Muse (Descended From Myth)

Muse

Descended From Myth
:

Book One

Erin McFadden

All rights reserved.

Copyright 2013 Erin McFadden

ISBN-13: 978-1490994772

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the author, excepting brief quotes to be used in reviews.

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Special thanks to the following:

Todd Barselow, Editor Extraordinaire.

www.toddedits.com

Cover Designer Ravven, for breathing life into Anna

www.ravven.com

My wonderful critique partner, Jessica Foster. You have been an excellent stalker, and I appreciate the time you've lavished on my writing to no end. Tag, you're it!

Thanks also to my friends and beta-readers who pointed out a million different issues along the way. Branden, Adam, and Kyle, thank you for pushing me to keep going, even when I didn’t know if I should.

This book would never have been finished if not for the unfailing support of my family and friends. You all have inspired me to reach for the stars.

Thank you!

I held the thick envelope in trembling hands, desperate to know the information it held, but terrified of it at the same time. My entire future could be printed on those pages, but I couldn't bring myself to tear open the flap. I slowly sat down on a stool next to the chipped kitchen counter, afraid that if I didn't, my knees might buckle. My mother wasn't home yet, thankfully. I didn't know exactly how she'd react when she saw the packet with its stark black Guardian emblem, but I knew for sure that she wouldn't be happy.

“This is what you've been waiting for, what you've been
working
for,” I whispered, trying to psych myself up. I needed to sit down and read before Mom and my sister came back from the store.

“How is it that you can take on a guy twice your size in the training room without flinching, but a stupid envelope has you completely freaking out?” my sister drawled, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

I jumped about a foot, trying to shield the envelope from Kaitlyn's view, even though she obviously knew that I had it. “When did you sneak in?” I demanded. I thought I'd have a little time to adjust to the idea before I had to defend this decision to my family.

“I've been here for almost half an hour and I didn't
sneak
anywhere. You've just been too zoned out to notice. You going to open it, or do you want me to?” Kaitlyn was fifteen going on thirty, and convinced that while I might be her older brother, she knew more than I ever would. The scariest part was that I was starting to agree with her. I kept the envelope clasped against my chest, away from her grasping fingers.

“I'll open it when I'm ready,” I protested. “Preferably in
private
! How soon is Mom coming home?”

Kaitlyn glanced at the clock on the microwave, then out the little window that overlooked the parking area we shared with the neighbors. “I'd say in about two minutes, since she's parking the car right now.”

I stepped back, practically toppling the stool over as I headed toward my bedroom and solitude.

“Daniel!” Kaitlyn called after me, making me pause in the hallway. “Is it about Dad?” she asked hopefully.

Inwardly, I swore at myself for letting Kaitlyn get her hopes up, even for a few minutes. I tried to keep my voice casual when I called back, “No, kiddo. This is just about me. It's my next assignment.” I ducked into my room before she could ask any more questions. Kaitlyn was far too perceptive.

I flopped onto my bed, careful not to bend the thick envelope, and listened to my mom and sister put groceries away in the kitchen. Mom has known for years that this envelope would come one day. I doubt that she had any idea it would come this soon, though. The Guardians were stretched thin or they never would have considered promoting me to a Watcher at twenty-one. If I was anyone else, it probably wouldn't have happened. But, I have a legacy to fill. I'm a Lyoncourt, and the Lyoncourt men have been Guardians since the brotherhood was formed over a thousand years ago. My mother's family is about the same.
In every generation at least one Dominico male has been a Guardian since the 1400s. As the only son, I didn't have much choice. I was born a Guardian; it just took an intense amount of work to prove it to the rest of the brotherhood. Now, I was finally going to be a Watcher. Eighteen years of training and it was finally time. If I could only bring myself to open the damn envelope and find out which Talent I would be spending the rest of my life protecting. I paused, listening for footsteps in the hall, and decided that I had to take the plunge.

“Please, please, please…be a man. Please let it be a man,” I whispered to myself as I cracked the seal on the envelope. Don't get the wrong idea, though. I don't have a thing for other guys. I just know that someday I'd like to get married, have a family, and actually be in love with my wife. I don't want to be like my father. I don't want to be so desperately in love with my Talent that I'm gone for weeks at a time without bothering to call. I don't want to miss birthdays, Christmases, and anniversaries because there's someone else who is always more important than my family. I know that I'm going to have to give up a lot to protect my Talent, but I don't want it to be my heart. I've watched my mother cry too many times to ever be able to do that to another woman, and I saw my father sink into the bottom of a whiskey bottle when his Talent chose to leave him. Th
en he just vanished completely.

“I won't ever be him. Never,” I said, with as much conviction as I could muster. Then I slipped the file out of the envelope with my eyes squeezed shut. I slowly opened them and s
aw her face for the first time.

“Oh God. No. Oh no.” I laid my head down on the plaid comforter, willing away the image burned into my brain. Wavy strawberry blonde hair and big green eyes would haunt my dreams tonight. It was a curse, being placed with a Talent who looked like that. I already knew that I would give up my life for this girl. I would protect her with everything I had. Maybe it was genetic, or maybe it was my training. I'd have to guard my heart from her at the same time. If I fell for her, I'd never recover. Any woman I met for the rest of my life, I'd compare to her. Whether I wanted it or not, she would be my most important relationship. I could only hope that she would end up being worthy of the sacrifices I woul
d inevitably have to make.

I took a few minutes to mourn the family I'd probably never have now, not if I couldn't really belong to them. Then I quietly packed the whole idea away in a corner of my mind marked “To be forgotten” and started reading the rest of the file. If I was going to keep her safe, I had to know everything there was to know about her. I started pulling apart the packet, immersing myself in the information so that I
wouldn't have to keep thinking.

The Guardians rated Anna Saint-James as a moderate level Talent. She had a stable family, but was adopted. For some reason the file didn't have much information about her biological family, not even a mention of her lineage. Normally, a Talent would be categorized with the name of the Muse he or she was descended from. Anna's file just said that there were “irregularities” in the record. I had no idea what “irregularities” were involved, because for some reason, all of the documents about her pa
rents were absent from my file.

Her current Watcher, Henry, had been a temporary placement for a little over a year. His Talent had ascended, but he wasn't quite ready to retire. So they decided that Anna, a young girl of rather modest Influence, would be easy for him to supervise.

Henry's last Talent was famous. A brilliant actress, she had the ability to suspend an audience's disbelief, to make them feel as though every role she played was absolute truth. She made millions for Hollywood, and traveled all over the world. Henry acted as her chauffeur and bodyguard. She stayed mortal for much longer than most Talents, and didn't have to make the choice until she was 44 years old. The tabloids speculated that she died of a drug overdose or of a broken heart after her latest love interest had left her for his newest co-star, but Henry and the Guardians knew the truth.

You see, the price of being a Talent is that one day they must make a choice; remain in the mortal world and lose the abilities that have defined their existence, or ascend to the Realm of Influence. I have no idea what happens then, it's never been shared with us. We are the ones left behind, because in the entire history of the Guardians, a Talent has never chosen to remain mortal.

Now that Anna was leaving home and starting to travel, even getting involved with a television production, it all just hit too close to Henry's past for him to continue. He'd asked for a replacement, and I was the one who'd eventually won the honor. There was a pretty fierce competition between four of us to be the next Watcher. We didn't know then who the Talent would be or when the spot would open up, but we'd fought for it anyway. Now here I was.

I'd have to join Henry on location. Then I would shadow Anna with him for a few weeks. I'd learn what I could from him regarding possible threats, and then take over. I'd be her Watcher, her primary protector, for the re
st of her natural life—or mine.

My bedroom door crashed open, ripping me from my obsessive studying. My mom stood in the doorway, eyes wide and wild. Kaitlyn must have tipped her off after all. She stared at the papers spread around me with a look of disgust, before snatchi
ng up one of the glossy photos.

“What the hell is this?” she snarled. “Tell me that you aren't throwing your life away on one of those...those...spoiled, pretentious pushers!”

“Mom,” I protested, trying to think of a way to calm her down. Her father had been a Watcher, my Dad had been a Watcher and she was tired of playing second fiddle to the Talents. I understood her frustration and I could sympathize. I'd had a father who'd missed out on most of my childhood, too. “I have a responsibility to the Brotherhood. I'm not going to back out of being a Watcher after I've worked for so long to get here. You can't expect me to do that, not when you know what it means for me.”

“I know
exactly
what this means for you, Daniel. Don't think that just because I'm not a Guardian myself that I don't know all the dirty secrets. You think that you're going to be the one Watcher who
doesn't
lose himself? You think you're even going to try?” she huffed, waving the picture in the air. “She's a Talent, Daniel. She doesn't just think she's better than you, she knows it. She can have anything and anyone she wants. She'll play with you, just for the fun of it and not care when it eats you up inside. Talents are manipulators. That's what they're born to do.”

I couldn't argue with her. She was right. I'd never met Anna Saint-James, but there was no re
ason to believe that she wasn't exactly like my mother predicted. I'd met eighteen of the twenty-four known Talents and they all fit the profile.  Plus, every Watcher I knew had the same problems. For one, no one can spend a substantial amount of time in contact with a Talent without falling deeply, irrevocably in love with them. It's not necessarily romantic love, but the type of love that allows you to put that person before yourself, your family, your friends, before anything else in the world. The second problem was really the biggest; the Talents did not in any way return their Watchers' devotion. They grow up knowing that they are destined for great things and Guardians are simply bodyguards or babysitters.

“I know it's a thankless job, Mom. I know. But I also know how dangerous it would be for the Talents to be out there without us. You know what can happen when they aren't properly guided. Wars, genocide, horrible things happen.”

Mom just stood, shaking her head, her arms clenched tightly across her chest. She looked so tired and so scared. I'd never seen her look so completely defeated by life before. I cautiously stepped over to her and wrapped my arms around her, pulling her into a hug.

“I'm not going to lose myself, Mom, and I'm not going to forget about you or Kaitlyn. I'll be careful. I will.” I kept reassuring her until I felt her stiff shoulders relax. She finally pulled away and left the room, sniffling,
without uttering another word.

I sat back down on my bed, staring vacantly at the pictures of Anna. Kaitlyn slipped in, gently shutting the door behind her. She sat down on the bed next to me, looking over the photos and information reports. “So, you're really going to do it. You're going to leave and b
e a Watcher?” she asked softly.

“Yeah, Kaitlyn. I am. But I'll still come see you, and you can visit me. I travel so much as it is, this won't be a huge change.”

“Yes it will,” Kaitlyn argued. “This one is forever. Well, as close as they get to forever anyway.”

My family seemed determined to point out all the worst parts of this commitment. It wasn't like there was a thing that I could do about it. The stronger the Talent, the sooner they seemed to ascend. Anna only seemed to have a little Influence, so maybe I wouldn't have to deal with that for a very long time. Maybe I wouldn't be all that affected by her either.

“We've both grown up around Talents. It's not like this is my first assignment. I know what to expect, and I know to keep my guard up. Mom's overreacting because of Dad. I'm not like Dad,” I said belligerently.

“I know, Daniel,” Kaitlyn answered calmly. “She's pretty,” she commented, changing the subject as she slid the photos around on my bedspread. Kat picked up a piece of paper from the stack. I knew that I shouldn't let her read any of Anna's information, but I couldn't bring myself to take it away from her either. I didn't want to exclude her from this.

Kaitlyn's big brown eyes met mine after she'd spent a few minutes looking over the documents. “You know, there's a chance she might be different. She's not an underwear model or one of the sickening pop star types. She seems pretty normal, on paper anyway. Please don't go into this planning to be miserable. At least give her a chance. Even if she acts like a spoiled brat, you might be able to work with her and convince her to use some of her Influence in a good way.”

My sister, the optimist. That was new. I appreciated it though. I really needed something positive right now.

“We'll see, Kat. I have to leave to meet Henry tomorrow. It's all the way in Indiana, but I'll have my cellphone and I'll keep in touch. Just try to keep Mom from worrying too much for me, please?”