Lost (The Allure Chronicles Book 3) (11 page)

“Got it.” Hailey nodded.

“So what now? Do we wait for the Dryads?” I hated waiting around, but we’d decided to trust Jim. That meant following his timeline.

“Do you have a better idea?” Jim raised an eyebrow.

“Not exactly.”

“They’ll come find us. I’m sure of it.” Jim opened his back pack. “That is if we use the right bait.”

“Bait? Are we talking about the same Dryads?” The Dryads I’d met were humanoid. They weren’t like animals falling for bait.

Jonathan laughed a deep laugh that shook his whole body. “This might be the most entertaining morning ever.”

I ignored him. This guy was crazier than Jim.

“Yes. How did you get their attention last time?” He opened the canteen with the juice and started pouring drops of it out on the ground around us.

“They just walked over. Almost gave us a heart attack.”

“Maybe because you were in the Glamour Realm. Here it takes some work to find them when they aren’t looking for you.”

“Ok. Whatever you say.”

“Mind telling me how you were allowed to set foot in that Realm?” Jim watched me intently.

“We went in a rather unconventional way.” I thought of the giant oak tree in Charleston. That felt like a lifetime ago.

“A way you’ll have to tell me all about.” Jim’s eyes gleamed. He really did love all this stuff.

“Help me find Daisy, and absolutely.” I was all about helping Jim out, but not until he helped me. Time was of the essence with Daisy.

“What did that juice do?” Hailey pointed to the wet areas on the ground. “It seems more like bug bait than anything else.”

“The Dryads certainly aren’t bugs.” Jim cringed. “Don’t let them hear you making that sort of comparison.

Jonathan nodded. “You’ll be sorry if they do.”

I heard the faint sound of rustling and craned my ears. I could hear from miles away, so I knew whoever was making the sound couldn’t be that close.

“Here they come.” Jim grinned. “Apple juice spiked with whiskey always does the trick.”

“I thought that was normal juice.” Hailey peered down at the liquid on the ground.

“Nope, it’s the combination that gets them coming.”

“You know they aren’t animals, right?” For the first time I really questioned Jim’s judgment. All I needed was for him to offend his so-called friends and get us in worse trouble.

“I am well aware of what they are.” Jim straightened up. “I just told your sister to watch what she said about them.”

“You can’t be surprised by our questions.” Hailey put a hand on her hip. “You did spill the juice on the ground.”

“I don’t expect them to drink it off the ground.” Jim appeared affronted by the suggestion.

“Still, I’d be offended if someone did that to get my attention.” Hailey narrowed her eyes.

“But you’re not a Dryad,” Jonathan jumped in.

“No, I’m not, but I’m a living breathing being. So are these Dryads.” Hailey put a hand on her hip.

The rustling got louder. “Maybe we should save this conversation for later.” There was no point upsetting the Dryads by fighting when they showed up.

Hailey nodded. “Fine.” She tilted her head again, and I knew she was listening to the rustling now too.

I had no clue what to expect from these Dryads, but I hoped they were friendly, and that they had an interest in helping us. Or that they could be persuaded to help. I’d found in life that most people had a price, but it wasn’t always money. It was all about figuring out what they needed, and what you could possibly do to get it for them.

“All right, kids.” Jim smiled. “Things are about to get fun.”

“Fun?” Hailey laughed dryly.

“Yes, fun.” Jim grinned even bigger.

“Fun for you maybe.” Hailey shook her head.

“This will be fun. Don’t let these Dryads get to you. They are only amusing themselves.” Jim looked all around the clearing.

The rustling continued and a shrill shriek filled the air.

“He’s here!” Sky, the small female Dryad I’d met in the Glamour Realm, ran into the clearing followed by three others including Adrian, one of the male Dryads I’d met before.

Sky took my hand and kissed it. “We found you.”

“I wasn’t aware you were looking for me.” I searched the faces of the other Dryads, also dressed in the same green tunics and brown pants as the ones I’d met before, to see if I recognized them. I didn’t.

“Yes!” Sky’s eyes were bright with excitement.

I politely pulled my hand away.

“Don’t leave,” Adrian warned in a low voice.

“Are you telling me what to do?” I was still trying to accept that the Dryads were here, and they had been searching for me. It had to do with Daisy. There was no other reason.

“Yes.” Adrian craned his neck to meet my eyes.

“You know this young man?” Jim looked at the Dryads.

“Yes. We’ve met.” Sky grinned.

“And you just so happened to be looking for him the woods behind my home?” Jim raised an eyebrow.

“We’ve been combing this realm for him.” Sky bubbled with excitement.

“Why?” Jim asked the question I’d already been asking myself and the Dryad.

“Because
he
wanted to find him.”

“He?” Unless I’d missed something, there was no one else with them. “Who are you talking about?”

“I am going to head home.” Jonathan turned as if to leave.

“No. You are not. What’s going on?” Jim grabbed onto Jonathan’s arm. “What is going on here?”

“I may have been told to keep an eye out for you.” Jonathan looked down at the ground.

“Told by who?” Jim demanded.

“By me,” a low voice called from the brush. Moments later the owner of the voice stepped into the small clearing.

“Wait. What?” I stared at Wyatt, one of the two Dragos I’d had the displeasure of meeting on our way to Mount Majest. “What are you doing here?”

“Sky already told you, I was looking for you.” He ran a hand through his black hair.

“And you just happened to find me here?” My hope faded. Maybe they weren’t there about Daisy. Wyatt had to have had his own reasons.

“I have my ways.” He grinned.

Jim looked Wyatt over. “What are you?”

“Owen, why don’t you tell him?” Wyatt’s eyes twinkled.

I ignored my desire to knock the smile off Wyatt’s face. “He’s one of the Dragos I was telling you about.”

“A Drago?” Jim’s mouth fell open. “In my backyard?”

Wyatt grinned, evidently loving the response he got from Jim. “Yes. It’s your lucky day,”

“Why were you looking for me?” I got back to the issue at hand.

"I need your help."

"You need my help?" I narrowed my eyes.

"Yes."

That was a change from the condescending way he’d treatment me last time. "Putting the fact that I have no idea what help you need aside, why would I help you?"

"Because I know where you can find Daisy."

My chest clenched and I turned my complete attention to Wyatt. "What? How?"

"Let's just say I have my ways."

"That's not good enough." I clenched my teeth.

“It’s going to have to be until I know for sure you are going to help me.” Wyatt put a hand in his back pocket.

"What do you want his help with?" Hailey walked around me.

Wyatt’s lips twisted into a grin as he sized her up. “And who are you?”

“Your worst nightmare if you are here to cause trouble for my brother. He has enough on his plate.”

Wyatt grinned. “Well little sister, it’s real nice to meet you.”

P
ain is personal
. What is agony to one person is barely an annoyance to another. And sometimes it can be something else entirely. Sometimes pain can burrow so deep inside a person that afterward they are no longer the person they were before. I prepared myself for agony while accepting that whatever it was that Sol was going to do might actually hurt much worse. I reassured myself by remembering it couldn’t be any worse than the numbness.

Sol wrapped his hands around my wrists and looked deep into my eyes. "Try not to die on me."

I forced myself to meet his gaze. I refused to close my eyes and go into the experience blindly. "I'm hoping my immortality helps."

"That's not full proof you know." His intense gaze didn’t waver.

"I know," I cut him off. “So save your energy.”

"You're the one who should be saving energy." He tightened his grip on my wrists and his eyes turned completely black.

I felt no fear. I felt nothing but the pressure he applied to my wrists.

Sol’s eyes had become deep black holes that seemed to circle around like two small cyclones. They pulled me in even as my body fought against the pull. His grip tightened, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the black holes long enough to look at my hands.

He pushed me back down on the hardwood floor following after me. I ignored the pain in my back and stayed focused on Sol’s face. He kneeled above me, with a leg on each side of me keeping me pinned to the hard floor.

An intense ringing filled my ears. It spread, reverberating through my head and then my entire body, igniting my blood stream.

I was at once both on fire and frozen, torn in every imaginable direction as images flooded me. I felt them, tasted them, smelled them as they streamed all around me. The sensations from each image blurred out the picture at first, until the sensations faded enough that I could make out just the smallest details.
A skinned knee
,
my first kiss
,
my mother’s eyes
.

The ringing became painful; it vibrated and I felt as though I were floating away in an abyss of nothingness. I reached out for something solid to hold onto, but I found nothing. I continued to float while unfamiliar images all in grey scales and too blurry to truly see continued before my eyes.

And then there was Owen. His blue eyes breaking through the blurriness to reach the deepest parts of my soul. I reached out for those eyes, needing him like a parched man needs water, needing to touch the intensity in his stare.

The vibration lessened as a more normal pain set in, but it was worse than normal. My chest ached and I struggled to breath. And then I realized it wasn't physical. It was my heart.

Love.
The emotion flooded me and I lapped it up, swimming in the purity of it all. Owen’s hands were on me. I could feel them again. His lips ignited a passion I’d thought was forever gone. I wrapped myself up in him, experiencing each sensation as if it were the first time. His eyes, his hands, his lips, each brought me to new levels of feeling, and I never wanted to let go.

And then just as suddenly as it began, it was taken away and I was in blackness.

"Human. You will be human again," Sol's voice echoed through my head as though he were inside my mind, and maybe he was, but it didn't matter. I'd felt love. And I wouldn't lose the emotion again, it was mine, and I wasn't giving it up.

"
Y
ou can wake
up now you know."

I tried to ignore Sol's voice. I was in a state of bliss. I could still feel something in my chest, and the numbness was gone. I wasn’t back to normal, but something was stirring. My human side was still there, and it was stronger.

"I'll rephrase that.” Sol shook me. “You need to wake up right now."

"I'd rather lay here." I wasn't sure where here was, but it was soft and there was just the perfect amount of breeze.

"Don't you want to see Owen?" Sol’s voice came from right next to my ear.

His words had me sitting up in seconds, pushing Sol back in the process. “Is it possible? Can I really see him again?”

"That was easy." Sol grinned. He was wearing sunglasses again which made me wonder if his eyes had returned to normal yet. I would never forget those black pools.

"Can I really see him?" I blinked a few times to get used to the bright sunlight. We were outside in the meadow. I saw no signs of Sol’s house. "How? When?"

"It worked." Sol grinned. “It actually worked.”

"What did?" I closed my eyes and leaned back on my elbows, reveling in the feel of the sunshine, and the way it made me feel. It was both emotional and physical, a combination I had almost forgotten. Something had changed, and I was never turning back.

Sol removed his sunglasses, revealing his normal brown eyes. "Tapping into your future brought your feelings back through somehow."

“You were in my future?” I struggled to remember anything from the experience. Other than bits and pieces, all I remembered was Owen. Just thinking about him sent a surge of warmth through me. It was ten times stronger than the sun beating down on us.

“I was. You saw it. Or felt it. I could tell.” He sat down beside me, running his hands over the thick green grass. “I was only trying to read you. I didn’t actually think I could touch your emotions.”

“Wait.” There was only one part that could have been the future. “With Owen?”

Sol nodded. “Yes. That was from your future. You probably can’t remember the rest, but I won’t forget it. I’ve never seen anything like it, and I’ve been doing this job for a while.” He ripped a few pieces of grass from the ground.

“I still don’t get what you did.”

“That makes two of us.” He studied the grass in his hand.

“That’s reassuring.”

“You have bigger things to worry about right now.” He dropped the grass. “Besides, I can't promise this isn't temporary."

"Oh." Disappointment flooded me. True blue disappointment that was my own. I laughed. Even a bad emotion felt good.

"This is new ground for me." He rubbed his hands together in front of him. “I can’t believe it worked at all, and I may have screwed something else up for you in the process. If I did, I’m sorry.”

"Thanks, I think." I’d given up hope of ever feeling again, let alone connecting with Owen. I felt recharged and optimistic. I’d find a way to make this permanent.

"Don't thank me until it's all over." He glanced over his shoulder and then looked back at me.

"Until what's all over?"

“You really don’t remember anything of your future aside from Owen? Not even the part coming up soon?”

I shivered as a layer of clouds blocked out the sun. “No. I’m guessing I’m not going to like it.”

“No, although honestly I don’t really know what’s coming. Your future changed about a dozen times while I watched.”

“Is that normal?” I asked not quite sure if I was ready to hear his answer. I had never been normal, and nothing about my life would ever be.

“Not at all. Most creatures have one future. It’s predestined and never changes no matter what they do.”

“But mine isn’t?”

He shook his head. “No. I saw so many possibilities.”

I thought over his words. About me being human. Was that only one possibility?

“It’s happening too quickly. I can’t explain anything now, but you have to listen to me. You have to do what I say.” He put his hands on my shoulders.

“Why?” I’d learned to question each and every thing before agreeing.

“Because I’m trying to protect you.”

“Ok, that’s great and all, but why can’t you explain anything?” I could feel. I needed to know why and how so I could make sure I didn’t lose the ability again. I had to stop the change.

He sighed. “Because we are about to have some company.”

“What kind of company?” I looked over my shoulder, half expecting to see someone there. The meadow was empty.

“The bad kind of company, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that you play along with what I do, and you run if I tell you to, do you understand?” He looked deep into my eyes.

“Yes.” I nodded. It wasn’t as if I had another choice. “But will I still get to see him?”

"I hope so.” Sol replaced his sunglasses.

“I’ll listen to you.”

“Don’t trust anyone.” He lowered the shades enough to meet my gaze with his shadowy eyes. “No one.”

“Yet I’m supposed to trust you?”

“I can’t make you trust me, but I’m the best chance you have right now.”

“You’re the only chance I have right now.” Admitting that out loud emphasized how crazy my situation was.

“I wish that wasn’t the case.” He moved to his feet and held out his hand. “You don’t want to face this sitting down.”

I accepted his hand and stood up. “I don’t think it’s good to face anything sitting down.” I strained my ears and eyes searching for the company Sol had been alluding to. I was about to question him about it when I heard the sound of laughter in the distance.

My stomach turned. I knew who the laughter belonged to.

“Hello, Daisy."

I recognized the blonde Elder’s voice from behind me. I took a deep breath before turning and coming face-to-face with Arabella. She walked over slowly but deliberately. Her long blonde hair blew around her face in a way that emphasized her flawless skin. She was wearing a short dress similar to the one she’d been wearing the last time I’d seen her.

"Hi." It took me a moment to come up with a reasonable response. "Nice of you to drop by."

"Drop by? You mean arrange your visit here?" She smiled broadly, revealing two rows of perfectly white teeth.

"Exactly." I tried to hide my mild surprise. I still wasn’t sure who had hired Sol. I’d been more focused on ending the numbness. But he’d made it sound like whoever was coming was the enemy. Was he trying to double cross the Elders? If so, that probably wasn’t such a good idea.

"Has Sol been hospitable?" She threw him a flirtatious look.

For his part he seemed uncomfortable with her attention. I wasn’t sure if it was because of his personal feelings or nerves about the situation. I wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, but crossing the Elders couldn’t be an easy thing to do.

"He’s been a wonderful host. He even served me coffee.” I hoped my humor worked. I was trying to hide my nerves because I probably wasn’t supposed to be nervous.

“And was it good coffee?” Her expression said it all. She knew all about the drugs.

“The best I’ve ever had. I’m going to have to take my own supply.” I resisted the urge to wink at Sol. That would get us both in a whole lot of trouble.

“I’m sure Sol wouldn’t mind sharing, would you?” She turned her attention to him. “You’ve always been good about sharing.”

“Of course not.” Sol spoke for the first time since Arabella’s arrival. “Always a pleasure to see you.”

“I can’t say the same to you, but today it seems it’s an appropriate phrase.”

“Have I ever failed at a task that you’ve hired me for?” He straightened up.

“No. But failing isn’t the only thing you could do wrong.”

Something non-verbal passed between the two of them. I watched their faces, hoping for more of a clue, but before I could find anything the moment was over.

Arabella plastered another smile on her face. “How’s life as an Allure treating you?”

“It’s been fine.” Even if Sol hadn’t emphasized the trust thing I wouldn’t have told her about the numbness. Or the renewed ability to feel. Whatever Sol had done, it wasn’t likely Elder approved.

“Only fine?” She narrowed her eyes.

“Is there a different way I should be describing it?”

“Yes. You should say it’s wonderful.” She beamed.

“Then, it’s wonderful.” I forced a smile.

“But is it?” She stepped closer to me. “Something is off.”

“I already told you how it is.”

“Let me give you some advice.” She leaned in. “Woman to woman.”

“Okay.” I found the nerves had disappeared again. That was one emotion I didn’t mind losing.

“Don’t play this game when you see Abe. It’s going to get you in a whole lot of trouble.”

“But it didn’t get me into trouble with you?” Being fearless sometimes made me reckless.

“I like you, Daisy. I think the two of us could be wonderful friends.” She brushed my hair away from my face.

I held back a laugh. Both of her statements were false. “I agree.”

“So I need you to be completely honest with me. Friends do that sort of thing, don’t they?” She stepped real close to me. “They tell each other everything?”

“Of course. It’s what girl talk is all about.” I maintained complete eye contact while hoping that my true thoughts didn’t seep out.

If she noticed the sarcasm she didn’t show it. “I’m so glad you agree.”

“Is there something in particular you wanted ask me about?”

“Yes.” Then she frowned. “But not now. I have to do something else first.” She turned to Sol. “I'll be in touch, but I assume all went as expected?”

“Absolutely.” He nodded. “No surprises.”

“Great." She ran her hand over his bicep. "I'm glad I could count on you."

"You always can." He stood as still as a statue until she let go.

She wagged a finger in front of his face. "Now we both know that isn't true."

"No reason we can't play nice in front of our mutual friend."

"No reason at all." She turned her attention to me. "If it sounds good to you, I think you should stay with Sol for the time being. Violet and the others had some unexpected business surface."

Unexpected business wasn't a good thing. "Sounds good, but I will need to manipulate. I assume Sol can help make that happen." I had no desire to manipulate but a normal Allure would. Besides, I needed a good excuse for us to exit whatever the heck this meadow was.

"Of course. So glad Sol’s made your visit pleasant." She gave me air kisses on both of my cheeks. "See you soon, darling." She gave Sol a warning look before heading away.

I watched as she disappeared across the meadow.

“What’s the story there?” I whispered.

“Oh there are a couple of stories.” Sol still stared at the spot where she disappeared.