Origin (Lux #4)(34)
Author: J. Lynn

Trying to push those thoughts out of my head as Daemon introduced Archer, I sat on the edge of the couch, holding DB in my lap. Dee sat beside me, her cheeks flushed with emotion. I knew she was going to start crying again.

Dawson made his way over to Lyla’s side. “Is Bethany lying down?”

Bethany? My ears perked up. Of course she’d be here with Dawson. In the wave of faces, I just hadn’t thought of her. Was she sick?

Lyla patted Dawson on the back. “She’s okay. Just needs to rest a little bit. It was a lot of traveling.”

He nodded but didn’t look relieved as he turned to Daemon. “I’ll be right back. I just want to check on her.”

“Go,” Daemon said as he sat on the other side of me. Leaning against the cushion, he draped his arm along the back of the couch. “So…how is all of this possible? How did you guys know to come here?”

“Your lovely sister and brother showed up at my club and threatened to burn it down if I didn’t tell them where you were,” Luc said, glancing up from his phone. “True story.”

Dee wiggled under Daemon’s glare. “What? We knew you’d go there and that he’d probably know where you were.”

“Wait,” Daemon said, leaning around me to look at Dee. “Did you graduate? You better have graduated, Dee. I’m freaking serious.”

“Hey! Look who’s talking, Mr. I Have No High School Degree. Yes. I did graduate. Dawson did, too. Bethany…didn’t go back.”

That made sense. No way could they explain Bethany’s presence.

“We graduated, too, you know.” Ash paused, picking at her purple fingernail polish. “Just want to throw that out there.”

Running a hand through his blond hair, Andrew made a face at his sister but said nothing. Archer looked like he was fighting a grin—either that or he was grimacing at the crystal dolphin beside him.

“And what about this?” Daemon asked, gesturing at the house.

Lyla leaned against the arm of the couch. “Well, I’ve known Matthew since we were teenagers. We’ve kept in touch over the years, so when he called and asked if I knew of any places to stay, I extended him an invite.”

Daemon dropped his arms between his knees as his gaze met Matthew’s. “You never mentioned anything like this.”

There wasn’t any accusation in Daemon’s tone, mostly confusion. Matthew sighed. “It’s not something I felt comfortable telling anyone, nor did I think I’d ever have to. It just never came up.”

Daemon didn’t say anything for a moment; he seemed to ingest that and then rubbed both hands down his face. “You guys really shouldn’t be here.”

Beside me, Dee groaned. “I so knew you were going to start in with this. Yes. Being here is dangerous, we get that. But we weren’t going to let this happen to you and Katy. What the hell would that have said about us?”

“You don’t think before you act?” Daemon suggested gamely.

I smacked his knee. “I think what he’s trying to say is that he doesn’t want you guys to be in danger.”

Andrew huffed. “We can handle anything they throw at us.”

“Actually, no you can’t.” Luc swung his feet onto the floor and sat up, slipping his phone into his pocket. “But here’s the thing. They were already in danger, Daemon. Deep down, you acknowledge that. Daedalus would’ve gone right after them. Make no mistake about that. Nancy would’ve shown up at their door.”

Daemon’s muscles locked up in his arm. “I get that, but this is like going from the frying pan into the damn volcano.”

“Not really,” Dawson said from the doorway. He carried two black billfolds in his hand as he walked them over to Daemon and me. He handed one to each of us. “We stay here for a day or so. Figure out our next move and where everyone is going to go, and then we all disappear. That’s what’s in your hands. Say hello to your new identities.”

Chapter 23

Katy

Reading my new name for a third time, I still couldn’t believe it. Something about this name was familiar. “Anna Whitt?”

Dee bounced a little. “I picked the names.”

Things started to click into place. “What’s yours, Daemon?”

He flipped his billfold open and snickered. “Kaidan Rowe. Hmm. That has a nice ring to it.”

My mouth dropped open as I twisted toward Dee. “You picked names from a book!”

She giggled. “I thought you’d like that. Besides, Sweet Evil is one of my favorites, and you made me read it, so…”

I couldn’t help it. I laughed as I stared down at my picture ID. It was an identical copy of my real driver’s license, except it was a different state and address. Underneath it was my actual ID—Katy Swartz—and a few other sheets of folded paper.

Gosh, I missed my books. I wanted to hug them, love them, squeeze them.

“I found that in your bedroom,” Dee explained, tapping a finger off it. “I snuck in and got you some clothes and this before we left.”

“Thank you,” I said, sliding my new ID over my old one. Staring at both was going to give me an identity crisis.

“So, wait, my new name is from one of those books?” Daemon frowned. He also had his real ID, but there was a bank card underneath, set to Kaidan’s name. “I’m afraid to even ask what it’s about. I better not be named after any kind of magician or something lame like that.”

“No. It’s about angels, demons, and nephilim, and…” I stalled, acutely aware that everyone was staring at me like I’d grown a third eye. “Kaidan’s like the embodiment of lust.”

His eyes sparkled in interest. “Well, now that couldn’t be any more fitting.” He elbowed me, and I rolled my eyes. “Huh? Perfect, right?”

“Ew,” Dee said.

“Anyway,” Dawson said, sitting down on the arm of the couch, “I had your accounts switched over to the new names. You’ll also find high school transcripts, so even though both of you are dropouts”—he flashed a grin—“no one will be the wiser. We’re all rocking new identities.”

“How did you guys take care of all this?” I asked, completely out of the loop when it came to making IDs and faking records.

Luc smirked. “Among my various and extensive talents, making fake IDs and forging documents is one of them.”

I stared at the kid, wondering if there was anything he couldn’t do.

“Nope.” Luc winked at me.

My eyes narrowed.

Daemon thumbed through his papers. “Guys, really, thank you. This is a start.” He looked up, his jade eyes bright. “This is something.”

I nodded, trying not to focus on everything that I was losing by starting over. Like my mom. Somehow, I’d have to find a way to see her. “Yes.”

We stayed in the room for a little while, mainly catching up. No one talked about plans, because I really didn’t think anyone knew exactly where to go from there. Lyla gave me a tour of her beautiful home when I asked to use the restroom, which, by the way, was the size of a bedroom and had interior, glass walls.

The house had more rooms downstairs than any living person could find use for. And it seemed like Lyla didn’t have a significant other, so it was just her in this sprawling home. Dee tagged along, wrapping an arm around mine as Lyla led me through an open kitchen and sunroom.

“You’re going to love this,” Dee said. “Just wait.”

Lyla tossed a smile over her tan shoulder. “I think Dee’s spent the last week out here, trying to come up with a way to free you guys, but…we really didn’t have a plan that Matthew and I could allow them to carry out that didn’t end with them being captured.”

Filled with curiosity, I let them lead me outside, back into what I expected to be breath-stealing temperatures, but I ended up stepping into an oasis.

“Oh my God…” I breathed.

Dee rocked back on her heels. “Told you that you were going to love this. Beautiful, isn’t it?”

All I could do was nod. Numerous medium-size palms lined a quartz-embedded privacy wall, creating the perfect shaded area. The space was rectangular, with a large patio with a grill, fire pit, and various lounge chairs. Brightly colored flowers lined the paver walkway, as did bushes I’d seen in the desert but couldn’t name. The scent of jasmine and sage was strong in the air. Toward the end of the property was a pool with a natural stone deck.

It was the kind of garden you saw on TV.

“When Dee told me that you loved to garden, I knew we’d have something in common.” Lyla ran her fingers along a red and yellow croton. “I think your love of gardening has rubbed off on Dee. She’s been helping me.”

“It helped.” Dee shrugged. “You know, not to think about so many things.”

That’s what I’d loved about gardening. It was the great mind-emptier. After investigating everything from the mulch to the neutral-colored pebbles, I followed Dee upstairs to the second floor. Daemon was with Dawson, Matthew, and the Thompson siblings. He needed to spend time with them. Besides, hanging out with Dee was bringing me a world of warm fuzzies.

One of the bedroom doors was closed, and I figured that was where Beth was. “How is Beth doing?” I asked.

Dee slowed down, falling in step with me. Her voice was low. “She’s okay, I guess. She doesn’t talk much.”

“Is she…?” Wow. How did I ask this question without sounding insensitive?

“Sane?” suggested Dee, but she did so without scorn. “Some days are better than others, but she’s been really tired lately, sleeping a lot.”

I stepped around a giant urn packed with snake plants. “Well, she can’t be coming down with something. We don’t get sick.”

“I know.” Dee stopped at a bedroom at the end of the hall. “I just think the traveling has her stressed out. She wanted to help, don’t get me wrong, but she’s scared.”

“She has a right to be.” I brushed a few strands of hair out of my face and focused on the room. The bed was big enough for five people and had a mountain of pillows stacked against the headboard. “So this is our bedroom?”

“Huh?” Dee was staring at me, and then she shook her head. “Sorry. Yes. For you and my brother.” A giggle escaped. “Wow. A year ago, Katy…”

A smile tugged at my lips. “I would’ve rather stabbed myself repeatedly in the eye with a spork than sleep in the same house as Daemon.”

“A spork?” Dee laughed as she went over to the closet. “That’s serious.”

“It is.” I sat on the bed and immediately fell in love with the firmness. “Sporks are only used in the most dire situations.”

Tugging her hair up into a ponytail, she stepped inside. I could see a few of my outfits in there. “I grabbed a couple of everything—jeans, shirts, dresses, underoos.”

“Thank you. I mean it. This,” I said, gesturing at myself, “is all I have. It will be nice to change into something that’s mine after…” I trailed off, not seeing the point in going there. Scanning the room for a distraction, I spotted another door. “Do we have our own bathroom?”

“Yep. Every room does. This house is sick.” She blinked out in front of the closet and reappeared on the bed beside me. “It makes it kind of hard to leave this place.”

I’d only been here a few hours, and I wanted to adopt the house. “So, where are you going after this? With us?”

She shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. I’m not thinking about it yet, because I don’t know how possible it’s going to be for all of us to stay together. Going home is out of the question for a ton of reasons.” She paused, looking at me. “Everyone at school was so…different after you and Daemon disappeared. With all the police and the journalists back again, people really started to get paranoid. Lesa was beside herself, especially after what happened to Carissa. It’s good she has her boyfriend. She thinks Dawson and I left town to visit family. Kind of true.”

Worrying the hem of my shirt, I steeled myself. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure. Anything.”

“My mom—how is she?”

Dee took a moment to respond. “You want the truth, or do you want me to make you feel better?”

“It’s bad, isn’t it?” Tears welled up in my eyes so fast I had to look away.

“You know the answer to that.” She found my hand and squeezed. “Your mom is upset. She took a lot of time off work—her jobs were okay with that. Very understanding from what I heard. She doesn’t believe you and Daemon ran away. That’s what the police finally decided when they could find no evidence of why you, Daemon, and Blake disappeared, but I also think some of the officers were in on it. They jumped to the runaway conclusion way too fast.”