Nephilius - A Walker Saga Book 5 (23 page)

“You’re a sweet fur-ball lately.” I grinned
at him, showing all teeth.

He returned the favor, his teeth a sight
more lethal than mine. With a smirk I turned back to Brace.

“Did the princeps discuss how many tethers
have been lost to the seven worlds since we destroyed the room of
horrors?” I’d been worried about the ricocheting effect of the
Seventine losing that place. It had been a major energy collection
center.

“Not one of our clan members has come to us
with new information. And since many of them travel through the
seven worlds frequently, they would have heard of major tether
losses.” Brace ran a hand over his chin. “It’s odd, because the
Seventine have to be gathering energy from somewhere. We know
they’re on a deadline to free the rest of their brothers.”

Something told me, the way the first
continued to follow me, I was going to find out the Seventines’
wicked plan very soon.

As we stepped free of the doorway, the white
mists whipped around us. I bounced for a few minutes, readjusting
to the lighter gravity. Which might have included one sprawl to the
ground. Still, that was an improvement.

Striding in the direction of the black-flock
house, we passed the empty tournament grounds, mist-filled without
the white-wings to clear the zone. I knew in a few hours it would
be occupied with training and fighting flock members. I hoped we
would manage to deal with this Isle-of-Souls problem that day. I
really needed to focus on finding the half-Walker, which meant I
needed to be here, not across the other side of Nephilius.

Brace
continued to steal glances at me, and my own gaze was drawn to him.
The more time we spent together, the harder it was to deny our
bond. It was as if our bodies were putting more and pressure on us
to be with each other. He opened his mouth a few times, clearly
wanting to say something, but I wasn’t really giving him an
opening. I was worried he’d ask me
about
our melding bond, or his fragments of memory and I’d have to lie to
him again – and I freaking hated lying. Better that he didn’t ask
the question.

Luckily, we reached the mist city before he
verbalized his thoughts. Steva and Delane were waiting for us out
the front of the main dwelling. It was eerily quiet otherwise.

“The flocks of Angelica are meditating in
preparation for today’s battle,” Steva said, as if she’d read my
thoughts. “You’ll have plenty of time to journey to the Isle of
Souls.”

“How will this work?” I said. “We don’t have
powers to fly, and unless we can see the destination we can’t open
a doorway.” And I couldn’t trace without a clear image either.

“
Um,
actually, Abbs,
remember I have the power
to fly.” Lucy’s soft voice cut through the misty air.

“Hell, no,” I said at the same time as
Colton growled.

“You can’t go off on your own.” I lowered my
voice. “You’re the most vulnerable, and I don’t trust the Angelica
or the Isle of Souls.”

Her hands flew to her hips, and I knew Lucy
was about to get her attitude on. She hated being told what to do
and, even worse, she hated being weaker than others. Although I
didn’t actually know how tough pixies were, I still figured she’d
be the most vulnerable.

“No,” Colton growled again. It reverberated
in his chest like the rumble of an active volcano. “I won’t allow
it.”

Oh, shit balls. It was about to get
real.

Lucy rose in
the air. She was almost lost in the puffs of green pixie dust
that
were shedding from her skin. Colton
crossed his arms across his chest, a half-smirk arrogantly turning
up one corner of his mouth. The moron was actually enjoying his
ability to piss Lucy off.

“
Ca
n you lower the shields on your
mind?” Brace interrupted before Lucy threw down with all the force
her pixie and faerie butt could gather.

“What?” Delane and Steva asked together.

“You have energy protecting your minds,
which prevents me from reading your thoughts. I could push, but I
don’t want to hurt you,” Brace explained.

The confused
expression didn’t leave their faces. Brace exchanged a glance with
me and I could see his resignation toward what he would consider
the stupidity of lesser species. Walkers were not great with the
attempting-to-appear-less-
superior when
around others. But I knew what it was like to have new concepts
thrown at you in random snippets of information, so I explained
further.

“
If you
lower the shields
on your minds and
picture the isle you want us to go to, then we can open a doorway
there.”

And then we wouldn’t have to watch a wolf
and pixie throw down.

Delane nodded once as understanding crossed
her exotic features. Her black eyes locked onto Brace. “I will
allow this. Do not search where you are not permitted.”

He returned her brief nod, accepting her
terms. Delane closed her eyes, and there was a pause. I felt the
exact moment that her mind was freed. The few thoughts that emerged
were methodical. Her mind was as regimented as the rest of the
Angelica. I knew she didn’t want us to see into her head, so I
tried to concentrate on something else until she was shielded
again.

“Thank you,” Brace said. He moved toward a
discreet space beside the cabin and opened a doorway.

Steva gave a single salute as we moved to
enter the swirling vortex.

Wasting no
time, we strode inside the silent vacuum. Delane was beside me. She
hadn’t even hesitated to step in, her expression remaining stoic. I
had a lot of trouble reading the Angelicas
’ feelings. They’d rock at playing poker. Still, it was
brave to step into the unknown.

Lucy stormed in, her features dark and
heavy. Colton followed her closely, still looking amused and
relaxed, which was to be expected; he’d gotten his own way. The
length of the doorway was short, but still it was surprising that
Delane required no assistance. Usually any other than Walker took a
long time to get used to the sensation of cells moving at a million
miles an hour. It was looking as if Nephilius creatures were closer
to Walkers in power than any of the other worlds we had visited so
far. And they had that same ‘perfect beauty’ and otherworldly look
that Walkers wore.

We exited and Delane didn’t even stumble.
Okay, now that was just unfair.

Looking around our new location, I shivered
and started to rub my hands up and down my arms in an involuntary
attempt at comfort, but none was forthcoming. Wherever we were, it
was giving me the creeps.

I smiled as Colton reached out to take
Lucy’s hand; she punched him in the ribs. He just laughed, before
hauling her closer and kissing her on the cheek. She glowered at
him. He kissed her again, this time on the lips, and I watched my
friend melt under his tender caresses. I could hear his soft
murmurs, and I was trying to figure out how to block my ears. Damn,
the wolf was a charmer.

Brace came in at my back. I could feel his
heat encase me, and for some reason the feeling of discomfort
faded. As I relaxed, so did my brain.

“Please, tell me we were never that
annoying?” I said.

Heat
immedia
tely flooded my cheeks. Oh,
crapity crap.

I met his
confused gaz
e, his eyes wide as he
questioned my misspoken words.

“What did you say?” He wouldn’t let me tear
my gaze away, his magnetism holding me captive.

I opened and closed my mouth a few times.
What the heck could I say to counteract that brilliant brain
spasm?

“Are you having the dreams also?” Brace
pressed harder.

I hesitated; my two options were to tell the
truth or play dumb. I was starting to feel that the truth was the
way to go, then Brace could help me maintain our distance. In
reality I’d wanted to tell him the truth from the first moment Lucy
told me of her vision. But now was not the time or place, and I
really needed to think seriously about how to broach the subject
and the consequences of my confession. I should also discuss it
with Josian and Lucy, in case it was simply selfish on my part
wanting to reveal all.

Brace interrupted my thoughts, pushing his
will into me. The man did not give up. “Are you feeling what I do?
As if we’ve been together in a past life. Because I can’t deny it;
there’s something more between us.”

For now I’d play dumb, it was the safest
option. “I really don’t know what you’re talking about.” I
stuttered out the words.

I was such a bitch. Brace deserved so much
better than this lying crap, and as soon as I had time to explain
it properly, I was going to tell him.

He narrowed his eyes at me, but just as he
opened his mouth, Delane interrupted us.

“Follow me,” she said, marching away.

Saved by the Angelica.

“Guess she wasn’t into the whole
star-crossed lovers things we’ve all got going on,” Brace muttered.
His eyes were black; I could see my reflection in their depths.

I knew he was simmering over with unanswered
questions, so in an attempt to distance us, I hurried closer to the
Angelica. “Is this the Isle of Souls?” I started babbling.

Delane shook her head. “No, this is the Isle
of Birth. Our young grow here.”

“What?” I ground to a halt. “What do you
mean ‘grow’?”

She glanced back at me, but didn’t stop
moving. Clearly nothing deterred her when she was on a mission. I
forced my feet to hurry back to her side.

“Once a year we send out our collective
magicks from all five flocks. And from the garden the babies grow.”
She waved her hand toward a large mass of white fences far off in
the distance. It was a long way from us, but so large I could see
it clearly. “The young stay on the isle until their wings grow, and
then they go off to their flocks.”

I shivered
again. No wonder this place gave me the creeps; it was a weird baby
garden. I almo
st snorted as I was
reminded of cabbage patch kids, those vintage dolls from Earth. But
then as I considered it a little more, I realized what that meant.
How the hell was my half-Walker going to be here then? Walkers
reproduced the old-fashioned and much more enjoyable
way.

“Is that the way every Angelica is formed?
Are you all grown?” I really hoped she would say no.

Delane hesitated, and for the first time
slowed to face me. “What do you mean? Why would you ask that? What
do you know?”

Her reaction – endless questions – seemed a
little extreme. Maybe that was an offensive question on Nephilius.
I was just about to apologize when Brace – who’d been stalking
close behind me – spoke up.

“When you freed your mind, there was
something strange about your energy.” He stopped next to Delane.
“Were you born in another manner rather than via the garden?”

Shut the door.

Was Brace indicating that Delane was my
half-Walker?

Crap on a cracker. I couldn’t open my locket
to check with Brace so close. Colton and Lucy joined our group.
They were holding hands and watching us silently.

Delane’s hands were on her weapons as she
bit out her next words. “How do you know this? Who are you?”

“Now’s not the time,” I interrupted. “We
need to deal with this Isle-of-Souls problem.”

I knew nothing of Delane, but if my
experience with the Angelica so far was any indication, she
wouldn’t listen or care about our mission until we helped her
people. And I also didn’t want Brace to suggest I open my necklace.
The last thing I needed was more suspicion from him.

The black-winged Angelica still eyed us
warily. I could tell because she kept maneuvering around so we
weren’t behind her. I attempted to break the awkward tension.

“So, Delane, why are we on the Isle of Birth
and not the Souls?” I reminded her of our problem at hand.

She hesitated. I could tell that she wanted
to push us for more information, but eventually her need to deal
with the current situation must have won. Her hands relaxed on her
weapons.

“The Isle of Souls is the next land across.”
She pointed to her right. “I wanted to get a feel for the cage that
holds our dead captive from this side.”

There was no
more talking as we moved the way she’d pointed. The awkward tension
was still present, thick and tangible. Thankfully, as we approached
the edge of the island, all of us – except Delane probably – were
distracted by the massive break in the cloud land. This must have
been
one of the abysses that Steva had
mentioned in our first set of rules. As we drew closer I realized
the unbelievably massive size of the chasm.

“
This is
what separates our ten lands,” Delane said. “As far as I know these
abysses are bottomless and any Angelica that fall into their depths
are never seen again. And considering we have wings …” Her black
feathered appendages extended then, as if to prove her point. “I
suggest you don’t get too close to the edge.
”

We all took a step back.

“That land is the Isle of Souls.” She
pointed across the chasm.

My mouth fell open, followed by a series of
gasps as I looked across to the next cloud land. A dome of energy
surrounded it, and within the confines of this dome were thousands
of mist-like balls of light. Some were a gray color, others white,
and a few looked to be red and black.

“Can you see the souls?” Delane’s black eyes
flicked between us, watching our reaction to the isle.

“All of those mists are souls?” Lucy’s voice
dropped as she clutched her hands to her chest, her nails marking
her skin. “That’s terrible; they’re trapped in there. Just
ceaselessly smashing against the energy barrier.”