Lifebound Read online

  Adriana frowned. “Like you and dad?”

  Her mother’s eyes popped open. “I beg your pardon?”

  “You and dad have been together for what? Nearly forty years now? Do you resent each other?”

  “We understand each other, Adriana. Your father and I are both lamia. We are together because we choose to be, not because we have to be.” Her mother looked down at her watch. “I have a meeting in half an hour, but I hate to leave you like this. Will you be all right until I return?”

  “Of course.”

  Deep in thought, Adriana watched her mother walk back into the house.

  “Maybe Josh and I could also be together because we choose to be,” she whispered at the older woman’s departing figure.

  With both of her suddenly affectionate and forthcoming parents away, the silence in the huge house got the better of Adriana after a while and she headed out to do a bit of shopping. She’d been meaning to look for a new cell phone and decided to head to a nearby electronics store to browse their stock.

  The community she’d grown up in resembled a cross between a medieval village and a modern town designed to look like a medieval village. An ancient thatched roof apothecary sat right next to a Victoria’s Secret made to look like an ancient thatched roof apothecary, only with bright modern lights and large glass display windows full of pink underwire bras.

  As she was growing up, the contrast had never bothered her, but after spending years immersed in the human world, she found the crossover of human marketing and technology more than a little disturbing.

  Well, she had herself to thank for that. Her support of Tom Bridges had made possible so many of the technical innovations that worked in the paranormal world as well. Tom had never realized just how much other-market penetration his gadgets had achieved. He would have been so pleased if he’d only known.

  She crossed the cobblestone street and headed into the electronics superstore—made to resemble a steel-clad castle—and found the phone selection. Tom used to poke fun at her plain vanilla phone constantly, begging her to upgrade to a smart phone that could take advantage of the wide array of apps and features he’d spent his life creating.

  It would be a nice tribute to him.

  As she browsed, she caught sight of a pair of teenage boys who reminded her very much of the wolfpack. They wore the same baggy shorts and graphic T-shirts that Josh and his entourage always sported.

  They hunched before a video game system display, flipping through the pages of a thick book.

  “I’ll look for the cheat code, you watch for the clerk,” one of them hissed at the other. “They keep these things shrink wrapped for a reason.”

  The second flipped back his long brown hair from his eyes and Adriana wished for a barrette to pin that mop back. He scanned the aisles nonchalantly until the other yelled, “Got it!”

  The book dropped to the floor and the boy began to press at the control pad.

  Adriana shook her head and picked up a phone—one she’d seen in prototype a year ago in Tom’s office. Now it was for sale, even in the paranormal world.

  “You found me.” Josh said right behind her.

  She whirled around, phone still in her hand. “Josh?” How could he be here? Humans could not cross in the paranormal world without a shepherd and usually a great deal of magical intervention.

  “And you shouldn’t have cheated to get me here,” Josh’s voice continued as she searched the aisles for him. “But since I’m here anyway, I might as well play.”

  “All right!” The boys high-fived each other. “It worked!”

  Adriana walked over to the game display to see Josh’s image on the screen topped with a banner flashing the words “Josh Trenton unlocked as player character.”

  “What is this?” she asked the boys.

  “Josh Trenton X-Treme Skate VIII,” the floppy-haired kid replied. “Best skating game ever!”

  “We just unlocked Josh,” the other added. “I told you it would work,” he directed at his buddy.

  Adriana picked up a copy of the game from the display and ran her finger over the cover image of Josh doing some kind of incredibly acrobatic skateboarding trick. Somehow in the midst of the action, the photographer had captured him perfectly as he grinned at the camera, his blue eyes twinkling with enthusiasm. A rush of longing ran through her then—longing and regret.

  Blinking to clear the tears that welled without warning, she flipped the game over to read the sales copy on the back, copy that seemed to be written in the language of teenage boys. It might as well have been written in ancient Phrygian for all the good it did her to try to read it.

  But at the bottom, a bright banner invited her to scan the little black box into her smart phone and download Josh’s awesome new app, an app which would let her enter the world of Josh Trenton X-Treme Skate VIII. “Come meet Josh on tour!” it declared.

  “Can either of you guys pull this up?” she asked, aware of her own phone’s woeful inadequacy.

  “Sure,” one replied and pulled out one of Tom’s favorite phones.

  A quick scan of the box brought up all kinds of information. While the boys played, she borrowed the phone and took a moment to scan through the site.

  She widened her eyes at the scope of Josh’s interests. In addition to all the clothes, shoes, skate gear, and other goods that made up his sales line, the site featured links to a long list of games and video clips.

  She finally scrolled to the tour icon. In only a couple of days, Josh would appear at Kona Skatepark to promote the game. The page featured an exhibition skate with Josh and his team, as well as an auction to benefit something called the Kona School.

  “Kona.” She breathed the word aloud as she remembered a certain magically endowed tiki and a farewell luau. “Kona Skatepark. He’s going to Hawaii.”

  “Nah,” the long haired boy corrected her. “Kona’s in Florida. Really epic skatepark in Jacksonville. Thrasher did a photo shoot there a couple of months ago.”

  “Dude, that was last year,” the other corrected him as he gyrated in synchronicity with the movements of the computer-Josh, pressing madly at the buttons of the controller.

  “I’ve got that issue at home, jackass,” his friend contradicted. “Three months ago, tops.”

  Adriana shook her head. Just like the wolfpack. She passed the phone back. She thanked them and headed to the phone checkout, game in hand. Maybe her new phone would have a navigation app to help her find Kona Skatepark.

  Josh sat on Rob and Alicia’s back patio with a glass of iced tea and watched the kids play on the swingset.

  “So,” Alicia said, “I thought you had a good trip, but I see I was mistaken.”

  Josh frowned and stopped watching Raoul’s attempt to swing high enough to wrap himself over the bar. “What do you mean? I told you. I had a great time.”

  “So what’s eating you, Josh? And don’t say nothing because I know better.”

  Rob nodded. “Don’t test her. She does know better.”

  Josh sighed and took a drink to cover his nerves. He wanted to tell them, but he wasn’t sure exactly what to tell. It was a really weird story, after all. Finally he decided to just start with the truth. “I met somebody.”

  “I knew it!” Alicia fairly squealed, clapping Rob on the shoulder. “You’re in love! So who is she? When can we meet her?”

  All the plans Josh had made for Adriana rushed through his head in an unstoppable montage of family dinners and friendly barbecues. He’d imagined so clearly the pleasure of introducing her to the people he cared about and showing her the places that meant so much to him.

  His throat went raw as all his plans evaporated in the late afternoon heat.

  “I’m not exactly sure.” He cleared an uncomfortable knot from his th
roat.

  He took another drink and listened to the twins yell at each other over who could swing highest as Rob and Alicia just waited for him to continue.

  The words “I don’t really want to talk about it right now” lay on the top of his mind, but instead he blurted out everything about her—and everything about Wiccan Haus. He showed them the manticore scratches on his back, now faded to red lines thanks to Adriana’s contact with him.

  They listened quietly and didn’t call the men in white coats to take him away, but they did look at each other a lot as he gave away every secret of the paranormal world he knew in one long burst of confession and plea. Even if they didn’t believe him, his two friends would keep his confidence to the end—mainly because no one else in the world would ever believe them.

  “But she left,” he said. “She left without telling me goodbye. All I got was a ‘Dear Josh’ about how I deserved better.” He leaned into his hands, running his fingers into his hair. “How? Guys, I love her. I never loved anybody before, but I love her. How in the hell could I be better off without her?”

  He pressed his hands into his eyes. Alicia gently rubbed his back.

  He longed to just give in to despair and grief, but he shook himself free of it. “I’ve got to find her. Alicia, you are an IT genius. I know you’ve got ways to find people and find out about people. You can find her for me. Find out where she lives, where she works. I bet somebody in Tom Bridges’ outfit can pass you some intel.”

  “I’ll do what I can, you know that,” Alicia said. “But if her people are as powerful as you say they are, I’m not sure any of my connections will do any good.”

  A sudden fear ran through him and he studied his two best friends carefully. “You do believe me, right?”

  Rob gave him a serious nod. “I served with a guy in Afghanistan. He was some kind of special ops. The rest of his team seemed like your usual paranoid spooks, but this one had something else entirely going on. He gave me the creeps to tell the truth. I heard he shot his superior, then went missing. What you’re talking about only makes this dude make sense.”

  “What about you then?” Josh turned to Alicia. “You think I’m a nut?”

  “I think you’re nuts about this girl,” she said. “And if she’s dumb enough to pass you up, then she doesn’t deserve you.” After a moment, she grinned at him. “Okay, stop giving me those puppydog eyes. I’ll find this Adriana Velen for you.”

  Josh threw his arms around her and pressed a big kiss into her cheek. “Thanks, guys. Somehow, some way, I’m going to convince her that she belongs with me.”

  By the next afternoon, Josh had pestered Alicia so often with queries as to her search results that she finally threw him out of the office.

  “Go outside! Go skate or go get something to eat, but get the hell out of here so I can concentrate! We’ve got two days until the Kona exhibition, and finding your mystery girlfriend is only one of many urgent items on the agenda!”

  Damn. He’d forgotten about the exhibition. Kona was one of his favorite skateparks. He’d grown up begging for trips to Jacksonville first to play, then to watch competitions, then to enter them. He’d won his first big event there. And he was more than excited to help raise money for Kona School.

  Pushing aside his impatience to find Adriana, he forced himself to leave the office. He drove aimlessly for a while until he found himself stopping at a very large upscale shopping center, the kind of place he usually avoided.

  He had already parked and walked in the front door of the jewelry store before he realized what he was doing and why.

  A dry little man peered at him across the first counter. “May I help you, sir?”

  “I’m looking for an engagement ring,” Josh said firmly. “Something different.”

  “Is there a certain price range you would like to stay within?”

  Josh looked around the store. It was nice, but not so nice he couldn’t easily afford anything in it. This was Mobile, not Milan. He wrote down a name and phone number and passed it to the salesman. “Give this guy a call. He’ll give you the price range. Tell him it’s Josh Trenton.”

  Josh busied himself at the first few cases of rings and watches while the little man made the call. “Oh,” came the man’s surprised voice. “Certainly. Thank you so much.”

  All the clerk’s condescension melted away into a professional ingratiation that Josh found disturbing, as usual. A call to his banker had that effect on people. He put up with the man’s effusive apologies for a moment then asked again to see engagement rings.

  Immediately he was escorted to the back of the store to a case tucked around the corner and shielded by a large display of grandfather clocks. Diamond after diamond glinted against the velvet, but to Josh they all looked like typical rings for typical girls. Adriana was not typical.

  Then he saw it—a smoky gray stone in a silvery setting, surrounded by glinting diamonds. The stone mirrored the color of Adriana’s eyes and the white stones around it flashed like lightning. “Let me see that one.”

  The man frowned a little at his choice, certainly nowhere near the most expensive item in the case, but passed it to him without comment. Josh slipped it onto his pinkie and admired the way it held both storm and fire.

  Just then, his phone rang. He peeked down at it to see that Alicia was calling. He passed the ring back to the clerk and turned away to talk.

  “What you got?”

  “Nothing. Less than nothing, Josh.” Alicia sounded perturbed.

  He pressed for an explanation and did not like the answer he received. Not only had Alicia had extremely limited success in finding any mention of Adriana Velen in any of her online sources, the few she’d turned up at first had suddenly ceased to be.

  “Her name came up in a couple of newspaper pieces on Tom Bridges’s philanthropic causes. I looked at them this morning. When I tried to access them just now to see if I could get any more out of them, the articles still come up, but Adriana’s name has been removed. That whole part of the article has been rewritten to take out any mention of her.”

  Alicia’s voice grew very serious. “Josh, whoever these people are, they don’t mess around. Nobody changes a Times piece like that. If I didn’t believe you before, I do now. Honestly, it scares me. I’m sorry, honey, but if she doesn’t want to be found, I don’t think you can find her. You’ll just have to wait for her to come to you.”

  Josh thanked her and hung up.

  He clenched the phone in his fingers. Alicia was right. If Adriana didn’t want to be found, he’d never find her.

  But how was he supposed to convince her they were meant to be together if he couldn’t find her? He’d spent his whole life going after the things he wanted, working hard, giving it his all, never quitting until all his dreams had come true.

  All but this one.

  For once, he felt helpless against the flow. For the first time, something he really wanted lay completely out of his reach, at the mercy of someone else to provide.

  He took three steps toward the door, his heart threatening to burst in his chest.

  He stopped and strode back to the counter where the little man stood with Adriana’s ring still in his hand. “I’ll take it. That and a really tough chain to wear it on.”

  Moments later, he fastened the chain around his neck, tucking her ring safely inside his shirt next to his heart.

  After all, he could hope.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The bus shimmied as the driver slowed for the turn into Kona Skatepark, the airbrakes letting out a whoosh that sounded to Josh like a sigh of relief. The trip from Mobile to Jacksonville usually passed pretty peacefully as the rest of the exhibition team played video games or watched movies on the big bus.

  For some reason this time he couldn’t get comfortable, couldn’t
shake the feeling that everything had gone wrong, that he’d left behind something essential.

  He missed her.

  Josh pulled her engagement ring out of his shirt and slipped it on the end of his finger, turning it to see the stormy gray stone catch the reflection of the sunlight through the dusty bus window. He wondered if he would ever slip it onto her finger, or if someday he’d just tuck it into its black velvet box and stuff it deep in the darkness of a bureau drawer to forget it the same way she’d forgotten him.

  He could still feel the way her hair wrapped around his fingers. The smell of her scent, vanilla and sweet cream, drifted past him at random moments, like she’d just got on the bus. When he closed his eyes, she sat next to him, fitting against his side perfectly, as if she’d never left.

  “You okay?” a voice asked.

  Josh opened his eyes to see Tim, one of his team, standing in front of him, bracing himself on the wall against the swaying of the bus as it navigated the parking lot.

  “Sure, just tired. It’s been a long week.”

  “I’m just glad you’re skating again.” Tim flipped back his long bangs with one hand.

  Just like Ben used to do. Josh smiled. Adriana had threatened often to pin that kid’s hair back.

  Josh shook the memory free. Tim had it right. Now that he was skating again, he needed to step up. While he was on sick leave, he’d been glad to leave all the planning up to the ones actually doing the skating. But this was his game, his tour, his show, and his responsibility.

  “Get everybody together for a quick choreography meeting,” he said.