From The Falls (The Falls Trilogy Book 2) Read online

  “You can keep that band even if you decide not to stay here,” Lorelle said. “We only want to protect you and offer you a safe place to stay, but if you feel better off on Earth then you’re welcome to go back anytime. Just stay long enough to learn the risks before you decide.”

  “Better off on Earth? What does that mean? Where am I?”

  “How about we go outside and you can see for yourself?” I suggested. “Just keep an open mind and don’t freak out if you see someone appear or disappear before your eyes. It’s how people travel around here.”

  Nathan’s eye went wide, but he didn’t say anything further. Miah and Dylan led the way with Nathan following behind them. We needed to get him settled and be on our way. We had spent more time trying to convince Nathan we were the good guys than I had hoped we would have to.

  We walked out the front doors of the town hall and I tried to see the town from Nathan’s perspective. It was similar to an old western town in the sense that the town hall was at one end, with stores and buildings lining the street on both sides down the dirt road. A gorgeous, stone waterfall sat in the middle of the street and people bustled around running errands and visiting with friends or family.

  Off to the left, in the distance, you could see the forest that led to the Falls and toward the right were most of the residences.

  “What do you think, Nate?” Jordan asked. “It’s okay if I call you Nate, right?”

  “Nate is fine, but I don’t know what to think. I have a lot of questions.”

  “Miah and Dylan, I know you’re new here as well, but will you show Nathan what you’ve seen so far and take him to the other Elders when you’re done?” I asked. “I apologize, Nathan, but we have two others like you that need our help, and we can’t delay any longer. We will sit and chat with all of you when we get back with the others.”

  “You don’t want our help?” Miah asked curiously.

  “As much as it might be helpful to have you with us, I think you’re most needed here.” I nodded subtly to Nathan.

  “Understood. We’ll be all settled by the time you back.”

  I wanted to kiss that girl. She already fit right in and was good with weird. Having her and Dylan okay with everything went a long way to making this easier on the rest of us.

  “We’ll be back as soon as we can,” I said. “Nathan, the other Elders are Tiana, Oliver, Lela and Ryan. They will answer any questions you have to the best of their abilities. When we get back, if you don’t want to stay, then we will take you back to Earth and wherever you’d like to go. We will even help you set up a new identity. Like we’ve said before, we just want to protect you.”

  Nathan nodded and walked off with Miah and Dylan. I turned to the others. “Where to next?”

  “There is one more in Canada and one in Italy,” Lorelle said. “The Fates believe we need to send another team to check on the one in Italy and we need to go to Canada.”

  “Really?” Jordan whined. “You know what kind of shopping I could do in Italy?”

  Lorelle rolled her eyes and I smiled. I really did appreciate Jordan’s penchant for making light of a tense situation because I also knew when it came down to it, she’d be the one of the few people I trusted to have my back in any circumstance.

  “They don’t believe the boy in Italy has abilities, so they don’t want us spending precious time to go there. He’s had a normal life with his mother and stepfather who he believes is his real father. No sense in disrupting that if it’s not necessary.”

  “What about the one in Canada?” Lucas asked.

  “She is a sixteen-year-old girl who lives with her aunt. She never knew her father and her mother passed away in a car accident a few years back. Her aunt is young and isn’t around much according to the Guardians who checked everything out for us.”

  “Let’s do it then,” Kane said. “The sooner we have them all here, the sooner we can make a plan to stop whoever did this in the first place.”

  I couldn’t agree with him more. We ported to the gateways, chose the one for Canada, and quickly went through. We arrived in British Columbia, but it wasn’t our final destination. We had to port to a small town called Toad River. I couldn’t help but giggle-snort when I heard that name.

  The town was quaint and seemed nice, but I could never live there. It was too far from civilization for my liking. Though, it would be a nice place to come and unplug from the world every now and then.

  “Where to now?” Jordan asked.

  “Oh, can we get a description this time if we split up?” I shuddered. “Last time, the Fates randomly put a picture in my head and I didn’t like it.”

  “They did what now?” Jordan laughed.

  “Hush, I don’t want to hear it,” I said before she could come up with some smart-alecky remark.

  All of a sudden, I had a picture of a young girl with a petite face and sad eyes.

  Seriously, Fates? Now you decide to have a sense of humor?

  “She has light brown hair, almost blonde in color, forest-green eyes, and is about five-and-a-half feet tall, with an athletic build. She doesn’t work since she’s still in school. Today is Sunday, so hopefully we will catch her at home.”

  “Yup, that matches her pretty well,” I drawled. “The Fates seem to think it’s funny that I didn’t care for their invasion into my head last time. I got another mental picture.”

  Lucas was trying his best not to laugh, but I could tell he wanted to really badly. His shoulders were vibrating and his lips were pressed together. Jordan, on the other hand, had no problem losing it over the situation and Kane had to try and settle her.

  “Laugh it up. Just wait until they do something freaky like that to you.”

  “That’s enough, children,” Lorelle said, but I could tell even she was enjoying this. “Follow me to her house. Her name is Jenna. Let’s try to bring this one in willingly and not scare her before we even get started.”

  We ported and arrived behind a duplex-style house. It was painted baby blue and seemed to be in pretty good shape. I looked to Lorelle to see which side of the duplex she was headed and followed her lead. We went right and around to the front of the house. There was a small garden on the side with some vegetables growing and a few flowers lined the side of the house. I wondered if Jenna did this or her aunt.

  We turned the corner to knock on the door and heard a scream from inside. It was bloodcurdling and couldn’t be good.

  “Do you think she saw us and got scared or should we bust down the door and see what’s up?” Lucas said.

  “Get that door down now! I sense at least one Parias is inside,” Lorelle said urgently.

  Lucas and Kane stepped up to the door and on the count of three slammed into it. Thankfully, it was made from wood, not metal, and caved in on the first try. We dashed into the house and each went in different directions to find Jenna.

  “Back here!” Jordan called out. “Not today, mother truckers! Not on my watch.”

  I came around the corner to the room Jordan was in and saw that she was already throwing orbs at the Parias, but it didn’t appear to be doing anything. I latched on to her and gave her a boost with my Arelia power. Another Parias appeared in the room and immediately merged with the girl.

  “Lorelle!” I screamed and I lashed out at the Parias in front of us with my Arelia power. I seemed to have stunned it, but it kept coming for us.

  “Right behind you. Watch out!”

  She mumbled something and pulled a device from her bag. She flipped it open and it created a mini cyclone in her hands. She used her hands to make it twirl faster and faster, and part of the Parias started coming our way. Lorelle kept spinning the cyclone and it was trapping the Parias, but the other one was still inside Jenna.

  I looked at Jenna again and her eyes were solid black. The Parias had completely taken over. She started floating off the ground and toward the window. I tried to call on my water affinity, but Lorelle stopped me when she saw my hands go u
p.

  “We don’t know if it will hurt her while the Parias is inside,” Lorelle said.

  “Well, what the hell are we supposed to do? Just stand here and watch that thing take her?”

  “Take this,” Lorelle handed me the still spinning cyclone. “Just keep one hand on top and one on bottom. It will keep going on its own.”

  I stood there frozen and wide eyed as the cyclone spun in my hands. The first Parias was almost completely gone. The other one controlling Jenna was at the window with it almost open. Lorelle took something out of the small bag she had draped across her chest and threw it at Jenna. It stuck to the back of her just as she slipped through the window.

  “Cheese and rice! What the hell do we do now?” I said while still eyeballing the spinning Parias in my hands.

  “First, give me that,” Lorelle said. “Second, there’s nothing we can do for Jenna right now. I put a tracker on her. Hopefully, whoever they’re taking her to doesn’t notice. We need to get back to Arvata, make a plan quickly, and get to the Otherworld. We’re going to get her back.”

  My heart sank. I couldn’t believe we were too late. My thoughts started going through the what-ifs and what this poor girl might now go through. We had failed, and I didn’t like the feeling one bit.

  “We haven’t failed, my love,” Lucas said mentally. “We will get her back and we’ll help heal her from whatever might happen to her. There is no point in thinking of what-ifs. What’s done is done. We can’t change it. We can only move forward and try to make it better.”

  I leaned into him and closed my eyes. I needed this. We may not have the time for it, but I had to take this moment. Lucas provided me with all the strength I needed to continue. My body was craving his touch after what we had been through. Having a Meraki, a true soulmate, was the best thing in the world.

  I looked up at him and peered into his teal-blue eyes. “Thank you.” I leaned in and stole a kiss before turning to the others.

  “Let’s get back to Arvata then,” I said, sounding more confident than I felt. “We will have Mathias and some of the others keep watch on Arvata. I want all eight of us in the Otherworld. I’m not willing to risk anything at this point. We need the best with us.”

  Everyone else nodded and we ported back to the gateway to return to Arvata. It was time to show those Parias and whomever they were working for, who was boss.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Once again, we all sat around the Elder table and discussed what needed to be done next. Strix was with us this time. He’d been having some problems of his own with his kind, but they were mostly worked out. He was perched on my shoulder. I felt complete with him there and Lucas by my side.

  “All of you will be coming with us to the Otherworld,” Lorelle said.

  “Yes!” Tiana fist pumped in the air. “Sorry. I mean okay, that’s cool.”

  Oliver put his arm around and pulled her closer to try to keep her outbursts to a minimum. I knew all of them were chomping at the bit to get involved with this, but they had already been extremely helpful by making sure nothing bad happened in Arvata while we were away. The other half-Guardians were settled in and doing as well as could be expected.

  “This will not be an easy fight,” I said. “Most of us have never been to the Otherworld, but those who have, know what we are going up against. I have seen through Lucas and Strix some of those things, and it’s not pretty. Not to say there isn’t plenty of beauty and goodness in the Otherworld, but those are not the parts we will be primarily dealing with.”

  “Kali and I will visit with the Fates tonight and finalize a plan of attack,” Lorelle said. “In the meantime, we need each of you to ready yourselves with anything you’re comfortable with in a fight. Magic won’t be accessible to us in certain parts of the Otherworld, so we also need whatever weapons you feel best trained in.”

  “I’ve been dying to use the knife I got last year.” Jordan smiled wickedly. “I can’t wait to break it in on the scum of the Otherworld.”

  I loved my best friend, but sometimes she scared me with how much she loved fighting. We had all been training in magic and weapons for the last year. Using weapons would be no problem for us.

  “What about the Parias?” I asked. “They didn’t seem to be affected by the orbs Jordan threw at them.”

  “I’m working on that,” Lorelle answered. “I have some devices we can use that will trap them the same way I did earlier. I need to make some more before we leave, though. We will need the rest of the day to prep. We’ll leave at first light tomorrow.”

  “One of these days, you’ll need to explain all the things you can do,” I said.

  “Good luck with that,” Jordan teased. “Lorelle’s secrets are locked down tighter than Fort Knox.”

  “In due time, I’ll explain things to you.” Lorelle laid a hand on my shoulder. “For now, you have other things to worry about.”

  I smiled at her and let it go. She was right. We all dispersed from the room and went our separate ways to prepare as best we could for the unknown. Hopefully, when Lorelle and I met with the Fates tonight, they would have news that would prepare us even more for whatever we were about to face.

  ***

  Standing in the walk-in closet, I looked down at the outfit I had prepared and the bag I’d be bringing. All of us going on the trip would be wearing the same thing. Black combat pants with cargo pockets sewn onto the sides of each leg filled with weapons and charcoal grey long sleeve shirts. We’d also have backpacks filled with water, dehydrated food and more weapons.

  “How’s my lovely wife doing?” Lucas asked as he wrapped his arms around me from behind and placed his chin on my shoulder.

  “She’s hanging in there. How about her sexy husband?”

  “He could be better. He needs some more alone time with his wife before they go off and save the world again.”

  I turned around and placed my hands on his chest. I stared into his mesmerizing eyes and thought of the many ways I was lucky to be his Meraki. This man built me up when I was down and stood next to me instead of in front of or behind me. He knew all my deepest desires and darkest secrets. I loved him with every fiber of my being.

  Lucas’s lips traveled from my neck up to my ear, “Alone time. Now.”

  He led me from the closest and back into the bedroom. I knew he needed me just as much as I needed him, and I would never him deny him of those desires, especially when we didn’t know what tomorrow would bring.

  ***

  Lorelle came by a while later so we could go see the Fates. We needed to have one last meeting with them before we ventured into the Otherworld. My hands were shaking and my stomach was in knots.

  I was not ready to go to the Otherworld.

  I walked into the yoga room with Lorelle behind me. Once she was inside, I turned to close the door so we wouldn’t be distracted or interrupted, but my hands shook so badly that I missed the door knob the first time. I really needed to get my crap together or I was going to be more of a risk than help to the others.

  Lorelle placed her hand on my shoulder and I turned around.

  “It’s going to be okay,” she said. “The Fates will not let us go into this blind like before. They will have all the information we need to succeed. Trust in them like you have in the past.”

  She placed her other hand on me and I knew she was going to use some calming magic energy on me. I’d heard she was the best at it, but right when I felt her magic start to enter my body, Lorelle paused. Her head cocked to the side and her eyebrows raised.

  “What’s wrong?” I panicked.

  She smiled at me again, “Absolutely nothing, dear. Everything is perfect and just the way it was meant to be.”

  I eyed her curiously. Something happened, but I knew if it had anything to do with what we were currently dealing with, she’d tell me. Anything else could wait for now.

  “Ready then?” I asked her.

  Lorelle nodded and we retrieved the mats, sat down
and began. Once we were seated across from each other, Lorelle put her hands in mine. We needed to be connected in some way, so we could both be brought up to the Fates at the same time. As soon as I centered myself and cleared my thoughts, I felt the tug. It was so much quicker than usual that my whole body flinched at the surprise.

  I opened my eyes and looked down to watch our bodies floating away. Lorelle was smiling at me.

  “Did that scare you?” she teased.

  “Of course not,” I replied. “It’s just that they usually test my patience by making me wait. I wasn’t expecting to be pulled up so fast.”

  “That’s a good thing they called us up so fast. Should mean they have something for us.”

  My chest heaved. As much as I wanted more information, I was also slightly worried about said information.

  When we arrived, the Fates were lined up in their usual manner, wearing the same outfits and with perfectly styled hair. Lorelle and I floated closer to them and waited to be addressed.

  “Lorelle, Kaliah,” the middle male said with a nod. “Thank you for coming.”

  We both nodded in reply and bowed slightly out of respect.

  “We have news and like we suspected, it isn’t good,” he continued. “The being you’ll be going up against is a Dark Fae. He’s thousands of years old, specializes in dark magic, and is extremely powerful.”

  “What happened to him?” I asked. “If he’s so powerful, how did he become trapped in the Otherworld?”

  If he was trapped, that meant we had a chance, but we needed all the information the Fates knew about him so we wouldn’t be caught off guard while visiting a completely new place. Well, it was new to at least half of us.

  “First, let’s start with who he is,” the female on the end said. “His name is Cassius. As stated previously, he is a Dark Fae. What you need to know is he is one of the original Dark Fae. His capabilities far exceed those of his descendants, but when he was locked away, most of his powers were stripped away by the Queen of the Light Fae.”