“Cool party,” one of them said as they approached the glass barrier. “Who knew Mr. Cruor was loaded.”
My breathing increased as I pressed myself tighter to where the fence met the ground. Hopefully I was safely out of view, but all the people needed to do was look down and they’d spot Phil and Sam. I couldn’t exactly warn them either, without blowing my cover.
“I could never tire of this view.” I recognized the voice. Dina’s. She’d been invited, too? She wasn’t even in our history class.
After taking another sip, she said, “This is the best tomato juice I’ve ever had.”
“Hey!” someone else called from afar. “Check this out!”
I cringed, waiting for the crowd to swarm in and call my friends out of hiding.
“Awesome. Where’d you get those?” a guy said.
And just like that, everyone disappeared. Something pulled my foot, and I squealed.
Phil’s blond head was in view again. “Parker, come on.”
I gritted my teeth. “No!”
“You’re going to get caught,” he whisper yelled.
“No, I’m not.”
Yeah, someone might be able to look over the bushes next to the fence and see me, but I wasn’t as exposed as they were. I popped my head up and scanned the backyard. My breath stalled in my throat. Nicholas had broken free from the crowd and milled over to the edge of the glass wall, just where I would have been if I’d followed Phil’s advice. He placed something in a cup attached to the side. I scrambled down the ravine ledge and kept my eyes on him, hoping to get over to him and get his attention without making a fuss.
He flicked something in his hand and flames erupted—a lighter. Then he lit the thing in the cup and backed away.
Sparks ran up a tiny wick and sent the cylindrical thing flying into the air. Seconds later, there was a pop and a colorful shower of blue and silver sparkles rained down over the ocean.
Then the rest of the guys at the party joined Nicholas and lit off their bottle rockets, too. The sky lit up in colors and the crowd pressed forward to the glass barrier, their eyes upward.
I pressed my back into the rock wall, barely hidden under the overhang of the deck above us. This wasn’t going to work. With the fences blocking me and the cliff face over my head, Nicholas was out of reach without showing myself to the hoard. Then, I looked down. The world swayed, and I clutched onto Phil’s arm.
“Holy mother of heights.” No matter how hard it was for me to admit, this plan wasn’t working. And if my parents came home early, I’d be dead meat. “I want to go home.”
“No.” Phil nudged me toward Sam. “Come on.”
“What?” I looked upward when silt rained on my head. “We’re stuck and who knows when this thing is going to fall on us.”
“Come on.” He pointed toward Sam who stood, clinging to the cliff edge, a few feet over from us. One good earthquake and we’d all be goners.
“I want to go home.”
Phil frowned. “Trust me.”
I bit my lip, remembering what that meant exactly. Of anyone, he’d never let me down. Ever. “Fine.”
Stepping foot over foot, I slowly made it to Sam’s location and popped out on the opposite side of the deck. Stone steps led upward to a small sitting area surrounding a fire pit. Where the glass met the iron fence, there was an open gate.
I moved to climb the stairs when Phil took my hand to stop me. He motioned to the shadows beyond the sitting area. An orange ball of light illuminated someone’s face. We weren’t alone.
At this point, I didn’t care. No one was keeping me away from Nicholas any longer. I flicked away Phil’s hand and trudged up the steps anyway.
“Dude, look who’s crashing the party, man,” another guy said from the dark. The sickly sweet odor told me they weren’t smoking cigarettes.
I reached out to open the gate wider, scanning the crowd of pyromaniacs for Nicholas when Phil grabbed my shoulder.
“Julia, duck.”
My gaze panned past the pool and onto the patio where Mr. Cruor stood. He was greeting someone. My parents.
CHAPTER TWELVE
I slithered down the staircase and disappeared under the awning, trying to catch my breath. “Why are they here?”
“Hey,” someone called from the gate. “Parentals.”
A cornucopia of cuss words came from the stoned group as they stashed their contraband and returned to the party.
“We have to go,” I whispered, fighting the anxiety crawling up my throat.
Phil leaned closer and took another peek over my shoulder. “Not until we know the coast is clear.”
“If they leave here first, they’ll beat me home!”
He started to breathe heavier and the muscles in his neck tightened. I didn’t like the close proximity of his body against mine and neither did Sam from her glare. “My parents are here, too.”
“Do they know you’re not home?”
“Maybe. Who knows,” he answered. “I’m not grounded.”
I rolled my eyes. “Lucky you.”
“But why are they shaking hands with Cain?”
“Who’s shaking hands?” I pressed against him and craned my neck.
My mother and Phil’s parents were engaged in a discussion, laughing and nodding. The interjection of how irresponsible and head-strong teenagers could be had to be the subject. “Where’s my dad?”
“Huh?” Phil’s eyes squinted and he took his eyes off his parents. Taking a quick scan of the area, he jerked. Then he plunged his hand in his pocket and pulled out his phone. The display illuminated a call from my dad’s number.
“Holy crap.” I stared at the phone, frozen in place.
“Well, answer it!” He pressed it toward me.
I held the phone like it was about to bite me, unsure what to do. Phil reached out and hit the green button, then stuck it by my ear.
“Hello?” My voice shook.
“Julia?” Dad asked, confused, only the voice didn’t come from the phone directly. It came from right above my head, then echoed in my ear.
I kneeled down and tried cupping the receiver to block my voice from traveling. “Yeah. What’s up?” I said softly as my voice shook.
“What’s that racket?”
I gulped down my nerves and tried to remain calm. “What racket?”
“Are you home?”
“Of course I am,” I lied.
“There’s an echo and music and… is that waves? Have you got someone there?”
“Of course not.” I laughed and it came out as the fakest sound in the world. “The dishwasher is on. I can barely hear you.”
“Oh, right. I need to fix that.” Relief laced his voice.
“Yeah…” I hesitated, proud of myself for thinking of that. When the dishwasher ran, it sounded like a plane was taking off in the kitchen. “Is there something you wanted? The echo is annoying.”
“Okay… Darn cell phones. Back in my day we didn’t have contraptions like this. We only had the phone you’re talking on right now. That’s why I refuse to throw it out. If the cellphone towers ever were knocked out—”
I’d heard this a thousand times. The apocalypse. The end of the world. The root of Dad’s hoarding of canned goods and water. It was as if the fear of our prior life had stuck with him.
My chest heaved, desperate to hang up. “I know. We can talk later. Gotta go. Bye.” I clicked the phone off before he could keep going.
My fingers shook as I handed Phil his phone.
“That was clos—ohhh!” Our fingers collided and the phone bounced right out of my hand. He lunged for it, but it tumbled out of sight toward the rocks below.
“Somebody there?” Dad yelled from above. “Do you need help?”
The three of us pressed ourselves against the wall.
“I am so sorry,” I whispered. “Please tell me you have insurance.”
“It’s fine.” Phil scowled and pressed against me to move.
&nbs
p; I took my cue and led the mass exit in the direction we came. Once getting to the opposite side, Phil launched the two of us onto the ledge above the steep incline, but refused my hand when I tried to return the favor.
“Hello?” I heard Dad call from the other side of the awning. “Anybody there?”
I tried to catch my breath and ducked behind the bush.
“Julia?”
At the mention of my name, I squealed and jumped backwards, knocking into Phil. He steadied himself by grabbing onto Sam before he fell off the cliff.
“Whoa.” Sam called out.
Phil groaned. “Parker. Watch what you’re doing. I’m most definitely not insured.”
I tried to focus on what he implied, but couldn’t concentrate anymore. Nicholas said my name.
I breathed in relief and smiled up at him. Just beyond him, Dad emerged from the gate on the opposite end and glanced in our direction.
I ducked down.
“What are you doing?” Nicholas asked as he grabbed onto one of the bars.
“I needed to talk to you. I’ve been grounded from my phone and it’s been a nightmare.”
“Come on, Julia.” Sam and Phil had already made it past the RV. “Move it!”
Nicholas frowned and I wanted to tear down the bars to get to him.
I gulped hard as my glance went from Sam, to Nicholas, to Dad, then back to Nicholas. “It’s not my fault. Just please. Come by my house tonight. I’ll leave my window open.”
His eyes squinted. “Don’t leave. Just come on inside. It’s all been a misunderstanding.”
Misunderstanding?
“I can’t. My parents are here. If they catch me…” Dad approached behind Nicholas. “I gotta go.”
I ducked down and hoofed it over the rocky loam, hoping to disappear just in time. I ran to Phil’s car, then slid to a stop. A silver Lexus and black Pilot blocked Phil’s Audi in.
“Son of a bitch.” Phil walked around both vehicles and then leaned against his hood.
I blew out a breath, fully agreeing with him. The Pilot belonged to none other than my parents.
“I’m caught.” I wrung my hands. “There’s no way out of this.”
Phil paced and kept shaking his head. “I need my phone. Dammit.”
I cringed. “Sorry. I’ll get you a new one.” Cell phones and I were once again having a relapse in horrible breakups.
“It’s fine,” he groaned.
“Let’s just text Katie.” Sam pulled out her phone and held it toward Phil. “Maybe she’ll drive Julia home.”
“And then what? We join the party?” Phil asked, exasperated.
“Forget it.” I shook my head. “She’s not going to want to leave, not when she’s getting face-time in with Tyler.” I pulled a face.
“Oh, really?” Sam dragged her hand through her hair. She had no idea how insane their relationship became after Katie vampire seduced him and then began drinking from his neck on a regular basis.
“Or we could have it towed,” Phil interjected with a laugh.
“I’m not that desperate.” Towing and storage fees would send my dad over the edge. “I don’t think they’ll be here long. We could hide in the car, then bolt out of here once they leave.”
“Great idea, except the Lexus belongs to my parents.” Phil motioned to the neighboring car. “I’m sure they’re wondering why I’m not at the party.”
“Crap.” I was so dead.
“Have you already forgotten about me?” Nicholas cleared the trees and sauntered over. My legs nearly melted into jelly at the sight of him, and everything I was frustrated about slipped away.
“Nicholas!” I ran and threw my arms around his neck. Our lips met and all I wanted was him. Unable to help myself, I deepened the kiss, forgetting who was watching. My parent’s voices registered above my hormones, and I pulled myself from his delicious lips. “Oh, crap.”
Phil took Sam’s hand and they ducked behind some cars further down the road. Nicholas grabbed me and we ran to his Charger. Even though we were close to being caught, excitement filled my heart. As crazy as it sounded, I’d missed this. The danger. The excitement. This was where I wanted to be, where I needed to be. Saving the world with the hottest guy on the planet was still in my blood.
We jumped into the car at the same time and Nicholas spun out onto Highway 1 without his headlights on. I felt a rush and leaned back in my seat, squealing.
“I need to memorize your number,” I joked. “The information age has left me useless.” I moved closer to give him a quick peck on the cheek before looking over my shoulder. “This is so insane. I thought you’d be mad at me. Why are you at Cain’s anyway?”
“His name isn’t Cain,” he corrected as he watched his rear view mirror. “Just hear me out before you get upset, okay?”
I felt a slight sting and all my excitement evaporated. My brow furrowed. “Okay?”
“Everything was cool at home. Come to find out my parents both had their cell phones fall into a pool at the same time they were switching internet services. Once back online, Mom found the email Mr. Cruor had sent asking for permission about the drive. I didn’t think anything of it since I’d missed it entirely, but the crazy thing is, she went to college with Mr. Cruor’s brother. And check this out. You’ll remember him as Dr. Volynski. Well, not Volynski. It’s Dr. Vincent Cruor and he goes by Dr. V.”
My jaw dropped. He’d been the one driving the RV three days ago. “Dr. V.?”
“Yeah. Like I said, it’s totally crazy. He’s a renowned researcher on the brink of discovering a cure for cancer. He’s been looking for this rare gene strand, so… yeah, Mr. Cruor kind of had an ulterior motive for the drive.”
“You didn’t give your blood to him, did you?”
Nicholas shrugged. “This is a good friend of my parents. It’s to cure cancer. I wanted to see if I was a match.”
My chest squeezed. “And you don’t find the coincidence eerie?”
A laugh bubbled from his mouth. “Not at all.”
I crossed my arms. “What about when I didn’t call?”
“Once I heard about what happened, I figured you were grounded. I was waiting.”
“And when was that?”
“Julia.” Nicholas tugged on my arm and found my hand, interlacing his fingers with mine. I kept my fingers limp. “The last thing I wanted to do was get you into any more trouble. Actually, I’ve been trying to explain to Mr. Cruor your irrational fear of blood as an excuse. He gets it was a misunderstanding and plans to drop the whole thing.”
“He’s dropping it because Phil’s parents have threatened to sue.”
He sighed and pulled onto my street. “Look, Horace isn’t a reincarnation of Cain, so forget about that. There’s nothing to worry about anymore, okay?” He kissed my hand. “We’ll talk more tomorrow.” He smiled, then pulled me forward and leaned over for more.
Unable to help myself, I indulged him, but I wasn’t about to let this go. If we remembered, Cain remembered and this wasn’t merely a coincidence.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
By the time Monday morning rolled around, my parents had carried on as if nothing had ever happened. No mention of their evening with the D’Elia’s. No mention they’d stopped by Mr. Cruor’s house the night prior, and most certainly no mention they’d overreacted and were sorry. At this point, I didn’t care. I had my life back.
I’d flipped through all my missed texts and messages. If Nicholas had sent anything, Mom had erased them, which he confirmed later. His lack of worry still bothered me, especially when he wouldn’t really tell me when he had found out I’d been suspended. Did Katie tell him? Since when had they exchanged phone numbers?
Of course Sam had been smarter and sent an email which Mom managed to miss, and so had Phil, which warmed my heart. He seemed to have cared more than my boyfriend did.
Returning to school, hand-in-hand with Nicholas, I’d decided to drop the subject. When we talked on Sunday, Nicholas’ ha
ckles rose and he adamantly protected Mr. Cruor. I wasn’t going to win, and maybe he was right. Maybe I should look at things as a gift and take them at face value. We’d been given a second chance and nothing would take it away.
Walking into History, though, I couldn’t help but feel awkward as people stared. Nicholas took his seat in front, and I slipped into my seat and waited for class to start.
Phil entered with Sam, and the two of them looked so happy. That was until Phil spotted me. His smile melted off his face. I clutched the envelope containing two hundred dollars—my entire savings—in my hands.
“Here.” I handed it to him.
“What’s this?”
“What I owe you.”
Phil wrinkled up his nose and looked inside. “What?” He shoved the envelope back at me. “No. It’s fine, Parker.”
“It’s not fine. I insist.”
He slid into his seat and tossed the envelope on my desk. “I have insurance. I’ve already got a new phone.”
“Yes, but…”
“But nothing. It happens.”
I started to argue more when the room broke out into claps and cheers. Swiveling around, I figured out why. Mr. Cruor had made his entrance.
“They’re all Satan’s minions now,” Phil whispered behind me.
I turned to him. “It’s Mr. Cruor and be quiet.”
He smirked.
“Class, I appreciate the sentiment, but really, you shouldn’t be thanking me. Your contribution has helped significantly with my brother’s research.” Mr. Cruor leaned against his desk and smugly folded his arms. “But I have even more good news. He’s looking for volunteers, and the best part is, those interested in giving of their time in furthering his research will receive a letter of recommendation for college.”
Cheers erupted from the class as Phil huffed behind me. “Oh yay. More bullshit.”
I shushed Phil. He was most definitely going to get me in trouble again if he didn’t shut up, and I couldn’t live another day off the grid.
“Now, now.” Mr. Cruor waved his hands to quiet the room. “I can only choose three.”
Hands shot up everywhere. Nicholas was one of them. My heart rate rocketed. Though I didn’t think Mr. Cruor would pick me, I had to at least look the part. Otherwise, Nicholas might think I didn’t trust his judgment. I feebly raised my hand.
Blood Wars: Book 4 (The Talisman Series) Page 6
