by LM Wilson
He will hold her heart and there’s not a damn thing I can do about. Swallowing my jealousy, I ask, “What do we do?”
Malachi’s copper coloured eyes widen as though he’s shocked that I’d be willing to ask for his help. After a few beats, he finally says, “We train her. Teach her how to shift without switching. Help her learn control over all of her powers and keep it all a secret. We train her to complete the Princess Trials.”
I pace back and forth, glancing at her door through the open doorway. “How are we supposed to train her when we don’t know what the trials are?”
“We train her in everything. Martial arts, powers, meditation, book smarts, and everything.”
My footsteps falter. He’s right. We can do this. We’ll just have to be careful. “Okay, I’ll find somewhere to train. You see what you can find out about the trials.”
“Meet back here in an hour?” At my look of confusion, he adds, “I don’t want to leave her on her own for too long.”
I nod without verbally responding. I know of a few places that we could use to train Joey, but the question is, will it be enough?
Chapter: Joey
I pace back and forth across my room. I’m starving but the last time I went to the cafeteria that bitch Miranda “accidently tripped” and covered me in mashed potato and cold spaghetti and gravy. I swear she planned the whole thing. Who even eats those foods together? I mean seriously, it’s like she chose every sloppy food she could find in the buffet.
What hurt the most though was seeing Angel and Raine sitting at their tables laughing at the mess covering me. I would never have thought they’d be the type of people who would laugh at bullying.
They did though. Even though it sounded eerily robotic to me.
The encounter at the library last night has been playing over and over in my mind. It was almost as though they remembered being my friend for a moment and that encounter with Chase; He knows something. I’m sure of it. It was in the way he looked at me as Raine tried to convince him to stop me. His spring green eyes were almost sad, not the kind of sad you get when you feel sorry for someone, no this was more like the kind of sad you get when you can’t say something or do something you really want to do. I almost stopped short of going into my room to wait for him and find out what he knows.
Almost.
As I’m finally making my way towards the cafeteria, my mind flashes back to a week ago when I was in English Lit class, stuck sitting beside a very pissed off Angel.
He’d been glaring at me out of the corner of his eye when Miranda had approached us. She propped herself up on my desk, knocking all of my things onto the floor. Angel had laughed and flirted with her the entire time I was bent over trying to collect my things. The worst thing though, was the fact that the teacher just stood there at the front of the class pretending like he didn’t see what was going on.
I felt like screaming. I still feel like screaming, but the boy I started to like was nothing like this new Angel. The boy I met two weeks ago was sweet and kind. He was the kind of guy I could easily fall for.
Not now though.
Now I’m not even sure I’d want to be his friend.
I’m so lost in my own thoughts that when I’m pulled into a storage cupboard, I forget to scream. It takes me a good two minutes of struggling with my captor before I remember how to use my voice. A hand covers my mouth. Tears run down my cheeks as I choke on the scream lodged in my throat.
“Settle Joey, it’s just me.”
“Chase?” I mumble into his hand trying to suppress the sobs threatening to escape me. He lets me go and I spin in the darkness, my hand flying before I can think. The loud crack of my palm meeting his cheek sends us both into a stillness that’s rife with tension. The weirdest part is that the tension isn’t violence.
No, for me it’s sexual.
I want to climb him and slam my lips onto his. I want to feel his strong arms wrapped around me as I grind myself… Oh for the sake of all that is sexy, just stop before you make an even bigger fool of yourself.
“So, don’t drag Joey Kale into dark closets. Noted.” His deep voice has a hint of humour in it as he rubs his left cheek.
“Why did you drag me in here?”
“I couldn’t stay away any longer. I need you to know that I do remember.” I blink into the darkness then his arms are around me. All my thoughts stop as though my heart has taken over everything. Chase squeezes me to him as though he’s checking to see if I’m really here with him. “I missed you.”
My heart melts. In his arms I feel so safe, cared for. I feel like I could take on the world and survive, but then he pulls away and says the last thing I want to hear. “Malachi and I have a plan. We’re going to meet tonight at lights out at the old caretakers house where Riv wanted us to stay.”
“Malachi? But he was part of the reason you all don’t remember me. I saw what he did to Angel. He made him forget everything.”
Chase cups my cheek, I can’t see his eyes clearly but I know he’s being honest when he says, “I know, but he didn’t have a choice, Joey. I promise you; he doesn’t mean any harm. He only wants to help.”
“I don’t trust him.” I ease back until I’m leaning against the closed door. I feel like I need distance between us for this conversation. A few feet don’t feel like enough but it’ll have to do.
Chase lifts his hands, covering his own heart. “Do you trust me?”
“I want to.” I hedge, unsure. I study him in the dim light. I really do want to trust him. I just don’t know if I can trust anyone anymore. I know the guys aren’t acting of their own accord, but it still hurts every time I see them. I feel like they betrayed me. Like they left me.
“I swear to you, I will never betray you.” It’s almost as though he’s reading my mind. He shuffles closer, grasping my hands in his. “I will do everything I can to bring our friends back together and to keep you safe.”
“Okay.” The word barely leaves my lips when he asks, “Really? That easy?”
“Do you want me to fight you on this?” I ask, trying my hardest to suppress my laughter. Guess I’m not the only one with trust issues now.
“No….”
“Then stop arguing and tell me the plan.”
♡
My day passes in the blink of an eye. Classes were uneventful, no bullying. No sign of Raine or Angel at all. Without them around Miranda and Claire had no reason to approach me. It’s strange knowing that Chase is playing their game. Well sort of. He explained that for the first few days he played along, letting Miranda kiss him but the moment she wanted to take things further he couldn’t do it. She moved on to Angel in minutes. Chase thinks she was trying to get all three of them, but with Claire all over Raine, she couldn’t get him as well.
I’m still not sure how much I trust them, but for now I am willing to meet them at the caretaker’s place and see what they have planned. Chase refused to tell me anything until we meet up. Which was supposed to be ten minutes ago, but I’ve been delayed.
I huff as Angel continues to block the doorway. “I can’t shake the feeling we’ve been close.” He repeats for the second time in as many seconds. Angel’s punk hair style keeps distracting me, especially with that single lock of white hair hanging over his wild aqua eyes. Those gorgeous pools boring into mine, begging me to answer his unspoken question.
“Angel, I-.”
“See that’s what I’m talking about. You speak to me as though we know each other. I keep getting flashbacks of the two of us together.” He rubs his hand over his face. “Not just the two of us. I keep seeing you and me in bed with Raine.”
“I have no ide-.”
“Stop lying to me. I know what I saw. What I remember. I just don’t understand how or when.” He pushes off from the wall and into my personal space. “Back at the nurse’s rooms, you ran into my arms.” Angel holds his arms out as though mimicking the action. “At the time, I couldn’t remember you. I couldn’t figure out w
hy you’d do that. I thought maybe I got drunk and we were together but that’s not right is it?” Again, he scrubs his hand down his face, pushing that lock of white-blonde hair into a mess across his forehead. My hands twitch and his eyes light up. “You played with my hair. We were lying on Raine’s bed and you kept playing with my hair.”
“I really need to go.” I back up, hoping he’ll let it drop. I can’t face this right now. I need to get to Chase and find out what his plan is.
“You’re not going anywhere until you tell me the truth!” His hand clamps down on my wrist, stopping me from escaping. “I feel like I’m losing my mind. I close my eyes and I can see you. Every inch of you. My heart is telling me you are someone special, yet my head keeps pushing me to walk away and go find Miranda.”
I’m torn between wanting to comfort him. Reassure him that he’s not crazy. At the same time, I want to scream at him. Tell him how cruel he’s been to me lately. How much it hurts to hear him tell me that he thinks I’m someone special after the way he’s been treating me. I know in my heart it’s not his fault but the words tumble out of me in a voice I’ve never heard come out of my mouth before. “Whatever we had it’s over now. Okay?” The pettiness of my words makes my cheeks heat but the pain and venom in them makes Angel let me go.
He looks like he’s lost. Like he doesn’t know what to do. I don’t wait for him to come to his senses. I take off. Running as fast as I can back the way I came.
To hell with them all. I’m not some pawn they can play with. I wish they could feel what it’s like to be treated the way they’ve been treating me.
Chapter: Angel
My entire body feels like it’s burning from the inside out. I want to run after Joey, but the pain is too intense. I watch her round the corner through a haze of tears. My hand slams into the wall as I stumble.
I’ve felt this before.
My knees hit the ground and I just stare at the hands on the ends of my arms. They aren’t mine. I don’t just mean the hands. My eyes track down the front of me. Boobs jut out from my shirt, straining the material. My hands go straight to my crotch to check my junk but it’s gone.
Heat covers me from head to toe. Spreading out like a caress. My vision blurs and suddenly I’m kneeling in the middle of the hallway. Back in my own body.
“What the fuck?”
Chapter: Raine
“That’s what I want to know.” I step out of the shadows behind Angel, looking him over from head to toe. I swear what I just saw isn’t possible. Yet something inside of me knows it really happened. Knows that it has happened before. “Care to explain how you shifted into Joey Kale?”
“I didn’t shift into anyone.” He gets to his feet, staring up and down the hall as though looking for someone.
I could hazard a guess as to who.
“I think we need to find out more about the beautiful Joey Kale. Let’s go pay my brother a visit.” To my shock, Angel doesn’t protest, he simply falls into line at my side. I can’t remember the last time we were this amicable. A memory tickles the back of my mind but it’s as though I’m trying to catch sand in a sieve.
“Can I ask you something Raine?”
“What?”
“Do you even like Claire?”
“Not really.” I frown, my steps coming to a halt. “I actually can’t stand her. She clingy and needy and always trying to get me to sleep with her.”
“Do you remember asking her out?”
“I don’t do girlfriends.” The memory hits me so hard, I grunt.
Joey and I were in my room, except I was in Joey’s body and she was in mine. A knock came at my door and Claire’s grating voice came from the other side. “Raine, baby, you in there?”
Joey turned to me; her beautiful sapphire eyes so wide that I was worried she was going to pop one out. “What do we do?” She whispered in the cutest voice.
“I’ll get rid of her.” I had turned to the door but she grabbed my arm, stopping me from opening the door.
“You can’t, you’re not exactly you right now.” She hissed, looking at my chest pointedly.
“Shit, I forgot.” I rubbed the back of my head in frustration. “Just tell her to go away.” I practically growled the words at poor Joey.
“Isn’t she your girlfriend?”
“Noob, I don’t do girlfriends. Just get rid of her.” I didn’t give her a chance to respond, I just turned and rushed into the bathroom. It felt like forever before I heard voices coming from the other room.
“Kind of busy, what’s up… um… babe?”
I groaned silently as she made me sound like a douche.
“Don’t you babe me, where the hell have you been?” I remember trying to figure out Claire’s name while Joey was trying to get rid of her. Claire should’ve known better. I don’t answer to anyone and I sure as hell don’t call her babe, not even now that she’s tricked me into being with her.
The memory fades away as though it was just teasing me with a hint of what really happened, but when I glance ahead to where Angel is leaning against the wall, I get the distinct impression that he too is remembering things. “We’ve been spelled.”
“Come on man, you know spells aren’t real.” Angel pinches the bridge of his nose.
“No, I mean someone is messing with our minds. I remember being Joey. I remember wanting to hug her. I don’t hug people, not even the girls I sleep with.” I lean my back against the wall beside Angel. “I feel like I’m losing my mind.”
“I know how that feels. I’ve been having the most realistic daydreams about that girl. I swear it’s like I was actually there living through her eyes.”
“Forget my brother, I think we need to talk to Chase.” I get the feeling Chase knows what is going on. He let her run off the other night when I was trying to question her.
“I’ll message him. He’s probably hiding out in the gym again. He’s been going down there every night for the last couple of weeks.”
“Stalker!” I laugh.
“Ha ha, no. I only know because that’s where I usually take that Miranda chick.”
“I really can’t stand that chick. You know she’s tried to corner me dozens of times. I may not want to be in a relationship with Claire, but I am not a cheater.”
“I’m fairly sure she’s been trying to use me to get to you and Chase. She doesn’t seem to actually like me. The only time she bothers with me is when Joey, you or Chase are around.” He hangs his head as though the thought of someone using him (like he used to use chicks) actually hurts his feelings.
We used to be best friends and when we were, I would’ve done anything to prevent Angel or Chase from getting hurt. I try to remember why we drifted apart but all I can think about is how Joey seems to be the thing that pulls us all back together. There’s something about that girl that makes me feel like life is worth trying again.
After far too long of standing here lost in thought, I finally push off the wall. “Fine, let’s go find Chase and see if we can figure this whole thing out.”
It only takes us a few minutes to walk to the gym, but all the lights are out and after trying the handles, I realise the doors are actually locked. “Where else would he go?”
“We could try his room.”
“Or you could just come with me and I’ll take you to him.” Both of us jump at the sound of Malachi’s voice.
“Why would you know where he is?”
“The same reason I know that Joey switched bodies with Angel tonight and almost didn’t switch back in time.”
“In time for what?” I ask, genuinely curious. “Does she get stuck if she stays that way for too long?”
“Wow, never thought Raine Abaddon would be an idiot.”
I curl my hands into fists, fully prepared to fight him, but Angel holds his hand out in the universal sign for stop. “We seem to be having a bit of trouble remembering things.”
“Well, that would be my fault actually. Angel’s memories anyway. Pretty s
ure my sister took Dumb-dumb’s.”
“Why would you take our memories?” I ask at the same time Angel asks, “Sister?”
“Same reason I’m going to do it again in about two hours, to stop Miranda.” He turns his back on us and starts walking towards the door leading to the Elemental studies field. “If you want to know everything, I’d suggest you hurry up. The security guard will be along here in about thirty seconds.”
I give Angel a ‘What choice do we have?’ look and follow Malachi out into the freezing cold darkness.
♡
Chapter: Joey
I pace my room trying to figure out if I should go to the caretaker’s place after all. I almost got caught when I changed into Angel earlier. I think I caught it in time, but I can’t be sure.
As I’d raced around the corner away from Angel and his prying gaze. I had run straight into Miranda – the wicked witch of Abaddon High. The bitch had the nerve to shout at me and tell me off and all I kept thinking about was how much I wished Angel and Raine could see what she’s really like. Next thing I knew, my body was turning into an inferno and Miranda was stalking off around the corner.
I know for a second, I actually did switch with Angel. I’ll never forget the feel of being in his body. I was tempted, seriously tempted to stay that way and let him see for himself that he’s being manipulated, but then I recalled how he’s been acting and quickly switched back.
I stalk over to my window and peek out the curtains. Three figures emerge from the doorway near the cafeteria. Each of them peer around as though afraid someone is going to see them. The thin sliver of moon highlight’s the white lock in Angel’s hair. I look at the other two and notice the first is wearing a leather jacket. The only person I know who would dare wear one is Raine. Which means the other guy with them could only be Chase or Malachi.