Page 42 of Caelum

NINE

REED

“Why can't I just be normal?”

Two days later, Eve’s words still saddened me. I kept regurgitating them around and around inside my head, trying to figure out what it was about her that was so different.

So abnormal.

There was no denying that she was. The second we’d learned that she had more than one mate, we’d known something was off with her. And ‘off’ was a gross understatement.

If that wasn't bad enough, this new development was definitely concerning. Mostly because there was no way to understand what was happening, and what we couldn't understand, we couldn't control. Over the next weeks and months, we’d have to train Eve, help her learn how to control her souls so she would appear as normal as possible. But if these things were out of her control, then how would we ever be able to help her?

I wouldn't deny these recent developments had me stressed. My Hell Hound was clawing at my skin on a far too frequent basis. I felt nervy and on edge all the time because even though we weren’t as close as I'd have preferred, Eve was it for me. I was her Chosen.

Most creatures actually did meet their mates along the way. We lived long lives, after all, and the only thing that put an end to those lives were attacks from Ghouls. It was sheer misfortune if we didn't meet our One, but even though mates weren't unusual, that didn't make them any less unique. To have found one so early was a blessing, truly. Even more, to have found one I was attracted to, and someone whom I liked was especially wonderful.

Just because you were somebody’s Chosen didn't mean you were always attracted to them, or would consider them friends.

Nicholas, the principal of Caelum, was a perfect example of that. Janvier was his Chosen, and the dislike between them was evident. Christ, it was more than that; it was glaringly obvious.

Everybody knew when she was around because Nicholas was always in a bad mood. She only came a couple of times a year, and even then, that was because of duty. Females didn't do well long term without their Chosen. Males did okay, but females?

No.

The females of our species were strange in that their mental health was far more precarious than ours was.

They were fragile mentally, but incredibly strong physically.

After a childhood in the human world, it had always amazed me how different our society was to theirs.

We had far more respect for the women in our world—they weren't our rulers, and we weren't a matriarchal society—and certain things were definitely female dominant. Just because of the way we had to shield them, mostly. But rather than subjugate them for that, we empowered them. Lifting them up because, the truth of the matter was, a female who was backed into a corner, especially from a young age, had more chance of turning Ghoul than not.

There were more female Ghouls than males, which was a statistic that was beyond worrisome. For the past hundred or so years, as a species, we’d started treating women differently for a reason. They needed our help, and we weren't about to allow them to turn Ghoul.

So, not only was I grateful for Eve, I was happy to be her Chosen. My major concern was these abnormalities. Who could blame me?

But it was the main reason why I was stressed at the moment. Stress and the Hell Hound never went well together. They rammed against each other in a way that always put me on edge. I was harder in the ring, meaner during training. Just an hour ago, Frazer had told me to fuck off and go surfing because I’d pounded him into the mat, and that’s what I was currently doing.

It was just me against the ocean, and those were odds that I was never going to win. I thought that was why I liked it, though. The ocean was a force that could crush me in its maw. I had no chance of besting it, no chance that its rage wouldn't swallow me whole .

Caelum had an interesting surf.

There were many coves, and over my years here, I'd explored them all. Not only by foot but by surfboard. I took great comfort in the many different ways there were to surf around here. Bodyboard, paddle sailing... I'd done them all.

At the moment, though, I was using Cruckshanks Bay as a means of burning off this temper. In perfect conditions, it was capable of twelve-foot waves, and even better, there were funnels. There was nothing more exhilarating than pitting myself against Mother Nature.

As the tide pulled at me, the sea frothing against my skin and trying to freeze me, I was warm and toasty underneath my wet suit. Deep inside? I was the same, and I released a bellowing laugh that was loaded with joy.

Happiness filtered through me as I flung myself into the belly of the beast, focusing as I made it onto my board, my feet settling firmly in place as I began the smooth glide toward the shore.

The surf was with me today, and I was grateful for that. I truly did need the downtime. I hadn't felt this out of control in a while, and I knew it was because of Eve’s predicament, but also due to the fact that she was technically mine while she technically wasn't.

There was nothing I could do about that, though, and understanding why she wasn’t ready to Claim me wouldn’t calm my Hell Hound down.

With the sun beating down overhead, my eyes strained slightly against the brightness and I knew they'd be stinging later on from the salt. But even as the sun burned, the sea chilled, and I loved it. Beneath my wetsuit, my body temperature was perfect for once. The only time the Hell Hound’s higher temps were controlled was when I was in the ocean. I had issues with maintaining it on a normal day. When I was angry? It was even worse. I always felt overheated, to the point that it could surprise somebody if they happened to touch me.

But here, I felt wonderful.

When the tide flung me back to the shore, I decided I'd had enough. The hours swung by here, and I only knew the difference in time by the passage of the sun across the sky.

I had endless patience when I was doing this, and an endless amount of hours to spend on the ocean.

When I dragged myself onto the shore, I let myself relax against the sand. It would make a mess later, the sand burrowing even deeper into my wet gear, but that was what sand did. I didn't really care. I was used to it. There was a comfort in the normalcy of the tasks ahead—returning to Caelum, switching into clothes, and rinsing off my gear and my board. I'd need to wax the board too. Keep it in tip-top shape for the next time.

With the short to-do list buzzing in my head, even as I lay there cooling down from my intense workout, I felt guilty for not rushing off to clean my board because the salt could do a shit ton of damage as the water dried off, but I just needed to chill for a second, needed to get my breath under control.

With my back flat on the sand, I raised my knees and dug my heels into the shoreline. It was wet there. The water kept my toes damp as the tide curled along, the endlessness of the motion soothing something inside me that found no other peace.

There would come a time when Caelum wasn't my home. Not just because of Eve, but because that was how it worked. Caelum was our base, but not our home when we graduated. I wouldn't always have this much access to the sea, and that prospect terrified me. This past year, I'd been surfing more and more as a result. Trying to take advantage of the beaches here while I could as though I were trying to save it up for a later date.

I knew it wouldn't work that way, knew that it might make me miss the ocean even more, but I had no alternative.

My hands were tied in so many ways that it was no wonder my Hell Hound was raging.

Over the past year, the Hound had started to dominate the others. More than usual. I'd always known that mine had been closer to the surface than was considered normal—so Eve and I were perfectly weird together as I'd known from the start that I was strange in comparison to those in my year. But ever since I’d turned eighteen—when our dominant soul began to draw more powers from the others—I'd been aware that the Hound had even been present during the others’ days.

I wasn't looking forward to the time when I had nothing but the Hound to control. I wasn't sure what it would do to my temperament. Wasn't sure if it would make me angrier and quicker to burst into flames of rage than was already the case.

As I buried my feet deeper in the sand, I did the same with my fists, finding a strange comfort in having my extremities covered with the grainy substance.

My face burned from the salt, the wind, and the sun, but I didn't care. It was a moment’s peace, and I really needed it. As I flexed my fingers, I frowned when I felt something. It was strange. Not a stone, because it wasn't cold, but shiny.

Plasticky .

My frown deepened as I felt the rounded edges of the object, and I pushed my hand deeper into the sand to get a firmer hold of the item. When I realized it was stuck, I sat up as curiosity drove the movement, and I pulled my hand free, then with both sets of fingers, dug to where I'd burrowed, the ocean helping me as the tide moistened the sand.

A sharp wave surged over me, filling the small hole I'd made with water. It made the sand easier to shove out of the way and stopped it from sinking where I'd dug. Within thirty seconds, I'd found the item. And seeing it was a key ring surprised me. The water came again, ever helpful, and rinsed off the piece. When I squinted against the sun, shading it with my fingers, I peered at the object then froze.

What in the ever-loving fuck?

The picture was faded, but I'd recognize it anywhere. The text was barely visible, but I recognized the font too.

Coolangatta.

When I turned it over, I saw the back of the key ring, and the coincidence morphed into an impossibility.

One side contained a picture of Coolangatta beach, but the other was a picture of me and my mum all those years ago when we’d vacationed there.

I'd only mentioned this to Eve a week ago.

How was this possible?

I knew things could travel across the ocean. Hadn't there been a shipment full of rubber ducks that had been on a ship that capsized? I knew they traveled across the ocean, finding a new home in the States somewhere. But a key ring?

It was too uncanny.

A too-impossible coincidence.

Sickness pulled on my stomach. And even though I was pathetically grateful to have the tatty memento back, memories of our peaceful time before my life had changed forever with my mum’s death, I felt a deep sense of unease.

I remembered exactly what I'd said to Eve.

How I'd phrased it.

“I wish...”

I'd wished for the key ring to be back in my possession.

I'd wished it, and here it was.

It wasn't as though it had appeared at the blink of an eye, and there was no sign of magic. But this? It was too surreal.

I hadn't thought of this key ring in over five years. There was something about Eve that made me think about the past, dredged it up in ways I'd been burying down for far too long.

She'd made me think of it, and the words had spilled from my lips almost as if I hadn't wanted them to, and now? The key ring was back in my possession. After I'd wished it back there.

Concern had me scrambling to my feet, and I slipped my finger through the rusted metal ring to clamp it in my grasp, then I grabbed my board and held it under my arm. The twenty-minute walk back to the Academy took place in ten. I ran at a steady pace, trying to use the motion and momentum to calm my thoughts, but there was no calming me down.

Was I scared? I didn't think I was, but I was definitely on edge. I felt like something momentous had just happened, and I wasn't capable of figuring out what it was.

As I ran through the secondary gate back into Caelum proper, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to see Eve there.

She wasn't waiting for me. In fact, I wasn't sure what she was doing.

Many kids surfed and took advantage of the beaches while they were here, and there was a section close to the secondary gate where we could shower off and get clean. She was looking up at a tree on the path toward that area, staring up at it in a way that made me wonder what she was looking at.

Her intense focus meant she hadn't seen me arrive, and when I called out, “Eve?” she jerked in surprise.

Her beautiful eyes widened as she glanced over at me, her gaze drifting down over my wetsuit-clad form. I found myself smiling as she blushed, as usual, then she darted her attention back to the tree. “Hey Reed.”

Her tone wasn't exactly welcoming, but I took no offense. She wasn't easy around any of us anymore. Not since she'd revealed several pertinent facts to us.

From the revelation that she was mated to more than one of us, as well as the news she'd done something to make Dre shift ahead of schedule and that she had access somehow to our feelings, she'd been quiet. But what had made her more reserved than before were the new marks she bore on her palms.

Quiet or not, she was ever curious, ever willing to learn, and I sensed that burning need was at play now—something had pricked her attention.

When I stared up at the squat tree, I saw it.

A parrot. As I squinted at it, remembered the classes from my first year here, I recognized it as a Senegal parrot from its fluffy gray head that morphed into a neon green throat and breastplate before caving into neon yellow. Its bright green plumage gleamed in the hot sun. It made a few caws and then nestled under its green-gray wing in a way that was truly animal. It didn't give a damn that it had an audience, and that caw was a bird equivalent of ’fuck off.’ A thought that had me smirking in amusement.

“It’s a parrot,” I told her, unsure if she knew that.

Her knowledge banks were beyond peculiar. She knew words I didn't, yet the most random thing was new to her. That didn't make her an idiot, just inexperienced. Life hadn't been easy on Eve, and I had a feeling it wasn't about to get any easier either.

Not only was she in danger now, but she also had no real safe place. A thought that saddened me on her behalf.

It could be said that through our connection to her, we didn't have a haven either anymore. Caelum wasn't our safe place because of her, but at least we’d known the peace of the Academy for a long while. Eve hadn't had that, and she never would.

I tried to reassure myself that we would become that for her, that we would protect her against anything and anyone. But she didn't know that yet. She was understandably uncertain, and I wished I could change that for her. It didn't matter that my Hell Hound was unhappy with the change of status quo. It didn't matter that the uncertainty was making it freak out.

All that mattered was her.

My Chosen.

“I thought it was,” she mused. Her smile was small as she shot it my way. “I happened to see it from the window in the gym. I couldn't ignore the color. I've never seen anything like it.”

“You don't often see them here, to be honest. You were lucky.” I reached out and hesitantly pressed my hand to her shoulder. When she didn't flinch, I took that as a good sign and squeezed her arm carefully. “Are you okay?”

“You all ask me that so often,” she said after a long pause of thinking about it. Like I’d asked her about the reason for life on Earth.

My eyes softened. “That’s because we care.”

“I’m fortunate you do.” She turned her gaze back to the bird. “Especially when none of you had a choice in the matter.” Her mouth tightened. “First Stefan, then you, Frazer, and Dre. Now Nestor.” She shook her head. “I’m bad news, Reed. Trouble, just like Dre said.”