Winters Rising Read online

  “Are there any baked snacks?” Eve asked.

  Brea had seen Millie put a fresh batch of muffins in a container. “I’ll get us some,” she said, slipping from the stool.

  When she returned from the pantry carrying the muffins, she found Eve staring into space, as if contemplating a story to share.

  “Jax, Jax, Jax...” the old woman said, then smiled. “Why don’t we start with kitchen stories.”

  Brea pulled a plate out of the cupboard. “Do you have stories for each room of the house?”

  Eve nodded. “We could be here all night. Jax was the instigator of all the trouble he got into with Declan and Gabrielle. When they were about ten, and on supper dishes duty in this very kitchen−”

  “They did their dishes?” Brea asked, assuming the staff tended to all the chores.

  Eve smiled. “Yes, the children had chores. However, this one evening in particular, Jax, for whatever reason, convinced the others that a food fight would be fun.”

  Trying to contain a smirk, Brea pictured the sight of the three siblings tossing food around this immaculately clean kitchen. She set the plate of muffins on the counter and slipped back onto her stool.

  “It started with a few leftover rolls from dinner, then escalated into fruit from the fruit bowl, but by the time someone came to check on them, they’d raided the refrigerator of every last piece of food and sauce.”

  Brea laughed and Eve joined her.

  “There were eggs and tomatoes splattered on the cupboards. Ketchup and mustard squirted over the counter tops and the floor looked like a trampled garden.”

  Brea laughed so hard her sides hurt.

  “It gets better,” Eve said.

  “Oh, it couldn’t possibly,” Brea choked out.

  “Victor found them first.”

  Brea gasped and covered her mouth. He could imagine the stuck-up man’s reaction to the mess.

  “He walked in while the food fight was in full effect and Jax accidentally coated him with a bowl of pasta.”

  An amused snort passed through Brea’s fingers, before she dropped them away. “He must have been furious.”

  “That would be the reaction most people would expect. But, what most people don’t know is that Jax is the spitting image of his father. Victor enjoyed stirring trouble as a kid, just like Jax. His wild character pushed my buttons, so when Jax did the same to him, I stood back and enjoyed every minute.”

  Grandparent’s revenge. Brea hoped her kids didn’t stir up trouble like Jax and his father...or her.

  “However, for whatever reason that day, Victor looked down at his ruined shirt and instead of shouting for Annalieese, he joined in on the fun.”

  “No?” Brea didn’t believe her.

  “Yes.”

  “You’re making this up.”

  “I would never.” Eve held a hand over her chest. “Annalieese was not impressed and she made them all clean the kitchen. That was the last time there was a food fight in here.”

  “I believe it.”

  “Then there was the time he convinced Declan and Gabrielle the house was haunted. They decided to go undercover and catch the ghosts, but they needed to camouflage themselves, which included white paint to look like the ghosts. It hadn’t dried before they tracked it through the halls of the entire house.”

  Brea pictured the Winters siblings coated in white paint, Jax in the lead, and little white footprints following behind them as they tracked imaginary ghosts.

  Eve’s stories didn’t stop there. She dove into more of the sillier stories, ones from Jax just out diapers into all through his childhood, and into adult. Without even knowing it, Brea had found the first person in this house to treat her more than just a key and lock.

  Chapter Five

  A BIRTH. TWINS. Babies separated. A dead doctor and what appeared to be a Rogue.

  Jax rubbed the back of his neck feeling no closer to an era or time period, but they knew the doctor-killer needed to be stopped and brought back to council for punishment, depending on who they were stopping.

  There were two kinds of people who could change times: Rogues and Drifters. Rogues were Gatekeepers or Seconds, surfing time rips to alter the past and better their future, while Drifters were regular people without the mark, who accidentally ended up in a natural time rip.

  Natural time rips were invisible and popped up in the strangest places, all over the world, with no rationale. The woods, beside a stop light, in a basement...anywhere. Just last week they’d had a Drifter stuck in a time rip after walking through a vortex in their closet. The elderly man had been stranded for days in his young body and it hadn’t been until he began altering events big enough to make a difference, that the trio had been sent in.

  If council, or even the Elders, could predict when, and where, natural rips were to occur, they would, no doubt, send Gatekeepers to guard the time rip, and keep Drifters from stepping through it. Time was always revolutionizing and maybe one day the council would be able to track them. Until then, whenever a Drifter landed their confused selves in a time period with no hope of getting out on their own, and ultimately, changing time, the trio were sent to find and save them. Time travel wasn’t safe unless you had the Gatekeeper trio. Without a Gatekeeper’s healing power, once a person stepped back onto their present time rip, their body felt like it was being torn apart, which made it a struggle for Gatekeepers to travel alone. Their bodies suffered. But it wasn’t impossible.

  Today’s vision of a doctor-killer, had Jax, Declan, and Gabby convinced they were dealing with a Rogue. That meant, once they arrived, the situation could get ugly.

  Not as ugly as Brea was going to be when he got home, finished his paperwork and fetched her from the babysitting staff he’d assigned on her...which included every single employee on the estate. He’d instructed for a pair of eyes to be on her at every moment. No running to deface her birthmark again. No leaving the property period, until they talked.

  A shudder coursed through his body, beginning from the pulsing of his birthmark, through his blood and right back to his beating neck for her.

  “It should be easy enough,” Declan said now, pulling Jax back to the present.

  The trio stood in the library in front of the fancy carved Winters’ Gatekeepers door. The gateway of time. Jax could touch any door to conjure a gateway linked to Gabrielle’s vision to transport them to that time rip, but the crested doors were considered good luck tradition. Each Gatekeepers’ ancient home had been built with one, and also why the homes had always been only occupied by Gatekeeper families.

  Victor and Annalieese stood behind them now, ready to discuss Gabrielle’s visions before the trio left on the rip. Another tradition.

  They needed to get this rip over with as quickly as possible so Jax could sit down with Brea and continue the bonding tradition so important for his family’s future. But, Jax considered, it was more than tradition for him. He’d realized that when he’d seen another man touching his wife’s birthmark.

  Jax shook his head, trying to concentrate on what his sister was saying now. “In and out really,” she said. “Back in time for supper.”

  The rip.

  “Maybe Brea will join us for supper,” Gabrielle said. “Maybe we could all be nice to her and not throw dagger-filled looks at her.”

  “Watch yourself, girl,” Victor grumbled.

  “Daddy,” Gabrielle said, giving him a big hug. “Brea is someone’s daughter, too, and she’s been forced here with us.”

  “It’s her destiny,” Annalieese said. “She’ll be fine. She just needs some time to adjust.”

  Jax didn’t like them discussing Brea so he attempted to divert the conversation back to the rip. “Ready?” he grumbled, sounding more like his father than he liked.

  On their nods, Jax opened the door where a swirling white and blue vortex greeted them. Once they stepped through, their timeline would be defined on the other side. Time occurred differently in time rips, hours could
be only minutes in their reality.

  Stepping into the vortex, the whipping and swirling winds overtook his senses. He had learned long ago not to be consumed with the instinct to jerk away from the pull. Instead, he let it wrap its powers around him and guide him to Gabrielle’s vision. Within seconds, he, Declan, and his sister stood once again in silence. But not complete silence.

  Jax cocked his head. He heard the wind and the leaves of trees rustling around him and insects sang a welcoming tune.

  They stood under an old oak tree, the early sun flittering through the leaves and across the overgrown grass at their feet. A small, run-down brick house stood in front of them. From their location, Jax could see a yellow-sided addition had been built on the back of the house. A gravel driveway weaved through the trees around the property and Jax noted the 80’s era beast of a Camaro in the driveway. An IROC-Z with original paint, no rust and five-spoke rims.

  “80’s Camaro.” Jax nodded toward the driveway and his siblings eyes followed.

  “Old metal swing set,” Gabrielle said, nodding to the opposite side of the small property. “Brand new. Eighties,” she agreed.

  Gabrielle pulled a gold compact mirror out of her pocket. Embossed with the Winters’ crest, the antique had seen more time rips than any Gatekeeper. Only a mirror could reflect a Gatekeeper’s facial and body appearance in a time rip.

  She laughed at her own reflection and Jax glanced in the mirror to find Gabrielle now had bangs. Her hair was pulled into a whale-spout ponytail held with a neon scrunchie. “Definitely eighties. This is awful.” She laughed again and tilted the mirror at Jax only to double in laughter. “Mullet Jax.” She snorted. “Oh my gosh, I love it. Let me see again.”

  Jax would have irritatingly pushed the mirror away five years ago, when their rips had first started, but after time, he grew to realize this was one of Gabrielle’s favorite parts.

  Her laughter tripled before she moved onto Declan. “Another mullet. Yes!”

  “Hey.” A bubbly brunette stepped in front of them with a pleasant smile. Her stomach protruded an obviously pregnant belly and her hands slowly ran across it.

  “Are you three planning a getaway without me?” she asked. She narrowed her eyes on Gabrielle. “Amy, it won’t be bad, don’t you worry.” She folded her arms on top of her belly, bunching the white dress. “Unless you’re hitting on the male nurses. Isn’t that how we got into trouble in the first place?” The unknown girl hugged Gabrielle, before heading back to the house.

  “Is that her?” Declan asked.

  Gabby tilted the mirror down to her middle and it was only then that they noticed the bubbly brunette wasn’t the only one pregnant.

  “It’s me,” she said. “I’m her.” Gabby groaned, holding her hands in the air, away from her stomach.

  Declan tried to mask his chuckle.

  “Great, just great.” Gabrielle threw her hands in the air, stepping away from them.

  Declan moved beside Jax, nudging his side. “Wait for it,” he whispered, just as Gabrielle’s back stiffened and she turned to face them, wincing.

  The after effect of acquiring a past body was not only experiencing their physical sensation, but their thoughts, too. It took practice to sort out the mind of your vessel and sometimes it was easier to block them altogether, but with practice it became a good tool to perfect in order to unearth valuable information for the assignment at hand.

  “Her back hurts,” Declan said. Gabrielle wiggled her body. “Her feet hurt, too.”

  Their sister stretched a calf out in front of her and moved her feet. “I need to sit down and I have to pee. I really have to pee. I feel like my bladder is about to explode and it doesn’t feel nice.”

  Jax grinned at her. “Are you maybe exaggerating a bit?” Physical pain rarely lasted long.

  Gabrielle reached out and hit him.

  “Amy!”

  Gabrielle barely retracted her hand, when the nurse, dressed in white, standing on the porch, startled her. She jumped back between her brothers.

  “What are you doing out there?” the nurse demanded. “You’re on bed rest! Bring her back inside, boys.” The nurse shook her head, walking back to the house.

  “Find that Rogue and get me the hell out of here before I go into labor. You better pray that I don’t.”

  “Can it really be worse than your vision pain?” Declan asked.

  “I do not want to find out.”

  Jax and Declan chuckled.

  “Is it even sanitary to have kids in the eighties? Didn’t they use clamps? Do they sanitize the tools? You were born in the eighties Jax, and look at how thick your head is.”

  Now she was sounded like Brea.

  “You were born in the eighties, Gabby,” Declan pointed out.

  “Nineteen-eighty-nine does not count.” Gabrielle hit them both before she angrily walked...or rather wobbled away. Jax was tempted to point her new wobble out to her, but they had work to do. He needed to get back into his Gatekeeper state of mind.

  A Rogue could take the form of anyone, just like they had, but unlike the trio who saw each other as they were, the Rogue was disguised with only his or her birthmark to give him away. With Drifters, unless Gabrielle had a vision of their face, it was generally a trickier hunt.

  “Are you getting anything from your body?” Declan asked him.

  Jax shook his head. This mind was a jumbled mess of depression, drinking and cigarette cravings. Right now, Jax would rather focus on a quick search of the grounds for the Rogue than searching the depths of the body he inhabited.

  “Alright, I’ll check the women,” Declan said, rubbing the overgrown scruff on his chin. “You’re married now...” His green eyes teased.

  Jax could punch his little brother’s chin for the unneeded clarification.

  “...so it’s only fair to Brea that you’re not scoping out other women’s birthmarks.”

  Why not? Jax thought. Brea was off letting other men touch hers.

  “You just don’t want a black eye,” Jax grumbled, imagining what would happen if the rest of the men were sporting mullets, too. It would force him to lift their hair in order to check the sides of their necks. He anticipated a few punches on this rip.

  Declan grinned. “Did you see this pretty face?” he puckered his lips and batted his eyelashes.

  “You’re a doorknob.”

  “And my new hairstyle.” His short dark hair was all Jax saw, and he didn’t care if someone shaved it off.

  “Idiot,” Jax said and walked away, ready for his fist-throwing fate.

  While Declan made sweet with the women, Jax did a quick scour of the bush on the outskirts of the property for a possible Rogue in hiding. An hour later, they met behind the house.

  “I found nothing,” Jax said.

  “Me neither.”

  “How about where we are?” Jax asked, rubbing the side of his neck. Even in this form, a whole time rip away from her, his birthmark wanted Brea.

  They started walking toward the house. “Yes,” Declan said. “It’s a house for mother’s giving up babies as a result of unplanned pregnancies. An alternative to abortion. They stay here for the term, deliver and the babies are likely signed up for adoption.”

  “Okay. So, maybe this is a Drifter we’re dealing with. A mom or dad who slipped into a rip and ended up back here, at the time the child was taken from them?”

  Declan shook his head, unconvinced. “It is possible for a Drifter to land somewhere in their past. It does happen...” It had happened just last week, but they had to examine all options.

  “Then a Rogue?” Jax suggested.

  Tossing around potential possibilities always got them closer to figuring out the truth.

  “A Rogue coming back to steal a baby not within the Lexcon community? That’s even less convincing,” Declan said.

  They arrived at the steps of the back porch.

  “So the Rogue’s out?” Jax asked.

  “What would a Rogue wa
nt with an unmarked baby?”

  “So more than likely, it’s the real Amy or the father of the baby, coincidentally landing back before their child was taken?” It was far-fetched, but they didn’t have much else to go on.

  “Or it’s just a random person playing God in a time rip,” Declan said.

  “Either way, one of us should stay with Gabby,” Jax said. “In case she gets another vision, or has some information from the body she’s in. We should be around, too, if the killer approaches her thinking she’s the real Amy.”

  Declan furrowed his thick, dark eyebrows together. “Dude, she’s grouchy and miserable on a good day, and you want me to endure her pregnant?”

  “You called the women, and I let you have it−”

  “I try to help a brother avoid mucking up his relationship anymore than it already is and I get put on babysitting duty?”

  “Go stand in front of a full length mirror and make a mockery of yourself,” Jax suggested, enjoying how the tables had turned. “Gabby will love that and it’ll distract her from her current miserable state.”

  Declan grumbled up the stairs and Jax enjoyed his brother’s muttering until a nurse pulled him into the house saying, “One of the nursery nurses didn’t show up. Come on, I need a second hand.”

  Chapter Six

  FOR THE FIRST time since Brea had arrived, she was enjoying herself. Eve’s candid stories about Jax had temporarily assisted Brea’s mind into forgetting the displeasure of her circumstances. She hadn’t fought her smiles as Eve continued exposing a side of Jax Brea had never considered: Jax’s non-Gatekeeper side. Brea now began to wonder if she’d given him a fair chance.

  Brea now stretched out on a deep green-colored fainting sofa in the Victorian study, reading.

  She waved at the maid watering the plants...again. Getting caught spying, the maid scattered away beyond the square pillars and grand arches. Brea tilted her head, waiting for the butler to arrive and offer her a drink. The older man’s tall, lanky body and drawn-in white face gave him the appearance of a skeleton. Right on target.