Page 59 of Bombshell

“Where did Henri go? He left his cloak…” I trailed off as Daphne pointed.

Henri was standing outside, his face tilted to the sky. He should have been boiling, his skin shredding away from his body in the full, early summer sunlight. But he looked totally fine.

Opening the shop door I stepped out to look at him. His skin was still slightly pink, like he was getting a sunburn, but the man didn’t seem to notice as he continued to stare upward.

“The Sun goes black and the waves rise, today the Source grieves as her soulmate dies.”

He said it like it was some kind of riddle, but upon glancing up I gasped when I saw the dark circle covering the Sun. There had been no mention of a total solar eclipse anywhere and there were other people stepping outside to look up at it. When I turned to ask him what the fuck he was talking about, the vampire was completely gone as if he’d vanished into thin air.

“Dallan!” a familiar voice called my name and I turned to find Odette Sidhe limping in my direction. She was barefoot and battered, her golden hair full of leaves and twigs, and as she came closer, I could see the scratches on her arms and legs from what looked like tree branches.

I had never seen Odette by herself ever in her life. Arsenio kept his daughter on a tight leash, so seeing her standing in front of me with a panicked expression on her face made every instinct I possessed scream that something was very, very wrong.

“They took her. Daddy tricked her into coming to the house and they took her,” Odette sobbed, reaching out to grab onto me before her legs gave out.

I opened my mouth to ask her where they took her, but I was cut off by the sound of a siren blaring overhead, making me jump.

“This is the Port Haven Coast Guard,” a voice came through the loudspeakers that were attached to most parts of the town in case of an emergency. “There is an immediate threat of a tsunami. I repeat, an immediate threat of a tsunami. We urge everyone to get to higher ground immediately before impact. I repeat a tsunami is imminent, get to higher ground.”

The sound of people’s screams filled my ears as they started to run for the parking lot, falling over each other as they went.

“Dallan!” Cash came hurtling out of the shop, everyone else on his heels as he swept his mate off of her feet. “What do we do?”

“Take everyone and get them out of here,” I ordered, my eyes catching on Santi as he ran for the end of the dock. “I’ll call you once things are safe.”

“Wait! Where are you going?” Daphne asked with a frown, her eyes wide as the sirens continued to blare.

“I need to get Effie,” I said before turning and snagging Odette’s hand. “You, come with me.”

“I tried to get him to stop,” Odette said to my back as we hurried in the direction Santi had disappeared in. “But he keptgoing on and on about the safety of the town and how sacrifices need to be made.”

“Where was Alexander in all of this?” I threw the question over my shoulder at her. Alexander, as shitty of a father as he was, still cared about Effie in his own fucked up kind of way. If he didn’t want her to become the Guardian, then it was for a good reason.

I finally caught sight of the Santi standing on the end of the dock, staring at the dark shadow in the distance. All of the water from the bay had been sucked out, leaving the sandy ocean floor in its wake. That definitely did not bode well.

“I don’t know,” Odette murmured just barely loud enough for me to hear. “He hasn’t been home for a few days which I thought was odd and then my dreams started getting worse…”

That stopped me in my tracks and Odette ran into my back, her nose smashing into it as she yelped. “What was in your dreams, Odette?”

“A lot of things,” Odette said, looking a bit haunted.

“Anything about Effie?”

Big blue eyes fixed on my face before she spoke in a monotone voice. “They’re all about Effie, Dallan. She’s going to become the Guardian, but Daddy didn’t tell anyone that the Guardian of the Source can’t leave it behind. They are trapped together in that awful cave forever so Daddy can keep control over it.”

Her voice was hollow and far away as she spoke and it almost reminded me of Henri and his crazed ramblings.

With a frustrated growl I hurried to the edge of the dock where Santi was still standing.

“Santi!” I barked, making the Del Mar whirl around to face me. “I need your help to get Effie.”

“I can’t,” he said, his eyes wide with panic. “Kit was out on a beginner’s diving trip with a bunch of children and the boat never returned. I’ve got to go out to get her.”

I cursed under my breath, realizing that I was probably going to have to do this alone.“Go to her then and please be careful,” I told the man before turning back to Odette again once the sound of his retreating footsteps had faded. “Where is the Source located?”

Odette looked confused. “I don’t know about that…”

Frustrated, I grabbed her shoulders and gave her a rough shake. “Think, Odette, or else your friend and my mate is going to be trapped in a fucking cave forever.”

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