The Reckoning Read online

  Orion turned, looking right at Sol, and Tristan gripped her arm.

  “Ah, Sol. I see you’ve found us.”

  Tristan could feel Sol’s anger, and she was sure Sol’s eyes would be shooting lasers if they could. When she spoke, it was through a clenched jaw, her voice like steel.

  “Get away from my daughter.”

  Orion had the nerve to look surprised, and Tristan again looked at Olivia. Olivia looked back at her, pissed as hell, which Tristan knew was a good sign, but she also looked unnerved. Tristan heard Celes exhale behind her, and she turned to see his eyes on Olivia as well, relief weighing down his shoulders.

  “Oceana? We were just having a chat. She graciously agreed to show me how her abilities are coming along.” Orion swept his hand towards Olivia, and she shot him a look, stalking over to where Tristan and Sol stood.

  “I was going to collect Ember next, but I see he has come to me.” Orion looked over Sol’s shoulder, his eyes never once alighting on Tristan, and then looked at the group that had gathered. “There’s nothing for you all to see here; just a family reunion.”

  The crowd took the hint and dispersed, and Tristan eyeballed Orion. He looked startlingly healthy, which Tristan was having trouble understanding; wasn’t it just last month that the Elder meeting he’d attended had caused him a major health setback? Sure, he was currently leaning heavily on a jet black, marbled cane, and his shoulders were slightly stooped and his complexion slightly pallid, but all of that just made him look… old. Tristan could still tell that he'd been formidable once -- his shoulders and chest were broad, and his blue eyes were sharp and virulent beneath his snowy white hair. He was also, in spite of the cane, standing with his feet planted in a power stance that belied his very casual demeanor, which was one of the biggest giveaways for Tristan that they were dealing with a snake, and apparently one who had recently feasted. Pieces of the puzzle wanted to come together in her mind, but Tristan could not quite get them to slide into place.

  “Oceana!” Evander shot across the clearing and embraced Olivia in a bear hug, not letting her go for several long moments. Umbris was next, and Olivia nodded at them both, wordlessly confirming she was OK.

  Tristan had felt sick enough over the idea of something having happened to Olivia -- she could not imagine how Evander especially must have felt, not being able to reach her. Once Evander had released Olivia, he turned his thunderous gaze on Orion.

  “Ember. Nice to finally meet you.” Orion gazed at Evander, completely unruffled, and Evander glared at him in return.

  “If you will.” Orion gestured, and Evander began to move forward. Tristan frowned.

  Sol put out her hand, and Evander stopped, a vein in his neck throbbing as he cracked his knuckles. Olivia put her hand on his arm and he looked at her, giving her a brief nod as he took several deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself.

  “How dare you try to manipulate my children, and right in front of me! How dare you cut Oceana off from us, take her away from the gathering and bring her back like you have any right to do these things!”

  Sol was yelling, and her children were staring at her, mouths hanging open. Even Umbris looked surprised, but Tristan noticed that he also looked proud, which made her feel slightly less nervous about whatever was currently happening.

  “Oh Sol, always such a hothead for such a soft-spoken thing, just like your sister… and your son, apparently.” Orion’s face was still a neutral mask, but there was a hint of amusement in his eyes that Tristan suddenly and intensely hated him for.

  “Do not talk about Adara.”

  Orion waved his hand dismissively.

  “No harm was done to Oceana, anyway. She was more than willing to show me what she’s capable of, you may be surprised to hear.”

  “I was not!” Olivia fired back immediately. “I was cornered, and you vaguely implied there would be consequences if I didn’t cooperate with you! And I didn’t know you had cut me off from everyone until I saw my Mom and Trinity burst through the crowd looking scared to death!”

  Orion took a step forward. Sol held out her other hand, and Orion stopped.

  “We don’t turn eighteen for another year, so we're still under our parents’ protection,” Olivia told Orion smugly.

  Tristan watched Orion, who was still ignoring her, wondering how he’d play this. Would he continue to escalate? Sol was angry enough to flatten the clearing if she had to, leaving nothing but scorched earth where they stood, Tristan was sure of that, and while Orion was extremely powerful, he was also ill, which left him at a slight disadvantage. There really was nothing like a mother protecting her children, and Tristan could practically see the same wheels turning in Orion’s mind that were turning in hers. The idea they had anything in common made her blood run cold.

  “I apologize, then, that I misunderstood our conversation.” Orion looked across the way at his fellow Elders, who were cloaking up for worship. “If you’ll excuse me, I believe I’m needed over there. Ember, I do hope we get an opportunity in the future to chat.”

  Orion moved slowly off to the other Elders, never having acknowledged Tristan. She watched him go, too smart to fall for what had clearly been a calculated move to ignore her. The desire to follow him, to confront him about what he was planning, what he was doing, was so strong that Tristan had taken a step after him before she realized it. It was Celes’s hand on her wrist that stopped her.

  “What are you doing?” Celes’s face was a storm cloud, and Tristan yanked her arm away from him.

  “Nothing.”

  Celes eyed her, but said nothing, instead turning at his father’s call. With one last turbulent glance at Tristan, he stalked off, and Tristan followed her own family to settle in for worship. Tristan tried to focus, she really did, but her mind wandered against her will. She hadn’t forgotten that an announcement was coming at this gathering, hadn’t been so thrown by her family’s interaction with Orion that she wasn’t deeply puzzled, and unsettled, over his apparent mostly restored health. How could it be? What had he done? Who had suffered so he could regain a fraction of the power his good health had afforded him? Who had he used and most certainly discarded, or was planning to discard when they were no longer useful?

  At that, Tristan’s head snapped up. Eva. Tristan had barely seen her since the Valentine’s dance, and, as she wracked her brain, she could not remember whether or not she’d seen her at all recently, but Tristan was almost positive she hadn’t. The odds of Orion knowing Eva Revet seemed slim, even impossible, but Tristan knew not to underestimate him. Maybe Eva and her family were part of the community, maybe they weren’t, but somehow Orion had gotten ahold of Eva, Tristan was sure of it. Desperately, Tristan wished she could reach out to Beckett to find out if he’d seen Eva lately, but it was the middle of the night and there was no cell reception on the island anyway. Asking Olivia or Evander would require an explanation Tristan could obviously not get into at the gathering, and one she wasn't sure she wanted to get into with them anyway, lest they started to think she was losing it.

  Unsure if it would work, but needing to try, Tristan closed her eyes, forcing out all thought except for that of Beckett. She focused her energy, drawing up her old friend the black funnel, and a shirtless, sleeping Beckett shortly came into view. Lamenting that there was no time to admire him, Tristan focused harder, trying to connect with Beckett’s thoughts. The funnel swirled and swirled, and Tristan began to sweat with the exertion of trying to break into Beckett’s mind. He jumped in his sleep, rolling onto his back before settling down again. Come on, Beckett, Tristan thought, frustrated, and Beckett suddenly opened his eyes. This caught Tristan off guard, but she kept her focus as Beckett slowly pushed himself up onto one elbow. He looked around his room, Tristan knew, for her. He’d heard her voice, probably as clearly as though she was beside him. Awake, it was easier for Tristan to get into his head, and finally the black funnel picked up speed and, as it did, picked up images unfamiliar to Tristan. Show
me Eva, she thought, and up came the memory -- and the incredible anger attached to it -- of Eva confronting Beckett at Mack’s. Impatiently, Tristan waited for the next memory, but it was only a flash of Eva in the gym at the Valentine’s dance, by herself, looking in Beckett’s direction as he looked at her. There was nothing after that at all. Tristan got out of Beckett’s head, hating how scared he looked as he clutched it in his hands, asking himself aloud what was happening. As Tristan watched, he picked up his phone, opening their text message thread. I know it’s late and I’m sorry, but I just need to know if you’re OK. Tristan felt helpless, knowing she would not be able to answer him until the morning.

  An elbow jammed into her ribs and Tristan lost her concentration, snapping back into the present. Olivia was looking at her with an incredulous expression -- psychically checking out of worship was a rule you didn’t break -- but a furtive glance around confirmed for Tristan that she hadn’t been caught by anyone else. Relieved, she nodded at Olivia, who briefly shook her head before turning her face away and closing her eyes.

  At long last, worship ended. Just as he’d done months ago, Vitalis stepped up to announce that Pele had news she wanted to share with the community, and Pele soon took his place.

  “Good morning, everyone, and thank you as always for joining us for this month’s gathering. Like you all, I’m sure, I am thrilled to welcome spring back into the bayou and say goodbye to the winter nights that are far too cold for my liking.”

  Laughter rippled through the community, and Tristan exchanged looks of disbelief with her siblings. Pele almost seemed jovial, which was so wildly out of character that Tristan wondered if she’d been body-snatched.

  “This is not good,” Olivia said in a low voice, and Tristan and Evander nodded in agreement.

  “Anyway, I won’t hold you. There are just a couple of announcements I wanted to make, since it’s been some time since you’ve heard from your Elders about what’s happening in your community. As you know, we are coming up on a new class of inductees in just two months from now. We, and they, we’re sure, are thrilled. While we have been preparing for that, we’ve also been working to make some changes behind the scenes for the betterment of our community and your quality of life here.”

  Murmurs began, and Olivia gripped Tristan’s hand so tightly, it had gone numb.

  “As you know, throughout the years we like to periodically review the laws, rules, and regulations that keep our community functioning like a well-oiled machine, and we like to make adjustments and additions when and where we find it necessary. This means that occasionally we Elders will get together over a series of meetings to take a look at what is working, what isn’t working, and how something could maybe work better if there’s an area that’s lagging. Since the return of our beloved Orion--”

  Tristan, Olivia, and Evander all made the same disgusted face.

  “--We have been holding these meetings in New Orleans. While they are fixed at this point in time, meaning, really, we’re only just getting started, this morning I am pleased to share with you that the Elders have two important decisions we’d like to make you aware of, effective immediately.”

  Tristan closed her eyes. This was it. This would be the confirmation that she was either going to pay for her deflection with her life, or she was going to have to disappear and cut ties with her family for an indeterminable amount of time, until it would be safe to contact them again.

  “First, as most of you know, years ago the laurel leaf was appointed the flower of our community, though there was no follow-up after that was announced. Recently we’ve developed a community crest, which Vitalis will share with you when I’m finished, that has incorporated both our beloved laurel leaf and a sprig of holly, to pay respect to our mighty King. As a result of this development, mandatory work will begin on all community houses this coming Monday, to have the seal branded onto the foundation of your home. This is a gesture of solidarity that we hope you will appreciate as much as we do.”

  Olivia let out a noisy breath beside Tristan.

  “Really?”

  “The next thing I’d like to share with you is quite a bit more serious in nature.”

  Pele waited to speak until everyone had quieted down.

  “Again, as most of you know, years ago there was a law introduced which stated that there would no longer be consequences for deflection from our community -- it was declared that joining was no longer mandatory, and that the decision for each child of age would be left to the individual families. This law was introduced in a time of great turmoil, and alongside it came a few corresponding rulings that have allowed the community reins to go a bit lax. Nothing to worry yourselves with, of course, but it’s one of our responsibilities as Elders to pay attention. All of these laws are currently still being evaluated in relation to the functioning of the community, but since they are our backbone, we plan to keep you updated as we go. There has been one change, therefore, that, as I said, will go into effect immediately, and that is that the law against consequences for deflecting after a sealing has been rescinded.”

  Gasps. More murmurs. A general air of uneasiness settled over the community, and Tristan took a moment to remind herself to breathe. Of course. She’d heard this in her premonition, hadn’t she? It was how Orion still got to call for her execution even though she’d joined the community. She hadn’t realized it at the time, hadn’t been well-versed enough in community law to know that this wasn’t something that was already in place, and her stomach gave a slow turn. Things, little things, were starting to happen that were setting the stage for Tristan’s premonition to come true, and panic rose in her throat. Olivia was muttering angrily beside her, and Tristan tilted her head so she could hear what she was saying.

  “Freaking unbelievable. A time of great turmoil, ya think? Who’s freaking fault was it that things were so tumultuous, should we talk--”

  Evander elbowed Olivia, a heavy frown between his eyes, and she glared at him but shut up.

  Pele lifted her hands, and again everyone went quiet.

  “I know this is startling, but please be assured, on our honor as a committee, that the changes that are being made are for the benefit of the community as a whole, and are being made with the best interest of everyone in the forefront of our minds. We do not anticipate the reversal of this law being put to use, of course, but in this day and age we unfortunately cannot afford to not be as vigilant as possible, within reason. I ask you now to please save any questions you may have, and forward them to your local Elder leader if you’d like to follow up in private. Thank you all again for coming, and we will see you next month.”

  Tristan stood numbly, not hearing her family’s talk around her. She knew she should be relieved that the news hadn’t been worse, that the Elders hadn’t unanimously decided joining the community would be mandatory again -- that meant at least someone on the committee would not agree to it -- but her premonition weighed heavily on her mind and soul. The wheels were in motion now; was there anything she could do to stop her fate she’d seen unfold? Of course it seemed absurd that Beckett would show up at a gathering -- try as she might, Tristan still couldn’t imagine a scenario in which he’d manage that, as she was pretty sure the island was safeguarded against wanderers -- plus, she was still autonomous even if the totally implausible did happen and she did accept into the community, meaning she could choose not to have an affair and plan to run off with Beckett... but Tristan had learned long ago to never doubt that anything could happen, no matter how far-fetched it seemed.

  “Deep breaths,” Olivia spoke in Tristan’s ear, and Tristan jumped.

  Olivia looked at her worriedly. “Please just try to maintain your cool until we’re out of here, OK? You never know who’s watching, and your face is too expressive to not reveal every thought you’re having.”

  Tristan nodded, forcing her face into a bored expression. As she fell into step beside Olivia, Tristan looked to the head of the clearing, where the
Elders were still gathered.

  Orion was staring straight at her, and he was smiling.

  Chapter 33

  Olivia and Evander fell asleep practically as soon as they'd gotten in the car, but Tristan did not have that luxury. She was too wired to sleep, her brain in full on panic mode, and she sat stiffly in her seat, staring unseeingly out the window. She'd texted Beckett as soon as she could, but she knew he'd long been back to sleep. She hoped, for his sake, that the remainder of his slumber erased the memory of why he'd reached out to her at two in the morning in the first place.

  Tears threatened, but Tristan fiercely battled them back. She couldn't lose it now, or Umbris would pull over and Tristan would spill everything to him and Sol right there on the side of the road. She desperately wanted Beckett -- she couldn't tell him the truth, but she could maybe tell him enough, and he could hold her and assure her that life outside of the stupid community and stupid Orion and his stupid, bloodthirsty laws was still going and she was still a part of it.

  By the time they got home, Tristan could not bear the idea of going into the house. She instead told Sol and Umbris she'd be back later, and she drove to Beckett's. It was barely seven A.M., but by some divine intervention, Gabriella Benson was sitting on the front steps with a mug of coffee and a book.

  “Tristan,” Gabriella’s eyes widened as Tristan approached, taking in her red rimmed eyes and her disheveled appearance. “Are you OK, honey?”

  “I know he's asleep, but I just need to see Beckett,” Tristan croaked, her voice rough with the restraint of holding back a defcon one level meltdown.

  “Sure, of course. Go ahead in.” Gabriella stood, moving out of the way, looking at Tristan sympathetically.

  Tristan hurried into the house and up to Beckett’s room, which was cool and dark thanks to the thick navy curtains pulled closed across his windows. She took off her boots, the thud of them hitting the floor rousing Beckett. He looked up groggily as her black pea coat joined her boots.