Chapter 13
After a night spent drifting in and out of restless, nightmare-laden sleep, Arianna woke to the sound of the front door opening. The sound startled her. She opened her eyes and sat upright, alerted, only to see shadows covering her room with dusky fingers. A thin stream of light trickled in from the kitchen through her partially open door and cast eerie shades on familiar objects. A quick glance at the alarm clock on her nightstand revealed that it was just after three in the morning. She climbed out of bed and listened at her door. Footsteps padded upon the carpeting and the jangle of keys rattled. She assumed her mother had returned home alone after a night out until a man’s voice echoed down the hallway. It was immediately followed by her mother’s laughter. Clearly, her mother had brought a friend home.
She nearly groaned aloud. Another man would be sharing her mother’s bed. She knew she shouldn’t be as annoyed as she was. After all, he was just one among a seemingly unending line of suitors. Arianna felt nauseated. Too little sleep and too much stress united and aggravated an already offensive situation. She slammed her door shut, an immature message to her mother that she was awake and did not approve, but a message, nevertheless. Shushing followed by giggling suggested that both her mother and the mystery man were intoxicated. The situation was not unfamiliar. In fact, it was all too familiar to Arianna. But her blood boiled more than ever before. She collapsed on to her bed and rested her head on her pillow. Her alarm clock had been set to ring in three hours. She needed to force herself to fall back asleep, but as riled as she was, she felt it impossible.
To her surprise, sleep found her faster than she could have guessed. But it was not peaceful sleep. Horrific images flashed over and over, images of burning people tethered to posts, screaming and pleading for help, for mercy. But neither help nor mercy came for them. Instead, cloaked shapes chanted, their voices carrying in the wind as unnervingly as a haunting wind shrieking through trees.
When the shrill cry of her alarm clock sounded, she did not stir immediately, rather she believed her dream had continued. But a brightened sky peeked through the narrow rectangular window overhead and warned that a new day had begun. A night of broken sleep that had been filled with nightmares and gruesome images did little to lift her heavy heart. In fact, dawn brought with it not only the recurring recollection of her dreams, but also the realization that she would see Luke again at school. He had not mentioned picking her up for school as he’d done in days past. She guessed she was on her own.
Thoughts of Luke made her throat squeeze and brought an instant sting to her eyes. But she forced herself up to a sitting position and slid her body out of bed. After gathering her clothes quickly, she headed to the bathroom, confident she would not run into her mother or her mother’s overnight guest. Both had been drunk hours earlier and had likely fallen asleep not long before her alarm had sounded. She brushed her teeth and washed her face then styled her hair. A few quick coats of mascara and a swipe of eyeliner completed her morning beauty routine and she was left with the task of figuring out how she would get to school. She strode down the hallway, not bothering to make an attempt at quieting her movements. She gathered her backpack and rummaged through it to be certain she had a full pack of cigarettes then stepped outside.
The morning was unseasonably warm. A fine drizzle fell from gray skies and a balmy breeze blew. She pulled a cigarette from her pack and placed it between her lips. She ignited her lighter and watched as the flame wavered in the winds. With her cigarette lit, she drew smoke from it and inhaled it deeply into her lungs. As she did so, she glanced about the trailer park and noticed that someone watched her.
“Hey asshole! I thought I warned you not to spy on me!” she threatened and knew she could support any threat she made.
His face disappeared from the grimy window of his trailer. She was about to breathe a sigh of relief when it reappeared attached to a body at his front door.
She immediately dropped her cigarette and turned toward him, her stance defensive, prepared. With her feet spaced shoulder-width apart and her hands on her hips, she squared off with one of the least attractive men she’d ever seen.
She expected him to come out shouting, or angry, at the very least. She had called him an asshole, after all, and most people did not prefer to be called that. But instead of yelling, he smiled at her. His teeth were a dull greenish brown and looked as though they were all competing for the same spot in his mouth. Overlapped and jagged, his teeth made his smile look more like a grimace. He held up his hands in surrender.
“Just gettin’ my paper is all,” he called out to her. “Don’t want no trouble.”
He seemed harmless enough, but Arianna was unsettled that he always watched her. Even when she didn’t see him as she came and went, she always felt his eyes on her.
“Why do you always watch me?” she asked him and surprised him as well as her.
He froze reaching to pick up the newspaper laying on his stoop. “I, uh, I guess, well, I guess I just like to look at pretty things,” he said and shrugged.
His candor caught her off guard, disarmed her briefly. She didn’t know why, but she’d expected him to say something rude. She’d braced herself for it. But he had not. He’d responded simply, and sincerely. She did not know what to say.
“Thanks, I guess,” she muttered.
“I don’t have much to do most days. But I like to watch birds and butterflies and flowers in the spring. Your mom is real pretty, too.”
“Hmm,” was all Arianna could say and nodded. Then a thought occurred to her. “Hey, you don’t happen to know the bus schedule around here, do you?”
He stood clutching his newspaper in front of him and twisted his mouth to one side, deep in thought. “Why yes, yes I do,” he exclaimed excitedly. “The number seven bus comes by here at 6:48 a.m. It runs down the county road and out past the high school.”
Arianna glanced at her watch and saw that it was already 6:45 a.m. If she hurried, she might make it to the end of the park in time to catch the bus. She slung her backpack over her shoulder and began jogging, but not before thanking the man who’d watched her since the day she and her mother had arrived.
“Thanks,” she said.
“Absolutely no problem,” he replied closing his eyes and shaking his head from side to side enthusiastically.
His goofy,unfortunate looking smile confirmed that she’d said the right words and she headed toward the end of the long pathway leading out of her trailer park. She reached the end of it just in time to see a bus approaching. The doors opened and she stepped inside. After paying her fare, she took a seat at the rear of the bus. Few people were seated and all bore the same defeated expression.
The ride was short and stopped just next to the gas station near the driveway of Herald Falls High School. She jumped off and dashed inside the market of the gas station of purchase a buttered roll and a hot chocolate. Deep within her, a voice whispered that she would need as much strength and sustenance as she could get for the day ahead of her. She ate quickly as she walked and made it to school in time for the first bell.
The first half of the school day had passed uneventfully. She had not seen Luke yet and wondered whether he had taken the day off. She’d sworn she’d seen Stephanie, but wasn’t sure. When the bell ending fourth period sounded and officially began lunch period, Arianna went directly to the cafeteria. She had not packed a lunch and needed to buy a sandwich. In the service area, she grabbed what looked like chicken salad on wheat bread and a carton of chocolate milk. She turned and was about to pay when she nearly walked into Bulldog. He was with Beth, and though they’d narrowly avoided a collision, when she looked up at him about to crack a joke about it, he merely looked over her head as if she wasn’t there. Neither he nor Beth acknowledged her. She felt heat creep up her neck and color her cheeks, embarrassment and sadness joining forces. She dropped her gaze imme
diately, an uneasy knot twisting in her stomach. She turned from them awkwardly, her hands trembling, and pretended to examine a display of fruit, picking up and sniffing an orange. Her hair covered her face like a dark curtain and she stole a look from behind it and saw them leave. She dropped the orange where she’d found it and gripped the plastic tray that held her food so tightly, her knuckles whitened. Bulldog and Beth had reacted to her peculiarly. She wondered what Luke had told them. Perhaps he’d told them he and Arianna had broken up. Perhaps he’d told them everything. She did not know. She needed to speak to Luke.
After paying the cashier for her lunch, Arianna rounded the corner of the service area and saw that Bulldog and Beth had joined Mike, Carrie, Ryan and Christa at a table in the far corner of the cafeteria. Seconds later, Luke strolled in wearing his usual warm grin. He sat with his friends, then, as if sensing her eyes on him looked up and made eye contact with her for a fleeting moment. In the instant that he’d locked eyes with her, she’d tried to convey a psychic message that they needed to talk, but was met with a steely gaze, one that warned her to stay away. She dropped her eyes to her tray and found an empty table at the opposite end of the lunchroom.
Alone, she set her lunch down and fought tears that threatened. Determined not to cry, she opened her sandwich and began eating it. The mayonnaise tasted sour and the bread, chalky, but she did not care. She ate to have something to do. Leaving would mean they’d won, that they’d succeeded in making her so uncomfortable that fleeing was the only option. Instead, she ate her vile lunch, swallowed every bite despite a growing urge to vomit. She dug through her backpack and produced a textbook and began flipping through its pages.
As she did so, she began to pick up on snippets of conversations from neighboring tables. A familiar voice nagged at her ear, Cheryl’s voice.
“Aww, look at her,” she said sarcastically. “She has no one. Even the rejects don’t want her anymore!”
Arianna glanced up and saw that Cheryl watched her, and that a few of her friends had turned in their seats to watch as well. None of them knew that she could hear them. None of them knew of her powers; she hoped.
“She’s looking at us,” a female voice said concernedly. “Do you think she knows we’re talking about her?”
“That trashy bitch has no idea. Just smile like you do at your stupid-ass poodle, Lisa,” Cheryl said.
Lisa smiled at Arianna as she was told and Arianna was sure she knew just who the dumb bitch among them was.
“See, she has no idea,” Cheryl hissed encouragingly.
Lisa laughed nervously and Arianna smiled in their direction before erecting her middle finger at them.
“I told you!” Lisa accused Cheryl. “She heard us!”
Cheryl ignored Lisa, her focus on Preppy-boy who had just sauntered into the cafeteria.
“How does my hair look?” she asked Lisa and smoothed her golden locks. “Do I look okay?”
“Yes,” Lisa replied exasperatedly. “You look the same as you always do.”
“Good because he wants to do it again today after school and I want to look as…appealing as possible,” she crooned and unbuttoned the top button of her sweater.
“Oh God,” Lisa groaned.
Arianna was done listening to Cheryl’s nasty conversation and decided it was time to leave. Lunch was almost over and three more classes were scheduled before the school day ended.
She endured English class, barely, and had nearly sprung from her seat when it finally ended. She was eager to leave the class, leave the school. But she needed to speak with Luke, if for no other reason than to discuss how she would get her motorcycle back from him. She regretted accepting his offer, regretted ever meeting him. She had allowed him the smallest sliver of access to her heart only to be frozen out. She’d seen her mother go through breakup after painful breakup, and seen her lose a bit of herself each time. Arianna did not want to be like her mother, even if it meant never loving another person. She’d come so close that night in the motel, so close to surrendering to Luke’s sweetness and innocence. Her fantasy of Desmond had been a blessing in disguise. It had snapped her back to reality.
Her mind swam with frustration, so much so that she only caught the tail end of a rude comment hurled at her from a small cluster of people gathered by the lockers to her left. She heard her name and the word “loser” attached to it. She stopped and glared at the group. A staccato laugh followed by blonde hair being tossed arrogantly over one shoulder divulged the source of the comment. Cheryl stood with Preppy-boy, a nervous looking Lisa and two other girls she did not recognize.
“See, she knows her name,” Cheryl said in a cloying, bitter tone. “She responds when we call her ‘loser.’”
Cheryl laughed again and Arianna felt her insides heat, her blood simmering and pulsing through her veins.
“What are you looking at, loser?” Cheryl asked acidly.
Unable to withstand the vicious taunt any longer, Arianna dropped the books she clutched in her arms and strode up to the group. “What did you just say?” she asked, inches from Lisa’s face.
The two unfamiliar girls stepped back, away from Lisa, and away from Arianna. “I-I didn’t say anything,” Lisa replied in a trembling voice.
“How about you, bitch?” Arianna said directing her icy gaze to Cheryl.
The chatter in the hallway hushed as Arianna concentrated and focused all of her attention on Cheryl. Cheryl tipped her chin up haughtily and tossed her hair over her shoulder. “Ha! You’re calling me a bitch? Aren’t you the loser who got dumped by the biggest rejects in this school? You’re pathetic!”
Without warning, a crimson shade colored Arianna’s vision. She reached out both hands and shoved Cheryl. Surprised, Cheryl flew backward, a blur of blonde hair and designer clothes, slammed against her locker then landed on her backside, hard. Preppy-boy, eager to defend his partner of convenience, grasped Arianna’s upper arm. All she felt was the bite of fingers digging into her skin and she turned on him, and gripped the wrist of the hand that held her. She yanked it from her body and twisted it. Preppy-boy howled in pain. But his pain did not deter Arianna. All she could see were red shapes, red shapes who had hurt her.
Holding the arm she’d twisted behind his back, Arianna pushed Preppy-boy headfirst and he smashed into a row of lockers. He fell to the ground, his eyes dazed an unfocused. She was about to turn to the group and see if any of them had insults to offer when a vice-like grip seized her arm and spun her around.
“Arianna!” a voice spoke. “What the hell are you doing?”
The scarlet cloak that shrouded her eyes evaporated and she saw a pair of gray eyes glowering at her. Luke squeezed her upper arm.
“Luke,” she said struggling to catch her breath.
His face held no anger, and it held no affection either, just fear and something else she could not name exactly. But it was not good. His expression was a blend of shame and disgust, of embarrassment and repulsion. He looked at her as if he was seeing her for the first time, but only saw a monster, not her. He slowly released his grip on her arm and shrunk back, and she knew his feelings for her had slipped away just as readily. She tried to draw in breath, the pain in her chest sudden, but her lungs felt like they had shrunk, refusing to fill. The air she breathed burned in her throat, ached in her core.
Luke lowered his eyes to the floor and turned his head. She took a last look at his profile, his spiky black hair, his full, soft lips, then ran out of the building. She did not know where she was going, did not care, but knew she could not spend another second in Herald Falls High School.
She’d only made it to the edge of the parking lot where school property met with the main road when Desmond appeared. His large biceps bulged intimidatingly as he crossed both arms across his broad chest. His face, typically the epitome of calm, looked livid and she could see a small muscle in his jaw tense and flex. She?
??d had an awful couple of days, and judging from the look on his face, knew that her day was about to get much worse. He leveled his sky-blue gaze at her and with her own eyes, pleaded with him wordlessly to go easy on her. When his features softened and his arms dropped to his sides, she wondered whether he’d heard her silent plea. She also could not help but notice how, even in the harsh gray light of the gloomy day, he looked like a golden god cast to Earth from the heavens, an angry god, but a god, nonetheless.
When she was close enough to smell his spicy aftershave mingling with the faint scent of leather, he spoke only three words.
“Come with me,” he said in his rich, soothing voice. He reached out a large hand and she placed hers in it. With her hand in his, she felt a tingle begin in her palm and travel up her arm as gently as a summer breeze blowing across her skin, warm and welcoming. The inviting sensation was immediately followed by his energy flowing through her, thrumming in time with her heartbeat, wafting through every part of her. The anguish she’d felt over recent days began to fade, replaced by a sense of peace.
The world around them, leaden and dreary, began to fade. Desmond pulled Arianna close to him and enveloped her in his powerful arms. Her legs threatened to give way beneath her as all of her worries seeped from her. She closed her eyes, relishing in the feel of his body against hers, his masculine scent; his protection. When she opened them, lush fields of green dotted with blossoms in vibrant shades of pink and purple surrounded her. Herald Falls had disappeared completely. The clouds and drizzle were replaced with brilliant sunlight that kissed the vivid landscape. The stagnant air polluted with the stench of car exhausts passing on the county road they’d stood near moments earlier had been traded for a refreshing breeze that stirred tall grass and the faint sound of birds chirping. She recognized the field they stood in immediately, it was where he’d taken her the night she’d encountered the attackers at the Blue Ivy nightclub.
Desmond stood just inches from her, bathed in golden light that caressed each of his magnificent features. She wanted to remain encircled in his muscular arms, breathing in his intoxicating scent, but reluctantly stepped back.
“We need to talk,” he said gently.
“Amazing, someone actually wants to talk to me,” she said dejectedly.
Around Desmond, she did not have to pretend. She did not need walls to protect her. He knew what she was, had always known, and did not reject her.
“I am sorry for what has happened to you, for what is happening” he began. “Nothing has ever been easy for you.”
Arianna blinked feverishly, fighting tears that welled and fell despite her effort.
“But it is imperative that you learn to control your emotions,” he continued.
“That’s easier said than done,” she mumbled.
“I know. Believe me. I have been through it myself,” he surprised her by saying. “But your powers are far greater than mine were or will ever be. And you need to control them. What happened today, at your school, can never happen again. Do you understand me?”
“Of course I understand you! Do you think I want to be this way? I have no one. No one at all,” she said her eyes overflowed with emotion.
Desmond reached out and took her hands in his. “You are never alone,” he assured her. “I am always a heartbeat away. You have me.”
Arianna looked up into his cerulean eyes and saw nothing but kindness and warmth shining in them. She wanted to believe in something, in him.
“But you’ve only come to me a handful of times.”
“You’ve only ever wanted me a handful of times,” he replied softly.
“I always want you,” she murmured and buried her face in his chest.
The sudden realization of what she’d said sent her pulse racing and color to her cheeks. She hadn’t given any thought to her words, had just blurted them out.
“I am here,” he said and surrounded her with his arms, with his body.
She allowed her form to meld to his, felt the heat of his skin through his fitted T-shirt.
“You will learn to manage your powers,” he said. She looked up at him and he brushed her cheek with his knuckles. The contact sent a shiver across her skin. “It will get easier.”
“How?” she asked.
“First, you will need to stay away from people who evoke strong emotional reactions from you.”
“So, I’m guessing no school, right?”
“And no Luke,” he said then added thoughtfully, “You should not have given yourself to him. He isn’t worthy of you.”
“Wait, what?” Arianna asked and wondered how Desmond could have possibly known about her night with Luke. “How did you know?”
“I saw,” Desmond replied evenly.
“You saw?” she asked incredulously. “As in you saw us, you know, doing it.”
Arianna felt her cheeks blaze and leaned back.
“Unfortunately, yes. I saw the two of you begin your intimate moment,” he said and Arianna thought she heard a hint of jealously in his voice. She quickly dismissed it, though. How could Desmond possibly be jealous of Luke? The fleeting thought seemed outlandish. Desmond looked like a god, and Luke looked like an average teenager. Regardless, she decided to accuse him, if for no other reason than to punish him for invading her privacy.
“You sound jealous, Desmond,” she accused and stepped away from him.
“Jealous? That’s absurd!” he said and crossed his arms over his chest.
“You sure seem it!” she pressed. “And I bet you put that image in my head of you all shirtless when Luke and I were doing it.”
Desmond visibly cringed at the words “doing it,” then his expression changed unexpectedly, and a smirk spread across his lips. “You thought of me while you were intimate with Luke?” he asked and appeared pleased.
“Yeah, like you didn’t know. Like you didn’t put that image in my head,” she egged him on.
“Arianna, your thoughts and fantasies are your own. I do not have the power to make you think or do anything you do not want to think or do. So if you thought of me while with Luke,” he started and his sky-blue eyes suddenly danced with delight.
“Don’t even say it!” she interrupted him before he could finish his sentence. “And don’t talk to me like you’re my father because I’ve never had one and don’t need one now!”
“Father?” he asked and looked injured.
Thrilled she’d hit a nerve and ruffled his seemingly unflappable feathers, she persisted. “Well you say you’ve been hovering around me my whole life, like a father.”
Desmond took a step forward and gripped her arms, “I feel nothing fatherly toward you,” he said and his aquamarine eyes smoldered. He pulled her close. Arianna could feel his breath hot on her lips. She wondered whether he was going to kiss her, wished he would kiss her. But he did not. Instead he embraced her and placed her head against his chest, over his heart.
With her body pressed against Desmond’s, she felt the slight adrenaline rush she’d felt while arguing with him dissipate. She felt as though their powers were mingling, felt the calming presence of his energy flowing through her in a steady current. Yet in that current, she still detected the slightest hint of jealousy concerning her night with Luke. She ignored it, however, chalked it up to wishful thinking.
“I hate to bring him up again,” she said softly. “But Luke has my motorcycle, and I need it back.”
“I will get you another motorcycle if that is how you chose to travel.”
“Well, I can’t afford a car. Besides, I love the freedom of riding,” she said and envisioned herself on an open road, the wind in her face, the sun shining.
“A motorcycle it is, then,” he agreed. “In the meantime, stay close to home. I will stay close, as well. I can be with you every moment your mother is not around. It will give us time to work on breathing and relaxation techniques that will help you channel
your powers more responsibly.”
The news that she’d be spending more time with Desmond was the best new she’d received in quite some time.
“Okay,” she said. “But what about Howard Kane?”
The mention of Howard Kane clouded Desmond’s glorious features. “He is close, and you will face him soon. That is why we need to ready you,” he said firmly.
His words suggested she would be preparing for battle, a battle she would be fighting alone. Her heart sank to her stomach and she let go of Desmond.
Sensing her reaction, he pulled her closer. “You will not be alone against Kane,” he said. “He wants us all dead. We will help you as much as we can. Ultimately, though, you will be the one to kill him.”
Arianna squeezed her eyes shut and refused to acknowledge what he had just said. Instead, she focused on the even beat of his heart.
“It is time to return,” he whispered. And with his words, the flowery meadow began to evaporate. Light filled her field of vision, brilliant white light. Desmond and his warmth surrounded her once again, covering her body with wisps of awareness, light and feathery.