Hyacinth - By Abigail Owen Page 0,3
of the Council’s decision weighed heavily on her.
Chapter 3
“Hey, Griff!” Without knocking, Ellie barged into her brother’s room and plunked herself on his bed.
Griffin briefly paused, stuffing his laptop into his backpack to look at her. One would never guess they were twins. Ellie was pixie-like with long black hair and striking violet-blue eyes. Griffin, on the other hand, was tall with golden hair and tawny, almost leonine eyes. As children, their mother had nicknamed them Artemis and Apollo after the mythological gods who’d embodied the moon and the sun. Although Ellie definitely had the sunnier personality. Especially lately.
“What’re you doing here this early in the morning?” Griffin asked, as he continued to pack his laptop and books in his bag.
“Nothing special.” Ellie shrugged.
Griffin paused again. “Okay. What’s up?”
Ellie wrinkled her nose, giving an exasperated huff. “Why does something have to be up for me to visit my brother?”
“You only block my mind reading when you want to hide something from me.” He zipped up his bag and slung it over his shoulder. “Alex here, too?”
“Yup. We just finished a run. He’s downstairs letting Lucy stuff him with breakfast.” Last year when Ellie’d moved to Estes Park, Colorado, she’d met and fallen in love with Alex Jenner. Alex had thought Ellie was just a regular high school girl at the time. That was before Griffin and Ellie had helped save Alex’s family from the Vyusher. Now they were engaged to be married.
Ellie hopped up and followed Griffin out of the room. “Where’re you headed?”
“Library. I have to finish this last paper for my economics class.”
“Hmmm. Makes me glad I didn’t do summer school this year. I thought you got that paper done last night?”
Griffin grunted. “I need a little more quiet than this mad house affords.”
As Svatura, their family required very little sleep. Griffin lived with Hugh and Lucy Jenner and their two daughters, Lila and Adelaide. The Jenners acted as Alex’s adoptive family. In the house next door lived more Svatura, Charlotte and Dexter Pierce, and their adoptive sons Ramsey and Nate. Lucy used her gift to sort of collect people with powers, forming their hodgepodge but now tight-knit family. With so many people around, there was usually constant commotion, even late at night.
Ellie laughed. “You could always move back in with Alex and me. It would be quieter there at least. I guess we were all up pretty late last night playing Trivial Pursuit. You should have come down and joined us.”
“What, and be a third wheel to new te’sorthene? No thanks!”
Alex was more than Ellie’s fiancé. He was her te’sorthene, a word literally meaning a friend bonded by heart or sprit. But to the Svatura, Ellie and Griffin’s clan of gifted people, the term equated to soul mates. It was a bond between two people that was fated… and unbreakable.
“Hugh and Lucy’s house suits me very well. Most of the time, at least.” Griffin stopped at the top of the stairs and turned to her. “Hey, Elle? You’d tell me if Selene appeared to you in a dream, right?”
“Of course!”
“So she hasn’t?”
Ellie rested a hand on the banister and frowned. “Not since we killed Gideon.”
“Okay.” Griffin started down the stairs, missing his sister’s worried look as she followed behind. When he reached the bottom, he turned and gave her a peck on the cheek. “See ya later.”
“Have fun.” Ellie decided to keep her concerns to herself. She gave her brother a casual wave and wandered off to find Alex.
Griffin let himself out of the house and walked to the shed where he kept his motorcycle. He hopped on the bike and headed into town. Most days he loved this ride. The winding road through the mountains had spectacular views, with vibrant hues of blues and greens. But lately the magnificent sights had been lost on him. His attention was inward. He hadn’t wanted to bring up Selene to Ellie, but after last night…
It’s got to be coincidence, he reasoned with himself. Selene hadn’t been in his dreams since the last time he had seen her. And that had been over a year ago.
His history with Selene flashed through his mind. The Vyusher were responsible for massacring his clan of Svatura almost a century earlier. And she was Vyusher. Hell, she was their leader now. Ellie and Griffin had barely survived and had spent the next several decades in hiding. During that time, Selene had frequently appeared to Griffin in his dreams. But in all those years, he’d