Gray (Awakening Book 1)

by Shannon Reber

  Ben nodded, apparently in agreement before he made a motion to me. “Micah, this is Shayla,” he said, though his eyes were fixed on something else.

  Micah nodded to me, but didn’t speak, a stony look on his face.

  I had no idea what was going on, though didn’t say anything, because all of a sudden we were surrounded by a bunch of guys.

  One of them stepped up on the side Francis had left open, not as tall as Ben but he still made me feel like a little kid by comparison. He was an attractive guy, with a wiry build, shaggy, wheat colored waves and dull blue eyes. Those eyes made me fairly sure I knew what kind of guy he was. “Hey look, it’s the Lindbergh baby,” he said and draped his arm over my shoulders. “I can see why they didn’t let you go for so long. You’re hot.” He looked down my body like I was nothing but a mannequin put on display just for him.

  Bile filled my mouth. I did my best not to show how angry or grossed out he had made me. I would not put up with being manhandled though, or more accurately idiot-handled. “Hey, I’m guessing you’re not very good in history. The Lindbergh baby was a boy who died of a massive skull fracture in 1932. It’s a few years from then and I’ve been a girl all my life. Hard to tell, I know,” I said snidely and showed my teeth like an angry dog.

  Micah and Ben both chuckled, though neither of them spoke.

  I stepped forward to get out from under the dumb blond’s arm, fighting back the temper which wanted to snap out at him.

  “My mom has this idea that you were never kidnapped, that your sister kept you locked in the basement. That where you been, Lindbergh?” he asked, his voice loud enough to carry to everyone in the hall.

  My first instinct was to punch that cretin in the nose and kick him in the jewels a few times, but that would be a bad idea. Instead I did what came naturally to me. I put a wide smile on my face and let out a bark of laughter. “You know, I can’t remember anything about the past eight years, but right now, I wish I could forget you.” I elongated my strides as much as possible to get away from them all.

  Ben and Micah both snickered again, but the thing which made me mad was that Ben hadn’t said a word. I knew we weren’t friends and barely knew each other, but it had felt like we had come close to it. A guy who didn’t have the backbone to speak up was not the kind of guy I wanted to call a friend though.

  That settled that for me, so I turned my mind away from all of them and focused on my next class. I had to look down at my schedule again to see the room number, but as my eyes fixed on the paper in my hand, everything around me began to change.

  I was alone in the dark. My back screamed in pain and my stomach roared with a painful hunger. It had only been two days since Gerik had fed me, but those had been the longest days so far.

  The blackness all around me made each and every sound ten times louder. The rustle of little critters, the trickle of water, those things sounded like a marching band to my ears. I wanted to go home, to hear my sister laugh, or my mom sing, or my dad’s camera click. I wanted to see them so much it was a physical pain to go along with all the others the Black King had given me. More though, I wanted to be free. The chain around my neck wasn’t long enough to let me sit, so my legs quivered with exhaustion. If they gave out, I would be strangled by the chain.

  I jerked as the limestone around me began to lighten. Someone with a torch walked along the passage. Was it the Black King? Would he kill me as he had threatened to do if my magic did not meet with his approval?

  No. I would not allow that monster to kill me. He was nothing more than a murderer, not the Black King at all. I stood straight and balled my hands into fists, ready to fight. A relieved sigh gusted out when I recognized the face of a friend. Dorian brought his finger to his lips to keep me quiet.

  He stopped next to me and I almost wept with pleasure at the sight of the bread and cheese in his hand, the water skin in his other. He would be put in the chains next to mine if Gerik found out he’d come, but there was no way he would find out from me.

  Dorian leaned down to bring his mouth within an inch of my ear, his voice whisper quiet. “Wait, Gray One. Allow me to clean your wound before you eat,” he said and set the food aside.

  I took his hand and squeezed, thankful even to see someone else.

  Dorian squeezed my fingers in encouragement and turned me around so my back was to him. He leaned down again, his hand on my shoulder as he whispered. “The mark of the wolf cannot be removed from your skin by my magic. It is your birthright, not mine. I can only clean the wound. Remain as quiet as you can, Gray One,” he whispered, then lifted my shirt up in the back to reveal that burn.

  I gulped, sure it would be horrible. I clenched my teeth, bowed my head and prayed for the strength not to scream.

  Dorian squeezed my shoulder in encouragement and took another skin out to clean the burn with a mix of vinegar and water.

  I had to stuff my knuckles into my mouth to hold back the scream of pain. It was almost as excruciating as the original burn, but I had gotten used to pain. I was desensitized. I focused my mind on nothing but the acidic smell of vinegar, not how my head swam or my stomach roiled.

  Dorian pulled my shirt down and turned me around. He lifted the water skin for me to drink. It was enough that he had cared to clean my wounds and try to ease some of my pain.

  “I will bring you food as often as I can, Gray One. Be well,” he said before he turned to walk away.

  “Thank you,” I whispered with a prayer my friend wouldn’t be caught in his defiance of the orders of the Black King.

  My whole body shook like a leaf. What was going on? What was wrong with me? Why did that hallucination feel like it had really happened?

  I took in a deep breath of air and let it out slowly. I couldn’t go crazy in the middle of school. I had to save it. I had to get a grip on myself and . . . but it had felt so real.

  Was there any way it could be? A guy with weird ears might have been a friend to me wherever I had been held. Maybe I had been left in some black place as a punishment for something. It was plausible, at least sort of.

  I swallowed hard and pushed all of it out of my mind. I had to focus on my classes. I had to focus on the people around me. I had to focus on Francis.

  Francis had proven himself to be a friend even after so many years. We’d had fun when we were little and I was positive we would still have fun. He laughed easily and that was the kind of person I wanted to have around me. I wanted to be happy and pretend nothing bad had ever happened.

  It was a relief when I saw the right room number in front of me. I was determined to make the rest of the day a good one. I would just ignore everybody but Francis. That would work perfectly.

  Statistics, then Art, then AP Chemistry and finally it was lunch time. Instead of searching through the crowd for Francis, I decided to let him find me. I went to get in line with a vain hope the food would be better than Kassia’s cooking had been so far.

  “Oh, my poor Shayla. I’m so happy to see you, sweetie,” London shrieked and rushed over to wrap her arms around me again. “Oh sweetie! You’re just skin and bone, you poor little thing,” she yelled while she smoothed her hand over my hair like I was some abused puppy or something. “You look so much better than you did the other day.”

  I made a face and pulled back from her with a sharp smile. “You look a lot better too, London. I was worried about you when you took off so fast,” I said, just to remind her about that strange outpouring of water from her nose, to knock her down a peg or two.

  She didn’t acknowledge my reminder, but put on another wide, bright, false smile. Her little sheep followed her loyally. They nodded stupidly at everything she said. “I was surprised I didn’t see another story about you on the news from Saturday. People want to know what happened to you, sweetie.”

  The water in the air called to me. It wanted to help me yet again. No. That wasn’t possible. It was just in my imagination. Reality was all there was. “I personally prefer the s
tory of Little Red Riding Hood. I always thought the wolf was clever to dress up as the grandma, either that or Red Riding Hood was a moron,” I said simply to distract myself from my own craziness.

  I heard someone snicker, so glanced over. It was a relief to see Francis and a few other people who had been in one or two of my classes. “Oh come on. The Three Little Pigs was way better. The wolf in that one was just arrogant . . . and gassy,” he said and waved his hand in front of his nose.

  I threw back my head and laughed. “I’m pretty sure the huffing and puffing was because he was a descendant of the Norse god of wind, Njord. I don’t think he was farting the houses down.”

  “Oh Shayla, sweetie, why don’t you come sit with us. I’m sure Francis can live without you,” London interrupted us. She put her arm around my shoulders as she sneered at him.

  “No thanks,” I said brightly and stepped back to stand next to Francis. “I wouldn’t want to be responsible for the breakdown he might have if I abandon him at this crucial juncture in our friendship.”

  He sighed gustily. “I was about to cry, Shayla. Thanks for saving me the embarrassment.”

  “Your hair is embarrassing enough,” London snarled at him, thrusting her nose in the air as she turned to walk off.

  I grimaced, then gave my friend an apologetic look. “Thanks for rescuing me. If I’d had to sit with her and her ilk I might have ralphed on the table.”

  Francis smacked his palm into his forehead. “Now I wish I would have let you flounder, just so I could see that!” He shook his head. “Don’t listen to anything she says though, Shayla. She’s just one of those girls that isn’t happy until she’s made three people cry and I have become her favorite target, so you were bound to get hit by the fallout.”

  I narrowed my eyes. How dare she mess with Francis. I should have done something, said something more than my little joke. She could not hurt my friend.

  “So is it really true you don’t remember anything from the last eight years?” a girl in the group asked, her eyes wide in wonderment at the idea.

  I shrugged, determined not to discuss any of it. “It’s true.” I smiled at the girl. “You’re in my Chemistry class, right?”

  She nodded and that was it. We started to talk and everybody else chimed in, that little group becoming all important to me just that quickly.

  It was fabulous. I felt whole, free, almost completely normal. They didn’t stare and whisper about me, they talked to me and I talked to them. They became what I had needed so desperately, a happy distraction from the chaos of my mind.

  It was altogether obvious I was using them to block out my own insanity, but oh well. All that mattered was to soak in as much of their gloriously normal lives as could be managed.

  I wouldn’t allow myself to think about the weird dreams which felt like memories, or the magic which flowed through the air around me, or anything abnormal. I was an ordinary human girl. That was it. That was all.

  Five

  I stood and stared into the mirror. My back was crisscrossed by scars. They were ugly, disfiguring marks, but the one which made my heartrate pick up was the wolf symbol which had been branded into my shoulder blade.

  It felt so familiar, but no memory would come clear in my mind. The wolf meant something, I was certain. What was it though?

  I heard a knock on the front door, so tugged on my shirt and walked down the steps. It was such a strange thing when I opened the front door, to see the Chief, so few changes having come to him in the last eight years. He looked rock solid and like family.

  I smiled and stepped forward to wrap my arms around his waist. With the Chief around, Kassia and I weren’t quite as alone. “I swear, ossifer . . . I ain’t had nothing to drink,” I said with a grin and a fake hiccup.

  The Chief didn’t smile. “Why don’t you try saying the alphabet backwards for me.”

  I fake hiccupped again and stepped back to beckon him into the house. “Z, Y, X, W, E, I, E, I, O.” I sang the last five letters.

  “I’ve got some duct tape handy, if you want to shut her up for a while, Chief,” Kassia said, as she stepped into the entryway with us.

  “I take it you girls don’t need me to break up squabbles over who stole whose book, or who’s smarter any longer?” the Chief asked with a small smile.

  “Of course not. Kassia’s the thief and I’m more smarter. No competition.” I beamed at both of them, going to the closet for my jacket.

  Kassia shook her head a little. “Pizza ok with you, Chief? Shayla seems to be more interested in clogging her arteries than anything else,” she asked as we all trooped out the door. She set the security alarm and locked the doors as fastidiously as she always did.

  “If that’s what sounds good to you girls.” The Chief turned his eyes to meet mine. “How has your first week back to school been, Shayla?”

  I continued to smile so they wouldn’t be able to see the rust in my armor. “It’s ok. Good sometimes, awful other times,” I said with a shrug. “You remember Francis Ruggles?”

  The Chief nodded.

  “He’s been amazing, made me feel like I was home the first moment I saw him.” It made me happy to be able to tell the truth in one respect.

  “He’s a good boy. I’ve never had a spec of trouble from him. Nice, respectful boy with a good family too.”

  I chuckled as we got into the Chief’s car. It amused me that he seemed to think I was interested in Francis that way. “We were discussing the time he peed his pants on the bus in first grade. Even his ears turned red laughing about it.”

  Kassia rolled her eyes at me. “Shayla, you ever think maybe the kid might not want to relive embarrassing moments for you to laugh at him about?”

  “You are so right. Next time he brings something up, I’ll tell him to shut up just so Mighty Queen Kassia doesn’t have to pull out her superhero tights and cape to defend the helpless,” I said with a sneer as she glanced back at me.

  Her lips quirked, but she didn’t quite smile. “I haven’t seen Francis in several years. Is he still orange?”

  I sneered at that reference to Francis’ bright red hair. “He’s a regular Irish flag, Kassia.” I looked at the Chief in the rearview mirror. “So how’s the crime prevention business treating you, Chief?” I asked, to bring him back into the conversation.

  “It’s a good town with good people.” He smiled at me in the mirror. “We have a few I’d like to run out of town, but most are worth protecting.”

  I smiled back. “Any chance you want to give me some dirt on anybody in my class so I have something to throw back at them when they call me Lindbergh?” I asked, but regretted the words immediately. A cold flash of anger passed over both of them.

  “Who’s been calling you Lindbergh?” Kassia looked ready to bash skulls together or something.

  “People who don’t know their history,” I said and turned a wide smile on her. “When are you going back to college? You’ve got a couple of semesters left for your nursing degree, right? Or do you just plan to be an EMT for the rest of your life?”

  I knew it was a low blow since she’d simply been following the urge to protect me. If I could get the Chief on the subject of Kassia’s college courses though, neither of them would remember my stupid mention of my new name at school.

  It worked beautifully. The Chief asked Kassia pushy questions, which Kassia took offense to, which ended in an awkward silence.

  Wow, look at me. I can make the only two people in the world who love me miserable. What an amazing accomplishment.

  It was a relief when we walked into the pizza place a few minutes later. That relief was short lived as I saw the wavy, blond head of the guy who had gotten everybody to call me Lindbergh. He sat at a table with London, Micah, Ben and a few others, his expression as unpleasant as usual.

  Speak of the devil and the devil wants pizza as much as you do.

  I didn’t acknowledge any of them, but walked toward an empty table. If only we had just eat
en at home to save me the sight of that group.

  Ben smiled and stood up, walking out of the restaurant. He didn’t speak to any of the people at his table who asked him where he was going and what he was doing.

  I didn’t know what to make of this, but didn’t care enough to look. I just sat down and turned my eyes to regard Kassia. “Hey, how would you like to teach me to drive?” I asked, already aware she wouldn’t agree. I had only wanted to find some way to break the tension which had been created by me.

  Kassia sat for a moment, before she slowly nodded. “I’ve been thinking about that. I mean, you are seventeen.” She didn’t even look bothered by the idea.

  I opened my mouth and stared at her. “Chief, I think my sister might have been taken over by aliens. We have GOT to find the pod before they take over the world.”

  The Chief didn’t answer, his eyes fixed on something over my shoulder.

  “You asked me to teach you, now you’re—”

  “Kassia, you say no on everything. I didn’t really think you’d agree.” I patted her hand. “Pod people are so much cooler than the real you.”

  She made that half cough, half laugh sound, but turned to look at something over my shoulder as well.

  I didn’t know what was going on, so looked at whatever had drawn their attention. Ben had just stepped through the door with a box full of stuff. I would guess he had found it all in the walls, or the basement, maybe the fireplace.

  He grinned at me as he set the box down. He took out three books and handed them to Kassia. “I found these in the wall the other day and since I was told they were stolen from you, I figured it’d be safer to give them straight to you.”

  Kassia stared at the books for five long seconds, before she shook her head and began to flip through them. “You’re Ben, aren’t you?” she asked, her eyes fixed down on the treasure in her hands.

  “That’s me,” Ben said with a wide grin. He didn’t even look at the Chief.