Awaking (The Naturals, #1) (13 page)

***

Morgan awoke late the next morning, hours after her dad usually left for work.

She showered and threw on a pair of jeans and a tank top. Then, after making herself a quick breakfast, she settled down on the couch and flipped on the TV. After the excitement of the last few days, she decided she deserved a lazy day full of made-for-TV movies and Oreos. She channel surfed for a few minutes before landing on a cheesy-looking disaster movie.

When she heard her cell phone beep in her bedroom, she didn’t bother to get up to retrieve it. She figured she could wait to find out the details of Ris’s date with Corbin.

Her phone beeped again about five minutes later. Again, Morgan decided to ignore it. She ignored it when it beeped a few minutes later, too. And she ignored it again after that. She was thinking about turning the phone off when it started to ring.

Morgan groaned. Ris must really want to talk to her. She heaved herself to her feet and padded into her bedroom. By the time she got there, the phone was done ringing. She picked it up and took a double take. According to the missed events screen, the call hadn’t been from Ris.

Kellen called.

Morgan checked her text messages. Those, too, had been from Kellen. They all said the same thing: Call me. Now.

Under ordinary circumstances, Morgan would not respond well to a guy who demanded she call him immediately, but, as Morgan was coming to understand, nothing involving Kellen fell under the umbrella of “ordinary.”

She placed the call.

Kellen answered on the first ring. “Where have you been?”

“Good morning to you, too.”

“Call your boyfriends. I’m coming to pick you and them up.”

“Two things: I don’t have one boyfriend, let alone two, and where the hell do you propose to take me?”

Kellen sighed. “Look, Morgan, I’ll explain on the way. Just… could you call them?”

Something in Kellen’s voice conveyed the importance and urgency of his request. “Sure,” Morgan said finally. “But I don’t have—”

Morgan’s phone display lit up, indicating Kellen had ended the call.

“—Lucas’s number,” she finished, staring at the phone’s screen. Sighing, she went to her desk and opened her laptop. While she waited for it to wake up, she scrolled through her contact list until she found Corbin’s number. As she placed the call, she opened up the web browser on her computer.

The phone rang twice before Corbin answered. “Morgan?” he asked, sounding groggy.

“Did I wake you?” Morgan asked as she typed in a search for the Daily Grind. “Kellen needs to talk to us.”

“Huh?”

Morgan scrolled through the search results Google provided her. “I don’t know what’s up, but Kellen just called, and he sounded kind of… intense. He wants to talk to you and me and Lucas, like, STAT. He’s on his way to pick me up.”

“Morgan, you’re not—wait. Lucas?” Corbin sounded baffled. “Morgan, I don’t—”

“You know what I know,” Morgan said, cutting him off. “I suggest you get ready, because I’m sure when Kellen shows up at your place he’s not going to be in a waiting-around mood.” Morgan sighed. “I’ll see you soon.”

She ended the call before Corbin could respond and immediately dialed the number to the coffee house. The phone rang four times before someone answered.

“Hi,” Morgan said to the girl who answered the phone. “Does Lucas happen to be working today?”

“No. It’s his day off.”

“Okay, then. Um, would you happen to have his phone number?”

“We’re not really supposed to give out employee information like that.”

“But, I’m a friend,” Morgan said quickly. “He and I—were you working last night?”

“Yes…”

“Well, you might have noticed me and him… on the couch? Then we left together? Well… I was supposed to call him this morning, but I lost his number.” Morgan was surprised by how easily the lie took shape. “You’d really be helping a girl out.”

There was silence on the other end, then a sigh. “Okay, but you can’t tell anybody I did this.”

Morgan let out the breath she’d been holding. “No, never—of course not.” Morgan grabbed a piece of scrap paper and a pencil. “You have no idea how awesome it is you’re doing this for me.”

“Yeah, yeah,” the girl said quietly. “Okay, ready?”

Morgan took down the numbers as the girl rattled them off and, after thanking the girl again, ended the call. She immediately dialed Lucas’s number.

Lucas answered on the second ring. “Hello?”

“Lucas, hey.”

“Why am I getting ready?”

“What?”

“I had the feeling like I should be getting ready for something,” Lucas said matter-of-factly. “And now you’re calling—good job tracking down my number, by the way.”

Morgan was taken aback. “I have no idea why you know that. How long have you had that feeling?”

“Dunno. Five minutes, maybe?”

“That’s when I talked to Kellen,” Morgan muttered. “Can you, like, read my thoughts or something?”

“Are you thinking that I look good in blue?”

“No.”

“Then probably not.”

Morgan was about to respond when she heard a knock at her front door. “Look, I’ve got to go. We’ll be over to pick you up in a little bit, okay?”

“I guess so,” Lucas said. “Bye.”

“Bye.” Morgan ended the call and closed her laptop before leaving her room and jogging to the front door.

She opened the door to reveal Kellen standing on her porch, looking effortlessly handsome in a pair of jeans and a close-fitting green T-shirt. Morgan was unable to reflect on his attractiveness, however, because Kellen was waving impatiently for her to follow him. Making sure to lock the front door before she closed it, Morgan followed Kellen off the porch and to his car. She and Kellen got in and, wordlessly, Kellen started the car, put it in gear, and backed out of Morgan’s driveway. Once he started down the street, Morgan cleared her throat unsurely. When that didn’t get a response, she spoke.

“So… what’s going on?” she ventured tentatively.

“I’d rather wait till you’re all in the car,” Kellen said tersely. “I hate repeating myself.”

Morgan nodded and sat quietly for a moment, but she found the tension was too much for her to bear. “Who are we getting first?”

“Lucas.”

Morgan nodded, but then she realized something: “I don’t have his address. And I only kind of remember where Corbin lives. I could call—”

“I know where I’m going.”

Morgan nodded. “Of course you do.” She figured that Kellen probably also had—or could get—Corbin’s and Lucas’s phone numbers, too, but she realized why he’d asked her to make the calls: Both guys were more likely to respond positively to her than to Kellen.

Morgan didn’t speak again until they were parked outside Lucas’s place. Morgan was about to ask if she should go knock when the front door opened and Lucas walked out. He got into the car behind Morgan. “Kellen, I presume,” he said once he was buckled in.

Kellen acknowledged Lucas with a nod before taking off down the street.

Morgan turned in her seat so she could see Lucas. “Hey.”

“Hey yourself,” he returned. “I’m supposing it’d be silly for me to ask what’s going on?”

“We’re on our way to pick up Corbin. I assume,” Morgan glanced at Kellen, “once we get him, Kellen will tell us what’s up.”

Kellen didn’t respond.

Lucas nodded a little. “That makes sense, picking up Corbin.” He glanced at Morgan and, seeing the question in her eyes, continued. “I’m guessing he’s invited along for the same reason as me, which makes the two of you hanging out at the coffee house the other day make a lot more sense.”

Morgan nodded. “Told you we had something in common.”

Lucas gave a soft chuckle. “Understatement.”

Morgan turned forward again and looked out the window. No one spoke. A few minutes passed before Kellen pulled up in front of Corbin’s house. Morgan looked at the large house, the manicured lawn. She couldn’t believe how much had changed in the short time since she’d attended a party here.

Corbin exited the house through a side door and casually made his way to Kellen’s car. When he slid into the back seat, however, the look in his eyes belied his casual demeanor. “So, what’s up?” he asked, just a thread of unease weaving through his words.

Kellen didn’t glance back at him as he put the car into gear. “In light of everything that’s going on with you three, one of the higher-ups wants to have a talk.”

Corbin and Lucas started talking at the same time, but Corbin’s question won out. “What do you mean? What’s going on with us?”

Kellen sighed as he steered the car toward the freeway. “No one expected your abilities to mature this quickly. I mean, Morgan, we knew about. And we were pretty sure about you, Corbin.” He glanced in his rearview mirror. “You,” he said, looking at Lucas, “took us all by surprise.”

“Who is this us? What do you mean, higher-ups?” Lucas demanded.

Morgan turned to Lucas, slightly exasperated, before she remembered that Lucas didn’t know anything about the Veneret. She quickly filled Lucas in on all the information she had, glancing occasionally at Corbin and Kellen to be sure she was getting it right. Corbin nodded encouragingly, but Kellen just stared at the road. Lucas just listened, a dubious look on his face. After Morgan finished relaying everything that had happened to her since Kellen had come into her life, the four sat in the car in silence.

Kellen took the freeway toward downtown. He exited and turned toward the Royal Grand Hotel. Morgan considered asking Kellen where exactly they were headed, but the anxious feeling he projected stilled her tongue. She figured she would find out soon enough.

When the Royal Grand was visible just down the block, Kellen took a right and, a minute later, pulled up to the valet for Desideration Tower, a large skyscraper that also housed multiple events each year, as well as restaurants, businesses, and offices. Kellen handed over the keys and got out of the car. Morgan, Corbin, and Lucas took this as their cue to get out as well, and the three followed him into the building.

“So…” Morgan said as she caught up to Kellen. “Who is it, exactly, that we’re headed to see?”

“Orrick.”

Morgan came to a dead stop. “Orrick? Orrick Williams?”

Kellen stopped too and looked back at her, slightly annoyed. “Morgan. He’s not really a guy who likes to wait.”

Morgan opened her mouth to respond, but she felt a gentle pressure on the small of her back. Turning, she saw Corbin at her side. “Let’s just head up,” he said softly. “I’m sure we’ll get some answers.”

Reluctantly, Morgan continued walking. As they followed Kellen to the elevator, Corbin did not remove his hand from the small of her back.

They boarded the elevator in a silence that persisted as the car made its steady climb upward. Morgan watched as the numbers indicating floors steadily increased. Lucas took a step closer to her.

“You okay?” he said, his lips close to her ears.

Morgan released a breath. “Fine.”

Lucas let out a soft chuckle. “Liar. I can feel how anxious you are. You need to calm down—you’re completely freaking out.”

Morgan closed her eyes and took in a breath. She was surprised Lucas could feel what she was feeling. Curious, she attempted to reach out with her own mind, the way she did during readings. She felt Corbin at her side, uneasy, excited, and curious. And there was something else, too, that she couldn’t quite get a fix on—something shadowy linked to his hand on her back. She felt Kellen, calm but tense, sure, ready. What she didn’t feel was Lucas. She could feel his energy, but it was masked, obscure. She had no idea what he was feeling.

Before she could comment, however, she felt the elevator come to a stop. Morgan glanced at the floor indicator and saw they were on floor twenty. The doors opened in a fluid motion, and Kellen nodded as an indication that the three should exit.

Morgan felt the pressure of Corbin’s hand on her back again and she took it as her cue to lead the way. She took a few steps out of the elevator, expecting to find herself in a hallway; instead, she saw a tastefully-decorated, modern-looking office. It was a corner office, and the two exterior walls were made of glass. Without thinking, Morgan took a few steps toward the windows, wanting to see the view, but Lucas’s voice stopped her.

“Kellen, aren’t you coming?”

Morgan turned around just in time to see Kellen shake his head. He opened his mouth as though about to say something but closed it quickly. With a curt nod, he hit a button inside the elevator and the doors closed.

For a moment, Morgan, Corbin, and Lucas just looked at each other, each unsure what to say.

Finally, Corbin cleared his throat. “So… d’you think this is his office?”

“Whose?” Lucas asked. “Williams’?”

“Kellen said he was the one who wanted to see us.”

Lucas seemed to weigh this information. “He also said Williams isn’t the kind of guy who likes to wait. But, apparently, he’s not averse to making us wait…”

Morgan sighed. Lucas had a point. However, instead of dwelling on it, Morgan decided to check out the view. She walked over to the nearest wall of windows and surveyed the metropolis below. They were very high up indeed, so high up, in fact, that the cars on the streets looked like mere toys and the people looked as if a moderate breeze could blow them away.

“It’s quite breathtaking, isn’t it?”

Morgan spun around toward the sound of the voice. A man stood by the wall adjacent to the elevator, looking as though he had been there for a while. He wore a navy blue pinstriped suit and his gray silk tie matched his silver hair. His face was handsome with an ageless quality to it. He could as easily be forty as sixty. When he approached them, his eyes studied each one of them carefully, his gaze lingering on Morgan longer than on either of the boys. Morgan concentrated on not shifting, not showing how uncomfortable she felt.

“Mr. Williams?” Corbin ventured tentatively.

The man peeled his dark blue eyes from Morgan and turned to Corbin, smiling. “Orrick, please.”

Behind Orrick’s back, Morgan and Lucas exchanged glances.

“Ah, but where are my manners?” Orrick asked suddenly. With a sweeping motion of his hand, he addressed them each in turn: “Morgan, Corbin, Lucas. Please, have a seat.”