Observe, Mosaic Chronicles Book Four Read online

  Nicole put her arms around Toby. “I need to be honest with you. I am still a bit hung up over him—but I do want to see where things with you go. I like you, Toby. And I’ve really enjoyed spending time with you.”

  Toby put his arms around her and kissed her on the forehead. “Thank you,” he whispered. He lowered his head and kissed her lips. “Sweet dreams.”

  Nicole said goodbye, then let herself into her apartment, surprised that the date had ended so early, but grateful nonetheless. She really had a lot to talk about when Lizzie got home. She couldn’t believe Judith Ann! That girl was ridiculous.

  ***

  “What?” Lizzie exclaimed after Nicole told her who Toby’s friend had been. “Judith Ann? Does Toby not know how much you two hate each other?”

  “Oh, I can’t stand her, but I obviously don’t hate her. If I hated her, I would’ve let her die in Arches.”

  “This is true,” Lizzie said, taking a bite of ice cream.

  “And I think Toby figured out from our conversation tonight that Judith Ann and I don’t like each other.”

  “Yeah, I’ll bet.” Lizzie was quiet for a moment, savoring her choice of Rocky Road.

  “So, there’s more,” Nicole said, sending her friend a glance.

  “More than Judith Ann?”

  “Yes. Guess who her date was?”

  Lizzie’s eyebrows puckered as she thought over the options. “Nate? Jake?”

  Nicole laughed. “No, none of your guys. She brought Austin.”

  Lizzie screamed, making Nicole laugh even more. Oh, she loved her best friend. What would she do if Lizzie weren’t there to make the horrible evening better?

  “I can’t believe she brought Austin! What a witch!”

  Nicole chuckled. “Seriously.”

  “How did he act? Was he into her, or does he still want you?”

  “He still likes me.”

  Lizzie whooped. “I knew it!”

  “It’s only been a few months since we broke up, you know.”

  “Yeah, true. And he’s not ever getting over you. I just know it.”

  Nicole leaned back against the couch and took a bite of her chocolate ice cream. “Coolidge said the same thing.”

  Lizzie’s eyes rounded. “When did you talk to him about Austin? Was that weird? Gross. Ick. I can’t imagine talking boys with a professor.”

  “It was fine. I didn’t know it, but Coolidge and Austin are practically best friends. Apparently, Austin talks to him about everything. Coolidge said that Austin will wait for me for however long it takes.”

  “Oh, that’s sooo cute!”

  “It definitely made me like Austin more. As if I needed that.” Nicole slumped, staring at the ceiling. “Lizzie, if I never get back with Austin, will you promise to follow him for the rest of his life and make sure he’s okay?”

  “You want me to marry him?”

  “Heavens, no.”

  “There’s no way I’d be able to follow him around unless I marry him. ’Cause that’s just stalking. And weird.”

  Nicole sighed. “I know. Don’t worry, I’m not serious.”

  “Better not be.” Lizzie picked at a piece of lint on the blanket covering her lap. “Have you talked to Rebecca about Austin lately?”

  “No. Last I heard, she was going to talk to the Great Ones and try to convince them to lighten up after everything with the embryonic manipulator is finished.”

  “That would be nice.”

  Nicole didn’t respond, and after a few minutes, both girls finished their ice cream and started doing homework.

  Nicole received an email from Andrew, informing her of the next Tarian meeting where he’d be introducing her as the newest member. It was Wednesday night, which Nicole thought was odd—she’d just figured they’d always meet on weekends, not including Christmas Eve, which was obviously an exception. She hoped the meeting wouldn’t go late—she had school the following morning and didn’t want to miss any more sleep than necessary.

  ***

  The next Tarian meeting was much different from the first one Nicole had attended. It wasn’t held in the same place and she didn’t recognize any of the people. Not even the secretary was the same. Did Jonathan quit, or did Andrew have several presidency members who floated around?

  Andrew invited Nicole to sit on the makeshift stage next to him and Shana. When he got up to start the meeting, Nicole noticed several eyes on her. She ignored them, listening to Andrew.

  He first invited any new members to join him at the stage. When none moved to do so, Andrew motioned to Nicole.

  “We have a new initiate.” He glanced at her. “Nicole, won’t you join me?”

  She got to her feet and stood next to him. He put his arm around her shoulders. “This is Nicole Williams, our newest member. And she did something no Tarian has been able to do before. She stole the Alerter.”

  The response was varied—several people gasped, some clapped, and many had suspicious expressions.

  “If she got it, where is it?” a man called out.

  “Good question.” Andrew pulled the Alerter from a small shelf on the back of the cheap podium. He held it up.

  This time, pretty much everyone in the room clapped.

  “How did she get it?” the same man asked. “Does it work?”

  Andrew grasped the Alerter around the middle, and a soft ticking started. The same red light as before shone on Nicole—this time, probably on her face somewhere, since she couldn’t see the red dot on her clothes.

  “Yes, it works,” Andrew said. He chuckled. “And it’s telling us that Nicole is an Arete.”

  Several people gasped in shock. Some jumped to their feet, murder in their eyes. Nicole controlled her urge to run while trying to look confident.

  Andrew held up his hands. “Yes, we already knew she was one. She was upfront with us. Her being an Arete is the only reason she was able to get the Alerter where so many of us have failed.”

  “How do you know you can trust her?” It was that same man. He was standing, still looking like he wanted to tear her apart. Nicole hoped she wouldn’t ever be alone with him. One of them wouldn’t survive.

  Andrew raised an eyebrow and stared at the man until he returned to his seat. “She performed the initiation. She retrieved the Alerter and brought it back. Don’t our bylaws state that any person who successfully completes their initiation will be accepted into the group without hesitation?”

  The man nodded.

  “I’d like to have Nicole tell how it happened.” Andrew stepped away from the podium, gesturing for Nicole to take his place, which she did.

  She took a breath. “I’m going to assume that most of you know the traps and circumstances surrounding the Alerter?”

  Pretty much everyone nodded.

  “Well, I’d never heard of it. And when Andrew sent me the information, it was apparent that I couldn’t go alone. I brought another Arete with me—a man who has more experience than I do, but who isn’t as interested in Tarian and Arete clashes as I am. He doesn’t have any stake in this, like I do.”

  The man sneered. “What kind of stake could you possibly have in our cause?”

  Nicole chose to answer only part of his question. She wasn’t ready to bring Rebecca into the picture until Rebecca herself did it. “My parents are Tarians. My mother’s family has been for several generations, and she’s the secretary of the Tarian group in Dallas, Texas.”

  Someone in the audience snorted, and Nicole was surprised it wasn’t the man who’d been antagonizing her the entire time.

  “You expect us to believe that Tiffany Williams is your mother?” a woman said. “That you’re her Arete child?”

  Nicole stared at her, neither smiling nor frowning. “Yes.”

  The room fell into silence. Nicole really had had no idea how well known her mother was. She was afraid to find out what Tiffany had done to earn her reputation. And what had she been saying to everyone about Nicole, for them to know Tif
fany had an Arete daughter?

  “The man who set up the traps made it so it would be impossible—literally impossible—for a regular human to retrieve the Alerter. Only an Arete would have been able to do it.”

  No one said anything, so Nicole continued. “I was able to get through two of the traps without my colleague’s help. He took care of the third, then helped me through the last—the tube coated in sand.”

  “How’d he do that?” the heckler asked.

  “He lifted me through it, by the clothes.”

  The man nodded.

  “There was a last trap that no Tarian could have ever passed, regardless of their tools or experience.” Nicole waited a moment, then said, “It was an enchanted statue that asked if I was an Arete. Only when I answered with an honest yes did it allow me to take the Alerter.”

  Nicole put her hand over her heart. “Andrew and Shana know that I still struggle with the idea that all Aretes need to be destroyed. But I want you to know I truly believe that most Aretes don’t earn their powers, and many others abuse those abilities. I almost died trying to get the Alerter, and I know many of you have lost loved ones to that same task. I wish more than anything that I could’ve known earlier and might have prevented their deaths by getting the Alerter sooner. This is why I’ve joined the Tarians. It’s not fair that I have powers and you don’t.”

  Most of the crowd cheered and Nicole hid a smile and her immense relief. She returned to her seat and Andrew took the podium. He started handing out assignments and right away, people began vying for Nicole’s help to complete said assignments. Nicole wasn’t sure what the projects were, since they were all mentioned in code that she’d hopefully be learning soon.

  She half smiled at the irony of the situation—Tarians wanted to destroy Aretes, and yet, here they were fighting over who would get her help. It was ridiculous.

  Nicole turned down helping with all of the tasks. “I’m still in college,” she said. “I need to focus on my education. I won’t say no to any tasks that are assigned to me directly, but it’s important that I not fail school.”

  “Why?” someone asked.

  Nicole got to her feet again. “Because I haven’t told anyone that I’ve turned. I’m not ready yet for them to know that I’m betraying them.” She took a breath. “And also, if I can somehow convince the Tarians to help me find a way to share my—and all other—Arete powers with regular humans, I might have a future. I won’t have to die in the next several months. In which case, I’ll need my education to continue successfully.”

  She held up her hands, silencing comments and questions. “My first goal is to share the powers. I need you to know that. But if that isn’t possible, then I and all other Aretes will need to be destroyed. In either case, the more education I get where my abilities are concerned, the better. I’ll be a much bigger help if I know as much as possible about Arete powers, even if I only live for a few more months.”

  Nicole sat down again. She couldn’t believe how smoothly the lies had fallen off her tongue.

  The meeting ended without her being assigned a new task. She was perfectly fine with that—she had enough going on as it was.

  And maybe Andrew wanted her to prove herself more. He didn’t need to worry—he had no idea how far into this charade she’d gotten herself.

  ***

  The next day, Nicole checked her laminated piece of paper out of habit. Nothing on it had changed in so long, she’d almost forgotten why she kept looking.

  But something had changed.

  It now read,

  Nicole, please come. I need you.

  She gasped, clutching it in her hand, and ran to the living room, where Lizzie was doing homework.

  “Anna Morse needs our help!”

  Lizzie looked up, her eyes glazed. “Come again?”

  “Here.” Nicole thrust the piece of paper into her roommate’s hand.

  Lizzie blinked a few times, staring at it. “Uh . . .” She glanced up at Nicole. “This is supposedly from Anna Morse?”

  “Yes. And she needs me. We have to go now!”

  Lizzie tilted her head, frowning. “No, we don’t. You can’t possibly know that this really is from her. Not only that, but you’ve got so much on your plate already. Finals, boyfriend issues, Tarian stuff . . . and don’t you have that convention coming up?”

  “Yes,” Nicole said impatiently. “But this might be more important.”

  Lizzie handed the paper back. “I’m going to say that yes, it is important. But is it more so than what’s going on where Rebecca is concerned?”

  Nicole hesitated. “No, probably not. At least, not right now.”

  “And how would we locate her? I mean, last time we tried, we couldn’t even find the street she lived on.”

  Nicole slumped onto the couch next to Lizzie. “I know.”

  “I’m not trying to discourage you—I’m trying to be realistic. Call Coolidge and tell him what’s going on. He might have more information by now.”

  “Good idea.” Nicole slid her phone out of her pocket and dialed the professor’s number. He answered almost immediately, and Nicole told him what had happened.

  “That’s phenomenal,” he said. “I really can’t believe it’s changed again.”

  “Me neither,” Nicole said. “I mean, it’d been so long since the first part happened.”

  “If it really is a message from her, we need to figure out how to contact her.” His voice became distant-sounding as he thought out loud. “The last place you saw her was in Ohio. I wonder if Steve Nielsen would be able to get more information on that street. He’d have better connections there than I would and could probably get to the bottom of this fairly quickly.” Coolidge’s voice became clearer as he spoke directly into the phone. “I’ll go ahead and give him a call. Explain the situation to him. I’ll let you know as soon as I have more information.”

  Nicole thanked Coolidge, then returned to her room to finish her own homework.

  Chapter Seven

  At the next Tarian meeting, Nicole was given an assignment, the nature of which surprised her. She and two other people—a woman and a man—were to go door-to-door and car-to-car hanging Tarian fliers.

  The Tarians were recruiting? How did the general Arete populace not know this? And if they did, why was no one speaking about it?

  As soon as Nicole left the meeting, she sent Coolidge a text, informing him of the change. He called her immediately, asking her to keep track of as many of the assigned tasks as possible.

  Nicole agreed to do it. She fell silent for a moment, trying to decide if she should stay in the parking lot or drive somewhere else to talk. “I’ll call you back in just a minute—I’m going to find a more private place.”

  She drove for several minutes, hoping Coolidge would be okay with the wait, then turned down a side street, pulled off the road, and put her car in park. “Back,” she said, after he’d answered. “It’s also occurred to me that we may not know exactly how many people are Tarians.”

  “What do you mean?” Coolidge asked. “Their group is small—always has been.”

  “Yes, but there’s been a completely different set of people at every meeting I’ve attended. The secretary has been switched out three times now, and I don’t think it’s because he’s getting fired. I think it’s because this chapter has multiple branches, and the leaders of the group don’t want anyone knowing just how many supporters they have. I mean, has any Arete ever taken a Tarian seriously before?”

  “I see your point. And if we always underestimate them, they won’t be far off from gaining a victory. Besides, you’ve assumed in the past that Rebecca is being honest with you. We can only guess right now as to what’s really going on.”

  Nicole was silent for a moment as she contemplated this. He was right and she felt powerless to do anything about the situation. “What should I do?”

  “Continue going to the meetings. Like I said, try to keep track of as many tasks as you ca
n. Watch where they’re recruiting. See if there are any patterns. And be careful—very careful.”

  Nicole agreed and they ended the call. She tucked her phone into her purse, then pulled back to the main road. The meeting had taken place Saturday afternoon, and she had a date with Toby that evening. Her assignment was to take place the following day at three o’clock.

  The date with Toby was a good distraction, and Saturday ended quickly. After what felt like only a few hours, Nicole was meeting the Tarian people, a woman named Meredith and her husband, Kurt.

  Kurt was short, with thick glasses, and Meredith was tall and skinny. They made an odd couple, especially their personalities. Meredith was talkative and nervous around Nicole, while Kurt was solemn and rarely said anything. Nicole couldn’t tell if he was distracted, annoyed with her, or just annoyed at the task.

  Meredith brought tons of fliers, and they started by walking the parking lots surrounding a few shopping centers, putting fliers underneath wiper blades.

  Meredith said she had a lot of questions about Nicole, but she only ever asked one.

  “Do you like having powers?”

  Nicole glanced at the woman, trying to gauge the intent behind the question. “Most of the time, yes. But I don’t like not understanding everything completely. How the powers are created, how they find me. That sort of thing.”

  After that, Meredith didn’t bring up anything Arete again, and Nicole wasn’t sure if it was because Nicole’s answer upset her, or because she really didn’t have anything else to ask.

  Once they’d passed out half of the fliers, they spent twenty minutes stapling rubber bands to the others. Then they drove to some very tall apartment buildings, and after sneaking inside of one, started at the top floor and went door-to-door, hanging fliers on knobs.

  As it was the middle of the afternoon, they didn’t run into many people. But Nicole jumped when the door she was about to hang a flier on opened.