Rivulet

  “No one will burn her against my wishes, and you know that,” Phoenix raged through a locked jaw.

  Seeing that he was not giving in to her reasoning, she changed her approach, and the protective angel that had fed me every word to say to those psychiatrists and lawyers surfaced. “I wonder what your little Sunshine friend would say about this. If she would find a way to help her, send Guardian here to heal her or the others, if she would not ask her all-powerful witch to bring her back from death’s door. She is one of seven, and Sunshine, as you call her, would not let one of her sisters fall.”

  Guardian! He was still with him. Those brothers were still side-by-side after all this time. That eased me for some reason. But wait—why did she think Guardian was a healer. Exactly what the hell had these boys been up to all this time?

  “That is a theory. Nothing more.”

  I cocked my eyebrow, knowing deep down that the seven sisters was no theory. It couldn’t have been because my grandmother, who had nothing to do with either of them, had spoken of it to me. I didn’t have a chance to reveal that or question who this Sunshine girl was.

  “Genevieve is too far gone to be brought back by anyone,” Phoenix raged on, causing the reality of my situation to settle a little deeper into my mind.

  “Right, so burn her. I’d hate to ask Guardian to come to her rescue.”

  “You do not understand the dynamics of what you are proposing. And stay away from Guardian. They have enough to deal with right now without your conniving,” Phoenix threw back at her.

  I could swear I saw shame in Skylynn’s eyes. “Guardian knows that without this girl you will perish eventually, which means she is now in his path. Your call, Phoenix. According to you, either way we’re doomed, so why die alone?” was Skylynn’s quick and all-too-smooth comeback.

  He leaned into her. “You’re only dragging this out so I’ll become attached, so I’ll burn her myself.”

  Attached? What am I, a puppy? I turned crimson with rage.

  “Then save us some time and do it now.”

  “No,” he said flatly.

  “Give me one reason why,” she argued.

  He looked away, refusing to answer her, like he had already said it once and didn’t care to repeat himself.

  “You’re jealous, aren’t you?” Skylynn accused him. “You know if you save her that she will demand that you save them, for you to sire all of her past lovers. You would rather her die than have to look them in the eye forevermore.”

  His glare met hers instantly. “There wouldn’t be past lovers if you’d told me you found her. This is your fault. Not mine.”

  “She was a child, Phoenix! She never would have understood, seen you through the eyes of a woman. It would not have been the same as it was before, and you know it.”

  “She hasn’t been a child for awhile. Do you honestly think I couldn’t smell her on those boys? Both Mason and Wilder reeked of her scent—you knew about that. You led them to her.” He leaned forward with a pained, lethal gaze. “What did I ever do to deserve that? What made you that cold, Skylynn? All you had to do was trust us. We would have helped you. There was never a reason for these games you play.” He let silence come to the night as he gazed at me. I didn’t see jealousy in his eyes, at least not to the degree that Skylynn was accusing him of. I saw grief. “You robbed us. I could have protected her. It’s not about any past lovers, it’s about the fact that you left her vulnerable. You’ve been killing her for years. ”

  Skylynn rocked backward, as if his words had stabbed her where she stood. “I led them to her because I thought they were in our army. And I’ll admit that I was wrong about what role they were supposed to play, but I don’t regret it…she was too young.” Skylynn glanced away. “She’s real, Phoenix. Everything you have ever wanted is standing before you. Help me keep her where she belongs. With you.”

  Phoenix’s eyes moved to mine, instantly losing the rage they had been spearing into Skylynn. I could see him questioning his resolve. His long fingertips beckoned me closer, but I couldn’t move even if I wanted to. I saw a fog leave my body. As it glided to him, it turned into a sphere. He studied the gray ball of what I thought might be energy for what seemed like eternity, then he sent it back to my body.

  His eyes locked with mine, and the second they did a wave of hot, seething energy swarmed through me like a tidal wave, causing my toes to curl and a gasp to escape my lips. I tried to hold my breath, to tell my chest not to rise and fall rapidly. I’d never been so revealing with anyone. What was he doing to me?

  My reaction caused his eyes to widen with surprise. I could swear I saw forgiveness and hope in his eyes. I was so numb, so at peace, and I had no idea why. I had to figure out how to block this boy. I could not give him control over me. What test did he just give me…and did I pass it? Those were the questions I was screaming on the inside.

  Beats later, I found my focus again. “Look, I have no idea what the two of you are arguing about or why I’m in the middle of this. All I know is I was dead when I woke up this morning, and I’ll bring death before the day is over.” I pushed past Phoenix, trying to reach the lake. I didn’t know why I needed or wanted that key, but I couldn’t focus on anything else. It was like I knew it was my answer—the first step in killing Rasure.

  Phoenix’s strong hand slid around my arm as I passed him and pulled me to him. Against my neck he whispered, “We end this, and you let go. You die in peace.” Even if I wanted to argue with him, his warm breath was easing down my neck and made it impossible for me to form a clear, coherent argument. For a second, I even forgot what I was trying to end.

  His thumb started to trace small circles against my skin, driving me to the point of distraction. “Why are you so intent on going for a night swim?”

  “There is a key. I think.”

  “You think,” he repeated.

  “Don’t toy with her,” Skylynn warned. “You know she’s in a fog.”

  “Exactly. That is why you should not be putting ideas into her head.”

  “I’m not in a fog,” I said, raising my hands to stop their bickering.

  “Is that a fact?” Phoenix said as he gazed down at me. “You see, Love, when you die…your mind panics, reaches back for memories as it tries to understand how it arrived at its end, but at first the memories are like a dream. Only places are clear; the words, the objects in those places change. Emotions come into play after some time, and those emotions shape the dream into a solid memory. You’re looking for a key, but for all you know it could be a book, a jewel, or nothing at all. Minutes ago, you were prepared to charge into the manor and freeze, then shatter Rasure—now you think you need a key. Tell me that’s not odd. Tell me you do not want to dive into this lake for nothing more than kicks and giggles. That you only want to kill that woman for the same reason.”

  My stare moved to the snow on the bank. I did feel like I was in a dream. Nothing made sense. I flashed back over my recent memories. I remembered developing that film clear as day. I remembered that key. It had my family name on it, along with an ‘M.’

  As I focused on that, I remembered the time at the shop entirely differently. I remembered spending the afternoon at Gavin and Mason’s side, going through old newspaper clippings we found online, ones that held images of Rasure. I remembered in each one that she had a clock somewhere near her. I remembered Mason making a joke about how it must be her soul, that or the soul of the poor bastard that had married her. That remark freaked out Cadence. She took the key and shoved it in her pocket. By then, the shop was filling up and we didn’t have the time to do any more research.

  I remembered something else: that key floating in the cab of Gavin’s truck, falling out of Cadence’s hand, all of them struggling to grab it as they escaped, but the lack of air didn’t give them a chance.

  “Odd or not, the fog is clearing. That key unlocks something, and it’s in the cab of Gavin’s truck. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still going to freeze Rasure t
o death, but I want that key now.”

  His gray eyes cascaded over my determined expression. A nod from him caused the water to begin to part, and within three beats the lakebed was exposed and the water was draped aside, dancing in place, waiting for permission to fall again.

  Wilder’s car was on the bottom, and Gavin’s truck was on its side just behind it. With more confidence than I should have had, I walked across the rocky lakebed to the truck, fumbling over the rocks as gracefully as I could.

  I looked everywhere, but I couldn’t find that stupid key. I focused on the memories of the time I was under water. I was sure that key didn’t make it out of this lake on anyone. It was still drifting downward when I left, when I had no choice but to fight for air.

  The memory of that caused fog to leak from my lips. I heard the cracking of the water that was being held back. A halfhearted glance to the ice the lake was becoming revealed my key: it was frozen in place in the water.

  I was screwed now. If Phoenix let this water go, it would flow to God knows where. I could try to catch it, but I had my doubts that I would be so lucky.

  I felt a hot breeze and glanced to my side to find Phoenix. He reached his long fingertips to the ice, melting a small hole in it instantly. He had my key in the next beat, all the while holding my stare. “Your key, Love.”

  With a trembling hand, I took it from him. He looped his arm around my waist, and in the next beat I was on the bank and the lake was falling into place.

  “How do you do that? Move that fast?” I whispered, trying to understand what he was, what he had become since he left the manor.

  He reached to trace the outline of my eye, sending a surge of warmth through me. “There is so much I could have shown you. Millions of places I wanted to take you…but that is lost to us now…”

  “That’s a shame,” I breathed before finding my focus once again. I went to run, but he held my wrist, and when he did I felt a blazing burn. It was so painful, I screamed out in agony and fell to my knees gasping. I tried to pull away, but he was too strong. He pulled me up with little effort, and in the next beat his lips were on my wrist. The agony faded instantly, and I sighed as I imagined his lips moving up my arm, across my body.

  Sanity came back to me as I pulled my wrist from him. There I saw a small bird, a falcon. It was only a centimeter or so wide and off to the side of my wrist, looking as if it were flying away. “What did you do to me?” I bellowed.

  “I’m not losing you in this veil. Go fight your war. I’ll find you when it’s over. I’ll know when you’re in danger—or anything else.”

  I’ve always considered myself a balanced person, someone who has control over her emotions and acts accordingly. Not at that instant. Rage ripped through me so fast that I didn’t have room for thoughts.

  “You’re out of your freaking mind! You marked me! Like I’m some kind of property! You’ve got a wakeup call coming, buddy. I do not belong to anyone or anything! Take your freaking tracking device off me—NOW!”

  My outburst didn’t faze him at all. In fact, I thought I saw a spark of recognition in his eyes as a sinful smile echoed on the corners of his lips.

  I was in his arms the next second. His lips were near my ear, and I felt his breath slide down my neck. “That is not my mark. Trust me, Love.” His hands moved down my side to my lower waist, sending an unbelievable sensation through my body. “I want nothing more than to mark your soul…” his hands squeezed my hip bones, “but time is our enemy.” His lips brushed against my neck before he slowly moved away. “I just have to know you are safe. Grant me that one request.”

  I didn’t say a word because the last thing I wanted to do was speak the truth, the truth that would beg him to stake that claim. He would surely think I was in some kind of ‘death fog’ then. What kind of person goes from rage to passion within a split second? Why was he driving me so crazy?

  I just stared as I tried to get hold of what was left of my reality.

  “You need to slow it down, Phoenix,” Skylynn warned. “She is intoxicated by death right now. And if I recall correctly, she was a rather violent drinker.”

  His stare broke from mine, only to glare at Skylynn. “Are you admitting to me that you not only fed her lovers but let her run wild?” Phoenix said with scorn in his tone.

  “Your imagination is too rich. She was never wild—or anything else. You’ve seen that for yourself now.”

  I was not going to stand there and listen to them argue about me like I was not even there. I pushed past Phoenix and broke into a sprint. Rasure was my next target. I’d freeze her, all but her head, then demand that she tell me what this key went to.

  A few steps into my sprint, everything around me changed.

  I was running through my bedroom door. The lights were out, but I wasn’t alone in there. Cadence and Gavin were in her bed, and they weren’t sleeping. They were very, very distracted with each other.

  The bookcase to my darkroom was ajar, and I saw Mason there, waving me in. In a stunned fog, I went to him.

  One thing I now knew for sure: death was like a dream, an all-too-real dream.

  Mason slammed the bookcase closed behind me, as if he wanted Gavin and Cadence to know we walked by them. I knew him well enough to know he was furious, but I couldn’t understand why.

  “We gotta talk,” he said to me when I reached the bottom stair.

  “I’ll get our revenge on Rasure,” I said quietly. I was relieved. I didn’t want to tell him that we were dead…

  “We must not be talking about the same thing,” he muttered as his chocolate eyes met mine.

  “Whatever you want to tell me, I promise you, my news is more important.”

  “No, it’s not.”

  “Trust me, Mason,” I said, reaching for him, but he dodged my touch.

  “She came on to me, Indie.”

  “What? Who, Sophia? That doesn’t matter right now. Nothing matters because—”

  “Cadence. She came on to me, and it wasn’t the first time. I told her if she didn’t tell Gavin that I would. Obviously, she didn’t,” he said, pointing at the stairway.

  “She was trying to cheat on Gavin—with you?” I asked, completely mystified. That didn’t sound like the Cadence I knew.

  “You want me to really piss you off? She came on to Wilder last fall, while you were still hooked up. I don’t know what her deal is, but I’m sick of her messing with my boy’s head, playing all innocent, trying to get him to talk about his sister. He was over that. The second you helped him, he was over that, and what does she do? Dig around in his head and bring it up again, get him ticked off and sad when all the while she’s coming on to his best friends. Psychologist-wanna-be my ass. She’s a born actress, and right now Gavin is playing the part of the fool.”

  I didn’t know what to say to him. I could tell he had been holding this in for a while and that he couldn’t stand it any longer.

  He cursed under his breath. “I didn’t mean to throw that at you. But right now, as far as I’m concerned Cadence is a bigger threat than Rasure.”

  He sat down on my couch and leaned forward, raking his fingers through his hair.

  I took a breath and closed my eyes. If I were alive, I would defend Cadence, tell him she was empty, that she’d fought rejection and abandonment her entire life and this was her way of making sure she was wanted. Granted, it was a shallow way, and she needed to understand that random physical acts would not fill that emptiness inside her soul…but I was dead. So was she, and none of this mattered anymore.

  I sat down next him and let my hand rest on his back. He shivered once as my emotions produced the cold I was known for. “Have you ever heard that question if this was your last day, what would matter? What would you do?”

  “I knew you would defend her. You don’t understand. When she is not around you, she is a completely different person, not the Cadence you know. I think she envies you, that she has always been jealous. I’m not even sure it’s
the money she’s jaded about.”

  He really was mad and letting his emotions cloud his judgment. Cadence knew she would never have to worry about money. She knew that I would take care of her. I mean, yeah, she was upset that the moment she became a part of a family it vanished, but who wouldn’t be? “I’m not defending her. I’m telling you it doesn’t matter because…because our life is over.”

  Sharply, he looked at me. “Indie, what the hell is going on with you?”

  “With us, you mean. Mason, we’re dead. Living in a cycle of our last day until our minds figure out we’re gone.”

  “Is Rasure messing with you? Did she drug you or something?”

  “We were in a car crash. We ran off the road, then sank in the lake. My emotions turned it to ice. I had to fight to get you out, we all fought to save each other.”

  As I spoke, his face turned white as a ghost. He knew exactly what I was talking about. I’d just turned a light on in his head.

  “A car ran us off the road, you and Wilder, then us …”

  “Right,” I said in a shaky voice.

  He stood up immediately and began to pace back and forth, cracking his knuckles, the act he always goes through before he gets on stage or does something that takes a dose of adrenaline to get through.

  “Why are we still here?” he asked after a beat or two.

  “I don’t know. But I’m not walking into some peaceful light. I think our bodies are on life support or something. Rasure will pull the plug on me. I’m not sure how long your family will hold out.”

  “Not long, not if they listen to me,” he said through a locked jaw. When his brother nearly drowned, hit his head on the rocks in the river years ago, his parents kept him alive for months. Mason finally convinced them to let him go and made them swear they would never do that to him.

  He sat down next to me, looking exhausted all at once. “I’m not going peacefully either.” He reached his arm around me, and I let myself lean into him, knowing it could be the very last time.