by T. L. Clarke
Brooklyn looked at me with disbelief as she fluffed her shoulder-length bright red hair. "Are you kidding me? Today’s your birthday, and you’re going to that party tonight even if I have to drag you there kicking and screaming. Besides, I heard that some super hottie Elementi might show up." She fainted playfully. "And if you think the Ares are hot, the Elementi are even hotter." She was bubbling with excitement in a brightly colored light blue tunic with a one-shoulder design that bared her neckline of a multicolored tiered necklace, her tall, slim body in fitted bright red jeggings and vivid pumps.
I closed my eyes tiredly. "Right about now, I don’t care. Training was brutal, and I’m really not in the mood to party," I mumbled, already half asleep.
Brooklyn rolled her eyes and shook my shoulder roughly to wake me up, which only earned her an "I’m going to kick your skinny behind" look.
"Don’t even give me that look. I’m not scared." She tossed her hair and flipped her red hair over her shoulders. "Here at Transcendence, we train real hard, but we party even harder. You just have to learn how to balance training with fun, or else you’ll end up being a sour-faced training machine like Petra. Besides"—she smiled, jumping up and down excitedly—"the Elementi might be there. You’ve got to go."
Zora’s face scrunched up with annoyance as she pushed her straight brown hair from her eyebrows when she looked up from her laptop. "If I have to go to this Horae party, then you do too. I’m putting off doing some serious homework for this thing." Even she was dressed to party, in a flowing gray lace top over a black camisole, black skinny jeans, and black leather over-the-knee riding boots.
"Seriously, I don’t get what’s the big deal about the Elementi."
Brooklyn’s eyes widened. "Because it’s not every day that they show up at Transcendence, that’s why." She pulled me up and pushed me toward the closet. "And it’s not every day that we get to party with them. Come to think of it, I’ve never hung out with young Elementi. And then there’s this rivalry between the Ares and Elementi. They can’t stand each other."
"You had me at rivalry. I just love a good fight in the evening," I mumbled tiredly as I pulled some clothes from the closet.
They all burst out with laughter. I swung around to look at them angrily. "What’s so funny?"
Jessica pointed at the seat of my pants. "The whole back of your pants is caked with mud." Her blues eyes twinkled with laughter. "Awful. Absolutely awful."
I gave them a dirty glare. "Umm, you wouldn’t think it was so funny if you had Drill Sergeant Chaos as your mentor. You want to talk about absolutely awful?" I huffed angrily as I twisted in the mirror and caught the image of my mud-caked butt and burst out laughing. Jessica was right. It was absolutely awful.
I stormed angrily toward the bathroom.
Brooklyn laughed loudly. "Uh, hold on. What you need is the soaking room before you take a shower. Follow me."
I followed her out of the room, slamming the door for good measure. Through the door I could still hear them laughing hysterically.
"Whatever," I muttered under my breath as I followed her down the hallway, where she pushed open a heavy mahogany door to reveal a huge open bathroom that held several monster copper claw-foot tubs bubbling with some thick, gold-tinged, gooey foam substance.
I backed away warily. "Uh, what’s that?" The refreshing scent of zesty citrus hit me all at once.
Brooklyn dipped her hand in, up to her elbow, then pulled it out, displaying the gold sticky substance with flecks of sparkles that clung to her skin. "It’s healing foam. We bathe in it, especially after grueling workouts. It heals wounds and bruises, making you good as new."
Walking closer to the tub skeptically, I peered in, watching as the goo gurgled and popped like thick lava. "Okay, so I get in and soak, then what? How do I know that this stuff won’t stick to my unmentionables?"
Brooklyn’s lips quirked with merriment. "Really? Unmentionables? You just soak for at least fifteen minutes, then rinse off in the steam showers." She pointed over to the other side of the bathroom. "Then poof, you’ll be good as new and, hopefully, not as grumpy." She peeled back the hardened goo from her arm. "See you." She walked out of the bathroom, leaving me looking around with awe.
I stripped out of my clothes, relishing the warmth of the heated floors against the bottom of my feet before stepping into the warm gold goo. I sighed as I slipped further down, letting the citrus scent envelop me. Brooklyn was right; I could feel the pain in my knotted muscles rapidly easing away. I slipped down further in the goo, all the way down to my chin, allowing it to work its tingling, healing power.
Sighing, I closed my eyes, almost falling asleep before I realized that I had been in the tub way too long. Taking the cue, I stepped out of the tub, the goo solidifying against my skin as I padded over to the steam shower. I sunk into the steam of the shower, washing away all of the goo, and washing my hair with the zesty shampoo. When I was done, I wrapped myself in a fluffy white robe while I toweled off my hair.
I got dressed in my favorite dark blue skinny jeans and black T-shirt with "NYC Alert" written across my chest in pink letters. Rosalinda balked when I stepped back into the bedroom.
"Are you kidding? The jeans are cute, but that T-shirt is simply hideous, and you don’t even have any makeup on. Come on, at least put on some lip gloss." She held out the lip gloss quickly.
I stuck out my tongue playfully. "I don’t need it. I think I look fly."
Jessica giggled. "Come on, Gabi, it’s your birthday. Live it up a little."
Brooklyn grabbed a blouse and a bottom from her closet. "Put this on. It’s cute." She looked over at Rosalinda impatiently. "Give her some makeup." She examined my hair, which was pulled tightly into dog-eared ponytails. "Okay, for tonight, let’s try something a little bit different with the hair, shall we?"
I backed away quickly. "No way, I always wear my hair like this."
Jessica looked at me with puppy dog eyes. "Gabi, come on, stop being such a pain."
"Okay, but tonight only." I looked at Brooklyn and Rosalinda grudgingly. "Work your magic, beauty queens."
They both rubbed their hands together gleefully, and when they were finished, they stood back and examined their handiwork with great satisfaction.
"It’s a girl, an actual pretty girl," Rosalinda squealed mockingly.
Jessica giggled. "Don’t pay attention to her. You look awesome, Gabi. I mean, you always look good, but you look like a rock star."
I scrutinized myself in the mirror, barely recognizing the person wearing a sleek dark gray leather jacket with a lace tank underneath and tight, curve-hugging black skinny jeans tucked into knee-high chocolate brown suede boots. My hair cascaded around my face in loose, fluffy curls. Even my cappuccino skin glowed, and my heart-shaped lips glistened with pink lip gloss. I touched my hands to my hair, watching as my bangle bracelets clanged together.
I cleared my suddenly dry throat. "Well don’t get used to it," I grumbled, walking over to the door quickly.
Brooklyn gave Rosalinda a silent high five before we hustled out of the dorms, getting lost in the excited crowd heading over to the party. We weaved our way into the door, and the party was already in full swing, with music so loud that it vibrated against the walls. The room was pitch-black except for the laser lights periodically shooting through the air in synchronization to the beat of the music. The air bubbled with untamed energy as the bass from the music thumped melodically and people danced with untamed abandon. Neophytes with red and white cups in their hands carelessly sloshed their pink contents on the floor.
"Are you serious? Liquor?" I asked, annoyed, as I almost slipped on the wet floor.
Brooklyn laughed, "That’s not liquor. It’s way stronger. They call it ‘the ruckus’ because it’s a combination of a power elixir and a healing elixir. It’s like a crazy energy drink that keeps you going and going. But it leaves you with a wicked headache after."
Two NCs with glazed eyes were dancing wildly inside black cages
strung from the ceiling.
Rosalinda waved at two guys. "See you later, chicas." She sauntered over to them and started talking animatedly.
I looked around with utter amazement; this party was off the hook. It was like all the Neophytes had taken this as their opportunity to get crazy—it was like a reality show come to life between all the drinking, making out, and impromptu music video moves.
Brooklyn whooped loudly as she threw her hands in the air and started dancing wildly. "That’s my song." She looked at me, excitedly pulling my hand. "Come on, I’m going to party Brooklyn style."
I laughed loudly, pulling back quickly. "Um. Not. It’s bad enough that I’m here when I could be halfway to comatose city in my nice, warm bed. So I’m sure as heck not going to work up any music video dance steps spontaneously. Not…..going….to…..happen." I looked over at Jessica and Zora, who were dancing happily. "Go ahead and take my backup dancers." They both shot me a playful angry look. I looked at them innocently. "What? I’m just saying…"
Brooklyn giggled. "You’re such a little hater. Come on, you’re coming. Let’s turn this party out." She looped her arm through mine as we weaved our way through the crowd and started dancing in the middle of the floor with Dylan and Troy, who were dancing like they were having body convulsions. A loud giggle escaped my mouth when Troy grabbed Jessica’s hand and spun her around like a ballroom dancer. Classic.
I danced with wild abandon, letting the music take me out of the Eternal world, into the teen "I don’t give a hoot" world. I was swinging my hair around when I felt someone touch my shoulder softly. It was Terrence, standing there with a huge smirk on his face.
I stopped dancing and gave him a playful look. "Are you dancing or what?"
He responded huskily, "Definitely."
I grabbed his hand, pulling him toward me, giving him my best dance moves. I was waiting for him to pull back, but surprisingly, his arms quickly encircled my waist, and he started dancing. We worked up some major sweat, and for once, I just enjoyed myself with no worries.
I pulled his head down and yelled, "I’ll be back."
He looked at me cheekily. "And I’ll be waiting."
I weaved my way through the crowd, making a beeline toward the table packed with snacks and bottles of soda. I quickly snatched a bottle, drank it thirstily, then tossed it in the trash.
I looked around the party, laughing when I saw Brooklyn trying to dance with Terrence, who backed away from her with a horrified ‘are you serious? there’s no way I’m dancing with my little sister’ stare.
I was just about to save him when I suddenly heard a buzzing sound. No, it was something like a low humming sound echoing in my ears. It was real annoying. This was followed by a weird tingling in my fingers; either I was in the midst of having body convulsions or this was my body’s alarm alerting me to something dangerous approaching.
I swung my body toward the entrance of the party with anxious anticipation, and that’s when I saw him. He looked exactly like the guy from my nightmare, with golden blond shoulder-length hair, lightly golden skin, and yes, he was awesomely gorgeous.
My breath caught in my throat, with goose bumps appearing along my arms. I seriously didn’t know whether to run or hide. I was really opting for a combo, run first, then hide. But annoyingly, my feet took that exact moment to be glued to the floor, clueless. So there I was, standing there, rooted to the spot like a deer caught in headlights.
There was something so unnaturally cold and unmoving about him, like he was always calculating his next move, always one step ahead, like a predator stalking his prey. There was something so odd about him standing there all ridiculously tall, lightly muscled, gorgeously golden blond, trapped in a party full of ragingly hormonal Neophytes. It wasn’t like he wasn’t fitting in age wise, because he did look like he was, at most, sixteen, but it was his eyes that gleamed like he had seen things way beyond his age.
He stalked to the outer perimeter of the party with an entourage of young guys wearing all black surrounding him in some sort of protective wall formation. It was weird the way they moved in unison like a wave. When he moved, they moved. It was like they could anticipate it and moved as a unit.
I could tell that he was trying to blend into the party as he looked for someone. The blending part, I didn’t understand why he tried. There was no way someone like him would ever "blend" into anything. Some of the partygoers stopped to look over at him, pointing and gawking like he was some sort of rock star—which he ignored as he scanned the party, quickly taking in everything with a real bored expression, like this party was so beneath him.
Crazily, I tried to blend into the wall. It was irrational, but I was so scared of him. My ears suddenly clogged, like I was underwater, and everything started to sound distorted. The air around me went from oppressively hot to freezing in ten seconds flat. My throat squeezed painfully. I had to get out, but he was blocking my exit. I looked around frantically. He ran a hand through his blond hair with frustration, then motioned to his entourage to step back. Some NCs took that as their cue to circle around him like piranhas, giving him very interested bold stares, but his icy stare clearly said "definitely not interested."
My hands tightened by my side with frustration. Maybe if he got distracted by one of the NCs, then I could escape without detection. The muscles in my legs contracted as if prepping for a sprint. I spun frantically. Freakishly, his gaze zeroed on me like a laser, pinning me to the spot. I knew that no good could come from this scenario, none at all.
I groaned with frustration. So busted. My hands got real clammy as a really weird sinking feeling rolled over my body like a wave pulling me deep into an undercurrent. I was drowning under his intense stare, and I could tell that he knew exactly what he was doing to me. The more that I tried to pull away, the harder he worked to root me to the spot. The room felt like it was tipping from side to side, making me crazy dizzy.
His gaze narrowed. His body tensed with indecision. He ran his hands through his hair before walking toward me purposefully. Startled, his entourage hustled to follow him. He held up his hands abruptly, and they quickly disappeared, like poof, into thin air. I blinked with disbelief, holding my breath as I looked around nervously.
Was I the only one who had seen that disappearing act, or was everyone around here used to people just vanishing into thin air?
I examined him in excruciatingly slow motion. It was like everything about him was now important to analyze, the way his black screen-print T-shirt molded to his leanly muscular frame, the way his tapered dark blue jeans moved against his legs. His white-bottomed Chuck Taylors looked like they had come straight out of the box.
He stopped right in front of me, like, real close, so close that I could smell the clean scent of sun and earth emanating from his body. His piercing gold-colored eyes flecked with a bit of sky blue narrowed on me curiously. Strangely, they reminded me of a lion’s eyes, alert and deadly beautiful.
"It’s too late to run, Gabrielle." His voice pulled me to him like a magnet. I leaned forward against my better judgment.
I looked at him, annoyed. "Run from what?" How did he know that I had been planning to run?
His eyes turned icy blue. "From me, of course, but that’s what you want to do, right? Run. You’re always running. Running away from your gifts, running away from what you are. Well, the time for running is over, Gabrielle."
Now I was angry at him for pointing out the obvious.
"Don’t act like you know me. You know nothing about me, so back off."
I turned to walk away, but he gently touched my shoulder, stopping me on the spot as he stepped closer and expertly backed me into a dark corner.
I blinked rapidly because I couldn’t figure out how just one touch had landed me in this tight spot.
He smiled cunningly. "Oh, I know you. I know you more than you know yourself. But you already know that, don’t you?"
I instinctively pushed my palms against his chest, pulling
them back quickly when I felt the searing heat radiating from it. With shock, I looked up at him, our eyes locking like magnets. I knew then that I couldn’t walk away from him even if I wanted to, and I didn’t.
"Who are you, and what do you want?" My voice trembled with barely concealed excitement.
He sighed before reaching down to softly brush away the lock of hair that had fallen across my eye.
"The question is, what do you want, Gabrielle?"
I closed my eyes, enjoying the way his touch sent delicious chills down my spine. His arms encircled my waist, pressing us further back into the dark corner, where no one could see us.
I couldn’t look at him because I was too scared of what I would see. So, I looked around the party, focusing on the gyrating bodies keeping pace with the music.
"I want you to go away, now," I responded in barely a whisper. All lies. I wanted him to stay. The music pulsed through the room, vibrating against the walls and against my back pressed to the wall.
His eyes changed back to golden flecked with a bit of sky blue. He leaned down to whisper in my ear. "Really? Are you going to play hard to get? Well the answer is no. No, I’m not going away. I’ve found you, and it’s too late to back away now."
"What do you mean no?" My voice squeaked. "And secondly, I’m not playing hard to get. What makes you think that I’m remotely interested in you?" My face flushed with embarrassment. How was he reading my emotions so easily?
"Your eyes." His eyes roamed my face curiously. "The fast rhythm of your heart." He slowly placed his hands on the wall above my head, practically pinning me to it. His presence was not intimidating or demanding; it was inviting, provoking, like he was deliberately nudging me to step out of my comfort zone to take his challenge.
Something deep in me awakened, urging me to be bold, to reveal that I was his equal and strong enough to tame him. I reached up on my toes, looping my hands around his neck, and with strength I didn’t even know I had, I swiftly turned him so that his back was now firmly pressed against the wall.
His eyes widened, the blue flecks turning almost amber in color.
