Authors: Dean Murray
"We're
all going to have to leave within the hour. I need to meet up with my
sister, Rachel, and I left people behind in California."
Taggart
nodded. "I know. I promise that I will tell her that you came
asking after her, but I will not put her through anything else right
now."
"You
don't think that she was trying to get to me to make sure I was okay,
do you?"
"I
just don't know, Alec. I wish I did—it would make the decision
on what to do next easier—but I just don't know. I've…I've
never seen Adri like that. All I can promise is that I will tell her
that I endorse your every decision and action. If our positions were
reversed I would have done exactly the same thing."
I
took a deep breath and nodded. "I appreciate that, but don't do
it until you're sure that she's ready to hear it. I wouldn't want to
turn her against you too. She's going to need someone strong right
now, someone she can lean on while she tries to pick up what's left
of her life. If it can't be me then I'm glad that it's you."
"Are
you going to continue fighting your father?"
I
shrugged, somewhat surprised at the question. "I guess. I
haven't thought that far. I still don't know the full extent of my
gift and I'm going to need some time of my own to process everything
that has happened. The rebellion has lost a lot of people."
"Indeed it has, but with you as a focal point dozens will flock to our
banner. The rebellion is yours for the asking if you want it."
"I'm not sure that I'm ready for that kind of responsibility."
"If you decide that you are, my claws and gift are yours for the asking.
Choose your next few steps with care, Alec Graves. The future of our
people may very well depend on where you go from here."
Adriana Paige
So apparently Cindi survived—entirely because of Alec. He killed
all of the vampires who were keeping her captive and then handed her
his phone, told her to run and took off to come save the rest of us.
Jasmin picked Cindi up from where she was hiding under a bridge an
hour later, but I didn't find that out for nearly twenty-four hours.
I
basically blacked out for the better part of a day and then woke to
find that we'd all left Minnesota one step ahead of the Coun'hij.
Tristan and Cindi were with Taggart and me, but Isaac and the rest
were temporarily headed back to their old stomping grounds to see if
they could recruit some more help.
Taggart
still has the set of scratches across his face that I gave him right
after my parents were killed. They should have healed by now, but for
some reason they haven't yet. He said that it's not uncommon for
wounds inflicted by shape shifters to take this long to heal, but
that he's never seen a human-inflicted wound act like this.
I
don't actually remember much from that block of time. I remember
realizing that my parents were dead, and I remember Taggart trying to
restrain me so that I wouldn't hurt myself. The thought of
him—insanely strong even in his human form—having trouble
keeping ahold of me would have been almost comical if not for how
close I'd come to taking out his eye. For once he'd been at the
disadvantage—he hadn't wanted to hurt me, but apparently I
hadn't been operating under the same concerns.
The
only other thing I remember is Carson. I remember him intercepting me
just short of Alec and telling me that he would see to Alec, to my
parents, to everything. He had such kind eyes that I couldn't
maintain the torrent of grief and rage that had been sustaining me up
until that point.
Taggart
hasn't asked me why I was trying to get to Alec, but it's been
there—a silent, unasked, unanswered question between us—ever
since I woke back up. Part of me wishes that he would just come right
out and ask it, but it doesn't really matter either way because I
don't honestly know what I was thinking at the time.
It's
all gone, wiped away by the intensity of the emotions I was dealing
with at the time.
Cindi
is going through the same grieving process that I am, but at least
she has Tristan. He came to me the first day once I'd woken back up
and asked me what he could do to help me.
I
could tell that he wanted me to turn to him with my grief, but even
if I'd been tempted to do so I knew that would only make things worse
for Cindi. I told him that the most important thing he could do for
me would be to take care of Cindi. He's done so without complaining
about the position that I'm putting him in, but I know there will
eventually come a day of reckoning and it terrifies me.
Cindi
is all I have left of the family I grew up with and the situation
with Tristan is one where somebody is going to get hurt no matter
what. I'm not sure that I could survive losing Cindi, but mostly I
just try not to think about it.
If
it does happen then I'll deal with it at that point and hope that
I've healed enough that my friendship with Taggart will be enough to
keep me afloat.
We've
been slowly touring through the north-west part of the country. I'm
pretty sure Taggart is still dream walking, still gathering
intelligence and passing it on to the rest of the rebellion, but I
haven't dream walked since, at least not that I remember.
I
feel bad that I haven't been helping out more than that, but I guess
I don't feel bad enough to get back on the horse yet. There is a lot
for me to feel bad about these days. Getting my parents killed
obviously tops the list, but I also feel guilty that I hadn't
returned Alec's tentative attempts at getting ahold of me.
I've
known for a while that Alec and Taggart talk every couple of days.
They've been trying to track down the shadowy figure from Kaleb's
dream, the Scientist, but so far they hadn't had any luck turning up
even the slightest bit of information where he is concerned.
I
know Taggart well enough to know that he wants to go on the
offensive. Kaleb fought us off when we went after him in his own
dream, but the odds are very good that we could defeat him if I were
to drag him into my dream so we could confront him on our home turf.
Despite the fact that hundreds or even thousands of lives might be at
stake, Taggart hasn't said anything to me about the fact that my
refusal to resume dream walking is crippling his efforts to find the
group that was pulling the Coun'hij's strings, the group that we are
both convinced that the Scientist is part of.
I'm
not stupid enough to believe that my happiness and grief is more
important than saving all of those people, but right now I just can't
bring myself to pick back up the burdens I so casually assumed a few
days ago. Maybe in a few days or weeks things will change, but if so
I have a suspicion that it will be concern for Taggart that drags me
back into the fight rather than worry about faceless masses of people
who are nothing more than an abstract to me at this point.
We
have a new tradition. Taggart and I end each day with a couple of
cups of hot chocolate. It's an extremely small thing, but at the same
time it's huge. I'm starting to realize that life is no more than a
series of important relationships and that relationships are built
out of exactly those kinds of small things.
It
feels like we've come full circle. Taggart lost Agony and I was there
for him in whatever small ways I could be. Now I've lost two of the
most important people in my life and he's been there for me. There
has been a lot of bad that's happened as a result of my ability, but
there's been some good along the way too and most of the good centers
on Taggart. It's been just a matter of weeks, but already I can't
imagine a world where I didn't have him at my side buoying me up with
his friendship.
It
feels like I've lost everything, like my entire family is gone, but
that isn't the case. I still have Cindi and I still have Taggart.
That will just have to be enough for now.
—The Story
Continues
—
Curious how all of the pieces of the Reflection Universe fit
together? Check out
the
Reflections Reading Order Diagram
on
my blog.
Publisher's Note:
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Acknowledgments:
As always, I'd like to thank my amazing editors, RJ Locksley and Amy Jirsa-Smith. My advance readers also deserve a hearty, heart-felt thanks. In no particular order they are: Mom, Dad, Shalese, Matthew, Lachele, Mark, Mimi, Britney, Kim, Heather, Janelle, Jenine, and Mei. Thank you all very much!
Katie continues to be the glue that holds everything together, I wouldn't have made it this far without her and couldn't do all of this without her support.
Finally, I'd like to thank the awesome fans of the series who do so much to spread the word. Without all of you I would have been forced to go back to my day job months ago.
About the Author:
Dean Murray is a prolific author with more than 30
titles across multiple pen names and more than 480,000
copies of his work currently in circulation.
Dean started reading seriously in the second grade due
to a competition and has spent most of the subsequent three
decades lost in other people's worlds.
Things worsened, or improved depending on your point
of view, when he first started experimenting with writing
while finishing up his accounting degree. These days Dean
has a wonderful wife and two lovely daughters to keep him
rather more grounded, but the idea of bringing others along
with him as he meets interesting new people in universes
nobody else has ever seen tends to drag him back to his
computer on a fairly regular basis.
Keep up to speed on Dean's latest
projects at
deanwrites.com
. If you
want to interact with readers who love the series as much as
you do, please consider checking out the
Reflections Facebook page
or
Dean's Forum
.
Something powerful is stirring in the darkness. Something so ancient that even
creatures who've been alive for hundreds of years have long since discounted this new
threat as nothing more than myth.
Normal humans will be caught in the crossfire, but then that's always the way of
things. Geoffrey has no memory of his past life or any idea how to survive in the
violent, dangerous world in which he's trapped. Despite his best efforts, he's about to
find himself in the middle of a conflict that threatens to sweep away everything,
and everyone he's been fighting so hard to protect.
Shape shifter Alec Graves has spent nearly a decade trying to keep his family from being drawn into open warfare with a larger pack. The new girl at school shouldn't matter, but the more he gets to know her, the more mysterious she becomes. Worse, she seems to know things she shouldn't about his shadowy world.
Is she an unfortunate victim or bait designed to draw him into a fatal misstep? If she's a victim, then he's running out of time to save her. If she's bait, then his attraction to her will pull him into a fight that'll cost him everything.
The invitation to join the secretive Guadel should have been the fulfillment of dreams Va'del didn't even realize he had. When his sponsors are killed in an ambush a short time later, he instead finds his probationary status revoked, and becomes a pawn between various factions inside the Guadel ruling body.
Jain's never known any life but that of a Guadel in training. She'd thought herself reconciled to the idea of a loveless marriage for the good of her people, but meeting Va'del changes everything. Their growing attraction flies against hundreds of years of precedent, but as wide-spread attacks threaten their world, the Guadel have no choice but to use even Jain and Va'del in their fight for survival.
Meet Charles Tucker, he has spent nearly 30 years living in
denial, trying desperately to hide from his past and the events
that shattered his heart beyond any possibility of healing. He
can't let anyone close, for doing so would open him up to being
hurt again, and there's no way he could survive another wounding.
Meet the Saunders family, new to the neighborhood and
teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. Mark, the father, talks
a good story but is that all he is? His plan could hold the key
to reversing his family's financial misfortunes, or it could
wipe out everyone involved.
Meet Chet, a battered old '64 Chevy pickup that was there on
the night Charles' life imploded. For nearly three decades,
he has been locked away in an old barn, safely out of sight
if not completely out of mind. For 29 years Charles has
blamed the old pickup for the destruction of his life,
now he's about to find that the vehicle that destroyed his
life might be the key to his healing and a journey of
unexpected miracles.
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