A Matter of Forever (Fate, #4)

She’s right. It seems wrong, I guess, that we are swimming in a nicely heated pool while there are people at risk above us. But as nearly a full month has passed since I woke up down here, I’ve found it’s best to keep myself busy lest I go insane with my what-ifs. I miss my family. I wonder all the time how Cameron is, and what the Métis Council will do with the colonies now that they’ve finally decided to allow an Emotional to work on their people but suddenly have the only two Emotionals they’ve agreed to work with disappear on extended missions. I wonder how Will is doing with Becca. I wonder how Callie is doing, and if she is still crushing on Will. I wonder about Astrid, and if she misses her boys desperately. I wonder if my mother is okay out in the rainforest. I wonder if she knows about my dad.

Life has come to a standstill down here. I tell myself that I’m lucky that, if I must be kept in protective custody, at least I’m here with Jonah. But on the flip side, we are also stranded with his increasingly miserable brother who has withdrawn so far into himself that I’m lucky if I hear ten words a day out of him. He has no outlet right now, no way to deal with his pain, so his anger builds and snaps far too often.

It’s funny how you can miss someone desperately when they’re standing right in front of you.

To make matters worse, I still haven’t mastered Kopano’s shields, despite working with him every day. I don’t know if I ever will, or if it’s even possible. But I keep right on trying, even though I can’t get a clear answer from Zthane on when we get to leave this place.

I hope it’s soon. We’ve got work to do.

I answer Iolani’s question by telling her, “Yeah, it really is.”

She swims over to the mosaicked steps I’m sitting on, slicking her long, dark hair back so she resembles the epitome of a Hawaiian goddess. But just as she opens her mouth to say something else, her eyes go wide at whatever is behind me.

I turn and am positive mine go ever wider. So wide, in fact, that I worry this is a dream and bizarre things like my eyes actually popping out of their sockets may occur. Because standing several feet away is my father.

“Hello, little Creator,” he says in an accent that’s not native to his mouth.

I scramble out of the pool; Iolani is not far behind. Am I awake? Is this happening? I pinch my arm without even looking. Ouch—yes. This is real.

“Father is quite put out with you,” the thing in my father’s body tsk-tsks. “Actually, more like enraged since he can’t find you.”

I slip on the wet tile as I shift Iolani behind me. This isn’t Enlilkian. This is one of his ... children, maybe? I’ve already taken plenty of those out. Whoever this is, it could be, no pun intended, child’s play in comparison to their father. I just need to get a little closer.

I drop a cage right over my father’s body.

The Elder in my father curls his fingers around the bars, amusement flickering across a face I’m not used to seeing amusement on.

I close in on the cage, ready to will his ass straight to oblivion, when he adds, “Relax, little Creator. I’m not here to hurt you. Far from it, actually.”

Yeah, right.

But then I get a good look at my father’s body. Compared to the ones I saw a month back, it’s in remarkable condition. The skin is slightly puffy and grayish, but other than that, it doesn’t show the decay like the others’.

Imaginary fists strike me in the stomach.

“Text Jonah,” I whisper to Iolani.

The thing in my father sniffs the air. “Outside of your nausea right now,” eyes drift across my body, “and a series of oddly patterned bruising along your arms, you are the picture of wholesome health.”

“He’s coming.” I’ve never heard Iolani so unnerved before.

“My job will be all that much easier,” the Elder continues.

I’m wary, hanging just out of its reach. “What job?”

“I’m a ... what do you call us now? A Shaman, I believe. But what I truly am is Bios.” He grins, running his knuckles across my father’s bare chin. “Father was a little concerned he might have overreacted during your last meet and greet.” It shakes me to my core to see my father’s eyes roll. “Can’t permanently damage the womb of our new race, after all.”

“What?”

He ignores my outburst, simply scrutinizing me instead.

Iolani throws a flip flop at the cage, drawing his attention toward her. “How did you find this place?”

The thing called Bios leans forward, sniffing the air once more like a dog would. “How interesting. Magma and obsidian. Sulfur. Tell me, daughter of Vaesta, does your interior flame match that of your powers?”

“I am not daughter of whoever this Vaesta is,” Iolani snaps.

“Of course you are. Her essence wraps around you. My sister ...” My father’s eyes glaze over, like he’s in the midst of a pleasant reminiscence. “So fiery, that one.” He pushes off the bars and retreats to the middle of the cage. “But enough petty talk. We’ll have time enough later for that. For now, I am tasked with a message.”

This is all too surreal. It’s talking to us like we’re friends or something. Where are the insults? The threats?

“I’m sure you have your ways of stopping me,” Bios says, unbothered by my mounting anger and confusion. “Please know that if that is your wish, I won’t put up much of a fight. I’m your gift, after all. Just because the peon who once wore this skin is gone doesn’t mean this body isn’t yours to keep.”

This Elder, possessing my father’s dead body, is a gift?

Jonah comes skidding into the room, followed by Kellan. I can hear Zthane and Karl’s voices down the hallway.