CRYSTALLUM (The Primordial Principles Book 1) (7 page)

"I said I can handle it." He left the office.

Danny walked behind Cole in the hallway. "She's just trying to help."

"Telling me not to investigate isn't helping." He didn't break his stride.

"She didn't say that. She said maybe it would be best if you didn't. You don't have to prove anything to anyone, Cole.”

"I know you mean well, so let's drop this. I'm fine. And I'm not out to prove anything to anyone." He gave Danny a quick, fake grin. "I can handle it."

THE LITTLE BRONZE BELL
chimed over the glass door, the
windows
all along the storefront covered in grime from the busy street beyond. The heady scent of sandalwood wafted through the small space, streams of smoke infiltrating the dark room from various wooden incense holders scattered around on dusty tabletops and
glass counters.

Hundreds of prints covered the walls. Everything from black and white drawings of skull and cross bones, to neon butterflies, and blood-red hearts. A tattoo needle vibrated from beyond a beaded curtain hanging in the back of the room, and bright eyes caught Cole’s from behind it. The vibration stopped. Someone cursed. Chair legs scraped the concrete floor, and an ebony hand pushed the hanging beads to the side. A tall man with deep skin and vibrant blue eyes emerged from the back of the tattoo shop, his neck and arms covered in slate-blue wings and bird heads.

"Whatcha want now?" he demanded.

"Ah, come on, Heru, that's the greeting I get?" Cole leaned
against a glass counter filled with decals of crosses, wooden and metal pipes, and stacks of different colored incense cones.

"Unless you need a tat, that's the greeting ya get." Heru's gold tooth gleamed under the smoky haze infiltrating the room.

Cole held up his hand. "Seen this before?"

The man squinted his bright eyes, crow’s feet creasing his dark skin at the corners.
"Et mortali spiram."

Cole smiled. "That's why I come here."

"No." Heru dragged a wooden stool over and sat down, motioning for Cole to give him his hand again. "Ya come here
because I don't kick ya out." He eyed him. "Like I should."

"We have too much in common for you to do that." Cole held his hand out, palm up. "Can you tell me anything about it?"

The man ran a callused fingertip over the faded design
Cole had drawn on his palm the day before of the serpent wrapping the egg.
"Nothing ya don't already know, I don't doubt." He closed Cole's hand and sat back. "Where'd ya find it?"

"Two different abandoned churches, burned into the altar at both. One in Utah and one here in Colorado."

"Are ya sure ya want to go down this road? Ya might not like what ya find."

Cole didn't answer.

The man sighed. "Last I saw that symbol was three years ago. I'm sure I don't need to tell ya where." His blue eyes narrowed. "Last time I saw it before that?" He shrugged. "A couple centuries ago probably, and nowhere near Utah or Colorado, if ya get my
meaning."

"Do you have any idea who the Patriarchae is?"

"Every few decades, one of the Daemoneum Hives adopts the name. Always in relation to the Araneum.
Not the first time. Won't be the last.
I believe they think it’s clever.” He shook his head.

“And the burned altars?” Cole shoved his hands into his pockets.

“I think you know the answer to that.”

"Thanks."

"Only for you, you remember that. I don’t wanna see yar friends hanging 'round my place." Heru pushed to stand. “So, ya ready for that tat? I can give ya a real one. One like mine." He gestured to his neck, covered in various blue wings.

Cole grinned. ”Nah, I'm good."

"Well, when yar ready, ya let me know. I'll even give ya a discount."

"A discount?" Cole walked toward the entrance. "I should be free."

"No such thing as free. Hey, Cole..."

He glanced back.

"Watch yar back on this."

“Semper.”
Always.

“Cole…”

He glanced back.

“I mean it.”

***

Sunday evening consisted of Kade ignoring all the unpacked U-Haul boxes, trying to decide what to wear for the first day of school, and sitting on her bed, staring out the window at the frozen wasteland. The forest was nothing more than barren trees capped with snow. Besides the black bird perched on a limb in the distance, everything was lifeless, dull, and gray. It was like moving to the Arctic.

The day they drove from Utah to Colorado, she'd finished her last romance novel and ended up buying up a guide for bird watching at a gas station. She'd spotted some kind of turkey on the drive, as well as the state bird of Colorado, which she learned was a lark bunting. A few egrets roamed the side of the road, and she'd seen an eagle at one point, but she’d never before seen the bird sitting outside her window.

Reaching for the book on her nightstand, Kadence scanned the index for “black bird” and turned to the correct page. Crow. Raven. She glanced out the window again, squinting to see it clearly. Definitely not a crow or a raven. She'd seen plenty of them in the other places she'd lived. The bird was much larger and its feathers weren't solid black. They had a bluish sheen.

Its chest was gold, or maybe it was tan. Giving up on the index, Kade scanned the glossy photographs.
She really needed a better hobby. She'd always been fascinated with birds, but who buys bird watching guides? Pathetic.
Her fingers trailed the pictures, before one stood out from the rest
. The bird's eyes were what caught her attention. They were large, round, and black. It had the look of a hunter. The kind of bird that didn’t eat berries, but killed its prey.

Its gold chest matched the bird outside,
she thought, and the dark, slate colored feathers looked similar.
The description said the bird could be found almost everywhere on earth. From the arctic tundra to the tropics. Arctic tundra sounded right for Boulder. Under interesting facts, the guide said it was the fastest animal on the planet. Able to tuck its wings and dive upwards of two hundred miles per hour or more. Whoa.

Kade moved her finger to the heading at the top of the page.

Falcon.

The front door opened downstairs, and Kade chunked the bird guide on her bed.

"Kadey?"

"Hi, Dad." She skipped down the stairs.

"I picked up the coat you wanted on my way home." Her dad held up a colorful paper bag.

"Thank you."

"Make sure it's the right size. The sales lady said it was the same one you showed me online."

Kade peeked inside. "I love it."

"It'll keep you warm in this weather. I still can't believe it's only August."

"Me neither. I was hoping for one last month of lying in the sun. I wonder if there are lakes around here." Not like he'd let her go to one, but still.

Her dad eyed her, confirming her doubt, and ambled into the kitchen. "Dinner?"

"Whatever you want. Except drive-thru." Kade made a gagging noise.

"Mac-n-cheese?"

"Sure. I'm going to try on my coat." She started toward the staircase.

"Are Lindsey and Giselle still picking you up in the morning?"

“Yeah, why?”

"I may have to go into work early. Hoping not, but in case I'm gone before you leave..."

She exhaled, but he couldn't hear her. This was what it would be
like. Her dad being gone all the time. Again.
Always on call at the new children's hospital.
The reason Kade had to move into a
“common house” in a few weeks.

“Okay,” she mumbled and laid her new coat on the bed. She stared out the window with a sigh. The falcon sat on its limb, staring back.

***

Waking up to everything covered in a foot of snow on Monday morning couldn't have put Kade in any worse of a mood for the first day at a new school. Besides her anxiety level being way too high, her dad had left a note:
Early emergency surgery. Have a good first day.

Nothing like pacing around the living room alone on the first day of school. New school. New people. Another new start. She'd had so many they all blurred together.

While fumbling with her belt and the strap on her backpack, she peeked out the front window as she paced a trail in the living room. A horn blew and she rushed the front door like she'd been tackled from behind. Darting outside, she traipsed through the snow toward Lindsey's car.

"Sorry, we're late." Lindsey eyed Giselle.

"It's okay." Kadence climbed in the back seat, winded.

The Flatiron rock formations dominated the landscape as they neared the high school. Rising into the sky, they practically kissed the dusky horizon.

Lindsey veered into the parking lot. "We are so late."

"There's one." Giselle pointed toward a parking spot wide
enough to fit a scooter.

Lindsey shook her head. "You have depth perception issues."

"No, I don't." Giselle yanked her lip balm out of her tiny purse. "I can see."

"You need glasses."

"I do not."

Lindsey chuckled and circled the lot. "I'm gonna have to jump the curb."

"You really want to start racking up parking tickets so soon?" Giselle smoothed the Chapstick on her lips. "How many did you get last year? Twenty-three?"

"No." Lindsey rounded the lot a second time. "Dammit. There's nothing.”

Kade leaned forward, anxious enough about it being the first day of school, much less strolling in late. Everyone's schedule had been posted online weeks before, and Kade's first class was with Giselle, so at least she wouldn't be late and lost.

"Twenty-four?" Giselle glanced at Kade. "It was twenty-
something.
Her dad was pissed when he had to pay them all. Three hundred bucks."

"It was twenty tickets." Lindsey veered toward the sliver of a space Giselle had pointed to when they first pulled in. "And I had to help pay for them." She squeezed into the space that was way too small for her four-door Jetta.

"Told you we'd fit." Giselle unsnapped her seat belt.

"This isn't fitting, G, it's desperational squeezing. Watch the doors when you get out."

Giselle rolled her eyes. "That's not even a real word."

"Yes, it is."

"No, it's not."

The two of them reminded Kade of an old married couple.

Giselle tilted her body to the side to get out of the car. Afraid to
even attempt to open the back door and hit the Honda CRV next to them, Kade hopped over the seat and exited out the front on Giselle's side.

"I'm gonna ruin my new boots," Giselle whined as the three of them huffed across the snow covered campus.

"I'll buy you new boots," Lindsey said, keeping pace with a
much shorter Giselle. "Just... move a little faster." She shooed her along like cattle.

"I'm moving as fast as I can. Stop...pestering me." Giselle swatted at her.

"Pestering?"

The three of them rushed up the staircase near the main office toward the second floor, and down a mostly empty, and very plain, hallway. Lindsey ran past as Kade and Giselle slid into American History.

"Pestering?"
Lindsey yelled from the hallway. Kade laughed. Maybe her new friends were better than she'd given them credit for.

"That was close,” Mr. Robbins said. Kade remembered him from
her brief orientation. She sat next to Giselle, out of breath, and her gaze drifted around the class and landed on the guy sitting one seat back.

Cole.

Legs stretched out, ankles crossed, his eyes were focused on the cell phone in his hand. A white bandage wrapped his upper arm, and a red cut stretched over his right eye. Two butterfly bandages were secured to his golden skin. The dark blue material of his T-shirt pulled tight across his defined chest and biceps, and even looking down, his eyes reflected the light. He was more beautiful than he'd been at Crystalline.

"You're staring at me." Cole's gaze lifted and connected with hers. His eyes were a multitude of grays and blues that shifted with every blink. Like a kaleidoscope. The edge of his lip tugged upward,
showing all straight, white teeth except for the second one from the front. It was slightly crooked in an adorable way. His cheeks reddened slightly and he leaned forward in his desk. "You're still doing it. Staring."

Giselle kicked Kade with the side of her foot, causing her to
blink, and finally register that
she was staring.

"Yeah, um...sorry." Kade's face heated at the memory of him pinning her against the wall. Straightening, she faced the whiteboard.

A tap on her shoulder had her turning back.

"I'm Cole," he said in a formal way, as if she didn't already know that. "I never got a chance to tell you that on Saturday night between the tackling and you laying on top of me." He smirked, inclining his head, brown hair falling across his eyes.

Kade pictured him on top of
her
and lost her train of thought.

"Sorry I was a little...standoffish on the sidewalk afterward," he said after she didn't say anything.

"That's okay. I mean, I did knock you down." She grinned.

"True. So, we never got properly introduced," he prodded. "It's Kadence?" The arrogance she'd noticed before came through his tone, and she wondered if he was one those guys who always got whatever he wanted.
Whoever
. Whenever.

"Kade." Her voice cracked. "It's...I'm Kade."

"It's nice to meet you formally. Out in the light of day." Cole gestured toward the cloudy sky through the classroom windows.

"You, too. Um...are you...okay?" It probably wasn't the right thing to say, but he seemed pretty beat up with his arm all bandaged. "I mean, you look kind of..." She gestured toward the cut
over his eye, and couldn't help but wonder if Alex and Kyle had caught up to him on Saturday night. It made sense.