by Kyra Dune
Brandy shook her head “No such place exists.”
“It might,” Zack said. His gaze met mine. “With Megara.”
“The dragon who came after Abby?” Trudy asked. “Who blew up a truck stop and killed those people? You want to ask her for help?”
“No,” Derek said. “Abby, we already discussed this. It’s out of the question.”
“That was before we were hunted down,” I said. “Before Kyle died.” I shifted my gaze to Zack. “Do you think she would help us?”
“I think it’s worth a shot.”
“You’re both crazy,” Derek said. “Besides, it’s not like we even know where Megara is.”
“Maybe we could find out,” Zack said.
“How?” I asked.
“Alastair has files with information on Megara,” Zack said. “But we’d have to go back to the compound to get it.”
Steve threw up his hands. “Go back to where we rescued Abby from? Where we all could have died? Forget it. I’m going home.” He stormed off.
“You can’t let him leave now,” Brandy said, looking at me as if I had some kind of control over the situation.
“What do you want me to do?” I asked. “I can’t force him to stay.”
Trudy jumped up. “I’ll talk to him.” She made an obvious effort to stay as far away from Zack as she could on her way out of the cove. I couldn’t figure it out at the time. Trudy had seemed to like Zack before, now she wouldn’t even look at him.
I rubbed the heel of my hand against my forehead. “Okay, Zack, where does Alastair keep these files?” I asked the question even though I was pretty sure of the answer.
“In his study,” Zack said. “It’s on an encrypted file on his computer. We could use the tree outside your room to sneak into the house, but I don’t see how we’d open the file.”
“Curtis?” I looked over at my cousin. “Could you help with that?”
He nodded.
“All right.” Hannah clapped her hands together. “This is going to be fun.”
“You aren’t going,” I said.
“What?” Her face fell. “Why not?”
“Because the more people who go, the more chance we get caught,” I said. “Zack, Curtis, and I will go to the compound. The rest of you can stay at a hotel in the city.” I caught Brandy looking at me curiously and I figured I knew why. I sure didn’t sound like myself. For as long as I could remember I’d always turned to Brandy to be the leader. She was the smart one, the one who always knew what to do. Maybe her telling me she couldn’t help me this time was actually a blessing. Maybe it would help me to stand on my own for a change. I certainly hoped so.
Derek didn’t say a word, even though his expression told me exactly what he thought of me going anywhere with Zack with no one but Curtis to watch my back. Truthfully, I would have liked to take Derek along. But he was still weak and I didn’t want to put him into a dangerous situation.
“By the city,” Brandy said, “I assume you mean Los Angeles. We’ll have to take a plane. I can handle that. I’ll use my parent’s credit card. They won’t check it. They trust me.”
“Good.” And it was good, except it kind of wasn’t. You know what I mean? Brandy was acting a little... off. She seemed way too calm given the current situation. Okay, so I know different people handle grief in different ways, but her boyfriend had just been shot and killed right in front of her eyes. I felt like she should have been at least a little upset about it all. Am I wrong?
“We should get back to the house and pack,” Zack said. “Derek, you up to dealing with the bodies?”
Derek stared back at him a moment before nodding. “Tell me where they are.”
I stayed back away from them, walking with Hannah, Curtis, and Brandy instead. I so did not want to hear their conversation. I didn’t want to know how many people Zack had killed. They led us the long way around to the front of the beach house. I didn’t have to ask why. At the door, Derek left to... well, you know.
Don’t get me wrong, I felt bad about what was going to happen. I totally agreed with Steve about Kyle deserving to be buried. And it made me sick to think of his parents wondering what happened to him. But it had to be this way. Maybe it was selfish of me to let it happen to keep the police from getting involved. But it felt like the right thing to do. No, scratch that. It didn’t feel right at all. It felt necessary. So I let it happen and if I had to go back and redo it, I’d do the same thing. Think what you want of me. It’s the truth.
Zack entered the house first, which was cool with me. I really didn’t want to go back in there. If it weren’t for the gruesome task Derek was about to do, I would have went with him instead. I paused in the doorway to listen to the house. Aside from the faint sound of a shower running upstairs, everything was quiet. Which did nothing to make me feel any safer.
“Chill out girl.” Hannah slipped by me. “Nobody here but us chickens.”
I didn’t know how she could be so cool after being knocked out, but I didn’t want her showing me up in front of Zack. So I walked into the house and up the stairs like my heart wasn’t pounding and my throat wasn’t dry.
We all went our separate ways on the second floor. It made sense, really. We needed to get out of there and fast. I knew it more than the others because I’d heard the guy on the radio mentioning a cop cruising past. Obviously the cop hadn’t heard the shot or whatever had come after, but I didn’t want to hang around waiting to see if somebody else had.
It’s a little embarrassing for me to admit I wished I had one of the boys with me as I crept into my room. Not so strong with the girl power, I know, but what can I say? I would have felt much better with Derek or Zack at my side.
I flipped on the light switch and then stood just inside the doorway, frozen, unable to take one step further into the room. My gaze darted back and forth between the closet door and the bathroom door, both of which were shut. Anybody could have been hiding behind either of them, waiting to jump out and attack me.
I knew it was crazy thinking for me to be standing there terrified of entering an empty room. I needed to get busy packing my stuff, but I couldn’t made my feet move forward. Fear was in control of my actions and it wasn’t listening to any sensible words from my brain.
A hand touched my shoulder and I jumped, a little squeak coming out from between my lips. The air swirled around me, rattling the pictures on the walls, as I turned around to defend myself.
Luckily I realized it was Zack standing behind me before I did anything I might have regretted later. I let out a breath and then I punched him in the arm. “You scared me.”
“Sorry.” Funny, he didn’t look or sound sorry. Only annoyed.
I licked my dry lips. “Why are you sneaking up on me anyway?”
“I wasn’t sneaking. I thought if you were still scared you might want some company.” He looked up and down the hall, his hands hanging loosely at his sides. “So here I am.”
“Oh. Well. Thanks.” I wasn’t sure why he seemed so irritated. It wasn’t as if I’d asked him to come play babysitter, even though I did feel better having him there. He didn’t have to be so surly about it.
I didn’t have much to pack considering I hadn’t been able to take away from the compound any of the things MiMi had bought for me. The only reason I had anything to pack at all was because of Brandy. Shortly after we came to the beach house, she went into town and bought me some clothes and things, as well as a green duffel bag to stuff it all in. Even though she was mad at me she still wanted me to have everything I needed. She was a good friend like that.
I started to gather my stuff only to realize I was still in my yellow bikini. Down on the beach it was no big deal, but in my bedroom I felt half naked. And Zack standing there all gorgeous in his swim trunks, watching my every move, didn’t help.
“I guess I should get dressed.” I grabbed some clothes off the bed and started toward the bathroom.
“Abby?”
I sto
pped, slowly turning toward him with my clothes pressed to my chest. It was the first time I ever heard him use the shortened version of my name. I don’t why, but the sound of it started little flutters in my stomach,. “Yeah?”
“I... I’m glad you didn’t get hurt today.”
“Thanks.” I waited because I had a feeling he wanted to say something more but didn’t know how. Flustered was not a look I’d ever seen on him before. It was cute.
Zack cleared his throat. “I wanted to say...I...I want you to know...I... Ah, to hell with it.”
Before I could think of how to react he was across the room pulling me into his arms. He pressed his lips to mine like I’d imagined him doing so many times.
It wasn’t like how I pictured my first kiss. You know, with all the romance and deep eye staring and leaning in toward each other in the moonlight. It was way better. All heat and bare skin and the strange, but not unpleasant feel of his tongue sliding across mine.
I could tell he was way more experienced with kissing than I was and even in the moment I worried I might be doing something wrong. Until he put his hands on my waist and pulled me closer, then I was pretty much not thinking about anything except for the feel of him all around me.
When the kiss ended I could barely catch my breath. “Wow.” The word slipped past my lips before I could stop it. I blushed furiously, embarrassed to hear myself sounding like some love struck little girl who just had her world rocked by her first kiss. That might have been exactly what I was, but I didn’t want Zack to know it.
“Maybe you should get dressed,” he said, his voice trembling slightly.
“Uh huh.” I stared up into his eyes, not wanting the moment to end. But I wasn’t ready for, you know, what comes after the steamy kiss and I didn’t want to get him all worked up only to pull away.
I stepped out of the warm circle of his arms, snatched up the clothes I hadn’t even realized I’d dropped, and practically ran into the bathroom. I shut the door and stepped in front of the mirror. The face staring back at me was flushed and wearing this ridiculous smile.
“Oh my god. My first kiss.” I had to press my clothes to my face to muffle my squeal. Zack liked me. He really liked me. It was too good to be true.
I knew I shouldn’t be walking on clouds after what happened to Kyle, but I couldn’t help myself. I’d never felt about anyone the way I felt about Zack and to think he might feel even a fraction of that for me made it impossible for me to hold my happiness down.
I got dressed and then found myself hesitant to go back into the bedroom. I wasn’t sure how I was going to face Zack again after the kiss. Everything was different now. It was scary and yet so exciting.
When I finally worked up the nerve to leave the bathroom, I was more than a little disappointed to find Hannah sitting on my bed. “Where’s Zack?”
“I came to check on you and he asked me stay while he went to pack his stuff. He said you were still scared.” She leaned back on her hands. “I get that. I’m a little off myself. I guess getting whacked in the head will do that to a girl.”
“Yeah.” I stuffed my swimsuit into the duffel bag and tried to hide my absurd smile from Hannah.
Hannah tilted her head to the side and stared at me. “What’s up with you? You look way too happy with all that’s been going on.”
“What do you mean?” I zipped up the duffel.
“You’re grinning like the Cheshire Cat, is what I mean. Only in a less crazy psycho kind of way.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I slipped the strap of the duffel over one shoulder and then picked up a magazine from the night stand so I could pretend to be intensely interested in it. No way could I look her in the eyes.
Hannah kept trying to catch my eye, despite my obvious efforts not to let her. “Zack was acting kind of weird too. Nervous like. And he didn’t want to look me in the eyes either.” She gasped. “Oh my god, did something happen between you guys?”
“No. What? That’s so... it’s...” I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “Where did you get such an idea? Something between me and Zack.” I laughed a laugh so forced it almost sounded painful. “You’re crazy.”
“Something did happen.” Hannah leaned forward and grabbed my arm. “Come on, girl, don’t leave me out here in the dark. Did he kiss you?”
Heat flooded my face and I couldn’t keep the smile from stretching even wider. I must have looked like a total fool trying to deny what anybody could see.
Hannah chuckled. “He did kiss you. Oh, man, Derek is going to kill him.”
Panic flared in my chest. “No. You can’t tell Derek. Please. Things are already so tense between them.”
“Chill, girl. I was only messing with you. I won’t tell.” She made a zipping motion across her lips. Then she grinned at me, a wicked gleam in her eyes. “Was it hot?”
“Hannah, I don’t... It’s none of your business.”
“Did he use his tongue?”
I swatted her arm with the magazine. “Stop it.”
“Was it your first?”
I covered my face with both hands and nodded, wondering if she was going to laugh at me. I was pretty sure most girls had their first kiss before they were sixteen. She was probably going to think I was a real loser.
“Okay, then I guess I’ll be a nice friend and not give you a hard time about it.” She stood up. “But seriously, was it a good kiss?”
“Well, it’s not like I have anything to compare it too.” I peeked at her through my fingers. “But yeah, it was pretty amazing. I think... I think I’m in love with him.” It felt so strange to actually say it out loud.
“Don’t be telling me about it,” Hannah said. “Tell Zack.”
“No way.” I lowered my hands. “So he kissed me. It doesn’t mean he’s into me as deep as I’m into him. I can’t tell him I love him. What if he doesn’t love me back? It would make things all weird between us. I mean, we’ve never even gone out on a date. Probably never will, considering how messed up my life is.”
“Maybe things will get better after we find Megara,” Hannah said, heading for the door.
“Unless they get worse,” I muttered, following after her. I didn’t mean to be so pessimistic, but Megara was a long shot at best and I knew it. Searching for her was an act of desperation. A last resort because I couldn’t think of anything better to do.
I had no trouble making my smile disappear when I saw Steve and Trudy in the hall. She had her face pressed against his chest while he ran a soothing hand up and down her back. Poor Trudy. She was in no way emotionally capable of dealing with what was going on.
Brandy came out of her room with her suitcase. She glanced briefly at me before looking away as she headed downstairs. Her avoidance hurt. It hurt way worse than anything else ever could. She was my best friend. We’d been like sisters for practically ever. She should have been the one I confided in about Zack, not Hannah. Instead, she didn’t even want to look at me and I knew if I told her anything about the kiss she’d take it straight to Derek.
I trudged downstairs. Brandy had placed her suitcase on the table and now stood leaning over it with both hands resting on either side. Her long, black hair fell to hide her face, but I could still tell something was wrong.
So of course I went over to her. I slid my arm around her waist and at first she stiffened, then relaxed and laid her head on my shoulder. “Am I terrible person?” she asked.
The question caught me completely off-guard. “What are you talking about?”
Hannah was coming down the stairs and I used my free hand to shoo her away. Brandy would never tell me what was going on if we had an audience. Hannah gave me a look to let me know she didn’t appreciate being dismissed, then went back up the stairs. A moment later I heard her telling the others we needed a minute.
“I watched Kyle die,” Brandy said, her voice so soft I wouldn’t have heard her if I hadn’t been standing right next to her. “And I can’t cry over
it. I don’t even want to cry. I’m sorry it happened. I wish it hadn’t. But I feel no more strongly than if he’d been some stranger instead of my boyfriend.”
What was I supposed to say to something like that? My best friend, who always had all the answers, who was always calm and collected, was falling apart in front of me. I already knew her scientific mind was having a really hard time grasping things like dragons and powers and all, but I hadn’t realized how bad she was shaken. This wasn’t only about Kyle.
“You’re in shock,” I said. “That’s why you feel the way you do. You aren’t a terrible person.” Imagine, me trying to explain something like shock to Brandy. It was surreal.
Brandy pulled away and turned to face me. The look on her face was like nothing I’d ever seen before. “I didn’t love him. I didn’t even like him much. The only reason I dated him was because all the other girls in school wanted to. He was nothing but another way for me to show off my superiority. I used him and now he’s dead and I don’t even care. What kind of person does that make me? I’m sick.”
“Stop it.” I kind of wanted to slap her, but settled for grabbing her shoulders and giving her a little shake instead. “Stop saying those things. You don’t mean them. You are not that kind of person.”
“Maybe you don’t know me as well as you think you do.”
I wanted to deny her words, but Zack chose that moment to come barreling down the stairs, followed by the rest of my friends. And, surprise, surprise, he looked really irritated, I guess he didn’t think whatever Brandy and I were talking about could possibly be important enough to hold things up.
Brandy turned from me and took her suitcase off the table. I let her walk away because I didn’t know what else to do. She’d always been my rock and now, the one time when she needed to lean on me a little, I didn’t know how to help her. I didn’t even know where to start. What kind of person did that make me?
CHAPTER FOUR
