Dissever (Unbinding Fate Book One) (2 page)

They looked around to find themselves standing at the
far end of the grounds—it looked similar to a garden with benches, hedges,
statues, and leafless trees. There was even an empty swimming pool surrounded
by tables and chairs layered with snow.

 Every building in sight was made of grey stone and
carved with symbols. Stone paths branched off of a main walkway in different
directions, each ending at one of the small stone houses that lined the edge of
the garden. At the end of it, straight ahead of them, was the enormous main
house. It was on the opposite end from where they’d entered and took up the
entire space.

The woman leaned over. “It looks just like the
drawings we saw in the—”

“Shhh! Get down.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her
behind the snow topped hedges.

They held their breath and watched as two men passed
by, heading for the front gate. Once the men were out of view the woman closed
her eyes and shook her head.

“We gotta get out of here,” she whispered, backing
toward the way they came. “If we get caught they’ll—“

Suddenly the man was thrown to the ground, sinking in
the sloppy melting snow. The woman started to flee but couldn’t get any
traction and slipped. She was quickly grabbed from behind; a hand was firmly
placed over her lips. The glowing blue symbols on the hands indicated they
belonged to an Akori.

An angry voice filled her ear. “What the hell are
you
two
doing here?”

The man on the ground let out a huge sigh of relief as
he recognized the voice. He got to his feet and shook the icy water from his
hands. “Damn, I’m glad it’s only you—I thought we were
done
for.”

The woman was immediately released and shoved into the
man. She whipped around to face the one who’d had a hold on her.

“Well, don’t you look—
different,”
she said,
sizing up their aggressor. “I haven’t seen you in at least—”

“Get
out
, before you screw up the entire plan.
Let them know we’ve got the girl under control and she won’t be an issue—no
matter what happens. I’ll visit as soon as it’s safe.”

“Will do,” the man said. He took her hand, pulling her
toward the beach. “We’ve seen enough anyway.”

Standing in the garden, Addy stared out at the ocean
in the distance. It was hard to believe just yesterday she’d been looking at
snow capped mountains from that exact spot. It was by far the most wonderful
place they’d ever been. Usually, the landscape looked pretty much the same the
morning after the estate moved to a new location. Addy was shocked when she
woke up and found they were in the middle of a busy tourist town, right on the
beach.

The morning after a move, everyone who lived at
Tremain gathered together and Addy’s grandfather Fate would say a few words.
She looked on as people slowly migrated to the garden to listen to him speak.

Addy spotted her grandfather’s childhood friend
Bernard and his wife Doris entering from her left. Only five humans, including
her and her grandfather, lived at Tremain. They were two of them. The other
human was Addy’s best friend Kim.

Bernard and Doris both looked up and waved to Addy then
began walking toward her. Her favorite thing about Bernard was that under his
harmless looking exterior, he wasn’t harmless at all. Despite standing at about
five foot eight inches, and being a bit on the portly side in his old age, he
was much stronger than he looked.

“Good morning,” Bernard said, “This place was quite a
surprise.”

 “Surprise doesn’t cover it.” Addy put her hands up,
motioning around. “Why’d he move us here? Not that I’m
complaining
.”

“I’m as baffled as you are,” he said, following her
eyes. “I had no idea we were coming
here
of all places.”

Doris pointed toward the winding stone staircase
leading from the terrace off the dining room to the garden. “They look as
thrilled as you are.”

Addy looked up and watched as her friends Matt and
Renee made their way down the steps to the garden. Matt was three years older
than her, but he turned out to be one of Addy’s best friends. Their uncle Josh was
waiting for them at the bottom of the stone steps.

Bernard smiled as Matt grabbed Renee and messed up her
hair before walking away to talk to someone else. “How many years has it been
since the three of them moved here?”

“It was fifteen years last month. Goodness, where does
the time go?” Doris looked up at Addy. “We’re going to have to stop calling you
kids
soon.”

“I remember the first day they showed up at the door.
Matt and Renee were both clinging to Josh.” Bernard shaded his eyes and looked
over at Josh and Renee, who were still standing by the stairs. “They were maybe
five and seven. Matt was so protective of her they had to sleep in the same
room for months.”

Matt was only about two years older than Renee, who’d
just turned twenty, but he still treated her like a kid. She was one of the few
Akori born without any powers.

“I remember that. We were so little then—they were sad
all the time.” Addy pushed her slipping sunglasses back up on her nose. “I
think I was four.”

Doris nodded. “All Matt could talk about was how many
days until his parents came back. The fact it would be years was too much to
wrap his little head around.”

“Well, it’ll only be a few more years now.” Bernard
pressed his index finger to his chin. “They’ve been Scattered fifteen, so maybe
five more.”

“Their parents shouldn’t have been using their powers
anyway,” Doris said, shaking her head. “It’s
irresponsible
to risk
leaving your children like that.”

When an Akori completely depleted his or her powers
they disappeared, or
Scattered
as they called it. That’s what happened
to Matt and Renee’s parents. Once their power built back up they’d
rematerialize. The problem was that it took around twenty years to happen.

Addy never really thought much about the Akori’s
powers, but she agreed it was wrong for any Akori to risk Scattering when they
had children depending on them. “Since the only thing their powers are good for
anyway is slightly shifting time, it
does
kind of seem like they could’ve
just stopped using them.”

Regardless of their power, Akori were essentially
humans to Addy—but she’d never say that to them. Aside from the blue symbols
marking the tops of their hands, they looked exactly like humans.

“We don’t know the circumstances surrounding what
happened, and it’s not our place to judge.” Bernard reached over and took
Doris’s hand. “Let’s go take a look around. I’ll see you when your grandfather
comes out, Addy.”

The garden was getting crowded but her grandfather
still wasn’t anywhere in sight. Glancing at the time on her phone, she also started
wondering what was taking her friend Kim so long to come out to the garden. Addy
headed down the sidewalk toward her villa to get her.

Seeing the estate without any snow was like looking at
a whole different place. The grass was soggy, but there wasn’t one single patch
of the white stuff left in sight.

The entire south wing of the main house was the Overseer’s
living space. That’s where her grandfather lived.  From where she was walking,
Addy could see the terrace that wrapped around his side of the building.

The large gate across the driveway was rarely closed,
but as she made her way around to Kim’s villa, Addy saw it was shut securely.
Malcolm and Gage, two of the Akori who worked for Fate, were posted in front of
it. They typically locked the estate down after a move while Fate sent scouts
out to confirm they were safe.

Making the turn up Kim’s sidewalk, Addy noticed palm
trees peeking up outside the walls of the estate. The structures that made up
Tremain looked ancient, but on the inside they were completely modern.  Josh, her
friend Matt’s uncle, was their resident handyman. He coordinated all of the
updating over the last few years. The library was the only place that looked
exactly as it did when Oren Sanders, the first Overseer of the Sanders family,
laid eyes on it. Her grandfather wouldn’t allow any changes to it at all
—
not
even
electricity.

Addy reached up to grab the door handle to Kim’s villa
as it was whipped open. She and Kim both jumped.

Kim put her hand on her chest and smiled after getting
over the shock. “Did you see where we are?”

“Kind of hard to miss,” Addy said, grinning. “I’ve
been waiting for you in the garden.”

Kim smiled back at her. “I couldn’t find anything to
wear that wasn’t lined with
fleece.”

Clothes were going to be an issue for everyone until
they could get to the store. Almost everything Addy owned was for cold and
snowy weather. She just threw on cut off jeans and a tank top when she was
hurrying to get dressed after discovering where they were. Kim had clearly put
a little more effort into it and managed to pull together a semi-stylish
outfit.

“The weather’s
perfect
,” Kim said, looking up
at the sky as they walked back to join the others in the garden. “Living here
is gonna be awesome. It’s
so
much better than back home.”

Addy smiled and nodded, remembering what the rough
winter weather was like where Kim grew up. “We gotta check out the beach
today—there’s
no way
we’re staying cooped up inside.”

Everyone was gathered in the open area of the garden
when they walked up, but Fate wasn’t there. Scanning the crowd, she noticed her
grandfather’s Akori friend Stubbs wasn’t out there either.

“It’s strange Fate’s not out here yet,” Addy said,
leaning over toward Kim. “I’m gonna go check on him.”

Addy pushed through the crowded lawn to the front
where Bernard stood talking with Gage and Malcolm, the two Akori guards who’d
been at the front gate.

“Hey,” she said, interrupting their conversation. “Where’s
Fate?”

Bernard stepped forward taking her hand. “I just spoke
to him. He’s resting, but he’s ok. The move took a lot out of him.”

Addy diverted her eyes. “Oh.”

At eighty-three years old, Fate had lived the longest
of any Overseer ever. He warned Addy the move would take a toll, but she didn’t
expect him to miss speaking to everyone.

Her grandfather’s Akori friend Stubbs came down the
stairs and joined them, giving her a reassuring smile. His little dogs, Winkie
and Brutis, trailed behind him.

“Fate’s doing fine,” he said to Addy. “He’d like to
meet with you, Bernard, and myself this evening, but for now he wants you to go
enjoy the beach.”

Addy glanced over her shoulder at the group of Akori standing
behind her. “What should we do about them?”

Stubbs looked in Addy’s direction and raised his
eyebrows. “What would you
like
us to do?”

Fate always said she was to take charge when he wasn’t
around and not rely on the others to tell her what to do. It was just easier
said than done. She’s grown up with these men—
respected
them. Telling
them what to do was awkward.

“We should probably just send everyone away unless one
of you wants to speak to them,” Addy said with a slight amount of uncertainty.

Bernard was clearly trying to force back amusement as he
spoke. “Do you
want
one of us to speak to them?”

Addy rolled her eyes and smiled at him. “Fine,” she
said, turning to Stubbs. “Please let the group know what’s happening.”

Stubbs nodded his head and made his way to the front
of the impatient looking crowd.

Bernard, Gage, and Malcolm were still standing there
waiting for her to say something.

She shrugged her shoulders. “You guys can just break
up the group or something after Stubbs is done talking, I guess.”

Malcolm and Gage exchanged looks and headed off.

“We’ll have to work on that part
, I guess
.”
Bernard grinned, patting her on the shoulder as he started off into the crowd.

Chapter 2

Addy and Kim fully intended to spend every minute they
could by the water. It’d been so long since they’d been swimming that they had
to hit one of the souvenir shops along the little downtown area for bathing
suits before going to the beach. Addy couldn’t even remember the last time the
pool was open on the estate.

Tremain relocated just outside of Kim’s hometown three
years earlier. Her parents owned the bookstore where Addy would make frequent
trips for her grandfather. Kim and Addy became instant friends.

It took a lot, but the girls persuaded Fate and Kim’s
parents to let her stay with them. Kim’s parents didn’t like it, but she was
already eighteen and out of school. They knew she’d go regardless of what they
said.

Fate stressed to Addy that it was a very big deal
letting a human live among the Akori, and Addy always had to be sure Kim stayed
out of trouble or her grandfather would send her back home.

Addy turned her head sideways, assessing what was
going on in front of her. “They know the poles go in the sand, right?”

Kim laughed, snapping pictures of them. “Well, at one
point they did, but I
can’t
be sure now.”

The girls had been watching their friends trying to
set up a net to play volleyball for the last twenty minutes.

 “You know, this is the first time we’ve been to the
beach together. I never thought we’d see a warm place,” Kim said, putting her
camera away. “What’s going on?”

“I’m not sure, maybe Fate’s fingers slipped. He
probably meant to move us to the coast of the Arctic Ocean, not the Atlantic.”
Addy laughed, but deep down thought she could be right.

The estate never went to the same place twice, so Addy
hoped her grandfather simply ran out of cold places to stick them. The last
place they lived was completely dreary, and basically sunless. Fate always
moved to cold places in the middle of Nowheresville, and if Nowheresville had
snow, well that was even better.