Avow

CHAPTER 28

New York 1983

From the moment Scarlet awoke in a park, staring across blades of grass at Tristan’s green eyes telling her she was safe, she knew something was wrong.

But it wasn’t until an hour later, when everyone gathered in Nate’s house for a Welcome Back To Life meeting, that Scarlet realized what it was.

“I’m making progress on a vaccine, but I’d like to do some more experiments with your blood.”

Scarlet said, “Of course.”

Nate nodded. “I will begin performing a sequence of tests in an effort to…”

Her thoughts drifted away from Nate as she thought about being cured. A cure would mean no more dying. It would mean Gabriel could love whomever he wanted. It would mean she and Tristan could—

Tristan shifted uncomfortably in his seat across from her.

Scarlet wrinkled her nose. She’d only been alive for an hour and already she was annoyed with their connection. With Tristan.

He’d looked at her. He’d felt her. But he hadn’t spoken a word to her since they’d left the park. If he was going to continue reading her emotions like an open book, the least he could do was exchange a word or two with her in return. But what had she expected? A plea for forgiveness? A confession of true love?

An image of him kissing the sexy redhead snaked into her head and unsolicited jealousy stirred low in her belly. She clamped down on that emotion for fear of Tristan reading her again and getting the wrong idea.

She no longer had any interest in the green-eyed Archer. Shaking him out of her head, Scarlet looked around Nate’s large living room, taking in the tall windows, giant rugs, and leather furniture. Huh. Nate never used to be so…coordinated. She ran her hand along the soft, leather armrest of the couch she sat on and, once again, felt like something was wrong.

There was a different vibe in the air, a tension of sorts, that hadn’t existed in her prior lives. What was it?

She looked at Gabriel, who gave her an easy smile. She smiled back. She had tried—truly tried—to give her heart to him completely in her last life, but thoughts of Tristan snuck into her soul as she was dying, leaving no doubt that her heart had never been, and never would be, completely Gabriel’s. So she and Gabriel had some issues to work out.

But that was not what felt wrong.

Tristan slanted his green eyes to her.

Why was he even here? Wasn’t he supposed to flee from her presence the moment she came back to life?

“…so we’ll start next week,” Nate’s emotionless voice said. “One of the tests will require both of you to come in at the same time, but it should only be for a day. Maybe then we’ll be on our way to a possible cure.”

Scarlet blinked her attention back to Nate. “Wait—what?”

Nate looked like he hadn’t slept in weeks. “I need both you and Tristan to spend a day in my lab.”

“Together?” she squawked. She actually squawked. Very embarrassing.

Nate nodded.

Scarlet opened her mouth to explain rationally and maturely—without squawking—how she didn’t feel like hanging out with Tristan for an hour, let alone a whole day. But Tristan cut her off.

“Yeah. That’s not happening.”

She blinked. It was one thing for Scarlet to reject Tristan’s company. It was another thing entirely for Tristan to reject hers.

“Why is he still here?” she asked, pointing to Tristan.

A muscle flexed in his scruffy jaw. Why did he always have sexy scruff? Did the man not own a razor?

His hard eyes shifted and a look of, well…Scarlet wasn’t sure. Contempt, maybe? Hot lust? A look of something passed between them, making Scarlet’s throat go dry.

“Tristan is here,” Nate crossed his arms, “to help with my experiments to find you a cure. I’ve insisted that Tristan live relatively close to you this time, both for his sake and yours. I need Tristan’s blood to be strong while I’m running these tests and distance from you weakens him. And I’ll need your blood to be somewhat weak so I can create a vaccine based on your most vulnerable state. Limited interaction between the two of you will be safe as long as you don’t touch one another, and it will only be for a few weeks.”

Scarlet swallowed, trying to get the dryness out of her mouth.

Nate continued. “I’ll be monitoring you very carefully and, if your eyes begin to glow, we’ll make a new plan. In the meantime, I need to take daily blood samples. Where will you be living? With Gabriel?”

Scarlet felt trapped.

If she moved in with Gabriel, he would expect their relationship to pick back up, and Scarlet couldn’t do that. She couldn’t give him an incomplete heart. She needed to end things with him and living with him would certainly make that difficult, if not impossible.

Tristan was eyeing her sharply and suddenly Scarlet’s palms were sweaty and her heart was racing and all she wanted to do was leave the room.

Gabriel looked at her with his kind eyes and calm presence. Why did he always have to be kind and calm? She couldn’t crush him. She didn’t want to hurt him.

Nate furrowed his brow, waiting for her answer.

“I don’t think Scarlet should live with Gabriel,” Tristan said easily, but his body seemed tense as he flicked his eyes back to her.

Scarlet blinked.

He was saving her.

Cold, distant Tristan was coming to her rescue.

Gabriel made a face at him. “Why are you even talking right now?”

“It makes more sense for Scarlet to live with Nate,” he said.

Ooh, Scarlet hadn’t thought of that.

Gabriel said, “How does Nate make more sense?”

He shrugged. “Nate needs to take her blood daily and do tests on her and that will all be easier if she lives with him.”

Scarlet loved Tristan.

She still hated him for all the hurt and pain he’d caused her, but she loved him for this.

Nate rubbed his cheek. “Tristan has a point.”

“I think me living with Nate is a good idea,” Scarlet said.

Confusion crossed Gabriel’s eyes. “Are you sure?”

Scarlet nodded and looked at Nate. “But only if you’re okay with it.”

“Of course.” Nate ran a hand through his disheveled hair.

It was then that Scarlet realized what was wrong.

Nate.

She waited until their meeting had ended and Nate and Tristan disappeared down the hall, then turned to Gabriel.

“What’s wrong with Nate—“

“What was all that about—“

“You go first,” Gabriel said.

“What’s wrong with Nate?”

Gabriel looked at the hallway and sighed. “While you were…gone, Nate fell in love with a girl named Molly and they got married—“

“That’s wonderful.” Scarlet smiled.

Marriage seemed like a fairy tale to Scarlet. Like it was some great reward she would never achieve. Because what place does marriage have in a life that comes and goes?

Gabriel cleared his throat. “But Molly wasn’t immortal, so she….”

Scarlet covered her mouth, instant sorrow filling her chest at the realization that Molly had passed away.

Gabriel nodded solemnly.

“Oh, poor Nate,” Scarlet whispered, her heart heavy for his loss. “When did…how…is he…is he okay?”

Nate had found someone worth loving only to lose her. Was there no justice in the world at all?

Gabriel shook his head. “He hasn’t been the same since. For a week after Molly’s death, he locked himself in his lab and wouldn’t come out. When he finally emerged, he just sort of threw himself into all kinds of medical research and hasn’t quit.”

Scarlet shook her head, unable to speak.

“He’s been a bit of a mess, but Tristan and I don’t know what to do. It’s like he’s…gone. You know?”

“Do you think me living with him is too much? Should I let him be alone?”

“No. I’m sure company will be good for him.” Gabriel scratched his chin. “What was all that about anyway? Why don’t you want to live with me?”

Her shoulders sank. She didn’t want to discuss this now. She didn’t want to discuss this ever. But she also didn’t want feel guilty anymore. Guilty for falling short of what Gabriel needed. Guilty for loving him, but not enough to take away his emptiness.

Scarlet took a deep breath. “We need to talk.”

Later that night, Tristan stood in the doorway of Nate’s home laboratory and hung his head to the side. “Dude. What are you doing to me?”

Nate was typing like mad on the giant computer he’d been talking nonstop about since he’d bought it a month ago. Computers were bulky and loud and Tristan had no idea what Nate hoped to achieved by using one. “I’m not doing anything to you.”

“I agreed to stick around and attend your little team meetings, but that was all. You can’t lock Scarlet in a room with me all day.”

“I can and I will. Stop being a baby.” Nate left the computer and slid a Petri dish under one of his microscopes.

He never stopped working. He never took breaks, never ate, never slept.

Tristan watched him bustle about for a few minutes. “Nate.”

“What?” he sounded annoyed as he pressed his eye to a second microscope.

“You have to stop killing yourself in pursuit of this cure. I know Scarlet’s alive again and that puts a clock on the whole thing, but this,” Tristan gestured at Nate’s haggard appearance, “is not healthy.”

Nate lifted his head. “When Molly was dying; when she was fading away and I was a useless, empty soul jealous of her mortality, do you know what she said to me?”

Tristan had never seen such a hopeless expression on Nate’s face before.

“She said, ‘Nate, you have no way to die, so you need to find a reason to live.’”

Tristan pressed a fist to his mouth, not sure what to say to that.

“So that’s what I did. I found a reason to live.” Nate swallowed and went back to his microscope. “My reason used to be Molly. Now, it’s this cure.”

Tristan watched Nate work for a moment.

“It’s more like a curse sometimes, isn’t it? Our immortality?” Tristan said.

Nate didn’t look up.

“It’s hard to live without Molly,” Tristan continued. “It’s hard to imagine living not just one lifetime, but an eternity of lifetimes, without her.” His chest began to ache with his own memories.

Nate paused. “Part of me wants to die every day.”

Tristan nodded. He understood that all too well.

Knowing Nate would continue working through the night, Tristan turned to let himself out of the house, but changed his mind and headed up the stairs to Scarlet’s new room.

Her door was open and, for a moment, he stood in the dark hallway and watched her run her hands down a large wardrobe against the back wall.

Stepping forward, he cleared his throat. “Hey.”

She blinked at him, a hand still running down the grand piece of furniture in reverence. “Hey.”

“It’s a nice wardrobe.” He nodded at the cabinet. Why was he making small talk?

She looked back at the wardrobe with softness in her eyes. “My father used to have one just like this when I was a little girl. His wasn’t as crafted or smooth, but it looked similar. I used to make beds for my dolls in the drawers.” She touched a finger to a drawer handle then cleared her throat and looked back at Tristan.

“Thanks for…earlier. With the living situation.”

Tristan nodded and slowly said, “Was there a reason you didn’t want to—“

“No.” She shook her head. “No. I just—I just tried to be with Gabriel like that last time and it wasn’t…”

Tristan held his breath, nervous and eager and scared as hell to hear whatever words she came up with.

“It wasn’t…right.”

His whole body relaxed. Not in relief, but in selfish, selfish love.

“So, what’s up?” she asked.

“Oh, uh...” He pulled her mother’s brooch from the pocket of his jeans and carefully set it on the dresser by the door, turning to leave before Scarlet could say anything. Or worse, feel anything.

Scarlet stared at the brooch and her heart clenched. All these years, all the hurt, and Tristan had kept this token of family for her. What did that mean? Did that mean he still cared for her?

Scarlet closed her bedroom door as she gingerly picked up her mother’s brooch and absently rubbed at the design on the side of the circle.

Click.

The brooch in her hand broke apart and Scarlet’s heart fell.

The beautiful etching had snapped and was barely hanging onto the band. Scarlet scowled as she looked down at the only remaining piece of her family and hated herself for being so careless.

She gently touched a finger to the design, hoping to repair her damage, and watched as it swung back into place—as if it had never been broken at all.

Odd.

With careful movement, she ran a soft finger over the design again and it swung back out.

What the…? Turning the ring over in her hand, Scarlet realized the brooch was hollowed out and the markings she had dislodged were acting as a latch.

Her heart began to pound as she peered inside the hollowed ring and saw a piece of parchment rolled up inside.

Sliding it out, she realized the parchment must have been trapped inside the brooch for hundreds of years. Had her mother known about it? Had her mother planned for Scarlet to find it?

She slowly unrolled the ancient paper.

Okay. Okay, okay, okay. What was she looking at here? A tree that said Avalon. Some weird lines running through the tree. And the Spanish words for eternal water. Her heart leapt in her chest.

Eternal water! Eternal water!

Scarlet started to shake and a smile stretched out her mouth, filling her with hope.

Her mother had purposely hidden this parchment and it had the words Eternal Water on it—that couldn’t be a coincidence. It had to have something to do with the Fountain of Youth!

She looked over the parchment again. It looked like the eternal water had something to do with a place called Avalon. How many Avalons could there be in the world?

Scarlet laughed out loud, delirious with joy and had just jumped from her bed to go show Nate when she noticed dark lettering on the edge of the map.

Sitting back down, Scarlet read:

Through Bluestone you shall find the Fountain of Youth, but even immortality cannot withstand the caves. A sacrifice must be made, for while bringing life, The Fountain of Youth is true death for all.

Her head started spinning.

Immortality cannot withstand the caves? Sacrifice?

Her joy was quickly turning to fear. The fountain was true death for all?

Even immortals?

She needed to tell Nate and have him examine the drawing. Yes. That’s what she would do. She stood and started for her bedroom door, then paused.

If she told Nate that the fountain was dangerous, would that stop him from searching for it? Would it stop Gabriel? Tristan?

Probably not.

She could beg them not to hunt for the fountain, but if they knew it would cure her they would probably walk right into death to find it. With careful hands, Scarlet rolled the tiny scroll up and tucked it back into the ancient brooch. She would not risk sharing this clue with anyone until she knew just how deadly the Fountain of Youth really was.