Planet Urth Boxed Set

by Jennifer Martucci

  “Trust me, you don’t want to be with me,” she said honestly.

  “Why would you say that?” he asked softly.

  “Jeez, you want the list. It’s pretty long. It’s a good thing you don’t have a curfew,” she said and looked away from him.

  Scott gently placed his hand on her cheek and turned her face toward him.

  “Hey, I don’t believe that for a second,” he said and watched her with intensity so fierce it made her want to giggle. Yet despite the bizarre way he concentrated on her, the air between them seemed to crackle with energy. She wasn’t sure why or what had caused it, but it was there. He tipped her chin up and she had no choice but to look into his eyes.

  In the darkness, his eyes caught the light of the fire that had been started in the trash can and looked as though they were glowing in an eerie shade of gold. The color pulled her in, almost hypnotized her. He brought his other hand up and stroked her hair back. No one had ever petted her as he did now. She wasn’t sure how to feel about it.

  Nothing that he’d done was wrong or bad, just odd. He’d probably won over more girls than he could count with moves like the ones he was putting on her. Those girls had probably eaten it up. But she was not other girls, and as it turned out, teenage boy moves did nothing for her. She did not want to insult him so when he closed his eyes and moved in for a kiss, she let him.

  She closed her eyes as his lips lightly touched hers. He wasted no time attempting to deepen their kiss and Arianna felt his tongue, cold from the beer he’d sipped a moment earlier, glide between her lips and dart about with the eagerness of a snake inspecting its surroundings and picking up scents. She slowed his overzealous pace by creating her own and when she did, an image flashed before her, clear, unmistakable. She saw Desmond. She was staring at his broad chest, resting her hands against it. She remembered the feel of his thick muscles bunching beneath her fingertips; feel the heat radiating from him as she lightly caressed his skin. The fantasy of him made her long in a way she never had to be with him, to feel him, to kiss him. She did not want to remember what his lips tasted like. She wanted to taste them for herself.

  She opened her eyes for a split second and glimpsed Scott’s face instead of Desmond. A sense of loss enveloped her and left her emotions rioting messily. Hurt tore through her as memories threatened to rush forth. She closed her eyes again and braced herself for the tidal wave of sadness that wanted desperately to break free. Desmond had rejected her outright. Scott had not. Why did she still want Desmond? What was it about Desmond that made her feel as if she were being magnetically pulled toward him? she wondered.

  Scott’s hands moved to her face and cupped it sweetly before he brushed them down the length of her hair and rested them finally at her waist. He pulled her close and the air between them sizzled again, a strange charge that hummed. The sensation was not unpleasant, and neither was his kiss. He was not Desmond. No one was or would be. Scott liked her and wanted to kiss her. No prophetic complications existed for him. So she gave in and allowed herself to be swept up in the moment.

  After several seconds, their lips parted.

  “Wow,” Scott said and guided her head so that it rested against his chest. “That was nice.”

  His gesture was sweet, clumsy, but sweet. “Thanks. Likewise,” she replied.

  She did not know how long he wanted to stay as they were. She’d relaxed considerably, content to hear the steady beat of his heart when Scott pulled back. “Looks like the party is breaking up,” he commented.

  “Smells that way, too,” she said and fanned the air in front of her face with her hand.

  The scent of marijuana hung heavily in the air.

  “Whoa, yeah, I smell it now. You smoke weed?” he asked.

  “I’ve had it a couple of times. It doesn’t do much for me.”

  “Me neither,” he said. “I think I’m done with my beer, too. Whatever brand they got tasted watered down.”

  Arianna laughed. “I didn’t want to say anything, but it was pretty crappy.”

  “You didn’t have to worry about offending me. I just pick the parties to crash, not the beer.”

  She was about to ask him more about his love of party crashing when Paul appeared out of nowhere.

  “Guys, the party has cleared out except for a few people. There’s this couple, Gina and Jeff, they’re so baked. It’s funny. You’ve got to come and see them.”

  Scott looked to her as if to ask if she wanted to go. She shrugged and he took her hand and followed Paul. She did not have any particular interest in people who were stoned, or drunk, or under the influence of any other behavior-changing drug. She found that people managed to humiliate themselves and act inappropriate enough on their own, without drugs and drinks. But if this was what her new friends enjoyed, she’d tolerate it for them. They were nice and she enjoyed being with them.

  “Look,” Paul pointed to a boy and girl they met earlier. She remembered them distinctly, especially since the boy, Jeff, wore a silly, neon hat and Gina had hair so pale it could probably be seen from space. They were laughing like loons as they passed a joint between them. A third girl, Sarah, whom they’d met as well, was with them. She, too, was laughing as she sat beside another boy whose name escaped her. His hair was styled in dreadlocks and he sat with his arm was draped over her shoulder and his eyes were squinted as he smiled goofily.

  “Oh wow,” Scott said flatly. “Looks like it’s about time.”

  “Yeah, they really should go home. They’re all messed up” Arianna added.

  Scott did not acknowledge what she’d said. He simply stared at the two couples with a strange look on his face. She did not appreciate being ignored and hoped that wasn’t what had happened.

  “They need to get home,” she said again to see if perhaps he hadn’t heard her the first time. She glanced at Scott, waiting for a response, but he remained focused on the four that stayed behind.

  “I’m going to win this one,” Chris came up and said behind Scott and seemed to break his concentration, a fact that irritated her.

  She had no idea what Chris was talking about and was about to ask when Jess chimed in.

  “No way, Chris, I’m going to kick both your asses.”

  “What are you,” Arianna began, but Scott had already leaned in to speak to the boy with the dreadlocks beside Sarah. He’d heard her speak all three times, she was sure of it, but had ignored her. She began to feel extremely annoyed. Seconds earlier, Scott couldn’t tear his eyes, or lips for that matter, off her. Now, she was nonexistent. And for what, a group of kids who were high as kites?

  “What’s your name again?” Scott asked dreadlock guy.

  “Steve,” the boy replied and his grin grew wider, sillier.

  “Okay, so we have Jeff, Gina, Sarah and Steve,” Scott announced and Arianna became more confused than she was a moment ago.

  “I get Steve!” Chris called.

  “I get Jeff,” Jess exclaimed.

  “Dibs on Gina,” Paul added.

  “I guess I get Sarah then,” Scott said.

  “What’re you guys talking about?” Jeff slurred.

  “Yeah, are we, like, picking dodge ball teams or something?” Steve asked.

  Scott laughed wickedly, a sound that did not look befitting his boy-band-member appearance. “Yes, something like that,” he replied to Steve. Then Scott raised his arms out in front of his body and pointed them at Sarah. He turned his wrists outward and gestured slightly and she jerked forward as if she were connected to his hands by invisible wires. Her dark curls jiggled and the expression on her face that had been happily high turned to one of fright.

  “What the hell is going on?” Sarah cried out, but Scott did not answer her. Instead, he clenched both fists and Sarah’s hands mimicked his motions.

  “Oh my god,” Arianna breathed as her mind struggled to fathom what she was looking at. The scene seemed absurd, impossible. Sarah was acting as though she were Scott puppet, doing what he
commanded her to do, moving as he ordered her to. For a moment, Arianna wondered whether she was high, whether some powerful hallucinogenic drug had been slipped in her beer and had actually had the potency to outdo her powers. “Scott, what the hell, what’s happening here?” she heard herself ask and her voice sounded as if it were echoing from the bottom of the ocean, muffled and distorted.

  Scott did not respond and her frustration mounted, along with fear. The sound of blood rushing behind her ears became a deafening roar, interrupted only by another voice, Chris’s voice.

  “Oh it’s on now!” Chris said excitedly and raised his hands before Steve. Steve pitched forward, his dreadlocks swinging, and moved clumsily toward Chris.

  Jess and Paul did the same and Gina and Jeff staggered from the fallen tree they’d sat upon.

  Arianna could not believe what she was seeing. She stood, stunned, mouth agape, unable to react for several seconds. A chill befell her body like an icy, wintery storm rushing through her veins and crystallizing her blood. She had to remind herself to breathe, and tried, but her lungs felt frozen.

  “What the fuck are you guys doing?” she heard herself question and while her voice sounded louder and stronger than it had moments ago, it still sounded foreign to her own ears, and weak.

  “Calm down Arianna,” Scott said exasperatedly. “We said you weren’t alone anymore. What did you think we meant?”

  “W-what?” she asked as the world began to swirl around her.

  “We know you’re one of us. We felt it the day you walked into school,” he said, but did not tear his eyes from Sarah, who trembled so powerfully, her tightly coiled hair quivered like Jello.

  The spinning quickened and the trees seemed to roll past her in a dizzying blur. They knew she was a witch, and they, too, were witches and warlocks. The notion was too much for her brain to process. She was not drugged. They were using their powers to manipulate people they’d met at the party like pawns.

  “What are you doing to them?” she managed to ask and pointed to Sarah.

  “It’s just a game we play,” Jess answered casually. “Chris won last time.”

  “Won? What?” her mind felt as if it were being swallowed by swirling quicksand.

  “Yeah,” Scott added and laughed. “So I owe him a beating.”

  “You guys have powers and this is what you do with them?” she cried, but no one acknowledged her.

  “He’s going to get that beating right now,” Scott said.

  At Scott’s challenge, Chris flicked his wrist and his dreadlocked boy stumbled toward Sarah.

  “What’s going on?” Chris’s person panicked as his body moved without his control. “Help me! Help!” he cried as he wobbled closer to Sarah. When he got within arm’s reach of her, Chris launched his arm out and Arianna watched in horror as the boy with the deadlocks’ arm did the same. Chris’s motion made the boy with the dreadlocks punch Sarah in the face with more power that he could have possibly had. Sarah’s head snapped back and blood spurted from her mouth. Her brow knitted and she cried out in pain.

  “Enough guys, this isn’t funny! Stop it!” Arianna shouted and felt as though she had been placed in a nightmare. But no one paid her any mind. Her frustration escalated to rage and she tried to move, to take a step forward toward Scott, but found her legs would not budge. “What the hell?” she fumed.

  “Ooh! That was a cheap shot!” Scott screamed in delight, disregarding her yelling then began moving his hands. As he did, Sarah marched, still bleeding, toward a thick tree branch and picked it up.

  “Oh god! Sarah!” Chris’s guy sobbed. “I-I don’t know what’s happening! Sarah, I’m sorry!”

  “Shut up,” Chris ordered him, annoyed.

  “I want in on this action!” Paul called out and began gesturing quickly. Paul’s motioning made Gina appear behind Sarah. Gina’s platinum-blonde hair glowed ethereally in the darkness as she moved, against her will, close to Sarah.

  Scott laughed aloud as he twisted his wrist several times and Sarah did the same, swinging the branch.

  “Please stop hurting them,” Sarah begged as tears and blood rained down her chin. “Please leave me alone.”

  “Scott don’t!” Arianna screamed just as Scott made Sarah swing the thick branch in her hand at Gina.

  “No!” she cried again, but it was too late.

  The limb smashed against Gina’s face with a stomach-turning thwack. She watched as a flurry of pale blonde, now tinged with red, fell to the ground. The red slowly edged out the blonde as Gina lay there, unmoving.

  Arianna tried to run again, to run to Gina who was face-down in a pool of her own blood, but her legs would not move.

  “Damn Scott! You got me again,” Paul called, and to anyone who did not see what he was doing, they would have thought he was jeering about a video game.

  “Oh my god! You bastard!” she called over and over again. “Why are you doing this?”

  “Yeah! That’s what I’m talking about!” Scott cheered as if she weren’t there. “Look out guys, I’m coming for you.”

  Everyone laughed except Arianna, and those being moved against their will.

  “Stop it!” Arianna screamed as crimson began to cloud her vision and a familiar feeling began to surge and course through her. She’d been trying to keep her powers under control, had successfully kept them at bay, though she did not know how she’d done it. Her legs were frozen, but her powers were not. She would not allow for innocents to be manipulated like pawns for Scott and the others’ sick enjoyment. She would stop them. She would punish them.

  Her entire body began to tremble and her fingertips tingled. The forest was suddenly silent, save for the roar of her lifeblood through racing her veins. She knew her eyes glowed red, and that a dangerous swell of power waited just beneath her skin, pulsing harshly, hissing like fiery serpents.

  “Uh oh,” Jess called out playfully as she glanced in Arianna’s direction.

  “Uh, George, a little help here,” Scott said and nodded at Arianna.

  “I have her immobilized,” he said flatly.

  “Well, then do something else,” Scott ordered him.

  George materialized from the shadows and raised his hands at her. When he did, she felt her fingertips go numb. The world, which seconds earlier was awash in a blood red hue, returned to normal. Arianna felt as if her power had seeped from her, as if she’d been drained of it. Her feet were still anchored to the earth beneath them.

  “What the hell are you doing to me?” she shouted.

  “I wouldn’t bother,” Scott said to her, acid lacing his words. “George’s power is that he can freeze everyone else’s. We never go out without him,” he laughed, a vile, cruel laugh.

  “Please,” she begged. “Scott, please stop this.”

  Scott glanced at her briefly and smirked. “I’m immune to pretty girls who beg,” he hissed. “But nice try, anyway.”

  Arianna felt her stomach roil angrily, as if somersaulting over a slithering beast inside her belly that moved unendingly. But that was it. The energy that would have heedlessly rushed from her core and stopped him had been immobilized. She was forced to watch in disgust as Scott moved Sarah like a marionette on strings guided by his malevolent hands. Blood and dirt streaked Sarah’s face as she cried and begged Scott to stop.

  “Please stop!” Sarah sobbed as she looked in fright at Gina who lay still in a garnet puddle.

  But Scott simply sneered at her, ignoring her pleas, and made her swing her branch again at the person closest to her. Steve, the boy with the dreadlocks, was nearest and trembled so violently, his twisted strands of hair looked as if they’d come to life. He tried to move, to run from Sarah, but Chris was too busy chatting with Jess and held his arms, unmoving, in front of him.

  “Like a cow awaiting slaughter,” Scott muttered as he angled his arm back as far as it would go. His stance was that of a baseball player intending to send a pitch sailing over the farthest fence of the playing field. Then
, with lightning-fast speed, he whipped it forward in a wide arc. Sarah’s arms did the same, only holding the thick branch.

  Arianna shrieked, “No!” but, it was too late.

  Steve’s eyes widened in fright before the branch crashed against his temple. The impact of the hit sent blood spraying in every direction, as well as one of his eyes, before he collapsed to the ground.

  “Oh my god! Oh no! You sick son of a bitch!” Arianna screamed

  Red colored the leaves around Steve’s head. He gurgled and convulsed several times before life escaped him.

  Ire coursed through Arianna’s veins like fire, raging and blazing, urging her body to act. But she was being held by George.

  George. The name raised every hair on her body like quills. She would have her moment with him if it were the last thing she ever did, but only after Scott were punished for what he’d done.

  Her thoughts of vengeance, though comforting, were fleeting. The carnage around her was overwhelming, but had yet to end. Sarah and Jeff remained. And Scott had already begun to send Sarah after Jeff.

  “Ugh! My guy is so boring!” Jess complained and set Jeff’s fists into motion.

  Jeff wept and he looked at his fists in disgust. Jess brushed her wrists forward and his feet moved without coordination right to Sarah.

  “W-what’re you doing? Don’t! No don’t!” Jeff cried as Jess inched him closer to Sarah’s deadly branch.

  “I’m bored already,” Jess sighed.

  “No!” Jeff called seconds before Scott cocked his arms back and swung again, making Sarah’s arms do the same.

  “No!” Jeff cried again. But his cries were interrupted by a sickly thud.

  He tumbled to the ground, crimson staining his neon hat. He tried to scramble to his feet, wounded, but still alive, when Scott sent Sarah to where he scrambled. He had her swing her branch high over her head then bring it down hard, again and again, until specks of blood and matter covered her face and Jeff’s skull had been caved in.