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Red lights woke me up. I tried to open my eyes, but it was as though I had lead eyelids. I wasn’t alone in my room. Someone was standing over my bed, and a familiar scent teased my nose, but I couldn’t place it. My eyes grew heavy. The person mumbled something.
“Father?” I asked.
“Sleep.”
Was that Father? The base of my spine itched. “Happy…you…home.” I drifted to sleep. What seemed like five minutes later, someone shook me awake. I squinted against the light pouring in through the window.
“You’re going to be late if you don’t get up, my dear,” Lady Nemea said. “I pinged you several times, but you didn’t respond.”
I stretched and glanced at my watch. I had thirty minutes. The Academy was less than a second away. I turned and pulled the covers over my head.
“Oh, no, my darling child.” Lady Nemea pulled the covers down. “You need to get up, unless you want me to carry you to the shower and bathe you like I used to when you were in a coma.”
“Ew, no,” I mumbled, and covered my face with a pillow, wishing I didn’t have to get up. I was so tired and sleepy. I’d gone to bed early, so the fatigue didn’t make sense.
“You are the one who insisted on attending the Academy. It starts in exactly twenty-eight minutes, unless you want to have a different set of rules just for you.”
I lifted the pillow. “Can I?”
She chuckled. “I’ll get your uniform.”
Did she have to be so damn chipper so early in the morning? I sat up just as she disappeared into my closet. “I don’t understand why I’m so tired. I went to sleep early.”
“Your energy fluctuates, that’s all.”
Like that boy Locke and the omni sisters in my energy class. Not to forget the criminals in the dungeons. “Is this common among all Specials?”
“Yes, but most learn to control it.” Lady Nemea stepped back into my bedroom with a cleaned and pressed uniform.
A memory flitted in and out of my head as I dressed. Father was supposed to come back last night. A quick scan said he wasn’t home. “I don’t detect my father’s energy. Did he come home last night?”
“No, dear.”
My stomach hollowed out. “He promised me he’d be home.”
“He’s perfectly safe, Lilith. If there’s a problem, they’ll inform us. Knowing him, he probably visited family after family, putting their feelings ahead of his own.”
“It takes a fraction of a second to teleport,” I griped.
Lady Nemea sighed. “If he’s being monitored, that’s also how long it would take the Guardians to follow his telegate to the island. Your father will come home when he can, my dear, and worrying about him won’t make him do it sooner.”
I thought I’d had a dream about my father, but the more I tried to remember it, the hazier it became. Despite what Lady Nemea had said, I couldn’t help but worry about him.
Our sparring demonstration was the topic of conversation when I arrived outside the school building. Students stood in groups, enjoying the crisp morning air and basking in the sun. Greetings and smiles followed me, but mingled with curiosity and respect were wariness and suspicion. I imagined I was never this “popular” at a school growing up. No, I was homeschooled, although I wasn’t sure how that memory had slipped past my mental block.
Oh, well, I knew I couldn’t win them all.
Bran was pushing a mop when I entered the main hallway. Someone must have spilled water around a water fountain. Bet he would have taken care of that effortlessly using his water powers if he was alone. The students hurried past him without seeing him. No one appeared to notice the way he stopped and watched me with a wink and a twinkle in his eye.
My feelings for him were strong and scary and overwhelming, and I didn’t know what to do with them. For one insane moment, I allowed myself the luxury of fantasizing about us as a couple, walking up to him and kissing him.
Heat flooded my cheeks when I caught him studying me from underneath a canopy of long black lashes.
I’d dare you to come and kiss me if your guards weren’t around, he said.
And I’d definitely not do it. Scandals and princesses didn’t go together. Lady Nemea had drilled that into me. A custodian today? Very industrious, I teased.
Don’t mock my cover, woman. You have more security. Why?
I don’t know. And didn’t care.
What’s wrong? You’re worried about something.
I couldn’t tell him I was worried Father hadn’t come home last night without coming across as clingy and insecure. It’s nothing. Homework.
I felt the familiar brush against my energy, and calmness and warmth surrounded me. I still didn’t know how I did that. Bran might know. He was pushing his mop bucket a few feet behind me.
How do I calm myself when I’m scared or worried and my powers surge?
By focusing on those you love, namely me.
I smiled. Right.
I’m serious. If you haven’t already guessed, you’re pretty crazy about me. You focus on me, and you regain control.
He was so full of himself. Laughing, I turned a corner and almost bumped into Tannin and his friends. Bran whistled as he walked past us without looking back. I wished I could ditch the guys and continue talking to him, but no such luck.
“You have to teach me how you made the floor shift in that move you pulled fighting that senior,” Tannin said when I entered math class.
“It was like yanking a carpet from under him,” his friend said.
I showed them how I channeled my powers, but my mind wasn’t really on explaining every move from yesterday. I saw Bran between classes and during lunch, but we could only telepath each other. The guards watched my every move; I couldn’t sneeze without drawing their attention. If Dad were around, they wouldn’t guard me so tightly, like I was the crown jewels.
He returned late at night and left a small gift bag on my dresser. I smiled and tried on the bracelet. That became my routine—finding a gift from whatever city he’d visited by my bedside in the morning, and Bran greeting me the moment I entered school. Sometimes, he was in the hallway with his broom. Other times, he was outside the school with a weed whacker or hedge trimmer. We talked all the time. He was an amazing listener and had a wacky sense of humor. I had to fight to keep a straight face whenever he gave me a rundown on my new friends. His opinions of them were so unflattering.
I didn’t bother to search the bleachers during evening physical training to find him. His funny commentaries kept me entertained. A few times, he almost got me in trouble with Master Kenta. As for alone time, we didn’t get lucky, which was frustrating. We got close enough for hand brushes, but that was the only contact between us. If Katia noticed our behavior, she didn’t comment on it. Lottius, like most people at school, never seemed to notice him.
As the days passed, I settled in at the Academy and got to know my classmates. The omni sisters were Xezbeth and Zagan, but Kewpie and Barbie suited them better. One had curly hair, a round face, and wide brown eyes like a kewpie doll, while the other had straight black hair, a narrow face, and delicate features like a Barbie doll.
Master Yaza took us outside often during energy class to practice creating lightning and energy balls. The students went a little wild, except for the omni sisters. They were so cautious.
Don’t be afraid of your powers, I finally told them.
They glanced at me as though they’d recognized my voice. I smiled and waved.
My energy surges, too; it’s tied to my emotions. When I’m angry, I pulse, and anyone within a mile gets slammed by my energy.
The surprised expressions on their faces would have been comical if it weren’t for the seriousness of our discussion.
Ours, too, Kewpie said.
We have after-school private training to control them, but it hasn’t been easy, Barbie said. The teachers here fear our powers. They tell us to try and contain them.
The instructors on Coronis Isle taught us the opposite, Kewpie added. How do you control yours? And you never seem scared.
If only they knew. Lately, my powers had been completely off, which was pretty scary. I focus on those I love and those who love me. Knowing that they love me no matter what happens makes me feel safe and calm. When I’m calm, I’m in control. I smiled as I thought of Bran telling me the same thing.
They looked at each other, then me.
Thanks, Barbie said.
We’ll try it, Kewpie added.
Kewpie and Barbie continued to work on controlling their inconsistent energies, and also introduced me to some more Specials. Locke kept to himself and wouldn’t link with me or even make eye contact. He was the most powerful of the Specials I’d met so far.
Sometimes, I wished I could hang out with them, but I ate lunch with Daeva, Eisheth, Katia, and Lottius. Skylar and Ravan sometimes joined us, and Tannin and his friends—Ley, Bastiel, and Corson—often took the table next to ours.
“I’m having a party on Saturday and you are all invited,” Tannin said on Wednesday as we entered the cafeteria. “Except you, Daeva.”
She laughed. “Do I look like I want to come to your party, pinhead?”
“You know you’re dying to be get up close and personal to all this.” He indicated his body.
“I’m throwing one on the same night, at Club LZ. Let’s see whose party rocks.”
He laughed. “It’s on. And FYI, the venue of my party is going to be a secret.”
“Way to generate interest,” Bastiel said.
“As long as it’s not Club LZ,” Daeva retorted.
My plans to throw a party went out the window. We got our food, but Daeva and Tannin’s flirting—it was obvious they were into each other—followed us. The boys decided to combine tables. They didn’t just push the two tables together. They used their Earth abilities to create one giant table. It became our new lunch spot.
“Can we have my party at your place?” Tannin asked me Friday morning. “Please. I’ll owe you.”
“Let me guess. Lord Zhane couldn’t host it at his club?” I asked.
He shot Daeva a glance, his eyes softening. “He dotes on her, so I didn’t even try it. She’s his only niece.”
“Why don’t you just cancel your party?” I asked.
His expression grew pensive, then he shook his head. “Nah. She’ll know why I did it and things will get weird between us.”
“Then combine your parties and use an open space like Rocky Beach,” I suggested.
“Sir Malax will never give us permission to use it at night. He’s convinced Guardians could use water as camouflage and attack us.”
“Leave him to me.” Sir Malax didn’t like being hounded, but I kept telepathing him until he gave his permission. By the end of the afterschool training, Tannin had convinced Daeva to have one large beach party together.
The work on the beach started that evening, but I joined them on Saturday morning and grinned when I saw senior Earth Primes. Tannin introduced me to his cousin and her friends. He also pointed out some prospective employers. At the pace the group was going, it would take two, maybe three weeks to fix the entire beach. I spied several security guards keeping watch. I was sure they were reporting to Sir Malax.
We were still working when the Subsixers started arriving on the beach. They watched us work, the children interrupting us with questions. Since my Earth powers were the weakest, I played with the kids and kept them away from the others, who were surprisingly nice to the kids. Most of them, anyway. A few were still not used to treating Subsixers as equals.
Word must have spread, because representatives from a few companies stopped by to “see” our progress. I was sure they were scouting out prospective employees. By the time I left, Rocky Beach was a lot less rocky.
I started getting ready early. Bran had promised he’d be there, so I wanted to look nice.
What are you wearing? Katia telepathed me.
I studied my reflection in the mirror and frowned. I couldn’t make up my mind—pants or dress. Right now? Panties and a bra.
Katia giggled. To the party, silly. He’s going to be there, isn’t he?
Who?
The one who makes you have that dopey smile at school.
I do not have a dopey smile. I tried to be indignant, but I ended up laughing.
I’ve learned to differentiate between your Princess-smile and your talking-to-Bran-smile.
I blinked. You know his name?
There was silence.
Katia? Have you been eavesdropping on my conversations?
No, I haven’t. Gavyn told me. He wanted to know if I’ve seen a guy fitting Bran’s description with you. Then he told me he’s his younger brother.
Oh. That’s okay, then.
There’s something else. Promise you won’t be mad?
I made a face. What did you do?
I told Gavyn about the party tonight. He’ll be there to talk to Bran.
That wasn’t going to be fun. No, I’m not mad. I’ll see you in a few hours.
I took forever to decide on what to wear and how to wear my hair, but I was happy with my choices—a white-and-blue parachute maxi dress, hair down and held with a simple platinum head chain with a teardrop diamond.
Katia loved the dress, Lottius the head chain. “Very boho,” she said.
As usual, Lottius was dressed in black—miniskirt with thigh-high, leather boots, white top, and black jacket. Katia wore patterned blackand-white leggings and a white dress shirt.
The expanded part of the beach was alive when we arrived, modern technology meeting angelic powers. Large CC crystals projected images of popular human bands in the air, and music pulsed from speakers connected to an expensive audio system. Some crystals shot strobe lights in the air while others flashed colored disco lights.
The students were everywhere. When Tannin had said he’d invite the entire student body, he hadn’t been joking. Junior and seniors mingled. Some students were in the water, and others lay on blankets on the beach sipping drinks from plastic cups, but the majority of them were dancing in the wider section of the P-shaped beach. Ruby had carried several blankets from the castle and spread them out for us.
“This is amazing,” I said.
“About time something fun happened around here,” Lottius said. “See you, ladies. I’m going to find my man.” She ran to the dance area. We settled on the blanket and watched dancers move in a frenzied trance on the sand.
“Is he here yet?” Katia whispered.
I did a psi scan. “No. Gavyn?”
“He said he’d be late.” She rolled onto her stomach.
We watched the dancers. Couples not dancing made out on the blankets around the beach. Some sneaked away from the dance area for some privacy.
“Gavyn said you and Bran knew each other when you lived with the Guardians. Do you remember him?” Katia asked.
“No, but he followed me here.”
“Ooh,” she said. “That’s romantic.”
“What’s romantic?” Bran asked, and I looked up, my heart thumping and warmth unfurling in my stomach. He looked amazing in black. He wore a baseball cap.
“You following me to the island,” I said, sitting up.
Bran cocked his eyebrow.
“She didn’t tell me, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Katia said.
“I wasn’t,” Bran said. “I know about you and Gavyn.”
Katia blinked. “Oh. Well, uh, he’s coming tonight to talk to you.”
“I don’t want to talk to him,” Bran said rudely.
Katia rolled her eyes. “He said you would react like that. He’s coming anyway.” She jumped up. “Do you guys want a chaperone, or should I go dance?”
“Go,” Bran and I said at the same time. She took off and he replaced her.
This was the closest we’d been in a long time, shoulders pressed together as we lay side by side on our stomachs. He bumped me with his shoulder. I bumped him back. Chuckling, he turned his head, and I could feel his eyes on my face.
I glanced at him. What?
His eyes roamed my face, from my hair to my lips, and then met mine. You look amazing.
You, too.
He chuckled. “Can we sneak away like the other couples?”
I glanced over my shoulder. Ruby and Callum were closest to us, but the other guards were keeping a close watch on us, too. “The guards would stop the party and make everyone hate me forever.”
“The people adore you and would get over it.”
I turned my head and tried to see his face. The brim of his cap was in the way. I tilted it. We were so close, if I moved just a little, our lips could touch. I wanted to kiss him.
“I know what you’re thinking,” he whispered huskily.
I smiled and let go of his hat. “Exactly the same thing you’re thinking.”
A gleam entered his eyes. “Do you think they’ll throw me in the dungeons if I kiss you?”
“Don’t even joke about the dungeons.”
He laughed, reached out with his other hand, and ran his fingers up and down my palm in a gentle caress. He turned his head and pressed a kiss on my shoulder. My heart jumped and I looked around to see if anyone had noticed. Other students were curious, but they didn’t intrude.
“Look at me. I’m still here,” he said.
“You’re silly.” I let my head rest on his shoulder and he pressed his cheek against my temple. We watched the dancers. Several kept glancing at us, probably trying to figure out who he was.
“Did we ever throw a party like this? You know, when we were with the Guardians?”
He was quiet as though thinking up a way to answer me. “No. We went to clubs.”
“Just you and me?”
He hesitated again. “And friends. But this is the most relaxed I’ve ever seen you.”
Relaxed, not happy. “When was I happiest?”
Instead of answering, he rolled onto his back. The lights from the makeshift dance floor flickered across my face, but he had the better view since I was still on my stomach.
“When you and I were alone together,” he said.
“You do that a lot, you know,” I said.
He reached up, took a lock of my hair, and twirled it around his finger. “Do what?”
“Hesitate before answering.”
“I don’t want to interfere with your—”
“Journey,” I finished. I studied him. He stared right back, but I felt his emotions. He was struggling with something that both worried and scared him. I took a mental step backward and decided to stop pushing. “My father wants me to meet my grandfather.”
Bran stiffened. “And?”
“I don’t know if I should.”
“Why not?”
“I’m not ready. We did terrible things, Bran. Gavyn told me. I don’t care that the dark lords do terrible things and must be stopped. Guardians hurt innocent people, too. I have to forgive myself first before I can talk to my grandfather.”
He stopped playing with my hair and frowned. “Who told you about dark lords?”
“Solange. She was drunk and let it slip. Then she told me never to mention dark lords or demons again.”
“Solange was drunk?” Bran repeated in disbelief.
“Yeah. You know, speech slurry, eyes droopy, and staggering.”
He shook his head. “No, she couldn’t have been drunk. We process alcohol too fast to get drunk. She must have come home right after possessing someone.”
I frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“Solange is half-Lazarus, so she can shift into smoke form. The only time a Lazarus acts loopy is after a possession.”
“What’s that?”
“When a Lazarus enters a human, takes over, and makes them do evil things. When they come out, their senses need time to adjust.”
So, when I’d seen Solange and her friends acting like they had a hangover… “I hate that she’s like that. I can accept her lying about her memories, jealousy, tantrums, and even the possibility that she’s behind my memory loss, but for her to be evil is just wrong. I mean, she’s my sister.”
“You are not her keeper, Lil. She made her choice,” Bran said. “Just don’t ever let her possess you. A Lazarus can destroy you from inside out. One possessed Gavyn and screwed with his head and energy. By the time she finished with him, the brother I knew was gone. Overnight, he started doing terrible things. I tried to help him, but I finally gave up.”
“I didn’t know.”
He shrugged. “What I’m trying to say is that you can’t change someone who doesn’t want to change. You can love them, get angry with them, but you can’t blame yourself for their choices. What exactly did Gavyn tell you?”
Bran’s expression didn’t change as I talked, but his anger slowly swelled. “Gavyn said he was only kidding about Coronis Isle, but I think he felt sorry for me because of the way I’d reacted. Is it true?”
“Yes, but there are things you don’t understand and that I can’t explain yet,” he said.
His refusal to answer some of my questions was frustrating. We were still talking when Katia came back with Skylar and Ravan. The couple’s curiosity was obvious, but they didn’t ask who Bran was or recognize him from school.
We had to wait until they left before continuing. Bran confirmed the things Gavyn had said, except the one question that had bugged me for days.
“Was he right? Did someone erase my memories here on the island?” I asked
Bran sat up, his eyes not leaving my face. He spoke cautiously. “I don’t know. It’s true that Raphael didn’t erase your memory during the battle, because the Guardians taught us how to block them. But I don’t know whether it happened right after the Tribunal handed down their sentence and you joined your father, or later on the island after you left. That’s a question that only you can answer when your memories return.”
“Or my father might know,” I added. He’d mentioned things he’d done to have me by his side, things he’d tried to explain but I didn’t want to hear at the time. Maybe this was one of them; I didn’t know how I felt about that. My stomach hurt just thinking about it. Please, let it not be him. He and Bran are the two people I trust completely now.
Bran peered at me. “I asked around when you woke up and I realized your memories were gone, but I got nowhere. Are you sure you want to do this? You might end up asking the wrong people, and then they’ll know that you know the truth.”
“I’ll be discreet.”
He made a face. “Arguing with you is pointless once you make up your mind, so I’ll just tell you to be careful.” He leaned in to kiss me.
“I’m sorry to interrupt this intense romantic moment,” a familiar and not-so-sorry voice said.
“Get lost, Gavyn,” Bran said calmly.
“Nice to see you too, brother. I thought we had a deal, Princess.”
I wanted to zap Gavyn to Tartarus, but I had to remind myself a Lazarus had screwed with his head, so I tried to be nice. “I tried, but you know how stubborn he gets.”
“Maybe you didn’t try hard enough,” Gavyn snapped.
“Watch your tone when you talk to her,” Bran warned in a hard voice. “Did it ever cross your mind that maybe it wasn’t your place to tell her things?”
“Nope,” Gavyn said indifferently. “But we need to talk now. Without her.”
“Yes, we do.” From Bran’s voice, they were going to do more than talk. He focused on me. “I’ll see you later.” He kissed my hand and jumped up.
The fun went out of the evening after they left.