After pulling our wet bodies and clothes out of the fountain, we met four sets of wide eyes staring at us in confusion. I shook my hair out and took the towel Natasha offered me.
“Hidden underwater cavern,” I disclosed simply.
“That’s it. I’m moving in.” Carmen put her hands on her hips. “I am in love with this place.”
After changing into the dry leggings and t-shirt Willow had packed for me, we gathered in an upstairs loft overlooking the gardens that cascaded down the wide expanse of the back yard. Two large couches and one loveseat faced the ceiling-to-floor windows that covered one side of the room. We feasted on the three bags of chips Willow had brought from our suite as we discussed the events of the night before.
“So you didn’t actually see any ghosts?” I asked them in disbelief.
“We could tell something had taken hold of Ricker, but we never actually saw anything.
Well, besides the furniture flying around the room. We definitely saw that,” Carmen shook her head in disbelief.
“I can’t believe he broke his arm,” I shook my head. At some point during the scuffle, a table lifted on its own and was launched at Ricker. As he shielded himself from it, his hand took the full force of the blow; snapping the bones of his forearm. Ian was currently nursing Ricker’s bruised and battered body back at Lorelei.
“Did you see any blood running down the walls or anything?”
“I don’t think so,” Phoebe answered as she stuck her arm in a bag fishing for chips. Her eyes widened and flickered up to mine. “Why? Did you?”
“It was everywhere,” I whispered remembering the horrifying scene.
“I still can’t believe you got stabbed….by a ghost.” Willow looked close to tears, “We should have been there for you.”
“You wouldn’t have been able to get in. Nadia made sure of that,” I huffed.
“When we got the door open, we just saw you slumped over on the floor and blood all over you. We still don’t know what that little bastard stabbed you with,” Carmen complained. I thought back to the knife I had seen in the small boy’s hand right before he tried to kill me.
“It was a knife.” I told them, my tone weary. Had Nadia forced him to do it? If not, why would a little boy no older than seven years old try to kill me?
“They told me to say I was sorry,” I divulged; monotone.
“Sorry for what?” Phoebe squinted at me.
“I don’t know. Dr. Drake thought I was coming to take them.” I rubbed my temples, “He said I wasn’t like the others.”
“That is the creepiest thing I’ve ever heard,” Phoebe gawked at me.
“Tell me about it,” I muttered.
“Do you think Nadia was controlling them?” Carmen asked.
“I honestly don’t know,” I sighed, “I figured she’d be busy planning her life with Finn.”
A buzzing sound had Liam pulling his phone out. “Oh wow,” He muttered as he read it several more times before looking up at us.
“That was Ricker,” he announced solemnly. “Apparently, Priscilla’s body was found this morning near campus.” We all looked at each as he confirmed what we were all thinking. “She’s dead.”
“Dead?” I gasped.
“Are they sure?” Phoebe sat up. His phone buzzed again and he took a moment to read the text.
“There doesn’t look like there’s any foul play. It must have been a heart attack or something.”
I was leaning toward the ‘or something’ possibility. Although the prospect of Priscilla never harassing me again was tantalizing positive, I had a very bad feeling Nadia had something to do with her demise. If she decided to steal Priscilla’s soul the crime scene would show no foul play. Her soul would have been snatched cleanly from her body.
“Wow,” Carmen breathed. “I mean obviously, I’m not her number one fan, but nobody deserves to just keel over dead like that.”
“The police are researching what happened right now. Ricker said campus is crawling with news reporters,” he informed us with a shake of the head.
“You don’t think…” Willow’s met my gaze and I knew her thoughts were running parallel to my own.
“I don’t know. It sure is a huge coincidence…” I started.
“She might be waiting for you in the Underworld. Maybe this is all part of her ‘Ruin-Stasia’s-life plan.” Carmen shrugged her shoulders.
Liam, who had been thoughtful since Ricker’s text, stood, and began to pace. He looked very beach prep, wearing khaki linen pants with an untucked white button down shirt. He was chewing on his bottom lip and his tense body language told me that something was on his mind. Something important. He glanced at me several times before stopping in front of me.
“I need to tell you guys something,” he sighed and gestured for Natasha to come back in the room and sit down. “It’s about Finn.”
Chapter 32
“What is it, dear?” Natasha spoke softly but her blue eyes were now swirling with intensity. A paralyzing panic took my body captive as we waited for Liam to continue. He stared at Natasha for several seconds and then glanced at me again.
“Finn confided in me several weeks ago,” he began with downcast eyes. “He was adamant that our conversation stay between just the two of us. But as things have become increasingly complicated and I am beginning to understand the magnitude of his decision, I need to tell you.”
“Is he okay?” Natasha prompted. Liam nodded and I felt her breathe a sigh of relief beside me.
“He has decided,” Liam paused and took a deep breath, “to deny his destiny as the future Prime; exiling him from both the Sons Order and the Underworld.”
A moment of shocked silence passed as Natasha’s hand flew up to her mouth and she just shook her head back and forth. Willow, Carmen, and Phoebe were shocked into silence. I was so confused by what I had just heard I couldn’t speak. Deny his destiny? Deny the one thing he’d been preparing for his entire life? Why would he do that? Why would he give that all up? Nadia. As my blood began to boil, I quickly found my voice.
“Is this Nadia’s doing? Is she making him do this?” I yelled at Liam frantically. I clasped my shaking hands together tightly and forced myself to think straight.
“No,” Liam whispered.
“No, what?” I urged. How could she do this to him!? She would have to answer to me. She would not get away with this.
“Not for Nadia,” he held my now irate gaze, “for you.”
Natasha let out a gasp as understanding washed over her features. Unfortunately, that understanding wasn’t reaching me. Why would he give up his destiny for me? I would never ask that of him!
“But…why?” As my legs began to shake as hard as my hands, I stumbled back to the couch and sat down in a heap of nerves.
“It’s the only way he can be with you,” Natasha responded for him; tears collecting in her eyes.
“But I would never ask that of him! He can’t deny his destiny. It’s what he’s worked his entire life for! It’s who he is!” I screamed at them as they all stared back at me; still in shock. A war began to rage between my heart and my head. My heart was rejoicing at the sacrifice he was willing to make to be with me. But my head was screaming at me to stop him from ruining his life. It just wasn’t right. He couldn’t give up everything. Not for me. Didn’t he lecture me about the weighty responsibility we both had to lead and protect our Orders? Didn’t he explain how many people were counting on us? And he was willing to throw it all away. For me.
“When was he planning on doing it?” Phoebe asked Liam slowly.