“Okay, so technically speaking, you may be a tiny bit more powerful than me, but it’s not enough to matter.” She stood and held out her hand for him. “This is just a thing we need to work on. You have perfect control with this gift with everyone else in your life. So we’ll just work on it until you have perfect control with your equal too. Then this will never happen with anyone else.”
He grabbed her hand and pulled himself up to stand next to her.
“Thank you, Allie.” He pulled her close, tucking her head under his chin.
“For what?”
“For knowing how to pull me back.” She could feel his laughter vibrate in his chest. “The kissing I enjoyed. And I’m pretty sure you did too. But next time, go for the kiss before I turn you into a pincushion.” He took her hand as they headed back to his office.
“Oh, next time there will be no kissing. Next time you might come up missing some parts.” She dropped his hand and took a step away to put some distance between them, but she smiled, trying to take the sting out of her words.
“It doesn’t have to mean anything, Allie.” He pulled her back. “You put too much pressure on us.” His eyes filled with amusement and she realized he was making a huge effort not to make anything out of this kiss.
“We can’t let this happen again, Aidan. “
“I know, you just broke up with Vince.”
“Technically, he broke up with me.”
“What?” Aidan stopped walking.
“He beat me to the punch.” Allie hadn’t told Aidan the finer details of their breakup so she’d let him assume she’d done the actual breaking up.
He threw his head back and laughed. “Seriously? After all your indecision and he broke up with you?” His laughter echoed across the yard.
“It’s so not that funny.” Allie scowled down at him.
“I’m sorry, Allie. I don’t mean to laugh.” But he couldn’t seem to stop.
“Har, har, funny guy. It still wasn’t easy.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” He shook his head. “What was his reason?”
“He thought I was checking out of the relationship so he beat me to the punch and let me off the hook. It grew into kind of a mutual split from there.”
“I’m sorry. I know the breakup wasn’t easy for you no matter how it went.”
“Come on. I need a snack.” She turned toward the kitchen as they left the yard behind.
“Me too.” He draped his arm around her, still chuckling. “I promise, I’m not going to push you into anything.” His tone grew serious. “I know you still care about him, but nothing between us has to change just because you’re single now.
“I think I’m over relationships,” Allie said. “It was always easy with Vince. Even the breakup. I doubt I’ll ever be that lucky again.”
“There’s a reason you two always had such an easy, no-pressure relationship. You’re just alike. He’s running scared from his feelings for Kayla just as hard as you’re running from your feelings for a certain handsome Immortal.”
“Yeah, Graham is pretty cute.”
“Uh … I don’t think you’re his type, Lex. Come on, I think you need a sandwich and maybe a few stitches. You still look like some asshole beat you up.”
~~~
CHAPTER
TEN
Allie lingered in the bathtub, her aching muscles weary from a long week of training. The closer she came to her seventeenth birthday, the harder they worked her. She was covered in bruises from an afternoon of sparring with Aidan and Sasha, and she was pretty sure she had a few broken toes to show for it.
She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. Her bedroom door creaked open and careful footsteps crossed her room.
“Ma?” she called, frowning at the swish of the door as her visitor left. She toweled off quickly and peeked into her room. Her gaze fell to the note on her nightstand. It was in Carson’s neat script.
There is a reason for his silence. Go to sleep and think of the place where you meet Aidan, then ask him to leave. N will be waiting. Burn this (just try not to burn the house down with it).
Love Dad
The page heated under her fingertips as she released a trickle of her solar power into the paper. It smoldered to ash in her hands and fluttered into the empty wastebasket.
“Thanks, Dad,” she whispered.
Dream date tonight? she asked Aidan.
You sleeping alone?
I need to give it a shot every once in a while.
See you there in a bit.
Allie lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. As she thought about the prospect of confronting her father, her hands balled into fists and her nails scraped her bruised palms. The anger surged within her so quickly, she wasn’t sure she would be able to sleep at all. She didn’t know how Navid would manage it, but if he could really meet her in the dreamworld, she had so many questions. She didn’t even know if she was ready to see him—she was so angry. What if she lost control the moment she saw him?
Finally, she decided to meditate and focused on the deep breathing exercises that often helped her drift off to sleep.
“I thought you were going to stand me up.” Aidan stood to greet her under the gnarled old laurel tree. This was where they always met when their dreams merged. It was an echo of the grassy hillside behind his house. Like an imperfect copy of the real thing, but this place held an otherworldly vibe she was only beginning to suspect was bigger and more powerful than they could imagine.
“Sorry, couldn’t fall asleep.”
“What’s going on, Allie?”
“I needed to come here and this is the only way I know how. I’ve never been here alone, have you?”
“No, I tend to just drift until you get here.”
“Me too. But I need you to leave now.” She gave him an apologetic look.
“What? Why? I just got here.”
“Please just trust me.”
“I’m not sure I know how to leave. I usually just wake up or we drift into another dream.”
“Wake up, Aidan. Please?”
It took several attempts, but as he finally faded away, Allie fought the urge to follow. The pull was strong and she had to force herself to stay behind. When he was gone, she paced around the old tree, anxious to see how Navid might appear.
Could she really do this? Talk to her father? She wanted to feel excited, but she felt nothing but that burning anger that was her constant companion lately.
“I’m so sorry, Allie.” His voice echoed around her and she turned, spinning to scan the grassy slopes, but he wasn’t there.
“NAVID!” His name ripped from her throat, the sound filled with all the anguish of the last months. The knowledge that he was her father and he was alive and well, but had left her to be raised by mortals, completely isolated from her kind. She wanted to hit something. She needed an outlet for her rage.
“Breathe, Allie. Find your center.”
She screamed in frustration at the ghostly voice that was such a familiar part of her childhood. Her control was quickly slipping out of her grasp and she fought to rein it in. Allie fell to her knees, taking deep, shaky breaths. When she opened her eyes, her hands were tight fists, dripping blood all over the ground.
She looked up and he was there. Standing just feet from her.
Allie wondered how she never saw it before. In so many ways, she was the physical opposite of her father. He was tall, dark, and muscular, where she was petite, fair, and curvy. She had his eyes, his unruly curls, his quiet confidence she was just beginning to grow into. And his power. She had thought, from everything Gregg told her, that she got her power from her mother, but she realized now that she had much of her father’s powerful nature within her.
“Why?” She choked on the word. Her seething anger was the only thing keeping her tears back.
Navid sank to the ground beside her. “Such a simple but difficult question to answer.”
“How are you here? In this dream?”
<
br /> “I am a dreamwalker. A telepathic gift very few know I possess. In the dreamworld, I am at my strongest, telepathically. In the waking world, I am hardly a telepath at all. It is very difficult for me to speak to another’s mind. You have your mind locked up so tightly against Aidan, I’ve not been able to reach you. Carson said you were asking for me, and I’m so very glad to see you … daughter.” He struggled with that last word, his eyes bright and his hands shaking.
“I am angry, Navid. So angry I can hardly breathe.” Her words were firm, but barely a whisper.
“You have every right to be.”
“I love my parents.”
“They are your parents; of course you love them. That will never change. I won’t take your father’s place in your heart, but I would like it if you could find a small corner for me too, someday.”
“And what of Kassandre? Where is she in all of this?”
“If she could be here, she would.”
“You gave me away! Who does that?”
“It was the hardest thing either of us has ever done in our many thousands of years.”
“I remember you. You gave me away before you were supposedly assassinated.”
“What do you remember?” His eyes grew wide. “We stopped visiting when we thought you were still too young to remember.”
“I don’t know if it’s a memory or a vision, but I was three years old, running on the beach with Lily and Carson, but you and Kassandre were there too, walking in the distance. I ran after you, but you left me!”
“You think we wanted to? We lost one daughter we never knew. We could hardly face it, losing another. If we had raised you, Allie, you would have never had a chance to be the girl you are now. You know what your mother can do—she sees, Allie, she sees everything. We’ve seen your life a thousand different ways, but this was the only version that kept you safe and happy. This was the only version of your life that made sense. We gave you up to give you a better life—”
“To grow up completely ignorant of what I am? So many years? Thinking something was wrong with me! I wasn’t happy. I just … existed, going through the motions of life with little to look forward to and no one who understood me. And then going into an Awakening like that with no idea what was happening?” She took a deep, shuddering breath, forcing her anger back down.
“In this life you will know great sorrow and immeasurable joy. It is worth every sacrifice we’ve made to give you that chance. I cannot give you all the answers you deserve right now, but I promise you will have them in time. Just know that every decision that was made for you was meant to give you the strength and experience you need to face what you must.”
“That damned prophecy?”
“Yes—but the recorded version is false. Your grandmother, Alísun, foretold that prophecy and she knew it would be her own granddaughter to fulfill it. She is the only one who knows the true prophecy. The women of your family have been protecting you for thousands of years, Allie.
“Enough.” She stood to pace. “I don’t want to hear any more—not now.” She took a deep, calming breath. She was in control, but only just.
“It is not safe for me to linger here for long, even in this remote edge of the dreamworld,” Navid said. “If my secret is discovered, I could lose this opportunity to see you and I will not risk your safety simply because it is my deepest desire for my daughter to know me as more than just a family friend. To see her beautiful face—so like her mother’s. To watch her grow into her potential. To have the honor to teach her … to hold her and comfort her when she is upset. I cannot give you the time you deserve, but if you want to see me—if you want to know and learn from me—then we can meet here briefly from time to time, but you must open your mind. Keeping yourself locked up so tightly is only contributing to that rage you feel burning in your core.”
“How will I know when you’ll be here? How can I come here on my own?”
“You wish to see me again?” His green eyes brightened.
“I am angry, Navid. I feel so much anger, directed at everyone and everything around me, but I want to know my father.” She choked on the last word.
“Allie.” He pulled her into his arms and she sobbed on his shoulder. “Deep breaths, sweetheart.”
She’d never felt so close to the edge like this. She had to pull it together before she totally lost it.
“To come here alone, you must study the path that leads you here. As you fall into the world of dreams, focus and you will see. Come alone for now. But you must confide in Aidan. You need someone you trust. Share your secrets with him.”
“I can tell him? About you?”
“Tell him everything, but you must do so in absolute privacy. You cannot risk letting anyone overhear you, but you can’t shoulder the weight of this burden all on your own, either. Keep your mind open to him and I will hear you. I can speak to your mind, although it is difficult, and costs a great deal of strength to do so. When you have need of me, do not hesitate to reach out. I will hear you if you hold on to a thought with me in mind, but I may not always be able to answer. And when you enter the world of dreams, do not ever leave your own dreamscape. This is very important, Allie. This world is infinite and it is very easy to get lost here when you are not a dreamwalker. It could drive you mad if you found yourself trapped in someone else’s dreamscape.”
“How can I come here like this if I’m not a dreamwalker?” Allie asked.
“Because you are my daughter. This is your heritage from me. It doesn’t make you a dreamwalker, but it makes you more susceptible to this world. It is part of you.”
“Is it safe for Aidan to come here with me?”
“He has an affinity for telepathy, so he is able to travel here safely with another telepath, although I don’t think he could manage it on his own. As long as you come here just as you always have, you both will be perfectly safe. But do not speak of this place to your teachers. Not yet. Emma Renard is your mentor, yes?”
Allie nodded.
“She is a formidable woman with a dark past, but you will learn a great deal from her. I could not find you a better example of a woman capable of great ruthlessness as well as great compassion. She may caution you about entering the dreamworld, but she won’t know enough about it to teach you.”
“When can I see you again?”
“We must be cautious, daughter. I will leave a sign for you here and we will see each other again soon. I am delighted you even want to see me.”
“I can’t say there won’t be more screaming, but I need to know you. I need to understand everything happening around me. This is my life, Navid. I can’t have other people deciding my fate for me. Not anymore.”
“I will teach you everything you need to know about the choices we’ve made for you. But you are doing remarkably well, sweetheart. I’m so proud of you.”
She could feel him slipping away and was reluctant to let him go. No matter how angry she was, she still loved him, just as she always had when she knew him only as a family friend.
“Goodbye for now?”
“For now.” Navid pulled her back into his embrace and she faded away from the world of dreams.
I love you, my beautiful daughter.…
Her father’s words echoed through her mind.
“Allie, wake up. Please.” Aidan’s warm hand clasped tightly around hers as her eyes fluttered open. Her cheeks were wet with tears. “I came as soon as felt you freaking out. What have you seen?”
“Your music room, in the underground—it’s soundproofed, right?”
“Yes. Darius sealed it himself.”
“Take me there? I’m ready to talk. My thoughts are a jumbled mess right now and I just ... I need to get it all out before I can really let you back in.”
“Let’s go.”
~~~
CHAPTER
ELEVEN
“What’s going on, Allie? You’re scaring me.” Aidan closed the door to his studio behind them and Allie heade
d to the surround sound system, hoping some music would drown out their voices in case someone happened to overhear them.
“We’re safe here, Lex. No one will hear us. Now, please—”
“I’m a natural born,” she blurted.
“What? How?”
“The usual way, I suppose.” She managed a wry smile. “That's what Gregg told me before we left for Agra this summer.”
“How did he know?”
“It seems he suspected who my real parents were, but wasn’t certain enough to say anything … until I told him Livia was interested in me because of my necklace.” She remembered the way Gregg had looked at her necklace—the one Lily had given her years ago. It was a family heirloom, only she hadn’t realized Lily meant it was from her birth family.
“Who are they? How did he know them?” he asked, but Allie held up her hand to stall his questions.
“Your father and my mother lived as husband and wife for nearly a century before my mother recognized my father.”
“Jeez, Da.” Aidan winced. “It seems he’s been friendly with all my friends’ moms. Come on, I have a feeling this is going to be a long night. We might as well get comfortable.” He grabbed Allie’s hand and towed her to the bedroom, the soft, soothing music still playing.
Allie made herself at home. The night sky twinkling down on them barely registered as a reminder that Naomi had been there.
“Now spill it,” Aidan said as he draped his arm around her and she relaxed for the first time in hours. “How did you end up with Lily and Carson if you’re a natural born?”
“My birth parents chose them to raise me. My mother knew they would die and she knew I wouldn’t be safe, so she hid me in the mortal world.” Allie propped up on her elbow and looked down at him, fearful of the thing she was about to divulge. “Can I trust you?”
“You know better than to even ask that question.” He scowled.
“Can I trust you with my mortal family’s lives?”
“Nothing you say will leave this room tonight. No matter what.”
“Lily and Carson know far more about me than I’ve ever let on.”
Immortals of Indriell- The Collection Page 62