Love Beyond Expectations (18 page)

"I'll give it a try." He pushed it, and it opened right up like it hadn't been hard to budge. Ruby gritted her teeth. It figured. When this was over, she was going to work out.
With large weights
.

She stepped inside and gasped. The room was loaded with books, tablets, and various objects she'd never seen before. This place, this had been where Abraxas had put his most important possessions. The magical objects of the Outsiders were all here.

"Let me guess." Christophe grinned at her. "We've really stepped into the room of your dreams."

"Without a doubt."

Leonardo rounded the corner, stopping abruptly.

"Holy shit."

Yes, her sentiments exactly.

* * * *

They popped back into the Outsider house, Ruby hitting the ground hard. She rubbed at her shoulder. The sooner Christophe could stop transporting them around, the happier she would be.

Christophe stood and did what she now knew to be his head count. He always did that, making sure that everyone made it wherever they went.

The house shook beneath her, and she darted to her feet before she almost fell over. "What is happening?"

Leonardo rushed forward. "Drew?" he called out as he ran.

She grabbed Christophe's hand, and they followed suit. In the room they'd left them in, Drew hauled Marina up against him. "Stay with me?"

Tears streamed down her face, and she looked pale. A nod to Drew constituted her response.

"What's happening?" Christophe reached Leonardo's side as the room tilted to the left.

Ruby screamed, grabbing onto Christophe. Was the ocean swallowing the whole island? Christophe pulled her to him. She appreciated the comfort, but there wasn't much he could do about the situation they all found themselves in.

"Marina is human now. She can't do her daily strengthening of the wards," Drew hollered over the groaning of the house. "Which means Sebastian the psycho demon is trying to get inside."

Ruby grabbed onto to Drew's arm. "Is there any way to bring her back to her powers?"

"If there is we have no idea what it is. I think the best bet would be to get us all somewhere safe." He stared at Christophe, rolling his eyes. "You know, if it's not too much trouble."

She didn't like how Drew spoke to him.
Screw him and his attitude
. "The man has moved us four times over the last two days. He might just be exhausted."

Drew might have responded, but Christophe spoke before he could. "Take us all some place safe."

Ruby had one moment to think he had been a little bit vaguer than she might have liked. The world went black, which suited her just fine. She hated all this swirling around. One way or another, she would demand to stay put for a while.

* * * *

"Ruby." Christophe's voice brought her back from the happy place where she hadn't been worrying about anything.

She opened her eyes and smiled at him. Fate had really given her a gift when they had decided she got to look at Christophe for all eternity. Her heart turned over.

Then memory hit her. They'd transported somewhere before she'd passed out. "I'm sorry I fainted. Never had that happen before. And you were the one doing all the work."

"Not true. I can't do any of that without you. Every time I transfer everyone, you're touching me. It makes me accurate and more powerful. I think I must be sucking your power out of you at the same time."

"Well." She smiled. "Thank you for not letting me feel pathetic."

Checking out the room, it dawned on her where they had traveled. "We're back in the caves, aren't we? Abraxas's caves."

"Exactly. I asked for safe. I got it. These places have stood unmolested from Sebastian and his crew for a generation. Apparently, it's now the safest place for all of us to be."

"And?" She looked around the room. It held an old fashioned looking bed, a lamp, currently lit with a flame, and a large red ottoman. "How is everyone handling this?"

"With varying degrees of okay to not okay. Leonardo is grumbling. I think it's the lack of electricity. Marina is a mess, understandably."

"I should go see her."

Christophe stroked the side of her face. "You can,
mon coeur
, although what good it will do, I don't know. She has no memory of any of us."

"Then she really does need a friend. I won't bother her with expectations." She stood up and nearly doubled over when a thought occurred to her. "The stuff. We transported all the stuff with us when we went back to the house. Is it all gone then?"

"No. That came back with us again, too." He pointed at a door to the left, which she assumed led to the hallway. "It's all back in the red door room."

"Okay." She was going to get back into them right after she saw Marina. "Do you have things you need to do?" She didn't want to run off and leave him alone if he was bored.

"Enormous amounts of things. Gabriel has an idea for putting electricity into this place." He shrugged. "It's apparently an all hands on deck kind of a thing for the men."

"Right." She couldn't see Christophe holding a wrench or running a line but if he wanted to go at it with the others then he could have fun trying. They were safe here, for the moment.

"I can see the amusement in your eyes. It's not my idea to put in the electricity. I don't know the first thing about any of it."

"No." She could see him as he'd been in two different lives: always handsome, tall, capable, and cerebral, but never good with his hands—well, not outside the bedroom. "You've never been terribly handy."

He shook his head. "Someday, I'll get to see some of those memories."

"I'm sure someday you will."

He leaned down and kissed her.

* * * *

Marina stared out the window. Ruby's heart fell watching her. Marina had been the friendliest Outsider when she'd first arrived. Now, she just seemed lost.

"It's a lot to take in."

Her friend turned around. "I don't suppose you have any alcohol. A really strong drink of something, anything."

"I…" She really had no idea if Abraxas had any booze in the cave. Alcohol didn't do much of anything for Outsiders; the buzz only lasted a few minutes. They hadn't kept any at the mansion. But Marina was a human now. She really might like to get drunk.

Marina waved her hand in the air. "No. I mean why should I think there would be some liquor around? I traveled through space, landed here. Just another moment in this insanity that is my life. Why is this happening to me?"

Ruby couldn't make this better for her. She wished she had that capability, but she'd never been able to fix Outsider problems in the past. Over the last few months, she'd figured out just to go with them.

However, that didn't mean there wasn't something they could do for her. Ruby held out her hand. "I could really use some alcohol for Marina."

An open bottle of red wine appeared on the table in the corner of the room with one wine glass next to it.

Ruby smiled. "See? Sometimes things work out."

"That's your power? You can bring things to yourself?"

"One of them. I've never been very comfortable with this. But then you told me that I was who I was, and I might as well go for it." Ruby took her hand. "You don't have powers anymore. You have no memory of any of us. I can't know what that's like. But I do know we're all family. You're not alone. I'm here with you."

"Thank you, Ruby." She sighed, pouring the contents of the bottle into the glass. "I wish I knew what you were talking about. I wish I knew this person I'm supposed to be. She sounds kind of amazing. And I'm just a lost woman with no one in the world and no way to help with some epic battle coming at my head."

"There was nothing much any of us could do to begin with."

* * * *

Ruby sat down at her desk. Holding Abraxas's stick, she opened the journals. This time she could actually see the words. The staff had the code on it. Brilliant of Abraxas. In normal circumstances, he could have passed the knowledge of what he had on to his successor. Or maybe the Outsiders of that time would have known what was on the staff and understood what to look for automatically.

In any case, she wasn't lost anymore: Ruby Brannon, whose powers had been basically useless to the group the whole time, could finally make things work, and was finally able to contribute.

She really had no idea how much time passed as she plowed through the books. Eventually, she looked up to notice that the candle in the lamp she'd used had all but burned down. Hell, she really didn't need to go blind.

Or maybe Outsiders didn't do that. Maybe she could read in the dark.

Looking down, she read through her notebook. What had she written?

Her eyes scanned the page, and her heart rate increased. She stood up, still holding the notebook. In it lay a description of all that could happen to them. Abraxas himself had not been a prophet, but he talked all the time about The Great One, who could see the future.

"Marina"—goosebumps appeared on her arms—"Abraxas had to be your father."

Every power needed to protect them had come from that man. The fact that Abraxas's cave still remained safe could be credited to him. Unlike Marina, however, he could see the future and the past, visions of what had been.

One where they won. She'd heard that prophecy before. Nothing about it was new. Eighteen children growing up to save the world. But there had been a second prediction. One where they didn't.

She set down the notebook, her hands shaking. Prophecy could be a terrible thing. Never again would she take Eden's gift lightly. Knowing had to be the worst possible feeling.

Ruby didn't even know if she could tell Christophe.

He shouldn't have to be burdened with this.

Her head spun. She sat down on the floor. Anything could happen. They could win. She had to believe that.

Because if she didn't, if she wasn't able to keep her head in the game of winning then she had to think about the other option.

The one where the world was taken over by darkness, enslaved to Sebastian, left devastated and decimated when he moved on to his next dimension. The future where the Outsiders failed.

Tears streamed down her cheeks. She had to get herself under control before Christophe came looking for her.

Truth was, it wasn't the destruction of the world making her weep. They'd always known that could happen. Ruby wiped her cheeks.

It was the line that she'd read, that she hadn't really understood until that moment when she'd reread what was written.

The world would end because Outsider would kill Outsider. And when that happened, all would be lost.

Looking down, she read the words again: "When soul mate killed Outsider leader."

Leonardo. There was every chance whomever his soul mate turned out to be would end his life. He'd be dead. Gone from them forever, thus bringing about the end of the world.

By the ancestors, how was she supposed to know this?

Ruby stood up. She walked to the candle burning on the desk. In one swift move, she ripped out the page talking of the other prophecy and let the flame of the candle set the paper afire.

The orange color lit up the room. She held it until it burned her finger. With a hiss, she dropped it into the wastebasket on the floor.

Christophe walked through the door. "What are you doing,
mon coeur
?" He smiled at her, staring down at the paper burning out in the can.

Having him in the room made everything seem like it might be okay. Maybe. They'd found each other. If that could happen, maybe other good things could too.

She took his hand. "Well, I was just getting ready to come look for you."

"How did it go?" He stared at the nearly burned out flame. "Badly?"

"Eh. Nothing so far that will be of any use to us. Is there dinner?" With his arm around her, she left that room. For now, she'd keep it to herself. They'd just have to see to it that Leonardo didn't die. That's all there was to it.

"Love you, Christophe." In this world and all others.

Chapter Fifteen

Alexa stood, her hair blowing in the wind. The rain had stopped, the sun had come out, but still the wind blew. She sighed. One big difference from the afternoon before had taken place overnight. The island, sitting out in the Atlantic, was now totally visible to the world, clear as day for everyone to see.

"They left." She leaped, whirling around. Raquel stood next to her again. Once more finding a way to sneak up on her.

The other woman's words resonated inside of her. She'd known they were gone. In her gut, she had felt it.

"Yes, I know. The cult has taken off, somehow, for new places. I can't believe it. They've always been there; at least as long as I've been looking."

Raquel sighed. "The cult. You've got some weird ideas, Alexa. It's too bad I can't stick around to make things better for you. I have to find them again."

"So you can join them? Do bad things to the world?"

Raquel shook her head. "They're not bad."

"They are. If only you knew the things they've done."

"I do." She turned to face Alexa head on. "Do you?"

"I'm not going to discuss this with you. I don't even know you." Alexa stared back at the island. She had no time for this crazy woman. Once again, she was going to have to chase them down. Wherever they went, whatever they did, Alexa would find them.

She would find a way to take the world from them.

One way or another.

When she looked over, she saw Raquel had left. Typical.

Turning her back, she walked toward the hotel. One way or another, she was going to have to find some blood.

Strangely, the thought didn't even bother her that much.

To be continued in

Love Beyond Oceans
; Book Six of The Outsiders

About the Author

As a teenager, I would hide in my room to read my favorite romance novels when I was supposed to be doing my homework. I hope, these days, that my parents think it was worth it.