Alpha Guardians Books 1-6

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Echo

Wake up, darling…

Wake up…

Wake up, Echo, darling…

Echo floated up into consciousness from a lovely dream. A dream in which she’d wildly kissed a tall, dark, and handsome stranger, someone who made her whole being tingle with pleasure and excitement. A dream that she was not very happy to end, thank you very much.

She frowned, not quite ready to open her eyes and deal with the world. Where did Rhys get off waking her up after she’d expended herself protecting him?

Also, where did he get off calling her darling?

When Echo finally peeled her eyes open, she found the room dark. It took her several seconds to identify her location as Rhys’s bedroom, and Echo nearly swallowed her tongue when she turned her head to find Rhys sprawled out beside her. She couldn’t help but lift the heavy comforter and peek underneath; when she found that he still wore a t-shirt and boxer briefs, she wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or disappointed.

Dropping the blanket back over their bodies, Echo felt a flare of shame for ogling Rhys in his sleep. Even if she hadn’t gotten much of a look, she had zero doubts that every since inch of Rhys was impressive.

She froze as something moved in her peripheral vision, a ghostly flicker. Echo turned her head oh so slowly, and nearly screamed when she saw the one ghost she’d never anticipated. Floating beside Echo’s bed, brow knitted with concern, was the ghost of Cadence Caballero, Echo’s mother.

Echo’s mouth opened in a shocked O. Of the hundreds or perhaps thousands of ghosts that Echo had encountered, some only once and some over and over again, her mother had never made an appearance. No matter how much thirteen year old Echo had wished it, she’d never once heard so much as a whisper from her mother after her passing.

“Echo,” her mother whispered. “Echo, darling.”

“Mama?” Echo gasped, her hand flying to cover her lips. “Is that you?”

Cadence looked just as Echo remembered, her thick blonde hair held back in a French braid with gentle curls framing her face. While her face was crystal clear, the rest of her body was fuzzy and distorted, as if Echo was seeing her from a great distance. She must be far, far into the next realm, and Echo supposed she was exerting a great deal of effort to come through the Veil.

“Echo, I don’t—” Cadence flickered for a moment, and Echo nearly cried out before her mother reappeared, her image stronger this time.

“Mama,” Echo said again, not knowing what else to say. “Shhhh.”

Echo slipped out of bed and beckoned her mother to follow her out of the bedroom and through Rhys’s rooms. In the guest room, Echo closed the door and turned to face her mother.

“We can, um… talk here, I guess,” Echo said. She wished she could have prepared herself more for this, but she’d long since given up on ever making contact with her mother.

With any other ghost, she just let them talk. Their lives and issues didn’t really effect Echo in any way, so there was no harm done in merely listening and nodding. With her own mother, though… What were you supposed to say to your mother’s ghost?

“I don’t have much time,” Cadence said, giving Echo a pleading look. “You must listen. You’re in danger, darling.”

“I know, Mama. I was attacked twice today,” Echo said, trying to ignore the knot of emotion forming in her chest.

“You must be protected at all costs. You are the First Light, darling.”

Echo paused a beat, confused.

“What is the First Light?” she asked.

“Your Aunt Ella and I researched the legacy of Baron Samedi, just as a laugh. Tee-Elle and I were both too strong, though. We discovered more than we were meant to, discovered the sacred places where the Baron hid the secrets of how to open the Veil.”

Echo wrinkled her nose, not comprehending.

“I don’t understand what that means, Mama.”

“We were caught up in something bigger and more powerful than we understood. We communed with Baron Samedi himself, and he was furious that we found his secret. He hid the secrets of Veil again, but this time he hid the secrets inside three people instead of three sacred places. The Three Lights, he called you.”

Echo’s mouth opened and closed several times as she struggled to understand. Her mother wasn’t here to warn her daughter of peril. Cadence was here to tell Echo that she herself was some kind of f****d up secret Voodoo talisman, and that the secret needed to be protected.

Echo actually laughed. Of course her mother wouldn’t come here for her after all this time.

“Right. So if I’m taken, the Veil is in danger. Which means you’re in danger somehow, right? Is that it?” Echo asked, her gaze narrowing.

Her mother’s lips twitched down into a frown.

“That’s not why I’m here.”

“So you screwed around with stuff you didn’t understand, and now I’m in mortal danger because Pere Mal knows that I can…. Do what, exactly?” Echo asked.

Cadence seemed to take a moment to collect herself before answering.

“The First Light leads to the Second and the Third. With all three in hand, a strong enough witch could open the Veil. It would be the end of the human and spirit realms as we know them,” Echo’s mother said.

“Sounds bad for you,” Echo said, bitterness filling her mouth.

“Bad for every soul, Echo, living or dead.”

Echo thought for a moment.

“How did you know to come now?” she asked.

Cadence’s expression grew irritated.

“There’s an information network on this side, just like on yours. When you opened your powers full throttle today, it caused a ripple. There are many creatures on my side that keep their ears pressed to the wall, so to speak, waiting for someone like you to make yourself known. I expend a lot of resources keeping tabs on you, Echo. You’re just lucky that I came to you before anyone else did.”

“Frankly, I’m not sure how you’re here at all. The Manor’s wards are extensive,” Echo said.

Cadence softened a bit, as if reminiscing.

“You don’t remember. I was quite strong, Echo. Still am, in my way. You get your power from me.”

Echo jumped on the opportunity when she saw it.

“And what did I get from my father? Who was he, Mama?”

Cadence shook her head.

“You’re not meant to know, darling. He’s no one, not important. You’ll never know him, Echo.”

Echo grew angry.

“So that’s it? You’ve come all this way to tell me you’re powerful, that I’m some kind of key to the spirit realm, and that I should just sort of… what? Be careful? That’s all you’ve got for me?”

“No. There’s more,” Cadence said. “I saw that man you were in bed with. You must be cautious, Echo. If you give away your heart, you give away your power. That’s exactly how I died, trying to save your fool of a father.”

Echo tensed, knowing only a little bit of the story.

“Tell me,” she whispered.

“Your father tried to fight back against the Baron, to take the Light out of you. You nearly died, and he was sucked through the Gates of Guinee,” Cadence said, her voice growing hard with remembered anger. “I went after him, thinking I was strong enough to save him, that our love was a strong enough anchor. Your father is the reason I didn’t rock you to sleep every night, Echo. He kept us apart.”

Echo drew back, startled by her mother’s ire. Before she could respond, Cadence continued her invective.

“Echo, if the dark forces take you, they will find the other two Lights. If they have you, you and Tee-Elle are lost to me. The world will be destroyed. You must—”

Cadence’s mouth kept moving for a moment, but the sound was muted. Cadence flickered and turned away, as if looking over her shoulder. She looked back at Echo for a moment, her expression turning to sadness. She blew Echo a kiss as she dissolved into a mist, fading from Echo’s sight.

Echo sat on the bed, trying to sort through what she’d learned. Personal feelings about her mother aside, none of it made any sense. She needed answers; she needed to find Tee-Elle.

Echo got under the covers in the guest bed, trying to find solace in sleep. She was still drained from the day before, and her body wanted to sleep, but her mind was restless. After an hour of tossing and turning, Echo left the guest bed and snuck back into Rhys’s room, slipping back beside him.

He responded to her in his sleep, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her close. Echo let his warmth and his crisp, uniquely male scent lull her until she found sleep once more.