The Ruby

by R. M. Getsee

  “So you already figured it out?”

  Roman was sitting on the bed, looking back and forth between the two of us.

  “Yep”

  “And you told Emi, but not me?” There was a slight trace of hurt in his tone as he struggled to conceal it.

  My stomach twisted in a wave of guilt. “I’m sorry, I should have told you, but I was afraid that you wouldn’t understand, or that you wouldn’t believe me.”

  I cringed at the hurt look on his face as if I’d been slapped.

  “I’m your friend, how could you think that? I’d always believe you. You’re the one person I know that I would always believe.”

  “I was scared you would think that I was crazy, or just trying to get attention.” I said quietly, tugging at my sleeve nervously and trying to ignore the pleased flutter in my chest as he said those words.

  Roman scoffed. “Like you’d do that, you’re not Torah”

  I smiled weakly at that, I was happy that he didn’t take much stock in what Torah said, but the expression on his face made my heart ache. He looked like a damn puppy that had been kicked.

  “If it makes you feel better I coerced it out of her.” Emi interjected. “She hadn’t had her coffee yet so I knew she was vulnerable.”

  His expression lightened a little and I grumbled to myself in frustration, sure he would listen to her. I tried not to feel a hint of jealousy there.

  Roman looked in a slightly better mood now, and he and Emi were sniping at each other quietly.

  His eyes found mine, and he continued his interrogation. “So what made you think that you have the fifth element to begin with?”

  “I don’t know, I read a piece in a textbook about it the day that I went into the coma, and then along with the lecture Mr. Carlisle gave the other day bits and pieces just started coming together and making sense.” I said.

  “The visions of the future also helped to clear things up a little.” Emi blurted out.

  Roman, who had been looking towards Emi as she spoke, whirled back to me, looking shocked. “You mean the part about seeing the future was right too?”

  I glared at Emi. “So much for easing him into it.”

  She cringed apologetically. “Sorry. But you have to tell him everything.” She put a little too much emphasis in everything and I knew she was talking about the creepy evil creature that was having lots of fun murderous thoughts about me in some dark pit somewhere, and was coming for me as soon as it broke free of whatever was holding it there.

  “Yes, I can see visions of the future. At first I saw little things that made no sense until they happened.” I paused as Roman looked as if he wanted to speak.

  “What did you see?” he asked.

  “I only saw a few fleeting images, your face, a ball about to hit me in the face and a blood spatter on a white dress. The second time it happed it was an actual vision, instead of frozen images, a small scene played out in each, but I still couldn’t make sense of it, and I afterwards I collapsed and woke up four weeks later so I didn’t really think much about it. I also saw a dark place and heard the sound of chains.

  “After the fight Torah and I had I was practicing using all four elements when I remembered the textbook I had looked at the day all of this had started and as I read about the fifth element not only being able to see the future, but being able to control the other elements I knew deep down that I truly had the affinity for the fifth element.” I paused again fighting the blush that wanted to come out as I talked about my vision of him. This time I knew that I was stalling about telling him the rest, unfortunately so did Emi.

  “I know it’s hard for you to say but you have to keep going till the end.”

  Roman spun around to look at Emi; the amount he was going back and forth between us would have been comical if I wasn’t so uncomfortable with the situation. “There’s more?”

  Emi nodded, if I didn’t know any better I would have thought that my friend was enjoying this a little too much. Actually I did know her and she was totally enjoying this.

  I glared at her and Emi, as if knowing what I was thinking, said innocently, “What, it’s a good story the second time round, once you get over the shock of finding out you’re a super vamp with a creepy evil thing-” she stopped at my warning glance. Roman would have to hear about it from me not her.

  I inhaled deeply and continued with my story. “After I had accepted that I may indeed have an affinity with the fifth element, I had another vision. This one was different to the others though. It was the same dark place I’d seen before, but this time I was actually there. I could feel the cold breeze, and the pure emptiness of the wasteland. I could also interact with what it was harboring.” I swallowed, my throat feeling dry as tears began to sting my eyes. “The shadows came first, they were alive, they whispered things, evil things, and it chilled me to the bone. I was paralyzed in fear, I couldn’t move, and that’s when the creature came.” I drew in a shuddering breath. He threw his arm around me and I couldn’t help but lean into him slightly as I powered on.

  “I never saw it, it was too dark, but the power I felt radiating from it, it felt like an atomic bomb of pure evil, ready to be detonated as soon as it could be. It told me things, said I couldn’t stop it, that I would die before I found the others, and that I had no chance of defeating him once he was free. That’s when I came back to where I was standing before the vision overtook me and I realized I’d been trapped there for over twenty minutes. When I got to school I was a total mess, Emi took care of me and I broke down, and told her everything. Since then we’ve been trying to figure out what my powers were, what that thing was and how I can stop it, if I can stop it.”

  I finished my story and looked at him, searching for signs that he thought I was nuts. He swept me up into a bear-hug. I realized that I had been crying silently as I told my story and I wiped my tears away. Roman pulled back slightly to look at me.

  “I understand why you were too scared to tell me about this, it’s a crazy story and I wouldn’t have believed it if anyone else had told me it. But that’s my point, I do believe you. You have to tell me if anything else happens, as soon as it happens. You have to be honest with me, Lexa you have to trust me.”

  The tears that I had been trying hold back now surged forward at the mention of the nick name my brother had given me when I two. It had been too hard for him to say Alexia as he had only been three at the time. I had grown out of it when I was around twelve, wanting a more grown up nickname, desperate to be an adult.

  But now that I heard Roman say it I missed it dearly. I really had grown up and now all I wished for was the easy youth, innocent of all this fear and confusion that had slipped away.

  Chapter Nine

  After I had told Roman about everything that had happened in the last few weeks after I had woken up, the three of us had worked tirelessly to try and translate the scrolls.

  In fact it was hard to get rid of Roman at all. He was even staying over at our house most nights with Jared.

  Mr. Carlisle had nothing else to give us and didn’t know anything that could help figure out what the language was either. In fact, he was acting like hadn’t offered any assistance in the first place.

  Along with Aiden and Moira, Braden, the blond from the first demonstration had also been joining our lunch crew more and more often, obviously he had gotten what he had wanted from Athena and had already grown tired of her shit.

  It was no secret in the school that she got around, was a total drama queen, and spread as many rumors as she could like the complete bitch she was.

  I looked around at the table where Athena and her group usually ate their lunch and I saw Rhea looking miserable and sitting alone.

  She and Torah seemed to be hanging out together more often now, and kept leaving Rhea out. I would almost have felt sorry for her if she hadn’t kept siding with her sister in the attempt to me make miserable for the past few months.

  There had been a constant
stream of rumors about me spread by the trio in the few short weeks that I had attended Vladimir’s and by this point they were getting on everyone’s nerves in their desperation to turn the school against me.

  The mention of homecoming brought me out of my thoughts and I turned to the others at the table.

  “So what do you think?” Aiden was looking at me expectantly.

  “Sorry what did you say?” I smiled apologetically. “I’m in a world of my own today.”

  Moira laughed, “You’re always in a world of your own.”

  “I was saying that we should all get a limo to homecoming, you know, do it in style.”

  I cringed, I had forgotten all about homecoming with the craziness that had been going on in the last couple of weeks since the mess with visions had started.

  “It would be cool us all going together, but not all of us have dates.” I was thankful that Emi had said it before I had to.

  Jared turned to Emi looking nervous. “About that, I was kind of hoping that you would go with me.”

  There was a moment’s silence. “YES.”

  The girls started laughing and talking excitedly about dresses and the guys slapped Jared on the back while I watched, smiling slightly at the joyful expression on Emi’s face.

  “So you finally did it man.” Aiden was grinning like crazy. “You know what that means, Jared asked his girl, now you have to ask yours Roman.” If it was possible, his smile widened.

  Roman glared at him, his dazzling blue eyes darkening as he ran a hand through his dark hair.

  “Who’s the lucky girl hmm?” Moira was giving him a pointed look as if she knew very well who it was and was dying to spill the beans.

  I leaned forward, intrigued at who it was.

  “I will soon, but not yet, I’m waiting for the right time.”

  “Wow. You must really like this girl.”

  There was a slight twist in my stomach and I refused to believe that it was jealousy. I tried to tell myself that it was only due to the fact that everyone had dates to homecoming but me, but I knew it was really because Roman was going to ask someone else to go with him.

  I jumped up as the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch, and scrambled to gather my things. Emi grabbed my arm to slow me down.

  “Hey, do you want to go dress shopping later, I’m really going to need a great one now.”

  “Sure.” I swallowed the envy that I felt and smiled. Emi was my best friend and I would be supportive if it was the last thing I did.

  *********

  After spending the rest of the day talking about how exited Emi was, I was starting to get really frustrated. I had been noticing guys checking me out at school but none of them seemed interested enough to actually ask me out.

  I looked over at Ryan, my lab partner and caught him trying to subtly look down my shirt.

  I was wearing a cute blue chiffon blouse with a black leather corset over it that kind of made me look like pirate. It was cut so it showed just the right amount of cleavage that it still left plenty to the imagination.

  I remembered the comment Torah made the night of the dinner about me having a little too much modesty and I wondered if it were true. I certainly didn’t wear the kind of clothes that most vampire females walked around in, or lack thereof.

  As I looked down I noticed that the top button had come undone. I started to reach up to fix it and stopped, an idea forming in my mind.

  Leaning forward slightly I noticed Ryan’s eyes dilating slightly. Satisfied with my experiment, although a little confused, I leaned back again and fixed my button.

  “Hey,” I asked. “Can I ask you a question?”

  His head snapped up from my chest and he looked at me.

  “What’s up?”

  “I’m just a little confused, I mean, guys seem to check me out a lot, they like me and hang out with me, but not one guy in this entire school has ever asked me out. I was just wondering why.” I said it in a rush.

  Ryan was silent for a time and now I was starting to worry that I had sounded a little desperate.

  And that I may have just committed social suicide.

  “Alex, you’re an amazing girl, but-” he started, I cut him off quickly.

  “No I wasn’t trying to hit on you,” I said quickly. “I was just asking in general.”

  He smiled and continued, “But someone in this school likes you, a lot, and has asked, or rather demanded, that all of us guys not to try to ask you out until he’s had a shot first.”

  “What? Someone has literally called dibs on me or something?” I asked, outraged.

  Ryan cringed. “No nothing like that, it’s just that he really likes you wants a shot at you before your overwhelmed by all the idiots in the school trying to get at you.”

  I was dumbfounded. “Who is this guy anyway?”

  “I can’t tell you that.”

  “Why not?” my interest had been piqued now that my annoyance had subsided and I was naturally curios girl, I wanted to know who he was, and I was slightly pissed at the fact that there had been a ban on me dating anyone without me knowing it.

  Ryan looked at me with pleading eyes.

  “Alex your my friend, but so is he, and I don’t want to betray his confidence, like I don’t want to betray yours. You’ll find out who it is soon enough anyway so please just be patient.”

  “Fine.” Resigning myself to the fact I had to wait for this secret admirer to reveal himself I sat back and Ryan and I started talking about other stuff while we finished the lab works that we had been assigned to do.

  Chapter Ten

  I pulled into the malls underground parking beside Emi. The girl was acting like a pixie on crack as she started hopping around me impatiently waiting for me to lock my jeep.

  She had been babbling non-stop since lunch about her plans for homecoming and I was starting to get a migraine.

  I’d had only had a brief reprieve from my friend’s constant chatter when we had been assigned different lab partners, and that had turned into the confusing and frustrating conversation with Ryan, so my head had a good reason to start pounding.

  I scoffed as I mentally defended myself, earning a questioning look from Emi.

  I was still trying to figure out who my secret admirer could be. My thoughts briefly turned to Roman, but I dismissed it as wishful thinking.

  I didn’t know when it started but I had to admit there were signs that seemed to point to me having a crush on him.

  I had to quit thinking of him other than in a purely platonic fashion. He liked someone else, and I wouldn’t stand a chance while I was dealing with the craziness of my life.

  I wasn’t going to even think how I would tell him that I seemed to be a mutant freak that could see the future and had and affinity for a fifth element that to everyone else was pure speculation.

  When Emi and I reached the upper floor of the mall my friend’s mood skyrocketed to a point I didn’t know was possible. She was glowing and talking so fast it was getting completely lost in translation.

  Some people were giving us strange looks as they passed, as if they were waiting for the doctors to arrive and take us back to the asylum that we had escaped from.

  A group of human girls around our age passed us and started whispering.

  “I’ve never seen them around before, who are they?” A pretty brunet asked a blond.

  “They must be from that dumb private school on the hill.” The blond said.

  She flipped her hair and looked stood up straight like she was the evil ring leader in one of those stupid teen movies.

  “Didn’t you apply there like four times?” asked short redhead who was hovering around her.

  “Shut up Emma,” the blond replied, annoyed, and strode away, trying to look important, dragging her friends with her.

  Emi grabbed my arm suddenly.

  “That’s it!” she squealed excitedly. “That’s the dress.”

  I looked over at the dress hanging on the
mannequin in the storefront window and knew that she was right. It was perfect for her. A floor length sweeping gown in a dark midnight blue with silver sparkles dotted around it, making it look like there were stars glittering in the night sky.

  Emi’s eyes sparkled longingly as she looked at it and I felt a wave of both happiness for my friends luck in finding someone and jealousy at the fact that I had no one. I reminded myself that there was someone, I just didn’t know who it was.

  We hurried into the store Emi grabbed the dress. “It is the dress!” she squealed and she headed straight to the fitting room.

  It was a perfect fit of course and looked amazing on her, I had to fight against the catch in my throat as I looked at how beautiful my friend looked.

  This time the happiness I felt for Emi was more powerful than the frustration I felt from still being just that little bit apart from everyone else.

  We bought the dress from the smiling sales assistant at the counter and we were walking out when I noticed it.

  The dress was beautiful, a floor length gown that was a perfect blend of both elegant and sexy; its deep red color was dark against the white plastic of the mannequin it was displayed on.

  Emi grabbed the floor model off the rack and held it up to me. “Okay I may not be able to tell the future but this will most definitely look amazing on you.”

  I chuckled as we paid and left the store.

  Grabbing a coffee we wandered aimlessly around the mall for another couple of hours until the luminescent lights on illuminating the storefronts started to go out. Checking my watch I was surprised to see that it was late, almost two thirty, the mall was closing late for the humans.

  As we were walking towards the elevator that took us down to the underground parking garage something caught my eye in the window of an antique bookstore.

  I took a closer look, studying the stretched, faded leather cover.

  It looked old, really old; I could almost smell the damp, mustiness that seemed to follow old books around everywhere they went, through the shops windows. The title read Ancient Prophecies throughout the World.