Spring Tide (33 page)

He walked swiftly across the deck toward me, anger in his eyes. “Get up!”

I stood, confused. When he was three feet away from me, blue light shot from his eyes into mine. I was powerless to move, speak, or see. When his light stopped, I suddenly dropped to my knees.

“What the hell!” I slapped away his hand and got up on my own.

“Sorry. This is one of those things it’s easier to show you than tell you.” He waved two fingers in front of his eyes. “Do not ever, ever, ever let another capture your eyes like I just did … ever.” He put his hands firmly on my shoulders. “Hey!”

“Dude!” I tried to take a step.

He gave me a small shake. “You need, truly need to understand this. That’s how important it is, so I’ll say it again. Do not ever let another take your eyes. Throwing light from your eyes is a very powerful tool. It’s strenuous, takes tons of practice, and you need to know how to do it. When my light was in your eyes, I whispered for you to get on your knees and it happened. If I would’ve whispered to you to get a shovel and hit me on the head, you would have done it the second my light stopped. If I told you that you weren’t friends with Sarah you’d stop taking her calls. You’d reject her.”

“No way.”

“Yes way. We rarely put our light in the eyes of humans unless it’s critical because it’s so controlling.”

I dusted my hands. “You put me on my knees.”

“I’m sorry. It’s the first thing I came up with on the fly.”

“How is this any different from whispers?”

“They’re both spells but how the spell is cast is what drives the result. Whispers are like strong suggestions. Take Joshua: on some level he knew what he was doing to you was wrong which is why my whisper worked. Brights don’t force. We try for people. Now, throwing light in someone’s eyes while whispering a spell—it’s a done deal, lasts a good long time. It’s something that only experienced spellcasters might be able to unwork. So you wanna try, get me back? Make me eat peanut butter?” He cringed at the thought.

“No. That really bothered me. And for someone who’s all about timing, your timing blows. I missed the best part of the sunset.” Curiosity knocked twice. “Okay, how?”

“The easiest way is to be very, very angry.”

“You know that’s not in me. And how could you be mad at me like that?”

“I thought back to when you told me you didn’t want to see me. I was hurt but I was furious with you.”

I waved him off and went back to my chair and my book.
To make me get down on my knees—where’s the creativity?
I would have been far happier to have been made to jump up and down or clap like a seal,
arrr arrr arrr
. He yanked my book out of my hands and that was it. Green light shot from my eyes, but his were already firing. His light forced mine back, much the same as when we fought using the energy from our hands. It was taking every bit of my concentration to try to overtake him. The exercise was so hard, like trying to work a muscle that had never been used. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I opened them and saw that he was smiling.

“That was good, really good.” He sat beside me. “You did the right thing by closing your eyes. You can also turn away.”

“So the light from my eyes doesn’t sting like the light from my fingers?”

“Exactly. Please don’t be mad at me, hon. It’s extremely important that you know how to do this. I couldn’t have done what you did so early in my awareness. It takes time before you can dominate another with your eyes.”

Important or not, I was still miffed about being put on my knees.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

“Kris.” His voice was seductive, the glow in his eyes deepening as they stared into the blankness of hers. “Yes, that’s right. There’s a man who comes to see you from time to time. He talks to you like I am and his eyes are dark. Do you remember him, Kris?”

“He’s my angel.”

“What has he said to you, Kris?”

“He said you would hurt me.” Her fingers flexed.

“What else has he said to you?”

“That when he calls for me I need to come to him alone.”

“Who do you see right before you hear the angel’s voice, Kris?”

She looked left and down. “Troy.”

“What does Troy look like?”

“Tall, dark, and handsome.”

“Has he touched you, Kris?”

“Yes.”

“Where has he touched you?”

“My face, neck,” a staggered breath came from her lips, “a lot of places.”

His hands balled at his sides. “Does he kiss you?”

“Yes.”

“I will never hurt you, Kris. Remember that I love you. Does Jericho love you, Kris?”

“Yes. I love him too.”

He walked stiffly to the other side of the deck, the arteries in his neck pulsing with his fists.

_______

I
t had been a relatively normal day, not that I knew what normal was anymore, but during dinner he was unusually quiet. He’d come around or I’d bring him around. As I started the dishes, he took the plate from my hand and led me back to the dining table.

“There’s something I’ve needed to tell you and I can’t put it off any longer. Someone I know has been coming to see you the past few months. He put a spell on you when you were ordinary so that you have no memory of his visits, but when you hear his voice, you believe what he tells you and will do whatever he asks. It’s called “entrancement,” is more than a whisper but less than throwing light from the eyes. He’s been waiting for your awareness because he wants you. That’s why I didn’t want you to be alone. I didn’t want him to have any opportunity to do more damage.”

I perused my memories, looking for a stranger I wouldn’t remember. A full minute passed, my lips prepared to say words that my brain wouldn’t give them. “Who? Five months? He’s Chosen or something else?”

“We’re brights: you, me, Donovan, Julia, Fred, Kelly. There’re also darks. They were bright once but turned away from their purpose, gave up on the bright life. Their energy is extremely powerful. They’re very different from us.”

“Like how?”

“Their souls and their magic are fueled by pain and anger. I really didn’t want to talk to you about this so soon.” He made figure eights on the tabletop with his finger. “Darks convert brights, bend us to their hatred, making us like them. Or they kill us. Your visitor is a dark. He’s the strongest dark I’ve ever encountered and his evil … there hasn’t been anyone like him in our world for a long, long time.” He put his hand on my arm. “We need to move, get away from here so you have a chance to ramp up your abilities.”

“Move? Move where? Slow down.” I stuttered partial words for thirty seconds before I arrived at a question. “If he was coming to me when I was alone, how would you know?”

“His signature. He’s been in the area many, many times. And because he’s dark, his kind gives off a chill that lingers for a few minutes or sometimes hours. I’ve felt that chill at The Bakery, on the beach, in your car, and on your body.”

“On my body? Where on my body?”

“The point is, now that you’re aware, it’s only a matter of time before he visits you again and sees that you’re live. His eyes are dark. Something about him would have an effect on you. Does that sound like anyone?”

“What’s he gonna do to me?”
What’s he already done?
I got up and went to the other side of the table.

“I’m not gonna let him do anything to you, but since he’s been seeing you he’s formed a tie to your mind.”

I walked out to the deck, the nails of my left hand drawing long, white lines on my right arm.
I need a cigarette. I don’t smoke. The pasta’s drying onto the dishes.
“So you’re telling me this person, this dark who I wouldn’t remember, has been messing with my head and I’ll do whatever he wants when I hear his voice? Yeah? Then I’m screwed!” I took four steps and stopped.
It was unnaturally cold at The Bakery.
“Is he the guy who beat me up?”

“No. The guy who hurt you was human, entranced to do it. I think the dark made that happen in an attempt to force your awareness. Sweetheart, look at me. I will die before I let him take you away.” He put his arms around me.

I pushed him back. “You should have told me about this before, like right after the assault!”

“You were unaware. You would’ve thought I was clinically insane. And once you were aware, I wanted to give you a few weeks to adjust and work on your magic. Do you know who it is?”

“No!” I suddenly understood months of his past behavior: his worry, his scans for signatures, his questioning whenever I’d been out alone.

I’d nearly come to terms with who we were, our love, and my life and everything had become wrong again. When was the dark going to come? I couldn’t defend myself adequately. What about J?

“Kris.” Jericho’s voice was seductive, the glow in his eyes deepening.

“Kris.” His voice was normal.

“Huh? What were we talking about?”

“You know Troy?”

“Yeah, nice guy, super polite. He was a regular at The Bakery. I’d see him on the beach every so often, went for a walk with him once or twice. He helped me bring in groceries before you got back from Ireland. You know him?”

His eyes got big. “He was at my house?”

“For like a minute.”

“Troy isn’t his name. His name is Devon.”

“No. The guy I’m talkin’ about is named Troy. We’re friends, kinda.”

“Appearances are deceiving. Troy is Devon. He’s the one that’s coming for you. Tall, dark, and handsome—”

“Hold on. You said you felt a chill on me and Troy’s never touched me, not once, has never been in my car.”

“Kris, I just did the same thing to you that he’s been doing and you told me it was him.”

My eyebrows came together. “You enthralled me?”

“Entranced. It makes me sick that I did it, but there was no other way to find out what he’s planning and what he’s done.”

Something he’d said must’ve hit the rewind button in my brain because I suddenly remembered the day when I’d gone from zero to Jericho is Satan. There was a half-eaten cherry turnover on the patio table at the Black’s and Troy was all about flaky pastry. “Troy’s the one who made me afraid of you?”

He nodded. “I can only guess that you came back to me in October, and have stayed with me, even though you’d been entranced, because our connection was already there.”

“If not for our connection, I wouldn’t’ve come back.”

Troy?
He didn’t give me the creeps. But I forgot to give him his change every single time he came to The Bakery, and his voice had a quality that the compression waves couldn’t interpret. And he’d asked about Jericho once.
Appearances are deceiving …
“So Devon doesn’t have dark hair and …”

He shook his head.

I’d never thought about it before but Troy’s hair was the same shade as Derek’s. His face was similar in shape to Derek’s and Troy’s build and height were comparable to Jericho’s.
Troy knew my preferences? How can I trust anything I see? Who’s standing two feet away from me right now?

I jumped back, my hand held out, fingers ready. “Are you … you? Show me who you really are.”

“I’m me. Kris, I am. Changing appearance is an advanced dark skill that only a very few can do. Even if brights could do it, they wouldn’t. Masking your identity serves no purpose. And making a likeness and holding that illusion onto your body requires heavy-duty concentration. When I’m asleep and not thinking who do I look like?”

“You.”

“That’s because this is who I am. I can’t change how I look.”

“Swear?”

“On your soul and mine.”

Air rushed from my lungs but didn’t alleviate the anxiety I was feeling.

“We need to move. Devon will find us eventually but it gives us time, time to work on your magic, time to be together.”

I flung my hands out to the sides. “But I’m already under his spell no matter where we are.”

“But it’s too dangerous to stay this early in your awareness.”

“Why me?”

“Because you have more power than Donovan, Fred, and I put together and that’s what he wants, your power. You’d be his most cherished prize.”

“Don’t I have something to offer then?”

“Yeah, but I don’t think he’ll come alone. He’ll probably come with Ava and Joseph.”

“Who’re they?”

“Other darks. Devon has many women, but Ava’s his favorite. She’s,” the tone of his voice dropped, “like a coral snake, silent and lethal, waiting to strike. Joseph is Devon’s second-in-command. You already know him. He called himself Joel.”