Perilous Waters (15 page)

“So, I’m turning into a monster?”

Angie’s head tilted as she looked him over. “I think there are books specifically about the nymphs and sea world. Maybe there’s something in them about Scylla poison.”

They went into the den, where books in strange alphabets lay haphazardly around the room. Julia’s brows lifted. It wasn’t really like Angie to leave things so messy. She must have been busy looking through the books before her parents called her to watch the movie.

“What have you been looking up?”

Angie blinked several times. Julia frowned as she recognized the mask that Angie often wore. It settled over her features and hid her emotions so well, Julia had only recently noticed it. Angie was a master at hiding her true feelings from the world. Then again, so was Kaitlyn.

“Nothing special. Just more research,” Angie said, smiling up at her and offering an enormous book with browned pages and a cover that made a cracking sound when she took it. “Help me look for Scylla information?”

Julia settled onto a cushion and pulled the heavy book onto her lap. Regular reading gave her a headache. Using magic to read ancient foreign languages made her brain want to jump out of her skull and never return. “Comprehen—”

“Oh, and here,” Angie added. “Try these, too.”

Angie handed her four more thick books that were old and musty.
Gosh, I hope the answers are all in the first book
,
she thought, her mood growing murkier. She lowered her lashes for a moment, summoning her magic again. “Comprehend,” she repeated, running her hand across the cover. The mark on her arm glowed softly along with the words on the book. Symbols shifted into legible letters. She felt her brow crease. “Origins.” She glanced up at Angie. “I’ve already read this one.”

“All of it?”

Julia almost laughed at that. “This thing is probably five hundred pages long! Not a chance.”

“How else will we know if we don’t read it?”

“My magic will run out way before I can finish any of these books. Comprehend only lasts so long for me.”

Angie returned her attention to the book in front of her. The pages turned quickly as she scanned the book. “Just try.”

“Okay, okay,” Julia muttered, compelling the magic to form a steady pulse through her mind in an effort to keep Comprehend working. Brian paced the room. Angie turned pages at lightning speed. Julia scanned her own book, skipping over the Guardian stuff and seeing if it mentioned anything about nymphs or Scylla poison.

“I can’t find anything,” she finally said, shutting her book. Her eyes burned and her skull throbbed. “I scanned as best as I could, but 500 pages would take me days to read. I’ll start on the next book and see if anything jumps out at me.”

Angie frowned briefly. “We might need to call Kaitlyn.”

Julia nodded. “The more eyes the better.”

“Yes, but, not for research. Reading through an entire library of books might not be the most efficient use of our time, considering what’s going on with Brian.”

“So… the threads of time?” Julia asked, relieved at the thought of not having to read.

“Exactly.”

“Seriously,
you guys,” Kaitlyn said, showing up in incredibly tiny black pajama shorts that laced up on either side, and a t-shirt with
Your Boyfriend Says Hi
written across the chest. “You’re making me feel like a DVR, pressing play on the threads of time whenever you feel like it.”

“This is important,” Angie said.

“Yeah, I know,” she said, eyeing Brian with clear irritation. “One of Julia’s boyfriends is in trouble.”

Julia unclenched her fists, reminding herself not to give a crap about what Kaitlyn said, but Brian glared at her. “I’m sorry the fact that I might be turning into a sea monster is inconveniencing you.”

Kaitlyn placed her hand on her waist, her head tilting even as her eyes seemed to mock him. “Apology accepted.”

Julia had never seen Brian’s expression turn so dark before. She almost reached for him, hoping to calm him down before Kaitlyn had the chance to rile him up any worse.

“Let’s just get started,” Angie said smoothly, but her fingers tapped at the hem of her pajama shorts. “I don’t know how long this will take, Brian. Do you want to sit on the sofa for now?”

He kept his eyes on Kaitlyn for a moment. Finally he gave a stiff, almost imperceptible shrug, though his expression didn’t lighten as he dropped onto the couch.

How did Angie manage to keep the peace so easily? Julia had the feeling if Angie could sit in a room with all the world’s leaders, they would come out singing Kumbaya.

Brian glanced up from where he lay stretched out on the couch. “You guys are going to look into the future?”

“That’s the plan,” Julia said.

His hand rose until he rubbed the back of his head as if trying to figure out a puzzle. “This has been the craziest weekend.”

Julia thought back to everything that had happened since Angie had marked her with the magic. There didn’t seem to be a limit to the crazy, when magic was involved.

“Yeah, well at least you’re not bound for life to anyone,” Kaitlyn grumbled, taking Julia’s scarred hand.

Julia’s eyes narrowed. “Especially someone who messes around with dark magic and joins forces with an evil witch.” Julia’s words were a little grouchier than she meant them to be, but Kaitlyn’s actions had almost caused her to lose her hand, and it might still end up costing Ethan his life.

“Are you ever going to get over that?” Kaitlyn said, her voice raising as her green eyes flashed. “Joining with Indira showed me what a lying bitch she really is. I want her and the Sorceress destroyed more than ever because of what she did to my face, and everything else that happened. I’m on your freaking side, okay?”

Yeah, right. Only now because the Jewels of Time were sent back into some other dimension or time period, or whatever had happened to them. If Kaitlyn knew the truth—

Kaitlyn’s eyes became thin, glimmering slits. Too late Julia realized that, with their connection active, Kaitlyn could hear her thoughts and feel her emotions. Pinpricks of heat rained down her spine. She started thinking of puppies and rainbows, anything except the stupid Jewels of Time and their stupid connection to the true world timeline.

What are you hiding from me?

Julia’s eyes rounded as she sucked in a breath. Kaitlyn’s venomous tone sliced through her thoughts like a blade. She shook her head a little, looking to Angie, who hadn’t been connected to them. She was oblivious, and sat down prettily in her baby blue pajamas with ruffled trim.

“Please, guys,” Angie said, taking hold of Julia’s free hand and sending a cooling balm of calming magic through them. “No more arguments. No more comments. We’re trying to help Brian?”

The magic burned bright and strong with Angie connected to them now. Julia didn’t know what to do. She kept thinking of puppies and rainbows, trying to keep Kaitlyn’s increasingly annoying presence from taking over her thoughts.

Angie’s lips became full and soft as they turned down.
What’s going on?

I should ask you the same thing,
Kaitlyn’s serpentine voice hissed through their connection.
Julia’s thoughts were all wrapped up in the Jewels of Time a minute ago. I thought they were destroyed when we bound Indira to the nether.

You shouldn’t have been probing into Julia’s thoughts,
Angie’s soft voice echoed.

I hardly had to probe, with the way Julia’s galloping thoughts go crashing through my head the moment we’re connected. Seriously, Julia. You have zero self-control. Learn to put up a wall. I would rather go through life without feeling every one of your emo-Ethan mood swings.

Julia gasped and tugged her hand back, but Kaitlyn grabbed it again.

Don’t even start,
Kaitlyn said, her voice a sneering ribbon of black through Julia’s mind.
We’re helping out one of the growing list of boys whose lives you’re ruining, remember?

Julia blinked against the wave of hot moisture that sprung to her eyes. Her breath became a ragged whisper. “Shut. Up.”

Enough, Kaitlyn,
Angie said.
We’ll tell you everything about the jewels after we’ve taken care of Brian, okay?

Julia nearly hugged her. It didn’t matter that Angie looked like she was still in junior high, there was an authority about her that even Kaitlyn obeyed. She always said the three of them were equals in their mystic trinity, but Angie had somehow become their tiny, fearless leader. And at times like this, it was obvious they needed her to be just that.

You’d better,
Kaitlyn said, withdrawing from Julia’s mind even as she started taking her magic.

“Watch it,” Julia said. She tried to hold back, but Kaitlyn kept siphoning power from her, way more than she needed.

“It works better for me if I take it like that,” Kaitlyn whispered. “The more force I use, the stronger the power.”

Julia’s mark of magic stung as though it had been ripped raw. “I would give you what you need if you just wait.”

“You don’t get it. It’s the fact that I’m forcing you that makes it more powerful.”

Angie gave Julia’s hand a reassuring squeeze. Julia swallowed and calmed down, letting Kaitlyn take from her instead of giving it freely the way Angie let her. It unsettled her and got under her skin… she could feel Kaitlyn exerting her dominance over her, almost as though she were holding her down.

Kaitlyn murmured an unintelligible
Mmm
sound, her eyes blazing white. Her hunger for power slithered through Julia, grasping and grabbing, choking her own spirit as it grew stronger and she grew weaker.

Julia struggled against Kaitlyn’s overbearing use of the magic. Something about it made Julia feel like bugs crawled up and down her arms.
Can’t we get this going already?

Kaitlyn’s head flung back. The threads of time spread out before them. Endless. So many of them Julia couldn’t have counted them all if she had wanted to.

“Search them out,” Angie whispered. “Look for anything that shows us with Brian.”

The threads shifted in vibrancy, rippling in varying degrees of brightness. Latching onto one only caused dozens of new ones to appear. Still, Julia tried, always seeking the brightest one, since that made the most sense.

The first thread revealed a cave. A body lay on the floor. She couldn’t tell who it was at first, but soon Brian’s blond curls appeared against the sandy floor. At least, she thought it was Brian. His body thrashed about, and finally his eyes opened. They were devoid of white, as if someone had replaced his eyes with twin marbles of complete and utter black. She shuddered at the way he rose to his feet. The fluid motion reminded her of a snake, and his eyes—she couldn’t stop looking at their cold, inhuman darkness. His bloodied lips curled back to reveal a set of gleaming, snake-like fangs. He shed his human clothing to reveal a series of razor-sharp fins along his back and forearms.

She released the thread with a choked cry, trembling as she took hold of another. This one showed them hovering about as Brian made the same transformation. He attacked them. They could blast him but without Ethan’s power to kill, their magic made little difference to him. And Ethan wouldn’t attack. Ethan only fell to his knees as Brian slashed at him with cruel claws—

“No,” she whimpered, letting the thread go.

Jules?

Ethan’s questioning presence startled her so completely she almost let go of the other girls’ hands.

He wanted to talk to her, now of all times?

Jules, I need… to hear from you.

She swallowed, her heart stuttering as heat filled her chest.

I can’t find Brian anywhere. I’m worried about him.

She sucked in her breath. He would allow the connection to form now, for his brother’s sake, she thought bitterly. Not for her. Not because he wanted to hear from her. And the timing couldn’t be worse. She had enough trouble keeping Kaitlyn out of her thoughts, now she had to worry about Kaitlyn figuring out that Ethan was in her mind, too?

Please. I know you can hear me.

Her eyes slammed shut as she formed her connection with Ethan.
I’m a little busy right now.

Don’t be cold with me, Jules. Please don’t.

After all of these weeks of ignoring me, you can ask me not to be cold with you?

I did what I had to. If I had kept in contact with you—

Kaitlyn’s icy rage blew through her like a blizzard.

You’re talking to him? Now? You have
got
to be kidding me!

Julia blinked rapidly, her gaze skittering from Kaitlyn to Angie’s bewildered expression and back again. “I—I just need to tell Ethan about his brother.”

Angie’s pale brows dropped. “Ethan?”

“He contacted me, okay?” She eyed Brian, who had dozed off on the couch. Her voice dropped to a forceful whisper. “Brian must have left without telling Ethan anything. Ethan’s worried.”

“That’s not our problem!”

Julia let go of the other girls’ hands and the threads vanished. She didn’t want to make them mad, but Ethan… she flinched at the way her heart still fluttered at the thought of him. “Just let me tell him that Brian’s okay so he stops worrying.”

Kaitlyn made an exasperated noise from the back of her throat.

Angie nodded, her round eyes soft and sympathetic.

Julia tucked her legs up against her chest and shut her eyes.

Ethan?

Relief flowed strongly across their connection. Warmth and gratitude poured from him. She took a moment to enjoy the strange unity she felt with him. It was like being held in his arms.

Brian’s okay. He’s here with us. Just worried about the Scylla venom. It hasn’t gone away.

Thank you.

You have really crappy timing, you know that?

She felt him, hesitant and uncertain, stroking the outline of her emotions.
You’re really upset with me.

Shouldn’t I be? You’ve been ignoring me.

I had to. If I had kept in contact with you—

He broke off and she tried to understand what he felt. She tried searching his thoughts, but he remained as guarded as ever
.
If you had kept in contact with me, then what?