Obumbrate (The Illumine Series) Read online

  OBUMBRATE

  O B U M B R A T E

  | THE ILLUMINE SERIES, BOOK TWO |

  PRAISE FOR ILLUMINE

  BOOK ONE OF THE ILLUMINE SERIES

  "A fabulous YA read, full of many different surprises at every turn! You don't know what, or who you'll run into next!" - UNIQUELY MOI BOOKS

  "... Illumine is a fast paced, action packed paranormal which will keep sink it's teeth into you until you've reached the last page!" - BELLEBOOKS

  "I will definitely be reading the next book in the series to find out more!" - BOOKSTACKSONDECK

  "If you like YA books about a little bit of magic, angels, and demons, I think you should give this book a try!" - SYNCHRONIZED READING

  "... If you’re looking for a fast supernatural read, this one is perfect!" - I READ INDIE BOOK BLOG

  "Can't wait for the second book in this series set to come out this summer. Hurry up summer! I’ve got some reading to do!" - NATS BOOK NOOK

  "...[ESSALLIE & KAYDEN'S] witty banter, their smoldering hidden feelings, all of it meshed beautifully and I was smitten." - HOPELESSLY DEVOTED BILBILOPHILE

  "... The overriding story arc of a girl who has been kept in the dark as to who she is or what she can do and has to seek advice from a creature that has tormented her nightmares is compelling." - READING THE PARANORMAL

  "This is surely to have a sequel that I myself will be looking forward to reading." - JACQUIE TALENTO

  "Alivia Anders' books must be read; they capture the reader from the start." - LEIGH KERN

  "I really felt like Essallie was telling her story, the emotions and characters that were concentrated on only made me want to know more as I began to connect with them. The reality spliced with fantasy was the perfect mix for laying out in the beach sun and forgetting about reality." - KATIE QUINN

  "If you enjoy Angels/Demons with various supernatural creatures thrown in the mix, you should enjoy this story!" - WILLOW CROSS, AUTHOR OF BIRTHRIGHT

  "PERFECT YA FICTION." - ALEX RIMANY

  "Essie... Was great as a protagonist, and dutifully stubborn. Her personality made for an interesting story, as well as the personalities of the people closest to her... Illumine was a fun, quick read that besides leaving me anxiously awaiting the second in the story, left me smiling." - MERA'S YA BOOK LIST

  Also by

  A L I V I A A N D E R S

  I L L U M I N E

  DON'T MISS BOOK THREE OF

  THE ILLUMINE SERIES

  R I V E N

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to real people, places, and events are strictly used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination.

  Copyright © 2012 by Alivia Anders

  For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact our Special Sales email at [email protected].

  This author can be brought to your live event. For more information or to book an event, contact the Events email at [email protected].

  Photographs copyright © 2012 by Alivia Anders

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  Book design by Alivia Anders

  The text for this book is set in Adobe Garamond Pro

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  Summary: When half-angel Essallie Hanley teams up with another half-angel named Ari, the two seek to uncover the trail of mysteries surrounding her life, while trying not to fall prey to a demon's antics and a great evil hell-bent on stopping her.

  ISBN 978-1-4700-7714-3

  ASIN

  If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is "stripped" and therefore stolen property.

  O B U M B R A T E

  | THE ILLUMINE SERIES, BOOK TWO |

  A L I V I A A N D E R S

  For Holden.

  My angel, forever in my heart.

  CHAPTER ONE

  BREAK ME DOWN

  Once upon a time, on a cold winters night

  A young and fair maiden was given a fright

  She had awoken to chaos beyond her control

  A horrorful sight, a new world to behold

  The ocean sealed under a mass of chains

  While perched atop, one coffin remains

  A circlet of fire wrapped about like a cage

  As muffled screams sounded desperate with rage

  Yet the only comfort the maiden received

  Was watching the white roses burn as she grieved

  "Miss Hanley."

  I jolted against my plastic-backed chair, muscles clenched. The pencil in my hand froze mid-stroke as my mind went blank. I dared the chance to look up. Mr. Whitley, my Biology teacher, gave me a disapproving stare, lips pulled tightly across his aged face. Behind him, my classmates all stared at me, stone-cold silence filling the room.

  Instantly I relaxed. A man like Whitley was about as threatening as a newborn hamster. I kept a cool face as I asked, "Was there something you needed?"

  Behind him, I heard some of the kids snicker. Whitley did his best to appear intimidating, puffing out his chest and letting his glasses dangle precariously on the edge of his nose, but only succeeded in looking like a moth-eaten teddy bear. "I was going to commend you on your excellent note-taking for the final next week. Thankfully, I held my tongue." His hand rested lightly on the edge of my desk, tapping it twice at the paper on my desk. "It is good to know though, that you won't be failing your art final."

  I glanced down at the paper in front of me. A large human eye encompassed the whole sheet from corner to corner, dark lashes framing a detailed interior sketch of chains settling over ocean waves, a sole hand reaching out from under the surface. Above the chains rested a coffin white roses lain on top, fire licking around the base. It was a scene straight from a macabre book.

  "Uh, thanks? The idea sort of stemmed from a poem, I think." I half-shrugged, not really sure where I got the idea from. Whitley didn't seem to notice, or care for that matter.

  "I'd put the drawings away and lay off the Edgar Allen Poe, Miss Hanley. You missed a lot while daydreaming away. Unless your wish is to have my class again next year, your peers all off at college, leaving you behind in this tiny town," he straightened and moved his hand off my desk, returning up to the white board at the front, continuing to map out the portions of our upcoming final.

  Tugging the sleeves of my cream sweater over my hands, I tried to focus on the board in front of me. My eyes however, had another plan. They continued to drift down to the drawing laid out before me. It was one of dozens I had completed in the last two weeks, each one more detailed than the last. It always started with the same almond eye shape; same curve of the pencil under my hand, same smudging and detailing, everything perfectly identical, save for one thing. Some of the eyes told stories of black birds and blood, others told stories of sunlight and fire. The aching part was that each had been created while I revisited Leo's death in my mind.

  I snapped my notebook shut to hide the drawings out of sight. Lips clenched tight, I made sure to pay extreme attention to the white board and write down as much as I could before the bell rang ten minutes later. Whitley seemed pleased when I passed by him to leave, apparently taking my sudden interest in last-minute note-taking was on his accord. Maybe he thought I'd taken his words seriously, like the notion of having to repeat a year in a public education system was the most terrifying thing that could happen to me.

  Hah. If only he knew. One look in my head and he'd see school was one of the last good ble
ssings I had left.

  In the hallway I stood in front of my open locker, staring at its contents without really seeing. I half-pretended to debate on what books would be most important to take home with me for studying, but what exactly mattered when you knew death was knocking on your door? Even if I did give a damn, I could still fail all of my finals and graduate with a low C-average in every class. I had to give it to my grandparents. If it hadn't been for them pushing me into one of NYC's select private schools, I wouldn't have the luxury of slacking off like I had been. Again, that was still assuming it meant something. The idea of even seeing graduation rested on the assumption that I'd live long enough to actually make it down the aisle and take that diploma, that maybe they'd teach me something useful for my limited existence. Seeing as they didn't teach me the ins and outs of being half of a mythical creature, and how to save myself from a fiery death, I was betting that would never happen.

  Nothing had gone right since I'd set foot in Belfast. And that was putting it lightly. Just as I has started to settle into my old home I had learned a bitter truth; that every part of my life had been a sick, crafted lie. From the second I came into existence, I had been shuffled and shoved, picked on by a lunatic mother, abandoned by an unimaginable, alleged heavenly being of a father. I had learned that running from your past only brings it front and center, hungry with a vengeance. Life, to me, felt like a tragic painting. I felt like a sparrow with clipped wings, still believing it could fly.

  I sighed and pressed my forehead to my locker. Since coming home from the hospital in Charon, day to day life had been practically impossible. It was hard enough learning I wasn't the human I thought I was, but add in a demon that was constantly looking for a weak-point in my instinctive defenses to kill me, and I was already in over my head. Kayden, Ursula, and Abigail had all agreed to let the past fall behind us and to never speak of it again. Leo wasn't dead to anyone but us, and as far as everyone else knew he was off in New Zealand for a student exchange program.

  Leo... he was gone. Everything had happened so fast, my mind was still trying to wrap itself around the reality of it. A cold shiver raised goosebumps on my skin, scattered fragments of that night playing out in my head. One minute, it had been about dressing up and having fun, embracing a side of me I didn't know was possible to love.

  Then it had all turned to blood, so much blood.

  Blood on my hands, dark red liquid staining my palms, embedding itself deep in the cracks and cuticles of my fingers. Blood on my white dress and on Leo's button-up, sticky and slick as it clung to his paling skin, clouded eyes staring blankly at the ceiling as his final breath exhaled from his lips.

  I wanted to mourn him, honor his death, but everywhere I turned someone was watching me. Kayden rarely left my side at school, and when I would think I'm alone at home the floorboards would creak and give away Jayson silently listening in to my stifled sobs. Jayson quickly caught on that something was different when I came home from what he thought had been an innocent sleepover at Ursula's. Maybe it had been the way I started sobbing the first time I picked up my sketchbook, days after his death. Maybe it had been the night he found me sobbing on the bathroom floor, my hands scrubbed raw to the point of bleeding all over the linoleum floor. He had silently been watching me fall to pieces, completely unaware of the weight on my shoulders, completely unaware of how I wanted to tell him everything. Instead I had lied, citing that finals was taking a toll on me, that Abigail would know exactly how to help. After all, she was my shoulder to lean on.

  Too bad Abigail wasn't an option.

  It may have been only two weeks since Chase nearly succeeded in killing me again, but his violent attack left only a fraction of the sting Abigail's words had. By the time I noticed she had been in the hospital by my side the entire time, I had thought I was delusional. How could a mortal be in a mythical realm? She was human, or so I had assumed.

  Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, shame on me twice as hard.

  A light cough came off from my left, my eyes spotting an unmistakable pair of Doc Martens standing next to me. "Are you coming down to lunch today?"

  I shut my locker, wiggling the handle to make sure it was locked. I made sure not to look at her as I passed her to make my way down the hall. "I'd rather not, Abigail." I winced as her name passed my lips.

  Abigail followed behind me, her long peasant skirt making swishing sounds against the sides of her legs. "Essallie, it's been two weeks. Enough is enough." She tried to match my stride as I walked faster until she couldn't take it. Hands grabbed at my sweater and turned me around. "So I'm a little weird, like you didn't already know. If it makes you feel better, I'll say I'm sorry."

  "That's just it, Abby. I didn't." My eyes began to prickle, tears threatening to make a show. But I couldn't cry, not with several students still in the hallway with us. I shook my head. I felt like an overused bleeding heart, shocked to life too many times to count. "I can't accept your half-assed apology. You're not sorry you kept everything from me because it was 'good for me'. You're sorry you were ousted. You could have told me."

  Abigail pursed her lips. I watched her lip curl upward as her trademark sneer and eye-roll made its appearance. "What did you think, Essie? That we became such fast friends because we connected so well?" She paused and tucked a stray piece of dark red hair behind her ear, deafening silence pounding between us. When she spoke, it was quiet and low. "I didn't mean it like that."

  "Then tell me how you did mean it." I fought to control the volume of my voice. My fingers began to twitch as I fought the need to let my knees buckle from the quivering that ran rampant in my joints. "You know, I'm not some fragile little thing that's too delicate to hear the truth. I should have known anyone who was close to me was bound to be tired to my freakish side."

  "I wanted to tell you, I really did." Abigail still spoke in a low-tone. "But it wasn't my call."

  Red began to bleed into my sight, clouding my view. Every beat of my heart matched the pounding in my head. I spoke in a hiss. "Of course not. It's never your call. It's always someone else's. I'm sorry I ever trusted you, ever knew you." I rocked back on my heels and reached up to press my fingers against my temples. "God, why is every freaking person around me some kind of supernatural freak?" My voice cracked at the end, and I lost my hold on the scream built in the back of my throat.

  It was only the two of us now, all the other students having shuffled off and away from the scene we- I was making.

  "Listen-"

  "No, you listen. I don't want to hear your sob story of how you kept me in the dark for my own protection. This isn't some stupid vampire novel where everyone keeps the squishy little human from knowing anything." Fire sparked on my fingertips, a familiar dull ache spreading through my veins. I wanted to release it, let the full force consume the hallway and both of us in it. "I can set anyone on fire in a given moment, burn forests to the ground, reduce buildings to ash! Is that why you couldn't tell me anything? Because I'm like a Molotov cocktail?"

  Abigail moved to answer, but I shoved a flaming finger centimeters away from her face, silencing her with a gasp for air. "No more lies, Abigail. You're going to tell me everything, or nothing will stop me from setting you ablaze."

  "It wasn't her choice, Essallie. It was mine," Kayden's voice called from the end of the hallway. I looked up to see him approach us, each step bringing his shifting silhouette into sharper focus. His dark black hair spiked on his head stood in sharp contrast to his rich tanned skin, eyes a spinning mist of hazel and black. Even dressed in an everyday get up of a windbreaker, t-shirt and jeans he looked like a dark immortal, the kind of person you'd swoon over under the bleachers and dreamt about at night. If I hadn't known better I'd have called him seductive, cunning, a mystery I'd long to find more about.

  Eyes locked on Kayden, he stopped as a brilliant arc of flames erupted on my second hand, engulfing it whole. It spun into a ball and cradled in my palm as I held it in his direction. "You
stay out of this. I'll pick my battle with you next, demon." I gave him a piercing stare. He had been someone to trust, to tell me everything and help me navigate this new power I could barely contain. Instead, it felt like he'd thrown me to the wolves. My attention moved back to Abigail. "Who else is weird like me, like us? My brother? Thomas? Jessica?"

  Abigail took a step backward, hesitation written across her face. She stole a quick glance at Kayden, who shook his head silently.

  "Oh my God. Jessica?" I hissed. "Is that why she's still in Portland? Did she even go to Portland?"

  "I can't say."

  "Dammit Abigail!"

  Like flipping on a switch, fire shot from my hands. A wall of bright blue flame instantly separated them from me, my fire acting like a barricade. Abigail reacted in barely enough time; stumbling into the lockers behind, her she quickly put out the fire that started on the hem of her skirt. Kayden silently joined her, swirls of black smoke curling at his feet.

  "How am I to know anything you tell me is what's really going on? Or am I just supposed to trust you both, the demon and the sneak, both holding your own goals at heart," I hissed, backing down the hall to make for the exit to the parking lot.

  "Essie, this is enough. You can't keep doing this," Kayden snapped as he stood alongside Abigail. "This is what it's like being different, you have to accept that. People live and people die. Leo was only the beginning. The sooner you accept that, the sooner we can plan."

  I felt a stab at my heart as he said Leo's name aloud. He shouldn't have been allowed to speak that name, the name of that brilliant life I let die. Grief washed over me in waves that was almost too painful to hold back. The urge to let fire engulf the whole hall crossed my mind again. "Plan for what? How much more have you kept from me? I can't trust either of you, not after what happened." I turned to face Abigail, fighting the urge to cry again. "Was any of our friendship real? Or was Kayden using you to get to me from the beginning?"