But Tobie—Wes is all she has, and that little girl loves him. I think even Laken saw that tonight. Wes is a damn good father. It’s hard to hate your enemy when he melts your heart just alittle.
Gage whisks us back to Paragon, and we drop Chloe back off at Devil’s Peak where Brody waits forher.
Gage takes us back to the house, back to the boys, back to our bed where we make love and lie naked in one another’s arms just the way it shouldbe.
Gage was meant for me. Just have my mother try to denyit.
Weeks roll by.Heavy winds blow through Paragon and strip the softness from the scenery that the fog traditionally affords. It lets you see the harsh details of the world, the hard borders of the evergreens, the hard purple outline of Host lying like a sleeping giant in the sea, and just beyond that, Raven’s Eye where there is a panic of paranormal proportions, I’m sure of it. The news is unreasonably quiet—an irony in and of itself. Chloe and I have planted hundreds of Spectators in the paths of the world authorities—the largest congregation of them just north of Seattle in a weak attempt to deviate the government’s attention away from the island. But today it’s quiet. The wind, the fog, and even the feds have left Paragon for now. But I know enough to realize that the wind will stir again, the fog will return to Paragon in honor of their binding covenant. It is permanent. And yes, those men in blue will be back, too. We are no longer impervious to their suspicious gaze. Wes has opened a portal to hell that not even he could withstand, nor his precious daughter, nor the one that owns him completely,Laken.
My mother swept up the dead and returned them to paradise as soon as we left Tenebrous that day—with the exception of the Kraggers and Kate, of course. The dead had come, did what was asked of them—were reused and returned all without the pomp and circumstance that a resurrection deserves. In hindsight, I would have handled it all differently. But at the time, I did what I needed to. The important thing is that I acted. I wasn’t idle, lost in my thinking, stalled in my own analysis. Perhaps just as important is that the next time something of this nature arises, I think it through, consider the fact I don’t want a single soul tormented. Perhaps if I would have done that to begin with, I could have sent the Spectators to Raven’s Eye long before I ever did. But the truth is, I wouldn’t have. I needed to see the error of my ways before resorting to something so low, and I do believe it was low of me to stoopthere.
Classes at Host have started up again, and I’ve taken a partial load. Only one class leads me to university grounds, and the rest of them I’m able to take online. Emma begged me to place the boys in her daycare center, where she promised she would oversee them herself, but I opted for dear old Mom who was more than glad to oblige. And she’s almost okay with me just nursing the boys at night. Almost. But the biggest change this fall has brought about is the fact Mia and Melissa have entered into their junior year at West. It’s a frightening thought really—how fast time flies when you have your nose to the grindstone, just living your life. It makes me wonder how quickly my boys will grow up. Will I turn around and find it to be their junior year next? And how will I fill the interim? Will I busy myself with Faction business to the point I miss out on everything in between? It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. It was in my junior year that I met Logan and Gage. My entire world shifted on its axis thatyear.
I asked the aforementioned gorgeous Olivers to meet me at Marshall’s. Gage is coming from Host, and Logan from the construction site. Nathan and Barron are with my mother, and Lexy and I just finished going through the Walsh home—my home, which I can’t seem to stop calling the Walsh home—we were working on flooring. Liam and his deconstruction crew came in and gutted the place. He replaced the old floorboards, the asbestos-riddled drywall, the windows, the doors, and now Lexy is helping me make a thousand and one decisions regarding kitchen appliances—high-end—countertops—granite, she swore I would regret marble to my dying day—backsplash, fixtures, fireplace mantel, wall color, whether to carpet or not carpet the boys’ room, where to put the planter boxes, how to design the hardscape for the backyard, and where we will eventually put in a swimming pool. All of those things cost money, and yet Gage keeps paying the bills, his wallet a never-ending tornado of dollars. It does make me wonder, but I’m too damn tired to ask anyquestions.
Marshall’s estate shines like a jewel under the duress of the white-hot spotlight of the sun, an anomaly in our gray existence. Whenever this rare solar event occurs, I hear nothing but complaints from the residents—the sun is too bright, too harsh, too hot, and oddly enough on this over bright, hard-lined, searing day—I agree. I suppose that’s the final step over the sand. I no longer consider myself an L.A. outcast. I’m officially an island girl through and through. As much as we lament the sun, we never really want itaround.
I park and head inside. Marshall’s door is unlocked, and I frown at that giant hunk of mahogany as if it caused the malfeasance itself. I grew up where triple locks were simply a good start to protecting your home, and on Paragon half the houses don’t even have deadboltsinstalled.
“Ms. Messenger,” Marshall calls from the alcove where he keeps that haunted piano, that haunted speculum—and I pause because he happens to be entertaining a very haunted guest, MelodyWinters.
I can’t help but scowl over at her. She is the girl who tried to seduce Gage on multiple occasions. She’s a skank through and through in mybook.
“Well, well”—I speed in their direction—“look who the seventeenth century dragged in.” I come in close, and she inches back as if I might slap her. Believe me, I’m tempted. “And don’t think for a minute I don’t know who you are,Cassandra.”
Her mouth rounds out into a perfectOas she looks toMarshall.
His lips twitch a moment. “Don’t you mind Ms. Messenger. She’s ratherharmless.”
“The hell I am.” I stab a finger into her ample chest. “What the heck are you doing here? Haven’t you ever heard that to every man it is appointed once to die and all that other good stay-the-hell-in-your-own-centurystuff?”
“Skyla.” Marshall’s tone grows incredulous. “She is a guest in our home. Do work on your hospitality skills.” He turns to the redheaded moppet with a grin. “Skyla is my spirit bride. Soon, all shall be consummated and an earthly bond will ensue. I’m thinkingchildren.”
Melody chortles at the thought. “You’ve already had a few ofthose.”
Afew? Gah! Marshall’s seed is sprinkled all over this planet. Although not necessarily a bad thing, it’s a thing forsure.
“Just the one, and as fate would have it, my lineage has rolled right down to Paragon.” He glowers out the window a moment. “It seems the Olivers stem from greatness after all.” His left eye closes lazily as if trying to push the thoughtaway.
“Don’t forget about Coop. You’re his granddaddy, too!” I rib him with myelbow.
“Do tell.” His affect flattens to morbidly dangerous levels. “What may I assist you with, mylove?”
“I’ve invited Logan and Gage over.” I sneer at Melody a moment. “I’m finally ready to tell the three of you about the covenant I’ve entered into withChloe.”
Melody gasps. “Shedidn’t!”
“Oh, she did,” I’m quick toinform.
Marshall grunts. “Youdidn’t.”
“I most definitelydid.”
Melody wheezes as if this directly affected her. “Nothing good can come of this. Why would she trust you?” She staggers off toward that speculum, and it’s taking all of my restraint not to push her right in. “My God, it’s as if she’s heard nothing Marlena has toldher.”
“In one ear and out the other. That’s our Chloe.” I give a private smile at that conversation my mother and Chloe had a while back where they used just about the same verbiage. “Anyway, yes, I will be the first to admit things have a way of falling to shit when Chloe’s around, but she’s basically what amounts to a celestial dust mite, ever-present and always getting under your skin. There’s no getting rid of her. At least this way I’m able to utilize her. And oddly enough, she’s on TeamCelestra.”
Melody’s already pasty face goes stark white, and it frightensme.
