Awakening (Book One of the Eklektos Series)

Chapter Four

Kali had been feeling dazed, but still she couldn't help but be angry with her mother. Searching her feelings, it wasn't quite anger. She felt betrayed. Lynette had lied to her. About everything. And she was still acting as though nothing had changed. The only reason that Kali knew anything at all was because she had listened in. She should still be freaking out, in the dark, and Lynette had left her alone.

The ride home in the car passed in strained silence. The air was thick between them. Lynette barely noticed how quiet Kali was being, so preoccupied with her own uneasiness. When she did, she thought it was just because of the incident in the pool. By the time they got home, after the longest fifteen minutes of Kali's life, Kali wasn't even sure if she could speak at all anymore.

When they got into the house, Kali curled up in her usual chair in the living room and Lynette sat stiffly in the one opposite. Kali waited for a few moments for her mother to speak until she realised that she wouldn't. She decided to force the conversation to start and muttered "Am I going crazy?"

Lynette looked at her sharply, her eyes demanding an explanation, and Kali continued slowly "The things that have happened today aren't possible in the world that I know. The only explanation is that I'm losing my mind...right? I mean, I spoke to a killer whale, I could breathe underwater, and...that kid's heart wasn't beating when I pulled her out. I...it was like I brought her back to life somehow. Tell me how any of that is possible."

"You said you did CPR." Lynette offered weakly.

Kali clenched her teeth, literally biting down on her anger, and insisted "And you said I didn't."

Kali just looked at her, waiting, and when Lynette realised she wasn't going to get to stall any longer she sighed. Her face relaxed but it looked as though something inside of her broke when she said, "I don't know what to say."

"Say something! Anything that will make my life make some kind of sense again. Because this isn't even the first time!" Now that she had started, Kali's voice wouldn't stop shaking. But she was getting angrier with everything that her mother said, and the anger gave her strength even though tears were streaming from her eyes. She desperately wanted to hear the truth from her mother, just once, so she persevered. "There are so many things that I've just pushed aside and figured I'd imagined them. But I didn't imagine this!"

"Kali..." She hesitated on the verge of revealing something she didn't want to and then shook her head. "Sometimes life just throws something at you that you can't explain. Some people would call them miracles."

"Miracles? That's your answer?" Kali took a moment to breathe, trying to calm down and stop shaking, and then growled "That thing that attacked me when I was with Jade in August was no miracle."

Lynette's eyes drifted, as they always did, to the scar on Kali's face. And then they dropped. She sighed wearily, tired of the conversation. If she guessed that Kali knew what she was holding back she didn't show it. She was ashamed, but she couldn't bring herself to talk about Camelot, so she muttered "We've been over this, Kali. What do you want me to tell you?"

"Tell me how any of this could make sense! Tell me that there is some kind of explanation for what happened today!" Kali brushed tears from her eyes angrily and yelled "Tell me!"

"I can't." Lynette said calmly, her voice almost cold, and Kali froze. Tears were still wet on her cheeks, but she couldn't make herself move to wipe them away. A few seconds passed in silence, but it was an eternity to Kali. Eventually Lynette stood up slowly and murmured "I have to get ready for my date."

"Can't you cancel?" Kali asked quietly, hoping that her mother would turn around and make her feel like she mattered more than her boyfriend.

Once again, she was disappointed. "I can't. It's our anniversary."