There was a rustling sound on the line. “How’s it going, kiddo?” my father’s voice cut through.
“Hey, Dad,” I said, relieved to hear his voice.
“Today is your big day…” he said.
“Big day?” I asked, not quite putting the two together.
“Yeah, you are officially legal…well kind of.” He laughed.
I squeezed the phone tighter to my ear. “Dad…”
“Listen kiddo, did you get the present we sent you?”
“Um…” I looked around for the box I brought inside earlier. It was over on the counter by the refrigerator. “Yeah.”
“Good,” he said. “Now listen carefully.”
I gripped the phone tighter. “Oh-kay,” I said slowly.
“Get the box and open it up.”
I walked over to the counter and pulled out a pair of scissors from the drawer. Laying the phone down, I put it on speaker and cut through the tape.
“Have you opened it?”
“Geez, hold on Dad.” I ripped the rest of the tape off. “All I see are peanuts, Dad.”
“Your gift is underneath. Now be careful.”
I made a face and reached into the box. A slew of foam peanuts floated to the floor and into my sink. “Oh great!”
“Did you find it?” Dad asked.
“Not yet,” I told him. “These stupid peanuts are everywhere.”
“Hurry up, Evie. I don’t have much time?”
“Geez, Dad, what’s going on? You and Mom got some kind of hot date or something?”
“Evie, just do as I say,” he snapped.
“Fine!” I rolled my eyes. “Geesh, Dad.” I finally found the box in the bottom. It was about twelve inches long. “Okay, I got it.”
“Be careful when you open it.”
“Huh?”
“Evie just do it.”
“Okay, okay, calm down, Dad.” I untied the ribbon and opened the box, half expecting it to be a Harry Potter Wand from the size and shape of the box but instead it was a creepy looking knife with a blue tip. I wished it was a wand instead. “Um, okay, Dad, I opened it.”
“Good.”
“Um, is there any reason in particular you gave me a knife for my birthday?”
“Yes.”
“And that would be…?”
“In case you need it.”
“Oh—kay,” I said slowly, thinking my Dad must be dipping in the wine a little early. “What might I need it for?”
“When the Degaré come for you.”
I pulled my phone from my ear and stared at it, completely freaked.
“Hey,” called out a deep voice from across the room.
The phone dropped to the floor, but that didn’t matter. The person in my bed was who mattered.
“WH-what are you doing here?”
“You invited me,” he said, and gave me a lazy lopsided grin. Leaning up on his elbow, his long hair fell forward over his too handsome face, his chest bare. I blinked hard. It was not Adriane, like I would have expected. No. It was the other one—the one that had looked like he hated me. “Ohmigod! What is happening?” I put my fists over my eyes and squeezed them shut.
“Come back to bed,” he said in an all too sexy-sounding voice. I peeked out from under my hands. He had pulled the covers back and my eyes boggled. He was naked.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m waiting for you to come back to bed.”
This cannot be happening. “You’re what?” I croaked. “I…ah…” I blinked stupidly at him. “What…how…”
“What’s the matter?” he asked, sounding worried. “You have another bad dream?”
I shook my head back and forth and then began nodding my head up and down.
“It’s only a dream.” He grinned.
My stomach flip-flopped and my mind grasped onto that word like a lifeline...
It was only a dream.
That had to be it. I was dreaming.
Suddenly everything came back to me—the party, Adriane, my friends disappearing, pod-Hanna, the weird pair in the clearing, and him. Oh, I remembered him, too. The pain I had felt for him when the girl left him. The hatred I had seen on his face. I looked at him, really looked at him. His face blurred before my eyes and shifted to something else…someone else….
Snap.
Again, my mind took me on another vacation. My vision skewed and again I slipped back into some weird, freaky kind of void.
62-A REAWAKENING
“Moriah?” Heather blocked her. “What are you doing?”
“I’m trying to see who in the hell is out there with Evie.”
“Stop right this instant!” Heather grabbed hold of her arm and pulled.
“Let me go!” Moriah yanked her arm away.
“No way!” Heather forcefully tugged her back. “Are you outta your mind?”
“Move, Heather.” Moriah pushed her.
“Listen, I don’t think we should let them know we are in here.” Heather tried to reason with her. “Just wait for the guys to get back, okay?”
“What is taking them so long? It seems like forever ago since they took off down the creepy passage.” Moriah rubbed her arms.
“I don’t know, but remember they are trying to find something we can use as weapons.” Heather angled her head to the hall behind them. “Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?” Moriah turned.
“That weird scraping sound?” Heather turned in the direction of the sound.
“I don’t hear anything.” Moriah walked forward and stopped. The shadows in the passageway looked to be shifting. She backed up again. “What’s taking them so long? And why in the hell didn’t we go with them?”
“I don’t know,” Heather said. “But I think it’s a good idea if we stick together, don’t you?” She gave her a pointed look.
“Fine.” Moriah crossed her arms. “I will give the guys five minutes, and then I’m going in.”
“And what are you going to do? Go Rambo on them or something?” Heather gave her a sharp look. “I hate to say this, but your ass is outnumbered.”
“What the hell, Heather?” Moriah snapped. “Are you a chicken?”
“Yeah, I am,” she said honestly. “And you should be too.” She shook her head. “Listen, by my count there are at least thirteen people out there, including Evie. And they don’t look like the cute munchkins from Oz either.”
“Whatever.” Moriah knew she was right but it didn’t make it any easier. “I know, let’s send out the twins, and see what they do to them.”
Heather glared at her and then her lips twitched a little.
“No way!” Brianna gritted.
Addison made an eep sound and scuttled closer to her sister.
“Come on Moriah, be for real.” Heather walked over to the twins. “She didn’t mean it,” she assured them.
They didn’t look like they believed her. She couldn’t say as she blamed them either. “Tell them you are only kidding,” she told Moriah.
Moriah sighed. “I was only kidding you two, so get over it already.”
“Bitch,” Addison muttered.
“You two better watch out,” warned Heather.
“Why?” Brianna asked.
Heather tilted her head toward Moriah. “She probably wasn’t kidding.”
Their eyes widened and they backed up a step.
Heather knew she was being mean but their whininess was getting on her nerves, which didn’t normally happen. And what was even weirder was that she might even be starting to like Moriah. At least they had some stuff in common. They both were super attractive…and…
“Oh God, what am I saying?”
63-FIRST IMPRESSIONS
“Shhh, Evie, it’s all right,” a deep voice resonated in my ear.
I knew that voice as well as I knew my own, which couldn’t be right. I opened my eyes.
“Ahhh!” I fell to the floor.
“Evie, what are you doing?”
When I looked up, my heart stopped. “Adriane?”
“That’s my name…” His lips twitched.
“WH-what…?” I scrambled up off the floor.
“What’s wrong?” His brow creased.
“How...?”
“What?” He gave me a worried look.
“How…how…?” I couldn’t get the words out.
“Evie, what’s wrong?” He leaned forward.
I rubbed my eyes, thinking I was hallucinating. However, when I lowered my hands, he was still in my bed. I swallowed hard, my throat was constricted. I staggered over to the fridge and opened the door.
It made a low humming noise. Reaching in, I grabbed the last bottle of Snapple off the shelf. I had an eerie sense of déjà vu, like I had already done this at some point. Frustrated that I couldn’t remember, I kicked the door closed.
“What did that refrigerator ever do to you?” he joked.
“It made me mad.” I twisted off the lid and it made a popping sound. Again, I had a feeling like I had done this before. Ignoring the feeling, I took a drink anyway. Funny, even after I took the sip I still felt thirsty. I wiped the condensation from the bottle and rubbed my fingers but they didn’t feel wet. I looked back at Adriane and my stomach swooped like it always did when I looked at him. Was this even real or was this just another weird, twisted dream my brain conjured? I didn’t know.
“C’mere.” He lifted his arm and pulled back the covers.
Please don’t be a dream. I walked over to the bed. I sat down on the edge and the mattress creaked under my weight.
He lifted his hand and touched my cheek. It felt cold and scaly, like a snake. I shuddered. “Why is your hand so cold?”
He shrugged and dropped his hand. “I like your apartment.”
“Thanks.” I pulled my legs up on the bed. “So when did we um…get here?” I swallowed hard past the ever growing lump in my throat.
“We came here last night.”
“We did?” I felt sick.
“Yeah, don’t you remember?” His brows creased.
I tried to remember but my mind was a big void of nothingness. “No.” I shook my head. “Not really.”
“You don’t remember?” He gave me a strange look and ran his hand through his hair.
“Why is your tattoo glowing?”
“Hmm…” He looked at it. “Well, it’s all right.”
“Did we sleep…here?” My eyes involuntarily drifted to his bare chest. It was a very nice chest.
“Yes.” He lifted his hand to my face and cupped my chin. His thumb slid over my bottom lip. It felt like he was rubbing an ice cube on it. I shivered but didn’t want to pull away. “Come here,” he said and pulled me forward.
I went willingly into his arms. His body was so cold…too cold. Something wasn’t right.
“You’re cold,” he said, and pulled me closer.
I was going tell him that I wasn’t cold…it was him, but then he smiled at me again and I forgot what I was going to say. “I hope you’re real,” I said more to myself than to him.
“Why wouldn’t I be real?” His eyes glittered strangely and he grabbed hold of the bottom of my shirt.
“Um…” I put my hands on his. “What are you doing?”
“What’s it look like?” he asked and his brow hitched up a notch.
“I don’t know.”
He pushed my hand away. “Let’s get to this, shall we?” He jerked my shirt higher.
Colton saying the same thing rushed back to me. I pushed my shirt down. “Get to what…exactly?”
“You…” He lifted his brows. “Me…” He smiled. “You know, doin’ the nasty.”
“What the…?” I pushed against his chest.
He laughed.
It didn’t make me feel warm and fuzzy like his laughs usually did. It actually scared the shit out of me. “I need to use the bathroom.” I jumped from the bed and ran inside. Slamming the door shut, I locked it and braced my hands on the sink. Looking in the mirror, I wasn’t sure what I expected to see but it was only my reflection staring back at me. The jellybean bruises were still on the side of my face. “Okay breathe, Evie.” I took three deep, yoga-fire breaths. “What is happening?” My reflection didn’t give me any answers.
After I stared at myself for what seemed like a really, really, long time, I decided I needed to get to the bottom of this. The door creaked as I slowly opened it up and peeked out, half expecting that he would be gone.
Nope. He was still there.
I slammed the door and pressed my back against it. I did three more fire breaths. It still didn’t help. “Crap!”
Getting up my nerve, I yanked open the door. This time he wasn’t in the bed but rather standing at my counter.
“You okay?” he asked and gave me a look that made me strangely warm.
“Yep. Just had to…you know.” My face burned.
He stepped forward and put his hands on my shoulders. They felt heavy and cold. He looked deeply into my eyes like he had something really important to tell me. “I think we should….”
“Yes.”
“Get to this.” He inclined his head toward the bed.
“What?” I gulped.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll show you how it’s done.”
I stumbled back into the door. Colton had said the same thing. “What are you talking about?”
He cocked his head to the side. He reminded me of someone else…but who? My brain wouldn’t work. “Adriane…”
He turned and walked back to the bed. His back was bare. Wait. Where were the welts I felt? The ones I saw. Were they really on his back or was it something else? Could have I imagined them or was I imagining this? Oh, crap! I didn’t know.
“Come on, Evie.” He turned toward me and smiled. It didn’t reach his eyes. “I won’t bite…hard.”
“What?”
He laughed again. It sounded even weirder than before. Then his face blurred and I caught a glimpse of someone else, someone I remembered from the night before. But it wasn’t Colton, or Alistair. No, it was the big guy down in the foyer with the crazy, trading-card looking bitch. Again, his face blurred and instead of a handsome man, I saw something ugly, something scary, and dark.
“What are you?” I barely whispered.
He whipped his head around and his long hair moved in slow motion. “I am your worst nightmare and your best dream…all rolled into one.” He winked. Lifting his muscled arms in the air, he pushed his long hair away from his face. His tattoo was glowing red. “I’m not here to hurt you,” he said, and gave me a wan smile.
“Why are you here then?” I felt strangely void of emotion.
“I need something from you.”
“What might that be?” I had to ask.
“Your blood,” he said and shrugged his massive shoulders. Ribbons of ink appeared on his chest.
“Like a drop?”
“I’m afraid I may need a bit more than that.” His eyes turned red. “You see me, don’t you?”
“Huh?”
He laughed. It was melodic but creepy too. “You can see me…not the boy?” He asked it like a question but it was really a statement. “You see me,” he said, and waved his hand to encompass his substantial body.
“Well yeah. You’re kind of hard to miss.” I had no idea why I wasn’t freaking out more.
“What do you think?”
“Of what?” This was getting way too weird. I felt like I might need to lie down for like ever.
“The way I look,” he said. “Am I pleasing to your eyes?”
“Well…” I chewed on my lip, contemplating. Actually, he was really hot, like older man hot. He had nice hair when it wasn’t moving and his face was pretty perfect in a marble sort of way, like a statue. He was pale too.
“What is wrong with your face?” He looked horrified.
Freaked, I patted my face but it felt normal. “What’s wrong with my face?”
“You made an ugl
y face at me.” He looked mortally wounded.
“Oh.” I dropped my hands.
“Why did you do that?”
“Okay, your hair is freaking me out.”
He lifted his hand to his flowing hair. “What is wrong with my hair?”
“It moves.” I bugged my eyes at him.
“Oh, well it does…so…” He shrugged like it was no big deal.
“Why does it move?”
“It just does.” He lifted his hand and dragged his fingers through the ends of his hair, like it was a pet. “Why doesn’t yours move?”
“Um, because I’m human,” I said calmly.
He smirked. “I’m better than a human.”
“That is a matter of opinion.” I smirked back at him and even as I did it I couldn’t believe what I was doing. Maybe I snapped. Maybe I really was only a short bus ride away from crazy.
“You know…everything happens for a reason, even if you don’t understand it.”
I did a double-take. That’s what Adriane said.
He sighed. “Now what’s wrong?”
“I feel like you can read my mind or something.” Again, I couldn’t help but wonder why I wasn’t freaking out more.
“I can, sort of.” He shrugged his broad shoulders. “I borrow your thoughts.”
“Well, that’s just rude.”
“Rude?” He looked confused.
“Yeah, you shouldn’t take things from other people without their permission. It’s an invasion of privacy.”
He laughed. “Oh. I think I see.”
“What do you see?” I took a reflexive step back.
“You want me to ask you for permission to take things.” He glanced over at the dagger on the counter.
“Well, yeah.” My brow creased. “I guess.”
“May I take your blood?” he asked pleasantly and added a smile. A row of razor-sharp teeth appeared.
“Are you out of your mind?”
“I’m not out of my mind. I am in yours though.” He laughed like a demented psycho.
I made a break for it and grabbed up the dagger. I held it out, shaking it. “Get away from me!”
He threw back his head and laughed. “You are going to be the death of me.”
“I can hope.”
He sobered and leveled me with an intense stare. Shivers of dread raced up my spine.
Briarcliff Page 28
