The Ruby (The Hidden Gems Book 1)

by R. M. Getsee

  This did not happen.

  Instead I got a text from him two hours after he was supposed to have picked me up, with the explanation that his friend had wanted to help him set up and that he couldn’t leave to come get me.

  He just sent me the address of the party and told me to hurry up.

  I was only going to call him and say that I would have to take a rain check, and maybe rip him a new one for standing me up when I got a message from Emi.

  There were a lot of random garbled words but I managed to deconstruct that she was telling me that she was at the party with the group, waiting for me to show.

  I didn’t want to let stand her up or let one inconsiderate jerk ruin my evening, so I got in my jeep and drove to the mansion on the hill where the party was in full swing.

  Emi had found me immediately and gave me a huge hug that stank of a mixture of tequila and cheap beer.

  I cringed away from the noise as my friend shrieked drunkenly in my ear; quite frankly I was surprised that she was still standing from the glazed look in her eyes and the empty red plastic cups strewn around the couch she had been laying on.

  The party was over-crowded and I was extremely uncomfortable as I tried to weave my way through the drunken dancers and people who were hot and heavy in the corners of the spacious room.

  My phone buzzed against my leg, and I tried to fish it out of the pocket of my red skinny jeans.

  Unlocking my cell I looked at the screen and saw that I had gotten another message from Drake asking if I was coming over and apologizing for being so rude earlier.

  That was when I looked up and saw Torah and Roman dancing together amidst the crowd, and as I caught my sisters eye, Torah grabbed him and drew him close, kissing him deeply.

  I turned from the sight, trying to ignore the painful feeling in my chest and I immediately went to go find Drake, eager to wipe the image from my mind, it was obvious that Roman wasn’t interested in me no matter what the almost kiss was, so I had to face facts and move on.

  Maybe I should actually give Drake a shot.

  I opened a door and immediately retreated, apologizing profusely to the couple in various stages of undress that had been making out on the bed.

  As I backed away I bumped into a hard form behind me. I started to turn, apologizing once again and locked eyes with Roman.

  “Hey,” I said, breaking eye contact immediately, the images of him in Torah’s embrace filling my mind.

  “So you actually came with Drake?” I recoiled slightly at the harshness in his voice.

  “I don’t see how that is any of your business.” I said coldly.

  “I just thought that you were smarter than the other girls who fall for his games.” I stood there dumbstruck.

  He actually sounded as if he was angry, and had the right to be upset.

  “So you think that I’m stupid?” I asked. I was starting to get a little annoyed at his bizarrely jealous behavior.

  “That’s not what I mean,” He said defensively. “Drake is an idiot and he treats girls like trash. I didn’t think that you would like someone who was like that.” The disappointed look on his face pushed me over the edge and my anger started to boil over.

  “Your one to talk about treating women badly,” I scoffed, then, remembering that he was pretending that nothing had happened between us, I quickly covered my hurt. “You know how much Torah liked you and you publicly rejected her. You humiliated her and then you stick your tongue down her throat because you’re bored at a party.”

  He blanched a little as I vented my annoyance at him.

  “You saw that?” He asked mournfully. “It wasn’t what you think, I swear.”

  I almost laughed. “Did you actually use that line on me?” He stepped forward but one look from me stopped him in his tracks. “It was pretty clear what it was to me,” I spat. He opened his mouth to defend himself but I just held up my hand to silence him.

  “I don’t want to hear any more,” I said, fighting back the tears that threated to fill my eyes. “I’m going to go find my date and try to salvage the rest of this crappy night.”

  As I passed him I gave him a hard nudge with my shoulder, immediately regretting it as it didn’t seem to faze him but it hurt me like hell.

  I cursed under my breath as I fought the urge to grab my shoulder until I turned the corner and was out of Roman’s sight.

  I caught sight of Drake standing with some of his friends as I massaged what felt like a dislocated shoulder, remembering too late that it was the same one that hit the mat when Drake had tackled me the other day. As I looked at the group I realized that I didn’t want to be here.

  I had never been one of those girls who threw themselves at any guy who looked at them twice, or someone who would go out with a guy they had no interest in just to make someone jealous, and I had no interest in becoming one. I was starting to leave just as Drake noticed me.

  “Hey.” He shouted a little too loud over the music. “I’m glad you made it.”

  I waved awkwardly at the group, feeling uncomfortable... “I’m sorry I can’t stay, I have something I need to do.”

  “But you just got here.” He looked really disappointed.

  “I know but I really need to leave, my mom needs me to help her with something at home.” I cringed at the tone in my voice as I lied to him.

  I was never great at lying when I was younger and it wasn’t a skill that I had honed over time.

  “That sucks. I wanted to spend some time with you.” He drew closer to me, the smell of alcohol was tangible on him, and his buddies laughed quietly to each other.

  “Yeah, I know.” I ran through excuses in my mind to get myself out of there sooner, I was super uncomfortable with the predatory gazes his friends were shooting at me. “I should really find Emi; she’s pretty out of it so I need to make sure she’s okay before I go.”

  “I think I saw her a second ago, I can help you find her.” I was about to decline when I saw Roman rounding the corner.

  “Sure,” I said, gritting my teeth as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

  It was worth it to see the thunderous look on Romans face when he saw us together; I felt a brief rush of

  satisfaction before reminding myself that I wasn’t going to be that kind person.

  “So where did you see her?” I asked.

  “Oh, um it was up on the third floor.” He replied.

  “Really?” I asked in confusion. “I didn’t see her pass me.”

  “There’s a second staircase.” Drake said, smiling smoothly as his friends chuckled. “Follow me.”

  He led me down the hallway and up another hardwood staircase, pausing in front of a door at the end of the hall he gestured to it.

  “After you.” he said.

  I pushed open the door and stepped into the room. It was hard to see in the dark so I walked in further squinting into the pitch black of the room.

  “I don’t think anyone’s in here.” I said to him.

  I turned as I heard the door click behind me and the lights flashed on, showing that I was in an empty bedroom, I saw Drake staring at me hungrily from in front of the now closed door.

  “What the hell?” I said. “You knew Emi wasn’t here didn’t you?” My gullibility was showing and I kicked myself at allowing myself to get into this situation, the bad feeling I’d had about going out with him tonight was intensifying.

  “Yeah,” He smirked as he looked me up and down. “I just thought we could have some fun before you leave.”

  My blood ran cold and my skin broke out in goose bumps as I surveyed my surroundings.

  Drake was standing between me and the door and from the malicious smile on his face it didn’t look like he was about to let me past.

  “I think I’m going to pass on that.” I said, trying to keep my voice from shaking, hoping not to show the fear that was racing through me.

  His grin widened at my obvious discomfort and I suddenly realized why I�
�d been having such a bad feeling about coming to this party.

  I had been suppressing a vision, but I could now see clearly what would happen if I didn’t get out of this room fast.

  “Come on Ali.” His words slurred and I could smell the alcohol on his breath as it stung my eyes and nose a little as he breathed heavily. He stumbled slightly, walking towards me. “You should really loosen up a little”

  He was now so close to me that I could feel his breath on my face as he spoke but I was unable to move away, paralyzed in fear.

  The music thumped loudly downstairs, reminding me that no one could hear me scream or come to help me. I felt as weak and helpless as I had when I had been confronted by my visions of the Jet.

  No, I thought to myself, after what I had seen and felt in that place this was nothing.

  “I really need to leave now.” I told him.

  “Don’t be like that.” He growled harshly, I slapped his hand away as he reached for me, attempting to grab at my shirt, I heard a tearing sound as the fabric protested against the force.

  “Stop.” I commanded, batting him away as he reached for me once again. “Seriously, I said quit it” He sprang back from my hand as it swept towards him, my fist connecting with his face with a meaty thud.

  “You shouldn’t have done that.” He said, rubbing his reddening jaw and grabbing my hand as I took another swing at him, holding me in place.

  Starting to panic, I sucked in a breath preparing to call for help, though with the music pounding below it was doubtful that anyone would hear me anyway.

  What I had intended as a blood curdling scream, however turned into a strangled mewl as Drake wrapped his hand around my throat and squeezed.

  My free hand flailed, clawing at him as his grip tightened and my vision dimmed, it was starting to go dark as my brain screamed for oxygen. Images began to flicker across my mind.

  I had never believed that your life flashed before your eyes when you died, always thinking that it was just an old wives tale told by the humans, making you believe it so you believe it so you wouldn’t make any mistakes in your life that you would have to reflect upon in your death.

  But now I witnessed everything that had ever happened to me in my short life. Images flew past my mind faster as my knees began to buckle until I fell to the ground, realizing that I was having another vision.

  Four girls stood in front of me, three of their faces still in the shadows but one stood in the light, her blond hair tousled in the gentle breeze.

  There seemed to be whispers dancing in the silent wind as I surveyed the girl.

  Her violet eyes sparkled and she winked at me and disappeared, along with the other three shadowy figures.

  And then I realized that we were standing in the place where I had chosen the path before my powers had come into fruition.

  The wind-whispers grew louder and I was able to make out words. “The Ruby,” I heard. “The Ruby has awoken.” The words were being repeated over and over, growing louder until my head felt like it would explode and I could see a white light that was growing brighter and brighter until everything in my vision was eclipsed by its brilliance.

  Lurching up as if coming up from underwater, I found myself gasping on the floor. My throat felt tender and as I reached for it I felt welts from Drakes fingers.

  My ears were still ringing from the light and my hands shook as I rose from where I lay.

  “Nice to see you’re awake,” His hulking figure loomed over my weak body and he stared down at me nastily. “You know I’m starting to think Torah was right about you, desperate for attention but no follow through.”

  I felt a surge of anger as he spoke, my fingers starting to tingle as a soft breeze picked up in the room.

  “Is that all you got?” He chuckled to himself. “Maybe you were faking your powers after all, it wouldn’t surprise me.”

  I jumped to my feet, my hands burning as a giant sword made of lightning burst from my hands. We both stared at it in shock before I jumped into action.

  “Still think I’m faking my powers?” I asked him.

  Brandishing the sword at him, I smiled slightly, baring my teeth as he shrank back a little at the sight of the sparks that were jumping off the blade. “If you ever try to touch me again I will show you how much power I really have.”

  He shrank back further as I turned towards the door, finally allowing me to pass.

  “You really are crazy.” Drake told me as I walked past him.

  “You bet I am.” I replied before I slammed the door behind me. The sword shimmered and quickly disintegrated into a harmless shower of sparks before I stalked through the party and out to my jeep.

  I let myself give in as the adrenalin faded away, leaving me feeling hollow as I took a deep breath. I slowly started the engine and drove home, letting the events of the night wash over me as dawn started to break.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The Sunday after the party I spent locked in my room practicing my latest power. Over and over I worked myself, trying, to produce the sword of lightning that I had created, though without the adrenalin rush that I had experienced, it was far more difficult to create.

  I had a feeling that the vision I had of the girl was somehow connected to my gaining this ability. I could still see the image of my face, pretty much ingrained into my mind at this point, and I knew that the girl, whoever she was, would be extremely important to whatever the universe had planned for me.

  Jared and Emi had been in a terrible state when they had left the party. From the garbled text messages that I had received from them they would not be coming up from their beds until much later that day, so I had ample time to produce and reproduce the word before showing Emi what I could now do.

  It was already late by the time Emi arrived in the evening, and by the looks of her, she could have done with more than a day to recover from the previous night’s bender as she entered my bedroom.

  “You look like crap.” I told her cheerily, I knew it was petty, but I was slightly satisfied that my friend was suffering after having a good time without me.

  I yawned widely, my dreams had been plagued with the whispering voices and those words from day and I hadn’t slept much with them echoing in my mind.

  Emi gave a weak laugh, her hue turning a little grey as she flopped down on the plush purple carpet, not even able to make it to the bed. “Yeah, I feel like it too.”

  “So what happened to you at the party?” I was curious as to what people had done to enjoy themselves, wanting to know what I could have been doing, had it not been turned into a disaster by Drake and Roman.

  “I can’t really remember what happened after the fourth drink.” Cringing she put a hand to her head, rising and settling on the bed. “I’m a sorry excuse for a vamp if I can’t handle more than that.”

  “You did fine.” I reassured her, earning a smile from her, which quickly turned into a grimace as she clutched her head.

  “So what happened to you, why did you leave so quickly?” She asked, turning to me.

  Tucking my hair behind my ears, I stared at black rosettes stamped on my silver-grey wallpaper as took a moment to compose myself before I looked at them. “Drake got a little handsy with me, so I left.”

  “What?” Emi looked thunderous as she shot to her feet. “What did he do? I swear I’ll kill him.”

  “Calm down Em,” I said. I held up my hands in surrender, trying to calm her down a little. “I took care of it myself.”

  “Explain.” Emi demanded. “Now.”

  “I was bored at the party and I got into an argument with Roman, so I decided that I would go home, Drake thought he could have some fun with me before I left.” I bit out the words, not quite sure if it was Drake or Roman that I was more pissed off with. “He got a little rough, so I handled it.”

  “He’s a dead man.” She growled menacingly.

  I was glad that the bruising around my throat had cleared up through the day as I too
k in my friend’s clenched fists and set jaw.

  “Don’t worry, I already scared him off.” I said, trying to distract her from running off and smashing Drake’s skull into the ground.

  If I thought about it though, I kind of wanted to do the same thing.

  Swallowing nervously I concentrated hard. It really was becoming more difficult to draw the sword, but after a tense moment, I finally felt the now familiar tingle of electricity in my fingers, and the sword shot out.

  Emi cursed, gaping at it. She spoke quickly, her words tripping over one another. She practically shouted “Is that a sword?” and then she actually did shout “Is that a freaking bolt of lightning?”

  She paused and after a beat she continued. “Oh my god it’s a freaking sword made out of lightning, holy crap.” And she continued with a whole host of very creative curses that would make the devil himself blush.

  I laughed quietly at her expletives and held the crackling blade up for her to inspect. She approached cautiously, weary of the sparks jumping from the shining silver; it had carvings and etchings on it and was made of the strangest metal I had ever touched.

  It was both searing hot and ice cold, yet it was not uncomfortable for me to hold, it was heavy yet light, I could imagine delivering deathly blows to anyone, but being able to wield it for days. I was brought out of my reverie by Emi’s strangled scream.

  The force of the sword appearing had blown the curtains open slightly and the first weak rays of sunrise were now creeping over into the room, right to where I was standing.

  “Oh yeah,” I said sheepishly, “I forgot to tell you; apparently I’m sun proof too.”

  “What?” It was almost amusing to see her shock.

  “How is this even possible?” Emi was visibly shaken as she watched me standing in front of the window, illuminated by the golden rays of sunlight.

  I shuffled my feet, to be honest; I hadn’t told her about the whole walking in the sunlight thing deliberately, with all the other craziness that had happened over the last few weeks, I didn’t want to look as if I were anything like a human, and it was one mystery that I was trying to figure out alone, testing my endurance slowly each evening right before sunset.