The crumpled invite was on my dresser. I’d gotten it via a guy at school over a week ago. I had no intention of going, until now. The party was in Babylon. That wasn’t too far from here. There would be kids from other schools, and lots of boys I didn’t know. Resigned to easing up some of the chaos, I turned and launched myself out my window and into the night.
When I arrived at the house, the party was well underway. It was one of the huge homes that lined the waterfront, with an equally huge lawn. It had a brick circle drive that was full of cars, with a huge three tier fountain in the center. Kids were milling about, unaffected by the crisp night air. Most had a drink in their hand, talking loudly over the throbbing music emitting a BOOM, BOOM, BOOM from the house.
I ducked through the door and navigated the crowds of kids, until I found the dance floor. The large room was filled with the smell of sweat, and lingering smoke. Windows opened to the back of the house, showcasing the waterfront. There were way too many kids in the space. It connected to another room that had an equal abundance of people. Hoping to get lost in the crowd, I shimmied my way through the maze.
Nicole and her drones stared at me as I passed. “Come to get laid, Virgin?” Nicole yelled, laughing at me. Her gaggle of friends sniggered. Her words caught the attention of a few guys standing nearby.
I walked up to her, looking into her perfect face, and answered loud enough for others to hear, “Yes.” Nicole was at a momentary loss for words. As I stepped away from her, a boy with brown hair and brown eyes smiled at me. His hair was hanging in his eyes. I walked over to him, and whispered in his ear. He put his hand on the small of my back, and grinned at Nicole, as we walked away. I smiled at her over my shoulder, waving, and said, “Thanks!” Her face pinched into a scowl.
We walked toward the back of the house, toward the darker corners of the room. Brown-haired boy leaned in, speaking loudly in my ear, “Hey. I’m…”
Turning toward him, I put my fingers over his lips to silence him. “I don’t want to know who you are.” Sliding my body up against his, I pushed him back into the wall, lacing my arms around his neck.
A smile spread across his face, as he realized what I was offering. His hands slid down my back, cupping my butt, as he pulled me to him. “Perfect.”
“Stop talking,” I commanded, pressing my body into him. My hands slid up to his face, and I pulled his mouth down on mine. I didn’t know who he was, and I didn’t care. It was perfect that way. Only a stranger could offer the escape I needed, and help me feel like I still had some control over my life. We stayed intertwined in the dark corner of the room, with hands sliding, touching, and tasting. The couples around us were moving at a slower pace, but I didn’t care. His lips moved down my neck. I started to melt, my knees buckling at the sensation. The rush of emotions was flooding me, and numbing my pain. It wouldn’t last long, but I might be able to make it last longer if I didn’t hold back this time. Thoughts ran through my mind, and I realized I’d decided what I came here to do before I arrived.
Did this really hurt me? I couldn’t remember from last time. It damaged my reputation, but I couldn’t remember anything else. Other sensations were slowing my thoughts. One strong hand was sliding under my low neckline, as his teeth grazed my neck in sharp kisses. A sigh escaped me, and I leaned into him. I threaded my fingers through his hair, and pulled firmly. His face came up from my neck with a boyish grin. He was breathing hard, and glistening. The room was warm before, but now it felt incredibly hot. Closing my eyes, I inhaled his scent. He smelled like spicy aftershave.
“Take me upstairs,” I said breathlessly. Smiling wide, we turned to walk up the stairs. His hands moved roughly over my body, as we stumbled up the stairs, and into a dark hallway. The guy was cut like a skater, with strong forearms, and an athlete’s tight body. I slid my hands under his shirt, as he pushed me into a wall at the top of the landing.
His lips moved across my neck, making me feel wonderfully warm. A hand slid under my shirt, and over my bra. The intoxicating bliss surged through me, and I moaned. He responded by sliding his other hand up my thigh, well under the hem of my skirt. Leaning into his hard body, I felt found for a moment. The overwhelming sense of being lost faded. It felt like everything would be fine. Strong arms held me, and nothing else could touch me. At least, I didn’t plan on it.
The icy hot sensation snapped me back to reality before I heard his chiding voice. “Ivy! What the hell are you doing! Look at me.” He pulled me away from skater boy. Collin’s blue eyes came into focus, as my buzz faded, leaving nothing but my drowning fear.
“Hey dude,” brown-haired boy said, “back off. She’s mine.” The guy tried to get Collin to let go of me, but he wouldn’t.
Too dazed to realize what was happening, I felt Collin in my mind. By the time he saw how screwed up I was, it was too late. I couldn’t hide my sinful intentions. His grip didn’t loosen. Instead, he shoved back my make-out buddy. “Fuck off. She’s mine.” I tried to twist my wrist out of Collin’s grip, but stuff got weird fast. His sadness and concern started to leak into my emotions and swirled together. But instead of mixing, they were remaining separate like swirled ice cream.
Heart racing, I tried to pull away from Collin. “Leave me alone, Collin. You don’t know…”
His grip tightened, as he stood between us. His face lowered and came down into mine, our noses almost touching. “I’m not leaving you to ruin your life. You said you were done with this shit, Ivy. What are you doing?”
“Hey man. She said back off. Back off.” Skater dude tried to be valiant, but failed.
Collin turned slowly, with rage in his eyes. He looked slightly insane. “If you want her, you’re gonna have to take her from me.” Collin yanked my other arm before I knew what happened. Moving quickly, he slung me over his shoulder, and ran.
“LET ME GO!” I screamed. I shrilled a terrified yell, as he bounded down the steps, and out the front door. My body bounced like a rag doll, and I half hung on for my life. Collin ran through the house, and burst through the front doors. He slowed in front of the illuminated fountain. I screeched, “Noooo!” before he dropped me, but I was already airborne. My body twisted, as I tried to stop myself from hitting the waist-deep water. The cold liquid sucked me under, crushing the breath out of my chest. My butt bumped into the cement bottom, and I staggered to my knees. The wind sent a chill through me, and my body shook as I glared at Collin. Water drained from the hair that was plastered to my face. Apryl’s comb was barely hanging on. Water filled my boots, and lots of other places that cold water shouldn’t go.
Anger flowed through me, white hot. At first, I just breathed, watching him. A crowd followed to see what would happen. Some kids said something about not wanting to be on the receiving end of that. Eventually, I threw my leg over the side of the fountain, and ran at him. My body slammed into his. My fists smacked into his chest, as I yelled up into his face. “You had no right! Who the hell do you think you are?”
Collin didn’t move. He let me vent, watching me with irritating calmness. His eyes had turned back to their normal hue, and not the impossibly deep blue that looked insane a few moments ago. Now I looked insane. The crowd was laughing. Some shouted stuff at us, but I was too pissed off to understand. I ignored all of them, except Collin. “How could you! What makes you think you could do this to me!” The shrill in my voice was dying, as the coldness seeped in. My anger was burning out, and the cold was taking over. My black chiffon outfit clung to my body; making me feel colder than I thought was possible. I stepped away from Collin, tears streaming down my face. Between sobs I said, “You should have left me alone.”
“I can’t leave you alone,” he stood, arms distance from me, looking hopelessly lost. “Nicole baited you. You didn’t really want to be with that guy.”
“Nicole did not bait me. I came here looking for him.” I couldn’t look at Collin. He didn’t understand. And I couldn’t tell him. His hands reached for me without hesitation, and h
e firmly gripped my upper arms. There were no icy hot tingles, just a blast of remorse that flooded through the bond.
“Ivy,” he breathed. “Just tell me. What’s got you so scared that you’d do this?” His voice was softer, “You used to tell me anything. And everything. We had no secrets. Just tell me.” His breath washed over my skin, startlingly warm.
Twisting my shoulders, I cleared my mind as I broke contact with him. “Things changed. It’s not like that anymore. I’m not the same girl anymore. If you don’t like it—too bad.” I folded my arms tightly, trying not to shiver. He straightened, looking as if I’d kicked him in the stomach. He took a step toward me. His eyes were trying to lock with mine. Determination was exuding from him.
“I know something happened to you—and it has you scared to death. The fear is rolling off of you, thick and heavy. It’s drowning you. You’re reaching out for random guys, so you can feel something besides the horrifying terror that’s consuming you.” I kept my face downturned, toward the ground, saying nothing. My entire body was numb. I couldn’t tell him he was right. He already knew it, anyway. His warm hand touched my face. He pulled it up to look him in the eye. “You’re still the same girl, whether you see it or not.”
Swallowing hard, I shook my face out of his grip. I answered, “You’ve never been so wrong.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Shannon emerged from the crowd with a surprised look on her face. She inserted herself between Collin and I, and then pulled me away from the staring eyes of the crowd we’d attracted. Nothing was said. Nothing had to be. I could see the look on her face, and I saw the thanks she nodded at Collin before she drove me home.
Soaked to the bone, I sat in her car, and blasted the heater in my face. Every attempt was made not to take out my anger on Shannon. I did something incredibly stupid, and got caught.
After a long silence she said, “Dumping you in cold water was the best thing he coulda did for you.” Turning my wet head, I stared at her. My eyebrow shot up, as my mouth fell open. She was siding with him? “No,” she said. “I’m serious. For Martis, cold water is like a reset button. It has the same shocking effect that cold water has on humans, but without any of the risk of hypothermia. The cold is supposed to purge ailments from immortals. Did it help?”
“Help?” I chattered. “Help! No, it didn’t help. He threw me in cold water, in front of everyone. Now, I’ll be the wet virgin. Awh, suck. That’s so much worse!” My head slumped forward, as I clutched my face.
“Ivy, you’re an idiot,” her sharp words shot through my pride in a way uniquely Shannon. “I’m not talking about your social standing. There’s no way that little display helped your social life. Although the skaters may avoid you now.” She smiled, suppressing a laugh. “Did it help you purge whatever was bugging you? I’m assuming the idea of being around Eric, and knowing who he is, had you freaked. Are you better now?”
“Maybe.” She glared at me while I sulked. “Okay, yes. It helped. That’s gone for now. But won’t it just come back?”
She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye, “Only if you let it.” Her face took on a star struck expression. “I wish I had enough guts to throw you in a fountain.” She laughed, “It’s almost like he knew that would snap you out of it. Too bad he’s not a Martis.” She wagged her eyebrows at me.
I stared at her in disbelief. “Awh crap, Shan. Now you like him? You can’t like him. You hate his guts. He hates you. You can’t like each other. My head will implode.”
The car came to a stop, a few doors down from my house. She smiled at me. “Maybe he’s not so bad. I mean, he kept you from indulging your inner-Valefar. Ivy, Martis don’t sleep around. That could have damaged the ratio of your inner good to bad. We don’t know what hurls you into the prophecy. Collin may have kept you from making a huge mistake.” She shrugged, “So, maybe he’s not so bad.”
“Come inside. I need to tell you something—about him—and me.” Seeing an odd look cross her face, I quickly added, “And it’s not what you think.”
After I changed into dry clothes, I felt better. Oddly, the dunk didn’t leave me chilled all night. It felt more like jumping into a cool pool on an insanely hot day. I felt refreshed, and the crushing fear was gone. Shannon sat at the foot of my bed. I plopped down on the pillows by the headboard.
“Shannon,” I said, “I think I’ve done something to Collin. I didn’t tell anyone else about it, because I thought it might be Valefar induced.”
Shannon nodded, green eyes widening. “Ivy, what’d you do?”
Taking a deep breath, I continued, “I don’t know. He can hear me. And I can hear him. It’s like mind reading, but more vivid. This sounds weird, but it feels like our spirits are intertwined—like we’re bonded or something. Tell me you’ve heard of this?” I gripped my fingers tightly.
She leaned back against the wall, looking very intrigued. “It’s only with Collin? Not anyone else?”
I nodded, “Only him.”
“Hmmm. Seyers have unique powers the rest of us don’t, but I’m not aware of anything like this. But, it doesn’t mean it’s not there. It means I’m not a Seyer.” She pulled her hair over her shoulder, twirling the ends.
“Who told you I’m a Seyer?” I asked. “I skipped that part earlier today.”
She shrugged, “Eric called me. I thought that probably added to your freak out, so I tried to track you down. By the time I found you, Collin had you in the fountain.”
“The Seyer thing didn’t help,” I acknowledged. “Al made it clear she knows I’m different, although she didn’t say she knows what I am. She seems to think I’ll do stuff. I have no idea if she knows that I’m tainted. But this? Shannon…” I sighed, running my fingers through my hair. “I’m afraid it’ll hurt him. I don’t know what it is, and whatever this is, this bond, it’s changing. It feels different. In the past I could only hear his thoughts by looking him in the eye and touching him. But tonight there was no need for either of those things. He heard me anyway.”
Shannon was quiet before she asked, “Did anything else change?”
Thinking about it, I wasn’t sure. The anger earlier had clouded everything else. Nodding, I said, “I can feel the bond. It felt like an old rubber band, tugging me toward him. When we separated, it didn’t like it. It felt stretched beyond comfort, and then it snapped. I was so mad, I didn’t notice.”
“You need to talk to Al. She’s your mentor. She’d know if bonding like that is Martis or not.” She sat up, looking at me.
“It’s the or not part that concerns me,” I said.
School the next day sucked. I managed to ruin my reputation, and flamed Eric’s in one glorious streak. There were hushed whispers of stopped conversations when I walked by. From what I heard, I cheated on Eric with skater-boy, which was horrible, because everyone thought Eric was a sweet guy. How could anyone do something like that to him? Then I was accused of having a fling with Collin, which is why he tossed me in the fountain in a jealous rage. Basically, I was crowned class slut. Nicole, of course, was thrilled with Collin’s humiliating actions. She made sure to tease me, as I walked into my first period class.
Mr. Turner paired everyone up for class work, and I had the joy of working with one of Nicole’s drones. Lily had an oval face, platinum blond hair, and bright red fingernails. She also had the trademark big boobs that made Nicole’s clique noticeable. She sneered at me when I scooted my desk over. “That was trampy—even for you.” Her lips pulled back into a disgusted expression, as she glared at me.
“Whatever, Barbie. Let’s just do the work.” I couldn’t look at her. Normally the clones didn’t bother me, and their chatter rolled off my back, but I felt raw. Her words stung.
She sneered, hissing as she leaned closer to me. “What’s it gonna take for you to notice him? It’s cruel—what you do—leading him on. Dating any other guy. Sucking face with some skater freak, when he’s right in front of you.”
I dropped my pen, and
glared at her. “I am not leading Collin on. Listen, I…”
She cut me off before I could finish the rest of my thought. “No, you listen, you little slut,” she sneered poking her pen into my arm. “Nicole didn’t want me to say anything, but I can’t stand watching you torture Collin anymore. Since you’re too stupid to notice, I’m telling you—he loves you. Get it through your thick skull.” My mouth fell open in disbelief, but I couldn’t get a word in. She hissed, “A guy doesn’t act like that for a fling. He doesn’t scoop up a girl and carry her away from another guy if he’s just a friend. The rest of us hang on him, but he doesn’t notice us, we’re like air—invisible. But not with you. Never with you. He runs after you, checks on you, does stuff for you, gave you that ring you’re wearing. He loves you. Stop treating him like crap.”