Free A Secret Fate by Susan Griscom Page A

deaths of Stefan and Claire.
    “Oh honey, I know it’s hard to realize you’ve lost the people you were closest to, but in reality, it didn’t all happen at the same time. You must try and remember that.”
    “When?” The single word choked its way past his trembling lips.
    “Almost two years now.”
    Shock, despair, anger and sadness flowed through his entire body. His mentor, his friend and by all rights the closest thing to a father he’d ever known was dead. “How, Mom? How did he die?”
    Siana wrapped her arms around him, let her mind flow into his and he saw the day she learned the news as Cael stood beside her, listening as Red, aka Dr. Flynn, delivered the horrifying news. The authorities claimed a bear attack in the woods behind Ristéard’s home in Upstate New York had taken his life, but Red, after examining the body determined that he’d been murdered. Cael and his mother instantly deduced it had been the evil Eidolon and that the Sectorium’s sacred book and powerful crystal would be missing too, as Ristéard had been their guardian. Siana continued to show him the days following the horrible news, the memorial they’d had with all the other members of the Sectorium in attendance to pay homage to their great leader. How could such a powerful man with so many extraordinary gifts have been struck down so easily?
    As if on cue, almost as though his mother had called him, Bart entered the room, a somber expression on his face. Cael stood, walked to his uncle and embraced him. The comforting shoulder and the checkered soft flannel fabric his uncle liked to wear soaked up the moisture of his uncontrollable tears and they held onto each other for several minutes. His uncle, his mother’s twin, was his other rock, also taking the place of the father who had deserted Cael when he was a boy. Bart, like Ristéard, tried his best to fill in the gaps whenever Cael needed a father figure. Bart always understood him, always got him. He may not have inherited powers from his parents like Siana possessed, but he had a certain sixth sense that was undeniable when it came to Cael. Though not considered an ability in the eyes of the Sectorium, it was a hell of a great gift as far as Cael was concerned.
     
    ***
     
    Breena held Addie’s hands, explaining what she’d seen in her vision. “I saw Grammy Siana talking to you. She said Cael didn’t know ...”
    “Breena!” Siana scolded as she and Cael entered the room. Breena blushed and pulled her hands away from Addie’s. “Please, take your friends into the playroom for a while.”
    “I wish I could see further, Addie,” she whispered before turning to go with her friends. She stopped in front of Cael before leaving, grabbed him around the waist and hugged him. Addie knew instantly that Breena was feeling his … whatever it was he was feeling, but realized with regret that it must be painful when Breena released him and tears were streaming down her cheeks. “I miss them, too. Every day.”
    Surprise took hold of Cael’s expression and his brow furrowed. He didn’t know she was empathic, Addie concluded.
    “Benjamin, please take the children and get a game going for them.”
    “Yes, ma’am. Cael, good to see you,” Ben said, patting Cael on the shoulder as he left the room.
    “You too, Ben.” Cael watched Ben, his stiff tall frame in that butler-type get-up he always wore, stroll from the room with the six kids in tow.
    Addie couldn’t drag her eyes from Cael as he stood across the room, hands in his pockets, looking very miserable. He wore jeans that hugged his thighs just enough to show off the protruding muscle she loved so much. She blinked twice at the red and white tropical flowered short-sleeved shirt he had on, revealing some sort of tattooed artwork he hadn’t had before. What the heck was that? From what she could make out, it looked like a woman’s legs wrapped in a tight dress. Why had he gotten a tattoo? His dark hair hung straight