Page 3 of Saving Destiny

Chapter 2

Zosia

Iremain frozen in the sunlit foyer of the library for a long time after I banish Jerome Walthers and Jonathan Addington from the library steps. The sound of my guardians’ heartbeats calls to me from the library, but I can’t face them yet. There are only three. Although I’ll never hear Kodi’s heartbeat, I still feel his absence.

Shining quartz stones form a five-pointed star in the center of the foyer's marble floor. This is where I learned of my birthright – the one that was almost stolen from me. So much has changed in such a short time. I sit on the star with my long tail wrapped around my bottom half. The appendage seems to have a mind of its own because it occasionally thumps against the floor.

My sphinx form settles over me like a well-worn coat, even though I haven’t donned it since I was a child, about a decade ago. I realize my hybrid nature facilitates this easy acceptance, but I also think that I spent more time in this form than my human one before I was captured. Perhaps I’ll never recall that time; early years are often difficult to remember.

My memories don’t contain love or compassion until Kodi. He's the only person I can remember caring about me, and he stayed by my side even after he died while saving me. I loved him, even though he’d become a cynical, sarcastic ghost.

He’d always shown me kindness despite being on the other side of my cell door in the dungeon prison. He hadn’t wanted to do half of the acts he’d been ordered to, including fastening my restraints so that I could be tortured. He’d chosen to apologize by spending countless hours on the cold floor outside my cell reading to me until he lost his voice. He’d whispered encouraging words and offered me hope when I’d started to surrender. Then, he’d carried me from the dungeon, died a gruesome death, and returned to me.

Why had he joined me after his death? Had he just heard Addington say his sister still lived? I’d known most of his cooperation as a child and teenager had been coerced. Our captors had threatened his sibling, and he’d complied to protect her. I didn’t fault him for what he’d done. He’d been lied to, tricked, and hurt as cruelly as me.

In the end, Kodi had killed the magicless bully who’d broken my legs, crippled me for life, and almost succeeded in stealing my magic. The brutal, sadistic man had been his father, but genetics don’t dictate a person’s nature. Kodi is nothing like the psychopath who had enjoyed carving into my human flesh in search of my wings. Similar to Kodi, the two half-brothers waiting on the other side of the huge wooden doors were nothing like the alpha shifter who had purchased me as if I were a thoroughbred horse.

I wasn’t given any time to confront my memories before I’d needed to face one of the men who starred in them, so I take a moment now. Sorting through the trauma makes me question whether I’m capable of doing what the library requires of me. I can't answer that question when I feel Kodi slipping further away with every second. The farther he moves from me, the more the pain grows in my chest. I don’t know whether my heart or my lungs cause the pain, but I gasp for breath.

As the pain increases, my claws extend and dig into the stone beneath me; they're trying to anchor me. I don’t even realize what I’m doing until Sage reveals her agitation, and I immediately retract my talons.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper. No one is physically present, but she exists all around me. Sage says she is the sentient library I stand inside of and the combined consciousness of my dead ancestors. When she called me to her heart, a strange cavern that seemed to exist nowhere and everywhere in space and time, she’d taken the form of a sphinx and spoken directly to me.

Now, she communicates with me in my mind. Her understanding and forgiveness helps soothe my pain and heartache. She also feels the loss of our ghost; he belonged to her the second he signed his name in the book.

“Zosia?”

I don’t bother looking up as the inner door swings open. Avery’s smooth, lilting voice is already familiar. I’d assumed the men wouldn’t allow me to stay away for too long. Did they argue about who should come to me? Avery seems like the logical choice since the vampire didn’t star in my horrible memories.

I’ve forgiven Bren and Garrett for their father’s involvement, but I’d had difficulty facing them after I emerged from my subconscious. The cruel and disturbing connections woven by fate’s hand had taken a moment to understand and accept.

“I’m here,” I say aloud, even though it’s unnecessary. Avery is blind, but he is not without sight in his own way. He can sense energy and see auras. Is my light duller while I mourn Kodi’s decision? I feel diminished and half-alive without him.

My vampire guardian strolls gracefully toward me without a single stutter in his step. Despite his shiny black shoes, his footsteps don’t echo on the stone floor. Ironically, he moves with the grace and silence of a cat – something I could never possess while in human form.

I halt my intense examination of the floor when he stops an arm’s length in front of me. His beauty is a welcome distraction and provides a new focal point. The perfectly symmetrical features of his face appear Fae in their delicacy, and his pale skin almost glows in the sun’s rays that filtering through the windows surrounding the entry doors. Because he was born and not turned like most of his kind, he can withstand sunlight. He’s a rare specimen, but his strangeness suits the library and me. No one in the ragtag group of misfits I’ve gathered fits neatly into any box or stereotype.

“Our visitors?” Avery asks with impeccable manners and diplomacy.

I can’t claim the same traits. I release a small snort. In this form, it sounds like I’m coughing up a hairball. “Our trespassers are gone … for now. They’ll return.”

Avery’s silvery eyes study me, and I wonder if his strange vision can determine which form I’m wearing. His nose will probably smell the differences regardless of his sight. After I shifted, I sent a mental image of a sphinx to the vampire. I’d chosen the one Sage had worn when she greeted me in the cavern; it was similar to mine, but older and without my … flaws. I’m reluctant to show him the real me. I’ve enjoyed his lack of judgment and pity. I see enough of that in everyone else’s eyes when they notice my ruined body.

“We can sense your unease,” Avery remarks with gentle compassion. From the information he’s given me, he had very few friends before he came to the library. Being forced to serve as an indentured slave doesn’t provide much opportunity for fun or relationships.

This time, my inelegant snort sounds better and more like a large cat’s chuff. Although my face remains human, my vocal cords change during my shift. Now, I believe I can growl and even roar, although I haven’t tried the latter yet. My speaking voice is also huskier.

“Unease is an understatement,” I reply with enough sarcasm to rival Kodi’s. “My head won’t stop spinning. I was practically alone just over a week ago. I had no one but Kodi, and I didn’t know who or what I was. I suspected I might have supernatural blood, but I didn’t allow myself to dream … or hope. I never thought I’d be anything but a penniless, disabled orphan.” The unexpected stream of words bubble from my subconscious as I start pacing the foyer.

Halfway through my turn, excited wonder fills me. I’m pacing! I’ve always envied people the ability to do something so simple, and I’ve often read about it. Even Kodi paces, although his feet never touch the ground. I can’t do this normally. I'd trip over my braces, and the exertion would increase my constant pain.

My stride isn’t perfect – my left hind leg drags behind the others and my haunches dip when I step forward – but the painless motion still feels like freedom. I’ll never prowl or pounce like the predator I'm supposed to be, but life as a librarian doesn’t require me to hunt for my meals.

Pushing aside my amazement, I continue to ramble. Unfortunately, my transition into my sphinx form did not provide a brain-to-mouth filter. “When Ansel pulled me from the orphanage and told me he’s been watching over me, I didn’t believe him. Then, he brought me here, and the library informed me I was destined to be her caretaker. She's considered one of the greatest wonders in the supernatural world, and she wants me? Once I got over the fact that a sentient building could speak to me, she told me that I needed to recruit four guardians. By signing our names in a magical book, we’ve tied our lives together for better or worse.” I wince at the bizarre image my unintentional words create in my head – one where I’m standing under a flowery arbor in a white dress with four men – before I shake it aside and press on. My pointless monologue is almost over, so I might as well finish it.

“I barely know my four new guardians, except for one. He might have helped to imprison me as a child, but he ultimately saved my magic and my life. He died for me and rejoined me after death. In addition to that unbelievable craziness, two of my guardians are the sons of the alpha who literally bought me when I was just a child. He paid money to own me so he could order someone to torture me, all in the hopes that he would eventually steal my magic. And then … there’s you.” The last two words emerge as a whisper.

I stop pacing in front of the vampire. He stood still and silent while I walked, although his sightless eyes roughly tracked my movements. I don't fear him, despite his predatory nature. I've also started to trust him in the short time I've known him.

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