The Ylem (40 page)

Chloe
.

“A new one is coming, Kalista. So this is our
only chance.” He cupped my face. “We can try to talk with the
Benandanti and get him on our side, convince him to let us stay
together, to break the rules and—” He trailed off, freezing his
eyes behind me and pulling his hands away from my face. His face
was suddenly hard, as if ice wrapped his skin, and his body was
stiff under my arms.

What’s the matter? I scanned his ashen face
for an answer. But the answer wasn’t in his tightened features, it
was behind me. I turned around and…and, I wished I hadn’t looked. I
shouldn’t have. I really shouldn’t have. A terrifying feeling
pricked my chest at the moment my eyes found her.

Long legs, porcelain skin, eyes of the most
astounding aqua color, sleek platinum hair with sheer pearl lights
and a Junoesque body reminiscent of a goddess. Yes, it was her.
Her. The girl Valerie had told me about. The alleged model, but
clearly not a model. I didn’t know what she was, but she didn’t
look human. She was too beautiful and flawless. And her smell…I
could sense it from where I was standing. It was a blend of green
florals, violet, carnation, roses and wood spices, so fresh it made
me think of a stream flowing through flowers.

But her eyes weren’t right. They were filled
with anger and hate, breaking the peaceful beauty of her face,
almost cat-eyed as if about to jump on me, because she was looking
at me, not at Tristan. And something about that sharp contradiction
in her features petrified me. She looked like a goddess about to
punish a mortal.

Her gaze left me, and the cattish look was
soon replaced by an angelic one, filled with innocence. “Tristan,”
she said serenely, as if her melodious voice played the heavenly
tunes of flutes, pianos and wind whispers. The sound brushed my
ears and sang within me. “How are you, love?”

Crack. The soothing feeling broke. Did she
say ‘
love’
?

“Esha,” he said flatly.

“You haven’t come to visit. I’ve missed you.”
Her words dripped with sweetness.

I turned back to him worried and confused,
trying to understand what was going on and trying not to panic. I’d
never asked him about his so-called “girlfriend” in North Carolina.
I hadn’t felt the need to do so, assuming it was just another
rumor. Because I knew he loved me, even if he hadn’t exactly said
it yet. But I knew he did. More so after all happened between us.
And if he loved me, he couldn’t have a girlfriend, right?

He looked at me. The expression on his face
was hard and grave, which puzzled me even more. I didn’t know if he
was thinking about her while looking at me, or if he was indeed
looking at me like that because… because…

“What are you doing here?” he said.

“I think I’ve already told you, love.” There
was a smile in her symphonic voice. “In case you missed it, search
within your precious mind.”

Telepathy? Her too?

“Tristan,” I clutched his hand, demanding an
explanation.

He looked at me again.

“You know I wouldn’t show up here without
prior notice, but this is really important,” she hurried to speak,
as if she didn’t want him to pay attention to me. Goddess or no
goddess, she was really getting on my nerves.

Tristan kept looking at me in silence, his
eyes showing something different, something I couldn’t put my
finger on. “Kalista,” he finally said, letting go of my hand. “I
need to talk with Esha. Could you please give us a moment?” He
must’ve seen the lack of enthusiasm on my face because he said,
“I’ll explain everything to you later, okay?” I could tell he was
uncomfortable with her presence. And honestly, I felt even more
uncomfortable leaving him alone with her here. When the female
epitome of beauty walks in calling your guy “love,” confidence
wasn’t something knocking on your door.

“Okay.” I nodded unwillingly, anxiety
flooding my stomach. “I’ll wait for you in the living room.” I
turned and looked back at her, a seraphic smile stretching her
rose-colored lips. She looked like a white orchid, with a lavender
silk dress clinging to her body, showing the perfectness of her
slender structure.

But even if I had just met her, I could see
the darkness behind the sweetness of her face, the pretense behind
that pristine glory. So why not play along with her?

“It was really nice to meet you, Esha,” I
said, returning her a smile, not as beauteous and perfect as hers,
but delivered with the same pretense. At least she would know I
wasn’t intimidated by her—even if I really was.

“Oh, it was my absolute pleasure…human,” she
said softly, disguising a corrosive and disdainful tone.

I strode through the arched door with fuming
angst consuming my insides. The corridor was bright, with white
paneling and paintings displaying a symphony of colors, but my eyes
couldn’t appreciate it at the moment. All I could see was Esha’s
image smiling at me scornfully, delighted with my leaving. Her
sweet fake words still haunting my ears.

She couldn’t be. She couldn’t be his
girlfriend. Tristan wasn’t one of those guys who played with girls.
I knew it because I’d seen his soul. He was good. He wouldn’t dare
to hurt me. He'd told me so.

“Hey Kalista.” Elan stood up when he saw me.
To my surprise, everybody was in the living room, except for
Julian. Their awkward expressions told me how unusual this
situation was for them. Was that a bad sign? “Glad you’re finally
walking,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “So…do you want
to, uh, go to the cabin and play some pool with us?”

Balls and sticks?
“No thanks.” It
required too much focus and technique. I just wanted to sit down
and think.

“What about Play Station, or Xbox?” Vincent
rose from the sofa. “We have a little bit of everything. Some might
be too bloody and tough for a girl but…whatever, they’re pretty
cool.”

I shook my head. “I'll wait Tristan.”

Surprisingly, Mingan proposed something else
as well. “We could play checkers.” He nodded toward the room with
the ottomans and board games.

“Or Clue. Let’s test your detective skills,”
Vincent added.

Wow, they were definitely desperate to
distract me. Or they just didn’t know how to treat a human girl. Or
there was something really bad going on.

“Thanks, but I'm just going to sit here and
wait.”
The sofa
. I recognized the soft texture at once. It
was where I’d been laying last night after the fight in the
woods.

“Just go and do something,” Lamia told them
with a wave of her delicate hand, as if sensing my
absentmindedness. “I’ll stay here with her as long as my eyes let
me.” She turned to look at the bright sun outside with
distrust.

They all nodded and walked to the other room.
A few moments passed until I finally decided to ask her, “Who is
she?” I looked at her. Her purple hair looked even more surreal in
the sunlight.

She sighed, as if she’d been expecting the
question. “Esha is a…really close friend of Tristan’s.”

Really close? “But, what is she exactly? I
know she’s not human.” By the way she had called me ‘human’ before,
there wasn’t any doubt.

“Well…I don’t know if I'm supposed to tell
you…” she paused, looking at the ornate coffee marble table. “What
the hell…you’re going to find out anyway. She’s an undine. Like
Tristan’s mom.”

A water nymph. Figures.

“Esha is one of the few left in this world.
She belongs to a special coven.”

Great. Just great. I was actually competing
against a nymph, the most beautiful creature in mythology. And she
belonged to a special coven.

“Kalista…” she said, narrowing her violet
eyes. “Did Tristan tell you everything about his mother?”

“What do you mean by ‘everything’?” I asked
her.

She paused again, studying my face, and then
turned her head away. “Nothing. Forget it.” She shook her head.

She was keeping something to herself, but I
decided not to push it. I was too anxious to worry over something
else. My mind could only focus on what was happening in the
library. So I just sat in silence for what seemed to be an awfully
long time.

A thorny edginess started to build up inside
of me. Why was he taking so long?

“Kalista,” Vincent suddenly said, coming from
the foyer. “Tristan needs to talk to you. He said he’s waiting for
you in the library.”

I looked at Lamia inquiringly. The dark
sunglasses covering her violet eyes now—actually, almost her whole
face was covered. It was more like a mask that made her look like a
sexy Dior intergalactic operator—couldn’t hide the fact that she
knew something bad was going on.

“Go,” she told me reassuringly.

I looked back at Vincent. He had his lips
pressed into a soft line. All of this really scared me. My heart
raced crazily. I was feeling just like during my first day at high
school, heading into the unknown. But worse. Lots worse.

Tristan was alone. There was no derisive
nymph around. “Vincent said you wanted to talk to me,” I said,
stepping inside the archaic room.

He hesitated a few seconds and turned around,
his face hard. “This place is more private.”

“Where's Esha?” I moved toward him.

“She’s in the sunroom.”

I stopped several feet away from him, locking
my eyes with his. “What’s going on, Tristan?”

“Kalista.” He stepped closer, opening his
mouth to say something. He raised his hand and brushed his thumb
against my cheek, his eyes glistening. The golden light from above
made them a sparkly shade of sadness, agony even, as if touching me
hurt him. And the persistence of his touch had an edge to it, like
he was feeling me for the last time.

“Tell me,” I pleaded softly. I laced my
fingers with his. He slid his other hand behind my neck and pulled
me closer. He pressed his lips to my forehead for a long moment and
pulled back, releasing my hands.

I was about to touch his face when his words
cut me. “This thing between us has to stop.” His voice was flat,
heavy hearted.

My stomach plunged. It took me several
seconds to speak. “Wh-What are you talking about?”

He swallowed. “You and me. It can’t go on
anymore.”

I shook my head. “No, you’re not serious.” He
couldn’t be.

“I am.” The stiffness in his face stabbed me,
but the vivid pain coloring his silver-emerald iris proved I wasn’t
wrong. He had meant it.

“You’re lying,” I muttered, staring intensely
at the sad sea flooding his eyes. “I don’t believe you.”

“You have to,” he uttered desperately,
“Because it’s true. There’s…” He dropped his head. “There’s no way
out.”

“What do you mean?”

He took a deep breath and lifted his head.
“I'm sorry,” he said with cold eyes, the impervious manner he had
once showed me hardening his features once more. But…he couldn’t be
sorry. There was nothing to be sorry for, was there?

“No, no, you want me. You said we could fight
this.” I stepped forward.

He backed down. “I lied,” he said, echoing a
cold sympathy.

“You lied?” It took me several heartbeats to
process his words. I went back and forward, struggling to catch
their meaning, because they didn’t make sense. The difference
between this hard attitude and his previous tenderness was too
sharp to digest. I frowned. It was too confusing, too disturbing.
Why was he acting like this? Why was he saying this? I couldn’t…I
just couldn’t understand. He loved me. Even if he hadn’t really
said it, I knew it. I’d felt it. I’d seen it.

But as my heartbeat increased, the rhythm
tapping underneath my skin revealed its message. My fears suddenly
started taking shape.

Esha
. All of this had to do with her,
with her being here. My breath became heavier, twisting my throat
in pain. “It’s because of her,” I stated, grabbing the edge of the
upholstered chair for support.

He kept watching me, silent. The silver ice
in his eyes was melting.

I let my head fall, defeated by the choking
emotions clogging my throat and veins. “This isn't happening,” I
whispered, holding myself tighter to the chair. Not with him, no.
All the kisses, caresses, embraces, sweet words, soul-deep
stares…all a lie? No.

“How much time do you think we were going to
be able to keep up with this farce, anyway?” he said.

I looked up and stared at him. His eyes were
warm again, the green at the bottom glistening as intensely as an
emerald crystal. “A farce?” A tear snaked down my cheek. Had been
all just sweet-talking? Something I’ve been warned of my whole
life?

He sighed. “I can’t keep breaking the
Covenant, Kalista. I know I told you we could work it out but…I
won’t be able to stand the guilt. I don’t want to destroy the life
Shifters have sought for so long.” He paused and watched me for a
long painful moment. His eyes glistened intensely. “And I…there’s
something else I…that I need to tell you…” He didn’t say it,
though. And he really didn’t need to.

“What was this for you?” I said between sobs,
blinded by pain. “An adventure? Playing with a silly human to make
her fall in love with you? Something to remember in the future and
laugh about with other Shifters?”

“No.”

“Then what, Tristan?” I raised my voice. “You
used me? Since you didn’t have your nymph girlfriend around you
needed someone to get cozy with in the meantime?”

“No,” he repeated, the sadness in his eyes
not fooling me this time.

I let the chair go and straightened my legs,
wiping the tears from my cheeks. Somehow the misery eating my
insides had been replaced by a fervent desire to stand up for
myself instead of remaining like a doormat. “You know, you should
be an actor.” I glared at him, impressed with my boldness. “My dad
can help you with that. You can even win an Oscar—your family and
friends, too.”