Ethereal Underground (Ethereal Underground Trilogy) by Briana Gaitan, Brooke Kennedy Page B

and she wasn’t sure how to deal with it. Leon would not understand. She had never seen him lose his temper, because he had no temper to lose. Here she was acting like a mortal child.  She had been bewitched by this ‘Ash’ and she was going to find him. Finlay was right. She had to find him. Find him and insist that he tell her the truth about what had happened. That was the only way she could know for sure that she had not completely lost her mind or begun her decent down to being cast out. Giving one last look into those green eyes, she teleported to the other side of the realm where she could think in peace.
    When she returned home, she found herself alone inside of the small dwelling. She could hear several voices outside conversing, and she remembered that they were supposed to be roasting over the fire with Finlay and Slade. That was one of the reasons they had frequented the market, to obtain things to cook. She did not find herself particularly hungry or in the mood to be social. This was something she always looked forward to, but everything that had transpired had taken over her mind and she had forgotten. Walking over to the window, she peered outside and took in the scene.
    Finlay, Leon, and Slade were all sitting around the fire pit with something roasting on the wood above. Finlay’s hands were moving about theatrically, no doubt in some kind of exciting story. Annalise knew if she went out there, he would pull her into reenactments and she was really not in the mood. All of these emotions were swirling around in her head and all she could think of was the Elders swooping in and destroying all of them. She wasn’t sure how things would be with her seraph friends since she had acquired these newfound emotions.
    Still, she pulled herself to the entrance and forced a smile to her face. Leon turned his head to her as if on cue and let the corner of his mouth turn up in a grin. He stood up as she walked over to them, and reached out to pull her into an embrace.
    “Hello Anna,” he whispered as he wrapped his wings around the both of them. He pulled back and looked down at her, still keeping privacy up between them, “How are you feeling?”
    “I am fine.”
    “You are not being honest with me.”
    Annalise found it incredibly irritating that he was calling her out every time she tried to hide her feelings from him. This was different and he could never understand. He had never broken the rules, and she knew he looked down on her for it.
    “Can we just roast over the fire and forget about today?” she asked.
    Leon frowned but nodded, pulling himself away from her and placing a hand at her back. He addressed the others, “Anna here was just taking a walk.”
    He led her over to where the others were and she took a seat beside Finlay, who promptly gave her a wink and leaned over to her, “Well hello, Anna, imagine seeing you around here.” His hazel eyes bore into hers, showing that he was hinting that she needed to go to the mortal world.
    She gave him a frown in return, “I would not be anywhere else.”
    “How was your walk?” Slade asked from across the way, “Find anything interesting?”
    “No, there were not many about where I was,” she mumbled, casting her eyes to the ground. She did not enjoy being untruthful with her friend but she did not want him knowing about what had happened. The fewer seraphs involved, the better it would be for everyone.
    Finlay reached out to twist the wood in front of him, demeanor quiet. This was how he usually was when other seraphs were around, more reserved and to himself, more proper in his language. However, he kept looking into his bangle as if he was waiting for something. He was not always this silent around this small group of friends. She wondered what it was that had his attention.  It made Annalise uncomfortable now, to know that he was hiding his true self from even Slade. Whatever had been so interesting for him to share before she arrived was