The Garden Read online

  The Garden

  The Uncaged Series, Book Two

  Emily Shore

  Contents

  Also by Emily Shore

  The Garden

  Content Disclosure

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  The Temple

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  The Garden Discussion Questions

  Afterword

  Resources

  CTP Email List

  Also by Emily Shore

  The Uncaged Series

  The Aviary

  The Garden

  The Temple

  The Temple Twins

  To all the Forget-Me-Not and Chocolate Cosmos girls who have heard that heartbeat before it disappeared.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  * * *

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  * * *

  The Garden

  Copyright ©2019 Emily Shore

  All rights reserved.

  * * *

  Summary: Desperate to find her twin sister, Serenity agrees to join Luc in a conniving attempt to take down Force. But their plan falls apart. Now, they are both prisoners of Jade, the Garden Director, who turns Serenity into her prized Flower and won't stop until she plants Serenity's roots in the Garden forever. It is time for Serenity to become the Skeleton Flower.

  * * *

  ISBN: 978-1-63422-349-2 (paperback)

  ISBN: 978-1-63422-348-5 (e-book)

  Cover Design by: Marya Heidel

  Typography by: Courtney Knight

  Editing by: Cynthia Shepp

  * * *

  Cover Art:

  ©fotolia/kharchenkoirina

  ©fotolia/llhedgehogll

  ©fotolia/yuriyzhuravov

  ©fotolia/zolotons

  ©fotolia/Natasha_S

  For more information about our content disclosure,

  please click on the picture above or visit us at

  www.CleanTeenPublishing.com.

  Content Note: the goal of The Uncaged Series is to raise awareness about the devastating effects of sex-trafficking. The Aviary's major theme is a struggle with identity.

  These books brush on themes of abuse and manipulation, dissociation, pornography, Stockholm Syndrome, drug use in the industry, and various other subjects. Stories were inspired by real-world truths from survivors and rescue workers. A portion of The Aviary's proceeds will always go to benefit Women at Risk, International.

  1

  C o n v a L e s c e n c e

  I don’t remember passing out.

  All I remember are bits and pieces of conversation. Three voices.

  “You stole Force’s limo?” Luc. He’d sounded shocked, almost approving.

  “Hacked it, yes. Daddy is furious.”

  I couldn’t consider Force then. He’s just the Vampire. He takes blood. And I’d lost too much already.

  “Guys, I think she’s slipping into unconsciousness.” Nightingale warned. “You have to keep her awake!”

  The memories are as hazy as the snowflakes crusting up the window. The first image that greets my opening eyes. I wake inside a bed. Just across from me is a window with shades drawn. Whoever put me here must have known I’d want the natural light. The view of the lake just outside is stunning.

  One of Sky’s wrist cuffs sits on the end table next to me. An interface.

  Long white bandages cover my chest. I don’t feel pain anymore, but there’s an underlying ache, a sense of gnawing. The wound on my side isn’t as deep. I peel back the smaller swatch of gauze there to see…nothing. Of course—the Immortal Treatment. My cells have already regenerated, new skin grown. My hair is damp, and I’m wearing one of the white Aviary dresses. No blood on my skin. Almost as if everything is erased but the memory.

  No, not everything.

  I remember how Sky kept me awake. For just a few precious minutes.

  “Your mother wasn’t just rescuing girls all those years in the Sanctuary. She was searching for one special girl.”

  In the limo, he’d projected a sprite light from his wrist cuff, a spright light he must have sent to me. With a deep sigh, I fasten on the wrist cuff, tap it once. Of course Sky programmed it so it would automatically conjure the same image. It’s me, but not me.

  Her eye color is all wrong. It’s too dark to be mine. Her hair is not as wild. Not as many curls. And I don’t see lightning anywhere. No intensity in her face. No feral glint in her eyes. No subtle curl in the corner of her mouth.

  I squint, remembering Sky’s last words before I passed out.

  “She’s alive, Serenity,” Sky tells me. “Your twin sister’s alive.”

  “You’ve been sleeping for most of the day,” Nightingale says from the corner of the room after I’ve turned off the sprite light.

  It’s no surprise that I hadn’t noticed her in the shadows all this time. Gale is more at home in the shadows than anywhere.

  “What’s going on?” I ask, rising but not quite ready to leave the safety of the pillows behind me just yet. “Where are we?”

  “Luc’s lakeside retreat. It’s a few hours upstate, far away from the Aviary.” Sinking onto my bed, she pats my hand. “They want to talk with you.”

  “Did you dress me?”

  “And cleaned you off, yes.”

  Relief engulfs me, and I nod right before two knocks tap on my door. I jerk my head. A need for answers bubbles inside me. Understanding, Nightingale leaves to give us some privacy as Luc and Sky walk in.

  Both men come to me, but I direct them to sit on the same side so I don’t have to look back and forth between them. Neither seems happy about that. An awkward intensity hovers between their bodies.

  Once they both establish I’m feeling better, I ask about what Sky told me in the limo. “You said the baby died.”

  “I thought it was the truth,” he says. “Anytime your mother mentioned anything about it, she only said they took your twin from her because she wasn’t breathing, and that’s the last she ever saw of her. I’ve left her chest on the table for you. Other than that spright light I found on an ancient drive, I know nothing. The chest is yours to dig through.”

  I purse my lips. “What about Force?”

  Luc straightens to answer. “He and I were the last of the bidders. So, I bid my Aviary shares. Every last one.”

  Sky crosses his ankle over the opposite knee. “Couldn’t very well turn down the whole Aviary, now could he?”

  Luc leans over the bed, and I notice Sky tense at the action. “It was worth it.”

  “What does tha
t make me, Luc? Your property? Your slave?” I challenge.

  Luc shakes his head. “It makes you Serenity. Though you will always be my Swan.”

  “Give her some breathing room, or I’ll do it for you.” Sky threads his brows low.

  Luc turns to Sky. “Don’t forget whose roof you are under, Skylar.”

  “Oh, I think we both know I won’t forget anytime soon.”

  “What’s going on between you two? What aren’t you telling me?” I survey them both.

  They stare at each other.

  “Should we tell her?” Luc asks.

  “Obviously, we have to now.” Sky rolls his eyes. “You don’t ask something like that in front of her without telling her. Ignoramus.” Sky slides back in his chair, spreading his legs out. He mutters something under his breath. It sounds like, ‘known her for sixteen damn years.’

  “You are not helping the situation,” Luc informs him.

  Sky inspects his hand before clenching it. “Situation’s already screwed beyond repair. You won’t make it any worse by telling her that we’re brothers.”

  “Half-brothers.” Luc interjects.

  As they bicker, I suck in the air around me. It can’t be true. It just can’t.

  “What the hell?” is all I manage to get out.

  “I told you we should have told her before,” Luc says.

  “Clearly, you’re the dumb pretty boy in the family.”

  “Shut up, Sky,” I say. “Luc, you’re better at talking. So, talk.”

  “I discovered the information shortly after hiring Sky. It was one of the reasons I promoted him to head of my security, other than the fact he conquered all my other candidates.”

  “What can I say?” Sky tightens his arm, showing off his brawn.

  “I bided my time,” Luc continues, unhindered. “Observed him until I could form enough of an impression. I never had much interaction with him as I was older than both him and Larke, who were born from the same mother. At the time of his disappearance, my father was more interested in raising me, the byproduct of the only woman he ever genuinely loved. She passed away giving birth to my younger sister Lea.”

  I remember her from the Guild visit night.

  “Larke was supposed to be watching Sky the night he disappeared—though his name was Lars then.”

  Sky grunts at the name, but I point a finger at him and invite him to shut it.

  “I had my suspicions, but it wasn’t until the night you saw the volus in my room that I discovered his connection to you. When I confronted him, I learned we both held one common interest—your safety above all else. And once I learned of Sky’s association with the Sanctuary, that he was responsible for securing Blackbird and her child, I chose to inform him of my decision to auction off the Aviary.

  “However, we both knew Force would never stop hunting you. It was a grand diversion, but a diversion nonetheless. I provided it while Skylar disarmed the system and took care of you. Dove’s involvement was unexpected.”

  Once he finishes, I remain where I am for the moment, sorting through all the other questions in my head.

  “Serenity, I don’t regret a damn thing,” Sky says, interrupting my thoughts. He sits up in his chair, reaching over to hold my hand. “When I was little, I got lost and took the wrong elevator. The next thing I knew, there was your mother and this pretty little baby.”

  My concern latches onto one thing. “Where are my parents, Sky?”

  “Still in Guild custody. Luc’s father is hoping to use them as a bargaining chip, since his three-for-one Temple partnership deal didn’t work out so hot thanks to Aldaine here.”

  That’s when I launch myself at Luc. Kindled like lightning at dawn, I spin around and slap at Luc’s face over and over again. “You promised me! You said anything I wanted! Any favor!”

  Sky is the one who grips me by the waist, who pins me back onto the bed while Luc rights himself.

  “Stop,” he commands. “Your new skin is still growing. As soon as it’s finished, you can smack him around to your heart’s content. Hell, I’ll join you. You did a good number on him already. Not as deep as your wounds, but he still needed stitches.”

  “Good!”

  “If you want someone to blame, blame us both, Ser. We made the choice together.”

  “I couldn’t let you fall into the hands of the Temple,” Luc adds, approaching from the other side of the bed.

  I grimace when he approaches, but Sky pushes down on me again and scolds, “Be good. And pay attention.”

  “Force was prepared to make my father a Temple partner,” Luc says. “He put up Temple stock shares, ownership titles, everything, but even Force could not bid an entire museum.”

  “Clever party trick, Aldaine.”

  Keeping his hands placated at his sides, Luc holds his head high as he addresses Sky. “You’re an Aldaine, too.”

  Sky shakes his head. “Hell will grow icebergs before I become an Aldaine.”

  I glance back at Luc, study him, compare them for a moment. “You look nothing like each other.”

  “Pity for him, isn’t it?” Sky snickers. A joke, of course, because we both know how easy Luc is on the eyes, even if I’ve always found Sky undefeated in the handsome category.

  “Does Force have my sister, Sky?” I ask.

  He nods once. “Identical twins are exceedingly rare in this day and age. And apparently, Director Force has spent over sixteen years searching for the match to the other twin. Just like your parents have spent their lives looking for their older daughter. When they finally found her, they got captured in the process. Force hid her pretty well. Shame they never thought he’d hide her in plain sight. In the Penthouse.”

  “What does he want from me?” I bite down on my lip.

  “He’ll turn you into the Face of the Temple. That much I do know. But I can’t begin to speculate about anything else.”

  Sky backs off when I stop tensing. “Penny for your thoughts?”

  I summon my twin’s spright light once again. The Temple is full of blood. And she’s some white jewel crusted into its center, my father’s hand in danger of shattering her every day.

  I have to help my family.

  Sky and Luc rescued me. Now, it is my turn to do some rescuing.

  I’m coming, I tell them silently.

  2

  W i n T e r

  “Get out,” I scream at Luc. By now, the scream has built up in my system. A scream that has waited days to pounce. This time, he walked in without knocking. Bad idea.

  It’s only been a few days, but I’m already restless. And still fuming.

  “Serenity, I—”

  I hurl the glass at him from halfway across the room. It’s a shame he closes the door too soon. Cocking my head to the side, I admire the way the shattered glass catches the morning light that cascades through the large bay window behind me.

  “Told you.” It’s Sky’s muffled voice on the opposite side of the door.

  “Shut up,” Luc retorts.

  Since the walls are swan-feather thin, it’s easy to pick up on their argument. I press my ear to the crack in the door to catch tail feathers of the discussion.

  “Where you off to now?” Sky asks, casual voice curious. I can imagine him propped up against the hallway wall, cutting an apple or something. Other than brief trips to the bathroom and to get food, he’s been stationed outside my door since they brought me here.

  It was a good plan…to come here. I’ll give Luc that much. Secluded. Off the Family radar. No records. Still, I believe we’re just killing time before Force finds us. According to Sky’s contacts, my father has been on the prowl, asking questions and pouring over Aviary data to find me.

  Luc has no contacts anymore.

  “None of your business,” Luc barks.

  “Touchy, touchy,” Sky mocks, the grin in his voice more than apparent.

  On my way to the window ledge, I trip on my ruffled skirt, thudding to the floor. I don’t know
why I bother with this charade of the peasant-blouse sleeves and a skirt that hides my ankles. My hope was to pick up the scraps of my old life. Somehow stitch them together.

  A tap on the door. “You okay, Ser?”

  “Fine, Sky. Just fine.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  I growl under my breath. He’s right. He’s always right. But I’m still not ready to see him yet.

  “You’re being a child,” Sky adds, familiar aggravation steeped in his voice.

  “I know,” I call before dropping onto the window ledge and surveying the snow-scribbled landscape.

  Winter writes its own autograph on my heart. Thanks to Luc’s Immortal Treatment implant, the scar on my chest healed, but I still touch the place where Mockingbird sliced me. The memory is as cold as a water snake crawling across my skin. Still aches.

  With all this glass around me and the moving-feather décor everywhere, I feel trapped in some enormous snow-stuffed glass globe. No surprise that Luc designed his winter retreat like the Aviary. Déjà vu stirs in every corner as I sit on the ledge before the window, observing the attached solar greenhouse that is filled with all sorts of exotic birds. Off to my left is a stunning view of the lake and the trees around it. But I’m not interested in the lake.