by Magnum Opus
Aradia was right, Jayden's ankle healed and when the homecoming game rolled around everyone swore that by the way he played, it was hard to believe he had been injured at all. Aradia did not expect Jayden to acknowledge her help with his injury let alone say thank you but because the game had gone so well and because his ankle had been so much better after she tended to it he did something better. "Hey Aradia, I am having a party tomorrow would you like to come?" Jayden asked her as he walked straight to the "losers" table where Aradia sat every day. Stunned by this action especially in front of their peers Aradia was immediately suspicious.
She hardly ever used this power but wanting to know if this invitation was indeed legit she reached into Jayden's mind. Over the years she had practiced so not only could she read someone's thoughts but she could see memories of their past and their darkest secrets as well!
It had taken her years of practice but nowadays Aradia could control the power effortlessly and use it to perfection. Although, after a few seconds of searching Jayden's mind Aradia became sure the invitation was not a cruel joke. Nevertheless, Aradia asked him, "Are you serious?" "Well yeah," said Jayden sheepishly. "Um I guess I could go," said Aradia. Jayden turned to go but then Aradia said, "Can I invite my friends to go too?" Jayden winced and said, "No sorry it is private party only certain guests are allowed." Aradia face grew sour and opened her mouth to argue when Rhonda cut her off and said, "It’s alright Rai we understand you should go and have fun." Aradia looked at the others who all surprisingly nodded and said, "yeah Aradia you should go." Aradia exhaled deeply and said, "Ok Jayden I'll go." Jayden grinned, nodded and left. Aradia turned to look at the others and asked' "why would you want me to go to a party without you guys?" Calvin held up three fingers and began to tick off the reasons, "one we all know most of the people who hang at those parties and why in the hell would we want to get trapped in a secluded area with those jerks surrounding us like half starved, depraved wild animals. Two, do you honestly believe that that guy "Jayden" would ever have invited us to one of his parties? Three, we are your friends so if you have a wonderful opportunity knocking at your door like going to a popular guy's party no way in hell we would dream of ever holding you back." "Yeah and besides if you get in good with the popular crowd you can introduce us to them and then we can get to be part of their crowd," Rhonda said excitedly. Calvin just shook his head exasperated. "But you guys..." Aradia began to argue. "Seriously, Aradia go to the party," Billy stated, "Everybody says Jayden's parties are the best." "Or at least that's what they say on Facebook," said Frank. Aradia said nothing and considered searching her friend’s minds but decided against it.
Chapter Nine
The first thing Aradia did about the party was lie to her parents. She never liked doing it but she felt like she had no choice. She told them she was going over to Rhonda's to study. Rhonda was happy to comply and corroborate her story. So with a guilty conscience, and a backpack filled with party clothes instead of books, Aradia was dropped off at Rhonda's. "I still wish you were coming with me to this thing," Aradia grumbled as she squeezed into a pink shimmery halter top. "Oh c'mon Rai you'll be alright and I will bet you will have a wonderful time!" Rhonda said as she handed Aradia a black mini skirt. "Oh hell no!" Aradia cried out, “I am so not wearing a mini skirt to the party." "Why not?" Rhonda asked. "For one thing I don't know anyone there so the last thing I want to do is give the wrong impression, which wearing skanky clothes like that will definitely do for me. For another have you ever tried wearing those things? I have before and they are as uncomfortable as hell!" Aradia then slipped on some black jean shorts with glittery rhinestones on. "Really" said Rhonda, “then I wonder why so many girls wear them then?" "Isn't it obvious?" Aradia stated looking at Rhonda as she combed her hair, "some girls believe it is better to look good than feel good. Just ask the runway models or the women who marry rich men and end up becoming alcoholics." She reached for her slip on shoes but Rhonda headed her off by saying, "no way you are not wearing those old things! Here wear these!" and thrust a pair of fancy white flat party shoes at her. Aradia stared at the white strap shoes and looked at Rhonda skeptically. She counter attacked with a pleading puppy dog look that made Aradia say, "Ok ok! I'll wear 'em!" Aradia sat down and struggled to put on the shoes. After a few grunts she succeeded but once she looked in the mirror, Aradia pulled a face of disgust. "What?" Rhonda asked, “you look beautiful." "No," Aradia argued, “I look like a slut. Worse, I don't look like myself." "Isn't that the point?" Rhonda asked. Aradia sighed and said, "maybe, but it is also the saddest part of this entire situation."
The party started at nine and by that time Aradia with Rhonda's help had already snuck out of the house. It was not that far to Jayden's but still Aradia felt creeped out walking on the sidewalk next to the dark woods. She also got the weird feeling that there was someone or something in those woods and it was watching her. She did not know if it was one of her powers or just a gut feeling but Aradia felt for sure there was someone watching her, following her, hunting her. She heard the rustling of the trees and sounds of leaves crinkling on the ground. At first, she thought it was only the wind until she heard the breathing. The low deep almost growling-like breathing that seemed to be following her. Aradia whipped around and stared into the dark woods. Her eyes shifted around apprehensively trying to make sure that what she thought she heard was indeed just her imagination. Suddenly, Aradia heard some twigs snapping and shifted her eyes to where the sound came from. She began to edge closer to the cluster of bushes where she heard the sounds coming from. She edged towards it slowly, hearing the breathing getting louder and deeper sounding. As she reached towards the bushes with her heart pounding in her chest; a loud voice came up from behind her, "there you are Aradia I've been waiting for you! C'mon, I can't wait to introduce you to my friends,” and with that Jayden grabbed Aradia's hand and practically dragged her into his house. It was loud and noisy, a typical high school party that you saw on a teen TV show complete with beer, smoking, and... considering Aradia's father was a cop she decided not to really take notice of every activity that were going on at the house for fear she might get arrested on the charge of guilt by association. "You look nice by the way," Jayden said grinning as his gaze swept Aradia from head to toe. Aradia blushed which Jayden noticed. He draped his arm across her shoulders, "aw c'mon now Aradia you make it seem like you have never been paid a compliment before." "You know I am starting to believe that hookers made up that phrase” said Aradia. "Uh what?" asked Jayden perplexed. "You know the phrase 'paid a compliment' I think hookers made up that phrase and I'll tell you why: they invented that phrase as an encouragement to their customers and to make sure nobody ever stiffed them!" Jayden raised an eyebrow looking at Aradia who began to get nervous after realizing her joke might not have been funny as she had meant it to be. But not to worry for Jayden just threw his head back and laughed. "You know what I like about you Aradia?" "No, but I would like to," Aradia quipped. "You are funny and you make me laugh!" Jayden replied."Well," Aradia said while tossing her hair playfully, "that's kind of the point of being funny." "Yeah well I think it's kind of cool," said Jayden. He then added in a low whisper in Aradia's ear as he led her into the house, "and kind of sexy."Aradia shivered a little bit under Jayden's arm thinking once again that maybe coming here was not such a good idea.
Chapter Ten
Two hours into the party, Aradia was miserable. She was bored, lonely, hungry, and frustrated. It was funny to Aradia how the other kids at school always wanted to come to these kinds of parties when all there really was to do was drugs, get drunk, and end up making out or having sex with a complete stranger or strangers considering how wasted you were. This Aradia had discovered first hand when she stumbled into Jayden's room and saw him with two girls. Neither one of whom was the girlfriend that he had had since freshman year. All this Jayden had done right after he tried getting into Aradia's pants!
She crunched her empty soda can in frustratio
n and stomped off towards the food table. Half of it had bowls of chips and almost empty pizza boxes. While the other half of the table seemed to have been puked on. Aradia grimaced as she reached into the chip bowl and prayed to God that at least the chips had been spared from the party-goers drunken rampage. After stuffing a whole handful into her mouth and chewing, she cast her eyes around the room and then saw the tiki bar by the pool. Ah well when in Rome....Aradia thought and made her way towards it. Once she got to the bar, however, she saw five drunk football players messing around and tossing themselves into the pool. She also saw one of them suddenly break away, double up, and start heaving his stomach into the pool. Before Aradia had a chance to order anything the bartender automatically handed her a cold beer. Jayden had mentioned earlier on to her that he had a bartender at his pool but Aradia doubted that that the bartender came with the pool. After seeing all the weird behavior that the drunk football guys had displayed, Aradia just stared at the beer in her hand, glanced at the drunk dorks on parade, and said, "Forget this. If I am going make a fool of myself I will go on a reality TV show where at least I will get paid for it!" "Wise choice," a lightly Spanish accented voice chirped behind her. Aradia spun around to see Roy smiling at her. "Roy hey," Aradia cried out happily, "How are you? What are you doing here?" Roy shrugged and said, "Trying to have a good time." Aradia laughed and asked, "Are you succeeding so far?" Roy cocked his head to the side, grinning sheepishly. "I am at a party that my brothers dragged me to, where I don't know anybody, not getting lucky or making out with any hot girl, and standing outside talking to a girl who hates me." "Say what?" Aradia's eyes flew open in a surprised expression. "I know it's pathetic isn't?" Roy chuckled. Aradia shook her head and said, "no what I meant was why do you think I hate you?" "You did not want to have lunch with me." "Roy," Aradia argued, "I was sitting with my friends." "Friends," Roy scoffed, "they are so not your friends. They are geeks, they are..." "Roy," Aradia interrupted, "I do not say bad things about your friends so please do not say bad things about mine besides they are good people. The guys are smart and sweet (a little icky I'll admit that) and Rhonda's cool (a bit nerdy too I will admit that as well) but all in all they are wonderful people so it's unfair to judge them. I mean that's what is wrong with America today they just don't ..." "Alright! Alright!" said Roy as he held up his hands admitting defeat, "Chill Oprah Winfrey! Chill!" Aradia grinned and tucked a strand of her red hair behind her ear. She shrugged and said,"look let's just start over okay?" Roy smiled in response and said, "Fine by me." The two of them ended up hanging in the kitchen which was connected right next to Jayden's living room or dance floor since that's what it was now being used for. Roy grabbed an apple and began to chomp on it. Aradia, however, just got a glass of water. After taking a huge gulp and dropping the glass into the sink she turned and ended up bumping right into Beau. "Oh hi," Aradia said flustered. "Oh hello there," Beau responded. His voice was deep and bold and he talked with a British accent. But most of all he looked as handsome as Aradia had ever seen him wearing a dark gray shirt with a black leather jacket over it covering jeans and black boots. Aradia stared up at him completely mystified by his handsome presence. She couldn't believe how beautiful he was with his shiny golden way hair, strong rounded chin, full but hard looking lips, well formed cheekbones, and pale white skin. So pale, Aradia thought, that with his hair color and skin he looks just like an angel! All of a sudden a tanned skinned boy with a black crew cut, and a dark goatee appeared right next to Beau. As he draped his arm around the object of Aradia's affection. He asked, "Hey Beau what’s up?" Beau responded by saying, "hmm oh nothing I was just talking to statue girl here." From the moment she heard those words, Aradia's time on cloud nine seemed to be up. Her expression hardened as she snapped, "what do you mean by "statue girl’?" "Oh I am sorry," said Beau, "but when I first noticed you staring at me but not saying anything I thought of calling you 'stalker girl' but 'statue girl' seemed a bit more pleasant." "What is that supposed to mean anyway?" Aradia demanded. "Well," Beau explained, "since day one in our English class you have just stared at me non-stop without talking or even saying anything including your name so needless to say I had to identify you in some way seeing as how much you creep me out!"
"My name is Aradia!"
"Oh well in that case," Beau turned to look at the boy with his arm around his shoulders and said,"Xan my dear elder brother meet Aradia, the statue or stalker girl take your pick," and grinned maliciously. Aradia practically saw red, she could not believe that she had found this jerk attractive! All of sudden Roy showed up and said, "Hey Rai what's up?"He turned to look at Beau and Xan and strangely like a dog sensing a predator, his eyes narrowed to glare at them both venomously. Beau and Xan seemed to respond in kind. Still angered by Beau’s comment but wanting to prevent bloodshed Aradia shouted, "Oh I love this song. C'mon Roy let's go dance!" and with that she grabbed Roy's hand and made her way towards Jayden's living room/the dance floor. Xan chuckled and said, "I think she likes you." "Shut up Xan!" Beau snapped. "Whoa, what's your problem?" Xan said taking his arm off his brother's shoulders and holding his hands up in a don't-shoot-me gesture. "Nothing," Beau snapped again turning his head away from his brother but began to wish that he hadn't done such a thing because in doing so his gaze had shifted to look at Aradia on the dance floor with Roy. Aradia and Roy danced to the 90's song entitled Connected by the Stereo MC's and like on the first day of school everyone turned to stare at them or more specifically at Aradia. She wasn't Julia Stiles or J.Lo when it came to dancing but she knew enough to move and to not look stupid. Roy was awkward and shy because like many guys he couldn't dance but Aradia took his hands and looking in his eyes managed to guide him to a captivating but innocent dance. Although, Aradia was finally have a good time since the start of Jayden's party she could not help but notice that everyone was staring at her again. Well, not everyone just the "too perfectly freaky" people as Aradia referred to them seeing as all of them seemed to be too perfect with their appearances and abilities to be normal. But when she turned her head to the left she saw Beau staring at them. She decided to teach Beau a lesson ("don't insult the girls you stare at") and grinning wickedly at him began to dance more provocatively with Roy. She got closer to him, so close that her body got close enough to rub against his. Roy began to blush and Aradia threw her head back and laughed. It was funny the effect that Aradia's laugh had on the "too perfectly freaky" people. The boys all stiffened and seemed to become more like predators guarding their kill or territory from interlopers. The girls did not do that but they did seem to become lethal looking like mothers watching their babies, mothers who could be considered man-eating beasts. Needless to say, the atmosphere around both Aradia and Roy began to tense up and as soon as Roy noticed Aradia was getting uncomfortable he grabbed her hand and said, "Let’s get out of here." Aradia planted her feet firmly and said, "After this song." Roy looked back at her after a few moments and grinned sheepishly.
Soon the two of them were slow dancing with Roy's head turned down and his forehead pressed against Aradia's. "So are you having a good time?" Roy finally asked her. "Since I started hanging with you? yeah," said Aradia grinning broadly. Roy just chuckled. Beau still stood at the very spot where he had been since Roy and Aradia started dancing. His brother Xan was across the room flirting with Jayden's girlfriend but also perfectly perplexed about why his brother was acting so strangely. He had thought or perceived by his brother's comment that he did not like the "statue girl" or Aradia as she was now known. Yet there was Beau standing rooted to the very spot where she had first talked to him and staring intensely at Aradia. At first, Xan thought the reason why Beau was staring at Aradia was the scent that seemed to be coming from her. He had mentioned to the others and they had agreed with him that was part of the reason they appeared so entranced with her was her intoxicating smell. Xan had scolded them at the previous clan meeting for that. But Xan had to admit her smell was intoxicating like a mixture of flowers, perf
ume, and drugs! it wasn't just her smell that attracted his attention in addition to the others. He could recognize any presence in the entire room, his brother's, Jayden's, Roy's (much to Xan's annoyance), but not Aradia's and that he had to admit was very interesting. "So Rai, how you've been liking Salem so far?" Roy asked her."I have been liking it so far," said Aradia, "but the one thing I got say to about Salem though the boys here are sure better than the boys in Nebraska!"
Chapter Eleven
Keon found Saul drinking a beer and watching Aradia dance with Roy. "Please tell me your watching the girl," Keon said. "What's it look like?" Saul asked sarcastically. Keon thought of a thousand things to say to that but shook his head after thinking better of it. "Anyway," said Keon as he leaned against the wall right next to Saul, "I reported our findings to our master." Saul's ears perked up a bit. "And?" he prompted. "He wants us to get a sample from her," said Keon who went onto to describe the requirements. "Why in the hell would he need that?" Saul asked about to drain the last of his beer. "Well," Keon went on grinning, "according to the master's demon seer Morgan. That," He tipped his head in Aradia's direction. "Scrawny, smelly little girl might be a witch!" Saul spat his beer out and after coughing and gasping for breath he finally managed to croak, "what?" "You heard me," was all Keon said. Saul looked from Keon to Aradia and then back to Keon. "Your kidding? A witch? A hidden witch? But that's impossible! Their kind was wiped out years ago!" Saul protested. "Apparently they missed one,"said Keon sarcastically. Saul stared at Aradia harder. "But how?" "They don't know," Keon said as he leaned against the door, "the master and Morgan that is. Either way it matters not what does matter is obeying our master's orders which is to acquire an item of hers to prove her idenity." Saul still stared silently at Aradia looking awestruck until finally he said, "but if she is truly a witch. Then wouldn't that mean that she's..." "The last of her kind?," Keon finished for him, "yeah."