by Abra Ebner
“It’s a little early to be sneaking around, isn’t it?”
I froze in place, the voice chilling as it rolled down my spine. I watched as the steam from my breath rose around me, hiding me in a cloud.
Greg appeared from around the evergreen, his skin even paler than Wes’s had been. He looked striking in a well-tailored black coat and casual jeans. “You’re quite an inventive girl, Emily. I admire that in you.”
“What are you doing here?” I demanded. I watched his pupils wavering, feeling drawn to them. Greg walked up to me, touching my cheek. His hand was so cold, but soft like cotton.
He laughed. “Tell me… Why is a girl like you with a boy like Wes? You deserve someone better.” He was arrogant.
I shook my head away from Greg’s touch, controlling my thoughts as his screams tried to drown them out.
He smirked, leaning so close to my ear that I felt his lips move. “It’s cute that you think you can fit into his life as you have, especially when he’s still not over your sister. It’s funny to think, you’re just second best.” He made a clicking noise with his tongue. “You’ll never be Jane.” He laughed mockingly.
The words stung, and I tried to deny them, but something inside me felt it was true. I was consumed by the feeling that there was still something between them, something Wes would never be able to put in the past. Did I really want to spend a lifetime worrying about his faithfulness? Always scanning his thoughts like an obsessed girlfriend? Wes would forever see Jane as the girl that got away. That was just the way it worked.
“Leave me alone,” I finally muttered. I tried to push past him, but he gently blocked my way.
Greg’s expression changed from one of trickery to one of understanding. “You and I are very much alike. We love someone we can’t have.”
I scanned his face, my lips parted and confused. “Who can’t you have?”
He brushed a piece of hair from my face, his finger lingering against my skin longer than it should. “You.”
I knew he was dangerous, but something about that suddenly appealed to me. Maybe this was what Jane felt for his brother. Perhaps now I saw that Greg wasn’t dangerous at all. In fact, he was right. Wes did love Jane.
Greg continued to pet my cheek. “You deserve to be with someone that loves you, Emily.” Inflection was added on all the right words.
I shook my head slowly, but his touch on my face was filled with a new kind of poison. I felt my mouth go dry.
“Just think about it, Emily. You’ll see soon enough. Wes does not love you.” Every time Greg said it, I found myself doubting Wes even more. “I can show you how to be stronger than you already are, Emily. I can show you how to prove your validity to the world. Jane thinks she is so special, but in fact, it is you that deserves the praise. It is you that has the true gift.” He laughed.
Greg leaned close to me, and though I wanted to get away, I allowed him to kiss me on the forehead. His lips were like a breath of cold air as they touched my skin. He was delicate—sexy. The screams had disappeared, and I found myself feeling at ease. My eyes fluttered closed as he traced my jaw line with his finger, wrapping me in his seduction.
“You’re gorgeous, Emily,” he whispered, tilting my chin up. His lips found mine. At first I did nothing, but as he continued to kiss me, I found myself kissing him back. His lips tasted like frosted sugar. I wanted more.
Greg pulled away as I tried to lean in after him. I reached out for him, feeling nothing but air. I opened my eyes, only to find that he was gone.
Jane:
I grabbed a carton of milk and a bagel off the cart in the lunchroom. I felt drained, my weekend a blur of needless conversation with Liz, and strange phenomenons I refused to process. I’d tried to avoid Emily all together, too frightened by the concept that she could read my thoughts. For the brief moments when I did see her it was no more than a glance. I’d taken a position of ignorance, as though nothing had happened. I refused to let my life take a turn for what I now saw as the worst.
I entered the courtyard as a gust of wind blew across my face. I shivered, the cold milk in my hand making my skin sting, adding to the discomfort. I spotted an empty table across the courtyard and made my way to it, hoping the wind would soon stop. I didn’t want to sit inside. I was tired of the staring and whispered comments the whole student body seemed to put upon me, especially after the fiasco of the party on Friday night.
What had really happened? What was it that was going on with Greg and Max? For the last ten years, I’d convinced myself that I was alone, grown apart from my entire family under the belief that they could never know or understand. My father and I had had a strong connection, so why hadn’t he told me about who he was? If he were in danger, he should let me know. At the very least caution me that something was after us. And Emily—of all the people who should have been able to confide in me, she should have been the first.
I saw Emily and Wes enter the courtyard, the only other bodies in sight. Emily had swapped her typical short skirt for a pair of leggings and knee high boots. Her continued transformation was unbelievable. It was hard to deny that Wes really was good for her. A feeling of jealousy washed over me; jealousy because they had each other to discuss this with. Emily had a look of trepidation on her face, and Wes’s was drawn, as though he’d had as much sleep as I had.
I was surprised when they made their way toward me and sat down.
“Jane, I think we need to talk about this,” Wes’s voice was elevated to carry over the wind. He glanced sideways at Emily but she kept her head down. She dug her nail into the wood of the table, following a carving someone else had left. Clearly she wasn’t too fond of the pending conversation.
I nodded, looking down at the bagel before me. I picked at the skin, peeling it back and leaving it on the napkin.
“I know that on Friday a lot of things happened,” he continued. “Namely what Emily had said.” He paused. “I think we can all benefit from sticking together.” He paused again, this time waiting for me to react, but I said nothing. “I realize how suddenly strange everything has become, how strange we’ve become. I don’t understand any of this, or why it’s happening. My idea is that something is not right, something is making us change.”
“Change how?” My remark was a little bitter.
“All that pain I felt over the summer, it seems it was almost a warning. Like Emily said, I can change into things, namely animals. Isn’t it strange that it should all happen now, though? With the arrival of the twins?”
I felt the same frustration I had in the car with Max. I did not want to believe that magick was right here, right now—directly under our noses. The harder I denied it, though, the more prevalent it became. “Animals? Like a shape-shifter?”
Wes looked thoughtful. “A shape-shifter? Is that what I am?”
I looked up at him, remembering the description from Mr. Gordon’s books. “Yes. I suppose.” It was then that I was reminded of the fact that Erik Gordon was somehow Max’s younger brother. I flinched, my head aching.
“Well, that answers a lot of questions I had. I knew you of all people could figure that out.”
I looked up at him, seeing him smile sweetly. Emily glanced sideways at Wes, a look of distrust on her face. My gaze bore a hole into Emily’s head. If she could hear my thoughts, as she had claimed at the party, then she should know exactly what I was thinking. I was not a threat.
I looked back at Wes. “But the important thing is that now we know, I suppose.” I tried to make the best of the situation. I looked at my bagel. My appetite was gone.
I heard Wes exhale. “What is this, Jane? What is going on with these brothers? Who are they? I know you’re—close to the one.” His words dragged as he adjusted his seat. Emily flinched. “What did he have to say for himself?”
I lifted my shoulders to my ears. “He’s different, too, I guess. I didn’t really stick around long enough to get an exact explanation, but—”
“I don�
��t trust them, Jane,” Wes snapped.
I felt defensive all of a sudden.
His eyes were fiery, and his brows cynical. “I don’t get what you see in him. Can’t you see that he’s dangerous?”
I stiffened my grip on the carton of milk, my hand stinging from the cold. “He’s not dangerous, Wes.” Why was I protecting him?
Wes snorted. “Whatever, Jane.”
Emily:
I listened to them bicker as I traced the carving in the table, over and over again. It was a half moon shape, and nothing important, but I pretended it was in order to stay out of the conversation.
I could hear the jealousy in Wes’s voice, and in his head. He was angry that Jane liked this Max kid, this creature that sent chills through every fiber of my being. Max wasn’t human; he couldn’t be.
As I listened to them bicker, jealousy began to form in my own heart. I thought about the things Greg had said the other morning. He was right. Wes was never going to love me the way I wanted. He didn’t love me first, so why could I believe that he loved me now? Wes was using me to get to Jane. I knew it.
I began to consider the brothers for a moment. Maybe Greg wasn’t bad at all. Maybe it was Max that I needed to fear. What if I’d had it all wrong? What if the way I felt around Greg had been love and attraction, the screams my own? Greg clearly loved me, and best of all, he wasn’t at all interested in Jane. If he were, then he would have tried to go for her. I licked my lips, wanting to taste the sugary chill of Greg’s kiss.
At least Wes couldn’t hear my thoughts.
Wes:
My spine tingled, a strange feeling emanating from Emily that hadn’t before. I pushed away the feeling, concentrating on Jane. I was so frustrated with her. How did she not see that Max was a bad idea? How did she not see that on Friday night?
I’d always considered Jane to be a level-headed person, but it now seemed that her conscience had completely left her. All I wanted to do when I saw Max was slit his throat with a set of claws. There was a chill that surrounded him, as though he had no heart at all.
“I’m just saying that I don’t trust him, Jane. So don’t say I didn’t warn you when we find you stashed in a dumpster, dead.” I wanted to control the sting of my words, but I couldn’t.
I touched Emily’s knee under the table, feeling sorry that I’d offended her by speaking to her sister. I knew how it must seem to her, but I was protecting Jane because of our friendship, not the infatuation I once held. Emily pulled her knee away from me. I frowned.
“Can we get back to the important things now?” Jane’s voice was curt.
I stopped talking, trying to forget it.
“It doesn’t matter who has turned into what, or whether or not we shared that information, because now we have. I’m sure we had our own fears about what each other would think, so let’s try to forget that and move on from here.” Jane was preaching now. “Wes, I do agree with you. We do need to stick together, so yelling at me about the decisions I make in my personal life isn’t helping. So stop.”
I rolled my eyes, agreeing… at least for now.
Jane:
“All I know, Emily…” I was trying to get her to stop scratching at the table and enter the conversation. “…is that our father was murdered because he also had something resembling what you have, or so I’m told.” I didn’t want to trust my sources, but found that saying it had made it real.
Emily finally looked at me for the first time since they had sat down. “What?”
I exhaled slowly, thinking that apparently her mind reading skills weren’t all that great if she didn’t already know that information, but then again, it was rather clear that her only concern seemed to be Wes, so why bother with my thoughts at all? “I’ve been led to—I mean—I believe that dad also had some sort of magick, and that is why you have it too.”
Emily leaned into the table. “Wait, he was clairvoyant? And murdered?”
I was slighted by the word. “Yes,” I replied sternly. “I believe that my magick was a result of the accident, but your magick is hereditary, like dad’s was.”
Emily watched me with eyes full of a sudden connection. I knew that she’d never felt close to our father, and perhaps it was because our father wanted to protect her, distance himself in order to keep their abilities a secret. He probably saw that eventually she would be able to hear his thoughts, and know what he was. Our father’s obvious distance now had a heartfelt merit.
“So, Emily, you are in turn more tied to this gift than I am. And Wes…” I looked at him now, all business. “You are likely the same… hereditary I mean. It’s quite possible that your father or mother was also a shape shifter.”
“Hereditary? Are there different kinds?”
“Yes,” I snapped. “Three: Hereditary, Learned, and Sheol, like—”
Wes snorted. “You call it what you want, but I’m calling it a shape-shifter,” he sounded proud of the title.
“Okay, whatever.” I shook my head, aggravated. “But it’s also a possible reason as to why you were orphaned.” I felt excited all of a sudden. Yes! It made perfect sense! “Think about it, Wes!” I leaned across the table, mindlessly grabbing his hand. “Your parents left in order to protect you, not because they didn’t want you.”
Wes jerked his hand out of mine and grasped Emily’s instead, as though trying to save face. Emily didn’t look impressed by my forward action.
“Oh, chill out, Emily. He’s all yours,” I spouted, unable to control the comment.
Emily glared at me—like she used to.
I pulled my hand back into my lap with a noticeable tartness. “Don’t you agree, Wes?”
He came back to the matter at hand. “Yeah,” he replied hesitantly. “I mean, do you really believe that could be the case?”
I knew Wes had accepted the fact that his parents hadn’t wanted him, but now it was like realizing they actually had loved him, and he was understandably confused. “Yeah, I do. I bet they’re still out there as well. We can try to find them!”
Wes looked over his shoulder uneasily.
I left the subject alone, figuring I’d let him stew over the notion. “So, I guess the last question is: What is hunting us, and why?”
It was the question I knew we all held, and I knew this because we seemed to put our differences aside for a moment and look at each other as a group. We all nodded in unison. I thought for a moment, wondering if it was smarter to stick together, or pull apart. In the end, though, it always made sense to stick together.
“We have each other,” I began to finish. “And that is what we need to remember. That is what is most important.” I put my hand on theirs as Wes still held Emily’s. “Let’s do this together, okay?”
Wes:
I felt the warmth of Jane’s touch, and the warmth of Emily’s touch. I was so juxtaposed, so lost inside them both. I couldn’t decide.
It was then that I saw him enter the yard, the wind blowing across his dark, full frame. He was calm, cool—he knew how to hold himself. Every fiber of my being tightened with anger, my senses attuned to the danger no one but I saw.
Jane noticed the change in my demeanor and looked over her shoulder. Her grip on my hand tightened, taken by Max’s presence. I saw her eyes scan his outline, her mouth parted, a careful cloud of breath escaped. I felt her heart begin to race, her body growing warm with anticipation. My heart broke, realizing that look, the one I’d longed to see for so long, but was never meant for me.
Jane’s grasp released and her hands fell to her sides. I squeezed Emily’s hand out of habit, trying to overcompensate for the obvious feelings of jealousy I had. Max arrived at the table, a look of apprehension in the blue eyes that never parted from Jane’s. I glared, my palms sweating.
“May I sit down?” He addressed everyone, though his eyes continued to remain on Jane.
I snorted and slid off the bench, grabbing my bag and throwing it over my shoulder, leaving Max standing with no answer. I w
as still grasping Emily’s hand, as though we had been glued together. “Come on, Emily,” I hissed, tugging on her arm.
Emily looked up at me, standing as she tried to balance herself against my abrupt pull. Once she was beside me, I put my arm around her shoulder, dragging her away.
I couldn’t bear to watch. I couldn’t bear to see his face.
Max:
“Hello.” I pressed my hands in my pockets as I stood behind Jane, my voice sincere. I scanned the planes of her face, seeing her cheeks had a slight flush, accentuating the hazel spears in her otherwise flawless brown eyes.
Jane’s gaze on me released and she turned back to the table, leaving me in a cold shadow behind her. “Hi,” she mumbled.
I walked around the table, trying to catch her gaze once more. I needed to set things straight. I needed her to see that my words were heartfelt.
She adjusted herself, her thoughts nervous, but open.
“Listen, Jane.” I swung my leg over the bench and sat diagonal to her, trying not to invade her space and ruin this one chance I had to explain. “You need to understand that I mean you no harm—emotionally or physically.”
Jane lips were pressed together, her eyes diverted. “I can’t understand, Max.” Her voice was wavering. “Help me to understand,” she pleaded.
The tone in her voice played at the desperate thoughts in her head. She needed me. I wanted to take her hand and hold it in mine. I wanted to feel the way her soul calmed me, but my hands remained flat on the rough wood of the picnic table.
I organized my thoughts, thinking of the right thing to say. “I can’t change who I am, Jane, or why I’m here. I have to protect you, though. Regardless of what you want, I will always be watching you, whether you see me or not.”
She looked up, her brown eyes dark and wavering with anger. “Protect me? From what?”