The Trinity

Bound

NOA

Present day

It’s been three years since Adriel went missing and his parents were found murdered in their cottage. I thought about him every single day. My mother told me over and over again that Adriel was most likely dead. She always said it gently, as if that helped ease my pain of losing my only friend.

I could feel deep inside that he was out there somewhere, I knew I would just know if his spirit had truly left this earth. I tried explaining it to my mother, but she just didn’t understand.

She told me to forget about Adriel. That I was better off letting go and moving forward with my life. I stopped bringing it up to her after a while, it always ended in us disagreeing.

I still went to our spot several times a week by Clear Lake, just waiting for him. For a sign, hell for anything. I mostly grew yellow flowers now hoping it would make him show up. I knew it was naive but it was the flower he’d asked me for the night he went missing. He’d promised me he’d always come back for me.

I had believed him, I was still clinging to hope that he would show up randomly one day and say “did you miss me sweet girl?”

I shifted into my Cooper’s hawk and flew around the lake. I was careful not to let others see me. My mother constantly warned me I would be taken if the council discovered my abilities. I was growing tired of the constant warnings and fear. A part of me believed maybe I’d find Adriel if I was taken. Is that where he was? Had the council taken him and killed his parents?

I shifted back and scooped up my summer dress after not finding anything, my regular routine for the past three years. I hurried home to my mother since the sun was close to setting. The screen door of our cottage slammed as I walked into the small entryway between the kitchen and living room.

I saw my mother with her hands tied behind her back and her feet were bound. “Noa!” My mother screamed “Run Noa, run!” Just as I raised my hands to call the elements. I felt a prick in the side of my neck, I instantly felt woozy. I stumbled to the ground and saw a large man approaching me to scoop me up before all went dark.

I felt so groggy, like I’d been weighed down by a hundred pounds. I was moving, someone was carrying me bridal style through a set of double doors. I couldn’t lift my head up to see where the hell I was or what was going on. My mother.

I remembered my mother screaming for me to run before I lost consciousness. Where was she? Where was I? I could feel my heart pounding in my chest as a pair of hands shuffled me onto a cold hard bed.

“Quickly Avery. She’s starting to come too, and we don’t know what she’s capable of.” A man’s voice said. I felt multiple hands pulling my clothes off my body. I was petrified, what were they going to do to me?

After they removed my dress I felt them strapping my arms and legs down to the bed. What was going on? Why was I being tied down in my underwear? “ please…don’t…” I mumbled with as much strength as I could muster up.

I felt another sharp prick in my neck accompanied by a throaty chuckle just before everything around me went dark.

ADRIEL

The three years since I’d discovered my parents murdered in our cottage had sucked to say the least. I was constantly on the move searching for answers. When I left home that night I went into my father’s office looking for the book that contained the information about the other shifters and The Trinity. His office had been torn apart and the book was gone.

Obviously not a coincidence, whoever had killed my parents was looking for that book. I only had my memory of the passages I’d secretly read to guide me now. I’d worked odd jobs here and there when I needed money.

I ended up in a small community in Utah. After traveling around the state for an entire year, I’d found the air shifter tribe. It wasn’t easy, but once I knew it was them, it was hard to understand how they blended in so easily. Seemed like every single one of them had some type of a f*****g bird tattoo. Little on the nose guys.

I mean, I understood why they had them. I’d gotten a tattoo myself on my forearm of Noa in her otter form surrounded by water and yellow flowers.

I missed her so much it hurt. I thought about her everyday, I wondered what could have possibly gone through her head when she discovered I was gone. Did she cry, did she miss me, was she angry with me? Hell, maybe she thought I was dead since it’d been so long. I didn’t want to risk reaching out to her.

I had to figure out who killed my parents and why. I didn’t want to lead trouble straight to Noa’s door. Her secret had to be protected at all costs. I still felt the overwhelming desire to protect her even after all this time apart.

I’d been waiting and watching the air shifters for almost 6 months. I was waiting for a golden eagle. Pretty rare. But a single feather from a golden eagle was clutched in my mother’s hand when I found her and my father’s bodies.

I knew I was going to catch this fucker if it was the last thing I did. I just had to be patient. Out of all the air elementals I’d secretly watched shift into birds, none had been a golden eagle.

After another boring day of hiding out and bird watching. Yawn. I decided to head into town and grab a beer and a bite to eat at the dive bar on the little downtown strip.

The bar was called “Twigs” and had a poorly constructed birds nest next to the marquee letters. Jesus. How the hell this group hadn’t been outed yet was beyond me.

I walked into the dimly lit bar and picked a spot at the end of the counter. I placed my order and drank my beer while I waited for my burger. I looked around studying the few people that were in here.

A tall guy in his mid 20’s came over and sat down next to me. He had brown hair and bright green eyes. He was fairly well built, not quite as large as me, but he was taller. I was 6’2 and he was probably 6’4 if I had to guess. He also had a sleeve tattoo from shoulder to wrist on one arm. A prominent mountain bluebird was on his forearm. Not the golden eagle I needed. He looked over at me once he saw me studying his tattoos.

“Hi, name’s Beau.” He stuck out his hand for me to shake. I didn’t want to, but I didn’t want to draw unwanted attention to myself by being rude either. “So what’s a water shifter like yourself doing in these parts?” He asked me.