipped into the air out of his way and landed on his back. Savannah marked “acrobatic” of the Nyx side of the list. Below that she had written “visual acuity”. She flipped to a blank page in her notebook and wrote “Hoorah” in tiny letters because she thought Lucas would appreciate that. She held up the notebook. Percaline had Lucas in a chokehold and was laughing at him. “Percaline, can you read this?” she called
Percaline squinted her eyes and yelled triumphantly in her best military impression, “Hoorah!”
Savannah put a star on the list just as Lucas flung Percaline over his back and jumped on her, pinning her to the ground. Percaline didn’t fight. Instead she said, “Scott Baio” and Lucas kissed her.
After drinking a couple of coffees and sharing a tuna fish sandwich with Savannah, Don finally left the field, finished with them for the day. He said that he was happy that they had finally strengthened their connection but that they needed to concentrate on their skills and that they should stay and practice their sword fighting techniques.
Perfect, Savannah thought. With Don out of the room she could ask Percaline about her gifts without worrying about him hearing them. Percaline and Lucas grabbed their swords from a barrel beside the bleachers, put their sheaths on their backs and pulled their swords. They started to circle one another with their swords drawn. They were happy to be together, but Savannah could tell that they weren’t taking the prophecy lightly. They were in it to win for humanity.
“Percaline, did you know that your abilities come from Nyx?” Savannah called.
Percaline didn’t take her eyes off of Lucas. “I did,” she responded. Savannah hadn’t expected her to know that, but Percaline was a prodigy so she could believe it.
“Did you know that you could cloak yourself in darkness?” Savannah asked. The sun slipped behind a cloud, creating shadows in the room. Savannah watched Percaline pause for a moment and then gather the shadows, wrap them around her and disappear from sight.
“I can’t see you anymore!” Mason yelled. “You disappeared. That’s so cool!”
Savannah marked “cloaking” off of the Nyx side.
“I can see you but it’s like looking through night-vision goggles,” Lucas said.
“Ooo. That’s also something you should be able to do,” Savannah yelled. The training room darkened completely.
“Yeah. I can still see all of you,” Savannah heard Percaline say and the sun came back out and lit the room. Percaline blinked hard, presumably trying to change her eyes back to regular daytime vision. Savannah marked “infrared vision” off the Nyx list.
Percaline and Lucas resumed sword fighting. The swords clanked off of one another over and over.
“You should also be able to see ultraviolent and polarized fields, disintegrate into birds, and manipulate things to create a force field of sorts around yourself,” Savannah told her.
“Hmm. I like the idea of bursting into birds,” Percaline commented. She did a no hands cartwheel over Lucas.
Lucas spoke up, turning around to face the side Percaline was now on. “She can create a force field around her. She manipulated the water yesterday during practice.”
“Your sister’s kind of a badass,” Mason whispered to Savannah.
“I know, right?” Emotionally Percaline had always been the strongest person Savannah knew but now she was also physically the strongest too, other than Lucas and maybe Don.
She wanted to see if Percaline would try one of the abilities from the Zeus side of the list. “Can you use energy to create lightning bolts?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” Percaline said. She threw Lucas back a couple of feet. She concentrated for a second with her left hand but nothing appeared. Lucas closed in on her again and she stopped. “I don’t think so,” she yelled, answering Savannah’s question and perhaps telling Lucas to back off at the same time. “I think Josephine is the only one of us who can throw energy balls.”
Savannah could see that she was clearly done playing ‘What Powers Does the Phoenix Have?’ for the day, so Savannah and Mason left her and Lucas to their sword fight and headed to the library so Savannah could fill Mason in on her twin theory.
Josephine
“So where were you last night?” Josephine asked Landon as they changed into suitable workout clothes before their workout in the courtyard. This morning they were going to train with their new partners. Landon was asked to stay in human form so that he could learn how to fight on only two legs. Don thought it would be good for him to learn in case he was in a situation where he couldn’t change. Don also thought this was a good opportunity for them to practice their connection.
Landon finished lacing his shoe. “I was going to help you with research, but you were otherwise occupied.”
“I wasn’t otherwise occupied,” Josephine said, ignoring the intent behind Landon’s words.
Landon stopped lacing and stared at her with a mischievous smile on his face. “Why don’t you just admit it? You like the bloke.”
Josephine blushed and quickly stole a look at Nathaniel, who was practicing some form of martial arts. She liked Nathaniel. He was good at research, knowledgeable on many topics, and he was quiet, non-needy, and kept to himself. She hated it when people interrupted her library time.
She cleared her throat. Two could play this game. “How’s Mason?”
“I would imagine he’s fine,” Landon said with a charismatic grin. “I haven’t seen him yet this morning, have I?”
Josephine finished lacing up her shoes and stretched a little. She was about to go into battle, she and Landon against Nathaniel and Isidora, so she wanted to warm up her muscles first. Her objective was to use magic but a little brawn never hurt in a fight.
“So hanging out with Nathaniel in the library until all hours of the night has nothing to do with your new wardrobe?” Landon teased her, pointing to her new and more athletic items of clothing.
Her outfit had nothing to do with Nathaniel. Her wearing skin-tight yoga pants was just a coincidence, but Landon would never believe her.
Last night, after she and Nathaniel had conducted separate searches on all things involving possession, they had discussed their findings, which didn’t amount to more than basic real-life accounts. Later today they were going to read about Indian burial grounds. From what they had uncovered from the Catholic Church, possessions, hauntings, and paranormal activities were heightened around Native American cemeteries.
“I don’t think you’re going to have to worry too much about me and Nathaniel after this little exercise Don has us doing. I’m sure I’ll fall on my face and make a fool out of myself,” Josephine retorted.
“Even if you did I don’t think it would make much of a difference to him,” Landon said. “That man seems smitten with you.” He laughed.
“That’s enough about me. What about Mason?” Josephine didn’t want to be nosey but she also didn’t want to talk about her and Nathaniel anymore. Landon dropped his eyes and the smile on his face faded. There was something about Mason that he didn’t want to discuss so she was surprised when he went on. “He’s a cute kid, but he’s still a kid.”
“Wait, he’s sixteen or seventeen years old, isn’t he? How old are you?” Josephine asked. She had never really thought about Landon’s age before. He was well put together and he was wise beyond his years, but he looked like he was only a couple of years older than Mason.
Landon responded, “I stopped aging when I met you.” He counted on his fingers. “But technically I’m twenty-one years of age.” He smiled.
; “That’s only four or five year’s difference,” Josephine said. “My last boyfriend was six years older than me and it worked.”
“But when you are under the age of eighteen it’s weird, not to mention illegal,” Landon said with a disgusted look on his face. “I don’t want to be the dodgy old guy.”
Josephine understood what he was saying. It probably wasn’t a good idea for a college age student to date a high school student. Besides the age difference, they were probably worlds apart mentally. Mason seemed like a smart kid, but at that age everyone was still trying to figure out who they were. Besides, she couldn’t judge Landon, not when she wouldn’t date someone who was otherwise perfect just because she worked with him.
“I wouldn’t want to have to explain to his parents why I don’t have any parents myself or why I’m not in high school even if I was able to. I’m a dog aboveground.”
“Fair enough,” Josephine commented as they reached their mark.
They stood in the center of the courtyard facing Nathaniel and Isidora. Today the sky was winter white and still with snow flurries falling around them. Josephine wondered if the House would ever provide them with a day of training where there wasn’t any bad weather. The plants and trees that had been blooming during the last battle lay dormant and bare, making it easy to see and to be seen. This was not going to be easy.
Nathaniel winked at her from his mark across from her. She stuck her tongue out at him. They’d worked together in the library for only a couple of hours but she already felt close enough to him to be able to banter like this. She had opened up to him in the library and told him she was happy to have him on her team. She might have issues with dating people she worked with, but she didn’t have any qualms with befriending them.
Today they were trying to use their connection while Landon was in human form, as well reverse the connection so that Landon could see what Josephine was seeing. Before the battle began she tried to concentrate on the elements, on breathing, and on Landon. It wasn’t a matter of seeing Landon so much as a matter of feeling him.
Even before Josephine had found out that Landon was her familiar she had known that they had a connection. On the seldom occasions that he wasn’t right beside her on her couch or in her bedroom, she could feel where he was. It was probably what had made navigating through public without vision so easy for her.
She opened up her senses, reaching out to Landon. He was standing right beside her, prepared to fight. She blinked and Landon wavered. His line of vision showed up in her eyes like bifocals. “That feels so odd when you do that,” Landon commented.
“You can feel that?” Josephine asked. She had not expecting that he would be able to.
Nathaniel interrupted. “I don’t know what you did exactly, but I can feel it too. It feels like wind teasing my skin.”
“Huh. Can you feel it?” Josephine turned to asked Isidora. Isidora shook her head.
Before they began training, Percaline had found Josephine and Landon in the hallway and asked them to keep an eye on Isidora. She had told them that Jon had come to her in a dream, told her that there was a spy in the house, and showed her Isidora. Jon was the one who had led Josephine to Truthaven so she didn’t have any reason to doubt him or Percaline, which meant that she and Landon would keep an eye on Isidora.
A bell rang, signaling the beginning of the battle. Josephine stayed with Nathaniel and Landon stayed with Isidora. She wasn’t going to advance on him without magic. She’d seen him fight in the trials and her best move was definitely going to be to an energy ball or some type of magical weapon. She summoned a couple of fireballs. Griselda’s favorites were now her go-to spell, and Josephine threw them just as Nathaniel pounced at her. He was lightning fast and extremely nimble despite his size. Even though she had seen him fight before she hadn’t expected him to move that fast.
She flung herself out of his way. She fell to the ground and scurried behind one of the naked trees. In a fraction of a second Nathaniel was moving towards her. She threw a couple of fireballs at him. They hit him with no effect. She knew from personal experience that fireballs hurt, but Nathaniel seemed unfazed. He was a dragon that breathed fire, so it made sense that those wouldn’t work. She called upon water to create a waterball from the snow that lay on the ground and she threw it at him. Again she hit him and again he seemed unfazed.
In her peripheral vision she saw Landon fighting the vampire. They needed to work on their reverse connection but they also needed to figure out how to share power so that Landon could throw a fireball or two. She didn’t know what to do about Nathaniel before he got to her but she did know what to do about Isidora. She conjured up another fireball and Nathaniel smiled a malevolent smile and shook his head, thinking it was for him. Josephine tossed the fireball around Nathaniel, past Landon, and right into Isidora’s chest. Isidora screamed in shock before she realized that the fireball wasn’t going to kill her. Nathaniel had turned to watch the fireball hit her, affording Josephine enough time to figure out how to fight him. She had already called on fire and on water, so the only energies she had left were wind and earth. She thought about wind and let it wrap itself around her soul. That was the easiest way to explain what she did. It was like having the element she called envelop that place in her chest next to her heart where she felt her soul. She spun the wind in a tornado pattern with her finger, holding it at bay between her and Nathaniel.
Isidora was out of the game, so instead of battling wind, Nathaniel decided to go after Landon. Josephine tried to reverse the connection so that Landon could see what she was seeing but it didn’t work. Landon was helping Isidora, who had fallen to the ground and was rolling to put the fire out.
Josephine sent the tornado to Landon, picking him up gently with it and holding him in the air. With the hand that wasn’t manipulating the tornado, she summoned earth and as soon as she felt it she pushed her hand out to Nathaniel, sending several trees flying his way and eventually burying him. A bell rang, signifying the end of this round. Josephine and Landon: 1, Nathanial and Isidora: 0.
Like boxers in a ring each group headed to their separate corners of the courtyard.
“What was that?” Landon asked her as they chugged water.
“Thought I’d try something,” Josephine said. “And it worked.”
“You could have given me a heads-up. I almost changed into a dog just out of instinct,” Landon complained.
“Well if you would help me reverse our connection, maybe you could see what I was going to do as I did it,” she replied.
Landon laughed at her. “Okay. Tell me how you do it.”
Josephine explained her process to him. “I feel for the string that connects me to you, the string that has been there since we met. When I find the string I follow it to your eyes like I’m invading your body, and your senses. Then I blink and I can see through your eyes.
Landon closed his eyes, concentrating on what she told him. He opened them and blinked. “Oh God. Is that what my hair looks like?” he asked, combing his hair with his fingers.
“I don’t know what you guys are doing over there but the energy that was teasing my skin just turned into an assault on my senses,” Nathaniel yelled, then sneezed.
Mason knocked on one of the windows in the library that overlooked the courtyard. He had a smile on his face and gave two thumbs up. “He can feel other people’s energy,” Landon explained.
“From a distance? That’s amazing,” Josephine commented.
“I have a feeling he’s going to be a very strong werewolf,” Landon said and waved back half-heartedly.
Josephine poked him in the ribs. “He only has a year or two until he’s eighteen,” she said, knowing that if age wasn’t an issue Landon and Mason would perfect be together. “Waiting is the right thing to do. You’re a good man, Landon.”
They resumed their positions in the center of the courtyard and began again, this time each with both pairs of eyes on the objective.
Percaline
“I don’t understand why I can’t miss just one day of school?” Savannah complained to Percaline. Under normal circumstances she would have been okay letting Savannah miss school, but since vampires were allergic to the sun and Isidora was a vampire, aboveground and in school was the best place for Savannah to be during daylight hours.
They were in Percaline’s bedroom so she didn’t feel it necessary to whisper. “Because I have reason to believe that Isidora is not who she claims to be and I don’t want her near you if possible.”
“Oh,” Savannah said flatly. “What about Mason?”
“Mason will be okay. Landon will be watching him while we’re at school.” She’d thought about staying home herself, but she always tried to lead by example and education was important. “Unless he’s feeling okay enough to go tomorrow?”
“No, I don’t want to deprive him of Landon time,” Savannah replied in a manner that Percaline hoped symbolized the end of the conversation. “So what are you and Lucas doing tonight?” Savannah asked.
“I don’t know what he has planned,” Percaline responded with the grin that she felt was practically glued to her face these days.
Lucas pushed the door open between her room and the bathroom. “Did I hear my name?” he asked and went on without waiting for an answer. “Am I interrupting?”
“No. I was just going,” Savannah said with a smile. The way that things were now was probably the closest that Savannah was ever going to get to having two parents. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
Once the door was closed Lucas walked over to Percaline and picked her up. He sat her on the dresser next to the glowing purple rose he had given her and kissed her. “Hi,” he said after a minute.
“I don’t think that’ll ever get old,” she responded as she pushed him away from her. They would have plenty of time to get naked later but right now they needed to focus on tracking Mischelle. That was Percaline’s main objective. Lucas helped her off the dresser.
“Okay, what do you want to do?” he asked. They had spent all day training but nighttime was their free time according to Don.
“I want to talk about Mischelle,” Percaline said. She tried to be delicate but Lucas still tensed for a fight. She understood why. Mischelle was a memory he’d rather forget and he still felt was ashamed. “I don’t want to fight and I don’t blame you. I just want to see if there’s anything you can remember that would lead us to her.” She grabbed his hand, reinforcing that what she was saying was the truth. She knew that he could feel it, but a little extra effort in a difficult time never hurt anyone.
“If I had even the slightest idea of where to find her I would have already killed her,” he said in a monotone voice. He was steadying himself but he was angry. “I think she’s hiding in the Underworld.”
“What about the friend she was meeting the day you got into town?” she asked in the least accusatory way possible.
“She never told me his name and took a cab from the airport to meet him. I picked her up at the park. That’s why we went to the lighthouse.” Lucas slouched. “She was alone in the park when I got there.”
“I had to ask,” she said.
“She was either meeting with her werewolf buddies or some other unknown figure since Azazel possessed me not long after.” He paused. “We don’t need to track her down because she’ll make her move on us. We just need to be ready for when she does.”
“Do you think we’re ready?” Percaline asked.
“I don’t know if we’ll ever be ready but we’re definitely stronger together.” Lucas squeezed her hand. “You and me?” he asked.
“You and me,” she replied.
“How about we see if the House has a grill?” He was smiling again. “I’ll grill up some chicken and pork chops for everyone. We’ll have a barbeque and invite our friends like any other normal couple would. This is our new family, Percy, and I know you want everyone to feel like they belong.”
“Except for Isidora,” she said but she wasn’t sure she meant it.
“Except for Isidora.” Lucas wrapped his arm around her and they walked out the door. “And if you want to later I’ll let you kick my ass again.”
“Like you have a choice.”
It was definitely appetizing watching Lucas in front of the grill. He was just so manly. The House had provided a grill that was already set up in the courtyard. The sun was getting lower in the sky and the courtyard was dressed up like Central Park. They all sat at picnic tables, the House staff intermingling with their new residents. Reaves brought out corn on the cob and served everyone who wanted an ear. He was still serving, but Percaline had gotten him to change into a pair of shorts and a T-shirt.
Don had even broken away from his diligent studying to join the party. He and Percaline were having House-brewed beer. “Best beer outside of Colorado,” he said.
“I knew there was a reason I liked you,” Percaline said and clanked her glass against his. “Cheers!”
Lucas joined them at the table. “I made this one specifically for you,” he said as he leaned across the table and dropped a tuna steak onto Savannah’s plate. “Aww! You remembered,” Savannah said. “Thanks!”
“Mason, how’s your steak?” Lucas asked.
“Barely dead, just the way I like it.” He smiled with a full mouth.
“What about me?” Percaline complained. “My plate’s still empty.”
“Yours will be done in a minute.” Lucas squeezed her thigh.
“Then get back up there and man the grill, honey,” Percaline teased him. He kissed her cheek before he went back to work.
“So you two are officially a couple now?” Josephine asked.
Percaline felt her face grow warm. She instinctively pushed down the urge to smile but couldn’t help it. This seemed to be her go-to reaction when talking about Lucas. “We are,” she replied.
“Good for you.” Josephine smacked her glass to Percaline’s. “To happiness.”
Everyone with a beverage raised their glass. “To happiness!” they all chanted.
Percaline had been watching Josephine around Nathaniel. They were both attracted to one another but neither seemed to want to make a move to turn it into something more. Now Nathaniel was laughing at something Rainata said. Those two were close but Percaline didn’t get any romantic vibes from them. Instead she felt a brother/sister connection, like what Lucas had with Savannah. She looked around the courtyard for Isidora. She was sitting at one of the other tables with Blake and laughing at something he had said.
Percaline knew that Jon had never been wrong about anything since he had been coming to her in ghost form, but she didn’t get a betrayal vibe from Isidora. Instead she felt that Isidora, like all of them, was just trying to find her place in the world and was trying to fit in among the other members of the House. Isidora caught Percaline watching her, so Percaline lifted her beer up to toast her from a distance. Isidora lifted her bloodbeer, a House specialty, and reciprocated.
Percaline smiled as she continued to look around the courtyard. Lucas was right. This was their family and this barbeque was exactly how she had fantasized it would be. There wasn’t one person in this courtyard who she wouldn’t give her life for and who wouldn’t give their life for her. It was unsettling and heart-warming all at the same time.
Lucas brought her a piece of chicken. She held him to her as she stood up and raised her glass. “I wanted to say something to everyone,” she yelled, trying to get everyone’s attention. Lucas lifted her so she was standing on the bench seat. Everyone around her quieted. “I wanted to thank the House staff for making all of us feel so welcome.”
Glasses were raised again. “Here here!” rang around the courtyard. “I also wanted to thank our new friends and bodyguards for their willingness to protect the people I value most in this world. Thank you.” Everyone toasted. “Cheers!”
Reaves, who was already standing, spoke up. “To the phoenix!�
�� he said. Percaline raised her glass and said, “To Nyx.”
“To Nyx!” everyone repeated excitedly.
Lucas lifted her back down to the ground. “Look at that. You made yourself the center of attention.”
“I know. I’m trying new things,” she said with a smirk.
“Really?” Lucas took a swig of his beer. “How about you finish your food so we can sneak off to try these so-called new things?” Everyone was enjoying themselves and they would hardly be missed if they left. She finished her food, went back for seconds, and then she and Lucas snuck back to her room for alone time.
Josephine
The barbeque was exactly what everyone needed, but it had also taken time away from her research into possession. She and Nathaniel were soon back in the library reading, Landon sitting next to them. Savannah and Mason probably would have been there too but Savannah had school aboveground in the morning and Mason was still recovering from being mauled by a werewolf. Not long after filling his stomach with steak, he had retired to bed.
Landon spoke up. “I have something.” He handed a book to Josephine, who quickly looked over it.
“We’ve been in here for two days and Landon found something in his first twenty minutes?” Nathaniel criticized. “Show off.”
Josephine smiled. “He did. According to this, witches used to bind their powers to one another through a blood-bond. The blood-bond would link each witch’s power to the others she bonded with through the blood.”
“And what does that have to do with Lucas being possessed?” Nathaniel asked.
Josephine answered, “Percaline told Landon and me, before we knew Landon was my shape-shifting familiar…” She paused and patted Landon on the hand, “That she, Lucas, and Savannah had made a blood pact the day they threw their mother’s and uncle’s ashes into the ocean.”
“So when Percaline became a phoenix, Lucas and Savannah both inherited phoenix properties to include holy blood. Azazel couldn’t possess Lucas because he wasn’t able to anymore,” Landon finished.
“Then what do the rest of us do?” Nathaniel asked. “Do we bind ourselves to Percaline?”
Josephine thought about it for a second. “No, we can’t. The more people that bind themselves to her, the more diluted her blood gets until it becomes all but useless. We’ll have to come up with another method of protection.”
“We can make protective charm bags, but we’ll have to go into the Underworld city for that and Don won’t let us,” Landon said.
“Plus those are like putting a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound. We’d have to do something more permanent like a tattoo,” Josephine thought out loud. She suddenly felt a burning sensation on the back of her neck which radiated through the rest of her body. Nathaniel and Landon clapped their hands simultaneously to the backs of their own necks, seemingly experiencing similar pain.
Josephine raised Nathaniel’s braid from the back of his neck. “Well, that takes care of that. The House has branded us with House of Phoenyx tattoos.”
“What about Mason? Until he makes the change anything branded on him will heal,” Landon asked, checking out Nathaniel’s tattoo. The tattoo was tasteful and better yet didn’t cover the back of his neck. It fit perfectly.
“We’ll have Mason bind himself to Savannah before he goes aboveground. She’s bound by blood to Percaline regardless of the blood-bond because they are sisters. Any of Percaline’s siblings or children will be bound by blood to her automatically,” Josephine answered.
Josephine couldn’t wait to tell Lucas. She knew he was anxious about returning aboveground without knowing why Azazel hadn’t possessed him instead of Alejandro the last time. She could empathize with him. She wouldn’t feel safe retuning either if there was a possibility that she could be possessed and turn against Percaline and kill her. She looked at the time. It was nine. Lucas would still be awake and he would want to hear this news as soon as possible.
“I’m going to go tell Lucas. Why don’t you guys get some rest? We have doors to create and classes to attend tomorrow,” she said, pointing at Nathaniel. She nodded at Landon. “And you have to keep Mason company.”
Lucas
Josephine’s knock on the door had interrupted what was supposed to be a very pleasurable moment between Lucas and Percaline, but once they heard the news she had for them, he knew it was worth it because they would sleep better and they did. Lucas woke up well-rested with Percaline in his arms. There wasn’t a tense muscle in his body. He was going with his girl to school today like any other normal twenty-three year old couple in college would do, and he didn’t have to worry about being possessed by Azazel. He had to worry about Azazel possessing someone else, yes, but that was a manageable threat. Percaline would be safe. She would be next to him the entire time they were aboveground.
Lucas, Percaline, Savannah, Josephine, Nathaniel, Rainata, and Blake all walked through the picture of the horse in the stables, down the two stairs, through the round door, and into Percaline’s pantry. They stumbled out of the pantry one-by-one because the space was too small for them all to fit. Lucas felt for the sword that had been sheathed on his back. It was still there but it had become one with his torso. He looked at Percaline’s sword, which had also become two-dimensional between her smaller stationary tattooed wings. “That’s so cool,” he said.
“So this is your house?” Nathaniel asked. Percaline took Josephine’s arm and guided her through the kitchen into the living room.
“This is one of them. We still own the house in Denver, too,” Percaline replied.
“Percaline, you are twenty-three years old and you already own three houses. That’s remarkable.” Rainata commented.
Lucas agreed but Percaline shrugged. “Two of them are also in Savannah’s name, so if anyone’s impressive it’s her.”
Savannah smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes. “What do you think will happen to the rest of us if you die? Do you think the House of Phoenyx will let us stay?” she asked.
Percaline hugged Savannah. “Nothing’s going to happen to me,” she said. Everyone was silent for a moment, taking in the full meaning of Savannah’s words.
“We would all finish what you started,” Josephine finally said. “And I think as long as we were fighting for the phoenix the House would let us stay.” She paused for a minute. “If not, we would all be bunking with you in this tiny house, Savannah.”
Savannah and Percaline broke from their hug and Savannah laughed. “Nathaniel, you can share my room,” she said with a wink, blowing him a kiss. This broke the tension and made everyone laugh, Nathaniel the hardest.
“I’m glad to know I’m so replaceable,” Percaline said sarcastically.
“Any ideas on where the door back to the House is?” Josephine asked Percaline.
She looked around the room before recognition crossed her face. “Yes. It’s in Savannah’s room.”
They all walked to Savannah’s room, where Percaline lifted the cushion of her window seat. “It’s right here.” Lucas looked but only saw blankets and odd items that Savannah had stored in there. Percaline saw the look on his face. “It will appear when one or all of us what to go back to the House,” she said.
Nathaniel was describing the layout of the house for Josephine in case she ever came alone. “Okay,” she told him. “If I can’t find it I can always create another door.” She patted the chalk in the pocket on her sweater.
Lucas looked at his watch. “We’d better get going if we’re going to stop by Mason’s house before class.” Mason’s parents would wonder about him if he didn’t show up on Monday before class after a weekend of “camping.”
Blake had been standing silently in the background but now it was time for his part. He shook from head to toe like a dog escaping from a bath. When he stopped, he looked like Mason.
Savannah was the first to walk up to him, analyzing every feature on his new body. She pinched his cheek. “That’s uncanny,” she said. “You look just like
him.”
“That is the point, is it not?” Blake asked in Mason’s voice.
“That’s crazy,” Savannah said.
Before they’d left for aboveground, Don had called the school and made arrangements to get Rainata into all of Savannah’s classes. Don seemed to have an abnormal amount of pull at the high school. When Mason or Savannah missed school Blake would fill in for either of them, but when both attended school Blake would either take the form of another absent classmate or he would walk the parameter of the school keeping guard. Next semester Savannah and Mason would have all the same classes together, which would make things easier, and by then Mason would also be able to change at will into a werewolf.
Lucas pulled Savannah to the side before they left the house. “You remember the moves I showed you yesterday?” he asked her.
“Yeah,” Savannah replied.
“And you have a fully charged cell phone?” Lucas asked.
“Yeah, I’ll call if there is even the slightest hint of trouble,” Savannah said.
“And remember, Azazel could be anyone so if someone’s talking to you that hasn’t talked to you before, or if someone is paying you more attention than normal…” Lucas tried to finish but Savannah cut him off.
“I have a bottle of water I filled at the House, so I’ll douse them in that if I have to.” Lucas smiled. Savannah was street smart.
Savannah, Rainata, and Blake left the house to walk to the place where Savannah had left the Beetle the night Mason was attacked. Lucas, Percaline, Josephine, and Nathaniel took the Xterra and met up them at Mason’s house. Lucas was happy to see that the Beetle hadn’t been booted or towed when it finally showed up in Mason’s driveway.
“Are you ready?” Lucas asked and opened the door of the Xterra so Josephine could get out of the back seat.
“We are all just a group of friends coming back from a weekend of camping,” Josephine rehearsed the story again.
Lucas took Josephine’s arm and led her up the stairs to the house. Blake got out Mason’s house keys and let himself in, followed by Savannah, Lucas, and Josephine. Nancy Grady was waiting for them in the foyer. “Hey, Mom,” Blake said.
She hugged her son. “How was camping?” she asked, checking his body for signs of torture.
“It was fun! We stayed in a cabin with running water,” Blake reassured her, then gestured to Lucas. “Mom, you know Lucas. And this is my friend Josephine. She needs to use the bathroom.”
“Oh, of course, please be our guest,” Nancy said, always the polite hostess.
“Why don’t you use the bathroom in my room? Dad’s still sleeping,” Blake said and Nancy agreed. Since he had retired, Mason’s dad never got up before eight. It was his reward for a lifetime of hard work. So far everything was going according to plan.
Savannah pointed the way and Lucas escorted Josephine to Mason’s room. They closed the door behind them. Thank God Mason had a bathroom attached to his bedroom.
“Describe to me what’s in here,” Josephine said as soon as the door was shut. “It has to be something hidden but easily accessible.”
Lucas started to name off the items in Mason’s room. “Closet, shoe rack, model car display…”
Josephine cut him off. “Let’s make it easy and use the closet.”
Lucas led her to the closet on the wall opposite the bathroom. He placed her hand on the door jamb and stood back patiently, waiting for instructions. Josephine used the chalk to trace around the closet door. Then she chanted a couple of words and finished the spell. The door didn’t light up. “It’s not working,” she said.
“What do you mean it’s not working?” Lucas asked, alarmed.
“The House won’t let me connect to it,” Josephine said. “I’ve been visualizing different places within the House and I can’t get a connection to them.”
“Hmm. Maybe the House doesn’t want a direct connection from Mason’s house or any other house that isn’t Percaline’s?” Lucas said, thinking that this was the only logical answer.
“Yeah, but I created one from Truthaven to the House of Phoenyx and from the House of Phoenyx to Truthaven,” Josephine replied.
“Truthaven is different, though,” Lucas explained. He shook his head. “But Mason and Blake need something, so I guess try to create a door to someplace in the Underworld that’s near the House of Phoenyx until we can get this worked out? Blake should be able to handle himself in the Underworld.”
Josephine again concentrated on the door and chanted. A few seconds later it lit up.
“It comes out of the trash chute behind the blood bar down the street from the House of Phoenyx,” Josephine laughed. “I couldn’t think of anything else.”
“That sounds perfect to me. It’s one a few feet away from the House and it’s in a location that not many people frequent.” Lucas couldn’t have done a better job himself and of all of the new bodyguards, including Isidora, Blake was Lucas’s least favorite. Apparently Lucas wasn’t alone. Josephine also seemed to think he was a punk.
Savannah and Blake came into the bedroom to get them. “Did you finish?” Savannah asked.
“Yeah, I created the door using the closet but I couldn’t connect to the House of Phoenyx, so it’ll dump you off in the Underworld,” Josephine explained. Lucas laughed at the double meaning.
Nancy came into the room after them. “Well, we better get to school,” Blake said.
“Here’s your lunch, honey,” Nancy said, handing him a brown paper bag. “And I made one for you too Savannah,” She handed an identical bag to Savannah.
“Thanks Mrs. Grady,” Savannah replied and gave her a hug. Blake kissed Mason’s mom on the cheek and everyone departed.
House of Phoenyx: House of Phoenyx book 1 Page 16