Beckoning Light (The Afterglow Trilogy #1)(38)
Author: Alyssa Rose Ivy

As soon as the door closed, Naomi pulled me toward the balcony door. She opened it, and we walked out into the cold night. I looked around, and even in the darkness, I could make out men moving heavy equipment.

“Do those look like the actions of a nation at peace?” Naomi asked.

“One of my guardians told me that Energo was just protecting its borders,” I said quietly, though I no longer believed it.

“You have a lot to learn, Charlotte,” she said, as we walked back inside. “The reason you must get to the dungeon is that there is someone there who you need to meet. I cannot tell you who, in case they get it out of you before you reach the dungeon, but it is of the greatest importance that you make it there.”

“How do I get down there?” I knew that I would do what she told me, yet wondered what she meant when she suggested that someone might get information out of me.

“You have to get put down there.”

“Like as a prisoner?”

“Exactly. The hardest part of achieving that will be getting Calvin to agree. He is not going to part with you easily or want to sit by while you suffer. I have been told that only you will know how to upset him enough to get him to assent.”

Even though the same feeling that told me to trust my Guardians flared around Naomi, and I knew unequivocally that Naomi was telling the truth, something still bothered me. “Naomi, how do you know so much about Energo and me?” I hoped I would like the answer.

“All I can tell you is that I have warned your family, and they are on their way to get you. I will report back to them on your progress,” Naomi clearly held back most of the information.

Frustrated by how little I knew, I wanted to continue to press Naomi, but her expression told me that she wasn’t going to be offering more. I made one last attempt, trying to learn more about Blake, but she just urged me to get down to the dungeon as soon as possible. I reluctantly thanked her for her help and watched in awe as the woman I was talking to quickly morphed back into a cat. I didn’t know much about people who could shift into animals, but I expected there to be more, like maybe smoke or a strange noise. However, it happened so fast that I saw nothing. She waited for me to open the balcony door, and I watched her slip out into the night. For a second, I was nervous she wouldn’t make it to the bottom, but I figured that anyone who could shape shift like that probably had other hidden talents. I closed the door and began to plan.

I knew that an easy way to show Blake and Calvin that I was resisting would be to wear my regular clothes. I had a feeling they wouldn’t take well to my walking around in jeans. The rest of my plan was more complicated and would be more painful. I would have to hurt Calvin, and it upset me just to think about it.

Chapter Twenty-One

Charlotte

I couldn’t sleep the night of the ceremony. I just couldn’t wrap my head around how much had changed in my life over the past few days. I tried to make sense of what Naomi had told me, but mainly I felt torn between my love for Calvin and the knowledge that I had to hurt him in order to do what my conscience told me was necessary. I thought about how Blake had presumably taken my mother’s life. If Blake was able to do that as the Gerard, how could I ever really trust Calvin? On a deeper level, I knew that Calvin’s words of love were true; I just couldn’t understand where it fit into the larger plan. I tried to reconcile my vision of Calvin with one that would follow Blake so blindly.

I put on my nightgown before Tara arrived to fill my bath. I tried to enjoy it because I knew that it was likely my last bath for a while. Afterward, I put on my jeans and even pulled my hair up into the same hair band that I arrived with.

When Tara returned, she appeared shocked by my appearance. “Charlotte, I really do not think that is an appropriate outfit,” she said quietly.

“Who cares?” I said with an edge to my voice that I immediately regretted when I saw her face. “Tara,” I added, suddenly worried about her getting in trouble for any of this. “I would stay far away from me today.”

She looked both upset and confused. “But why?”

“Just trust me.” I sounded too much like James for comfort.

“I do,” Tara said quietly.

I walked over to the door and pushed it open. Another Bravado guard stood there, and he looked even more shocked by my appearance than Tara. I walked past him without a second glance and went downstairs. When I walked into the dining room, I saw that only Blake and Calvin were seated at the table. Both men stood when I entered the room, and neither hid their surprise at how I was dressed.

“Charlotte, were the dresses provided to you unsatisfactory?” My wardrobe choice had its intended result; Blake was already angry. “No, they were fine.”

Blake didn’t hide his annoyance. “Then I kindly ask you to change. Your clothing is simply not appropriate for the Essence.”

“Who cares?” I asked.

Mouth hanging open, Calvin stared at me. Realizing I might not be eating much in the coming days, I grabbed a pastry from the tray, but I remained standing.

“Charlotte, please join us?” Calvin gestured to an empty chair.

“No.”

“Why not?” he asked with concern.

“I choose not to dine with a murderer.” I hadn’t planned on using the word, but it just came out.

“Murderer?” Blake and Calvin said simultaneously.

“What did you do to my mother? How could you murder her?” I screamed at Blake.

“Charlotte, your mother decided her own fate. That man she chose to be with is the one to blame. He should have protected her.” Blake spat the words.

“That man? You mean her husband, my father? My father is a good man. And don’t you get it? I wouldn’t be here if she hadn’t married him.” I seethed with anger.

“Charlotte, calm down. You do not know what you are saying.” Calvin moved away from the table and toward me. He tried to touch my arm, but I pulled it away. This was the beginning of the hard part, and I knew it. It was going to get much worse. It hurt me to treat Calvin that way even though I knew I had to.

“Charlotte?” He reached for me again.

“Don’t touch me!” I said fiercely.

“Charlotte, please, calm down,” Calvin pleaded, his eyes full of pain.

“I’ll calm down if you get Blake to explain what happened to my mom.” I looked past Calvin to where Blake stood.

“Calvin, she is out of her mind. I have done nothing to her mother. She chose to run away and take our power, our light. Anything that happened afterward has nothing to do with us,” Blake said, as though reading from a script.