Abandon: Book Three of the Forgotten Affinities Series Read online

  Abandon

  Book Three of The Forgotten Affinities Series

  Analeigh Ford

  Abandon by Analeigh Ford

  © 2018 Analeigh Ford

  All rights reserved. This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of including brief passages for use in a review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  For permissions contact:

  [email protected]

  Visit the author’s website at:

  analeighford.com

  Ebook ASIN: B07KFPL9H2

  Also by Analeigh Ford

  The Forgotten Affinities

  Absorb

  Adapt

  Abandon

  Atone

  Contents

  1. Octavia

  2. Octavia

  3. Octavia

  4. Kendall

  5. Octavia

  6. Octavia

  7. Octavia

  8. Octavia

  9. Octavia

  10. Octavia

  11. Octavia

  12. Octavia

  13. Octavia

  14. Octavia

  15. Kendall

  16. Octavia

  17. Octavia

  18. Octavia

  19. Octavia

  20. Octavia

  21. Octavia

  22. Octavia

  23. Draven

  24. Octavia

  25. Octavia

  26. Octavia

  27. Octavia

  28. Flynn

  29. Octavia

  30. Octavia

  31. Octavia

  32. Cedric

  33. Octavia

  34. Octavia

  35. Octavia

  36. Octavia

  From the Author

  1

  Octavia

  Contrary to what the name implies, the mages of the most famous crime syndicate in New York City do not, in fact, live beneath the surface of the earth.

  Though I understand where The Underground got their name.

  The world that they inhabit exists in a plane just one layer away from the only other one I’ve ever known. And even I cannot deny the fact that it is as magnificent as it is terrifying.

  I still hear the shouts of the others echoing in my ears. It takes everything inside of me to leave them and follow Bram towards an uncertain future…but truth be told, our future was always uncertain. I didn’t ever think I’d find myself under the protection of the same people who helped nearly get me killed just a few weeks past, but here we are.

  We do not linger to discover what becomes of Wednesday and the others. I catch Kendall hesitating the moment our paths diverge, but it is so brief, I am the only one who notices.

  This place, the “in-between” as Bram calls it, is a world of its own. At first the physical terrain follows the pattern of the outer world for the most part, separated only by a thin, shadowy veil. The further we get from the city center, the thicker the walls of that veil become.

  Soon it is not just a papery layer between us and our old world, but rather thick and dark around us. It is not a natural place to be. The other world, our world, disappears entirely.

  I can’t put a name to it, only a feeling. I know the others feel it too, because each time they move instinctively closer to me.

  Bram is the only one of us that seems entirely unaffected. He is the master of this world.

  I’m not entirely sure where The Underground headquarters actually lie in relation to the real world. We could have traveled just blocks, or we might have traveled miles for all I know. It’s difficult to tell. There is just darkness and mist and the uncomfortable feeling of being fundamentally in the wrong place.

  Long after that veil has turned dark beyond the point of recognizing anything on the other side, a massive building swims into view. Giant concrete slabs make up the walls of the complex. They stretch out as endlessly into the mist to either side. In the very middle is the entrance—a great gaping maw leading into the proverbial belly of the beast.

  Bram does not stop to admire it, so neither do we.

  Kendall, who has up until now looked impassive, cranes his neck up to admire the massive concrete blacks that make up the entrance as we pass under. Each one is at least fifteen feet tall and twice as thick. I try to reach for his hand, to comfort him in the way that he so often has comforted me, but he just shoves it back in his pocket and avoids looking directly at me.

  He might have come along, but he still has not forgiven me from tearing him from his twin sister. I haven’t forgiven myself yet. I may never.

  It isn’t until we step through two equally impressive doors at the end and into a wide, dark hallway beyond that the uncomfortable silence that filled our journey is broken. The two men who guard the doors nod at Bram in acknowledgement.

  “More recruits?” the first says, before his eyes land on Draven and I see recognition there. “Never thought I’d see you on this side,” he says, clapping Draven on the shoulder like an old friend. From the way Draven flinches, I can tell the sentiment is not returned.

  “Edgar,” Draven growls in acknowledgement. “Neither did I.”

  “Keep a close eye on these ones,” Bram says. Then he leans in closer and adds, quietly enough that only I stand close enough to hear, “They’re not our usual type.”

  But while the others are ushered along with Edgar down a narrow hall to the side, Bram motions for me to follow him up ahead. The other guard does not turn his back from us, even when we leave. I can tell that he does not trust us already.

  I watch the others disappear as long as I can, catching the eye of Cedric as I go. Though he tries to conceal it, something has changed since he discovered the truth of his mother’s death. Confronting her has shattered Cedric’s once stoic exterior.

  I no longer need to let him into my mind in order to understand him. His feelings are now plainly displayed across the chiseled planes of his face.

  The sound of my own footsteps grows louder even as the footsteps of my four paired mages disappear. The hall itself is dim, with long grooved lines running in a channel alongside each rough concrete wall. They’re probably for water drainage, but the darker side of me imagines them running with blood.

  We step through the golden pool of light streaming out of an open door and I catch a glimpse of a long dining hall within. Voices echo from somewhere deep inside, discussing preparations for dinner. I’ve just enough time to hear a chair being pulled out from the table and see a flash of a bottle before we’re already out of sight.

  At least here I can expect to be fed.

  I expect us to turn at the end of the hall, where we’ll undoubtedly find some door to a study or, I don’t know, wherever it is that the heads of crime syndicates conduct their business. Instead, when we get to the end of the hall Bram just stops. Like he did before in the garden inside Cedric’s house, he lifts his cane once and, after just a second’s hesitation, brings it rattling down to the concrete floor.

  I sense that ripple again, but this time I am not pulled right through. A small area of the wall begins to quiver slightly, and it takes on a slightly transparent quality. If it wasn’t so dark on the other side, I am sure I could see righ
t in.

  Bram turns to me and nods back down the hall towards the others. “I expect you to keep your four mages in line, Octavia.”

  “O—of course,” I stammer.

  “Remember, it is you I am after, not them. While I have extended my hospitality to them as well, for your sake, I will not hesitate to take action should they try to defy me.”

  He steps toward the tear leading into his study. I am not invited to follow him in.

  “Now, go join them,” he says. “When the time comes I will call for you. Meanwhile, know this.” He leans in closer to me and I get a good look into eyes so gray they almost disappear completely into the whites of his eyes. “There will be no forgiveness if you betray me.”

  2

  Octavia

  I find the others at the end of a makeshift dormitory down one of the halls. I have to muffle my footsteps to keep from waking the two dozen or so other occupants of the room asleep on cots. Even at first glance, I can tell these are not hardened Underground employees. The majority of them are close to my age or even younger and do not have the look of hardened criminals about them.

  Most of them still look homesick.

  The few that are awake do glance my way, but just as quickly go back to whatever it is they are doing. They do not recognize me. It’s a nice change.

  The low ceiling overhead is lit by long rows of buzzing fluorescent lights. Only about a fourth of them are on, just enough to keep the room from utter darkness. The exposed piping on the wall hardly meets our old academy’s standards, but the fact that all four of my mages are here, intact, already makes this place far superior in my opinion. That wasn’t guaranteed back at the school.

  As soon as Flynn spots me, he is the first to wave and jog up to meet me. He keeps his voice low, and glances over his shoulder at the others.

  “What was that about?”

  “Just the usual,” I say, with a casual flip of my hand. “Warning me about all the bad stuff that’s going to happen if I don’t cooperate.”

  Flynn’s voice drops even lower, so quiet that I have to stop walking in order to keep my own muffled footsteps from blocking him out.

  “What are we even doing here, Octavia?” His eyes skirt around the outer corners of the room. “I didn’t know you had ties to The Underground until you quite literally pulled me into another dimension.”

  “So, that’s what it was?” Cedric says.

  We’ve reached the others.

  Cedric appears surprisingly animated despite the fact that he only just learned his mother was turned undead by his lying father a couple hours ago, right before I took him away from his life of luxury and entitlement. Maybe it is just the adrenaline wearing off, I think, and although I know it just means he isn’t dealing with his emotions properly, at least he hasn’t fallen into a surly silence like Kendall.

  I haven’t seen Kendall smile once since being separated from his twin. It’s unlike him, even in the middle of the night, in a dire situation like this. He’s usually the one who is quickest to my side whatever manner of trouble I’ve managed to get myself into.

  But tonight, he barely glances up when he sees I’ve come to join them.

  “Your guess is as good as mine,” I say. I look from each one of their solemn faces to the next and hastily add, “This wasn’t in my plans either, you do know that right?”

  Kendall doesn’t look up. He reaches down and violently tugs his sneakers off without bothering to untie the laces. “I don’t know what to think anymore.”

  He throws himself onto one of the bed and deliberately turns his back to us. I consider whether or not I should go comfort him the way he has comforted me so many times before, but then I remember how he wouldn’t take my hand earlier and I decide against it.

  “It’s a small step from what we’re used to at the academy,” Draven says, stepping up with a bundle of rough woolen blankets which he hoists into my arms. I take them from him with some difficulty, and hobble over to the bed he points out and throw them down. It takes a second after I straighten up and stare down at the bed before I realize I’m actually going to have to make it the old-fashioned way.

  Yet another one of the things I took for granted before at the academy.

  When he sees me struggling, Draven steps to my side to give me a hand.

  “You do believe me, don’t you?” I ask him as he helps me pull the fitted sheet taut over the thin mattress.

  He glances up in surprise. “It’s just all so…unexpected, that’s all.” His gaze darts over to Kendall several rows over, and then back to me. “He’ll come to, eventually. The important thing is that we’re safe. Well, at least, we are for now.”

  His last words stick with me well after he’s finished plumping up only pillow.

  Draven takes the bed to my right, and Cedric to my left. Flynn has already passed out on the bed by my feet after briefly complaining of his still-lingering headache. Kendall still lays still and silent, facing away from us on his cot.

  I’m not sure if he is asleep, but if he is, I don’t want to take the chance of waking him. Like Draven said, maybe he just needs time. Cedric might have lost the most materially, but Kendall certainly just lost the most.

  I’m not ready to think of all the ramifications of what I’ve just done yet, so instead, I curl up under my blankets and will myself to sleep. Even now that the others are settling in as well, this communal sleeping area never gets fully quiet. There is always the creak of springs as someone turns over on their mattress, the quiet uneven drone of sleeping breaths, and that constant buzzing of the fluorescent lights. Thank god no one here snores. I imagine even an evil crime syndicate wouldn’t stand for that.

  My eyes trail over the pipes overhead. If I listen closely, I think I can even hear the gurgle of water as it passes through. I have so much to think about, so much to consider. I still don’t entirely believe where we’ve ended up myself. This was never my intention.

  Guilt threatens to swallow me for what I’ve done, keeping me awake.

  I’m not the only one with trouble sleeping tonight.

  After only a few minutes, the bed beside me squeals and groans as someone’s weight shifts for what seems like the thousandth time. I roll over onto my side and meet Cedric’s startling blue eyes looking back at me.

  For the first time, something sad drags down at the corners of his mouth and eyes. When he looks at me, he doesn’t try to force a smile.

  Instead, he crawls out as quietly as he can from his own bed and slips into mine. It doesn’t matter that his massive frame takes up most of the mattress. I sprawl out on top of him, resting the side of my face against his bare chest.

  Only now do I sleep.

  3

  Octavia

  But not for long.

  I’m awoken with the rustle of beds and the sound of people dressing. It takes me a few long seconds to remember where we are, and by the time my eyes have adjusted to the light, I am one of the last few people left in bed.

  I’m disappointed to discover that at some point in the night Cedric returned to his own cot.

  Only he and Flynn remain with me.

  I sit up and try, unsuccessfully, to stifle a yawn.

  “Where did the others go?” I ask. I am finally awake enough for some of reality to hit me. I swing my feet off the edge of the bed and catch a glimpse at the now torn fishnet stockings I still wear. I realize now that all I have is the costume I wore for Halloween, and it isn’t exactly like I can just call up Dr. Fashu and ask for the rest of my things to be delivered.

  I catch Cedric’s eyes on me as he too stretches with a groan and props himself up in bed. I’ve never seen him like this before, I realize. Unlike myself, who just passed out in the costume I was wearing last night, Cedric and Flynn both undressed. I don’t know to what level, because though both of them are awake, their own matching blankets cover them from the waist down.

  Cedric is the only one of the boys I’ve never seen shirtless before. I
was so tired last night that I paid him no attention. I know it shouldn’t be my main concern right now, what with everything that’s going on, but I can’t stop myself from looking.

  His body is both lithe and strong, like a boxer. I’ve felt the latent strength before, beneath his clothes, but never pictured him in such explicit detail. Every muscle, every line, is defined with such perfect exactness that it looks like he was chiseled—not born.

  There is something else too, a reminder of why he became so strong in the first place. Where Draven’s body is marred by scars and tattoos of his own doing, there are marks on Cedric’s body that remind me of the secret he shared with me one night not too long ago.

  He catches me staring and self-consciously reaches for his clothes. An odd look of surprise crosses his face when he finds them wrinkled on the floor, but he quickly brushes it off and starts to hastily dress.

  Flynn, at the foot of the bed, sees it too.

  “No one’s going to do your laundry here,” he reminds us.

  Cedric just glances at me a little sheepishly, and quickly covers up the marks of abuse that he never meant for even me to see.

  On the opposite end of things, Flynn is not shy with his body. He does not dress hastily, still covered by blankets, but rather shoves them back and stands up to give both of us a good view of him. A bit too much, actually, for the present company.