Echoes

by Michelle Rowen

  “Something like that.”

  “Maybe we could have connecting rooms at the group home for mentally deranged teenagers. They’d lock us up and throw away the key if we told anybody about this.”

  She grimaced. “You’re right. Nobody’s going to believe us. What does Ethan think we should do?”

  “I don’t know. Tomorrow...he’ll have more to say about everything tomorrow. And that’s when I’ll know what to do or what not to do.”

  That was when I’d see him again and see if he’d been okay with the water and sandwich or if he needed something else to satisfy his appetite

  I shuddered.

  “Do you always talk so cryptically?” Bree’s concerned look had quickly morphed into a glare. “Because it’s annoying as hell.”

  I returned the look. “Thanks for your opinion. I’m doing the best I can here, you know.”

  “Whatever, Olivia. I can take a hint. You have the scans, you got what you were looking for. Part of it, anyway. Happy reading. Glad to know you don’t want me around anymore now that you’ve used me for what little you think I could offer.”

  My first instinct was to say something cutting back to her, but then I finally got it. She was reacting this way because she felt useless. Inconsequential. Like a nobody. And her defense mechanism was to lash out and hurt someone else, like a dog who’d been cornered would try to bite and claw its way out.

  “I promise I’ll call you tomorrow,” I said calmly, which only made her frown deepen. “I’m serious. And I appreciate your help on this, Bree. More than you’ll ever know.”

  I grabbed my backpack and left. As I quickly headed back to my house, I felt as if something was watching me. Something dangerous.

  Instead of fear, anger surged through me.

  I stopped and turned around. “What are you waiting for? Why are you hiding, you coward?” I called out at the empty street and my voice broke on the last word.

  Not surprisingly, there was no immediate reply from any nearby Upyri ready, willing and able to give me all the information I needed. Just more silence.

  And then, “Uh, who are you talking to?”

  I nearly jumped right out of my skin. I whipped my head to my left and saw a couple boys on bikes nearby. They didn’t approach, instead they just watched me warily.

  “I—nobody. I’m just...” I exhaled shakily. “Just forget it.”

  I turned and kept walking, but then my pace slowed. I knew these guys. I should, since I saw them every single day at school and had for years.

  They were some of Ethan’s friends. I peered back at them over my shoulder. They eyed me uneasily and were talking to each other in low voices. Probably about what a freak Olivia Hawthorn had suddenly turned into this week.

  Or maybe they were talking about me and Ethan being seen together holding hands. Talking close. Me staring at him as if I was quickly falling in—

  No.

  I had to keep these thoughts away, keep them from distracting me. Instead, I turned and marched right up to the boys.

  Shawn was skinny, basketball player tall, and had a chin full of acne. The other boy, Miles, was rounder with greasy blond hair and wore jeans with holes in the knees.

  Neither was particularly attractive. Not that I expected them to be. Not that they had to be. I mean, not everyone at Ravenridge High was a supermodel. These guys were perfectly average looking.

  But Ethan…

  There wasn’t anything average about Ethan. Dark hair, copper-colored eyes, a tall, lean body...a smile that made me melt every time I saw it. But Ethan had an incredible talent at hiding all of that when another guy might flaunt it. Ethan had always turned his face away from me and stuck to the shadows before I had half a chance to register that he was someone I could easily—

  No. Stop it, Olivia.

  I squeezed my eyes shut.

  “You okay?” Shawn asked cautiously.

  “Yeah, fine.” I forced my eyes back open and looked right at him. “Can I ask you guys a question?”

  “Sure. Anything.”

  I would have found it amusing normally, how eager he sounded at the prospect of my wanting something from him. Not that it meant anything. I had no illusions that every boy in school harbored some sort of a secret crush on me. As Bree had so eloquently put it earlier, I wasn’t that hot.

  Besides, most guys would be turned off the moment they saw my scarred leg. It was one of the many reasons I kept it hidden at all times. Almost at all times.

  “I know this is going to come as a severe shock to you, Olivia. And it’s completely and totally unfair, but the fact that you have a scar that makes you feel ugly only makes you more beautiful.”

  I shoved the memory away since it wasn’t helping. And it only made my heart ache.

  “You’re friends with Ethan Cole, right?” I asked.

  “Yeah, sure.” Miles nodded.

  “Has he—” How was I supposed to put this? “Has he been acting any differently lately? Have you noticed anything strange at all?”

  Shawn laughed nervously. “Strange? Yeah. Like, way.”

  I inhaled sharply. “What do you mean?”

  He looked at his friend. “I mean, like everything. I don’t know what’s gotten into him. The last couple of weeks he’s been,” he shrugged, “I don’t know.”

  “What?” The word was sharper than I’d meant it to and came out sounding like a cracking whip. “Sorry, I—I’m just worried about him.”

  “You’re worried about him?” They exchanged another glance. “So it’s true?”

  “Is what true?”

  “Did he actually ask you out?”

  “What did he tell you?”

  “Nothing. Ethan doesn’t share much, even when we’re trying to get it out of him. That part hasn’t changed. But, I mean, there’s you. And what happened with Peter Klassen this morning. And he hasn’t totally admitted it, but I think he kicked his stepfather’s ass, too. Dude deserved it. But that’s not Ethan. Ethan never would have done any of that.”

  I shivered at the reminder. “What do you think changed him?”

  Miles shrugged. “Don’t know. But I wish I’d get a dose of it, myself.”

  They didn’t know any more than I did. Less, even. They just saw a guy who’d been quiet, and recently had become stronger and more assertive. “If you see Ethan, can you let him know I’m looking for him?”

  They nodded. “Sure thing.”

  I walked away, my heart drumming hard in my chest. I couldn’t believe I’d actually said that last bit. Like I was trying to establish an alibi that I hadn’t seen him lately; that I didn’t know exactly where he was. Alibis were for people who were guilty of something.

  Kidnapping. Forcible confinement.

  All because of a hunch. A terrible, terrible hunch.

  And it hadn’t been confirmed at all by his friends. Sure he was different. He’d taken action against an abusive man like his stepfather. Maybe that had triggered it. Maybe Ethan had reached the end of his rope with that situation and lashed out and that had been enough to change him. Just because someone started acting a little different didn’t mean they were literally different.

  And then there was Frank. I didn’t even know where to begin to wrap my head around that piece of the puzzle.

  I figured I’d begin with some reading.

  My mother met me at the front door with a big smile.

  “I was thinking,” she said, “I really want the two of us to have a girls’ night out. How does tonight sound? Dinner? Maybe a movie?”

  I knew we had forged an extremely shaky truce and I didn’t love the idea of shaking it back in the wrong direction. Plus the hugging thing earlier had probably given her the impression that all was well between us again. But there was no way I was doing dinner and a movie tonight. I wouldn’t be able concentrate during a movie, and right now, with the way my stomach felt, I didn’t think I’d ever be able to keep anything down other than water. Maybe not even that.r />
  “Thanks, but—”

  She cut me off. “I know your cell phone isn’t working that well anymore. We could stop at the mall first. Get you another one.”

  She was trying really hard. And the prospect of a brand new phone was extremely tempting.

  But not today.

  “I’m not feeling so good,” I said. “I think I’m just going to go up to my room for the rest of the night.”

  Her jaw tensed a little and her smile looked strained. “There’s nothing I can say to change your mind?”

  “No, sorry—really. I can’t. Not tonight.”

  She nodded. “I understand.”

  But she didn’t. I saw the flash of annoyance in her eyes. To her, she was trying. I was not.

  She went to turn away but I grabbed her arm. She tensed and looked back at me.

  “I’m really sorry,” I said. “Honestly. But tonight’s really bad. I have a lot of things on my mind right now and...I just can’t, okay?”

  She nodded again, but didn’t make eye contact. “We’ll find a way to connect very soon, Liv. I promise.”

  I’d hurt her. And I hadn’t even been meaning to this time. Maybe I was just getting really good at being a bitch. Practice made perfect, after all.

  Hurting everybody. Making them hate me.

  Trapping a boy I liked in a dark, locked room in an abandoned warehouse because I thought he might be a monster.

  Awesome start to a weekend. Really awesome.

  Chapter 14

  I studied the grainy scan for so long my eyes started to burn.

  The more I thought about it, the more I decided it was possible it could also be Frank’s ancestor to whom he just bore a striking resemblance. Frank could be Bree’s estranged uncle for all I knew. Why hadn’t I asked her that?

  I scrambled for the phone and dialed her number from a memory I didn’t even know I still had.

  She answered on the third ring. “What’s wrong?”

  I guess she remembered my number too.

  “Do you have an uncle named Frank who lives here in Ravenridge?”

  A pause. “No. Why?”

  “You’re sure? Gray beard. Gray hair. About five-ten. Likes to, um, drown his sorrows frequently with various forms of liquor?

  “Sounds charming, but it’s not really ringing a bell for me.”

  “Okay, well...never mind then. I need to go.” I ended the call after promising her again that I’d call tomorrow.

  I eyed the pages apprehensively before I sat down in the middle of my bed and tried to read them. I say tried because that was just it—the handwriting was horrible, blurry, faded in spots. Most of the scans were of photos. The one I’d already seen of a trio of men including what looked like Frank. A picture of Main Street, or at least how it looked back then. And a picture of a metal box with initials engraved on the top.

  On the journal pages, I was able to make out only a few phrases.

  Upyri are truly immortal...my fear shames me when I know I must be...

  ...only weapon against these demon wraiths. Should they learn I am revenant, they will single me out from the...

  He appeared again this morning bearing memories of my dear friend to utilize against me...so much like Jonathan I wanted to believe he wasn’t truly lost...

  ...vessel will trap them. The wraiths can be seen with intense concentration, but I must take a...

  It continued onto another page, but whatever he was going to say next hadn’t been scanned.

  Reading what little there was caused me nothing but frustration. I was no further ahead now than I was when I’d started.

  I spent the rest of the night on the computer, looking for more clues that might help me. I researched Ravenridge’s history. Upyri. Vampires. I spent three hours reading just about vampires. The only real difference I could find is that an Upyri was bodiless and a regular vampire wasn’t. They both had to drink blood. They both were immortal.

  There was nothing more helpful than that. It made me want to scream.

  I looked up the word “revenant” from the journal. It meant one who returns after a long absence or one who returns...after death.

  It was what an Upyr did after it took over a human body. That person would appear to have returned after death. I just didn’t understand what it meant in the context of the journal. He didn’t seem to have been talking about his friend who was killed and came back. He was talking about himself.

  I read the journal pages again. And then I stared at the picture of the man who looked like Frank for so long my vision began to blur.

  When I finally went to bed, I felt bone-weary right down to my very soul. Every time I closed my eyes I imagined the moment I opened them Ethan would be crawling in through my bedroom window. Only he wouldn’t be coming here to kiss me. He’d be coming here for revenge for what I’d done to him.

  I was afraid to open my eyes to check, but I did anyway.

  There was no one there. Besides, my window was locked and my curtains were closed. I was all alone.

  There was a knock at my door just before midnight and I sat bolt upright in bed, clamping my hand over my mouth so I wouldn’t scream.

  “Liv?” my father said. “You still awake?”

  “Yeah,” I croaked.

  “Sorry to bother you, but Mrs. Cole from down the street is on the phone. She asked to speak with you.”

  Mrs. Cole. Oh, my God.

  “Okay,” I replied, my throat thick.

  I forced myself to go to the phone on my nightstand—its ringer was turned off at the moment so it wouldn’t wake me—and picked it up.

  “Hello?”

  “Olivia?”

  “Yes?”

  “I’m so sorry to disturb you, but I wasn’t sure who else to call. Have you seen Ethan tonight? He hasn’t come home yet and I’m getting worried. It’s not like him to stay out so late without letting me know where he is.”

  “He walked me home after school.” The lie tasted bitter on my tongue. “I haven’t seen him since, I’m sorry.”

  “I don’t know where he could be, then.” The worry in her voice made guilt churn in my gut. “Maybe he’s with his friends. It is Friday night, after all. I—I just worry. But he’s probably out having some fun. His phone must be turned off.”

  It was. I knew that for a fact since it was sitting on my desk inside his backpack.

  “You’re probably right. I’m sure he’s fine. Don’t worry.”

  “Thanks, Olivia. But if you hear from him, could you get him to call me?”

  “Of course.”

  I ended the call and placed the phone back on the receiver. My hand was shaking so I grasped it and held it tightly to my chest.

  My first impulse was to pull on some jeans and a T-shirt and go out—back to the warehouse. I had to talk to him. It couldn’t wait till tomorrow.

  But it had to wait.

  I knew it would be a long time before I fell asleep. I wasn’t even sure if I could. Or if I wanted to.

  I did, eventually. It wasn’t restful. It was filled with nightmares. Nightmares about Ethan—although it wasn’t the Ethan I’d come to know. It was a monster who looked like him, but with red eyes and sharp fangs, and there was no escape.

  “I’m going to kill you for what you did to me.” Then he grabbed me and sank those razor sharp teeth into my throat, my blood spilling into his mouth as I screamed...and screamed...

  When I woke up clutching my sheets, covered in sweat, there was a sliver of light seeping into my room past the heavy curtains. I thought I’d set my alarm clock, but I hadn’t. It was already noon.

  It was Saturday, the day of junior prom. A day I’d been looking forward to for months—all year, really. I’d planned to go to the dance with Peter, of course. With Helen and her date—a guy named Trent, who fit her “perfect guy” profile as well as anyone at school could.

  About ten of us were supposed to meet early. We’d made reservations at a local restaurant for dinner.
And then we planned to head to the dance at eight.

  No messages from Helen. And none from Peter. Not even a “by the way, in case there was any doubt, I am dumping you,” message.

  I showered, blow-dried my hair, and got dressed. I went downstairs and made some toast and peanut butter that I forced myself to eat. I hadn’t had any dinner last night. The breakfast sat in my stomach like a lead weight.

  “Have you decided if you’re going or not tonight? I hope you are.” My mother looked up at me from the magazine she read in the living room. “But if not we could make tonight the night we go out together.”

  “I’m still going to go. I can’t miss Prom.” It had begun to disturb me how good I was getting at lying.

  “Good.” She got a wistful look. “I have many memories of my junior prom. The high heels I wore gave me horrible blisters. Ruined my night until I decided I didn’t care anymore and took them off. Left them in the limo and went barefoot for the rest of the dance.” Her brows drew together when I didn’t reply. “Liv, is everything okay? You seem so distracted lately.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “I just want you to have a good time tonight.”

  “I know.”

  “And when it comes to the uneasiness between you and me—it’s going to be better very soon. I know it will. The future is bright. I want us to come to some sort of understanding that we—”

  I cut her off. “I know, Mom. I’ve heard you a million times already. You’re sorry you left us. You’re back now. Loud and clear, okay? Just—sometimes I don’t really want to talk to you about my problems. Everything’s different now and it doesn’t really matter what you say, it’s going to stay that way.”

  She nodded once before standing up from the couch and turning away from me, tucking her magazine under her arm. She began walking out of the room, but at the doorway she glanced back at me. The only emotion in her eyes was cold anger.

  “When I was your age I was a self involved little bitch who didn’t think about anyone’s feelings but my own, too. I guess you come by this behavior naturally.”