Forgotten Fates

Chapter Fourteen

Alice

I lay awake for the next couple of hours, and watch the ceiling fan slowly oscillating above me. The sound of Elijah's steady breath next to me is familiar and comforting, but still isn't enough to lull me to sleep.

Feeling restless, I grab my phone and carefully climb out of bed. I wait until the bedroom door is closed behind me before turning on the flashlight app, and heading to the backyard in desperate need for some fresh air. I plan on asking Tyler to join me, but the living room is completely empty. No ghosts in sight.

Telling myself not to worry and that he probably went to check in on his family, I continue out the backdoor alone. I grab one of the throw pillows off the patio chair to sit on, and plop down on the edge of the cold concrete slab. The grass is covered in dew and as I run feet along the blades, it feels like icicles between my toes. Soon I am shivering in just my T-shirt, and even though I could stop the cold win from numbing my skin, I don't.

"You shouldn't be out here by yourself at night. It's not safe." Tristan's voice makes me jump as he steps out of the shadows and into the light. Much like he did in my vision from earlier. Except this time his expression is clearly amused from being able to startle me. 

"Are you on that list of things I'm not safe from?" I ask him, as he comes to sit on the patio next to me.

"Possibly," he confesses. This time his face shows zero traces of humor. He means what he is saying.

"Then why aren't I afraid of you?" I ask. Because the truth was, I wasn't scared of Tristan. Even after everything I knew about him, I still felt safe in his presence.

"Sometimes I wish you would be," he tells me instead of actually answering the question.

I gust of wind makes it way through the yard, causing the limbs on the trees to shiver and then myself. "Cold?" he asks and at first I think he is being sarcastic, but there is nothing but concern on his face.

"I'm fine," I assure him. I try to pull the hem of the shirt down as far as I can, now hyper aware that I am close to naked while I sit next to Tristan. He sees what I am doing and in one swift movement he pulls his signature hoody over his head, and drapes it over me like a blanket. And while it didn't look especially baggy on him, it is almost big enough to fully cover me.

His act of kindness was such a contradiction to who the vison was telling me he was. I try to think back to every other encountered I had with him and if there were signs that he wanted to hurt me. But while he could be standoffish and intimidating, it still seemed like he was always trying to help me. Then I remember Seattle. When I thought I saw him in the library. "You left that book out for me to find. The one about sirens," I say confidently.

"There is one thing it got wrong though. Sirens can't use their call on supernatural beings," he informs me. "However, they do have other powers that they can use and are still very dangerous to you."

"If they are so powerful then what's the point of Makaria? And why would a shadow demon like that, want to help them anyway? What's does this thing get out of it?"

"Smart girl," he smirks. "Makaria gets a share of the souls. It's basically a food source for it."

"Doesn't explain why the sirens need its help if they are as dangerous as you say."

"That question is a little more complicated." he says. "For now, just know that a siren doesn't need Makaria to kill you. That's not what it's for."

"It has to do with my soul, doesn't it?" He looks surprised and it lets me know I hit a bullseye. "You literally just said Makaria gets a share of the souls, Tristan." I remind him. "It wasn't that hard to deduce."