The Ruby (The Hidden Gems Book 1)

by R. Getsee

  I traced the symbol reverently, my fingers drifting over the three jagged lines that looped around each other to form three separate points. Five little symbols were etched around it, which I had discovered were the five main symbols for what humans who believed in magic considered to be the spiritual elements—fire, water, earth, air, and spirit.

  “Hey, the symbol on the cover matches your tattoo,” Emi commented, suddenly beside me.

  I snorted. “Very funny.” She shot me a questioning look. “I don’t have a tattoo, Emi. I mean, I’d love to get one, but I pass out at the sight of needles.”

  She blinked slowly before whipping out her phone and darting behind me. Her hands moved my hair slightly before I heard the shutter of her camera app.

  “What was that about?” I asked her, and she silently handed me her phone.

  I blinked at the screen, trying to make sense of what was in front of me. There, nestled half-hidden by my black and green locks, was an exact replica of the symbol on the book, branded on my skin right next to the ugly port stain birthmark I’d always hated.

  “The hell?” I asked, not able to utter another word.

  “I noticed it that day we were doing your makeover. I presumed you knew about it since… well, you know, it’s on your skin.”

  “It wasn’t there before school started.” I was certain of that, since the summer before I had been getting crap about my birthmark from one of the girls at my old school and had considered getting it removed.

  “Well, I guess that confirms that the book it somehow connected to you,” Jared said as he picked it up from where I laid it on the bed while I looked at Emi’s phone. He pressed the heavy weight into my hands.

  With shaking hands, I opened the thick cover, making the paper whisper slightly as it rubbed against each other. I felt a surge of disappointment as I looked at the writing on the page, finding the same archaic language that was written in the scrolls.

  “It’s useless,” I said, annoyance lacing my tone as I flipped through it, relaying what I’d discovered to the small group.

  I heaved a sigh, turning the last page before giving up. We spent the rest of the day watching crappy movies and gorging ourselves on popcorn, deciding that we all needed a break from the stress.

  The only bright side was that, if we ever managed to decode it, it was definitely connected to the scrolls. Also, considering I wore its brand on my neck, it must be connected to my powers and whatever age-old prophecy was trying to kick my ass before I’d even figured out what it was.

  There was a dull thwack as yet another sheet of balled up paper hit me on the back of the head. I tried to focus on the board as the teacher rambled on about some ancient war between two vamp families while I was continuously pelted with paper.

  History was the only class I had with both Athena and Torah. With Professor Carlisle once again out, the class could get away with pretty much anything so long as the substitute didn’t catch you in the act.

  Since the rumor mill dried up—no one really believed anything the two of them said about me anymore—they now settled for petty grievances, such as shoulder-checking me in the hall or trying to distract me in class by throwing paper, or sometimes blowing spitballs. It was gross and unhygienic and they were really starting to get on my nerves.

  My next cuss was much louder as something sharp hit my neck before clattering to the floor, making me hiss in pain as a sharp sting throbbed through the area that had been hit.

  I reached up, wincing as my fingers found the sensitive flesh and I wiped away a small drop of blood that had beaded there. When I glanced back to the front, I found Professor Ellis glaring at me.

  He was probably one of the oldest vamps on campus, nearing one hundred and twenty, which probably explained his hatred of cursing. I cringed apologetically and ducked to pick up the expensive silver fountain pen that was the culprit of my latest injury.

  “Oh, Alex, could you be a dear and hand me back my pen? I think I dropped it in shock when I heard your expletives.” Athena’s voice was filled with honeyed sweetness as she held out her hand expectantly and Professor Ellis made a tsk noise, chastising me.

  “Sure,” I spat between gritted teeth, holding the pen out for her to take.

  Her eyes narrowed, and she grinned, an evil look in her eyes as she shoved her hand forward on the sharp point suddenly, creating a small gash in her palm.

  “Ow,” she shrieked, making sure everyone in the classroom focused on her. “Professor Ellis, Alex just stabbed me!”

  “Miss Morgan?” The wrinkly old teacher raised his eyebrows, a scowl already in place from the disruption alone.

  “No, I didn’t.” I glared at Athena. This girl was actually next level crazy.

  “I cannot have disruptions in class, Miss Morgan. Please wait outside until the end of class.”

  I opened my mouth to defend myself as Torah hissed, “You heard him, get out, freak.”

  Rage filled me as heat surged under my skin, and crackling electricity shot out from my splayed fingers, jumping into the desk below them and leaving a blackened scorch mark behind.

  “Now,” Professor Ellis glared, pointing a finger to the door, “before I send you to the headmaster’s office.”

  My chair made a loud scraping noise as I got to my feet, my face burning at the attention from the onlookers. The noise rang in my ears as I walked to the door, my footsteps echoing around the silent classroom, everyone staring at my humiliation with open amusement.

  I leaned against the wall as the door closed behind me, slowly sliding as sudden fatigue dragged me down until I was sitting on the floor. The adrenalin and anger that had been coursing through me moments earlier now faded as I sat there struggling to keep my eyes open.

  I hadn’t realized that I was starting to drift until a familiar voice spoke from above me.

  “So that was intense.” I jumped from my slumber, my eyes finding Roman as he smiled down at me. “Did you wipe out again?”

  “Yeah, I guess,” I said, struggling to stand before giving up and slouching back down and leaning against the cool wall. “I think I accidentally used multiple elements… I’ve never manifested electricity by myself before.”

  “That’s probably why you were snoring so loud,” he joked, his tone was light but his eyes were full of concern.

  “I did not!” I choked indignantly.

  He chuckled softly, crouching and brushing a piece of hair that had fallen over my face back behind my ear. My stomach fluttered at his gentle touch. I had never put much stock in the whole idea of getting butterflies from a guy, but there was definitely some sparkage going on.

  Roman opened his mouth to speak, his eyes darting to my mouth, but seemed to think better of it. He stood and grabbed my hand to pull me up with him, and I subtly tried to wipe the corner of my lips, checking for drool.

  “There’s something I want to show you.” He grinned, mischief dancing in his eyes as he turned, dragging me quickly along the main hallway and towing me up a few flights of stairs.

  “Is this the part where the girl carelessly follows the cute guy to her death?” I joked as he tugged me through a doorway partially hidden by a pillar leading into yet another stairwell.

  “You think I’m cute?” His smile widened as I blushed, silently cursing the lack of filter between my brain and mouth.

  “You’re okay, I guess.” I shrugged, but his laughter echoed against the cream walls as we traveled up.

  My brow quirked as I read a sign stuck to the door at the top. “Roof access?” I asked, curiosity burning through me. “Are you sure you’re not planning to kill me?”

  “Just trust me,” he grumbled in exasperation.

  “Easy for you to say, you’re not about to be killed by an ax murderer.”

  “Hey, I’m far too cute to be an ax murderer, remember?” He winked then rolled his eyes as I stuck my tongue out at him, muttering about maturity not being measured by beauty.

  My heart squeezed
painfully as I realized what he had said, my witty banter cut off as we finally passed through the doors, and my jaw drooped at the sight in front of me.

  17

  Alex

  Filled with the light of the full moon, hundreds of fireflies flitted around, illuminating the most beautiful rooftop garden I had ever seen.

  Huge flowers of all shapes and colors filled the large spaces between thick, leafy bushes and trees that towered up into the sky, the concrete walls covered in intricate lattice panels were entwined with creeping vines and rose bushes filled with fragrant petals.

  “What is this place?” Awed wonder filled my voice as I looked around.

  “The school used to be a college for humans, so this was built for the landscaping department.” Roman’s voice held just as much amazement as mine as he looked around the vast space. “I guess the janitor couldn’t bring himself to destroy this place when the vamps took it over.”

  I inhaled deeply, the scent of roses and honeysuckle filled my nose. “It’s…” I trailed off, unable to think of the words that could even begin to describe it.

  “I know.” Glancing over at him, I knew he felt the same sense of peace that I did.

  “So how did you find this place?” I asked.

  He winked. “I explore.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Wow, that’s anticlimactic.”

  “Anticlimactic?” He raised his eyebrows and grabbed my hand again, sending warm tingles up my arm that made my breath catch as he pulled me through a small opening between a couple of thorny bushes. “I haven’t even shown you the best part yet.”

  I gave a little shriek as we jogged down the little path, my clothes catching on the little twigs and thorns, snagging at us as we passed. I cursed under my breath, straightening my shirt and picking a couple of leaves out of my hair.

  Roman grinned, his whole face lit up as he brushed back an overhanging branch, revealing a hidden wrought iron staircase that wound upward in a tight spiral, the top hidden amongst the trees.

  “Well?” he questioned. “Are you coming up or what?”

  I snorted. “There’s no way in hell I’m climbing that thing.”

  The large branches of the trees surrounding us spanned out, obstructing my view of what waited up there. It could be a dead-end, or rusted enough that it was degraded and would collapse as soon as we too high to escape.

  “It’s safe,” he promised, holding my hand a little tighter as he looked into my eyes. “Do you trust me?”

  I nodded reluctantly and followed as he ascended. I gripped the railing tight, the cold metal biting into my palm as I half crawled up behind him. My eyes bugged out as we finally reached the top, taking in the small metal balcony with a spindly table and matching bench made from the same dark metal.

  “Wow,” I breathed when my eyes found the amazing view before me. The mountains on the horizon were silhouetted against the large silver orb in the sky, the streetlights from the world below twinkling in the darkness as far as my eyes could see.

  “I come up here to think,” he said quietly.

  I turned my gaze to Roman, catching him looking out at the garden below with a thoughtful expression.

  “What do you think about?”

  “It’s complicated,” he said quietly. “There’s something I’m supposed to do, kind of a family legacy, and sometimes I think it’s too big for me to handle, too big of a burden to think about.”

  “Then don’t think about it,” I said simply.

  I realized how close we stood, almost touching, but I didn’t want to move. I didn’t want to draw away from his warmth, yet I didn’t want to risk breaking the moment by moving closer, either.

  His eyes seemed to shine a deeper blue as he leaned forward, picking a leaf that I’d missed from my hair. My breath quickened, and I swallowed as his eyes darted again to my lips and dilated, my mouth drying in anticipation as I waited for the kiss about to happen.

  The loud clanging of the bell startled us, and we jumped apart just before our lips met. We looked at each other awkwardly, breathing heavily, the moment clearly broken.

  Roman cleared his throat. “We should be getting to class,” he said as he rubbed the back of his neck before turning and all but running down the staircase, leaving me alone to make sense of my scrambled thoughts and what the hell just almost happened.

  The next couple of days passed quietly without any visions, attacks, or confrontations with confusing boys. As we progressed in physical education, we had started to learn martial arts and other forms of hand-to-hand combat in order to increase our capacities to use affinities without so much fatigue or risk of burnout.

  After my experience with burning out, I was more than happy to put in the effort, even though it meant me getting body slammed into training mats by a bunch of sweaty jocks multiple times a day, and especially if it meant that I’d be able to defend myself against an attack if it happened again.

  If the Elementals wanted me, they were sure to try again, eventually. It had always been clear that they didn’t care much for collateral damage—hell, they were the vampire equivalent of the freaking Nazis. Anything that could help me protect myself and the people I loved would mean everything to me.

  Roman had turned back into his distant, aloof self since the roof incident. Since he hadn’t been around to distract us, Emi, Jared, and I had been locked in my room every day after school, sometimes pulling all-dayers as we tried to wade through the massive amounts of papers and scrolls in an attempt to find something that would let us translate them—and other than one page which held useless information, written in Sanskrit, we hadn’t been having any luck.

  “Alex?” Moira asked.

  I looked up, embarrassed that I had once again been caught with my head deep in thought as the conversation flowed around me.

  “Sorry,” I mumbled, trying to tune into whatever the group had been talking about over lunch.

  “Honestly, I don’t know where you go. You must not find us that interesting based on the amount you space out.” There was a slight edge to the Irish vamp’s voice, hidden under the joking tone she pushed out.

  I stiffened. Moira was nice compared to most vamps, but she still held the slight edge of ambition that made her strive to be the leader of our little group of misfits. As the four initial members, we were unofficially placed in that position, which meant she was constantly trying to vie for my position by making passive-aggressive comments.

  I shot her a cocky smile. “I find most of you interesting,” I joked, making the girl flush as the rest of the table chortled.

  “So, Roman, you ask your girl out yet?” Aiden asked with mischief dancing in his eyes.

  “Not yet.” Roman glared at him. “Something came up.”

  I felt the blood drain from my face. Of course, I thought, he’s still into that mystery girl. I bit my tongue to keep from saying something stupid. Why the hell had he taken me to the roof and almost kissed me when he was planning to ask someone else out.

  Emi looked between the two of us before leveling him with a glare. Of course, I’d told her what had happened between us on the roof, and she was obviously putting together the guilty look he was sending me with my stricken expression.

  I gave myself a mental shake. If Roman wanted to pretend that nothing happened between us, then fine. It was time to finally let him go and move on with my life. I was more than a little embarrassed that I’d been entertaining the idea that Roman had been the one to issue the claim when it was clear he didn’t feel the same.

  As I walked my tray over to the trash can, I had to screech to a halt as a large figure stepped into my path. I let out a breath, holding my racing heart as my sparring partner from phys ed smiled down at me.

  I glared. “Jesus, give a girl some warning.”

  His smile grew wider, flashing his pearly white teeth. “Sorry, Ali.”

  “It’s Alex,” I said, wincing as the bruise he left on my shoulder this morning throbbed. “What’s u
p, Drake?”

  There was a hint of smugness in his gaze as he caught me trying to subtly roll out the ache that bloomed there, as if he was proud of himself that I was still suffering.

  “Sorry I went a little hard on you today, I just kind of got caught up in it, you know?”

  “Mmm,” I mumbled, trying to speed him along to his point and find out the reason he stopped me.

  It obviously took him a little longer than it should for him to realize I wasn’t going to add to the conversation—apparently, his brainpower was limited to trying to make his oversized body function. We stood in awkward silence until he finally understood. “So… I was wondering if you wanted to hang out this weekend?”

  I tried not to cringe at the cheesy grin he was sending my way as I processed his request. “Wait a minute… Are you asking me out?”

  “Yep, there’s a party my buddy’s throwing, everyone will be there and I need a beautiful girl on my arm.”

  I swallowed, and his grin grew wider like he was enjoying the fact that I was uncomfortable with his proximity as he drifted a little closer.

  “What about the claim?” I asked, desperate to find some reason to shoot him down.

  He just shrugged. “I guess you can say I like to live dangerously.”

  I was about to decline when I caught sight of Roman over his shoulder. He was standing over by Torah’s table, and the way she was giggling and touching his arm sent a spike of rage through my gut.

  “Sure, why not,” I said, instantly regretting my decision.

  A feeling of dread curled around my chest like I was making a really bad choice, but I got a hint of satisfaction when I thought I saw Roman stiffen a little and glance over at me. His eye flashed with what I was pretty sure was jealousy and anger before a shutter came down and his face morphed back to the blank wall he walked around with.

  Drake winked at me. “Cool, I’ll pick you up Saturday at nine.”

  I smiled in response, letting him thrust his number at me before walking away, leaving me there with dread sinking in my stomach, feeling like I was really going to regret this.