Dark Seraphine (The Seraphine Trilogy) (27 page)

“
Not so fast
,
Prince Charming. You should
’
ve just said the three magic words. Then she wouldn
’
t be in this situation. So sad that you
’
re too late
,”
the creature
hissed.
“
Gia belongs to me
,
now. But don
’
t worry
,
dear one. There
’
s another way to save her. You have your memory of her back
,
do you not?
”

I kept quiet.
The three magic words
. What did the demon girl mean?
Oh snap!
Gia asked me to tell her how I felt. That was something I told myself I
’
d never say to another girl ever again.

“
No matter
,
you lovesick fool. Did you tell him what happens after he remembers you
,
little princess?
”
she said to Gia still lying on the ground.

“
She
’
s not going with you
. Don’t listen to her, Gia
,”
I said and tried to stand up. My balance was all screwed up
,
so I swaggered a little.

“
Careful. Too many
memories coming back at once are
really bad for
your kind
,”
the girl said as she slowly lifted her hands
,
aiming whatever she planned to do right at me.
“
Gia is all set to pave the way for those who will destroy the future of mankind
.
I want to personally thank you
,
Caleb. If it were
n
’
t for you being so naïve this wouldn
’
t have happened. Because of you
,
your
be
love
d
returns to
our
world as a prisoner
.”
A ball of black
smoke formed between her hands.
“
Time to say nighty-
nite.
”

“
Close your eyes
,
Caleb
,”
Gia
’
s voice instruc
t
ed inside my mind.
“
Look into the light
,
our
secret place
. Your soul and mine are bound as one. Trust me.
”
I inhaled
,
closed my eyes
,
and
…Oh snap! She was right.
The glow inside my eyelids brightened
, filling me with warmth and strength and yeah, even that love thing.

I
waited to get zapped by smelly black smoke. Something clapped through the air just before white light filled my eyelids. The brightness of it reminded
me
of the one I saw under the water when Kyle almost drowned.

A
scream
sliced through
the air.
Crap!
Did my eardrums burst
open
?
It felt like they did after the
yelling
stopped. I opened my eyes and inhaled sharply. The black smoke surrounded Mel
,
blinding her for the moment.

When it cleared
,
she laughed
—
a bone-chilling cackle that rattled in my ears. If
death were
a live person
,
then I
’
m pretty sure
the bells he used to announce his arrival
sounded a lot like her
snort
. She straightened out her Frankenstein hair and the tattered looking dress she wore.
“
Oh boy
,
my hand
some one. Gia has been keeping thing
s from me.
H
ow did the two of you do that? Clever girl. Not quite smart enough
,
though. It’s t
ime to tell a few of my own secrets.
”

“
No! Stop!
”
Gia cried out and reached
her
hand
toward me. Her pleas didn
’
t do a thing to stop the creature from stalking over to where I
knelt
. She slammed her palms on either side of my head
,
squeezing it. Pressure surged between my temples as I cried out.

“
I
’
ll do anything you say. I
’
ll go back with you
,”
Gia pleaded.

The demon whipped her head around and gave Gia a vicious glare.
“
You
’
ll do as I say
,
anyway. Your soul belongs to me
,
now. Our deal can
’
t be broken. But wait. There is one thing you can do.
”
She spoke in a low voice
,
her words measured.
This can
’
t be good.
“
Tell me your true name.
”

The blood drained out of Gia
’
s face. She opened and closed her mouth a few times. Whatever grip the demon had on her loosened for a moment. The decision messed with her head. The conflicted look on her face said it all.
“
I—I can
’
t do that.
”

“
Of course you can. It
’
s easy enough. Just open your mouth and
speak the truth
,”
the demon ordered. She clicked her tongue and shook her head at Gia.
“
I can’t bel
ieve you don’t want to save him.
Do you hear that, Caleb? Did you think she would do anything for you? Looks like she’s just as worthless as her kingdom. Isnt’t that right, Princess?
”
she said
in
a raspy voice
.

“
I already said I
’
ll go back with you
,”
Gia cried.

“
Yes
,
I know. What I
’
m about to do is for my sister
,
Paige. The one that you killed
,”
the demon hissed.

She
turned
her inky black eyes back on me
. Even through the darkness that filled both of her orbs, I still saw the excitement about whatever she planned for me
.
“
Caleb Wood
,
you are not the son of the man who feeds you. Your entire life has been a complete lie.
”

Smiling with no emotion in her eyes
,
Mel released my head and glided over to Gia.
“
More of the
Dark Ones
are coming. They will impr
ison your kind and exile the human
s
that
are left.
Better
to check out now before they get here. The
leader of this group has already been chosen. And y
ou will all bow down to the Dark Seraphine.
”

I had no idea what a S
eraphine was
,
let alone a dark one. I only remember Erica
mentioning something about
water creatures with the power of an angel. I was pretty sure this
latest discovery
wasn
’
t going to be
a
good
thing
for
Gia or
me.

“
I leave you with my gift. Be well in your heartache.
”
She
laughed
and
folded her body over
Gia. A bluish-gray cloud of
s
moke
formed over their bodies
. Gia
’
s screams faded in the wind that roared behind them.

Dead silence and a strong rotten meat
odor
surrounded me. With my head throbbing
,
I scooted over to a tree and worked my way into a standing position.

The
memories that
the smoke demon
flooded my head with blinded me
at first.
A
s my sight re
turne
d
,
I saw
nothing but
a man and a
lady
standing inside of a living room. The couple argued
,
and the woman gestured wildly with her arms. I knew who she was.
It was my m
om.
I
waited
for her to
move. That was the only way I would be able to
see
what he looked like
.

You don’t really want to see
his
face.
Not true.

I was dying to
see this man
.

My entire life was strange and odd. I saw spirits of things
that made
their way through my room
,
talked to animals that obeyed my command
,
and
understood what people were thinking before they even muttered a word. I lived with all of this and never said a word to my best friend
,
or my parents.

Mom and the mystery man
stopped arguing as he pulled her into his arms
. He loved her. I
could see that, because
I finally understood my
feelings
for Gia. It didn
’
t matter that she wasn
’
t human. I only knew that I was going to get her back. Whatever she promised the demon to save my ass wasn
’
t going to tie her to a life of torture.

But I couldn
’
t think until I saw this vision planted inside my mind. I needed to see what the
man
looked like.
Mom
stood inside the arms of
this person
who clearly wasn
’
t Darren
,
someone
who I always believed would be there for me to the end
, t
he
man who wasn
’
t my real father.

Mom moved out of his arms
. The man started toward me. His
features were
all blurry at first. As he moved closer, I reached out to him
.
At once,
his face came into view, the features fully visible to me now.

Looking at him
was like
glancing
into
a
mirror
: the gray eyes, the dark hair, the strong jaw line, a sort of big nose.
H
is face was an older version of mine.

I
couldn’t deny what the demon said
.

The man in the memory was my real father.

Chapter Fifteen

“Why, Mom? You should’ve told me,” I said.

She sat alone in the kitchen
,
staring off into space. I wasn
’
t ready to sit near her just yet. The hole inside my chest filled me with a lot of nothing. All I could feel was
numbness
radiating through my skin.

It all made sense when I thought about the memories the demon girl gave me. Dad left Mom and me alone more times than I could count. He kept a safe distance from me all these years. Now I understood why.

“
How did you find out?
”
she asked quietly
,
her voice strained.

“
Does it really matter?
”

“
I suppose it doesn
’
t at this point.
”
Sighing
,
she clasped her hands together.
“
Your father was a mystery. Even to me. He still is after all this time. I met him during my sophomore year in college.
Your uncle
thought I
’
d never get married. He even started to make
early
plans for my retirement since it seemed I
’
d always be alone.
”

“
Wait. So Uncle M. knows about this too?
”
I asked. Her silence answered my question.

“
You have to understand
,
that—
”

“
Do I? Really
,”
I interrupted
,
my muscles quivering.
“
Were you going to tell me at some point before you died?
”

“
Caleb
,
be fair. Of course
,
I was. We all agreed to wait until you turned eighteen.
P
lease look at me
,”
she pleaded. I couldn
’
t. Or maybe I just didn
’
t want to.
Instead, I trudged over to the refrigerator and then to the cabinet and finally back toward the table where Mom sat. Nervous energy consumed me.

“
Come sit here with me,
”
she said.
I hesitated.
“
Please.
”
That did it. Yeah sure
,
the life I thought I knew was screwed
,
but I couldn
’
t hurt my mom. I moved over to the table and sat down.

“
My real father? Where is he?
”
I asked without looking at her. Instead
,
I kept my eyes glued on the image of the kid
’
s face on the flyer
lying
on the table
. The ad
showed a
picture of yet
another missing teenager
in a city near ours
. Maybe it was just me being stressed out at the moment
,
but it seemed like more
of us
vanished
every day.

“
I don
’
t know
,”
she said and stared at her hands.
“
He
disappeared
sometime after your third birthday.
”

“
You mean he ran off and left us?
”
Unf!
I didn
’
t quite know how I felt about this new blurb.

“
Honey
,
Darren—
your dad h
as been outstanding considering the circumstances. Please try to understand
,”
Mom
said
.

“
Was my real father…was he a normal man?
”
I did look at her face this time.

“
I don
’
t know
,”
she whispered.

“Wow, Mom, you don’t seem to know a lot about him. Did he even have a name?” I asked. She glanced up at me, tucked her lips, and sighed. “What? Are we gonna get zapped if you say his name?”

“Aaron Kingsley.
I never believed that was his real name,” Mom said quietly.

“Aaron Kingsley,” I repeated, trying to grasp the way the syllables rolled off my tongue.

My best buddy lay in some kind of weird coma. The girl I cared the most
about
was
dragged
off by some kind
of demon. The popular chick
who gave up all of her friends just to be with me was upset most of the time because I
can
’t
love her back.
Meanwhile,
some
crazy
smoke
chick told me that
this weird
group was about to help some kind of evil force take over our planet. We won
’
t even get started on the
Dark Agent
s.

All of that made me think
my real dad wasn
’
t just a cool dude Mom met while she was in college.

“
Don
’
t push this
,
Caleb. Please
,”
she said.

“
Tell me. Did he have something to do with the Seraphine?
”

She gasped and placed a hand over her chest. I didn
’
t want to hurt her
,
but I couldn
’
t deny that I needed some answers
, either
.
“
Where did you hear that word?
”

“
It doesn
’
t matter. So
,
you were just going to hide another secret
,
huh?
”

“
I can tell you that your father was something similar to a powerful medicine man.
”
She kept glancing at her hands
,
and the vein in the side of her neck throbbed. I figured she was still holding something back.

“
Oh, like Uncle M.?
”
I asked
,
my brain reeling.

“
I—I
’
m not sure. He never told me much about his
strange
life.”

“
Mom
,
I don
’
t know how else to ask. I need to know everything. Don
’
t you understand?
”
I begged.

“
It
’
s best you don
’
t know all of the details. Things could get so dangerous
,”
she whispered
. Tears came to her eyes.
“
I don
’
t want to lose you the same way I lost your father. Please
,
let all of this go. Darren
—your father
is a good man. He will always love you like his own son. Give him
some
time to
finish this project. Things between the two of you will calm down then
.
”

At first she softened my curiosity. That was until she mentioned his name again.
“
I
’
ve waited for that my whole life
,
and you want to deny me of something so important? I honestly don
’
t understand you
,
Mom. How can you just sit there and act like I should try to forget everything I just learned?
”
I got up from my chair at the table and grabbed my car keys.
“
I need to go out for a while.
”

“
Where are you going?
”
she asked through a shaky voice.
“
You never told me how you found out about the Seraphine.
”

“
You still haven
’
t told me everything. I see spirits walking around the house
,
Mom. Like the little kid in that
I-see-dead-people
movie. Only my gig is the real thing. I can see them
,
talk to them.
You
want to know what else? I can touch them too; and they most definitely can feel me.
”
My body felt like
it had heated up to
a million degrees
. B
ut I knew in time I would cool off.
“
I need to get out of here.
”
I
stood and stalked through the living room, grabbing
my coat on the way out
of the door.

* * *

Mom allowed me to
play hooky and
spend the next three days with Uncle Mashu.
Erica
promised to get my assignments for me
while I was supposedly out sick with my fake flu bug
. This time we didn
’
t sit around
a
campfire
telling ghost stories.
Instead
,
I
prepared to confront
him with
what I just learned
,
the news everybody seemed to know about but me.

On Monday evening, w
e pulled the
sail boats
out of the barn behind his
surf shop. Part of this week
’
s mind relief came in the form of making our way through the area along the outskirts of Hatteras Island. It was a place that used to be called Batts Grave before the swamplands sunk into the ocean. Only two others besides me
returned to the house
this week
. A boy named Bryce and Creepy Bones Mel.
Everybody else was in school.

I didn
’
t say a word the entire time we prepped the boats for sailing. To say I was shocked didn
’
t cut it. Mad as hell was
getting a tad closer.
Emptiness
ruled my mind
,
while this urge to be reckless
tugged
at my body.

“
Let it out
. I can feel that you need to do so,
”
Uncle Mashu said suddenly.

I kept my gaze focused on tightening t
he rope attached to the sails.
“
There
’
s nothing to say.
”

Uncle Mashu placed his hand over mine. I had no choice but to face him.
“
I know you
’
re angry. But you need to try and
analyze the situation from
your mother
’
s
position
.
”

“
Yeah?
What
about me? Everybody wants me to understand them
,
but I don
’
t get the same in return. It
’
s not fair
,
Uncle M.
,”
I blurted. That knot in my throat
got
even bigger. I was worried about Kyle
,
confused about Gia
,
and mad as hell at my parents.
Wait! That sh
ould be
changed to
parent. One of them wasn
’
t
even my real d
ad.

“
I don
’
t want to talk about it right now.
”
I grabbed the rope and laced it through the chains attached to the sails. Uncle Mashu watched me muck around with the lead that wouldn
’
t attach
right.
Crap!
“
Forget all of this
,”
I shouted and threw the assembly down.

Placing my hands over my head
,
I refused
to show any weakness
. No
tears
will
worm their way into my life this time. I closed my eyes
,
squeezing them tight until the
tightness
in my chest eased up.