Dissever (Unbinding Fate Book One) (36 page)

“She died giving birth to my
dad.” Addy told him, still looking around. “I was specifically told she was
here—right with my parents.”

Tanner examined the place
where her coffin should’ve been. “It doesn’t look like another coffin was ever
here, girlie.”

Addy walked out of the room
because the smell was too much to take. Tanner followed and closed the door
behind them.

“I don’t know what to think.”
She shook it off and decided she had to deal with one thing at a time. “I guess
I’ll talk to my brother about it when things settle down and I can tell him we
were here.”

They searched every statue
in the crypt and came up empty. As a last resort, they began pressing on all of
the stones and stepping on every brick in the floor. There was no book to be
found.

“I was so sure we’d find it,”
Addy said, leaning against the sarcophagus in the middle of the room. “Sorry
for dragging you all the way here.”

Tanner moved next to her and
sat on top of the sarcophagus. “If the music thing doesn’t work out I can add
grave robbing to my resume thanks to this trip.”

Addy shrugged her shoulders.
“I guess it was worth it then.” Tipping her head back, she was about to close
her eyes when she suddenly grabbed his arm and pointed up.

“What?” He shined his flashlight
in the direction she was pointing. “Who’s climbing up there?”

“Give me a boost.” She
tucked her flashlight into her pocket and jumped up on top of Oren Sanders’
sarcophagus.

Tanner stood up and lifted
her as high as he could; she ended up standing on his shoulders. The angel
perched on top was holding a book in its hand. With his help, she was just able
to reach it.

“It’s part of the statue—it
doesn’t come off.” She smoothed her fingers along the hand of the angel that
was grasping the book, and then along the book itself. “It’s made of stone or
something—definitely not marble like the angel.”

“Break it off then.” Tanner
wrapped his fingers around her calf to steady her. “And hurry up—you’re heavier
than you look.”

“Sorry family angel guy.”
Addy braced herself, taking the end of her flashlight and pounding on the book.
“It sounds hollow.”

She continued pounding on it
and after a little more effort pieces started breaking away.

“I’m getting pelted with
debris so something must be happening up there.” Tanner shifted her weight to
his other shoulder. “Can I get an update?”

“Bring me down!”

He lowered her and they
jumped to the floor together. Addy stood in front of him and flipped her light
around to shine on a small brown leather bound book.

Chapter 33

“The book is empty,” Tanner
said, handing it over to Bernard in his office. “The only thing written on the
inside is the name
Oren Sanders.”

Addy couldn’t speak. All her
hopes of getting Gage back and ending what Eva did to her family were dashed.

It was 7am when they got
back to Tremain from Kentucky. Tanner called Bernard from the car and asked him
to meet them. Bernard said Jax was doing better but was still weak, and that he
was going to summon Eva in the afternoon.  He covered for Addy and he didn’t
think anyone ever realized she was gone from the estate.

They chatted with Bernard
for a few minutes while he examined the book, but they were both exhausted.
Tanner said he would drop their gear off in the weapons vault on his way back
to the resort. He gave Addy a pat on the shoulder and told her he’d be back
later.

Addy grabbed Oren’s book and
headed back to her villa too. She needed to rest, shower, and see her cat.

Awakened by the cat banging
a toy into the wall
repeatedly
, she looked at the clock and was shocked
to see she’d been out for five hours. She hadn’t meant to fall asleep for so
long. She took a hot shower, dried her hair, and then put on a pair of cropped
jeans and a white lacy tank-top with her flip-flops. She ran her fingers along
her cat charm while looking in the mirror. The sick feeling of finding the
empty book washed over her again.

Tanner was probably back
already and if Jax was well enough, they’d be starting the summoning. She also needed
to get word to Matt that she had Oren’s book and break the news that it was
blank. She tucked the book into her bag and headed for the main house.

Addy checked the library first,
but it was empty. The painting on the wall of Andrew and Eva had new meaning to
her after seeing the crypt and knowing what Eva had done to her family. She
stared at it for a minute then shifted her eyes down at the magic marker symbol
on the floor. She decided to go see her brother.

Juliette answered when Addy
knocked on the door to the south wing of the house.

“Jax, your
sister
finally
decided to grace you with her presence,” she said, leading Addy into his
sitting room.

She ignored Juliette’s
comment and sat down next to Jax. He had a thick bandage on his arm and hand.
She noticed that the bracelet he always wore with the different Akori symbols
was on his other wrist. He raised his eyebrows at Juliette. With a huff she
walked out, closing the door hard.

Addy smiled at him. “How do
you feel?”

He grabbed the remote and
flipped the TV off. “Good enough to finish the summoning.”

“Right.” Addy looked around
the room, noticing how many books were piled around on the floor. “Meeting Eva
should be a
blast.”

She’d never actually sat
with her brother talking normally, but after a few minutes of awkwardness, they
chatted easily. He told her that he’d always lived in the house she found him
at, but traveled with Mitchell frequently and went to a lot of big Akori
events. That’s where he met many of the Akori who were staying at the estate.

“How’d you make it nineteen
years pretending to be an Akori without any symbols?” Addy asked, eyeing the
tops of his hands. “No one noticed?”

“I jammed my hands in my pockets
when I had to and wore extra long sleeves. That took care of it most of the
time. But when we traveled or went to events I had to have fake marks. Jules is
a pro at drawing them—they look
completely
genuine.”

The conversation made her
realize that Jax was a big part of the life she and Gage were hidden from. He
was probably a big reason Fate kept them away from all things Akori.

Jax picked at the edge of
the tape that held his bandage in place. “I saw you once when we were kids.”

She turned sideways on the
davenport to face him. “You did—
where?”

He lifted his eyes toward
her. “In Vail. Mitchell met up with grandfather at a ski resort and he took me
with him.”

“How old were we?”

“Ten. You were snowboarding
with some other kids—probably Gage, Matt and Renee.”

“I actually
remember
that trip. Gage didn’t get to go because he was grounded. I took one of his
boards without asking and wrecked it—he was
so
pissed at me.”

Jax smiled thinly and got to
his feet. “We should head downstairs.”

“Oh ok—right.” She was taken
aback by his quick shift in direction. “I have one thing to do first, and then
I’ll meet you there.” She stood up and gave him a hug that was more genuine
than any other time she’d hugged him.

Addy walked fast to Kim’s
room. As usual, she waved to the guards and found Kim sitting on her bed
reading.

Closing the door behind her,
she sat down on the bed.

“Tanner and I found Oren’s
book.” She pulled it out for Kim to see and explained how they’d traveled to
the crypt.

“That’s an odd cover. My
parents’ store has a lot of old books, but this one is really unique looking.”
Kim carefully took the book and opened it.  Panic quickly spread across her
face as she flipped through the pages. “It’s
blank.”

She looked as bad as Addy
felt.

“Without any information we
can’t get Gage back.” The words hung up in her throat. “It was all a waste.”

Kim put her arms around Addy.
“It’s not over, we’ll think of something else.” She pulled away and began to
sniff the book. “What’s that odor?”

“The book probably smells
like the crypt, which was
rancid
to say the least.”

Kim continued to smell the
book.

Addy raised her eyebrows. “You
ok?”

“I’m just thinking about
something my parents showed me once at the book store.” Kim stood up and walked
over to her lamp, removing the shade.

“Bernard already checked it
out, he couldn’t see anything.”

Kim held the page over the
light, looking through it. “Just wait.”

It was a few minutes before
Kim spoke again; she just stared at the page over the lamp.

“Addy, come look.”

Examining it carefully, Addy
could see something dark forming on the page.

Kim bit her lip and looked
over at Addy. “Can you tell Doris to come up here and bring an iron?”

“Yeah, but I don’t
understand.” Addy looked from Kim to the page over the light bulb.

“I don’t think the book’s
blank,” Kim said, holding another page over the bulb. “I just need a little
time and an iron to be sure.”

Going as fast as possible
without actually running, she found Doris in Bernard’s office with him. She
explained what Kim was up to. He told Addy to go to the library before Jax came
looking for her and that he and Doris would check out what Kim found.

Addy really didn’t wanna go,
but she knew if she missed the summoning Jax would know something was going on.
She told Bernard to let her know as soon as they had something and hurried from
his office to the library.

Ahead of her down the
corridor, Juliette was entering the library behind Tanner. Addy wanted to call
out to him to wait so she could tell him that Kim may’ve found something, but the
last thing she wanted to do was alert Juliette.

Before she even entered the
library door, she could already smell the blood. Stubbs and Will were down on
the floor with the buckets, painting it carefully on top of the magic marker
outline. The sight made her stomach churn and she wondered how her life had
gotten so twisted.

Jax had the Overseer’s Stone
on the nearby table, and he and Juliette were going over the book one last time.
Tanner was seated on the chaise by the fireplace. When he saw her, he motioned
for her to sit next to him.

“I’m sorry Oren’s book was a
bust.” He whispered so quietly she could barely hear him.

She looped her arm through
his, tugging him toward her. “It might not be.” She looked around to make sure
no one was paying attention to them. “Kim thinks she found something on the
pages.”

Tanner gaped at her. “What—
how?”

 Addy glanced around before
answering and Jax was already walking toward her. It was like he had an alarm
that went off anytime she got too close to Tanner.

Jax reached his uninjured
hand out and pulled her to her feet. “We’re ready.”

They gathered around the
table. Will, Stubbs, and Tanner on one side, and Juliette and Addy on the
other. Jax stood at the end with the stone.

Jax didn’t usually have blue
Akori marks on his hands, but when he touched the stone, they appeared bright
and glowing. The circle on the floor began to shine with the same blue color.
It continued for several minutes and Addy was starting to think that maybe Will
was wrong, and Eva hadn’t come back yet.

At last, a swirling started
in the center of the circle. Wet blood splattered around on the floor and a
figure began to take shape. Long blond hair whipped around and the gold Akori
robes she wore twisted against her body.

They all stared, mesmerized
by what was unfolding in front of their eyes.

“Eva…” Stubbs said under his
breath.

Suddenly all of the whirling
stopped and Jax pulled his fingers from the stone.

In the center of the bloody circle,
looking flabbergasted stood Eva. She was incredibly beautiful just like in the
painting on the wall, only she wasn’t smiling now.

Stubbs walked over to face
her. “You’ve caused me to take some drastic steps to get an audience with you, my
sister.”

“Sister?” Addy repeated as she
and Tanner looked at each other.

Eva still seemed to be processing
what was happening and she gave him a long look, assessing him. “Andrew, what
have you done to yourself?”

He motioned to his hair and
face as she studied him. “I’ve aged while waiting for you—my only choice was to
wait here for you to return.”

“Andrew? Stubbs is Andrew?” Addy
whipped her head around to check out the painting of him on the wall. She shook
her head, wondering how she never saw it before. She noted that Will, Jax, and
Juliette didn’t share her and Tanner’s surprise at the revelation.