Ethon (The Other Worlds Series Book 2) (9 page)

It was almost ironic that today was when Globing took Olinia to see Will. October fifteenth was the one day a year she was reminded of him the most. It was his birthday. How could she forget him completely on the day that celebrated his birth? She really wished she could, though. Will was the greatest cause of her internal suffering.

“Oh, Will,” she breathed, reaching up to her neck where his Silver Heart hung. She never took it off. During those first few months in Ethon, she would fall asleep clinging to it, craving just five more minutes near Will.

Now, as her time in her Globing grew short, all she wanted to do was just touch him. She could feel her body nearing absolute exhaustion. The Globing was taking its toll, and she would be forced to return to the present soon. But not yet. Never before had she attempted to feel the skin of someone in her Globing adventures – had never cared to really, until now.

Taking a deep breath, she made her way around the table on shaky legs. She caught a brief whiff of his scent that almost sent her to her knees. This was the closest she had been to him since he’d abandoned her in Ethon. Tears slid down her face unheeded as she reached out one hand. 

It was the wrong hand. She realized too late her left hand slipping through the air. Will was lost to the shifting of images as her hand took her back to her own time. 

“No!” Olinia screamed, staring helplessly. 

Will’s figure and home gave way to her kitchen. She collapsed in a heap onto the floor, while the last of her Globing dissipated. “No,” she cried again, now aware of her tears.

The exhaustion was engulfing her now. She couldn’t keep her eyes open. Sleep would soon claim her there on the hardwood. She was too tired to move. 

But just before she drifted away entirely, she heard, “Olinia, are you alright?”

:  :  :  :  :

The bell rang and Legann slid out of his desk chair. School was officially over for the week. His presentation with Lillie had gone well enough. It would definitely get him a passing grade, and
,
at this point in his life
,
that was all that mattered. 

Legann grabbed his things and headed out, stopping once at his locker before exiting the building. He pulled up short outside, though, when he didn’t find Olinia’s car anywhere. He blinked. Olinia was never late.

He reached into his jacket pocket for his phone, thinking that maybe he’d missed her text. Nothing. This wasn’t like her. He dialed her number, but it rang until he got her voicemail. After three more calls of the same thing, he gave up and texted her. Silently, he searched for her mind, but was greeted with only dark, blank space. Legann decided she must have fallen asleep. There was no other reason for her lack of communication – unless Sazx had returned to his Nagreth ways and killed her. That seemed a little unlikely though since he’d kissed her recently.

“Need a ride?”

He turned and found Lillie watching him, her keys in hand. He shook his head and forced a smile. “No, thanks. I’m fine.”

“Really?” She raised an eyebrow. “Your sister has never been late before.”

“Do you keep tabs on me?” Legann blinked.

She let out a short laugh. “I was joking.”

“Oh.”

“Come on,” she began for the student parking lot, “I’ll take you home.”

Legann sighed and followed after her. “I might be out of your way, or make you late to something.”

She grunted. “Like what, an empty house? My dad’s hardly ever there.”

Her car was close. It was a shiny, silver Honda Accord, only a couple years old. Lillie ran a hand through her spiky hair before she opened the back door on the driver’s side, dumping her book bag on the seat. “Go ahead and get in,” she told him.

“Thanks.” Legann slid into the passenger seat.

Once Lillie was inside as well, she started the car and backed out of her spot. “So, where do you live?”

“Do you know where Greenbank Road is? I’m over there.”

“Oh, okay.” She nodded. “I’ve been down there before. It’s pretty, lots of trees.”

“Yeah, it’s not bad.”

“Have you lived there long?”

“No, just a little more than a year.”

She nodded again and they fell silent while she drove. After a moment, Legann asked, “Is this your car?”

“Now it is,” she answered, somewhat hesitantly. “It used to be my brother’s.”

Legann winced. The only brother she had ever mentioned having was dead. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not like I’m the only one to have lost a family member.” She glanced at him. “The rumor at school is you’re an orphan.”

“The rumor?” Legann raised an eyebrow. “You’re pretty blunt, aren’t you?”

“Sorry, I just think it’s silly when people try to cover up a death with words like ‘passed away,’ as if that would make the truth easier to swallow,” she retorted. “When a person dies, it means they’re dead. No amount of pleasantries is going to change that.”

Legann couldn’t help but stare at her. “You know, more people should think that way.”

“I know.”

They were to his street now. Legann pointed to the entrance of his long driveway. “That’s my house. You can just drop me off at the street. You don’t have to take me to the door.”

“Are you sure?”

He nodded. “Thanks for the ride.”

“No problem. I hope your sister’s okay.”

“I’m sure she’s fine.” He opened his door and stepped out. “I bet she’s taking a nap and forgot to set an alarm or something. Have a good night, Lillie. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“You, too.” She smiled slightly. “See you later.”

:  :  :  :  :

It was quiet. Olinia couldn’t hear anyone. Slowly, she opened her eyes. To her surprise, she found herself in her own room. That felt wrong. She had the vague sense that when she had shut her eyes she had been somewhere else. And she definitely had not been beneath the covers of her bed. Using one hand, she pushed herself up. Bad idea. With a groan, Olinia fell back onto her pillow, her head spinning.

What had happened to her? Every muscle in her body ached, as if she had forced it through some inhumane exercise routine. The last time she had felt anything comparable to this had been back in the world of Sivean when she first learned to Globe.

Globe!
Olinia gasped and all at once the memories of her adventure flooded her mind. She had Globed! After sacrificing the gift,
she
had Globed! It was a feat she had thought impossible since leaving the Vrenyx.

Her Globing had taken her to a moment in Will’s past that he probably thought insignificant. Even Olinia wasn’t sure yet why his conversation with Ariel was so important. Some DS recruiter approached his sister. So what? There had to be more than that. Otherwise, why did Tiara join her?

That was another surprise all together. Never had Olinia Globed with someone else that she had not been touching in the beginning. Then again, Tiara was the first person Olinia had met who could also Globe.

As Olinia struggled to remember what else she had seen during her trip, her thoughts drifted to DS. She still wasn’t sure what the letters stood for. Releasing a sigh, Olinia reached out her hand for the laptop on her desk and urged it towards her. At the moment, it required less energy to use her gift than to get up out of bed. She watched as the thin, silver MacBook Air glided through the air to land beside her on the bed.

She propped herself up on her elbow. As she waited for her laptop to wake up, she glanced around her room. Her curtains were open, allowing her to peer out into the lush trees and stormy sky. The clouds reminded her of Will’s eyes. She gritted her teeth and looked away.

She noticed her backpack was leaning up against her desk with the shoes she had worn that day on the floor next to it. Her eyebrows furrowed. She had a strange impression that she had left her backpack downstairs. Also, when did she take off her shoes?

Her laptop was ready now though, so that question was forgotten as she opened her browser and typed
DS Academy
into the search engine bar at the top of it. The first page of results popped up. Her eyes scanned the top two links. She would have read further if she hadn’t heard movement downstairs in the kitchen.

Olinia whirled, straightening up completely in bed. The dizziness was gone now. She reached out her thoughts, listening for the familiar inner voices of Legann and Sazx. All she found was quiet. No one was within her hundred-yard barrier. Something might have fallen on the floor.

Silently slipping out of bed, Olinia decided to go check out what had caused the noise. It could have been some wild animal that Legann “forgot” he let inside. Last summer he was practicing his gift of speaking to animals on a small raccoon in his room. He’d managed to hide it from Olinia until he fell asleep, and it escaped to the kitchen, creating a giant mess. Olinia sincerely hoped there wasn’t another raccoon downstairs.

As she made her way to the stairs, her steps soft on the floor, she heard the refrigerator door open. Olinia froze in her tracks. That was no animal. Not even the smart little raccoon had figured out how to open and shut their fridge.

Footsteps not her own were suddenly coming towards her, beginning up the stairs. Olinia’s breath caught. Her eyes darted to the closet with the golf clubs. She could dash and grab one as she had done with Sazx, but she wouldn’t be fast enough for the intruder to not see her.  The heavy feet were almost to the top of the stairs. Olinia winced. She would have to hold her ground and use her gifts if any harm came to her. She gritted her teeth as the figure rounded the corner of the staircase.

Olinia knew the face. She gaped. “W-Will?”

He smiled crookedly. “Hello, princess. Did you sleep well?”

She sank to the floor, her legs suddenly weak. A vague recollection of someone talking to her just before she blacked out resurfaced in her mind. Somehow she managed to find her voice. “That was you? You were the one who put me in my bed?”

“Yeah.” He finished up the last few stairs to join her, crouching down in front of her. “I found you on the floor. What happened?”

Will was there, within arm’s reach. Olinia couldn’t remember ever fainting before, but this might be the day she would give it a try. Her body was trembling. For nearly the past two years she’d imagined what she would say to him when she saw him again. Now that it was her chance, all she could do was stare.

Unlike when she had seen him while Globing, his dark blond hair was shaggy, down to the bottom of his ears. During his time in the Other Worlds he’d grown it out to match the local men. His beautiful gray eyes were watching her, and his angled jaw was tilted to one side, covered in scruff from going two or three days without shaving. A small bruise purpled a spot above his right eye. He wore a simple white T-shirt with the logo of a surf company on its front and dark blue jeans. Once again Olinia caught herself marveling at how well he fit into his Ethon clothes.

“Princess?” He prodded after another moment.

All at once Olinia heard Legann enter her barrier. He was home from school. Olinia mentally kicked herself. She’d forgotten to pick him up.

Taking a deep breath, Olinia returned her attention to Will. His mind was still as silent to her in Ethon as it had been in the Other Worlds. Even in a world where she could hear the minds of practically everything that walked on two legs, Will was immune to her gifts. At the moment, this fact made her temper flare. She desperately wanted to know his thoughts, but the opportunity to get inside his head was proving itself to be pointless.

Olinia narrowed her eyes. “Why are you here, Will?”

He blinked. “I told you I would come back for you.”

“Yeah, but not two years later!” She spat out. “I said one day. One!”

Will rocked back off his heels, sitting down on the carpet. He ran a hand through his hair, feeling both regret and guilt. How did he go about explaining to Olinia that he’d kept his promise all along? For her, it had been twenty months, while for him it had been less than two days.

As soon as he entered Ethon, he hopped on the next flight out of London. Trenton Alridge had warned him of the changes surrounding Olinia and her brother, but Will hadn’t cared. He just wanted to get to her as soon as possible. A cab from the airport dropped him off outside Olinia’s house just in time for him to walk in on her, collapsed on the kitchen floor.

He sighed. “I didn’t go back on my promise, Olinia. I was in the Other Worlds only twenty-two hours. I was counting.”

“Right.” She grunted.

“If you had been with Trenton, then you could have seen me as soon as I came back,” he said softly, frowning. “I’m sorry that it takes a little time to fly across an ocean. I wish I could have seen you sooner.”

Olinia stared up at the ceiling. “I swear, of all the days you choose to back, it’s today.”

Will suddenly felt confused. “What?”

“Do you even know what
day
it is?” She asked him.

He didn’t. He hadn’t really cared about discovering the date from Trenton. “No…”