Collapsing back on my seat, I pull the Twizzlers out and toss them onto the floor, not wanting to eat them by mistake. Everyone starts cheering and high five-ing the air towards me.
“That was hysterical!” Kara snorts.
“Perfect.” Mikey slaps me on the back from his seat behind me. He laughs and a couple other guys chime in. I glance to the front of the bus and see Ari smirking at me. I can’t help but blush at how juvenile I must look. Lisa chimes in, breaking my stare with Ari, chatting about what she’s going to do for the next car.
Lisa has to lean onto my seat to get a good look for a car since the bus is in the slow lane. She furrows her brows and looks hard at a big truck. Her hand moves forward and the truck beside us starts moving side to side on the road.
I get a bad feeling in my stomach, like this isn’t such a good idea anymore. She’s playing with the truck, but just one wrong move and it will flip. She moves him back and forth, using the air to control its movements.
She finishes, placing the car back in the right direction, and she gets some good feedback from some kids in the back of the bus. I think she didn’t really do it for the game, since the truck driver had no idea why he was moving between lanes—more to show off her powers to everyone.
Mikey decides to go next, again. He ends up goating the car—pulling his pants down and shoving his balls against the window. The reaction was the most sour I think I have ever seen. The woman in the car actually slowed down and changed lanes to get out of view of the disturbing window. I practically pee my pants while laughing so boisterously.
“That’s it!” Professor Nike, walks down the aisle towards us. “Game over,” he calls out, looking at just us in the middle of the bus. I cower in my seat, his voice so commanding. My laugh is instantly halted.
“Come on, Professor. It was fun!” Mikey groans, tucking his package back into his pants.
“Find a book or something to read. Or maybe try doing some homework,” Nike glares at Mikey, but in a lighthearted way. I know they’re close because of the soccer team. But he’s still a teacher, and I wouldn’t want to get on his bad side.
“Fine,” Mikey gives in, sitting back in his chair in defeat.
After that un-topable turn and Professor Nike’s intervention, the game ends so most of us do our own things to pass time. I get bored listening to music, so Kara and I grab the cards Megan packed and start playing Egyptian Rat Screw. It’s hard since the cards slip and slide with each turn, but it kills a good amount of time.
My pill wears off way too quickly, so I plug my headphones in again, trying to tune out my feelings and forget for a little bit. I end up falling asleep until about an hour later when Kara nudges me awake.
“We’re here.” She leans over me and stares out the large bus window. We pull up into the middle of nowhere. Literally all there is is openness and dark woods.
Once we pass through the camp gates, I stare out at the sprawling estate. There’s woods and fields as far as I can see. Down the drive, there are ten cabins near the edge of the woods and a large building smack dab in the middle of the field.
The building looks like a huge ski loft with wooden walls and an evergreen roof. An awning with tall columns greets us near the entrance where it meets with the dirt road. The buses pull up to the front of the main building, and everyone piles out, stumbling over each other and their bags to get off the hot bus as fast as possible.
I quickly grab my duffle bag, take Kara’s outstretched hand, and run off the bus so we don’t get lost in the tumble of things. All of us students huddle together outside, waiting for instructions of what to do next. The sun is setting—although it’s still early. It’s freezing out, so we try to get warm by using each other’s body heat.
Magdelina is announced as my group’s leader. I’m livid, but I refuse to let her ruin the trip. Instead, I plaster on a happy face and start to follow Kara to our cabin.
But before we get far, I’m summoned from behind. “Eury,” the familiar deep voice calls out. Kara gives me a reassuring look and nods for me to wait up for him.
“Hey,” Ari says when he stops in front of me.
“What’s up?” I ask as I hike my heavy bag over my shoulder. My response is clipped, and I instantly feel bad for my poor attitude. I can’t help it, though.
“I just wanted to see how you’re doing.” I look up, trying to gauge why he’s asking, but his expression takes me off guard. He looks nervous, like he’s treading on thin ice around me.
“I’m fine,” I tell him—the same thing I’ve told everyone since my vision occurred.
“I can tell you’re lying.” He wrinkles his forehead, reading me like a book. Ari leans forward and takes my heavy bag from me and swings it over his shoulder. “Let me walk you.”
“Sure.” I walk beside him, almost hand-in-hand. We’re close enough that I can feel his current run through me. His electric energy feels good to my negative energy. “Stop,” I tell him, grabbing his hand.
I shut my eyes and let where our hands touch warm me. He feels so calming. I first noticed our weird electric energy when I was in the Underworld, and now it’s like a drug to me. I crave feeling him.
“What are you doing?” Ari whispers down at me. His hot breath makes a trail down my body, and I shiver in response.
“You feel good,” I tell him, my eyes refusing to open.
“You’re really freaking me out,” he half jokes.
“Sorry,” I tell him, dropping his hand and opening my eyes. But when I do, it’s like my worries come back into me. I feel worse than before.
“No,” he says. He grabs my hand and holds it to his heart so I can feel the quick beats in his chest. “I’ll do anything to make you feel better…even if it’s to hold your little hand.” He smiles.
“Do you feel it, too?”
“Of course,” he answers, rubbing his thumb up and down my pointer finger. “It’s like a little jolt of lightning.”
“It’s wonderful right now. I was feeling so awful before. Why didn’t you come sooner?” I ask him, without thinking.
“I didn’t think you’d want company. Actually, I can’t really tell what you want anymore, Eury. I’m so lost,” he reveals. I look up at him, and his brows are pinched tight. His bright green eyes are questioning.
“I’m sorry. So much has been going on,” I tell him, grabbing his other hand, so I have both in my possession. “And this curse thing is always looming over me. I’ve been researching and trying to go into dreams. I’m exhausted. And then this Aribelle thing…”
“Aribelle?” he asks, and I look back up into his curious green eyes.
“The daughter I never knew.”
“Her name was Aribelle?” I nod at him, and he has this sad look on his face that I don’t understand. For just a second, I think he’s going to walk away, but he bends low and swoops me up into his arm, burying his face in my shoulder. My feet are off the ground, dangling between us.
“What?” I giggle into him, wondering what’s going through his head. I hug him tightly, wrapping my arms around his neck, even though he can hold me easily without the help.
“I just love you,” he answers, refusing to let me go.
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
removing the darkness
Ari walks me the rest of the way to my cabin where I can already hear the squealing girls inside. “Thanks,” I tell him, trying to think of an excuse so I don’t have to let go of his pleasure-inducing hand.
“I’ll see you in a little,” he shrugs, swaying from side to side.
“Where?” I ask, having no idea what’s going on. I just pray that I’ll see him soon.
“Cabin games will probably start in an hour or so. We’re on opposite teams, though, so I should probably keep my distance.” He starts to back up away from me.
“No!” I answer, way too fast. “I kind of don’t want you to go.”
“I kind of don’t want to, but I have to go check in with my cabin. I’m
a responsible chaperone. I promise, I’ll see you soon,” he tells me, before leaning down and kissing my forehead.
“All right,” I relent, knowing we both have to go our separate ways. He steps back, dropping my hand, and immediately I feel hungover, but I put on a fake grin for him.
“Love you,” I tell him.
“Love you back,” he answers, winking over his shoulder as he leaves me. I hike my duffel over my shoulder once he’s out of sight and tentatively step on the rickety porch. The wood creaks in protest under my feet, so I hurry over before it collapses and cross the threshold into the large room.
Right when I step in, I notice two doors on either side of me and a hallway down front that leads to the main room. I open the doors, being curious, and they’re small bathrooms with stalls and showers in each. I shut the doors and then head to the main room where the chaos of bed picking takes place.
Kara is in the second row of bunks on my right, so I walk over to the bed she’s claimed. I quickly throw down my duffel bag on the bottom bunk of the bed so everyone knows it’s mine and then sit, flinching when the squeaky mattress groans.
I check out the rest of the room, noticing everyone flitting around in a frenzy. There’s five bunk beds per side of the room with two half sized dressers in between each bed that act as dividers.
The center of the room is completely empty, not even a rug laid out. Some girls’ bags lay on the dark wood floor as their owners bunch up in friend groups. For the most part, it’s just one big empty room now filled with screaming girls acting all annoying.
“You’ve got five minutes to get ready and be near the front door. Cabin games start in ten,” Magdelina announces, dropping on a large queen sized bed I must’ve missed when I walked in. Even the way she falls is snooty. The bed is shoved in the corner of the main room, near the bathrooms and looks out of place against all the small bunks. I would bet anything that she brought the bed in herself just to be queen of the cabin.
I turn back to my bag on the bed and rummage through, looking for something to wear to the games. “What the hell am I supposed to wear?” I ask Kara, who’s laying on her back on the top bunk. “What are we even doing?” I add, ducking my head out of the bottom. Kara leans over her bunk so her head is upside down, her hair cascading down.
“I got this for us,” Kara says excitedly and then leaves. She pulls herself back up to her bed, and the plastic mattress squeaks as she tugs her bag around up there. Before I know it, a piece of cloth nails me right in the face.
I pull it back and scowl at Kara but look at the bright blue tee shirt in my hands. I throw it over my black long sleeve shirt so I don’t freeze to death—it’s like we’re up at the North Pole. She announces her purchase to the cabin and then throws shirts around the entire room.
Blue Bandits is written across the chest of each shirt. The number three is squiggled on the back of mine.
“Is she for real?” I stare pointedly at Kara with crazy eyes.
“You can’t mess with her when she has these creative visions.” Megan laughs to herself as she pulls on her own shirt. It’s identical to mine except it has a number four on it.
“Great.” I leave on my pair of black yoga pants but switch out my comfy slippers for my running shoes. I lie back on the bed and find some Rolo’s in my bag, needing some sugar in my system. I grab a couple for the road and start chewing, savoring the taste.
I want to enjoy this trip and not feel shitty the whole time. I don’t want to let my friends down, but it’s so hard to keep a happy face. I barely notice the effects of the medicine anymore. I feel just as numb as before. I just wish I could find Ari and use him to make me feel better again.
Before we leave, some girl holding black lipstick walks around the room. She smiles at me like we’re old friends and then takes my face in her hands.
“What the hell!” I jump back, but she holds me in place between her long spider-like fingernails. She presses the lipstick under my eyes in two long lines and then moves onto Kara, who smiles when it’s being applied.
We all head to the bathroom to inspect each other. Then as the Blue Bandits, my cabin crew heads out to the main front lawn, looking bad ass for the games.
“Welcome to DGA cabin games!” a teacher announces. He swings his arms out like a ringmaster starting a circus. My stomach flutters as I cling to Kara’s hand. I have no idea what I’m in for, but I know it’s competitive and will require athleticism. And I know I’m screwed since I lack in all of the above.
“Here’s the short list of rules. Make sure to listen to them or you’re disqualified. One: No purposeful hitting, punching, or kicking. Two: No swearing. Three: Be as fair as possible. Four: Have fun. Five: Win,” the tall man with an Abraham Lincoln beard yells. Abe gestures for us to stand in our groups, so we all clump up even more so than before.
“The first game is called Amoeba. We’ll play in heats. Pair up in twos and your advisor will put you in order,” Abe says to the herd of us.
Immediately, I cling to Kara’s hand so that nobody else can grab her. Luckily, she clutches me, too. We wait impatiently for Magdelina to arrange us for what feels like a duel to the death.
Magdelina positions Megan and Lisa first in the lineup and then arranges the rest, leaving Kara and me for last. I know she only does it to upset me, but I pretend to be unfazed when my inside is reeling with hatred. I roll my eyes over at Kara, and she squeezes my hand, silently telling me to take it down a notch.
I look to where Abe Lincoln was last, but in his place is my green eyed god. I have a second to admire him before he detects that I’m ogling. He’s changed his clothes and now wears army pants—the traditional green and brown colors—and a black waffle shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows.
I take in how form fitting the shirt is, hugging his chest and arms in a way that looks beyond surreal. His arm muscles bulge, and it looks like he just did a hundred pushups to get them so swollen. I swear my mouth waters, wanting to be close to him. I look up to admire his face when his eyes lock onto mine with fire.
My cheeks burn—he caught me staring. He winks at me, turning his face up in a smile before he turns his attention back to his group of giants. I swear all the kids in his cabin are on steroids, including Mikey and Carter. I don’t know what Ari did to them, but they look buff and ready to kill.
I guess you start from worst to best, so Kara and I head into the circle of death first. In the center of the human circle is an upside-down trashcan. The object of the game is to get someone from a different team to hit the trashcan and knock it over before you do.
Kara and I decide staying next to each other is the best strategy, because together, we can pull harder and avoid the trashcan. We plan on playing defense instead of nailing other teams—makes less enemies down the road. Kara claims, it’s not a sprint. I just follow her lead.
The team next to us is the green group, and to Kara’s side is purple team. Kara whispers in my ear, “Let’s team up with them against the others.” She nods over to the green team, showing me.
“Okay.” I nod to her. I lean over to my green friend on my right. “Work together? You guys, us, and purple,” I whisper into her ear so only she can hear.
“Deal. I’ll tell Melody,” the blonde, green-shirted girl says. At least I know one of their names now. Kara nods my way, signaling that purple is down, and we prep for the match. A whistle blows, and the tugging pulls me in every which way.
“One,” Kara calls out, looking from left-to-right. I strain to keep it together, because people are using their powers, and it’s nearly impossible to hang on. “Two… Three!” she yells, and the six of us pull backwards with all of our weight and super strength.
The groups across from us tumbles forward over their own feet like a clear string tripped them. The first group to hit the trashcan is orange. They look across the field up at us from the ground with angry eyes. Behind Kara, I hide from their stares.
The whistle blows ag
ain, ending the match. I can’t believe we won. I jump into Kara’s arms, but she can’t really hold me, so we just jump around together, acting silly. Melody and her green cohort and the purple twins join in on the group hug. We all jump up and scream, happy to have won.
I refuse to look at anyone else. But I can feel livid eyes grilling my back as we cheer.
Once the celebrations are over, we go back to our groups, watching the other teams. It’s fun being on the side lines, cheering for my blue team and yelling at the others. But in the back of my head, I can’t get these clouds to dissipate. The haze muddles my emotions, and I never truly get into the excitement.
The boys’ rounds start after all the girls have gone. Ari’s group of green-shirted boys wins round one. I want to cheer and be excited, but it never makes it out of me. Mikey tries to get my attention, and as much as I want to cheer him on and be a good friend, I keep my eyes trained to the ground and avoid making eye contact with him.
Mikey’s group, along with the other guy’s, play the same game, but the way they do it is far different. Mikey is paired up with Carter. Instead of taking the same tactic as Kara and me, they stand on opposite sides of the circle.
Mikey holds hands with two purple-shirted boys who are half his size. He winks over at Carter, and Carter nods back, trying to hide a smug smile. The whistle is blown and all of the guys use their god strength, but it’s pretty much dead even.
Martin starts a fire near Mikey. But Mikey is able to jump over it, which transforms the circle of people. Luckily, nobody hits the trashcan yet. Now it’s like an oval of boys, all pulling at each other.
Carter and Mikey nod and both teleport to each other’s spot, but as they do, the people they were holding hands with, fall forward. The kid that was holding Mikey stumbles forward and is unable to save the fall. His head slams right into the trashcan with a silencing bang.
The Curse of Betrayal Page 24
