Genesis (21 page)

Even though she had insisted otherwise,
I had to clear this up. “You talk like you’re one of them,
Mom.”

She winked at me. “At the moment I am,
or at least I have to appear that I am. I have been integrated into
the fae collective.”

“
Sounds suspiciously
familiar to Star Trek.” Travis used to love that show and got me
hooked on the reruns.

She laughed. “You are very observant,
Rayla. Many of the current trends in literature and other forms of
entertainment stem from the desire to make humans more receptive to
interaction with the fae.”

“
So it is possible the
Altasians are contacting humans again?”

“
Very. In fact, I’m quite
sure of it.”

“
What would happen if humans
discovered the truth?”

“
According to the compact,
the fae would be evicted from Earth.”

I let out a low whistle. “Pretty
harsh.”

Mom shrugged. “Maybe, but there has to
be a good reason for the creator to keep the fae from
humans.”

Hmm, was there really? Or was this
something else entirely? Maybe this wasn’t the creator’s doing at
all. Maybe someone else had a reason to keep the fae from wielding
more power over humans, and I bet that someone at the moment was
Nigel Lambert. The Order stood to gain the most by keeping the
races apart. Otherwise, they would lose the ever present advantage
they had in human society.

My head hurt from lack of sleep and all
the questions now floating in my mind. One thing remained, though.
Mom had not answered my question. No one around here seemed too
fond of being straight forward. The new question was—should I make
a big deal of it or not. The last thing I wanted to do was push
distance between my mom and I. I wanted to think she had my best
interest at heart, but her blatant admittance that she was part of
the fae collective made me wary even though she’d made light of it.
I decided to save my questions for later. Now, I just wanted to
enjoy spending time with her.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing
in the bright afternoon sun at the Oasis Jett had taken me to.
Seemed to be a favorite spot with the locals, and I could hardly
blame them. The cool water diffused the searing heat. Bonus was I’d
spent the majority of the afternoon in the sun and I didn’t even
burn.

We were about ready to head back, but
there was one question I couldn’t put off any longer. I took a deep
breath then walked up behind her. “Mom?”

She glanced back at me as she folded
our blankets. It was such a simple mundane thing to do, and I
wondered why she hadn’t taken to using all the fae short cuts like
others I had seen.

She frowned at me. “What is it,
Rayla?”

“
Who is my dad?”

She licked her lips and studied the
ground. “I don’t know.”

I laughed. “Good one.”

When she looked up at me, her eyes were
bright with tears. “I had my memory of him erased before I returned
to the realms. I don’t know why I did it now. I wish I could tell
you who he is, but there had to be a good reason for me to wipe
that information from my mind.”

Disappointment rattled through me. I’d
gotten up the nerve to ask, and now here I was no better off than I
had been.

It was probably for the best anyway. If
he was some sick member of the Order, I wouldn’t want to know him.
Gibbit’s declaration resurfaced. If my dad was fae, it was probably
better no one knew about him, including me, maybe especially me. If
the fae found out who he was, they might be able to breed their own
Elementals. I was quite sure things would take a turn toward
abysmal if that happened.

Mom dropped me off at my room before
dinner. She gave me a brief hug then told me she would see me
later.

My only goal was to get some sleep
before the evening meal. As great as it had been to spend the day
with Mom, I was exhausted. I slogged inside my room and kicked off
my shoes. The bed was too far away so I drifted to save time and
effort.

The cool sheets soothed my skin, and
soon I succumbed to the blissful weight of sleep.

As if the night were on repeat, I woke
to a trembling body and rapid pulse. Man, I was getting sick of
this. “Heath,” I said. “You might as well come out. I know you’re
here.”

Nothing.

I lifted onto my elbows. “Seriously.
I’m going to throttle you when I get enough control of my power to
do it. Don’t you know I’m tired? Oh, and by the way, it is all your
fault!”

Nothing.

Ice encrusted me. Now that I thought
about it, I was sure Heath wasn’t here.

Something else was.

I couldn’t say how I knew that. It
wasn’t even completely dark; however, it might as well have been
pitch black for how my body shook.

Instinctively, I called to
Jett.
I’m in trouble.
Just in case I sent the same message to Luke. Then I scanned
the room for the intruder I knew lurked in the shadows.

A reptilian hiss sounded by my left
ear. I snapped my neck around. “Who’s there?” I asked the empty
space.

Silence.

I sat up and pulled my knees to my
chest. My heartbeat staggered on. Where were Luke and Jett?
Shouldn’t they be here by now?

Another hiss. This time
closer.

I leapt from the bed and made it
halfway to the door before I caught my first glimpse of a wraith.
Before I could scream the air around me distorted, and I was flung
against the opposite wall. My whole body ached as if every one of
my bones had splintered on impact. I found myself on my feet, even
though I hadn’t moved a muscle, barely able to stand the pain
shooting up my legs.

“
Nexxusss,” the air said.
“We have waaaiited long for you to commme.”

That was the voice of fear. “What do
you want?” I breathed.

The space in front of me distorted
again. This time the rippling solidified into a creature too
hideous to exist. Flakes of green skin clung to oozing grey flesh.
Humanoid in appearance, it easily stood eight feet tall. It had no
hair or eyes, only a gaping black hole where a mouth and nose
should have been. The arms hung loose at its sides with what looked
more like tentacles than hands at the ends, and its muscled legs
rested in a casual stance.

The thing inched closer to me. “Only to
protect, Missstressss.”

How was being flung against a friggin
wall protection? Oh man, if this thing really was here to protect
me, what else was out there? “Um, thanks,” I said because what else
was there besides screaming?

It laughed. “You feeaarrr uussss.
Whhhyyy?”

Apart from the obvious, how should I
know? I just did.

“
We will change your
mind.”

I highly doubted that.

When it reached for me, I screamed
louder than a midnight train. My new door burst open. Jett came in
first with Luke not far behind him. “What is it?” Luke
asked.

Didn’t they see the thing that was…no
longer in front of me? Crap. Where did it go? I gulped and pressed
my hand to my chest. “It’s gone,” I whispered.

Jett’s face went blank. “What is
gone?”

I stared at him. “I…don’t know what it
was.”

“
It?” asked Luke.

My whole body shook; I couldn’t stop
it. In fact, if I didn’t sit down, my legs might just give out on
me. The wall wasn’t too far away, so I used it as an anchor. “I
wouldn’t even know where to start in naming the gender of something
like that.”

Jett moved closer, inspecting the
shadow in the corner. “Describe it, please.”

I glanced at him, worried I had seen a
wraith. “It didn’t have eyes or a nose. Come to think of it, I
didn’t notice ears, either, but it could hear me.”

Jett shot a look at Luke who had
blanched almost white. So, it was bad.

“
Was that a
wraith?”

Jett nodded. “I’m sorry to have to tell
you this, Rayla, but you may not sleep here alone
anymore.”

“
Okay,” I said immediately.
I didn’t care who they wanted me to stay with. No way was I going
to be alone ever again.

Jett and Luke argued about where to
place me. Luke won out because, technically, I was supposed to be
in Altasia already. With an ear to ear smile on his face, he went
to see to a few things while Jett stayed with me so I could gather
what little possessions I had with me.

I stopped at the door, sure I had
missed something. When I looked back into the room, I shivered.
Enchanting as it was, I would be glad to be rid of it. I nearly
overlooked the comforter Aunt Grace had given me that was folded
neatly at the end of the bed. I raced over to it and tugged it into
my arms. It was all I had left to remind me of a home I would never
see again thanks to the Order and my once mentor Nigel Lambert.
There was no going back to Castlerock for me. I shook my head.
Would I ever have a true home again?

Jett stopped me in the hall. His stare
went right through me. It was full of so many emotions—fear,
determination, but most of all concern. “If you requested my
presence, he couldn’t refuse.”

I would much rather stay with Jett than
Luke if it was a choice. Jett had proven he could keep his hands
off me. He hadn’t even tried to kiss me since I got here. It was
part of his plan to win me over, and I have to say it had worked.
“I’d like that, but I don’t want to cause tension between you
two.”

His lips twitched into a sad smile.
“You cannot cause something that was already there. I need to
protect you, Rayla. Too much could go wrong. I do not mean to place
blame with anyone. I merely seek to fulfill my duty.”

I was beginning to hate that word,
especially when I knew I would have to face it soon myself. I
sighed. “You might be able to watch over me tonight, but what about
the rest of my time in Altasia, or Ignis, or Eirie for that matter.
You can’t come with me everywhere.”

He folded his arms across his chest.
“Why not? A threat has been identified. My job is to eradicate
threats.”

I shot a smirk over my shoulder.
“Technically, that thing said it was here to protect
me.”

He barked out a laugh. “Wraith do not
speak.”

I whirled around. “I beg your
pardon?”

“
You heard me.”

I shoved my hands at my hips. “Are you
saying I’m crazy?”

He sniffed. “Hardly. You would not be
able to describe them so vividly if you had not seen
one.”

I gave him a look. “Then how do you
explain what I heard?”

“
I cannot. Not once since
they were banished have Wraith ever spoken to fae. They have only
ever destroyed. They live for the hunt; they live to
kill.”

I scoffed. “How can they kill something
that is immortal?”

He raised his dark brows. “Simply. By
absorbing souls.”

“
What are you talking
about?”

“
We don’t have time to
discuss this.” When I gave him a hard look, he continued, “All
right, but I would prefer to have you settled first.”

I nodded. Talking in the hallway wasn’t
on my top things to do list anyway.

Jett stopped just inside of Luke’s
chamber. I couldn’t see anything past his shoulder, but the loud
grunt that came out of him told me he didn’t like whatever was on
the other side of that door.

I sidestepped him, and let out my own
little gasp. Narrow pathways split around the gigantic…bed sunk
into the middle of the room. If you could call it that. It was more
like a den created to propagate iniquity. The worst part was it
looked familiar. Blue silk stretched nearly from wall to wall in
flowing veils around the bed that from here looked more like the
oasis I had spent the afternoon in. Lush pillows dotted billowy
bedding.

Oh my goodness. I
remembered. He’d made this, at least the
bed
part, nearly identical to the bed
in the carriage he had brought me to Lombarda in—only ten times as
big.

I pushed past Jett and marched to where
Luke lay sprawled between pillows. “This is nice, Luke, but where
are you going to sleep?”

He gave me a genuine pout, gazing up at
me with those amazing eyes of his. “I have to be near you to
protect you.”

I shook my head. Spending one night
alone with him had been hard enough for me to keep my mind focused.
“Even with how big this bed is, I hardly think there’ll be room for
you, me, and Jett.”

Over my shoulder came a hearty grunt of
agreement. “Fix it, Luke.”

“
Oh, come on!” Luke
protested in the most human exclamation I had heard from a fae.
“This should be my time with Rayla. You’ve already had three, make
that nearly four, days.”

“
It is not my decision to
make,” said Jett, waiving his hand in dismissal.