Replacement

by Wojciech Cram

  (thankfully) by that time.

  The night was thick and humid; the streets alight with all of the signs of Manhattan. They walked slowly and leisurely back to his house in a comfortable silence, holding each

  other's hands, like any other teenage couple. No worries. No death. No reputations that could get you killed at any moment of any day.

  Storm had dried off and changed when they'd gotten back to his house, Emerald having fallen sound asleep on his bed.

  Emerald looked over at Storm's alarm clock. It'd only been an hour since she'd fallen asleep. Her shoulders and eyelids drooped just thinking about how much sleep she'd gotten in

  the past few days. She was so tired, so tired that she felt she was no longer able to sleep.

  Especially after a nightmare like that—

  Emerald slipped off the bed, careful to not disturb Storm and quietly opened the door to the balcony. The air was cooler, and a breeze blew through, making Emerald shiver. She

  crossed her arms, hunching her shoulders, and walked out to the railing, looking out over at the sky and for once, she yearned to see the stars, the moon. Something about seeing

  such a beautiful sight comforted her. Alas, in a place like this, a city that never slept, it was next to impossible.

  One of the French doors opened slightly and Storm stepped out.

  "Emerald?" he asked quietly cautiously coming to stand next to her. She looked away, still haunted by the vivid dream she'd had not even moments ago. "Are you all right?"

  "I'm fine." she answered just as quiet, a little too quickly.

  "Do you want to talk about it?" Storm asked.

  "Not really."

  There was a pause. "You'll feel better."

  Emerald rolled her eyes and looked at Storm. "They just say that." Emerald took a deep breath. "I've tried. It doesn't work. I just don't see why talking about something painful to

  someone else is going to help? I mean it's like opening old wounds. It's unnecessary and just… and just causes more pain." Her eyes tightened and she looked away again.

  "I know about the dreams." Storm finally admitted.

  Emerald froze. "How? When?"

  A smile pulled at Storm's lips. "I'm your soulmate, we have a connection." The smile faded. "I don't have all the details, but… stuff filters through the connection. Not… images or

  anything, but emotions. Horror. Fear. Disbelief. They always came when I was sleeping so I kind of filled in the rest and assumed you were having nightmares. You can tell me

  anything. I'm here for you. I'll always be here for you."

  "I dream," Emerald confirmed. Storm waited. "About me and you." Storm prepared himself for the rest. This obviously wasn't going to end in fluffy bunnies. "And you… always… Well I… I mean—" Emerald broke off, unable to say it out loud. Like it would just make it more tangible, and she wished they'd just stay in her mind, locked with all the other little monstrosities. "I die." she finally stated quickly before she lost her nerve. "Because you kill me."

  "You know—You know I'd never do that to you. I mean, I'm your soulmate. I couldn't live without you. Why would I ever want to… to kill you? That just doesn't make sense. I don't

  understand—"

  "Storm, Storm," Emerald urged, taking his head in her hands and forcing him to look at her. "I know. I know you'd never do anything of that sort. But…" she trailed off letting her

  hands fall to her sides. "It just feels so real. I can't get over it." she whispered, her lower lip trembling.

  Storm took her in to his arms, gently stroking her hair. "It's okay," he assured her. "You're okay. I promise, I won't let any harm come to you. We'll figure this out together."

  Emerald sighed. I hope so. She thought silently.

  "What are we going to do about Anthony?" Emerald asked, switching her books out for her next three periods. "I mean, you don't just attack someone like that for no reason. He

  to be working for someone in the Night World."

  "Are you even sure this has anything to do with the Night World. I mean, it could be part of some gang initiation, or something." Storm suggested. "We can't just jump to

  conclusions."

  Emerald closed her locker and slung one of the straps of her bag over her shoulder. Both her and Storm started walking to the cafeteria.

  "Okay, first of all gang initiations are seeing if you've got what it takes to kill someone on command." she stated.

  "How would you know—" Storm started looking at her crazily.

  "Secondly," Emerald continued not letting him finish. "He is not that strong. Lean, yes. Soccer player, yes. But they run around a lot, they work their whole body out. You know,

  their muscles are… just aren't like a wrestler's or a boxer's or a football player's. I mean, I'm not saying anything bad about soccer players, I'm just saying I really don't think they

  have that much upper body strength."

  "But, you were a little out of it. You said he did have chloroform, right? Maybe you just… weren't as strong then." Storm offered.

  "Why are you trying to protect him?" Emerald exclaimed frustrated. "Do you have some kind of bromance going on that I don't know about?"

  Storm made a face. "No, of course not! I'm just… trying to give him the benefit of the doubt is all. Everyone deserves that, right? Besides, you said that he'd always been the quiet

  kid."

  "Fine, we'll give him the benefit of the doubt." Emerald muttered, stopping just outside the cafeteria doors and looking through the windows at all the teens sitting with their friends

  or standing in lines, waiting for food. "So, where are we going to start, then?"

  "If you mean information on him, then I'm not really sure." Storm said truthfully. Then he spotted Mackenzie, Danny, and Carter. "Hey, maybe Carter knows. She did date him,

  right?"

  "I suppose… but why would Anthony tell her anything about the Night World?" Emerald asked wary.

  "He may have not told her about the Night World, but there had to be something she noticed that was off, or some conversation she overheard, or something she saw, you know?"

  he suggested.

  "Okay… let's say that did happen. How would I get it out of her? She took that breakup really hard and is still getting over it. I don't want to push the knife in deeper. I'm her

  friend, I'm supposed be there for her and do my best to not make things worse."

  "Girl talk," Storm suggested shrugging.

  Emerald looked at him weirdly. "Girl talk?" she mimicked. "What… what is girl talk? How do I do that?"

  Storm's eyebrows raised. "You're a girl. But you don't know how to girl talk?"

  Emerald rolled her eyes. "Is there a difference between talking and 'girl' talking? I don't get it. I'm confused."

  "Emerald, this isn't rocket science. Keep up with me, here. All you have to do is talk to her to get the information out of her." Storm explained slowly.

  "But how?"

  "Were you not listening? Girl talk. You know… do whatever girls do. Talk about… clothes and shoes and makeup and stuff. I don't know! I'm not a girl."

  "Thank God." Emerald muttered. "And since when have you ever thought that I was some kind of girlygirl?"

  "II don't know—" Storm started.

  "Okay, all right, Mr. Smarty Pants. Because you seem to know so much about how this works why don't you tell me how to 'girl' talk."

  "Well… Pretend I'm a girl with information that you want. What would you do?" he asked.

  Emerald looked at him exasperated. "You want me to beat it out of her?"

  Storm groaned. "Just ask her to hang out with you and just talk. Take her to the skate park sometime, skate a little and then hang out with her at your place."

  "Whatever," Emerald sighed. "Let's just get this over with." Storm opened the door for her and she walked in muttering, "I don't see why we can't just jump to conclusions. It'd be so much easier to just knock him out, tie him
and then make him squeal."

  Storm rolled his eyes and followed her inside.

  "I can't believe you're letting me do this!" Carter squealed hopping onto Emerald's bed, next to her. "I never thought I'd see the day that I'd get to give you a manicure."

  Emerald plastered a painful smile on her face. "Well… you know me. Always surprising my friends."

  "I just never pictured you as a paintyournails type." Carter stated taking out all the torture devices from a small purse.

  "I'm not." Emerald muttered pouting.

  Carter rolled her eyes and held out one of her hands. Emerald groaned and slowly brought her hand forward. When Carter took it she jumped like she'd just been bitten by a snake.

  "Oh, you complain too much." Carter sighed examining Emerald's nails before shaking her head. "My, my, my, what have you been doing to your poor nails!" she exclaimed.

  Emerald pulled her hand away and looked at them. "Are they really that bad?"

  "Nothing I can't fix. They're actually, really not too horrible. I like your nails." Carter sighed. "They much longer than mine." She held up her hands to look at her own. "I have a bad

  habit of chewing on them sometimes…. Anyway, you'll have beautiful nails when I'm done."

  Reluctantly Emerald let Carter take her hand again and with that she got to work. While Carter did this they chatted about trivial things, just the break the ice: English homework,

  the scandals going on around school, Mackenzie and Danny's blossoming relationship, some funny jokes Carter had heard lately.

  "So…" Emerald started, trying to think of a way to bring up Anthony. "You… you seem happier lately." she commented, looking down as Carter cleaned out all the junk from

  underneath Emerald's nails, sneaking a peak to see her reaction. She didn't seem to notice where this was going just yet.

  "Yeah, I'm usually a happy person." Carter shrugged.

  "I admire that," Emerald murmured. "How are you feeling?"

  "Feeling about what?" Carter asked slowly still focusing mostly on Emerald's nails.

  "Um…" Emerald took a deep breath. "Anthony." As soon as his name came out of Emerald's mouth Carter gouged underneath her nail with the tool, thankfully it didn't bleed.

  Emerald flinched and Carter pulled way.

  "Fine." she told Emerald tightly carefully setting aside the tool and picking up another. "Hand, please." she requested. Taking a deep breath, Emerald handed one of her hands back

  to Carter. "Why do you ask?" she finally queried as she began to file her nails.

  "Well… he's been acting… off lately. Have you noticed?" Emerald quickly came up with a explanation, cursing herself silently for not having a backup story before bringing this up.

  "No, not really." Carter's answer a brisk and to the point.

  Emerald knew that she really didn't want to talk about this topic, but it was important.

  "Oh, well… he has. And I was just wondering if… maybe you noticed while… while you guys were together." Emerald mumbled almost incoherently.

  Carter slowed with her filing and sighed heavily. Her brows scrunched together as she thought.

  "Well, I do remember this one time…. I, kind of, overheard a conversation he was having on the phone. He was speaking really low so I wasn't really sure, but your name… your

  name came up a lot and it didn't sound too friendly." Carter stopped and sat back, looking up at Emerald. "I don't know what's going on, Emerald, but I don't think you should be messing with this stuff. I'm really worried about this, about you. I don't want you getting hurt."

  Too late. Emerald thought bitterly. On the outside she smiled. "I'm glad I have a great friend like you." she said.

  "Awe! I'm glad we're friends too!" Carter squealed before leaning forward and engulfing Emerald in a hug. When she pulled away she wiped her eyes. "Okay, let's finish your manicure."

  Emerald made a face. "Yay." she cheered halfheartedly.

  Carter ignored this and brought out a small bottle that she sneakily concealed the color of. After giving it a good shake she twisted the cap open and asked for Emerald's hand once more. But as she took the brush out Emerald pulled back.

  "Hot pink? Can't it be, like, skin color?" she asked disgusted.

  "It's not hot pink! It's ruby red." Carter objected.

  "No, no, I'm pretty sure that it's hot pink."

  "And I'm pretty sure that is ruby red. You're just seeing things."

  "Are you sure you're not messing with me right now?" Emerald narrowed her eyes. Carter smiled innocently back. Finally, very slowly, Emerald let Carter take her hand and start

  painting.

  The paint was surprisingly cold and looked weird. Emerald didn't like it or the smell. How did girls do this all the time? Why did they have to paint their nails anyway? What was the

  point? Did it make them look more attractive? Did guys even like painted nails?

  When all was said and done, it actually wasn't bad. They did look nice, and it had made Carter very happy. So, in the end it was worth it.

  "Thanks again, I had such a fun time!" Carter said as Emerald walked her to the door.

  "I'll see you tomorrow as school?" Emerald asked.

  "Always." Carter confirmed smiling.

  Only, she wasn't and neither was Mackenzie or Danny (mysteriously). And the day after that, still a noshow, and the day after that. After the third day, Emerald started to get a

  really bad feeling about this.

  Every time she called any of their houses though, their mom's or dad's would pick up and they'd say they were sick. For some reason that wasn't comforting. Emerald wanted to

  hear her friend's voices for herself. She wanted to hear straight from her friends that they were sick, but whenever she asked for any of them, their parents would suddenly make

  up an excuse to hang up.

  Finally, on the fourth day the office called her in—in the middle of class, mind you—saying she had a phone call for her. At first Emerald thought it was going to be Alan or Alecia

  about something she'd done wrong, or about some family thing they were including her in just because they felt bad, something normal. But Emerald should've known by now her

  life was never going to be normal.

  Ms. Greene led her into a small office with the phone unhooked, lying on the table, waiting for her.

  "Thanks," Emerald told Ms. Greene before she headed out. Emerald picked up the phone. "Hello?"

  "EEEmerald?" a small whisper came.

  "Carter! Oh my God! You haven't been to school for three days! Neither have Mackenzie or Danny. I was so worried—"

  "Ppplease, listen to mme." Carter interrupted. It was then did Emerald hear how shallow and jagged her breathing was and that she was sniffling like she'd been crying or was

  crying at the moment or both. "Yyyou have to help us. He's… he's got us locked up in here—I'm so scared. I just want to ggo hhome."

  Emerald restrained herself from gripping the phone too hard in fear of breaking it. She took deep breaths and told herself to block these feeling off. She needed the clearest of minds in a situation such as this one. She had tried her best to keep her friends safe, and now that they weren't she'd do anything to keep them safe. It'd absolutely kill her if they

  were hurt or killed because she'd been careless and let someone know her identity.

  There was noise on the other phone like it was being moved or taken away. Then Anthony came on.

  "Hello, Emerald, it's nice to hear from you." he greeted cordially.

  Afraid of anyone overhearing, Emerald quickly closed the door and locked it, before closing the blinds as well. Soon the room was so dark all Emerald could make out were the

  outlines of desks and chairs, but she didn't turn on the light.

  "What have you done with them?" Emerald growled into the phone. "You sick—"

  "Ah, ah, ah," Anthony interrupted before a whimper followed by sobbing. "Be careful what you sa
y to me. I have the leverage here." he warned.

  "Don't touch them! Don't you touch them!" Emerald hissed angrily before composing herself again. Yelling at him wasn't going to get her anywhere. She needed to start making a

  deal with him. "What do you want?" she asked quietly.

  Emerald could practically see Anthony smile. "In front of the Marriott, five minutes. If you're not there or you bring anyone with you, your friends here will die and so will your

  company. See you then."

  Not giving Emerald anytime to speak Anthony hung up. She stood there in silence and darkness for a few seconds. Then, slowly, she hung the phone up and opened the door. At a

  brisk pace, she exited the office and was heading back to her classroom. She needed to get her skateboard. It'd get her there faster than running or a taxi.

  Without hesitating, she walked back into the classroom and started to throw her things in her backpack.

  "And just where do you think you're going?" the teacher questioned stopping his lecture.

  "Urgent call. I have to go." Emerald explained zipping her back pack up and swinging it over her shoulder. The teacher didn't object as she walked out of the classroom again.

  When Emerald got to her locker she grabbed her board and threw her pack into the locker before shoving it shut. Halfway out she passed a classroom and spotted Storm. She

  froze. Should she tell him what she was doing? But if she did he'd insist on coming and that would only be worse. If she could ever convince him not to come he'd never let her go

  alone. It was a loselose situation. Emerald couldn't risk it. Not when her friends' lives were a stake.

  But how was she going to keep it from him to give her enough time to get to the Marriott? The connection would surely tell him some time or another. And she could cut off the

  connection because that'd only warn him something was wrong.

  Emerald let out a small hiss and, like magic, Storm's eyes strayed toward the door locking in on her.

  Oops.

  Emerald's eyes widened and she panicked and started quickly walking forward. She'd just wasted at least thirty seconds standing there debating what she'd do. Hearing the knob of