Origin (Eternal Sacrifice Saga Book 2) (25 page)

“Do you know how to find this man?” I asked.

“I know exactly where I met him before. But it means opening back up Pandora's box.”

They all stared at Zoe, and she rolled her eyes. “It was the guy from the record company. My only tie to him is through Dr. Lucci. Do we have time for that mess again?”

“We don’t have time not to,” Raz said. “Every day without finding Samael or Micah's Gemini is one day closer to the Eternal war, which could happen at any time.”

“If Zoe has a lead, we can use human measures to find him without getting that woman back in her life,” I said.

I didn’t trust her. And since Raz confirmed Dr. Lucci was not who she presented herself to be, I disliked the idea of involving her again in Zoe’s life.

“Maybe getting back in with Lucci is what we need?” Raz suggested.

I glared at Raz. “What the hell are you thinking?”

“She may have ties to Lilith,” he said. “We have to assume any tie to Zoe in Chicago could also be tied to Lilith and Azriel.”

“So if I find him, how can I know for sure it's him?” Zoe asked.

“I’ll be there to help.”

“That won't work,” Zoe said. “She'll get suspicious if you're there. Lucci's smart, and if she's working for Lilith, she'll report straight to her.”

“Zoe's right.” Elijah agreed. “The only way to do this is to appear Zoe's detached from you.”

“That makes no sense either.” I growled. “She's Eternalized. Why would Lilith believe Zoe would defect?”

“The prophecy?” Lailah asked. “I'm sure Lilith knows of it.”

“I'll call Lucci.” Zoe exhaled. “She’ll lead us to Lilith.”

“Finally, we must discuss Phoebe and Remie,” Raz said.

“Phoebe can help me. Lucci would expect it. I can keep her safe then.” Zoe held my hand, squeezing to reassure me. “I wanted to spend time with her anyway.”

“So you're prepared for this, love? I hate the idea of spending time apart.”

“I know, but it's the best laid plan. And it's all we've got.” Zoe turned to Raz. “So what happens when we find Samael?”

“We tell him everything,” Raz said. “And hope after so many lives, he still wants Lilith.”

“Yeah, well do you really think she's going to want him?” Zoe shook her head. “You didn't hear my conversation with her in the dark realm. She's a bitter woman. She wants power. She won't sacrifice for love.”

“You'd be surprised what people will do for love, Chayah.” Gabrielle said from the corner.

We all stopped talking and stared, having forgotten Gabrielle was even here.

“Maybe?” Zoe said. “But she's got to be one of the coldest people I know. I have a hard time believing she'd bend.”

Gabrielle came over, laying her hand on Zoe’s shoulder.

“Work your magic, cupid.”

Zoe

“Hey Phoebs.”

“Zoe.” Phoebe greeted me at her front door, pulling me into a hug. “I’m so excited. I can’t believe you’re staying for a week.”

“Right?” I grinned. “Just like old times.”

“Yeah, and I’ll play bodyguard. I hear Whitney singing.” Micah scoffed.

“Funny.” Phoebe shot Micah a look. “So what about Cade?”

“He’s working with the Firstborns while we’re here, playing our spy games.”

“Let’s sit in the front room.” Phoebe ushered us down a short hallway.

“First I want the grand tour. So this is the place, huh?” Phoebe moved into a cute house in Connecticut, just a short train ride into New York City. “This is definitely your place.”

“You want something to drink? I have soda, tea, whatever.”

“Tequila?” Micah raised his eyebrows.

“Funny.” Phoebe rolled her eyes.

“Play nice, you two.” I pointed between them.

Micah and Phoebe were never close. There was always some hidden tension between them, so this week together could be more hectic than I’d first expected, especially given Micah’s need of an attitude adjustment.

“Follow me, I’ll show you to your rooms so you can get your things put away. Then we can hang out and talk about the plan. You do have one, right?”

“Yep.”

“Okay Micah, this is your room. There’s a bathroom between this one and Zoe’s that you two can share.”

Micah hid in his room while me and Phoebe continued down the hall to another room.

“This is yours. Bathroom’s over there.” She pointed to a closed door.

“This is cute.” I sat on the full size bed, and Phoebe sat beside me.

“Yeah, I love it here. The backyard is awesome. And it’s only a short train ride into the city.”

“So school, how was the transition?”

“Not bad. I love it here. I told you about the social worker that set me up at Memorial? Well I’ve been working with this little girl. She’s dying, terminal cancer, poor thing. She’s such an amazing kid. It’s been wonderful teaching her. Hearing her stories.”

“What stories?” I narrowed my eyes.

“She’s died, like five times? And they brought her back to life. It’s so interesting, when she comes back, she has all these stories of when she was dead. She tells me about the Angels she sees when she crosses over.”

“That’s so cool, that she remembers.” I pursed my lips. “I wonder if that’s a Lailah problem? I didn’t think they were supposed to remember that stuff.”

Phoebe shrugged. “I don’t know. Anyway, I love what I do. I love the kids at the hospital.”

“So, graduation. You getting excited?”

She got a wide grin on her face. “I am. I think I probably have a job lined up, too.”

“That’s awesome, Phoebs.”

“Yeah, I’m excited.”

“So now that you and Remie are married, how’s that going?” I nudged her shoulder, wiggling my eyebrows.

“I’m not talking about that.” She blushed.

“That’s not what I was asking, exactly. But now that you brought it up, I’m curious. When you two, you know.” I tilted my head. “Have sex. Does anything strange happen afterwards? Like—how do I put this?”

Phoebe narrowed her eyes.

Hell, I had no clue how to even bring up this subject, but I was curious.

“Geez, okay. So you know I can do this thing, called astral projection. It’s where my soul leaves my body and—”

Her eyes lit up. “Okay. I know what you mean.”

“You do?”

I guess I could have asked Cade if others do it, but it was kind of cool asking Phoebe first. I missed this, the girlfriend thing.

“Yeah. When we
do it
,” she whispered, her face a deep red. “Afterwards, there is this thing. It’s only happened a couple times, like a dream. Only I can see my body below me. Like I'm in between two worlds. And I could hear Remie.”

“Hear him?”

“His mind. Like he could talk to me in my head. Like you guys do. Like we’re really Gemini.” Phoebe grinned. “Isn’t it amazing?”

I nodded, pursing my lips.

“What’s wrong?” Phoebe set her hand on my knee.

“This prophecy. Cade refuses to play around anymore. He’s afraid I’m going to get pregnant. Though I’m not sure how that could even happen. This whole thing is dumb.”

“I know what you mean. Less than a year ago, we were a bunch of college kids playing music and going to school. Now you’re all immortal demon hunters and I’m a twenty-one year old married chick.”

“Are you happy? I know it’s hard, with Remie not here. Does he know about what we’re dong?”

“Of course, he’s my best friend.” She blushed.

I sighed.

“Oh, but I still love you.” She nuzzled up to me, laying her head on my shoulder.

“I know, it’s okay. I’m happy for you, Phoebs.”

“Thanks. Yeah, it’s kind of hard. Newlyweds aren’t supposed to be apart like this.”

“Neither are Gemini,” I added. “We’re not built that way.”

“You sure you’re going to be okay away from Cade this long?” Phoebe pressed her lips together, scrunching up her nose.

“I’ll survive. And we’ll be so busy, we won’t know the difference.” I leaned on her.

“Yeah, about that. So, I have to go to the hospital for a few hours each day, Monday through Thursday. I’m off on Fridays, though sometimes I volunteer anyway. Should you call Lucci?”

“Maybe. I’m going to inquire about the record deal first. I was thinking I could call that Sam guy myself. I still have his card. I figured I would bypass Lucci this time around. If she’s working for Lilith, I don’t know if alerting her to your whereabouts is the best idea. After all, she knows she can hurt me by hurting you.”

“Well, this house is protected.” She beamed. “No demon or Fallen can get in. And my ring has protective properties like yours.”

“Yeah, we’re going to practice using them together. I’ll teach you.”

She smiled. “Good. So about my birthparents. The social worker found my birth certificate and said she thinks it’s been forged.”

“Forged?” My heart sped up, not sure why. “Really?”

“Yeah, it seems a bit off. She thinks the names of my parents were changed, and maybe even the date. My birthday.”

“Wow. So, are you thinking divine intervention?”

She shrugged. “Do you think Raz or someone would know something? I know they placed me, but how did they find me? Did they choose me because of Remie? Like, was that in place before we met? It can’t be a coincidence I met you, then we meet Remie, and I'm suddenly his soul mate. Can you ask Sophie?”

“I did,” I said. “Sophie said she had nothing to do with it. Michael set it up. I haven’t talked to Michael, but I can.”

“You will?’ She glanced up, hopeful.

“Of course.” I leaned in and hugged her. “You should have your parents. If they want to be found, that is. And if Michael had you placed, there’s probably way more to this story.”

“See, that’s what I figured, but there’s so much else going on, I didn’t want to bother anybody with it. It’s just been a side project I’ve been doing on my own, till I hit a wall. I don’t know why, but something’s been leading me to this.” She sat up. “I have to know. But we need to find Micah’s Gemini, right?”

“Yeah, I have a lead on her, too. But there’s more going on.” I lowered my voice and leaned closer. “Can you keep a secret?”

I made an executive decision.

I had to tell somebody something. Phoebe wasn’t in the loop, it was likely she had nobody to tell. I just had to get it all off my chest, even if I couldn’t tell her anything important.

“Of course.” She smiled. “As long as keeping it doesn’t hurt anybody, but you would never do that anyway, right?”

“Here’s the deal. So, apparently some stuff happened before I was reborn last time. Like Gabrielle and I spent a bunch of time together. Raz thinks I’m blocking it out because I’m not supposed to know about it yet.”

“So, you’re hiding things from yourself?” She pursed her lips. “Why?”

I shrugged. “No idea. It seems weird to me too, but I guess maybe I wasn’t supposed to know. Or at least not yet. Raz thinks when it’s time for me to know, I will.”

“That sounds complicated.”

“Right?” I scoffed. “So in the meantime, I’m just supposed to do my thing. Find Micah’s Gemini, and find this Samael guy. Then work on the rest. And Cade is training Remie, Julian and Rainah to do soul retrievals.”

“What?”

“Apparently, we’re recruiting humans when they die. But they have to have a Gemini, otherwise it can’t work.”

“How do they know they have a Gemini?”

“Something about a birthmark? Or their aura? I’m not sure. I guess they can tell, but only I can match them. I have to see their colors merge. So I have to travel, or rather, project to them. Gabrielle says since I can’t always get to them right away, they may have to wait for me. Until my soul is pulled to them. I’m not sure, it’s all confusing. I guess when it happens, I’ll know.”

“Yeah, that is complicated.” She sighed. “Okay, well I have an appointment to meet Madie today. You and Micah are coming, right?”

“Yep, that’s the rules.” I stood up. “Now that Nate’s Gemini is back with him, Micah’s your man.”

Phoebe laughed. “Uh, no. That job’s already been filled.”

~

We took a train into the city and got to Memorial Children’s Hospital. I’d never been to a hospital before. Since I was semi-immortal as a kid, there was never a reason to.

“I’m going to make rounds,” Micah said. “I’ll meet you girls on the Oncology floor in a few.”

I nodded, and Phoebe and I headed inside.

Walking into the foyer of the hospital, I got the strangest feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Death
.

I could feel it. Smell it.

It was everywhere.

Goose bumps rose over my arms.

“You okay?” Phoebe glanced over.

“Yeah.” I shrugged. “You feel that?”

“Feel what?”

“Death.”

Phoebe stopped walking and glared at me. “You can feel it, too?”

“I never asked you before. What’s it like to be an Empath?”

She stared, tilting her head back and forth, then grabbed my arm and led me to the elevator.

“When someone is hurting emotionally, I hurt too. If they’re stressed out, I get a knot, right here.” She set her palm on her chest. “But I can also take the pain away.”

We got into the elevator, and Phoebe pressed the floor button. The doors shut, and the elevator started moving.

“So that’s it.” I glanced over. “That’s how you made me feel better when we were kids? You took it away?”

She shrugged.

“Wait, does that mean you felt it, like it hurt you instead of me?”

She nodded, almost proud.

“Oh, Phoebe.” I set my hand on her shoulder. “But why?”

“Because I love you.” She smiled. “I’d do it for anybody if I could, but for some reason, the actual pain part only works with you. I can’t even do it with Remie. I’ve tried.”

“Really?” I narrowed my eyes. “That’s weird. Don’t Gemini heal each other?”

She shrugged.

“Huh.” I scratched my nose. “I’ll have to ask Raz.”

“See, that’s why I’m thinking this whole thing was no coincidence. It’s almost like I was sent here. For you.”

I stared at the numbered floor lights flickering along the shiny silver wall as the elevator climbed higher.

My head began to pulse and shooting pains stabbed me behind my eyes. I pressed my palms to my forehead, and Phoebe set her hands on my shoulders.