by S. L. Naeole
Table of Contents
PREFACE
ONE WEEK
BY DESIGN
THE TREE
STONES
GRADUATION
REALITY BITES
STARRY EYED
THE VOW OF DAWN
A CIRCLE OF PROMISE
DEVIL IN THE DETAILS
FIRST NIGHT
FELINE INTUITION
CRACKED
THE LIBERTINE
NINE LIVES
UNMADE
THE PROMISE
THE RING
DEPARTURE
AT ODDS
HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT
DREAM WEAVER
SUPERNOVA
FIELD TRIP
ICE PICK
THE INHERITANCE
PIECED
AT ODDS
APPOINTMENT
THE FIRST RING
THE FLOOD
THE FOUR LEGS OF KNOWLEDGE
BACKWARDS
THE DANGER IN TRUST
THE TRUST IN DOUBT
DOUBT IN CIRCLES
GRAVE IMPORTANCE
DUALITY
THE SEATS
FOR SHADOW
PRIVATE UNIVERSE
FAMILY
THE LAST TALK
THE ROAD TO PERDITION
FALLING FROM GRACE
BIRD SONG
BLACK HALO
AVI
GRACE OF DAY
EPILOGUE: GARDEN OF EDEN
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
BLUE MOON
Grace of Day
By: S.L. Naeole
Grace of Day
© 2010 by S.L. Naeole
All rights reserved.
Published by Crystal Quill Publishing
All of the situations and characters in this novel are fictional. Any similarities to actual people or situations are completely coincidental and wholly unintentional.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
S.L. Naeole
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“But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we-
Of many far wiser than we-
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.”
~ Edgar Alan Poe
PREFACE
The smell of fear and domination were overpowering. I could not close myself off to it as I struggled to breathe amid the chaos that reigned around me. The violence that was the beating of my heart only further drove my mind into a downward spiral of confusion and grief as I forced myself towards the dark visage that stood before me.
I could not take my eyes off of the sinister smile that seemed to stretch from ear to ear, pleased at the pandemonium that danced around us, oblivious to the standoff that was taking place at its core. My fingers twitched at my side, the temperature dropping so suddenly, I didn’t have time to feel cold. It was time. I had chosen this, after all. This was my destiny, my fate.
My chin raised defiantly, my eyes narrowed, and I took the final steps towards the last decision I knew I’d ever make.
ONE WEEK
“You’ve got to be kidding me!”
I stared at the sheet of paper in my hand. The creases where it had been neatly folded to fit cleanly into its envelope sliced in half the short and simple note.
“I’m not graduating?”
The warm hand that was at my waist lifted away and took the letter as I looked away, a blank expression on my face even as my jaw hung in disbelief.
“Dear Miss Shelley,” his gentle voice read. “We are sorry to have to inform you that you did not meet your science requirements for graduation. The final grade submitted by your biology teacher, Mr. Branke, does not qualify you to attend the ceremonies to be held in one week. You may, however, attend the summer biology class to make up this credit and obtain your diploma at a later date. If you have any questions about this, please call the office during regular school hours. Sincerely, Mr. Patrick Kenner.”
“Robert, what the hell am I going to do? I can’t not graduate!” I wailed as I snatched the letter back and reread the printed text. “Ooh, I bet Mr. Kenner just laughed like a psycho when he signed this. I can’t believe this—why would Mr. Branke fail me?”
I think you know why. The words filled my head, the sound of them much louder than if they had been spoken aloud, and I felt my mouth crinkle up in an annoyed purse.
“I wish you’d answer me like a normal person would,” I complained, shoving the letter into its envelope and then shoving the envelope into my backpack.
“Whether my answer was given to you in the ‘normal’ way or the way that is normal for me, it doesn’t change. You know why he failed you. It wasn’t right, but there’s nothing we can do about that. You’re just going to have to attend summer school.”
I raised my eyes to Robert’s sterling stare, and felt my heart skip several beats before it finally settled back into its normal rhythm. He gifted me with a lazy smile and tipped my chin up with an intent finger. His dark lashes framing those gilt irises were hypnotizing me, and I felt myself swallow my retort while he chuckled before bending down to press his lips onto mine.
“You might not have said it, but I know what you wanted to say. You should know better by now…” he whispered when he pulled away.
“Well, I can’t help it sometimes. Whenever I see that smile, I think about…that.”
His eyes widened as he saw the image I formed in my mind, and I felt the blush creep across my cheeks when his lids grew heavy with the same heated desire that I knew was boiling through me.
“Grace, we promised to be good.”
“Yes, we did, but that was before I learned that I’d have to spend four weeks in summer school,” I pointed out. “That pushes everything back an entire month. I don’t know if I can wait five weeks, Robert.”
“Patience, Grace.”
I huffed. “Patience? There’s no such thing right now—we’re working on borrowed time, Robert.”
He sighed and turned away before standing up to begin pacing. There was lots of room for that now that the bookshelves that lined the wall of his room had been removed, its contents packed up and shipped to his family home in England. The white walls had not remained bare for long though; he quickly filled them with dozens of black and white photographs; some of the two of us, others of scenes from Heath, the town that we would call home for only two more months.
One photograph featured a shot of his sister Lark as she posed happily with her husband, my best friend Graham. Their expressions were joyful, their eyes fighting against looking at the camera and at each other.
I couldn’t help but smile at that carefree image, the radiating love so obvious and blatant it was hard not to reach out and try to grab a hold of it. Beside it was another photograph, this time of Graham and me. I was straddled on his back, and his head was turned back, looking up at me a
s I looked down at him, our smiles mirroring each other the way best friends’ smiles often did.
He had no idea that come the end of summer, I would be spending the last days of my life in Europe with Robert while he was just beginning his brand new life with Lark. It was a difficult decision to come to, but one that had to be made. Graham had to remain ignorant of everything—his life had already been put in danger once—and I couldn’t take the risk of it being put into danger twice because of me.
“Grace, you know that it’s not because of you,” Robert interrupted my thoughts.
“You’re wrong. Sam didn’t take him because of you. He didn’t take him because of what he meant to you—he took Graham because of what he meant to me,” I told him with little hesitation.
The look on Robert’s face was a pained one before he turned away from me, and I immediately felt contrite for my thoughtless words. Sam had been Robert’s mentor and the closest thing to a big brother as any of Robert’s kind could have, and the knowledge that Robert had taken his life in order to save mine still weighed heavily on him.
I stood up and walked over to him, wrapping my arms around his shoulders as I stood behind him, my chin resting against the blade of his shoulder. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“Don’t apologize, Grace,” he murmured in a downtrodden tone. “I would do it again and again each time were I given a chance to do it over because I knew it was the right decision.”
“I know,” I mumbled into his shirt. “But that doesn’t make it any easier for you to deal with.”
His body twisted around so that he was facing me. I lifted my gaze to his and saw the residual sadness there and my heart ached for being the cause. He brushed the side of my face with the back of his knuckles before sighing, long and deeply.
“Grace, when I see you, when I hear your voice, every single second of sound, every minute I get to take in the sight of your smile or the brown of your eyes makes it easier to deal with. I never thought I’d get this much time with you—every moment is a blessing, and I don’t plan on wasting it with thoughts of something that I wouldn’t change, so please, stop feeling guilty and enjoy the fact that we’re together. Okay?”
“Okay,” I replied glumly, knowing that this wasn’t the end of this conversation. Not by a long shot.
“Grace…”
“Sorry.”
He smiled and placed a gentle kiss on the top of my head. “I think I should get you back to your house now—my mother will be returning shortly.”
At the mention of his mother my body stiffened. I pulled away and immediately began to gather my things, shoving the letter into my backpack, along with my books, and headed towards the large window that faced the backyard. “I’m ready.”
The sadness that had filled his eyes then spouted from a different source, a source that pained him far more deeply than anything. It brought the burning sting of tears to my eyes when I saw his grimace turn dark and broody. He hadn’t forgiven Ameila for her betrayal.
“It’s not just that, Grace,” he countered, my thoughts obviously being sifted through.
“I know,” I sighed as he scooped me up into his arms before kicking the window open and stepping out. “I know it’s not just that, but I don’t blame her for what she did. I would have done the same thing.”
“Don’t say that,” he demanded; his grip suddenly stronger, his body rigid.
“It’s the truth, Robert. I wouldn’t want to lose you either, and I’d do whatever it took to keep you safe—no matter what. I think I’ve proven that already.”
He bent his knees a fraction of a degree before pushing off, the burst of speed forcing air to push down on me and I nearly lost my grip of his neck before his hands compensated with a slight shifting, bringing me even closer to him than usual.
“You’ve proven to me that you love me more than your life, Grace, and I have never felt more undeserving than I do right now—you just got some bad news and I’m wallowing in my own self-pity—how can I make this up to you? Would you like me to fail a class as well so that we can be in summer school together?”
I looked into his face with shock, seeing the sincerity in his eyes and started to laugh. “Are you serious? No one is going to believe that you failed a class—any class—so I don’t think that would work. Besides, it’s too late anyway. You’ll graduate like you’re supposed to, and I’ll just have to deal with this. I just can’t believe that Mr. Branke failed me!”
“He didn’t fail you, Grace. Mr. Branke wasn’t himself anymore. Who he was died that night in the hospital parking lot,” Robert reminded me.
“Well, I highly doubt whoever was in control of Mr. Branke really thought it would matter whether or not I failed since he or she obviously figured I’d be dead by now. This grade is from the original Mr. Branke, the one who hated me because I accused him of running me over.”
Robert sighed and shook his head. You’re going to be stubborn about this, aren’t you?
“Don’t use that mind stuff me—I’m serious about this!”
So am I. This is the only way you’ll listen to me when you’re like this. Whatever grade Mr. Branke intended on giving you doesn’t matter; we’ll never know because he was never allowed to give it. You forgave Erica upon her death—why not Mr. Branke?
I scowled and looked away as I sent my own thoughts back to him. Because he wouldn’t forgive me.
This response was an obvious surprise to Robert, and it showed by the way we slowed down, our bodies stilling in the sky as he adjusted me so that he could see my face better. “Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
“That’s the pettiest thing I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth.”
“I didn’t say it out loud,” I pointed out before we suddenly dropped from the sky, plummeting towards the ground at a speed that took my scream from me before it had a chance to leave my lips.
We landed on the ground with such force, the pavement beneath his feet cracked, sending chips of gray rock flying up around us. I felt the jarring stop all the way through my body, the shock of it causing my teeth to gnash harshly in my mouth and the pain created an instant headache.
My feet were placed on the ground and I stumbled before toppling over and landing amid a small pile of rubble as Robert stood over me, one hand in his hair, disheveling it even more than it already was, the other hand at his waist, his posture one of disbelief and pure disappointment.
“What. The. Hell.” My voice was filled with anger and I glared at him from where I had landed, my hands stinging from the rocks that lay beneath my palms.
“A man died before he had a chance to make right any of the wrongs he had done—wrongs that I knew he would have liked to have corrected—and you can only think about what he didn’t give to you? You have the luxury of knowing when you’re going to die, Grace—he didn’t. I’ve never seen you act so selfishly before.”
I dusted my hands against my thighs and then struggled to stand. “Look, I know it’s selfish, but aren’t I allowed to be selfish about my feelings for once? Aren’t I human enough for that?” I asked before looking around to see where Robert had landed and seeing that he had placed us at the end of an empty street, vacant lots sitting for new homes that had yet to be built.
“You’re human, Grace. Too human, in fact,” Robert lamented.
“Too human?”
“Yes, dammit” he muttered before grabbing me and bringing his mouth down onto mine fiercely. I lost all train of thought then and simply reveled in that moment as his mouth possessed mine.
Finally, after what felt like both forever and not long enough, his mouth lifted slowly, his lips curled up in a satisfied smile. I was dizzy with emotion, my breathing affected by him as always, my heart stuttering inside of my chest so quickly, I knew that sooner or later, it would sprout wings and fly completely out of my chest.
“I understand your need to feel the way you do, Grace. I understand you want to be selfish, you want to possess tho
ughts that you’ve always believed were wrong. But I also know that you know what it’s like to not be able to tell someone something because they’re no longer here. You know what that feels like, to have missed an opportunity, or to have one taken from you. Please try to see that for Mr. Branke, this was the same for him; he never had the chance to make right the wrongs he’d done.”
I was still reeling inside from his kiss—at least, that’s what I told myself—when I nodded and told him “alright” before leaning against his chest, my ear pressed against the solid wall of muscle and sighing at the familiar and comforting sound of silence that existed behind it.
“Are we ever going to talk about it?” he asked quietly, his hand stroking my hair as we stood on that broken sidewalk together.
“Talk about what?” I murmured, oblivious to what he was referring.
“About your mother.”
I shook my head, pulling my lip between my teeth and clamping down on it as I fought against the urge to begin railing against her aloud as I had done silently when I was alone.
“Grace, sooner or later we’re going to have to talk about it.”
“I don’t want to talk about her.”
“Grace-”
“Robert—how about, I talk about my mother when you’re ready to talk about yours?” I interrupted.
He quieted almost instantly, and I smiled smugly at his silence. He chuckled and soon, that laughter floated into me, lifting my spirits considerably before they back down and settled with the weight of reality.
He was right. Sooner or later, we would have to talk about it. It just wasn’t going to be right now. Right now, what mattered was that I had five more weeks of school left, which meant that all of our plans would be pushed back. Or would they?
“What if we got married anyway?” I said suddenly.
“What?”
“What if, instead of waiting until I get my diploma, we just go ahead and get married anyway? I’m eighteen and you’re…definitely legal. What if we just got married?”
“You mean, elope?”
“Yes!”
“Are you serious?” The pitch in his voice showed a twinge of nervousness that I’d never heard before, and I felt my excitement at this new idea drop down several notches.
