by Kim Cormack
Frost said, “How blindly we love when we are young and unscathed.”
Frost burned his ring’s symbol into Kevin’s hand. “Welcome to Clan Ankh,” Frost chuckled.
Kevin repeated Kayn’s earlier words exactly as his skin lit up like fire.
“We will be in touch then, kids. You have a lot to learn.” Frost smiled as he twisted his ring on his finger. He grabbed a couple of strange fingerless gloves out of his pocket and tossed them at the two of them.
“You won’t want to forget to cover those symbols with these.”
Frost said, “Any questions?”
“Will someone still be coming to kill me?” Kayn asked as she looked at Kevin, her heart aching because he had tied himself to her.
“Oh, sweetheart, you can count on it,” Frost blurted coldly. “But now you have back-up,” He added.
“How will I know who is safe and who isn’t?” Kayn asked one more question, wanting to make sure that she knew as much information as possible.
Frost answered bluntly, “You can tell by the scent, Kayn. If you smell metal, you friggin’ run. Just so you feel better about things, if you two were paying attention at all, you know that you don’t really die.”
“I heard you,” Kayn answered uneasily and then added, “but that doesn’t mean that I’m ready to let go of this life. I’m going to fight for it.”
“We are counting on it, Kayn. There are big plans for you, young lady,” Frost said grinning.
“Kevin, you okay, little buddy?” Frost gave him a brotherly pat on the shoulder.
Of course Kayn knew that Kevin would normally jump on the little buddy comment. Her best friend was still in shock.
“Just trying to absorb everything. It may take a minute, or a year or so,” Kevin said calmly.
“Well, my friend, time is actually irrelevant; does that help at all?” Frost added with a grin and a gentle shoulder clasp.
“Not so much, but thanks for throwing that out there,” Kevin murmured while shaking his head.
“Anytime,” Frost answered and he suddenly looked a bit preoccupied.
Frost looked at Kayn and said, “Freja used to give me that same disapproving look. Your resemblance to her is uncanny and it’s beginning to freak me out just a little. It’s time for me to go. You two behave yourselves. We will be in touch, and Kevin, it’s not really stalking,” Frost teased with a giant grin in Kayn’s direction.
“Huh?” Kevin replied, of course not understanding what he meant.
“He’s really quite a humorous, half naked guy, or supernatural whatever he is,” Kevin said, still looking shocked.
Kayn said, “He’s Ankh.”
“He burned my hand,” Kevin stated as he looked down at the welt that throbbed on his palm.
“Let me see that. I want to try something,” Kayn took his hand in her own. Kevin felt his hand become really warm. His symbol lit up and the pain dulled. It was still wounded but it hurt less.
“What in the hell is going on, Kayn?” Kevin looked at his hand in utter amazement.
They looked at each other in silence as the bedroom door opened and her brother stuck his head in again and said, “I told you to come down for dinner five minutes ago.”
“Oh, okay, sorry, Matty. I will be right down,” Kayn stammered.
“Kevin, just use the door next time instead of creeping in my sister’s window … okay, buddy? Are you staying for dinner, too?” Matt teased, smiling.
“Sure, sounds good,” Kevin said, his voice cracking in embarrassment.
“Frost was here for an hour at least, wasn’t he?” Kayn questioned Kevin.
Kevin looked at his watch, “Maybe five minutes has passed since I climbed up the tree to your window sill. I’m a little lost and maybe more than a little creeped out,” Kevin shook his head in confusion.
“You’re just a little creeped out?” Kayn questioned, as she began to smile.
They sat on her bed in complete silence for a minute, neither one of them moved a muscle. “We have a lot to talk about after dinner,” Kevin stated.
He stood up and took Kayn’s hand to help her up. Both of their palms began to glow a little bit. They instantly let go of each other.
“Mental note—apparently public hand holding is now not one of our options,” Kevin said.
They grabbed the fingerless gloves off of the bed. Both of them understood the gloves’ purpose now.
Chapter 16
Forever and Ever, Amen
Kayn took her place at the dinner table as her mind scrolled through the events of the day. Her heart was aching. Her gym teacher’s wife and children must be going through hell tonight. She couldn't shake the feeling that it was her fault. Everything was her fault. She could tell that Kevin was doing his very best to avoid direct eye contact with her. He had just given up his life. In her own words, seventeen was a little young to be thinking in terms of forever.
Kevin met her eyes as they ate dinner and said, “You barely touched your plate?”
Kayn glanced up at him and said, “I’m not very hungry. I keep thinking about the gym teacher’s family.”
Kevin looked directly into her eyes and said, “It's nobody's fault.”
Matt glanced at Kevin and commented, “That was a weird thing to say Smith. I assume you’re talking about that gym teacher? I got a text from Clay about him getting squished. It’s pretty messed up. Something just fell out of the sky and squashed him … crazy,” Matt said. He carried on eating. “I loved that guy. He was my gym teacher when I went to school there. Kevin, your brother is pretty upset.” She had been lying to them all. She’d told a dozen in the last week alone. What could she say? Someone tried to kill her again? Kevin had thought that she was insane when she had said those words to him at school. She glanced at him. I bet he doesn’t think I’m crazy now. “It was a horrible random accident,” Kayn said as she looked down at her plate, cut a slice of her now cold roast beef, and ate it.
She had better eat or she’d draw unwanted attention to herself. Her brother obviously didn’t know that they had been standing right in front of the gym teacher. Kevin didn’t offer any information up either. They continued to eat in silence knowing that they had to finish eating. They had a very important conversation ahead of them. Kayn looked at Jenkins and smiled to signal that the meal was delicious. She ate everything on her plate and excused herself to go to the bathroom. After dinner, they went back up to her room. She told Kevin a story about twin sisters that share a soul and events that were completely unbelievable. He not only believed every single word, but was a little upset that she hadn’t told him everything from day one.
He in turn, told her how he saw dead people. He told her Lily had already come to him. The note she had asked him to read aloud had something to do with having privacy from the spirits, and boundaries. Kayn decided not to harass him about not telling her about his issues from day one. They lay side by side on her bed, staring at each other.
Kevin broke the silence by saying, “You should have seen me outside your window watching you with some random shirtless guy. I don’t think I have ever been so jealous in my life.”
Kayn chuckled, “Frost has a weird quality that turns you on, like the gift Chloe used to have.”
“Your sister turned you on?” Kevin teased covering his mouth feigning shock.
Kayn punched him in the arm. “You’re hilarious. You should have your own cable show.”
Kevin laughed, “Kidding, I’m just joking. I know what you mean. Lily has the same ability.”
“Have you kissed her?” Kayn asked, unsure whether or not she really wanted to know the answer to her question. She shifted to meet Kevin’s gaze, balanced on one elbow, staring him down. Kevin sighed because it was obviously, absolute truth time. He touched her face with his hand and answered, “Yes, I wanted to, but no … I didn’t.” Kevin leaned in for a kiss and Kayn abruptly pulled away.
“I knew she made that guy hit me with a book,” Kayn s
tated
He replied, “In all fairness you did explode her coffee. That was you … right?”
Kayn whispered, “She deserved it.”
Kevin leaned forward and kissed her on the nose. He said, “Please give me a chance to explain before you blow things up in my face.”
She stipulated, “I promise to refrain from blowing things up in your face until after you have had a chance to explain.”
Kevin chuckled, “I’m sure you meant to say that you would never blow anything up in front of my face.”
Kayn peered around her room and changed the subject, “Are there dead people in my room right now?”
“Not a single one,” Kevin replied.
“I think you’re lying,” Kayn teased. “You have an easy tell.”
Kevin said, “All right, I’ll bite. What’s my easy tell?”
Kayn said, “If I tell you what it is then you will change it, and I won’t know when you are lying to me.”
Kevin clutched the pillow and said, “Tell me or I am going to beat you senseless with this green tea scented, orthopedic, pillow.”
Kayn lounged back on her bed, arms behind her head. “I’m all for trying something new, she dared him.”
He stopped horsing around for a moment and became serious. “I’m sorry it took me so long to see what was right in front of me.”
Kayn moved towards him. She placed her gloved hand against his and intertwined their fingers. “I thought I was going to have to leave you. Can you really tie yourself to me forever at seventeen?”
Kevin responded, “I knew I was tied to you forever at five years old.”
She began to tear up a little as she said, “No you didn’t. You’re full of shit. I can see your tell.”
He said, “I knew at five that you were the weirdest most incredible albeit obviously completely insane girl I had ever laid eyes on. I gave you that flower. You are my best friend. You will always be my best friend. Nothing can change that. That will always be the truth. Whatever you think my imaginary tell says.” Kevin brought their entertained hands towards his chest, forcing her to shift her whole body closer to him on the bed. She scooted even closer.
“You know that’s the truth. You can feel my heart beating against your hand, can’t you?"
Their lips were but the tiniest breath apart. Kayn was the one to close the distance. She gently pressed her lips against his. The moisture from one of her tears had travelled down her cheek and trickled across her upper lip. She could taste the salt from her own tear as her lips met his. Kevin took his free hand and ran his fingers through her hair. He cupped her head and pulled her closer. He darted his tongue across her bottom lip, and she gasped. Where had he learned to kiss like this? In one swift movement, he rolled on top of her. She began to pull up his shirt. She wanted to feel his skin against hers. She ached to be with him completely. She needed the end of this day to be about more than trauma and pain. She wanted this day to be about something beautiful.
He gasped, “Are you sure?”
She nodded yes to him and whispered, “I have never been so sure of anything.” He took off his shirt and revealed a chest that had matured so much since the last time she had laid eyes on it that her lips parted in admiration.
He grinned and tossed it aside.
She ran her hands across his rippling chest and gazed into his eyes. She loved him with every solitary whisper of her being. This was deeper than lust. This was not two teens doing something impure. This was the most untainted love. A passion built on friendship. It was a love built on kissed skinned knees, and crying on shoulders. It was a love built on placing brick after brick of trust into its foundation. Their hearts were as intertwined as their fingers had been. Her heart raced as He darted his tongue along the inside of her lip again. It both tickled and made her squirm beneath her skin. She looked deep into her best friend’s eyes and fumbled with the button on her jeans.
From the bottom of the stairs, they heard Kayn’s brother yell, “Hey, do not make me get the hose. Kevin, your mother wants you to come home.”
“Oh, no, I think he’s on to us,” Kayn giggled.
They started gutting themselves laughing.
Kevin bit his lip and whipped his shirt back on. He groaned, “I’m going out that door and climbing back in your window.”
Kayn kissed him again quickly. She teased, “I have a sneaky suspicion Matt will be checking on me every five seconds tonight.”
Kevin bit his lip again and said, “I’m just glad he didn’t barge in. That would have been awkward.”
~
Matt was beginning to get angry, seething at the bottom of the stairs. What was the appropriate reaction to Kevin and Kayn’s changed relationship status?
Jenkins wandered up and teased, “Oh, what’s wrong buttercup?”
“I think they might be making out up there. That bed was squeaking,” Matt whispered.
Jenkins smiled and stated, “I’m sure they are.”
“Well, what should I do?” Matt said helplessly. “I yelled at Kevin and told him to come down. I told him his mother wanted him to come home.”
“Give the kid a minute to compose himself. If you know what I mean,” Jenkins chuckled patting his shoulder. “Oh like hell.” Matt hissed. He made an attempt to push past Jenkins towards the stairs. Jenkins assertively seized Matt’s arm and said, “This is Kevin you’re talking about, not some schmuck with a sports car who is going to love your sister and leave her. You should be happy about this. I bet they even get married one day.” Jenkins towed Matt with him towards the kitchen.
“I should at least threaten him,” Matt grumbled as he looked back at the stairs.
Jenkins said, “He’s going to stop whatever they were doing and go home. Kevin’s a great kid. You will have the upper hand, if you don’t overreact.”
Matt stammered, “She’s only seventeen years old.”
“What were you doing at seventeen years old?” Jenkins asked.
“Oh God, they better not be doing that! I will kill him,” Matt panicked.
Jenkins was now belly laughing as he pushed Matt into the kitchen, “Let me make you a nice cup of coffee with some Baileys in it. It will calm your nerves.”
Sure enough only a minute went by. Kevin raced down the stairs and waved at the men in the kitchen as he left.
Kayn did not come downstairs. She was a little embarrassed and preferred to avoid the lecture. She lay her head down on her pillow. She heard Chloe’s voice in her head as she drifted off to sleep whispering, that was a little naughty. I’m almost impressed. Kayn smiled but didn’t waken to spar with her sister. She was exhausted. She slipped off into a sound and dreamless slumber that night. She awoke in the morning feeling as though she’d had the best sleep she had ever experienced.
Kevin showed up early the next morning. He was already sitting in the kitchen having a coffee with Jenkins when Kayn adorned in pajamas and her robe appeared. She knew her hair resembled a scraggly lion’s mane as she stumbled into the kitchen, but she didn’t care. Jenkins had a nice little, awkward chat with Kevin in front of her about doing naughty and any adult deeds elsewhere to preserve Matt’s sanity. Kevin had agreed with him of course. He had been honest with Jenkins. He said they had gotten all caught up in the situation and hadn’t thought it through.
Jenkins carried on with a mortifying safe sex speech. Kayn knew it was probably because he'd rather have it with him than with her. She was at the fridge trying not to laugh as she pretended to be looking for something. She sure as hell did not want to become involved in this conversation.
She heard Kevin assure Jenkins that they would slow things down. They would take their time to think things through, and give Matt some time to get with the new program. Kayn did agree a tiny bit.
Kevin grinned at her she staggered over to the coffee machine and poured herself a giant mug. She opened the fridge again and began to look for the flavored coffee creamer. Kevin hopped up silently and brought it to
her from the table without saying a word. They all knew the drill. They would give her five minutes of peace. Kayn took her coffee with her and went back upstairs to get dressed.
Kayn came back downstairs her perky happy self. They sat together in silence sipping coffee. Jenkins got up and began to make some breakfast, and Kevin got up to help. Matt appeared in the kitchen summoned by the scent of the sizzling bacon. His eyes widened, and Kayn had to stifle her laughter. Her brother obviously thought Kevin had spent the night.
Jenkins being the good friend that he was said, “Kevin just got here. He brought fresh eggs for breakfast.”
Matt’s relief was obvious. He politely said, “Make sure you thank your mom for us.”
After breakfast, Kayn and Kevin cuddled up under fleece blankets on opposite sides of the couch. They watched movies for half of the day, laughing and pointedly avoiding any conversations involving the events of the night before. Until she heard his thoughts: He was staring at her wondering what she could do. But today they were just ordinary teenagers that ate popcorn, and cuddled on the couch in blankets. She didn’t want to answer his questions … not yet. She wanted to continue to pretend.
“Be right back,” Kayn said, smiling as she walked toward the downstairs bathroom. She realized she was thirsty and detoured toward the kitchen. She grabbed some orange juice from the fridge. Kayn peered out the back window and caught a glimpse of a girl in the bushes. She didn’t feel like she was in any danger even as the girl met Kayn’s penetrating eyes with her own.
The stranger flashed Kayn a friendly, kind smile. Kayn stared at her through the window. The girl’s curly wavy hair and natural beauty felt familiar somehow. After the events of last night, she found herself backing away from the window, taking a second to make sure the doors were dead bolted before she left the kitchen. She walked by the front door, and she locked it, before she passed Kevin his glass of orange juice.
“Thank you,” he said smiling then added, “Why did you lock the door?”
“There’s a girl in the bushes out back—probably lost a dog or something, but better safe than sorry,” Kayn answered sipping her orange juice.