Never Look Back (Paranormal Huntress Series Book 1)

by W. J. May

  Her phone lay charging on the nightstand by her bed, and had vibrated too many times to count in the past while. It buzzed again, oddly closer to her head, or somehow the vibrations had gotten louder and threatened to shake her fully awake. Groaning, she finally reached for it and pulled it close while still under the covers. The screen’s brightness nearly blinded her. She could barely open her eyes, but when she did she saw that she’d missed eight calls.

  Skylar. Seriously?

  Her eyes adjusted to the bright light of the screen and caught the time in the corner.

  9 a.m.

  Oh crap, school!

  She jumped out of bed, her brain screaming at her that maybe today, just today, would be a good time to skip school. But the heaviness in her head faded quickly as she frantically ran from her room to the bathroom then back to her room to get dressed.

  Ryan’s back, she thought as a small smile danced on her lips. He’s going to be at school.

  She raced down the stairs and towards the kitchen with her shoelaces flicking against the wood of the stairs. She had no time to make breakfast; school had started nearly half an hour ago. All she could manage was coffee before heading out the door to walk to school.

  Cab it today, Atlanta. It’s faster.

  She agreed with her inner dialogue and headed around the corner to the main road by her house.

  Luckily, she found one the moment she reached the corner of the street, but traffic kept her for another thirty minutes until she finally arrived at Calen High. By then she was already tapping her hands against her knees, wishing the cab could sprout wings and fly. Or she could.

  Ten a.m. I can still make next class.

  The school stood magnificently with its gothic architecture beaming under the flaming sun. The cement, copper tone gargoyles at the entrance were shimmering as they faced one another. Their wings wrapped around their backs as if to symbolize their dormant powers kept hidden under the static metallic stillness.

  Her backpack swung behind her as she ran towards the entrance. She stopped at the frozen gargoyles to tie her shoelace, alternating from one foot to the other under the statue’s long shadow. She didn’t dare glance up at the beasts, remembering her uncle’s story. She shivered at the memory of what the magnificent beasts could do. The thought of fighting them alone made her blood chill.

  Getting up, she lifted her head and hesitated a moment, struck by the detail of the beast closest to her. It was cement, but for a moment her eyes saw a spectrum of colors alternating shades. Her gaze formed a bizarre image of the statue that was no longer bronze, but rather she could see its body in dark grey, its veins like bumps in its semi-obscured face. She dismissed the illusion her mind was tricking her with, blaming the lack of sleep for what she was imagining, and hurried up the stairs.

  She suddenly staggered and fell to one knee. She felt as if she were—for the briefest of moments—being pulled back to the statue by some force, dragging her back down the steps. Her breath caught and she shook off the feeling. It’s the wind. She shook her head and huffed, forcing herself to stand and walk back up the steps to the school’s entrance. There was no resistance as she walked, no pull to drag her back or stop her. The stupid feeling had just been in her head.

  She paused as she reached for the door handle and turned back to glare at the gargoyle. She opened her mouth to mutter something stupid at it, but she as she stared a loud call in the air above her cut her off.

  There it was. A souvenir from her nightmare had followed her to school.

  Stupid raven!

  The sight of the bird stalled her and a shiver rippled through her body. It was like the dream had become a sleepless reality, and the reality a sleepless dream. The perplexity of the moment hypnotized her but she broke free, yanking the door to the school open. The school bell rang, signaling the eleven o’clock lunch period.

  The cab dropped me off at ten. How did a whole hour fly by?

  In confusion, she took out her phone and checked the time. The digital numbers flashed eleven, confirming that an hour had passed in a blink. As if the raven outside had stolen those sixty minutes with one glare from its flaming red eyes. Atlanta headed to her locker, dazed and confused as she marched to it. She hid her face next to the open locker door and struggled to catch her breath.

  “Where the hell were you?” a voice came from behind her. Skylar’s hand landed on her shoulder and her golden hair swung into view. “I called you, like, a gazillion times.”

  Atlanta’s gasps for air subsided as the soothing familiarity of the sound behind her brought her back to the organized chaos that was high school. She shoved her bag inside the locker and slammed the door, turning to Skylar and trying to bury the debris of her hectic morning behind the brown of her eyes and a forced smile. “I woke up late,” Atlanta replied. “Can you believe my alarm snoozed six times and I didn’t twitch?”

  “What were you up to last night?” Skylar asked, her tone shifting from annoyance to sincere concern.

  “I think I’ve just been worried about…stuff,” Atlanta sighed. She and Skylar automatically started walking towards the cafeteria.

  They walked through the hallways swayed with whispers, chuckles, and loud laughs that combined to form the everyday cacophony of sound that was the atmosphere of Calen High. By the doors that led to the cafeteria a group of people gathered, and to both girls it seemed like one of those random brawls that broke out nearly every day in school. In the middle of the crowd, his thick black hair flashing while surrounded by his teammates, stood Ryan Toller.

  “It’s him,” Skylar chirped as he elbowed Atlanta. They stopped a couple of feet away from the huddle surrounding Ryan.

  Atlanta’s silence and gaze fixed on Ryan were the only responses Skylar got. She stood there waiting for Ryan to look her way. The noises of the lockers slamming, the whispered rumors and the laughs hidden behind anxious hearts, faded into silence as they settled in the background of Atlanta’s mind. Seconds of waiting felt like years as her heart longed for a glimpse of his green eyes.

  Skylar was tapping her on the shoulder, whispering and chuckling. “Not interested, eh?” She giggled. “Really?”

  Ryan’s deep green eyes flashed their way, and Atlanta froze. He high-fived his teammates and threw smiles around like a tree graciously spreading its leaves on a windy autumn day. He strolled their way, his whole body studied and memorized by Atlanta…and apparently Skylar, too.

  Atlanta’s heart went racing, and the muscles in her cheeks stretched robotically as his eyes met hers. She wanted to race over and hug him. She tried to fight the paralysis that her nerves dictated upon her, but she couldn’t. All she could do was grin at him like a loon.

  Ryan dropped his backpack and made his way towards them. His pace quickened, and he almost ran the remaining distance between them. He wrapped his arms around Skylar’s waist, hugging her tight and lifting her off the floor, laying a soft and quick kiss on her shivering lips. Skylar seemed to freeze, and when he dropped her back on her feet she was staring at nothing in particular, obviously shocked. She began to quickly blush, and it was all Atlanta could do not to laugh out loud.

  Then Ryan turned to Atlanta and gave her a brief hug, looked at her shocked and perplexed eyes, and smiled briefly. “Hey, Atlanta,” he said, keeping his tone distinctly polite. “Haven’t seen you in a while.” Then looked back at Skylar and grinned.

  Atlanta tried to say something, but nothing came to mind. Silence paraded her brain. Nothing? Seriously, you can’t think of anything to say? You haven’t seen him in forever! You thought he was dead! Can’t you manage something? Anything? Wait. He’s not even really looking at me. What’s up? Did something happen? Did he get hurt? She gazed down and he looked perfectly fine. Handsome as—Stop it! Focus, Atlanta! She fought the paralyzed tip of her tongue, and through the conflicted emotions she was feeling she finally managed to utter a couple of words. “I’m fine,” she said, her voice quivering. “Glad you’re back.” She t
urned to Skylar, ready to make a fast getaway and found her friend still lost in the midst of blushes and smiles. She blinked in confusion, turning back to Ryan. Everything felt off again. Maybe it was hormones? Or being a teenager, but crap!

  Except, something was different. The way he looked at her was different. His deep green eyes didn’t feel like the tunnel of evergreen she liked gazing into every day. Rather, in the peculiarity of this moment they felt like a dark well with a ‘No Trespassing’ sign hanging over it.

  What made things even worse was that it felt like Ryan didn’t even register she was there. There was an indifference towards her, a forgetting of the river of feelings that had seemed to flow both ways just a month before. And worse, the course of that river seemed to have changed direction towards her closest and only friend.

  Atlanta dropped the book she had in her hands and quickly began walking past them. “I gotta go.”

  “Where are you going?” Skylar called out, clearly confused.

  “Bathroom,” Atlanta whispered as a tear rolled down her cheek.

  He didn’t even notice the tear, she thought as her mind spun on overdrive. She ran faster towards the bathrooms, nearly staggering, her whole emotional being scattered in the array of broken thoughts her heart had created. She didn’t know whether to feel betrayed or happy for Skylar. After all, her friend had always been drooling over Ryan.

  But now wasn’t the time to figure out how she felt. She needed to know where the debris of her emotions fell so she could curl up right next to it. She wanted to go back home. She tried not to think about Ryan and Skylar standing at the cafeteria, but she couldn’t erase the image. She groaned as she realized she’d dropped her book. It probably rested on the ground between Ryan and Skylar’s feet, its title flashing in bright white, The Idiot by Dostoevsky.

  That was exactly how Atlanta felt.

  * * *

  The days and nights that followed Ryan’s return to Calen High passed like centuries through Atlanta’s stormy mind. She spent most of her time in the basement where the sandbags and rubber walls suffered the thundering pounding of her fists. She grunted and panted, cried and screamed. She would curl up on the couch in the basement and drown her mind in melancholic drama, then drift off into a sleepless slumber and invite the nightmares in. When she woke up in the morning, she’d dismiss the dark dreams in between angry punches and kicks.

  Skylar’s calls were relentless, but Atlanta rarely answered. When she did, she used excuses like being busy with reading, homework, or sleeping the days away just so she wouldn’t have to see her friend. It was painful to go out with Skylar, because she never was alone. She and Ryan were suddenly dating, and Atlanta felt like she was being left behind, broken and dismissed.

  Idiot! She admonished herself for not expressing her feelings out loud to either Skylar or Ryan. It wouldn’t have made a difference, she thought to herself. If she’d told Skylar about the nature of Calen’s underground reality, she could have never gotten closer to Ryan. She criticized her anxious nature, her paralyzed tongue when he’d hypnotized her with smiles. She tried to recall every moment they shared, every little breath they both rhythmically exhaled at the same moment, as if to signal their unprecedented bond and connection. She looked for mistakes she might’ve made, thoughts she didn’t share, and signals she had failed to pick up on, but it all seemed surreal. He never noticed. She could have sworn there’d been an undercurrent between the two of them. Sure, she hadn’t admitted she liked him out loud, but neither had he. Yet…hadn’t there kind of been something there?

  She sighed. Whatever. She’d denied her own feelings and he’d never noticed. It didn’t exist. It never had.

  She sighed again and kicked another sandbag. It broke open and sand exploded from the rip and rained down on her.

  Ryan’s return to Calen was surreal.

  It’s like he’s somebody else completely. She stomped over to the punching bag, ignoring the sand still falling. She stood glaring at the bag, her eyes burning, fists clenched. She drew images of Ryan in her mind, and immediately began throwing punches, sand flying off her shoulders and out of her hair. She fought against the bag as if it were a nemesis she needed to defeat. She was only inches away from grabbing one of her knives and ripping the leather bag to shreds, when a coughing brought her out of her angry trance.

  James was standing at the bottom of the stairs, watching her, his eyes narrowed as if he were trying to understand what was happening. “I think if you really want,” he said, “we can set a flame thrower at it and get this over with.”

  Atlanta puffed and blew strands of her hair out of her face. Her chest heaved with bottled up aggression and the desire to go back to punishing the bag. She waited patiently for her uncle to say what he had come to say.

  “You know, if I had known it would come to this one day I would’ve bought more and stored them aside,” he joked. He glanced over that the emptied sandbag. “Maybe some water so we could make a beach, too?”

  Great, everyone’s a comedian now! Atlanta threw an aimless punch at the bag. “Just practicing.”

  James forced a tight smile. “I’d offer to do a little one-on-one, but I have a feeling I might have a few broken bones by the time we’re done.”

  “I haven’t beaten you once,” Atlanta snapped.

  “You haven’t been this angry, either,” James pointed out. “Want to talk about it?”

  “Nope.” Atlanta shook her head and nailed the bag few more times.

  “Is this about Ryan?” When she didn’t answer, he nodded. “I heard he’s been acting a little…differently. He’s dating Skylar, right?”

  “They’re a perfect match,” Atlanta replied, trying not to sound as if it bothered her. “I’m—” punch, “happy—” punch, “for them.” Punch-punch.

  James studied her a second. “I guess you’re right,” he said slowly. “Do you think it’s serious?”

  “Does it matter?” she snapped, turning to glare at him.

  “In more ways than one,” James replied, not meeting her gaze. Then he straightened his shoulders. “But we’ll leave that for another day. I actually came down here for a different reason.”

  Atlanta began unzipping her gloves and grabbed her water bottle. “What?” She knew she was being bitchy, but couldn’t stop herself. She was relieved that her uncle wasn’t pressing the Ryan and Skylar sitting in a tree issue.

  “Marcus called a meeting at the Dome.” He turned to head back up the stairs. “Everyone’s going to be there. Ryan included.”

  “Great.” Atlanta sniffed and tossed her gloves to a side. “Have fun, I guess.”

  “You’re coming.”

  Atlanta shook her head. “No.”

  James sighed and headed down the stairs again. He crossed the distance between them in two quick strides. He held her hands in his and waited to speak until she looked him in the eye. “Whatever you’re going through, take a breath. All that emotional turmoil…it sucks. I know it does. I can only imagine how it feels seeing Ryan and Skylar together.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Atlanta replied, holding back tears.

  James smiled tenderly. “I may be a klutz and a bad cook, but I’m not stupid.” He wiped her cheek. “But you know what? Hide it all you want, that’s fine. I won’t push. But use that rush of emotion wisely. Concentrate. Build on it. Don’t let it destroy you.”

  “It’s fine.” She pulled away from him and ran a hand through her hair. “I’m fine.”

  “Sure you are,” James mocked. “You’ve been to every meeting since Colin’s death, and you’ve been at the forefront of the search for Ryan. And now that he’s back, now that you have a chance to really talk to him on home turf, you don’t want to go?”

  “Uncle James, please.”

  James held a hand up to stop her. “This meeting is because of you,” he said. “You’re the reason everyone’s at the Dome right now, waiting for us. Whether you like it or not, this is not a
meeting you can miss.”

  What do they want from me? Atlanta looked at James in confusion, her thoughts on Ryan suddenly benched in light of this recent turn in events. She swallowed and nodded once at her uncle. Suddenly, everything that had been happening around them felt like it was about to get real. Very real.

  James turned to head back upstairs. “Ten minutes, Atlanta,” he called over his shoulder.

  Chapter 19

  Her uncle insisted she suit up for the meeting. The odd request had her biting her tongue in curiosity. And worry. This was just a meeting and she rarely needed to be prepared for a fight when heading for the Dome. The last time she had, Ryan had almost torn them apart while compelled.

  Great. What’s going to happen this time?

  They took the tunnels and drove in verbal silence, each lost in their own thoughts. The only sound was the revving of their bikes echoing through the passageways. When they arrived at the Dome, two guards stood waiting for them. Marcus had stationed them to escort them. Already Atlanta was itching to reach for her weapons. The situation appeared less and less the meeting kind of calling. They followed the guards; again, no words were spoken between her and James. She glanced at him several times as they headed to the assembly hall, but his gazed remained straight ahead. Everything about his posture and gait told her something was going on. What aren’t you telling me?

  Inside the hall, everyone appeared to be there already. No one was saying a word. Dead silence. All heads turned in their direction when they entered. Like her uncle, Atlanta kept her gaze fixed forward, trying to avoid eye contact with Ryan, who was now staring at her with such intensity it frightened her.

  Past the shadowy corners of the Dome, inside the structure that was externally ornamented with the same cement monsters as those at Calen High, Atlanta stood in her crimson suit next to her uncle at one end of the long table. Across from them sat Marcus, his fingers intertwined, his dark brown eyes gazing at them. His breath was unnoticeable in the silence of the Dome. All that could be heard was the soft beating of the hearts of the Druids, and the impatient tapping of feet on the ground from Ryan and the Wolves who had accompanied him.