The Forgeron Legacy

by J.D. Atchison

April 3, 1990

  Dear Diary,

  Today I met Tyler White. He is very unusual for someone from the White family. He seems actively interested in what is happening, especially with my brothers. When I asked him why he was so curious he wouldn’t give me a straight answer. I think he knows something about my brothers. Their family has all the records of our kind, including prophecies. If there is one in there about my brothers I have to find out.

  There was nothing in the rest of the entry about Tyler. Emma sat back on her bed, dropping the diary in her lap. Tyler had definitely known Alexandra. That might be why he had called her Alexandra that night, maybe he had thought she looked like her? It seemed like a stretch but crazier things had happened recently.

  Just then Emma yawned so hard her jaw popped. The exhaustion hit so quickly she could barely keep her eyes open long enough to drop the diary on her bedside table before she fell asleep.

  The next day Emma stood in front of her locker, still thinking about everything she had learned last night. She was just putting her books away when Amy tracked her down.

  “Emma!” Amy said, suddenly appearing next to her. “What happened this weekend? We were supposed to go dress shopping on Saturday but when I called your mom said something had happened and you needed to stay home. Did you get in trouble or something?”

  Emma hesitated for a moment before remembering the story Mark had told her mother.

  “I stumbled across a couple of muggers beating a man up Friday night after work.” Emma told her. “I tried to help him and one of them knocked me out. Luckily, Mark ran up and scared them off before anything happened. I’m really sorry I missed shopping with you, I was sleeping most of Saturday.”

  Amy’s face looked horrified as Emma told her what had happened. When Emma finished her story Amy threw her arms around Emma.

  “I’m so glad you’re okay!” She exclaimed. “What were you thinking trying to stop a mugging by yourself? You could have been hurt!”

  Emma laughed. “I know, I know.” She said, peeling Amy off of her. “Kathryn already gave me that speech.”

  “Never do anything like that again!” Amy told her, going back to their conversation. “You’re going to give me a heart attack! First an impossible to survive car accident and now starting a fight with a couple of muggers, you are either the luckiest girl I know for still being alive or the most unlucky for having these things happen to you.”

  Emma smiled at her friends concern. “Let me know when you figure out which one it is.” She said with a wry expression.

  Amy nodded and looked at the clock in the hallway. “I have to go.” She said apologetically. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

  “I’m fine.” Emma reassured her friend. “There isn’t a scratch on me.”

  Amy gave her one last hug before turning and disappearing into the crowded hallway. Emma shut her locker and turned to go to class, almost walking directly into Jason who was standing directly behind her. She jumped a little before glaring at him.

  “Stop that.” She snapped, pushing past him.

  “Stop what?” Jason asked, his voice confused as he turned to follow her.

  “Appearing out of nowhere right behind me. It’s freaky.” She told him.

  “I don’t think it’s the fact that I manage to sneak up on you all the time that’s freaking you out, because Amy just did the same thing about five minutes ago and you didn’t snap her head off for it.” Jason pointed out.

  “Maybe I like Amy more.” Emma glared at him. “What do you want, Jason?” She dodged around a group of friends standing in the middle of the hall, a small part of her hoping Jason would get stuck behind the crowd.

  “Why are you acting like you’re mad at me?” Jason demanded brusquely, pushing through the crowd after her.

  “I’m not mad at you.” Emma said shortly, speeding up a little.

  “Please,” Jason said sarcastically. “You are practically running away from me. Is this about yesterday?”

  “You mean finding out that you are some sort of fire throwing mutant?” Emma replied equally sarcastic. “Or how much of a jerk you were to my best friend?”

  Emma heard Jason swear under his breath but she didn’t dare to look back and see how frustrated he was. She could see the door to her classroom, if she could just get in there Jason would have to drop the conversation.

  Hope was beginning to spark in her chest when a strong hand latched on her arm and Emma was nearly yanked off her feet. Jason dragged Emma out of the main hallway into an empty side hall that led to the janitor’s closet before she could even voice a protest. He pinned her against the wall and bent down until he was looking her in the eye.

  “I know this has all been a sudden shock for you and I’m sorry for that.” Jason said quietly. Emma could see flames flickering in his eyes, his temper was dangerously close to the surface. “But whatever emotions you might be feeling right now you need to get over it because there is more going on here than you know about and you are quickly getting drawn into the middle of it. Our kind has one cardinal rule: Don’t let humans know we exist. If you break that rule you will be held accountable for it and neither Mark nor I will be able to protect you. Do you understand?”

  Emma nodded, more than a little afraid of Jason at that moment.

  Jason’s eyes searched hers intently for a moment. Then he leaned back, apparently realizing that he was scaring her. “I’m sorry, I know you didn’t ask for this but I’m going to try to help you as much as I can. You just need to trust me, okay?”

  Emma nodded again, but it was a pacifying gesture. Trusting him was not something she was willing to do yet. She wanted to ask him what he had meant when he said there was more going on than she knew but before she could form the words a shadow fell over both of them. Morgan stood in the entry of the hallway, staring at them in disbelief.

  “What is going on here?” Morgan hissed. She was so angry Emma could almost see sparks coming out of her eyes.

  “Emma and I were just talking.” Jason said, stepping away from Emma. Emma remained plastered to the wall. A small part of her hoped that if she was still enough she would blend into the wall and they would forget about her.

  “It didn’t look like you were just talking to me.” Morgan snapped. Fury radiated off of her in waves. For a second Emma was afraid she would attack them right then and there.

  Jason walked towards her. “Well, we were.” He said bluntly. “Now if you’ll excuse us, we need to go to class.”

  Morgan stepped aside to let Jason pass. It was either that or let him push her aside. When Jason stood in the hallway he looked back at Emma and arrogantly motioned for her to follow him. Moving slowly, Emma peeled herself off the wall and crept out of the hallway, cringing at the fury in Morgan’s eyes. As Emma walked past her Morgan grabbed her arm, fingers digging cruelly into Emma’s skin.

  “You’re going to pay for this.” She hissed in Emma’s ear. “If you don’t stay away from him you are going to become a social pariah here. You’ll never have any friends again. Even Amy won’t want to talk to you anymore.”

  Jason frowned and came back to where the two girls were standing.

  “Morgan.” He said warningly. “Let her go. Now.”

  Morgan held her grip on Emma’s arm for a moment longer before letting go. Flipping her hair over her shoulder Morgan strutted off, her nose in the air as the crowded hallway parted before her. Jason’s hand settled on the small of Emma’s back as he guided her through the hallway towards their class. Emma was too shaken to protest. Thoughts of all the ways Morgan was going to kill her paraded through her head.

  “What did she say to you?” Jason demanded. He looked angry again. Even knowing his anger wasn’t directed at her Emma felt herself shrink away from him. Jason looked down at her with a frown. Emma looked around and noticed she wasn’t the only one scared of him. A path was opening before them in the crowded hallway as other students stumbled to get
out of Jason’s way as he led Emma to class.

  “The usual.” Emma said with a shrug, her fear of Jason lessening as they continued to talk. “ ‘Don’t mess with me or I will ruin your life.’ Normal Morgan stuff.”

  “Does she say things like that to you often?” Jason growled.

  “On a daily basis.” Emma replied. She watched as a large football player who had a reputation for being a bully warily eyed Jason up and down before shifting out of the way. “I’ve never seen her that mad before though.”

  Just then Emma realized that Jason’s hand was still on the small of her back. She frowned and moved away from him. “I appreciate your help with Morgan but I’m still not happy with you either.”

  Jason raised his eyebrows and a look of grudging respect entered his eyes. “I’m sorry I lost my temper back there.” Jason apologized, letting his hand drop. Emma searched his face, inwardly sighing in relief when she saw no hint of anger in his expression. “But you can’t go shouting this stuff around. People are either going to think you’re crazy or it’s going to attract unwanted attention to both of us and right now we have other things we need to be focusing on.”

  “Fine.” Emma said as they stopped in front of Mr. Schneider’s classroom. “I will keep your secret, but it’s going to take me a while to be okay with all of this.”

  Jason nodded. “I know, it’s a lot to take in all at once. I wish you hadn’t found out the way you had.”

  Emma stared at Jason for a moment. His blue eyes were like chips of ice and his strong jaw was clenched tight. His face looked like it was chiseled from granite it was so harsh and unforgiving and yet he was still so handsome. It made her heart hurt to see all the anger and bitterness in his eyes. He still scared her a little but she was inclined to believe he was telling the truth and that he might actually want to help her. Emma nodded reluctantly and walked into Mr. Schneider’s class with Jason right behind her.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN