“What?” Simon asked.
“The clothes we are wearing?”
“Oh, I took them from the car when you disappeared into the woods.”
“Where were the humans?”
“Obviously not in the car, else I wouldn’t have gotten the clothing,” Simon answered snidely. “What were you doing, anyway? I could have used some help.”
“Remembering,” Alistair, said simply, turning away and walking back over to the ledge, looking down at the clearing in the trees. The lights had come on in the house. He had thought they all left, but apparently, some remained. He looked up to the sky, tracking the moon. It was moving pretty fast, which meant they would be gathering soon. He let out another deflated sigh: he wasn’t ready yet.
Simon shook his head in understanding, not saying anything more. Alistair was different; he remembered what some of his life had been like before all this. Simon wasn’t as fortunate… or perhaps it was a blessing he did not remember what he was before. Sure, he could recall snippets from other times they had been awake, but only fleeting visions that blurred, like scenery would, if you were moving too fast. At first, he envied Alistair, but not any longer. He was glad he remained oblivious to everything from his past. He wasn’t sure he would be able to bear it if he did remember.
CONFUSION
SATURDAY * 10:43 AM
“Evie…”
The sound of someone calling her name whispered its way into her subconscious, waking her slowly.
“EVIE!”
“What can I get you?” she yelled, jolting awake. She instantly screamed…pushing whatever was in front of her—hard.
“Shit!” Moriah jumped backwards. The McDonald’s bag dropped to her feet along with the soda she had been holding, the liquid drenching her clothes in the process.
Bright morning sun glared down through the windows into the foyer. Evie squinted up at Moriah. Soda dripped down the front of her shirt, making it see-through; she looked like she was ready to kill her. Kingston was there too, but he didn’t look mad, instead he looked like he was biting back a laugh. A red flush crept over her face. “Sorry,” she mumbled, pushing her hair out of the way.
Kingston touched Moriah’s arm and said something to her before he walked outside. Evie couldn’t hear what he saying but it was just as well.
Moriah turned towards her, twisting her shirt, forcing liquid onto the floor, instantly reminding Evie of another dark liquid. “How did I get back inside?” she asked suddenly remembering him.
Moriah gave her a strange look and dropped her shirt back in place. “Evie, what are you talking about? Where else would you be?”
“Oh no no no no…where did he go?”
Moriah sighed. “Colton?”
“No! Not Colton,” she was nearly yelling now.
“Who then?” asked Moriah, clearly baffled. “What are you talking about?”
Evie shook her head. “No one, okay.” She didn’t want to try to explain right now.
“Ohmigod, what did you do to your face?” Moriah said, stepping forward.
Reaching up, Evie felt her face. “I fell, okay,” she lied, dodging the real answer.
“How’d you do that?”
“Like you need to ask,” she added sarcastically, trying to cover the slight tremor of fear that crept into her voice.
Moriah, giggled. “Right…sorry…I kind of forgot about that.”
Yeah right, sure you did. It wasn’t as if her falling down wasn’t a common occurrence. She was a textbook klutz most of the time anyway.
Her giggles subsided, finally. “Does it hurt?”
“Duh,” she deadpanned. “What do you think?”
Moriah frowned. “You know, you don’t have to be a bitch. I’m just worried about you, okay.”
Evie wanted to say, apparently not too worried—since you left me at a haunted mansion all night and just had a laughing fit for the past five minutes because I fell, but didn’t. “Yeah, I’m fine, just tired and …” She didn’t bother finishing the sentence …miserable, would have been the word she used.
“So what happened with Colton?” Moriah asked suddenly.
“Nothing,” Evie said, giving her a sideways glare.
Her brows drew together. “Seriously?” she asked, clearly not believing her bald face lie.
“Seriously,” repeated Evie.
“Nah…” Moriah shook her head back and forth. “I don’t’ believe you. No way,” she said, giving Evie “you are such a liar” look.
“Yes way,” she continued to lie.
Moriah gave her a pointed look, her face deadly serious. “Promise?” she asked.
That word was the problem. They made a pact with one another. If they ever used the word Promise, they would have to spill, no matter what. She exhaled. “Fine. We kissed.” She made a face. “Happy.”
“I knew it! I knew it!” Moriah jumped up and down gleefully. “You have to tell me everything.”
Evie rolled her eyes. The last person she wanted to talk about right now was Colton “Wad” Hayward. Hooking up with him had been one of those “live and learn” moments. She had certainly learned the hard way. “Poke me”… gross. When she saw him again, she was going to give him a poke, right in his pervo blue eyes.
“Hey, what happened to the big ass statue?”
You mean the one that came alive… “What statue?”
“I could have sworn…” Moriah broke off in mid-sentence, turning towards the door as a van pulled up in the circular drive. “The creepers are here,” she said glancing back over her shoulder. “Evie you don’t look so good.”
Of course, she didn’t look so good. How could she? “I guess I’m just hungry,” she dumped out another lie, her stomach twisting once more.
Moriah bent over to grab the bag of food off the floor, and handed it out to her. “I gotta go talk to them but you’re not getting off the hook…I want all the gory deets when we get back to your place, after the party. Got it?”
“Sure,” she said, taking the bag from her outstretched hand. Even though the last thing she wanted to do right now was eat.
“I’ll be back,” Moriah, announced doing her famed Schwarzenegger imitation from “The Terminator” before she turned and headed out the door.
Evie tried to laugh but nothing came out except a weak “he ehh.” Rubbing her hands on her arms, she looked over at the big empty spot beside the stairs where the statue had been the night before. Another testament her attack actually happened. “Which meant what?” Did the statue come alive? And if it did, where did it go? Not that she was complaining. She was immeasurably happy whatever it was, decided to go on its merry way and leave her ass alone. But what about him? The guy she had kissed, the one that made her feel different….in a good way? What was he fighting outside? And more importantly…where did he go? And how did she get back inside? Did she somehow imagine him?
“No way.” She shook her head. Oh, she knew she had a damn good imagination but still there was no way she could have imagined him. He must have left and just didn’t bother to tell her. He could have at least said, “Thanks for helping me out” or… “Hey what’s your number? I’ll call you the next time I come back to earth.” Obviously, he was an alien. He was far too perfect to be a human. She laughed then. Right like that’s why he didn’t say goodbye. She was really reaching now—she was pitiful. She scrubbed her hands over her face in aggravation and then flinched. She hit one of the several sore spots scattered across her face.
Climbing up off the floor, she walked towards the door. Stuffing the bag under one arm, she tried to fix her hair. Her hand stuck. She jerked her hand back out. The chipped paint on doorframe was sticking to her hoodie. She flicked a few pieces off watching a line of people unload one by one from the side of the van in the driveway. Searching each face, she hoped she would see him. All the boys were all pretty cute but not one of them was the guy she met the night before.
Stepping outside, she reached up and pushe
d her hair behind her ears, suddenly realizing she was standing in the exact spot she had been last night when she stepped in the ooze. At least she thought she was—but the stairs were clean. This posed another impossible question… “What in the hell happened to the grossness that was over the stairs?” Okay fine. She could maybe believe she fell asleep and the guy…she shook her head. “I can’t believe I didn’t ask his name—Duh!” She smacked herself in the forehead and instantly cried out in pain making everyone in the driveway turn towards her.
“I’m good,” she told them and was relieved when they turned back around. “Think…think…think…” The throbbing in her head that had been a dull ache earlier was growing more intense. Pressing her fingers to her forehead, she closed her eyes for a moment. There were too many questions and not enough answers.
When she reopened eyes, she was staring down at the stairs. They really weren’t clean at all, but had a light film covering them like ash. Tucking her hair behind her ear, she leaned forward and without thinking stuck the tip of her finger into the substance…, and instantly freaked.
“Eww Gross! Gross! Gross!” she yelled, frantically dragging her finger back over the clean part of the concrete, not believing she could be so stupid… twice. She stumbled back to standing and to her utter humiliation, realized her crazed outburst had gathered an audience. Her face burned red with embarrassment. Everyone was looking up at her with a mixture of expressions on their faces. Curious, amused, and horrified. Horrified belonged to Moriah. Amused to Kingston and curious belonged to the group of cute guys. Perfect.
“Big ass bugs around this place,” she said swatting faux bugs with her hands like an idiot. It only took two fake bugs swats before her audiences curiosity waned and they turned their undivided attention back to Moriah. It might have had something to do with the fact that she looked like a winner to a wet t-shirt contest.
Evie glanced down at her own shirt. It was all stretched out. The little creatures that were parading across it earlier were now falling down her left boob like they were jumping off a small hill into oblivion. “Why me?”
REMNANTS
SATURDAY * 2:15 PM
The stonework on this side of the house was a grayish color. Huge arches were over the windows with statues hanging over the sides of the balconies on higher levels that looked like they were crawling towards her. They weren’t like the ones on the mortared columns or even the ones flanking the sides of the front door. No, these won the butt-ass ugly prize. Long tongues hung from their mouths, like they were frozen in time right before they got to devour their latest meal. She shivered. She was glad they were only statues.
Evie kicked a weed sprouting out from the walkway in frustration. She had been looking for some sign to indicate what happened last night was real and not some warped twisted figment of her imagination. “No way,” she said. There was no way she could have imagined him. But as she looked at the ground, searching for all the rocks she had seen lying around him, she started second-guessing herself, because there were none. Instead, she found little piles of ash, like someone had a pyro problem and had started little mini bon-fires.
The sun ducked under a cloud, cloaking her in even more darkness. This side of the house wasn’t overly bright anyway since the house itself cast huge shadows across the expansive lawn. A gravel area was on her left, outside a pair of double glass-paned doors and then it dropped lower to a terrace with a stone balustrade that looked out over lush lawns, hidden pathways inside hedgerows that were at least seven feet tall.
The sound of rushing water drew her down the stairs cut directly into the landscape—she felt like she was being pulled toward the tree line. Of course, she wasn’t really sure why she wanted to go in that direction. Since when did she give a shit about running water? Heck, she had lived next to the ocean her entire life and had only went there a handful of times. Investigating wasn’t her thing either—it was Moriah’s. Moriah was the adventurer, always wanting to peek into the unknown.
Evie on the other hand never wanted to investigate. It was probably because she watched too many horror movies and the ones that went off alone always got taken out first.
The wind got louder. It sounded like it was screaming. She froze, dead in her tracks, not knowing for sure if it was the wind making that sound or something altogether different. And she wasn’t too sure she even wanted to find out. Yet she couldn’t not keep going. “When did I get a set?” she muttered walking onward. She shook her head. “Better question to self, who’s set did I steal?” She gave up trying to figure out why she was doing what she was doing and just kept walking.
Over to her right there was an opening in the hedgerow. A trail of crushed gravel disappeared between. Her skin prickled making Goosebumps rise on her arms. She had a strange feeling that something was about to happen. She wasn’t sure if it was going to be good or bad.
Evie jerked her head back up and turned, listening.
“Evie…”
There it was again. Someone was definitely calling her from up at the house. Apparently, there was a time limit on her borrowed set, because in that instant they evaporated into thin air. She didn’t waste a second more. She turned away from the hedgerow and bolted back the way she came as quickly as her Chuck’s would carry her. “I’m coming,” she yelled, running even faster.
PAYBACK
SATURDAY * 3:45 PM
A smattering of people walked back and forth, getting stuff ready for the party. Evie hung under the canopy of a big oak tree, lifting her face to the sky. The bright golden rays of the late afternoon sun darted down through the branches warming her chilled skin. The air was fresh, crisp, and full of the distinct scents of fall. Attempting to rehydrate before the party she unscrewed the lid off her Smart-water and took a long pull. The bottle made a crinkling sound as she screwed the lid back on. This is what she had been doing most of the day, standing under a tree, trying to rationalize what part of last night was real, and what part was not.
Not to mention what effect the loaded cherries laced with some drug Barnaby had probably/definitely dumped in her drink along with her food deprivation, she was sure they all played a large role in what she thought happened and what really happened the evening before. There really was no other reasonable explanation for any of it, especially the statue coming to life. Now that was probably a hallucination. However, she was having a hard time explaining away her bumps and bruises from said fight with the unknown imaginary beast. Still, she guessed, grasping for straws, on some out there level it could have just been some weird head split “Fight Club” movie thing brought on by whatever drug Barnaby had slipped into her drink.
Now, in the light of day she could rationalize just about everything that happened or didn’t, with the exception of his presence and of course her crazy connection/attraction to him. She kicked a stone back and forth with the toe of her shoe. Where did he go…back to the mother ship? She laughed, feeling stupid. She sounded like Hanna and Aaron.
“Hey you!”
Evie whipped her head in the direction of the guy’s voice, her pulse thumping erratically. It abruptly skidded to a halt. “Me.” She pointed a finger at her chest. A ripped jean, t-shirt clad, crazy-buff guy held a huge piece of black stage in his arms. She remembered seeing him earlier after her stair debacle.
He shook his head, and shifted the piece of stage again. “Can you move? I don’t want to hit you.”
“Sure,” she said, jumping out of the way, so he could walk past. Once she was out of his way, she couldn’t help but notice another guy standing off to the side of the stage, holding the tool at the ready, giving her a strange look. Self-consciously she looked down at the front of her outfit. Perfect. It was filthy. It looked like she had rolled around in the dirt. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what her hair and face looked like and at the moment, she really didn’t want to know. Backing up further she tried to move out of his line of vision and bumped into someone. “Oooh sorry,” she muttered embar
rassed.
Evie didn’t hear “not a problem” or even a grunt. No, the girl she had accidentally plowed into lifted her brow and gave her an even weirder look, making her feel even more self-conscious. What was with all the funky looks? Did she look that bad? On a normal day, she would have at least given the girl a dirty look in turn. But not today. Today she took it as another mortal blow to her ego. First Colton—wad. Then the guy… the one she kissed for a breathless moment ditched her too. Oh, thinking about him made her want to cry. Now she was getting the hairy eyeball from some girl.
Okay fine—it wasn’t like she was just any girl. That probably wouldn’t have bothered her. But this girl looked seriously cool. She had long jet-black hair shaved on one side with feathers intertwined into the length. Multiple earrings dangled from one of her ears and she had a small hoop in her bottom lip. The jean skirt she wore was similar to her own, with one exception. Fine. Two exceptions, she amended. Hers was frayed at the bottom and she looked really-really, good in it.
Fidgeting with the lid of her bottle, she tried not to stare at the girl as she pulled a bunch of cords across the front of the stage. It was hard though—she looked really-effortless and so put together. She was wearing a sweet pair of lace-up combat boots, paired with thigh-high, black and white striped leggings and a torn half-t-shirt that fell off one of her buff, tattooed shoulders.
Lifting her bottle, she titled it back, preparing to take a big swallow but somehow ended up dumping it down the side of her face. Sputtering, she wiped the water away with the back of her hand, which was pretty-humiliating. However, apparently her humiliation wasn’t yet at an end, cuz just then another guy, walked past her. He too gave her an odd look.
What the hell was this… a fucking parade? She didn’t think her ego could take many more weird looks she was at her limit. Glancing over her shoulder toward the tree line, she wondered if she should just slip into the woods until everyone left.
Gargoyle: A Reawakening (Briarcliff Series, #2) Page 3
