Fated, A Timeless Series Novella (A Timeless Series Companion Novel) (11 page)

I sighed, curling up on the sitting room couch.
It was a month or so after the night we spied on Cheyenne
. Callon
still
hadn’t spoken about the incident, and it was driving me
,
and Colt insane.
Every time we asked about the ring, he’d shrug it off with some excuse.
In an effort to dig some answers,
Colt
had managed to see
Cheyenne’s
ring
a few times at school, but he
didn’t think
it
looked like a clan ring.
It was definitely precious to her
, though
,
and she’d had it for a long time,
which made things difficult to interpret
.

But why
wouldn’t Callon talk to us
?

On top of that, we’d had a few close calls.
About a week and a half ago, t
hree Tresez had
appeared
on the Wilson’s doorstep, and I’d had to call Colt for help.
He’d managed to slay them all and hide their bodies in the forest, but it left me very nervous.
I’d only spotted them just in time.
And t
hough my scars from their bites
had healed,
it served as a brutal reminde
r
of the fate that
might have
awaited Cheyenne.

About the only good thing was the lack of movement from the Ghosters. They’d come from Marcus’s stronghold in Canada, but
we hadn’
t heard any reports
they’d
reach
ed
this part of Idaho
yet
.
They were deadly assassins, able to transmit parts of their soul as speckles of light
, called soul-shards
.
If a human looked at them, even for an instant, they’d be frozen into a trance. A piece of their o
wn soul would be taken, and their physical body would
run after it, right into the Ghoster’s hold.
It was the easi
est way to capture and kill Timeless children before they transformed, as Timeless were much more resistant to their effects.
Cheyenne would only have to catch the reflection
of their soul-
shards
, and we’d be powerless to help her.

I looked to the clock on the mantle-piece.
It was late
.
Colt and I were
watching
television, though neither of us really pa
id
attention
to the program
.
Earlier when I’d been
spying on
Cheyenne
, nothing had happened
, and I hadn’t picked up on anything unusual
on the way home, either
.
I’d even snuck in another hot chocolate from Alexis, though this time I remembered to take my coat with me. Callon had gone out about an hour ago
to pick up a secure package
, but had yet to return.

Colt yawned, breaking the silence.

“
Any luck with Callon?
”
he
asked,
stretching
.

I shook my head.

“No, he still won’t talk about it.”

Colt grumbled.

“
I hate it when he’s like this,” he said. “
Why does he feel he has to
shoulder everything alone
? We’re family!”

“You know Callon,” I answered, sipping my
soda
.
“
He’s just worried about
protecting
Cheyenne.”

“Aren’t we all?” Colt shot back. “
If he really believes she’s Kvech, then we need to
start making plans to move
out
.
Tresez we can deal with, but
once the
Ghosters
get here,
we’ll be stuck.
A
nd if they capture Cheyenne
,
we can’t do anything.
” He punched the cushion on the sofa. “
Callon
needs to
tell us exactly what he’s planning
, or we’ll just…
”

T
he front door opened
, cutting him off
. Callon walked in, looking tired
and carrying a
package wrapped in brown paper
.
His boots were wet—it must be raining again.

“Well?” Colt
hurried to
his side. “
Did he meet you like he said
?”

Callon
nodded. He
discarded his
sodden
jacket an
d walked into the sitting room. He dumped
his
package
on the coffee table. A couple of books slipped out
, bound in old leather
.

“
Sorry I’m late.
I asked Dex to send me these
last week
,” Callon said. “
I thought I’d quickly go through them before I came home.”

“
I take it y
ou still haven’t come up with an answer to Cheyenne’s heritage
, then
?” Colt asked.

“It’s not easy,” Callon said.
He set the books on the
table and sank into the
oversized chair
opposite the mantle-piece.
“
Every time I think I’ve found
a clue
, something else turns up.
” He sighed. “
She’s definitely Timeless, without a doubt, but sin
c
e I can’t find any
record of her birth parents or any Kvech relics, I can’t say for sure
if she’s the lost heir
.”

“So what does this mean for us?” I asked.

“
It means
we’ll need to have a proper discussion with Gene and Alexis soon,” Callon said.
“
Cheyenne will turn eighteen next year, which is when they plan to tell her the truth.
I’ve already approached them about moving
to Ireland
, and they
’ve
begged me to wait til her next birthday
. So
I’ve sent out some messages to the front lines
for some help
.”

“Oh?” Colt sat up.

“
I’m asking them to go on Tresez hunts
and make a big deal of it
,” Callon said. “I need to pull Marcus’s eyes away from this area, and get him to spread his men out.
The Ghosters haven’t made their move yet, but I know they’
ve
recently
arrived in the stat
e
.
We mustn’t draw any more attention to Cheyenne or the Wilson
’
s
, at least not for the next year
.
I promised them that much.
” He looked me square in the eye. “
So Daniel, you’re not to watch Cheyenne any more. Colt will
take over
.
”

My mouth hung open.

“What?!”

“Daniel,
you had a hard time with the Tresez, and
Ghosters are trained to spot Timeless who can jump,” Callon said. “
They’ll have eyes everywhere
,
and if they catch you,
they’ll
follow you to the Wilson’s house. I can’t risk that.”

“No!”
My fist clenched.
First he’d banned me from becoming her friend, and now he was cutting me out of the picture entirely?
“Callon, this isn’t fair!”

“It’s not about fair,” Callon growled. “
I’m trying to
do
what’s best for Cheyenne. If the others can
shift
Marcus’s attention
elsewhere
, the Ghosters will leave, and it’ll be easier to smuggle Cheyenne out of the country.
You
can meet her prop
erly then.
”

I stormed to the door.
I didn’t have to hear this.

“Daniel
, where are you going?
”

“You just think I’m too weak, don’t you?”
I didn’t turn around, my hand on the door handle. “
That
I was too slow to deal with the Tresez and almost got Cheyenne hurt?
”

“Daniel, what’s gotten into you?” Callon asked. “
This has nothing to do with that.
O
ur focus needs to change.
I need you to make arrangements in Ireland. I…”

“
S
o you
are
trying
to push me into the background,” I scoffed.
“Well forget it! Make the arra
n
gements yourself!”

“Daniel, wait!”

I flipped the door open and jumped out.
The air was moist, but
I kept jumping, not caring where I was going
or if the weather would turn
. I just wanted to get away from the house.
Bitter anger coursed through me, and I
swallowed back the bile in my throat.
How could Callon just change plans of all of sudden?
We’d known about the Ghosters ages ago,
and only today
he’d decided I couldn’t match them?
And now he wanted me to go back home and ‘make arrangements’?

Did he really think I was that useless?

By the time I stopped jumping, I was deep in the downtown area.
I found the nearest bench and sat down, wrapping my arms around my knees.
It was cold, and I hadn’t brought my coat, but my rage kept me warm enough.
I couldn’t believe this.
I’d just about
come to terms with the fact I couldn’t talk to Cheyenne, but to be ripped away from her like this was too much.
She needed someone who’d been through this!
I just knew she’d not tolerate being locked away.
And
the more we told her to stay indoors, the more she’d try to break free
. She’d be putting herself in the very danger we were trying to defend her from.

I should know
;
I’d done the same thing.

My eyes closed, and I stayed in the same position for a long while.
This was stupid. Getting angry wasn’t going to solve anything. I needed to have a proper talk with Callon, explain to him my feelings.
Surely he’d understand we needed to keep Cheyenne on our side, and she wouldn’t trust us if
we
ordered
her
around
all the time
.

But my stubbornness held me back. Why should I go crawling back?
I’d flown all the way from Ireland to help, and Callon was shoving me aside.
He had to learn to appreciate what I did for him.

In the end I decided to wait the night out. I’d go back in the morning
, when my temper had cooled
.
I wasn’t in the right
mind to discuss things, anyway.

I lay on the bench, though I didn’t sleep.
I watched
the stars and moon, and listened
to the creak and groan of the alleyways as the wind drifted through them.
Sandpoint really was a tiny place
, though it was still more developed than the area around the O’Shea estate in Ireland
.
I’d grown attached to th
e town
since flying over, and I was going to miss it when we had to leave.

And
it seemed
that day
would
come sooner
than I wanted
.

T
he hours passed
slowly
.
I did doze off for a couple of hours, and
b
y the time
I awoke, dawn was breaking.
I sat up, stretching.
It w
as
a
Saturday, and I remember
ed
Colt saying Cheyenne had an appointment
in the morning
.
I had no
idea where she’d be heading. Though of course that wasn’t my job anymore, I noted bitterly.

As the streets began to fill with the early risers, I
stood up and started a slow walk home.
There were too many people about
for me
to jump, and besides, I wanted to delay for as long as possible.