The next thing I know, my head is throbbing and my eyes are closed. I need to move, so I force my eyes open and blink a few times, expecting to either be dead or squeezed in the passenger seat of the wrecked Camaro. But nope. The first thing that comes into focus is a glittery blue ceiling.

That has to mean I’m alive, right? Or maybe this is part of the afterlife or wherever elemental protectors go after they die.

Confused, I tilt my head to the side and take in my surroundings. I’m lying on a four-poster bed in a bedroom with black walls and a fireplace. A blanket is pulled over me, and the curtains lining the bed sway in the light breeze whispering in through the cracked open window. The air smells heavenly, like freshly fallen rain, a crackling fire, crisp snow, and a summer breeze. Basically, just like Foster.

Lost beyond imaginable, I glance toward the other side of the room and quickly discover why the air smells so wonderful.

Foster is lying down on a velvet sofa, his head resting on a pillow. His eyes are shut, and his arm is draped over the side. He looks so peaceful and relaxed, so I’m assuming we’re not dead and in the afterlife or wherever.

Seeing him like this, so at ease, ignites a power inside my chest as the memory of what his lips felt like against mine burns in my mind.

Tossing the blankets off, I climb out of bed and pad across the room until I reach the sofa. As I stare down at him, watching his chest rise and fall with his breaths, my fingers itch to touch him. And my lips.

Even though I know I shouldn’t, that some sort of power is controlling me right now, my fingers have other ideas and drift toward his face.

The instant they graze his cheek, his eyelids lift open, his eyes glazed over with remnants of dreamland. Blinking a few times, he focuses on me.

I start to pull my hand back because, hello, I was touching him in his sleep and being a total creeper, but he places his hand over mine and traps my hand against his cheek.

“Hey.” Exhaustion seeps into his tone, yet he smiles. “You’re awake.”

I can’t help smiling back. “So are you.”

He chuckles then sits up and lowers his feet to the floor. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep. I was keeping an eye on you, and I guess I was more tired than I thought.”

“How long have I been out?” I wonder, sitting down beside him.

“A couple of days,” he says with a frown. “We were starting to get really worried about you.”

“A couple of days?” I shake my head, stunned. “I’ve been out for that long? What happened?” My heart slams against my chest. “Wait, is Easton okay?”

He nods, rubbing his hand across the back of his neck. “East’s fine. We’ve been taking turns keeping an eye on you. For a minute, we were worried that you…” He shakes his head. “You’re awake now, though, so everything’s okay.”

Is it, though? Because I’m not even sure what happened. Or where the hell we even are.

“Where are we?” I ask. “Because the last thing I remember is darkness reaching for me and your lips… and Easton’s hand in mine …” Warmth flows to my cheeks as I remember what it felt like to hold Easton’s hand while Foster kissed me. Power. I could feel both of their powers all the way through me. I still can if I really tune in with my body. “But anyway,” I clear my throat, hoping to god he can’t feel what I’m feeling now. “The last I can remember was darkness whispering to me, and I …” I shudder as coldness rolls over me. “Then I saw this blue light, and I think I passed out.”

“You did.” His gaze is relentless, as if he’s trying to see inside me. “I think it was because you exerted your powers so much.”

“Yeah, I know. That storm going on before I blacked out was intense,” I say, folding my arms across my chest.

“I’m not talking about the storm,” he says carefully. “I’m talking about the portal you—we created together. The portal that brought us here.”

My jaw drops. “We created a portal?”

He nods, molding his hand to my cheek. “You, Easton, and I did, and it was fucking amazing. No one has done that in a very long time.”

“Create a portal …? But I saw one in your living room, and you said you and Easton created a portal to the Underworld.”

“That’s not what I mean,” he says, his gaze never wavering from mine. “We created a portal that led to the world of Elemental Enchantment.”

I cock my head to the side. “We have our own world?”

He chuckles, his eyes lighting up. “We do. But like with Elemental, with the deaths of the gods and goddesses, as the elemental enchanters’ population dwindled, so did the size of Elemental Enchantment. From what I understand, portals stopped connecting to it, and everyone just assumed it shrank into nonexistence, but apparently not.”

I shake my head in bafflement. “But then, how did we build a portal that leads to it, especially when I can’t even control my powers enough to turn off a damn storm?”

“Well, part of it was probably from that … kiss.” His gaze fleetingly drops to my lips. “I’m sorry that I did that. I just knew we needed a portal, and since darkness was messing with Easton’s powers, I thought maybe, if I could combine all of our powers, we could create one. I just never thought it’d be a portal that’d take us here.”

So, that’s why he kissed me? And he’s sorry about it?

“I’m not sorry I kissed you.” Uncertainty fills his eyes. “I just didn’t want it to be under those circumstances … I’ve … I’ve wanted to kiss you for a very long time.”

He’s wanted to kiss for a very long time? But he hasn’t even known me for that long.

I absentmindedly touch my fingertips to my lips, recalling how his lips felt against mine, how his power felt flowing me, how amazing Easton’s power felt pouring through me at the same time.

I feel so confused right now, and I’m not even sure why, other than I kind of liked kissing Foster while holding Easton’s hand, liked feeling both of their powers in me. It doesn’t seem like a normal way to feel though, to like having my first real kiss while I was holding some other guys hand. Maybe the situation is messing with my head. Or maybe it’s the altered link…

“There’s some other stuff I need to tell you,” he says, distracting me from my puzzling as hell thoughts. “And I don’t want to frighten you, but I don’t think lying to you right now is a good option. It’s better if you’re prepared for what lies ahead, okay?” He waits for me to nod then slides his hands down my face to my shoulders, finally resting them on my waist. “After we got here, my mom sent us a message through a secured magical signal and informed us that headquarters sent out a warning to her that the elemental god of darkness was at the school, specifically looking for you, but that he’s no longer there. No one knows why. And the hunters left, too, and left almost everyone unscathed. Thank the gods.” He lets out a shaky exhale. “He’s the one who broke down the protection spells around the school and created the portal so he and the hunters could get in. And like we suspected, he was the one who forced the headmistress to tell my mom it was safe for you to go back to school. No one’s sure how he got the hunters to join him, but it’s either from possession—which elemental protectors of darkness are really good at—or he promised them something in exchange for helping him. More than likely power.”

“Can he do that?”

“He can, but that doesn’t mean he will. He could just be using them because he needs help”—he appears torn—“getting ahold of you.”

I shake my head in denial. “No, there’s no way he could be after me. If he was, he could’ve taken me any time during my life. I was never protected until I went to live with you guys, so why wait until now?”

“That might not have been the case.”

“What aren’t you telling me?”

His Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows. “My mom … Well, the elf they hired anyway … he found your parents. That’s the mission she’s been on for the last week.”

Fear crushes my chest. Oh god, something bad is about to happen. I can feel it—the dread—flowing off of him. “Are they …? Are they alive?”

He nods. “They’re living in a small town in Alaska.”

Hurt whisks through me, making it harder to breathe. So, darkness was showing me the truth that day. My parents did leave me.

I curl my fingers inward until my fingernails stab into my palms. “Why did they take off? Do you know? And, why didn’t they … take me with them?” I dig my nails harder into my skin until I feel warm blood trickle out.

Pity floods his eyes, along with something else. The lights around us pop against the energy rippling through me. But he doesn’t tear his gaze off me.

“I don’t want to lie to you, but the truth … it’s going to hurt.”

“Just tell me,” I choke out, piercing my fingernails deeper into my flesh, until all I can feel is physical pain. “I need to know what happened.”

He slips his fingers underneath the hem of my shirt, gently stroking my skin. “The people who raised you … who you thought were your parents—Scott and Marla—they aren’t your real parents.”

Tears burn my eyes, and my bottom lip trembles, but I bottle down those damn emotions and lock them up, my fists clenched so tightly my hands are trembling. “Did they adopt me?”

He reaches up and sweeps strands of hair out of my eyes. “They were taking care of you for your aunt, the one you said you never met … She’s your real mother.”

“So, my mom—Marla’s sister—is my real mom?” I shake my head, gritting my teeth. “Why didn’t they just tell me?”

His grip on my waist tightens. “Because… because she’s not really Marla’s sister.”

“Then, who the hell is she?” I bite out, blood trickling from the wounds on my palms and dripping onto my wrists. “And, why did she leave me with those random people?”

He winces at my sharp, clipped tone and the snap of thunder from outside. “It wasn’t random. You were sent to live with Scott and Marla because they’re humans who know of our world, so they could keep you hidden amongst the humans without getting freaked out when you showed signs of your powers. They were also sealed to secrecy by a blood oath made by your real mom so they couldn’t tell anyone what you are. They were also sealed to you and the wall around you, which means that, as long as they were near you, you were protected. Unfortunately, they …” He smashes his lips together, worry cramming his features and flickering down the link.

I brace myself for whatever he’s going to say, knowing with how worried he is that it’s going to be awful. “Just tell me, please. Like you said, I need to know.”

He frees a trapped breath then pulls me closer. No, not just closer, but to him until I’m straddling his lap.

“I just want to say first that you’re not alone in this. Me, East—my entire family—are going to protect and be there for you.” He places his palms on my cheeks again. “And we care about you. I care about you. Remember that, okay?”

I smash my lips together and nod. “I’ll try.”

He skims his finger along my side while holding my gaze. “Your parents were paid off by the hunters to leave you. We’re not positive since Marla was pretty vague with her answers. But from what she told my mom, they received a large sum of money to go to Alaska and never contact you again.”

Tears sting at the corners of my eyes, tears of hurt and anger. After all that time I spent looking for them, after insisting to everyone that they’d never leave me, that’s exactly what they did.

“Why?” I manage to get out.

“Marla didn’t flat out say it, but between the hunters contacting you after Marla and Scott took off, and then darkness showing up at the school, we think that the elemental god of darkness and the hunters bribed them to leave so they could weaken the protection spell to get to you, but it took some time for it to weaken. He probably showed up at the school to follow through with his plan to … to destroy you because he probably found out from that darkness that your wall was cracking. That’s what we think the darkness in the room meant when it talked about the condition you were in.

“Plus, my parents and the rest of my family were gone the day they put the school on lockdown so only me and East were near you. He could have done it at the house, but it’s much easier to break down the spells around the school than it is the ones put around our house. Plus, that stupid darkness room is in the school, and he can feed off the energy in it if he needs to.

“And … I’m really sorry about this part, but I think, when my brothers and I tried to take the wall down around you, we sort of sped up the process of him being able to get ahold of you.” Guilt reflects from his eyes. “I’m so sorry. I feel so awful—we all do. I’m just glad we were late to school that day and didn’t make the stupid mistake of driving around the line of cars and going right inside.”

“You don’t need to be sorry. None of this is any of you guys’ fault.” A few tears stream down my cheeks and I quickly swipe them away.

I can’t believe this. That the elemental god of darkness wants to kill me. That Marla and Scott abandoned me. That they’re not even my real parents.

“If anything, it’s Marla’s and Scott’s fault,” I mumble. “And my mom’s for abandoning me.”

“Your real mom didn’t abandon you.” He wipes a few tears from my cheeks with his fingertips. “She thought she was protecting you by leaving you with humans.”

“What was she protecting me from, though? Darkness? Because, if so, why does he want me? Just to be his stupid queen like he said? Or is he trying to kill me because I’m an elemental enchanter?”

He gives a hesitant pause. “Do you remember how I mentioned an urban legend about how some believe that, when the gods and goddesses died, they put their power sources somewhere else?”

I nod in confusion. That wasn’t what I was expecting him to say.

“Well, after I kissed you and you unleashed enough energy to create the portal, the rest of your wall collapsed, and we were able to read all the secrets hidden behind it.”

“Oh.” The question burns at the tip of my tongue, but it takes a lot of effort to say it. “What did you find?”

He circles his arms around my waist and holds me in place, as if he’s afraid I’m going to bolt. “That almost eighteen years ago, right before the god of elemental enchanters was about to die, he sent his power into the nearest and most powerful force he could find, which happened to be your mother, who was working for him at the time.”

“My mom worked for the god of elemental enchanters?” I ask in shock.

What the…

How…

What?

“Yes. Although, no one was aware of this. She kept her past hidden very well, probably to protect you.” He smooths his hand up and down my back. “When the god of elemental enchanters put that force inside her, he created an actual life.” He presses his lips together for a beat. “That life is you.”

Oh, my God … No … This can’t be true … It just …

I swiftly shake my head, my pulse soaring, my power crackling underneath my skin. “No. There’s no way I could be the power of a god. It’s just … weird.”

“Weird exists everywhere in our world. And I know this is a lot to take in, but what’s hidden behind your wall is the truth. And it makes sense when you really think about it; how you were able to open a portal to Elemental Enchantment.” He tucks a lock of hair behind my ear. “You were also sent to live with Marla and Scott until your powers were strong enough to start rebuilding our world. You are going to do amazing things, Sky, but until your powers reach full strength and the rest of the power sources are found, we have to keep you hidden. If not, things like darkness can find you and will either use your powers for evil”—he swallows audibly—“or kill you.”

My queen. Darkness had called me it so many times, saying I either had to join him or die. It makes sense now … sort of.

“How do you know there’re others?” I whisper as my mind struggles to process everything.

How can this be real? How can everything change so quickly? How did I never know any of this?

How?

How?

How?

“We’re not positive yet, but we’re assuming the other gods and goddesses had done what the elemental enchanter god did,” he explains. “Like with my brothers and you, their powers were merged by an enchantment so they could all sense each other and what they were thinking and feeling. Which means, more than likely, in their final moments before death, they all did the same thing to protect their powers.”

“So, how do you find out for sure?” I ask, digging my fingernails into my palms again because I can’t deal with this agonizing pain tearing at my chest. “And what about my real mom? Can I …? Can I meet her?”

“My parents and others are looking into how we can figure out where the other gods and goddesses power sources are, but you might be our best bet since you’re more than likely connected to all the power sources. But you might not be able to feel the connection to them until you learn how to control your powers better.” He reaches down and pries my fingernails out of my palms, then smooths his thumb along the open, crescent shaped wounds. “Until then, we’ll stay here, and you’ll not only practice controlling your powers, but practice trying to open a secure portal that you can control what gets in and out. Until then, it’s too dangerous to leave.”

He lifts my palm toward his mouth and places a soft kiss against the sensitive flesh. It’s a sweet gesture and I probably would’ve enjoyed it more if I hadn’t just found out my life was one giant lie.

“As for your real mom,” he continues, then places a kiss to my other palm. “No one’s seen or heard from her in a very long time, and she wasn’t at the place in the mountains like she told Marla and Scott. But, if she’s still alive, we’ll find her. She might know more about this, too, which will help.”

I just nod, unable to form words as tears gather in my eyes. I attempt to blink them back, but end up bursting into tears. I move to climb off his lap, but he tugs me closer, pressing me against his chest and letting me soak his shirt with my tears while the sky outside weeps with me.