Runaway: (Immortals of Indriell, Book Six)

They claim her mother died a hero.
They say her grief will ease with time.
But they don’t understand the fear she lives with.

That's why Chloe had to run away.It’s been two years since the unnatural death of her Immortal mother, but Chloe Long still hasn’t dealt with her loss. The only solace she’s found is in a group of orphans and runaways just like her, including the enigmatic Justice, a talented artist, she worries will never truly see her.But can Chloe see herself? Caught somewhere between her warrior roots and her Scholar talents, she doesn’t fit in anywhere—except maybe with Justice.When she sees something within his art that calls to her Scholar gifts, Chloe knows it’s time to seek guidance. But after years of running, is there anyone she can still turn to for help?Mere miles away, Graham Loukas misses his family. For so long he’s looked forward to college, but life at MIT just hasn’t measured up to his dreams, and training with his childless aunt and uncle in their deserted mansion just gives him the creeps.Now in his sophomore year, Graham is ready to give up.There is nothing for him here.When a mysterious pin shows up on his nightstand, Graham thinks it’s just another trinket his aunt has gifted him, but when a group of unknown Immortals whisk him away in the dead of night, could it be the key to his future?With the last Queen of Indriell about to name her heir, old prophecies are now in play—but the ancients aren’t prepared for a new generation of Prophets, Techs and Scholars who are learning to see what lies beyond the coming darkness.

One Year and Eight Months Later

Early Fall | Salem, Massachusetts

Loneliness was a new experience for Graham Loukas. He’d grown up surrounded by friends and family. There was never a dull moment in his life … until he went away to college. 

“You excited for your sophomore year at MIT?” Uncle Lou asked for the third time on their awkward drive from the Boston Airport.  

“Yeah, sure.” Graham fiddled with his phone in his lap, watching the boats bobbing on the Broad Sound under the dreary September sky. It would be too cold for sailing soon. Not that Graham was anything close to resembling a sailor, but his aunt and uncle sure were. 

“We should have at least a few more good days for sailing ahead of us. We’ll get out on the water before you get too busy with classes.” 

“Sounds good,” Graham muttered. Even after living with them during his freshman year at MIT, Graham still didn’t really know his Aunt Gabrielle and Uncle Lou all that much, despite training with them every day. They weren’t really his aunt and uncle. Lou Fitzroy was his sister Hélène’s father. Graham’s mom and Lou were like fake-married a million years ago. Together, they adopted Hélène a few hundred years before his mom had met his dad.

Graham couldn’t help but envy his friends from home who got to go to college together and train together. Allie, Darius, and Sasha all lived in a cottage by the lake. Their place was fun. But Graham’s dream of going to MIT meant he had to go it alone since the others weren’t as into technology and computer sciences as he was. But as a young Immortal, Graham had to have chaperones, so Uncle Lou and Aunt Gabrielle were it, and he was lucky to have them. 

“Ah, only twelve more miles to Salem,” Uncle Lou said in his stuffy British accent, his ever-present pipe tucked between his lips. 

Graham was grateful his aunt and uncle were so eager to have him come live with them while he attended MIT, but he wondered how smart it was to choose Salem, Massachusetts as their home. Salem was known for burning witches at the stake. It seemed like a no brainer for Immortals with special powers to avoid such places. But Salem was a thirty-two-minute train ride to MIT. It should have been a perfect arrangement. 

Graham just hadn’t expected it to feel so awkward living with Lou and Gabrielle after hearing so much about them from his mom and sister all his life. Awkward didn’t even begin to describe how uncomfortable the last year had been for Graham. Boring and lonely were close seconds. 

“Oh! How were your online classes over the summer?” Uncle Lou asked, as if he’d finally thought of a decent question for his nephew. 

“Great, actually.” Graham smiled. “The classes were interesting, and I really liked the online platform. I kind of wish I could take a few more.” 

“Nothing can replace the classroom, though.” Lou was a tried-and-true Ivy League academic type. 

“True,” Graham agreed. “Engineering classes would be difficult without in-person labs, but it was nice to get ahead.” Graham was enrolled in an accelerated program to finish his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in just three years. He’d actually been a sophomore now for a few months already.  

“Your aunt has been busy sprucing up your room since you left.” Lou chuckled, taking an exit off the highway toward their Salem estate. “You’ve got a new bed and curtains and Lord knows what else.” 

“Awe, she didn’t need to do that.” Graham’s face flushed. His aunt and uncle never had kids of their own, and he couldn’t help but wonder if he was some sort of test drive for the future. 

“She wants you to be comfortable, Graham. We both do.”  

“I appreciate all you guys have done for me.” Graham clutched his phone, letting his power flood into his hands. Graham was a Tech. His abilities were all about technology. He could accomplish just about anything with a computer. Any gadget, really. He didn’t need the computer engineering degree. But Graham wanted to learn the ways mortals managed to do the things they did with technology. If he could do it the hard way, then he could explain how he accomplished the things he did with his power in ways mortals could understand.

Graham: I’m going to need that escape text we talked about before.

Graham sent the message without typing it. It was just his way. The response came quicker than he’d anticipated. 

Ezra: I’m free for the night, so I’ll be ready for you :) 

Graham smiled at his friend’s reply. They’d met ages ago through Aidan, but they’d never actually met in person. Ezra was about the only reason he’d made it through his freshman year. A week into it and Graham had wanted to call it quits and go home, but Ezra helped him through it. They were about as close as two people could be who didn’t know anything personal about each other.

They kept their secrets, but they talked about all the things that really mattered.  

“Here we are.” Uncle Lou pulled down the long drive to his estate just outside of Salem. The property bordered the harbor, and the massive house sat at the center of a wide sweeping lawn with cliff-side views of the sea. It looked like an old English manor house, which suited Uncle Lou and his wife. With it being just the two of them in such a huge house—three with Graham returning—the place struck him as a relic of a bygone era.

Keying in the code, Lou waited for the iron gates to swing open before he pulled his classic red Alpha Romeo through, leaving the windows down as they drove along the tree-lined drive to the house. The car belonged in a museum. There were only a handful of them ever made, but it was Uncle Lou’s pride and joy.

“I’m sure your aunt is waiting impatiently for your arrival. She enjoys having you here, you know.” Lou flashed his toothy smile, his wavy brown curls blowing in the cool September breeze. 

“There she is.” Graham had to smile at the sight of his feisty, red-headed aunt lingering at the front door of the mansion. She was French, like his mother. Gabrielle and Emma had been friends since the twelfth century. They were more like sisters than mere friends. 

Dressed in jeans and riding boots, she was far more relaxed and modern than her staunchly British husband—but that wasn’t saying a whole lot. Graham’s aunt and uncle were horribly old fashioned.

“Graham!” Gabrielle called from her perch on the stone steps leading up to the front doors. “It’s so good to see you, dear boy. I hope you’ve had a fun summer. You worked so hard last year in your studies.” 

“I did, Aunt Gabrielle. It was good to be home with my friends for a bit, but I’m excited to be back.” Graham forced a smile for his aunt as she made a fuss over him. In truth, he was only happy to be back because it would mean he was that much closer to graduation and the next chapter of his life. 

As much as Graham knew he needed to be here, he didn’t belong here. Not that he knew where he belonged.

“Come, darling.” Gabrielle draped an arm around him. “The valet will bring your luggage up later. I want to show you your new room.” She guided him through the foyer to the right grand staircase—yes, there was also a left one—to his bedroom on the third floor. 

“You didn’t have to go to any trouble for me, Aunt Gabrielle. My room was fine before.” He walked awkwardly down the wide hallway beside his aunt. 

“Nonsense.” She waved away his concerns. “I don’t mind one bit, and truth be told, I rather enjoyed the chance to do some redecorating. I think you’ll find the decor a little more masculine now. Perfectly suited for a young gentleman at University.” 

Graham really did love his aunt and uncle. He did. They were great people, but they lived in another age. It was the one thing that drove his mother crazy about her best friends. Both Lou and Gabrielle stubbornly refused to move with the times. It was like they so enjoyed the nineteen-twenties they decided to stay there.

“Here we are.” Gabrielle turned the corner at the end of the hall and up the two steps to another corridor of rooms. She stopped at the first door on the right. One that hadn’t been there before. 

“Wait, wasn’t my room the one down the hall?” Graham pointed back the way they came. 

“It still is.” She winked. “We moved some things around while you were away. Go on in and get settled. I’m sure you’re exhausted from all that traveling.”

Yeah, the two-hour flight from Cleveland to Boston was grueling. Graham tried not to roll his eyes. “Thank you. I think I will lie down for a bit if you don’t mind.”

“Of course not, darling. Take the afternoon to rest. We will see you downstairs for dinner at seven sharp.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Graham reached for the sculpted brass doorknob, eager to escape into his room for a little while. Dinner was always an affair he’d rather skip. It took him exactly one night last year to learn that ‘dressing for dinner’ did not mean what he’d thought. One did not simply arrive at the dinner table in whatever attire they’d put on for the day. No, no, that was barbaric. In the Fitzroy household, one dressed for dinner. Graham had to ask his mom for more dress clothes last year. He’d left most of them here in his closet because he’d never wear them anywhere else. 

It was absurd to think he had an entire wardrobe of clothes he only ever wore inside the house—er estate. 

“Hope you like it,” Gabrielle called over her shoulder as she disappeared around the corner. 

With a deep breath, Graham stepped inside his room. It was nothing like he’d left it. His feet sank into the plush gray carpet that felt like little clouds under his feet. The ivory paneled walls were new. The whole room was new. Dark gray and espresso leather chairs stood under the windows with a pair of matching ottomans, studded in silver upholstery tacks shaped like horseshoes. The whole room had an equestrian theme. It was cute, but Graham wasn’t a horse kind of guy. 

The room was filled with rich navy, green, and ivory colors with gray and espresso leather accents everywhere. Pictures of horses hung on the walls. It looked like Ralph Lauren himself came over and decorated the room. 

“I suppose it’s better than the tug-boat theme from last year.” He set his messenger bag on the wide wooden desk facing the leather chairs. Floor to ceiling ivory bookshelves filled the wall behind his desk. He had to admit, it would be nice to have such a big space to work in, but once he had his computers set up, it wouldn’t look half as nice with wires and screens everywhere. 

“She’s knocked down walls.” Graham shook his head with a grin as he stepped through the wide arched opening of his “study” down two steps into his bedroom. This was the room he’d used last year. Sort of. It was bigger now. A king size bed sat under the massive windows facing the ocean, and a gray leather love seat occupied the space in front of the gas fireplace that wasn’t there just a few months ago. 

She’d turned his simple bedroom into a master suite with a huge walk-in closet he would never fill and a bathroom with a jetted tub he would never use. There was one feature that had stayed the same. The wrap around balcony was his favorite spot in this enormous house. Last year, Graham had spent as much time out there as the weather would allow. It was his favorite place to study and read. Probably because the view reminded him of the cliffs and lake views of home. 

Graham stepped outside and stared out across the expanse of manicured lawns and gardens stretching from the house to the cliffs in the distance. He could hear the roar of the waves and the scent of salt in the air. 

“This year is going to be different.” Graham took in a deep, cleansing breath of fresh ocean air and let it out before turning back to his room. He had a date with Ezra to keep. 

Grabbing his phone from his bag, Graham flopped onto the cushy king size bed to text Ezra. “Ouch!” He pulled something sharp from under his back. 

A pin. The kind worn on a lapel. Not that Graham often wore anything with a lapel to put it on. 

He studied the thick silver pin shaped into an infinity symbol. It was smooth and polished and heavy. Something expensive his aunt had bought for him and forgotten about. Sighing, he set it on the nightstand and sat up to launch a game he’d designed. Calling Ezra wasn’t as easy as texting a phone number he didn’t even have.

Graham had never asked questions about his friend’s situation. Once upon a time, Ezra was Aidan’s student in some kind of Immortal community service program. That was before Aidan disappeared. They’d met more than a year ago when Aidan called to introduce Ezra to another gay Immortal—total straight guy thing to do—but Aidan’s heart was in the right place. It turned out, Aidan was right, Ezra and Graham had hit it off—as friends—and had kept in touch as best they could. These days, Ezra was enrolled in some kind of hardcore training program that didn’t give him much time or freedom. He didn’t have access to things like cell phones with Wi-Fi, or even computers, but Graham had found a way around all that. 

It was a work in progress. He’d managed to get Ezra to buy a cheap out-of-date cell phone without cell service of any kind. If anyone found it, they’d quickly see he could only use it to play offline games. But that was all Graham really needed. A piece of tech he could work with. He’d designed a couple of games for Ezra to download from a local Wi-Fi source and boom, he was in. 

To anyone else, it was an old junk phone, but to Ezra and Graham, it was a lifeline. An untraceable one. They used the chat feature in one of Ezra’s games to communicate without internet—one of Graham’s more impressive inventions he was quite proud of.  

Graham: What’s up? Hit any high scores lately? 

Graham typed their code message, preparing to wait for a while in case Ezra wasn’t around.

Ezra: Same as always, mate. Can’t get past level 42. 

Graham smiled at his code response. They started nearly every conversation this way so they would know for certain they were talking to the right person. 

Ezra: How was the flight?

Graham: Flight was fine, the drive to the estate was a bit awkward. 

Ezra: You’re the only person I know who can make the word estate sound like a bad thing. 

Graham: She redesigned my room. It’s a suite now with a study. 

Ezra: You have first world problems, my friend. 

Graham grinned, scooting down on his bed to get more comfortable. 

Graham: Don’t I know it. How’s school for you?

Ezra: Boring and bloody awful training as usual. You?

Ezra always changed the subject the moment Graham tried to talk to him about his school and teachers. He’d learned to let his friend have his privacy and not pry.

Graham: Online classes were a breeze this summer. I’m hoping my in person classes will be better this year. Training with my uncle should be an exercise in futility once again. 

Ezra: You need to make some friends this year. 

Graham: I’ve never had to do that before. Turns out I’m really bad at it. 

Ezra: Just be you. 

Graham: Yeah, I’ll get right on that. 

Ezra: Don’t over think it. It could be a lot worse. 

Graham: I know, I know. I have everything I’ve ever wanted, and I’m an ungrateful jerk. 

Ezra: You couldn’t be a jerk if you tried. But I get it. The college thing didn’t turn out quite like you dreamed it would. So, now’s the time you get to adapt and find your new dream. 

Graham: You might possibly have a point. 

Ezra: When’s your first class?

Graham: Tomorrow morning at eight. I have an advanced coding and infrastructure class. 

Ezra: I have no idea what any of that means, but you will take note of all the cute boys you see—pictures would be nice if you can manage it without looking like a creeper. You know how I live vicariously through you.

Graham: That is a disturbing thought. 

Ezra: It’s sad that out of the two of us, you’re the one with the most exciting life. 

Graham: The most exciting thing on my agenda this evening is dressing for dinner with my aunt and uncle. 

Ezra: Wear something smashing, just for me, please. You know how I love the fashions. 

Graham: Yeah, yeah, I’ll see what I can do. 

Graham signed off and tossed his phone on the bed. He never asked what was so secretive about Ezra’s training, but Graham could imagine he had very few privileges. 

His situation sounded a lot like the kind of training Sasha had to do every summer for the Senate. Because of who her parents were, she got to keep her normal life when the Senate came snooping around a few years ago. She was a powerful girl. It was only a matter of time before they came to collect her. He imagined it was a similar situation for Ezra, except he didn’t have the influential family to step in and advocate for him. 

Talking to Ezra always reminded Graham of how much worse it could be. Sure, MIT wasn’t anything like what he’d thought it would be. He didn’t have any friends. The classes were difficult, the study workload was overwhelming, and the separation from his friends and family really got to him. But maybe he just got off to a bad start last year. Maybe Ezra was right. It was time to make a place for himself at MIT. Just because he was a thirty-minute train ride away from campus and didn’t live in the dorms didn’t make him any less of a student. He needed to make more of an effort this year.

Graham picked up the infinity pin his aunt had left on his pillow. Gripping it in his fist, he decided to embrace his circumstances. It was time to make the best of this.