CRYSTALLUM (The Primordial Principles Book 1) (41 page)

Plumb let out a breath. "Better gather the troops."

"Under what guise?" Danny said. "This is so unlawful, what we're talking about doing. I'm not backing out, but we have no proof of anything other than Kade is an Anamolia. We're going on
hunches."

"Where do you think proof comes from?" Plumb asked.

Danny groaned. "If Cole's wrong, this could get really ugly."

"This could get really ugly if he's right. Come on, Kade, I'll show you where you'll be sleeping." Plumb led Kade toward the bookshelf in the office. "Go get her boxes," she said over her shoulder. Plumb pulled a huge book off the shelf and opened it. The center pages had been cut out. A silver key sat at the bottom.

"I have no idea how Cole knows about the bunker," Plumb said.
"He finds everything, though. I couldn't even hide candy for myself when he was younger. I would find empty bags everywhere." She inserted the key into a slot in the back of the bookcase. It grumbled and slid to the side. A long, brightly lit hallway extended before them. "Go ahead."

The hall was lined with the same sconces that adorned the Kinship and Brotherhood hallways, but there were twice as many of them.

"Are we going underground?" Kade asked, as the floor veered
downward. A series of other passageways broke off in various places.

"Yes. There are tunnels underneath the compound. Some mimic
the floors above, some don't."

"Oh." The shuffle of footsteps made her head turn, and she was relieved to see Cole at the end of the hall arguing with Danny, both of them laden with boxes.

"You know," Plumb said. "He's never done this for anyone."

"Sorry?"

"Cole," Plumb said. "Besides Danny, and maybe me, he wouldn't break the Warden's rules for anyone."

"I know." Kade dropped her chin.

"I'm not saying that I don't trust you," she went on. "Cole is a good judge of character. I'm just saying that you're obviously very special to him. That's none of my business, either. He can date who
he wants, and I don't care if he chooses a Primori, a Primeva, a human, a bird, or you, as long as he's happy." Plumb stopped at a steel door and unlocked it. "He deserves to be happy. You can't imagine what he's been through, so, please..." She stared into Kadence's eyes. "Don't
hurt him. He's never looked at anyone the way he looks at you, and he may
not be my child by blood." She glanced toward Cole. "But he is my
son."

"I won't hurt him." Kade's voice broke.

Plumb pushed the door open, and Kade let out a breath.

The room wasn't a room at all, but more like a suite someone would see at a five star hotel, and even though they were
underground, Kade
would never have been able to tell. The room was lit up by a
multitude of hanging crystal chandeliers, lamps, and what looked like sun-infused windows.

The main room had a couch, two leather chairs, a coffee table, and a TV. A state of the art kitchen with a huge butcher block bar housed six wooden bar stools that overlooked the living room. Two bedrooms, complete with bathrooms, and flat screen T.V.'s extended off the main room, one on each side.

"I like to come to down here a lot." Plumb shrugged, likely at the look of excitement on Kade's face. "It should work well for you. It has all the comforts of home. Well, except for natural sunlight, but the faux windows give the illusion."

The sound of boxes hitting the floor had Kade turning around.

"Nice, huh?" Cole grinned. "And you thought I was going to make you sleep with Tiffany."

Kade lost the ability to speak. "This is so...thank you."

He nudged her shoulder. "Anything to keep you safe."

Danny cleared his throat. "Right. So, when are you telling her dad about the new arrangement?"

"Now. You wanna ride?" Cole lifted a brow.

"Where?"

"The children's hospital. I think it's better to make this as official as possible."

"I agree," Plumb chimed in. "If you're going to pull this off, we have to move in a very concise way. The less people who know the
better."

Cole winked at Kade. "Get settled, and I'll see you in a little while."

"But." She reached for his hand. "What are you going to say to my dad? Shouldn't I come with you?"

"If you come with me, it only makes this suspicious. Your dad needs to know you're being taken care of. He has no reason to think otherwise with Kyle on the loose. You're safe here."

She glanced at Plumb, suddenly feeling very alone.

Plumb smiled. "I'll help you unpack. It'll be fun. Girl's night."

Kade nodded. "Okay."

Cole pointed toward the bedroom on the left side of the living room with a grin. "Pick that one. It's the best."

***

"I'm in." The legs of Lindsey's chair hit the ground as she lowered it from leaning back.

"What do you mean, you're in?" Giselle griped, next to her.
"You're still recovering."

"So's Cole. I'm in." She walked toward the counter in the coffee shop.

Cole grinned. "G?"

Giselle made a growling noise. "Like I have a choice?"

"You have a choice," Danny said. "I don't want you to do this unless you want to."

"Don't get all protective," she griped. "I'm in."

"You sure?" Cole sat across the table from her.

Giselle popped a piece of chocolate scone into her mouth. "Yep."

"Cool, so...we're doing this in a few days. I have to make sure Kade is comfortable shifting the lines first."

"Where is she? I'm surprised you don't want her here to help with your ambush on us."

Cole grabbed a piece of scone off Giselle's plate and popped it in his mouth. "She's safe."

"Get your own food, stealer." Giselle covered the remaining scone with her hands.

Lindsey sat back down, handing her a refill of mocha Frappuccino.

"Still no Kyle on your end?" Cole asked.

Lindsey shook her head. "Nothing. Thatcher said we have to start easing back into classes. Too suspicious. You really think we can pull this off?" She eyed Cole. "I mean, the Araneum? Even for you, it's a little risky."

"I have to pull it off. If I don't, the Ward will take Kade when they realize what she is or the Daemoneum will. Neither one is a scenario I'm up for."

"I still can't believe she's a...you know." Giselle shook her head. "No wonder she looked at me like I was nuts when I told her she was a Primeva."

"Yeah." Cole sighed. "So, the usual rules apply: no one in the Kinship knows what either of you are doing."

"Do you have to remind us of that every time you want us to help you with some new covert mission?" Giselle snapped. "We're not stupid."

"No one said you were stupid, G," Danny piped up.

Cole's eyes shifted toward the front window. "Jake's here. We'll be in touch." He walked away from the table, Danny at his side.

"Have any ideas where you're going to start training Kade?" Danny asked.

Cole grinned. "I have a few."

"JUST PICTURE IT
in your head," Cole repeated as he stood behind Kade in the small cavern that contained the hot spring. "You just need to aim."

"I am aiming." Every time Kade released a bolt of energy, as Cole called it, it went whistling off in the wrong direction.

"How did you shatter the Shadows all those years?"

"With my crystal, mostly. All the other times, my energy just kind of poured out of me. I wasn't directing it. And what’s the difference? When should I use a crystal and when should I use my
energy?”

“Close range, use your crystal. Less possible exposure of the race
by humans. Far range, use your energy. If your life is being
threatened, use it in front of humans. The Ward will deal with the repercussion of that. Your life comes first.”

“Okay.”

He placed his hands on her hips. "You see that circular shape on the wall over there?"

She leaned back against him. "Can we do this later?"

Chuckling, he nudged her head off his shoulder. "No. I want you to pretend that's a Shadow on the wall, and you don't have your crystal on you, what do you do?"

She made a fussy noise, standing up straight.

Cole grabbed her by the waist, pulling her back against him. "You are the most spoiled, clumsiest, feistiest..."

She turned around, facing him, eyebrows raised.

"Softest, warmest, most incredible person I have ever known." He pushed her hair off of her shoulders. "Maybe you need a break."

She nodded, closing the small distance between them. "I could concentrate better if I took a break." She kissed the edge of his mouth.

His eyes closed. "If you make the next shot, you can have a long break."

"Yeah?"

"Mm hm."

"Could we get in the water?" She kissed him again.

"Mm hm."

She turned around. "That circle right there?"

"Yeah. Pretend it's a Shadow and let your energy go. Not too hard, we don't want to blast a hole in the wall."

Kade swiped her hand to the side, and a burst of red energy charged through the air like a loaded missile, and pinged the circular spot across the cave directly in the center. With a smile, she turned back around, wrapping her arms around Cole's neck. "Bullseye."

His hand went to her jaw. "You knew how to do that all along."

"Not really," she said. "Lucky shot."

His hand slid down her neck, to her side, and came to rest at her hip. "You still want to get in the water?"

"Yeah."

In one swift motion, he knocked her legs out from under her, cradled her into his arms, and jumped in the spring.

Kade surfaced, pushing the mess of long hair out of her face. "I have my clothes on!”

"I brought you more clothes." Cole pulled her toward him. "Over there in that bag, and anyway, you cheated. You didn't need my
help."

"I didn't cheat. I got lucky, and I don't know anything about moving Leylines."

"It's not that much different. They're just fields of energy, too." He kissed her neck. "Are you mad?"

"A little. Look at me." She motioned to her sopping wet clothes.

He kissed her neck again, lower. "You said you wanted to get in the water."

"Not like
this.
" Kade held up her arms, weighed down by her wet sweatshirt sleeves.

He smirked, and kissed her again, along her jaw. "You could take that off."

"That didn't go so well last time," she griped, pulling away from him.

"Come here, cranky." He lifted the bottom of her sweatshirt.

"That's probably not the best idea, Cole. It's fine."

"Just take it off if it's bothering you." He yanked, and in one quick motion the sweatshirt was off, and he'd dropped it on the side of spring. "There. Better?" He turned back to face her and his breath
caught.

"You tell me." She smirked. "I wasn't planning on taking my sweatshirt off seeing as it's thirty degrees, nor did I think I'd get dunked into a pool of steaming hot water so I would have to take it off, revealing to my boyfriend, who doesn't want to see what's
underneath, unless it's a bathing suit, that I'm wearing a solid white T-shirt over a
solid white bra, both of which, when wet, are likely see through." She raised a brow, but she had no idea if he'd even heard her
because his focus hadn't moved from her chest.

"Yeah..." Cole backed up a step and grabbed her five pound, soaking wet sweatshirt off the side of the pool. "We should probably put this back on."

"I'm not putting that dead weight back on. You dunked me in here, so you can deal with the view. Just don't look."

"Don't
look
?" His eyes got wide. "They're...in my face."

She laughed. "You're like six foot two, and I'm way shorter than
that. They are not in your face."

"Maybe we should just get out." Cole swam toward the shallower part of the pool, but Kade went under water, swimming
past him.

She surfaced in front of him with a grin. "You don't want to swim? You're virtuous enough to keep your eyes to yourself. Aren't
you?"

"You swim." He hoisted himself out of the water and sat on the edge of the pool, leaning back on his hands. "I'll sit here and stare at the ceiling."

"Fine." Kade dipped under the water and resurfaced on the other side, hanging on to the edge.

"So, is your new room okay?" Cole asked, not looking in her direction.

"It's really nice. Better than I thought it would be. And my dad's okay? You promise he's not freaking out?"

"He seemed fine with it. Understanding, really. He said it would
make the transition easier since you would be moving into a
common house soon, anyway. And like I told you last night, he said he would be by to check on you. He's on call for the next twenty-four hours. Didn't you text him?"

“Yeah, it's just..."

"You miss him."

"He's all I have.” She didn't look at Cole as she said it.

"Not anymore." He glanced at her and tilted his head. Kade loved it when he did that.

"I know."

"So, something's bothering me." He swished his feet back and forth. "What did you mean when you said that Dracon had ways of making you do things?"

Kade's breath caught. She'd forgotten she let that secret out.

Cole leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "That's not the
response I was hoping for."

"Dracon said he would hurt the people I care about if I ever told anyone about him," she whispered, averting her eyes. "I don't want him coming after you. Or Giselle. Anyone."

"Why didn't you tell me that before?" Cole dropped into the water and swam over to her. "Don't worry about us. This is what we
do. And we do it very well."

"I know."

"Okay?" He tilted his head again, gazing down at her.

"Okay."