by Sarah Ripley
I glanced back over at Connor’s table and wasn’t overly surprised to see he wasn’t there. I probably wouldn’t have stuck around either in such a situation. My eyes scanned over the cafeteria, curious to know if he’d changed tables or if he’d actually headed off to the gym.
I didn’t see him.
I saw Anique.
Standing by the cafeteria doors, there was no mistaking the fact she was watching me. Noticing she’d been spotted, she merely nodded her head in my direction. She wanted me to know she was there. I tried very hard to keep a straight face as I inhaled deeply, forcing air into my lungs. I watched her as she walked across the room and sat down at a table not too far away from us. She didn’t do anything except sit there and wait.
“Kian?” I spoke his name as softly as I could.
“What?”
I couldn’t answer him and I couldn’t take my eyes off of her either. Following my gaze, Kian immediately figured it out. His body stiffened and he pressed his leg against mine as if that alone would make me safer. Seito stopped talking in midsentence, his green eyes grew darker. Nostrils flaring, he turned around and joined in on the staring match. Whether or not Claire and Amber noticed something was wrong I didn’t know for I couldn’t take my eyes off Anique long enough to check. But they continued talking to each other as if they didn’t have a care in the world.
Seito stood up and Kian grabbed his arm, pulling him back into his seat. “Not here,” he hissed. “She’s not going to do anything. It’s too crowded.”
“She’s stalking me,” I whispered. “Letting me know she’s here.”
Kian nodded.
“So what do you think?” Amber said loudly. “Hello? Mai?”
“Huh? What?” It took all my strength to turn my attention to my friends. I couldn’t let them know anything was wrong. No human witnesses.
“About tonight?” she said. “My house at seven?”
“Yeah, sure,” I said. I picked up my backpack from the floor and gathered my stuff. Standing, I had to work at keeping my trembling legs from collapsing underneath me. “I’ve got to run. I need to get some stuff done before class.”
Kian got up beside me and was standing much too close. I was worried that it would look too obvious that he was guarding me.
“Ok,” Claire said.
“I’ll call you later,” Amber said.
The two of us started walking without taking our eyes off of Anique. She stayed at the table, a bemused expression on her face. As we passed, she gave me a little wave. I wondered how on earth the other students didn’t notice her. She was at least ten years too old to be in high school. Maybe they thought she was a teacher.
We got into the hallway without incident. Kian immediately took my hand and started walking faster. I had no choice but to jog alongside him. Finally he stopped and put his hand up against a locker. His eyes blazed. I’d never seen him so upset. We stayed there until Seito joined us.
“Where’s Sobek?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” I said.
Kian drew his arm back, slamming his fist into the locker. Crunching metal echoed through the hall and many people stopped to stare at us. There was a huge dent where his fist had been.
“I’m not letting them do this,” he hissed. “It’s just a game to them. They can’t play with her life like that!”
“I know, man.” Seito placed his hands on Kian’s shoulders and pulled him towards him. Speaking softly so only the three of us could hear he tried to calm Kian down. “We won’t let her do this.”
“We have no choice,” Kian said, turning his attention to me. “From now on you’re never alone. Not for a second. Either Seito or I will walk you to class. I’ll drive you to and from school and anywhere else you need to go. No more of this sneaking out of the house to come and see me either. It’s not safe.”
I nodded. I couldn’t think of anything to say.
“If they want to up the stakes then we’ve got no choice but to play along at their game,” Kian said. “But I’m not taking any chances. You’ve been lucky so far, Mai. But luck runs out.”
Some people say luck is just fate in disguise. If that were the case then I was in big trouble.
So far fate hadn’t been very good to me.
Sixteen
Kian refused to let me go spend the night with Amber and Claire.
I wanted to argue but I knew he was right and it was a bad idea. I didn’t want to put my friends in danger, especially since I was now the target of an obvious stalking. They had been unsuccessful with the sneak attack so they were taking a new approach. Intimidation became their main priority.
In our afternoon English class, Anique walked past the room six times. Kian and I watched her. Ms. Gray always kept the door open and we could hear the clicking of her heels every time she approached. She never did anything on her walkabouts, she didn’t have to. The effect was powerful. By the end of the class I was ready to purchase a one way ticket to the moon and Kian’s jaw was clenched so tightly I began to worry about lockjaw setting in.
Outside the class, Kian stayed so close, I kept bumping into him.
Sobek waited for us in the parking lot. Sitting in the passenger side of my car with his feet up on the dash, he lowered his sunglasses when Kian and I approached.
“Get out!” Kian hissed at him.
“No need to be touchy,” Sobek said. “Look around, little man. There are too many people here. Your honey is safe.”
Kian yanked open the door and grabbed Sobek by the shirt, dragging him out of the car and bringing him to his knees. A bunch of kids slowed down and stopped to watch. Two of them pulled out their phones and started texting. Someone else snapped a picture. I wanted to scream at them to get lost but didn’t want to draw further attention to what was happening.
Sobek got up off the ground and took his time brushing the dirt from his jeans. Someone pushed past me, knocking into my shoulder and spinning me around. It was Anique.
“Boo!”
I shoved her. She wasn’t expecting it and her eyes widened as she took a few involuntary steps backwards before tripping over her own feet. As she hit the ground she let out an ‘oomph’ sound.
Sobek was on me so quickly I never saw him coming. Grabbing hold of my jacket, he threw me sideways. I flew a few feet, hitting the side of the car. Luckily I was wearing my winter coat and that absorbed most of the blow. I was more shocked than hurt.
Kian pulled back his fist and hit Sobek square in the nose. He staggered backwards, holding his hand to his face. When he pulled his fingers away, he was smiling, blood dripped from his nostrils, staining his upper lip.
The crowd around us was growing bigger by the second. People were catcalling and shouting ‘fight, fight’. Someone close by helped me to my feet, a girl who was in my Algebra class.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
I didn't answer her.
From a distance I could see Seito running towards us. He was moving at an extraordinary speed but I wasn’t sure he’d reach us in time. Meanwhile, Sobek had taken a shot at Kian and I watched his head snap backwards as the fist rammed into the side of his face.
Anique was beside me and I hadn’t seen her coming. She took my hand and squeezed. Pain shot up my arm as she grinded my bones in her grip.
“Fantastic, isn’t it?” Her eyes were shining brightly.
“Call him off,” I demanded.
“Now why would I want to do that?”
I pulled back and punched her as hard as I could. It was worth it just to see the shock on her face before she went flying several feet and into a crowd of screaming girls. My knuckles popped and pain shot up my arm.
Meanwhile the two boys were tossing punches at each other. Sobek managed to hit Kian across the cheek and he stumbled backwards, only to come back by tackling him to the ground. They rolled in the snow, taking shots, blocking punches, trying to pin each other down. Some of the students had their mouths wide open in shock. Other
s were screaming. The parking lot had become a frenzied stomping ground.
“Stop it!” I screamed.
Seito appeared at my side, moving past me and grabbing Kian by the shoulders. Pulling him backwards, he managed to separate the two Unfaded before they could inflict any more damage on each other. Standing between them, he held his arms out to make sure they kept their distance.
Sobek was grinning like crazy. Blood dripped from his face and he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
“You’re wasting your time, guardian,” he said. “You’ll slip up. Just like the last time and the time before that. You can’t watch her constantly.” He readjusted his jacket until it was straightened out and took a few steps in my direction. Both Kian and Seito stopped him from getting any closer.
“I’d start searching that pretty little head of yours, sweetheart,” he said to me. “There are some good memories in there. Might make you think twice about your perfect little boyfriend.”
I stood as straight as I could. “Get out of my town.”
Chuckling, Sobek went over to where Anique was pulling herself up from the ground. She was rubbing her jaw which had a nice red mark on it. Taking a good look at her face, he turned to me. “Nice shot.” He put an arm around his girlfriend and they headed off towards the school. Everyone scurried to get out of the way as they walked by.
“Come on,” Seito said, taking both Kian and I by the hand. “Let’s get the two of you out of here. We’ve drawn enough attention to ourselves as it is.”
The crowd began to disburse now that the action was winding down. A few guys from the basketball team were looking at me both appreciatively and fearfully.
“Let me see your hand,” Kian said. Carefully he checked over my knuckles, pressing and prodding to make sure nothing was dislocated or broken. There didn’t appear to be any swelling.
“That’s a pretty nice upper cut you’ve got,” Seito said. “Where’d you learn that?”
“Rocky movies,” I said. “Dad’s a big fan.”
Seito managed to get us both into the car before he took off to go get his bike. Kian drove me home. We got there in record time because he wanted to get me as far away from the school as possible.
“You should come in,” I said after he’d brought the car to a stop outside my house.
“Is it a good idea?” he asked. Pulling down the visor, he checked his face in the mirror. It wasn’t bad. Sobek hadn’t even managed to break the skin. The pinkness from the punches was fading. It was a real plus, quick healing. There was less to explain this way.
“It’s fine,” I said. “Dad’s probably still at the shop. They started repairing it yesterday. He’s hoping to have it open again in a few months. Marley’s home and you can meet my Granny. Don’t feel bad but she won’t remember you.”
We got out of the car and went inside. Marley was in the kitchen with the phone at her ear. I waved at her and she waved back, raising her eyebrows when she saw I wasn’t alone. Granny of course was in the living room, sitting on the couch and tearing the pages from a magazine.
“She’s got a thing with paper,” I said. “She likes the sounds when it rips.”
I took a seat next to Granny and gently removed the magazine from her hand. Kian sat down beside me, his fingers nervously tapping on his leg. I wondered what he was anxious about and then realised he probably didn’t have a lot of experience with meeting old people. Come to think of it, he wasn’t used to meeting family either.
The Unfaded I’d met either had family members who were dead and gone or they simply never mentioned them. There didn’t seem to be the bond that humans shared. I guess it would be different when you lived in a world where no one aged. There was no need to take care of anyone once they became too old to care for themselves.
If I lived through this, eventually I’d have to walk away from my family. I wouldn’t be able to explain to my Dad why I was forty years old and still looked seventeen. They’d all die but I’d continue to exist. Dad, Marley, Granny, and all the other people I loved in my life: how long would it take before I’d forget about them? A hundred years? A thousand?
I didn’t want to think about it.
Instead I touched Granny on the arm to get her attention.
“Granny,” I said. “I’d like you to meet Kian.”
“Hello, Helen,” she said. “I’m so glad you’re here. I was having the strangest dream. I thought you went away, someplace I couldn’t follow.”
From the kitchen I could hear Marley chatting with her own mother from the sounds of the conversation. The smell of freshly brewing coffee drifted towards us. It was always the first thing Marley did when company arrived.
“Helen was my mother,” I said to Kian. “She mixes us up.”
Kian nodded. “Hello, Mrs. Evans. It’s nice to meet you.”
Granny’s eyes lit up. “George! I haven’t seen you in ages.”
I covered my mouth with my hands to keep from laughing. In the kitchen Marley hung up the phone and came out to join us, wiping her hands on her jeans. “I’ve got coffee on in case anyone wants some.”
“Thanks, Marley,” I said. “I’d like you to meet Kian.”
“That’s George,” Granny corrected me. “It’s been about twenty years if it’s been a day. He used to have the farm down the road. Used to bring us fresh tomatoes in the summer.”
“It’s good to meet you, Ma’am,” Kian said.
“Not if you call me Ma’am, it’s not,” she said. “Call me Marley. Would you like some coffee?”
“Please.”
We sat in the kitchen, drinking coffee while Marley asked Kian about himself. He politely told her the same story he’d originally used on me. He was travelling with his father, Micah, and had spent most of his life being homeschooled. He labelled off the same cities he’d lived in when she asked. It was a well rehearsed story. Marley bought it just as I had.
“Would you like to stay for dinner?” she asked after a few minutes. “We’re not doing much. I picked up a pizza earlier.”
“I’d like that,” Kian said.
“Sounds good. I’ll call you when it’s ready.”
We got up from the table and I led Kian upstairs to my room where we could get some privacy. The living room was out of bounds since Granny had fallen asleep on the couch, her mouth wide open and snoring loudly.
“Keep your door open,” Marley called back to me.
I tried to pretend not to be embarrassed by her comment. If only she knew about the trouble I’d been through in the past few weeks. She might not be so concerned about whether or not I was about to go make out with my new boyfriend in the seclusion of my bedroom.
Kian was fascinated with my room. He walked around, looking at all the pictures on my wall. Most of them were of black and white shots, I had a thing for photographs of sand (which explained the whole Connor/sand thing). There were two prints of different beaches on rainy days. Almost everyone who came in my room thought they were depressing but I loved them. I felt they were peaceful.
He picked up and studied most of the contents of my desk, including the various jars of sand. Thankfully he didn’t ask so I didn’t have to explain. He found the music box Dad gave me when I turned twelve and opened it. A tiny ballerina doll popped up and music filled the room. The box was empty except for one piece of jewellery, a small gold ring that once belonged to my mother. It had two hearts and a tiny diamond in the middle. Dad had given it to her when she got pregnant with me, two hearts beating in one body. She’d been wearing the ring when she died.
“Is this your mother?” he asked, pointing to the picture by my bed. I nodded and he picked it up, studying it. “She’s very beautiful. You look just like her. I can see why your Grandmother mistakes you.”
“I wish I had known her,” I blurted out.
“I wish you had too.”
Afterwards Kian checked out the view from my bedroom window and tested the locks to make sure everything was secur
e. He didn’t have to explain himself.
“Can I borrow your phone?”
“Sure.” I handed it over and then went downstairs so he could have some privacy. He was probably just checking in with Micah and I knew if there was something important he’d tell me about it later.
* * *
Dinner was uneventful. Dad never showed up, he was too busy working. The four of us sat around and ate our pizza. Afterwards Kian and I helped clean up by doing the dishes while Marley helped Granny to bed.
“We’ve got to go back to the hotel tonight,” Kian said. He was washing and I was drying. Handing over a wet plate, I took it and wiped it down. “There’s a lot to talk about. Micah wants to come up with a plan.”
“Ok,” I said. “I’d better call Amber and let her know I’m no showing.”
“I’m sorry,” Kian said. “I know you want to be with your friends but it’s just not safe for you to be alone. Maybe once we figure out what we’re doing.”
“Its fine,” I said although I was disappointed. I’d really been looking forward to hanging out with the girls.
“I’ll make it up to you,” he said. Anything you want.”
“Teach me to fight,” I said.
“You’re doing pretty good on your own,” he said. “You all ready know how to throw a mean punch.” He leaned over towards me and smiled wickedly. Holding up one of his hands, he wiped the suds off onto my cheek. I squealed and jerked back.
I reached past him, grabbing a handful of bubbles from the sink and promptly smothered his face. Laughing hard, he inhaled foam. I swatted him playfully with my towel. Reaching out, he caught me by the wrists and pulled me in. All the giggles in my throat died as I looked up into his eyes.
He was taller than me by at least half a foot. It took forever for him to bend down enough so our lips were touching. The kiss was gentle, his lips soft. His body pressed hard against me, my wrists trapped between his hands and my own body. I found myself swaying, the entire kitchen was spinning.