Fated

by T. L. McDonald

  He's the complete opposite of fine.

  When I turn back around Kat's returned to the land of ‘fully functional’ and Will is working at wrapping up the dead bird in my ruined sheets.

  "Are you okay?" Kat asks with concern.

  "Honestly, I'm not even sure if I know what okay feels like anymore."

  "I can't believe...I mean it's just...sickening," Kat stutters, her gaze on the bloody sheet dangling from Will's outstretched hand. Little red splotches drip from the pool of blood collecting at the bottom onto the floor.

  Before anymore can drip, Will shoves the whole thing into the small trashcan in my bathroom. Returning a moment later with a wad of wet toilet paper, he cleans up the blood splatters on the floor. He disappears once again into the bathroom emerging a second later with the trashcan held in his hand.

  I should thank him for cleaning up the mess. I should thank him for a lot of things. God, I haven't even thanked him yet for risking his life to save Adam.

  "Where can I dispose of this?" Will asks.

  "Um, you can put it in one of the cans at the bottom of the driveway. Trash day's tomorrow." He nods and my eyes shift to the mattress where the blood from the bird has soaked through. I'll never sleep on it again. I'll never sleep again period knowing Blondie can walk right in whenever he wants. So much for alarm systems. Not that I ever really thought they'd work against him anyway.

  Will sits the trashcan down at his feet then crosses the room, pulling me into a hug. "I'm so sorry Hanna. This never should have happened. I should have put protection wards around your house a long time ago. Blondie never should have been able to get in here." He smells faintly of green goo and my mind slides back to the way he looked outside the club after Blondie and his goons had their way with him. I hug myself tighter to him. He responds by kissing the top of my head.

  "Blondie will never step another foot in here again." He presses his lips against the top of my head once more, holding the kiss for several seconds. "I promise." He releases me quickly and is at the door retrieving the trashcan before I have a chance to take a breath.

  "Will," I say when he's half way down the stairs and I'm leaning out the door into the hallway.

  He turns, looking back. "Yeah."

  "Thank you."

  "For what?"

  "For everything. For Adam."

  He smiles sincerely. "Haven't you figured it out yet Hanna? There's nothing I wouldn't do for you. No thanks necessary." He takes the rest of the stairs down two at a time. When I hear the front door open and close I duck back into my room where I'm met with an Oh Man look from Kat.

  "What?"

  "That boy's got it bad for you." The moment those words leave her mouth I begin internally arguing with myself.

  No he doesn't.

  Yes he does.

  But I wish he didn't. And I wish a small confused part of me didn't maybe just a smidge possibly feel something back.

  And I wish Kat would stop looking at me like that.

  And more than anything, I wish Jared were here.

  "Kat, I've told you before, there is nothing going on between Will and I." Ignoring the confusing feelings brewing inside of me, I sigh over what's happening right in front of me. I am in no mood to rehash our previous (or is it still ongoing?) fight over Will. "I'm with Jared. I love Jared."

  "I never said you didn't love Jared. I've seen the two of you together; I'm not totally blind, but I've seen how you are with Will too."

  "Kat please, I don't want to fight with you. If you want to pursue Will, then have at it. I'm not standing in your way. I don't have feelings like that whatsoever for him."

  Liar, liar pants on fire, my obviously wrong, possibly even delusional inner voice singsongs.

  "I'm not trying to pick a fight with you. I'm completely over Will. He's totally hot and all, and I mean Hot, but he's a lost cause." She smiles coyly at herself in the mirror across the room. "Besides, another more available and just as equally Hot boy has caught my eye, but that's not the point I'm getting at."

  "Then what is your point?" I'm not sure where she's going with this, but there's a part of me that's more than a little upset that she's dismissing her crush on Will so flippantly considering said crush played a huge part in tearing our friendship apart.

  "My point is." She draws in a breath, ignoring my 'I’m irritated and growing angry' vibes. "You have feelings for him too. Maybe you're not fully aware of them, or maybe you're denying them, I don't know, but I'm telling you they're there, hence the look I was giving you."

  "Well, you're wrong, so no look needed."

  She puts her hands up in defeat. "If you say so."

  "I say so."

  "Okay."

  "Okay."

  I slightly shake my head, needing to change the subject. It's been a long horrible night and I’d rather not get into an argument with her right now. Especially since our friendship is newly on the mend. "So who's this new guy you're crushing on?"

  She pretends to zip her mouth shut. "That's a secret for another time."

  "Fine, don't tell me," I say lightheartedly. Maybe her no longer liking Will is a good thing. Not because I have feelings for him—because I don't, because I'm trying not to, because I shouldn't, because I love Jared and this whole thing is stupid—but because without Will coming between us, I get my friend back.

  Kat eyeballs the bloody mattress. "Well, we're obviously not sleeping on that thing—like never ever again. I'm going to go grab some more blankets from the hall closet so we can spread them out on the floor slumber party style." She's a little too chipper and I half wonder if some of the smoke inhalation she sustained earlier affected her brain because who in the world could be chipper at a time like this?

  She returns a few minutes later with a stack of blankets and pillows so high she's having a hard time seeing around them. "Hanna, a little help please."

  Taking a few from the top, we set out spreading them out on the floor. Once the bed, so to speak, is made I lend her a pair of my pj's and she excuses herself to the bathroom across the hall for a shower. Felling pretty scuzzy myself, a shower right about now sounds wonderful.

  Grabbing a tank top, a pair of pajama bottoms covered in penguins, and some clean undies from my drawers, I duck inside my bathroom shutting the door behind me with a soft click.

  The hot water would be a perfect remedy for all the knots tying up my muscles if I were able to relax, but with Jared out there in Blondie's clutches, I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to truly relax again.

  I hope Will is right in thinking Blondie won't harm Jared because I swear if he does there will be nothing in the world that's going to stop me from tearing him limb from limb. With my bare hands. Once I figure out how to make the symbol turn me into The Hulk.

  Drying off quickly I get dressed, brush my teeth, and pull my wet hair back into a braid. After days and nights filled with supernatural battles and hardly any sleep I'm suddenly so tired it's surprising I'm able to stand upright.

  Jared's face pops into my mind and I immediately feel guilty for even considering sleep when I should be out there scouring every dark corner on the face of the Earth in the hopes of finding him. But Will's right. If we're going to get Jared back we've got to do it right and being sleep deprived isn't the way to start things off.

  Leaning against the sink I hold my arm in my hand as I look down at the symbol on my wrist. "Wherever you are Jared, I swear, I will find you. And I will bring you home." As if in answer a faint shimmer ripples across the surface of the symbol.

  Exiting the bathroom, the soft snoring of Kat greets me and I smile. She's curled into a ball on her side, the blankets tucked up around her shoulders. Carefully, I step over her and lower myself down to the spot next to her in our make shift bed.

  Just as I'm laying my head onto the pillow, I hear the bathroom door open across the hall. I sit half way up leaning back on my elbows. Will steps out into the hall, flicking off the light switch in the bathroom as he doe
s. He makes for the stairs when he sees me watching.

  "Hey," he says from the doorway. His frame is a silhouette against the light of the hall. "I put up the protection wards. Twice. Okay three times. I wanted to make sure there was absolutely no way Blondie or any other Fallen could ever get in here again."

  I pat the spot beside me. Hesitating for only a second, he kicks off his boots inside the doorway. He lies down on top of the blankets beside me sharing my pillow. He clasps his fingers together resting his hands on top of his stomach.

  "Thank you."

  "I told you, you don't have to thank me."

  "I know, but I am anyway. You're a great friend Will." I wrap my arm around his bicep snuggling in. Sleep has a firm hold on me, pulling me under so when he whispers the word 'friend' like it hurts, I can't be sure if he really said it or if I dreamt it.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  The floor beneath my bare feet is freezing, the air around me not much warmer. Wrapping my arms around myself, I shiver. I have no idea where I am or how I got here, but I know there's something important about this place, or something important in this place I'm meant to discover. Though I can't quite put my finger on what exactly that something is.

  A long cement hallway stretches before me. The walls are gray, the floors an even darker gray and above me black pipes run the length of the ceiling disappearing around the corner. Forever flickering florescent bulbs illuminate the way.

  "I think you're going to like it here."

  "I think you should go back to Hell."

  I know those voices.

  "Been there. Done that. Now it's time for something new. That's where you come in."

  "I've already told you several times already. I. Am. Not. Going. To. Help. You.

  A laugh. "Oh, but you will. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but you will."

  At the end of the hall I peek around the corner. Another hallway spans into infinity. With careful steps I venture out following the sounds of the voices up ahead.

  Ten feet ahead of me Blondie steps into the hall, the sound of a metal door closing behind him. I freeze on the spot. My pulse picks up. I have no place to go and no place to hide.

  Blondie turns, walking in my direction yet he doesn't seem to see me. I press my back against the wall as he nears. When he's right in front of me he pauses. I hold my breath, willing my heart to slow down. He says something I can't decipher, the corners of his mouth lifting into a sly grin. The symbol flares on my wrist burning my skin as he continues walking down the hall. I slap a hand over it hoping it will ease the pain.

  It doesn't.

  The pain intensifies. My whole arm feels like it's on fire. I drop to my knees biting my lip to stop from screaming out. I squeeze my eyes shut, breathing through clenched teeth.

  What is going on?

  When I open my eyes, Blondie's crouched down in front of me. His eyes are blue with a hint of the darkness held within. "It's not time to play yet." He leans in closer, getting right in my face. "Wake up."

  "Wake up!"

  My eyes pop open, my vision assaulted by Kat's face dangerously close to mine. Without make up to cover it up, the black eye I gave her stands out a dark purplish red against her skin. Her nails dig into my upper arms.

  "I think you can let go now."

  "Oh, right. Sorry." She releases me leaving behind tiny impressions of her nails. "I didn't mean to grab you so hard it's just, you were screaming so loud and that thing on your wrist was glowing, and you wouldn't wake up."

  "Huh? I was screaming?" I hold my wrist up examining the symbol. If it was glowing it's not now.

  "What were you dreaming about anyway?"

  "I...don't know. I don't really remember. It's all kind of fuzzy now, but," I scrunch my eyebrows together straining to remember.

  "But what?"

  "It's weird, but I feel like whatever I was dreaming about, it was important somehow."

  "More like scary if you ask me. You didn't hear the screams coming out of your mouth. It's probably best you don't remember."

  "You're probably right." Shaking off the weird feeling swimming around in my gut that maybe I should be remembering, I stand stretching out the kinks in my body from sleeping on the floor.

  Suddenly, Will comes running into my room soaking wet wearing nothing but a fluffy pink towel wrapped around his waist. "I heard screaming. What's wrong?" He looks around my room frantically.

  I do my best to keep my eyes on his face though Kat clearly isn't. With the looks she's giving him he should feel thoroughly violated. She rolls her tongue back into her mouth long enough to mutter, "Hanna had a nightmare."

  "I'm okay," I add. "I don't even remember what it was about."

  "Well, in that case," He wipes away some of the water running down over his chest and abs with his hand. From the corner of my eye I can practically see the drool dribbling from Kat's open mouth hitting the floor. "I'm going to go finish drying off."

  When he turns back toward the bathroom Kat runs to the door slightly angling her head as she checks out his backside.

  Once I hear the door to the bathroom close I join her in the doorway where I playfully backhand her across her upper arm. "Drool much?"

  Stepping back inside my room, she laughs. "What? Just because I like someone else now doesn't mean I can't appreciate the prime real estate that boy's got going on. Did you see those abs?” A dreamy look settles over her face followed by a mischievous one. “I kept hoping his towel would slip just a little so I could get a peek at what's underneath." She runs her tongue across her bottom lip before biting it. "I bet he'd be good…" Her eyes flick to the bed.

  "Katherine Marie Matthews!"

  She laughs at the horrified expression on my face. "Oh, come on. I bet that same thought has crossed your mind at least once. What about you and Jared? Have you guys you know." She wags her eyebrows.

  An inferno of heat rises up from my toes depositing itself firmly in my face. I push her shoulder lightly. "No."

  "Look at you getting all red faced. I bet you want to though don't you? I bet you want them both you little hooker," she teases mercilessly.

  "Kat!"

  "Who's a hooker?" Will, who's suddenly standing just inside my door once again, asks with a crooked grin on his face.

  "No one," I say a little too high-pitched. I shoot Kat a pointed look. The smile on her face spans from ear to ear.

  "What am I missing?" Will asks.

  "I think I hear something downstairs," I say lamely. They both know I'm full of it, but if I don't get out of this room immediately I'm going to die of embarrassment right after I strangle Kat.

  ***

  When I round the corner at the bottom of the stairs I find Adam sitting at the kitchen table. A breakfast of coffee and pop tarts sits in front of him. He watches me as I enter. He nods a hello and I nod back.

  At least he's acknowledging me. I'll take that as a good sign.

  "About last night," he begins and I prepare myself for the worst. "I'm sorry for acting like a jerk toward you." Not at all what I was expecting but I'll take it. "Its just things took a turn for the weird early on into the land of crazy and it was a lot to try and take in."

  Needing to do something with my hands before the fidgeting I feel coming on has a chance to fully take over, I pour myself a cup of coffee. I don't really like it plain, I’m more of a latte girl, and under normal circumstances I would never drink it. However, nothing about this conversation is normal, so bottoms up. I take a drink feeling it burn all the way down.

  "I know all about the land of crazy." I take a seat at the table beside him. "I've been uncomfortably living there the last several weeks."

  "So all this stuff, all the things you said, all the things I think I've seen for myself—providing I'm not actually crazy—is real? Like real real?

  "Yeah." Shifting in my chair, my knee touches his. He doesn't move away. Another good sign. I hope.

  He stares down at his pop tart for a minute befo
re meeting my eye. "How do you do it? How do you live like this and not go stark raving mad? I mean fallen angels and Guardians, it's just...it's insane. Before last night I wasn't even sure if I even believed in God, and now..." He grabs ahold of my wrist, startling me. A little bit of the coffee in my cup spills onto the table. Unfazed by the mess, he flips my arm over exposing the symbol. "This really lets you experience someone else's memories as if they were your own, and gives you super powers?" Adam touches the symbol with the tip of his finger almost as if he's afraid it's going to bite him. It doesn't. In fact, it doesn't react to him at all.

  "Not this one. The symbol I had before this one let me share in Sam's memories, but this one does give me super powers as you put it."

  "What's it like having super powers?"

  "I don't know. Weird I guess. I'm still struggling with controlling them. I'm getting better though."

  "And your friend Will, he has super powers too, like you right, because he's a Guardian?" He lifts up his shirt showing the mostly healed stab wound near the center of his stomach courtesy of Blondie. "Because I think you were right last night. I think he healed it some when he and that blonde girl found me in the storage closet." He lowers his shirt back down. "Are you a Guardian now?"

  "No. At least I don't think so. I don't know, I'm not sure how it all works, but if you want I can finish where Will left off and heal you the rest of the way."

  "Thanks, but I think I'll let it heal the old fashioned way."

  Okay, I've done it. I've gone too far and freaked him out again. I inch away from him, nervously fidgeting in my chair.

  "Hanna I know you think I'm afraid of you and you're not entirely wrong in thinking it. Everything about last night was surreal and terrifying and honestly, I'm still not one hundred percent sure it actually happened. So, while I appreciate your offer to heal me, even though the idea of it terrifies me, I need you to understand that right now these wounds are the only proof I have that I'm not completely nuts." His gray eyes search mine. "Do you know what I mean?"

  "I know exactly what you mean.”