Lost Seraphine (The Seraphine Trilogy #2) (18 page)

Caleb

On Saturday, the local authorities, along with the Coast Guard and a horde of volunteers, search the seashore as well as the forests surrounding the coast throughout the day. The same beach where we’d been partying hours before has become a tomb. Wood is strewn throughout the sand, and broken glass, making it impossible to avoid getting cut as we sift through the debris. Add to that the gray skies and strange smell and you’ve got the perfect recipe for one of the most depressing days in the history of New Bern.

Something that looks like black seaweed drifts inside the water along the edge of the shores, covering the sand with its inky residue. A group of scientists and ecologists have arrived on the scene, too. They’ve blocked off portions of the area where the stained seaweed is the heaviest.

“This is awful,” Mom says as we walk through the woods, searching for the three missing kids. “I feel so bad for the Thorntons.” She passes a glance my way.

I wonder if she’s thinking about the time I was almost taken away, something that could still happen. I’m marked by a fallen angel and I’m thinking that weird Harry Potter voice thing I did last night isn’t a step in going toward a good supernatural dude’s direction.

Kyle says Shani fell in the water. I don’t believe him. I’m still thinking about the “it” he first mentioned and the shadow of the thing I saw trailing behind Gia. The million-dollar question remains unanswered, though. How do we tell somebody without making everybody think we’re crazy?

Darren moves to Mom’s side and massages her arms, ignoring me. My parents weren’t happy to hear I was involved in yet another controversial event, one of many piling up in what used to be the quiet little town of New Bern. I know Mom won’t be excited to learn that I’ve tapped into yet another weird ability I didn’t know I had.

In the distance, thunder rumbles through the sky. The small band of parents and teens that make up our group all decide to take a break and then head back to searching.

The skies are still filled with angry clouds, dark blankets shrouding New Bern, emphasizing the somberness of the moment we’re experiencing. Parents of our classmates, Jillian and Russell, the kids who disappeared inside last year’s storms, have arrived to help search for Shani and the others.

We find nothing, even after an entire day of searching. Eventually, the search party prepares to head home. People file back to their cars in silence. You can almost hear the thoughts pressing down on their shoulders. That’s because we’re all concerned now. More missing kids. More unanswered questions. Something supernatural’s at work and even the most sheltered folks are starting to see that.

The rescue team searches the woods for hours. Nothing. That is, until Principal
Armstrong starts making a fuss from inside the forest. We all rush toward the spot where we heard his voice. Standing along the edge of a rotting pier, the Principal holds a wet hot pink tee shirt and a pair of jeans, the clothes I remember seeing Shani wearing last night. This is seriously not good.

I overhear snippets of what the authorities are saying to Principal
Armstrong, Kyle’s dad and Darren. They’re calling it a homicide, foul play. A load of crap! I don’t believe any of it. Damn this prophecy. If the Angel of Chaos wanted to start something with me, then he did the right thing this time.

The scene around me plays out in a surreal sequence; Shani’s mom fainting, her dad catching her before she hits the ground, Kyle grabbing his own hair and pulling on it, my mom trying her best to console him and then his parents rushing toward them and throwing their arms around my mom and Kyle. Gia asks me if I’m okay, her eyes filled with tears as she eases her arms around my neck. Behind her, a man I’ve never seen before stands off to the side, keeping a low enough profile to blend in, his gaze locked directly on mine, studying me.

Dressed in dark slacks and a red and black shirt that reminds me of a Star Trek outfit minus the triangular logo, the man needs no introductions. I’d know him even if we met as strangers on the street.

It isn’t just his dark hair or his strangely pale skin that shimmers. It isn’t that he looks like he could out-bench any professional body builder. The clue to his true identity lies in the authoritative way he stands, completely still and without moving any part of his body, giving him this weird kind of presence, reminding me of a vampire or something. The man oozes power and nobility.

This is the Alchemist dude I’ve heard Gia talking about, her house leader and the one she calls Mabry. He’s also the man who has made his disapproval of our relationship pretty darn clear by limiting my access to certain aspects of her life.

A young girl with gorgeous brown skin and hair almost the same color walks toward him and comes to stand by his side.
No freakin’ way.
That can’t be Lelo. She’s dead. I squeeze my eyes shut and open them, refocusing on her.

I lift my head, keeping my gaze focused on the couple standing behind us. “Maybe you can introduce me to your friends,” I say to Gia. She takes one look at my face and then turns, motioning toward Mabry and the Lelo lookalike. The girl comes running right away, but the man starts up a conversation with Principal
Armstrong and a couple other Coast Guard guys who’ve made their way over to him.

“I’m Cori,” the Lelo lookalike says and embraces me. She’s acting as though we’ve known each other for years instead of a few seconds. “I’m so sorry about your friend. So sad. At least, I get to meet you. Gia told me how you saved her from the sea witch’s curse. So my sister’s death wasn’t a complete loss.”

“Sister?” I ask.

“Lelo was Cori’s sister,” Gia answers.

“As in, her blood sister?” I ask.

“Yep. Like how my father and I are related,” Gia explains.

“It’s an honor to meet you. I don’t care what Mabry thinks,” Cori says, smiling. “I’m just sorry it had to be like this.”

“Yeah, me, too,” I answer truthfully.

Across the beach from us, Kyle and Shani’s parents turn and head back toward their car, my mom supporting Shani’s mother now. I don’t see Kyle anywhere. Mabry and Principal Armstrong have disappeared, too. Feeling just a tad of panic, I spot Kyle walking toward the trees that begin on the opposite end of the shores, his form a black dot getting smaller the further away he walks.

“Hey, I’ll be back, all right?” I say to Gia. Her head turns in Kyle’s direction.

“Need me to go with you?”

“I think this should be between Kyle and me, okay?” I answer and start walking toward him. Gia grabs my arm.

“Caleb, wait.” She gives me a quick kiss paired with a sad smile.

“So cute together,” Cori says from behind her.

I pass a lazy smile to Cori, turn around and move on toward my friend. I can almost feel his pain even though we haven’t spoken since the Principal found Shani’s clothes.

“What are you doing?” I ask as I approach him. He doesn’t say anything. Instead, he stares out across the water, studying the spot where he believes Shani has disappeared.

I have no clue about what he’s going through and I sure as hell can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like to lose the girl I love. I think back to the night I almost lost Gia, the time I jumped into an ocean even though doing so ignited a death curse on me. The things pulsing through my body and mind that night overrode any rational thoughts I might’ve had. The missing girl could easily have been Gia instead of Shani.

“She didn’t just disappear, you know,” Kyle says without turning to look at me. “She was right here in my arms. Something was in the tornado’s winds. It got her and did those things to her. I wasn’t there for her. Do you know how that feels?” He does look at me this time, his eyes filled with tears.

I glance away at once.

This is my fault. I can feel it.

My friends are in pain because of me.

“What—um, exactly did you see? Don’t give me that story about her falling into the water again, either.” I’m almost afraid to ask because after I snapped out of whatever trance that was making me speak the strange whispery language, I saw something rising inside the storm’s dark winds, too. I’m not for certain, but I think I saw it again when Gia was running toward me.

Kyle shakes his head and starts laughing, but it’s not the K-9’s normal fun-filled, goofy laugh. This one belongs to a guy on the edge, someone who’s about to crack. “You’ll think I’m nuts, same as my parents. I know what I saw, though.”

“Come on, Kyle. It’s just me. What did you see?”

He glances to the right for a brief moment, his jaw muscles working, and then he says, “I saw an angel. It wasn’t all fluffy and cute, either.” He’s shaking his head and hugging himself. His gaze focuses on me. “This was an angel from hell.”

Definitely not what I expected to hear. “An angel?”

His body tenses up. “See, you think I’m crazy.”

“No, I don’t. I just—I need a little more info, is all. Was it glowing the way they do in the pictures?”

“See, you’re teasing me.” His voice raises a couple notches.

“You’re wrong. I’m the last person who’d ever say something like that sounds crazy. Trust me,” I assure him. It’s the truth. I’m the boy who has seen spirits of the condemned his entire life. I don’t think there’s much else to rival the crazy factor more than my little ability. “Just tell me what it looked like, please?”

“Like you… and me. Hell, I don’t know. It was a—it had a human body, but there were these big freakin’ wings. All black and leathery and wide as hell and flapping around. I almost wet my pants, man. That thing took her. Snatched her right out of my arms. I tried to stop it, Caleb, but I… and then she screamed. I’ll never forget the way she sounded.”

He grabs two fistfuls of his hair and cradles his head with his forearms, his expression turning in on itself as though he’s experiencing the things he’s telling me all over again. “What the hell am I supposed to tell her parents? Mine already want to commit me. Maybe they’re right. That’s exactly what I need.” Sobs rack his body.

I move over to my friend and embrace him. My heart breaks for Kyle and Shani, but there’s a fire stirring inside me, too. What he described doesn’t sound like one of the Dark Agents. I’m almost certain the Angel of Chaos has a play in all this. Hell, maybe he was the “it” Kyle saw. That would explain the angel sighting, anyway.

“You’re not crazy, my man,” I assure him. “Time to head home.”

We make our way back down the shores to where Gia and Cori are still standing in the same spot. Kyle’s dad is waiting with them now. Reluctantly, my friend walks toward him, his body slumping as they walk toward the cars parked along the roadside.

I want to hit something. I don’t.

Instead, I clench my fists, piercing the skin. The heat from Gia’s hand as she covers mine serves as a calming force, that is, until Cori says, “Wow. The Seer wasn’t holding back when she said the Fallen were planning something.”

Gia’s body tenses. Her gaze snaps toward me and her eyes widen. I don’t know if it’s just a combination of all the crazy crap that’s been happening or that my chest aches each time I think of the expression on Kyle’s face, but something inside me finally snaps.

“Wait. You mean to tell me you heard about this and you didn’t say a word?” I ask Gia.

“Oh crap. I’m sorry, Princess,” Cori says, covering her mouth, her eyes filled with dread.

“I can explain. I didn’t get many details. I was—I just knew that something was going to go down on the night of the tournament. That’s why I didn’t want you to go.” Her voice raises a notch.

“Real smooth, Gia. Blame this all on me,” I snap.

“I’m not the one doing all the pointing right now.”

“We could’ve done something.”

“Like what, Caleb?” she asks, her voice trembling.

“I don’t freakin’ know!” I yell, the guilt piling up on my shoulders like a three ton weight.

“I tried to stop you,” Gia reminds me. She’s right and I’m an ass.

“There you are,” Paige says, walking up to us. “How in the hell do you expect me to protect you if you keep walking off to who knows where?”

“I gotta go help my friend out. Paige and Cori can keep you company on the way back to your invisible house,” I say to Gia.

“Hey, you don’t boss me around,” Paige says, her face furious. “I babysit no one.”

“Caleb, please don’t be mad at Gia,” Cori pleads. “For what it’s worth, I’m the one who told her not to tell you about visiting the Seer.” I can tell she’s trying to lessen the impact of what she just revealed by attempting to make me redirect my anger at her. No luck. I’m not angry at anyone other than myself.

“Yeah, hothead. It’s not like you have skills to go against the supernaturals,” Paige chimes in. She must’ve been eavesdropping. Everybody’s all in my business and I want them to get out of it. Paige is wrong, though. I have something and last night I learned it’s pretty darn powerful. “Your ignorance to Erica’s plan helped you out more than you realize.”

“Stay out of this, Red,” I order Paige. She opens her mouth to say something. I hold up a hand. “Don’t start your shit with me, right now. I need to clear my head.” I turn and start walking away.

“Caleb, please don’t go home angry.” Gia grabs my wrist as I head toward my car. “There’s a reason I couldn’t say anything.”