Lightning In My Wake (The Lightning Series) (18 page)

“Is there something I should know about,” the voice of Colby rang close. Just the relief to have her back caused my eyes to close and revel in her nearness.

“You tell me, Querida. You’ve been gone. And I had to talk to Ari. Not the best combination. Are you okay?”

She blew out a great sigh. Without looking at her, I knew her hands were on her hips—her
pouted out lips were swishing back and forth, picking her words.

“
I will be. I can’t tell you everything yet. It’s too fresh in my head—too raw. What I can say is that they said something about Portugal and Pema. I don’t know in which order, but we should be prepared to go there. There are so many things that don’t make sense, Theo.”

“There’s some things I need to tell you as well. I’
m just so tired. I haven’t done anything but sit here all day, but I’m exhausted.”

“Did you eat, Theo? I know how you get.”

I thought about her inquiry. I hadn’t eaten all day. But there were so many more things at stake than a missed meal.

“I just want to sleep. Can we just sleep?”

“Sure.”

She walked over to
Collin, tiptoeing all the way. First she slipped the text from his hand. After putting the book down, she pulled a blanket over his monstrous form. He stirred a bit, but soon drifted back to sleep.

We went back to our own room and I stripped down to my boxers, wanting to get into bed as soon as possible.
Colby ducked into the bathroom and came out with a different pair of my boxers, rolled at the waist, coupled with the same shirt she had on before. The black gunk she used to rebel against the Synod clung to her eyes, but not nearly as much as she’d had before. Secretly, I loved it when she piled on the black stuff. It made her eyes seem twice as big.

We both took our respective sides of the bed. The routine was so normal, so every
day. We’d curled up like this an infinite amount of times. The window to the hotel room was open. Music and laughing people could be heard in the city below us.

It’s always strange how when everything is frazzled in your life—the world just continues.
It shouldn’t continue. It should stop when our lives do and take notice.

“That should be us. We should be in the streets, enjoying life together. Sometimes this ability doesn’t seem like a gift at all. Sometimes it seems like false freedom.
” I whispered more to the dark than to Colby. I could feel her take a deep breath with her back against my chest.

“One day it will be. That’s all I want.”

“Tell me what you want, Querida. Tell me all of it.” Her hair moved as the motion of my whisper floated across it.

“Just go to sleep, Theo.” Her voice drifted with the last words.

~~~

I felt the slightest weight shift as she rose from the bed the next morning. The shower signaled me that she was up and ready to go. I didn’t think we should head straight to Portugal, but I was sure Colby would disagree.

Would Pema ever come for her books? Collin had to be feeding her information.

I grabbed a button down shirt and threw on the closest jeans I could find. As long as we were in Belgium, I might as well take advantage of it.

The streets were bustling with people, most of them families, dressed up,
and headed— somewhere.  Just as the thought of what day it was crept up, one of the voices joined a gonging bell from a nearby church. This time it felt far away and called to me from the direction of the hotel room. I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and turned to match the voice with something—a face, a person—anything. Patrons jostled me as they passed. I’d become a rock in their flowing stream, preventing them from flowing the way they once had.

Yet, nothing in my line of sight matched the voice that called for me to help. Help—all it said was help.

The only thing that brought me out of my complete obsession with the disembodied voice was the smell of fresh croissants and baking loaves. The smell of baking bread could wake people from comas, I was sure of it. I’d once heard Rebekah say that at a family brunch.

“Do you
always make everyone else divert their paths around you,” a familiar female made me chuckle.

“Actually, most of the time, I divert my path so that others don’t have to sway.”

“So why the sudden change?”

Turning around, my eyes denied the voice and body connection. It was Pema. But out of her rusty robes
and pilgrim dress, she was shocking. Today, she almost mixed into the masses in jeans and a red sweater.

“I heard something. It made me stop and turn.”

Pema grabbed my elbow and stepped in close. She scrunched her nose in an almost snarl as her eyes zeroed in on mine.

“What did you hear?” A filament of recognition buzzed in my consciousness. It seemed to warn me against showing all of my cards too soon.

“Someone shouting,” I answered without actually revealing any information.

“Who was shouting?” She bobbed her head around mine, looking for evidence of my accusation.

“I don’t know. I couldn’t find them.”

She examined me further. The sunlight glinted off the top of the stubby wires
on her head as she cocked it back and forth searching for something just out of reach. I blinked once, my tired eyes unable to match her stare for any longer. Another gong of a church bell made her cringe. Her back straightened and it relieved me of her being way too far into my personal space.

“I’m assuming you were going for breakfast—though that mate of yours looks as if she never eats.”

“You should talk.”

Pema was rail thin—those robes actually did her a favor in helping her look less gaunt.

“I eat. Not all of us are as blessed as you are. We can’t all make deliveries for the big software companies and have successful investments,” she sneered at me, as we again took pace with the people on the sidewalk.

That last remark was a direct jab at me—specifically, my parents.

“I see the monks taught you humility,” I jabbed back.

“
Touché’.” She didn’t look impressed.

A clap of her hands changed her demeanor as we found a bakery and went inside to order. She studied
me as I placed our order and gathered it all up, never offering to help or lend a hand.

Not very monk-like.

About halfway back to the hotel, I deducted that Pema was coming all the way back with me. She was probably going to take all the books before I could figure out why some of them caused the voices to come back and some quieted them.

When we got into the elevator, she pressed the button to our floor before I told her what floor we were on.

I felt like a fish in an aquarium. No matter how many rocks I hid under or treasure chests’ bubbles camouflaged me, I could be seen from all angles—anyone who wanted to look in could get a gander at the flashing male.

When we reached the room, I allowed Pema to enter first, saving Colby from blabbing some pertinent information out of turn.

I noticed Collin was sitting at a chair in the corner without the surprised look on his face that I expected. As much as he came down on Sway—he wasn’t out of my range for suspicion either.

Everyone froze in place when Colby saw Pema. She cut her eyes down to the space between Pem
a and me. Following her gaze, I found that Pema’s arm was looped through mine. I hadn’t even noticed she was doing that or how long it had gone on. My mind was constantly in a different place.

“Look what I found on my way to get your breakfast, Colby. Isn’t it convenient?”

Colby opened her mouth, but Pema interjected first, “It isn’t convenient at all. Your female stole books that didn’t belong to her. I can’t imagine that she thought that was the honorable road to take.”

“How strange,” Colby
began. Her cheeks had grown red in the few seconds we’d been in the room. Pema didn’t know what was about to hit her. “As I recall, you said we had three days to study. There were no stipulations about location or any other parameters now that I think about it.”

Pema scoffed, “Well, the most appropriate thing to do would’ve been to leave sacred texts with their owner, regardless of the stipulations. But then again, I’ve heard that appropriateness hasn’t always been your forte.
I didn’t see much of it in Tibet other than the usual lack of propriety, until you turned into a thief.”

I backed up a step out of instinct. It was one thing for me to pick on Colby about her crassness or for her to joke about it, but Pema didn’t even know Colby and yet here she was judging the hell out of my mate.

“The texts are in perfect shape in the other room. There’s no reason to resort to rudeness on either account,” that was my best effort in diffusing the situation. Colby cocked her eyebrow at me. I knew she’d be pissed for me not taking her side, but it probably was for the best to stay on the good side of the family of the Eidolon—or, I guessed, the former Eidolon.

“I’ll take them now,” Pema demanded.

“We still have a day,” Colby reminded her, pretending to check her cuticles. “Unless, you’re intending on going back on your word.”

Three times Pema opened her mouth to respond, but came out with nothing.

“Fine. I will stay with you until you are done.”

Chapter Eighteen

Colby

The Prophets are not to be counseled for advice on any matter.

I was
gonna kill the shaven headed wench. I would threaten to scalp her, but apparently someone had beat me to that punch—several times over.

Other than being mostly inappropriate, there was one more thing I was very skilled at—insincerity.

I straightened my dress and conjured the fakest smile I could imagine. “Oh Pema, that would be lovely. How honored we would be to have you here with us.”

How’s that for your precious manners?

She squinted at me and for a second I thought for sure I’d have to grapple with her.

“Finally, you’ve come to your senses.”

Didn’t she learn to be silent in Tibet? Let’s see some more of that talent.

I chanced a glance at Theo. He was barely holding in a
smile. The impact of what I’d almost done slammed into me. These are the things Pema had talked about. For some reason, regardless of her attitude, I trusted her. This was not about a smart mouthed relative of the Eidolon—and it certainly wasn’t about me winning. I needed to reel myself in for him.

I’d forgotten in my self-absorption to first be his mate.

“Pema, Collin, if you wouldn’t mind, could I have a few minutes with Colby? Then we will use our last day with the texts and move on.”

I should’ve told him what happened at the Synod. Now we had to spend a day rustling through useless texts. But then again, there was still so much information missing. If Theo was supposed to help those caught in the fray—the logistics of that notion were lost on me. If those souls were lost, how was he supposed to find them?

The thought of asking Pema felt like shoving a splinter up my own nail bed.

Pema turned on him like he’d stuck her with a hot poker, “Where will you move to?”

“I’m not sure yet.”

She pressed further, “Any ideas? Where is the information leading you?”

He cleared his throat, a time buying tactic. “As I said, we don’t know, Pema. We will return the books to you. After that, we are not sure. Why do you want to know?”

She stiffened under the weight of his question and ticked her eyes to Collin’s place in the corner more than what would be deemed normal. It was, as if, she was looking for him to save her from something.

“I was just wondering. The family is eager to see how all this turns out for you. They wish the new Eidolon all the very best.”

She shifted to move around Theo, but clearly, he wasn’t done with her.

“I’ve wondered why the rest of the family doesn’t come and see me like you have,” he left the insinuation open-ended hoping she’d take the bait.

“As you can well imagine, they are still frightened of the Synod. They can’t risk being caught.”

“But you can?”

“
I am braver than most.”

Theo took more than ample time to answer, “Clearly. How lucky we are to be amidst such bravery. Please, go check on your invaluable books.” He swept his hand toward the adjoining door, dismissing her and her false bravado.

He waited until she and Collin exited before addressing me. I expected Collin to be friendly with Pema like he was before, but his attitude toward her was ambiguous—he didn’t seem to care if she was here or not.

“How do they know where we are all the time?”
He asked me.

“I didn’t tell Sway or Ari we were here. In fact, I didn’t even tell my own mother. She was upset with me about it. That leaves you and Collin. And I know it’s not you.”

He shook the idea from his head, “I don’t think it’s Collin. But, I did tell my parents.”