Lightning In My Wake (The Lightning Series) (6 page)

I’d always thought that was the romantic version of the story. Sevella was outcast after Eivan disappeared. They blamed her for the disappearance of their
Eidolon.

She was never seen again.

He was revered for his gifts—but mostly he was revered for his ability to restore light to the Resin. He could give them the ability to travel again. He could bring back their light—but some were so far-gone—that they no longer cared to travel, only harbor their hate.

“You couldn’t have picked an island with some mangoes? I’m starving.”

I turned my head to find the object of my thoughts there in front of me.

Sometimes, Theo pissed me off beyond sanity.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

He shrugged, picking up rocks from the beach
and tossing one into the surf, “Did I forget to tell you, I can seek as well?”

My fac
e told him that clearly I he hadn’t mentioned it. “You’re shitting me.”

“No, my foul mouthed love. I am not shitting you.”

I waved my hands in the air, exasperated with him, “Any other gifts you have that you want to share?”

“Yes. Now that you mention it. I used
to be able to make my girl moan my name.”

I rolled my eyes at him. Not that it wasn’t true. It was so true. Th
eo’s mouth and the things he could do with his tongue should’ve been outlawed. Plus, there was this thing he did, digging his fingers into the backs of my thighs—ah, posters of his face should be plastered on telephone poles, ‘Beware Theo: One kiss and you’re done for.’

“I meant Lucent gifts.”

He shrugged. A playful smile tugged at the corner of his mouth,
“Oh, no, not yet. But Eivan did have twelve children. I supposed he had plenty of unpublished gifts. Maybe I should re-read Sevella’s personal journals.”

He was trying very hard to be funny, but I found no humor in his situation. 
I eyed the ocean before me. I loved the ocean. There was something about the constant weightlessness that reminded me of flashing. It was like bobbing up and down in that perpetual state of adrenaline and calm.

“Do you want me to go so you can swim alone,” he asked facing the waves. He knew me too well.

“No. I want to know what we’re going to do about this.”

His expression grew hard, “
We
will do nothing. I will do more research and eventually I will need to tell the Synod.”

             
Research meant finding the other keepers of the histories—and maybe even speaking to some of the Prophets. Long ago, before the Lucents had a Synod, there were Prophets. Their words were gold and their wisdom infallible. But finally, some Lucents began to think they had too much power and insisted on having a council.

             
My grandmother had been one of them—still was.

             
“Let’s go see Grammy first and then decide.”

             
Still as a statue he stood, but then bellowed out a hefty breath, “Since when is there a we, Colby?”

             
I deserved that sting and all its aftershocks. Nightly, daily, and sometimes hourly I had to remind myself of why there wasn’t a we. And yet, here I was calling us we again.

             
It felt like freedom.

             
“There has always been and will always be a we as long as we live, Theo.”

             
I almost hoped he hadn’t heard my answer. If he had, he provided no outward response. The waves became louder and louder as they crashed closer to us both.

             
“It’s too dangerous,” he began our banter. It was useless on his part. I’d never lost an argument. He was too soft. Always had been.

             
“I love danger.”

             
He turned to face me. “There are Resin on my tail—always.”

             
“Mine too. They like to look at my ass as I flash away.”

             
“You are so stubborn. You’re not going with me!” He growled through a clenched jaw.

             
I shrugged with my left shoulder, and my left eyebrow followed suit, “That’s fine. I’ll just follow you. You forget—I’m a seeker as well.”

             
His jaw worked overtime and the vein on his neck rolled blood through it in anger. That vein always popped out when he was angry. It was the only way I knew. He’d never raised his voice at me or even shown in tone or words any bit of aggravation.

             
Which was aggravating in itself.

             
Show me some anger, man.

             
The opposite was true of his expressions of love. There had been times I had been brought to tears by his raw honesty about how he felt about me. I’d never really been able to return the same sentiment. It was hard for me to make that emotional connection with anyone. I kept myself at a healthy distance—healthy for me and everyone else. That mistake of getting so close to my father wouldn’t be repeated again. He was taken from me in an instant and I couldn’t endure that pain again, ever.

             
At the same time I couldn’t let anything happen to Theo. It wasn’t an option.

             
He turned around to face the mountain and lifted his head to view the top. It wasn’t much of a mountain, but then again, he wasn’t admiring the view. He was clearly thinking of what to say next. He did that too much. Or maybe I didn’t do it enough. Words and thoughts just blurted from my mouth at any time and place.

             
“All this time you’ve pushed me away and now that I’m in trouble and I actually want you to stay away from me, you want to come with me. Must you always be so damned stubborn? Can’t you see?”

             
His voice broke with his last question and at once I knew I’d taken it all too far. I got up from my seated position. Theo’s hands were in his pockets and his head was now bowed in exasperation. I looped my arms around his waist and splayed my hands out against his abdomen. His abs trembled underneath my palms, but he didn’t move to embrace me.

             
I’d definitely taken all this too far in the sarcasm department.

             
I laid my cheek against the spot between his shoulder blades, “Can’t
you
see?”

             
Finally, his hands enveloped mine and tangled our fingers together.

             
“They’ll never let us travel together unaccompanied. We are neither bonded nor sealed. It wouldn’t be right even if I were to concede. And I’m not saying I’m going to let you.”

             
I squeezed him tighter. Even his back smelled phenomenal.

             
What he spoke was truth. Our parents would be weary of us together again at our ages if we were not bonded, the Lucent version of engaged, or sealed, the Lucent version of marriage. Theo was a stickler for the rules. He claimed the rules kept us out of trouble. I claimed they kept us caged.

             
“If they give us permission, it will be fine. We can ask them together, tonight.”

             
“Even if they do, Querida—you know me better than that. Please, stay away. I swear to the stars if something happened to you—I would chase you into the
Paraíso. It would be the end of us both.”

             
Anger broke me free from his hold.

             
He was winning.

             
For the first time in our lives, he was winning and I couldn’t even take it.

             
“Name your terms,” I folded my arms over my chest.

             
“No, not this time. There are no terms.”

             
And with that exasperating statement, he flashed away.

Chapter Seven

Theo

The Prophets are no longer acknowledged as messengers of the Almighty.

             
I had a cool temperament most of the time. But Colby needed to learn a lesson. There just weren’t negotiating terms for some situations.

             
And this was one of them.

             
She was that bull-headed. She would’ve stood there and agreed to bonding with me just to make sure she could come with me.

             
If Colby was going to bond with me—I’d be damned if it was going to be under duress.

             
Forget the Resin and the Synod and our parents—I was gonna kill the beauty myself and then chase her around eternity until she folded.

             
The door that linked my parents’ room to mine was open. I figured it was now or never. They needed to know every facet of the situation in case something happened to me.

             
I splashed water on my face in the adjoining bathroom before knocking on the frame of the door that led to their room. They both turned their attentions toward me. My parents knew most of the situation with my new gifts, but I hadn’t told them everything—not even close.

             
“Colby,” my mother questioned. She claimed there was a particular expression I got after my encounters with Colby. It used to be one of utter and complete joy. But since things had, on the surface, ended between us, it had evolved into total and complete pain.

             
“It’s fine, Mom. We do need to talk though. I have a feeling she will tell you if I don’t.”

             
“Sit, son,” my dad commanded.

             
I recounted the whole story. Everything I’d found out about Eivan, all of my gifts and all of my suspicions. My mom had begun to cry halfway through and we’d had to stop several times in order for her to compose herself. It was hard to watch. It was grating on my heart knowing I was the one bringing her pain.

             
“What is the plan? How can we help you?”

             
My father was all business. He supported all that the Lucent culture was. His mother was a Lucent and now his wife was one as well. He worshipped my mom.

             
I felt movement somewhere in my psyche and knew it was Colby. She was flashing and I concentrated on her so that I could know exactly where she was going.

             
The tiniest of jolts resonated in my chest as she landed. Involuntarily, I closed my eyes and pictured her in my head, as I grasped at ways to pinpoint her location.

             
Rebekah—she’d gone to see her Grandmother. To seek her counsel, no doubt.

             
“She’s gone to Rebekah,” I relayed the information to my parents.

             
“You two try so hard to escape each other. The world itself will turn on its axis when you finally give in. And I, for one, can’t wait.” My father chuckled and kissed the temple of my still weary mother’s head.

             
“What do I do, Dad?”

             
My father and I had a decent relationship. He’d reared me to be calm and patient, yet headstrong, just like him. It had caused a rift between us when I was a teenager. But by the time I was eighteen and needed him after Colby had left me, the tension fizzled.

             
My head hung and then plopped into my palms. She aggravated the fire out of me. This is the problem and the glory of Lucent women. You can’t hold them down. Any man in love with a Lucent female is doomed and blessed to eternally chase her lightning. You can’t anchor them. You can’t guarantee they will be in your bed the next morning or anytime at all.

But when I had Colby—I had her heart and soul.

I smelled the cologne that was uniquely my father’s as he kneeled down in front of me. He didn’t force my hand. Instead, he waited for me to look at him. When I met his eyes, I expected to see pity. I wasn’t in the most predictable situation. There was only hope.

“Theodore, we will work through this. And you may hate me for saying this, but I think Colby accompanying you is the best option. She has bravery where you would r
ather fall back and remain safe. She has an ability to see the details the rest of us miss. But she needs you to ground her—she can be a bit—boisterous in all things.”

I saw his point. “I won’t tarnish her reputation with the Synod. The Almighty knows she’s already in trouble with them every time she turns around. I know we’re in the modern world, but the Synod is still in the nineteenth century.”

He chuckled, causing him to fall right on his ass. “So, we have a job to do—convince Colby to bond with you.”

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