Dissever (Unbinding Fate Book One) (31 page)

 “No. I’ll take it easy on
the old guy.” Will smiled and winked at Juliette. “If he doesn’t start using
his powers to stop aging soon, people are going to be mistaking him for my
father, too.”

Addy’s head was spinning from
trying to keep score of who knew who from where. She had absolutely no idea
Mitchell West and Will Elsegood were friends—
apparently best friends.
That
meant Gage may have been around Mitchell and Juliette before he moved to Tremain
with Molly.

 Jax broke up the reunions
and gestured toward Addy. “Preston Worthington sent Ash to see Addison last
night.”

Will’s eyes flashed with concern.
“What happened?”

Dread washed over her as she
found herself stuck telling her
almost
boyfriend’s parents about being
drunk in a dance club with a creepy guy.

“We’re lucky Tanner was
there,” Molly said when Addy finished.

Addy watched Jax tense as
she said it.

“It wasn’t the first time
Ash tried to get me alone,” Addy said. “The night before Gage Scattered we were
at a club and—
well
I saw Ash there. He was like in my head or something
and—”

“You should’ve told me about
that
before.
” Jax smacked his hand on the table. “I never would’ve—.”

 “I didn’t think anything of
it the first time. It didn’t come together until I thought about it this
morning,” she said, glaring at him. She took a few steps toward Jax and pointed
at him. “And just so we’re clear, you don’t get to decide—”

Tanner and Stubbs walked in
and she stopped talking. Tanner glanced at Addy and went to stand next to her.

“Well they’ve sure learned
to
argue
like brother and sister quickly,” Molly said, shaking her head
at Bernard who turned his palms up.

“Let’s get started,” Will
said, clearly trying to change the direction the conversation was headed in. He
told them he and Mitchell West visited with the
Mesen
leaders to set up a meeting that would take place Thursday.
While there, he learned the Mesen had found a way to take power from each other.
It allowed them to access other powers they couldn’t use before. “The situation
is becoming more and more urgent. If we don’t proceed carefully, they may start
extracting power from
unwilling
Akori when they run out of volunteers.”

“What do you think we should
do?” Juliette asked.

Will placed his hands on the
table, leaning on them and looked up. “We need to summon Eva.”

Stubbs leaned forward in his
chair, appearing shocked at Will’s words. “We don’t even know when the last
time she Scattered was.”

“If I’m back, then she is
too,” Will said, turning his eyes to meet Stubbs. “I saw her the day I Scattered.”
 

“That’s impossible!” Stubbs’
face was red and he sat back. “I would’ve
known—
she’d have come here.”

“She did come here. It was
in the middle of everything that was going on with my parents being killed,” Jax
said. “She’s the one who tried to shift the event for grandfather.”

Addy had never seen Stubbs
look so angry. He was literally ready to explode.

“Eva Scattered the same day
I did. She couldn’t shift what happened because there was too much Akori
influence on it,” Will said, taking a deep breath. “That why Fate summoned me
to heal them.”

Addy whipped her head around
to look at Will. “You’re the one?” She suddenly felt sick. “It’s because of
us
that you Scattered?”

She felt like she was being
sucked into a tunnel and lost her balance. Tanner pulled her over so she was
sitting on the chaise and put his arm around her, earning him an irritated
glare from Jax.

“It was my own decision.
Fate asked for my help and I helped.” Will looked at Molly, and then back to
Addy. “I knew I’d Scatter, and Fate agreed to bring Molly and Gage here to live
until I got back. He was supposed to keep them
away
from the Mesen. Gage
was never supposed to be a part of this mess.”

“The Mesen brought it to our
doorstep, Will.” Jax turned to him. “The estate was sheltered from it. That’s
why Addy’s just finding out so many things she should’ve grown up knowing. It’s
only since Gage Scattered that we’ve talked about what’s really going on openly.”

Addy shot Jax a sharp look
for talking about Gage Scattering like it was no big deal.

Tanner looked at Will and
put his hands up. “So let’s just make sure I’ve got this straight—you healed
Jax and Addy and in exchange Fate brought Gage
here
to keep him away
from the fighting between the Akori and Mesen?”

Will nodded.

Tanner leaned forward with
his elbows on his knees looking up at Will. “And you didn’t see any holes in
that plan, huh?”

Addy elbowed him and shifted
her eyes to Molly. “I’m so sorry.”

“You didn’t do anything
wrong.” Molly waved her off. “I’ve told you before, we were very happy here
with you.”

 “You kids have nothing to
be sorry for,” Will said, looking between Jax and Tanner. “So that’s the end of
it.”

 “So back to summoning Eva—how’s
it done?” Tanner asked.

Leaning back in his chair,
Jax put his foot up on the edge of the table, resting his arm on his knee. “As
long as Eva’s back from Scattering I can use the Overseer’s Stone to summon her
to me, like grandfather did to you.”

“What if she doesn’t come?” Addy
asked. “If she’s back, then she’s
choosing
not to come here. She must
know what’s going on.”

Stubbs stood up and they all
watched him walk over to one of the bookshelves. “We won’t ask her to come.” He
returned to the table with a large book. “We’ll
make
her.”

He opened it and Will and Jax
came to stand beside him. He turned the pages until he found what he wanted.
“This is the one.” He slid his finger down the page and pointed.

Juliette leaned over to take
a look. “Oh, she’s gonna be
pissed
.”

Will, Jax, and Stubbs talked
quietly between themselves. Addy couldn’t really get a clear picture of what
they were planning.

“Can the rest of us who
don’t speak
vague references
get an update on what we’re talking about
doing?” Tanner walked over to look at the book. “Yeah, I’ll definitely need a
translation on that one.”

Will shifted so he was
leaning on the table. “It’s an Akori Symbol that works like a trap. We draw the
symbol on the floor, and then Jax powers it with the Stone and summons her. Eva
is ripped from wherever she is and stuck in the circle until he lets her out.”

“And she also won’t be able
to use any of her power while she’s trapped.” Juliette took a step back and
raised her eyebrows. “Like I said—she’s gonna be
pissed.”

Jax took a long look at the
book, running his finger down the page. “We’ll summon Eva tomorrow.”

Chapter 29

Dressed in Team Jax gear,
Addy and Tanner made their way up to the ninth floor of the warehouse where Gage
Scattered.

Stubbs and Will were the
only ones Jax needed to prepare for the summoning, and the rest of them were
left to do their combat training and regular duties. As planned, she and Tanner
met up and headed out early.

They wanted to get Tanner in
position and check the place for traps before Matt arrived. He found a spot
high enough to be protected from melee attacks, and close enough to get to Addy
quickly if necessary. He also had an unobstructed shot at virtually anything in
the room. He was carrying the bow she saw him talking to Bernard about. It had
Akori symbols carved into it, which like her sword, supposedly used to do
something special.

The area was dark, except
for a small amount of red light that shined from the exit signs above the doorways.
The light made the spot on the floor of Kim’s dried blood look eerie—almost
like it was still fresh. It was hard to believe that it had only been two
weeks.

They heard footsteps echoing
from the stairwell.

Addy looked up at Tanner. “He’s
not
alone
.”

Matt entered with Renee by
his side. They both looked as they always had, like they could be coming to
hang out with her and the rest of their friends. Only now they were former
friends, ex-friends who’d betrayed her.

It was hard to tell in the
dark, but Matt’s face looked like it had more injuries than what the bottom of
Gage’s shoe could’ve possibly done on the day of the attack.

 When Renee saw Addy, she
touched the scratch marks that were still healing on her face, and made a move
to step ahead of Matt.

“Bad idea,” Tanner said.

Addy looked directly at
Matt. “He never misses.”

Matt put his hand on Renee,
backing her off. He scanned the dark room top to bottom until he spotted Tanner.

“Kim said you wanted my help.”
Addy cut to the chase and took a few steps closer to him.

Matt smirked at her. “I knew
you couldn’t resist.”

“Did I have a
choice?
You knew once—”Addy was getting worked up just looking at him so she paused to
get her bearings. “Can you get Gage back or not?”

“We can get them
all
back,” Matt said, glancing down at the spot of Kim’s blood. “My parents, Josh,
and yes—
Gage too.”

She shook her head. “How’s
that possible?” He sounded so sure of himself.

Matt began pacing back and
forth. “Rumors, legend, whatever you want to call them, say there’s a book that
tells how to destroy the Overseer’s Stone.”

She looked at Tanner and
then to Matt. “My grandfather would’ve known about it if it existed.”

“Not if Eva didn’t want him
to know,” Renee said. “It was written by Oren Sanders himself. In it he
supposedly accused Eva of compelling him to make the oath to her the night of
the ball. He didn’t want to obligate his son and his descendants to serve the
Akori. He wrote down every last detail of what happened after she took him from
the church the night of the ball, including how to undo what she’d done.”

Matt continued where Renee
left off. “Eva figured out that her compulsion on Oren didn’t work anymore once
she gave him the power to control the Overseer’s Stone. The story says that she
gave another Akori some of her own power. The added power let the other Akori
change Oren’s memories of what really happened. But it was too late; the book
was already written and hidden away.”

Addy put her hands on her
hips. “That story sounds about as fake as the stories the Akori make up about
their artifacts.”

Ignoring her comment, Renee
went on to say that since the
Mesen
already
knew how Eva was able to share her power with another Akori, they were
confident that the story was true.

Matt stopped pacing and
looked at Addy. “I know you think we’re terrible and we betrayed you, but what we’re
doing will bring our people back to the way we’re supposed to live.”

“The things you’ve done Matt—you
were my
friend.
I never thought you’d hurt Gage, he was your best
friend. And Kim, she loves—” Addy felt herself beginning to boil over so she
stopped talking and looked at Tanner.

“Gage is still my best
friend and I love Kim.” Matt closed his eyes, pressing his thumb to the space
between his eyebrows. “Gage will be back, Addy. I wouldn’t have done what I did
if I didn’t believe that.”

“Destroying the stone will
give us our full power back, which means it’ll bring back every Scattered Akori
and Mesen,” Renee said as she sat down on a stack of wooden pallets. “My
parents and Uncle Josh are Scattered—I want them
back.”

 “The book Oren wrote,” Tanner
said, “any idea where to start looking?”

“Supposedly it was hidden in
a Sanders family heirloom—maybe a statue or something.” Matt threw his hands
up. “That’s why we don’t have it yet. After almost 250 years it’s been hard as
hell to track down. That’s why we need your help, Addy.”

“
So
Will Elsegood is
back,” Renee said, looking at Addy. “There’s no doubting he’s Gage’s dad.”

Addy ignored her gossipy
tone. “You met him?”

“More like his fist met my
face,” Matt said and reached up, touching his bruises,
“repeatedly.”

“He came to our leaders with
Mitchell West to set up the meeting for your brother,” Renee said. “When he
realized who Matt was, it took four of our guys to pull him off.”

Addy smiled to herself
thinking about Will beating on Matt. “What about the meeting Thursday and the truce?”

Matt sat down next to Renee.
“They’re gonna agree to it short term to give us more time to locate the book,
but it won’t last long. We want our powers and our Scattered friends and family
back.”

Renee frowned and shook her
head. “They tried to deal with Eva and Andrew for hundreds of years before
breaking off and becoming the Mesen. The attack on the ball was a last resort.
She refused to compromise.”