Two Halves Series (47 page)

“Let me know when they’re here.”

He nodded.

With a smile on my face, I rushed toward the end of the path to greet my kids. Crystal crushed into me when I crouched; Ayer jumped into William’s arms.

“What’s wrong, Mama?” She placed her hands on my face.

“You’re so good at that.” I kissed her forehead.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

I opened my mouth, then shut it again, confused. “What do you mean? I’m not going anywhere.”

Ayer came to my side and touched my face. “Don’t be shcared, Mama. She won’t hurt you.”

“Who?”

“The lady with the black hair,” Crystal answered.

I stood and held my breath. Everyone stared at the twins, including my in-laws and my father who neared the end of the path. The ruffling leaves in the treetops above the clearing seemed loud.

Xander stepped forward.

Fearing what I’d hear, I asked. “You’ve seen her?”

“No, but I know.” My daughter smiled.

“How do you know?” Xander asked. “Was she old? Wrinkled on her face? Messy hair?”

“No, she was booful.”

Xander’s expression mirrored the one I’d seen in the cave—a younger version of my best friend in happier times and I wondered whether his connection to Xela had more depth than he ever cared to share.

“But you haven’t seen her?” he asked with almost frozen lips.

“No, I just know,” Crystal answered. “Who is she?”

Xander’s breathing became shallow, and he turned around, running his fingers through his hair, seemingly lost in thought.

I crouched, taking the kids’ hands into mine. “Do you remember when we talked about bad people?”

“Demons and seekers,” Ayer supplied, then cocked his head to the right. “I’m not shcared.”

Willow fluffed the towels, hanging them on the porch railing. My father and Atram sat on the steps, watching their grandchildren with intent. Both had kept busy letting the air out of a blown-up mattress.

“I know, baby. I just need you to always be on the lookout, and if you see someone odd, you need to let us know.”

“Don’t worry, Mama. Look, we can do this!” Ayer pulled his hand free and glanced at Crystal as if in confirmation. The children took a step back, and red flames shot out of their palms, rocketing toward the forest. The flames impacted a tree. William raised his arms to catch its trunk before it fell on the house.

“When did this happen?” I whirled toward my husband.

“This morning.” William grinned with pride.

“What does this mean? Is the red flame a power from the underworld?”

Crystal took my hand and my nerves calmed. “It’s okay, Mama.”

“Let’s not jump to conclusions.” Willow knelt beside the kids. “Are you guys hungry?”

Before she could take them inside for snacks, wind gusted through the clearing. The air spun, opening a vortex in the middle of the field. Freshly mown grass flew in circles, and I smelled lavender and lilac. When the whirling stopped and the dust settled, Eric was walking toward us, hand in hand with Mira.

The twins ran up and knocked Mira and Eric to the ground. They rolled together on the grass, tickling one another and giggling so joyously. I laughed as well. My twins and the siblings didn’t have to speak to understand one another. I wished I could communicate with my children the way the siblings did, without having to speak. I only had that ability with Eric. The siblings and Eric exposed the children to all the magic and power they knew. My best friends’ unconditional love and devotion in training Crystal and Ayer would never be forgotten. For their own protection, my twins had to know and understand who they were and their role in this world, even when we weren’t sure of it ourselves.

“Whoa! Who took down that tree?” Eric exclaimed. Then he rustled Ayer’s hair.

“Me, me!” The twins bounced up and down, their hands up, each trying to be louder than the other.

Eric held his own hand just above his head. The twins had no problem reaching it to give him a high five.

“Want to see, Auntie Mira? Want to see?” A blue flame materialized in Crystal’s hand.

“Perhaps we can find a tree farther away from the house?” Eric extinguished the flame in her hand with his palm.

“Are we ready for snacks yet?” Willow tried again.

“Why don’t we pack for tomorrow, too.” William nodded to his mom. “Once the blood donation papers are signed at the prison, we can concentrate on these two little bugs.” He rubbed Ayer’s head, the way Eric had done a minute ago.

“We’re no boogs. I hate boogs,” Crystal complained.

“I know. You have your mama to thank for that.” William laughed and motioned the kids toward their grandparents. “Snack time.”

“Yeah!” The kids dashed inside to devour pudding while we stood in a circle in the clearing, arms crossed.

“Sarah, you knew the kids would need to master the use of darker powers.” William put his arm around me.

Flustered, I crossed my arms at my front. “They’re three years old!” I spat, feeling as if I were about to assume Xander’s green shade indicative of angry frustration. I didn’t want them to master the underworld.

“We don’t know when they’re supposed to begin their work, but it could be anytime. They need to be ready,” William said.

“They’re three!” I felt the pressure of my fangs on my lower lip. “I don’t think it’s time yet.”

“Sarah, you’re forgetting although they look like normal kids, they’re not human children. They probably won’t age like human children, just like you. You wanted to talk to me?” Eric shifted the subject.

“Yes, later.” My gaze focused on the ground. I needed privacy for what I was going to share with Eric, especially with Xander hanging over my shoulder.

“Whatever she tells you, Eric, I hope you can help, because she hasn’t been herself today.” William stared at me with concerned eyes as he spoke. I recognized the look. My husband knew I wanted to speak with Eric about something I couldn’t tell anyone else. But that was only because I didn’t understand why Xela invaded my mind and I didn’t want to worry them.

I avoided his gaze. “It’s not funny,” I grumbled.

“It wasn’t meant to be, honey. I want to help, and you won’t let me.”

“I don’t know what it is I need help with. Yet.” I found his pleading expression but couldn’t find the strength to explain Xela to my husband, and I headed toward the cabin.

William followed me. “I hope our life will be clearer once the prophecy is fulfilled.”

“To hell with the prophecy!” I growled, turning back from the porch.

“Mama, what’s hell?” I heard Crystal call from inside the cabin, then William’s father, Atram, hushed them and offered another spoonful of pudding.

I threw my hands up, looking to William for support.

“Let’s eat first, talk later,” Mira suggested.

William continued to watch me, then Eric, and me again. His cheek twitched. I thought I saw him turn to a vampire for a moment, and I rubbed my eyes. I waited for an opportunity to sweep Eric away. If I tried to talk to him in my mind, William would notice. Guilt swept through me as I realized I was going to share private information for the first time with someone other than William, but I had to know I hadn’t imagined what I’d heard—in my head, and from the kids.

We sat at a dinner table set for ten. The aroma of tomato sauce and parmesan cheese wafted through the cabin, but nothing tasted right. A bitter film covered my tongue, and no matter how many sips of juice I took, it wouldn’t wash away. The idea that Xela could get inside my mind bothered me. My need to figure out why grew stronger. I looked at the ruby ring still on my finger; I didn’t want to take it off. The stone was my only affirmation of who I was. The events from four years ago haunted me at night, but today, for the first time in four years, my enemies haunted my mind during the day.

I’d kept my guard up while raising the twins. It had proven challenging, especially since everyone around me seemed cooler and more likable than a mother who made new rules to protect her kids. But I loved them more than anything. I’d die for them.

“I love you, Mama.” Crystal kissed my cheek, as if she understood what I’d been feeling. She touched my hand, soothing my angst.

Ayer jumped down from his seat beside his sister and came to my other side for a squeeze. He pressed his cheek against my bare arm. “We’ll love you no matter who you awe,” he added.

“I love you too, but I’m a half-breed vampire. You know that, right?”

They nodded and looked into each other’s eyes as if they knew some mystery I didn’t. My twins had a way of knowing the future before it happened, but the way they shared it through ambiguous words mystified me, reminding me of aged warlocks.

“You will fix everything.” Crystal smiled.

“What’s everything?” I asked.

“Soon,” she whispered, then hopped off her chair and trotted over to the rock wall near their bedroom William had built them for their first birthday. The twins began climbing, tilting their heads back toward the vaulted ceiling with its exposed beams.

I moved my spaghetti around the plate.

“You’re not eating.” William noted. The concern from his face transferred into his voice in a low tone.

I turned to my left, whispering to my husband, “I think time is up.”

“For what?” He narrowed his brows.

My whisper caught my father’s attention at the end of the table, but he didn’t stir. He kept his gaze locked with Atram’s at the other end of the table. I had everyone’s attention, but I guessed no one wanted to step on my toes today.

“It’s been too quiet. Things aren’t right. I can feel it in my bones.” I joined my hands to crack my fingers.

“Has anything odd happened today?” Eric asked from across the table. One of Mira’s hands was on his lap, under the tablecloth, the way it has always been when they sat side by side.

My family’s answers came one after another: “No,” “Nope,” “All okay.”

“Are you kidding me?” I rose abruptly and walked over to put some dishes in the kitchen sink.

“What?” they asked in unison.

“Something is off. The kids are gaining greater and stronger powers and . . .”

“What?” William asked.

I looked up at the kids, both near the ceiling at the top of the wall now.

“Sarah’s right.” Eric’s hush drafted chills up my spine.

“You know something?” Mira turned toward him.

He shook a warning with his head. “He’s on the move,” Eric said before wiping his mouth with a napkin. “The souls are scattering, looking for a place to hide.”

We avoided using Aseret’s name in front of the children and wanted to ensure he had no connection to them, or as little as we could control.

“The mark on the children is beginning to imprint. You can’t see it yet, but their wrists heat up more than the norm. They will be imprinted soon, just like we have.” He held out his wrist, where the water mark glowed at his will.

“Please tell me they’ll be marked with the water mark.” I shut my eyes.

“Nothing is ever guaranteed Sarah,” he whispered.

“Are you saying it could be the sphere? My children could be connected to the underworld?” I felt my brows rise.

“Don’t jump to any conclusions, Sarah. All I know is that once the children get their mark, they’ll be able to bind Aseret,” he said calmly. “When you come back from the prison tomorrow, it will be time to test the children’s strength.”

“They’re three!”

“They’re more than three, Sarah,” he said solemnly.

I stared at him a moment. “What does that mean?”

“We will see tomorrow. Those are my instructions. Now, I think you and I need to talk.” He raised his brows.

He knows!

I do,
I heard him say in my head. At times like these, when the children stared from me to William with their round eyes, I was thankful I could still communicate with Eric telepathically. It was the only way I knew how to protect their innocence. It didn’t matter how many times my father and William’s parents tried to distract them, my three-year-olds were brighter than many adults. And William could read my face as well as I could read his, so anything I shared with Eric through my mind, he’d know.

“Let’s go to the pond,” Eric said.

“I’ll be back soon.” I kissed William on his cheek, then jumped up the climbing wall to hug Crystal and Ayer.

William followed me. “Don’t shut me out,” he whispered, holding onto the beam with one hand to hover just above me.

I vaulted to the floor and began clearing the table. “I won’t. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“Leave these.” Willow took the dishes out of my hands. “Go.”

Eric had already left.

“Thank you, Willow.”

“He loves you and only you,” she whispered as if to clear any possible doubts.

I smiled. “I know, Mom. I know.”

* * *

When I arrived at the emerald pond, Eric sat on the bench at the entrance, his elbows resting on his knees. The crickets chimed their concert, light bugs dancing in the air in time with the chirping. Moisture from the fluorescent pond hung in the air. It had been a while since I enjoyed a swim with William in water where our bodies became invisible, one of the few perks of being a half-breed vampire.

“Any more news about the bodies?” I asked.

Eric shook his head. He’d been working with Mira on reuniting the lost souls from the hereafter, and I knew I’d be the first one to know when my mother’s and aunt’s bodies were found.

“I think Xela’s back,” I blurted without giving him a chance to reply. “I can hear her in my head. She’s taunting me.”

His brows rose. “Are you sure?”

I shook my head sideways and sat beside him on the carved out tree trunk. “I don’t know what to believe. Is it even possible? When I saw her in the cave, even though she was tied up, I felt her freedom more than mine. I don’t know how Eric. I know she’s contained, but it doesn’t feel like it to me.” My hands trembled and I heard vibrations in my voice.

Eric placed his hand on mine. “If what you’re saying is true, then Xela is scheming again, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Aseret was behind it. I thought there was something odd about her when we switched your souls. I have a feeling her soul is able to leave her body to roam the ghost realm, perhaps do Aseret’s bidding in that form. Your mother isn’t answering me, either,” he continued. “I think she’s gathering other souls to fight against Aseret.”