Dissever (Unbinding Fate Book One) Read online

  “It’s not coming—there’s no way he’d move it back here after what happened last time,” he said, kicking at the sand. “Let’s go.”

  Her hair was whipping around from the strong breeze coming off the ocean and she gathered it, pulling it into a bun at her neck. “He’s dying and he has no heir to take his position as the Overseer—he has no choice.”

  He cut his eyes at her. “In nearly 250 years the Sanders family has never moved it to the same place twice. We’re wasting our time.”

  “Remember, before they were trying to keep it hidden by moving it to a different place every year,” she said, “but Fate can’t afford to do that this time. He needs to make sure every Akori knows right where to find it.”

  “Even if it does show up here, that still doesn’t get us any closer to getting the Overseer’s Stone, or figuring out how to get the power from it.”

  She put her hand up at him. “One thing at a time—first we need Tremain. They said it’ll be here tonight. ”

  “Yeah, based on information from someone who may or may not still be on our side.”

  “Don’t let them hear you say that. A lot of planning and time went into getting to this point.” She raised her arm, pointing across the beach. “That guy over there’s been watching the same place we have all night. He was there when we got here earlier.”

  “I noticed.” It was difficult to see through the moon light and he squinted his eyes as he looked in the man’s direction. “He doesn’t really look like he’s trying to hide it either.”

  “Think he’s one of their people? Maybe they sent him ahead to make sure it was safe.”

  “Not sure. Stay here, I’ll go check him—” He gasped and took a few steps forward. “Look!”

  A faint blue glowing began swelling up from the ground in the empty beachfront lot ahead of them. They watched from behind the tall grass growing along the edge of the sand as an ancient looking estate took shape.

  She walked up behind him and slipped her hands up his shoulders. “Let’s get out of here before one of their scouts spot us.”

  As if she hadn’t even spoken, the man began walking quickly toward the twenty-foot tall stone walls surrounding the grounds of the estate. The woman reluctantly trailed behind him. She glanced toward the spot where the other man had been standing.

  “C’mon, we need to report it’s here,” she said in a hushed voice. “And the guy who was watching is gone—he probably saw us.”

  The man glanced at her quickly as he reached the corner of the wall. He pressed his hand flat against the stone. “It’s freezing.”

  She reached up and placed her hand next to his. “It just came from somewhere cold—really cold.”

  He tipped his head back, looking up. She followed his eyes and they both stared up at a fifty-foot tall obelisk covered with glowing blue symbols. There was one standing at each corner of the wall. The top of the wall was covered with several inches of snow that glowed against the dark sky above them.

  He grinned at her. “Let’s just take a quick look around.”

  She looked back at him with uncertainty, but followed behind him as he began moving. They skirted the edge of the wall until they came to an archway. There was a gate, but it was wide open.

  She grabbed his arm, stopping him. “Just a quick peek?”

  He nodded and continued through the opening to the estate. The ground under their feet was covered in a thin layer of slushy snow. It was melting fast in the heat and soaked through their shoes. The smell of soggy wet earth was already beginning to fill the air.

  They looked around to find themselves standing at the far end of the grounds—it looked similar to a garden with benches, hedges, statues, and leafless trees. There was even an empty swimming pool surrounded by tables and chairs layered with snow.

  Every building in sight was made of grey stone and carved with symbols. Stone paths branched off of a main walkway in different directions, each ending at one of the small stone houses that lined the edge of the garden. At the end of it, straight ahead of them, was the enormous main house. It was on the opposite end from where they’d entered and took up the entire space.

  The woman leaned over. “It looks just like the drawings we saw in the—”

  “Shhh! Get down.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her behind the snow topped hedges.

  They held their breath and watched as two men passed by, heading for the front gate. Once the men were out of view the woman closed her eyes and shook her head.

  “We gotta get out of here,” she whispered, backing toward the way they came. “If we get caught they’ll—“

  Suddenly the man was thrown to the ground, sinking in the sloppy melting snow. The woman started to flee but couldn’t get any traction and slipped. She was quickly grabbed from behind and a hand was firmly placed over her lips. The glowing blue symbols on the hands indicated they belonged to an Akori.

  An angry voice filled her ear. “What the hell are you two doing here?”

  The man on the ground let out a huge sigh of relief as he recognized the voice. He got to his feet and shook the icy water from his hands. “Damn, I’m glad it’s only you—I thought we were done for.”

  The woman was immediately released and shoved into the man. She whipped around to face the one who’d had a hold on her.

  “Well, don’t you look—different,” she said, sizing up their aggressor. “I haven’t seen you in at least—”

  “Get out, before you screw up the entire plan. Let them know we’ve got the girl under control and she won’t be an issue—no matter what happens. I’ll visit as soon as it’s safe.”

  “Will do,” the man said. He took her hand, pulling her toward the beach. “We’ve seen enough anyway.”

  Standing in the garden, Addison Sanders stared out at the ocean in the distance. It was hard to believe just yesterday she’d been looking at snow capped mountains from that exact spot. It was by far the most wonderful place they’d ever been. Usually, the landscape looked pretty much the same the morning after the estate moved to a new location. Addy was shocked when she woke up and found they were in the middle of a busy tourist town, right on the beach.

  The tradition after a move was for everyone who lived at Tremain to gather together as Addy’s grandfather, Fate Sanders, said a few words. She looked on as Akori slowly migrated to the garden to listen to him speak.

  The tropical sun was hot and Addy twisted her long dark hair into a messy ponytail as she waited. The garden was getting crowded, but her grandfather still wasn’t anywhere in sight. Glancing at the time on her phone, she also started wondering what was taking her friend Kim so long to get there. Addy decided to head down the sidewalk toward her villa to get her.

  The entire south wing of the main house was where her grandfather lived. From where she was walking, Addy could see the terrace that wrapped around his side of the building. She thought maybe he’d be out there since he wasn’t in the garden, but she didn’t see him.

  The large gate across the driveway was rarely closed, but as she made her way around to Kim’s villa, Addy saw it was shut securely with two of the Akori guards posted in front of it. They always locked the estate down after a move while scouts were sent out to confirm they were safe.

  As she made the turn up Kim’s sidewalk, Addy noticed palm trees peeking up outside the walls of the estate. That was something she never thought she’d see. Being at the estate without any snow was like seeing an entirely different place. The grass was soggy, but there wasn’t one single patch of the white stuff left in sight.

  The structures that made up Tremain looked ancient, but on the inside they were completely modern. All except for the library—that was the only place that looked exactly as it did when Oren Sanders, the first Overseer of the Sanders family, laid eyes on it. Her grandfather wouldn’t allow any changes to it at all—not even electricity.

  Addy reached up to grab the door handle to Kim’s villa just as it was whipped op
en. She and Kim both jumped back and shrieked.

  Kim put her hand on her chest and smiled after getting over the shock. “Did you see where we are?”

  “Kind of hard to miss,” Addy said, grinning. “I’ve been waiting for you in the garden.”

  Kim smiled back at her. “I couldn’t find anything to wear that wasn’t lined with fleece.”

  Clothes were going to be an issue for everyone until they could get to the store. Almost everything Addy owned was for cold and snowy weather, since that’s where they’d always lived. She’d just thrown on cut off jeans and a tank top when she was hurrying to get dressed after discovering where they were. Kim had clearly put a little more effort into getting ready, and managed to pull together a semi-stylish outfit.

  “The weather’s perfect,” Kim said, looking up at the sky as they walked back to join the others in the garden. “Living here is gonna be like being on vacation for an entire year. It’s so much better than back home.”

  Addy smiled and nodded, remembering what the rough winter weather was like where Kim grew up. That may have been the worst place Addy’s grandfather had ever moved the estate. The only good thing about it was meeting Kim.

  Tremain had relocated just outside of Kim’s hometown three years earlier. Her parents owned the bookstore where Addy had made frequent trips for her grandfather. Kim and Addy became instant friends, and it wasn’t long before Addy was confessing everything about her strange home situation to her.

  Explaining how she and her Grandfather lived at an ancient estate belonging to a group of immortals called Akori seemed much easier in Addy’s head than it had turned out to be. Adding the part about Fate being the human Overseer of the Akori and his ability to move the estate around with powers stored in a slab of stone may have made her story seem even more unlikely.

  Addy’s grandfather, and all of her grandfathers before him, acted as a bridge between the Akori and the humans—only the humans didn’t know about the Akori. Her family took care of Tremain, which was kind of like the Akori’s home base, while most of them lived amongst the humans. That’s what being the head of the Sanders family was all about—your life was dedicated to the Akori—to being what they called the Overseer.

  Kim had a million questions that Addy had no good answers for—she’d never really thought about most of them. She’d been around the Akori her entire life—asking where they came from and how it was possible to shift time or move the estate was like asking how humans came to be—there was no real answer. The Akori were just there—living like the human. It was Addy’s normal—all she’d ever known.

  Aside from the blue symbols marking the tops of their hands, Akori looked exactly like humans. Their immortality coupled with their ability to slightly shift time back definitely set them apart though.

  It took a lot, but the girls persuaded Addy’s grandfather and Kim’s parents to let her stay with them. Kim’s parents didn’t really want her moving away, but she was already eighteen and out of school. They knew she’d go regardless of what they said.

  Fate stressed to Addy that it was a very big deal letting a human live among the Akori, and Addy always had to be sure Kim stayed out of trouble or her grandfather would send her back home.

  Everyone was gathered in the open area of the garden when they walked up, but Fate still wasn’t there. Addy spotted her grandfather’s childhood friend Bernard and his wife Doris entering from her left. Only five humans, including her and her grandfather, lived at Tremain. They were two of them. The other human was Kim.

  “It’s strange Fate’s not out here yet,” Addy said, leaning over toward Kim. “I’m gonna go see what’s going on.”

  Addy pushed through the crowded lawn to the front where Bernard stood talking with Gage and Malcolm. They were the Akori guards who’d been at the front gate. Seeing them there, instead of being posted at the front of the estate had her worried.

  “Good morning,” Bernard said, turning his attention at Addy as she approached. “This place was quite a nice surprise.”

  “Surprise doesn’t cover it.” Addy put her hands up, motioning around. “Not that I’m complaining, but why’d he move us somewhere good for a change?”

  “I’m as baffled as you are,” he said, following her eyes. “I had no idea we were coming here of all places.”

  “So,” she said, moving a little closer to him and lowering her voice. “We’re all waiting—where’s Fate?”

  Bernard stepped forward, taking her hand. “I just spoke to him. He’s weak, but he’s ok. The move took a lot out of him.”

  Addy diverted her eyes. “Oh.”

  At eighty-three years old, Fate had lived the longest of any Overseer ever. He warned Addy that moving the estate would take a toll since his health was bad, but she didn’t expect him to miss speaking to everyone. In her entire nineteen years being alive, he’d never missed addressing everyone after a move.

  “Your grandfather will be fine,” Bernard said, nodding at Addy. “He’d like to meet with us this evening, but for now he wants you to go enjoy the beach while he rests.”

  Addy glanced over her shoulder at the group of Akori standing behind her. “What should we do about them?”

  Bernard looked in Addy’s direction and raised his eyebrows. “What would you like to do about them?”

  Fate always said she was to take charge when he wasn’t around and not rely on the others to tell her what to do—that one day when he was gone it would be her job. It was just easier said than done. She’s grown up with the Akori at the estate—she respected them and they were her friends. Telling them what to do was awkward.

  “We should probably just send everyone away unless you want to speak to them,” Addy said with a slight amount of uncertainty.

  Bernard was clearly trying to force back amusement as he spoke. “Do you want me to speak to them?”

  Addy rolled her eyes and smiled at him. “Fine,” she said, tipping her head to the side. “Please let the group know what’s happening.”

  Bernard motioned to Gage and Malcolm, the Akori guards who were still standing there waiting for her to say something to them.

  She shrugged her shoulders. “You guys can just break up the group or something after Bernard is done talking, I guess.”

  Malcolm and Gage exchanged looks and headed off.

  “We’ll have to work on that part, I guess.” Bernard grinned, patting her on the shoulder as he made his way to the front of the impatient looking crowd.

  Chapter 2