Chrysalis: The Emergence of Emery (The Gifted Series Book 1) (19 page)

“Why were you visiting that group of people, Kade?” I ask him narrowing my eyes. “Shouldn’t you be figuring out a way to get Sicily back?” I demand, my words causing a sharp pain to slice through Elijah and then, in turn, me.

“We were figuring out a plan,” Tess tells me quietly.

I look between Tess and Kade.

He sighs shaking his head. “I wanted to find out if they really were friendly,” he tells me. “I wanted to see if they truly believe that you are the Chosen One.” He smirks at me and I roll my eyes.

“And? What was your conclusion… oh Wise One?” I mock him with a wink.

“I’m not sure, I was only there for an hour before I felt your fear and rushed away. Their leader, Genna, she explained how they saw the future. She was very accommodating before I left.”

“I bet she was.” The words slip out of my mouth and I slap my hand across it as everyone except Kade bursts out laughing. He stares at me, his eyebrows pulled in.

Are you jealous?
He whispers into my head. I don’t answer him, but an image of a woman, a year or two older than me, long gray hair and cat like silver eyes passes through my brain. A smirk adorns her face and she wields a knife.

“Come on, it’s been a long few days. Let’s get some rest and talk over our plans on getting Sicily back tomorrow,” Kade says, and everyone gets up, moving in different directions to go to their rooms.

When everyone has gone, Kade walks over to me and pulls me out of my chair. “Emery, were you jealous?” he asks me again.

“Honestly, I don’t know,”
I answer, staring into his eyes. I’m not sure what my brain is trying to tell me, but I do know that there’s something I need to decipher when it comes to my instant feelings about Genna. I just need to be sure what they are before I share.

“You don’t ever need to be jealous,” he tells me coming closer. “When I met Elodie today, she threw me for about a second. Then I knew she wasn’t you,” he says cupping my cheek. “There’s only one woman I love. There is only one of you, Emery, and I’ll accept no poor substitutions,” he tells me leaning down and placing his lips on mine. He kisses me slowly, lovingly, before pulling back and looking into my eyes. “Remember, it’s always been you,” he tells me and just like always, those words wrap around me and make me feel safe and loved. “Today you used my powers, I could feel it draining me. I told you before that we were different to all other Piths, I think when we get a chance we need to look into that further. Even so, my mind hasn’t changed… if you’re in danger, you tap into my powers, Emery, even if it drains me.”

“Kade, the Convergence entered me today. It flows through me now.”

Kade stills and closes his eyes taking a breath through his nose and blowing it out of his mouth.

“If that is the case then why didn’t you use the power of the Convergence when we were fighting?” he asks softly.

“I don’t know. There was a green light and I knew it had entered me. I saw a bunch of women, all the ones who have come before. There was a reason it didn’t choose Elijah or you. It only takes women,” I tell him.

He tilts his head from one side to the other, clicking his neck.

“I know it’s in me, but so far the only thing I seem to have been given is a bunch of information. I can see things and I know things I never did before, I have no idea where the knowledge has come from, and to be honest, I wonder why I even need to know it, but that’s all it’s passed on to me so far.”

Kade runs his hand over my head and down my hair, threading his fingers around the back of my neck. “Everything that has come before and everything they foresee, it’s all being passed to you. You will have the rest of the Convergence power once you’ve been filled with knowledge,” he tells me. “I have read about it, but thought it was lore. Seems, however, that it is the way of the Convergence.”

He pulls me toward a bedroom and ushers me inside. “Go, take a shower and get ready for bed. I’ll be back,” he says, dropping a kiss on my forehead.

Ten minutes later and I’m finally alone. I find the quicker I move my brain from one thing to another, the quicker my thought process picks up until I’m not trying to think about anything at all, my brain just naturally carries me through a multitude of thoughts. It started when I climbed into the shower. Needing to get some space and not having had time to soak in the bath earlier like I wanted—Elijah having arrived sooner than I thought he would—the moment the hot water hit my skin my quiet introspection ran riot. I needed to push out the feelings rolling off everyone in the house, especially Elijah, he seemed unable to lock himself up today and I was suffocating in his emotions. Closing my eyes and trying to clear my head hadn’t worked. Instead my brain bounced from one thought to the other until ten new things passed through me every second. Now I can’t stop it and I can’t control it.

Suddenly, and without warning, everything stops and I see a picture behind my closed eyes. Molly. It’s like the Convergence is trying to pull me to her. It wants to slip into her. I haven’t seen Jenny and Molly for years. Not since they were rescued by their aunt. Sadness tingles down my spine as I wonder what they have been doing if they’re okay, and whether they are still close. I know I’ll be seeing them again, the Convergence wants Molly, and I don’t think I have a choice in the matter.

I sigh and lean forward resting my forehead against the tile, letting my arms hang by my sides. I can only hope that if this is the choice of the Convergence, it’s because pure goodness still flows through them both and that they don’t hate me when all is said and done.

After my shower I decide to stay in the room, I find some clean PJs in the closet and light the log fire in the corner of the room. The space isn’t big, but it’s old and therefore has lots to take in. The large window has twelve panes of glass all separated by thin pieces of wood in a rectangular pattern. The window ledge has names etched into it and on the inside of the frame going up the wall, are blue handprints which start small and get bigger. At first glance I think it’s a family, but with a better look I notice that the index finger has the same print on it, so it must be the same person as they were growing.

I hear the door open behind me, but I knew Kade was coming, I could feel him before he entered.

“You okay?” he questions clicking it shut.

“I can see the fingerprints,” I blurt.

“What?” he replies confused.

“Here,” I say pointing to the hands splayed up the inner window wall.

He walks over and wraps his arms around me, resting his chin on my shoulder.

“These hands, they get bigger. At first, I thought they were a family, you know… baby, child, teenager, mother, father. But then I looked closer and could see that the fingerprints match. I realized it’s the same person as they grew.”

He nods against my shoulder but says nothing as his warmth coats my back.

“I can see the fingerprints, that’s crazy,” I exclaim. “How can I see that? I mean, they’re tiny and probably years old.” I shake my head in wonder.

“Princess, you have gifts. You must know by now that anything is possible? Even so, Excelled Vision is one of the most basic of our powers. You used it when you saw Zed from the balcony of the hotel before… remember, you were seven floors up but could still see him.”

I still in his arms as my heart flutters.

“What is it?” Kade asks moving away, then turning me to face him.

“I’ve just remembered something. Elijah told me he suspected that the person who attacked and captured us was Zed, but it wasn’t him. I saw that man’s face. That day in the hotel, when I looked down seven flights, I saw Zed. Clearly. They weren’t the same person.”

Kade’s eyebrows cave and his eyes narrow, he glances to the door. “Then we need to find out who he was.” He turns back to me. “But not tonight.” He steps forward and claims my hand, pulling me toward the bed. “Tonight we rest.” He gets in and pulls me with him until I’m lying on his chest with his arms wrapped securely around me. He kisses the top of my head, and I close my eyes, feeling a peace envelop
e
me. “Kade, we should talk about our powers, and our connection,” I say softly as I lay tucked in his arms.

“I have a feeling we will be working this stuff out for the rest of our lives. Without someone to ask, we have no way of knowing anything for sure. What I do know is that you can use my powers at will. As I’ve explained before, that’s because you are classed as the Princess of your House, and as such, you can summon my powers whenever you need them.” He sighs and breathes against my hair. “The others can use the powers of their Piths, but to drain their other half completely they would need to have a Consume power, and typically that power only seems to naturally occur on the dark side.”

“Naturally occur?” I pick out the words that cause confusion.

“This power is one that can be developed.”

“You can do that?” I screech slightly amazed that I’m only now learning this.

“I don’t know,” Kade murmurs into my hair.

“What do you mean?” I ask, pushing myself back until I’m sitting upright, I twist myself so I’m looking back at him.

He rubs his forehead. “There is so much I don’t know, Emery. Like I’ve said before, a lot of it is lore. I don’t know what is true and what isn’t. They say that some powers can be developed, taught or learned. It supposedly takes a lot of time, and can kill those who are too weak. I don’t know if it’s true,” he tells me shrugging slightly.

“So why are we different?”

He leans forward and cups me around the back of the head, pulling me until my face is an inch from his. “Because you’re special,” he whispers, then kisses me on the lips. It’s chaste, and I’m lying back in his arms before I really know what’s happened. “With the others, tapping into each other’s powers doesn’t harm them, they can only use about twenty percent at any one time. You
,
Emery…you can take all my power, without even realizing it.”

“Why? How?” I fire the questions out, still confused.

“I told you before, baby, you need to be protected. It’s natural, the way things have always been. If someone was attacking you, and you needed to drain me to save yourself, that’s what I would expect you to do.” The words reverberate around my head and slowly piece together to cause a crack in my heart.

“But—” I try to argue.

“No. This isn’t a negotiation,” he says, and I can feel him tense against my cheek. “Anyway, if that time came you wouldn’t have a choice like you didn’t earlier.”

“That scared me,” I admit. “I can’t live without you,” I whisper.

“I know,” he tells me softer now as his warm breath blows across my face. “Sleep now, princess, there will always be more to discuss.”

I don’t really have a choice as I feel my eyelids drooping as sleep takes me.

The sun blinds me, and I blink trying to bring myself into the present.

“Em, you need to get up.” Elijah’s voice filters through the mush that is my brain.

“Where’s Kade?” I croak out.

“He’s gone to do some scoping.”

“Scoping?”

“Just get up, shower, throw some clothes on and come down to the kitchen, you can have breakfast and we’ll fill you in,” he tells me. Then he leans over, kissing my forehead before moving to the door and leaving me alone. I stretch my arms out behind my head and they slip under the pillows. Something catches my hand and I pull at it.

It’s a note from Kade.

Morning Princess,

You looked so serene sleeping, and you still need to rest, so I left you be. I’ll be out for a few hours, but I’ll see you later. Don’t leave the house, and make sure to keep Elijah up to date if anything new passes to you from the Convergence.

Remember,

It’s always been you
,
Emery.

I clutch the piece of paper to my chest like a silly schoolgirl.

Rushing through my shower, I find more clothes in the closet and dresser. Then slipping the note into the back pocket of my jeans, I make my way downstairs.

“We’re going to break their shit. His too.” The voice belongs to Tristan and I stop, shocked at the vehemence in his tone. Tristan is the joker, he’s always making me laugh and seems light-hearted most of the time. I move again, purposely bouncing around the corner, trying to inject something lighter into the atmosphere.

“There she is!” Tristan stands up and walks over pulling me in for a hug, all the anger has disappeared and he’s back to being the guy I’ve grown close to.

I hold him. “We’re going to get Sicily back, right?” I ask.

He pulls back and looks me straight in the eye. “Oh, hell yeah!” His reply is firm, confident.

I make my way over to the table and sit next to Tess, she’s studying her hands and biting her lip, nervousness spills out of every inch of her body. I sit down next to her and know I have to finally do this. “Tess, I’m sorry I used the Entrance power on you, in my defense I didn’t realize I was using it, and what’s even worse is that I’ve left it so long to apologize to you. I know you were away on different missions, and we haven’t had a lot of time together, but I should have made the time to say sorry.”

She looks up at me. “Don’t beat yourself up about it. I know you didn’t realize what you were doing, I’m not mad. And anyway, we have been on different schedules for the last while so don’t sweat it.”

I nod at her answer. “What’s up then?” I question, feeling something else is bothering her.

“I was getting close to Miles,” she tells me dropping her gaze back down to the table.

I jerk my head back at her reply, I’m unsure what that has to do with anything, and my silence makes her glance back at me. She obviously reads my confusion well.

“Miles is dark.” Her words make my chest compress. “I should have known, I could have stopped him.” She’s very clearly beating herself up inside for this.

“Why is this on you? Hasn’t Miles been here for a while?” I ask.

Tristan comes and sits next to me, placing his hand on my shoulder. “Yeah, he’s been with us for a couple of years. It isn’t Tess’s fault,” he says, his voice flat like it isn’t the first time he’s said the words or tried to convince Tess of her innocence, something she’s obviously struggling with.

“He dated Sicily before he came here. Only for a short while, maybe three months before she split with him. She has always had a thing for Elijah,” he says glancing across the room to my brother. “Even though he was blind to it until recently. At that point Tess wasn’t living with us. She was still staying with our Aunt and Uncle over on the south side, I guess she met Miles and they dated.” Tristan’s jaw ticks as he tells the story. “About a year after Tess moved in with us, Miles followed. It was awkward at first, but Miles convinced us all that he was into Tess. Kade was the last to take the bait. He never trusted him though. Never.”

“I brought him in here and now he’s betrayed us,” Tess whimpers.

“Hey, stop it, he had us all fooled.” Tristan’s voice is warm as he comforts his sister, slipping his arm around her shoulder and hugging her to him.

Without warning a crippling pain flows up my spine, and I can’t help the scream that rips from my throat as my body automatically arches.

“Someone has her in a Command Grip, I’m going outside. Watch them,” Elijah orders Tristan.

I can’t think clearly as a throbbing engulfs my head, and I can feel the internal battle my body is waging, trying to keep control while someone else is attempting to climb into me, endeavoring to take over. The pain running down my spine spreads across the backs of my legs and up my arms, it feels like my skin is being ripped from my flesh. I have to close my eyes.

No! Stop!
I scream and instantly everything stops. There’s no movement, no sound, no life. I slowly open my eyes back up and realize I’ve frozen
everything.

Princess.
I hear Kade whisper to me. I jerk and know to my bones that this is his power, the one that slows time, that’s what I’m using, which means I could be draining him. I close my eyes once more and without a second thought I scream, S
tart!
Into the darkness behind my eyelids. The pain comes back all at once and in full force bringing me to my knees, but I know that I’d do anything to keep from hurting Kade.

“Emery, I have you.” I hear Tristan whisper as he lifts me into his arms, cradling my body to his. “Just breathe, sweetheart. Elijah will stop them. Kade will be here soon, nothing’s going to hurt you.” I feel his breath caressing my face and try to focus on his warmth, knowing that Kade won’t be far away. It takes everything I have to try and ignore the agony inside. It’s like it’s alive and trying to spread from the inside out.