by Debra Doxer
“You should dance with your date at least once.”
My eyes pop open. Over Lucas’s shoulder, I spot a determined Kellie. She glowers at me before dismissing me. “Especially after you made us wait for you and miss half the prom,” she practically snarls at him.
I lean back and watch as Lucas squeezes his eyes closed. When they open again, he gives my hand a light press before releasing it and stepping away from me. I move toward him, wanting to protect him from her. But he just smiles sadly and shakes his head at me.
My heart sinks. I’m the one who forced him to keep his date with Sophie, but seeing how miserable he is tonight, I’m afraid I made a mistake.
Lucas stares up at the ceiling and then back at me once more before walking away. I watch as he winds his way toward Sophie who is surrounded by a group of her friends by the prom voting boxes.
“Got you!” Gwen says, leading me back to our table as she holds my phone out to me. There, I see she’s taken a picture of Lucas and me dancing. I place my hand over my mouth when I notice the way Lucas and I are gazing at each other in the photo. We look like a couple in love. I wonder if that’s what I’m feeling. Do I love him? Does he love me? “Where was he?” Gwen asks, interrupting my thoughts. Myles is back now, too.
My eyes reluctantly leave the photo of us. “He wouldn’t really say.”
“Where’s April?” I ask Myles.
“She puked in the parking lot. Her date is taking her home.”
I wince at this news. “I’m sorry. It never occurred to me she would think we were an item.”
He shrugs. “It’s not your fault. I’m going to have to talk to her when she’s not drunk and hurling expletives at me.”
Another slow song begins to play, and I watch as Sophie drapes herself over Lucas, bringing her arms up around his neck and pressing her body to his. With his hands on her waist, I can see that he’s trying to put some space between them.
“Bitch,” Gwen whispers.
I can’t watch them. I glance down at the picture on my phone one last time before putting it away. When Gwen starts to giggle at something, I look up at her. She points at the dance floor, and I turn to see Sophie stalking away as Lucas talks on his cell phone with a finger held to his other ear, trying to hear better.
“He didn’t take any calls when he was dancing with you,” she points out.
I’m watching Lucas, and I feel a chill pass through me when his gaze collides with mine. There’s something in his eyes I’ve never seen there before. Stark terror.
I stand as he lowers his phone and moves quickly toward our table, but he doesn’t look at me. He stops next to Myles.
“Have you got your car here?” he asks.
Myles nods.
Lucas puts out his hand. “Give me the keys.”
Myles only hesitates a moment, before standing up and fishing his keys from his pocket. Lucas grabs them and turns for the door.
“I’m going with him,” I announce, ignoring Myles’s protests and chasing behind a retreating Lucas. I reach him at the main exit to the parking lot.
“Go back inside,” he barks at me.
“No,” I answer breathlessly trying to keep up with him so he can’t ditch me.
He walks a few more yards before wheeling around. “You’re not coming with me.”
I step around him and continue toward Myles’s car. “You’re wasting time arguing when you’re not going to win. Let’s go,” I call back over my shoulder. I hear him grunt in frustration before his footsteps quickly follow. When we reach the car, Lucas reminds me of a pot of water boiling over as he roughly unlocks the doors and yanks his open. Once we’re seated, he peels out of the parking lot without sparing me a glance.
I don’t dare say a word although I’d like to know what I’m getting myself into. The car eats up the dark miles between Ridgeton and Fort Upton. We drive through the town center and then Lucas turns into a neighborhood I’ve never been to before. At first, the houses are small, similar to those where Kyle and Chloe live. But soon the modest homes grow into much larger, obviously expensive ones. Finally, Lucas pulls into a long winding driveway that leads to a towering brick Tudor. I stare wide-eyed at the arching windows and the glossy wooden double-door entrance. This must be his house, and his family is obviously filthy rich. I can’t believe I didn’t know this.
“Stay in the car,” he orders.
I immediately get out. “What’s going on?” I ask.
He ignores me as he runs to the front door, unlocks it, and rushes inside yelling his brother’s name. I follow closely behind him as he stops at the bottom of a wide staircase and calls Liam’s name again. When there’s no answer, he races through the living room to the back of the house. I hear a strangled curse as I enter the kitchen a few paces behind him. Lucas drops to the floor at the bottom of a second stairwell at the end of the kitchen. I come around him to find him cradling an unconscious boy in his arms. He’s saying Liam’s name again and again. There’s a trickle of blood coming from Liam’s nose, but I can feel that the real injury is to the back of his head. His skull is cracked.
Lucas glances back at me, his eyes wild with fear. “Help him,” he whispers. “Please.”
I don’t say anything, but I move closer to Liam. I can see that he’s a younger version of Lucas. They have the same coloring and the same strong facial features. My whole body is pulsating as I give in to the energy building inside me. I’m praying that I can help, that his injuries aren’t too serious.
A thud sounds from upstairs causing us both to jump. “My mother.” Lucas tenses at the noise, but he doesn’t move.
“Lay him down and step away,” I instruct.
He hesitates, not wanting to be parted from his brother. I nod encouragingly at him, and finally he shrugs out of his tuxedo jacket, bunches the material together, and gently lays Liam’s head down on the makeshift pillow. Then he backs away only marginally.
I place my hand on Liam’s forehead and close my eyes, terrified of what I’ll find. It only takes a moment for me to understand. Then I breathe out my relief knowing that I can help him. His brain is beginning to swell, but he’s not hurt too badly. I place my other hand on his bare forearm, and I let my body do what it needs to. The vibration begins, and I let it grow stronger before I release the coil and send the energy out into Liam. The familiar feeling of falling fills my stomach as my skin begins to tingle. I close my eyes and let myself sink into the sensation.
As the energy passes between us, it happens again. I begin to have a vision. I see Lucas’s mother. Her face is a mask of rage as she shoves her frightened son into the stairwell. His arms reach out trying to grab for the banister, but he misses and tumbles backward. There’s a landing halfway down the stairs, and he hits it hard, biting down painfully on his tongue as his cell phone drops from his hand. As he’s pushing himself up, his mother is there again, standing directly in front of him. This time she shoves him harder, down the remaining steps, toward the tiled kitchen floor below. In shock now, he does nothing to break his fall.
I squeeze my eyes closed, wondering why I’m seeing this, why this is suddenly a part of it. But the horror of the vision fades when the familiar euphoria fills me. Gradually, Liam’s skull fuses back together and the injury to his brain recedes. Soon, I can feel him moving. He’s trying to sit up.
“Liam?” Lucas says, moving closer, reaching his hand out.
Once the energy disperses, I help Liam up, and I step back so that Lucas can go to him.
Liam stares at his brother, appearing confused. “She pushed me down the stairs,” he whispers, like he can’t quite believe it. Lucas pulls his brother into an embrace and his body begins to shake. I realize he’s weeping. They both are.
As I watch them, I finally understand the anguish Lucas keeps hidden from everyone. I know that the cold expression he wears like armor and the hot temper that flares from within it are products of the turmoil he’s been living with for so long. I also know that
I can’t walk out of here tonight leaving them in a hell of my grandmother’s making.
I turn away from them as I pull off my sandals and walk quietly back to the front of the house. Then I move soundlessly up the staircase to the second floor. I stand listening at the top. There are dimly lit hallways on either side of me leading to what I assume are the bedrooms. Only one doorway isn’t darkened. That door is open a crack, allowing the light to spill out. I step slowly toward it, my bare feet sinking into the plush carpet. As I’m nearing the room, to my right is the top of the second stairwell that leads to the kitchen. It turns halfway down, just like in my vision. I can’t see Lucas and Liam at the bottom, but I can hear Lucas whispering an apology to his brother. He’s apologizing for leaving him alone with her tonight.
I move past the stairwell, and now I’m standing before the open door. She’s in there. I can feel her there, and I can feel something else, too, coming from inside the room: confusion, darkness, hopelessness. I reach my hand out and slowly push the door open wider. I can see inside the bedroom now. On the floor, there is an overturned nightstand and scattered pill bottles. Lucas’s mother is sitting on the bed, facing away from me. Her shoulders are rolled forward, and from the back, her huddled form appears small and still. Her hair, the same chestnut color as Lucas’s and his brother’s, sticks out wildly around her head while the back is matted down flat.
I slip into the room, stepping around the bed, wanting to get in front of her so I can see her face. As her profile comes into view, I see the same woman from my visions. Her skin is pale, and her eyes are focused on the wall in front of her.
The energy gathering inside me is familiar. Even though Lucas’s mother has no physical injuries, she is sick and my own body recognizes that. The same way it recognized my grandmother’s illness. I know I can help her. I’m certain of it as I step nearer to her. She doesn’t move or acknowledge my presence, and soon I’m standing directly in front of her. Her dull blue eyes stare past me as I lower my hands to her cheeks. With this contact, the energy grows. I’m watching her face when her eyes suddenly open fully and locate me standing before her. I smile, and she blinks with surprise. I’m concentrating on moving the energy between us when her arms shoot out, pushing me away, causing me to stumble back, and breaking our connection. Before I can understand her intention, she’s on her feet pushing at me again with surprising strength. I teeter for a moment before I go down hard on my butt. Then she’s on me.
She straddles my body as her fingers close around my neck, pushing me down to the floor, and starting to squeeze my throat. My air is immediately cut off. I try to sit up, but I can’t budge her. I bend my legs and try to ram my knees into her back, but it does nothing to stop her. I start to panic, uselessly pushing against her, trying to roll her off me.
I can’t scream out. I can’t seem to make any sounds at all. Even if I could, the last thing I want is for Lucas to find us this way. In trying to help him, I’ve made things so much worse. My vision begins to blur at the edges, and I close my eyes, not able to watch her as she’s killing me. My muscles stop listening to me and struggling becomes more than I can manage. Tears begin slipping down the sides of my face.
Then I feel something, a dull vibration, and my eyes flutter open. The energy is returning. With her hands on my neck, we have contact again. I lift my heavy arms and reach for her, knowing I don’t have much time. I wrap my fingers around her wrists, concentrating again on moving the energy into her. I can feel myself start to tremble. Somehow, my power is building even as my body is fading. I dig down, pushing it toward her with all the strength I have left, shaking with the exertion. I know her body is absorbing it, drinking it in. I feel her taking it from me. I milk the last drops of energy from within me, and I pour them into her. After a moment, it seems like her grip is loosening. I think I hear Lucas’s panicked voice saying my name just as his mother’s hands release my throat and everything goes black.
“You’re much stronger than I was,” my mother says.
We’re sitting on the couch in our apartment. I glance down, and I’m surprised to see I’m wearing my prom dress. “What’s going on?” I ask her. I notice that she looks better, healthier than I remember.
“I couldn’t have healed that woman. Not the way you did.”
“What woman?” I ask, leaning forward. “Lucas’s mother? Did I heal her?”
“You did. You nearly got yourself killed in the process.”
I glance down at my dress and then back at her again.
“You decided not to stay in the shallow end,” she muses. “Now you must learn how to swim. But you have to be careful, Raielle. Everyone wants a piece of you. You need to be smart.”
I glance around the apartment. “Why am I here? How can we be sitting here talking like this? Am I dead?” I ask.
She smiles at me. “No, despite your reckless behavior, you’re not. You were meant for great things, sweetheart. You need to be more careful. Don’t let people use you for their own purposes,” she says, ignoring my question.
I bark out a laugh. “Will you please tell me what’s going on? Am I dreaming?”
Her smile turns sad. “You never did listen to me.”
My confusion quickly solidifies into anger. “That’s not true. I always listened to you, and I never lied to you.” I look into her pale blue eyes as they grow wide at my accusation. “Why didn’t you tell me I have a brother?” I demand, my body suddenly trembling with fury. “Why didn’t you tell me you had a husband and a son in Fort Upton. You lied when you said we had no other family.”
She folds her hands in her lap and stares down at them. “I left Fort Upton to save myself, and I lied to you about it to keep you safe.” Her eyes find mine. “You’ve met your grandmother. I’m sure you understand.” Then she has the audacity to smile.
I point an accusing finger at her. “But you walked away from your son.”
“He had Alec. You only had me.”
I laugh at that. “You’ve got to be kidding me? I didn’t have you. I didn’t have anyone.”
She acknowledges me with wary look and a nod of her head.
“My grandmother said you met my father in Fort Upton and left Alec for him. Is that true?” I ask.
She turns away from me.
I reach out to her. “Is that true?”
Her face falls. “Don’t ask about your father.”
“Why not?”
Her eyes fill with tears. “Because he destroyed me, and he’ll destroy you, too.”
I bolt upright, and my throat burns with pain.
“Shhh. It’s okay,” Lucas says. His image is hazy before me. I feel his hands on my bare arms easing me back down. I realize I’m lying in bed in a strange room. The walls are navy blue, and there are trophies lined up on a tall dresser against the wall. My pounding head is filled with questions, but my throat is too raw to ask them. “Water,” I manage to croak out.
“Get some water,” Lucas calls toward the door. Then he smoothes the hair back from my forehead. Liam soon appears with a glass of water. Lucas helps me sit up carefully so I can sip from it. The cold liquid slipping down my throat hardly makes a dent in the raw pain, but I continue swallowing it anyway. I realize I must be in Lucas’s room. I also know that I’m not dead, even as my conversation with my dead mother runs through my head. Speaking of mothers…. “Where is she?” I ask, searching my surroundings for a clue.
A dim smile appears on his face and then it grows before he finally laughs and shakes his head in what looks like disbelief. “She’s waiting in the hall,” he says. “She’s not here because she was afraid seeing her would frighten you. But she’s good. She’s better, Ray. You made her better.”
I sit up straighter. “Better?” I ask, wanting clarification. Lucas exchanges a look with his brother, and his brother leaves the room. A moment later, Liam returns with Mrs. Diesel. She’s sheepish as she approaches me. Her hair has been smoothed down, and her eyes are clear. There is no sign
of the menace that once darkened her features.
“Hello, Raielle,” she says.
I gasp, holding a hand over my mouth. I look back at Lucas, and he starts to blur as my eyes fill with tears. They slip down my cheeks as I take in his mother and brother both standing before me. Mrs. Diesel slowly approaches the bed. She’s holding a bottle. As she stretches her hand out to Lucas, I notice that it tremors slightly. “You should rub this on your neck. It will help with the redness,” she advises in a clear, but soft voice.
My fingers go to my neck and the skin there feels sore.
“My mother used to be a nurse,” Lucas says. “I would have called an ambulance, but she said you’d be fine. We can still go to the hospital if you want.”
There would be too many questions if we did that, and Lucas knows that, too. I shake my head at him. Once he takes the bottle, his mother and Liam leave the bedroom. He uses his thumbs to wipe my wet cheeks. “Thank you,” he whispers, his eyes shining with unshed tears. He turns his face away and blinks. Then he opens the bottle and squeezes some clear lotion into his hand. “It’s aloe,” he says as he raises his fingertips to my throat and gently smoothes the ointment on.
“Where’s your father?” I ask after a few moments.
“He’s away on business. It was a last minute thing.” He takes a deep breath and releases it. “That’s why I made everyone late for the prom. I never leave Liam home alone with her. I wasn’t sure if I should even go, but Liam kept insisting he’d be fine.” He closes his eyes for a moment, seeming to silently berate himself. When he opens them again, regret swirls within their depths. “Finally, I decided to at least wait until her sedative put her to sleep. It took longer than usual, and then I guess it didn’t work because she woke up and went after him. He called me while I was dancing with Sophie.”
