Derive

  “Are you questioning my authority?” Tarek asked in a deep, even tone that echoed the power of his influence.

  Camlin seemed to collect himself, but only marginally; he was too proud to swallow his words. “This is reckless. She must be destroyed.”

  I moved forward, but the girl at my side clutched her arm around mine, a gesture I could not ignore.

  “What is your name?” Tarek asked her.

  She remained silent.

  “Sky,” Seneca whispered so softly that I doubted I’d heard her. The glance Tarek gave her was the only thing that confirmed that whisper.

  “You have no tracers,” Tarek said to Sky.

  She had them; they just weren’t obvious. It was odd, almost like the lessons of life were there but the path had not been walked.

  I only saw a glimpse of them when my lips touched hers, but I wasn’t going to argue that point in front of all these men.

  When someone rises from the emerald sea, they always carry lines of vim, ones that reflect the lives they had, how troubled or blessed they were. Both Tarek and I are gifted in the manner that we see more than energy; we actually see scenes of past lives. There are only a few that can do that among us, and those that are found to have that gift are always sent to this palace for a brief time to learn and grow—and in most cases they are sent through The Fall, at least for a brief period.

  The word was lost on Sky, just as lost as she seemed to be.

  “Where did you come from?” Tarek asked.

  Sky glanced upward. The ceiling of this entry hall was made of glass, and above you could clearly see the blue sky, the fading stars within that sky. “There,” she whispered.

  “Blasphemy!” Camlin spouted.

  “Speak harshly again, and I will have you escorted home this instant,” Tarek said to Camlin, as if he were a nuisance he didn’t care to acknowledge. He’d yet to take his eyes off Sky—or rather, the pair of us.

  Camlin cowered ever so slightly.

  “A new soul?” Tarek murmured with a glance to Seneca.

  A vague smile was the only answer he received.

  That was a stretch in and of itself. Sky recognized me for some reason. She had powerful energy, she was able to speak, comprehend, move, even swim. New souls are the infants of our universe, children that have to be taught the simplest acts. In my mind, I was taking her literally. She came from the heavens. She was my fallen angel. Mine.

  “If I may,” Sebastian Falcon said into the echo of the room.

  Tarek nodded, allowing him to come forward.

  Sebastian moved toward us as he carefully evaluated Sky with a reverent gaze. Finally, he spoke. “The Falcons will give her a home.”

  I felt my gut twist. Their home was too far away from me. It wasn’t even an hour away, but it was too far. I wasn’t surprised by the offer. Sebastian and his soul mate Genevieve had taken it upon themselves to give homes to several souls that seemed to have lost their way, to the outcasts of our world. Somehow, that couple always found a way to restore them, to help those souls find confidence in their path once again.

  “Ludicrous,” Camlin cursed. “We have no idea who she is, what she is, or where she came from.”

  “You. You have no idea,” I rebutted, earning a grin from my grandfather.

  “Compromise,” Tarek stated. “She will stay here for a moonrise. If the Allurest find no fault, I will grant the Falcons custody over her for the time being.”

  “A moonrise? The darkest soul could feign innocence for that time frame,” Camlin argued.

  Spoken like a man that would know, if you ask me. Tarek smirked as if he’d read my thoughts.

  “Not in the presence of Aden and Seneca. They can clearly see devious plots that are to bring forth uncalled for harm,” Tarek said with a smug grin, one that I was known to give right before I struck the darkness that threatened my world.

  Camlin glared at me. That’s right, buddy—I know your plots.

  “This is decided,” Tarek stated as he leaned back ever so slightly.

  “The matter of my brother,” Sebastian said into the echo of the room.

  “At your request, we can pull him back at the next opening of The Fall,” Tarek responded. “I will caution you, though, that if he indeed made it to the other side unscathed, pulling him back prematurely will be tragic. The Allurest have established dreams and life plans for him that will emerge in signs, places, and people. If he were to be pulled back before the three-day grace period, those lessons and prophecies will perish. The ambiance of emptiness will forevermore haunt him, along with a gnawing urge to return. And if—or rather when—he returns to find that missing piece, he will struggle far more than a soul that followed a clear path. To say the least, he will recognize and be drawn to souls, yet rarely for the reason he needs to be. ”

  Sebastian glanced to his father, only receiving a calm stare in return. “Let him be,” Sebastian responded after an obvious pause.

  I was only vaguely following this conversation. My stare was on Camlin. He was far too interested in the risk of pulling someone back before their time. He had managed to take in a lesson that I had shielded from him. I didn’t want him to know any dynamic of The Fall.

  “Very well, Seneca,” Tarek said with a nod to Sky. “Dismissed,” he said to the men with me.

  Seneca gracefully approached Sky. Sky clenched my arm, not sure what was about to happen.

  “Seneca is going to find you warm clothes, food.”

  “Where will you be?” she asked with a trembling breath.

  “I will find you soon,” I whispered as my gaze drank in every part of her. The very sight of her sent shock waves of life through my soul. I had never felt so awake, so aware.

  Seneca approached her and bowed. “I will ensure you are at his side once you have gathered yourself.”

  I raised my brow at that. I was planning on arguing my way to see her. Even though Tarek had stated that Sky could not hide anything from Seneca or me, I doubted he meant that I would be alone with her, or at her side. It would be rude to place someone this vulnerable near anyone outside the gentle care of the Allurest, especially near a warrior like me.

  Clearly doubtful, Sky slowly let her arm fall from mine and bowed her head as she walked at Seneca’s side.

  Each step she took away from me brought a painful ache to every part of me. I didn’t understand it. The emotions and feelings in my soul made no sense at all. I was masking it well, though. I had no doubt that on the outside I looked angry—put out, to say the least.

  I played out that emotion then turned and left the room, walking hastily toward my post. I didn’t bother to acknowledge Sebastian or even Tarek as I did so.

  The shore only had a few of The Selected guarding the barrier. Between The Fall openings, this was a place of serenity, a place where those like me could gaze forward and take in lessons from a distance.

  I went straight to Guardian’s crest, which was molded into the marble. My gaze followed his vim. He’d made it. A slow sigh escaped my lips. I don’t know that I would have forgiven myself if Guardian had been harmed. His spoken path to abolish fear was still ringing in my thoughts, and an action like that would bring light to that side, more balance; it would get people like Camlin off my back.

  Oddly, that ice circle was still spinning in the emerald sea, not getting larger or smaller. Even stranger, it was not spinning with water, but on top of lapping waves, almost as if a breath of air were suspending it somehow.

  I glanced to my side to see if anyone else had noticed this. It didn’t seem to be causing alarm; those on shore were focused on tracking Guardian at this point.

  I did notice my pupil Cashton in the distance, gazing at The Fall. He seemed just as torn and confused as I was. It would not be long before his time came to cross those borders. Even though I had worked with him over and over, I doubted he was truly ready. Cashton seemed to look too far ahead, and the lessons on how to flow, how to avoid the pitfalls and traps o
f death were lost on him. Not because he was unwise, but because, like I said, his gaze was often not of the troubled waters, but more so what was beyond them. Good philosophy all in all, but arriving alive and well is also something that must be kept in mind.

  Cashton walked away with his head down before I could reach out to him. I should have stopped him, but I doubted I would be a good teacher at this point. Right now I needed to be taught, and sadly there was no one to offer that lesson.

  I found the drumsticks that Guardian had given me discarded on the marble shore. I picked them up, gazing profoundly at them. I let the anguish, worry, and confusion this dawn had caused fade as strange visions of me falling into music, into the blaring silence of it, consumed me. The stress faded as I took in this fantasy. I was a different man when I woke up this morning; I knew that much to be true. Now I had a curiosity for both music and a lavender beauty taunting me to let my guard down, to taste life for the first time.

  I was born today.

  I stared forward, trying to track Guardian’s energy on the other side of The Fall. It took me a moment or two, but I finally saw where he’d been and vaguely where he was heading. He had already lived through at least two lifetimes. From what I could see, they were lives that brought great change. I suppose he knew what he was talking about when he said he would relinquish fear; that was exactly what he was fighting to do, with the girl he sought at his side.

  “There, he is safe. Just as I told his brother,” I heard Tarek say. I turned to see him just behind me.

  “He was an interesting one,” I said under my breath.

  One nod. Tarek pursed his lips as he came to my side. “I’ve been told that we are all entering ‘A Time of Compromise.’”

  My soul seized. I had asked him more than once if he knew what these crests meant, why those who had them bore them. Seemingly, there wasn’t a connection between us. He never offered a straight answer. He was loyal to his role, which was more than likely because he’d played it for so long. Why he and he alone was aware of each vision the Allurest had seen. Why he had seen the puzzle pieces line up to fall in place.

  When he didn’t go on, when he didn’t open up and tell me why any of this was happening, I acted as I always did. “The naysayers always say that as fall and winter approach,” I said as I stared out at that enigmatic spinning circle of ice.

  We had dreadfully long winters. It’s not like we suffered or anything; we lived in abundance in this reality, but it seemed that when the death of the seasons approached rumbles of the end of times often shadowed them.

  “Aden, child of my blood, your time is within breaths. Are you aware of that?”

  I let out a deep sigh that caused my shoulders to fall. “Could it not have come before I laid eyes on her?”

  I heard him smirk and glanced to my side at him. He believed it, too; she was mine.

  “I’ve told you more than once that there are no absolutes. Everything intertwines; one point does not come before the other.”

  “I don’t even know her, and I feel like she is the only one I know.”

  “That emotion speaks volumes.” He cleared his throat. “I expected you to oppose the Falcons harboring her.”

  “Why would I do that?”

  “For you are not ready to leave this post, to forget the twin that mirrors you.”

  “I don’t want her far away from me, but I need to be here. I need to make sure Guardian is pulled back, that Cashton is ready. I need to make sure Camlin doesn’t discredit all of us.”

  “Trepidation. That has always been your strength.”

  “My strength is to worry?” I quipped.

  “You challenge worry with logic. You find the effect and evaluate the cause, which gives you calm. Logic is your weapon.”

  “I don’t feel very logical at the moment.” I felt downright whimsical.

  “For there is no logic in the emotion that has surely awakened you.”

  I almost confided in him. I almost told him that I knew she was made of darkness, that I had seen it in her eyes. I almost asked him why I was tethered to darkness forevermore, but I held back.

  “Do you know why I love this spot?” Tarek asked after a few silent moments, moments I spent searching for my twin—and sure enough, I found him as a king of a land that he was tormenting. I wanted to reach through this Fall and slap some sense into him.

  “I don’t,” I said under my breath.

  “The balance. The beauty of it. Seeing darkness and light side by side.”

  Words like that were the reason he was our leader; he saw splendor where most had given up hope.

  “Just as it is when we stand with our eternal soul, the half that completes us.”

  My gaze rose quickly to meet his.

  A slow, knowing smile eased across his image. “Once Guardian returns, I think it will be fitting for you to stay at the Falcons for a while, to evaluate him at a distance from Camlin.”

  That was not our procedure either. Those that came back stayed with us until we were sure they had balance, that the lives they left behind in the dark reality were as vague as a dream. When that occurred, they could fall back into their life here.

  “Camlin will be thrilled with that breach of procedure.”

  “I could not care less what Camlin or his family feels. His own thoughts and actions will punish him in time.” He let out a breath. “I’m more concerned that he seems determined to harm your Sky. That he would choose to corrupt the mind of Guardian. This is best. Three days time, you will take a holiday…unless...”

  I furrowed my brow at his pause.

  “Aden, I wish I could tell you otherwise, but Seneca is convinced your time will not arrive soon, but brashly.”

  “Meaning?”

  “Meaning make the most of the time you have now. Make every second count.”

  I gazed up at the blue sky, the stars I could see twinkling in the vast distance. “Logic tells me that any man can find falsehoods in his actions and change his ways, including my twin image. Logic tells me that I was not born to destroy. Logic even tells me that it is not I that will save or destroy my twin. It whispers that if we are connected, it is for reasons I can’t fathom.”

  “As I said, logic is your weapon. You have been so focused on this one point that you must resolve it before you can truly give yourself over to the balance of life.”

  He vanished from my side, leaving those words to linger in the air.

  For the first time, I willingly left my post and all but ran to my quarters. I wanted to change out of these sodden fatigues. I wanted to see her. I wanted to understand her.

  For once, I was going to take my grandfather’s advice and planned to live in the moment.

  Chapter Three

  A long, hot shower, a clean shave, and a suit—no, I couldn’t do the suit. I tried. I really did. I saw too much of my grandfather’s regal stance in my reflection. I left the dark slacks on and tossed the jacket. I unbuttoned the top of the white shirt and rolled the sleeves up.

  I wasn’t dressed to court the angel I was determined to find, but at the very least I wasn’t wearing fatigues, looking like a brute warrior with only one focus. I brushed my fingers through my dark hair and stared forward at my reflection, finding it odd that just the thought of that girl brought a glint to my emerald eyes, that I didn’t look furious, or even somber. I had to understand why she had that effect on me, why I felt so vacant without her at my side.

  I flung my bathroom door open and stopped short. Seneca was there. Her white hood was still down, but not quite as far. Her gaze started at my feet and rose to meet my eyes. Her eyes were a mix of lavender and blue. The lavender was always dominant when her gifts of seeing forward were in action, and lately they stayed lavender.

  Seneca had a classic beauty, the kind that every artist tried to capture but failed, and it wasn’t because she was an Allurest, but because of the wisdom in her young eyes. If I had a friend outside of my pupils and warriors, it would
be her.

  Though our reality believes, knows, and understands that there is a divine soul and purpose meant for our existence, we still yearn to explore, we still begin relationships that we know are powered by lust and curiosity. We choose to explore life from a different vantage point. More than once, I had been down that troubled road. More than once, I sought some kind of release from my duties and dark, predicted future.

  No one, including Seneca, saw a reason to stop me—that is, until not long ago. A drifter, a runaway who wanted to escape our world and find solace in the dark reality took up residence with The Selected. She tempted me, and though it felt wrong, I began an affair with her. Seneca stopped the relationship with a few whispered words.

  Seneca told me, “She is not made of you, and she will destroy what is if you allow her within your arms.” The statement confused me because the earliest Allurest in my life led me to believe that my soul was shared with my dark twin, that I must destroy him before I ever found a way to even contemplate an eternal love with another soul. Those words gave me hope that the prophecy spoken over me was shallow, or at the very least misunderstood or misconstrued.

  I sent the girl on her way after that.

  Right now, my heart was thundering. I didn’t want Seneca to tell me I was wrong about Sky, for her to tell me that this was a false awakening. I didn’t want to know if I was a fool.

  Seneca slowly removed her hood, revealing her long blonde hair and the smile that seemed to consume her entire image.

  “You’re pleased,” I said in a grating tone.

  “I’m pleased for the beginning I saw in your path has arrived.”

  “How’d the end turn out?” I asked as I tried to crack a smile.

  “Well.”

  I gave her a sharp nod because I had no words.