Chrysalis: The Emergence of Emery (The Gifted Series Book 1) (17 page)

“Don’t try and take my pain from me, you can’t rid me of it without taking it into yourself. I will not allow your powers to diminish because you lend them to me, even if we are in a fight. You must promise me, Emery. I can’t take your powers yet, but you can freely give them to me. I don’t want them. You’re everything to me, keeping you safe is my priority. Treat your life with respect. Please. For me.”

I say nothing and Kade buries his head back into my lap with a frustrated groan. I sit watching my hand travel through his hair over and over again. I know the question I want to ask, but I’m not sure if I should ask it and risk upsetting him more.

“I don’t know how long you’ll have once it’s inside you. Could be months, could be years, I’m not sure there’s anyone alive today that knows the answer.” Without moving his head from my lap, Kade has answered the question I couldn’t ask.

“I’ll be okay,” I tell him what he needs to hear, even if I have no clue whether it’s true.

Kade looks up at me and smiles. He wraps his hand around the back of my neck and pulls my head down to his, then kisses me. The kiss quickly builds up speed and desire as he moves to standing all the while still kissing me. He pushes me back onto the bed, not letting his lips disconnect from mine as he climbs over me. Only then does he pull away, his chest heaving and I bite my bottom lip
,
feeling the swell of it.

“You’re going to have more powers, both natural and from the Convergence because you are late developing we won’t know which is which. That means you’ll need to learn any new powers that emerge. Emery, you need to learn to control your heart, the amount of powers that will be coming alive inside you can cause a sort of overload if you’re not careful. You’ve not had your gifts for years, you struggle maintaining your heart rate now, if we’re not careful you could either go into cardiac arrest like a normal human, or—”

“Or what?” I ask gripping his muscular upper arms.

“You could die, like those you’ve seen break into shards before vanishing completely.” His voice is guttural and my stomach dips.

“I have to work out our next steps. It’s only just after five am, but I’m leaving now and meeting with Tess and Tristan. He may seem like a joker, but Tristan is one of the smartest people I know. We also have to formulate a plan regarding Sicily and Miles. Elijah will be here soon, he’ll stay with you. I’ll brief him before I leave, and you can ask him about everything I haven’t had time to share with you tonight. Go have your bath, princess.”

“Kade,” I whisper and my voice breaks.

He places his hands on both sides of my face and kisses me once more. “I won’t let anything happen to you, okay?” I nod in response. “Nothing. You’re my forever, Emery. I’m not losing that. Not ever,” he says leaning forward and resting his forehead against mine.

I breathe in his scent and know that whatever happens in my tomorrow, having him in my today has made everything we face worth it.

“Em.” Elijah’s voice makes me jump as I stare out the hotel window. It surprises me as not many people can creep up on me anymore, and it just shows how much I have on my mind.

Turning around the worry is immediately clear on Elijah’s face, as is the concern rolling around inside him.

“Elijah, what’s wrong?” I ask, my voice slightly raspy. I make my way to the mini fridge and pull out two bottles of water, offering him one.

“Kade has caught me up with what’s going on with you. The Convergence, Em… that’s not good,” he says accepting the bottle from me, worry lacing his words.

I sigh and lean against the wall, dropping my head. “I know.”

“He’s informed you of the possible consequences?” he asks.

“What? You mean that I could have a heart attack, or break into a thousand shards and cease to exist? Yeah, he’s told me,” I say flatly. The moment the words are said I feel bad as Elijah’s pain slices through him and me. “Sorry, Eli,” I say. It’s the first time I’ve used a nickname and his eyes widen before he smiles.

The smile goes as quickly as it came when he grabs my hand. “I can’t lose you, Em. I know this isn’t your choice, but I just can’t lose you. When it enters your body, from that moment you have to focus one hundred percent on finding an ungifted human with a pure soul to take it from you.”

I nod in reply. I know he’s right, but there’s little I can do about the whole situation. I’ll have to let the chips fall where they may, as Jenny would say.

Jenny.
I haven’t thought about her since that night I dreamed about Elijah saving me.

“Could she help you?” Elijah asks picking up my thoughts.

I frown and cross my arms over my chest. “I need to learn how to stop you overhearing my thought process,” I state grumpily.

Elijah smiles at me, as though I’m cute and clueless. “You know how to do it, Em. You just make the decision internally, like you always have done. You think it and it happens.” He ruffles my hair and I’m an eye twitch away from kneeing him in the crotch. “You can’t have forgotten the most basic stuff, so I guess it’s probably just the fact that you were in the hospital and aren’t fully recuperated yet.” His voice has become more serious as he stares at me like I’m a problem to be solved.

I huff and move to sit on the single chair by the desk. “Eli, Kade told me that I could ask you anything, seeing as he didn’t have time to answer my questions.”

Elijah chuckles. “Emery, there isn’t enough time in the world to answer all the questions you probably have inside you.” When I say nothing he rolls his eyes and leans back against the wall, throwing one ankle over the other and slipping his hands into his pockets. “Shoot, little sister,” he says, and it’s all I need to start firing questions.

“When I was in the hospital I could hear wind chimes, they were up in my room. Why?” I’m not sure where that question came from. It certainly isn’t the most important one I need to ask, but it’s a good place to start, I guess.

Elijah must think the same as me because his eyes widen and he shrugs his shoulders to himself. “Well, that’s easy for you, Em,” he says with a wink. “They are put in the rooms of gifted beings when they’re unconscious. So they know that they’re at the hospital and safe.” He briefly stops speaking as my eyebrows pull in at my confusion. “Because we have to have our eyes covered for safety reasons, and often our hands and bodies have to be strapped down too. The rest of us aren’t blessed with Kade as a constant protector, vouching for us. He wouldn’t allow the medical staff to immobilize you.”

My mouth hangs open and I don’t know what to say. The thought of being strapped down, unable to move makes me feel uncomfortable, and I’m grateful that Kade was there to stop that happening.

“Why didn’t you tell me about Mary-Ann?” I jump straight into my next question.

“What could I have told you?” he returns and I feel inside as he clams up. It’s unlike him to feel uncomfortable, it makes me uneasy.

“Whatever you knew about her.”

“Nothing. I knew nothing,” he snaps, pushing off the wall, walking back to the balcony and slipping outside.

I let my head drop back and close my eyes.

Sorry
. I hear Elijah’s soft word in my head.

What is going on with you?
I ask him, making sure to focus my mind, so I’m only speaking to him.

I knew there was something different about Mary-Ann, but I never knew what exactly. I thought she was the Convergence, but she wouldn’t speak to anyone but Kade. She lived like a recluse for the seven years she spent with us. Rarely moving outside of her room, Kade was the only one allowed inside. I was able to tap into some thoughts here and there, managing to work out that she was the Convergence. I never told anyone I knew. Then, about six months ago I started getting a tingling every time I passed her door. At first it confused me, then, somehow information was pushed into my brain, not much, but just enough that made me believe there was a chance that she was going to feed me her powers. The night I brought you to the house I could feel that you had the tingles too. I think I’ve known from that moment.

What did you know from that moment?
I ask greedy for information.

I knew she’d picked you instead. The tingles started for you, it was her way of passing tiny pieces of the Convergence to you until you were ready for the whole power. I knew because the tingling stopped for me the night you arrived.

I don’t say anything, I’m unsure what to say. I sit at the desk and stare at the mirror in front of me. I’m different, I have been since the night my powers sparked to life inside me. That’s a lie, I’ve always been different. But now, I can feel powers constantly building within me, I feel strong. I have family, I have Kade. I feel whole
,
like all my pieces are where they should be, and I’m finally realizing my place in this crazy world. I was a wallflower before, hiding in the shadows, trying to go unnoticed. I never really had a place.

Now I know who I am.

I am part of the light.

I am Elijah’s sister.

I am the Convergence.

I am Kade’s Pith.

I’m not Emma Breitsprecher anymore, I’m not sure I ever was. I’m Emery Laird, exactly who I was always meant to be.

“Elijah, come sit in here with me,” I demand.

Surprisingly, with only a roll of his eyes, he concedes and sits across from me on the end of my bed. “There are explanations I still need.” He just nods in response, so I take that as my cue to question him. “Where are Sicily and Miles?”

At my first question I can feel the pain burn through him. It’s stabbing me inside like a thousand needles and I wince, before trying to cut him off.

“They took Sicily, I watched but I couldn’t do anything.” His voice is strained and I can see from the look on his face that he feels like he let her down.

“You didn’t do this,” I murmur.

“I allowed them to take her,” he shoots back and heat prickles my skin.

“What happened?” I ask.

“We arrived back at the house and Mary-Ann was fighting at least ten men from the dark. There were fires all over and already a few bodies on the floor,” he says dropping his head forward and rubbing the back of his neck. I fight my own urge to interrupt him and ask ten new questions that have just popped into my head. “She was dying, there was too many of them against… just her. She was powerful, really powerful, but she was old and her gifts had been unused for so many years that she was rusty.” His head comes up and he looks pointedly at me. “This is why I’ve had you training. You need to pick that backup today. There’s no time to rest and recuperate like Kade has led you to believe. We live in a world where they
will
come for you at your weakest.” His words are rushed and panicky and my stomach feels like a thousand moths are attacking me from the inside and it’s all from him.

I reach across the small space and capture his hand. “Elijah, I’m not going anywhere. Nobody is going to take me from you,” I reassure him. He smiles but it’s weak, he doesn’t mean it, he doesn’t believe my words. “You say I’m strong, Kade says I’m strong, when I have the Convergence in me I’ll be stronger. It’s unlikely that anyone will be able to kill me, Eli,” I say moving so I’m sitting next to him now.

His shoulders drop and he gives a slight shake of his head. “I know what you’re saying, and while most of that is true, there’s still the fact that the Convergence being inside you could—” he stops talking and grinds his teeth.

“Eli,” I whisper and after a few torturous seconds when I think he might lose it, he looks over to me. “Nothing will happen to me. Even if you take away the fact that you and Kade wouldn’t let anyone hurt me, there’s still one fact that you’re forgetting.”

He pulls his eyebrows in but says nothing.

“I’m Emery Laird, the head female of Laird House. I’m light, dark and a pure soul. I will win. I will survive.” My little pep talk for Elijah seems to work as the corners of his mouth twitch.

“I forgot, Kade calls you Princess. I guess that’s what you are. I mean you’re the strongest of our
ho
Ho
use now,” he tells me. I can feel his pride swell and it warms me from the inside, spreading through my limbs.

“So what happened next?” I encourage him to continue.

“Well, we fought the ones who were still alive. There were more than we first thought. Mary-Ann was fighting ten, but as soon as we joined in another twenty or so appeared from behind the house. Tristan and Tess fought side by side at the front of the house with Mary-Ann, I ran through to the back when they grabbed Sicily and hauled her to the garden. I managed to get her back, and for a few minutes we were winning.” He sighs. “Then all at once a bunch of them ran around from the front of the house, I knew right then that they had beaten the others and I hoped that nobody was dead. We couldn’t win, there were too many. They took her and I was knocked out for a few seconds by a power I’ve never felt before.” He stops talking again, running his hand back and forth over his hair. An ache spreads through my chest and I realize that I’m not cutting off Elijah’s emotions like I had hoped I could. Maybe I want to take some of his pain, share it, so he doesn’t have the full impact.

“Where was Miles?” I ask, suddenly remembering him.

Elijah’s jaw works back and forth. “I don’t know.”

“But you suspect,” I reply immediately.

He nods his head and I give him a moment. “I thought I saw him leaving us and running with them. I heard a whisper in my head, but I’m not sure if I imagined it.”

“What did it say?”

“Someone was saying, ‘He’s re-joined us now.’” I feel his anger a split second before he stands and kicks the chair I was just sitting on. Instinctively, I reach out and stop it from flying through the balcony doors. “Damn, Em,” Elijah says staring at me.

“What is it with you and Kade? Inanimate objects don’t deserve to be punished!” I grumble standing and crossing my arms.

He laughs, but it’s not real, he’s trying everything he can to mask his pain.

“You can’t hide from me,” I tell him.

“I know,” he whispers
,
letting his worry show.

I move over to the mini fridge. “You want another water?” I ask, but he just shakes his head. Rubbing my temples I decide to keep questioning him. If I can at least keep his mind occupied then maybe he won’t feel so desolate. “I know what I want to ask,” I say, and he raises his head to look at me. “Why did some of the dark bodies remain? I thought we all shatter and disappear when we die?”

Elijah blinks a couple of times before answering, “Oh, yeah, well, we only shatter if we are above a level six. It’s to do with us being too strong, the whole stopping both sides from building an army thing.”

“I don’t get it.” I shrug and sit back on the bed. This time positioning myself at the top, propping up the pillows so I can lean against the wall.

Elijah turns around and faces me crossing his legs. “Do you remember when I first found you, I thought you’d killed those guys?” he asks, and I nod, gritting my teeth as the memory washes over me. “Well, Michael didn’t die, right?” I repeat my nod. “He would’ve been close to death, but he told you that he survived because Zeit saved him. Well Zeit, like you, probably has the Revive gift. If someone with abilities dies or is close to death, and they are less than a level six, you can use the Revive gift on them and bring them back. However, if they were light and someone from the dark saves them, then they will turn dark, and I would assume it works the same way if a person from the light saves a dark being. Although, I can’t be sure as I’ve never heard of this happening.”

I can feel my eyebrows pull inward and he notices.

“Because we’ve been on the back foot for so long, most people of the light are wary, most of us remain hidden and will not engage in fighting. The sections like us that fight are few, and we’re trying to come together, to make ourselves bigger, stronger… it’s hard. If we do engage in fighting, we wouldn’t try and save a dark being. Therefore, I have no real idea if they would switch sides.”

“So why do only level six and above shatter?” I ask.

“Because there’s no coming back from that. They can’t afford for the higher levels to be saved. If they killed me and brought me back, I would be dark, it would be another addition to their ranks. The majority of gifted people are level five, a few are lower. The amount of people both dark and light at every level from when you hit six gets less and less. The stronger ones of us are rare. We would be an asset on either side.”

“Why could I bring back Kade?” I ask biting my lip.

“Why can you do any of the things you seem capable of Em? You’re special, born of both light and dark. You have more power than you can fathom. Obviously, your gifts go beyond the norm. Also, Kade hadn’t shattered… did you notice that?” he replies.

“Well, I didn’t think about it at the time, but I guess… yeah. I mean he was dead, right?”

“Yes. He was,” Elijah answers.

I clutch my stomach to ward off the ache.

“How?” I rasp out.

“Kade is special, too. Nobody else has golden powers, Em,” he tells me, but says no more and I can feel that he’s not willing to elaborate.

I blink a few times trying to digest the information. Letting it seep in, I move onto my next question, pushing back the burning, knowing I need to ask this one.

“Why can’t Kade use my powers?”

Elijah swallows and blanches slightly. “I don’t think I’m the one to answer that. Speak to your Pith when you see him.” I bite my bottom lip for a moment then nod.

“Okay, another question, Elijah.” This time I run through how to ask what I want to know.

“Em?”

“Before, you rescued me, when Kade… when we nearly lost him,” I whisper the last part, not wanting to relive that. “Eli, I want to know all of it. From who it was that took us to… well, everything.”

He grinds his teeth.

“I believe it was our Uncle Zed that came for you. I don’t know how he found you, or what exactly happened when you were out there. I’m sorry, Em, I don’t even know what they had planned for you.”

“
What do you know
?” I snap, agitated.

“I know that they took you to a safe house, one of theirs. We’ve been doing covert missions for the last three years, watching them, following them, gathering intel. It was lucky we had our facts straight as it meant we could find Kade and then he was able to
connect
with you. As soon as he did I ran to get you. I wasn’t far when I felt him, Em. It was the only way we knew so quickly.” He thumps his fist against the bed. “If I wasn’t on my way back to you, if I wasn’t near enough—”

“Stop, Eli. What’s the point of dissecting things that don’t require it? We can’t change anything, and the only information worth analyzing is stuff that’s going to help us. You
did
find him and because of you, both Kade and I are alive today. So just stop, okay? You’re making me feel hollow inside,” I tell him clutching my stomach, a mixture of annoyance and sadness echoes in my tone.

“Sorry,” he breathes out with a huff. He knows I’m right, but he’s still consumed by worry, it has seeped into every pore of his skin.

“I looked like my mother,” I murmur, and he nods. “You knew our father was there?” I whisper this time.

“Yeah, like I said we’d been watching things for a while. He lost Zarina… you already know what can become of us when we lose our Piths. He couldn’t deal with it and has been with the dark, I assume ever since. He left us when things turned bad when houses started being infiltrated. I didn’t know back then, I mean I was a kid, they said he’d been killed, both of them had been. I wasn’t to know any different. When we started following them I saw him, I knew… could feel his anger and fear. I tried to speak to him once and he didn’t have even an ounce of remorse about leaving us. That’s when I knew his light was extinguished. His heart belongs to the dark now.”

“And Zarina?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never seen her so can only assume she’s dead, but I have no proof.” He rolls his eyes upwards. “Although nothing surprises me these days,” he tells the ceiling.

“I have so many more questions, but I’m so tired, Eli. I don’t think I can carry on.”

“Awesome,” Elijah tells me with a smile.

“One more, though.” He groans but waits for me to ask. “Where is Kade? What exactly is he doing right now?”

“I thought he told you? He’s going to meet with a new alliance. Erm… Verum Novum I think they’re called.”

“What?” I shriek standing up.

“What’s the problem, Em?”

I jump off the bed and scrabble around the floor looking for my sneakers. “The problem is
Elijah,
that he told me this new group is a mixture of light and dark, that they think I’m their salvation. What the hell he thinks he’s doing going to meet with them I don’t know, but I intend to find out.”

“I think you need to let him do what he needs to keep you safe, Em,” Elijah chokes out looking at the ground.

I pull on my jacket but stop with one arm in and one out, turning to stare at him. “You know where
exactly
he is don’t you? You’ve been told to answer all my questions and to keep me busy.”

He rubs the back of his head looking sheepish.

“Dammit, Eli!” I shout, then scramble to get out the door.