The Sapphire Talisman

by Brenda Pandos

  My world became black, even though my eyes were still open. I gave up hope.

  “Put her down,” a woman’s voice said, bouncing through the foggy tunnels attached to my ears.

  I sensed someone’s surprise and my body slipped from Slide’s grasp, falling downward towards the pavement. Where I landed didn’t seem hard like I expected and strangely transmitted feelings— ones of thankfulness and love.

  “I got you,” the male voice whispered, his tender arms enfolding me against his chest.

  My mind finally registered I’d actually been caught, but not by just anyone. My heart sang as I squealed inside with glee, finally being reunited with the one I loved: Nicholas.

  Overtaken with exhaustion, I melted into his embrace, finally feeling at peace as he carried me away from the battle between Scarlett and the rest of the vermin towards safety. My voice came out ragged as I struggled to tell him what I’d wanted to for the past few days. That I loved him, I’d missed him and knew he’d return to me.

  “Shhh . . . don’t talk.”

  His fluid movements felt like a hammock, swaying my body in the breeze, making me feel sleepy. I would have drifted off too if his bubbling anxiety didn’t interfere.

  “What’s wrong?” I whispered, finding my voice worked a tiny bit better, my face still buried in his comforting leather coat.

  “It’s Scar . . . I need to rescue her too.”

  My chest shuddered as I forced my eyes open, not meeting the green eyes I wanted to see. Instead, charcoal colored eyes stared back at me with concern. The tears came from nowhere, falling shamelessly down my cheeks.

  “What’s wrong?” Phil asked, in confusion. “Are you hurt?”

  I closed my eyes, willing the anguish away, shaking my head from side to side. I couldn’t tell him the truth, not after I knew he was falling in love with me.

  “I’m—I’m just thankful,” I finally said, looking away—anywhere to avoid the depths of his searching eyes.

  Below us on the ground, Scarlett danced around, fighting the six vampires like a ninja. She seemed tireless, though I sensed her growing distress.

  “She needs our help,” I stuttered out, trying to take the attention off myself.

  “I know. Are you ready?”

  I looked back into his eyes for a second, sucking up my disappointment and heartache. “Yeah, let’s go get her.”

  Phil gently turned my body so we faced the same direction, tucking his arm around my waist before barreling down towards the ground, screaming “Cowabunga.” The vamps looked up, suddenly filled with indignation, and poised themselves in a prepared ambush.

  Filled with amusement, Phil darted in a different direction at the last second, away from their line of defense and towards Scarlett who magically appeared from nowhere. He scooped up her newly formed cat body into his arms and let out a whoop of satisfaction. The vamps turned around, stunned at first then erupted with furious cussing and threats, too late to catch him.

  “See you later, Suckers,” Phil called down, while arching up into the moonlit night sky, laughing hysterically. I knew, if his hands weren’t full, he’d be giving them the bird to seal the deal.

  “That was terribly close.” Scarlett’s voice trembled, her exhaustion clearly evident.

  “Sorry I took so long, girls,” Phil said, emanating valiant excitement.

  The talisman dangled from my neck, reminding me of it’s awakening earlier and I frantically looked on the ground, searching for Nicholas. I hoped even though Phil had come to my aid, Nicholas was nearby and affecting its powers. To my horror, the stone was black again.

  “Where were you?” I asked Phil as chills rippled over my skin, realizing if he was a little bit longer, I might have been killed.

  “Sorry, I was detained, but no worries. Scar had it all under control. Didn’t ya, Babe?”

  “Under control? Bah!” I barked, practically spitting with animosity. “I almost had my throat crushed!”

  “I couldn’t stop him mentally like the others. He blocked my abilities.”

  “Geez. Couldn’t you have just morphed and crushed him like a bug?” I used slow and deep breaths to calm myself down so I wouldn’t reach over and strangle her neck. “Always an excuse, isn’t it?”

  “I’d successfully been able to use their fears and doubts against them so they’d squabble and distrust one other . . . it worked, for a while,” she said, her voice growing fainter each word she telepathically spoke. “It’s tiring to concentrate and manipulate so many minds at once.”

  “But where’s Nicholas?” I asked, worried we were getting too far away and abandoning him to deal with the local vamps alone.

  “Nick is here?” Phil said, in a panic.

  “He’s not here, Julia. Your necklace lighting up was an illusion I created.”

  Her words turned my stomach over in a somersault. How could this be? “An illusion?”

  “I knew if I’d brought the necklace back to its former self, your reaction would help in the deception. It worked, even down to the perceived pain when the others touched it, except on Slide.”

  “Hello? Answer me, Julia. Where’s Nick?” Phil asked, completely unaware we’d excluded him from the internal conversation.

  “No,” I said quickly. “I thought for a second you were him when you caught me. I . . . I was confused.”

  “Oh,” Phil said plainly trying to hide his disappointment.

  “I never meant to cause you any pain. I’m sorry. I know how much you wanted to believe it to be true—that Nicholas was healed and here to rescue you.”

  The sadness in Scarlett’s tone tore at my reasoning, but all I wanted to do was punch something.

  “Screw you,” I huffed in my mind, mashing my eye lids tightly together to hold back the tears. “How dare you use those feelings against me.”

  “It saved you,” she whispered. “Saved us.”

  “Phil saved me, not your pathetic illusion.”

  I turned my head away from her and dove into Phil’s aura—one filled with contentment and relief. The bitter cold began nipping at my body again and I shivered, not looking forward to enduring the freezing journey again.

  “Here,” Phil said, passing over Scarlett towards me. “Hold Scar. She’ll keep you warm.”

  Unable to explain the reason for my animosity towards her, I just crossed my arms over my chest and refused. Warm or not, I would never hold her willingly.

  Phil grew frustrated. “Look, I know things didn’t exactly go as smoothly as we’d all hoped, but you’re cold and I want to fly faster to get you home on time. So unless you want to literally freeze your ass off, you’d better hold her.”

  I scowled, still unwilling to take her from Phil’s other arm.

  “Take her now!” he barked. “And, if you even think about dropping her, I’ll drop you. Got it?”

  Though his feelings told me he’d never follow through with his threat, I was crushed he’d even have to warn me. I despised her, yes, but I wouldn’t let her fall to her death.

  “Fine,” I huffed, taking her small but dense body into my arms.

  Instantly, Scarlett’s delightful fur flooded my body with radiating warmth. And the irresistible softness made it impossible to stop kneading her tantalizing coat as she tucked herself into a ball. Her purr simultaneously soothed my hurts and numbed my pain.

  “I’m . . . so . . . sorry,” she mumbled, as if she were falling sleep.

  “I know,” I thought, washed over with my own guilt. “I know.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Deep in twilight—the place where one isn’t really sleeping, but not totally awake either—the wind rustled my hair while I snuggled deep within the comfortable goodness of my sleeping bag. Aladdin lay nestled next to me under the downy covers, purring like a lawn mower. We’d just left the drive-in theater and Dad let me and Luke stay in the truck bed for the ride home. The rumble of the engine had lulled me to sleep.

  “We’re here,” I heard
him say, but not in a tone I was familiar with.

  I pried my eyes open and awoke with a start, staring at the world from a few thousand feet.

  “Whoa,” Phil said, gripping me tighter. “I’ve got you.”

  My nails became talons, clawing into his arms as I blinked several times to clear the fogginess from my brain. The drive-in wasn’t real, but a fading dream sparked by a childhood memory.

  I cleared my throat to stifle my scream.

  Phil spoke soothingly, squeezing me a little tighter. “It’s okay, Parker. You fell asleep.”

  “I . . . I did?”

  “You did,” Phil replied, pleasantly amused.

  My hands relaxed off his arm and grazed over the lump in my jacket where Scarlett, a ball of heat, lay tucked within my coat. Phil’s arms wrapped around my waist, keeping her secure next to my body. The recollection of putting her there slowly resurfaced. My arms had gotten tired and Phil suggested I store her in my coat while she slept. Good thing we did because I might have accidentally dropped her when I fell asleep myself.

  “She’s like a little space heater,” I said jokingly.

  “Yup.”

  I sensed his smugness, thankful he didn’t follow with an “I told you so.”

  My house slowly came into view and I braced myself for the onslaught of fear and worry but found nothing. Apparently—once again—I’d avoided suspicion and successfully snuck out of the house without consequence.

  “Looks like things are okay,” Phil said, just before landing on the roof ledge, relieved. “The fam seems to be sleeping.”

  “I guess so,” I said with a shrug, unzipping my coat and lifting out the limp bundle of black fur.

  “She’s totally spent,” Phil said, petting the top of her head. “Mind stuff always wears her out. Why don’t you let her crash here while I go back and give the fake scoop to the Empress.” He made a fluid sweeping motion with his hand and bowed.

  I chuckled then frowned, realizing he wouldn’t be staying with me tonight. I’d enjoyed the time we’d spent together . . . maybe a little too much and didn’t prefer Scarlett as his replacement. His growing attraction was starting to make things difficult.

  Phil spotted my frown. “She’ll be hanging with you tomorrow anyway, so it’d be cool if she could just stay,” He tapped his finger lightly against my pouting lip. “Smile.”

  I scrunched up my face. “Do I have to?”

  “I like it when you smile.”

  “No,” I smirked. “I mean, have Scarlett escort me to school? I can handle it. Really.”

  “No. We don’t need anymore accidental makeovers.” Phil wrapped his arm around my shoulder with one arm and mussed up the front of my bangs with the other hand. “And besides, you two are becoming such good friends.”

  Little do you know. “Whatever.” I stuck out my tongue.

  Phil laughed with a wink then leaned in towards my lips. For a brief second, my heart palpitated. Instead, he gave me a peck on the cheek and whispered in my ear, “Miss me.”

  Stunned, I teetered backward after he let me go and sat on the window ledge, unable to stop the butterflies his mischievous grin gave me. A huge part of me was going to do just that—miss him—and I didn’t like he was going back to the den of vipers, even if he was our spy. Instead of asking him to stay though, I crawled inside and dropped the fluff of fur gently onto the floor, desperately trying to act like his departure didn’t faze me.

  “Yeah,” I said with a fabricated chuckle, peering out of the window. “Miss me too.”

  “Always.” He winked again then disappeared.

  At his absence, my smile faded and all the tension from the night came out in one big exhale. The last thing I wanted to feel was disappointment that he could leave so easily. But I did.

  The room looked the same as when we left earlier but the ridiculousness of the blonde wig made me chuckle out-loud. My pseudo-body couldn’t have possibly fooled anyone, especially my dad. I pushed everything onto the floor, set my alarm, and crawled under the covers. The day had been one of the longest in my life and everything ached, especially my neck.

  My head hit the pillow and my heavy eyelids drooped, begging for sleep, but I had to take a moment to deal with the ever nagging gaping hole that longed for Nicholas’ presence and touch.

  A huge part of me wanted to give in and send out an open invitation, hoping he’d make the decision easier for me. If he could only sneak in and partake of my blood while I slept we could just run away together under the shadow of darkness and never return. The thought sounded blissful until I remembered my dad. I could never leave him like that.

  “I love you,” I whispered, lifting my hand in the direction of the window. “Come back to me.” Utterly exhausted, I let it fall and drifted instantly into a deep sleep.

  “Wake up.”

  Something heavy lay on my chest, nudging its wet nose against my cheek.

  “Stop it, Aladdin,” I said and rolled over, knocking her off in the process, pulling a pillow over my ear to stop the blaring music. Who’s playing music so loud at this hour?

  “Your clock is. Get up.”

  The weight came back, this time on my hand. I ignored the obnoxious pressure until sharp pins pricked into my skin, shooting pain up my arm.

  I yanked my hand away with a yelp, tempted to swat away whatever hurt me, finding myself glaring back into exotic-blue cat-eyes. “What the heck?”

  “Turn off that racket.”

  The fog cleared as I realized a cheesy love song blared from my alarm clock. “You can’t press snooze?”

  “I’ve been pressing it but it starts playing again,” Scarlett said, animosity lacing her tone.

  I reached across her body and flicked the switch to the off position, inspecting the time—a little after seven. “Oh crap.”

  Shoving her and the covers off my bed, I leapt up and headed towards the shower. “Why did you let me sleep this long?”

  “Let you?” Scarlett snarled, walking out from under the comforter, fluffing her fur to get it back to its luminous splendor.

  “Forget it,” I said while slamming the door of the bathroom, separating visual contact. I shrugged off the clothes I’d slept in and turned on the tap. The warm water felt amazing, washing away the worries from the night and bringing hopes for a new day.

  “I guess you’ll be coming with me?” I asked. “Scarlett?”

  She didn’t answer.

  I toweled off and caught a glimpse of the black talisman that hung lifeless around my bruised neck in the mirror. Today would have to be a turtleneck day.

  Darn you, Slide.

  With a sigh, I caressed the stone, wishing my touch would encourage it to wake up. Something inside told me unless Nicholas and I mended our relationship, it would forever remain dormant. I turned away from the mirror and tried to ignore my logic, brushing out my wet hair instead.

  After leaving the bathroom, I noticed Scarlett wasn’t in my room anymore. For a second, I wondered if I should find her, or steal a peak at my text messages away from her prying mind. The phone won out and I retrieved it from my backpack. The screen flickered to life as I held my breath.

  Six new messages lit up my inbox, all from Sam. I let out my breath in a noisy lip flapping trill and scrolled through her comments, all from this morning.

  – You coming today?

  – I can’t handle another day of History without you.

  – Hey! You alive? Text me back.

  – OMG! Major news! Call me!!!

  – Holy crap! Tyler saw Katie last night!

  – She’s alive, but all vamped out. Weird.

  The last text sent me into a panic to get to school. Quickly, I pulled on my clothes and bolted downstairs to grab coffee and a bagel, although something else super yummy wafted from the kitchen. Tasty or not, I had to ignore my hunger and get in the car before the scheming cat returned to escort me.

  I burst into the kitchen and skidded to a halt, phone in hand, ju
st about to call Sam when I saw them.

  Scarlett and Aladdin sat side by side eating tuna from the same bowl on the floor. Dad stood at the stove with his beloved spatula in hand and turned at my arrival. A welcoming smile formed across his face to greet me.

  “Good morning, Pumpkin. Good to see you up and back to your old self today.”

  “Dad!” I barked, giving him the eye and pointing to Scarlett.

  “What?” Dad shot me an innocent look, reverberating annoyance at me. “She seemed hungry, so I fed her.”

  “Next I’m having pancakes,” Scarlett said with a purr.

  “Like heck you are,” I spouted out loud, temporarily forgetting the faux pas of her secret identity.

  “What did you just say?” Dad asked, now trickling a little anger.

  “Never mind.” I smoothed my jeans with my sweaty palms and sat down at the table, glowering at Scarlett. “What I meant to say was you shouldn’t have. We don’t know who she belongs to.”

  Dad walked over and scratched the top of Scarlett’s head. “She seems tame enough and don’t forget how we got Aladdin. Who knows, they might be in need of companionship. They seem to like one another.”

  Scarlett responded with a meow, arching her back as my dad scratched along her spine.

  “Knock it off. This wasn’t part of the deal!” I said acidly.

  “I’m not denying the hospitality of your dear, sweet Father. He has such little joy in his life and I’m starving.”

  “He has plenty of joy without you. Get out of his head this instant,” I spat, finally at my wits end.

  “It’s unlike you to be inhospitable towards animals, Julia.”

  “She’s—” My glance bounced between Dad’s frown and Scarlett’s smug kitty lips, considering exercising my right as a resident in the home.

  “Don’t even think about it,” she warned, the end of her tail flicking ever so slightly. “How are you going to explain my reaction to your father if I change?”