Courage (Mark of Nexus) (5 page)

That one was probably a seven.

I surveyed the room with my non-blurry eye, frowning at the wave of destruction I’d left behind. The desk was tossed, my textbooks were strewn across the room, and blood smears stained the bedpost. I vaguely remembered slamming my face against it a few minutes ago.

A soft knock sounded at the door, and I didn’t have to look to know it was Rena. She was the only one who dared approach the 'madman' afterhours. I twisted the handle and pulled the door open. “Hey.”

She stood there in her Hello Kitty pajamas, clutching her bag like she’d stolen something. “Can I come in?”

“What’s wrong?” I asked, stiffening at the anxiety that swelled between us. “You’re nervous.”

She edged around me, and I shut the door. “Wallace, I found something in my bag. Something your uncle Henry put there.”

“It wasn’t a condom, was it?” Grandma had slipped one inside her coat pocket a couple months back. I wouldn’t put it past Henry to do the same. “Look, it’s just their way of—”

“I think he’s in trouble,” she blurted out, manic tears glistening in her eyes. “I think we’re all in trouble.”

The room gave a little tilt. “What?”

She sank down onto the floor, pawing through her bag with a desperation I couldn’t get a lock on. After a few seconds, a cracked leather book slid across the carpet between us. “It’s all in here, your great-great-grandmother Adelyn’s journal. I read some of it while I was waiting. I didn’t know…” She looked up at me, covered her mouth, and then gasped from behind her hand. “Oh God. You’re bleeding.”

“Forget that.” I scooped up the book and tried to make my eyes focus. “What’s in here?”

She set her bag aside and wrung her hands. “The Mark of Nexus. Adelyn crossed paths with a man named Luke, someone she repeatedly referred to as an Augari.” Her head lowered and she muttered, “Someone whose presence had an effect on her powers.”

My knees felt weak as I slid down the door to the carpet. “Okay…”

“That’s a note, too.” She gestured to the front of the book and I opened it, letting a few papers slip out. “I guess Faye pressed Henry for information, but I don’t get why she would assume he knew anything.”

I struggled to scan the note. “Think about it. He takes care of the oldest living member of our family. If she wanted to piece the past together, he’d be the one to call.”

“And he had already been holding onto information he wasn’t sure of,” she added, filling in the blanks. “He was probably waiting for an excuse to get it off his chest.”

Ah, hell. It really did make sense. “So, when he figured out her intentions—which I’m assuming relate back to today—it was too late to take it back. She had something on him, and he had no choice but to move up here. Closer. Where she could keep an eye on him.”

Rena nodded and took the book from me. “Yeah, but why?”

I pressed the heels of my palms against my eyes and leaned back, trying to concentrate. “I don’t know.”

She read in silence for a few minutes, working her way through the pages. “Apparently, Adelyn and this dude knew about each other’s races. They were both raised to accept the notion of balance—some kind of checks and balance system among the supernatural. She even mentions a third race, the Nullari.”

I lowered my hands and forced myself to focus. “What?”

“Every Dynari is gifted with special abilities, right?” she asked, her eyes darting back and forth to feed the flow of information. “Well, it seems like the Augari intensify those abilities and the Nullari cancel them out. So, if you threw ‘em all in the same room, it would balance. The Dynari would maintain his or her original power.”

The room lurched to the side in a blur as my brain scrambled to catch up. “You’re telling me there are people out there who can strengthen me and people who can make me weak?”

“No weaker than a normal human, but yeah, that’s what it says.” Her tone didn’t waver, but I felt her unease knot inside my chest. Was she thinking what I was thinking?

“What does it say about the Nexus?” I asked, pressing for the confirmation we both needed.

A heavy sigh worked its way through her body, and her shoulders sagged. “Let me see.” She flipped a few pages and scanned the text. “The rare bond of a Dynari and an Augari. A give-and-take of power described as both a blessing and a…curse.”

The heater hummed quietly as she continued to read in silence, her eyes widening more with every line.
Panic, disbelief, horror…

“So, that makes you—” I started, before she slammed the book shut.

Her face had completely drained of color. “I think that’s enough for tonight.”

“Rena.”

She shook her head, and her cagey gaze swept the room. “The note says Faye can’t know we have this, so we better find a place to hide it. How about here?”

“Listen to me.” I enunciated each word, calling upon my last reserves of patience as she slid the journal under my bed. “You know we need to talk about this.”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” she waved me off, slinging her bag across her chest as she stood. “So there are two races we didn’t know about, and your great-grandmother had the Nexus. That doesn’t change the fact that Faye is out to get us or that Henry could be in danger.”

I pushed myself to my feet. “Rena, come on…”

“I don’t know what you expect me to say,” she snapped as she opened the door to make her escape.

Before I could stop myself, I slammed my palm against the door and forced it shut over her head. “How about starting with why you refuse to accept the fact that you might not be human?”

Her back went rigid. “
Why?
Because I woke up normal, and now I’m some kind of freak, Wallace. You, of all people, should understand.” And with that, she ripped the door open and stormed out.

I stood there, frozen, as her words burned like acid through my chest. “Yeah,” I mumbled as I watched her go. “I get it. You're a freak like me now.”

What I read last night—what I didn't tell Wallace—had kept me awake until four thirty in the morning. Tossing and turning, gripping the band on my arm, trying to come to terms with the facts Henry had laid out for me. If I was an Augari, how had I stayed in the dark this long? Was it because no one in my immediate family had crossed paths with a Dynari before? Or was Faye puppeting Henry to lead us down another rabbit hole?

I almost wished it was the last one.

If the Nexus didn't mark the bond between an Augari and a Dynari, if it wasn't considered both a blessing and a curse, I wouldn't have to live with this new fear. The book said I could unintentionally lose hold of whatever supercharging abilities I possessed and overpower Wallace. That I could…
kill
him.

I dabbed concealer under my eyes in a vain attempt to mask the dark circles and buffed it out with foundation. The last thing I needed was for everyone to think I got trashed this weekend. Because, you know, that's what college kids do.
Please.

Someone knocked on the door, and Gabby rolled over with a huff.

I hobbled over in my stilettos, grateful that I didn’t have to stand on tiptoe to see through the peephole, and flinched. There stood Wallace, my fellow church-skipping partygoer, waiting for me like nothing had happened between us. I fumbled for the knob twice before I got the door open.

He was wearing the blue button-up like I asked two weeks ago. He’d even shaved. Honestly, after the way I’d reacted last night, I wasn’t sure he’d show up at all. Now he was here and…

“I’m sorry,” the words spilled from my lips at the same time as his, layering the apology. We both blinked a few times and an uneasy laugh settled between us.

“Why would you be sorry?” I asked.

His hands found their way into his pockets, and he hefted his shoulders. “I pushed you. I should’ve realized what a shock that must’ve been.”

“Yeah, but I shouldn’t have said what I did.” I ran my fingertips down his shirtsleeve. “I didn’t mean it.”

“Uggggh, make up outside,” Gabby groaned from under her covers. “Don’t yap in my doorway at ungodly hours.”

Wallace grinned and offered me his arm. “I guess that’s our cue. You ready?”

I took it and relaxed against him, ignoring my zombified roommate. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

We hurried downstairs and out to my Sentra in the parking lot. There was no way I was going to climb in and out of Wallace’s truck in a sundress. He opened the passenger door, waited a few seconds to block the inevitable panty-flash, and then jogged around the side like a gentleman.

Should I tell him?

The driver’s seat clicked on its tracks as he shoved it back. “You’ll have to be the navigator. I’ve never been to Clayhaven.”

I nearly snorted as he got in and started the car. “I hate to tell you, but you haven’t missed much.” I loved my hometown as much as the next girl, but it was a snoozefest for outsiders—aside from the squash festival.

“Are you kidding me? You grew up there.” He reached over and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “I want to see everything.”

I smiled and resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “Yeah, we’ll see.”

Okay, I'm so not bringing it up now. Not when he's using the boyfriend voice. Maybe after the party…

We rode in companionable silence for almost an hour, until I felt something stir at the edge of my subconscious. “Nervous?” I asked, lips twitching. I knew meeting my family was a big deal, but was he seriously worried? I reached over and patted his leg. “There, there, big guy. It’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, probably,” he muttered, distracted by whatever he’d been thinking about.

“Probably?” I turned the radio down and leaned back. “They’ll love you. At least, my mom will. Drew and Dad might need some time. And distance. I should probably check them for weapons…”

He blew out a sigh. “Can I bring something up without you freaking out?”

I frowned. “What is it?”

“You’re an Augari, right? You augment my power, and that’s usually fine, but it’s a part of your bloodline. One of your parents is an Augari. Other members of your family are Augari.” He spared a glance in my direction. “There’ll be a lot of you there, and we don’t even know if they know. What if…my powers go haywire?”

The thought hadn’t occurred to me.

“It’ll be fine,” I repeated, sinking lower in my seat. “Probably.”

He readjusted his grip on the wheel and rolled the tension from his shoulders. A few seconds passed before he cleared his throat. “You know, I heard about a house that'll be up for rent in a few months.”

“Seriously?” Rentable space was impossible to come by near campus. Houses were overpriced and occupied by a stubborn camp of baby boomers. There were only a few apartment complexes, and the sports-worshipping landlords always gave athletes special treatment. I would know. Gabby, Aiden, and I had applied three freakin' times.

“This kid in my Auditing class asked if we were still looking. He said his grandma's moving in with his parents this summer, so her place by The Rec will be listed.”

“Can he get us in?” I grasped the console between us. “Do it. Do whatever you have to.”

“It's a little high. Two bedrooms, two bath—”

“We'll sell your body on the streets.”
Or Gabby and Aiden can live with us…

He spared me a grin and looked back at the road. “Easy. We'll have to see it, first.”

“Wallace, I am not living in the dorms my senior year.”

“You think I want to? The madman is ready to retire. We'll live in a cardboard box behind the Union, if it comes to that.”

I rolled my eyes. The man had a way with words.

An hour or so later, we pulled up to my parents’ house—a two-story brick colonial in the country. I tugged on the sleeves of my cardigan as we walked up the stone path and prayed the Nexus wouldn’t glow through it. A tattoo scandal was the last thing we needed.

The door swung open before I had a chance to knock.

“Spaz!”

“Hey,” I shrieked as my brother scooped me up and hoisted me over his shoulder, making a breeze slip past my boy shorts. “Damn it, Drew! I’m wearing a dress.” I beat on his back until someone—presumably Wallace—tugged my skirt down.

That earned a growl from the groom-to-be.

Drew let me down with a huff and set his sights on Wallace. “You must be the boyfriend.”

Wallace didn’t flinch. “And you must be the brother.”

“‘Bout time we met, huh? We were starting to think my little sister had an imaginary friend.” Drew reached over to muss my hair, and I swatted him away. “Isn’t that right, Spaz?”

“Shut up,” I spat, forcing myself into their testosterone-driven crossfire. “Where are Mom and Dad?”

Our Husky chose that moment to skid around the corner, slipping on the hardwood. He barreled around me twice, and then snapped at Wallace.

“We like him,” I told Wolfie, reaching for his collar. “Be nice.”

Drew grinned and tilted his chin. “Everyone’s out back. We should probably head there, anyway. Brittani will be mad.” He thrust his hand toward Wallace. “Good to finally meet ya, man. Maybe we can all sit down and talk, once this place clears out.”

Wallace swallowed hard before taking Drew’s hand. “Yeah, I’d like th—”

“Holy sh—ow!” Drew wrenched his reddened hand back and shook it a few times. “Tryin’ to impress me or something?”

Wolfie jumped up on me to vocalize his protests.
“Arooroo…”

“He’s just being a baby,” I reassured the dog, rubbing him down before I turned to my brother. “Weren’t you saying we better get out there?”

“Yeah.” Drew gave us both a weird look before he shrugged and led us through the house. “Come on.”

Wolfie obeyed, bucking like a bronco the whole way.

I tugged on Wallace’s arm as we followed, stretching to whisper in his ear. “Is it bad? How’re you feeling?”

“Like a live wire,” he murmured, before we stepped outside.

“Rena!” My mom clasped her grilling tongs in the air like a giddy lobster. “Come on over here, honey.”

I looked around as we made our way over, seeing a mix of Brittani’s stuck-up relatives and my own family. There was no way of knowing how many of them would pose a threat to us, boosting Wallace’s power to unspeakable levels. I mean, judging by Drew’s reaction alone…

Oh God. It was true, wasn't it?
I’m not human. It’s really happening.

My knees buckled beneath me.

Wallace threw his arm around my waist and pulled me alongside him. “Just hit you, didn’t it?”

I fanned myself and tried to keep up with his long, measured strides. “Uh huh.”

“Thought so.” He gave me a quick kiss on top of my head. “You’re going to have to put those feelings on hold for now. I assume that’s your mother coming.”

My mom hurried over, her box-dyed hair glowing like wisps of fire in the sunlight. “You okay, pumpkin?”

“Yeah.” I straightened my dress and gave her a weak smile. “I think my heel got caught on the mat. No big deal. The place looks great, Mom.”

“Well, bless your heart,” she said, lifting her gaze over my head. “And who’s this strapping young man?”

“This is Wallace…Wallace, this is my mom.”

He started to hold out his hand, but thought better of it. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Collins.”

“Oh please, sweetie. Mrs. Collins is my mother-in-law.” She glanced over her shoulder and cupped a hand to the side of her mouth. “She’s a little soused. We’re letting her sleep it off under the umbrella.”

I looked over and, sure enough, Grandma had her head down on the patio table. So much for first impressions.

“Anyway, just call me Judy,” she told Wallace. “‘Round here, we hug, okay?”

“Um”—he turned to me before shifting his gaze back to her—”yeah, okay.”

She tossed an arm around his side and leaned in for a quick squeeze. “Now, Rena’s father should be around here somewhere.” Her green eyes scanned the yard. “Glen,” she hollered, “get out here! Rena’s got Wallace with her.”

Shoot. Me. Now.

Dad poked his balding head out from the garage’s backdoor. “What?”

“Just come here,” she hissed without moving her lips, like that would keep us from hearing her.

“Oh, so we finally meet the boyfriend,” he called out, sizing Wallace up as he made his way down the hill. “I wondered when this day would come.”

I stifled a groan as I gestured between them. “Dad, this is Wallace. Wallace, this is my father Glen.”

To my relief, Dad nodded and gave Wallace a pat on the shoulder. “You know what a twelve gauge is, son?”

Wallace shoved his hands back into his pockets. “Uh…yes, sir.”

“Dad.” I rubbed my forehead. “Stop.”

“What?” he asked, his face all innocence. “I’m just making conversation.”

I shook my head. “Right. Well, I’m sure you won’t mind if we pause this ‘conversation’ to go find something to drink. We had a long drive down here.”

“Hey, if you think he needs savin’ that badly…” He grinned and threw his arm around Mom. “S’okay. We understand.”

Escape. We needed to escape.

“Come on.” I grabbed Wallace’s hand and headed for the refreshment table. “We can catch up with them later.”

“They seem nice,” Wallace commented, once we were out of earshot. “Down to earth.”

“Uh huh.” I walked around the punch bowl and grabbed the ladle. “So, which one is it?”

His brow crinkled for a moment before he answered. “Oh, your mom. Definitely your mom.”

Huh. I always had a feeling Mom wasn’t human.

“Then that means most of my relatives on her side are…” I trailed off, looking around. “Oh God. They're everywhere.”

He reached for one of the etched punch glasses. “Yeah, tell me about it.” His fingers barely made contact before the thing shattered, leaving nothing but a pile of sparkling glass residue. He jerked back and looked just as alarmed as I felt. “Uh, baby…”

“We’re going to have a problem,” I finished, and took a swig straight from the ladle. “I know.”