Dissever (Unbinding Fate Book One) (8 page)

Chapter 7

Fate, Bernard, Stubbs, and Addy ate breakfast on the
terrace overlooking the garden. Stubbs’ dogs, Winkie and Brutis, were taking
turns looking at her like they hadn’t eaten in a week. They knew the only one
at the table they had a chance of getting a bite from was her. She broke a
piece of bacon in half and tossed it to them. Stubbs shook his head at her.

“What?” Addy gave him an innocent look. “They’re
hungry.”

Oddly, none of them pressed her to talk about what
happened the day before.

“Has anyone seen the guy Kim spotted at the beach around
anymore?” Addy asked between bites of her cheese danish.

Stubbs shook his head. “It appears he was just a local
young man looking at two pretty girls.” He gave her a reassuring smile as he
poured himself and Fate more coffee.

“We’re not concerned about him,” Bernard said.
“Elsegood checked the estate and surrounding area and didn’t find anything
suspicious.”

Addy was relieved Tanner hadn’t been caught poking around
after she didn’t show up the night before. A part of her hoped he felt better and
headed back home, but she was a little bummed she might not get to talk to him
again.

Addy caught up with Kim after breakfast. They sat on a
bench in the garden and watched Matt’s uncle Josh preparing the pool to be
opened.

“After you left last night Gage came back.”

“And what happened?” Kim stared at her impatiently.

Addy gave her a condensed version of what happened,
being careful to exclude the part about Gage healing her.

“And he just left?”

“Shhh! Josh’s gonna hear you.” Addy spoke quietly. “Yes,
he left, and I haven’t seen him since.”

“You will. He’s seen how hot you look with bed head,
how can he stay away?”

“Right
, hot
like an unsheared sheep.”

Kim put her hand over her mouth to stifle her laugh.

Addy thought it was funny how Kim automatically
assumed that she
wanted
Gage to come around. She wasn’t sure what to
think about him actually. Practicing with him had been fun, but that was
totally different than just being alone together. They didn’t even have
anything to talk about and last night was painfully quiet.

Addy decided to get off the subject of Gage and told
Kim that Bernard had given her a new driver’s license and would be putting new
license plates on all of the cars. Addy noticed the time and had to run to meet
Fate, but they made plans to meet up for dinner.

Addy ran her finger over the globe that sat next to
the fireplace. She found a drawing of it in an old book one of the Akori sent
to the estate. It said the symbols on it enabled the Akori to travel to any
place on earth just by touching a finger to it. She showed the passage in the
book to Fate, but he told her it didn’t really work.

The library was huge, with countless rows of books and
several alcoves with tables and benches. Addy watched as her grandfather stood
up from his seat at the head of the table. He motioned for her to follow him as
he walked slowly down the main aisle. He led her over to a part of the library
she never really spent much time in.

The section he was headed for was located next to an
extremely creepy marble statue of a man holding a severed arm. His eyes were
wide open and glassy. It was Akori art according to Fate and he told her not to
stare at it too long with a little smile on his face. She wasn’t sure if he was
serious, or just playing around because she looked so freaked out by the
statue. Either way she was happy to comply.

Akori had countless stories and myths about objects
and places. Addy and her friends always joked that it was probably to make
their boring existence more interesting.

“Am I looking for something in particular?” she asked
Fate when he stopped walking.

“Not really. You need to become familiar with the
entire library. I’d like you to look through these rows and get acquainted with
this section,” Fate said, taking a long look around. “I’ve read each and every
book in here at one point or another.”

“I doubt I’ll ever be able to say that. Maybe we can
have the ones written in Akori turned into audio books or something.”

He peered at her strangely and abruptly told her he
was going to his room to rest.

As he kissed her cheek and walked away, she realized
she was alone with the creepy statue. She spent the next hour flipping through
books so old she was afraid they’d turn to dust in her hands. There were some
interesting stories about events Akori were involved in, most of which she had
never heard about.

Addy was trying not to think about Gage, but her
thoughts kept going back to him. Even though they were both technically adults,
it would’ve been awkward explaining why he was at her place first thing in the
morning to Bernard. Obviously, Gage felt the same way and left through the
patio door.

She still couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that
he’d healed her. He seemed genuinely shocked at what he’d done, which probably explained
why he’d completely violated her personal space. He didn’t really know her well
enough anymore to even be considered her friend. Still, after all the years
they spent together as kids, it was nice having him around.

Running her fingers along the spines of the books, she
walked up and down the rows of shelves. Most of them had names like
Battle
of this
, and
Plaque of that
, with random dates. She realized the
books in that section were all written before Oren Sanders became the Overseer.
Unfortunately most of them were written in Ancient Akori.

It occurred to Addy that maybe she could find
something about Akori possessing healing powers there. She’d never heard of
them having any ability other than shifting events, but that didn’t mean it
wasn’t possible. She began searching for books about the Akori powers or
anything that detailed how to use them.

After looking for hours she came up empty. Addy was completely
burned out from all of the tedious translating.  As she carefully placed the
books back onto their shelves, she decided maybe she should just ask Fate about
the healing ability. He said he’d read every book in there, which looking
around, she highly doubted. She’d have to make sure Gage was ok with it first
though. She wasn’t clear if she was supposed to tell anyone about him healing
her or not, so she decided to keep it to herself. She walked past the creepy
statue without glancing at it on her way out. She decided if she became the Overseer
she was putting a bag over that guy’s head.

The next few days were spent pretty much the same way.
Addy and Kim were able to hit the beach a couple of times and finally take the
car for a drive with the top down. They even stopped at a few stores and
grabbed some new clothes.

She did combat training in the morning with Bernard, and
library duty with Fate during the day. In her spare time, she continued to
search for references to Akori healers. Addy didn’t see Tanner or hear from him
again. She figured he must have started feeling better and moved on.

Addy and Kim went out to play pool one night with some
of the others. Gage was there, but he and Addy didn’t talk. Things between them
were back to the way it had been for the last few years. She figured it didn’t
really matter, but at the same time she was disappointed. She never got a
chance to ask him if she could tell Fate about the healing power. Just going
off the fact he never talked to her about it again, she figured he’d say no
anyway.

Like most evenings, Addy ate dinner with Kim and then
went over to her place to hang out. On their way back to Kim’s villa after
eating, they spotted a group of the guys at a table by the pool.

Matt, his Uncle Josh, Gage, and the Akori guard Malcolm
were gathered with a few others playing poker and drinking.

“No one invited us to play,” Kim said as they passed
the guys.

Matt laughed and tipped his head back to look at her.
“You can play—
if
you bring lots of money.”

Kim was terrible at any game requiring cards and Addy
always kept her away from poker with the guys.

Addy walked up behind Matt and leaned over his
shoulder. “You should fold.”

“Thanks, high roller.” Matt smiled. “What am I gonna
do in a hundred years when you’re not around to give me poker tips?”

“Lose,” Addy said, grabbing a beer from the cooler by
the table.

Malcolm smirked at Matt. “Yeah, and every time we take
your money we’ll ask if you wish Addy was there to bail you out.”

Matt reached up and poked her in the ribs. “And I’ll
just be like, ‘
Addy who?
’”

“You don’t have to pretend, Mattie,” she said, putting
her arms around his shoulders. “I know you’ll miss me when I’m gone.”

 Kim let out an annoyed sigh and crossed her arms. “You
guys shouldn’t talk like that.”

“She’s right, it’s messed up,” Gage said, not looking
up from his cards.

“Oh relax,
Captain Way Too Serious
,” Matt said
to Gage, folding his hand and making a shooing motion to the girls. “And you
two move along, you’re distracting me.”

Kim hadn’t come to understand how the Akori and human
relationships worked like Addy had. Being raised around Akori, Addy knew her
lifetime was like the blink of an eye to Akori. They were immortal—they’d
probably had countless human friends they’d lost to death from old age.

Fate said it was usually harder for the younger Akori
to understand than the ones who’d been through it many times over the course of
their lives. Addy knew eventually she’d just be a memory to the Akori friends
she’d grown up with, but she didn’t dwell on it or pretend like it wasn’t gonna
happen.

An hour later, Matt showed up at Kim’s place after
losing his money. Addy decided to head home rather than sit there and listen to
him whine about it. The guys were still playing cards by the pool when she
passed them on her way back to her villa, but she noticed Gage was already gone.

According to Kim, Gage not speaking to her was making
her melancholy. How she came to that conclusion was a mystery to Addy because
she hadn’t mentioned Gage to Kim in days. Addy sat at the same table as Gage in
the dining room a couple of times, but just like at the poker game, he didn’t
even look at her. Realistically, that’s how he always was. He wasn’t acting any
different than he had in the past. It’s just after he healed her, she thought
he
would
act different, or at least wanna talk about it.

Pulling her screen door open, a note fell at her feet.
She picked it up and unfolded it; pretty sure she already knew who it was from.

I’ll be around the bar next-door tonight—swing by.

-T

That answered her question—Tanner
was
still
lurking around. She was surprisingly apprehensive about meeting him and she
wasn’t really sure whether to go or not. After making her way into her villa
and feeling bummed about spending another night sitting around with her video
game, she began to get ready. Addy decided to wear a light yellow skirt with a
thin white button down top—she also made sure to slip on her sandals. After a
quick check in the mirror, she headed out the door to find Tanner.

Addy took the path down to the beach and then went
over to the walkway that opened up to the resort next door. When she passed through
the place she’d originally met Tanner, the resort was in full view. Every inch
of it was absolutely beautiful. The palm trees were wrapped in white lights from
top to bottom. There were cozy little spots with benches and café tables tucked
back behind perfectly sculpted shrubs. It all surrounded a large patio and pool
area.

Walking through a maze of trees, Addy came to a bench on
the far side of the outdoor bar. She decided it was a good place to wait for Tanner.

A few minutes passed and a guy sat down beside her.

“I’m waiting for someone,” she said, not wanting to
deal with being hit on.

“So am I.”

She recognized the voice and whipped her head around.

“Tanner?” She was stunned. “Oh my god, did you get run
over by an extreme makeover show?”

“Yeah, total hit and run.” He looked at her seriously,
but she could see a hint of a smile in his eyes. “I’m blending in—per your
request.”

Tanner was dressed like he belonged at the beach,
wearing shorts, a light button down shirt and sandals. His facial hair was
trimmed into a five o’clock shadow look, and his hair was cut short into what
she’d describe as a faux hawk. It was also very dark brown, much darker than
she first thought. It was a completely different look and he could have been a
totally different guy.

“At least you didn’t get your hair
highlighted
,”
she said, trying not to laugh.

Tanner ran his fingers through his hair with a
lopsided smile. “I thought about it but wasn’t sure if I was ready to commit to
the upkeep.”

“Good call.”

“The guys in my band are gonna be pissed—rocking the
long hair was kind of our thing.” He smiled and took a drink of the beer he was
holding. “You never came back to meet me.”

“I’m sorry, I was busy,” she said, which was partly
true. “How do you know where I
live
by the way?”

He said he was checking out the estate the night they
met and he saw her go into her place. He also told her he checked into a suite
at the resort since he needed a place to stay while he waited for his condition
to clear up.

Addy looked around at their incredibly luxurious
surroundings. “Isn’t that pretty expensive?”

 He just looked around and shrugged. “It’s no big deal.”

“Oh.” She wanted to ask him some questions, especially
about his family, but thought she might be overstepping.