Fate, Bernard, Stubbs, and Addy ate breakfast on the terrace overlooking the garden. Stubbs’ dogs, Winkie and Brutis, were taking turns looking at her like they hadn’t eaten in a week. They knew the only one at the table they had a chance of getting a bite from was her. She broke a piece of bacon in half and tossed it to them, causing Stubbs to shake his head at her.
“What?” Addy gave him an innocent look and motioned to the dogs. “They’re hungry.”
Oddly, as they ate and chatted, none of them pressed her to talk about what happened the day before. She was positive that they’d be all over her about it, but she wasn’t about to complain that they weren’t.
Addy was still more than anxious to talk to Tanner again. As awkward as it had been, she appreciated Gage coming back to check on her. She just couldn’t help feeling disappointed that he’d stopped her from meeting up with Tanner though.
“Has anyone seen the guy Kim spotted at the beach around anymore?” Addy tried sounding casual between bites of her cheese danish.
Stubbs shook his head and looked out at the ocean. “It appears he was just a local young man looking at two pretty girls.” He gave her a reassuring smile as he poured himself and Fate more coffee.
“We’re not concerned about him,” Bernard said, holding his cup out for Stubbs to fill it. “Elsegood checked the estate and surrounding area and didn’t find anything suspicious.”
Addy was relieved Tanner hadn’t been caught poking around after she didn’t show up the night before. A part of her hoped he felt better and headed back home, but she was a little bummed she might not get to talk to him again. He was funny and different from the rest of the people she was always with—it was nice talking to someone other than the Akori and humans who lived at the estate.
Addy caught up with Kim after breakfast. They sat on a bench in the garden and watched Matt’s uncle Josh preparing the pool to be opened. She still couldn’t get over seeing the place she’d lived her entire life looking so alive—all she’d ever known was ice and snow. Once the garden started growing, the place was going to look amazing.
“After you and Mattie left last night, Gage came back,” she said, keeping her voice low. “He ended up staying the night at my place.”
“Ok—that’s a big wow!” Kim didn’t even attempt to hold back her excitement over the news and stared at Addy impatiently. “Well, what happened?”
“He was all clingy—it was like he forgot we’re not friends.”
“Of course you’re friends—you see him every day.”
Addy didn’t agree with Kim’s logic one bit on that one and glanced up at Matt and Renee’s uncle. “I see Josh every day too and I’m not about to snuggle with him.”
“Don’t be icky,” Kim said, scrunching up her face. “You and Gage have known each other your entire lives—it’s different.”
“Yeah, and we don’t talk at all—at least we didn’t until we moved here.”
Kim shrugged. “Not talking much doesn’t make you not friends.”
Addy leaned back and gave Kim a condensed version of what happened, being careful to exclude the part about Gage healing her. She wasn’t exactly sure what to think about that yet.
When she was done Kim appeared slightly disappointed. “I thought when you said he stayed the night—you meant that he stayed the night.”
Addy tried not to smile as her face got red. “Like I said, we just slept on my couch.”
“So he slept all cozied up next to you all night, didn’t try anything good, and then just left?”
“Shhh!” Addy spoke quietly, looking around to make sure no one was close enough to hear. “Yes, he left when Bernard got there and I haven’t seen him since.”
“You will.” Kim smiled and poked Addy in the arm. “He’s seen how hot you look with bed head. How can he stay away?”
“Right, hot like an unsheared sheep.” The humidity was hell on her hair—she was walking around in a constant state of frizz that could only be tamed by pulling her hair into a ponytail.
Addy thought it was funny how Kim automatically assumed that she wanted Gage to come around. She wasn’t sure what to think about him actually. Practicing with him had been fun, but that was totally different than just being alone together. They didn’t even have anything to talk about and last night was painfully quiet.
Addy decided to get off the subject of Gage and told Kim that Bernard had given her a new driver’s license and would be putting new license plates on all of the cars. Addy noticed the time and had to run to meet Fate, but they made plans to meet up for dinner.
Addy stood trailing her index finger along the silver globe that was placed next to the fireplace in the library. When she was shelving the newest shipment of books the Akori sent to the estate, she’d spotted a drawing of it in one of the older ones. It said the symbols covering its surface enabled the Akori to travel to any place on earth just by touching a finger to it.
She was pretty excited to find an object they had right in their library in one of books. That only lasted until she’d shown the passage to Fate. He simply smiled and told her it didn’t really work—that it was just more lore the Akori made up over the centuries.
It was no surprise that Fate discounted what the book said. If anyone would know what was real and what wasn’t, it was him. The Akori had countless stories and myths about objects and places. Addy and her friends—the younger Akori, always joked that it was probably to make the older Akori, who’d been around for countless centuries, seem more interesting and powerful.
The library was huge, with seemingly endless rows of books and several alcoves with tables and benches. Addy watched as her grandfather stood up from his seat at the head of the table. He motioned for her to follow him as he walked slowly down the main aisle, leading her over to a part of the library she never really spent much time in.
The section he was headed for was located next to an extremely creepy marble statue of a man holding a severed arm. His eyes were wide open and glassy. It was Akori art according to Fate, and he told her not to stare at it too long with a little smile on his face. She wasn’t sure if he was serious, or just playing around because she looked so freaked out by it. Either way, she was happy to comply.
Fate slowed his pace and stopped.
“Am I looking for something in particular?” she asked.
“Nothing in particular, you need to become familiar with the entire library. I’d like you to look through these rows and get acquainted with this section,” Fate said, taking a long look around. “I’ve read each and every book in here at one point or another.”
“I doubt I’ll ever be able to say that.” Addy smiled and scanned row after row of books. “Maybe we can have the ones written in Akori turned into audio books or something.”
Fate peered at her strangely and abruptly told her he was going to his room to take care of some things. It was odd for him to leave the library in the middle of the day, but she knew as much as he’d never admit it, he wasn’t up to par after the move. As he kissed her cheek and walked away, she realized she was now going to be alone with the creepy statue.
The next few hours were spent flipping through books so old she was afraid they’d turn to dust in her hands. There were some interesting stories about events the Akori were involved in, most of which she had never heard about. After the whole globe thing, she wondered if they were even real though.
Addy was trying not to think about Gage, but her thoughts kept going back to him. Even though they were both technically adults, it would’ve been awkward explaining why he was at her place first thing in the morning to Bernard. Even nothing was going on between them; it would’ve looked like she was breaking the rule about humans and Akori being involved. Obviously, Gage felt the same way and left through the patio door.
The fact that he’d healed her was unbelievable. He seemed genuinely shocked at what he’d done, which probably explained why he’d completely violated her personal spa
ce. He didn’t really know her well enough anymore to even be considered her friend. Still, after all the years they spent together as kids, it was nice having him around.
Running her fingers along the spines of the books, she walked up and down the rows of shelves. Most of them had names like Battle of this, and Plaque of that, with random dates. She realized the books in that section were all written before Oren Sanders became the Overseer. Unfortunately, most of them were written in Ancient Akori. As curious as she was about the stories they contained, struggling through the translations was something she didn’t feel like dealing with right then.
It occurred to Addy that maybe she could find something about Akori possessing healing powers there. She’d never heard of any ability other than shifting the time back slightly, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t possible.
After looking for hours and being forced to turn her brain on full power to struggle through the books written in the ancient Akori language, she came up empty. Addy was completely burned out from all of the tedious translating and couldn’t bear looking at another page.
As she carefully placed the books back onto their shelves, she decided maybe she should just ask Fate about the healing ability. He said he’d read every book in there, which looking around, she highly doubted. She’d have to make sure Gage was ok with it first though. She wasn’t clear if she was supposed to tell anyone that he’d healed her or not, so she decided to keep it to herself.
Addy walked past the creepy statue without glancing at it on her way out. She decided right then that if she became the Overseer she was putting a bag over that guy’s head.
As everyone else settled into their new location on the beach and had fun, Addy was forced to concentrate on learning the ins and outs of being the Overseer. Each day was basically the same. She had breakfast with her grandfather after combat practice, and then it was off to the library to shelve and read whatever books Fate picked out for her. In her spare time—which wasn’t much, Addy continued searching for references to Akori healers. Lunch was usually on the terrace with Fate, Bernard, and Stubbs. She’d silently eat while the men talked.
After lunch each day, it was back to the library with her grandfather. Bernard would usually join them and having him there made the time go by much faster. Working with her on combat over the years gave Bernard insight about Addy that her Grandfather didn’t have. She could only take so much and Bernard recognized that.
There was simply a point when her brain shut down and her thoughts drifted to other things—normal teenage things. Bernard always knew when it was time to give her a break. When he could tell she’d had enough, he usually urged Fate to let her go. Sometimes he’d just shoo her toward the door when Fate wasn’t looking. Those were the things that made him Addy’s favorite person at the estate.
Thanks to Bernard’s understanding that she was still just a teenage girl, regardless of what her grandfather thought, Addy and Kim were able to hit the beach a couple of times. They also had a chance to finally take the car for a drive with the top down. They even managed to stop at a few stores and grabbed some new clothes one afternoon.
Addy hadn’t seen or heard from Tanner since the note the morning after she met him. She figured he must have started feeling better and moved on. That had her bummed out. She’d enjoyed talking to him a lot more than she’d realized at first. He obviously knew where to find her, so if he’d wanted to, he could’ve always come back to see her. She just figured she hadn’t made as stellar of a first impression on him as he had on her. She’d promised to meet him and then didn’t go—nothing says I don’t wanna be your friend like a no show on plans.
Kim had dragged Addy out to play pool one night with some of the others. Gage was there, but he and Addy didn’t talk. Things between them were back to the way it had been for the last few years. She figured it didn’t really matter, but at the same time she was disappointed. She never got a chance to ask him if she could tell Fate about the healing power. Just going off the fact he never talked to her about it again, she figured he’d say no anyway.
Like most evenings, Addy ate dinner with Kim and then went over to her place to hang out. On their way back to Kim’s villa after eating, they spotted a group of the guys at a table by the pool.
Matt, his Uncle Josh, and the Akori guard Malcolm were gathered with a few others playing poker and drinking. Gage was there too.
Addy caught his eye for split second, but he quickly looked back at the table. Whatever he felt the night he healed her was apparently gone and his urge be so overly-friendly had clearly passed. She was back to being invisible to him.
“No one invited us to play,” Kim said as they approached the guys.
Matt laughed and tipped his head back to look at her. “You can play—if you bring lots of money.”
Kim was terrible at any game requiring cards and Addy always kept her away from poker with the guys.
Addy walked up behind Matt and leaned over his shoulder. “You should fold.”
“Thanks, high roller.” Matt smiled. “What am I gonna do in a hundred years when you’re not around to give me poker tips?”
“Lose,” Addy said, grabbing a beer from the cooler by the table.
Malcolm smirked at Matt. “Yeah, and every time we take your money we’ll ask if you wish Addy was there to bail you out.”
Matt reached up and poked her in the ribs. “And I’ll just be like, Addy who?”
“You don’t have to pretend, Mattie,” she said, putting her arms around his shoulders. “I know you’ll miss me when I’m gone.”
Kim let out an annoyed sigh and crossed her arms. “You guys shouldn’t talk like that.”
“She’s right, it’s messed up,” Gage said without looking up from his cards.
“Oh relax, Captain Way Too Serious,” Matt said, looking in Gage’s direction as he tossed his cards down on the table. He made a shooing motion to the girls. “And you two move along—you’re distracting me.”
The differences in their life-cycles was her Grandfather’s justification for his strict rules about Akori and human relationships. It was painfully obvious that he’d put up the roadblocks just because of Addy. She was the first girl born into the Sanders bloodline in over two centuries. Being a little over-protective was probably justified, but it didn’t stave off the guilt Addy felt every time Kim cried over Matt.
Kim hadn’t come to understand how the Akori and human relationships worked like Addy had. Being raised around Akori, Addy knew her lifetime was like the blink of an eye to them. They were immortal—they’d probably had countless human friends they’d lost to death from old age.
Fate said it was usually harder for the younger Akori to understand than the ones who’d been through it many times over the course of their lives. Addy knew eventually she’d just be a memory to the Akori friends she’d grown up with, but she didn’t dwell on it or pretend like it wasn’t going to happen.
An hour later, Matt showed up at Kim’s place after losing his money. Addy decided to head home rather than sit there and listen to him whine about it. The guys were still playing cards by the pool when she passed them on her way back to her villa, but she noticed Gage was already gone.
According to Kim, Gage not speaking to her was making her melancholy. How she came to that conclusion was a mystery to Addy because she hadn’t mentioned Gage to Kim in days. Addy had sat at the same table as Gage in the dining room a couple of times, but just like at the poker game, he didn’t even look at her. Realistically, that’s how he always was. He wasn’t acting any different than he had in the past. It’s just after he healed her, she thought he would act different, or at least want to talk about it.
A note fell at her feet as she pulled her screen door open. She picked it up and began unfolding it with a pretty good idea who it was from.
I’ll be around the bar next-door tonight—swing by.
-T
That answered her question—Tanner was still lurking
around. She was surprisingly apprehensive about meeting him now that she knew he was still around, and she wasn’t really sure whether to go or not. After making her way into her villa and feeling bummed about spending another night sitting around with her video game, she began to get ready. Addy decided to wear a light yellow skirt with a thin white button down top—she also made sure to slip on her sandals. After a quick check in the mirror, she headed out the door to find Tanner.
Addy took the path down to the beach and then went over to the walkway that opened up to the resort next door. When she passed through the place she’d originally met Tanner, the resort was in full view. Every inch of it was absolutely beautiful. The palm trees were wrapped in white lights from top to bottom. There were cozy little spots with benches and café tables tucked back behind perfectly sculpted shrubs. It all surrounded a large patio and pool area.
Walking through a maze of trees, Addy came to a bench on the far side of the outdoor bar. She decided it was a good place to wait for Tanner.
A few minutes passed and a guy sat down beside her.
“I’m waiting for someone,” she said, not wanting to deal with being hit on.
“So am I.”
She recognized the voice and whipped her head around.
“Tanner?” She was stunned. “Oh my god, did you get run over by an extreme makeover show?”
“Yeah, total hit and run.” He looked at her seriously, but she could see a hint of a smile in his eyes. “I’m blending in—per your request.”
Tanner was dressed like he belonged at the beach, wearing shorts, a light button down shirt and sandals. His facial hair was trimmed into a five o’clock shadow look, and his hair was cut short into what she’d describe as a faux hawk. It was also very dark brown, much darker than she first thought. It was a completely different look and he could have been a totally different guy.
“At least you didn’t get your hair highlighted,” she said, trying not to laugh.
Tanner ran his fingers through his hair with a lopsided smile. “I thought about it, but wasn’t sure if I was ready to commit to the upkeep.”
“Good call.”
“The guys in my band are gonna be pissed—rocking the long hair was kind of our thing.” He smiled and took a drink of the beer he was holding. “You never came back to meet me.”
“I’m sorry, I was busy,” she said, which was partly true. “How do you know where I live by the way?”
He said he was checking out the estate the night they met and he saw her go into her place. He also told her he checked into a suite at the resort since he needed a place to stay while he waited for his condition to clear up.
Addy looked around at their incredibly luxurious surroundings. “Isn’t that pretty expensive?”
He just looked around and shrugged. “It’s no big deal.”
“Oh.” She wanted to ask him some questions, especially about his family, but thought she might be overstepping since it was only their second time meeting and all. “Wanna go walk on the beach? Now that you look like a boy band reject it won’t matter who sees us.”
Tanner laughed and stood up. “Keep piling it on, girlie. I can take it.”
They headed over to the bar where everyone knew him by name and Tanner ordered a couple of drinks. Then they made their way over to the walkway leading down to the water.
The beach was empty, except for a few couples walking hand in hand. In the distance, she could see lightning flashes over the ocean, but the sky above them was clear and full of stars.
They chatted while they walked down the shoreline, and again, he was so great to talk to about anything. It was a nice escape from all the weirdness of the estate, even though Tanner brought his own kind of weirdness. She thought about the easy way she could talk to Tanner and how tough, almost painful, it was to think of something to say to Gage. It was such a huge difference.
It was apparent Tanner was becoming more and more uncomfortable as they traveled farther away from Tremain. She didn’t even think he realized the pained expression he was wearing on his face—Addy felt terrible for him. Once they got about a mile away and he still hadn’t said anything about how bad he was feeling, she suggested they turn around.
When they got back to the beachfront at the resort, she realized they hadn’t discussed the issue of why he was there in the first place. She honestly didn’t even want to bring it up. She was happy to be with someone outside of the estate and didn’t want to ruin things, but she knew discussing it was inevitable. She cleared her throat and forged ahead.
“Are you feeling any better at all?” Addy already knew the answer.
“Nope, if I was I’d have jetted—my band is playing without me tonight.” He took off his shoes and stepped into the edge of the water. “Are you gonna tell me what’s going on with me and how you moved that house there overnight?”
Addy slid her sandals off and dipped her toes in the water next to him. She was surprised the sand still felt slightly warm under her feet. “I don’t know why you feel like you need to be near us.” She picked up a shell and fiddled with it nervously. “I can’t tell you about our estate.”
“I’m gonna roll with my own theory then,” he said, raising his eyebrows at her. “You’re aliens and that giant house is your mother ship, which forces me to assume that I’m some type of alien hunter. Eventually I’m afraid I’ll have to turn on you.”
“That’s ridiculous.” Addy rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. “You’re an alien like us. We’re just here to claim you because you were left here as a baby—kinda like a Changeling.”
“Finally, the truth.”
“You forced it out of me.”
Tanner lightly splashed her with his foot and she watched him shake his head as he smiled.
She tossed the shell into the water feeling bad about his situation. “I’m sorry you’re stuck here and I can’t give you answers, Tanner.”
His smile faded into a serious expression. “Who can then?” He turned his palms up in frustration and moved closer to her. “Should I just go up to your house and knock on the door? Hell, I doubt I even could, between the guy who watches your place and—“
“Wait, what guy?” She was alarmed at the thought of being watched and immediately thought of the humans who’d killed her parents. “You actually saw someone watching my villa?”
Tanner nodded, looking surprised at her reaction. “The same guy is out there every night.”
Addy’s heart pounded in her chest and she glanced around—maybe she was in danger after all. “What does he look like?”
“I saw him by the fire the first night we met— tall, blond.” Tanner pointed at the estate, looking confused. “You know him…”
“You saw him outside my villa?” Her fear immediately turned into irritation. “He’s there every night?”
Tanner nodded. “I’ve been trying to catch you or just knock on your door for the last couple of nights, but I couldn’t because the guy is always around.”
“I gotta go,” she said, backing away from him. “I promise I’ll try harder to find out what’s wrong with you and if you feel better, please don’t leave without saying goodbye.”
Without giving him a chance to respond, Addy took off for the path leading back to Tremain. Oddly, a little of her irritation at Gage for lurking around her villa at night was replaced by relief that Tanner really had wanted to see her again. He just hadn’t been able to get to her.
When she got to the top of the path, just down from her villa, she stopped. “I know you’re out here—you may as well come out.” There was no response at first, but then she heard someone behind her. She turned her head and saw Gage standing there. “What are you doing?”
“You said come out,” he said as he jammed his phone in his back pocket.
Addy’s jaw tensed. “You know what I mean.”
“Like I said last week, Bernard told me to keep an eye on you. I’m not thrilled about sitting ou
t here in the dark, but it’s what they want. Malcolm’s stuck out here during the day.” Gage looked around and then focused on her, running his eyes up and down her outfit. “I thought you were home already—what’re you doing out so late?”
She really wanted to call him out on not even knowing she was gone, but since she didn’t want to have to explain where she’d been, she opted to just let it go.
“I was told at breakfast a few days ago that they weren’t concerned about the guy from the beach anymore.” Addy was beginning to boil over with anger. “Regardless of what Bernard says, I don’t wanna be watched. I’ll talk to Fate tomorrow and have you relieved of stalker duty.”
Gage smiled, tilting his head. He looked like he wanted to say something, but knew he shouldn’t.
Addy was annoyed and started walking away before she said something she might regret.
“When did you become like this?”
“Like what?” she asked over her shoulder, continuing to walk.
She heard his footsteps behind her and he caught her by the shoulders, stopping her. “Damn, Addy—just wait a minute.”
“What?” She didn’t turn around—she was still way too angry.
Gage didn’t say anything, but she heard him take a deep breath over the sound of the ocean. His hands were still on her shoulders and he slowly began running them down her arms. His palms covered the tops of her hands and he carefully laced his fingers through hers. Pulling her arms with his, he wrapped them around her.
Her first thought was that she must have mistakenly put on a shirt that said Free Hugs because just like last time, she found herself wrapped up in his arms through no fault of her own. Without thinking, she leaned her head back against him as she contemplated breaking free of his arms. Gage pulled her closer, making her feel dizzy. He leaned down to rest his chin on her shoulder. He smelled incredible and his soft breath near her neck sent chills through her.
Standing with Gage’s arms around her wasn’t exactly the worst thing that could’ve happened, but it was still awkward. He wasn’t saying anything and she was just about to tear herself away when he finally spoke.
“When did you become like this?” he asked again. He was speaking barely above a whisper. “You’re different than I remember—you’re not like I thought you’d be.”
Forcing her head to clear, she thought about his question. “I grew up, Gage. You’d know that if you hadn’t stopped being my friend. I tried to stay your friend, but you forgot about me.”
He dropped his arms, turning her around to face him.
“That’s what you think happened? I’m five years older than you Addy—you were still a kid when I could drive. I never—” He broke off, sounding hurt.
She turned her head away from him, unable to stand the expression on his face.
He slid his hands up her neck, and turned her face back to look at him. “I never forgot about you, I just grew up first.”
Addy was overwhelmed with emotions when she realized how hurt she actually felt about how he’d turned his back on her when they were younger. She knew she had to get away from Gage before the tears welling in her eyes fell in front of him.
Reaching up, she wrapped her fingers around his wrists and tugged his hands from her cheeks. “I gotta go.” She made a break for her door just as her eyes began stinging from burning tears.
Chapter 8