Beyond the Eyes: YA Paranormal Romance

by Rebekkah Ford

  * * *

  Biology class whizzed by and before I knew it, all four of us were sitting in the cafeteria, and Tree was asking Nathan about the Civil War again.

  “It was a very brutal war, Tree,” Nathan said. “And I saw some horrific things.”

  “Like what?” Tree leaned into the table across from Nathan.

  “I’ll tell you one thing, but then I want you to drop it for now.”

  Carrie smacked Tree’s arm. “You should leave Nathan alone about this.”

  Tree rubbed his arm, pretending like she had hurt him. “I’m sorry, but I’ve always been fascinated by the Civil War. I just never shared it with you and Paige.”

  “That’s okay,” I said. “You two didn’t know about my premonitions, and we didn’t know about Carrie’s dealings with the talking board.” I flashed her a silly grin, and she stuck her tongue out at me, then a thought occurred to me. “Have you two seen Matt around?”

  “I saw him earlier,” Carrie said. “But he’s keeping to himself like he did last week.”

  “Anyway.” Tree turned his attention back on Nathan. “Tell me that one thing, and I’ll leave you alone.”

  Nathan removed his arm from my shoulders and leaned forward, folding his hands on the table. “Have you heard of William ‘Bloody Bill’ Anderson?”

  Tree thought about it for a minute. “No, I don’t think so.”

  “Have you heard of William Quantrill’s independent guerrilla band?”

  “Yeah. Wasn’t Jesse James a part of it?”

  “That’s right and so was Anderson, but eventually he broke away from Quantrill’s band and formed his own.”

  Carrie scrunched up her face. “Why did they call him ‘Bloody Bill’?”

  “Because he did unimaginable things to people,” Nathan said, “and I’ve seen scalps of people he had slain tied to the bridle and saddle of his horse.”

  Carrie and I covered our mouths while Tree’s hung wide open.

  “Are you serious?” Carrie’s muffled voice asked from behind her hand.

  “Yes. It’s a vision branded in my mind for eternity and one I prefer not to revisit.” Nathan sat back, placing his arm around my shoulders.

  Tree looked down, his cheeks pink. “Sorry.”

  “It’s fine, Tree. Maybe one day I’ll tell you everything about it, and what I did during that time. But right now I’m not in that frame of mind to do so.”

  Tree picked up his Coke can and stared blankly into it. “I understand.”

  “Okay, change the subject,” Carrie said with a mouth full of greasy pizza.

  I glanced at my ring finger. “I forgot to show you this.” I stood and leaned across the table, thrusting my hand out so they could see my ring. “Nathan gave this to me last night. It means friendship, love, and loyalty.”

  “Cool, Paige.” Carrie smiled.

  Tree took a huge bite of his brownie and made an agreeable sound.

  “You know,” Carrie said, pointing at my hand. “That ring also represents us as well.”

  “She’s right.” Tree said. “All four of us are family, and you will have our friendship, love, and loyalty forever.”

  “You have ours as well,” Nathan told them.

  “Forever.” I said, resting my head on Nathan’s chest, and as I watched Carrie kiss Tree and saw how happy they were together, I knew my decision to tell him no was the right one. And with what I knew now, there was no way I would allow them to get involved in any of this.

  “What are you thinking?” Nathan whispered. His warm breath brushed against my ear, making my whole body tingle.

  “I was thinking they have a life of togetherness ahead of them. A life filled with children and grandchildren,” I said in a low voice.

  “What are you two whispering about?” Carrie asked.

  I grinned. “I was telling him you and Tree have a long life together ahead of you, filled with children and grandchildren.”

  Her expression turned doubtful. “I don’t know if I want to have children.”

  “Really?” Tree turned to her in surprise.

  Carrie shrugged. “I’m not sure about it yet.”

  “Oh, come on, Carrie,” I pressed. “It would be cute having a couple little Power Rangers with Mohawks running around.”

  All four of us laughed at the mental visual.

  “Yeah. Right.” She rolled her eyes and then tilted her head to the side, her gaze on Nathan and me. “I know this is a stupid question, but you can’t have kids, huh?”

  “Nope,” I said. “To be honest, I never wanted any.”

  Tree placed his arm around Carrie. “Well, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’m sure it’ll be great because Carrie and I will be together.”

  “You two are such a cute couple,” I gushed when Tree kissed Carrie on the cheek. Then I thought about Brayden, wondering if he regretted what he had done to me and if he would apologize to try to make things right between us. Or if he’d continue to pursue me. If he did, I’d have to find a way to get it through his thick head we didn’t belong together. But hopefully, I wouldn’t have to do that.

  The bell rang, and as we gathered our stuff, I glanced at Carrie and Tree and knew we would always be in each other’s life. And when I went to say goodbye to Nathan, and saw the fierce love in his eyes, my stomach flipped.

  He pulled me into his warm embrace and slowly kissed me, stealing my breath. If any two people were ever made for each other, I think we were. As a team we would fight to protect humanity against the darkness planning to engulf it.

  Yesterday my mortal life had ended, and now my immortal life begins. With Nathan by my side, there were three words I wanted to say to the dark spirits: Bring it on.

  Preview:

  DARK SPIRITS

  Here’s a sneak peek at Dark Spirits, the captivating sequel to Beyond the Eyes.

  Chapter One