In the back of my mind I still thought about Ken and Maxwell. I wondered if they were okay and who they were 'given' too. No one had answered that question yet and when Cody was going to, we got interrupted. With as badly as Ken wanted to rip me to shreds the last time I saw him, I totally understood why. To me, he was still one of my very dear friends and I had already forgiven him even though I hadn't had the chance to tell him yet. And Max; well I just wanted to make sure he was okay. For someone who was so strong he never seemed to have the will or want to defend himself. I also wanted to see if what Cody said was true about me and Max and the only way to find out for sure would be to ask him.
“Alright, the teams were picked,” a voice behind me said interrupting my thoughts.
Before I had chance to look at who it was, Phoebe sat down on the steps next to me. How were the teams picked without me, I wondered to myself.
“Here's how it goes. Cody and Red. Ryker and Kaeden. Drake and Shane. You and I got paired together and we have the rookie on our team. I wish you were there to see Cody's face he realized that he and Red were on the same team. I haven't seen him throw a tantrum like that since we were kids. Man he looked defeated,” she said with a laugh.
“Anyway,” she said, “Everyone's on their way out now so we can get this started.”
I nodded and looked up at the sky in silence. I had too much on my mind to find temper tantrums funny. Phoebe sat there for a second looking at me, then she shrugged and went back inside. She was stopped at the door by everyone wandering out. Behind me I heard the sounds of Cody begging everyone to do a redraw for teams and Kaeden telling him that the teams were final.
“Whatever,” he muttered as he walked toward me. In one scoop he reached his arms down under my arms, and brought me to my feet. “Looks like we're not on the same side again. I need you to come with me for a second though.”
“Cody, what are you doing? You're not on her team,” Kaeden said in exasperation.
“Chill for a second, Dracula,” Cody replied. “I just need to talk to her for a moment.”
“Make it fast, we don't have all night,” Kaeden said.
Cody waved him off. Grabbing me by the hand, he walked me off the stairs and to the back of the house. He looked around a couple of times to make sure we were alone and then looked back at me chewing on his lower lip. He then reached up and unclasped a silver necklace he had hidden so well, I never realized it was there.
“Wear this,” he said holding it out to me.
“Why?” I asked curiously.
“Because I need to make sure you're going to be safe. This will keep you from getting hurt by me or my sister if we can't control our demonic strength. Turn around so I can put it on you.”
Obediently I turned and raised my hair. I felt the cool sensation of the chain as he laid it on my neck. When he came back around to the front of me, he slid the pendant inside my shirt and smiled at me. Curiosity got the better of me though, and I reached in to pull it out. I gasped. It was two beautifully intertwined stars that were made out of pure sapphire stones laced together by another piece of silver.
I looked at him and his smile turned shy. He grabbed the sides of my face and kissed me softly on my lips. When he pulled back I smiled at him and put the pendant back inside my shirt. I was starting to get used to his kisses and I was starting to like them; a lot. I brushed his hair off of his forehead then looked into his eyes. I knew that when this began they were going to be snake like again, so I wanted to take these few precious moments to stare into them as they were.
“Alright lovebirds, let's go,” Phoebe said appearing in the back where we were.
“Yeah, we're coming,” he said looking at her. She grinned then turned and went back to where the others were gathered. “Listen,” he said uneasily, “If something goes wrong, or if you think you're in danger just yell for me. I won't be too far away, alright?”
What does he think will go wrong? I wondered to myself nodding.
“Then let's go,” he said reaching down to grab my hand. Together, we walked back to the group who were all waiting patiently. Drake gave me a big grin when he saw that Cody and I were holding hands, while everyone else looked rather shocked.
“Okay, we're all here,” Kaeden said doubtfully looking at us, “Let's get started.”
The teams immediately split up into their pairs and Chase joined me and Phoebe. Of course Cody was still holding onto my hand looking at Remy who was tapping her foot impatiently. He turned and gave his sister a wide-eyed, pleading look but she shook her head slightly as if to tell him that she couldn't help him.
“When have I ever asked you for anything, Pheebs?” he asked angrily.
“Never, big brother, but this isn't something that will be useful to anyone. Come talk with me for a moment, this isn't a discussion to be had in the open.”
“Fine,” he said releasing my hand. “Don't go anywhere,” he said softly to me.
We all stood there completely confused as the siblings walked about twenty feet away. It was apparent that they were having a head disagreement. Phoebe was throwing her arms in the air and Cody was sticking his fingers in her face. She was shaking her head vehemently not giving in to whatever it was that he was asking her. Finally he threw her a look of disgust and came stalking back toward us.
“We're making this fast,” he said angrily to us grabbing Remy by the arm and dragging her along behind him.
I looked at Phoebe who had come back over to us and raised an eyebrow. She just shrugged. Chase looked at me and smiled then the three of us headed out to the massive clearing behind the house.
“I say we head for the tree line,” Chase said.
“Yeah, I think so too,” I said, “It'll be more of a challenge with all that stuff in the way, especially since it's night time, you know?”
“I'll go ahead and scout, just in case any of them have beat us there already,” he said taking off toward the trees.
Phoebe and I walked silently toward the heavily wooded area. I wanted to ask her what just happened with her and her brother, but I didn't feel it was my business. I cleared my throat, but said nothing.
“Sorry you had to see that,” she said looking straight ahead. “I've never had an argument with him like that before. I guess he really likes you.”
“Please tell me that wasn't over me,” I said stopping to look at her.
“Mostly. See he doesn't want to let you out of his sight,” she said starting to walk again. “He said there's a traitor among the group and he isn't sure who it is yet. He's afraid of leaving you with anyone that isn't him because he hasn't got it figured out.”
That must be why he gave me the necklace. He probably suspects his own sister, I thought to myself.
“So anyway, the reason he just got so angry with me is because I refused to switch teammates with him. I told him that you're going to have to learn to watch your own back and that he won't always be there to help you.”
I didn't say anything. Now it was running through my mind that someone was a spy. But the question that was bothering me the most was who were they spying for? Skiles? Ava? Someone else?
“Listen, I have a favor to ask you,” she said suddenly.
“Okay.”
“I want you to stay away from my brother,” she said bluntly.
“Um, excuse me?” I said stopping to look at her.
“Cody. Stay away from him. Look, I've spent about nineteen years trying to get him to go back to being normal. Since he first laid eyes on you he changed dramatically. I don't like it. They'll come a day when you don't want to be with him or something and it's going to shatter him. I don't want that to happen to my brother. He doesn't deserve it.”
I stared at her with a look of shock on my face. Who was she to tell me what I could and couldn't do? Before I had a chance to say anything in my defense she spoke up again.
“I'm gonna run ahead and make sure that Junior there isn't any trouble,” she said as jogged tow
ard the woods.
I watched her disappear, then looked around. If everyone was already in position they had been quick and quiet about it. This was going to be a tough, but fun ambush. I could tell. So I decided to take my time on the way over to where Phoebe and Chase were.
I had to smile though. All around me I could hear the scurrying of footsteps. I knew that some of them were out there waiting for me. Taking a deep breath, I blew my breath out in an exaggerated fashion and kept walking. I was pretty curious as to who was going to attack me first.
From deep in the trees I heard a loud and shrill terrified scream. I broke into a run. The only person it could be was Phoebe. All around me I heard the sound of running as everyone came out of their hiding places to run with me toward the woods. Cody sprinted ahead of everyone at a speed I would never be able to reach and let out a surprised scream.
Out of everyone that was heading toward the screams in top speed, I was the next to reach the woods after Cody. When I did, I let out the most horrific scream I ever had in my entire life and death. There in front of them lay Chase; a hole in his chest. His eyes were bulged open in surprise, and his heart; his heart was gone.
Kaeden let out an anguished cry which shocked all of us. He scooped up Chase's body and ran away with it, wailing the whole way. Cody immediately ran over to me and hugged me tightly against his chest.
“Don't look, Finn,” he whispered.
Just then Phoebe ran over to us crying and practically shoved me out of his arms. I would've been bothered by it any other time, but since she was the one that found Chase, I decided to let her do it. Cody hugged her and was telling her to calm down that it was over. That's when Drake came over to me with tears in his eyes, and put an arm around my shoulder.
“Let's go back, there's nothing we can do here,” he said. I nodded numbly and let him walk me back to the house. I didn't know where Kae went but I hoped that when he recovered from his pain that he would come back to us.
As we turned and started to walk away, I saw Phoebe sneak a look at me from Cody's arms. Her face was filled with terror but I could've sworn I saw her smile at me. I shook it off though because I knew that couldn't be what I thought.
“Wait up,” we heard Cody call from behind us. Drake started to stop, but I kept pulling him along.
“Finnegan, wait,” he said again.
I looked up at Drake and shook my head slightly to let him know that I didn't want to stop. Drake nodded and picked up speed. Behind us I could hear the sound of Cody struggling to catch up while holding on to his sister.
“Damn it, Finnegan, stop!”
I spun around furiously and went at Phoebe, shoving her to the ground.
“What did you do to him?” I screamed.
“What? Finn have you lost your damn mind?” Cody yelled at me helping his sister back up.
“She did it! She killed Chase, I know she did and I’m going to prove it,” I screamed glaring at her.
Cody’s mouth dropped open and he stared at me in disbelief. Next to me Drake let out a growl and multiplied so fast that in an instant Cody and Phoebe were surrounded. At that moment, Kaeden emerged from the trees wiping away tears with the sleeve of his sweater. When he saw what was happening he was over to the confrontation in the blink of an eye.
“Finn?” he asked looking at me.
“She did it, Kaeden, I know she did,” I said still glaring at Phoebe.
He put his hand on my shoulder and looked at her, “How do you know.”
“Because when she attached herself to her brother, I saw her smiling. How could you smile unless you did this? The rest of us are torn up about it and she’s smiling! She was the one that ran into the woods after him. How could you?” I screamed leaping at her.
Cody let his sister go, giving her a shove behind him. His eyes turned snake like almost before I was done screaming at her and he caught me in midair. With the same speed as his sister had run into the woods after Chase, he took off with me in his arms. I didn’t know where he was taking me but he passed the house and took the streets through Devils Lake. At the speed he was going the humans wouldn’t have noticed anything more than a swift wind going past them. I tried to struggle against him, but he made his arms like a vice around me so that I couldn’t move.
Finally when he tossed me to the ground, I realized that we were in the cemetery again.
Hands on his knees, he took a few deep breaths to compose himself, before he looked down at me, his eyes normal again.
“Tell me what’s going on. Why would my sister do something like that?” he asked me.
“I know what I saw Cody. And remember what I said; if this proves to be unnecessary you both go. Well killing my friends is definitely unnecessary so you can take your sister and go back to wherever it is you both came from!” I screamed.
“So what you’re saying is that you don’t have any proof that it was Phoebe?”
“Cody I know what I saw,” I repeated again.
He sat down on the grass next to me and went to put an arm around me. I pulled away from him like he was venomous. Letting out a long sigh he looked up at the sky.
“I’m not leaving. It took all these years to finally get you to notice me. I’m not leaving. Not now. Not ever,” he said softly.
“Yes you are. And take your hellion sister with you,” I spat getting to my feet and walking away.
He reached out and grabbed my ankle, causing me to lose my balance. Luckily I was able to catch myself before I hit the grass face first. With all my might I started to pull myself out of his grip, but he wouldn’t let go.
“Finnegan, listen to me. Pheebs is my family. I love her; she’s the only person in the world who understands me and loves me for all my craziness, you know? I don’t want to lose her because of something you think you saw.”
I took a deep breath and pulled again with all my might, but he only tightened his grip again. He’s going to break my ankle if I don’t stop, I thought to myself, finally relenting.
“Why are you going to lose Phoebe?” I asked angrily.
“Because I love you,” he said quietly.
“That’s not possible,” I said turning to face him, “You barely know me. I barely know you. After today I don’t want to know you or your twisted family. GET OUT OF DEVILS LAKE!” I screamed.
“I will if you can look me in the eyes and honestly tell me that you feel nothing for me. I’ll leave here and you’ll never have to see me again as long as you live,” he said finally looking at me.
Fine, if that’s what it takes, then I’ll say it, I thought angrily to myself.
I stood up and looked down at him. For some reason his eyes seem to be sparkling in the moonlight; they looked beautifully alive in a place full of death and for a moment, I found myself rethinking what I needed to say. But I steeled myself and took a deep breath. I clenched my fists at my side and opened my mouth. Cody stood up and looked at me. Waiting. Hoping.
“I ... I ... don’t ...” I put my face in my hands to recover my composure then I looked back at him, “Cody, I don’t ...” Say it! My mind screamed at me that I didn’t know him. That there was no reason for me to be hesitating. That there was nothing that he could give me or that I could give him to make our existences fruitful for or with each other.
To my surprise I felt a tear roll down my cheek. Why was I acting like this? I really didn’t know him to be having such trouble telling him to get lost. I closed my eyes when I felt him gently wipe the tears off of my face. I felt his breath on my face as he pulled me close to him and the warmth of his skin as he pressed his lips gently to mine. I felt more tears spring to my eyes because of the gentleness of his kiss. It told me that he really did love me.
I placed my hands on his chest and pushed him back gently looking up into his eyes.
“I don’t want you to leave,” I whispered, “But I can’t let you stay either.”
“I know,” he said softly, my face still in his hands. “I’ll leave a
nd I’ll take Pheebs with me, but I won’t be far. I promise.”
“Cody I know what I saw, I know she killed him,” I said.
Instead of replying to my accusation, he kissed me again, this time letting his hands slide down to my back and pulling me tightly against him. I slid my hands up and around his neck, as we stood there wrapped tightly against each other.
I closed my eyes again and leaned forward to kiss him, when suddenly he was violently ripped away from my arms. Blinking my eyes open in surprise I saw his body hurtling through the air and landing on gravestones in the distance. I heard the thud of his body as it smacked against the granite and I heard him cry out in pain. Before I knew what was happening, I saw the flashes of people running past me and descending upon him in a murderous fury.
In the distance I saw Cody flanked by Drake and Shane who were holding his arms out to his sides. Kaeden stood in front of him; his head in his hands, and the gypsies were standing guard as if to dare me to approach them. I knew exactly what was going to happen and I had to find some way to prevent it. I looked around frantically; if Phoebe was around I know she’d stop it. Then it hit me. If Cody could hear me because of the pendant, then just maybe...
“PHOEBE!” I shouted at the top of my lungs holding the pendant tightly.
In a flash, a whirlwind of fury ran past me toward the group of assassins. I heard her screaming at them to let her brother go and I turned away, I didn’t want to know what the outcome would be. I heard her screams of anguish and fury. And then I heard it. The sound of flesh being torn and the snapping of the bone and sinew as a head was ripped off a body. I closed my eyes tightly and ran. Kaeden killed him, I thought to myself. My body was racked with sobs as I ran all the way back home.
Blindly I ran into my home and down to the lower level. In my room I destroyed everything I could get my hands on. Cody was dead because of me. When were people going to stop dying because of things that I did? This wasn’t supposed to be happening!
I grabbed my journal and ran back up to the ballroom. In my mind I could see him sitting at the chair the night I listened to his story of my birth and human life.
Monster Page 24
