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

I
woke up with a start
. The dream had been so real. I’d felt her and tasted her. It was as though she’d actually been there with me. I closed my eyes again, wanting to return to the feeling in the dream, to a place where Daisy was still mine, and she could feel how much I loved her.

I remained in the cotton sheets trying to hold on to the remnants of the dream. Her eyes, her lips. I needed to savor each morsel. After a few minutes, I accepted the truth. The dream was gone, and unless we found a miracle, so was Daisy.

It was the middle of the night, but I couldn’t stay in bed any longer. I couldn’t handle another reminder of what I couldn’t have. I dressed quickly and walked out of the room.

I’d gone along with Hailey’s idea and returned home to New Orleans for a night before we went to see Mayanne. Literally home. I was staying at my parents’ house because I didn’t have a place of my own in New Orleans anymore. I hadn’t stayed over there in years, and it felt strange to be walking around my childhood home.

I walked down the stairs, surprised to hear the TV on. No one in my family usually watched TV.

“Owen?” My dad’s voice carried into the stairwell.

“Yeah, it’s me.” I walked into the small carpeted den. It was the only room in the house my mom had relented and allowed my father to carpet. She generally won the battles in my family.

Dad turned from the rerun of an old Sci-Fi show. “Are you ready to tell me why you’re home?”

“Do you mind?” I hesitated in the doorway, unsure if I really wanted to sit with him and endure the questioning.

“I don’t mind that you’re home, but I’m worried.”

“Why are you worried?” I’d tried to hide everything from my parents. It was usually easy with my dad; my mom was the more observant one.

“Because you and your sister are getting along.” He ran his hand over his five-o’clock shadow. “You never get along.”

“That’s not true. We do sometimes.” As much as we fought, we always had each other’s backs. Hailey had mine at the moment.

He nodded. “You do when one of you is in trouble.”

“Hailey’s fine.” Thankfully. She’d given us all a few scares over the years.

“I know Hailey’s fine. That means you’re not.” Dad muted the TV.

“I’ll be ok.” I wasn’t sure if I believed the words. Losing Daisy had destroyed me.

“Come sit down.” He pointed to the worn armchair cattycorner to where he was seated.

I momentarily considered refusing, but there was no reason to alienate my family. I took the seat he suggested. “I’m sitting.”

He stretched out his long legs in front of him. “What’s going on?”

“It’s a long story.”

“Then you better start talking.” He rolled his shoulder.

“It’s nothing you can help me with, so what’s the point?”

“Do you think that little of me?” He pressed a hand to his temple.

“That’s not it.” My goal wasn’t to piss off my dad. I already had enough to worry about.

“You’re a man. You are entitled to do things your own way, but maybe put a little bit of faith in me once and awhile.”

I blinked a few times and prepared myself. “I lost someone.”

“A female someone?”

“Yes.”

“That’s happened before.” There was no judgment in his words.

“Not like this. Not like her.” No one was like Daisy. No one could make me feel so complete and so alive.

“What’s her name?” He sat forward slightly.

“Daisy.” It hurt yet strengthened me to say her name out loud.

“Pretty name.” He turned off the already muted TV.

“You didn’t have to turn that off.”

He shrugged. “No reason to have a distraction on.”

“Why are you up?” I had an excuse to be wandering the house in the middle of the night, and I assumed he had one of his own.

“Let’s finish talking about you first.”

“I already told you. I lost someone.” It was easier to say the second time, but it still hurt.

“You lost this Daisy. By lost you mean, what? She dumped you?” He didn’t sound particularly certain about his suggestion.

“No.” I shook my head. “That would be a whole lot simpler.”

“Then what?”

I looked out into the hallway. “I don’t want to upset Mom with this.”

“Your mother wants to know about your life.”

“I know.” She was well meaning, but she would get bent out of shape over my situation and try to protect me. And it was too late for that.

“I’ll use my discretion about what to tell her if you think this is going to upset her.” Dad pressed his hand into the empty couch cushion next to him.

“It’s not that it will upset her, but she’ll worry about me.”

“She’s already worried about you. We both are.” My dad didn’t usually admit that sort of thing, which worried me.

“You might not believe me.” I didn’t mind that possibility as much as you’d think. It would make the conversation shorter.

“Try me.” He smiled.

“Do you know anything about Allures?” Saying the name simultaneously angered me and sent a shot of pain through my heart.

“The mythical creatures?” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Yes. I know of them.”

“They aren’t mythical.” I waited for his reaction.

“Ok…” He nodded. Not the reaction I expected.

“And Daisy has become one. But not by choice. Or not really.”

“Let’s accept for the moment that Allures exist.”

“They do.”

“Ok, so accepting that. What do you mean she didn’t do it by choice—really?”

“In the end she had a choice—or really I did, but she wouldn’t let me make it.” I rubbed the back of my neck.

“Is there a reason you are dancing around your answer?”

“I had the choice to save her by giving up my wings.” I waited for my dad to lose it. He was the reason I even had wings. I inherited my Pteron side from him.

“And you would have?” He leaned forward on the couch.

“Yes.” I’d thought about the decision many times, and each time I’d come to the same conclusion. Daisy was worth it.

“You really love her.”

“I do.” With all my heart and soul.

“But Allures trade their capacity to feel emotion for immortality.”

“Yes.” He knew more about Allures than I expected. “But she didn’t want immortality. She never asked to become an Allure; she was given a paste and started to change.”

“Instead of letting you give up your wings, she gave up her human self.” He paused for a moment. “She loved you.”

“I know.”

“So what are you doing back here? Why is Hailey involved? Do you have a plan yet?” He clasped his hands in front of him.

“A plan for what?”

“A plan to get her back.”

“I can’t do it that easily.” If only I could.

“But there is always a way. The thing about our world is nothing is ever impossible. It may be difficult and it may be at a high cost, but you can do it.”

“What makes you so confident?” He was generally the realistic one.

“I convinced your mother to marry me. If that was possible then anything is.”

“I thought it was love at first sight.” I remembered my parents’ meeting story well. I’d always wanted the kind of relationship they had. Even forty-years later they were still incredibly in love.

“It was. But that didn’t mean she wanted to marry me. She never intended to have a family.”

“What?” That was news to me.

“She was worried about her career.”

“But she kept her career. She’s always had a job.”

“She was worried she wouldn’t be able to do both.” He moved the remote from the cushion next to him onto the coffee table.

“But getting Mom was different. That was a choice. Changing Daisy back to a human isn’t a choice.”

“I never said you could make her human again.”

“Then what do you mean?” What other solution could solve my problem?

“I mean you may be able to pull her emotion back out.”

“So she’d be an Allure but could feel?” I didn’t get how that was even possible.

“Theoretically. I’ve never heard of it being done, but I’ve never heard of a modern day Allure either.”

“But what happens if I can’t? What if she’s really gone forever?” Now that I had opened myself up to my dad, I wanted to lay it all out there.

“First of all, nothing is forever.” He held out a finger as if counting. “And second, why focus on that? I didn't raise you to give up easily.”

“I'm not giving up.” I couldn’t give up on Daisy.

"You wanted to." Hailey walked into the room. "You should have seen him dad, he even had a beard."

"Yeah?" Dad studied my face.

I shrugged off my annoyance at Hailey’s words. It didn’t matter. "I needed time to process things."

"You gave up."

"I'm not giving up now. I'm ready." I jumped to my feet.

"What's your plan?” Dad asked Hailey.

I wasn't going to let my little sister call all the shots. I answered before she could. "We are starting with Georgina’s friend Mayanne. She knows more than she's told us about the Allures."

Dad nodded. "That's a smart place to start. There's also your Uncle Jim."

"Uncle Jim?" That was a name I hadn’t heard my dad mention before.

"You've never met him."

“Is there a reason we haven’t met him?” Hailey asked the question on my mind.

Dad appeared to mull over his answer. “He left The Society. I didn’t think you were ready to understand his decisions.”

“Uh, when did you think we would be ready?” Hailey narrowed her eyes.

“I didn’t know if you’d ever be.”

“Yet you’re telling us about him now?” Evidently my situation had changed his mind.

“You fell in love with an Allure, a creature The Society claims doesn’t exist, and you accept that. I figure that means you’re ready to accept The Society isn’t infallible.” Dad smiled.

“And I’m included in this?” Hailey rested a hand on the doorframe.

“You’re willing to help your brother in all this. That says all I need to know.”

“Where is this mystery uncle of ours?” Hailey walked over and sat on the arm of the couch.

“Baton Rouge.”

“As in the capital of Louisiana?” I asked.

“Yeah. Not far.”

“Exactly.” Hailey hopped off the arm. “We have an uncle living less than two hours away, and you really kept that from us?”

“You weren’t upset a minute ago.”

“That was when I was picturing him living on another continent.” Hailey sounded exasperated, and I understood. She’d always wanted a bigger extended family.

Dad was used to Hailey’s outbursts and wasn’t bothered. “Your mother and I made the right decision. We wanted to protect you and my brother.”

“Because The Society can’t know where he is.” Understanding dawned on me. “You’re only telling me because I walked away from my position.” But then I thought of something else. “Hailey hasn’t.”

“I trust Hailey understands the importance of discretion.” Dad gave her a serious look.

“I understand the importance of family.” Hailey’s words were weighted, and we all knew it.

“Do you really think Levi would do anything?” I knew my best friend was powerful, but he was also reasonable.

Dad looked down at the floor and then back at me. “Levi is your friend. He is a good king, but kings have rules to follow.”

“Did Uncle Jim do something wrong?” Hailey asked.

Dad shrugged. “We all do things that are seen as wrong by certain people. The question is whether what we do is right for everyone else.”

Hailey shook her head. “Because that isn’t a sketchy answer.”

“I can let your uncle fill you in. Some stories are better told by the person who experienced them.”

“Is Mom going to be okay with us meeting him?” Hailey adjusted the strap of her tank-top.

“Yes.” Dad nodded. “You’re both adults now, and I think Jim may be able to help you. Or at least he’ll know who can.”

Hailey looked at me. “What do you think? Do we try our secret uncle before Mayanne?”

I appreciated Hailey throwing the decision over to me first. “Mayanne has held information back from us before, which makes her riskier.”

“True. But she’s a little closer.” She made a reasonable point.

“You’re Pterons. Distance shouldn’t be such an issue.” Dad laughed.

“That’s true.” Hailey nodded. “Ok, let’s meet this uncle. I want to know why he’s been kept from us.”

“You really think he can help?” I desperately hoped this wasn’t a worthless detour, and I wanted to trust my dad. He’d never let me down before.

Dad nodded. “I do. Or as I said, he’ll know someone who can.”

“So when do we go?” Hailey shifted her weight from foot to foot.

“Let me talk to Mom, and then I say we head over. There aren’t too many hours of darkness left.” Dad rose to his feet.

“Good point.” And I’d wasted enough time already.

“I’ll be right back.” Dad headed out into the hallway.

“Wait, Dad?” I called after him.

He turned back. “Yes?”

“What were you going to tell me? About why you were up?” I hadn’t forgotten his sleeplessness. Pterons don’t sleep much, but we do some.

“It can wait. This is more time sensitive.”

“You sure?” I wanted to make sure there wasn’t something major going on I needed to know about.

“Positive. Get ready to go.”

He disappeared through the doorway, leaving Hailey and me alone in the dark den.

“We have an uncle we’ve never met.” Hailey said it out loud, but I sensed she was saying it more to herself.

“That we do.”

“How many other secrets do you think they’ve been hiding from us?”

“How many have we been hiding from them?” Daisy wasn’t the only secret I’d kept over the years. I wasn’t sure when I’d stopped confiding in my parents, but it had been years. I either dealt with things on my own or went to my friends for help. That was probably a really normal part of growing up, but there was something almost sad about it.

Hailey got a serious look. “Promise you won’t do that to me anymore.”

“Do what?”

“Keep secrets. You’re my only brother. I need you to always level with me.”

“Same to you. I know you hide things from me.”

“Only the important things.” She grinned.