Page 41 of The Discovered
“Go to sleep,” he whispered.
“How did you know I wasn’t?”
“Because you just answered me,” he laughed softly.
He kissed the top of my head, and I rolled off of him and onto my side. It was colder over here. Almost immediately Daelon shifted to lay against my back, warmth radiating off his chest like my own personal space heater. Part of me almost didn’t want to sleep. Here in this quiet, this stillness, so close to someone who made me feel things I’d never felt before, I had a familiar desire creep up.
I wanted to pause time and stay in this moment forever. I wanted to avoid the truths my mothers instilled in me: everything changes, everyone grows old, everyone dies, and not even magick can stop the natural course of fate. I wanted to fight the idea they’d planted—that sometimes terrible things had to happen for a greater good.
I closed my eyes, resigned to commit every detail of this moment to memory. I focused on Daelon’s breathing, the comforting heat from his body, his arm around my waist, the near darkness except for the faint trickle of moonlight from the far windows, and the way my body tingled and my stomach lurched every time I thought of this afternoon.
I drifted off thinking about what Daelon wanted from me, and how much a part of me wanted to give him everything.
I was back on the beach with multicolored sand. The sky was a gorgeous shade of deep blue, and the water was tranquil and waves docile. I walked around in search of my mothers and the people in white, but I was alone.
A din of whispers started to rise from higher on the beach, over the dunes in the distance. I had never ventured onto the mainland, and the slopes were too high to see anything on the other side. I began to walk toward the soft voices, but as I moved closer my feet sunk deeper and deeper into the sand. When I reached the dunes, the sand was rising to my knees with each step. I couldn’t go further without becoming completely submerged.
The whispers swirled all around, as if coming from all different directions. Then they combusted with a screech that led into an eerie silence. If that wasn’t warning enough, a sudden change in the energetic environment raised the hair on the back of my neck.
I knew immediately who the intruder was.
I quickly backtracked, scrambling toward the ocean where the sand was more stable. I whipped my head around to look right and left as I went but saw no one. Fog began to roll over the sand, making it impossible to see very far in either direction. I stood with my back to the waves, my feet rooted in the more solid, damp earth.
The sky darkened, similar to the white candle when I learned someone was using magick against me. The blackness crept out over the blue until it had been completely obscured. I turned to the water, which had become murky and clouded. The waves grew violent and erratic.
Face me.The voice boomed.
I knew whom it belonged to, and I felt his ice-cold energy snake around me. His presence was suffocating, as if it ran contrary to my very existence. I resisted his command, my hands balling into fists at my side, but this turned his energy wild and volatile. A force reached out for me, compelling me to turn against my will.
There he stood, again shrouded in black to conceal his true appearance.
Coward.
He hovered back in the mist at first. When he stepped forward, so did a crowd of fifteen or so others dressed in black uniform. They did not conceal their faces, which appeared human rather than the demon-like glamour their leader had used before. I couldn’t make out specific features, but most were men, relatively young and in good shape. They all stood just a step behind the man who hid from me—the man who reeked of death and decay.
What do you want from me?I asked him telepathically.
I took a step back and cried out when boiling hot water lapped at my heels. I jumped forward, casting back a glance at the water that was now waveless and bubbling. My power erratically danced all around, preparing for a fight.
I want you to know your place,he answered.
I glowered. I would not be intimidated.Fuck you.
He was quiet for a moment, then burst into laughter. The others were silent, looking to him for a moment before joining in, sneering at me.
“You are alone. Do you see anyone here on your side?” he said aloud, breaking the telepathy I had grown accustomed to in dream and meditative states.
I realized it must be because the people backing him up couldn’t hear us speak to each other in that way. I stayed silent, reaching for the power that rose up within and around my body. I focused on everything opposite of his energy—on the natural, the calm, the bright, the good—and used it to fortify my energy field as Daelon had taught me. I needed to shield myself from potential attack.
The group looked up at the sky, and my eyes followed. The blue had resurfaced and began to ripple out over the dark in a silent battle for supremacy. I looked back to the crowd and couldn’t help but feel the corners of my lips turn up at their confusion and shock. They looked to their leader for guidance on how to react.
It didn’t seem like he was used to being challenged, and he dropped his shroud of darkness to reveal the devilish face beneath. His lips contorted into a snarl. I knew his festering skin and demonic features were merely a glamour, but I couldn’t deny it was effective in making my stomach drop. It was creepy as hell.
The group looked less intimidating now that the sky was lighter, and I noticed their formation was asymmetric in an otherwise completely orderly layout. While they all stood behind the leader, the man closest to him on the left side stood a step above the rest. He had dirty blond hair and an angular nose. There was a gap on the leader’s right side.
“Cute trick,” he snarled. “Is that the best you can do?”
He bent down to touch the earth, and with a crack, the sand began to diverge and pour into the center of the separation. The crevice shot toward me, deepening as it went. I took a deep breath to release my fear, and I bent down to touch the earth as he had, my palms melding into the warm, damp sand.
