CRYSTALLUM (The Primordial Principles Book 1) (17 page)

Nothing explained how Kadence had been carrying a crystal telum. The crystal had been small, the smallest Cole had ever seen, but there was no doubt it was a weapon. And if only Primori wielded crystals...then Kade belonged in the Brotherhood. Cole’s house. Not the Kinship with Jake.

None of it made sense, and the more he thought about it, the crazier he felt. Regardless, he would find out why Dracon had taken such an interest in Kade, and he would do everything in his power to make sure he came nowhere near her again.

He pulled his cellphone out of his jean pocket. Danny's name lit up at the top of the screen, and Cole typed in the text.

At Kade's. I need you to come drive the Jeep home.

What the hell? Why are you over there again?

Just shut up and come over.

Now?

Yes, now.

Good, god, you are so stupid. Give me a minute.

Cole cleared the text and shoved the phone back in his pocket. Whether or not Kade wanted him to leave, he wouldn't until her dad
got home, but that didn't mean he was planning to have a
conversation with him. Until he was given proper clearance, communication with Kade's dad was the Warden's responsibility.

Danny's form loomed in front of the Jeep's hood seconds later, and Cole hopped out, throwing him the keys.

"Why in the hell are you here again?" Danny asked.

"Don't even start. Warden's orders. Kade wasn't waking up."

"Oh." Danny's shoulders fell. "Is she okay?"

“Yeah, I think so. I'm staying until her dad gets home." Cole shoved his hand in his pocket, withdrawing a small vial.

Danny climbed in the driver's seat. "What's that?"

"Memory effacer." Cole stared at the vial.

"Shut. Up."

"Apparently Kade is...hell, I don't even know, but the Warden doesn't want her remembering what happened last night. Or today."

"Okay..."

"My thoughts exactly." Cole kicked one of his tires. "He took us off the investigation. Warden Caelius."

“What…?” Danny's tone pitched.

"I guess he doesn't want me finding anything I shouldn't in regard to what happened to my dad."

"Cole, I'm..."

"Anyway," he interrupted. "I'll meet you at home."

Danny backed out of the driveway. "No spending the night here again." He smirked.

"Just go." Cole laughed, and Danny took off down the road.

The blinds on the front window of Kade's house shifted and a narrow stream of light bled onto the darkening front yard. A painful lump formed in Cole's throat. Kadence wouldn't remember what happened in the last twenty-four hours. Not holding his hand, kissing him, laughing at all of his stupid stories, or most importantly in his mind, asking him not to leave her.

THE LOW, RASPY VOICE
rang in Kadence's head. "There you are. I have been looking for you."

Tree limbs shook ahead of her, snow falling to the ground, and deep red wings took shape, horns, taloned feet and hands, smoke from the demon's wide mouth, followed by its barbed tail.

Kade took a step back, and then another. Colored lights flitted through the wide clearing below. A shout tore through the silence, followed by a curdling scream.

"Well, I am sorry to see him go, I must say. I rather liked the Primori." Dracon towered over her. "It is time we go."

Kadence shot upright in bed, bringing her bedroom into blurry focus. Her gaze traced the U-Haul boxes, the plain vanilla walls, and her breaths slowed.

"Kadey?" Her dad peeked his head in the door. “Good, you’re awake. Feel better?"

"Better than what?" An ache radiated down the back of her neck. She touched a lump at the base of her skull. “Ow.”

"Better from that."
Her dad set some orange juice and toast on her desk. "You slept all day yesterday. It's Wednesday." His tone was gentle, and he seemed unusually...concerned? She wasn't sure.

"I did?"

"You did. I think all the stress has taken a toll so I let you sleep. You needed it."

She stared at him. "Okay...well, okay.” She headed toward her bathroom. "I'm confused. It's Wednesday?"

He nodded. "I think you'll feel better once you take a shower."

Rubbing the back of her head again, she noticed a small, empty, glass vial next to a cup of water on her desk. She'd seen the vial before. Somewhere.

***

Giselle had sent Kade about fifteen text messages over the course of Tuesday, and she now stood near the front office, her brown hair in perfect loose curls around her round face, waiting for Kade. She smiled brightly as Kade walked closer. Crazy or not, Kade had to give it to Giselle, she'd been a loyal friend. Something Kade had never had before.

"Where'd you park? Alaska?" Giselle readjusted the strap on her
backpack, which she'd apparently traded out for her usual tiny pink
purse.

"In the dirt. There weren't any other spots."

"We should take turns driving." Giselle started up the stairs.

"That works."

"So, what happened yesterday? You just slept?"

"I guess. My dad said I needed it. Kinda weird. I don't remember coming home from school on Monday or anything.” Kade followed Giselle up the stairwell, and the rubber sole of her boot caught the edge of the concrete step. She tripped and stumbled backwards with a yelp. Strong hands wrapped her shoulders and waist.

"Careful, Sparrow." Cole stood on the step below, holding her upright. "Somebody might think you fell on purpose, just so I'd catch you." He continued around her, leaving a heated trail where his hands had been.

Sparrow
?

"Told you he was an ass." Giselle peered down from a few steps above, and grinned. "And so conceited.”

Kade marched up to the second floor and down the hall into first period. Cole sat in his seat in History messing with his phone, eyes downcast, legs stretched out, ankles crossed. The butterfly bandages were still over his eye from when she'd seen him on Monday, but with his jacket on, she wasn't sure if his arm was still wrapped in gauze. She hoped it was better.

"So, did Jake ask you to the Fall Dance?" Giselle asked, leaning toward Kade’s desk.

Out of the corner of her eye, Kade saw Cole's feet uncross and pull toward his body, his posture straightening.

"You mean since Monday?"

"It's like a, 'Welcome back to school,' thing." Giselle made quotations with her fingers. "Nothing like prom. Someone needs to ask you soon."

Cole coughed.

Giselle's gaze shifted toward him and back again. "Anyway...I'm
sure Jake will ask you. And you better say yes when he does." She leaned back over in her seat as Mr. Robbins strode into the
classroom.

Regardless of what Giselle was trying to set up, Kade's dad would never allow her to go to a dance with any boy, no matter how nice he might be, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to go to a dance with Jake anyway.

Since it was the first week of school, Mr. Robbins was apparently doing a “take it slow” approach. Day one, they'd looked over the syllabus. That was it. Not that anyone complained. Giselle said yesterday they’d gone over the textbook and taken notes. For day three he had a slide show prepared. Whistles rang through the classroom as the lights went out and the projection screen lit up the whiteboard. As much as Kade might, or might not, have been interested in what Mr. Robbins was saying about the History unit they would be studying, she didn't hear a word once Cole scooted his desk into the center of the walking aisle and nudged it forward little by little, until it was nuzzled between her desk and Giselle's.

"Hey." He grinned when Kade stared at him. "I can't see from back there," he said, as if “back there” was a mile away. His attention focused toward the slides as if butting his desk up to hers to watch a movie was something he did every day.

"Do you mind?" Giselle hopped her desk over a foot, away from his, and into the other aisle.

"Not at all. Take all the space you need." Cole stretched his legs out and settled back like they were preparing to watch
American Horror Story
.

"There will be a quiz on this material," Mr. Robbins said. "I
suggest you all pay attention."

"Um...what are you doing?" Kade whispered, feeling like a
pinned butterfly. Granted, a happily pinned one. Not that she would admit that. Ever.

Cole pointed toward the whiteboard. "Watching. You should watch, too." He yawned.

"Does your desk need to be so close to mine to watch?"

He leaned over, closer to her, if that was possible, and a grin tugged at the corner of his mouth. "You know you like it, Sparrow. It's okay to admit it."

Her lips parted, and his gaze darkened and traveled toward her mouth. A flood of something very wicked and untamed welled through her body. "I..." She cleared her throat with a cough. "Why are you calling me that?"

"It's your name."

"Last name." She tried to rein in the heat flooding her face.

"Still your name. If you could stop flirting with me now..." He pointed toward the slides again. "You're making it hard for me to concentrate."

Kade's jaw dropped. "I'm not flirting.”

He cocked an eyebrow and tilted his head to the side, putting a finger over his lips. “Shh. We have a quiz on this, remember?” He
winked with a smirk. “I, for one, would like to pass it." Shifting toward the screen again, he rested the back of his head against the desk chair, stretched his legs all the way out in front of him, and
crossed his ankles.

Kade followed his gaze and sat back in her desk beside him as if it was the most natural, comfortable thing to do. Which for some reason, it was. "Cole?"

"Yeah?" He stifled a yawn.

"Thank you."

"For?" He glanced at her.

"Catching me on the stairs…”

Something knowing sparked in his beautiful eyes. "Anytime," he whispered, without looking away.

A swell of energy radiated out of her, along with all the tension that had coiled up inside her body since the day she moved to Boulder, and she felt the sudden urge to touch him, hold his hand, lean closer. She'd never felt so safe.

Cole grinned a sleepy smile, and Kade would've sworn he felt it, too.

***

By the end of first period, flyers were everywhere announcing the Fall Dance. Tables decorated with orange and yellow leaves lined the halls, and tickets were being sold around school. The chatter turned from weekday gripes, to dresses, shoes, hair, and dates.

"Who has a dance the first week of school?" Kade unlocked the combination on her locker.

Giselle shrugged. "You didn't have dances in Utah?"

None that I was ever allowed to go to
. "Not so soon in the year." Not that she paid attention.

"We like to celebrate." Giselle worked her combination lock. "Any reason for a party is a good reason."

"Jake ask you yet?" Lindsey strolled up.

Kade groaned.

Lindsey laughed. "Sorry. You've sort of become 'the talk' of school."

"Because?" Not that Kade didn't know. It had been that way at every new school. New girl, new toy to look at, pick at, judge, try to figure out. The list went on for miles.

"'Cause your dad is the new surgeon at the children’s hospital, you live in a badass house, you drive a MINI, Cole is clearly hot for you, and Jake is taking you to the dance."

"What the hell are you rambling about?" Kade asked. "The only thing you said that's true is the first part—and the house is…just big. Cole is not hot for me. And Jake isn’t taking me anywhere.”

Lindsey jammed a few books into her locker, scraps of paper and pencils falling out. "It's all true from everyone's perspective, and that's all that counts, really." She didn't bother straightening the contents before slamming the door shut and breaking a pencil that got stuck between the side of the locker and the door. She kicked the broken half down the hall.

"So, we're going dress shopping after school." Giselle smiled. "And you're coming with us, Kade."

"I appreciate you guys asking, but even if I had a date—which I don't—my dad will never let me go." She really didn't want to go down the “rules” road with either of them.

"Why not?" Giselle's eyes widened as if Kade had sprouted
feathers out of her ears.

"I'm not allowed to...date." She cringed, waiting for the backlash.

"What?" Lindsey's eyebrows lifted in their customary straight line across her forehead.

"Not allowed?" Giselle's expression matched her friend's. "You're seventeen. What do you mean, not allowed?"

"Can't. As in...I can't date."

"Can't?" Giselle repeated the word as if it wasn't sinking in.

Kade nodded just as the bell rang.

"You can still go with us after school." Lindsey offered with a pathetic half-smile.

Giselle continued staring, making no effort, it seemed, to move. Kade took a step and motioned for her to follow like a puppy who needed to be reminded which way to walk.

"You really can't date anyone?"

Kade shook her head, and took another small step. Giselle followed. Slowly. "Really not allowed. It's stupid, I know."

"No wonder you said no, when I asked you if you'd ever had any exes."

"Yep. No boyfriends. I mean, I've liked guys, you know. I've kissed one before, but once my dad got wind of me liking anyone it always ended there." She wanted to tell her the truth. No close friends either, so this would be as much info Giselle would ever get. As close to Kade as she would ever get.

"Well, I'm going to talk to him then." Giselle nodded as if she'd made a mental note to herself.

"No, you're not."

She stopped in the middle of the hall. "Yeah, I am. You're
seventeen, Kade. It's just not right."

"You can't, Giselle. Seriously. I'm not kidding."

"I'm not kidding either. It'll be a group thing. I'll explain that we're all going to the dance together. As a group of friends. That way it doesn't really count as a date."