The Conduit (Gryphon Series) (5 page)

“There’s a spare key in the glove compartment. Doors are unlocked.”

“Not safe, but helpful in this situation,” Alec muttered as he opened the passenger side door and helped me in. He rolled my window down before shutting the door. I didn’t mind. It might shake off the remaining fog in my brain. Alec climbed in and started the truck. I leaned my head against the seat and closed my eyes as he drove.

“The changes will start now, Celeste. Not just for you but for Gabe and Kendall as well.”

My eyes snapped open. Those words! I remembered those words. Where had I heard them? Fear coiled in my stomach. I glanced around to see how close to Grams’ we were.

“Where are you going
!” I yelled over the whipping wind.

“To the ER to get your head stitched up.”

I shook my head as adamantly as my current state would allow, “No. Take me home, please. Grams is a nurse. She’ll take care of me.”

“She’s not going to put stitches in. And what if you have a concussion?”

“Please?” I have a slight fear of hospitals because there are needles there. And I’m overwhelmingly, irrationally petrified of needles. “If she thinks I need to go, then I will. Okay?”

Alec fr
owned but did as I asked. He U-turned us back toward Grams’. The truck no sooner parked in the driveway than the front door flew open and Grams ran out. Gabe and Kendall trailed her.

Grams’ face was a tight, stern mask of barely contained anger. The sight of me changed that.
             

“Sakes alive, Celeste! What happened to you?” She gripped my elbow and did a quick assessment of my visible injuries.

“I fell on the path and hit my head. Alec found me,” I said.

Alec wasted no time. “I wanted to take her to the hospital and get her checked out. But she refused to go.”

“Let’s get her inside; I’ll take a look at her. If she needs to go to the hospital, she will.” Her tone left no room for argument. “I heard you were back in town, Alec. Thank you for coming to my granddaughter’s rescue.”

They hustled me inside to the downstairs bathroom. I avoided the mirror altogether. I wasn’t ready for that train wreck yet. Kendall put the lid down on the toilet so I could sit. Grams grabbed a washcloth from under the sink and held it under the running water.

“This may sting,” she warned. I concentrated on the mauve and burgundy swirls in the wallpaper to distract myself.

She dabbed at my head. To my surprise, it didn’t hurt. Again she wiped and patted. Then she stopped. Her brow creased. She rinsed the washcloth and came at me once more. This time she swiped the cloth across my entire forehead.

Grams took a step back, her head cocked. “I don’t understand where all the blood came from. Your scratch is already closed up.”

“What? When I found her, her forehead was ripped open clear to the bone!” Alec pushed his way in to get a better look. I grimaced at his colorful choice of words.

Grams took a step back so Alec could see for himself. Crouched down in front of me, he grabbed my chin between his thumb and index finger. Confusion filled his face as he turned my head from side to side.

“That’s not possible. It’s just a scratch.”

“Head wounds bleed like no other. It must’ve looked worse than it was,” Grams explained.

Curiosity got the best of me. I pushed Alec’s hand away and stood up to see for myself. I tried to keep my focus on only my forehead. Smack dab in the middle of my head was a small pink scratch. I ran my finger across it. The pain was gone. Even my headache
had vanished. Alec was right. That didn’t seem possible.

My eyes wandered to the rest of my appearance. I didn’t know who the chick in the mirror with the crazed eyes was, but she was downright frightening. Trails of blood streaked my face and peppered the front of my shirt. The only clean part of me was where Grams tended to my scratch. Leaves, dirt
, and pine needles covered me. I had a bird’s nest for hair. Pretty. I reached for the faucet to wash away the grime. My extended hand stopped me short. It was filthy. Both of my hands were. Dirt was packed under my fingernails as if I’d been digging.              

Or clawing at the ground.

The room shrunk around me. I remembered. I remembered everything. My breath came short and fast as panic bubbled through me. I could feel the concerned eyes of my family and friend burning into my skin. On the verge of losing it, I bolted from the room.

“I’m going to take a shower
,” I stated and ran up the stairs to our bathroom.

I didn’t risk another look in the mirror but stripped off my soiled
clothes and stepped into the shower. I turned the water as hot as I could stand it and scrubbed my skin raw with my loofah. I couldn’t have seen what I thought I did. It was fodder for sci-fi movies, not real life. There had to be a rational explanation. There had to be. What did I know? I knew I hit my head, and I knew I was a chronic klutz. Maybe, just maybe, I confused the order of things. I could’ve fallen, in typical Celeste fashion, then dreamed the bird-woman.

I sighed and let the tension leave my body. Of course that was what happened. It made sense. I climbed out of the shower and toweled off. Then pulled on my pajamas and went straight to bed. After I flicked off the light
, I pulled the covers up to my ear. Nothing out of the ordinary had happened other than a wickedly vivid dream. And if I told myself that enough, maybe it would remove that lingering doubt that tugged at the back of my mind.

Worried I may have a concussion
, Grams came to check on me frequently throughout the night. Each time she found me awake, staring into the darkness. I couldn’t fool myself no matter how hard I tried. I knew what I saw.

CHAPTER 6

By the early hours of the following morning, Grams determined I was fine and left me alone to rest. Once sleep finally got a hold of me, it didn’t want to let go. I slept the entire day away and woke as the sun was beginning to set.

I stumbled downstairs to find an empty house. According to the note Grams left me on the dining room table, Kendall was at Keith’s, Gabe was at football practice, and she had gone to Opry Land with her Red Hat Society friends for the weekend. She assured me she could be back in an instant if I needed her, but that was the last thing I wanted. After last night’s ordeal
, I didn’t want anyone hovering over me, watching my every move. I needed normalcy. Time alone with my thoughts to convince myself I hadn’t gone completely loony.

I poured myself a bowl of cereal and thumbed through the packet of information that came in the mail from Rhodes College. The campus was beautiful. All the buildings were stone with elaborate archways and impressive moldings. They looked like undersized castles. I tried to envision what my life would be like there. Cramming for exams in the library. Meeting friends at the Lynx Lair for lunch. Taking in a little culture at the gorgeous theater. A wonderful adventure, far away from weird birds that cause hallucinations.

Halfway through my second bowl of Fruity Pebbles, my belly began to flutter. Worried the milk may’ve been past its prime, I took some deep breaths and gave my stomach a chance to settle.

Instead of the problem correcting itself, it got worse. My heart began to pound like a jackhammer. My puls
e thudded in my veins. I felt…agitated. I was frustrated and angry for no reason whatsoever. I couldn’t sit still. I wrung my hands as I paced from the kitchen to the living room and back again. My jaw tensed to the point of pain.

The front door squeaked open. Hoping it was someone breaking in that I could unleash this fury on, I stalked toward the foyer.

Gabe intercepted me when he rounded the corner into the living room. “Hey.”

It hit me like a punch to the gut. The anger I felt was coming from him. I could feel what he was feeling, and he was radiating anger.

“Are you okay?” I snapped. At my abrupt tone, Gabe’s chestnut eyes widened and his eyebrows rose.

“Yeah…why?”
He asked slowly.

“You seem upset!”

Gabe laughed while giving me a “my sister’s done lost her damned mind” look. “No. I just walked in the door. You, on the other hand, are wound pretty tight.”

“I’m fine
!” I barked. “Did something happen at practice?”

“Nope. What’s with you?”

“Nothing’s wrong with me. What are you so ticked about?”

“I’m not ticked about anything.” His voice started to echo the emotion coming off of him. I briefly considered that I may be causing this.

“You’re obviously angry. Now what’s going on?” I blurted out, my hands balled into fists.

His wide jaw clenched. “Did that bump on the head damage your hearing? I said I’m fine.”

“You’re not upset?”

“No more than usual
,” he muttered. “We done here?”

“Yeah.” My voice was barely a whisper, but my heart pounded away at top speed. I had no idea what was happening to me. I needed some distance to figure it out. “I think I’m going to go lay down for a bit.”

“Good.” He grumbled and turned his back on me as he stomped to the kitchen.

I fled the intrusive emotion and retreated to the safe confines of my room. As the door slammed behind me, I collapsed against it. Distance muffled Gabe’s emotion. I was back to feeling just annoyed instead of fuming.

I breathed a sigh of relief and pushed off the door. Two strides across the room and a flash of red caught my eye. There was something on my pillow that had most definitely
not
been there before. A scroll, its leathery paper yellow with age, sat where my head had been a short time before. The red, silk ribbon that decorated it made it look like a gift. An offering.

    
My eyes darted around nervously. Someone had been in our room. Were they still here? I looked around for something to use as a bludgeoning device, just in case. A purple polka-dotted lamp isn’t high on the list of intimidating weapons, but it’s all I had. I snuck up to the closet, flung open the door, and stabbed my lamp inside. Nothing but clothes. I crouched down and swung my lamp wildly under my bed, then Kendall’s. When I again came up empty-handed, I walked over to the window. Unlocked. Whoever left my little present could’ve snuck in and out easily. Especially if said person had wings…

I stared at the paper like it was going to jump up and bite me. Which it might. Weirder things had happened lately. My hesitant feet scuffed
against the floor as I forced myself toward the mysterious parchment. With a trembling hand, I grasped the scroll. I freed it from the silky ribbon, then unrolled the thick paper. At the top of the page, etched in a dramatic cursive, were the words:

Power of the Empathe

Beneath that, answers were given to questions I hadn’t known to ask.

The empathe feels the emotions of others. This power is meant to guide by “listening” to those in need of aid. Once the ability is activated, its power can be di
fficult to endure. For the weak-minded, every emotion will feel crushing. Ultimately, the fragile mind will collapse. Only through strong-will and control will you survive it.

I glanced up at the gryphon statue on my nightstand. “Is this your idea of a love note?”

I had an inkling of an idea where the scroll came from. But no way was I ready to let my mind go there. Instead
, I focused on the message. An uplifting note it was not. I like my mind. As a rule, I didn’t want it to collapse.

I flopped back on my bed and stared up at the ceiling. At this distance
, Gabe’s anger wasn’t too bad. It kind of felt like when I went on one of my caffeine binges and my insides got all jittery. But if I was going to get a handle on this, I’d have to do it at a closer proximity. It seemed like a good idea, though, to wait until Gabe got over his male PMS. While I had nothing to base this theory on, I assumed less hostility would make it easier. Maybe.

No sooner did I have that thought th
en my heart seemed to swell in my chest. Light and warmth filled me. It was wonderful. It wasn’t mine. I could still feel Gabe’s anger, but now it was mixed with this wonderful, new feeling. What could possibly be making my big, macho brother feel all warm and mushy? Nosiness got the best of me. I had to know. Sure, curiosity killed the cat. But really, what was the worst that could happen?