The Paragon Element (Book 1)

by Jeff Hale

  “I know, I know. Didn’t have much of a choice, it’s a rental,” she said with some disdain clear in her tone, frowning as she unlocked the car.

  “Doesn’t matter. It’ll get us to where ever it is we’re going. Speaking of, where are we going?” I asked, getting into the car. Inside was relatively clean, an empty soda can in the cup holder and the notebook from earlier on the seat. She tossed it in the back with her backpack.

  “It’s a surprise.” Kat started up the car and pulled out of the parking space.

  The surprise ended up being a go-kart track that wasn’t too far from my apartment. I didn’t care much for driving, but go-karts were different. Maybe because you rarely saw anything in the news about someone dying in a go-kart accident. We paid for our karts, then spent the next hour racing around the track. Kat beat me just about every time, weaving in and out around my kart and others as though she thought her last name was Andretti. I didn’t do too poorly, showing up some of the others on the track, but it was obvious she had a lot of driving experience.

  The track had a few video games and we moved to those after we got done with the go-karts. My mood was most definitely improving and I had just about forgotten the matters weighing on my mind. I was kicking her butt at a fighting game when it occurred to me that I didn’t really know a lot about her and now was as good a time as any to find out.

  “So, what do you do back home?” I asked, deftly hitting a combination of buttons that sent her fighter to a gory pixelated death.

  She muttered something under her breath that sounded like a swear word and put another quarter in the machine. “Oh, you know. Go to school, hang out with my friends, go to the Mall, watch movies. Same kind of stuff you do,” she answered, shrugging.

  I doubted she did the same kind of stuff I did, but then again most the people I knew didn’t do the same kind of stuff I did. “What’s school like?”

  She made a noise of satisfaction as she finally managed to defeat my character. “School is… school. I mean, my High School isn’t as big as yours. Hell, Richland, the whole Tri-Cities, it isn’t as big as Vegas. I like it better here, though.”

  “Really?” That surprised me. I figured she would prefer her own school.

  “Yeah.” She sighed and turned to look at me. “School just… sucks, ya know?”

  “You have friends, though, don’t you?”

  She nodded. “Kris and Nate. That’s about it. There are a few more people that I talk to occasionally, but they’re my only real friends. Kris is really cool. I think you’d like her. She speaks her mind, no playing around. She’s a lot more gutsy than me.”

  “You seem pretty gutsy to me,” I pointed out. Sure, she seemed a little self-conscious around me, but she always came off as pretty confident otherwise. She was the one who had asked me out on the date after all.

  Kat laughed, then snorted. “That’s funny. Nooo. I am sooo not gutsy.” She stepped back from the video game and gestured at herself. “This? This is all Nina. I mean, I like the clothes, but I would never dress this way back home.”

  “Why not? It looks good on you. Really good.”

  Her cheeks turned bright pink and she dropped her eyes for a moment, but I could see the little smile that curved her lips. Then she frowned. “They’d probably make fun of me at school. And besides, I don’t know what my step-dad would do if he saw me wearing something like this. I went over to Nina’s to get ready for this evening.”

  Her words set off an alarm in my head, especially after what had happened to Val. “What do you mean by that?”

  She shook her head, shrugging. “My step-dad’s kind of an asshole and I hate him. He gets really mad when I wear anything… provocative. I went to the Homecoming dance with Kris and Nate and made the mistake of leaving the house in my dress. And it wasn’t a bad dress! It certainly covered more than what I’m wearing right now, but it showed a lot of cleavage and only went down to my knees.” She took a deep breath and chewed at her lip and I saw something sad go through her eyes. “Kris and Nate were at the house already, and my step-dad saw me, and he called me a slut. He told Nate that if he was paying for the date, he better make sure I was good little whore and to get his money’s worth out of me.”

  I was stunned by her words, completely forgetting the video game, and then anger went through me, raw and hot, and I felt the plastic knob of the joystick start to soften and become sticky in my hand. I let go of it and stuffed my hand in my pocket. The last thing I need was to explain heat melted arcade games.

  Kat must have seen the expression on my face because she smiled ruefully at me. “It’s okay, he calls me stuff like that all the time. I’ve gotten used to it.”

  “You shouldn’t have to get used to it, Kat! It’s wrong!” Val’s dad had called her similar names to what Kat was mentioning, and then a thought occurred to me, one that I didn’t really want to have, and would have a hard time believing even if she said it was true. “Unless you did something? Gave him a justifiable reason to call you that?”

  Wetness sparkled in her sea-blue eyes and I wished I could take back the question, but she sniffled heavily and squared her shoulders. “Nope,” she said sadly. “I’ve never even had a boyfriend, let alone…” Her face went pink again and she leaned in closer to me. “I’m still… you know,” she half-whispered.

  I didn’t need her to spell it out. She was a virgin. Her stepfather’s name calling made absolutely no sense, but I did my best to keep my anger under control. “What about your mom? Does she just let him get away with calling you those names? Or does he only do it when she isn’t around?” I asked, concerned now.

  “He does it in front of her, and it pisses her off, but she’s,” and Kat sighed again,” she’s got a bit of a drinking problem. And when she does come to my defense, then he starts yelling at her.”

  “Has he ever hit you? Or your mom?” I had to ask it. I had to know. If she said yes, then there might be one more dead father to add to my list.

  But she shook her head. “No, never. He’s never so much as laid a finger on me, not even in justified discipline when I was younger. And I’ve never seen any marks on my mom and she’s never looked like she was hiding anything, so I’m pretty sure he’s never hurt her like that either. It’s just the verbal stuff and he doesn’t even yell that. Just says it calmly.”

  The verbal stuff was bad enough, but Kat was eighteen, old enough to move out soon, and she seemed to have a handle on it. “So what about this Nate guy?” I asked her.

  “Huh?” She was confused at my sudden switch of topic.

  “Your friend Nate. You said you’d never had a boyfriend. What about him?” Why I was asking, I wasn’t sure. I didn’t really like the idea of Kat with another guy, either in the past or presently, and in fact the knowledge that she’d never had sex with anyone had made me happy for some reason. Maybe because that was what I was used to. After all, I had been the only guy for Serena.

  She considered the question for a moment. “If he asked me? Probably. But he hasn’t. Honestly, Kris and I are pretty sure he likes both of us. He flirts with us both, gets grabby with both of us, but we think he’s waffling.”

  “Grabby?” I arched a brow.

  She nodded, smiling. “You know. Copping feels whenever he gets a chance?”

  The other brow went up. “And this doesn’t bother you?” I was beginning to dislike the sound of this Nate guy and I was glad he hadn’t asked her out.

  Kat rolled her eyes. “You don’t know him. He doesn’t mean anything by it, not really. And he doesn’t do it to anyone else, just me and Kris,” she defended.

  She really didn’t see anything wrong with it, when most other girls would have been screaming sexual harassment. Then again, maybe Kat liked it; if she hadn’t had any boyfriends, maybe this guy’s attention made her feel desirable and attractive. I didn’t really want to bash one of her few friends, so I changed the subject again by taking her hand and pulling her over to a different arcade game
.

  I was still surprised at how shy Kat actually was, even though she had blossomed and become more open thanks to Nina. Damn me if I thought that Nina might have actually done some good for someone. Not that Nina was a bad person, it was just that her general attitude was that she knew better than you did about what was good for you, and usually she didn’t. Maybe that was just my point of view. Maybe it was colored by the fact that Nina had no clue about what was going on in my life, and probably never would.

  After we were done at the track, Kat drove us to Arizona Charlie’s, where we got dinner. After we ordered, she leaned forward, put her chin in her hands and stared at me.

  “What?” I asked after a few minutes of that. I was beginning to feel like a specimen on a slide.

  “So, what’s up?” she asked, tilting her head to one side and giving me a lopsided smile.

  “What do you mean?” I wasn’t sure what she was getting at.

  “I mean, what’s with the mood you’ve been in all week?”

  “Nothing. I’m just quiet most of the time.”

  “Nina seems to think there’s something wrong, and Dave agrees. They both said that you’re at least more social with them if no one else. It’s like your pushing everyone away, including them. They’re afraid of losing you.” Her expression became more serious.

  “It’s nothing. Let it drop,” I said a little gruffly.

  “No.” She grabbed my hand where it rested on the table. “You need to talk about this, whatever it is, it’s eating you up inside. I promise, I won’t tell anyone that you cracked.” She stared into my eyes. Looking into her intense sea-blue ones had an effect on me that I couldn’t explain.

  “Fine,” I said, not knowing why I was going to open up to her when I wasn’t telling anyone else what was going on. “I’m worried about Val. I heard a rumor that she got sent off to Colorado. I don’t like the idea of never seeing my friend again. I have no idea where she is, or how to contact her.” It wasn’t the complete truth, but it was enough of the truth that it was believable.

  “Okay. But that’s not everything. What else?” Her gaze continued to bore into me.

  Again, for some reason, I gave in.

  “Serena. I miss her. A lot. It gets worse this time of year. I hate the holidays,” I told her, my voice low and somewhat distant.

  Kat squeezed my hand as though to comfort me. “Understandable. Didn’t she die on New Year’s Eve?”

  “Yeah. I still… dream about her. It’s been getting worse lately.” I hadn’t even mentioned the dreams to Dave or Nina, but here I was, getting ready to spill my guts to Kat. But I just… knew somehow that she would listen, that she wouldn’t judge me, that she would understand.

  “Look, you’re always going to love her. That’s never going to change. Ever. Just make sure that you always do, and always remember her, and she’ll never really be gone.” She smiled again, a little wistfully this time.

  “I guess. Doesn’t make it hurt any less when I think of all the things she missed out on. All the things I wanted to share with her.” All the things I never got to say to her.

  “No, I guess it wouldn’t. You have friends here and now that need you though. At least agree to come with me to Nina’s Christmas Party. She wants to throw your birthday party at the same time, but that was supposed to be a surprise. I thought if I told you, then you might actually show up. I mean, I know your actual birthday is in a few days, but Nina managed to find a day when everyone could make it.”

  “I’ll try, but I can’t make any promises or guarantees.” I usually didn’t bother with my birthday; it was just any other day to me. My hand was still across the table and Kat was still holding it, rubbing her thumb across the back. It felt good and I didn’t want her to let go.

  “Well, if you can, you can be my date.” She grinned playfully at me.

  Our food arrived a little while later and I talked with her in low tones about Serena, what I loved about her, and all the trouble we got into together. Kat dropped me off a little before ten. I had had a good time with her, and I promised a few more dates. I went into my apartment and turned on the TV, though I didn’t really pay attention to what was on it. Instead I found myself thinking about Kat.

  I liked her. A lot. In fact I had feelings for her that I hadn’t felt for anyone in quite a long time. I wasn’t quite sure what to do about it though. I really did want to be with her when I thought about it, but if I became her boyfriend I would get more attached to her.

  She wasn’t going to be around forever. Eventually her step-dad would be done with whatever business he was here on, and then she would leave to go back up to Washington State. And we’d try a long distance relationship. And then something would happen to her. Like Serena.

  Aetheric life was too dangerous for me to believe that something wouldn’t happen to Kat while I was too far away to protect her. Knowing what kind of creatures lurked beyond the shadows of our world gave one a new perspective on things.

  With that thought heavy on my mind I decided that I would break it off with her on Monday. She’d be hurt, sure, and I’d never be able to give her the real reason, but in the long run, it’d be better.

  Now to convince her of that.

  THIRTEEN

  The weekend went by with agonizing slowness. I ended up having to do a half dozen follow up reports on Elsa and Amar, explaining my actions and what had happened to the vampire when he bit me in full detail. Dan and Bianca were still incommunicado, locked up in meetings all weekend like they had been the past several days.

  Kat had called and left a couple of messages, including wishing me a Happy Birthday, but I didn’t call her back. I wanted to talk her in person. I wasn’t a break up over the phone kind of guy. To me it was just rude and impersonal. I would have had her meet me somewhere so I could talk to her, but I just didn’t have the time over the weekend.

  When Monday arrived I got up a little early so I could get to the school and get the whole thing over with. I hated knowing I had to deal with a stressful situation and didn’t want to put it off any longer. When I got to the Wall, Kat ran over and threw a hug around me.

  “Heya, Aerick! I missed you over the weekend. Did you get my message? I was hoping for a second date, but you never answered your phone.” She was obviously in a buoyant mood.

  “Hey, Kat. About that. We should talk,” I said solemnly, wasting no time.

  “Uh-oh,” she said, face falling.

  I cringed a little inside and put my hands on her shoulders. “I can’t do this,” I told her truthfully.

  “Can’t do what exactly? Date?” Kat asked, and it seemed that she might get angry rather than upset.

  “Yeah. Date. Be with you. Any of it,” I said gently.

  Her shoulders sagged and it looked as though upset and depressed were going to win out over anger. “Why not? Never mind. I know why. It’s me. It’s okay. You can tell me.”

  “It’s not you. Rather, it’s your situation.”

  “My situation?” she asked, giving me a confused look.

  “How much longer are you going to be in Vegas before you have to go back up to Washington?” I said, putting a finger under her chin so she would look at me.

  Understanding seemed to dawn on her. “I don’t know. I thought we’d have left by now, but it seems that my step-dad had another offer so I guess they’re haggling now.”

  “So any day now? You could leave next week, or next month?”

  “Yeah, pretty much.”

  “I can’t do long distance. Not again.”

  She stared at me in contemplation for a moment, then nodded. “You would constantly be wondering if I was okay up there, since Serena…. Yeah, I see your point. I understand. Don’t like it. But I understand.” She chewed on her lip and made a disappointed sound.

  “Good. Look if it’s any consolation, and I’m sure it isn’t, it would be different if you actually lived here,” I offered up.

  “You’re right. It isn’t
any consolation, but that’s okay.” She squared her shoulders and blinked back tears. “Come on, let’s go to the others. They’ll at least be happy to see you in a better mood.”

  I followed her to where everyone else was and though I was quiet like normal, I at least interacted with my friends, something I hadn’t done in week or so. These people were the reason I did what I did after all, might as well enjoy their company while I could.

  The rest of the day went by normally. As did the rest of the week. And the week after. Slow and boring. Until Health class on a Wednesday. As I walked in I felt someone tug on my arm. I turned and saw Kelly, wearing a tight white tank top, matching hotpants, and a light jacket. She had the cuffs of the jacket pulled over her hands and she held her folder and books against her chest.

  “So. I heard you were uh… free now?” Kelly asked tentatively.

  “Wait. What?” I took a step back in my confusion.

  “I have a couple of classes with your friend, Kat. And we were kinda talking about you. And well… she said you were fair game now. She said you wouldn’t be with her because she doesn’t actually live here. Said that if I wanted to ask you out I could,” she explained, looking slightly nervous.

  I thought it over for a moment before shaking my head. “Sorry. I won’t do that to Kat. Plus, I can’t. My work life is just too damned hectic and I would barely get to see you, which wouldn’t be fair to you,” I said, trying to let her down easy.

  She looked disappointed. “It’s okay, I understand. Friends then?” she asked hopefully.

  “Yeah. Sure. Friends,” I agreed with a brief smile.

  “Okay, cool!” she said, smiling back.

  A sudden thought came to me in that moment. “So, in that vein, do you want to go to a friend of mine’s Christmas party? It happens to also be my birthday party, but I’m not supposed to know. Anyway, I thought if you’re going to be my friend, maybe you should get to know my other friends,” I offered up.