He slants forward, catching my gaze. “I promise I’m not trying to poison you. I’m just trying to help you get through the flight in peace.”
He seems honest, but I’m still undecided whether I want to dope myself up with a Wicca herb that will knock me into such a deep sleep nothing will wake me up until it wears out of my system. But when the plane jerks again and the captain warns everyone to keep their seatbelts fastened, I quickly twist the lid off and take a swig.
“Thanks…” I manage to get out before I black out.
Chapter 8
“Alana, can you hear me?” my grandpa Lucas calls out through the darkness. “Please say you can hear me. I need to talk to you … God, I need this to work.”
I can hear you, I think to myself. But where are you?
“Alana!” he calls out, his voice echoing around me. “Please, answer me.”
I’m right here! Grr… I internally growl at myself in frustration. I can’t seem to say anything aloud, no matter how hard I try. Where the hell am I? I can’t see a damn thing, can’t feel my legs, my arms, my mouth … Maybe that’s the problem.
“I thought this would work,” he mutters. “I don’t understand.”
Taking a deep breath, I slide my feet forward, forcing myself to walk blindly into the darkness. “Grandpa …” I force my voice out. “I’m … right … here.”
“Oh, thank God,” he says in relief.
I hear the soft pitter-patter of footsteps heading toward me. I don’t see him when he reaches me, but I feel his presence nearby.
“I’m glad I was able to meet you here,” he says, sounding much closer now.
“Where exactly is here?”
“In one of your dreams.”
“You’re in my dream?” My surprise swiftly wears off as I remember my grandpa is a Foreseer. “Is this a new Foreseer thing, being able to enter people’s dreams?”
“We’re technically not supposed to,” he admits. “But I needed to take the risk.”
“Why?”
“Because I need to tell you something important.”
“You know, texts work great for that, too, and it’s way less creepy.”
“I couldn’t text you this … I can’t have any sort of trail that’ll lead to what I’m about to tell you,” he says in that ominous tone again. “If anyone finds out …” He trails off.
“Grandpa, you’re scaring me,” I admit. “Before I left, you were acting so strange, and then you show up here … Please tell me what’s going on.”
“You’re in danger,” he whispers, his voice sounding farther away. “Oh no … I need … more time …”
“Why am I in danger?” When he doesn’t respond, I cry out, “Grandpa, you’re scaring me. Please, just tell me why you think I’m in danger.”
“Because … they’re …” His voice fades in and out. “Coming … after you … I’m … sorry.”
“Grandpa!” I shout, my voice echoing around me as I run forward into the darkness. “Please tell me who they are.”
As the stillness sets in, I begin to panic. Minutes, maybe hours tick by, and I start to fear being trapped here forever when I feel myself slipping back to reality. Right as I’m about to wake up, I feel something cold pressed into my palm, and a single word whispers through my thoughts.
Electi.
Chapter 9
I force my heavy eyelids open and blink away the dizziness swimming in my brain while trying to get my bearings. I’m still on the plane, but the shaking and jolting has stopped. I look out the window at the darkness blanketing the airport and then at the empty seats around me. We’ve landed, and everyone has vacated the plane, including Jax.
“Gee, thanks for waking me up, guys.” I stretch my arms above my head and yawn before collecting my bag from under the seat and getting to my feet.
Thoughts of the trippy dream linger in my mind as I make my way up the aisle and off the plane. I blame it on the Otium. While I’ve never had it before, witches’ potions can have strange side effects, like the time Jayse and I accidentally ate suckers his mom laced with Rabidus Primula to use for a Keeper mission. Jayse and I ended up losing touch with reality and running back and forth across the field for ten hours straight until we were so exhausted we passed out.
Still, as I find my way into the quiet airport, I can’t shake the feeling of how real the dream felt, that my grandpa Lucas really did show up to warn me I’m in danger. But in danger from what? An Electi? Because I’ve never heard of them before, and growing up with Keepers who hunt practically every paranormal creature that exists, it seems like, if they existed, I’d know.
Maybe it’s not a creature, though. Perhaps it’s something else.
While I wait for my suitcases to show up at the baggage area, I end up sending my grandpa Lucas a text, just to settle my worry. Between how small the airport is and the time nearing ten o’clock, the place is almost empty, so I sit down on the floor and search on the Internet for what electi could be, but I come up with zilch.
“You’ll ride with me to the academy,” Jax appears by my side out of nowhere.
“Where is everyone else?”
“They had to go downtown for a meeting.”
“Okay.” While I’m not thrilled to be riding with him, I’m glad I won’t be riding in a car with Vivianne.
“And fyi, you talk in your sleep,” Jax says. “You say really strange stuff too.”
I slide my phone into the pocket of my jeans. “Good to know.”
He sits down beside me and fiddles with a leather band on his wrist. “I feel sorry for your roommate.”
I frown. “I have a roommate?”
“Everyone new does.” He gets to his feet as the conveyer belt buzzes on and reaches for a large duffel bag. “I had one when I first started at the Academy.”
“How long have you been going there?” I stand up to grab one of my suitcases.
He slings the bag over his shoulder. “Almost five years.”
“So, you’re almost nineteen.” Disappointment washes over me. “How long do we have to attend the Academy? I thought it was only for a year.”
“It all depends on where you’re placed. If you want to be a permanent investigator, then you have to put in a lot of time. Otherwise, you’ll be put on another job like cleanup, which sucks balls.”
“It sounds like it sucks balls.” I internally cringe at the idea of having to clean up dead, mangled bodies. “Is that what you do? I mean, are you an investigator?”
“I’m not one yet. I actually took a little time off.” He frowns at that then quickly clears his throat. “But, yeah, I’m back now, and I’m working my way up to becoming an investigator … starting with training you.” He motions at me to follow him as he strides for the exit doors.
I totally notice how he breezed over my question about him being at the Black Dungeon. He may think I’m going to drop this, but he’s so wrong.
“Training me?” I quickly hurry after him as he exits the building. “I thought we were partners.”
“I just said that in front of your dad to make him feel better about the situation.” His gaze sweeps the road in front of us and the carport to our right before he veers left down the sidewalk. “I know how proud Keepers need to feel, and it seemed like he’d be prouder if I told him you were my partner.”
I wheel my bags with me as we hike toward a black car parked near the curb. “So, I’m not your partner, then.”
“Technically, I guess you are, but it’s not the same as if you’d actually graduated and are an investigator. I mean, you’ll go on jobs with me and everything, but only to learn how we work.”
“Sounds like a blast,” I say flatly, jerking on my suitcases when a wheel gets stuck in a pothole.
He rounds the back of black car and pats the trunk. Moments later, it pops open. “Doing what we do takes a lot of mental work, Alana.” He drops his bag into the trunk then grabs mine from me. “It’s not just learning how to fight and jumpin
g in. You have to memorize every creature, learn their traits, what makes them tick so that, when you show up at a crime scene, you’ll know what to look for.”
Something dawns on me then. Jax knows a lot about creatures. Perhaps he knows what electi means or is.
He heaves my suitcases into the trunk then walks to the side of the car, tipping his head back to glimpse at the sliver of moon in the sky. “Climb in. We have about an hour’s drive to the Academy.”
I open the door to get into the backseat of the car. “Hey, Jax, can I ask you a question?”
He casts me a wary look from over the car roof. “You can ask, but it doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll answer.”
Sighing, I ask, “Have you ever heard the term electi?”
“Why?”
“I just heard the word once, and didn’t know if it meant something or if it was something,” I answer as nonchalantly as I can. “You just mentioned how much a Guardian has to learn about the creatures we’re hunting, so I figured I’d ask and see if you knew.”