Empyreal (The Earthborn Series Book 1)

by Spencer Helsel

  And then kicks. She liked kicks.

  Her leg swung, coming around with practiced precision. The key to kicking was striking with your shin and swinging your hips. Everything else was balance.

  Dani’s blow thrashed the bag. She struck again. Her hands burned. In her mind, all she saw was Ricky’s face. Her anger flared. Smack! Smack! Smack! Two blows and then a kick. She landed back on her heels, then spun and kicked out behind her. Her heel connected.

  Wow. Never done that before. She kept it up. Her breathing came fast. Her hands still hurt but it motivated her all the more. It felt great. Smack! Smack! Smack! Her anger grew. The bag bounced harder.

  Smack! Smack! Smack! Grabbing the bag, she laid in a few body blows. She wished it was Ricky.

  The door behind her opened as her strikes and kicks got faster. She moved around it, hitting it with everything she had.

  “Wow. Angry much?” she heard Nathaniel ask.

  Dani jumped. Her leg arched up and around. She screamed as she struck. The chain snapped. The bag summersaulted off the attachment and landed on the floor, skidding about a foot before rolling to a stop. Dani landed on her feet and stared.

  So did Nathaniel. “So,” he asked slowly, “having a bad day?”

  Chapter Two

  Nathaniel and Dani left together, though not before Dani apologized for breaking the bag. No one knew why the chain snapped so easily. Dani weighed maybe a hundred forty pounds. The chain had to be old. That was the only explanation.

  The sun was still high and families were out and about. Some played in the baseball field behind the Center. More than a dozen kids crawled on the jungle gym next to the entrance.

  “So Rocky, what’s the matter?” he asked.

  “Rocky?” She gave him a withering sideways glare.

  “Do you prefer Rambo?”

  “I don’t like getting compared to Stallone at all. And shut up.” Nathaniel smirked. He was tall, lanky, and carried a book under one

  arm. He always had a book. It was his escape. His brown hair was short, not exactly clean cut since he never had money for a haircut. He either did it himself or let someone at the house do it, which meant it was a disaster half the time. His copper wire-frames sat awkwardly on his nose, one side a little higher than the other. Likewise, there wasn’t money for new prescription glasses. His California tan was not beach-perfect—more farmer’s tan than surfer dude—but it wasn’t much lighter than she was naturally.

  “So what’s up?” He asked casually. “What’s wrong?”

  She crossed her arms. “What makes you think anything’s wrong?” “Um…” he cocked a thumb over his shoulder. “The beat-down you

  just gave the that bag in there and the fact you texted me to meet you. And you’re playing with your necklace again.”

  Dani absently looped her thumb into the necklace and played it across her lips; a nervous tick of hers. The necklace was from her mother; or rather, the person her mother used to be.

  “So what is it?” he asked.

  She ignored the question. “Whatcha reading?”

  He glanced down at his book. “Tolstoy. You didn’t answer my

  question.”

  “Nothing’s wrong.”

  He took a seat at a picnic table. “And I’ll believe that when Hell

  freezes over.”

  She rolled her eyes, tucking the chain away . “There’s no such thing as Hell,” then murmured to herself, “worse than this.”

  “Was it Ricky? Your mom?”

  “I don’t want to talk about it, okay? I just want to chill.” she huffed, sitting quietly for a moment. “So, Tolstoy: any good?”

  “I highly doubt it’ll be on our summer reading list, so you don’t have to worry.”

  Dani smiled, but the mention of school made her nauseated. She missed Lightpoint. She was comfortable there. Her new high school felt like another planet. But at least she could spend her days away from Ricky.

  Nathaniel noticed the look. “Dani, what’s wrong? You can pretend all you want, but like hell you’re okay. I know you. Something’s up. What is it?”

  Nathaniel had a habit of spotting her tells. “Nate, just drop it, okay?”

  She only called him ‘Nate’ when she wanted to tease him, or in this case, distract him.

  But, “Dani?”

  His concern made her cringe. Dani didn’t like people prying into her personal life, even Nathaniel. Some would think having a guy best friend was impossible. Dani found the idea of having girl friends impossible. Nathaniel didn’t gossip behind her back, or anyone’s back for that matter.

  Of course, his concern came with something else; something that made her squirm. There was something a lot more than friendship there. She pretended not to notice.

  Instead she stared over at a little girl playing by herself; picking grass and putting it into a pile. She was alone. She wore a simple yellow sundress clashing with her brown skin and black hair. She reminded her of herself.

  Alone.

  “Fine.” Nathaniel sighed after a minute of silence, knowing full well Dani was a nut that wouldn’t crack. “You don’t want to tell me? How about we talk about something else?”

  “Like?”

  “I don’t know. The future? I started looking at colleges.”

  “Really? Which ones?”

  Nathaniel lit up. He rambled on about each school he applied to for next year, as he was graduating early. Each school sounded like Heaven. Dani listened, smiling, imagining the different places he could go. Nathaniel always wanted to go to college. She even talked about visiting him once he got in somewhere. She’d come by, see his dorm room, meet his friends.

  But, of course, she knew that was a lie. He had no money to pay for college and no way to get a loan. He knew that. She knew that, too. That’s why she said she’d visit him. Likewise, it was a fantasy. Dani knew that as soon as he left Los Angeles, she’d never see him again.

  Her mind left her body, swirling into the dark depression she went to when things got bad; a place she visited often. She didn’t have a home. Not really. Ricky’s house wasn’t home. Sometime soon, she wouldn’t be there anymore. She wouldn’t go back to school, either. Like Nathaniel’s fictional college future, Dani knew deep down it wasn’t going to happen.

  She accepted it the moment she thought of it. Her time at Ricky’s was ending.

  “…and you’ve got to see the museum there.” Nathaniel told her. “As soon as I get enough money, I’m getting a flight or a bus or something to UC Berkeley and—.” He stopped talking. “Dani?”

  “Hm?” she snapped out of her daydream. “What?”

  “You look like you checked out there for a second. What’s up?”

  “Nothing.” She said. She grabbed her gym bag. “I just realized I’ve got to get going.”

  “Seriously? I just got here.”

  “Yeah. I, um, I’ll be back. I just have to run back to the house to get something.”

  “You want me to stick around? The eclipse’ll be in a few hours. Want to watch it here?”

  “Sure.” She smiled tightly and stood. “That’ll be great.”

  “Okay.”

  She got walking. Only when she was a few feet away did he call out to her. “Dani!”

  “What?”

  She could see that concern on her face again. “Are you sure you’re alright? You’re not going to do something stupid, are you?”

  “Nah.” She waved it off. “I’ll be good Nate.”

  His nickname should have told him otherwise.

  ______________________

  She was running away.

  Dani’s heart thudded in her chest as she ran back to Ricky’s house. Somehow, just thinking it brought everything into focus. Ricky. Her mom. That house. She’d been unhappy for a while. She thought the idea of running away with no place to go would terrify her, but it didn’t. Terrifying would be staying there.

  Her mom wasn’t going to stop drinking. Ricky wasn�
�t going to stop being Ricky. She wouldn’t stick around and watch them implode.

  The party was rowdy when Dani arrived. Ricky and two of his buddies were outside, beers in hand.

  “Look who’s back.” He sneered drunkenly.

  Dani strode past him without a word.

  “Hey! Where’re you going?” he shouted at her back.

  She kept walking.

  Inside, the music blared deafeningly. Dani didn’t bother with anyone, even the creep inside who cooed in her direction, “Hey sweetness. Why don’t you park yourself over here?”

  She ignored him, weaving around drunks to her room. She threw down her bag on the bed and started packing.

  Clothes—just the bare essentials—some things she might be able to sell like her MP3, computer, a few DVDS; what money she had; toiletries; she stuffed all of it into her bag.

  Her mom found her as she was zipping it up.

  “Daniella?” She looked even more disheveled than when Dani left. Her black mascara streaked down her face. Her ponytail was loose. And, if Dani wasn’t mistaken, a fresh hand-shape bruise encircled her right wrist. She slurred a little, “Honey, what’re you doing?”

  “Leaving.”

  “Leaving where?”

  “This place! This hellhole!” She said. “I’m tired of doing this, mama.”

  “Honey, we live here.”

  “No, we don’t. Whatever this is, it isn’t living.” She snatched up her bag, but stopped in front of her mom. She reeked of cigarettes and beer, but even then, she was her mother. She had to try. “Mama, come with me.”

  “Come where?”

  “Anywhere but here.” She looped her necklace out of her shirt. “Let’s just go. You and me; like before. Like when you gave me this.”

  Her mom grimaced. Instead of saying anything, she took a huge swig from her cup. Then, with a plastic smile, she said, “Don’t be silly, honey. Why would we leave?”

  She wouldn’t try anymore. Dani loved her mother, but there was no way she was doing this again. She stepped around her and marched back out into the hall. Yvette called after her.

  As if like some demented re-run, Dani walked back out of the house like she did earlier; mom yelling for her to stop, Dani with her bag, and even Ricky adding to the chorus.

  “Where the hell are you going now?” he demanded. “First you don’t buy cigs and beer. Now what—?”

  “Just shut up, you worthless piece of trash!” Dani snarled.

  “Hey! Don’t talk to me like that!” He snatched her elbow in his steely grip. Way to close to her now, his foul breath was hot against her cheek. “This is my house.”

  “Don’t touch me!”

  “I’ll touch you if I want.” He seethed lewdly, spittle flying from his mouth. His hand squeezed around her elbow. “Anything under this roof belongs to me.”

  People were gawking; partygoers, neighbors across the street. Some came out and formed a crowd on the front lawn. Not a single one of them would stop him. They were here for the spectacle.

  “You should learn your place around here.” Ricky growled. “What the hell do you do but eat my food, take up space and complain? I gave you a home! It’d be nice to be thanked for it.”

  “Well don’t worry!” she shouted back. “I’m not staying!”

  The statement was enough to shock him and for her to pull free. She could see her mom’s face. She was terrified.

  “You can keep your house!” Dani screamed. “It’s all yours! I’m leaving!”

  Her screams turned the front-lawn crowd quiet. Ricky glanced over his shoulder. The shock quickly evaporated. She yelled at him in front of his friends. And very quickly, the shock was replaced by anger.

  “No.” he seethed.

  “What?”

  “You’re not leaving. You mouth off and you think you can just leave whenever you want?”

  He reached for her again. Dani ducked back. “I said don’t touch me!”

  “You think you can tell me what to do?”

  He caught her, but that was the last time he would. She twisted away from him and with a scream, kicked squarely to his knee. Ricky dropped. He hit the dirt. His beer slipped from his hand and sloshed out onto his shirt.

  Groaning in pain, he sat up; his expression changing from confusion, to pain, to anger. When his eyes fell on Dani, his glare became a fierce bearing of teeth.

  Ricky clambered to his feet and charged like an animal. Dani had never been in a fight; not a real one. Luckily, Ricky was drunk. He clumsily barreled right at her and she easily dodged. Dani instinctively grabbed and spun, throwing him. Somehow, she launched him past her and slammed him head-long into the top of the fence bordering the property. His momentum sent him over, the chain-link clinking as he tumbled onto his head with a loud smack on the sidewalk. He finished toppling, feet flopping stupidly to the ground.

  “Oh my God! Ricky!” Dani’s mother shot past her and through the fence door. She slid down next to him. “Ricky, sweetie, are you okay?”

  Ricky groaned, sitting up. Blood gushed from a gash in his scalp.

  “You—You ungrateful waste of space!” he screamed at Dani, stumbling to his feet again and nearly falling. A small red river ran down his forehead into one eye. “Look what you did to me!”

  “Stay back!” Dani warned, though despite just thrashing him, she didn’t have a lot of confidence she could take him if he came at her again.

  Yvette stepped between her speechless daughter and her boyfriend, “Ricky, are you okay?”

  “Of course I’m not okay! Do you see what your ungrateful kid did to me? I’m bleeding!”

  “Ricky, I’m sorry!”

  He hit her. Ricky’s hand shot out and backhanded Yvette across the jaw. She shrieked, grabbing the side of her face.

  “Don’t hit her!”

  Ricky clambered over the fence, headed straight for Dani. “I’m going to teach you the same lesson you little—!”

  His hand came back to punch. It never got there. Dani’s arm came up as if on its own, knocking it aside. With her other fist she struck directly to the bridge of Ricky’s nose. Her practice with the bag at the Center kicked in. Her hand burned. Luck or anger or both was enough to break the cartilage with a soft, wet crack. His head snapped back and he dropped to the ground again.

  “Ugh! My nose!” Blood blossomed in a spout of red. “You broke my nose!”

  Dani was over him. Her anger flared to life. Her hand radiated pure heat. She hit him again. And again. Two swift strikes and he went down harder than before.

  “Dani! Stop!” her mom screamed.

  But she wanted to hurt him! He hit her mother. He attacked her. Why the hell not? She hit him again viciously. She felt strong; stronger than ever. She felt his cheek shatter under her knuckles.

  “Dani! No! I said stop!”

  She raised her foot to kick him in the face.

  “LEAVE HIM ALONE!”

  Yvette shoved her backwards frantically. Her mom dropped to her knees in the dirt beside the abusive drunk, cradling his face in her hands. He moaned in pain, mewling over his broken nose and bloody, gashed face. Dani’s other punches opened cuts on his cheek and jaw, yet her hands were untouched. It was like she hit him with bricks. Could she do that? Did she? He looked like he’d gone ten rounds in a UFC octagon. She couldn’t believe she’d done it.

  And she couldn’t believe who her mother cried over.

  “Are you okay?” Yvette whimpered, streams of tears and mascara running down her cheeks. “Ricky, honey, baby, talk to me!”

  Ricky only moaned in pain.

  She was crying over him? Him? “Mom!”

  Yvette ignored her, wiping away some of the blood on Ricky’s face. “Somebody call an ambulance!”

  Dani took a step forward, tears in her eyes. Isn’t she worried about me? Isn’t she worried about her own daughter? “Mom, please—!”

  “Get away from us!” Yvette screamed at her.

  “Mom, it’s not my f
ault!”

  “I said get away!” Yvette screamed. “Just leave! You want to go? Go! Get out! Leave if you want! I don’t care!”

  Ricky sputtered blood, trying to simultaneously push Yvette off and swipe at Dani. “Get the hell out of my house and don’t come back! I’m not putting up with this! As long as I own this place, you can sleep on the streets!”

  Even though Dani planned to run away all along, her mother screaming at her—defending him no less!—sent tears streaming down her cheeks. “Mom, please, I—!”

  But Yvette wouldn’t look at her daughter anymore. “Dani, just go! Get your stuff and go!” She sniffed, the mark on her cheek from Ricky’s knuckles still bright red while she lovingly caressed his face. Her voice was so quiet Dani could barely hear her, “You’re not my daughter. I don’t want to see you anymore. I don’t want to ever see you ever again.”

  Dani opened her mouth to say something, anything, but closed it. It was no use. Yvette wouldn't even look at her.

  “Mama…” she choked. “Mama…please…”

  Yvette helped get Ricky up. They hobbled inside with the rest of the crowd. Dani stood there helplessly. Her hands hurt. Her eyes stung with tears. Through blurred vision, Ricky, her mom and everyone else disappeared.

  Still crying, Dani snatched up her bag and ran.

  Chapter Three

  Dani didn’t stop running until she was four blocks from Ricky’s house. Her shoes clapped along the sidewalk, echoing in the early afternoon heat, accompanying her heavy sobs. Her tears ran out at block one; her doubts about running away at block two. By block four, she slowed down and doubled over, sucking in ragged sobs.

  Her mother’s voice repeated in her head. Go! Get out!

  She stifled her tears and straightened up. She couldn’t stay there. If she did, she’d turn around and go back. She couldn’t do that.

  Wiping her red, puffy eyes, she crossed towards the Sun Valley Rec Center. The bleating California sun was still up, meaning the pavement— and her for that matter—were cooking.

  She spotted Nathaniel swinging back and forth on one of the swing sets, book nestled in his lap. The park was mostly empty. When he looked up, he saw her tears and jumped up to wrap her in a hug.