chapter 20
Storms went through during the night, washing the blood stains from the patio and sidewalks of the estate. The skies had cleared and it was a beautiful morning. Addy was sitting in the sun on the balcony overlooking the ocean at Tanner’s suite.
Gage was already gone when she woke up, but he’d written ‘Don’t be mad’ on her mirror with her favorite lipstick, which had the opposite effect.
Addy wasn’t mad at Gage—she was furious. She was thankful to be healed, but he was one step closer to draining his power. Thinking about not having him around, especially after everything that had happened, was unimaginable. She didn’t know how they’d ended up so close again, but knew she didn’t want to lose him.
Once she was dressed she’d decided to go see Tanner. They hadn’t talked much after the attack, but now they sat trading stories about their battles. He said Juliette perched him up on a statue in the garden where he could pick off the Mesen. According to Tanner, Juliette was a beast during the attack. He saw her take people out without even touching them, like when Stubbs blasted the door down.
“I’m telling you, girlie, we’re not getting the whole story about why these guys want the Overseer out of the picture so badly,” he said, handing her a piece of raisin toast.
“What do you think they’re hiding?” she asked.
“I’m not sure. Think about it, the returning Akori who come through your house just adjust events until their power is used up, disappear, and re-spawn decades later to do it again? No offense but that’s pretty lame,” Tanner said, making a face.
“I’ve always thought that too,” Addy said, smiling.
“We know I’m a different type of Akori who can track and has mad archery skills. I saw Juliette take people out just by moving her hands through the air, and we both saw Stubbs blast the door down to the vault. On top of that, an Akori who could heal saved you and Jax when you were born.”
Addy tossed Tanner’s words around in her mind. “You think they want other types of powers.”
Tanner nodded. “So we know your ancestor was the first Overseer made by Eva, but we don’t know why. Eva made him Overseer and gave him the stone to do what?”
Addy thought about what the stone was used for, at least what she knew of. “Fate used it to move the estate and protect it from being located by humans.”
“He also used it to summon me.” Tanner stood up and leaned against the railing. “Think it somehow stops the Akori from using other powers?”
“Jax said something the other night about some Akori thinking they could get more power by getting rid of the Overseer.”
“He did, huh?” Tanner raised his eyebrows. “I bet that’s it.”
Addy moved over so she was standing next to him. “So what are we saying here—that the Overseer actually controls all of the Akori’s powers?”
“I think so. We need to find out when that ball was attacked and if it was before or after your family started running Tremain.” Tanner walked back to the table and picked up his coffee, finishing it. “What do you think?”
Addy frowned and dropped her shoulders. “That if you’re right, then even more of my life was a lie.”
“Lies, truths, it’s all subjective anyway.”
“Not helping.”
Tanner shrugged his shoulders and refilled both of their coffee cups. “Are there any records or histories kept?”
“Yes, in the library archives.”
“Let's check them out and see what’s been going on for the last couple hundred years.”
“After practice,” she said, looking at the time on her phone,” we gotta go.”
Bernard and Juliette were still having them meet for practice even though they were fresh from the attack. They all agreed it was important to get everyone trained well before any other conflicts broke out.
Tanner and Addy strolled into the ballroom talking in hushed voices about their plan to search the archives. She saw Kim talking to Gage over where Molly had a few cots set up and a first aid station. She still hadn’t talked to Kim about Matt, but by the look on her face, she already knew.
Gage looked up and his eyes darted to Tanner by her side before looking back to Kim, who was talking.
Addy told Tanner they’d meet in the library after practice and as much as she was dreading it, she excused herself to go talk to Kim.
“I’m sure he didn’t mean to do it. If I could just see him—” Kim spotted Addy and stood up. “Addy, please! I need to see him.”
“No,” she said, “he tried to Scatter Gage and he would have stabbed me if Gage hadn’t knocked him out.”
Kim started to cry. “They must’ve done something to him. He would never do those things. Gage is his best friend—he adores you.”
Addy shook her head. “Kim, you absolutely—”
“Wait, Addy.” Gage stood up and turned to Kim. “We understand how you feel. Don’t forget, Matt was our friend most of our lives. It’s hard for us to accept what he did too, but we have to.”
“He didn’t mean it,” Kim said, wiping her hands across her cheeks.
“There’s no going back. He’s dangerous.” Addy couldn’t budge on the subject as much as the words hurt to say. “Kim, I love you, but if you don’t let it go I’ll have my brother send you home.”
Kim’s face fell as Addy spoke. She started to say something, but put her hand over her mouth and walked away quickly instead.
Addy could feel Gage’s eyes on her.
“Don’t look at me like that, Gage. Kim can’t go anywhere near Matt.”
“That was just kind of harsh.” He ran his finger down her arm. “I know you’re only doing it to keep her safe. You care about her and you’ll do anything you can to protect her—even if it means not doing what she wants.”
Addy was slightly impressed he’d managed to twist her not letting Kim see Matt, into a way of comparing it to him healing her against her will. “Nice try—but it’s not the same.”
He stepped closer to her and leaned down, almost whispering. “If you’re hurting and I can stop it, how can you ask me not to?”
She wanted to tell him that no amount of hurt she could experience would ever be worse than losing him if he Scattered. Instead she opted to end the conversation. “I have to start practice.”
Addy started to walk away but Gage stepped in front of her, giving her a look she knew would make it impossible to stay mad at him.
“Addison, you don’t get to be mad at me for healing you—not unless you can tell me you wouldn’t have done the same thing for me.” He was still talking quietly. “Can you?”
She dropped her shoulders and decided there was no way she was going to be able to twist the conversation in her favor.
“No.” She circled her eyes to meet his. “But I wouldn’t have used your favorite lipstick to write a message afterward.”
A look of satisfaction spread across Gage’s face. “I win.” He tugged her ponytail, and headed off.
Practicing with Juliette was a lot different than practicing with Bernard. Tanner was right, she was tough.
“I saw you with that sword yesterday,” Juliette said, gesturing toward the Akorian Sickle Sword Addy was holding.
Addy looked down at the sword. “I found it in the weapons vault a couple of years ago. Fate showed it to me in a book once. There was something about it being able to drain Akori power and let it be absorbed by the wielder—he said it wasn’t true though.”
“It was true—a long time ago.” Juliette pointed at the sword. “Eva had it forged with Damascus steel and her own blood. Akori just Scatter when they’re fatally injured—unless the injury comes from a weapon that’s made to kill them. That sword was forged to take the life of an Akori.”
Addy felt a little panicked that she’d swiped something belonging to Eva. “Should I put it back where I got it?”
“She won’t mind,” Juliette said, picking up a scimitar sword covered in symbols and swinging it around a few times. “Like Fate said—it doesn’t work the way it was meant to anymore anyway.”
Addy noticed Gage across the room. He was with an Akori woman who appeared to be about his age. She was dressed in white from head to toe. Her extremely long blond hair was pulled back into two French braids which hung down her back. They were throwing knives at targets.
“Who’s that?” she asked Juliette, gesturing to where Gage stood.
“Angelica.” Juliette answered without looking. “She came in last night.”
Addy heard Juliette and Jax talk about Angelica before; she was the one who spotted the Mesen coming to attack Jax the day she and Tanner found him. “She’ll stay here now?”
Juliette glanced at Angelica briefly. “No. She’s passing through on her way to meet up with my father.”
Letting the conversation drop, they got back to practice. By the time they were done, Addy felt much more comfortable with the sword and was completely exhausted.
“How’s Jax?” she asked Juliette when they were finishing up.
“Quietest I’ve seen him in years.” she said. “I haven’t been able to get him to quit running his mouth since he started talking.”
Addy believed that. “When he comes out of it will you get me so I can see him?”
“He told me to make sure you were close,” Juliette said, breaking eye contact with her. “I’ll let you know when he’s up.”
The dog’s bed in the hall outside of the library was empty, which meant Stubbs was off somewhere else. Bernard was the only one in the library when she entered to meet Tanner. Addy was trying to decide whether or not to tell him what she and Tanner were discussing, when Tanner walked in.
“Hey, girlie.” He winked at her and plopped down in a chair at the table, looking as tired as she felt from practice. “I told Bernard about our project during practice.”
“Oh.” Addy turned to Bernard. “So, what do you think?”
“I think you’re correct. I’ve been suspecting something similar for some time, but you both pieced together what I was missing.”
They were lucky Bernard was on board because so much of what they had to go through was written in ancient Akori and Addy’s brain was about to explode from trying to figure it all out. They went section by section pulling anything that looked like it might be relevant. They’d been at it for hours and she really wanted to call it quits.
“I think I found something,” Bernard said, waving them over.
Addy leaned over, putting her hand on his shoulder to see what he was looking at.
“That entire shelf is guest books and writings about the Reunion Balls,” he said, pointing.
Tanner reached down and grabbed a book. “Is this the last one?” He showed it to Bernard.
Addy shifted her eyes from the writing on the book page to Tanner. It was written in ancient Akori, yet he was somehow able to translate it. “How’d you read that?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “I flipped through one of the translation books—I can remember it.”
She smiled and shook her head at him. “Cheater.”
Bernard took the book and opened the cover. “Addy, go grab the book about Oren Sanders.”
She walked over to the section of books in the front aisle. Each Overseer had a biography written about them that highlighted their lives and the dates they were head of Tremain. She grabbed the book and turned to see Tanner and Bernard coming up the aisle. They met at the stone table in the center of the room.
Tanner placed his finger on a sketch as she opened the book on the table. “Who’s that?”
“Jon Sanders—Oren’s son. He was the second Overseer,” Bernard said.
“Jon, huh?” Tanner repeated under his breath and tapped his finger on the picture.
Addy exchanged glances with Bernard then focused on Tanner. “Yeah, Jon Sanders. Why? What’s wrong?”
Tanner shook it off. “Nothing—I thought he looked familiar, but I probably just saw a painting or something around here of him.”
Addy studied the picture and thought maybe he did look a little familiar. “I know what it is,” she said with a grin. “He looks just like that actor who’s also a singer from that one band.”
“Right, that one guy—of course.” Tanner bumped her with his shoulder and laughed.
“Mystery solved,” Addy said, knowing he was making fun of her. Jon really did look like the guy she was thinking of though.
Bernard cleared his throat and looked between them. “Let’s get back on track.” He ran his fingers down the pages as he flipped through the guest book searching for the date of the ball.
Tanner continued to smile and flipped to another page in the book, but he seemed unnerved. He and Addy went through the book about Oren Sanders looking for the date he became Overseer.
Bernard gasped and put his hand on his head. “Oh my—I never knew.”
“What?” Addy asked him.
“It’s Will Elsegood; he was at the ball that night. I didn’t realize he was that old. The guest list is very interesting.”
“Will is Gage’s father.” She told Tanner, who didn’t seem to understand what Bernard was talking about. “He’s Scattered, but he should be back soon.”
Tanner leaned over like he might be able to read the book, but quickly gave up when he realized it was more than he’d memorized from the translation book. “Who else was there?”
Bernard ran down the list, calling off names. She only recognized a few like Juliette West, Mitchell West, Will Elsegood, Preston Worthington, Joshua Kenwar, and Sade LaCroft.
Addy wondered if Gage knew how old Will was. She couldn’t wait to tell him about his father being at the Reunion Ball. Matt and Renee’s uncle Josh was there too, which she found odd considering he didn’t really come across as the Reunion Ball type.
Tanner put his finger on the date that Oren came to Tremain listed in the book. “Here’s the date he became Overseer. When was the ball?”
Bernard looked up at him and smiled. “The ball was the day before Oren became the Overseer.”
“You were right,” Addy said, looking over at Tanner.
“Eva must have made him Overseer to control the Akori’s powers.” Tanner leaned over and hung his arm around her shoulders. “And we were right—both of us figured it out, girlie.”
Bernard pulled out his pocket watch and told them it was after 9pm and they should call it quits.
Tanner followed Addy up and down the aisles carrying the stack of books they’d been using. She grabbed them one at a time until they were all back where they belonged.
“What do we do now that we know?” Addy asked them as she placed the last book in its place.
“We’ll wait for your brother to wake up and then discuss it with him,” Bernard said, picking up his planner and the usual stack of papers he carried around. “Let’s keep it between the three of us until then. I don’t know who we can trust.”
Once everything was straightened up, they walked out of the library together.
Pausing outside of the door, Bernard dug through his stack of papers and pulled out an envelope. “I almost forgot.” He reached his arm out and passed it to Tanner.
“Thanks,” Tanner said, glancing at Addy as he jammed it in his back pocket.
“I’ll see you for practice tomorrow,” Bernard said to Tanner. He waved to Addy as he walked away.
She looked at the envelope, peeking out of Tanner’s pocket. “What’s that?”
“Something Bernard had for me,” Tanner said without looking up as he checked his phone. “My band plays in an hour, I gotta roll.” He paused then looked over at her. “You wanna come see us play?”
“Sure,” she said without hesitation.
“No convincing necessary, huh?” Tanner smiled with a lopsided grin. “I’ll pick you up out front in a few.”