Addy and Kim fully intended to spend every minute they could by the water. It’d been so long since they’d been swimming that they had to hit one of the souvenir shops along the little downtown area for bathing suits before going to the beach. Addy couldn’t even remember the last time the pool was open on the estate—there was a good chance she may have even forgotten how to swim.
Addy turned her head sideways, assessing what was going on in front of her. “They know the poles go in the sand, right?”
Kim laughed, snapping pictures of them. “Well, at one point they did, but I can’t be sure now.”
The girls had been watching their friends trying to set up a net to play volleyball for the last twenty minutes.
“You know, this is the first time we’ve been to the beach together. I never thought we’d see a warm place,” Kim said, putting her camera away. “What’s going on?”
“I’m not sure, maybe Fate’s fingers slipped. He probably meant to move us to the coast of the Arctic Ocean, not the Atlantic.” Addy laughed, but deep down thought she could be right.
The estate never went to the same place twice, so Addy hoped her grandfather simply ran out of cold places to stick them. The last place they lived was completely dreary, and basically sunless. Fate always moved to cold places in the middle of Nowheresville, and if Nowheresville had snow, well that was even better.
Addy slipped on her sunglasses and adjusted her chair. “You want another bottle of water?” She held out a dripping bottle from the cooler.
Kim reached over and took it by the lid.
“I expect an apology for your constant questioning of my choice in car,” Addy said, reaching over and nudging Kim’s arm.
Kim made a face at her back. “Never gonna happen.”
Addy couldn’t wait to get her new drivers license and plates on her car so she could drive it with the top down. When she turned 18, her grandfather let her pick any car she wanted as her gift. She picked a black convertible sports car, which completely sucked in the snow, and she’d taken a lot of teasing about since they always lived in places with ice covered roads.
Addy pointed to their friends. “Wow, they actually got the net up.”
Once he noticed her pointing at them, her friend Matt pointed back and shouted for them to come play. Reluctantly, they got up and joined the group. There were twelve of them ranging in age from 15-25, all Akori except Kim and Addy.
“You guys are captains.” Matt’s sister Renee told him and Gage. “Pick your teams.” Matt was only about two years older than Renee, who’d just turned twenty, but he still treated her like a kid. She was one of the few Akori born without any time shifting powers.
They went back and forth picking players. Matt pointed at Addy. She was his second choice because he’d picked Kim first. Matt was three years older than her, but he turned out to be one of Addy’s best friends.
Once the teams were picked, six of them stood on each side of the net.
“Do you even know how to play?” Gage asked, shaking his head at Matt, who was busy shouting out orders to his team.
Matt acted offended and peered over the top of his sunglasses. “Dude, I watch bikini volleyball all the time.”
Gage tipped his head back and served the ball. He’d been Matt’s best friend since they met fifteen years earlier and he’d learned to just put up with Matt’s ridiculous comments just as Addy had. Gage worked for her grandfather, and despite only being five years older than her, Fate relied on him for tasks he’d usually assign to the older Akori. He came to live at Tremain with his mother Molly when he was five. It was the same week Addy was born.
“Don’t run from the ball!” Renee shouted at one of the younger girls. “It’s not gonna bite you.”
Addy ran to the net, jumped up, and spiked the ball to tie the game.
“Nice,” someone shouted at her from the other side of the net.
“No fraternizing with the enemy up there,” Malcolm said from behind her. He was another Akori who worked for her grandfather. He and Gage were usually teamed up on their assignments.
The game seemed to take forever and Addy’s team ended up losing when the youngest member tripped and did a face plant in the sand. The comic value was well worth taking the loss though.
Addy and Kim headed back to their chairs, collapsing as some of the others packed up and went to the estate.
The sun was getting lower in the sky and Kim frowned as she put the cap back on her water bottle. “I gotta get ready to go, I’m on kitchen duty.”
“I’d rather be in the chore rotation than spending every day in the library.” Addy grabbed her phone from her bag to check the time. It was nearly seven pm. “How does shelving books teach me to run this place anyhow?”
“Maybe it’s a wax on, wax off kind of thing.” Kim tipped her head at Addy and smiled. “Besides, you’d wash one baked on pan and be begging to shelve a book.”
“Anyway,” Addy said, waving her hand in Kim’s direction, “Fate wants to see me in the library, but after that I’ll be back down. Matt said we’re having a bonfire tonight.” Addy brushed sand off her towel and looked at Kim, who was shading her eyes with her hand, staring off into the distance. “Hello? Are you even listening to me?”
“See that guy over there?” Kim pointed to a man, maybe in his early twenties, standing with his back to them. “He’s been hanging out over there all day. Sometimes he just looks over at us and at one point, I saw him staring at the estate. I think he was just taking pictures of it with his phone.”
“Go talk to him,” Addy said, encouraging her with a smile.
Kim tossed her empty water bottle at Addy and smiled. “Not my type.”
“Right, your only type is Matt.”
“Wrong. Remember your Grandfather’s rule against Akori and humans dating?”
Addy rolled her eyes. “It’s kind of hard to forget it when you remind me constantly.”
Pounding sounds caused them to turn back to their group of friends. Josh, Matt and Renee’s uncle, had made his way down to the beach and was securing the poles for the volleyball net the others haphazardly assembled.
When an Akori completely depleted his or her powers they disappeared, or Scattered as they called it. That’s what happened to Matt and Renee’s parents. Once their power built back up they’d rematerialize. The problem was that it took around twenty years to happen.
Josh stopped using his powers so he could be around to raise Renee and Matt, his sister’s children, after their parents Scattered. The down side for Josh was that Akori who didn’t use their powers aged like humans. He looked about forty in human years after not using his powers for the past fifteen years.
“Seriously, Addy—that guy’s creeping me out.” Kim pointed at the man again. “He’s not dressed for the beach. He’s looks totally out of place.”
Kim was right about him not looking like he belonged at the beach. It was a pretty safe assumption he wasn’t out there to enjoy the sun and surf wearing torn jeans, black boots, and a black concert t-shirt. Long messy brown hair hung out of a well-worn baseball cap.
“No worries. I’ll mention him to Fate when I meet with him.” Addy slung her bag over her shoulder and they headed back to the estate.
Candles were always lit in the library because it had no electricity. It looked particularly dim after spending the day in the sunlight. The brightest light in the room was coming from the Overseer’s Stone that was sitting on the table in front of her grandfather.
The library was typically the center of all the activity that took place at the estate. Her grandfather spent most of his time holed up there. The ceiling was three stories high and only the outer wall was lined with windows. The wall directly across from the windows had a fireplace large enough for Addy to stand in. A long red chaise lounge was placed in front of it on an oval rug with a circular pattern. The rest of the rectangular shaped room was rows of books. The open area between the windows and the
fireplace had the long solid stone table they always sat around.
Addy strolled into the library eating a chicken sandwich she’d snagged from the kitchen on her way in. She gave her grandfather a kiss on the cheek and told him she was glad he was feeling better. He gave her a smile, and her sandwich a disapproving look.
“I know, no food in here, I’m almost done.” Addy smiled sweetly. “I thought Bernard was joining us?”
“He’ll be in soon.” Fate placed his fingers on the symbols etched into the stone; blue symbols glowed on the tops of his hands. After several seconds he pulled his hands away and the glowing stopped. “Stubbs is joining us too.”
Stubbs was another one of her Grandfather’s close friends, but unlike Bernard, Addy, and Fate, Stubbs was an Akori.
“So what were you doing?” Addy asked, popping the last bite of her sandwich into her mouth and settling her eyes on the Overseer’s Stone.
Fate stood up very slowly and she could tell just how weak he really was. He shifted his eyes to meet hers and smiled. “Making sure the cloaking symbols on the estate are working properly. We wouldn’t want anyone to realize we don’t actually belong here.”
He walked carefully over to the case above the fireplace where the Overseer’s Stone was kept and placed it inside. He latched it and pressed one of his fingers on the lid. There was a small flash of a blue light indicating the case was sealed.
She’d never held the Overseer’s Stone, but it looked heavy. It was about the size of a piece of notebook paper, except it was nearly two inches thick with symbols etched into both sides and the edges.
Eva and Andrew, the oldest Akori, gave the Overseer’s Stone to Oren Sanders when they made him the first Overseer in Addy’s family. It had been used by the oldest male Sanders ever since. Fate taught her that touching different symbols did different things. Someday, when Fate was gone, Addy knew she’d have to try to claim the stone herself. He’d shown her what symbol to touch to start the process during the training he’d been giving her.
Once she claimed it, providing she was even able to, the stone would gradually give her the knowledge and power it contained. The entire process would take several days and she would be unconscious while it happened. It didn’t sound very appealing, but she wasn’t worried about it because she didn’t think she’d be able to successfully claim it anyway.
Addy stood up and walked over to help her grandfather uncork a bottle of wine. The Akori who traveled often sent Fate bottles of his favorite kind. There was one particular type he enjoyed the most and every Akori knew when they came across it to send some to the estate.
They walked back to the table together and she placed his glass down in front of him. As she watched him take a sip, she couldn’t imagine being there without him. He did so much and she didn’t know how she or anyone else could possibly fill his shoes.
“We have a few things we need to talk about,” Fate said, setting his wine glass down on the table.
Addy felt a serious discussion coming on and tensed. “Ok. Well,” she said before he could speak, “I finished sorting and shelving the first four boxes of books that arrived this week. I’ll finish the last two when our meeting is over.”
Book sorting was a task Addy absolutely despised. Along with the wine, many Akori sent books they collected along their travels to the estate. Fate recently delegated the responsibility of sorting and shelving them to her. Some were written in the ancient Akori language which Addy always had a hard time with. It made shelving them a nightmare because she’d have to find other books just to translate the names.
“That’s wonderful. We need to—”
“Oh wait,” she said, sitting up straight in her chair. “There was some creepy guy hanging around at the beach today when Kim and I were out there.”
Her grandfather took a deep breath and seemed to be thinking over what she said. Really, she didn’t think the beach guy was an issue, but used it as her attempt to derail Fate’s discussion until Stubbs and Bernard got there.
“He kept looking at us and staring at the estate. Kim even thinks she saw him taking pictures.” Addy dragged her nails along the rough surface of the stone tabletop. “Do you think he noticed the estate popped up overnight and doesn’t really belong here?”
“No, the symbols are working perfectly.” Fate put his hands up and waved her off. “I’m sure he was just some local man spending the day at the beach, but I’ll send Gage out to have a look.” He opened his mouth to say something else but the door opened at the same time.
Bernard and Stubbs came in, her grandfather’s oldest and closest friends. She was relieved to see them. Serious talks with her Grandfather usually included discussion about his death and what would happen once he was gone—she was always left feeling terrible afterward.
“Good evening,” Bernard said, greeting them with a smile.
She waved at the men, thankful they were finally there.
Fate nodded to them. “Any issues with the relocation so far?”
“No complications yet,” Bernard said. “I made a few calls to get new identification and plates for the cars. I also spoke with the West family today as you requested, and they’ll be expecting your visit this week.”
Addy sat back and watched the men talk. She knew that like her and Kim, Bernard and Fate became friends when the estate moved near Bernard’s home when they were boys. They remained friends after Tremain moved on.
Bernard joined the Marines and ended up with a high-ranking position at the Department of Defense. When Bernard retired, he and his wife Doris became permanent residents at Tremain. They were the first humans who weren’t part of the Sanders family ever permitted to live there.
For centuries the Sanders family helped the Akori blend in smoothly with the humans. As advancements in technology led to better tracking and documentation, it became difficult for the Akori to pass as humans. That’s where Bernard came in. His connections in the government made it easy to bypass the normal channels necessary to get identification and passports. After living at the estate for 30 years and at seventy-nine years old, he handled all of their business with the human world.
Bernard’s voice snapped her back to attention. “Did you enjoy the beach, Addy?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.
“Absolutely, I could stay here forever.” Her words caused their faces to tense and as soon as Addy said it she wished she could take it back. “I mean—well, you know what I mean.”
There was a good chance they really might be staying there forever. Only the oldest male in the Sanders family had ever been the Overseer. That’s the way it’d been since Oren Sanders agreed to become the Overseer. Unfortunately, Fate’s son was killed and his only child was Addy, a girl.
“We know what you mean, sugar,” Stubbs said, winking at her. “In these uncertain times we just have to watch how we say things.”
He’d been unusually quiet up until that point.
Addy wasn’t as close to Stubbs as she was Bernard. He was an Akori who chose not to use his powers, and instead lived at the estate for almost forty years helping Fate. The kids who lived at the estate were home schooled. Doris, Bernard’s wife, taught things like English and Math while Stubbs taught Akori related subjects to them.
In addition to being a teacher, Stubbs was also a barber which was how he got his nickname. His snow-white hair, beard, and mustache were always well groomed. He looked to be about seventy-five in human years, but Addy knew he’d been around a lot longer than that.
His two dachshunds, Winkie and Brutis, followed him everywhere except into the library. When Stubbs was in the library, the dogs were waiting for him in the dog bed placed outside the door in the hall.
“How are you feeling tonight, my friend?” Bernard reached over and patted Fate on the back as he sat down next to him.
Addy remembered the three men being loud and talking fast when she was younger. They just cut right to the chase, saying whatever was on their min
ds. Using the power of the Overseer’s stone over the years made Fate weak and damaged his heart. Bernard and Stubbs were taking things a little slower with Fate, which seemed to irritate him intensely.
“Let's get on with it,” Fate said, ignoring Bernard’s question. “Addy finished sorting and shelving the first four boxes of books that arrived and she assured me she’ll complete the last two tonight."
“She should be fluent in the Akori language in no time,” Stubbs said, breaking into a grin.
“I wouldn’t get carried away.” Bernard laughed loudly in Addy’s direction. “If she hasn’t learned yet, I don’t—”
“Hey, I’m still in the room.” She pointed out, smiling.
For the most part the men discussed topics Addy didn’t really know much about and it was hard not to zone out. Some Akori were very politically motivated, and Fate had Stubbs keep a close eye on them, reporting what they were involved in.
She was kicking herself for saying she’d finish the books after the meeting. She'd planned to hit the beach for the bonfire, but it looked like she had no choice but to stay late and finish up. As positive as she was that she’d never be the Overseer, being prepared was important to Fate. She didn’t want him to worry about whether she’d be able to handle the job if by some miracle she got it.
When she tuned back into their conversation, they were talking about the Akori who called themselves Mesen—they were Akori that never came to the estate. They basically did their own thing and didn’t have contact with the Overseer or Tremain.
It was all extremely boring and she was tapping her fingers on the table, which earned her a sharp look from Fate. The most exciting news to her was that they planned to have her friend Matt’s Uncle Josh open the pool in the garden.
“Where’s Gage tonight?” Fate asked, slowly looking up at Bernard. “The girls saw a suspicious looking man hanging around today and I’d like him to look into it.”
Bernard and Stubbs had strange looks on their faces and Fate shot the two men what appeared to be a warning look.
“Elsegood is posted out front at the gate,” Bernard said, flipping through the schedule in the stack of papers he always carried with him. “Should I have him join us?”
It drove Addy crazy that Bernard would just randomly call people by their last names. It was like he had intermittent military flashbacks.
“I don’t think that’ll be necessary. Just ask him to speak to Kim about what she saw and check around. He can give us a report tomorrow,” Fate said.
Bernard nodded to Fate. “His father should be back soon.”
Addy perked up. “Gage’s father?”
Fate finished the last of his wine. “Yes, it’s been nearly twenty years. Will could return anytime.”
Gage’s father, William Elsegood, Scattered when his power drained just before Gage came to live at Tremain with his mother Molly. Addy knew Gage looked just like him with his golden hair, light blue eyes, and lean, tall build from the pictures she’d seen in Molly’s room.
Stubbs walked over and poured himself a glass of wine and then refilled Fate’s glass. “Molly told me she plans to stay on at Tremain as long as she’s needed.”
Molly never developed any powers, just like Matt’s sister Renee. Before she came to Tremain, she was a doctor at a human hospital and over time started caring for Fate when he became sick.
Bernard straightened up the messy stack of papers in front of him. “It’s going to be tough once she’s gone to get the kind of medical care she provided us with over the years.”
Addy scooted up to the edge of her chair, dropping her hands on the table. “You guys think after Will comes back Molly and Gage will leave Tremain?”
“Molly will for sure, but Gage will probably stay on,” Bernard said, smiling. “He enjoys my rigid combat practices too much.”
Molly took care of Addy for Fate when she was little, so she and Gage were together a lot. The thought of them leaving was shocking.
Bernard stood up and pushed his chair back in. “I’ll see you for combat practice in the morning, Addy.” He headed out the door to see Gage.
Because of his military background, Bernard was very big into self-defense and combat. He started teaching Addy how to fight as soon as she could stand on her own. He'd trained her to defend herself, as well as take someone down.
Her grandfather agreed to let Bernard train her as long as Addy also learned how to play the piano. Luckily Bernard’s wife Doris was her piano teacher. That made it fairly easy to get out of boring piano lessons to practice combat.
Bernard was close with Gage and trained him to fight just like he did Addy. Her and Gage practiced combat together when they were young, but once they were older they each got individual lessons.
Addy got to her feet and took a few steps toward the door. “If we’re done here, I’m gonna finish sorting the books and head out.”
Stubbs waved her back to the table. “Come have a seat for just another minute.”
She tried not to show how irritated she was, but guessed by the look on her grandfather’s face she’d failed miserably.
“Addison, don’t act that way.” Fate raised his voice and his face started turning red. “I taught you better than that. Sit down and—”
“Sorry,” Addy said, stopping him before he got any more upset. “What else do you need from me?”
She was staring at the painting on the wall above the fireplace of a man and a woman—Andrew and Eva, the oldest Akori, standing in what looked like a cemetery. They were both still around somewhere, but neither of them had been at Tremain since before Addy was born.
“We just need to tell you a couple of things and then you can go. I know it’s boring.” Stubbs always tried to smooth things over when her Grandfather got upset with her. “You remember we never move the estate to the same place twice, right?”
“Yes,” she said, glancing between Fate and Stubbs.
Fate cleared his throat. “We’ve been here before.”
Never ever, had an Overseer broken the rules and selected the same location twice. That was a big bomb to drop.
Fate took a sip from his glass. “This is where you were born.”
“Oh.”
Addy didn’t say it out loud, but she knew it also meant that it was the place her parents were killed. It happened on the day she was born. She wasn’t sure how to feel about being back there. Deep down she knew she was supposed to miss her parents or be sad, but it was hard to feel that way about people she didn’t know.
“Akori can sense your grandfather because he’s the Overseer. No matter where we move the estate, they can always find it as long as he’s here.” Stubbs put his index finger up as he spoke. “That’s important because Scattered Akori take so long to come back and Tremain is never where it was when they Scattered.”
Addy already knew all that and she was getting antsy. “Ok, but why are we back here?”
“The Akori who Scattered about twenty years ago will begin rematerializing soon.” Fate leaned back in his chair, looking toward the window even though it was too dark outside to see anything. “This beach is the last location of Tremain they’ll remember.”
Stubbs stood up and walked over to the fireplace, then turned to face her. “We hope the Akori will start looking here if they don’t sense an Overseer. If you don’t get the Overseer’s power, there’ll be no other way for them to find Tremain.”
Chapter 3