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“You tried to teleport away?” I accused as I found myself in a cozy living room. Fear filled Angelo’s eyes as they landed on me.
“What did you do with Ciara?” Angelo demanded.
“Nothing. She’s with Amber,” I assured. “I saw that King Rayon put you in charge of her safety. I also know that the Nerethians took Jade,” I listed. Angelo frowned.
“Why would they take Jade?” he wondered.
“I don’t know. But what we need to do is ascertain what kind of threat the Nerethians are to Earth,” I admitted. “Then, if possible, we need to rescue Jade.” Angelo let out a breath.
“So what can I do for you, Sheena? If your visions led you to me, they led you to a dead end. My kind don’t like me much.”
“Because you’re the paint boy,” I guessed, and he nodded. “We need to talk to your king,” I insisted. Angelo shook his head.
“Rayon isn’t going to help you find your friend. The Nerethians killed his people. He’ll demand that the person that performed the act be turned over for execution. If Jade is important to the Nerethians, he won’t rock the boat by asking for Jade’s return, especially if she isn’t Najori,” Angelo suspected. “My only duty is to keep Ciara out of trouble.”
“You seem kind of rattled. Why?” I demanded. Angelo glanced down at his hands.
“The Najori don’t have the ability to teleport with others. When I teleported away, I wasn’t supposed to take you with me,” he explained as a short, curvy Hispanic woman appeared in the room.
“Seriously, Angelo, cool gift!” she said.
“Mira, not now,” Angelo protested.
“Just here to let you know that Ciara is at Amber’s house with a hot guy,” she informed him.
“Amber and Ben are knights,” I told Angelo, who frowned. He looked to Mira, who explained.
“Knights are humans that can apparently shoot light out of their hands.” Angelo’s eyes widened.
“You came here believing that humans had no protectors?” I asked, puzzled. Angelo sighed.
“Makes sense,” he said. “But involving King Rayon won’t help you. He’ll either imprison you for knowing about our existence, or kill you outright.”
“So if we help you, it will have to be on our terms,” Mira added.
“Mira, we can’t help her,” Angelo argued. “Our assignment is to protect Ciara.”
“Why?” I wanted to know. Angelo shook his head.
“I wonder if Deric and Winston want in,” Mira said.
“Mira, that would leave Torman alone to guard Ciara. That is a terrible idea t—”
Mira chuckled.
“That assignment was only given to us because King Rayon can’t stand people like us,” Mira pointed out. “Besides, Winston’s father owns a ship. Without Winston, this mission won’t happen.”
“What do you want out of this, Mira?” Angelo questioned. Mira shook her head.
“Let’s just say I hope that we’re wrong,” Mira answered, before vanishing. How in the hell did this go from speaking to King Rayon, to possibly hitching a ride in space? I was terrified by the idea of interacting with such an aggressive race. Angelo blew out a breath.
“Winston will come with us, for sure. He’s bored and doesn’t like staying idle for long. I have to go to keep Mira out of trouble. Torman will want to come as well. But I’m not sure about Deric,” he listed.
“What if we assigned a knight to protect Ciara? I know that Amber has a few cousins that already go to her school,” I bargained. Angelo shook his head, worry and concern warring in his eyes.
“I don’t want to leave Ciara alone on Earth, especially since the Nerethians are snatching people,” he said as Deric appeared in the living room. I remembered him from my vision. His green eyes must have increased in beauty. I met his gaze, a title wave of heat crashed into my core. For a moment, the world grew blurry. After a few desperate blinks, my vision returned to normal. Deric’s eyes widened in shock. So, he felt what I had. Deric was more handsome in person, his presence capturing my soul. His dark hair was thick, lush, and had a hot, messy quality that filled my mind with naughty images.
“Hi, handsome. I had a vision of you,” I blurted out, feeling nervous.
“I know,” Deric said as his gaze continued to imprison me. Angelo let out a curse under his breath.
“So, you’re in?” Angelo asked, uncertain.
“The casters can protect Ciara,” Deric assured Angelo as Mira returned, followed by two men. The first stranger was good-looking, with dark brown hair, chocolate-brown skin, and sparkling brown eyes. The other guy looked like Angelo’s twin, aside for the fact that his eyes were a darker shade of brown.
“So, Mira wants to venture to the hellhole known as Neretha to save a human that no one really interacted with?” Angelo’s near-double questioned. “There is more to this.”
“She’s blocked her thoughts so I can’t dig around,” Deric replied.
“Figures. But I’m in,” the other stranger said. “I like an adventure. Deric, why are you staring at the oracle like that?”
“Because she is his soulmate,” Mira snapped, anger flashing in her eyes. Deric shifted on his feet as my mouth popped open. Mira couldn’t be serious. I barely knew the guy. What did she mean by soulmate?
“Oh, damn. By the way, Sheena, I’m Winston. And that’s Torman,” Winston said, gesturing at Angelo’s look-alike. “Sheena, are you Najorian?”
“No,” I responded, my throat tightening.
“To sum things up, Najorians can only procreate with their soulmates. It’s a biological defect that I don’t quite understand. That means that we’re going extinct, since very few of us in our generation have found our compatible,” Mira explained, sadness momentarily filling her eyes.
“No,” I protested, though my intuition sang that Mira was telling the truth. “One thing at a time. How many people can fit on your ship?”
“Twelve people can comfortably fit on it,” Winston replied.
“I’m sure that Ben, Amber, and Tuck will want to come. But we will have to consult our coven leader first. Do you people have cell phones?” I asked as I dug my phone out of my coat pocket. Deric held out his hand and I gave him the device, my nerves singing when his fingertips brushed mine. I didn’t miss the possessive intent behind his actions. He wanted to be my point of contact. As soon as he was finished imputing his number, he handed me the phone.
“Angelo, can I please have a ride back?” I asked after a few awkward moments. Angelo stepped forward as Deric scowled.
“Sure,” Angelo said as he held out his hand. I took it and felt that odd burning sensation again. Moments later, Angelo and I were back in the same hallway, which was deserted.
“Thanks,” I said. The alien nodded before vanishing. It looked like I could either attend class or get the hell out of the building. I pulled out my cell phone and decided to create a group text chat with Amber, Tuck, and Ben.
Me: All set. Just finished meeting with Angelo. Things didn’t go according to plan.
Tuck: What happened?
Me: He teleported me back to his house. I’m back at the school now. Tuck, I’ll sneak out the back.
Amber: How do we know that it’s really Sheena?
Me: Stop being so suspicious, Amber.
I ran out the back door, wincing as the wind slammed into my face. I skidded on the stairs as I rushed down them. I spotted Amber’s SUV driving into the back parking lot, and I quickly hurried toward it. I hopped into the front passenger seat and grinned at a relieved Tuck.
“So you really are okay, Sheena?” Tuck wanted to know.
“Sure am,” I confirmed as Tuck drove off.
We met in my kitchen. I was settled at the kitchen table with a cup of hot chocolate in front of me. Mom joined us, her dark eyes filled with hope. Amber paced, as if she had been bitten by the energy bug. My brother and his best friend, Tuck, both stared at me. I had no idea where to start.
“Well, um, Angelo’s friend Winston can give us a ride to Neretha,” I announced, and Tuck’s eyes bulged out. Amber stopped pacing and whistled.
“Great,” she said. “When can we leave?”
Julia shook her head.
“Sheena, I talked to you about this before. You need to start telling people what happened from the beginning,” Mom lectured. I nodded and gave the knights in the room a rundown of everything that had occurred.
“So Mira has an ulterior motive?” Tuck asked.
“Most likely. She has no other reason to help us,” I replied.
“And you think that you should go? This Deric may be your soulmate, but you’re the only oracle in our coven,” Ben argued, but I knew that he would oppose me going.
“I need to go. My visions could be useful to the mission,” I pointed out.
“Might is the key word,” Ben fired back. “There is no sense in—”
“Since Sheena hasn’t officially joined our coven, she can do what she pleases,” Julia interrupted, which made Ben’s face darken.
“So you’re saying that you don’t care about Sheena’s safety?” Ben challenged.
“I’m saying that if you tell Sheena not to go, she will just leave without you. Deric is her soulmate, not yours. He’ll side with her and leave you on Earth. Do you want that?” Julia asked. Tuck and Amber both nodded in agreement, which confirmed that I was the one with leverage. I liked the fact that my mother always respected my wishes.
“How do we even know that Deric is her soulmate?” Ben hotly demanded.
“We don’t. But either way, this is your best way to find Jade,” Julia responded. Ben rolled his eyes.
“Why should we risk our only oracle to find jade?” Ben shouted, but then he realized what he said. His words caused anger to flow into me. I stood, my legs shaking from the emotion.
“You don’t have to go to Neretha with us. But I will be going once Queen Celest clears it,” I declared. Julia let out a breath.
“Let me confer with Celest,” she offered before leaving the room.
“Relax, Sheena. It might take a few minutes,” Tuck encouraged. I nodded and collapsed into a chair. We sat in silence, my glare at Ben not doing much to make anyone eager to talk. I finished my hot chocolate by the time Mom came back into the room. She looked exhausted and worried. We were obviously not going to like what she had to say.
“Ben, you’re expected at the stronghold. Your father needs your help on a project. Tucker, you’re being sent to guard another potential oracle. Amber, you’ll be allowed to go to Neretha with Jade.” Ben swore and got to his feet. I thought that he would rant and rave about everything. But then he proved me wrong by walking out the front door, Tuck quickly following after him.
“I guess it’s just going to be us, then,” Amber said, a smile on her face. “This should be interesting.”