Son of Sun (Forgotten Gods (Book 2)) (6 page)

Craving nothing but the solace of my room, I gave a small wave to the few students who called out to me as they packed their cars and hustled down the hall way. I was ready for them to be gone. I was ready to be alone, so maybe I could finally figure some things out. I knew what I had to do, and no one could be around for whatever my plan might unleash. No one.

The handful of hours that ticked off the clock while I waited for the remaining students to leave Hawthorne Hall for break were excruciating. For the first hour I paced, peeking out the door to see if the coast was clear a dozen times...it never was. The second hour passed with me trying to do one of Mattie’s stupid yoga tapes, thinking the meditation might calm my mind. No such luck. By the third hour I felt like the poor little ball inside a pinball machine. But the sun was sinking low, and the students would soon be gone.

Finally, an hour after sunset, the dorm was quiet. I tiptoed from my room, up and down the hallways, making sure there were no students left. The light was on in the resident assistant’s room, but when I knocked no one answered, telling me she was out for the evening.

Back in my room, I carefully retrieved the box I had hidden away behind all the luggage in my closet. Handling it like a bundle of unstable dynamite, I carried it to the center of the checkerboard rug and placed it gently before me, crossing my legs as I sat.

The room was dark. An orange glow from the single lit candle cast shadows. Its flame had burned low, but it was still sputtering, offering the tiny bit of light I needed to see what I was doing. I inhaled sharply when I lifted the lid away and peered inside. It felt strange to see my necklaces lying in the folds of purple velvet instead of around my neck. Two fat wishing pearls blinked up at me like bulbous eyes, seemingly knowing what I was about to do.

The moment I returned to the celebrity obsessed culture of America, I knew it wasn’t safe for me to wear my necklaces any longer. Having my picture splattered all over magazines with the necklace hanging around my neck wasn’t exactly the best way to hide from the darker forces Dayne had warned me about. The kind of forces that would want to stamp out a girl who could wield the will of fire. Dayne feared the magic he believed to be inside me. After learning Daoine, the queen of the Sidhe, wore a necklace similar to mine, I had begun to fear what my locket might actually mean.

So I had taken the locket off for the first time in years and placed it safely in the box along with the key to our cottage in the Burren. Dayne’s bracelet, however, would never leave my wrist. It couldn’t possibly. He had promised.

I had a decision to make. One of those wishing pearls was about to lead me back to Dayne. The question was, which would it be? One necklace held the secrets of my past, the other the promises of my future. I lay both necklaces on the carpet, looking at one and then the other.

I knew what my future looked like with Dayne. I had seen us years from now, contented as we watched our family play in the front yard of our happily ever-after cottage.

I knew nothing of my past—not where I came from, what I was, or who had birthed such a dangerous child into the world.

In the end, the choice wasn’t as hard as it had seemed. I feared the necklace from my birth parents, and the dangerous secrets it could unleash.

Leaving the key to our cottage sprawled on the rug, I carefully packed my birth necklace in the box and returned it to its hiding place. Back on the carpet, I took the key in my hand, the fat glass pearl cool against my palm. Just as Dayne had taught me, I called to him with every fiber of my being. Picturing him in my mind, speaking to him from my heart. I willed him to come back to me, to show me the way out of this mess our lives had become.

The pearl jiggled in my palm, vibrating and buzzing like a bee. But, still, I held it tightly to my chest, continuing to call.

When the movement ceased, I opened my hand and peered into the center of the key.

Nothing.

“What the...?” I said aloud, confused to see my palm empty, except for the golden key with its delicate scroll work. Not even a trace of the wishing pearl remained. All that shaking and moving about had done nothing but cause the thing to disappear. My mind raced at what this could mean. Did the pearls only work in LisTirna? Was their magic useless in this world?

I held the key by its slender shaft and brought it close to my face, squinting my eyes to inspect it. Peering through the hole in the center where the pearl had been seconds ago, I saw nothing but our room, framed in golden scrollwork. What instantly came into focus through that tiny ring were the muddy tennis shoes I had worn the night we ran the redwoods. They still sat in the little pile of shoes by our door on the opposite side of the room, unused since that fateful night.

An idea sparked in the back of my mind. I switched the necklace for my tennis shoes and headed out the door, fully aware that my harebrained plan may be the death of me.

I lingered on the
edge of the forest, knowing that there would be no turning back this time. No one to rescue me if my own magic wasn’t enough to save me from the woman in the water. But it seemed worth it. Life without Dayne was proving impossible, and if he wasn’t coming for me...well...what was my life really worth?

Evergreen filled my senses when I inhaled deeply for courage, smelling the scent of Dayne that always made me slightly drunk. It steeled my nerves, encouraged me on. I would find my way back to him.

Off I went, picking my way along at first like I was a scared little girl lost in the woods. As my body adjusted, I began to feel the forest, just as I had before. It was easier than this time, like singing along to a familiar tune. I picked up steam, pumping my arms harder with each step, gaining more traction, running faster, jumping higher, feeling the woods come alive beneath my feet.

My breathing synced with the rhythm of the woods, coming steady and deep, reverberating in my chest and leaving the taste of trees and ferns on my tongue, inhaling their scent as I ran past. The sounds of my breath bounced back to me like sonar waves, telling me to turn, telling me to duck. The skin on my arms prickled when a leaf or branch came near, guiding me down the unobstructed path. It all became a blur I ran so fast. So, I closed my eyes and let my instincts take over.

Is this how Dayne found me in the dark when I was lost? Is this how he was able to make his way through the nighttime forest when I could see nothing but blackness?

That terrifying night played over my head, goose bumps springing from my skin when I heard his hot whisper in my ear.

This is no place for a lady.

I gasped when my inner ear tingled with the vibration of his voice. Was he here? Had his pearl led me here? I opened my eyes, searching desperately for a sign of him, but there was nothing. I was only chasing his memory.

A memory that brought back the comfort of his arms as he held me close, knowing that nothing could ever harm me as long as he was there. My own arms curled around my waist, wishing for all the world they were his.

The only way I can love you is to let you go.

His voice was in my ears again. And now? What now? Had he given me away, just like everyone else in my life? Was he not coming back after all? I couldn’t think about that gut-wrenching thought.

The river was only a few strides away when I opened my eyes again. My feet didn’t slow. I leapt from the bank, this time focusing on the water swirling below, not on the other side. My body reached its highest arch above the torrent and I began to fall. Slowly toward the water, giving me time to think about what I was doing. No one was around to save me now. If I was going to resurface from the depths of the river, it would be by my own magic.

I plunged feet-first into the river, a storm of flailing limbs and bubbles. The arctic waves of water shocked my body. My eyes burned when I forced them opened, and when I did, she was there.

Staring at me in a strange, welcoming way. Smiling as if she’d been waiting for me to arrive all night. I was instantly caught up in the current, frozen by the weight of water and the beauty of the woman. Her pale features hypnotized and a tangle of navy hair floated effortlessly on the river’s ripples. Clothed only in the torrents of water swimming in frenzied circles around her, she seemed suspended in time and place. Everything but her ghostly pale, yet stunningly glowing, face washed away into obscurity.

The woman did not grab at me as I feared she might, but instead offered her hand, and the smile on her face was so warm and inviting—despite the frigid water swimming over our skin—that I had no choice but to accept it, still hypnotized by her ghostly glare.

The water fluttered between us and another translucent hand appeared, reaching up for my chest, much like Arabette did when she was trying to feel what lay in the depths of my soul.

The blue woman closed her eyes, as if listening to my rhythm. Despite it all I wasn’t scared, or afraid at all. If anything, I was at peace.

When her eyes opened the warm smile that had curled her lips turned to a wicked snarl. She threw her head back, shrieking like a banshee so loudly I was certain it echoed through the forest.

Her screech terrified me, searing my eardrums, causing my lungs to spasm and release the precious breath I had held until then. Immediately, the water started to swirl more furiously, tangling my hair, pulling at my clothes, dragging me down to the depths of the river bed.

The woman pulled me closer, her eyes darting around the water as if she feared what was happening too. My body relaxed, hoping she was trying to save me from whatever storm she had started up with her shriek.

Before I knew what was happening, her lips began to approach mine. Pushing against her, I struggled to free myself, instantly recognizing what Dayne had called the “kiss of death”. The woman wasn’t the answer I was looking for, and time was running out. My chest burned, as if hot coals had suddenly replaced my lungs, and taking a deep breath seemed the only way to put the fire out. But if I did, I would surely drown.

My mind was starting to falter, losing consciousness as my struggle became weaker and weaker. Oxygen was running low in my body. Once strong arms felt like flubbery jello.

I turned my head weakly to the surface, a last ditch effort to avoid her lips. When I did, I noticed the surface shimmered like it was bathed in bright afternoon sunlight despite it being near midnight.
Sunshine.
I thought.
I’ll never see the sunshine again.
With that last fleeting thought I closed my eyes again and my body went limp.