Dissever (Unbinding Fate Book One)

  Kim was reluctant to leave Tremain, especially since all Addy could tell her was that a feeling was urging her to go. Addy’s fear was that she had the same condition as Tanner and she’d be stuck lurking around somewhere waiting for it to pass like he was. Kim didn’t know she’d been talking to him, so Addy couldn’t even discuss that part with her.

  If her feeling really was like what Tanner had, she felt terrible for not being able to help him over the past couple of weeks—it truly felt as if her guts were being pulled out.

  On the way to her villa to grab a few things, Addy had stopped in the library and picked up a couple of books on Akori symbols. Kim was going through them, page by page, trying to find the one on Addy’s neck.

  The searing pain from her new symbol went away, but the glowing continued. She wished the pulling sensation driving her to move in the opposite direction of Tremain would subside. Addy didn’t use her navigation system; she just drove blindly in the direction she felt like the pulling was the strongest.

  The girls had been driving for nearly an hour when Addy had to stop for gas. The car didn’t have much when they left, and it was on fumes as she pulled into the station. They both stood outside of the car as Addy pumped gas.

  “You know what Matt said?” Kim asked her as she leaned up against the side of Addy’s car.

  Addy smiled sweetly and motioned for Kim to stop leaning on her car. Kim took a step away and made a face at her.

  “I can only imagine what Matt—”

  “I’m being serious. He told me Gage has been miserable not talking to you.”

  The mention of his name made her stomach flip, and she suddenly felt bad again about making plans with him she had no intention of keeping. “We didn’t really talk for years. There’s no way he’s become that attached in a couple of weeks.”

  Kim shot her a disapproving glare. “Really, Addy? The guy’s known you your entire life. Why’s it a stretch that he'd fall for you? I can’t believe you’re not interested.”

  The pump stopped and she placed the hose back on its hook. “I never said I wasn’t interested, I just don’t think it’s that easy, is all.”

  “It is that easy.” Kim pointed at Addy as she turned to get back in the car. “The only one making it hard is you.”

  Addy sat back in the driver’s seat. “He asked if I’d see him tonight. He’ll probably be looking for me soon.” It was hard not to think about Gage, especially with Kim randomly bringing him up. She reached in her bag and turned her phone off, not wanting to deal with any calls.

  Addy’s car was black outside with black leather interior, which made the burning heat feel even more intense. They drove with the top down for a long time on northbound A1A. The ocean was in view a lot of the time and the perfect day had turned into a beautiful evening.

  Addy glanced over at Kim, who was beginning to look tired. “Do you want to get a hotel room somewhere?”

  She closed the book she was looking at. “That depends. How close are we to wherever it is we’re going?”

  Addy shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. The feeling isn’t getting any stronger or weaker, it’s just pulling me. I’m not really tired yet.”

  “Let's just keep going then.” Kim closed her eyes and tipped her head back. “I’ll just rest here.”

  At about 3 in the morning, Kim’s phone rang. Startled from her sleep, she searched her purse for it.

  “It’s Matt,” she said, holding it up. “What should I do?”

  That was exactly why Addy had turned her phone off. “You can answer it and lie to him about where we are, or you can just let it go to voicemail—your choice.” She hoped she would choose not to answer it.

  “Nice choices.” With a sigh, Kim hit the reject call button. “Sorry Matt.”

  A minute later her phone chirped indicating she had a voicemail. She put it on speakerphone and played the message.

  “Hey Kimmy. Just wondering where you guys are. Everyone’s freaking out. Bernard said you were going shopping, but it’s after 3am. Gage took some of the others out to search for you. Give me a call back.”

  Knowing Gage and the others were out looking for them made Addy feel terrible. Kim closed her eyes and Addy just kept driving.

  The sun was coming up, so Addy stopped to pick up some coffee and bagels. She should’ve been tired, but she was wide-awake which had her worried.

  Kim was up and fixing her hair in the mirror when Addy got back in the car.

  “We’re going to have to go shopping,” Addy said, handing her a cup of coffee and a bagel. “The only clothes I brought are what I’m wearing. Everything else was dirty.”

  “Shopping sounds good,” Kim said through a yawn.

  “I also think we’re getting close to wherever it is we’re going.” Addy could almost see in her mind where she was headed. “Let's go a little bit further and maybe I can find exactly where it is.”

  “Crazy question, but what do we do when we find the place?” Kim tore a piece of her bagel off and popped it in her mouth.

  Addy had no idea what she was going do when she reached her destination. If it was anything like Tanner’s situation, she’d just be stuck hanging out until her feeling subsided, as Tanner’s did.

  “I guess we’ll see when we get there,” she said, pulling back onto the road.

  She checked the map on her navigation system and discovered that they’d traveled less than 350 miles, but they’d been driving for 12 hours. The road they traveled on skirted along the small islands off the coast and she couldn’t drive very fast. They were directly east of Jacksonville, still along the coast.

  After turning down a private street with large, exquisitely landscaped homes, they drove around in circles for a while. Addy was having a tough time getting a fix on where exactly she was being pulled. It was difficult to tell, but when she made one final turn into a cul-de-sac, she knew she’d found the right place.

  She pointed at the huge house straight in front of them. “There.”

  “There?” Kim motioned toward the house with both hands. “That’s where we’re going?”

  “That’s it.” Addy thought the feeling would get better being so close to where her body was telling her to go, but it didn’t, and the symbol on her neck was beginning to burn again.

  “That’s a pretty big gate,” Kim said, wrinkling her brow. “Are we just gonna walk up and ask to come in?”

  Addy studied the house for a few seconds, trying to decide what to do. “Find something to write the address on,” she said. “I think we should try looking the address up online to see who lives there.”

  Kim dug through her purse, pulling out a pen and a gum wrapper and quickly scribbled down the house number.

  “We need a better plan than just walking up to the door.” Addy slowly started driving away. “Let’s get out of here for now.”

  Addy pulled around the circular drive as a motorcycle was pulling in. She checked her rear view mirror and saw it pulling up to the same gate they were just looking at.

  Kim’s phone rang, startling them both. She turned it over and held it up to Addy. “It’s Matt again.”

  Addy looked at her quickly, and then back at the road. “I’m not gonna tell you not to answer it.”

  Kim sat there for a minute watching the phone ring, a picture of Matt wearing a jester’s hat flashed on its screen. She sent it to voicemail and waited for the message notification.

  “Molly found a note Addy left for her about feeding her cat. I guess that means you two knew you weren’t coming back. Gage was out all night searching, but Bernard called him back to the estate. He’s pretty pissed. Call me, dammit!”

  When they got back to the estate, she’d have a lot of explaining to do. Addy really felt bad and couldn’t blame Gage for being angry. She probably wouldn’t have to worry about any random acts of affection from him any time soon.

  “How about we get a little sun,” Addy said, trying to avoid discussing Matt?
??s call.

  They found a spot on the beach and sat in the sand. There was still a while until the mall opened, so they discussed how to handle getting into the house. Neither one of them were particularly good at being sneaky. Addy was usually the reason she and Gage got busted trying to pull off capers as kids. He should’ve known better than to send a five year old to do a ten year old’s job though.

  Grabbing Kim’s phone, Addy opened the browser and searched for the address Kim wrote down, trying to see who lived at the mystery house. No matter what she did, she couldn’t find anything.

  “It seems like that address doesn’t even exist,” she said. “There’s just nothing coming up at all.”

  “But we saw it!” Kim leaned over and looked at the phone screen. “I guess maybe I could’ve written it down wrong…”

  “No. I’m sure you got it right,” Addy said, handing the phone back to her. “We’ll figure something else out.”

  Addy knew she’d written it down correctly because Tanner was drawn to the estate, which didn’t have a real address either. She just couldn’t say that to Kim. It was looking more and more like she was infected with whatever Tanner had and she didn’t like it one bit.

  The shopping mall they went to turned out to be pretty upscale. Addy still wasn’t tired at all, which made her go from worried about it, to completely freaked out. They spent hours going through the stores and when they were done, the trunk was stuffed with bags.

  Kim had pointed out a salon when they first arrived at the mall and they’d made appointments. By the time they were through, they were both dressed in new clothes and accessories from head to toe, had new haircuts, manicures, and pedicures.

  It was all actually pretty ridiculous, but being able to get away from the estate and do something other than worry was nice for a change. The entire time they were shopping and getting their hair done, Addy felt like it was her last chance to be a normal teenage girl—she wanted to make the most of it.

  They spotted a Chinese restaurant on the way back to the mystery house so they stopped and ate dinner. Addy’s fortune cookie read, ‘Help! I’m being held prisoner in a Chinese bakery!’ It made her feel much better about her own situation.

  Chapter 14