Awakening

After dinner, Sophie and Tristan cleaned up. She then lured him to the moonlit porch with cups of hot chocolate. The night was cool as they settled onto the porch swing. Sophie didn’t care if he was just her pretend boyfriend; the night was still romantic.

“Isn’t this weird?” Tristan blew on the hot chocolate.

“What?” Sophie was mesmerized by the way the gray of his eyes stood out in the moonlight, reflecting it, much like an animal’s.

“That we actually get a moment to relax. I don’t think we’ve spent any time alone since we’ve met.” Tristan turned his head to look at her.

His words shocked her. Did he feel uncomfortable there pretending to be her boyfriend? “Do your eyes always do that at night?” She bit her lip as soon as the words were out.

“I’m sorry.” He glanced away, and when he looked back, his eyes were normal. “I guess I got too comfortable with you. I know it probably freaks you out.”

Sophie set her mug on the porch railing beside her. “No, actually. I know what it’s like having to hide who you are from the person you’re with.” She stammered when she realized she’d implied that they were together. “Not that we’re together for real or anything.” She blushed.

A corner of his lips turned upward.

“I just want you to know that you don’t have to hide who you are from me. You don’t freak me out.” She finished, her voice trailing off at the end. What was she doing?

He set the hot chocolate on the windowsill next to him.

Sophie sighed and, determined not to make a complete fool of herself, looked out over the lawn. It made Sophie think of fairy lands and elven kingdoms. She could almost see the past, darting in and out of the moonlit willows. Her and Todd as children, running around, pretending to be superheroes or knights rescuing innocents.

“Sophie.”

Tristan’s deep voice pulled her back to the present.

When she turned to look at him, his solemn eyes reflected the moonlight. Sophie wished he’d smile again.

The urge to lean toward him was hypnotic. She wanted to drown in the magnetism he gave off and never surface. It was calm, protective, gentle. It wrapped around her and pulled her closer.

“I don’t want to pretend anymore.”

Sophie snapped back, her face red. What had she been thinking? “Oh.” Was she the only one who felt the pull? She couldn’t believe she was so stupid. Just because they were attracted to each other in a past life didn’t mean they had to be now. Maybe she was coloring the present with the past. “I’m sorry. I crossed a line, didn’t I? Made you uncomfortable?”

He cocked his head to the side while she rambled on.

“I can’t believe…I was just…You can go home if you want. Lilli and Jackson can give me a ride back.” Sophie shrugged and snapped her mouth shut. The more she talked, the more foolish she sounded.

The swing creaked as he leaned closer. The t-shirt he wore stretched across his shoulders when he brought a hand up and placed it on the side of her neck.

She went completely still. Like prey to his animal side, she was afraid to move. The spot where their skin met sparked with energy.

His eyes darkened. He tipped his head closer, never releasing her from his gaze.

Still, she didn’t move. Her breath caught in her throat as his essence not only wrapped around her, but linked with her own. It was a wholly new experience, intimate, and frightening.

Then his lips brushed hers.

Her eyelids fluttered shut as a wave of emotion and heat washed over her. Her mind went blank, focused only on the sensations he awakened.

His other arm went around her waist and brought her closer. He deepened the kiss.

Pulses of energy shot between them, binding them so closely they would never be separate again.

She could see into his mind, and he into hers. Pieces of his past flashed by. A birthday party when he was younger, his first date, then a woman’s voice. Harsh, unforgiving. Telling him he was a monster.

The shock of that memory, and his despair at seeing it, shook them both.

Tristan lifted his head, severing the memory but not the connection, and kept his arms around her.

Slowly, Sophie’s reasoning surfaced, and she blushed. She was practically sitting on his lap.

On her parents’ front porch.

“What just happened?” His voice was husky as she looked down into his face.

She wanted to trace his strong jaw line with her fingertips. Or her lips. Instead, she moved off him and back onto the swing. “I’m not sure. Who called you a monster?”

Her question surprised them both.

He rubbed the back of his neck. “So, I guess you can see into my memories?”

Sophie knew whoever had said it hurt him deeply. She wanted to hunt them down. The anger she felt for him terrified her.

Tristan sighed. “It was my mom.”

Out of anything he could have said, that was the least she expected. His mom? His mom had called her own son a monster?

“Tristan.” Sophie reached for his hand. His profile was magnificent in its anger. His jaw clenched, and while his fingers gently intertwined with hers, his being radiated dismay.

A thousand beasts lay beneath the surface of his skin, clawing to break free, and she’d never felt safer.

“That night, after Jackson and I realized what we could do, I wanted to show it to her. Jackson, knowing his dad as he did, said that I should keep it a secret. I told him he was wrong. It made him angry.” Tristan rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand.

Their connection hummed between them and created a bridge between their emotions. “What happened?”

“I ignored his advice. When I got home, I showed her what I could do.” He was silent for a few minutes. She watched the play of emotions cross his face. “My mom screamed, so loud and long, that it felt like forever. The look of horror and revulsion on her face stayed after that. Every time she looked at me.”

“Was she scared of you?”

“Yes, and she believed I was cursed by the devil.” Tristan laughed wryly. “If only she knew the real truth.”

Sophie’s heart was in pieces for him. “Where is she now? And what about your dad?”

It was Tristan’s turn to shrug. “Mom disappeared one night. I woke up and she was simply gone. Dad never said where she went.”

“What did he say about your ability to shift?”

Tristan sighed. He finally looked back at her. The connection between them hummed a little stronger. “He never said anything, good or bad. Just pretended like it never happened. I never spoke of it or shifted in his presence. He kept on treating me like he had before.”

“Which was?”

Tristan smiled a little. “He was a normal dad. After mom left, he became quiet, but was always a steady person I could look up to.”

“Why didn’t you go visit him for Thanksgiving?”

“He died of cancer two years ago.”

That was another arrow through her heart. “Tristan, I’m so sorry.”

“I know how Aidan feels. The helplessness, the anger. I went to live with an aunt until the Lotus Academy. Jackson and I moved on campus to escape both our lives.”

“And ended up finding out there are others like you. That’s a comfort, right?”

He pulled her into a hug. She settled under his arm and laid her head on his shoulder. They sat in silence for a while, enjoying the closeness. Sophie kept fighting to keep her eyes open.

Finally, she yawned. Tristan’s soft laugh rumbled next to her ear.

“Let’s get you inside.” He stood and offered his hand to pull her up.

She placed her hand in his and followed him into the house. Her parents were in the living room, engrossed in some romantic movie, so she passed them and went straight for the stairs.

Sophie knew the way to Tristan’s room through the dark hallway. She led Tristan to his room, hand-in-hand, and stopped outside his doorway.

Sophie knew that if she kissed him again, now, she wouldn’t be able to resist taking it a little further. She planted a kiss on his cheek.

Tristan responded by kissing her on the forehead. “Sweet dreams, Soph.”

“’Night.” She watched him disappear into the room. Once the door shut, she backtracked to her room. She changed into a pair of cotton shorts and a tank and then grabbed her phone. She had to text Lilli and let her know what happened.

Was it the same when Jackson and Lilli kissed? Did they have the kind of connection that Sophie and Tristan did? Would Aidan and Morgan?

The shadows outside her window twisted around the glass. A pressure on the back of her mind overwhelmed the weakening connection with Tristan. Sophie guessed that the effects waned when they were apart. The phone slid from her hand, landing onto the floor.

There was no way she was going to let the darkness bother her tonight. She’d shared a brilliant first kiss with a hot guy who had a gift like her, and she wasn’t going to ruin it by focusing on shadows and evil beings.

With a huff, she pulled the covers up and turned her back to the window. She listened to the crickets chirping and the frogs croaking. In her mind, she imagined waves crashing on the beach, the water smoothing out the sand before being pulled back into the ocean.

Her breath evened out and soon she was asleep.

The shadows slid in under the windowsill, twisting and distorting, until they reached Sophie’s bedside. She whimpered, but didn’t waken.

The room darkened. The shadows slinked up the bed and around her arms and legs. Bloody images flitted in and out of her mind. She squirmed in her sleep against the incorporeal restraints. Flashes of a ritual danced across her thoughts, and she automatically blocked them out.

You won’t be able to save him, a voice whispered. It had no gender, its only substance was fear.

The shadows tightened around her. She struggled harder to wake up.

Suddenly, it was over.

The shadows loosened their hold and dissipated. The room lightened.

Sophie shot up in bed. Her breath burned in her lungs. Dry tears stained her face.

A horrifying scream echoed over and over. Her stomach churned when she listened closely to the tone.

With a gasp, she lunged from the bed and threw open her door. Her heart and mind raced, repeating the same thing.

It couldn’t be him….

“Mom!” Sophie took the stairs two at a time. “Mom!” Her voice cracked when she hit the bottom floor.

The doorbell rang, reverberating through the silence.

Sophie jumped and choked back a scream. She saw Tristan running down the stairs.

“What’s wrong?” He grabbed her arm. The sleepiness faded from his eyes when he caught a glimpse of her face.

She kept blinking away tears and trying to talk, but every time she opened her mouth, she’d close it again.

He touched the side of her face tenderly. The wildness in her mind didn’t go away, but she took a few deep breaths.

Her mother came down the stairs in her robe, hair disheveled from sleep. Her father followed in his boxers and a white t-shirt.

“Is that boy messing with you?” Lyle stopped in front of Tristan. His eyes narrowed.

Tristan immediately dropped his hand from Sophie and took a step back.

The doorbell rang again, cutting off anything Sophie had to say. Someone was bringing news of murder.

Lyle, noticing Sophie’s reaction, hesitated. When the doorbell rang repeatedly, Lyle swung the door open, revealing Sheriff Calhoun on the porch. White knuckles held his hat against wrinkled clothes.

The occupants of the house came to a standstill.

Sophie thought she saw a spot of red on the cuff of his sleeve. Dread spread through her veins.

Calhoun cleared his throat. “May I come in, Mr. Lawrence?”

Sophie’s knees weakened.

Tristan caught her and pulled her against him. The heat from his bare chest seared her chilled skin. She shivered uncontrollably.

Calhoun followed the family into the main living room. The air thickened with despair. Tara and Lyle lowered themselves onto the couch. When Tristan tried to steer Sophie into a chair, she shook her head firmly. Despite the ache in her chest, she tried to convince herself this was all a bad dream. Akeldama was just taunting her. There was no way her brother….

“I can’t think of any other way to say this.” Calhoun rubbed his head with a wrinkled hand. Weary lines etched deep into his face, and the gray at his temples stood out starkly against them.

“Todd?” Tara choked out.

Sophie flinched. The bloody visions surfaced again. Tristan gripped her elbow.

“Has there been an accident? Should we leave for the hospital?” Lyle placed a hand on Tara’s shoulder. She quivered with the sobs she held back.

Calhoun swallowed audibly. Sophie felt his anguish sharply as he shook his head. “No, there hasn’t been an accident.”

The room went silent. Sophie couldn’t hear anyone breathing. Even the crickets outside ceased their chirping.

The sheriff’s hidden meaning sank in.

Tara wailed and fisted her hands in her hair.

Lyle’s eyes brimmed with tears. He clutched his wife to his chest.

Sophie flinched when her mother sobbed and then gasped for air. Her own lungs felt constricted.

Her brother had been murdered. That thought unmercifully battered her mind. She wanted to scream. She wanted to kick something. Instead, she clasped her hands together and focused on one thing.

Akeldama was the one who did it. To warn her and the others away.

Sheriff Calhoun looked uncomfortable, and his mouth opened. He closed it, ran a hand through his graying hair. “We need someone to identify the body.”

“I’ll go,” Sophie said. She had to make sure her theory was correct. Those dreams were bloody and had Akeldama written all over them.

“No. I know you and your brother were close, Sophie. You don’t need to see this.”

A fresh wave of grief rolled over her, but she raised her chin. “I have to do this.”

Calhoun shook his head. Before he could speak again, Lyle cut in. “Let her go.” He cradled Tara closer. “I’m going to take care of her mother.”

“Fine. Get dressed and meet me at the truck.” Calhoun scowled. His face softened when he watched Lyle help Tara to stand. “I’m very sorry for your loss.”

Lyle nodded grimly.

Sophie heard her dad ask Calhoun how it had happened, but she ignored them and rushed upstairs and throw on a pair of destroyed jeans and a hoodie. The urge to scream, and to keep screaming so long her throat bled, was overpowering. Todd couldn’t be gone. Not her brother, not him.

It felt as if a nightmare had pressed itself on her life and twisted inside it. Nothing seemed the same. There was giant hole where Todd had been, and nothing was going to change it. Nothing was going to take his place.

She stood for a few minutes, not moving, not thinking. She focused on a spot on the wall. The pain was so great, she knew it was going to swallow her. It came sharper and sharper until someone knocked on the door. She jerked out of her trance and turned toward the sound.

No matter how badly she wanted it to be Todd, she knew it wasn’t.

She opened the door and saw Tristan dressed in jeans, a long-sleeve t-shirt, and a fleece jacket.

I’m sorry, Soph.

Sophie jumped and looked up at him. That voice had come from inside her mind. She shook her head. “What?”

Tristan frowned, worry darkening his eyes. He touched the side of her arm. “I didn’t say anything.”

“I know. You didn’t say it out loud.” Sophie shoved the bangs out of her eyes. “I heard it inside my head.”

“Soph, that’s not possible.”

She shot him a glare. Could they really have telepathy, too? Was this another effect of them all being together? Tristan.

Tristan blinked. “I heard that. Holy…did I just hear that?” Did I just hear your voice in my mind?

It seems we have more gifts we didn’t know about. Sophie’s melancholy voice drifted through his head.

He shoved his hands into his pockets. “Are you sure this is what you want to do? Seeing your brother like this might be too much.”

“I think Akeldama had something to do with this.” Sophie started down the stairs, leaving him to follow. “My dreams were full of blood and Todd screaming.” She forced the words out. “She was torturing him.”

Tristan grabbed her hand as they walked to the truck. “I’ll be here for you. Every step of the way. Let me know if it’s too much, and I’ll get you out of there.”

Sophie nodded. Todd was gone. She just had to find out for sure if Akeldama had used him as a warning.