The Locket

Spinning back to the mirror, I looked to Omni for answers.

He ignored me, addressing Reese. “Why aren’t you telling her about your betrayal? This is your opportunity to redeem yourself Reese.”

Reese had betrayed me?

Did he tell Kace where to find me? The walls started shaking and paraphernalia started to fall from the shelves around me. I knew I was creating the disturbance but I was helpless to stop it. Too upset to control my rage, the quake continued.

“Calm down, Claire.” Both Omni and Brent’s voice acted as a bridle to my thoughts and I steadied my anger until the vibration ended. Reese’s shame-faced expression aggravated me further telling me he had the answers I longed to hear.

“I didn’t mean to, Claire. I wanted to take the words back the second they flew out of my mouth.” He stumbled over his words, hanging his head apologetically.

“Out with it, Reese, now!” My patience was extremely thin, but I forced a smile his way, concealing my soaring anger.

“Kace came to me the day before school started. He told me he knew I was your Paramour and must be sick of the waiting. I was. I just wanted to be with you, Claire.”

“So, you told him where to find me?” I folded my arms over my chest, exercising every bit of control I had, to rein in my anger.

“God, Claire, no,” Reese insisted.

“What then?” Brent growled. I squeezed his hand to keep him from lunging at Reese.

“Kace said if he knew where you were, the waiting would stop,” Reese continued. “I told him I would never tell him how to find you. He said if I just gave him something, then we could be united. It was inevitable. We were designed to be together, so why wait? I thought about it and realized he was right. I didn’t th

ink there was any harm in hurrying something along that was going to happen anyway.”

“You’re still stalling.” I had a difficult time controlling myself and then suddenly, it hit me.

“Logan…,right?”

Reese’s expression confirmed it.

“I knew Logan thought you and your family were a bunch of freaks. He pointed you out in the market one day telling me what he thought of you. I told Kace this information and figured he’d use Logan and eventually it would lead him to you. I just thought it would take longer. You would have your abilities and we’d be this strong force that could bring Kace down like they said we would,” he confessed, pointing to Omni.

“How could you!” I yelled, moving toward Reese. Brent grabbed both my arms before I reached him. Fortunately for Reese, Brent was there because I would have hurt him. “Maggie’s dead, Reese. You killed her, you did this. I hate you, do you hear me? I fucking hate you!” I swore and I didn’t care how inept my vocabulary sounded.

Reese was ashen. “Please don’t say that, Claire. I never meant for anyone to get hurt.” He cowered, begging my forgiveness. I would never forgive him. I wanted to strangle him.

“But someone did get hurt Reese, more than hurt. Maggie’s dead. Gone! You killed her. Get out! Get out right now! I can’t even look at you. You knew this all along and you kept quiet. Go! Go away now!” I shouted so loud my throat constricted and I swallowed against the dryness.

Reese’s footsteps were heavy as he descended the stairs. Since I didn’t hear the door close behind him, I assumed he was waiting to see if I would calm down. Fat chance! He was probably sitting downstairs in Maggie’s favorite chair. I should march down there and throw him right out the front door. How could he stay here after what he did?

Omni began talking and again, his soothing voice was like a drug, forcing me to relax.

“When we discovered what Reese had done, we suspected we made an error. He would not have been so easily manipulated by Kace if he was you Paramour. It was your denial of him that confirmed it. You should not have been able to fight your feelings for him. A bond should have formed quickly between the two of you. When it didn’t, we knew we had made a mistake.”

“Don’t put this on me. Reese is the one that betrayed me,” I shouted defensively.

“He did, and he lost his abilities because he betrayed you.”

Good! At least there was some retribution.

“Please don’t be angry with him. You need him,” Omni continued. “There is a strong connection between your seals. They’re nearly identical. This will make you stronger when the time comes. We mistakenly exchanged the connection for love because we failed to analyze it. It was love. But not the romantic bond between seals like we thought. It was stronger than any seals we had seen before. We knew it was exactly the connection needed to trap Kace for good.”

“There is no connection,” I insisted. “I promise you that. I mean no disrespect, but I can’t even look at him. I sure as hell won’t forgive him.”

Omni smiled with the look of an understanding parent. “You will, Claire. It’s inherent in a family to forgive. You cannot fight it.”

“I can fight it, Omni. I will never get over what he did.” I fumed, tapping my foot furiously.