Imani shrugged and slid her backpack onto her shoulders. “Whatever. See you Monday, I guess.”
She was angry. I hated for her to leave thinking that I didn’t want to hang out with her, but what could I possibly say? I followed her as she rushed down the stairs and through the living room. Both Mom and Dad stood up from their comfy positions.
“Wait, Imani,” Mom said. “Mr. Moss will drive you home.”
Even though the attacks had stopped, not many people walked around after dark. There was no telling if or when the creature would go on the prowl again.
“That’s okay. Thanks Mr. and Mrs. Moss.” And before they could say anything else she was out the door.
Mom turned to Dad. “She shouldn’t be walking at night.”
Dad ran his fingers through his hair, staring at the front door. “Well, we can’t force her to take a ride from us. She’s only a couple of blocks away. She’ll be fine.”
Mom still looked worried as they settled back on the couch. “Arden,” Mom said, “at least call her in a few minutes to make sure she got home okay.”
“I will,” I said as I made my way back upstairs.
“We have Chinese coming in a little bit.”
“Okay,” I answered. But I had no appetite for that. There was really no point in eating. I could eat everything in the house and I would still be hungry.
Ten minutes later I sent Imani a text:
Arden: R U home?
Imani: yeah
Arden: I’m sorry, Plz don’t b mad
She never responded to that.
I had to get rid of these urges before I lost my chances of having another friend.
Chapter Seven
Getting into the lair was fairly simple. All I had to do was sneak into the janitor’s closet at school, kick my way through mops, buckets, and other gross cleaning stuff, and then press my palms against the back wall and push. The wall would slide open, revealing the lair. What a way to spend a Saturday afternoon. I knew going back would be no picnic, but I didn’t have much choice.
I stepped into the empty hallway and listened. Soft voices and random noises drifted from different rooms. Music, televisions, quiet conversations—not what most would expect from a monster’s lair, but I’d learned aside from physical differences, these kids weren’t much different from me. If I didn’t know any better, with its white-gray walls and tiled floors, I’d think the lair was some kind of boarding school. Everyone who lived in the lair was a kid, except for Mr. Mason, who ran the place. The kids answered to him, and thought of him like a father. It had been designed for orphaned Taker children whose parents had been murdered during a massacre, years before. A savory aroma lingered in the air. They had probably just finished having lunch—something with beef and onions.
My knees wobbled as I moved quietly down the hallway. I was wrapped in the same nervousness I’d felt on my first day of high school when I knew I would have no friends and everyone already hated me.
Since there was always someone manning the control room, I headed there first. The control room had a set of monitors where the Takers kept watch of my school as well as various places around Everson Woods. They claimed to do it so they could keep tabs on people, but I thought they watched mostly for entertainment purposes—they loved to make fun of Humans.
I pushed the door in and it budged slightly. That was better than last time when I tried and it hadn’t moved at all. I was getting stronger, but still I couldn’t manage the heavy door the others could open and close as if it were nothing. I knocked, taking a deep breath, and bracing myself for who I would find on the other side. The last person I wanted to see appeared before me.
A creature with a Human body, but the head of a bird peered at me. Cadence, the Harpy. She wore dark blue skinny jeans, a simple black tank, and silver flip-flops covered with sequins. “OMG. What the hell are you doing here, Dust?” She had always hated me, but little did she know that the name Dust didn’t bother me anymore.
My plan was to kill her with kindness. “Hi, Cadence. I missed you, too. I’m here because I need to talk to someone. Preferably Hollis.” Hollis was Mr. Mason’s son, so I guessed he could be considered the second in charge. His father was grooming him to take over and all the kids in the lair looked up to him.
Cadence rolled her large brown bird eyes and grazed the white blond feathers on top of her head with her fingers. “Of course you need to speak to Hollis, but he’s busy. What do you want?” She stood planted in the doorway, apparently not thinking about letting me in. She always seemed to get jealous whenever I mentioned Hollis. There was no need for her to be. I wasn’t interested in him, at least not in the way she was.
I took a deep breath, summoning all the patience I had to deal with her. “It’s about the curse. I need some advice concerning my Gemini.”
She laughed or whatever birds do when they mock someone. “Oh, now you need our help. Just a couple of months ago you threatened to kill us. You’d send the ceiling crashing down on our heads, you said. Remember that? Now you want us to help you?”
I shouldn’t have come, but I had no other option. “Obviously, you’re not going to help me. I’ll wait for Hollis. I’ll even take Wes at this point.” Wes was another creature who didn’t like me, but he was better than Cadence. At least he could be reasoned with.
“Fine, they’re in a meeting. Wait for them,” she said testily before slamming the door in my face.
After staring at the closed door for a few moments, trying not to murder Cadence with my thoughts, I wandered to the game room to kill some time until Hollis or Wes showed up. The game room was covered in posters that looked like they were from the eighties. One advertised a show called Saved by the Bell, that my sisters and I liked to watch repeats of sometimes. There was also a television, an outdated stereo, several video game consoles, and stacks and stacks of board games which I suspected mostly went unused.
Five figures clothed in black hoodies sat around the table, engaged in a rousing game of cards. I tapped on the doorframe. Their heads snapped toward the doorway in unison. “Cousin,” they hissed. Weird.
I had met the Grims once before. Our first meeting was when they informed me that we were cousins since Banshees and Grims were both announcers and messengers of death. Cousins or not, they creeped me out. “Hey, guys.”
I had no idea what Grims looked like underneath their hoods. They seemed to be only a hood and long black robe with nothing underneath. When I looked under their hoods all I saw was blackness and wide white eyes. They bobbed and floated when they walked, making me wonder if they had solid bodies at all. I wondered if it would be rude to ask them if I could see underneath their robes.
If I couldn’t get help from the others, maybe the Grims would help. We were family after all.
I pulled out an empty chair and parked myself at the head of the table. “Maybe you guys can help me with something.”
They put their cards down and stared at me. “Anything, Cousin.”
I couldn’t possibly tell one Grim from the others. They even had identical voices, raspy and dragging. I could however tell the female voices from the male ones. “I need to find my Gemini. I know who she is, but I need to find her and . . . well, you know, get rid of her. It’s not that I want to kill her. If I don’t, I’ll become full Wendigo.”
“We found Geminis,” said the Grim sitting at the other end of the table.
“You did? What happened? Did you kill them?”
One Grim shook his head. “We do not kill. We introduce to death.”
They picked up their cards as if it were nothing to “introduce someone to death,” but maybe that was the way I needed to think.
A Grim placed a seven-of-diamonds face-up in the middle of the table. “We can help you find Gemini. . . but only you can introduce death or it will not count.”
Another Grim nodded. “We can show you how.”
Oh, I knew how to introduce death.
A voice boomed f
rom the doorway. “What are you doing here?”
A massive boy with golden-tanned skin and large black bat-like wings sprouting out of his back stood there, scowling. Hollis Mason.
I swallowed my fear. Angry Hollis could be very intimidating. He could probably snap me in two like a twig if he wanted. “Hey, Hollis.”
He ignored me and looked around the table. “In case you’ve forgotten, Grims, Arden here swore us all off. You shouldn’t be helping her do anything.”
“Arden is cousin,” said one of the Grims defiantly. They went back to their game.
Hollis rolled his eyes. He seemed even bigger than he had just a couple of months ago. “Cadence told me why you were here.” Of course she had. “If you’ve come here for help, you might as well leave now. You’ve severed your ties with us.”
“Hollis, please, just hear me out. I’m sorry about what happened before, but just listen to me.”
He turned on his heels and left the room. I followed him as he stormed toward the control room, trying to think of something to say to get him to listen.
Hollis pushed the door open easily, as if it were a piece of paper. “You shouldn’t take advantage of the Grims because you’re their cousin.” He used air quotes when he said the word cousin.
“I’m not taking advantage of them,” I argued as I hurried into the room behind Hollis before the door shut.
Hollis was an Aswang and Aswangs weren’t anything to play around with. On paper, they sounded absolutely horrible. Aswangs were flying creatures who ate children and dead bodies. Hollis swore he’d never eaten a child, although he did eat dead bodies when he had to. Still, beautiful chiseled face, rippling muscles, and sun-kissed skin aside, Hollis was a frightful looking creature. He was the one who had kidnapped me and brought me to the lair months ago before I found out what I really was.
With the body of a grown man who worked out consistently, Hollis towering over me was scary.
In the control room, Wes was hunched over a monitor with Cadence staring at something. Wes was the most frightening creature I’d seen in the lair. A Vetala. He was covered in gray reptilian skin with red veins running all over his body, giving him the appearance of a road map. He had black stringy hair that came down to his shoulders, fangs too big for his mouth, and a long, pointed tail protruding from his back side. Vetalas had the ability to read and control minds, drive people insane, and to bring people back from the dead. Wes was young and still learning, so he hadn’t mastered all those things yet. In my opinion, their skills were more frightening than their looks.
He and Hollis were best friends, and from where I stood, Wes almost idolized Hollis.
“Well, look what the Manticore dragged in,” Wes said when he saw me.
I rolled my eyes. “I know you guys are determined to give me a hard time, and I get it, but we have important things to talk about.”
Hollis slapped Wes on his shoulder. “You hear that, Wes? We have important things to talk about.”
Wes laughed mockingly then glared at me. “What are you doing in our home, traitor?” Then he said to Hollis, “Really, she should be banned.”
They were going to make this harder than it needed to be and I was going to have to do some serious groveling. “I need help finding my Gemini.”
It was Cadence’s turn to laugh. “That’s kind of a big ask, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is,” Wes replied. “Please tell me. Why on earth would we help you?”
I took a deep breath and prepared to swallow my pride. “I need my strength to squash the Wendigo part of me. Don’t you want the Banshee part of me to be stronger? I thought that would benefit all of us.”
Hollis narrowed his eyes at me. “What benefit is a Banshee to us if she doesn’t want to learn how to be a Banshee or if she won’t do what we say?”
Because you only want to use me. But I pushed that thought aside, remembering that Wes might be able to read it. “I want to learn. Listen, I’m not sorry about what happened the last time. It wouldn’t have been right to kill Lacey. I won’t kill any innocent person just because, but I’m willing to do what I have to do if the need arises.”
Wes looked at Cadence and smirked. “Yeah, we know.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“It means,” Cadence said, “we saw what you did to that girl. The one who was supposed to be your friend.”
The mention of Bailey made my stomach twist in knots. “That—that was self-defense. If you were watching, you would know that she was trying to kill me. Like I said, I’ll do what I have to do.”
Cadence clucked her tongue and looked me up and down. “You think you’re so much better than us, but you’re no different. You’ve taken a life. A Taker, is a Taker, is a Taker.”
I swallowed the guilt that rose in me. Who was she to judge? She wasn’t there. I had saved a lot of people by killing Bailey. “I did what I had to do,” I repeated, but it was barely a whisper.
Hollis’ phone chirped. He removed it from his pocket and glanced at the screen. “My father needs me for something. I’ll see you guys later.” It was painfully obvious that he was only addressing Wes and Cadence because he wouldn’t even look at me.
I followed him from the room since Cadence and Wes were lost causes. If I could reason with anyone, it would be Hollis. When he wasn’t angry, he could be understanding.
“Hollis, please,” I said once we were in the hallway. He wouldn’t turn to face me, but at least he stopped walking. “I know you guys are angry with me, but this is life or death here. I want to be beneficial to the Takers and I don’t want to be thrown into the sixth tunnel. What good would I be to anyone there? I get that you’re pissed, but put that aside. Think about the bigger picture.”
Hollis turned to me and his face softened. “Let me think about it. But if I do help you, you’re going to have to be all in. No backing out.”
All in. No backing out. I nodded. “Of course.”
He turned to head to his father’s office but I stopped him again. “Hey, do you happen to know where Violet is?”
Hollis arched his eyebrows as if trying to place the name. “Violet?”
“You know. The one you guys call Cuddle Bug.” I rolled my eyes because Violet hated that name.
“Oh. If she’s not in the game room, then she’s either outside or in the school. Somewhere where she’s not supposed to be.”
“Thanks.” I headed off to find her. Violet was a younger Taker I had bonded with a couple months back. She had been a little down then and I wanted to make sure she was okay.
Just as before, no one was in the game room except for the Grims, still involved in their card game. I figured I’d have to speak to Violet another day. After pushing my way through the janitor’s closet to head home, I spotted her laying on her back at the edge of the track field staring into the sky. She was hard to miss.
I jogged over to her. “Hey, Violet.”
She sat up and looked at me, wide-eyed. “Arden, hi. What are you doing here?”
Violet almost resembled a human. Her hair was a purple puff that looked like a wig someone would wear for Halloween. She was small and thin with large ears that were slightly pointed and the brightest blue eyes I’d ever seen. She looked like a cartoon character come to life.
There was just something about Violet. I liked the way she looked up to me the way my own sisters never had.
Violet had been given the name Cuddle Bug because while the other Takers did gruesome, horrible things, her claim to fame was that she could move clouds and form them into shapes. I had no idea how that classified her as a Taker. Honestly, if that were the only power I had, compared to the others, I would be disappointed too.
I sat beside her, tucking my legs beneath me. “I didn’t think you guys were allowed to be out in the open like this.”
“We’re not. I think I should be excused from that rule, though. If anyone saw me, they would think I was just some weirdo in a wig. Besides, how am I supp
osed to practice making stupid cloud formations if I can’t look at the sky?”
Even though the last part was a dig at herself, she had a point.
“How’s everything going?”
She shrugged and pursed her lips. “Same old. Same old. I try to stick up for myself but they don’t listen, they still call me Cuddle Bug. They still treat me like a pet. I know you like the name Dust now, but I don’t think I’ll ever come to accept Cuddle Bug.”
I took her hand in mine and squeezed it gently. “And you don’t have to. If you don’t like the name, you don’t like it, and you shouldn’t have to put up with people calling you that.”
Her hand suddenly felt warm as she squeezed mine a little tighter. “I watch you at school sometimes. When kids call you Dust, they don’t mean it in a good way.”
I shrugged. “Violet, it doesn’t matter how they mean it. It’s how I take it. I hope you get to a place where you don’t let it get under your skin.”
Violet lay back on the ground, her eyes getting lost in the blue sky above us. “It’s okay. I have a strong feeling things are really going to change around here.”
“What does that mean?”
She smiled and closed her eyes. “Just watch. You’ll see.”
I looked at the sky again and blinked, thinking something must have been wrong with my eyes. Within seconds, the sky had turned from a cheerful powder-blue to a murky, dull gray.
Chapter Eight
For the next few days, Everson Woods experienced weather conditions that were totally out of the norm. Rain pounded our town incessantly, resulting in flooding and all sorts of problems. School had even been cancelled one day because the winds were too strong for the school buses to travel. That was the first time I’d witnessed rain that never stopped, not even for a minute. On the plus side, Fletcher’s health slightly improved. While he still looked terrible, at least he was up for doing something outside of the house. I’d talked him into going to the fabric store with me even though he hated any kind of shopping.
I still didn’t know what to do with my beautiful lilac fabric, so I’d decided to set it aside to work on something else. I needed to sew. It was calming and therapeutic. My mission was to find an awesome plaid print.
Dust and Roses: Book Two of the Dust Trilogy Page 5
