Forsaken (Book #1)
Chapter Twenty

When I woke up I was still lying on the couch and Lucian was slumbering beneath me. I let a small smile slip onto my face. There were no words that could describe how pleased I was that he had stayed. I clambered off of him, heading into the kitchen to make myself some breakfast. I poured a glass of milk and set it down on the counter before going to the pantry to get a box of cereal.

I stretched up on my tip toes to grab the box when suddenly arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me away from the pantry. I gave a very undignified squeak before thrashing in my assailant’s arms.

“Easy Calla, it’s just me,” Lucian murmured, breath tickling my ear.

“Wha-But you were just sleeping!” I stammered turning around in his arms to look at him accusingly. “Were you tricking me or something?”

“Of course not,” Lucian sounded affronted. A sheepish expression appeared on his face, “I’m just very light on my feet.”

“I’ll say,” I muttered, prying his arms away from my waist. “When do you have to go?”

I turned to look at Lucian when after a few moments he didn’t answer me. His eyes were distant and I cleared my throat trying to capture his attention.

“Soon,” He answered with a sad smile, “much too soon in my opinion. But there is nothing to be done about it.”

I nodded, quickly running to the pantry and grabbing the box of cereal that I had been aiming for. Slowly I sat at the counter, acutely aware of Lucian’s eyes following my every movement.

“Are you allowed to tell me what you’re doing today?” I asked conversationally.

Lucian shook his head. “I can’t tell you, Calla. It’s stuff pertaining to the Afterdark.”

I nodded, poorly disguising my disdain at the mention of the Afterdark. Lucian just shook his head, stepping close to me, and cupped my face. He kissed me tenderly for a brief moment before he disappeared. After he was gone I finished eating my breakfast in silence and after putting my stuff away, I headed outside. I sat on the steps outside of the house, my chin resting in my hands.

I had maybe a month left until I was supposed to stop Darya from being summoned. I wasn’t ready and Grayson was nowhere to be found. Without him I knew with one-hundred percent certainty that I wouldn’t be ready. What was I to do now?

Venturing out on my own would surely only lead to trouble but how else was I supposed to replace Grayson? I didn’t have his phone number – if he even had a phone – and I didn’t even know where I could replace him if he wasn’t at the gym.

* * * * *

Though it probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do, I did leave the confines of my home and headed to the gym to try to replace Grayson. We were supposed to be training today anyways, so I would eventually see him. But right now, I was extremely bored and wanted something to do.

I pushed open the doors of the gym, walking in slowly, dread coiling in my stomach. A few of the lights were on, illuminating shards of glass on the floor. All of the workers were absent but there were a few ominous red stains on the floor and on one of the walls.

“Grayson?” I called, tentatively taking a step forward.

There was no answer. If he was in here I wouldn’t replace him unless I went further in, but it looked like there had been a fight here and so I didn’t dare to go any further. I looked around calling Grayson’s name a second time and when there was no answer, I headed out of the gym settling on sitting outside of it, my chin ducked as I nestled into the overly large sweatshirt I was wearing.

There was only about a week or so until the start of October and already the temperatures had started to dip towards the freezing point, something that I found unusual. I shivered as a blast of cold wind blew by, ruffling my hair. Footsteps coming nearer caused me to raise my head and my eyes widened and then promptly filled with relief when I saw Grayson.

His purple eyes glittered with concern as he watched me. He tucked his hands into the pockets of his jeans, casting a perturbed glance toward the gym.

“Are you okay Calla?” Grayson asked, kneeling down beside me.

“Yeah,” I nodded straightening up. “I was just wondering where you were today.”

“Did ya miss me?” He asked straightening up and rocking back on his heels. I didn’t answer just gave him a small smile. He sobered, “Something happened. Did Lucian do something?”

“No,” I hurried to assure him. “I’m just, afraid that when time finally comes that I won’t be ready to stop the Afterdark. I mean, I can barely take on you and a few other people. How can I be expected to take on a horde of Demons, Vampires, and Witches?”

“You aren’t going into this alone,” Grayson reminded me gently. “I will be there, Liyana will be there, and Elysia will be there. All of the hard work will be left up to you, but you won’t be going into the battle alone Calla. Remember that.”

I nodded, shuffling my feet. Grayson was right; I wouldn’t be going into battle alone. But it was hard not to think that I was going to be alone because of all the expectations that had been placed on me. There had never before been any mention of who would be going with me – if anyone would – or if someone did, what they would be doing.

I had only been told what I would do and constantly reminded that it was all up to me. With that kind of talk it wasn’t hard to guess where I had gotten the notion that I would be completely alone. Despite his reassurances, I knew that I really was going to be going in alone.

Grayson was only supposed to protect me it wasn’t his responsibility to stop Darya from being summoned. It was mine. So while I might not physically be alone, I was alone in my mission.

“So,” I said trying to sound lighthearted, “are we going to train?”

Grayson looked at the gym, his eyes narrowed in thought. Then he shook his head, “No. Demons were here earlier, it is best if we do not go in there in case they set up a trap or got some Witches to set a portal up. We’ll replace somewhere else to train.”

“But what about everyone else who goes to the gym?” I asked concerned about their safety.

“Do not fear Calla, it will be fixed. Elysia, Anais and a few other Witches are coming to set it right.” Grayson assured me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and leading me away from the gym.

I pursed my lips, lost in my thoughts. I was in danger for the Demons but wasn’t it our responsibility to make sure that no one else entered the gym and that if they did that they would be safe? Apparently it wasn’t. But I wanted it to be. I didn’t want any innocent people to get hurt just because they unknowingly walked into a war between supernatural factions.

* * * * *

Grayson ended up leading me to a park. I looked around in confusion seeing a few people milling about. Most of them were on their phones and not paying attention to us. I had the feeling though that as soon as we had unsheathed our swords and started fighting they would be paying attention and they would start panicking.

“Aren’t they going to see us?” I asked as Grayson led me over to a bench.

“No,” He answered, “They won’t.”

“But why?” I pressed utterly confused.

“They won’t see us because I don’t want them to see us.” Grayson explained. I looked at him in confusion. “I never did explain this to you did I? Or if I did, I probably didn’t do a very good job. We can kind of just will them not to see us.” He paused. “Actually that’s not quite right, but if we don’t want to be seen, we won’t be seen. Since I don’t want either of us to be seen, we won’t be seen.”

I nodded, a funny look appearing on my face as I tried to sort through his words. What he had said made some amount of sense but not much. Grayson sighed.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized looking remorseful. “I just don’t know how to explain it to someone who didn’t grow up knowing that they were a supernatural.” He shook his head. “Let’s get to training.”