Dark Roses: Eight Paranormal Romance Novels

by P. T. Michelle

  I nearly choke on my tongue as he winks at her.

  “Really? Did he say why?”

  “No one knows. I mean, except the Wardens and whoever sent them.” Sarah notices that her hair is getting oily and leans back, patting the ends dry with her napkin.

  I lick my lips and swallow a couple of times before my tongue works. “Which cities?”

  Lucas shoots me a surprised look.

  Sarah squeezes her eyes shut and taps a finger on her pursed lips. “Hmmm. Atlanta, Des Moines…and Portland. I’m pretty sure.”

  My heart stops beating and everything disappears. The eatery. The girls. The Wardens. I taste blood and realize I’ve bitten the inside of my cheek. Those are my cities, at least three of them are. In the spring I plant gardens with the Hammonds in Portland. Bitter, miserable winters with the Clarks in Des Moines. It’s always autumn in Danbury, at least when I’m here. I’ve never been to Atlanta, but I’ve also never had a summer. Not only are the Wardens observing Terms, they’re targeting the cities I travel between.

  It doesn’t mean anything. They aren’t looking for me. They can’t be.

  The black spots in my vision dissolve slowly and the sound of ragged breathing fills the air. Lucas jabs me in the leg and I realize it’s me. The voices around the table fall silent as the girls stare, vague vexation marring their perfect expressions.

  I force a bite of salad into my mouth. Our table has caught the Wardens’ attention again.

  Lucas nudges my hips with his on our way out of the eatery and the girls poke one another and point. He seems determined to confirm everyone’s suspicions as far as our courting is concerned, and a warm fountain spurts in my chest without warning, a mixture of pleasure and annoyance.

  He grins as though he can see my thoughts. “See you in chem.”

  Before I decide on an appropriate response, he saunters off down the hall. The group of girls surrounds me, their huge smiles inviting me to believe things could be different. In spite of the past, of all I know to be true, part of me basks in their interest in my life.

  “So are you two courting? Have you declared intentions?” Sarah, ever nosy, walks beside me down the hall.

  “No, no. We’re just friends right now.” I don’t know why I add the last part. Maybe I just want them to keep talking to me.

  They look a little disappointed, but hope hovers around the edges. The blonde, Brittany, shrugs with a wide smile. “Well, I think Greg will ask me soon. Maybe we’ll both be courting before the Autumn Mixer. That would be fun!”

  “Maybe.” The opportunity to ask about the interviews, which began today and fester in the back of my mind like an open sore, is too good to pass up. “So do any of you have chemistry for opening block?”

  Their smiles turn disinterested in the blink of an eye. I glance around, making sure no Wardens are listening in on our conversation.

  After a moment Brittany answers. “I do.”

  “What did the Wardens ask during your interview?”

  She stops, cocking her head to one side with a baffled smile. “You know, it’s the funniest thing. I can’t even remember!”

  The girls laugh at her forgetfulness, and their voices trail off as they disappear around the corner. For the moment, I’m alone in the hall. The corners of my mouth fall and I massage my cheeks where they ache.

  I might kill Lucas for sitting with us at lunch and making a scene. I’m sure the Wardens didn’t miss that. Then again, he did squeeze that information out of Sarah. No small feat. He could be an ally. After all he didn’t turn me in even with all the Unacceptable behavior Sunday night.

  Of course, I didn’t turn him in either.

  I push down the hope swelling in my chest. It’s enough that he’s not out to get me. I glance down at the faint red streaks still circling my wrist, the product of his rough grip, and wonder why I’m so sure he’s not. Just because he has the ability to charm everyone, myself included, doesn’t mean he’s not hiding something.

  By the time chemistry rolls around I’m sick and tired of the excited whispers about my possible courting. Being ignored is much less bothersome, but it seems my anonymity has escaped me at the worst possible moment. I’ve managed to shed my see-through existence just when the Wardens arrive. It figures.

  Lucas is back in the seat next to mine. We smile at each other, but neither of us means it. The amiable mood that captured him at lunch has abandoned ship. I haven’t made any decisions regarding him except that he’s trouble, any way you slice it.

  He glances at me and then away, and I think I see dark veins shooting through the whites of his eyes. Before I can get him to look at me again, Leah twists around in her chair a couple of rows up. At first, remembering her outgoing smile at lunch, I wonder if she wants to be friends with him.

  That’s before I get a good look at her expression.

  A small, disingenuous smile plays on her lips. My gaze travels down her arms to meet a series of bruises. Purpling splotches dot her upper arms, wrapping around the skinny flesh like a wreath. I avert my eyes when reading her face becomes painful. She stares daggers at Lucas, her expression dripping with malice. Like she wants to hurt him. Smiling the whole time.

  She spins around when the Monitor appears on the screen and I nudge Lucas with the toe of my sneaker. He refuses to meet my questioning stare.

  I’ve never seen anyone with an expression like Leah’s. Ever.

  ***

  Halfway through block the Monitor has a coughing fit. When she takes a drink of water, Lucas’s hand darts over my desk. A piece of paper drifts down until it rests unassumingly on top of my notes.

  After the next Warden check I nudge the note open with my pencil, fighting the natural frown begging to overtake my mouth. I read it in bits, keeping an eye on the video screen.

  Allie—

  Meet me at the park, by the boundary.

  Peeking at both the Monitor and the rest of the class, I scribble a response.

  Lucas—

  No. And don’t call me Allie.

  I toss the note in his lap when no one’s looking, my heart stuttering when a Warden comes in and stands in the doorway seconds later. I return my attention to the lecture, feeling his hard-edged, painful gaze on me.

  He stays through the rest of the block, which ends after another exhausting twenty minutes, then leaves before we trickle out. A note slips from under my pad of paper and falls to the floor as I gather my things. I retrieve it and read, curious despite my reservations.

  Althea—

  Please. I’ve found out more about the Wardens’ appearance in Danbury.

  I grind my teeth down, my jaw tight. He’s dangling a carrot, one he no doubt picked up on after my questions about the cities that are being included in the interviews. I’m not going. It’s probably a trick.

  The words from Ko’s letter scroll through my mind, a different sentence standing out for the first time. There are more. You will find each other when it is necessary.

  It could mean Lucas is like me. Then again, he could just as easily not be like me. Ko neglected to expand on how to identify the “more” when the elusive time comes. Seems like a pretty important detail to omit.

  In the end, the decision to meet Lucas makes itself. I can’t read him, and I’m not ready to trust him, but I have to do something. The Wardens are here; they’re everywhere I go. If Lucas knows anything at all, I need to know it, too.

  ***

  The hike out to the park is shorter than usual, different. I move quicker with someone waiting for me on the other end. A strange fluttering begins in my gut and sets my knees trembling. No one has met me after Cell in four years; it’s a simple sign of friendship normal kids take for granted. My eyes sweep back and forth along the boundary, but after my first pass Lucas hasn’t arrived.

  Then he lands in front of me and I fall on my butt for the second time since I’ve met him.

  I get up, dusting off my jeans and avoiding the laughter in his eyes. His
blond curls blow a bit in the breeze, giving him a carefree appearance. He’s so serious at Cell and when he’s hiding from the Wardens. Rightly so. Here, with no one watching, his shoulders relax and his smile bursts forth instead of stretching across thin lips, displaying the deep dimple in one cheek. The wall in his gaze, though, the one he uses to separates me from his thoughts, is as impregnable as ever.

  The dirty look I’ve been holding inside since lunch clamors to get out. Instead I smile, unwilling to give him one more reason to suspect anything’s off about me, and glance up at the huge tree he jumped out of. “Seriously? Did you have to tackle me from above?”

  “I didn’t tackle you, Thea. It’s not my fault you’re so uptight.”

  “Don’t call me Thea.”

  “Don’t call me Allie. Don’t call me Thea,” he mimics. I want to punch him square in his just-right nose. “What shall I call you, then, hmm?”

  “Althea. My name. Didn’t you say you had something to tell me?”

  “Let’s walk.”

  Lucas leads the way to the boundary and we settle into a measured pace that takes us in a loop around the park. He pulls me to a stop after several wasted minutes. The nearest security camera is a ways off. No Wardens around either.

  “Well?”

  “I heard something when I passed the Administrative Center this afternoon. The video screen was on and someone was in there.”

  “Who?”

  “I didn’t see his face. I missed the beginning of the conversation, but I know all ten Wardens stayed behind. They set up two posts—one in the Cell and one in the Wilds. They’re looking for something. Or someone. I’m not sure.”

  My stomach sinks, even though I’ve figured as much. “What are they looking for?”

  Please don’t say a girl who has feelings and lights things on fire.

  “All I heard him say was that the Prime Other…” Lucas trails off and straightens up, his eyes focusing over my left shoulder. An easy smile steals onto his face.

  Someone’s behind me. I swallow hard, sure they overheard us.

  A strange, musical voice breaks the quiet afternoon. “Hi. Am I interrupting?”

  I spin around, words of welcome sticking in my throat at the sight of Deshi’s face.

  Lucas steps forward, coming to my rescue. He frowns at me while his face is turned away from the newcomer, eyes urging me to get hold of myself. “Of course not. What’s your name, man?”

  The Barbarus grasps Lucas’s hand in a firm shake. He puts me off, and though I can’t identify exactly why, it’s not simply his novel appearance. It’s those eyes, along with an arrogance that hovers in the air around him.

  “Deshi.”

  “I’m Lucas. This is Althea.” His voice wraps around my name, like the way he says it can protect me.

  Deshi doesn’t seem to notice; he just nods. The silence grows uncomfortable and sweat dampens my underarms. I wish I’d never come to the park.

  “So, what are you two doing out here by yourselves?” It’s an odd question, vaguely suspicious like the ones on Saturday at the Outing, but not unfriendly.

  Lucas shifts away from me before answering. “Just out walking. Enjoying the weather.”

  “Bit cool, isn’t it?” Deshi looks at me as he asks, his smile not quite soothing the worry in my gut.

  “It’s fine.” I try to keep the irritation out of my voice.

  He glances down at his watch. “Well, time to go. Maybe we could all hang out sometime.”

  Deshi brushes past us and disappears into the trees as the smell in his wake makes my eyes water. I freeze. Dirt, wet grass, rain. He smells like lying facedown in the spring grass. It’s powerful. Like my smell.

  “Weird dude.”

  “Yeah…” I turn to Lucas, search his face for the answers he seems determined not to give me. I’m trapped between the hope that maybe I’ve found more people like me and the threat of exposing my true self at the worst possible moment.

  I’m under attack.

  From the Wardens and their observance. From Lucas and his friendly, albeit pushy, manner. Now from Deshi, who has my eyes and smells like spring but makes me want to run and hide with his too-friendly, offhand questions.

  “Lucas, why were you hiding in the basement Sunday instead of at the Gathering?”

  “I wasn’t hiding. I was just checking on Fils.”

  “Oh.”

  Lucas looks at me, eyes full of his own questions, but I shrug. My gut tells me he was hiding down there, but I can’t prove it. Without more to go on, there’s no advantage to giving him more ammunition. I don’t trust him, or Deshi.

  “Did you know everyone thinks we’re courting?”

  The random question startles me, traps words in my throat. Our showing up together after the Gathering and then Lucas joining me at lunch today would raise anyone’s eyebrows. I grind my teeth together. This is Lucas’s fault, and the added stress infuriates me. “So?”

  “So I think we should go to the Autumn Mixer together. Everyone will think it’s weird if we don’t.”

  Helpless irritation numbs my brain as I search for an answer. I’m going to the mixer, of course. We all are. There are two during the last year of the preparatory phase. The Autumn Mixer will be to the bowling alley. In the spring, a pizza date. “Why do you care what people think?”

  He looks away, staring out into the Wilds instead of at me. “I don’t really. The Wardens are looking for something, though. I don’t want them to decide I’m worth watching. After last weekend, I guess I assumed you felt the same way.”

  He’s right, but either way will earn us more attention. Voluntary Partnering isn’t common; it will make us a focal point. Then again, not going together when we’re expected to could be even worse. Once people choose Partners they never change their minds.

  Our eyes meet and I nod. He smiles, the one I’ve come to recognize as genuine. A strange but pleasant tickle flushes me with heat. It’s probably normal to feel excitement over having a date to the mixer, no matter who he is or why he asks.

  After all, trusting him and using him to blend in are two different things.

  “I guess I’d better get to the…get home. It’s almost curfew. See you tomorrow.”

  I turn my back on him and retrace our steps along the boundary, heading back toward the park entrance alone. On Main Street, a few of my Cellmates appear and we march home together.

  Lucas, and now Deshi, complicates my life almost more than the Wardens. Until last week, each day pretty much went like the next. Sure, I wasn’t happy. I never fit in and knew inside I would never be like everyone else. Now, though, the blaring changes make my nerves jangle, each one twanging in variance with the next. Sparring with Lucas adds clanging alarms to the din; the knowledge of whether they are meant to be beacons or warnings eludes me. I’ve got to put space between us, stop sneaking around and play by the rules. Ko’s rules. My rules.

  Lucas hollers my name once, but I ignore him.

  For today, that is my decision.

  CHAPTER 8.

  I almost get used to Deshi and Lucas hovering around the edges of my life over the next couple of days, and the Wardens popping in and out of every block.

  Almost.

  The Terms who aren’t me adjust to the Wardens’ presence faster than they do Deshi’s. It’s not that he’s a Barbarus; the guy just makes everyone uncomfortable. My Cellmates react to him a little like they do me, with confusion and a preference to avoid him. He sits at crowded eatery tables and barges into conversations, asks tons of questions, and doesn’t pick up on hints. He talks to the girls more than boys—and to me more than anyone.

  He watches, too. He’s good at disguising it, but I notice.

  We’ve begun the second week of interviews, but no one talks about them. Not a word breathed in the halls, no gossip at lunch, even though Sarah, the loud girl with the blue eyes, disappeared after hers this morning. Her presence was easily missed in the eatery, the conversation arou
nd our table lacking without her willingness to lead, but no one mentioned it. I finally asked if anyone knew where she was after confirming she hadn’t decided to sit at a different table.

  Leah informed me in a rather bored tone that Sarah never returned from her interview.

  The conversation turned to the upcoming Mixer. They all laughed and smiled as though their friend Sarah would not be missed, but an hour later ice still chills my veins. As I sit in astronomy block, I think about how Sarah is not the first one to be taken during this process. A handsome blond boy with straight, white teeth went missing last Friday.

  Astronomy is the Others’ favorite subject, one we sit through for two hours a day instead of one, both before and after lunch. They love to teach us about their history, and we certainly know more about the Others’ past than our own. Which isn’t hard, considering we’re taught nothing of the human past. Today we’ve gone over a map of the solar system, memorizing planet and species names, which are still active and which have been eliminated. The Others come from a planet named Deasupra, and they drill its specifics into our memories even though it no longer exists. A war destroyed their home, which is why they inhabit ours.

  Leah distracts me when she leans to her right and flags down Greg’s attention. Greg’s been hanging around our table in the eatery since he and Brittany began their official courtship with a Parental Sanction. It’s the first step in voluntary Partnering, to have dinner with each other’s parents and register intentions with the Others. Greg’s a nice enough guy, a little obnoxious at times.

  Now he angles his head toward Leah to catch her words. They’re loud enough to carry the few rows back to me.

  “Have you noticed how many of their previous host planets are listed under the eliminated chart?”

  It’s all of them. All the planets the Others inhabited before Earth no longer exist.