Chapter 2 #3
He looks the same as the last time I saw him. Skin just as pale, raven hair slicked back, and feline eyes piercing. A dark cloak hangs over his shoulders, shadowing the all-black attire beneath, and when he notices me noticing him, he straightens.
Without breaking my gaze, I whisper, “Kimber.”
Out of my peripheral, she turns to face me. “What is it?”
“Do you…” I swallow, watching my father’s head tilt from across the clearing. As if he can sense what I’m saying to her. “Can you see him?”
Kimber faces forward, scanning the crowd, and the longer she looks, the more panicked I become.
“No,” she says finally, followed quickly by a hushed, “but I can feel him.”
Then, to my horror, my father opens his mouth, and when he speaks, I hear his voice directly in my ear. As if he were standing right behind me.
“You’re wasting time.”
I never could see him clearly when he’d appear in my dreams—my Velkan. My father. It wasn’t until Selumira, when the Ashvine forced me to Split and I summoned him to save me, that I saw him for the first time. This vividly. This real.
Velkans are spirit guides. Souls bound to the living. They are meant to be seen and not heard. To be there when you need them, but to otherwise remain dormant. And yet…here he is. A ghost.
A demon.
“Lucina, you must—”
Something warm crests over my shoulders, forcing them to relax, and a shimmering haze of gold rises beside me.
“Leave her alone.”
Sable Van Reenan, the ghost of her, appears in front of me. She stands tall in the walkway, a vision in golden robes, her silver hair spilling down her back.
One glance around confirms that no one can see her but me. Kimber looks uncomfortable, but her sharpened gaze is still sweeping about the space, searching for something she can’t seem to pinpoint. This is the first time I can see something she doesn’t.
My grandmother squares her shoulders at my father. “She’s just a child.”
“She’s not,” comes his dark reply. “Not anymore. You can’t keep treating her like one.”
“Stop talking about me as if I’m not here,” I bite back before I can think better of it, earning me the unwanted attention of Gemma, Kimber, Selene, and everyone else in our row. “Sorry,” I mutter, clearing my throat, but my friends aren’t buying it.
“Cin?” Gemma places a hand on my thigh. “Did you have too much?”
I drag in a full breath and shake my head. “No, I’m fine. I just—”
“You are here!” My father’s voice is sharp in my ear, making me jump. “That’s the problem. You shouldn’t be.”
“I don’t feel good,” I tell Gemma, glancing at Kimber and Selene as I stand. “I’m gonna go.”
“I’ll come with you,” Gemma offers.
“No.” The word slices the air like a whip, so defensive that I take a second to collect myself before trying again, “Sorry, no. I’m fine. I promise.”
Mercifully, she listens, and none of them follow as I hurry across the teal-tiled floor and stumble back onto the path we’d taken to get here.
I press myself against a nearby tree and try to catch my breath.
Whatever I’d had to drink is making my legs wobbly, but my rapid heart rate isn’t so easily blamed on my sobriety. Or lack thereof.
“Breathe, Lune Sylra.” My grandmother is before me now, golden light warm on my face. “It’s okay.”
“No, it is not!” His voice is a growl, dark and deep.
My father emerges from the trees—a midnight black silhouette with piercing yellow eyes. Somehow, when he steps into the dim moonlight, he’s even more menacing. A shadow. A panther.
“Lucina.” He jumps forward, and a heartbeat later, he’s occupying the space Sable was just standing in, only inches from my face. “You’re hiding from half of your magic,” he accuses.
“I don’t need it.”
“Yes, you do!” His voice is distorted, stretching too far from whatever plane of existence his soul is on.
Sable appears beside me, so bright compared to him. The warmth and safety of her wraps me up like a shield. One he can’t break through. “Leave. Her. Alone.”
My father takes a reluctant step back, jaw clenched and teeth gritted. “You do need it,” he tells me, staring straight into my soul as he cements his statement with, “If you hide from it, it will consume you. If you deny it, it will eat you alive. Control or be controlled.”
“Cin?”
I whip my head towards the sound of Callan’s voice. He’s walking the path towards me, Pax at his side, and whatever he sees on my face makes him speed up.
I dart my attention forward and freeze.
My father is gone, and so is Sable. Though heat lingers against my skin. Her shield is still holding.
Relief cracks through fear and panic. Not that Callan and Pax would be able to see them anyway, but I certainly can’t take that risk.
In seconds, Callan is in front of me, reaching for my hands. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”
“I’m fine.” The lies are starting to come easier. “I just…drank too much, I think.”
He seems to buy it, his concern shifting into relief as he takes my hand and helps me back onto the path. “It’s pretty powerful stuff.”
“Yeah.” I push my hair over my shoulders and take a deep breath. “You decided to come?”
Callan smiles then, gesturing to Pax. “He couldn’t stop thinking about what you said.”
My brows furrow as I glance between them. “What did I say?”
“About Kimber,” Pax admits, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his suit. He’s dressed up. “If I don’t, someone else will?” He recites what I’d said to him earlier.
“Ah.” It’s impossible not to smile, even given the residual haunting I just experienced. I’m also still under the influence of whatever I drank, with too much adrenaline added to the mix. My legs feel like jelly, and my arms tingle at my sides. “Good.” I manage a smile. “It’s about time.”
Pax glances at the archway leading to the ceremony space, and panic flares in his eyes. “But what if she doesn’t—”
“She does,” I assure him.
Pax nods, shifting as if he’s going to take a step forward, but then he looks to Callan, his lips parting to question another hypothetical scenario.
“Just go,” Callan urges him, and with one final exhale, Pax marches forward. We watch him disappear through the archway, swallowed by teal colored lights.
“He’s never been that nervous about anything,” Callan confesses. “Ever.”
I snort, a rather unladylike sound, and Callan smiles in response to it. “With all the love in the air, he’s got good odds.” Grabbing onto his arm for support, Callan helps me back onto the path. “Take me home.”
“Are you sure?” he asks, but he doesn’t hesitate to help me forward, holding my fingers curled around his bicep. “You’ll miss all the fun.”
You’re wasting time.
The memory of my father’s words sobers me instantly, and any amusement I felt vanishes. Suddenly, the forest around us is too dark. Too concealing. What I can see isn’t nearly as terrifying as what I can’t.
His presence is a cold feeling at the nape of my neck. A set of invisible eyes somewhere in the depthless wood, watching. Always watching.
My grip on Callan’s arm tightens as I smile up at him, conjuring up all the light I can muster. “I’ve had enough for one night.”