Kat knocks on the wall outside the kitchen. Will stands awkwardly beside her with his hands tucked into his front pockets. "Mind if we join you for," She peeks her head in angling for a better look at the clock on the stove which reads 4:13 p.m. "an extremely late breakfast?"
Geez, just how long did we all sleep in? I think, while I too glance at the clock.
I've barely even made the first sound of the word ‘sure’ when she bounds into the kitchen heading straight for the freezer. Adam rolls his eyes, but there's a hint of a smile lifting the corners of his mouth.
"Yum, toaster strudel," Kat announces excitedly. "Don't mind if I do." She takes the box out and does a little happy dance over to the toaster.
And that's my cue. Adam mouths from across the table. He stands up, the legs of his chair scraping over the floor. He grabs what's left of his coffee and pop tarts before shuffling out of the kitchen in favor of the living room across the foyer. Adam hasn't been able to spend longer than five minutes at a time in the same room with Kat since she and I were thirteen and she spent the entire summer stalking him.
***
"Have you lost your mind?" Adam stands before me blocking the front door. He's been there for the better part of fifteen minutes.
"No I haven't lost my mind. We're talking about Jared here Adam. There's no way I can sit idly by while he's out there somewhere being subjected to who knows what at the disturbed hands of Blondie."
Adam looks at me with an, 'Aha, you just made my point' face. "That's exactly why I don't want you going. I've been subjected to those hands and I don't want them anywhere near you."
"I can take care of myself. I've got this now." I jab a finger at the symbol on my wrist as if that alone should be reason enough for him to let me pass.
"You're not going to let this go are you?"
"No."
"Then I'm coming with you."
"Now who's being crazy? Do you not remember what happened to you last night because I do?" For a second his eyes take on a far away glaze and he shudders. "It's safer if you stay here where you're protected," I say gently. Adam is in no way prepared to go up against Blondie and the Fallen and I am in no way prepared for what could happen to him if he does.
"I'm not letting you go alone. Not when I know what’s out there. Plus, Jared is my friend too and I want to help." His voice is firm. Unwavering even and I have to give him credit. After all that he’s discovered about me and about Jared, topped off with his initial reaction to said discovery, I thought for sure he’d be running in the opposite direction, not throwing himself in the mix.
"Well, if he's going, then so am I," Kat chimes in. "Besides, no one’s home at my house and I’ll feel a lot safer if I’m with you guys than I would being on my own now that I know what I know.”
I shift my gaze back and forth between the two of them. Obviously, they've both lost their minds. Why on Earth would anyone willingly want to get involved in a war with The Fallen?
I glance at Will hoping he'll be the voice of reason. He's leaning against the foyer table a subtle look of amusement on his face. "Don't look at me. When it comes to family affairs I find the best policy is to stay out of it."
Seriously?
"Fine." What else can I say? I'm outnumbered and I don't have time to waste arguing with them, especially when Will's being no help.
"Great." There's more than a note of excitement in Kat's voice and I look at her like she's been knocked up side the head with the stupid stick. Finding Jared is going to be dangerous and scary and there's the very real possibility someone could get hurt. Or worse. Much worse. Logan's face flashes in my mind causing a cold shudder to run down my back. No one should be excited about getting involved in this mess.
Kat grabs her keys off the foyer table. "I'll drive." She links arms with me. "Do you think Luca will be at Officer Hottie's house?" Now the excitement makes sense. Luca must be the new crush. "What? Your brother's Hot," she says to Will when he looks at her oddly.
Adam rolls his eyes while slightly shaking his head. He's known Kat long enough to know when she's about to go on and on about a new boy that's caught her eye. "I think I'll drive myself." He grabs his truck keys from the green bowl on the table.
"Mind if I ride with you?" Will asks Adam. Smart move.
"So, how well do you know Luca?" Kat asks once we're walking down the driveway toward her car. She slides in behind the wheel putting the key in the ignition.
Taking my seat, I close the door and fasten the seatbelt. "Not well. I only met him a couple days ago. He seems nice though. Oh, and he plays bass in a punk band."
"A musician. That's so hot. Tell me more."
"Sorry, that’s pretty much all I know."
"Guess that means I'll have to find out the rest for myself." She licks her lips seductively.
I laugh though it's a little bit forced. I guess I still don't really get why she doesn't like Will anymore, especially when her liking him was the reason our friendship ended and she took a stroll through the land of Cruel and Mean by saying hurtful things and accusing me of trying to steal potential boyfriends, to then writing ‘whore’ on my locker after teaming up with Amber Bradford for their very own Hanna Hate Group simply because Amber has a thing for Jared and she knew it would hurt me. If Will really meant so little that she's completely over him now and drooling over someone new, then what was the point? Why did she say and do all those things? I don't get it. And I don't think I can get past it until she explains with an explanation better than the one she gave last night. He's a lost cause? What does that even mean?
"Why don't you like Will any more?"
"What?" She fiddles with the car radio until she finds a station to her liking.
I turn it off. "Why don't you like Will anymore? If you were into him as much as you claimed to be, enough to treat me the way you did, then how can you move on to someone else so fast? You were so mean Kat and if Will wasn't that important, then why? I don't understand."
"I told you. I don’t like him anymore because he's a lost cause."
"What exactly is that supposed to mean?"
"It means he's never going to see me the way he sees you so there's no use in wasting my time on him, so I've moved on."
"I don't buy it. Tell me the truth."
"What is it you want me to say? Do you want me to tell you how my mom is cheating on my dad with someone half her age and how my dad's now living at a hotel while my mom moved her boy toy into the house? Or how I've been sleeping in the guesthouse for the last two and a half months just so I don't have to see them together? Or how my life’s been a depressing mess and the only bright light was when I first laid eyes on Will and I thought, ‘finally here’s a gorgeous hot guy oozing mystery with a hint of something secret and dangerous I can distract myself with’. Until he saw you that is and it made me mad. I'd already lost Jared to you even though you were always to blind to see it and now Will was looking at you the same way and it made me hate you. It made me jealous." She wipes at the corners of her eyes with the edge of her finger, careful to not smudge her mascara. "You had everything I wanted. Two hot guys vying for your attention and a perfect life, while I had no one and nothing except a crappy life where one parent bailed and the other is dangerously close to being a pedophile since Boy Toy is like the same age as Adam. Is that what you want to hear because if so there you go."
To say I'm stunned is grossly understated. "Why didn't you tell me what was going on? You're one of my best friends Kat. I would have been there for you. And as for my life being perfect, it's far, far, far, from it. It's so far from it it's not even in the same vicinity. Both my parents are dead, I feel like a burden most of the time to my brother because he had to give up so much to take care of me, and then all this other crap happened. My life has been spinning out of control for weeks. Nothing about that is perfect and I needed you Kat and you obviously needed me so again, why didn't you tell me?"
She shrugs. "I don't know. Embarrassed mostly
. And irrationally angry with you because I thought you were trying to steal Will's attention even though I knew on some level you really weren't, because that's not the type of person you are. But even so, I couldn't shake this feeling that you were hiding something from me and at that moment in my life, secrets weren't my friend. I felt like you were betraying me too, so I lashed out. I wanted you to hurt as much as I was hurting."
"Well, you succeeded." It comes out a little bitter, leaving a bad taste in my mouth. Part of me wants to hang onto my anger, but at the same time I can't deny I was keeping secrets. Big ones. Just not the ones she'd assumed. Truth be told, I hold just as much blame in our fight as she does, so I can't really blame it all on her.
I take a deep breath and when I exhale my anger goes with it. "I'm sorry I kept things from you and I'm sorry if it felt like I was betraying you. I was just trying to keep you safe. I just couldn't tell you what from because I was afraid you'd think I was nuts."
"I definitely would have thought you were nuts." She looks over with a smile and I laugh. "I really am sorry for the way I treated you Hanna."
"I'm sorry too. What do you say we forget the whole thing ever happened and promise each other no more secrets?"
"I'd say I'd like that." At the stoplight she leans over and hugs me. I hug her back. Righting herself before the light switches to green she catches a glimpse of her reflection in the rearview mirror. "Nice right hook by the way? Who taught you to hit like that?"
"No one actually. It’s one of the perks of having a supernatural mark branded on your wrist.” I take a breath. “I'm sorry I hit you. I could heal it if you want."
"Nah, I'm going to keep it. I kind of told everyone at school I got it helping a little old lady who was being mugged."
"You didn't?"
She shrugs with a half smile and I laugh. "I'm a hero now."
"A fake one maybe."
“Only if you tell.”
"So, you never really liked Will then, because I see the way you drool when he enters the room?"
She smiles with that Oh Man look from last night shining bright on her face. "I knew it. You do like him don't you? Spill." I sit silently unsure of how to answer because I'm unsure of how I really feel. "It's okay if you do. If you see me drooling now it's only because Will is sexy hot."
"I know I love Jared. I know that every time I think about him I get these warm fuzzy feelings and my heart skips a beat. I know that when he touches me the whole world fades away and the only thing I'm aware of is him."
"But?"
"But it's getting harder and harder to deny I don't feel something for Will too. It's nothing like what I feel for Jared, it's not even close, but it's there all the same. I don't know what it means and I don't know what to do about it." I look at her silently hoping she'll have some insight into my dilemma since she's more experienced when it comes to dealing with boys than I am.
Her eyes lower to my wrist. "Uh, you're glowing?"
"Huh?" I look down at my wrist. Weird. Ripples of iridescence glide over the surface of the symbol enticing me to touch it. The closer my finger gets, the brighter it glows. Tiny electric tingles race up my arm as my finger makes contact.
My breath blows out in puffs against the cold air blowing through the long stretch of hallway laid out before me. I hug myself, rubbing my upper arms for warmth. It does little to help.
I rack my brain trying to remember why this place feels so familiar and come up short. I've been here before I'm sure of it.
I take a tentative step forward and as I do a section of lighting above where one hall meets another plunges into darkness. My heartbeats come faster and faster, pounding so hard in my chest, the sound of it fills the hall. Thump-thump, Thump-thump, Thump-thump. It echoes off the walls.
Turning the corner, I step into the darkness. It's ten times colder and I start to shiver uncontrollably. Another step, and the remaining light in the hall snuffs out. I can't see anything. I reach out blindly searching for the wall to my left. It's freezing beneath my fingers making them ache down to the bone. Dragging my hand along the wall I slowly walk forward.
An invisible force begins to tug at me, pulling me forward. There's something here. Something important. Something I need to find, and whatever it is, it's calling out to me.
The soft glow of the symbol grows in strength cutting through the heavy darkness of the hall with each step I take. After awhile my fingers fall over a ledge hitting empty air. I take a few steps into the emptiness holding my hands out in front of me. They land on a smooth metal surface. The invisible force leading me reaches a crescendo. This is where I'm meant to go. Whatever I'm meant to find, it's behind this door.
Feeling through the darkness with only the light of the symbol to guide me, I run my hands over the door until finding the handle. The moment I twist the knob, all the lights in the hall suddenly flash back on. I blink against the sudden brightness, shielding my eyes until they adjust.
A muffled voice sounds from behind the door and I move closer pressing my ear against the cold surface hoping to make out some of the words, but it's useless. The door is too thick to hear anything coherent.
I reach out for the handle once again and that’s when I see the padlock. I give it a tug hoping by some miracle it’ll open, but of course it doesn’t. I slam my hand against the door stinging my palm. It doesn’t make a sound. I stare at my hand, and then at the door, and then at my hand again trying to figure out why there’s no sound when I finally notice the small peep window cut into the door. I hesitate at sliding it open before letting my curiosity take over. Standing on my tiptoes, I peer inside. At first it's too dark to see anything, but as the light from the hall filters in, I begin to make out shapes. From what I can tell, the room is small and bare with only a metal frame cot shoved up against the far wall. And on its surface is a shadowed form of a person rocking back and forth.
I'm struggling to make out his features in the dim light when he speaks. Hearing his voice my heart goes still and my breath gets caught in my lungs.
"I won't do it. I won't do it. I won't do it," Jared repeats over and over.
"Jared," I call his name in a whispered yell. He doesn't answer and I try again a little louder. "Jared." Still no response.
Blondie’s voice echoes from somewhere unseen down the hall. Jared stops speaking and I momentarily freeze before being hit with full on panic. I have nowhere to go and nowhere to hide. I peek around the edge of the little nook housing the door. Rounding the corner Blondie comes into view. He's not alone. Beside him is… Rain Rivers? The quiet girl from art class who paints landscapes, Rain Rivers? The girl half the school suspects is a witch, Rain Rivers? She flips a strand of long jet-black hair over her shoulder and I notice her eyebrow ring is missing. Something about that triggers a memory.
"The church," I mumble to myself remembering the small dragonfly charm I'd found hidden under the doorframe. It's hers. Rain's the one who took Zoe from the church. Has she been working with Blondie all this time?
I turn back to the door. Jared's eyes meet mine except it's like he's looking through me instead of at me.
"Jared?"
He doesn't answer. I wave my hand in front of his eyes. He doesn't even blink. He doesn't see me at all.
I step out into the hall. Blondie and Rain don't seem to see me either. I wave my arms frantically testing my theory.
Nothing. Not even a look in my direction. What in the world is going on?
As they near, I back myself up against the opposite wall. I may be invisible to the eye for whatever reason, but I’m not about to test what’ll happen if one of them touches me.
Blondie and Rain stop in front of the door to Jared's cell. Blondie pulls out a key from his front pocket. Slipping it into the lock he pops it open with a click, removes it, then opens the door for Rain to enter. She steps inside; Blondie hesitates at the threshold. He glances over his shoulder as though he's looking right at me. A small smile lifts the corner of his mouth
and then he too disappears into the room pulling the door shut behind him.
Jared screams loud enough to be heard clearly through the door.
I'm across the hall in less than a second, my hand wrapped around the handle but the door won't budge. Giving up, I begin slamming my hands against the door until my palms ache and my throat is sore from screaming Jared's name.
My eyes flutter open. Sharp pain slices through my head as pinpricks of light assault my vision. A stream of warm blood runs down over my eye from a throbbing wound somewhere near my hairline. Shifting, I cry out in pain at having my legs trapped under the mangled dash of Kat's once beautiful car that’s now wrapped around a tree.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
"Kat." I wait a beat. "Kat, please answer me. Kat!"
Laying limply over the steering wheel, Kat doesn't move an inch. Eyes closed, blood seeps from somewhere under her hair, running in little streams down her face. With my legs stuck and my left arm broken I can't move close enough to see if she's okay. She could be dead or dying and I can't do anything to help her.
Outside I hear the sounds of tires squealing against the pavement from the road above followed by doors slamming and feet pounding. Seconds later, Adam's face appears at my window.
"Areyouokay?Areyouhurt?Oh,Godthere’ssomuchblood.Canyougetout?" Adam says so fast that four sentences become one long word. His eyes roam all over the place making quick assessments. "I'm going to try to get you out." He reaches in like he's unsure of what exactly he's supposed to do.
"Get Kat out first. She's not moving." My voice hitches, tears run down my face mingling with the blood already saturating my skin.
"I've got her," Will assures me. Reaching through the driver’s side window, he places two fingers against the side of her neck. "She's alive, but her pulse is slow." He places one hand over her back and the other on her head. Closing his eyes, a soft glow shines from beneath his hands. Minutes tick by much too slow, until finally her eyes open.
Fated Page 23