Page 45 of Unshaken

Rook knew what was about to happen to me. He knew someone was coming. I feel sick to my stomach from his lies and betrayal. I fall for what feels like forever or maybe a few minutes, time has lost meaning. In the end it doesn’t matter because I slam into the ground with a splat. Not nearly as graceful as the huge hulky beast with massive green horns protruding from his forehead. Red eyes look at me impassively as he snaps his long ass fangs in my direction. He has to be about eight feet tall, with brown leathery skin, iridescent black feathers drag on the ground behind him, they are so long. The demon’s feet are hooves, and his steps echo through the cavernous room. He walks away, not caring at all that he has just dropped me here like this as he turns the corner and disappears from sight.

“Hey, asshole! You could have carried me down!” I yell behind me as I try to stand, wincing against the pain in my ribs. Yep, they are broken. I look up to the ceiling, trying to see where I have fallen from, but the red haze or fog is gone. All that is there is a black vaulted ceiling with orange cracks running through it, moving like blood pumping through a vein.

I look down at my Anchor key and snatch at the chain so hard, I almost take myself out in the process, cursing as I remember my chain was made by an Angel. I lift it over my head and toss it across the black marble floor. I watch it slide, knowing that I will eventually need it back, but I want nothing to do with Rook at all. As soon as the key stops, white fog, that reminds me of Trys’s Necromancy power, pours out of my key, shooting into the sky. My Anchor key glows angrily, it pulsates frantically, the black shiny metal turns white hot, so bright I have to look away. Once the light fades, I glimpse the last of the fog rising high above it, leaving my key behind. Whatever this fog is seems eager to leave the confines of the key as it circles the ceiling with an excited energy. I watch, too afraid to look away as it darkens. In the center there’s an oblong mass; the fog swirls around it violently until it solidifies. The mass becomes humanoid as limbs shift and shape before me. As the fog withdraws back into the Anchor key, a man with his back to me is revealed.

He turns. His bright blue eyes find mine as he finds me on the floor. The man in front of me wears a black pair of cargo pants and nothing else. His chest is bare, with muscles that look as though they are carved from stone, so well sculpted, so very well defined, with golden skin, dusty brown hair and a face so handsome he doesn’t seem real. He is angelic and beautiful, almost out of place to be in the Underworld, because this definitely isn’t Heaven.

“Micah,” he says my name, and I recognize the voice that’s been in my head for days.

“Rook?” I ask as he rushes over to me, he yanks me to my feet so fast I cry out from the jarring pain in my ribs.

“Micah, you’re hurt? Asher let you fall, didn’t he?” Rook frowns, concern for me apparent as I pull myself out of his arms and back away from him. How can he act as if all of this is fine? “Micah, I know you have a lot of question but let me heal—”

“Fuck you, Rook!” I shout, holding my ribs with one arm and grabbing one of my knives with the other. I bounce it in my hands, feeling the reassurance from the weight of it in my hand.

“Micah, please,” he says calmly. Now that I see the face of the man who has been with me every step of the way, the betrayal really hits home. He takes a step towards me. I hold my hand up to stop him.

“Don’t come near me, you lying piece of shit! Soul my ass. Adviser? Why were you in my Anchor key, Rook?” I point my knife at him, demanding he answer me. The look of pain on his face is so gut-wrenching that I almost want to hear him out. But he stands there and says nothing, just like before, giving me nothing.

“Why?”I yell. I deserve the truth. I’ve been lied to for far too long. “Who summoned me, Rook? You knew. You knew this entire time. Why couldn’t you have just been honest with me?” He takes another step and I counter with a step back of my own. A sob catches in my throat. “My Tethers, I can’t feel them. Why can’t I feel them?” I can feel the tears begin to fall, the ache in my chest from the pain and lack of connection to all of them. I didn’t realize how empty I was before meeting them, and now I am empty again.

“Send me back!” I shout. “Send me back rightnow!” I suck in a sharp breath, and my ribs are in agony, but I stand up and face him. The entire time he just looks at me, so fucking crestfallen, like his explanation is on the tip of his tongue, but he can’t say a thing.

The sound of clapping echoes through the room as another figure appears out of nowhere. Tall, muscular, and extremely handsome, with dark brown skin, his eyes swirl with the darkness of the night sky. He wears a black suit, white shirt open at the neck, with the biggest white wings shimmering behind him.

He stops beside Rook and smiles at me. He looks at me from head to toe, sizing me up.

“You are more than I ever dreamed you would be.” The being approaches me and holds out his hand but I don’t take it. Even though he looks pleasant enough, I can see a mad gleam in his eyes.

“Please, forgive me. I sent Rook to keep an eye on you while you attended HellNight Academy,” he says with a hand on his heart. “I picked him for a reason. He was promised to you years ago.” My head is spinning, my ribs are aching. I just want to go home.

“What do you mean?” I question him. My eyes look over his shoulder to Rook who has his head down.

“It means we have much to discuss, my daughter,” he says.

I stumble back because there it is, the bomb drop of all motherfucking bomb drops.

“You’re my father?” I ask, my voice is almost a whisper as I sway on my feet. I think my brain is ready to shut down and take me with it.

“Call me Dad. Or better yet, you can call me Bishop.”

To Be Continued

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