Chrysalis: The Emergence of Emery (The Gifted Series Book 1) (11 page)

“You have to push him, Tristan. Really?” Katarina shouts throwing her hands up and marching out after her brother. Mile
’
s filters out, then Tess gets up glaring at Tristan and follows the others through the swing door.

“I want to go out,” I say looking at Elijah.

He raises his eyebrows at me. “Really?”

“Yeah, you said I needed to tell you when I wanted space. Now is that time. I want to go to a club or bar or something and have a drink. Let my hair down.”

He chuckles at me. “Okay
,
Em, we can go out to a club. You can dance, but no drinking. You’re not twenty-one yet.”

“Whatever.” I shrug.

Twenty minutes later and Elijah, Sicily, Tristan and I arrive at Quarz, a place I’ve heard about but never been to. The queue outside is huge and snakes around the building.

“Ahh, this is going to take ages!” Sicily moans.

“Not if Emmy entrances the bouncer.” Tristan winks and I’m starting to see that nothing remains a secret with this bunch of people.

“I have no idea how to do it… I think it was a fluke before, I mean I didn’t purposely Entrance Tess.” The sudden realization that Tess is Tristan’s twin dawns on me.

Tristan chuckles. “I know, babe. Don’t worry. Just walk up to him and stare into his eyes, then will him to let us in. I promise your powers will do the rest.”

Nodding, I make my way to the bouncer, he doesn’t look impressed, nor surprised. No doubt he has hundreds of girls trying to get into the club every night. I stop in front of him and wait until he looks at me. Craning his neck downward, I catch his eyes. Before he even gets a word out I can feel the sizzling of my power firing up.

“My friends and I want in,” I whisper.

He nods, opening the rope and ushering us through. People complain behind us but we ignore them. When I get inside I feel energized.

“Wow, that was incredible!” My excitement is evident for them all to see and they catch each other’s eyes
,
smiling.

“I need a drink,” Tristan states immediately.

“I want to dance,” Sicily says next.

“Oh… me too. Come on let’s go.” I turn, but before we go anywhere Elijah grabs me, spinning me back to him.

“We will be over there,” he says turning to point to a section of the bar. “You two stay just here.” He spins back around and gestures to a small dancefloor space where he can see us. I nod even though I’d rather go up to the top floor and dance. I’m just happy to be here, feeling free, and now that I’m able to shut out people’s emotions easily, I feel like any other nearly nineteen year old.

Sicily slots her fingers through mine and we rush onto the dance floor.

Glancing over to the bar I can see Elijah and Tristan. My eyes wander back to them every few minutes. We’ve been dancing for ages. The sweat across my brow and dotted down my spine reinforces it, even if I have no idea what the time is or how long we have actually been here.

“I’m gonna go grab a drink, you want to come? Or do you want me to grab you some water?” Sicily pants.

“Grab me a water, please.” She nods and turns toward the guys. It feels like mere seconds later when someone pulls me back into them.

“What the hell?” I complain, assuming it’s a guy wanting to dance.

“Be quiet and listen to me. I’m Iric. I have no idea if you’ve heard of me yet, but I need to speak with you.
Now.
Before Kade turns up. He’ll be here any second, he can feel your fear. You’re a danger to them all if you don’t want to hurt them come with me.”

I look across at the bar and notice Elijah is talking to Sicily, while Tristan orders another beer. With no time to spare I make a decision based on my gut and slink back into the shadows, allowing him to take me.

“We must hurry!” a lady says appearing behind him. “Kade is near.” With that I hear a snap and pop and then I see Kade across the room. Suddenly, all I can see is white light everywhere, but it’s just for a millisecond before the regular light is restored, and I’m standing with Iric and who I assume is Isobel in a living room.

“What the hell?” I manage to choke out before everything goes black.

My head hurts.

“She’s coming around.”

Ugh. That man’s voice is hurting my head.

“That’s quick. I’ve never known anyone to wake this soon.”

The woman’s isn’t much better.

“Yes. It’s certainly concerning. Be prepared, she may already be stronger than we can comprehend. If she’s aligned with her mother’s family all may already be lost. Stay vigilant Isobel.”

Shoot, I’m with Iric and Isobel. I better stop thinking, they might be able to hear my thoughts too.

“We can, but it’s okay. There’s only certain words we can pick out,” Isobel tells me.

Groaning, I open my eyes and take note of the room. It’s dark red almost everywhere. Both Iric and Isobel blend into the space behind them, only distinguishable by the slight color variations in their clothing.

“You told me I was a danger. How?” I ask immediately. My question is direct as I stare at Iric, my voice doesn’t waiver. I’ve had enough of this situation, I want answers and I’m not willing to wait any longer.

Iric raises his eyebrow at Isobel, then looks back at me.

“You see us?” Isobel asks, and it throws me slightly.

Confused at her question and still reeling from everything, I stand. When I move they both step back. “Of course I see you, I’m not blind. Now why did you just step back? You two brought
me
here.”

They glance at each other, then Isobel speaks. “Child, you should sit down.” She pulls a chair out from under a mahogany table.

As I sit she mimics me, seating herself opposite. “Child?” I question tilting my head.

“You’re nearly nineteen now, yes?” I nod. “Iric and I are a year apart. We remember the birth of your father, my dear. We’re in our seventies now.”

I feel my eyes widen, but can’t do anything to stop it. I’m shocked at the revelation, they look no older than late forties at most.

“In your seventies?” I sit stunned, my mouth agape.

“It seems she needs more information than we have time for Iric, maybe this was a fruitless task,” Isobel says looking at Iric across the room.

“No. She has already proved she’s strong. We need her to know, the rest will be up to her.”

“Know what?” I snap and feel flickers of power in my palms. Looking down I’m startled to see the ends of my fingers have a white glow.

“You don’t understand quite how powerful you already are. How much more powerful you’ll become. You may get sucked into the power once you grasp it fully, and then my dear you may turn dark. This would be unfortunate. Iric and I have the Foresight, we can see things in the future—”

“Some things,” Iric cuts her off.

Isobel glances over to him. “Yes, quite… some things. What we see isn’t the future confirmed, more like a possible future. Most of our kind gain the Foresight ability with age. We did when we were in our fifties. Unfortunately, that was the same time as the Houses started crumbling and the dark became too powerful. We knew our gifts would be sought after. We’ve been in hiding ever since. Your coming was foretold my dear, many moons ago. You have both dark and light, it is new, unknown, and many are fearful. We have known about you since your birth, and as such, have taken a greater interest after your parents were lost, and you and Elijah were split. Occasionally, we’ve watched you. It seemed as though you were never going to come into your powers, and this made sense, as not one of us had experienced a child of both dark and light before. It was concluded, therefore, that because of the two sides mixing, you may not ever have powers. We thought that maybe it was a natural occurrence to stop the dark growing a formidable army.” Sighing she searches my eyes. “You don’t seem worried my dear.”

“Nothing surprises me anymore. If what you say is true, if I’m so powerful because of being both dark and light, then why haven’t people on either side tried to create a child like me before?”

They both stare silently before Iric moves forward, settling himself next to me. “You are the only one as far as we know. There have been stories told for centuries, of one like you who came before, one who destroyed both sides beyond compare. These stories kept our sides apart. I think even the dark was fearful of creating a being with such scope to control all things.”

Everyone is completely silent for a moment as we all sit in our own heads.

“So essentially, you’re trying to tell me I’m like a bomb waiting to explode, and I’ll take everything and everyone with me when I do?”

Iric places his warm fingers over my upper arm and it reminds me that I was brought here from a club, that I still have a dress on... that I’m still trying to be a normal girl, when the reality is I’m anything but normal.

“My dear, there’s much we don’t know. Isobel and I are the oldest that we’re aware of who live in the light. There may be elders on the other side, this we cannot know. A lot of our documentation and books were taken or destroyed by Alposco House. They have become what everyone always feared. Unbeatable. We have lived in the shadows for eighteen years now, and we’re tired.”

“Listen,” I say pulling away from his grasp which feels like something more than just a gentle gesture to make me feel better. “What is it you pulled me here for? Tell me. Be specific. I need to get back to my brother and friends, they will be worried.”

Glancing once again at each other, Iric nods and speaks. “From what we have seen, along with what we already understand from the books we’ve read and the tales we grew up listening to, you
will
be very powerful. Your gifts are unknown, as you must be aware of by now. Every person who has gifts is an individual. Nobody can predict what powers they will possess. What we do know is that you
will
have many of them. What you do with your powers will be your choice. The concern is that you may turn to your mother’s house, you may join them and then... honestly…” Iric pauses and closes his eyes, screwing them tight, before opening them and something almost ghost-like is swimming in their depths, “…if you join them, Emery, all hope will be lost. With you and Kade against them, the light, the good... we stand a chance. Without you... there will only be dark, and it will be that way until time is forever extinguished. Dark bleeds into the rest of the world, it seeps into normal human life, in a way that’s hard to clean up. Kade is the only person who’s stronger than you. That’s the way it is, that’s why he’s your Pith.”

“My Pith?”

“Yes, your Pith... your core... your essence. Names like
other halves
have more recently been used, but the ancient name for your other half is your Pith. God! You’re completely clueless to this world.” Iric stops talking and instead glares at Isobel before having some kind of internal freakout. “She’s going to get everyone killed. She has no basic understanding of anything. How can we help her!”

“Shh… Iric, calm yourself. She’s still learning, but that does not mean dark will win. Only Emery can decide her fate.” She turns to me. “Listen, child, for I now need to be quick. Kade will find us soon. He can pick you up anywhere, even when you’re cloaked. It’s lucky that you haven’t shared your powers with him yet, for he would have been here within minutes of us arriving. We brought you here to explain that people will tell you things about yourself, but what you need to remember is that nobody alive today knows what the past brought, we only have the knowledge of books. The future is not set in stone, it’s ours to determine. Yes, you have both dark and light within you, but from the tales that have been told, the last person born of both sides was purposefully created. You must understand, wherever your mother came from, she was not meant for the dark.”

I feel a tug in my chest at her words. Since Zeit revealed the truth about my mom, I have felt a heavy weight on me. Like maybe I was somehow damaged or stained through being the child of a dark mother.

“Zarina was always meant for the light, my dear. She and your father came together after the passing of his first wife Jemima, who died when she was giving birth to Elijah. It can be a struggle for us, if there are no doctors nearby with powers we don’t always make it. Going to a normal hospital isn’t an option, it’s not about showing our gifts, it’s because when we’re in pain, or if someone tries to treat us, our powers can go into a sort of self-defense mode, and then we run the risk of killing people. Many of us don’t bear children. Each of the big houses always had a doctor on call, so it wasn’t as dangerous. For Edrin, when he lost Jemima, he was very sad. But although many were shocked, he knew, as did your mother, the moment they set eyes upon each other, that they were Piths. You were born of love, Emery, you weren’t made to serve a purpose.
You can choose.
You have the blood of both a good father...
and
a good mother. The worry is that when people are very powerful it can taint their minds, they can fall prey to the dark. And with you already having some dark blood in your veins, we worry that you may become something that you don’t really want to be. Then, by taking Kade’s powers too, you’ll be unstoppable. On the other hand, it is a hardship for Kade no doubt, because if you start turning to their side, he’s the only one who’ll be able to stop you. And that will forever damage him in a way that will not be repairable if he has to kill you... his Pith.”

My heart picks up speed, and I take a few seconds to just breathe and calm myself.

“Why were you surprised I could see you,” I ask, trying not to focus on the last statement, the one that makes me feel like my insides are being ripped in two.

“You’re very sharp, not much will pass you by if you don’t want it to,” Iric tells me with a smirk. “You weren’t supposed to see us. We’re gifted with Veil. It is as described, the ability to veil, or cloak ourselves, you shouldn’t be able to feel us either.”

At his words, I concentrate on trying to feel them and get a sense of apprehension, but not much else. I shrug, and Isobel smiles.

“You could feel something?” she asks.

“Only some apprehension.”

“Hmm…” Iric mumbles raising his eyebrow to Isobel. “Soon she’ll be able to see through cloaks, anyone who’s a Veil will not be hidden from her,” he says it with concern in his tone.

And I know right then, as all the feelings come rushing into my body—that even though these people initially brought me here as a warning—they are too frightened of what I may become. They feel they have to do something to stop me, in case I destroy everything.

“You brought me here under the guise of helping me, but you’re not going to let me go are you?” I shriek stepping back from them.

“You’re going to get too powerful, you will hurt and kill people, and ultimately destroy the world as we know it,” Iric snaps and I can feel the power crackling under my skin as his eyes widen.

“You aren’t even giving me a chance?”

“Please Iric, let her be. She deserves a chance to grow into all she can be... for good, for light,” Isobel pleads, but Iric shakes his head stepping toward me.

“I’m sorry it has to be this way, Emery, but I cannot take any chances. Our world is on the edge right now. It’s so fragile, and any slip toward the wrong side could change…
everything.
”

As he reaches out I instinctively raise my hand, but the crackle fizzing across my palm dies suddenly, and I have nothing—no power, no speed, no strength, nothing.

“I have the ability to neutralize powers, Emery. Only two males living at any one time get this power and I am one. He pushes me back and I fall to my butt.

“Iric, stop this!” shouts Isobel.

He immediately throws his other arm out pointing at her and zaps her with a white light that has a red tinge. “You will not stop me! I have had enough of being in the shadows, I want to stop hiding. If this world gets any darker that will never happen. You would never agree had you known my plan was to eliminate her before she was unstoppable, and I needed your power of Motion so we could teleport her here.”

“But Iric, it goes against everything we believe in.” Isobel gasps from her place on the floor.

“There’s nothing I believe in now. I haven’t since they took Sandrine from me.” He flips his hand the other way, still aimed at Isobel and zaps her with the light again. She then flails for a second before becoming still.