Undone - Book 3 In The Solrelm Series

Together with the help of other realms, they try to unravel the mystery of who is behind the deceitful lies that began several thousand years ago. His flashbacks from his long life, through countless eras have been getting worse, and he begins to wonder if...

Chapter 1

Prologue

Ducking down behind the dumpster, she slid down the wall and squatted there. Squeezing her eyes shut, she willed them to stop. Prayed for them to give her a few minutes of peace. Just a few minutes without seeing and feeling things she didn’t understand. With her hands against the side of her head, she rocked slowly. Back and forth. Back and forth. Breathe slowly.

Maybe her aunt was right, and the devil did live inside her. Why else would she see these things inside her head? What purpose did tormenting her with scenes of blood, pain, and suffering do? Why had she been born this way?

Lowering her hands, she opened her eyes but continued to rock. They were better now, hopefully for a bit longer than last time. She didn’t know what made them fade into the background for short periods, but she was thankful it happened at all.

Looking around, she checked that no one was near her. Being near others made them worse. So much worse. Her stomach growled, reminding her that it had been a few days since she’d eaten anything that resembled food. She missed her aunt. Missed having a room to hide away from the misery the world brought her.

“She’s somewhere around here, Capri. She doesn’t go very far.” A girl said.

“I can feel the turbulence, Monica.” A woman spoke quietly.

“Espy. That’s what I want to be called from now on. You said when you found me it was a new start, so I want a new name.”

“Espy. I like that.”

She froze. Were they talking about her? Dropping down, she pulled her legs up to her chest and hugged them, making herself as small as possible. She needed them to keep going. If they stayed too close too long, it would start again.

“There you are.”

A tall woman with long, wavy black hair stood in the space between the dumpsters.

“It’s all right.” She moved closer and then squatted a few feet from her.

A young girl close to her own age stood behind her. She had long blonde hair and eyes that were bright green. She’d never seen eyes like that. She popped a bubble and waved at her. “Is she one of us?”

The woman held out her hand. “It’s all right. You’re safe now.”

She looked at the hand and then tucked hers between her knees.

“What’s your name?” The girl asked.

“Jerika.” She whispered.

“Cool name. Nice to meet you, Jeri. I’m Espy, and this is Capri. She’ll help you.”

“Take my hand.” The woman continued to hold her hand out.

She was shaking, but she reached and put her hand in Capri’s. A feeling rushed through her as soon as they touched, and her whole body relaxed.

“You’re one of us,” Capri said softly.

Jeri stared at her.

“It’s okay.” Capri smiled.

Jeri glanced at the girl again and then back to Capri. Her hair looked like it was blowing in a breeze, but there wasn’t one.”

“Another Gemini found.” Espy grinned. “We need a name for us.”

Jeri looked back at Capri. “Do you know what’s wrong with me?” She had to, right? She made it all go away when she touched her.

“There is nothing wrong with you.” Standing slowly, she kept a hold of her hand and pulled her to her feet.

“Gemini gang.” Espy popped another bubble. “No, that’s dumb.” She grinned at Jeri and then nodded. “Gemini group.” She shook her head. “No. Gemini—” Her eyes widened. “League.” Capri looked at her. “We can call ourselves the Gemini League. Cool, right?”

Capri smiled, “It does have a nice ring to it.” She started walking, holding Jeri’s hand. Following, Jeri decided she wasn’t going to let go. This had been the quietest her head had been since—her entire life.

“And we’re going to all ride motorcycles.” Espy nodded. “We’ll be bad butt bitches for sure. No boys allowed.”

Capri laughed softly, “Perhaps we should wait on that until you’re old enough to drive.”

“Pfft, whatever.” Espy moved over and walked beside Jeri. “Wait until you meet the others. There’s six of us now. Ava is going to blow your socks off.”

Jeri clung to Capri’s hand and managed a slight smile. “I don’t have any socks.”

Espy laughed. “Welcome to our weird, magical family, sis.”

Chapter 2

Trendan walked through the bodies. Some he was too late for. Those souls would be lost forever. Stopping, he knelt beside the bloodied body of the warrior. He was still alive, just barely. Picking up his axe, he lay it on his chest and placed his hands over it. The man responded by grasping it loosely with weak hands. He said something, which Trendan equated to thank you. He waited and leaned over him when his last breath left his body.

Taking the soul into himself was hard, but at least today, they were warriors. He could handle carrying soldiers’ spirits. When he finished, he looked around. Women were wailing over bodies; others were scavenging the belongings of those that had no kin to mourn them. He stood up. He wasn’t even invisible. There was no need when walking among these Norsemen. They believed in things others didn’t, and rarely was he given a second thought.

Flipping his long braid back over his shoulder, Trendan scanned the remaining bodies. There was never a shortage of souls to harvest in this time. Too many battles. Too many unnecessary deaths.

“Soul eater.”

He turned to see the clan shaman or seer—he wasn’t sure what they were called.

“Your soul will suffer through long years into new days many times over.”

He wasn’t speaking English, but Trendan heard it that way. He continued to stand there and give him his attention.

“There is no Valhalla for you, strange one.”

Trendan reached into his pocket and pulled out a rough gemstone he’d found by the shore a few hours earlier. He bowed politely to him and held out the stone.

The man took it and examined it briefly, and then walked away.

Trendan blinked and then shook his head. He hated the days the flashbacks hit him. Lately, it had been more frequent, and he didn’t have time for this. He looked around, especially while he was standing on a roof. Not the wisest idea. Turning, he looked down at the building that he’d stared at so much in the last few weeks that he could probably identify each brick. The reason he stood here, again, walked out of the garage and spoke to the little scary Gemini woman, Ava.

Jerika was beautiful in an unmade-up way. Her long dark hair wasn’t processed and preened. He couldn’t say what color it was; some days it looked brown, others red. Her face was absent of makeup, yet her mouth was the shade of roses, and her eyes were naturally shaded. It wasn’t just her looks that intrigued him to the point of distraction; it was her soul. The soul inside her feminine body was meant for him; honestly, he didn’t know what to do about it. Her DNA was such a mix that it shouldn’t have been possible. He saw human hues in her, as well as Veiltide, FaTerra, and, of course, Solrelm. How that had happened, he had no idea.

His phone rang for the fourth time in the last thirty minutes. There was only one body that would annoy him this much. His brother Bastian. Answering it, he didn’t even speak. It was necessary with Bas; he did all the talking.

“Where are you?”

“Aren’t you home? You could just look.”

Bastian snorted. “I don’t use the control room to spy on everyone.”

“Liar.”

“Fine. I’m not in the control room. I’m waiting on the Princess to tell me what’s happening with Glen.”

“Am I needed?” The woman, Jerika, turned and looked up. He knew she could see him and did nothing to hide.

“I need you to go to Nova’s. Alterealm’s Princess Kara is meeting her there, and they need an escort, even though they won’t admit it.”

Trendan looked at her once more and then turned on his heel. “I’ll go there now.”

“Perfect. I will catch up when I can.”

“Where am I escorting them?”

“To one of the safe houses.” Bastian sounded anxious, which was often his state lately.

“I’ll get them there safely.”

“Good, good. Talk in a couple.”

He went down the ladder on the end of the building and across the next roof. Bastian’s Nova had a whole series of fast routes on top of buildings, and he had to admit it was less complicated than being down on the street or trying to be invisible.

Nova opened the door and smiled. “I knew he’d send someone.”

He shrugged. “I wanted to see the safe house.” He lied.

“Oh.” She nodded. “Good. We can use all the help we can get.” She motioned for him to come in. “Kara will be here in a few minutes. She was feeding her cat or something.”

Trendan walked in and stood by the sitting room. Queen Alona from Alterealm had been helping update the décor and furniture, and he had to admit it was looking less like a garage sale now. The young teen came out of the kitchen. “Sedric.” He inclined his head to him.

“T, how’s it going?”

Trendan grinned at the name. Why was it the modern generation felt the need to shorten names to one letter? He’d never know. “It’s going fine.”

Without warning, Princess Kara appeared in the middle of the room. She was on her back on the floor. On top of her was a mountain lion. Trendan reached for his gun.

“Holy fraggle. Look what you’ve done.” Kara reached up and squeezed the animal’s face. “Off, Tawny.”

“When you said she was feeding her cat, I didn’t know it was a cougar cat.”

Kara got up and tisked at the animal. “Sorry. She pounced just as I was porting.”

“That is so cool.” Sedric stepped toward the animal and then stopped. “Can I pet it?”

Kara flipped the hair out of her face. “Yes. She’s harmless.”

“Cool.”

Kara looked at Nova and then sighed. “I might have to get Raf to come to port her back. I won’t be able to focus.” She watched the animal follow Sedric into the kitchen. With an awkward smile, she turned to Trendan. “You’re on escort duty?”

He shrugged a shoulder.

“Bart is fixing the fence again, so thanks, and I’m sorry to bother you.”

There was a crash in the kitchen. Trendan ran in behind Princess Kara.

Sedric sat on the floor against the counter with the cat standing over his legs.

“Tawny. No people food.” She went over and grabbed the box and looked at it. “Especially not chocolate cereal.”

“Sorry.” Sedric slid across the floor so the animal wasn’t over him. “I was getting a bowl for myself.”

Kara leaned down and took hold of the animal’s face. “She has no manners. At all. You wait until I tell Raf what you did.” She released her face. “Lay down and try to be good for a minute.”

Trendan was shocked when the animal lay at Kara’s feet and rested its chin on its paws. “Is your mate coming to the safe house?

Kara pulled out her phone and shook her head. “Right now, he’s working with your guards before we start hitting those places your brother gave us.” She typed on the screen and then glanced at him. “We’ve tracked down several of the locations their cameras were watching, so tomorrow, we’ll be checking those out.”

Trendan crossed his arms over his chest. “I’d like to help, for both.”

“You’ve had training, fighting?”

He grinned. “A few thousand years.”

“Oh, pish, I keep forgetting how old you guys are.” She shrugged. “I’ll tell Raf to bring you in when they’re planning them.”

He nodded and looked down to see the cat staring at him. It was no wonder at all that Bas loved hanging out with the Alterealm Royals—their crazy almost outshone his chaos.

Chapter 3

Jeri knocked on the door and then opened it, and stuck her head into the room. “Fade?” She always looked for her, even though the chances of her being visible were as close to zero as possible without it being there. She went inside. “How are you doing?” She looked around the room for any indication of where she was.

“By the window.” Fade answered in her usual ‘I’m bored with life’ tone.

Jeri closed the door. “I wanted to see if you wanted to watch a movie.”

“At the theatre?” Her voice hitched with excitement.

“No. Downstairs.”

“Oh. Aren’t you going out to help the others? Solrelm kids and all that?”

Jeri grinned. “I don’t think they need my help with that.”

“I thought Capri said all hands on deck to help.”

“When they need it, they’ll ask.” She sat on the end of the bed and smoothed out the cover beside her. “I’m sorry you can’t go out.”

“You always say that.” Her voice was still coming from near the window. “Where would I go? I see enough of the world from here.”

“It’s boring—or that’s what you usually say.”

“When it starts bugging me too much, being stuck here, I just think about reality shows and how the humans can’t even manage their own lives, but they need to watch someone else’s.”

Jeri couldn’t argue with that. She had her own reasons for not going out today. In truth, she found reasons almost every day not to.

“He’s watching you. Or was. He just went to Nova’s.”

Jeri got up and went over to the window. “Who?”

“The blond one—prince crazy’s brother.”

“Trendan.” Just saying his name caused her to lose her breath.

“He doesn’t think anyone can see him, but I do, and he’s watching you.” The curtain moved, leading Jeri to believe that the teen had moved away from the window.

She looked outside and at the roof where he had been standing. “I know.”

“What are you going to do about it?” The bed springs creaked.

“I don’t know.” She turned around and looked at the bed, even though she wouldn’t be able to see her. “You know an awful lot for someone that doesn’t leave their room.”

“Busted.” Fade chuckled softly. “I don’t go far. I don’t do it in the daytime. I mostly just circle the block.”

“What are you going to do if you become visible?”

Another chuckle. “You mean besides freak out because I’m naked? Probably dance.”

“You’re naked?”

“Under my clothes, yeah.” The springs creaked. “Listen, do you think we could talk to Nova or Prince crazy about me not being visible? They do it. The soul suckers, so they have to know.”

“I can ask Capri…”

Fade scoffed. “She doesn’t want people to know about me—about most of us.”

“She’s only protecting us.”

“I know. I know. I’ve been like this since I was twelve, Jeri. Five years of being like this—”

“I’ll see what she says, and then I’ll talk to someone from Solrelm that can maybe help.” She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at the floor because she had no idea where Fade was in the room. “One of the princesses from Alterealm has just learned how to do it.”

“It?”

Jeri jumped because Fade was right beside her, talking in her ear. “Become invisible. She’s part Solrelm and Alterealm.”

“Maybe they can tell me what I am—you know, the cluster-er, the mix of DNA I have creeping in my blood.”

Jeri had tried to see Fade’s unique DNA combination, but it wasn’t one of her skills. Espy had tried to because she saw things, but your body’s makeup wasn’t one of them. “I’ll try, okay? I’ll see if Capri agrees.”

“Yes.”

Arms circled her and crushed her against what Jeri could only assume was a body taller than her own five-foot-six.

“Thank you.” She released her. “Now you just have to decide what you’re doing with your stalker.”

“He’s not a stalker.”

Fade laughed. “Creepin’ around the building hoping to see you isn’t stalker-like at all.”

“I’m sure he has his reasons.”

“What do you think they are?” The bed springs creaked loudly this time as if she’d just dropped down onto it.

“I know what they are. It’s our souls. They’re connected.” That was one way to put it. Jerika knew the whole truth but didn’t want to speak it out loud because it would make it completely true, and she wasn’t there yet. She looked at the bed. “I’ll go see what Capri is doing and talk to her.”

“Thank you.” It sounded like she yawned. “I’m going to grab a nap. Staying up all night being creepy is tiring.”

Jeri smiled. “I’ll talk to you later.” She left the room and closed the door quietly. Going down the hall, she paused in front of Vex’s room. She knew she wasn’t sneaking out of the building. Vex didn’t leave the room ever. She felt bad for her. To live that way. When Capri had found her, she was barely alive, and if it weren’t for Capri healing her, she wouldn’t have lived this long. She was only twenty-two but looked forty and had a good reason to be that way. Vex couldn’t go near people. If she did, she seemed to suck the life from them. Sighing, she went down the stairs.

Most of them wouldn’t have survived if Capri hadn’t found them. With the realms working together now, Jeri wondered if that meant those like her and the other women part of the Gemini league—would they be the last born like this? If the realms were controlled, and order restored, would there by no more DNA mixing that created children? Then again, if there were still those born like her, at least they’d have the help of the realms that were responsible. She hoped it was going to be that way. She loved the women here and her life wouldn’t be worth living without them, but the suffering each one of them had gone through before Capri, wasn’t something she’d ever wish on anyone else.

“You’re broody again.”

She stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked at Em. From the looks of it, she’d tried to tame her curly black hair by trapping it in tight braids. The hair was working its way out despite her efforts. “Fade wants me to talk to Capri about getting one of the Solrelm people to see if they can help her.”

Em looked up the stairs. “You think they have the answers?”

Jeri rubbed her hands up and down her arms. It was a comfort thing. “I don’t know. It’s worth a try.”

“Okay. Maybe the real question is do we want the seventeen-year-old on the loose?” Em grinned.

Jeri laughed. “It can’t be any worse than the rest of us were.”

“This is true.” Em pointed to the door to the garage. “We’re going for a ride; you want to come?”

Jeri shook her head. “No. I’m going to go talk this over with Capri.”

“Okay.” Em shrugged. “She’s in her office.”

“Thanks. Have a good ride.”

She paused by the door, her hand on the handle. “Karma and Sym are coming, so it’s bound to be eventful.” She winked and went out into the garage.

Jeri cringed and then grinned. Poor, unsuspecting humans had better behave with those two out together.