The Guardian (Callista Ryan Series) (23 page)

             
Shay sighed. “We must visit the woman who was her closest companion all those years ago.”

             
“And who is that?”

             
Shay looked up at her again. “Serena.”

Callie felt her whole body begin to tremble as Shay neared Serena’s house. The funny thing about this forest was that the houses weren’t lined up next to each other in a row the way normal neighborhoods were set up. One had to go swimming in tree branches for several minutes before finally, almost accidentally, stumbling upon a house. And yet, even though a part of Callie kept hoping that Shay would have somehow forgotten the way to Serena’s house, they had arrived there all too soon.

             
“Shay, maybe this is a bad idea,” Callie said as she saw the roof of Serena’s house emerge through the trees. “I mean, I’d be fine just turning around.”

             
But that wasn’t true, and Shay knew it. Callie had a feeling that something unsavory was happening in these woods. The secrets that lurked beyond every trunk seemed to be clustering together much more densely now. The air was tainted with an uncomfortable sort of mystery. Callie knew that the more she learned about what had happened in the past, the more she would understand about what was going on in the present. Especially where Alex was concerned. He had been the closest thing she had to a friend here; she felt that they understood each other far too well for her to have misinterpreted the signs so thoroughly. And so the logical solution was to find out what had caused him to react in such a way, meaning that Serena was her best bet.

             
Still, the picture of Serena flying at her, intent upon destroying her, sat firmly in Callie’s mind.

             
As Shay landed in Serena’s house, Callie was practically frantic. She was going to suggest that they leave again, but at that moment, an angry hiss sounded from the depths of this new room.

             
“What are you doing here?” Serena asked. Callie settled onto her feet once Shay put her down, and saw that Serena was sitting on a countertop in the kitchen. She couldn’t help but notice the pile of smashed china that was laying on the floor, and swallowed as she realized that this was how Serena had been dealing with the threat of banishment.

             
A threat which had been made only because Serena wanted Callie out.

             
“We have come to seek information,” Shay said. “Callista believes she sighted Adeline in our canopy today.”

             
“So?” Serena asked. Despite the careless tone, however, Callie didn’t miss the small, sharp breath that Serena had drawn, or the way her posture froze.

             
“
So
,” Shay said, sounding as though she were speaking to an impotent child. “Perhaps you wouldn’t mind helping Callista to confirm this, and to figure out what she might be doing here.”

             
“And perhaps I would,” Serena snapped. “Why should I help
her
? She is nothing to me.”

             
“She is the one who preserved your place in our village,” Shay pointed out in a reasonable tone. “You owe her a debt of gratitude.”

             
“I owe her nothing,” Serena said. “She is human. She shouldn’t even be here.”

             
“And neither should Adeline,” Shay said. “Surely you must agree with me on this point. The enemy has entered our village without permission.”

             
“The enemy,” Serena spat, mocking the words. She shook her head, and continued, “Why come to me? Why not bring this to Emeric, if it is a matter of war?” Serena asked. She spun another plate in her hand, and Callie nearly flinched. But Serena didn’t throw it. Instead, she juggled it absentmindedly, the promise of its destruction hanging in the air. “And speaking of war….Shay, I have recently learned that one of our protectors has returned to the forest. Surely you would have told me if this person was someone I’d better like to be elsewhere, wouldn’t you? You wouldn’t be hiding him so that he could spring up on me unannounced.”

             
“I deduced that the creature which Callista observed was Adeline based on a somewhat inadequate description,” Shay said. She ignored Serena’s latter question, a fact which made Serena grit her teeth.

             
“Hey,” Callie said, defensive.

             
“All I had to make my decision was that the woman had purple eyes. But Callie has seen these eyes before, she believes, on a Siren. I think that if you show Callie a memory of Adeline, she will determine whether my assumption was accurate.”

             
“You want me to open my
mind
to her?” Serena said, as though Shay had just suggested that they attempt to fly to the moon.

             
“I don’t see why not,” Shay pointed out.

             
Serena took a breath to speak, her face plainly signaling her rejection of the plan, but then she paused in thought. She narrowed her eyes, and then smiled. Callie shivered. It wasn’t the smile of a friend; it was the smile of a snake approaching his prey.

             
“Sure,” Serena said, shrugging a dainty shoulder. “She can watch my memories.”

             
“What?” Callie asked, taken aback by the malice in these words. “Why?”

             
The smile widened. “Because I can guarantee you that you will not like what you see. And that, human, will be reward enough.”

             
Callie stepped back.

             
“Oh, come now,” Serena said, jumping down from the counter and placing the plate on the counter, fully intact. “You must be curious. Aren’t you at all eager to see what Alex was like in the olden days, before he made a habit of picking up stray mortals?”

             
“Shay, I think we’d better go,” Callie said, wary of the glint in Serena’s ice blue eyes.

             
“Stay,” Serena instructed. “Have a drink. I think, given your duty to the forest, you might actually
need
to watch this.”

             
“My duty?”

             
“Well, you’re here to help, aren’t you?” she asked with an artificial sweetness to her voice. “If there’s an enemy in our midst, the best way you can help is to confirm the fact so that we might know what we’re dealing with. Am I wrong?”

             
Callie took a deep breath, and then nodded. “What do you want me to see?” she asked.

             
Serena’s shark-like smile fastened into place, the look of a predator having successfully ensnared its prey. “Everything.”

Chapter
Thirteen

Memory

             
The sky was stormy inside of Serena’s mind. Callie slowly collected her bearings. She was standing on a thick tree branch, holding onto the trunk. The day was tainted a foreboding shade of grey, and the thunder which rumbled above the clouds threatened rain.

             
Callie slid closer to the trunk, wrapping her arms more securely around it. She didn’t know what would happen if she fell, if she died in a memory, but she didn’t want to find out. The sound of voices floated towards her from the left, and she craned her neck to see who it was.

             
To her surprise, Serena and Adeline were flying towards her. The surprising part was that here, they both seemed…happy. Genuinely, completely happy; they looked healthy and full of life, and they were laughing at some untold joke as they landed in the cottage on the next tree.

             
Callie frowned. She needed to get over there. She looked around, and found that the branch she was standing on was intermingled with one on the neighboring tree, and so she flattened herself against the bark and climbed closer to the house, taking care not to look down even as her limbs were trembling. Slowly, one inch at a time, she crossed the branch and clasped onto the next one, and then she slid along that until she was close enough to the trunk to stand up. With shaky knees, she smiled at her small victory, and then leaned in to listen to the conversation going on behind the wooden walls. She couldn’t see anything, but the voices were clearer now.

             
“What do you think it’s about?” a woman asked. This one must have been Adeline; the low timbre of the voice was vaguely familiar from yesterday’s trip to the island.

             
“Who knows? Emeric is always so secretive. I’m sure it will be just another meaningless gathering, though,” Serena replied, sounding bored.

             
“Hopefully it doesn’t last as long as the last one,” Adeline said. “I have seen centuries which passed by more quickly than his most recent lecture.”

             
Serena chuckled. “We should go soon. The sun will set shortly.”

             
“Alright, let me change first,” Adeline said, and a snapping of footprints followed.

             
“You are changing? Into what, might I ask? All of our clothes are the same,” Serena said, her tone frustrated.

             
“I have blood on my dress. I cut my arm earlier. I’ll be only a second.”

             
“You wouldn’t be changing to impress someone, Adeline?” Serena asked. “Someone we know will be at the meeting this evening?”

             
“Everyone will be at the meeting, Serena,” came the carefully dull reply. “And no, I wouldn’t be.”

             
“Right,” Serena said, though Callie heard laughter in the words.

             
“Shall we go?” Adeline snapped, obviously uncomfortable with Serena’s light teasing.

             
“Oh, come now,” Serena said, placating her friend. “You know I mean no harm. But really, Addy, you know how he is.
If
he were wise enough to spare you a second glance, it would be the sort that disappears by morning.”

             
“You don’t know him,” Adeline replied, though her words had lost their defensive tone. “He’s different than people think.”

             
Serena snorted. “Alright, if you say so. Come, we’ll be late.”

             
In a flurry of wind, the two beautiful, winged women dived from the door and sank into the trees, lost within the blink of an eye.

             
Callie gasped as she felt herself pulled outwards, the trees blurring around and slipping out from beneath her, a collage of green passing her by, before she found herself suddenly stationed on the beach.

             
Lightning cracked in the distance, splitting the sky above the water. Guardians mulled about, and Callie, remembering the unpleasant feeling she’d experienced the last time someone had stepped through her in a memory, avoided the churning bodies. She hopped backwards, away from a small cluster of them, and heard Serena’s voice.

             
She turned, and saw that Serena and Adeline were descending from the treetops, through the fog, until they were standing right beside her. Callie swallowed when she saw Adeline’s face so closely; she had to remind herself that she was invisible to them. From here, though Adeline wasn’t as threatening yet as she would one day become, Callie saw the harsh clash of vibrant orange hair and profound purple eyes, and sensed the woman’s knack for ferocity. It was stamped in her personality; this was no wilting flower, but a fatal beauty, the kind that great men had written about with such bitterness and heartache over the years.

             
“There’s Emeric,” Serena murmured. Callie looked over to the water, and saw Emeric hovering above the crowd once again, looking down at them with a scornful impatience. Callie could not believe that this version of Emeric was any different than the one she had spent the past few days with; nothing in his appearance was changed, though he must have been much younger in this memory. The voices quieted, and all of the Guardians on the beach turned their faced towards him.

             
Emeric opened his mouth as though to say something, though before he could begin, a feminine giggle erupted from behind the crowds, from the outskirts of the forest, and the collective attentions were drawn to this interruption.

             
Alex emerged then from the trees. He was not alone. His forearm sprawled lazily across the shoulders of a blonde woman. Callie felt a sour pit of jealousy take root in her stomach, and she studied the pair. The woman was unremarkable; she had a sleek main of golden hair, glossy skin that glowed with a faint pink tan, simple though pretty features, and a tall, supple figure. She looked like every other fashion model out there. Nothing about her was unique. The only thing which really caught Callie’s attention about her was the way she looked at Alex, oblivious of the attention of the crowd, as though he were a king amongst boys. And, from what Callie could tell, he was. He seemed as though he hadn’t a care in the world. He was nothing like the brooding man she knew. He seemed powerful, confident, and, most of all, unconcerned with the way he moved through space. Gone was the cautious person who was alert to every movement. Though his face hadn’t changed, it was transformed by utter carelessness.