by Dean Murray
True love never dies.
In just a few days a new arrival at Selene's high school will turn her entire world upside down. She's never met anyone so attractive—or so mysterious—before this, but Jace's unyielding insistence that they've known each other for decades can't be denied—not given how familiar he feels to her.
In the hidden world of gods and fairies what you don't know can get you killed faster than anything else and only those you love have any chance of saving you.
The Awakening Series: Volumes 1 - 3
by Dean Murray
Also by Dean Murray:
The Reflections Series
Broken (free)
Torn (free if you sign up for Dean's Mailing List)
Splintered
Intrusion
Trapped
Forsaken
Riven
Driven
Lost
Marked
The Greater Darkness (Writing as Eldon Murphy) (free)
A Darkness Mirrored (Writing as Eldon Murphy)
The Dark Reflections Series
Bound
Hunted
Ambushed
Shattered
The Awakening
Reborn
Immortal
Endless
A Broken World
The Society
The Destroyer
The Founder
The Desolation
The Guadel Chronicles
Frozen Prospects (free)
Thawed Fortunes (free if you sign up for Dean's Mailing List)
Brittle Bonds
Shattered Ties
Table of Contents
Reborn
Immortal
Endless
Other Books by Dean Murray
True love never dies.
In just a few days a new arrival at Selene's high school will turn her entire world upside down. She's never met anyone so attractive—or so mysterious—before this, but Jace's unyielding insistence that they've known each other for decades can't be denied—not given how familiar he feels to her.
In the hidden world of gods and fairies what you don't know can get you killed faster than anything else and only those you love have any chance of saving you.
Reborn
by Dean Murray
Copyright 2014 by Dean Murray
Chapter 1
"You should be more careful, Selene. One of these times you're going to get hurt—you know, if you don't pay attention to where you're going."
The words were said with a sugary sweetness that adults ate up, but which always made me want to vomit. It was hard to believe that the teachers were all stupid enough to believe Sandra's act, but then again she never did anything really nasty unless it was just you and her.
Shoving me into the red and black lockers a few seconds earlier was the perfect example. School had been over for more than an hour so the halls were empty—other than the two of us and her clique. Sandra wasn't just mean, she was a coward. If anyone else had been around she would have left me alone, but I'd had the misfortune of having to wait for my little sister to get done with drama practice before I could drive the two of us home.
"Thanks, Sandra. I hope you get hit by a bus on the way home today."
We'd hated each other for as long as I could remember. Sometimes I could get her mad enough to drop the act, but not today, not given that someone was approaching the corner ahead of us. She just smirked at me before turning and heading towards the exterior door.
I adjusted my backpack and followed along behind her. I was going to have a bruise on my right shoulder—I could already feel a dull ache setting in. The more I thought about it, the more convinced I became that being hit by a bus was too good for her. Actually, I was having a hard time coming up with something suitable. Leprosy was too slow and a heart attack was too fast.
The footsteps turned out to belong to somebody I'd never seen before, which was novel given that the state of the local economy meant that recently all of the moves were out of town rather than the other way around.
The new arrival was a guy…a tall, built guy with wavy blond hair and a chin that looked like it had been carved out of marble. My heart started going a hundred miles an hour as soon as I saw him. I usually barely noticed guys, but something about this one was different. He wasn't just gorgeous, he was out-of-this-world gorgeous.
I wasn't the only one who registered that fact—not that I should have been surprised by that. Sandra shot him a smoldering look before turning and exiting the building, but he hardly noticed.
It was pretty rare for guys to realize just how much of a total witch Sandra has always been—at least not until after she'd treated them like crap for a couple of months—so normally I'd be all for a guy blowing her off, but this time there was a complication.
He smiled at me, and it wasn't just any smile. It was one of those slightly lopsided, lazy smiles that only the hottest guys can pull off without looking like an idiot. Even worse, Sandra looked back to see what kind of effect she'd had on him just in time to see him look at me.
Crap. That was the last thing I needed. Sandra and I already hated each other, but things could always get worse. She already had a boyfriend, there was no reason for her to fixate on this new guy—no other reason than that he'd had the temerity to ignore her and smile at me instead.
She was going to find a way to make my life even worse.
Maybe that would have been okay if Mr. Hot-Stuff had actually been interested in dating me, but he wasn't. I knew the type—granted none anywhere near as hot—guys who knew that they made girls' hearts go pitter-patter every time they walked by. There was just something about being hot that seemed to make people want to take advantage of their good looks. He probably smiled at anything in a skirt—regardless of whether or not he was interested—just because he liked seeing girls walk into walls because they were so focused on him.
I frowned at Mr. Hot-Stuff, which earned me a confused look—he obviously wasn't used to his charm failing like that. He started to hold the door open for me—doubtlessly a reflexive action. The fact that I wasn't impressed apparently hadn't made it to the pea-sized organ that he used for a brain.
I pushed past him, opening the other door for myself, and headed towards my car without looking back to see what kind of a response my rudeness had triggered.
Ari, my younger sister, claims that I'm incapable of being rude, that doing so leaves me in physical pain. She's also prone to gross exaggeration. I'm as capable of rudeness as anyone else, I just don't enjoy being rude. Unlike, say Sandra.
Actually I was already feeling bad about not letting him hold the door open for me…and for frowning at him…and for thinking that he had stunted cognitive abilities. None of that had been fair of me.
Don't get me wrong, any boy who was that hot was probably a self-centered jerk, but you were supposed to give people the benefit of the doubt before you start acting on those kinds of assumptions. Besides, even if Mr. Hot-Stuff was an egotistical, narcissistic waste of skin he was probably just a product of his environment.
I wanted to turn around and apologize, but my only hope of weathering the nastiness that Sandra had in store for me was for Mr. Hot-Stuff to leave me alone and decide he had a sudden, compelling interest in Sandra. I couldn't do anything about the second half of that equation, but being rude was a good start towards making sure of the first half.
As long as Sandra felt like she'd ultimately come out on top where Mr. Hot-Stuff was concerned, she wouldn't feel the need to put me in my place. It was a crappy way to treat people, but I was just one girl. As long as Sandra's dad owned the tile factory that was the
main employer in our town, I had exactly zero chance of upsetting the pecking order and instituting something more equitable.
I was so focused on not turning back to apologize to the blond guy that I almost didn't notice my tires. They were flat. Not just a little low, they were rims-on-the-blacktop flat. I did a slow circuit around my car, but I knew what I was going to find even before the last tire came into view. All four of them were flat.
I wanted to scream. Or maybe cry—it was hard to say. The only thing I was certain of was that if I opened my mouth I was going to regret it. There wasn't any need to guess who'd sabotaged my car; I could hear giggling from across the parking lot.
More than anything else in the world I wanted to walk over and key her shiny blue Lexus. I wanted to score the paint from one end to the other and then find a rock and bash in her headlights.
I closed my eyes and forced myself to take deep, slow breaths. As much as I wanted to pay Sandra back for the last twelve years of brutality, acting on the urge wasn't an option. Anything I did would eventually make it back to my dad, and that was the one consequence that I couldn't live with.
My dad worked at the tile factory. One word from Sandra to her father and my dad would be out of work. I was stuck between a rock and a hard spot with no exit visible until I graduated from high school and left home.
I sank down to the asphalt and put my back against the side of my Nissan. My car hid me from the view of Sandra and her friends, but I wasn't under any illusions. I was giving them the satisfaction of knowing that they'd gotten to me. I just didn't have enough fight left in me to care.
Hadn't someone done an experiment somewhere involving tormenting animals and the ones that weren't allowed to fight back died in short order? That's how I felt. If I'd been allowed to fight back I could have endured two more years of this, but I wasn't sure I could make it if things continued on like they were now.
I let my mind drift away to a world where I wasn't a social pariah, a world where I could smile back at a cute guy instead of worrying about what his attention was going to make Sandra do.
The sound of approaching footsteps snapped me out of my reverie.
There were only two sets, which meant that Sandra had left one of her friends back at her car. I couldn't take all three of them, but there was a chance that I could put Sandra down with my rusty karate skills before her friend could intervene, and I lunged to my feet intending on doing just that—only it wasn't Sandra.
Mr. Hot-Stuff was back, but this time he was accompanied by a tiny girl who was every bit as attractive as he was. She had fine golden hair that was cut in a stylish bob, flawless white skin and a body that had slender curves in all of the right places. Had someone started making size negative one jeans?
"Are you okay?"
It took me a second to realize that the girl was talking to me. It just seemed wrong for a girl like that to even acknowledge my existence. Up until that point my experience with attractive people had been restricted to my school, where everyone paid homage to Sandra.
"No, I'm most certainly not okay."
"Oh, your tires are flat. I didn't even know it was possible for two tires to go flat like that at the same time."
"Then this is going to really blow your mind—all four of my tires are flat."
Her forehead creased in thought. "Someone did this to you, didn't they? Was it those girls over there by the blue car?"
Another biting response quivered on the tip of my tongue, anxious to launch itself at her. This time it was something about her being brains and beauty—the whole package and then some—but I just couldn't bring myself to say it.
Sarcasm had been the only thing to get me through the last few years of Sandra's tormenting, but this girl didn't deserve that. She actually seemed to be trying to help. I deflated.
"Yeah, Sandra let the air out of my tires."
"Did you do something to her? It seems like a pretty severe reaction…"
I shrugged. "That's the funny thing about Sandra. She doesn't actually need a reason. We were in the same kindergarten class and she took an instant dislike to me on the first day of school. She's spent practically every day since then making sure that she 'got' me before I could get her. By now it wouldn't matter what I did to her I still couldn't come out ahead on points."
The new girl gave me a sad smile. "You never know what the future holds, but for now we should see about getting you mobile. Jace, do something manly and re-inflate her tires."
Mr. Hot-Stuff—Jace apparently—held his hands up in a 'slow down' gesture. "My knowledge of cars ends at the gas pedal. I'm useless at this kind of stuff."
The girl rolled her eyes at him. "That's not the only way that you're useless." She held out her hand. "My name is Katrina, but everyone just calls me Kat. This hot mess is my brother Jace. He's not completely hopeless, but rather than waiting around in the hopes that he figures out which end of the tire iron goes on the lug wrench, we should probably just give you a ride."
Her characterization of her brother drew a smile out of me. "I'm Selene. I appreciate the offer, but I don't want to be any trouble. Besides, if Sandra sees you helping me she'll just be nasty to you too. The last girl who tried to stand up to her was sorry. Sandra got her dad fired from the tile factory and then they were forced to move to another town."
Kat shrugged. "We don't have any ties to the tile factory and if Sandra tries to screw with us she'll be the one who ends up regretting it. Seriously, you won't be any trouble at all."
"I was going to go pick up my sister from the junior high and then go home—we're all the way out on the west side of town. Are you sure you don't mind?"
Jace shook his head. "How come I have a feeling that this is all just a really convoluted plan designed to help you get your hands on my car keys?"
"Because you're not completely hopeless, Jace. Seriously, aren't you paying any attention at all? Come on, Selene. I've been dying to drive Jace's Viper again—you're not an imposition, you're my personal golden ticket."
I found myself liking Kat almost in spite of myself. I took half a step towards her, but stopped as I registered what she'd just said.
"Wait, a Viper? Is there even room for all four of us in one of those?"
"Nope, which is why my suddenly chivalrous brother will be staying here to fix your car. Don't worry though, he's secretly been hoping to find a damsel in distress to rescue—that's the only reason he's willing to part, even temporarily, with his faithful steed."
Jace rolled his eyes at Kat. "You sound like you were born sixteen hundred years ago."
"Better sixteen hundred years ago than sounding like I was born yesterday, infant. Now hand over those keys."
"How exactly do you expect me to fix Selene's tires?"
"I don't know—call that roadside assistance company that you pay an obscene amount of money to every month, or walk up to the road and show a little leg—it's about time you used that hunky body you spend so much time on for something worthwhile. The keys. Now. Oh, and Selene is going to be wearing your jacket home—it's getting cold and she's starting to shiver."
I opened my mouth to protest, but right at that instant a colder than usual gust of wind tore across the parking lot and I did shiver. Jace sighed as he pulled a set of keys out of his back pocket.
"Fine, but if you put even so much as a scratch on it, I'll—"
"Please. If I drive it into the side of a building you'll just use it as an excuse to buy something even more expensive. Come on, Selene. If we don't get on our way now Jace will still be trying to figure out how to get your tires fixed when the first bell rings tomorrow. Trust me when I say that you don't want to see Jace when he's gone without his beauty sleep—it's the kind of thing that could scar you forever."
I still wasn't convinced. For all of my earlier rudeness, I suddenly found myself not wanting to do anything that might make Jace dislike me. He had an easy smile and wasn't so uptight that he couldn't put up with some ribbing from
his sister. I couldn't imagine any of the hot guys Sandra dated being willing to have anyone give them that kind of crap.
Jace looked away from my tires for long enough to make a shooing motion at me. "You'd better just go, Selene. Kat is insufferable if she doesn't get what she wants. It's a good thing she's usually pretty reasonable or else I'd have to kill her and hide the body. Don't worry, I'll get your wheels working again and leave your car at your house—just leave your keys with me and they'll be waiting in the ignition when you wake up tomorrow."
My inherent distrust of people tried to claw its way up to the surface, but for once I wasn't inclined to give it its head. Something about the easy give and take between Jace and Kat felt comfortable. I'd spent most of my life avoiding other people as much as possible, but seeing them joke with each other had awoken a hunger that I hadn't even realized I had. I really wanted to get to know the both of them better.
I handed Jace my keys, and then Kat reached out and grabbed my hand. "Hurry, we need to get to the car before he changes his mind."
The Viper was parked in the back section of the parking lot, where hardly anyone parked anymore. Back before the economy had taken a turn for the worse, the school board had approved an expansion to the school to prepare for the growth that the city had been projecting, but then the tile factory had started laying people off and the student body had dropped by twenty percent over the course of three months.
The back parking lot now went unused just like more than a third of the new classrooms. There was even talk of moving the junior-high kids into the high school and trying to sell the junior high. It was just talk though. My dad said that there wasn't anybody stupid enough to buy a twenty-year-old school building in a town where property values had dropped fifty percent over the last five years.
We arrived at Jace's car breathless and giggling, and even I had to shake my head in amazement at the sheer perfection of the black paint job and chrome rims. If Jace had parked it in the main parking lot there would still be a huge crowd of people standing around rubbernecking.
