Rogue Wave (The Water Keepers, Book 2) (12 page)

“Honey, you were the one who talked me into dating him in the first place,” she reminded me.

“But maybe I was wrong about him. Something feels off about him now. I can’t explain it.”

She smiled warmly and rubbed my back. “Sweetie, it’s natural to be concerned. This is the first man I’ve been serious with since your father left, and he’s been taking up a lot of my time that would normally be spent with you. It’s understandable that you would start to feel threatened or jealous.”

“Jealous?” I scoffed. “No, Mom, that’s not it. That’s not what I meant.” I shifted toward her and lowered my voice. “I think I saw him talking to some bad people the other day. I seriously think he’s up to something. Like, maybe even something illegal.”

Mom’s face wrinkled dismissively. “Oh sweetheart, don’t be silly. You’re being paranoid. Mark’s a good man. I’ve known him for years.”

I folded my arms. “I just…I don’t think he’s good for you.”

Her eyes focused on the grass a few feet away. “Sadie-bear, I know this is a major adjustment for you. And I’m so sorry you have to deal with any of this. But, please, give Mark a chance—for me.”

I wanted to protest, but I wasn’t sure what to say.

Mom gazed at me pensively. “Sometimes the things we want most, or even the things that are good for us that we don’t even realize we want…can be the scariest. You were the one who made me realize I didn't want to be alone the rest of my life. And I’m really glad that you did. Maybe no man out there will ever compare to your father, but he made his choice a long time ago and I have to find a way to move on. I have to give this relationship a real chance.”

Mom’s voice perked up. “You know what? I think you just helped me make up my mind about the weekend trip. I
do
want to go with Mark. I think I’m ready to move things to the next level.”

“Mom, don't,” I said. “I have a really bad feeling about this.”

“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” she said, squishing my cheeks playfully between her hands. “Everything will work out. You’ll see.”

Mom’s hands dropped abruptly from my cheeks at the sound of screeching tires. We both looked up with stunned faces at a sleek black car that stopped suddenly in front of our yard. It just sat there, idling, almost…threatening. Through the dark, an image flashed in my mind, an image of a memory that sent chills through my limbs. It was the day Voss, the black-eyed man, spoke to me on the street, before I knew who he was. He came out of a car just like this one.

Another squeal rang from the tires. Then the black car sped around the circle at the end of our street and pulled back toward us.

11. ASH GOES FOR A DRIVE

After a solid hour of driving up and down the highway, Ash screeched the brakes to a halt, all at once realizing where he had subconsciously directed himself. He cut the headlights immediately. As far as he knew, Rayne was still in Banya, but Ash couldn’t be too sure, and the last thing he needed was to be spotted idling outside Rayne’s front gate. Not to mention that the girl and her mother lived right across the street. He was being careless, impetuous. This was the last place he should be.

He glared at the two houses on either side of him. Rayne’s house appeared empty, but as he turned back to look across the street, he found two female faces staring at him, wide-eyed, from a few yards away.

Ash realized his mistake and peeled forward to the end of the cul-de-sac then squealed around the circle to turn back in the direction he had come. Of course, now that he thought about it, his windows were tinted too dark for the girl to see his face. And if anything, if she did recognize the car, maybe it wouldn’t hurt to let her know he was nearby. After all, the two of them would meet again before the night was through.

Ash screeched his stealthy black vehicle to a halt again, right in front of the girl’s house. This time he waited there deliberately just to mess with their heads. When he saw a small twitch of fear on the girl’s face, Ash laughed once to himself before leaving the two ladies behind to eat his exhaust.

Ash stopped the car only a couple blocks away, backing up into a stranger’s driveway behind a circle of tall bushes. This way, he could watch for Rayne’s car without being noticed.

He had spent the last hour angry and sulking, but now he had to get focused. Most likely, Rayne wouldn’t be back for several hours, but Ash had to make sure he could get to the girl before Rayne did.

Ash retrieved the tracker device from his pocket and scrolled through all the communications they had intercepted. Most of it was boring, everyday drivel between Rayne and his sweet little Sadie; phone calls, texts, late night strolls, conversations under the stars. Ash didn’t know whether to throw up or cry.

The truth was, half the reason why the two of them were so irritating in the first place, was because they were so annoyingly perfect together. Why should Rayne Stevens deserve someone like her? What about Ash? Why didn’t he have someone to act like a stupid, sappy idiot with? Of course, Sadie didn’t even know she came from noble blood, but he had to wonder, would it even make a difference if she did?

Ash was the one who was supposedly born into the easy life, into a family with money and status and connections. Everyone wanted an excuse to know him—until Rayne came along. There was never even a question that Ash would be accepted into the Academy as a youth, yet he was never truly happy.

And nobody loved him.

Rayne Stevens was a farmhand when they first met…a nobody. But he was always so freaking
happy
. It was probably because everything seemed to go his way without him ever having to try. He’d never even been to the Academy growing up, and suddenly, one day out of the blue, Hamlin Fairbanks drops an application into Rayne’s lap. And what kind of arrogant…
jerk
gets offered a position in the Scout Training Program and turns it down?

Ash’s teeth ground together, remembering that day. Rayne had sauntered into their dorm room like such a big prick he could have been a cactus spine. At least, that was how Ash liked to remember it.

“Did you get your scores?” Rayne had blurted as he bounded through the doorway. Could the guy rub it in Ash’s face any harder?

“Um, yeah,” Ash answered quietly. “I just got off the phone with my father.”

“So...? Was his pride ready to explode out of his chest or what?” Rayne asked cheerfully, already assuming that Ash had passed with flying colors.

Ash tossed the phone on his bed. “Not exactly.”

Rayne’s expression lost some of its fervor. “Why not?”

“I called him up thinking he would finally be really happy for me, you know? But he said he already knew my scores. Even though I passed, he said he was disappointed in me because too many of the students that took the exams scored higher than me. He said, and these are his words, not mine,
Even your little farm-boy friend, Rayne, scored higher than you
.”

Rayne paused. “Yeah, but…you stayed out all night having a good time, while I was home with my nose stuck in a book, studying my butt off. And we still scored close to the same. Did you tell him
that
?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Ash said. “My father already thinks I’m a big failure no matter what I do. He would just tell me I should have applied myself more. Even if I got the second highest score in our class it wouldn’t have been enough, because it wasn’t the first. I knew I should have studied more.”

Rayne plopped down next to Ash on his bed with that big goofy grin he always wore. “Ash…buddy…” Rayne said, throwing his arm casually around Ash’s shoulder. “You just got accepted into the most difficult and prestigious program in existence on the entire planet of Ambrosia. If your dad can’t see how great that is, then he doesn’t deserve to be proud…because he doesn’t deserve to have a son as great as you.”

“That doesn’t really help,” Ash said, but a smile was already leaking across his face. “But…at least I’ll have
your
sorry face around, making me look good in all of our new Scout classes.”

“Oh right,” Rayne said, dropping his arm to his side again. “Actually, there was something I needed to tell you.”

Ash’s brow creased. “What is it?”

“I’m not going to join the Scout program. I’m going to be a Keeper.”

“What? Why?” Ash demanded. “Is it because of your upbringing? They can’t keep you out just because you don’t have the right last name. I’ll go talk to my father; he can change their minds.”

Rayne shook his head. “No, it’s okay. That’s not what happened.”

“Then, what?” Ash said, confused.

“They offered me a place in the program, but…I turned them down. I told them I would prefer to be a Keeper.”

A look of both surprise and disgust plagued Ash’s face. “You turned them down? To be a Keeper? Are you out of your mind? No one has ever turned down the position of a Scout before. That’s just… Are you crazy?”

“I just think the Keeper program sounds like a better fit for me. You know me, I don’t really want all the danger and glory and all that.”

“But think about what you’d be giving up,” Ash said. “The status, the girls, the money. Your family would never have to sell another lizzy fruit again.”

“Yeah, I know. But a Keeper still makes a really good living. I could still help out my family. And to be honest, even if somebody gave them all the money in the world, they’d probably just keep on doing what they’ve always done anyway. My parents love working in the orchard.”

Bright headlights drove past on the street, kicking Ash out of his thoughts, but the car that passed wasn’t Rayne’s. Ash pictured the Range Rover and laughed once to himself. Did Rayne really even give anything up in the long run?

The very next day after they got their scores and Rayne turned down the Scout position, the Ambassador called Rayne into his office again and told him they were creating a whole new program at the Academy just for him—The Advanced Keeper Program. Like Rayne was some kind of prodigy, just because he didn’t want to take on all the difficult tasks required by a Scout.

Now Rayne was getting paid almost as much as a Scout, and he was even given the sign and status of a Scout on his wrist, the tattoo of a banyan tree.

To top it all off, Rayne was in love with the Ambassador’s daughter now, too. And from what Ash could gather, she was in love with him back. Both their lives were just a little too cute and perfect for Ash to stomach. But sweet little Sadie would be in for a surprise tonight, and it wouldn’t be a nice surprise. Ash would make sure of that.

12. RAYNE CHANGES THE PLAN

Rayne shoved the key in the ignition of the white pickup truck he had waiting for him on the other side of the Threshold, but he sat idling in the parking lot outside the Hall of Clocks, angry at himself. He stared at the large, decorative building in front of him that had been built around the Threshold entrances long ago, located up in the hillside on the grounds of the Ambassadors Academy.

In Banya, there were several Threshold locations that connected to different parts of Earth, but the Hall of Clocks had the largest collection of Thresholds all in one place. There were six towering walls of shimmering light lined up next to each other with three on each side, like a massive, illuminated hallway reaching deep into the hillside.

The natural, cave-like exterior surrounding each of the Threshold entrances was now completely concealed, covered with marble pillars and archways, and a lofty ceiling carved with intricacies like the furnishings of a palace. The most striking feature of all inside the grand building was the array of massive clocks built into the vaults of the ceiling above each Threshold entrance, each fashioned with a unique design, representing the current time and city it led to on Earth. And, at the very center of the ceiling was the glorious dome clock, representing Banya, a shimmering sphere of iridescent glass that refracted a rainbow of colored lights.

Within just minutes of passing through the Threshold to the Hall of Clocks, Rayne had regained a complete awareness of every single, ridiculous mistake he had made in the last twenty-four hours. He had acted like a complete buffoon. Not only had he barely made it to the Threshold border before his mind had slipped away, but his judgment was so impaired that he hadn’t even realized he was in danger in the first place.

This was unacceptable.

He didn’t even think to contact Sadie and let her know he was leaving. She would have no way to get a hold of him if anything were to happen. He didn’t even remember to bring the diary with him when he left for the drop point. He always brought it with him, just in case.

And then there was Sadie and all the kissing. A grin emerged at the edge of Rayne’s lips, remembering…

He caught himself and pushed out the thought. He couldn’t waste any time daydreaming. He had to contact Hamlin, get whatever Healing Water he could, and cross back through the Threshold as quickly as possible.

Rayne’s truck screeched onto the dim street that wound through the heart of the Academy grounds as he drove off the campus property without a pause. The Academy was located up near the edge of the lush hills, but the center of the city was just a short drive away.

Fifteen minutes later, he parked on a city street in the heart of Banya, in front of a string of quaint shops that were closed for the night, with only a few dim lights showing through the apartment windows in the floors above them. There were only a handful of payphones left around the city, but Rayne knew the exact location of each.

He glanced briefly up and down the sidewalk, lined with flowery trees, to survey the area, and then picked up the phone receiver to dial.

Hamlin’s assistant, Morinia, answered in a pleasant tone. “Ambassador Fairbanks’ office.”

Rayne kept his voice level. In order to follow protocol, he would speak using the previously designated code. “Good evening,” he said. “This is Smithton Cleaners calling regarding Mr. Fairbanks’ garment delivery. We apologize, but we’re afraid his delivery has been delayed.”