Maybe Fate: A Novel (New Adult Paranormal Romance) (50 page)

It
was after she'd calmed down that things got bad. She'd wanted to
know where I had been for over two weeks, why I hadn't told anyone
what was going on.

My
story wasn't a very good one.

I'd
lied to her, said I was overwhelmed by the attention of two guys.
I'd run away like a coward, avoiding everyone.

It
was clear she didn't believe me, especially since I had no real
explanation for my boots being at the beach. But to her credit, she
didn't push the matter.

She'd
confided in me that Mr. Birch hadn't come to class for some time,
wasn't answering his phone. Teachers had gone to investigate his
home, and finding no sign of him or his wife, they all assumed the
worst.

Nodding
at her gossip, I mentally thanked Nethiun for being smart enough to
advise me to get my backpack out of that house. I didn't need
anything tying me to that situation.

Looking
up at the sky, I sighed into the cool breeze.
I
wonder if I should have tried to bring them back, too.

The
idea had been one I'd considered. However, when I'd stood there on
the stone steps, staring out into the abyss, I realized how ugly it
would have been.

I
barely grasped coming back to life myself. Two humans, who suffered
in ways I can't even imagine... they might not have handled it well
at all.

Lifting
my hands, I observed the lines in my palms curiously. I still had
trouble believing I'd done what I had.

Mom's
face, when I showed up with Creation—no, my dad's name is
Trethin—at her front door was priceless.

To
my shock, she'd slapped him straight across the cheek. Then, with
tears racing down her face, she'd pulled him in for an embrace that
might have never ended if I hadn't tapped her shoulder.

I
don't envy how he'll explain away nineteen years of being gone.

She,
too, was angry at me for vanishing for so long. Luckily, she was
more forgiving than Becky. It made me grateful they had no clue how
far gone I had actually been.

Inhaling
the sweet scent of snow on the horizon, I rose to my feet. Strolling
across the commons was interesting, most students were inside to
escape the bone-biting chill.

After
the brief time I'd lost the ability to feel the cold, those hours
after being resurrected, I almost revered the way it made my teeth
chatter.

“
Hey.”

Turning,
I found Ethlyn sitting on the stone wall. The spot I'd first looked
upon Nethiun. His long hair was wound back in a loose tail, body
decked out a lengthy tan coat. “Hey,” I said, smiling.
“What are you doing out here?”

“
Just
hoping to run into you.” Lowering his crystal eyes to the
ground, he spoke pensively. “Gale, I never got a chance to
apologize to you.”

Tilting
my head, I hopped up beside him on the wall. “For what?”

He
tasted the words, acted like they were acidic and rotten. “For
killing you that time. There's no way you've forgotten about that,
I—”

Reaching
out, I put my arms around his shoulders. He went stiff, but didn't
push me away. “No, I didn't forget. But I understood why it
happened, I knew you couldn't stop yourself.”

The
power inside of me, when I couldn't control it... combined with my
emotions, Nethiun was like an insect to a light bulb.

Gale
Everette, the naive light bulb.

“
You...
understand what happened?” He didn't sound convinced.

Hugging
him harder, I closed my eyes tight. “I do. And I forgave you
already. You shouldn't think about that anymore, that was a
different time.”
A
different life.

Hesitant,
his arms circled me to return the embrace. It felt different than I
had once expected. That hug, that moment, it wasn't tainted by the
insidious hunger Ethlyn had been cultivating for me weeks ago.

I'd
been right, the energy that drew the twaelin to me had messed with
his head, and his heart. When I'd accidentally absorbed some of him
that time in the orange grove, I'd made things even worse.

Ethlyn
wasn't the same person I'd first met in the construction site, the
monster with enraged golden eyes.

Sitting
back, I gave him a friendly grin. He returned it; at first weakly,
then, it turned on strong.

“
What
will you do now?” I asked him.

“
I'm
not entirely sure.” Shrugging, he looked out across the
campus. “For a long time, I was living the life of someone
else. I was trying to undo my own sins by giving their echo of an
existence some sort of meaning, some sort of do-over.”

“
You're
the one with the do-over, now,” I said quietly.

He
nodded, his mouth quirking up at one side. “I know. I never
thought I'd be as free as this. Without the shackles of someone like
Valenforth over me, I can live life without any guilt, any fear.”
Pausing, he turned back to me, eyebrows crinkling. “Gale, what
exactly
happened
to him?”

Touching
my stomach, I looked away with nervous guilt. “Who knows,
exactly.”
I'm
unsure how much of him is inside of me, still. When I unleashed all
that energy to bring back Ethlyn and Trethin, I thought I utilized
all of it.

And
all of her.

But
how could I really know? There was so much I just didn't understand
still.

Peering
back at the dark-haired man beside me, I contemplated his small
frown. “It doesn't matter. He's gone, as far as it counts.”

“
I
see.” Picking at his jacket sleeve, he chuckled. “Fine
then. Well, who knows. Maybe I'll try to get a hold of some
identification and enroll here all over again.”

Laughing,
I turned slightly red. “Guess we can go through classes again
together. I'll be retaking everything after missing so much. Not
that my grades were very good, anyway. Who knows, maybe this time,
deciding to major in English will help.”
It
certainly made Mom happy.

He
opened his mouth, but another sound butted in. “Gale!”
Becky called, running across the commons with her hair bouncing.
“Hey, Gale!”

Grinning,
I hopped off the wall as she arrived. “Hey, what's up?”

“
Nothing
nothing, just the ever important question of what you'll be wearing
when we go to that Thanksgiving themed party a friend is throwing,
and...” Trailing off, she let her gaze roam pointedly over
Ethlyn. “He—llo,” she crooned, drawing the word
out. “And who's this gentleman here?”

Shooting
a look at me, the twaelin slid off the wall, offering a hand to my
roommate. “Ethlyn, nice to meet you Becky.”

“
Yeah,
I am,” she said softly. “Huh. How funny. For a second
there, I felt like we'd met before.”

The
twaelin and I shared a look.

Giggling,
she winked at me. “Guess that must be a sign of fate! Nice to
meet you, Ethlyn.”

Fate,
I
thought, bemused.
Maybe
there is something to it, after all.

“
You
know,” she went on, gushing over the young man's good looks,
“with hair and eyes like ours, any children we have will
become the envy of everyone!”

Together,
our laughter floated over the campus like a joyful song.

****

Kicking
my feet, I stared down the ledge of the high building. In the past,
I might have been scared. Now, I only smiled at the bright lights
below.

“
Gale,”
Nethiun said, coming to stand beside me. “Are you really okay
with things going like this?”

Gazing
at the streets, the distant sound of cars, I imagined everyone below
living their lives in perfect bliss. Somewhere in that mess, I knew
Becky and Ethlyn were out dancing. I hoped they were having a good
time. “Yeah, why wouldn't I be?”

“
It
wasn't so long ago that you tried to scare him away from her.”

“
That
was when everything was different, all mucked up.” My thick
hair teased against my throat in the rough wind. It whistled around
us, weaving through the alley so far below.

Out
of the corner of my eye, I saw his foot on the edge, toes extended
into the void. “And now, things are better?” he asked
tenderly.

“
Yeah.”
Glancing up, I saw he was smiling. “Yeah, things are much
better now.”

“
Then,”
he reached down, offering me those deft fingers of his. “Let
us go. It's a good night to fly.”

Without
faltering, I grabbed his hand.

-THE
END-

..ABOUT
THE AUTHOR..

Cynthia
Brint is a new, up and coming Paranormal Romance writer. She loves
creating stories with complex worlds and fleshed out characters, all
in the hope of evoking emotion in her readers.

She
pulls no punches, and never plans to.

For
more about Cynthia, or to catch news about her next novel, check out
her mailing list!

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Release Mailing List! Click Here!

Thank
you for reading!

~Cynthia
Brint