Arise (Awakened Fate Book 4) (15 page)

When he was alone, he fidgeted with whatever was at hand and stared at nothing like he was chasing something in circles inside his head.

It was creepy.

I would have loved to make it stop.

Dad’s footsteps thudded on the stairs. Niall turned, that icy arrogance back on his face, and I quickly tried to make it seem like I’d just been walking down the hallway.

“Car’s coming,” Dad said when he reached the hall.

I looked past him to the door. I didn’t hear–

Tires rumbled faintly in the distance.

I started to smile. The expression died at Dad’s glare.

Niall strode past me.

My hands flinched and I barely kept myself from grabbing him. He was so close. So goddamn
close
…

The scum-sucker moved off down the hall.

“Keep it together,” Dad growled, coming up beside me. “I see you try that again…”

The threat in his voice was more than clear. He’d beaten us to pulps when we were kids and we didn’t do things his way. Now that we were older, it hadn’t much stopped, though these days, heavy objects usually got involved.

He was bigger, he was stronger, and he damn well knew it. He didn’t even look at me again as he turned and walked after Niall.

I shuddered. I hated him. His stupid plans and the way he’d left us stuck here, pretending to be humans with scale-skins all around. There weren’t words to describe it. This wasn’t how greliarans were meant to behave.

But then, the girl would be dead soon. I’d squeeze the life out of her pretty little fish body and I’d finally get to feel that magic rushing into me. Putting up with that muscle-bound jackass for all these years would almost be worth it once that happened.

Working to keep my hands from shaking, I followed him to the door.

Chapter Thirteen

Chloe

The dense forest made me feel like I was trapped in a tunnel of green with monsters at the end.

Which was mostly true.

In the back seat of Olivia’s car, I cast a nervous glance ahead of me to Noah for the twentieth time. He’d hidden his presence from his family, though we all knew they’d hear us coming anyway. But maybe, if they didn’t hide as well, we’d have some warning of where they were in this mess of evergreen trees.

But so far, there was nothing.

The car came around a turn of the track, and a bit farther on, the road opened up into a clearing. A two-story, cabin-like house of red logs stood to the right of the path, with a raised porch running the length of the building. The green, aluminum-slatted roof blended with the trees, while a matching shed waited to the left of the road.

And beyond it all lay the ocean. The waves crashed into the rocky shore in a turbulent rush, while the sky stretched from here to the horizon in a great swath of bluish-gray haze that ultimately blurred into the sea.

In spite of everything, I shivered with longing, and from the corner of my eye, I saw Zeke shift a bit. I glanced to him. One hand steadying the shotgun that was propped upright beside his legs, he blinked and tugged his gaze from the sea.

It’d been so long. I’d felt the ocean this entire time, and knew we were getting close, but seeing it again…

I drew a breath, forcing myself to concentrate while Olivia pulled the car to a stop. Being near the water was dangerous. The moment I used any magic to help my parents, the Beast could figure out I was here.

If it didn’t know already.

I swallowed hard, attempting to ignore that thought while I scanned the property.

Nothing moved.

We climbed from the car. Birds called in the trees. Wind blew from the ocean, carrying the smell of salt and making my skin want to change.

My focus snapped back when the front door opened, its sound loud in the stillness of the clearing.

Niall walked onto the porch.

I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. His face was cold when he looked at us and his brilliant blue eyes were the same. Behind him, Wyatt and a man who could only be the guy’s father emerged from the house. I could see Wyatt shaking from the urge to race at us, though every few heartbeats, his attention twitched toward Niall like he could barely keep from attacking him too.

Niall’s gaze flicked to him, as if noting the shaking as well, though his expression didn’t change.

“Hello Zeke,” he said, looking back to us again.

Zeke’s jaw muscles jumped. “Niall.”

“We’re just here for Chloe’s parents,” Noah called, scanning the clearing.

I followed his gaze nervously, realizing that the other two greliarans were nowhere to be seen.

Wyatt chuckled. “Yeah, well, sure.” He grinned at me. “Come on, pretty. You and your friend join us over here, and we’ll let little Noah have your parents.”

Heart pounding, I looked past him to his father. “Let me see them. I want to know they’re okay.”

The man paused, considering.

“What?” Wyatt mocked. “You don’t trust us?”

I swallowed, watching his dad. “Please,” I added carefully.

The man’s lip twitched. “Wyatt,” he snapped, not taking his eyes from me. “Go get them.”

His son gave him an incredulous glance.

“Now,” the man ordered.

Wyatt’s mouth spasmed toward a snarl, but he went.

Seconds crept past. I took a shaky breath, my gaze sliding toward the ocean. It seemed unchanged.

A door slammed in the house. My heart climbed my throat at the sound of shuffling.

Mom and Dad came out the door with Wyatt behind them. They were hardly walking. They could barely even stand. Their faces were white as ash and their bodies trembled as though the proximity to the ocean was shaking them apart. Clutching each other for stability, they stumbled across the porch till their hands landed on the stairway banister.

I started toward them. Noah caught my arm, holding me back.

Atop the steps, Mom spotted me. Her eyes went wide and her grip clenched on Dad. “Chloe?”

They tried to hurry down the stairs, nearly tumbling to their knees by the time they made it to the yard. Watching them as though he was enjoying the show, Wyatt sauntered after them. They staggered on for a few more steps and then, with a smirk, he shoved them both forward.

A choked noise escaped me when they fell to the dirt.

“Wyatt!” his father barked.

Still smirking, Wyatt held up his hands and retreated, leaving them in the center of the clearing.

Noah and Zeke stayed with me as I rushed forward. Taking up positions on either side of me, they eyed Wyatt and the others while I dropped to my knees.

“Chloe,” Dad gasped. “Go. Get out of–” His words degenerated into a hacking cough.

I grasped their hands. Their skin was cool. Too cool, and their fingers trembled in mine.

My gaze flashed to the water. I prayed that Beast thing wouldn’t feel this.

I closed my eyes, willing them to be okay, for the ocean to stop hurting, for nothing of the sea to cause them pain ever again.

A shiver tingled across my skin, as if it was about to change. I drew a sharp breath, opening my eyes.

Color was returning to their faces. Their trembling faded away. They seemed to be breathing easier than before.

Dad blinked and then looked up at me. “Chloe, what did you do?”

I glanced to the ocean. The waves rolled in under the blue-metal sky, seeming no different than before. The wind carried the salty air past us, feeling no stronger than it had.

Relief rushed through me. I turned back when Mom pushed up from the ground.

“It doesn’t hurt,” she whispered with amazement. “Nothing… nothing hurts.”

“What happened?” Wyatt snapped.

My gaze rose to find him gaping at me with offended rage like I’d stolen his toy. On the porch, Niall stared as if he couldn’t decide whether I was an abomination or a prize.

Wyatt’s dad cleared his throat. “Take her,” he ordered his son, his voice a bit less steady than before. “The boy too.”

“That won’t be happening,” Olivia called, stepping past us quickly. Alarmed, Noah grabbed at her arm to stop her, but she avoided him with barely a glance. Straightening to every inch of her height, she came to a halt between us and the porch stairs, and regarded Wyatt’s father with a stern expression.

Wyatt snorted at her. “Oh, really? You gonna stop us?”

Olivia didn’t even look at him. “I am here on behalf of your benefactors, Richard,” she declared. “Of which I am one. Your protections are in danger of being removed. If you do not allow me to take the entire Kowalski family, Noah, and Zeke out of here unharmed, I will make certain you and your sons find yourselves on a fast track to prison.”

Curiosity flickered through Niall’s eyes at the words.

“What if we just kill you instead?” Wyatt snapped.

Olivia ignored him.

Richard did as well. “Nice speech,” he replied, “considering you have no proof.”

“My proof lies in the police who are coming, and the sheriff who will, if we ask, suddenly find himself being paid to arrest you rather than look the other way.”

Richard’s mouth twitched toward a snarl, though he held it mostly under control. “You’re bluffing. I know one
benefactor
who offered us just about anything to get those two back – including her parents. And plenty of others who are invested in his ‘research’.”

“There are a few,” Olivia allowed. “However, the individual who established the arrangement with your local sheriff is not one of them. So tell me… how do you feel about losing your home? Your freedom? How would you like to see your sons in prison over the little ‘problems’ we’ve cleaned up for you over the years?”

The man didn’t respond. At my side, I saw Noah glance to the forest, his brow flickering down.

“This is bullshit,” Wyatt spat into the silence. “We don’t need your
protection
, you pathetic, scum-sucker-loving–”

“Shut up, Wyatt,” Richard snapped. His gaze twitched to the forest too.

I swallowed. I couldn’t hear anything.

That didn’t mean much.

“You bring the cops out here,” Richard continued, pulling his focus back to us. “You call the sheriff. I’ll show them the thing that murdered my son.”

Niall glanced from Richard to Zeke, the curiosity in his gaze taking on a tinge of caution.

Olivia shook her head. “We–”

“No!” Richard barked. “My son is dead, so you take your arrangement and you shove it, you hear me?” He gestured sharply to Wyatt. “Get them over here.”

Wyatt started forward.

Zeke swung the shotgun up while Noah moved in front of me.

“I’m warning you!” Olivia cried. “I
forbid
you from–”

Wyatt grabbed her and flung her at Zeke.

A shout came from the forest, followed by a roar. A man screamed, the sound cutting short fast, and then another roar rose from behind the trees on the opposite side of the clearing.

Zeke turned to grab me while Olivia stumbled aside. Noah stayed between us and Wyatt, trying to watch both sides of the yard and his cousin all at once.

Two men ran from the forest.

A greliaran chased them. More fissures than I’d ever seen on Noah covered the guy, till he looked like a monster of molten lava that skin could barely hold in human form.

“Trap!” one of the men shouted at Niall. “They’re–”

The greliaran caught him, hefted him bodily into the air, and then hurled him back toward a tree, where he hit with a sickening crunch. The other man turned, spikes rushing from his arms.

He followed his companion into the tree trunk.

Niall took one look at Richard and then leapt from the porch to the dirt. Richard started after him, his skin changing.

Another greliaran ran from the woods on the other side of the clearing, in pursuit of more men. When the dehaians reached the yard, they spun to face the creature, spikes extended.

In a single motion, the greliaran grabbed two of them by the throat. Their spikes deflected uselessly from his arms as he lifted them, and his mouth curved into a smile while their bodies thrashed and flailed.

Their necks snapped in his hands.

The greliaran shuddered, utter ecstasy slackening his inhuman face. He tossed the bodies aside.

I stared, frozen.

Zeke hauled on my arm, dragging me from the ground.

“Run!” Noah ordered us, his gaze darting from Wyatt to the other greliarans.

Olivia wasted no time; she grabbed my mother by one elbow and my father by the other. “Get up!” she commanded, watching the greliarans.

Mom and Dad scrambled to their feet.

Wyatt roared and charged at Noah, slamming into him and driving him back toward us. Olivia and my parents tumbled aside, barely managing to get out of the way, while Zeke pulled me to him and away from their path.

Motion caught the corner of my eye. I turned.

Niall lunged at me.

Zeke twisted, trying to push me aside and block him.

Niall drove his fist into his brother’s stomach, and a choked noise escaped Zeke when the blow landed hard. Without hesitation, Niall pulled back his other fist and swung at Zeke’s face.

Richard snagged Niall’s arm. Snarling like a wild animal, he took Niall’s shoulder with his other hand and then hurled him backwards.

“Get over here, you bastard,” Richard growled at Zeke.

Keeping me behind him, Zeke retreated as the man stalked toward us.

“Owen! Clay!” Richard barked at the two other greliarans. “Get the girl!”

I glanced to the yard. There wasn’t anywhere to go. Olivia had the keys and we’d never make it to the car anyway. Not all of us. Meanwhile, the surviving dehaians were holding their distance and watching us, as though torn about whether to fight or run. Niall was on the ground, struggling to get back up, and my parents were with Olivia on the other side of Noah and Wyatt’s struggle.

And it seemed like Wyatt was winning.

Clay and Owen charged.

Brown balls sped through the air, hitting them each in rapid succession. The impacts drove them to the ground, where vines exploded over them. Ropes like living tentacles crawled across their bodies and dug into the dirt. The greliarans struggled, roaring furiously, but for every rope they snapped, more grew to take its place.