Burnwood - The Dragon Arum

by Sarah La Rose

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  “Annabelle!” Jane cried as she flung her arms around my neck. “You’re okay, aren’t you? Alec wouldn’t tell us anything. Just that there’s been an incident.”

  She turned and glared at Alec, who was casually leaned up against the wall near the staircase.

  “I’m okay.”

  “Jane, where’s the rest of the circle?” said Carter.

  “Upstairs in my room,” she answered. “Why? What’s going on?”

  Jane was looking to me now, but I didn’t know how to tell her the truth.

  “Guys, can I have a minute alone with Jane?”

  Carter narrowed his eyes on me and I knew exactly what he was thinking, but I had to be the one to tell her. I couldn’t bear the thought of her hearing it at the same time as everyone else in the circle.

  “We’ll be upstairs.”

  I waited until both Alec and Carter disappeared into Jane’s room before pulling Jane into the living room. I sat her down on the leather sofa. Looking around, I probably could have picked a better room to break the news to her, but I was stuck with it now. I tried to ignore the football collection surrounding us by taking her hands and focusing on her worried eyes.

  “Jane, the reason Alec wouldn’t tell you anything about what happened tonight was because he couldn’t.”

  Jane furrowed her brow. “I don’t understand.”

  “When I left here today, it wasn’t because I had to go home. It was because when Yury stopped by I noticed something. He was the person I saw in the hallway at school right before the book went missing.”

  “Wait.” Jane pulled her hands from mine and stood up. “I thought you said you didn’t see anyone.”

  “I didn’t see his face, but I know it was him.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest defensively, but I pushed on while I still had the courage to do so.

  “When he left I followed him,” I explained.

  “You did what!”

  I held my hand up and continued, “I followed him to my old house. The house from my childhood. The one that burnt down.”

  She dropped back onto the sofa and stared down at the floor. “What was he doing there?”

  “I don’t know, but while he was inside I found the book in his car.”

  “So we have it back then?”

  I nodded. “Yes, but that’s not what I wanted to tell you.”

  She settled back into the sofa and pulled her knees to her chest. She looked uncomfortable and almost frightened, but I promised myself that I would tell her the truth. The whole truth.

  “Yury came here tonight to find out about a medallion belonging to the circle. Carter and I think he went to my house today in search of it.”

  “And I pretty much led him straight to it,” she said, her face dropping into her hands as she sobbed.

  I wrapped a consoling arm around her shoulders. “It’s not your fault, Jane.”

  “No,” she said between sniffles. “You don’t understand. I told him I couldn’t give him any of the medallions.”

  “I know. I heard you. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “But, Annabelle, you didn’t hear it all.”

  I shifted uncomfortably. “What do you mean?”

  My body was stiff and I felt on alert. I didn’t know what to expect, but I knew that whatever it was, it wouldn’t be good news.

  “After you left, I called him. I told him that the council had taken our medallions for safe keeping. I told him that there were three they couldn’t find. The three that belonged to your family, Annabelle.”

  “The missing medallions belonged to my family?”

  She nodded, wiping her tear-streaked cheeks with the sleeve of her shirt. “And, I led him right to you. I’m so sorry.”

  “Jane, none of this is your fault. You trusted him the way I trust Carter, and I can’t blame you for that.”

  She sniffled back another sob. “So you’re not mad at me?”

  I smiled and pulled her into my arms. “Of course not. You’re my best friend.” I paused. “There’s something else I need to tell you.”

  She frowned. “There’s more?”

  “Yeah, I don’t really know how to tell you this, but Yury’s a hybrid.”

  “He’s a what!” she exclaimed, jumping to her feet almost instantly. “I’m going to kill him.”

  She paced the room with her arms crossed over her chest. I couldn’t understand the words she was mumbling under her breath, but I figured that was probably for the best.

  “I can’t believe that lying sack of…”

  “Well, believe it. I saw it for myself as he tried to rip Annabelle’s limps off,” said Alec as he stepped into the living room.

  Jane’s face dropped and she turned to me.

  “He’s exaggerating,” I insisted. “I’m fine now.”

  Jane punched Alec in the shoulder and turned for the stairs. “You’re an asshole.”

  I waited until she was upstairs and then gave Alec a second punch in the shoulder. “Did you really have to tell her about the leg thing?”

  Alec rubbed his shoulder. “Is it supposed to be a secret?”

  “Well, I’d rather not bring it up. I don’t need everyone worrying about me.”

  A big smile spread across his face and he laughed.

  “Well, you better get in there and tell Carter that. You’ve been placed under the hybrid protection plan,” he said, laughing almost hysterically now.

  I darted up the stairs. “Oh no.”

  I burst into Jane’s room. “You didn’t!”

  “Told you she was going to be pissed,” said Trish from the corner of the room where she sat next to Cruz.

  “Maybe we should give her a say in this,” said Cruz. “After all, it is her life.”

  I narrowed my eyes on Carter. “What’s he talking about?”

  “Like I said,” chimed Alec through another burst of laughter. “You’re the new focus of the hybrid protection plan.”

  “Oh god, is he still calling it that?” Trish scoffed.

  Kendrick stepped forward. “Maybe if we just start from the beginning and explain everything Annabelle might be more receptive to our suggestions.”

  “Fine!” Trish stood and crossed the room. She pursed her lips and shifted her weight to one leg. “From here on out, or at least until Yury is no longer a threat, you will be chaperoned day in and day out.”

  “What!” I exclaimed. “A chaperone? You can’t be serious.”

  “Oh, but he is.” Trish winked at me and went back to sit beside Cruz.

  “Carter, you can’t do this.”

  “Actually,” Kendrick timidly interposed. “He can.”

  “Carter’s got Presi status,” added Alec. “What he says goes.”

  “Then don’t say it,” I begged Carter.

  “Annabelle, this is for your own good. Yury could’ve killed you tonight, and I’m not going to let him get close to you again.”

  “Carter, it was a sprained ankle. I’m fine.”

  I was so desperate to convince him to change his mind that I found myself on defending Yury. I was mortified at the thought of having a babysitter for an indefinite period of time. It was my grade six birthday party all over again.

  Carter looked at me, his eyes set and firm. “Annabelle, I’ve made my decision.”

  I turned to Jane. “Isn’t there any way around the President’s orders?”

  “Well, we can call a vote and veto it if there are more against the action than there are for it.”

  “Okay,” I said excitedly. “Let’s call a vote.”

  Carter sighed and sat down on Jane’s bed, gesturing for us to continue.

  Trish ran a nail file over her long pointed fingernails. “I don’t care either way, but since I’m kind of feeling like a feminist at the moment, I’m going to vote against the order.”

  “I don’t think it’s right either,” added Cruz. “She deserves a say in the matter.”
/>   “That’s rich coming from you,” Carter chortled.

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” growled Cruz.

  Jane stepped forward. “Let’s just finish the votes.”

  “I’m with Carter on this one,” said Alec.

  “As am I,” said the mysterious founding family member.

  “Who the hell are you?!” I blurted out.

  I hadn’t meant it to come out so horribly insulting, but the silence following my outburst made me certain it had.

  “Annabelle…Nick’s your cousin,” said Kendrick.

  I had a cousin?

  Suddenly, I didn’t feel so well. There was a pain radiating from my stomach and a lump in my throat. And, if it was possible, I had become a victim to the instantaneous flu.

  “I’m sorry,” was all I could manage to say.

  Nick shrugged and went back to fiddling with his cell phone.

  “I would like to take this opportunity to cast a neutral vote,” Kendrick added with an apologetic smile.

  “What the hell does that mean?” said Cruz.

  “It means he’s too scared to pick sides so he’s not voting at all,” said Trish.

  “I rather you see it as me giving you each a vote, for I definitely respect both of your opinions,” said Kendrick.

  Trish rolled her eyes and then looked to Jane. “I guess it’s on you.”

  I smiled triumphantly as I waited for her vote. Jane was my best friend and she would always have my back. Even Carter seemed to know what was coming from the look of his slumped shoulders.

  “I’m with Carter on this one, too.”

  My face dropped and turned to stare at her.

  “I’m sorry Annabelle, but I nearly cost you your life already by making poor choices. I won’t make that mistake again.”

  “What a turn of events,” said Trish as she stepped between Jane and me. “Bet you thought she was on your side, didn’t you?”

  “I am on her side,” Jane insisted.

  “That’s enough, Trish,” said Cruz. “Let’s go. I’ll give you a ride home.”

  Trish smiled mischievously as she followed Cruz from the room.

  “Alec and I are going back to Annabelle’s old house…” started Carter.

  “I’ll come too,” said Nick, slipping his phone in his pocket as he and Alec left the room.

  “I’ll take first watch,” said Jane.

  “No,” I said. “I’ll go with Kendrick.”

  I turned and headed straight for the door. I passed Jane without so much as a glance in her direction. I knew it was immature, but I couldn’t help it. I was just so angry.

  Kendrick followed me out the room and down the stairs.

  “You know, she’s just trying to keep you safe. We all are,” he said.

  I sighed. “Strangely enough, that’s not the first time I’ve heard that.”

  I asked Kendrick to stop by my house so I could grab a few things and he happily obliged. It was odd how naturally joyful and optimistic he was in the face of so much chaos. Perhaps spending a few days with Kendrick was just what I needed. If I was lucky, some of that optimism would rub off on me.

  “Do you want to come in?” I asked as he pulled up to the house.

  “In a sec,” he said, looking over his shoulder. “Alec and Carter are behind us.”

  I twisted in my seat and looked out the back window. “They are?”

  “Yeah, Carter asked Alec to drive your uncle’s SUV home.”

  “Good. One less thing for me to have to explain.”

  “About that,” he said. “What exactly are we telling your uncle? I feel like we should both have our story straight so there are no inconsistencies.”

  “Good idea,” I said, leaning back in my seat with a fingertip to my lip. “We could tell him we’re working on a school project?”

  He giggled. “Oh that’s cute. Annabelle, you’re entirely too pure for this kind of thing. Luckily for you, I have years of experience in fabricating facts. Give me a second and I’ll come up with a grand story to tell.” He moved his hands through the air as though he was painting the entire scene in the air.

  With that, Kendrick closed his eyes and went into some kind of trance. I slipped out of the car, gently closing the door behind me. Alec was just pulling into the driveway with Carter behind him.

  Alec stepped out of the car and tossed the keys to me. “Catch.”

  I fumbled them, but managed to keep them from hitting the ground.

  “So you guys are just going to look around the house, right?”

  He smiled. “That’s the plan.”

  “You’re not going to look for anything else, are you?”

  He furrowed his brow. “Like what?”

  “Like Yury,” Carter answered, appearing suddenly from behind me. “She thinks were going to go looking for Yury.”

  “That’s a great idea,” said Alec. “We should do that instead! Why aren’t we doing that?”

  “Because you can’t!” I blurted. “It’s not safe.”

  Carter and Alec shared an amused look, both trying unsuccessfully to keep straight-faced.

  “She thinks we’re gonna get hurt,” Alec chortled.

  I turned on my heels and headed for the house. “Argh!”

  “I’ve got it!” announced Kendrick, leaping from the vehicle. He skipped up beside me, smiling from ear to ear. “Leave everything to me. You smile and nod.”

  I nodded confidently. “I can do that. Smile and nod; simple enough.”

  Felix was in the living room, lounging in his recliner. It was the first time I’d seen him in pajama bottoms since we moved to Burnwood. He had been getting home so late that he usually dropped down onto the sofa in whatever he had worn to work that morning.

  I sat down on the sofa beside him and took a handful of popcorn from the bowl he was cradling in his arms. “You look comfy.”

  He wiggled his feet so that I could see the zebra print slippers wedges onto the top part of his foot. “I am.”

  “Hey, are those mine?”

  “They are not,” he declared before taking a quick swig of his beer. “You put them in the giveaway basket two years ago.”

  I shook my head. “Well Kendrick, I would like you to meet my uncle, the packrat.”

  He took another swig of beer. “Well, this one’s new.”

  “On the contrary,” Kendrick stated in his matter-of-fact voice. “It is you and Annabelle who are new to town, but rest assured for you are in good hands.”

  Felix gave me a sideways glance and shifted in his recliner.

  “Sorry, you are who exactly?”

  Kendrick straightened his posture and smiled proudly. “I’m Kendrick Landry of the founding family, Landry.”

  “He’s a founding member?” Felix whispered to me, covering his mouth in an abnormally conspicuous manner.

  “I am indeed,” said Kendrick, posing himself on the arm chair between Felix and me. “In fact, interestingly enough my family was the first to open a retail shop in this wonderful little town of ours. I assume that is where I get my fashion knowhow. I mean, gifts like these don’t just appear from out of the blue. Talent like this must be passed down in some genetically superior way.”

  “Right.” Felix finished his beer, staring at the empty bottle hopelessly. “So it’s getting late…”

  “How right you are,” Kendrick started. “Annabelle and I should get back to my house to finish up the catalogue.”

  “Catalogue? What on earth needs to be catalogued at this time of night?” Felix asked, not waiting for an answer. “It’s gonna have to wait until the morning.”

  “But, tomorrow is the fashion show!” cried Kendrick. He threw his hands in the air and started to pace the living room. “Without Annabelle’s assistance I can’t do the catalogue and program layout, not to mention the design list and the floor plan. I’ll never get it done on time!”

  “Annabelle, just go help this kid and come home,” said Felix
.

  “Oh thank you so much,” Kendrick shrieked. “You’re kindness will not be overlooked.”

  “I should probably just sleep over and head to school in the morning,” I suggested.

  “Burnwood High has been put on a week long absence after the passing of another faculty member,” said Kendrick.

  “Really?” I asked. “I thought it was just for today.”

  Kendrick, eyes bulging from their sockets, staring at me in disbelief.

  “Oh right! I remember now,” I said as I gave my head a good shake. “Silly me. I have obviously spent too many hours in the library today.”

  “That’s what I like to hear,” said Felix. “Look, Kendrick, you seem like an alright young man, but Annabelle’s not sleeping at your house.”

  “Uncle,” I said, lowering my voice. “What exactly aren’t you picking up on right now?”

  Felix gave me a questioning look and then glanced over at Kendrick. He was slender with perfectly styled hair and square-framed glasses. He had on a yellow fitting T-shirt under a grey sweater vest and a pair of freshly ironed tight blue jeans, folded up just above his ankles.

  Felix nodded and relaxed back into his recliner. “You can go.”

  I flashed Kendrick a triumphant smile and hurried upstairs to gather a few things. I opened an old duffel bag that I found in my closet and started to fill it with clean clothes, and a few makeup and hair accessories. I had no idea what to prepare for or how long I would need to live out of a duffel bag, so I threw in everything in question.

  Knock, knock…

  The door opened and Kendrick popped his head into my room.

  “Hate to rush you, but Carter insists on escorting us to my place before him, Alec and Nick leave for the house.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I’m ready.”

  Just as Kendrick had said, the three of them were waiting for us in the driveway. Alec was sitting on the hood of Carter’s Charger with Nick coolly leaning against the passenger door. Carter was standing with his back to us, but as soon as the front door closed behind us he turned around and shined his very handsome, always slightly cocky, smile.

  It took everything in me not to smile back. He was just so handsome!

  His dark hair looked almost black in the night, but his eyes shined like brilliant pieces of gold under the moonlight. And, his smile… it was like falling under a spell. Under normal circumstances I would have surrendered to his magic, but not tonight. Tonight, I had to make a stand. I wasn’t completely clear on the details of the point I was trying to make. Nonetheless, it had to be made.

  I turned and started for Kendrick’s car.

  “Alec and Nick can go with Kendrick if you want to come with me,” said Carter.

  “That’s quiet alright,” I replied, keeping my eyes on the car to avoid looking at him. “I wouldn’t want to slow you boys down seeing as I am so fragile I should be locked up in a protective case.”

  Alec laughed. “I told you she was gonna be mad.”

  Nick smiled and nudged Carter’s shoulder. “Just consider yourself lucky that Kendrick gets the first shift.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?” Kendrick asked, jutting out his hip with attitude.

  I sighed. “Let’s just go, Kendrick.”

  Kendrick drove in silence and I was grateful for it. After being placed in protective custody, I didn’t feel like making small talk. Instead, I stared out the window as he drove and tried to ignore the set of headlights following closely behind us.

  “You think they’re going to follow us the whole way there,” Kendrick asked.

  I shifted in my seat and looked at him. “I think Carter is going to follow us inside to make sure we lock the door.”

  He gave me a sympathetic smile. “It’s kind of sweet, though. Don’t you think?”

  I furrowed my brow.

  “The gesture, I mean, not the way he is going about it,” he said. “He’s just trying to protect you.”

  I rolled my eyes, but let the words sink in anyway.

  “I’m not a kid anymore,” I started. “I got that book back, didn’t I?”

  “Well, you did kind of lose it to begin with.”

  I glared at him. “I didn’t lose it. It was stolen from me. Anyway, I got it back by myself.”

  “Yeah, but then Yury almost killed you, and Carter and Alec had to save you.”

  “Whose side are you on?”

  “No ones. I don’t take sides. I state the facts and those are the facts.”

  I turned back to the window, this time ignoring everything around me: the hum of the engine, the painfully bright headlights, and anything else irritating, which for the most part, was everything.

  I hated feeling like this. It was a nagging feeling tearing through me like hot shears. I couldn’t get comfortable. I couldn’t get my mind to stop racing through every detail of the night, and worst of all, I couldn’t stand anyone or anything that made noise.

  Kendrick pulled up to his house and I was quick to hop out of the car. I slung my bag over my shoulder and walked up the front path to the porch. From the corner of my eye I could see Carter, Alec, and Nick stepping out of the car.

  “Go on in!” Kendrick called as he started towards the guys. “Ask Nancy to show you to the guest room.”

  I nodded and stepped inside. It looked different from what I remembered. It was still huge and magnificently kept, but without the array of high school kids crowding the place, it seemed a lot more sophisticated. Finally, I could be happy about something- staying in this mansion for a night of privileged living.

  Nancy entered the room shortly after I did. She ushered me to the guest room, rambling on in what I recognized was French. I tried to pick out the words I remembered from my seventh grade French class, but it was harder than I expected. Instead, I nodded and smiled.

  After Nancy left, I went straight to the bathroom and ran myself a hot bath. There were scented oils and bath salts arranged on the counter and I used a little of each. I quickly undressed, tossing my dirt-stained clothes into a pile on the bathroom floor, and then I slipped into the tub, letting the hot water warp around my body and enfold me in its warmth. I sat there, encased in the warm water, until my eyelids felt too heavy to keep open.

  Reluctantly, I pulled myself out of the water and wrapped a large towel around my chest. I managed to get a pair of shorts and a T-shirt on before falling into bed with a heavy thud. I closed my eyes and surrendered to the fatigue, all the while his eyes haunting me with their intense red glow.