Page 55 of Rising

“Herbs, we can use more herbs until we make it back. Keep him comfortable,” he decided.

I scoffed. “Herbs? That’s your solution? Where was all the playing it safe a few years ago—”

Seth had me pinned against the cabin door before I could finish my thought. “What about a few years ago, huh? Go head, tell us why you’re really here. Been waiting for this one to come out.”

I shoved him off me and spat at his feet. “There it is. I see why she has you where she does,Lieutenant.” I let my tongue grace over my teeth, hanging on to that last syllable.

“Yeah.” Seth nodded. “You wanna see huh, boy?”

He charged me, but I was fast, dodging his initial punches and weaving around each elbow he threw. Where I was fast, Seth was agile and smart, adapting to my fighting style and landing a blow to my right cheek.

Blood filled my mouth, and I grinned, embracing the pain and bitter, copper taste of my blood.

“That’s fair.” I chuckled.

Our bodies slammed into each other, both trying to gain the upper hand, one of his men yelling out to us in the background. Fire glowed in my peripheral, causing both of us to stop mid-fight.

“Logan! Logan oh shit, dude! Wake up!” I could hear the man more clearly now.

The other two circled the table, the one with water magic actively using his power to battle the flames and keep it from engulfing the cabin.

Seth and I untangled arms, his hostile eyes meeting mine.

“Uh, something tells me he couldn’t do that before. Could he?” I asked.

“No. No, he could not.”

Tomoe

My fingers fiddled with the sheets on the side of the bed I’d grown accustomed to Seth sleeping on these last few weeks. I sighed, my head was pounding from all the channeling I’d done the last few days. While I hadn’t come up empty, there wasn’t anything I’d come across that was particularly helpful, either.

It’d been almost a week since Seth had left to investigate the scene near Reno. Before his group left, I could confirm Alexiares was correct in thinking our other routes were out of the question. I’d bounced around head-to-head, following our traders, our people, on their journey, and ultimately I’d been there with them all through their last breaths.

I couldn’t be sure if it was the manipulation of time in my visions or if The Pansies were in fact moving faster than I’d seen before. It wasn’t necessarily helpful when it came to ensuring a safe route. Nor did it lead us any closer to figuring out all the weird shit and influx of attacks that’d been happening. Amaia had only agreed that since they were going on horseback, speed made no difference and not to stress myself out about what I’d seen too much.

Seth made sure to page into Amaia’s head every day and give her status updates. He’d conveniently decided to use this time to stay out of my head and let me know he was okay. Said he wanted us to both be able to focus on our jobs, not what the other was feeling, that my job was to keep my head clear and free for my visions to take hold easily.

Compound first, personal feelings second.

We hadn’t told Amaia about what happened the night after the gate was breached. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if she could handle another shock to the system. In a moment of vulnerability, he’d confessed to me what went through his mind as the attack ensued and he’d lost sight of me. Told me everything he’d felt seeing me slumped over on her couch, when he’d thought I’d been about to die. In the moment I’d sworn he’d been about to tell me he loved me, his hand gently gripping the base of my neck, eyes locked on one another. His pupils dilated, mouth parted and then … my head snapped back. My eyes glossed over, and I lost myself.

IwasSeth; I didn’t need him to tell me how he’d felt because I’d felt it. I’d seen pieces of his mind, his memories. I was Seth as a five-year-old boy learning how to ride a horse. I was him graduating from high school taking a picture on Reina’s phone with a boy who looked just like Reina; I was him in the future, his eyes worn and sad. He’d peeled away from our embrace, pushing me off his lap, fear and anger written on his face.

In twenty-eight years, I’d learned a thing or two about men. His reaction wasn’t directed at me, but rather the confusion and unnaturalness of the situation. If he had felt anything like I did, it was a suffocating, overwhelming, all-consuming feeling that made you want to peel back your skin to release the pressure. The tension.

He never fully opened up to me about what he went through during that moment. Instead he’d claimed that instead of having a visitor pass to my mind, to speak with me, that he was able to claim residency. My thoughts were his thoughts. Soon after that, he’d insisted we go to sleep, to forget that it happened. Keep it to ourselves, not wanting to distract from the real issues and that this could wait to be figured out.

There were moments when I wanted to share with my friends, especially Reina, given the abilities and gifts she possessed. I knew she’d get it. But Maia had finally gotten her focus on The Compound, and now with our current situation, Reina was too. Bringing up that moment of vulnerability, what was likely just a magical glitch, would pique Maia’s interest and consume Reina’s mind until they could fully understand what had transpired.

It would be a disservice to The Compound. A disservice to the friend I’d just gotten back. He refused to sleep without me after that, reassuring he wanted to be near me in case things went south. To protect me. Still, he refused to speak about what happened. Adamant that we should make an effort to stay out of each other’s heads, and he hadn’t let us get that close again. Even during those toe-curling moments, there was a wall up now, like he was actively making an effort to block me out.

Tossing around some of the clean clothes I’d thrown from the bed to the floor, I snatched on my go-to black pants, a black crop and laced up my Converse. Striding over to my open window, I took a deep inhale of the cool sea air before slamming it shut not wanting to let the scorching heat of the day take over.

It was still early morning, but the temperature was already near seventy degrees, a clear indication that the brutal summer heat had yet to be done in the Monterey area. When I was a kid, my mother and father would bring my sisters and I here to watch the sea otters coming to shore. Had always made a point to take a few weekends a year out this way during their more active times a year. If we were lucky, we’d catch a whale breaching the ocean from an overlook on a cliff. Coming here had made perfect sense though I didn’t know what to expect when I arrived. I’d hoped to find answers, but instead I found a new family. One I was damn determined to never let down.

A note on top of the dozens of books stacked on the table in my study grabbed my attention on my way out the door. Amaia’s handwriting, she’d heard from Seth in the middle of the night and to meet her at her study before heading to breakfast.

I inflated my cheeks, slowly releasing the air, ready to get troubling news but realizing if it was Seth she’d heard from, he’d have to be okay.Unless it was his last words. No, I reassured myself, Reina and Amaia would certainly wake me if that were the case.

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