Staked!

by Candace Wondrak

  “Oh, thanks,” I answered as I lightly his arm.

  Gabriel held my squished (and squeaky-clean) face between his two hands. “I have something for you too,” he spoke ever so quietly, below a whispering tone.

  He was starting to scare me. For a few moments, he didn’t move, which made me unsure of what he meant. His sapphire gaze fell to our laps, hands not moving from my face. There was something else he wanted to say—I could tell, but in a flash he let go of me and ran upstairs.

  I sat back, collecting myself. That was weird, wasn’t it? Or was I just making it weirder than it really was? Because I have been told I did do that.

  Suddenly he was back down, jumping over the back of the couch and landing perfectly next to me. He held a long thin black box.

  What could possibly be inside? I wondered. And why was he giving something to me on his birthday? That’s not how birthdays worked. This boy had to be up to something.

  “Here.” He handed it to me, oddly hesitant.

  I took it and divided my time staring at the box and at Gabriel.

  “I…bought it a long time ago. Three years, actually.” He swallowed, as if he was trying to say something important.

  “Three years?” I questioned. Three years ago I had saved his life. Barely.

  “Yeah.” Gabriel rubbed his hands on his face, which needed a shaving, to be honest. “I went and got it right after…well, you know.”

  “But that was three years ago,” I repeated, incredulous.

  “I know, I know. I…got it on an impulse the day after, while you were in, like, a comatose state.” My blank look made him continue, “You don’t get it. I thought you might never wake up. The second you brought me to Michael, you passed out and became unresponsive for the next seventy-two hours. I was worried. You just—looked so still…pale. You didn’t react to anything. You couldn’t even squeeze my hand.” Gabriel stared at his own hand, as if reliving it.

  He looked up at me, deadly serious. “You were so badly beaten, Kass. I came out of there with a few bumps and bruises. But you…you had ribs cracked, your nose broken, a concussion. All because of a stupid girl and her pet Nightwalkers. And it wasn’t like we could take you to the hospital.’”

  After putting the box down on my lap, I reached over to him. But he smacked my hand away. “Kass, it was my fault. It was all my fault. You even warned me, but I didn’t believe you. I thought this girl really liked me, but it turned out she only wanted me as food. You almost died because of me. If you never woke up, I don’t think I could have lived with myself…”

  “Gabriel.”

  He didn’t look me in the eye.

  “I’m not dead. I’m okay. We weren’t meant to die there. That day was supposed to make us stronger,” I said what I had only recently begun to believe.

  “Did it?” Gabriel finally glanced at me. “Did it make us stronger?”

  Chapter Thirteen – Gabriel

  Three Years Ago

  I searched every glass case, looking for the perfect one. Michael’s stolen card was in my pocket, so the amount wasn’t the problem. The problem was finding the right one for her, for Kass.

  A stout woman walked up to me, dressed in fancy clothes. She sized me up, her scowl indicating that she was unaware of the card in my pocket. “Can I help you find anything?”

  I bit my lip, unsure of what to do. “Yeah,” my voice cracked, “I’m looking for something for…my…” It hurt to talk. My lip was bruised and my face swollen. I wondered if this lady thought I was a hoodlum or a kid just wasting her time.

  “Girlfriend?” The lady finished my sentence.

  I nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, my…girlfriend.”

  Kass as my girlfriend. That was…not something I normally thought about. I never once thought of her like that, never.

  She smiled and folded her ringed fingers on top of the glass. “Have anything in mind?”

  “Not really,” I answered truthfully. I didn’t know what things Kass liked. If she would rather have girly jewelry, a ring, a bracelet—I had no idea. “I’m really not good at this kind of thing…”

  “Come with me.” The woman led me through the store, to a back room with some really expensive stuff. Who would pay three thousand for a half-carat of black diamond?

  “Depending on your price range, might I suggest this?” The woman opened the display case. She held it up to my face. “This is a very unique item we just got in stock. The only one we have. It is a beautiful piece, even if you and your girlfriend are not the religious type.”

  Not tearing my eyes from it, I said, “We are. What does this mean?”

  “The cross represents God and his love. I like to think of it as God’s protection. And the heart—I think we both know what the heart means.”

  I did, though I was uneasy getting it for Kass. “I’ll take it.”

  The woman seemed happy, albeit skeptical, but she rang me out with no problems.

  After making the purchase that Michael will definitely not be happy about, I ran home. I may have been hurt, but I still made the distance in ten minutes.

  I busted through the door, hoping Michael was somewhere else. But he wasn’t. He was standing there, arms folded, acting like he was my father. Which he wasn’t.

  “Where the bloody hell have you been?”

  “Nowhere” was the only word I said as I stealthily hid the long box in my coat pocket. He didn’t need to know about the purchase yet. Swallowing, I inquired, “How is she?”

  Michael’s eyes met with the linoleum floor.

  I didn’t wait for his response, for his disheartened expression was all I needed. Instead, I ran up the stairs and barged in her room, half expecting her to be up and about, jamming to music and putting away her clothes. But she wasn’t.

  Kass was still laying in her bed. The same position Michael put her in. I ran up to her and knelt by her bedside. “Kass—” I held her hand. “—can you hear me?” I squeezed her hand, hoping she’d feel it, wherever she was. “Kass, come back. Please come back. Please.”

  I heard Michael’s soft footsteps behind me. “Gabriel.”

  “No,” I yelled, because I knew what he was going to say. What if she never wakes up, Gabriel? What will you do then? You know you have to go on…without her.

  But that was one thing I could never do. I could never, ever go on without Kass. She was like my second half. She was my best friend. No, she was my only friend. The only person I needed in my life.

  “Leave,” I growled as fiercely as I could, though my voice broke, signaling that I was about as dangerous as a sick kitten.

  “Gabriel,” Michael spoke once more, taking another step closer, his voice soft.

  “I said leave.” The strength in my voice startled me. It also startled Michael, because without another word, he left. I instantly turned my full attention to Kass.

  She looked so ghostly. So sad. Her skin was beyond pale. Her lips were cracked to the extreme. Her whole body bruised and utterly broken.

  All because of me. All because of stupid, stupid me. Why didn’t I listen to her when she said that girl was no good? Because I wanted to prove that she was wrong. This whole thing was because of me and my selfish reasons.

  “Kass…” I grasped her hand once more. It was flimsy and lifeless. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she was already dead, that she left us for a better place. Heaven.

  Awe, hell.

  A life without Kass would be a life in Hell.

  “Kassandra,” I yelled to her, semi-hoping she’d suddenly hear me and come back to me. “You can’t leave me. You have to come back. You have to…”

  She had two cracked ribs, a broken nose, a fractured wrist, and three broken toes. And probably other injuries too, ones that Michael couldn’t identify from the outside. Hopefully no internal bleeding.

  We couldn’t even take her to the hospital. If we were normal people we could have. But then again, if we were normal we wouldn’t be in this mess in the first plac
e. If we were normal…I wouldn’t even know Kass.

  A life not knowing Kass would be Hell.

  But I’d rather be in Hell if it meant she was safe and alive. If only it were that simple.

  “Kass, I bought you something. It cost Michael…a lot.” I handled the box in my pocket. “I know it doesn’t make up for all this, but…please come back, so I can give it to you. Please come back,” I whispered after bringing my face closer to hers. “Please. I need you here with me.”

  I looked upwards, my mind wide open for any ideas that would bring my best friend back. Slowly I returned my gaze to her, to Kass. My best friend. My Kass. Though her face was black and blue, she was serene, tranquil, beautiful.

  My Kass.

  Thoughts that never had entered my mind before surfaced, and my stare fell to her lips as an idea came to me. Leaning over her, I whispered, “You have to come back.”

  No response.

  “Kassandra.”

  Nothing.

  My vision started to become blurry, but I blinked it back. “If I could take it back, I would. I would never have asked her out, never followed her into danger…the danger that caused all this. If I could have been more alert back there—I’d give anything to be in your position, trade spots with you, knowing that you’re alive and safe.” And before I completely lost it, I laid a single kiss upon her cold and chapped lips.

  I need you.

  But it wasn’t a fairy tale. The kiss did nothing but make my lips cold.

  And feel like her.

  Frustrated and beyond upset, I ran into my room, slammed the door hard, and slid down it. Cradling myself between the floor and the door, I let it all out. I just couldn’t hold it in anymore. I took the box out of my pocket and threw it as hard as I could across the room.

  What if she never woke up?

  I screamed till my voice wouldn’t come out. I banged the ground till my knuckles refused to move. I cursed myself till I ran out of curses. I broke every piece of furniture in my room until there was nothing left. And, for the first time in my life, I cried.

  I cried because I was sad. I cried because I was worried. Most of all, I cried because I was angry at myself.

  Chapter Fourteen – Kass

  “Gabriel,” I spoke as softly as I could, seeing for the first time how hurt he really was by the disaster that happened three years ago. “Gabriel.” I reached over and pulled his face close, hugging him. “Of course it made us stronger.”

  We were in that position a while before Gabriel said, “Kass, you know your boobs are in my face, right?”

  Thank God, the normal Gabriel was back.

  I chuckled as I noticed it was true, letting him go. “Sorry.”

  “No, don’t apologize. Anytime you want to put them in my face, by all means, do it.” Gabriel grinned back at me.

  I glared at him. How quickly this changed from an emotional moment to a normal encounter. “Go put Malcolm in the Middle on,” I ordered him.

  As he did as he was told, I realized that the black box still sat on my lap, untouched and unopened. Double checking that Gabriel was still fiddling with the DVD player, I decided to open it, but I could not hold in my amazement.

  It was a necklace, covered in diamonds and consisting of a cross and a heart.

  “Someday I’ll tell you what it stands for.” Gabriel knelt in front of me.

  It stood for something?

  “Gabriel, I don’t know what to say…” My breath was short, reminding me of how I got before John attempted to kiss me. I guessed it’s true; all girls loved diamonds. But I didn’t think it was only the diamonds that had me out of breath.

  “You don’t have to say anything.” Gabriel picked up the necklace and moved my hair. He gingerly put it on me, saying, “Actually, please don’t.”

  “But—”

  Gabriel shook his head, his natural hair flying in every direction. “No.” He leapt onto the couch, next to me. “Now can we please just watch Malcolm in the Middle without this getting too much weirder?”

  I nodded, reclining back as we both began watching the show that premiered on TV before our time, remembering our childhood and how everything used to be much, much simpler.

  Michael sipped his coffee, grabbed the paper, and walked into the living room when his gaze landed on two sleeping figures. Us.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me…” He hit us with the paper, on both our heads, as if we were animals acting up. “Wake up, wake up. You’re terribly late for school!”

  I jerked awake, followed shortly by Gabriel.

  He was totally out of it. “School?”

  I was a bit more awake, noticing every little detail. And by every little detail I meant the drool spot on Gabriel’s shirt. Oh, God. That was my drool. Ew. Wait a second. This meant I slept on Gabriel.

  Awkward.

  I rolled off the couch and ran upstairs, leaving Gabriel to explain why we hadn’t fallen asleep in our beds and decided to stay up all night and watch Malcolm in the Middle. I threw some clothes on and took a swift glance at the clock.

  Crap. Third period was going to start in fifteen minutes. I didn’t want to miss a minute of third period because third period was physics, and physics meant John.

  And John…I really wanted to see John.

  Michael drove us to school, and it was weird. Sitting in the car with him and Gabriel, everyone was silent. Which made me a little uneasy. Was Michael mad that we accidentally fell asleep on the couch last night and were late to school? Or mad about the part that he had to drive us there? Or maybe he was angry about something else?

  But I didn’t know what that something else could be.

  Even in a car—a speeding one—we were still five minutes late to third period.

  And let me say that I hated walking into a room where class had already started and the teacher was talking.

  Mr. Straum met me halfway in my walk of shame. “Ah, Miss Niles. Welcome. I trust you had a lovely time sleeping in?”

  How could he possibly know that? I thought I looked acceptable, but maybe not. Maybe acceptable for me was roll-out-of-bed for Mr. Straum. Although, sometimes, I wondered if he dressed himself in the dark because some of the shirts he wears. They’re just not pretty. Trust me. But, luckily for me, the class was too busy fixing their marble shooters to hear what he said.

  Mr. Straum let a laugh loose, one that seemed to echo in the small classroom. “I’m just messing with you. Go take your seat next to John. While you were gone, he’s been working very diligently.”

  I nodded, moving toward John. His long legs were dressed in tight jeans, his hair sloppily falling over his dark eyes. He looked good. I tried sliding into my seat as snakelike as I could, without making any noises, but for some reason John still heard me.

  John winked at me.

  He smelled great, too. And his teeth were so white. He was so attractive in every way.

  “Nice nap?” John asked while tinkering with the screws.

  “Yes, actually it was very nice.” I wasn’t about to tell him how I woke up on Gabriel though. I knew that conversation would end badly and send John barreling toward whatever class Gabriel was in. A fight would surely ensue.

  “Well, I got this thing to go two meters,” John said, like he was proud of himself. Like he, himself, had invented it. Even though all the items came in a pack and its average shooting distance was supposed to be eight meters.

  “What grade’s that?” I asked, taking interest, since I couldn’t fail this class. Well, I could, but I really didn’t want to. It would be especially upsetting for me since I learned all this crap before.

  “I’m going to say it’s not an A. Or a B. Or a C.” He stopped and smiled at me. “Possibly a D.”

  “Great,” I whined as I dropped my head on our lab station. “Just great. For our first project, we’re going to get a D.”

  “Hey,” John rubbed my back, which felt incredibly good. “Don’t be a Debbie Downer. I’m sure he’ll give
us an A if we bribe him.”

  I looked up at him.

  “Except I already offered him everything in my pocket. Three dollars and thirty cents.”

  Enjoying the massage he was now giving me, just for the heck of it I asked, “What’d he do?”

  “He shook his head, laughed, and walked away. Still laughing.” Much to my sadness, John started testing out the shooter again, leaving my back to miss his firm touch. That felt really, really good. He should go into massage therapy, or at the very least be my personal massager.

  “I hate this class,” I muttered. When Koath taught me physics, he hadn’t taught like this. He didn’t teach me horribly, like this guy, making us build stuff without telling us how.

  John laughed. “So do I, Kass. Believe me.”

  “I wish I didn’t take this class.”

  “What?” John appeared appalled. “Then we wouldn’t have any classes together besides lunch. And we both know lunch doesn’t really count.”

  That was true. I liked this class only because John was in it and we goofed off.

  But I was in the middle of a whine fest, so I couldn’t exactly stop myself. “I can’t build things. It’s literally impossible for me. I can’t do anything, John. I really can’t.”

  I knew that was a lie. I could do things, plenty of things. Things like purifying and fighting. Things were not the problem. The problem was this particular class. I was having trouble doing things in this class only, so that’s got to be saying something, right?

  “Hey.” John took my hand in his, which sent a tingle up my arm. His hands were impossibly strong. “You have me. I can build things. Maybe not get them into working condition like the way he wants them, but I can build things.”

  “But building them is only half of it. We need to get them to actually work and do what they’re supposed to do. We are so going to fail this.”

  John kept a hold of my hand as he said, “Well if you keep thinking like that, we will. But that’s something I don’t plan on doing.”