Aven's Dream

by Alessa James

  By the time we finished, I was ready to collapse. I had officially done more shopping than I had since I started high school—and I was feeling every second of it. Barely dragging myself back to the car, I collapsed into the passenger seat and closed my eyes the minute we got there. By the time I opened my eyes again, we were parked on the street, and Gen was standing with the car door open. Getting out, I followed her down the street, looking at the various food carts lining the sidewalk until Gen stopped at one. I yawned, trying to snap out of my trance. She came back a few minutes later with a plate piled high with whipped cream.

  “A crêpe,” she said, handing the plate to me with a plastic fork.

  We walked until we found a bench, and I raised the fork to my mouth, taking a bite. The crepe was smothered in chocolate sauce beneath all the whipped cream. Tasty, but extremely sweet. When Gen handed me a cup with what I thought was water, I gulped it down.

  “Ugh! I thought it was water. Sugar overload,” I said, setting the cup down on the bench.

  “Do you feel better?” she asked.

  I nodded, already feeling less exhausted.

  “I’m sorry, Aven. It seems I’ve been draining you a bit without realizing it. And I can’t take you back on empty, or William will be less than pleased.”

  “On empty? Ha, ha,” I smirked. “All right. So what happens when you actually mean to drain a person?”

  Gen smiled, her copper eyes burning into mine as she reached out and took my free hand. I felt a rushing sensation, like I was falling. Suddenly Gen released me, catching my plate before I dropped it. She picked up the sickly sweet soda and handed it to me. I took a gulp and watched my hand shake as I set it back down. Leaning back on the bench, I finished my crepe in silence before getting up to look for a trashcan.

  When we started walking back to Gen’s car, I tried to think of other questions to ask her while I had her alone. I was enjoying having someone I could talk to who would actually answer my questions—something I was going to have to bring up with Will.

  “What was her name—the girl James was in love with?” I asked.

  “Grace,” Gen said as she opened the driver’s side door. “Don’t mention her to him, please.”

  I shook my head as I slipped into the passenger seat and put the bags in the tiny backseat.

  “I wouldn’t.”

  I knew what it was like to have to talk about someone you missed with your entire being. It was better to keep my mom’s memory close to my heart and not talk about the loss.

  “Besides …” I said. “At this point, it’s unlikely I’ll meet James, right? It doesn’t seem like he’s too interested in meeting me at least.”

  Gen looked over at me as she pulled out of the parking structure and turned toward the freeway.

  “I think he’s afraid for you,” she said. “I don’t know if Will told you, but James was the only one of us to expose our secret to a human. And the person with whom he shared that secret died.” Her brow furrowed, and then she smiled. “However, Will is clearly intent on you becoming like us sooner rather than later.”

  I froze and then looked toward the river as we passed over it. I hadn’t given much thought to it, mostly because I didn’t even know it was a possibility until Wednesday night. I shivered as I remembered Will’s words.

  I’m not worried about corrupting you, Aven. I’m worried about killing you … or not being able to resist the impulse to take your humanity from you and turn you into what I am.

  What was I supposed to believe now? Was Gen right? Did Will intend to change me into what they were? I wanted to change the subject—fast. I couldn’t let Gen know how nervous her last statement had made me. I had no idea what to think. I turned back to her and smiled.

  “If you guys are going to the dance, when do we go shopping for your dress?”

  Gen laughed.

  “I’m sure I could find something, but I guess it couldn’t hurt to get another one. Next time, then.”

  I spent the rest of the drive thinking up harmless questions to ask Gen. The drive to the mall, which had taken Lizzie more than an hour and a half, took Gen less than half the time. Still, the traffic on the freeway was much lighter on a Sunday evening than a Friday night. When Gen pulled up in front of my house, the Aston was already parked at the curb. I sighed. My dad’s old Volvo was starting to look out of place with the growing collection of exotic luxury cars parked out front.

  “I’m surprised he didn’t come hunt us down in Portland,” Gen growled.

  The front door of our house flew open, and Will flew toward us, opening my door and sweeping me out of the car before my dad had even reached the front door.

  “I’ve missed you,” he whispered into my hair.

  I shivered as his breath brushed my neck. Gen, I noticed out of the corner of my eye, had already taken the bags from the trunk. My dad came rushing down the stairs when he saw the number of bags in Gen’s arms. She smiled and let him take a few. As soon as we stepped through the door, Darcy barreled out of the kitchen to investigate the newcomer. Then he sat down at her feet and wagged his tail.

  “Looks like you girls cleaned out the mall,” my dad said. “Did you have a good time?”

  I smiled and pointed at Gen.

  “Gen is a shopping ninja. I didn’t pick out a single thing, and we were done before I could complain. Much.”

  “Aven’s much more fun to dress up than the boys.”

  My dad’s eyebrow arched, and I gritted my teeth.

  “Boys?” my dad asked calmly.

  “Eddie and Jaime,” Gen smiled. “We’re all staying with Will through the end of the year.”

  “Friends of yours?” my dad asked Will.

  “Family,” Will corrected.

  “Anyone interested in a pizza?” my dad asked.

  “Sorry, Dad. We had crêpes while we were in Portland.”

  “Will?” my dad asked without a trace of hope.

  “I had something earlier, but thank you for asking.”

  “Right,” my dad mumbled to himself.

  Gen glanced at her watch like she had just remembered something.

  “I should make it an early night since tomorrow is my first day of school. Will, I’ll see you later?” Gen asked pointedly.

  Will nodded as we walked her to the front door. I knew that Will wasn’t returning to his house tonight. I paused, looking over at him. It had never occurred to me how he managed to look so perfect in the morning after spending the night at my house. Another magic trick. Or maybe a perk of immortality—looking perfect all the time.

  “Gen, you’re welcome any time,” my dad called after her.

  She turned and waved. When she got into the car, I watched as she pulled away, knowing she would only watch her speed until she turned the corner. My dad was already on his phone calling the pizza place.

  “I’ll run and pick up the pizza,” he said on his way to grab his coat. “I’ll be back in a half hour.”

  The minute my dad left the house, Will pulled me toward him, smiling.

  “We have twenty-seven minutes until your father returns,” he whispered as he guided me toward the couch.

  Chapter 20: New Students

  If Will’s arrival at Winters Union High School had caused a tremor, then the appearance of his companions Monday morning caused an eight-point-oh earthquake. Every class I went to buzzed with rumors about the new students. Will may have been beautiful and shocking, but he had been an anomaly.

  The fact that the others—more specifically James—were in school made me crazy nervous, and by the time the fourth period bell rang, I was sure that my adrenaline supply had been completely depleted. I was excited to see Gen and Edmond again. But James? Awkward.

  I gritted my teeth and braced myself for the walk to the cafeteria. I had already explained to Sean and Lizzie that I was going to have lunch with Will’s companions—not that I had used that word. Of course, I had called them his friends, not his companions. As fa
r as Sean and Lizzie knew, I hadn’t met them yet, which wasn’t an outright lie. James was still a big unknown. Plus, I wasn’t willing to expose my friends to an unhappy immortal with serious personal issues until I knew how bad he was.

  Stepping through the cafeteria doors, I scanned the room. It wasn’t hard to spot Will’s crew of immortals. A perimeter of space, like an invisible force field, separated their table from the others. We went through the line, and I didn’t even notice when Will paid for my lunch. Every ounce of my energy was focused on the one perfectly still spot in the cafeteria. Gen was on the side of the table facing us as we approached. She smiled and waved. Edmond had his back to us, but his colossal form was hard to miss. The third figure I recognized by his wild copper-brown hair.

  I could feel James’s awareness of our approach. I thought maybe his build was slighter than Will’s and that he was an inch or two shorter than Will, but I was guessing, of course, considering he was sitting. Seeing him from behind, I could have mistaken him for any other high school student.

  Swallowing as we got to the table, I sat down next to Gen as Will sat down on my other side. After a few seconds, I forced myself to look at James, who was directly across from me. He was beautiful, like the others, and I wondered if this was a trait of everyone like them. I had to admit that even Vladimir Fidatov was beautiful in a dark and menacing sort of way.

  James looked over at me, his bright green eyes dismissive as they slid over me. I sucked in a breath. When I had seen him at Will’s house, his eyes had been gray—like Will’s the night he first came to dinner—and suddenly I realized that their eyes were like gas tank gauges. Colorless and gray in the absence of human energy, then brightly colored as they absorbed that energy.

  When James looked away from me, I took a shuddering breath. But instead of looking away, I continued to study him. His features made him appear simultaneously younger and older than Will. His icy, knowing gaze didn’t match his angelic face, and neither did the grief and rage emanating from him.

  Gen, Edmond, and James had trays of untouched food in front of them, and before, when I hadn’t known better, Will’s lack of appetite for food had made him appear unusual. Now, though, my mortality made me the odd one, and I was very aware of it. Even as James tried to ignore me, I could feel him drawing on my energy.

  Will reached out and pulled me closer, and I was in the middle of debating if I should break the unsettling silence when Will growled. Feeling the bench shake beneath us, I could have sworn Edmond kicked James.

  “Keep your opinions to yourself,” Will snapped.

  He glared across the table at James, his eyes frozen into ice. I frowned and looked at Will in confusion. No one had spoken since we joined the others. I turned back to James, who was smirking at Will. Finally, he looked over at me again, causing me to squirm under his unflinching gaze.

  “You must be Aven,” he said, his smooth, low voice the epitome of politeness as he extended his hand in a flash across the table as his mouth curled into a barely concealed sneer.

  I reached out, relieved that Will’s arm still rested across my shoulders. Will’s other hand, though, was gripping the table so fiercely that I was afraid the fiberglass would splinter. Feeling James’s hand grasp mine, I looked up at him in surprise. A current of heat burned through me as our eyes met, and for a single second I could feel all the rage and pain deep down inside of him. Gasping for breath, I pulled away and broke eye contact.

  I didn’t say anything. Actually, I was barely breathing when James abruptly stood from the table and moved gracefully, but much too quickly, toward the exit at the far side of the room. Gen shook her head and frowned.

  “Aven, it’s not you. James is … difficult.”

  Unfortunately, I didn’t share her confidence. Turning, I saw Will still glowering in the direction his insolent companion had disappeared.

  “Don’t be put off,” Edmond muttered. “He’ll get over it.”

  “In my lifetime?” I smiled weakly.

  Even though I had lost my appetite, I continued to pick at my food, noticing Will’s eyes sweeping across the cafeteria. Laughing, he looked at Gen.

  “Gen, I think you can expect some invitations to the dance.”

  “I know,” she smiled. “Isn’t this adolescent angst delicious? However, I think there’s only one invitation worth accepting.”

  I looked over at Edmond before realizing that Gen was staring across the cafeteria. Following her gaze, I paled when I saw her eyes on Scott Adams, who was just beginning to walk normally again after his encounter with Will. How much had Will told his companions about that night?

  “Now that might be entertaining,” Edmond said without a trace of jealousy.

  When the lunch bell rang, Gen and Edmond rose and glided away from us. Will walked me to my fifth period and kissed me quickly, his expression preoccupied. I took my seat next to Lizzie, still absorbed in thought.

  “Aven!” she said, shaking my arm. “Were those Will’s friends?”

  “Yep.”

  “Did they meet at an international modeling competition or something?”

  I laughed.

  “Right? So do you want to meet them tomorrow?”

  “Are they nice?” Lizzie asked hesitantly.

  “Of course!”

  Well, with the exception of James. Lizzie was suddenly quiet, and with a stab of guilt, I remembered her big date. I had been so caught up in my stuff that I had forgotten to ask her about it in Health Sciences.

  “Oh, Lizzie! I’m so sorry. How was it?”

  “It was … fantastic!” she gushed. “We went to a little Italian place on Fifth Street. He was so sweet. He even brought me flowers!”

  “Flowers?” I laughed. “Are you sure this is the same Sean I know? And?”

  “He held my hand during the movie. And then,” Lizzie frowned before continuing. “Well, we kissed, but I think he was worried my dad was going to jump out of the bushes or something, because he seemed really nervous.”

  “So?” I asked anxiously, feeling her excitement.

  “It was amazing. Well, as long as it lasted, anyway,” Lizzie sighed, pulling out a textbook.

  I grinned at her.

  “There’s always next time …”

  I started on my homework, but Lizzie’s head popped up a few seconds later, and she tapped me on the shoulder.

  “Are Will’s friends coming to the dance?”

  “Um, I think so. Two of them at least,” I said as my thoughts flitted to James.

  “Should I get extra tickets?”

  I shook my head.

  “I think they’ll be all right.”

  Before class ended Lizzie made me promise to ask Sean about their date, but I didn’t think prompting would be necessary. When I got to Journalism, Sean was an easy target, already hunched over a computer in the layout room. I sneaked up behind him and grabbed his shoulder.

  “Flowers? That’s so romantic,” I laughed as he spun around in his chair.

  He responded by poking me in the ribs as I leaned against the desk.

  “Her dad hated me,” he said sullenly. “I swear he was waiting on the other side of the door when I brought her home.”

  “He didn’t hate you. You were on a date with his daughter. What’d you expect?” I sighed, wondering when my dad’s honeymoon with Will was going to end. “Anyway, other than her dad, how was it?”

  “Awesome. We had a great time. She’s really great.”

  So things were great with Sean. I had to smile. I was happy for him, but I also felt an overwhelming sense of relief that I wouldn’t be spending the rest of my senior year alone.

  “Hey! How was poker? Will didn’t say anything about it.”

  Sean beamed.

  “That’s ’cause I took all your boyfriend’s money,” Sean said proudly. “I guess he’s not as good as he thinks.”

  I smirked. So Will let him win.

  “You guys had a good time, then?”

&
nbsp; “Definitely. That was the first time I won any money!”

  I smiled in relief.

  “So what’s the deal with his friends?” Sean asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Uh, in case you hadn’t noticed, that one dude looked like he was ready to kill somebody when he left the cafeteria.”

  I shrugged. There wasn’t any good way to explain why James was so prickly.

  “Come on. You were sitting right there with them, and it looked like your boyfriend and that dude were about to throw down,” Sean pressed.

  “Were you watching us?”

  “Uh, hello. The entire cafeteria was watching them. They’re a little freaky.”

  I frowned.

  “What do you mean? You get along fine with Will,” I argued.

  “I never said he didn’t freak me out a little,” Sean said shaking his head at something. “Don’t get me wrong. He seems like a decent enough guy, but I don’t know … there’s just something a little off about him.”

  Feeling my cheeks flush, I stood up and stalked out of the room. So this is what Will had been talking about. This was the normal human reaction to them.

  “Hey,” Sean said, coming up behind me and grabbing my shoulder. “I didn’t mean anything by it. I was being a jerk. Are you going to eat with us tomorrow?”

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  “Come on, Aven. Really, I didn’t mean anything.”

  I smiled before turning to work on my assignment. At the end of class, Will met me at the door. The argument with James aside, he looked more relaxed with his companions close by. Sean, on the other hand, mumbled goodbye before disappearing down the hall. I watched his retreat with a nagging feeling of regret.

  When we reached the parking lot, I looked for Edmond’ SUV, but Will’s companions had already left campus. Which meant I didn’t have to see James again. I exhaled as I stepped into Will’s car. The door closed behind me, the Aston’s engine purring to life a moment later. As soon as we got to my house, I took Darcy outside, and when we started walking upstairs, I turned to Will.