by K. C. Blake
Words froze in his throat. He wasn’t sure whether to tell Trina that Silver was in danger with him around or ask her to mind her own business. His hand accidentally brushed hers. A small electric shot warned him a vision was barreling down the tracks at him, three hundred miles an hour.
****
Trina crossed the school parking lot but stopped when she caught sight of Silver sitting in her car. Trina jogged over and hopped into the passenger seat. She wasn’t expecting to see red and swollen eyes or tears running down Silver’s face. For a second Trina thought something horrible must have happened to Silver’s parents.
“He dumped me,” Silver said in a shaky voice.
The news was beyond intense.
No need to ask who ‘he’ was. Jack Creed was all Silver ever talked about. Even before meeting him, she’d been dreaming about him. He was her secret knight in shining armor. Some knight. The jerk had turned out to be a frog dressed like a prince.
Trina said, “You don’t need him if he’s going to treat you like dirt.”
“But I don’t know what I did wrong.” She sobbed and her shoulders shook convulsively. “I thought everything was going g-good. He k-kissed me.” Her voice rose as she repeated, “He kissed me! I thought he was falling for me. Then I went upstairs and found the note in my pocket. Can you believe it? He must have stuck the note in my pocket while kissing me.”
“What did the note say?”
Silver repeated it word for word. The she asked, “Why would he do that to me? I thought we were going to be together forever. I thought Lovely was right about him, right about us being meant for each other. Why would he dump me without talking to me first?”
Trina didn’t know what to say. She stroked her friend’s back and kept her mouth shut. Silver didn’t need to hear words of wisdom. Trina wanted to tell her best friend to get even with him, hurt him the way he’d hurt her. It’s what Trina would do. Make him cry.
Silver said, “He talked to my mother. Can you believe that? She told me he’s confused right now, and I shouldn’t push him.”
“Confused about what?”
“I don’t know.”
Trina dug around in her purse until she found a small package of tissues. Always be prepared, that was her motto, her and the boy scouts. People made fun of her for carrying such a huge purse, but she was rarely without items she needed. “Here you go.” She pushed the tissues at Silver. “Wipe off your face. You can’t let the jerk see you like this. Best way to play it is super cool. If you see him, act like you don’t.”
“I’m not sure I can do that. I want to know why he did this to me.”
“Believe it or not, I think your mom’s right about not pushing him. Seriously. He expects you to jump on him the second you see him. He’s probably got a phony baloney story ready for you too. Drive him crazy, and don’t do what he’s expecting. Walk right by him, head held high.”
Silver finished cleaning her face off. She reapplied her make up, covered every trace of tears. Taking a deep breath, she said, “I guess I’m ready.”
“Remember, don’t even look in his direction. Okay? And if you see a boy you can use to make him crazy with jealousy, do it.”
Silver shook her head. “I can’t. I’m not like you. I’ll screw it up.”
“No, you won’t. Use your anger to keep you strong. That’s what I do. You’ll have him eating his heart out by lunchtime.”
“I’ll try.”
****
“What is your problem, idiot?” Trina yelled at him, snapping him out of the trance. “What, are you high? Silver is so lucky to be rid of you.”
Trina stormed off with her friends in tow, and Jack stared after them. He wondered what Silver was doing at the moment. She’d been heartbroken after reading his note. It made him feel even worse seeing her crying like she’d lost everything. She’d put on a brave face for the world, but she’d been torn apart inside.
He wanted to race straight to her home and beg her to forgive him. He wanted to tell her everything she’d missed. He wanted to kiss her breathless.
Jack dug the keys out of his pocket and headed for the car, not sure yet what he was going to do. He would either wind up at home or at Silver’s house. If he went to the latter, he would have to decide then if he was going to talk to her or not. Feeling impulsive, he wasn’t even going to rehearse what he might say to her.
The words would come as soon as they were alone.
An inhuman shriek emanated from somewhere above his head, louder than the music throbbing around him. It sounded like a mixture of a woman’s high-pitched scream, a monkey’s terrified screech, and fingernails on a chalkboard. Jack automatically ducked. He squatted and covered his head before looking up.
The visual was worse than the audio.
There were things flying in the air, three at first count. He was most concerned with the one closest to him, so he kept his eyes on it. In the shape of a woman, it seemed to be made out of blue smoke that pulsated with a purple current. The smoke formed an outline of a gown that covered legs and feet, if the thing had any. It had long hair, black pits where eyes should be, and sharp teeth.
A couple of the kids finally noticed the things. They screamed and pointed up, alerting everyone else. Chaos ensued. The kids scurried in every possible direction like cockroaches when the kitchen light is turned on in the middle of night. They totally panicked.
Some of the kids made it to their cars. They locked themselves inside, screaming as the things dived down at them. A few honked their horns. Maybe they were hoping the noise would scare the things away. It didn’t.
Jersey appeared at Jack’s side. “We have to get out of here!”
“What are they?”
“Wraiths! They’re as deadly as they are hideous. Let’s go while we still can.”
“What about them?” Jack gestured to the running, screaming kids. One of them fell and a wraith snatched him into the air. “We have to do something! We have to save them.”
Jersey shook his head. “What can you do without supernatural powers or even a man-made weapon?”
Jack had no idea, but he knew he had to try. He couldn’t walk away unscathed as his fellow classmates were picked off one by one. “What’s their weakness? What can you tell me about them? What can hurt them?”
“Nothing. They don’t have any weaknesses. Once they get whatever it is they’ve come for, they’ll leave, but not until then.”
Trina ran towards Jack, screaming her head off. She tripped over something and went down hard. Her fingers clawed at the grass-covered ground as she tried to keep moving. A wraith dived at her, determined to take her away. She was Silver’s best friend. Even though Jack didn’t like her, he had to save her for Silver’s sake.
He jerked his arm out of Jersey’s tight grip and ran. It was a race between him and the wraith to see which would get to the screaming girl first. A burst of vampire speed energized his run. He zipped over to her.
The wraith reached for Trina. Jack leaped into the air. He landed on the girl, covering her body with his own. He felt the claws snatch at the back of his shirt. The wraith lifted him a few feet. The material ripped. He fell.
Jack was careful not to land on Trina a second time. He used his hands to stop himself from crushing her. His fingers hit the cold grass. A shockwave quivered through his entire body, bringing a burst of pain with it.
Trina yelled, “Help me!”
Jack struggled to stand. He grabbed Trina by the arm and pulled her quickly to her feet. Together, they ran across the field to his car. Instead of helping them, Jersey had left.
They made it to the car. His cold, numb fingers pulled on the door handle, slipped at first, but then managed to grasp the cool metal. Trina looked over his shoulder while he pulled on the door. She screamed. He glanced back, saw two of the winged creatures coming straight at them. He shoved Trina inside the car and jumped in after her.
A wraith’s ghostly face appeared immediately at th
e closed window. Jack worried because it seemed to be made out of smoke. Could it move through solid objects?
Trina screamed again. Her knees were tucked under her chin. She covered her face with both hands.
Jack stared at the wraith, waiting for it to do something. It showed its teeth, gnashing them at him. The second wraith was on the other side of the car. The two of them looked at each other through the windows. Were they communicating telepathically?
As if in silent agreement, they flew straight up.
“It’s okay,” Jack said. “I think we’re safe. They’re gone.”
Trina peeked between her fingers. “That was mega-intense.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Thank you for saving me,” she said with a bit of grudging respect. “Considering you aren’t a vampire anymore, that was extremely brave. I wonder what happened to the ones they took.”
“I don’t think we want to know.”
“Can you give me a ride home?”
He sighed. “First I have to find my keys. I dropped them on the ground when those things attacked.”
Jack went for the door handle, but Trina stopped him. She latched onto him like a baby octopus. “You can’t go out there! They could be waiting where we can’t see them.”
There wasn’t anything he could do about it if they were. He had to get the keys. He and Trina certainly couldn’t walk, and he wasn’t going to sit in the car all night. “Don’t worry. I may not have all my powers, but I’ve got a few surprises for anything that attacks me.”
She released him, and he climbed out of the car. Fortunately he knew exactly where he’d dropped the keys. He kept his eyes on the night sky, wide and unblinking as he felt around the ground for his keys like a blind man. Some of the kids were crying while their friends tried to comfort them. He didn’t dare look at them. Jack’s fingers touched his brother’s smooth key ring.
To everyone out there, in a loud voice he said, “Get to your cars and go home while you still can!”
A few of them immediately went to their cars while others remained frozen. By the time Jack got behind the steering wheel of his brother’s car, the field was nearly empty. He inserted the key and started the engine. “Next time someone around here throws a party, let’s stay home.”
Trina buckled her seatbelt. He started backing the car up. His eyes caught movement on the other side of the bonfire. Jersey Clifford stood in the flaming light, watching Jack drive away with the girl he’d saved. For some reason the teacher didn’t appear pleased.
“Do you need directions to my house?” Trina asked.
“No,” Jack said. “I’m taking you to Silver’s. She probably knows something about wraiths. There are some questions I need to ask her.”
Trina smiled. “Yeah, I’m sure that’s why we’re going to see her. You are so intense.” Her eyes went to the roof of the car, and she shook her head, giggling. “If you want her back, you’d better be prepared to get on your knees and beg.”
Chapter Thirteen:
SUMMER FINDS OUT ABOUT SILVER
Jack and Trina waited in Silver’s bedroom after arriving only to find the house empty. The Reigns were probably out hunting. It was too bad they hadn’t been at the party. Maybe they would have known what to do about the wraiths. Trina put her hand in the hamster’s cage. The tiny furry creature dashed around, avoiding Trina’s groping fingers, but she didn’t stop until she caught it.
Jack stood in the corner. Uncomfortable being in Silver’s room without her, he waited with crossed arms. Everywhere he looked he saw a different memory. There was the bed where he’d slept next to Silver, and the window he’d seen his first sunlight in ten years through The book she’d dropped because she was nervous at having him in her bedroom was still on the corner of the desk where she’d put it that night.
The front door slammed shut below the carpeted floor. He felt it through the bottom of his feet. Footsteps raced up the stairs. In seconds the bedroom door opened, and Silver’s eyes went straight to him. Her lips compressed into a hard line. Shaking her head, she stepped inside and shut the door behind her. “I ought to call my dad up here to kill you. What do you want?”
Trina closed the hamster cage and stepped forward, giving Silver her first glimpse of the girl. Although Trina had been smiling while playing with the hamster, the waterworks turned on as soon as she saw Silver’s face. She ran across the room and threw herself into Silver’s arms, bawling uncontrollably.
“Are you okay?” Silver patted Trina on the back. “What’s wrong? Did Jack do something to you?”
Silver glared at him.
“He saved my life tonight.” Trina lifted a tear-stained face. “We were at the party, you know, the one you didn’t want to go to, and these things attacked us. They were like real scary looking ghosts with claws and teeth. I almost died tonight. One of them tried to get me, and Jack threw himself on top of me. It almost got him instead.”
Silver gently pushed her friend aside to look at Jack. Her expression turned from accusing to concerned. “Are you okay?”
He shuffled from one foot to the other, unable to meet her gaze head on. “I’m fine. It wasn’t that big a deal.”
“Not a big deal?” Trina grabbed Silver’s shoulders and shook her. “We were almost killed by those things. After he threw himself on me to keep it from getting me, we had to run to the car. Two of them chased us. It was crazy intense, and he says it wasn’t a big deal.”
Jack said, “They were wraiths.”
“Did you know about wraiths?” Trina asked her. “Cause you never told me about them. You warned me about vampires and werewolves. You didn’t say anything about wraiths.”
Silver sat on the edge of her bed. “That’s because wraiths are very rare. I’ve never even seen a wraith and neither have my parents. Lovely mentioned them in her book, half a page, but I never thought anyone I knew would cross paths with one.”
Jack forgot about being uncomfortable. He sat next to her. In business mode now, he said, “I think maybe you should tell me about them in case I see them again. Can they be killed?”
“Yes, but it isn’t easy.” Her gaze met his for half a second before dropping to her hands. She twisted her fingers and played with the colorful bangles on her wrists. “Wraiths can only be created by the lead werewolf. Now we know. He’s definitely here in town. He’s probably already building his army.”
“How can a wraith be killed?”
“They have to be killed when they aren’t in their bodies.” She got up, walked to the window. “Wraiths are women infected by the head werewolf. Instead of turning into wolves, they become ghost-like. What you need to know about them is that they are trapped in their bodies during the day. They’re immortal like werewolves, but their bodies decay. They’re in horrible pain during the day, but at night their spirits leave their bodies. That’s what you saw tonight.”
Trina shivered. “That’s sick.”
Silver nodded. “I feel sorry for them. Being a werewolf or a vampire would be a hundred times better than being a wraith. Anyway, to kill one of them you have to drive a blade through their heart while their spirit is within them.”
“What if you stab them during the night while their spirit is gone?” Jack asked.
“Nothing happens. They can’t be killed during the night. You have to catch them when they’re together, body and spirit. It’s the only way.”
“Can they be stopped somehow when they’re attacking? I didn’t know what to do when they were flying away with those kids.”
“Wraiths can’t be stopped. They’re ghosts. If you try to hit them, your hand will go through them. It’s not fair, I know, but they can touch us. We just can’t touch them.”
Jack slowly took in the information. He felt better knowing there was nothing he could have done at the party to save those kids. At least he wouldn’t have that on his conscious. His eyes returned to Silver. She looked good, incredible even. The girl standing near the windo
w didn’t resemble the one he’d seen crying in her car. Maybe she was over him.
Silver added, “Wraiths are like slaves to the head werewolf. Whoever he is, he sent the wraiths to the party.”
“Why would anyone do that?” Trina asked.
“I have no idea.”
Jack asked, “What happened to the kids they took? What do they do with them?”
“I don’t know that either. Lovely didn’t get into it. She wrote very little about wraiths, just how to kill them basically. Without knowing who the head werewolf is, there’s no way we can find the wraiths, let alone kill them. They’ll be living under his roof where he can keep human eyes off them. They would be extremely hard to explain.”
Silver went to her friend and placed an arm around her shoulders. They shared a brief hug. She added, “I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Thanks to Jack.” Trina smiled at him. “I’m going to go home now. Maybe I can get your father to give me a ride.”
“I’m sure he’ll be happy to. Please don’t mention Jack to him.”
Trina told her it wasn’t a problem and headed out the door with one more smile for Jack. After she was gone, the tension solidified. The air seemed to have been sucked from the room at the closing of the door.
Silver’s eyes turned glacial. “I told you everything I know about wraiths. Maybe you should leave now.”
“I don’t want to leave yet.”
“Too bad.” She went to the door, yanked it open. “If you don’t get out right now, I’ll yell for my dad. You want to deal with him? He’ll blow your stupid head off, and I won’t try to stop him.” She closed the door and crossed to the window, opening it. “Changed my mind. You should go out the window instead. No reason for my dad to go to prison because of you.”
She motioned to the window, an angry gesture. She kept her eyes averted when he closed the distance between them. Instead of going out the window, he put his hands on her shoulders and turned her in his direction. She swallowed and blinked her eyes a few times. She still didn’t look at him.
