“Malachi—that’s his name—he said that her real name is Genevieve. She’s been following me since I started school in Maine, but I’m the only one who can see her. Malachi…he…,” I hesitate at this part, ashamed of whatever it was that Malachi did that made me so weak, “…well he did something to me.” The first of Isaac’s emotions finally spreads over his features; his eyebrows have turned inward, his expression tormented by pure anger. “I-I don’t know what he did exactly, but when he stopped, he told me that I’ve been Marked.”

Isaac shoots up from the swing, leaving it to jump and jerk around madly for a few seconds before it slows to a mild sway back and forth. His hands are balled into fists at his sides and his eyes shift black and for a second I’m not sure if the anger is directed at Malachi, or me.

I take a step back, but before my heel even touches the sand, Isaac realizes that he’s scaring me and rushes over, enveloping me in his arms; an instant reaction to right an unintended wrong. And he just holds me, the power of his arms like a wall of protection, keeping me away from the outside world and all of its cruel realities. I feel his lips pressing hard into my hair and the rapid beating of his heart against my body.

He lets out a long, deep breath. “This explains everything,” he says, and my whole body tenses up with apprehension. I think my heart has stopped beating altogether.

He holds me for a while longer and while there’s nothing I want more than to just stand like this forever, I can’t stop myself from wondering what’s going on in his mind. Does he already know about Viktor? Because if so, this wasn’t the reaction I was expecting. Once again, Isaac is completely unreadable, but this time not for reasons intent on making me crazy.

Isaac pulls his body from mine, his hands holding both of my arms and he looks down at me with natural blue eyes again. “You’re going to be okay, baby,” he says and I don’t know whether to feel relief, or confusion. “I won’t let anything hurt you. Do you understand me?”

I just nod because I’m still unsure of everything. Isaac takes my hand. “Come on,” he says pulling me along, “My brother can explain this better than I can.”

Without another word, I go with him toward the moonlit beach.

18

THE BONFIRE SEEMS TO rise higher in the blackness as we get closer, the flames reaching into the night sky, appearing to lick the stars. Ocean waves steadily lap the beach like a hundred gentle fingers reaching for land only to retract and slither back out into the deep abyss. A tiny white light, just barely larger than a pinhole, moves along the dark horizon far off in the distance. I stare at it until it completely blinks out, lost in a haze of my own thoughts, my own bitter memories.

As all of my friends look up at me and Isaac as we join them, I wonder if I’ll lose any of them for keeping the secret that I have kept. About Viktor being alive.

I feel the cool sand shift underneath my feet as my body pulls back in unison with Isaac’s to adjust the distance between us and the flames.

Harry’s face is filled with remorse, more-so than anyone else’s because he already knows about Viktor. And about me.

I’m still not sure if Isaac does….

“It’s a Praverian, Nathan,” Isaac announces, ripping the word out indignantly. “Adria has been Marked.”

Everyone shares the same expression of shock, but it’s the worry in Nathan’s face that frightens me the most.

For now, Nathan doesn’t say anything.

Daisy gets up from the sand next to Harry and stands in front of me with an unnatural look of unease. “That’s why you’ve been fainting.” She brushes the back of her fingers down my cheek. “Oh, honey, no wonder you’ve not been yourself lately.” She pulls me into a hug, but I’m still unsure about what direction this is turning, so as I hug her back I can’t give her the same amount of affection.

She pulls away and smiles weakly at me, which makes me feel like I’m on my deathbed and she’s just trying to be strong.

“A what?” Harry says from his spot on the sand. Hannah, sitting on the other side of him next to Nathan also looks up at us with the same curiosity.

Zia is surprisingly quiet, but she’s paying as much attention as everyone else.

Finally, Nathan speaks up:

“They’re damn dangerous, that’s what they are. Our Elders call them The Keepers, others call them The Guardians—long history, so naturally they come with a long list of titles, too.” I see Nathan’s eyes pass over me as if afraid to look at me. He looks at Isaac instead. “Little brother, you know what this means.”

A chill moves up my spine.

Nathan and Isaac stare at each other for an intense moment, the fire glowing orange on one side of Nathan’s face.

I look away from them and down at the sand and instead of Isaac loosening his grip, I feel it get tighter around my stomach. Maybe Harry was right, maybe he will be like his father and protect and take care of me like Trajan does Aramei, after all.

Regardless, I still don’t want to be like Aramei. No matter what, I can’t live like that.

I’ll die first.

“So, this…whatever you called it, is after Adria why exactly?” Zia says. She tosses a small branch into the fire and little sparks flutter up entangled in the wind. Sebastian is lying on a blanket in the sand beside her, his head propped up by one hand.

I feel Isaac behind me guiding me to sit with him and I do, but he doesn’t let me sit anywhere but between his legs.

“A Praverian’s job, per se,” Nathan begins, “is to protect his or her Charge. But they usually don’t feed from their Charges and if Adria’s been Marked, that means she’s likely not a Charge, but food instead.”

“Food?” says Harry with huge eyes. Daisy sits back down with him. “What do you mean food?”

Nathan answers, “Well, even though they’re immortal—ancient—a Praverian ages really fast. I’m talkin’ within-months-fast.” He sits back down by Hannah and bends his legs upward, propping his wrists on top of them.

Daisy adds, “They drink the essence of humans to stay young.” She gestures both hands, looking at all of us. “A lot of humans committed to mental intuitions, people with schizophrenia, even dementia and Alzheimer’s—a lot of them are victims of a Praverian feeding.” She adds, shaking her blond head solemnly, “It’s really quite sad what they do to people.” Then she glances at me again, giving me that doleful expression, which seems to do more damage than anything Nathan is saying.

Nathan looks back at me now. “Usually, they choose humans to feed from who are already weak in some way, because weakness makes them more vulnerable to a feeding: disease, mental illness, old age—you name it.”

“So, Adria’s food?” Harry says, still mortified. “That sounds all kinds of messed up.”

“She’s better off food than a Charge,” Daisy says.

“Yeah, to be a Charge is worse,” Nathan adds, “because just being their source of youth doesn’t necessarily mean Adria’s doomed—this can be fixed.” He points outward as if to underline a fact. “Now, if she were a Charge, there’s no compromising on that one. To be a Charge means that person is fated to fulfill some destiny, which from what I understand, always ends in an early death. Praverians help guide them through it, see to it that they fulfill that destiny.”

The more that Nathan explains, the more I’m starting to believe that they still don’t know about Viktor and my Blood Bond. This revelation is crushing because that means if Isaac doesn’t know, then he’s not holding me like he is right now because he accepts it.

I push myself away from Isaac and stand up, my feet sink partially into the cold sand. I feel everyone watching me, but I can’t look at any of them. I can’t look because I’m ashamed. Instead of owning up to the truth and telling them that Viktor is still alive and that I’m bonded to him and that it’s my weakness, I find myself taking advantage of this unexpected turn of events, saving me from having to reveal the truth. I know I shouldn’t do it, but I do.

“So then what does this mean for me exactly?” I say, trying to further it along because the point needs to be made. I need to hear the bottom line before this nervous feeling in my stomach makes me sick. “How do I avoid being Genna’s food?”

Isaac stays in his spot on the sand, but I can tell when my guilty gaze passes him that he wants nothing more than to be standing here with me. His overprotective obsession has become amplified and I admit, justified.

I cross my arms tightly at my chest, the chill in the air cooling my back and the crackling bonfire flames warming my front. I stare at Nathan for the answer.

But Nathan looks at Isaac first and they seem to share something that only the two of them know.

“It means we need to keep you away from her,” Nathan says looking right at me. “Which’ll be hard because Praverians can make you believe anything they want, make you see things that aren’t there, and doll, that’s just a few of the things they can do.”

That definitely explains a lot.

“Then how do we keep Adria safe?” Isaac says, as if that’s all he cares about.

Nathan looks inquisitive for a moment and turns to me again. “Wait—did you say her name was Genna?”

“Yes.”

“Damn,” he says, looking deeply into the fire. “I think she’s been feeding on Mrs. Finch, too.”

Isaac and I exchange glances. And then Harry and I do before turning our attention back on Nathan.

“I knew there was something jacked-up about that girl,” Nathan says, still seeming off in his own little world.

I notice Hannah’s attention turn a little darker, maybe out of jealousy.

Nathan looks at all of us again. “A black-haired girl came into Finch’s Grocery not long ago, introduced herself as Genna,” he looks over at Hannah with an easing look of assurance. “They let themselves be seen when they’re looking for some kind of companionship because they spend most of their time in hiding and like us, they get lonely too—anyway, she came in a few times before the store closed and I just thought she was some chick hitting on me.” He squeezes Hannah around her tiny shoulder. “So, I sort of ended up blowing her off. The next night, Mrs. Finch’s health really went to shit. She even had to be hospitalized and they thought she might finally kick the bucket.”

“But what makes you think that Genna had anything to do with that?” I say. “Mrs. Finch has been dying for a while.”

“Yeah, but when a Praverian is around, especially when they’re feeding, you get that weird feeling like someone’s watching you constantly and the atmosphere around the store those couple of days had me creeped out. I was kind of paranoid and I don’t get paranoid.”

This makes sense since Mrs. Finch’s house is actually the back portion of Finch’s Grocery. I don’t say anything, but this also explains why Genna mentioned she was a friend of Nathan’s and that she had met him at the grocery store.