Lightning Kissed (14 page)

Collin fingered his severely buttoned collar
and released the top button. “Well, as long as your parents are
aware of the situation, I guess I have no authority over the
circumstances. But we have enough to worry about—let’s not add
pregnancy to the mix.”

I was living in a sex talk nightmare
featuring a Norseman Sasquatch that I just met.

“It will be fine.” Theo assured him, grabbed
my hand and pulled me down the narrow hallway. My bags were already
in the room sitting next to his. That was his plan all along.

“You are such a sneak. Everyone thinks
you’re such a pillar of righteousness and virtue and you’re just
a—a—a —I don’t even know.”

“Just because your bags are in my room
doesn’t mean I was planning anything. I just didn’t know what room
you wanted to stay in. Don’t get all twitchy.”

“So do you think whoever is out there is
dangerous?”

“No.”

“So why do I need to sleep in here?” I threw
my arms in the air and screamed at him. It was out of turn, but it
had been a long day and I had zero patience for Theo and his
crap.

I took one step back as I met his gaze.
“Can’t I just want to hold you tonight?”

Who could say no to that?

After changing into pajamas we both crawled
into the bed, really just a yoga mat on the floor with sparse
blankets. Naturally, we fell into our old sleeping position and
were soon fast asleep.

***

Chopping woke us the next morning. Who chops
things in the morning? Who?

“You should’ve let me kill Collin back when
I was jealous,” Theo murmured into my hair. He began a dangerous
path of pecks down my back.

“Please, Theo, you’re still jealous. You’re
just going to hide it well. Correct?”

“What is with all the chopping,” he asked
with a wide grin, not so smoothly ignoring my question. In turn, I
ignored him, grabbed my bag, and flashed into the bathroom. It
resembled more of a sauna than a bathroom—more of the teakwood I’d
found in the rest of the house. I loved the simple elegance of the
whole thing.

After showering, trying not to use all of
the hot water, I put on a white maxi dress with a pale pink sweater
on top. My stomach rolled thinking about all the faux pas I would
commit while with the monks. I just knew I was going to embarrass
Theo so much that he’d ask me to go home.

“I saved you some hot water,” I blurted out
into the kitchen. As my eyes searched for Theo, I squealed a
little. In the kitchen was Collin, chopping away at some fruit
salad makings, Theo with a devilish grin on his face—and two monks.
One was the one I’d eyed at the end of their line—he was just so
intriguing to me. And I was equally intriguing to him, I’d guessed
by the way he then stared at me in awe.

They pressed their hands together and bowed
in my direction. I bowed back, only because I didn’t know what else
to do. No one broke out in uncontrollable laughter, so I assumed I
didn’t commit an international manners crime.

Theo sidled up beside me. “They have come to
escort us.”

“How do you know? Aren’t they not allowed to
speak?”

“A note,
Querida
. Are you
ready?”

“Yes. Are you?”

“I’m fine.”

He didn’t look fine. In fact, he looked
downright squirmy. Theo took my hand because he needed to. He was
anxious. I let go of his hand and burrowed into his side. I knew it
would comfort him.

Wrapping his arm around my waist, he kissed
my temple and sighed. The guilt of denying him these things that I
knew made him happy was almost more palpable now than it was when I
stayed away from him.

“Whatever it is, we will handle it
together,” he murmured the words to me that I should be saying to
him. But they were still stuck in my throat.

“Yes.”

The monks were watching us intently. The one
curious monk had his head tilted to the side listening and almost
hanging onto every word and gesture Theo and I shared.

The other one made a wave toward the door
and we took it as our signal to leave. Collin grumbled something
about not eating and tossed his chunks of fruit into the
refrigerator.

Both monks turned to us and smiled. The monk
who interested me so much grabbed the hand of the other, and before
I knew what was happening or had time to process—they’d both
flashed away.

They flashed.

Traveled.

Like Lucents.

Like us.

“Holy shit! Those monks are Lucents!” I
shouted to the space that was occupied by the monks a few seconds
before.

Beside me, Theo closed his eyes and shook
his head. Cursing in the same sentence as monks probably wasn’t the
most ladylike thing to do. It wasn’t like he thought I was Princess
Kate when he decided to love me. He knew I was a bag of mess.

“What? I bet they were the ones flashing
near the house last night—checking us out.”

“Let’s just go before they come back and you
cuss at them again.”

I thumped him on the shoulder. “I waited
until they were gone.”

“Praise the Almighty for the little things,”
Collin grunted in the corner. I didn’t know if he was more pissed
about me cussing or his precious fruit.

“We are going to flash ahead, Collin. We’ll
see you later?”

“Yes. I will be there as soon as I can.”

“Wait,” Theo said. I’d already started to
move into a space away from him to flash. I knew what he would say.
I didn’t know why he wanted to test this theory so badly.

“No.” I answered before the question could
be posed.

“Collin isn’t scared,” Theo challenged.

“But I am. People get lost. And until we can
figure out how those two did it, we should remain cautious.”

Collin bounced down the stairs off the porch
and began his journey on foot toward the temples. “At least someone
has some sense.”

I didn’t wait for Theo’s reply. I flashed to
the temple, making sure to land on the crumbling stone stairs in
front of it instead of in the temple itself. I would have to wait
for Theo to mimic his formalities.

***

Hours later, we were deep in research. My
mind was filled to the brim with new information and histories I’d
never dreamed of. We were getting all the answers we came for and
more.

No, wait. That wasn’t happening at all.

We were still having tea and listening to
chanting.

For three hours.

Even Collin was hanging himself with an
invisible noose. He’d also stabbed himself with an invisible knife
and slit his throat several times with his finger.

He was trying to get me in trouble.

I’d crossed and recrossed my legs four
hundred times. I’d snorted the first time Collin made a face of
boredom, directed at me. Here I’d thought the Viking was all formal
and prim, like Theo. Turns out he was a little bit fun—a little
bit. The last time my tailbone hurt this bad, it was from a sealing
ceremony. Sealings, or Lucent weddings, took three hours—which was
exactly two hours and forty minutes longer than I wanted anything
to last.

The monks were still chanting. It was a
beautiful sound, even I had to admit. Their voices rose and fell
with such spirit and conviction.

The curious monk—curious to me—was missing
from the festivities and I wondered why. He was last in line and
now was missing from the fun part—and I used the term fun
loosely.

Around the third time I’d nodded off, the
chanting stopped, but I was only a fool once. The first time they
stopped I thought for sure that was the end, but instead it was
just one of many rounds. It was merely a pause. This time, several
of the monks got up from their sitting positions and began bustling
about. Collin got up and we followed his lead. One of the monks
ticked his head toward the door, and we took it as our cue to move
on. We were wordlessly escorted to a small cabin outside. Its
construction mirrored the temple in elegance, but not in grandeur.
It was removed from the building, but carried that same air of
reverence. It looked to be many years younger than the ancient
temple, like it was an afterthought.

We were welcomed by a door swinging open,
and inside was the missing monk whose smile indicated he hadn’t
been lost at all. The door closed behind us.

“I am Pema,” said a faint and very female
voice from the other side of the small hut. We all turned to find
that the monk—was not a monk at all. Her voice was all fairy and
pixie. She spoke in a tone that was neither hushed nor forced. My
face reddened in embarrassment. I needed to be sent to social
skills school or something.

Her presence was mysterious, yet
alluring.

The close cut hair was there, but as she
threw off the confines of her dreary robe, I could see why she’d
looked so curious to me, because he wasn’t a he at all. It was a
pixie-cut she. She wore a simple brown dress underneath the robe,
almost Puritan in nature and form. And her short hair was very
becoming on her tiny, thin body. Her eyes were sweet, honest
almonds whose corners rose as she smiled with her introduction.

“You are Pema?” I questioned the pint-sized
beauty. I thought Pema meant something crucial. I’d gotten into
Sherlock Holmes mode, thinking there was always information between
the two lines. Plus, I thought the chanting did something to my
head—like made my brains mush.

“I think her name is Pema,” Theo corrected
and Pema confirmed with a nod of her head.

Know it all.

“Yes. My name is Pema. Thank you, Theo.
Collin said you were well-mannered and very kind. I see that he was
right.”

Collin was in big trouble. But we didn’t
have time for petty reprimands.

Should we know that name? I filtered through
what we’d learned thus far but Pema didn’t register. She acted as
if we should know who she was.

“I am the great, great granddaughter of
Eivan. I live here under the umbrella of the monks. The family was
made aware of your search for information from Collin. We discussed
it at great length and have decided not to help, as we are on
neither side—neither helpful nor hurtful, but to simply offer
alternative information.”

I wasn’t aware there were sides in this
story.

She stepped, more like danced, to the small
rickety table. Several leather bags were there, like Indiana Jones
had lost one of his messenger bags.

“What you have been reading so far has been
the Synod’s histories. You see, in any culture, place, or race—and
in our case, species, there is history. But just like the truth,
every person retains their own form of it. What you have been
reading was what they chose for you to read. The Synod, just like
most groups of powerful collaborates, have their own agenda. And
what would an agenda be without the proper evidence?” She began to
unshackle each bag and pull books from them. “I won’t tell you my
conclusions, my facts, or my take on the Synod and who they really
are. You have to determine that for yourself. But these may help
you.” In worship, she ghosted her fingers across the covers of the
books. “This is our side of the story. These are our written
truths. I’ve been given permission to show them to you now. You may
study them for three days. After that, they will be taken back to
their hiding place.”

She faced us again. Pema had spoken more to
the books than to us, so when she turned around, the tears rivering
down her face marked the treasure these truths were to her.

Her show of intense emotion amplified my
curiosity.

“Theodore,” she continued, laying a hand on
his arm. “We have been watching you for some time. Study, learn,
and draw your own conclusions.” She began to leave, but he stopped
her. “Am I the—am I?”

She gave him a tight-lipped smile. “You are.
You are the one we’ve been waiting for. Make sure you read and
study with that mindset. You are no longer searching for what you
are. You are now on a mission to find out the limitations and
limitlessness of what being an Eidolon means. As I said before, we
have been waiting for you for a very long time.”

Pema made another move to Collin, raising up
on her toes to kiss his cheek and then giggling as his scraggly
beard tickled her face. She thanked him for keeping us safe and for
contacting her. I made a step toward the books, just as curious as
the rest, but I was interrupted.

“Colby, may I speak to you in private?” Pema
walked out of the door, not even waiting for me to answer. At this
point, with her vague and obtuse speeches, I figured she was
Eivan’s family, far removed or not so far removed. But her face
resembled the other monks. I didn’t suppose she had a genealogy map
to feed my interest.

Collin and Theo sat down, still in a
discovery trance.

Something about this woman, like Xoana’s
stories, called to me.

I followed her out of the cabin. At first I
couldn’t find her. I looked around for a minute until I saw the
flash, atop a mountain, in the distance—far enough away to give us
privacy but not far enough in case danger discovered us. I didn’t
hesitate in flashing up to meet her. This was one meeting I looked
forward to. I had questions and though I loved to research history
as much as Theo, it was nothing like getting firsthand
information.

She sat down facing the lowering sun. I
hadn’t realized just how long we’d been at the temple. She inhaled
and exhaled deeply, as if the conversation we were about to have
chafed her somehow.

“I’m sure you have questions first.”

“I do.”

“Go on.”

“Where is Eivan?” I treaded lightly. If
there was a time and a place not to step on any toes—this was it.
Especially since her toes might be attached to the ass I might one
day have to kiss.

“He died of old age at Sevella’s side.”

That revelation made me gasp. Even my lovely
stories portrayed his untimely death. Yet, it was still shocking to
hear it firsthand.