Chaos and courage

by Willow Rose

  Aunt Tina was there now, sitting by her bedside, crying. Jazmine was wiggling her nose like crazy, but her aunt didn't see it, or maybe she didn't think it was important.

  "I just feel so…sad, baby. For how everything has turned out," Aunt Tina said. "I…I can't believe it. Less than a year ago, you were a happy family living in your old house. You used to be such a great swimmer; do you remember? Of course, you don't. But I would come to all your competitions and watch you as you darted through the water like a darn torpedo. No one in our family has ever been a swimmer, and I was so proud of you. Brianna was worried that someone might notice how you floated easier than the humans, but I wasn't. I was thrilled that you used it as an advantage. And, boy, you could win. You won every time, Jazzy, every time."

  Aunt Tina sniffled, and Jazmine felt such profound sadness. She couldn't stand this darkness or the loneliness. Why was her body so useless?

  I am scared. I am so scared.

  She had a lot of time to go through the entire scenario and picture how it was going to happen. She had even dreamt about it when falling asleep. How she was lowered into the ground, and she could hear the dirt being thrown on top of her coffin.

  Jazmine had tried hard to get into Aunt Tina's mind and plant pictures or speak to her the way she had managed to speak to Robyn or at least call her name, but it didn't seem to work. Aunt Tina didn't seem to react to any of it. Now she was trying again, focusing hard, this time screaming inside Aunt Tina's mind.

  HELP!

  Aunt Tina stopped talking for a few seconds, then sniffled. "I am sorry. I thought I heard something, but it's just in my head," she said. "I fear that I might be…that I’m going crazy over all this. I keep hearing your voice inside of my mind, but I know that you can't…" she paused again, and Jazmine tried to picture her face, to imagine how she would look at her with her deep, dark and sad eyes.

  Screaming for help took all of Jazmine's strength, and she felt exhausted afterward. The same thing had happened when manipulating Robyn that day and sending her to the abandoned farm and helping her find the skin. After that, she had slept for what felt like forever, but she didn't really know how long it was since all she knew now was darkness and couldn't even tell if it was night or day.

  She slid in and out of consciousness for what felt like a little while and, as she woke up again, Aunt Tina's voice was no longer there. Jazmine was overwhelmed with sadness and loneliness once again.

  Had she left?

  "There's something I need to tell you," she said suddenly.

  Jazmine felt joyful. Aunt Tina was still there.

  "I know you can't hear me, but I need to get this off my chest. I keep worrying about it."

  There was a pause, and Jazmine imagined Aunt Tina leaning forward to make sure no one overheard what she told her.

  "I did something. It was an accident. There was this Yeti cup in your closet. I might have…accidentally released the spider that was in it. There, I told you. I feel terrible. That man is nothing but evil, and now I realize you had probably trapped him in there for a reason, but now he is out, and I’m terrified of what he is up to. Mr. Aran, I believe his name is, right? Yes, that's it. I released Mr. Aran. I am sorry."

  If Jazmine had been able to feel something, she would probably have felt how the blood in her veins froze to ice right about now, while she screamed inside of her darkness:

  No! No! NO!

  Chapter Ten

  We drove onto our street and spotted Duncan's limo parked in front of my house.

  "Shoot," I said.

  "Him?" Jayden snorted. "Are you still seeing him?"

  I gave Jayden a look.

  "I thought we were together now," he said, then looked at me.

  I stared at him, not quite grasping exactly what he was saying. "What do you mean? I haven't seen you in days. You ran away from us out in the park, remember? I thought you…I thought you'd changed your mind?"

  "Changed my mind?" Jayden said. "Why on Earth would I do that? I love you, Robyn. I thought you were avoiding me."

  I exhaled, slightly confused. Maybe he was right. I had been avoiding him.

  "I just…I just thought that since we said those things about Ruelle maybe being innocent, that maybe you'd…rather be with her since she is more…like you?"

  "Ha," Jayden said. "She's nothing like me."

  "Really?" I asked.

  He parked the car in front of my house, then turned to face me, grabbing my hands in his.

  "You're the one I want to be with. You should know that by now. It's always been you and me."

  I felt like pinching my arm to make sure I wasn't dreaming but never got that far. Jayden leaned over and placed a deep kiss on my lips, making me realize this was as real as it got.

  "Wow," I said as our lips parted.

  He smiled. "You get it now?"

  "But…but what do I do about Duncan?" I asked, confused.

  "You better tell him you're taken," he said.

  "He's housing my entire family. He's taking care of me. How can I do that?" I asked.

  Jayden shrugged. "Just tell him."

  "I wish it were that easy," I said.

  "Listen," he said. "You shouldn't be with him just because you feel like you owe him."

  "I don't. That's not it; I just…"

  I stopped, wondering if Jayden was right. Was I just afraid to let him down? Afraid he would turn his back on my family and me or did I really want to be with him?

  Maybe if he hadn't been a vampire.

  It was true. It bothered me that he was one of them. Staying with him meant I had to become one as well. With Jayden, the choice was still mine.

  I turned my head to face Jayden, then planted a kiss on his lips as well. When our lips parted, it was my turn to smile.

  "I love you too," I said. "Always have. It was always you, Jayden. You and me."

  He grinned. "Good. That's settled then. Now, go tell him. If I learned anything from being kept a prisoner, it is to not postpone things in life, especially not when it comes to matters of the heart."

  I chuckled. "You're beginning to sound like my Grams."

  "Smart woman, your grandmother," Jayden said and got out of the car. I followed him just as the door to the limo swung open and Duncan emerged.

  Chapter Eleven

  Duncan approached us and faced me. His eyes were fiery.

  "What are you doing with him?" he asked, pointing at Jayden.

  Jayden placed his arm around my shoulder.

  "She doesn’t have to answer to you, bro," he said.

  I gave Jayden a strange look. I had never seen him act quite like this. Duncan certainly didn't bring out the best in him.

  "Oh, yeah? Says who?" Duncan asked as he puffed himself up.

  "Says her boyfriend," Jayden said.

  Duncan snorted. Having enough, I raised my hands.

  "Stop. Both of you." I turned to face Jayden. "Jayden, please. I can speak for myself."

  He lifted his arm from my shoulder. "Okay. As you wish. I'll be right over here if you need me, keeping an eye on this guy."

  "Is he for real?" Duncan asked as Jayden walked a few steps away.

  "Yes," I said, trying to gather my thoughts. "I mean no; he's just acting weird because of you. You both are."

  Duncan calmed down. "Are you all right? Where have you been all day? Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been about you? You weren't in school, again?"

  "I went to do stuff," I said. "I’m trying to find my dad, remember?"

  Duncan sighed. "That is not your problem to solve. We have people searching for him everywhere. We'll find him. All you need to do is to go on like nothing happened; go to school and make the spiders believe everything is back to normal."

  "How am I supposed to do that? He's my dad for cryin' out loud," I said, pressing back tears.

  Duncan grabbed my face between his hands. Jayden reacted and was about to approach us again, but Duncan hissed at him, and his face turne
d half vampire. It scared me slightly, and Duncan saw that and changed back, while Jayden pulled away. If it ever came down to a fight, Jayden knew he wouldn't stand a chance against a vampire. At least not until he became a wolf like his parents. If he ever did.

  "Please, don't take off like that again," he said, looking deep into my eyes. "I hate not knowing where you are or who you are with."

  I wrinkled my forehead and pulled out of his grip. "So, now you want to control where I am and what I do and with whom? That's kind of scary, Duncan."

  He sighed. "That's not what I meant."

  "It's what you said."

  Duncan growled. "Darn it. I can't win with you, can I? Even with all that I’ve done for you. I take care of you. I take care of your entire family, and this is how you repay me?"

  I stepped back, seeing the fire in Duncan's eyes. "You think I owe you, don't you?"

  "Yes, you owe me," he spurted out. "You owe me for all I’ve done for you and your family."

  I nodded, slightly overwhelmed. "I see. It's good to know how you feel."

  Duncan stared at me, then shook his head. "No. No, you're misunderstanding me, Robyn."

  "It's okay," I said and took a step toward the house. "I don't want to be your charity project anyway. You don't have to take care of me from now on. I can take care of myself."

  I heard him protest, then turned around and left him there while walking up to the house. Jayden came running up after me and entered the house with me, while Duncan still stood in the driveway looking like a child who had just lost his favorite toy.

  Chapter Twelve

  Amy woke up when there was a rattle at the door to her cell, and it creaked open. She looked up just in time to see the two guards before they grabbed her arms and pulled her out. She was too broken to protest and, instead, she let them drag her across the dirty floor until they reached the interrogation room down the corridor. They opened the door and threw her inside, then closed the door behind her with a loud slam.

  Amy had heard about these rooms and seen other prisoners taken in there. She had heard the screams afterward and seen the beaten-up faces as they were taken out again. It was the first time she was in one herself, but she had prepared herself for the day it would happen.

  I'll tell them nothing. No matter how much they beat me, I won't tell them anything.

  Fearing the worst and bracing herself for what was to come, Amy calmed herself down, then spotted a chair and went to sit in it. It was the only furniture in the entire windowless room. There was nothing else there except the barren white walls.

  She sat in the bright light and waited.

  "Hello?" she finally asked but received no answer. She sighed, tired. What did these creatures even want from her? They hadn't told her why they had brought her to this strange place. Why hadn't they simply killed her when they saw her at the hospital? Why had they taken her away instead?

  They had shown her to the crowd of humans who had all gawked at her in awe and squealed in fear as she turned dragon. To have those people stare at her like that made her feel terrible and disgusted by her own nature. The look in those eyes was enough to make her realize just how much humans would fear her if they saw her in their world. She knew now how important it was to hide, just like her parents had told her it was. Humans would never understand; they would never realize that they were good, that her people were the good ones, the kind they could trust and who could actually be of help to them. Instead, they chose to fear them, which was sad. Amy had a feeling they could all learn to get along, even with the vampires, if only they would give it a chance. If only all parties were willing and no one would let fear control how they acted among other creatures. After all, they had all been here for centuries. Wasn't it as much the supers’ world as it was the humans’? Amy had never known anything else. How would she ever go back to a place she had never even visited?

  "Hello? Is anyone listening?" she asked, feeling very uncomfortable in the bright light. It was making her head ache. Or maybe it was all the beating she had received that was causing it. It could also be all the drugs they were filling her with to keep her strength down. She didn't know. She just knew she wasn't feeling very well. Not that those spider-like creatures would ever care. She had learned that much about them. They were keeping them there for a reason, and she could only hope that whatever it was they wanted from her was important enough to let her live.

  She couldn't stop thinking about her parents and wondered if that was what they wanted her to reveal…where they were and maybe where others were too. She couldn't do that. Besides, they would probably kill her once they got the information they needed. Amy had seen too many movies to ever fall for that trick. If they told her she would get to go home if she only ratted out her family and friends, she wasn't going to do it.

  "Hello?" she said again, trying to sound tough, so—if they were listening—they would understand that she wasn't going to break easily.

  "Hello," a voice said as the door opened and someone entered.

  Amy turned and looked. As her eyes locked with this person’s, her heart stopped.

  "We meet again," he said and closed the door behind him, then swayed toward her on his long thin legs.

  Amy gasped for breath, unable to quite understand what she was seeing. How was it even possible?

  "Mr. A-Aran?"

  Chapter Thirteen

  I sat by the counter in the kitchen, while Jayden made me some coffee. The house suddenly seemed so empty. The sound of the coffee spurting through the machine echoed off the walls. I never thought it would happen, but I actually missed my mom. I missed her telling me not to drink that tar-like substance that was bound to damage your stomach lining and cause indigestion and heartburn, not to mention the anxiety it caused in people. And the growth stunting.

  I shook my head while thinking of my crazy mother and almost hearing her appalled tone.

  Gosh, I missed it.

  "Here you go," Jayden said and put a cup in front of me. I stared at the black substance as a tear escaped my eye. I removed it quickly with a loud sniffle. Jayden grabbed my hand.

  "Don't worry about that idiot," he said. "We're together now; that's all that matters."

  I wasn't thinking about him. I was upset and angry with Duncan, yes, but right now I was crying because I missed my family and I was scared of the future and what would become of all of us. I didn't want to tell Jayden, though. It would be hard for him to understand since he had grown up with me hating my family and especially my mother. He would never understand how I could suddenly miss my tyrant mother so much. How I had realized that the old saying was true: You never really knew what you had until it was gone.

  "I know," I said. "You've always been so good to me."

  Jayden leaned over the counter and placed his face real close to mine, then smiled with a soft sigh.

  "Exactly."

  He leaned closer and kissed me again. The kiss felt different, demanding almost, and I pulled away.

  "What's wrong?" he asked.

  "I…I just…I need a little time, I guess, to let it all sink in. It's all a bit overwhelming."

  I lifted my glance, and my eyes met his. Looking into his eyes always filled me with such deep emotion. I reached out my hand and caressed his cheek, wondering if everything would be the same between us with all that had happened. Could we go back?

  "I have plenty of time," he said, whispering. His hand was playing with a lock of my hair.

  Jayden looked at his watch, then back at me.

  "Speaking of time. I have to get going. My mom expects me to be home by now. If I’m not, she might call both the police and fire department. She's so terrified of something happening to me again that I feel like she's watching my every move. Did you know she even quit her job to be able to tend to me full time? That's how she put it. I feel like I’m in prison lately."

  "You still managed to get away with me today?" I said.

  "Because my mom thought I was
in school. She's even been begging me to quit my job at Sophie's, so she can spend more time with me, but I’ve told her I’m not doing that. I love my work."

  He moaned, annoyed, and ran a hand through his thick hair.

  "It's like we’ve switched lives," he said, and leaned over and kissed me again before he left, and I was once again alone in the big house.

  Chapter Fourteen

  "You're probably wondering how I got out, aren't you?"

  Mr. Aran stood behind Amy's chair and spoke very close to her ear, causing her to shiver.

  "You little vermin, you thought you could keep me trapped down there forever, didn't you? You all did."

  Amy swallowed. "I…I…"

  "I know. You weren't the one who trapped me, your little friend, Jazmine was, practicing her witchcraft when she's not supposed to. I'll have my way with her later on, but first, I am so happy to have found you."

  Amy didn't say anything. She bowed her head, thinking back on the night at the slumber party when Mr. Aran had almost sucked her soul out and killed her, killed them all. Jazmine had saved them by casting the spell.

  "As soon as I was set free, I rushed to your house," he said, laughing, pacing back and forth behind her. "Bringing a couple of my little friends, naturally, but lo and behold, you weren't there. So, guess what I did."

  Amy swallowed again, her heart racing so fast it almost hurt. "W-what did you do?"

  Mr. Aran smiled, then walked up in front of her and bent down. He lifted her head with a light finger on her chin and forced her to look into his narrow-set eyes.

  "I took the wolf instead."

  Amy's eyes grew wide. "No! Not Melanie!"

  Mr. Aran clapped his hands together excitedly. "Oh, yes."

  "What did you do to her, you monster?"