House of Leights (Secret Keepers, #3)(23)

7





Running away to get some air was becoming a thing for me. The excitement I’d felt earlier in the car was fading away again under my panic. I was acting very bipolar in my emotions, freaked out one minute, excited the next. Seriously, how was I part of this Daelighter world? With true mates and bonding. I mean, who even used the words mates and bonding? This entire thing was too much like a fantasy novel for my liking.

I was not born on Earth!

Technically … I was an alien? Even if I had human DNA? Wait … was my DNA still human? I was born in House of Leights for a reason. They needed the secret keepers to be in fetus form for a reason, so that we could be born in the waters of Overworld. Which must have done something to us…

Rubbing at my temples, a headache was threatening to explode behind my eyes. It was just a light pounding now, but I recognized the signs from the few times I’d ended up with a migraine. Too much stress, teamed with no sleep, was taking its toll.

Light footsteps sounded behind me and I turned expecting it to be my mom. She was the only one who moved so stealthily, but instead it was another girl, who looked to be about my age. Her shoulder-length platinum-blond hair was the sort of color that most of my friends spent hundreds in the salon to achieve. Hers looked natural though.

“Oh, hey,” she said, blinking a few times as if she’d just noticed me there. “I didn’t expect anyone to be out here. I like to escape all the chaos on occasion.”

Samesies, strange girl. Samesies.

As she stepped closer, we both examined each other.

“Hi,” I said. “I’m Maya.”

“Callie.” She held her hand out to me.

A sliver of excitement had my stomach flipping. Not in the same way Chase affected me, but in the way that made me think this was someone who understood what I was going through.

“You’re the second secret keeper,” I said as we shook hands.

She smiled, turning her face from pretty into beautiful. She had a very Jennifer Lawrence look about her, and I could definitely see what had Daniel so enthralled. I hadn’t missed the way his face softened when she was mentioned.

“Yes, and you’re our third,” she declared. “Emma is going to be very excited to meet you. She thinks the four of us have a destiny to be best friends and family. That we’re all tied together.”

She was blunt in an enchanting way. Like she wasn’t sure how to hold a conversation without just saying everything she thought. But there was no malice in her words.

“This destiny business is getting kinda old, don’t you think?”

A tendril of curtness crept into my tone, but she didn’t seem offended. She leaned back against the railing and observed me like I was some sort of science experiment. “What do you mean exactly? Being chosen as a secret keeper wasn’t a destiny thing, it was just timing. Our families were one of the few in on the alien secret, and our mothers just happened to be pregnant at the right time. All four keepers had to be born in the same year.”

Mimicking her pose, I leaned back, keeping a few feet between us. “I’m not talking about the secret keepers stuff, but that still could be destiny if you think about it. What if we were conceived at the exact right moment to fulfill this fate, blah, blah.”

Callie chuckled, propping her feet out a little as she leaned further back. I noticed she was wearing black Converse, a mirror to mine that were by the door. She also wore a pair of jeans and a simple white shirt. We were actually twinning really hard right now, and for some stupid reason, that made me feel a bond with her more than any of the destiny crap.

She watched me closely, no doubt seeing the mess I was. “I’m going to guess that just like Emma, you had no idea about this world.” Her unusual stormy-gray eyes narrowed on me. The way she was staring made me slightly uncomfortable. Like she was seeing too much.

“I knew nothing,” I confirmed. “Which is kind of stupid considering my parents literally work in the government agency which deals with Daelighter and human relations. They said they were going to tell me soon, but that it was important to them that I live a normal life for as long as possible.”

Shadows crossed Callie’s face. “I spent my days moving every three to four months, living with my crazy mother who blamed aliens for everything that was wrong in the world. I would have liked a few years of normal life.” She shook her head, a half-smile back on her face. “Turned out, aliens are the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“Daniel?” I guessed.

Her face lit up like I’d handed her a limitless credit card and her own private plane, Christmas and birthday all wrapped into one huge moment. “Having someone like Daniel in my life … there’s no comparing it to anything else. Emma will tell you the same.”

I snorted before I could stop the rude sound. She blinked at me, and then raised both eyebrows.

“Sorry…” I said quickly. “I just … I’m not really down with this whole soul mate thing. I mean, does Daniel love you because of some stupid destiny? Or does he love you because of you?”

“I love her because of both,” came the deep voice from across the porch. He’d clearly come in search of her and had heard the end of our conversation.

Despite the fact that he’d been answering my question, his eyes were all for Callie.