The Roses Academy- the Entire Collection

by Tara Brown

  Somewhere deep inside me there was a terrified little girl, but she wasn’t me. The things he did were done to someone else, not me. Not me in my heart.

  Defiant and prepared to end his reign of terror over these children, I stood up straighter, meeting his filthy gaze.

  “You’ve grown up. You look like you turned out to be exactly what I told you you’d be—disgusting street trash.” He licked his fat lips as he pulled a funny-looking gun off the shelf beside him. He pointed it at me, smiling wickedly. “Want to say hello to your old friend?” He laughed and put his finger on the trigger.

  I tried to leap out of the way, but he’d anticipated that. The probes shot out, sending an electric shock through my body. Intense pain filled me, taking control of my muscles. Tears slipped from my eyes as the pain ended and I fell to the ground.

  “You forgot what happens to bad girls. Didn’t you?” He took a step toward me. “You’re a trespasser. I am within my rights to shoot you. Let’s have some fun for old time’s sake before I call the police, shall we?” He was on me, tearing at my habit, moving faster than a man his size should be able to, before I could gain control of myself.

  The shock of the Taser gun had taken the heat from my hands. I panicked, snapping my fingers trying to get the spark again.

  When they failed me, I balled my fingers into a fist and fought back as he attempted to drag the habit down to expose my back. The door burst open just before it was ripped from its hinges.

  Father Michael and I both paused to watch a beast of a man heaving his breath and taking up the entire doorway.

  For a moment I thought maybe I was dreaming, but Lucas growled my name, “Ari!”

  I blinked and he had Father Michael against the wall, his feet dangling off the ground.

  His fat face turned a deep shade of red as Lucas choked the life from him.

  “You. Never. Touch. My. Ari!” Lucas growled, shaking as he fought unleashing his wolf.

  Realizing what was happening, I jumped up, waving my hands. “No! I have to send him back. I have to push him so they can be free.”

  Lucas shoved against the priest’s throat once more before he dropped him to the ground. “I have a second of restraint left.”

  “I-I’m sorry. Please let me g-go.” Father Michael begged for his life.

  Taking a breath, I closed my eyes for a second, enjoying the sound of him begging.

  Then I stumbled toward him, my fingers burning as the spark came back.

  “Now,” I spoke softly, “I am going to send you to the place you deserve to go.” I lifted my hands as a sick smile crossed my lips. The moment my hands made contact with his greasy face, I pushed. It was my most violent push. He was shoved back viciously against the wall.

  The air opened and in the picture he was a boy, maybe fourteen. He was torturing animals in cages and hurting his little sister. His mom worked all the time and he had no father, so his time with his sister was unlimited.

  One day he followed a girl home from school. He’d forgotten his rope and ran back to get it. When he returned she was with a group of friends. He was angry, but he knew he’d avoided being discovered. Had he not forgotten the rope he would’ve been mid torture session when the group met up with her. The next day at school he was asked to volunteer at the local church. He learned of the unlimited supply of victims he’d have if he joined the church and became a priest.

  The picture changed and Father Michael was back at that moment in the forest with the girl, and instead of going for the rope, he ran at her, knocking her to the ground. He hit her over and over until she stopped fighting. The group of kids came as he was choking her with a smile on his face. The boys ran at him and pulled him off. They beat him and beat him until the police came and took him away. The final picture showed him in a room with a lot of light. He was old and fat, drooling from his mouth, and watching TV. A mean-looking nurse was giving him pills. She shoved them in his face and snapped his jaw shut.

  The disgusting man faded from the room, leaving his rosary with its black beads floating in the air. I reached my fingertips out to touch it, but like all the other tokens, it dropped, crashing to the floor. I exhaled all my grief as I looked back at Lucas who faded as he walked toward me. “Ari.”

  “I had to.” I hoped I would see him at Lydia’s again.

  A shock wave from the change hit me. I fell back as it all lifted like a veil that had covered me, preventing the light from ever getting in.

  The cloud of doom the priest had created cleared away.

  The room filled with shelves and books. The torture chamber vanished and the smell was replaced with an older smell, more like dust.

  The jewelry I’d kept from the piercings plunked to the floor and melted, the tattoos were wiped clean, and every scar smoothed over.

  In Father Michael’s place, a kind man with sparkly grandpa eyes and a friendly face filled my memories. He had a firm but fair demeanor with the kids. He was a true man of God.

  The only hand he laid on any of us involved hugs or pats on the back. He truly was kind and humble and loving, exactly the way God intended his weakest disciples to be cared for.

  He loved everyone.

  He taught that God loved everyone.

  He defended the children.

  Smiles replaced the tears and love replaced the pain and all my memories changed.

  I no longer wore the habit but a pair of jeans, a tee shirt, and a blue wristwatch. My nails were short and clean.

  Everything felt clean again.

  I didn’t realize just how heavy the other version of me had been until this moment. There were no blocked memories. No secrets. No voices in the back of my mind. No fears.

  I was an open book and this new version of me was almost exactly the same as me from the desert. I ran, I finished high school, and was in college. I worked part time in a restaurant. My life wasn’t pain.

  Not that it mattered.

  This still wasn’t me.

  The real me was still the girl I had been in the very beginning. I was my uncle’s daughter, I just needed to convince him of that.

  Pushing the new memories down, I stepped from the book room, seeing the older man standing with his back to me. He saw me and smiled, his kind face filling with respect and love.

  “Ari, you came for a visit. I didn’t realize you were here. What a happy coincidence. I was actually just telling Anthony how much he reminded me of you. All that dawdling and daydreaming.” He laughed, shaking his head.

  “Oh really?” I smiled down at the little boy. It was the same little boy, but he was different just as I was. He was clean again.

  “You daydreamed a lot too?” Anthony asked softly, unafraid of people.

  “Yeah.” I grinned. “I guess I did. But it helps me run so that’s good.” I crouched down to his eye level. “Sometimes amazing things come from what everyone else thinks is silly.”

  “I think so too.” He smiled and hugged me, a perfect stranger. My heart melted, thinking about the child he’d been before.

  I squeezed him back.

  “You wanted to borrow a book?” Father James, the new priest, asked, patting my back softly.

  “Yeah.” I stood. “I do.” I looked at the book in my hand.

  “Well, the Book of Angels is a good book. I have to get downstairs for a meeting and Anthony needs to get back to the kitchen to finish his chores.” He smiled wide. “Stop by again, kiddo.”

  “See you later.” I walked from the office, waving back. “Bye, Anthony.”

  “Bye.”

  The bus ride home was amazing, compared to the one before. I walked with a skip in my step to the street where I lived. Something nagged at me, but I pushed everything down, enjoying the freedom of being myself again.

  The house was a happy sight, but seeing it I realized I hadn’t been there in ages. I walked up the steps and opened the front door. Everyone was in the kitchen.

  “Ari!” Were they excited or surprised to
see me? I couldn’t tell.

  “Hey, guys.” I waved, feeling weird about the strangely excited greeting.

  “Hey.” Lucas waved back as he continued to eat, not getting up from the table.

  Aimee barely took her eyes off her cell phone. “How’s it going?”

  “Fine.” I raised an eyebrow. “How’s it going here?”

  Aimee shrugged.

  “All right, kiddo.” Lydia walked over, passing me a plate of Annabelle’s famous French toast and bacon. “Get yourself some before the boys eat it all.”

  “Thanks, Lydia.”

  Lydia frowned at me. “You seem kind of weird today. You feeling all right?”

  “Yeah. It was a good day.”

  “Here”—Aleksander got up from the table—“Ari, sit here.”

  “Thanks.” I smiled and sat down, moving my chair closer to Lucas’. “How’s it going?” I snagged his thick bicep and snuggled against it. I wanted to ask him where he went to and how the changes had affected him, but I wasn’t sure he’d want to discuss it in front of everyone. He still seemed kind of mad at me. Maybe because I went to the orphanage.

  When Lucas turned his face to mine, I pressed my lips against his.

  He went rigid.

  I kissed him again.

  He never budged.

  “What the hell?”

  Lucas pulled back.

  Everyone stopped eating and stared.

  Ben stomped into the kitchen angrily. “What’s going on?”

  “Hey, Ben.”

  “Hey, Ben?” he asked mocking Lucas. “Hey, Ben? Seriously?”

  Lucas pushed me away. “Dude, she kissed me. Everyone here saw it. I didn’t touch her.”

  My stomach fell as my heart stopped.

  Ben grabbed my arm, pulling me off the chair. “What did I say about staying away from her? She chose me.”

  “What are you doing?” I struggled to get away from Ben’s grasp.

  “You said it was me, not him.” He narrowed his gaze in a way I’d never seen before.

  “You?” I stumbled back, looking to Lydia who seemed as confused as I was.

  “I don’t understand. You said I was your mate.” I glanced at Lucas. “What changed?”

  “Mate?” Ben shouted. “You told me not before marriage, but you mated with him?”

  “Is this a joke?” I laughed nervously.

  “Come on, Ari.” Lucas sighed. “You’re seriously trying to make drama, admit it. You kissed me. I thought you moved out to escape the drama, and now here you are making crap up. I never touched you.” He stood up, facing off against his brother. “I never touched her. I don’t talk to her. She’s yours. As in your problem.”

  “I don’t know what the hell is going on here, but screw you, Lucas.” I turned and ran to the stairs and up to my room. When I opened the door, the room was bare. All the stuff was gone. I sank against the door, sobbing.

  As I lost control over my brain, all the new memories flooded in.

  This version of me was more different than I had anticipated.

  I’d had a happy childhood at the orphanage.

  Lydia and I had met at a youth group volunteer meeting when I was sixteen.

  I moved to Lydia’s when I graduated and went to New York for training.

  My ring sat on my finger.

  My new memories also included some very passionate kissing, not with Lucas but with Ben.

  I’d gone with him to New York. We’d shared a bathroom. He had taken me out for dinner for my eighteenth birthday.

  I had saved the orphans and myself but as a result, I ruined my love life.

  Old me loved Lucas and new me loved Ben.

  I lifted my gaze to the ceiling, clearly more in touch with God than I ever was before, and prayed, “Please help me. I know I’m a filthy sinner—” I paused, hating what I was saying. I wasn’t a sinner. I was a nice person.

  Who the heck was I?

  Why was I saying “heck” in my own thoughts?

  “Ari?” Lydia’s voice called softly from the other side of the door. “Honey, you need to explain some things, dear. Let me in.”

  I didn’t answer. I was so humiliated. None of them remembered me. Nothing would be the way it was. They all saw me as a happy athletic girl who had my head on straight.

  I was a church girl for God’s sake. Literally, for his sake.

  I never imagined they wouldn’t recall me. They were supernatural.

  But even Lydia didn’t remember me the old way. I wondered if even Annabelle had been affected. It seemed impossible a ghost would forget.

  “Let me in.” She repeated it and I instinctively knew she didn’t mean the room.

  I closed my eyes and relaxed, letting her in.

  “Okay, I’m getting it loud and clear as to what happened. You pushed someone who had a major role in your life and now your life is altered. You remember us all a different way. A couple of different ways. But we just see this version of you.”

  I sighed and moved out of the way, letting Lydia open the door. The loving older woman sunk down onto the floor with me. “Just let me in all the way so I can see it all.” She took my hand in her weathered palm and squeezed.

  After a moment she sighed and gave me a look. “Oh dear. That is a mess.”

  “Lucas looked at me like he despised me.”

  “I know.” Lydia held me as I sobbed on the floor.

  Chapter 19

  Triangles, triangles everywhere

  Aimee

  Lucas paced the yard as Ben sat in a chair, playing with his phone. He was angry in a way I’d never seen before. Ben had always been the joyful one. Lucas was the serious, grumpy one. Especially where Ari was concerned.

  That girl was a menace.

  She had put a wedge between the happiest brothers from the moment she arrived.

  Aleksander came and put an arm around me, hugging me tightly to him. “I spoke to Lydia. It sounds like Ari pushed someone close to her, changing her entire life. In her head there are different versions of this life; she’s reliving it differently. In the last version of herself, she was dating Lucas. And now she’s dating Ben. She’s confused. And according to Lydia, Ari thinks she and Lucas are in love. I guess this is the second time it’s happened.”

  “Are you serious? I thought the first thing Lydia told her was not to push people close to her.”

  “It was important apparently. I can’t imagine what would happen if our lives all took different turns because one girl influenced everything we did. I hope she doesn’t push anyone close to you.”

  “I know.” I turned, snuggling into him, letting him kiss my forehead. The smell of him always made me happy.

  “How long has she been dating Ben?”

  “Not for very long. Lucas said she was hard to date. She’s so churchy. No messing around before marriage.” I glanced over at Lucas again. “He’s been hung up on her since she got here. Years of him wanting to date her but disliking her at the same time.”

  “That sounds insane.” Aleksander hugged me. “Where are you going tonight? Lydia said you’re leaving.”

  “Somewhere with Izzy. There’s been a couple of vampire attacks and Marcus is refusing to monitor his jerk squad. So we’re going.”

  “I see. Be safe. I can stop in and see Marcus if you want. I’m heading with Dorian to that place called Violet in Louisiana. Some girl has been attacked and they’re certain it was my dad. She’s still alive so I want to try to talk to her. He and I can stop in there first.”

  “Don’t worry about it. You just be safe too.”

  “I will.” He kissed my lips softly, whispering against them, “I love you, Aimee.” He was gone, making a small wind stir in the kitchen, leaving his warmth and smell all over the room.

  I inhaled his scent for a moment before Ben caught my eyes again. I decided he probably needed a shoulder to cry on and headed over to him. “You okay?”

  “No,” he mumbled, not taking his eyes off hi
s game.

  “Want to talk?”

  “No.”

  “If you do I’m here, okay?” I waited and then walked out the back door to Lucas who was kicking leaves and cussing.

  “Luke, you have to calm down. If you don’t, one of you will phase, and then you’re going to kill each other.”

  “Just get lost, Aimee.”

  “No. Don’t be a dick, I didn’t do anything.” I laughed. “Being mean to me isn’t going to improve things.”

  “I know.” He slumped onto the bench behind him. “But Ben thinks I’ve betrayed him and I didn’t. I never ever let my feelings for her show.”

  “So he knows you like her too?” I sat beside him.

  “Yeah.” His head dropped. “He knows.”

  “Does she know how you feel about her?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “She’d never guess. I’ve always been a jerk to her. On purpose because he likes her too.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s like the never-ending head game. And to make matters worse, Ben now thinks this is my fault that, in some other dimension, Ari chose me. Like I can control that.” He bent forward and put his hands in his thick brown shaggy hair.

  “Things will go back to normal. Ari just needs to adjust.”

  “No.” He turned, the desperation aflame in his green eyes. “That’s just it. I don’t want them to go back to normal. She finally feels something for me. I knew I wasn’t wrong. My wolf knows.”

  “Dude.” I laughed. “That’s a dangerous game. You ever hear of bros before hos? You would lose your brother over a girl?” I recalled my own predicament with my sister, Shane, and Blake. Things had never healed properly. My sister was living in Boston with Blake. She and Shane never spoke. She and I never really spoke either.

  “Yeah, I know, Aimes, but I love her. If there’s a part of her that loves me, even if it’s an old dormant part, I can’t just let that die. I have to try.”

  “Then you’re playing with fire and you’re going to get burned, Luke.”

  “I prefer Lucas.” He chuckled.

  “I don’t care.”

  “You’re a pain in the ass, Aimee.”