Grasping at Eternity (The Kindrily) (22 page)

His gaze darted around, landing on nothing particular, like he was searching for the memory. “I’m an old soul, lad. You can’t expect me to recall one minute in time from nearly twenty years ago.”

“Whatever you said caused her to erase.” I gritted my teeth. “She erased. She’s no longer an Element. You took her away from me for eternity.”

He let out a coarse laugh. “The most powerful astral gadabout of all time threw away all of her knowledge and power because of little ole me? Even you aren’t daft enough to think I’ll believe that. Try again.”

“She has no idea who she used to be. She doesn’t even know Elements exist. And she no longer has her ability. She’s of no use to anyone. Not even herself.”

I pictured her empty eyes. Grief flooded through me. Even after so many years, even after spending time with her and seeing no flicker of recognition, my heart ached at my own words as if I was realizing them for the first time.

“He’s telling the truth,” a familiar grainy voice said from behind me. His tall, wide form cast a shadow across the gleaming white deck. I stepped to the edge of the boat so no one else could sneak up behind me.

“Ah, well.” Dedrick sighed. “I suppose that would make sense given the uselessness of our experiment.”

“What experiment?” I asked.

The 6’5’’ matador stepped between Dedrick and me. He pulled out a dagger and stared me down. The muscles of his left arm bulged as he gripped the knife and prepared to strike.

We had fought side by side a couple times in previous lives, but I was sure he didn’t remember me. I stared into the windows of his soul, letting him really see me, hoping to study the depths of his eyes so I could figure out where he made such an evil wrong turn. But there was no history there. None. His eyes were golden with thin black slits, no timelines or identifying markers whatsoever. He looked exactly the same as he had decades ago: the same tan Peruvian skin and long black ponytail. He hadn’t aged a day. Come to think of it, neither had Dedrick.

“What’s your name, soldier?” I asked.

“Argos. And I’m no one’s soldier.”

“Nice to see you again, Argos.”

He didn’t blink, not one spark of recognition. The unnaturalness of it left me perturbed and full of questions—questions that would need to be answered later. The important thing was that I knew he was a mind reader, and his fighting style. Killing him would be impossible, but knowing him so well gave me an advantage.

Dedrick peeked around Argos and squinted at me. “You’re certain you heard all of his thoughts? Not an inkling of a chance he could be lying about the girl?”

“I’m sure,” Argos grunted.

“Well then,” Dedrick said. “We got what we needed here.” He strutted over to the restrained girl and took the bag off of her head.

“Lillian!” Audrey shouted.

Lillian wasn’t frozen, but she also didn’t react to Audrey. She only stared ahead at Baldy as if nothing was amiss.

Dedrick lifted Baldy’s chin so their eyes met. “Untie our girl.”

Baldy gave a nod and loosened the ropes around the girl’s feet and hands. Dedrick clapped and waved to the deck above. Seconds later, a young boy of about fifteen joined us. Audrey lunged when she saw him, but Marcus shouted, “No, Audrey!” and she stopped.

Based on her reaction and her pooling tears, the boy was James.

Dedrick laughed again and put his arm around the boy’s shoulder. “You both did splendid.”

I studied James and Lillian, realizing their eyes looked exactly like Argos’s—golden with black slits, and vapid. Audrey and Marcus noticed too, and Audrey wasn’t shy about questioning the change.

“What have you done to them, you hellion?”

Dedrick clutched his chest. “Such cruel names hurt my feelings. Your loved ones chose to work for me. I haven’t
done
anything to them.”

“Liar!” Audrey shouted.

Marcus was by her side in an instant. “Calm down, my love.”

James and Lillian hadn’t uttered a word. They barely moved. Neither had Argos, Baldy, and the redhead. It’s like they were drones who didn’t think or act on their own. They appeared to be waiting for commands from Dedrick.

Audrey hadn’t calmed down. “We’re taking them with us!”

Dedrick stepped uncomfortably close to her. “I’d love to see you try.”

She spit in his face.

All of Dedrick’s goons sprung to life, advancing on Audrey and Marcus. With a quick curling and flexing of her fingers, Audrey had all of them paralyzed. She was focused, but the feat seemed effortless. She had disabled five people with a flick of her hand.

 
“It’s a shame,” Dedrick groused, wiping the spit off his face. Was he immune to paralysis or did Audrey intentionally not include him? “I had hoped you would consider joining us. Everyone who joins me is treated like royalty, but I don’t tolerate such blatant disrespect.”

Audrey was rigid, and her voice scathing. “I’d want a permanent death before I ever teamed up with you.”

James and Lillian’s arms and legs twitched as they struggled to move. Audrey must have been taking it easy on the two of them, that or she was losing control of keeping five people paralyzed at the same time.

Dedrick growled. “We’ll see if you still feel that way when we become the gatekeepers of this world.”

“You will never accomplish that,” Marcus said sternly.

Gatekeepers? What did he mean? Marcus obviously knew something I didn’t.

“We shall see about that.” Dedrick’s lips curled into a satanic grin. “We’re closer than you think, and we’ve got eyes everywhere.”

I struggled to keep myself from snarling. Regardless of the hatred I had for Dedrick and his evil undertakings, my mission was to get him to stop hunting Maryah. He knew she was no longer of use to him. I didn’t want to provoke him to come after anyone else in my kindrily.

I steadied my voice. “Audrey, we can’t decide the fate of anyone but ourselves. These people have chosen a path with Dedrick. We may not like it, but we must respect it.”

Dedrick stalked over to me. “Very noble and unassuming of you, Nathaniel, but I hope your precious family is ready. We have the troops required to gain control of who comes into this world, and we’ll dispose of those we no longer want here—including any uncooperative Elements.”

His plan sounded more calamitous than any of our kindrily suspected. I had to alert the others as soon as possible. I waved at Marcus, motioning for him and Audrey to leave the boat. “We will consider our options thoroughly, but for now, we are leaving.”

Marcus took his piggy-back stance and Audrey climbed onto his back while staying focused on the five people she kept paralyzed. Marcus took several steps backward so that he and Audrey were hovering in the air above the river beyond anyone’s reach.

I mentally assessed the logistics of our situation. James was still keeping time and people frozen around us, yet Audrey had him paralyzed. Was her paralysis only physical and not mental?

Dedrick pulled out a cigar. He lit it, took a puff, and blew a cloud of smoke in my face. Quietly, so no one but me could hear him, he said, “If you and your kindrily join my cause, I’ll tell you what I told your sweetheart right before she killed herself. Then you’ll know why she erased.”

My fist crashed into his jaw before I could think it through, but I observed every detail as if in slow motion. My knuckles meeting his jawbone sent his cigar flying through the air. He fell to the ground. His skull hit the boat deck with a loud thud. He was on his back, trying to roll to one side while clapping at his drones, but Audrey kept them paralyzed.

“That was for Mary.” I pressed the heel of my boot against his throat and leaned into it with all my weight, crushing his windpipe. I bent down so he’d be sure to hear my threat. “We will kill you before we ever partner with you.”

Audrey yelled my name, but at the same instant, my back felt like I’d been hit with a hot branding iron. I turned around to see Argos holding a bloody dagger.

“I’m sorry, Nathan!” Audrey cried out. “I couldn’t hold him.”

 
I staggered backward, but not before stomping Dedrick’s ribs.

“Go!” I shouted to Marcus and Audrey, but they hovered close to the boat. The other four Nefariouns were struggling to move, twitching and jerking, but no one else broke free. “I’ll be right behind you.”

“No,” Marcus argued. “Not until you traverse out of here.”

“Finish him!” Dedrick shouted, pointing at me. “Don’t let him off this boat alive!”

Argos stalked toward me, the muscles of his arms rippling, intent on striking again.

Fire raged through my back, but I forced a smile. “We
will
meet again, Argos.” Knowing he could hear my thoughts, I silently told him,
Next time I’ll have an old friend of yours with me. The one person in this world who will do whatever it takes to bring you down
.

He braced himself, preparing to slash me again, but by the time he swung his arm at my chest, I had vanished.

Maryah

Dream-version Nathan looked tired, or worried, or stressed, or an overdose of all three. He sat on Dylan and Amber’s couch staring at the Christmas tree. Molokai and Baby Hilo were in the dream too, and snow fell outside, just like before I went to bed. Molokai was on the couch beside Nathan. He petted her and kissed her on the nose.

“Ha.” I grunted. As if Nathan would be that sweet.

Molokai’s focus locked on me and she whimpered. At first Nathan didn’t react, but then she jumped down and sat in front of me. She barked once, wagging her tail as she looked back at Nathan. He watched her, but didn’t say anything. She raised her front paws like she wanted to put them in my lap and Nathan’s green eyes grew wider.

He slowly rose to his feet, glancing around the room then walked over to the Christmas tree. He looked in my direction and curled his fingers like he wanted me to come closer. “Merry Christmas, Maryah.”

Why did my dreams feel so real?

He reached forward, removed a crystal peacock feather from the tree, and held it between us. He glanced up at the star tree topper and sighed. “I don’t know what I miss more, you or my sanity.”

I waved my hand in front of his face to see if he responded, but his eyes were shut tightly.

“All I want to do is protect you,” he said. “No, that’s a lie. I want you back, the old you, the you who knew everything.”

An urge to touch him overwhelmed me. I moved closer, close enough to feel the body heat radiating from him.

He opened his eyes but stared at the ornament in his hand. “You’d be able to figure out what Dedrick is planning. I feel like war has been declared, and I’m helpless to stop it. I can’t do this without you.”

As usual in my ridiculous dreams, I had no idea who Dedrick was or why I’d be imagining Nathan talking about war, but he looked so vulnerable. I raised my hand, reaching for his face, but he turned and walked away. A huge brown circle covered the back of his ripped shirt. Panicking, I looked at Nathan’s jacket, still draped over the arm of the couch. Sure enough, it had dried blood all over the inside.

Mikey
, I told myself.
I’m dreaming about blood on his shirt because my mind is still traumatized from seeing Mikey get stabbed
. The real Nathan wasn’t bleeding, and he certainly hadn’t been standing in Amber’s living room saying he missed me.

Molokai trotted along behind me as I checked the next room and glanced up the stairway, but Nathan was nowhere to be found. He had vanished into thin air.

“Stupid dream,” I mumbled. Molokai barked at me.

I woke up and let my eyes adjust to the dark room. Molokai was barking downstairs, so that explained why I dreamed about her. I hated that I felt so drawn to Nathan in my dreams.

A beam of moonlight danced across my ring. I took it off and set it on the nightstand. My brain
really
needed to find something to dream about besides peacock feathers and Nathan.

Amber apologizing for Nathan earlier didn’t mean much. It’s not like
he
was apologizing. How could I forgive him if he never made any attempt to tell me he was sorry? Maybe his bloody back was a warning not to get close to him or he’d hurt me again, or stab me in the back. I wondered what April’s dream dictionary would say.

I flipped onto my side, fluffed my pillow, and tried to forget the whole stupid thing.

∞

Waking up to the sound of a metal shovel grinding against concrete was comforting. It reminded me of snow days in Maryland when my father would clear the driveway and sidewalk before Mikey and I went sledding.

Then I remembered it was Christmas morning, and my heart sank. I stared at the ceiling, trying to convince myself I could survive Christmas without my family. I wanted to run into Mikey’s room and bounce on his bed while shouting for him to wake up so we could open presents, but that would never happen again.

I sat up to look out the window and see how much snow accumulated overnight, but I froze with shock. There, hanging from the lock of Nathan’s bedroom window, was the glass peacock ornament from my dream.

I pinched the skin on my wrist as hard as I could, but nothing happened.

I was awake and the ornament was real.

After rushing downstairs and searching the couch and living room for a bloody jacket, and finding nothing, I realized I had a better chance of finding Santa and his reindeer. As if any part of my dream could have been real.

Louise—or someone—would be awake and freaking out if Nathan had been injured so severely, and he wouldn’t be sneaking into my room to hang an ornament in my window. The feather must have been hanging there since I arrived—I just failed to notice it.

 
I’d never been the most observant person in the world.

Maryah

We arrived home from Colorado late on New Year’s Day. All the madness needed to stop. New year, new rules.

No more obsessing about crazy dreams. No more self-indulgent Nathan naps. Creating some fictitious alter ego for him just because he was hot was not healthy—or normal. My dreams were bordering on stalkerish.