Avery waved her hand. “Maybe he’ll have a new girlfriend by then. Anyway, I’m sure he’ll be over it by the dance. Don’t you think?”
“I thought he’d be over it last week,” Raven told her. “But every time I see him—I mean whenever you’re around—he seems just as enraged as ever.”
“I’m not worried,” Riley assured Avery. “I’m working on ways to handle him.”
“Packing heat?” Raven teased.
“Or maybe a stun gun or bear spray?” Quinn added.
“I have other ways.” Riley exchanged glances with Avery.
“I’ll be working on it too,” Avery quietly told him. “And the dance is a ways off.”
But time passed and to Avery’s dismay Dexter still seemed to be angry whenever he saw her. If she went out of her way to smile or say ‘hey’ to him, he’d just glower back at her. To make matters worse, as far as Avery knew, he was not taking anyone to the dance. But maybe she should feel relieved. At least she wouldn’t be looking over her shoulder tonight.
She gazed out the window and noticed that the weather had suddenly changed. Gusts of wind tore at the trees and dark clouds rushed overhead—as if they were headed for the school. She made a mental note to bring an umbrella.
“I don’t get him,” Avery said to Raven as they got ready for the Monster’s Ball. “Half the girls in school would leap at a chance to go out with him. Why is he so stuck on me?”
“Because he can’t have you?” Raven adjusted the high collar on her cape.
“It’s more than that,” Avery told her.
“What do you mean more?”
Avery didn’t even know where to begin to explain it. As far as she could tell this strange ‘giftedness’ that she and Riley—and possibly Dexter—were experiencing was completely foreign to Raven and Quinn. Avery and Riley had actually been trying to figure it out and every single time they’d attempted to draw those two out, they got nowhere. Raven and Quinn were blessedly ‘normal’ and Avery tried not to feel envious.
“I feel like I created a monster,” Avery confided to Raven. “Like if I’d never befriended him or gone out with him, everything would be okay. You know?”
“You can’t blame yourself for the way he acts,” Raven pointed out. “It’s not your fault.”
“Well, I’m just thankful the monster won’t be at the dance tonight.”
“Don’t be so sure.”
“Huh?” Avery paused from applying the white makeup to her face. She was going as Bride of Frankenstein and Riley would be Frankenstein.
“I wasn’t going to say anything.” Raven bit her lip.
“Come on, speak up.”
“I heard that Dexter asked Kylie Dawson to go with him. At the last minute, too.”
“Oh…?” Avery frowned into her strange looking image in the mirror. Her dark eyes seemed to leap from her pale, white face. “Well, maybe that’s good. Maybe he likes Kylie enough to move on from me.”
“Or…he could just be using Kylie to get to the dance to spy on you and Riley.”
“Oh…I don’t think so.” Avery reached for the can of white hair spray, starting to apply the white streak into her dark hair, trying not to overreact to this news and reminding herself that she was not powerless...she did not have to be a victim.
When they arrived at the school, it looked as if a bomb had gone off. Fire engines, police cars, and ambulances lined the parking lot. The parking lot itself was half-destroyed—a pile of rocks and slabs of concrete rose on one side, which hadn’t been there before. Had they been doing construction? What could cause that devastation? Avery’s eyes grew wide when she saw a huddle of kids sitting on the grass with blankets around their shoulders. The Police had them surrounded and were asking them questions.
“What the—?“ Riley said.
“I don’t know,” Avery whispered.
They hurried to the scene, where a circle of onlookers, both kids and parents, watched. An eerie hush was over them. Avery didn’t feel like speaking, either. She’d never seen anything like the damage in the parking lot.
When a police officer noticed the crowd, he came over. “Go on now,” he said. “Get back to your dance. It’s not cancelled. There was an incident here but there’s nothing you can do about it. We’ll let the press know when we have any definitive answers for you.”
Slowly the crowd dispersed, but Avery couldn’t look away. Raven tugged at her shirt. “Come on, we might find some answers inside. And like the policeman said, there’s nothing we can do about it.”
Avery followed her, still stunned by what she saw, and disturbed by her first reaction: a human did that. There was no basis for her to think that, but she couldn’t release the thought. It made a shiver of fear run up her spine.
They met the boys in the foyer. Everyone was talking about what had happened in the parking lot—some said there was a lightning strike, others said there’d been a construction accident. One girl swore she saw Hailey and her friends in the middle of it, and now they were all dead. But she was quickly silenced as being too dramatic. A few teachers came and told them to get to the dance, that whatever happened in the parking lot was over and they’d find some answers tomorrow. But even the teachers looked worried.
Although curious, Avery knew there wasn’t much she could find out about the mystery. She decided to shake it off, for now. She was just going to enjoy herself with her friends and dance her heart out.
As they walked into the gym, Avery knew that the four of them looked really great. Just one of the fringe benefits of being part of an artsy crowd—they knew how to masquerade in style. And it was easy feigning confidence while dressed like this. It was like taking on a whole new persona. And besides, she told herself as she danced with Riley, if Dexter really was here tonight, he probably wouldn’t even recognize her. She glanced through the colorful crowd, realizing that it was possible she wouldn’t recognize him either. She’d spotted several possibilities, including a zombie and an undertaker and a devil, but none of them had been close enough for her to really tell.
She’d been glad to see that Mr. O and Louisa, dressed like a pair of forties jazz musicians, were acting as chaperones tonight. Although Miss Truvell, who was dressed like a vampire hooker, didn’t seem the least bit discouraged by Louisa’s presence as she urged Mr. O out to the dance floor with her.
The evening wore on and they were dancing to a slow song. Avery was just starting to feel relaxed when suddenly she felt it coming. Her head started to buzz with electricity and she knew that something was about to happen—something bad.
“Riley,” she said urgently. “Can you feel something?”
He frowned and looked around. “Yeah. What is it?”
“Something is wrong. Something is—”
“May I cut in?” A guy dressed in a flamboyant devil costume took Avery by the hand, whisking her away from Riley. And even before she looked into the devil’s eyes she knew it was Dexter. Still, she decided to act cool.
“Dexter,” she said. “Interesting costume. Is it typecasting?”
“Funny.” He seemed to be dancing her toward the sidelines and when she tried to resist, he simply tightened his grip, which was already making her hand hurt. She tried to focus her mind on stopping him, but he was moving so fast it was hard to think. She could see that Riley was following them and, with his eyes locked into hers, she knew he was sending her a message: Use your mind.
“Thanks for the dance,” she told Dexter, trying to extract her hand from his viselike grip. “But I want to go back to Riley now.”
“Not so soon,” he said smoothly. Still holding her in a dance position, he continued leading her to the sidelines, with Riley still trailing.
Her heart pounded hard and she knew if she was going to escape him, it was time to engage her mental powers. Closing her eyes, she focused her mind on pushing him away, shoving him from her and she was just getting free when Riley stepped up between them.
“Leave her alone,” Riley sai
d loudly.
In a flash, she saw Riley’s hand on Dexter’s shoulder, but in the same instant, Dexter slammed his fist straight into Riley’s face. Riley reeled backwards and collapsed to the floor. Bleeding from his nose, he was so still that he appeared to be dead. Several of the onlookers just laughed, as if they thought this was a Halloween stunt for their entertainment.
Avery was about to scream for help, but before her mouth could open, she was swooped into Dexter’s arms and transported so fast, she felt like she was spinning. And now they were both up on the makeshift stage where the awards for best costumes would be presented later. Dexter lowered her down to her feet but continued clutching her hand in a bone-crunching grip as he smiled out to where some of the dancers were now watching with amusement.
“Welcome to the Monster’s Ball!” Dexter declared into the microphone that was set up for the awards. “And now you are about to see some real monster magic!” He held up their joined hands as if this was some kind of victory celebration. “Are you all ready for this?”
With all eyes on the stage, everyone clapped and cheered for Dexter as if they thought this was all part of the evening’s festivities. And maybe it was, but no one had told Avery. And as far as she knew, Riley was still out cold. This was all wrong. Avery focused her mind, willing herself to be free of him and to her amazement his grip loosened and as fast as she could, she fled from him and down from the stage.
“Prepare to be amazed!” Dexter shouted loudly from the stage.
She froze in her tracks, looking up to the devil on the stage with his arms raised high—it was so dramatic and theatrical that she wondered if this might actually be part of the entertainment. Except for Riley—was he okay? Dexter looked up to the ceiling now, staring at where the giant mirror ball was slowly turning around. Illuminated with a red spotlight, the speckled reflections cast down on the dancers were red and eerie, almost like droplets of blood. Dexter locked eyes with her as he shook his fists in the same way he did each time he scored a touchdown—and in that same instant, a loud boom sounded—like a bomb exploding. And the mirror ball blew apart, shooting shards of mirror and other debris down upon everyone below.
The last thing Avery heard was the cacophony of screaming and crying and swearing—and suddenly everything went pitch black and silent.
ISRAEL
Aaron Patterson
Episode Twenty
THERE WAS NOTHING WORSE than sitting down to dinner with the family. No, there was something worse—it was this. Sitting down to a meal with his family and having his friends there with him.
Israel stuffed a stuffed mushroom into his mouth and Megan touched his leg under the table. “You are an amazing cook, Mrs. James. I’ve never had anything like this before, it’s delicious.”
“Thank you, Megan, you are a sweet girl.”
Israel held back an eye roll and Molly grinned at him from across the table.
Mom went all out. Stuffed mushrooms, lasagna, corn on the cob, and a warm apple pie. It was not the normal menu and Israel figured that was the only upside of having all his friends over to meet his parents: they got to eat something not made of bran.
“I agree, this dinner is tight.” Dirk scooped another huge helping of lasagna onto his plate and dug in as if he was a kid right off the banana boat.
“Tight? I’m not sure what that means but it sounds like it is a compliment.” Mom smiled but Israel noticed annoyance in her eyes. She did not like Dirk but was doing her best to fake it.
“Oh it is. Tight is like saying ‘groovy’ in your day, or ‘far out.’”
“I see.”
The dinner consisted of Megan, Rose, one of Molly’s friends, Dirk, and Lars, one of Dirk’s friends, a skinny guy who didn’t talk much. It wasn’t a large group but enough to make Israel cringe inside.
“We are so glad you all came over,” Dad said. “It should be a fun night and I’ve got something special planned later this evening.”
Everyone seemed a little uncomfortable except for Dirk. He was not the best at picking up social cues.
“What is it?” Molly leaned on her elbows and shot Israel a wink.
“You’ll just have to wait and see. Wouldn’t be any fun if I told you all my secrets.” Israel groaned and looked over at Megan. She was sipping on a glass of red wine and it had to be the hottest thing he’d ever seen.
Megan caught him looking at her and turned, whispering in his ear. “Your parents are cool, and you are kinda cute.”
Israel breathed in the scent of her hair and whispered, “You’re not so bad yourself.”
“So, are you two, um... Are you guys going out?” Mom asked as she stood up and started clearing the table.
“I don’t know, are we, Issi?” Megan turned and blinked at him and her eyes sparkled.
Warmth crept up his neck and Molly giggled.
The room fell silent and Israel cleared his throat. “Well, I—”
“—We’re just friends,” Megan cut in, “but maybe one day if he’s lucky I’ll let him take me out to dinner.” Israel sigh with relief. This was not the conversation he wanted to have here in front of everyone.
Molly leaned over to Rose, who tucked a strand of dark hair behind one ear. “He stalks her from his bedroom window. Kinda creepy if you ask me.”
Rose whispered something back but Israel didn’t catch it.
Could this get any more awkward?
“Ah, young love, I remember when I first met your mother…”
And there it was. “I’m full,” Israel interrupted his dad, “who wants to join me in the living room? We can watch the new Dark Passenger movie.”
“Sweet. I saw it twice in theaters but I’ll see it again.” Dirk shoved his chair back and Lars grinned.
“I never did get to see it. Thanks for the dinner, Mrs. James. It was real good,” Lars said.
“I’ll bring you guys some more pie and ice cream in a few. Have fun.” Mom glared at Israel and went into the kitchen.
Dad grunted and wiped his face with a napkin. “You boys gotta hear this 7.1 surround sound I put in. It’ll rattle your bones.”
Megan brushed by Israel and touched his hand and for a second, her little finger laced around his. A rush of energy shot up his arm.
Rose offered to help with the dishes but Mom refused. Molly tugged on Rose’s arm and the group filtered into the living room. The night could be saved if they could all just watch the movie and keep his parents from acting like they were all cool and normal. He hated the fact that they fooled Megan.
He found a corner spot in the L-shaped couch and Megan slid in next to him. “Hey you.”
“Hey,” Israel said.
“You okay?” Megan took his hand and pulled it under a throw blanket. She was making him crazy and with everyone talking and settling in no one noticed.
“Yeah, just stressed.”
Dad was gushing about his new speakers and was focused on setting up the movie. Dirk was chatting with Molly, and Rose and Lars just stared at each other. It was as if the rest of the room was running at a different time in an alternate universe. He felt out of place, as if he and Megan were all alone or invisible.
Not thinking, Israel turned and kissed Megan. It all happened so fast that for a moment he wondered if it had even happened. Megan responded and a shiver ran the length of his spine. Then it was over. No one looked at them or seemed to care.
Israel looked around and could feel his heart in his face, thumping fast. No one in the room saw them, he couldn’t believe it.
With all the lights off it was hard to see, but the light coming from the dining room backlit a figure standing in the doorway. She was holding two bowls of apple pie a la mode. Mom stared at him, her eyes narrow.
How long had she been standing there?
Israel could think of nothing else but the hate coming from his mother’s eyes. She didn’t make conversation the rest of the night, she just went in and out of the room, handing out deserts and clea
ning up empty soda cans and being the perfect host.
Megan must have felt it too because she got up to go to the bathroom and when she came back she didn’t sit as close to him.
Dad brought out his big surprise and sealed the con. Israel and Molly about passed out when Dad handed them beers. His parents were suddenly cool, wine with dinner and now beer and a movie. What next, a joint?
“Now kids, I don’t condone underage drinking, it can be dangerous. But under the supervision of a responsible adult, I don’t see the harm.” As he handed Dirk a cold one, Dirk looked around as if asking permission.
“Sweet—thanks,” Dirk said.
Dirk, Lars, and even Molly took one. Megan, Rose, and Israel declined but the mood lightened at once. Even Lars seemed to open up; he made a lame joke and everyone laughed. Everyone was having a great time but Israel clenched his fists and dug his nails into his palms.
“Hey, you guys going to the Monster Ball? I hear it’s going to be a scream,” Dirk said, laughing at his own joke.
The movie ended and the credits rolled. Dad got up and was fiddling with something by the DVD player.
“Yeah, I saw a flyer at the Art Fair. Who are you taking with you, Dirk?” Molly punched him in the arm and he pushed her back.
“You,” he blurted out, and turned red even in the dim lighting.
“Oh, I see. Well you should ask before you make any big plans like that.”
Dirk lowered his head falling back into his shy-around-girls state. “Well, I uh…”
“Come on, Molly, don’t be mean,” Rose said.
Molly giggled. “Oh, all right. Sure, I’ll go with you.”
Dad stretched and said. “Okay kids, if you want to sleep over there is plenty of room. I don’t want any of you getting in trouble with your parents. And you had a few too many beers,” he said looking at Lars.
“Thanks, Mr. James. I’ll call my mom, tell her I’m crashing here.”
“Good, what about you…Dirk, Rose?”
The 'Naturals: Awakening (Episodes 17-20 -- Season 1) (Young Adult Serial) Page 5
