I’ll admit it. I squealed like a happy pig.
“Whaddya get?” asked Carly. She looked happier ever since my squeal. I guess she was worrying about me all along. I felt a burst of emotion for her. Yet again.
“A two point seven!” I replied with equal excitement in my voice.
Carly screamed. She started clapping her hands superfast. Little sparks of electricity burst out her hands.
“Oh my gosh! I’m so happy for you!”
“Thanks, Carls,” I replied.
“No prob, Jake!” She smiled at me and squeezed me in a killer hug. I touched her lemon scented hair. It was silky and soft.
She pulled away, a huge smile still planted on her face. Her cheeks were rosy and her eyes shone with excitement, her eyes were beautiful.
“What time do you get discharged?” she asked.
I snapped out of my love daze. “Uh… Oh, at six.”
She glanced at her watch, yes, she has a watch! She was so smart! “Well it’s five thirty now, so…think they discharge half an hour early?”
“Even if they don’t, who can stop two members of The Super Four?” I asked.
She smiled dangerously. “You have never been more right!”
She pressed the intercom on my hospital table. It was used if patients wanted anything, or felt sick. “Agatha? Can Jake and I go get ice cream?”
“You know he gets discharged at six!” I heard her say.
“Yeah, but… we wanted to celebrate his report card.” she said. Her next words were whispered. “Alone.” I blushed.
“Tsk! This generation dates too early, if you ask me! They shoul-” She was cut of by Carly shouting a quick thank you and removing her finger from the intercom.
She looked at me. Her rosy cheeks had turned tomato red. I’m certain I was no less red-cheeked. “Um… Let’s go.” I said, after an awkward silence.
“Sure.” Carly sounded relieved. “Let’s go.”
I scooped the last of my ice cream in my mouth. Carly was still halfway. I looked greedily at her bowl.
“No Jake.” she said, without looking up from her bowl.
“Fine,” I said, reluctantly. I walked up to the cashier and ordered another rocky road. I drummed my fingers against the counter, while I waited. The waiter was a boy about my age. I was surprised. I thought you had to be, like, sixteen or eighteen to get a job. But what did I know? I accepted the rocky road. He looked me in the eyes as he handed it over. I stepped back. I dropped my bowl.
Only my fast reflexes saved it from crashing into pieces. His eyes. His eyes! The Shadowman! His amber eyes were webbed with black lines. Touches of green laced his eyeballs. All of a sudden, his eyes turned solid black, a bright green glow shone from them.
I gulped and stepped back. He smiled at me and I turned around and raced to my table with Carly.
“Jake?” she asked, “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” I said, “It’s just that the cashier guy had freaky eyes.”
“Oh,” Carly turned around. “He has normal eyes to me,”
“What?” I exclaimed. I turned around. Gone was amber boy. Now a guy of average height and built stood in his place. I checked his eyes. A plain brown. Nothing more. I shook my head in a desperate attempt to clear it. I looked again. Nope, still a normal man. Despite his crazy pink mohawk, he was like anyone else in the world.
I turned my head around and stared at Carly in disbelief. How is that possible?
“What color were his eyes, Jake?” she asked, sympathetic.
“They… they were like Darryl’s eyes… except… they had these black lines in them. An-And the edges were… they were bright green! And then, all of a sudden, they flashed black and these bright green beams emitted from them. It was scary!”
Carly carefully placed her hand over mine. She smiled at me. “I believe you,”
“You do?”
“Yeah,”
“Thanks,” I smiled right back at her. She tossed her hair from her face.
“Let’s finish this ice cream,” she said.
“Okay.” I smiled at her. I pushed the bowl in the middle and we started eating it. We used two different spoons, but it was the most romantic thing I’d ever done.
We kept smiling like complete goofballs, until the ice cream was finished. I walked her home.
“Thanks Carly,” I said again, “For everything,”
“No problemo, Jake!” she replied, squeezing my hand. Yes! We were holding hands!
“You’re amazing!” I told her, “And you look beautiful,”
It was true. The setting sun made her hair look like golden fire and her eyes flashed from blue to green.
“I know,” she said. “And you don’t look to bad too.”
I smiled at her.
“Well,” she began. “This is my house, so see you tomorrow at the awards ceremony. Bye!” She leaned over and gave me a quick peck on the cheek.
I smiled at her in disbelief and wonder. She turned a rosy pink and left. I felt my own cheeks heating up, but I didn’t care. I could only focus on the bubble of emotion swelling up inside. “Yes!” I yelled, pumping my fist in the air and kicking out at an unknown assassin. I ran to my house, ready to tell Dad and Harrison the good news.
I raced in. “Guys! Guess what?” I said excitably, “Carly kissed me!”
But my news echoed back to me. The entire house was empty.
I was alone.
They were gone.
Madame Blaise. Gone.
Mom. Gone.
Dad. Gone
Annoying brat. Gone
Jake. Alone.
I couldn’t stop the tears.
Carly
XXVII
I don’t have a clue what I was thinking when I kissed Jake. Not a clue.
A rush of emotion just flooded over me when he called me beautiful. I guess that’s why I kissed him. And I know he enjoyed it; he smiled afterwards.
I didn’t want to see him, so I opened the gate and rang the doorbell. I rang it a lot. I didn’t want Jake to think I didn’t like him, so I kind of slowed down on the ringing.
But he didn’t notice. A big smile on his face and his eyes looked everywhere. Soon he raced off. It actually looked more like teleporting. One minute he was there and the next poof! gone.
Papa opened the door. I stepped in, took of my shoes and raced to my bedroom to tell Hilde the good news. I entered our room. Hilde was flicking through a Glamour magazine, when I entered.
“You’ll never guess, what just-” I started.
“You kissed Jake.” she interrupted. “I saw it from the window. Ooh la-la.”
She sounded bored. I frowned, not the reaction I was hoping for. “Hva er i veien?” “What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Ingenting.” she replied, “Nothing,”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Positive,” She said, certain and now in a better mood.
“How was your report card?” I said, changing the topic.
“Same old, same old.” she replied. “My GPA is still three point seven six.”
“Well,” I began, “Mine is now… three point seven seven!”
“So close!” Hilde said, smiling. “Gratulerer! Congratulations!”
“Thanks!” I smiled back at her. “Papa will have to take us out again!”
“I don’t think so,” said Hilde. She looked like she was struggling to hold back tears. “Didn’t you hear the news?”
“No,” I said, frightened. What had happened? “What happened?”
“Onkel Andreas…” she stuttered. Tears flooded her eyes. “He… he lost his po-position at O-CoolTech!”
I gasped. How was this possible? Mr Stevens must of gotten the third position. But with what invention? “How did he lose his position?”
“He was fired.” That was it. The tears came flooding out of both of our eyes. Hilde’s especially. I raced downstairs to find my Papa. He wasn’t there.
I looked but couldn’t find him. I started panicking. I almost collapsed. Then big strong arms enveloped me. I turned and looked at Papa’s watery blue eyes. He had been crying, but now we had each other.
Everything was going to be alright. Papa was here.
We separated after a few minutes. I wiped my tears from my face, “Papa, what happened? Why did they fire you?”
“Oh, Carls.” he said, “It was all my fault. I had lost the third place position to Stevens, and I just, I just got so angry, Carls. I ran at him and just started punching him. I don’t know what came over me, Carls. I really don’t. It was like something entered me and took control of my body. It was terrible!”
“It’s okay, Papa,” I told him, giving him a hug, “It’s okay.” But it wasn’t. Papa might think it was ridiculous, the presence that washed over him, but I knew better. My papa wouldn’t hurt a fly, literally!
But someone could take over Papa like that. The Dark One. But why? What would he achieve by ruining my fut-? Oh. Now I know. That evil guy. Saving my life, then ruining it! How could he be so evil?
I let go of Papa. “Okay, Papa,” I said, “I’m going to my room,”
“Okay, darling! You go. Ha det gøy. Have fun,”
“You too, Papa!” I said, as I climbed the stairs. I stepped inside my room, I smiled a watery smile at Hilde. “Hey, anything in Glamour?” I asked Hilde.
“Nah, some singer broke up with an actress, and is now dating a beautiful model. So nothing new.”
“I wish I was a celebrity! Jake is so lucky!” I said, wistfully.
“Actually, you wouldn’t,” Hilde said, surprising me. “According to this his mother’s business is doing badly! It says it lost like a million dollars! That’s a lot of cash!”
I gasped. “Oh no. That’s terrible! Poor Jake!”
“Oh, don’t worry!” Hilde reprimanded. Frowning at my lover girl tone. “I’m sure your boyfriend is fine!”
“He’s not my boyfriend!” I said, stubbornly.
“Whatever,” Hilde said, shaking her head. She turned the page. “Here it says they’re working extra hard to get sales up. Apparently the Dad is gonna campaign, to try to save the business.”
“I’ve gotta go!” I told Hilde, “Jake might need me!”
“Whatever.” Hilde said, bored. “Have fun with lover boy.”
I didn’t bother correcting her; it would prove to be fruitless. Instead, I yelled a ‘bye!’ and raced down the stairs. “Papa!” I yelled, “I’m going out to see Jake, okay?”
“Okay, but be back in time for dinner!” He yelled back. I checked my watch, 6:21. Dinner was at six-thirty. That gave me nine minutes. I wielded a water surf board, and manipulated it to take me straight to Jake’s house. No one looked up. No one saw me.
I nodded a ‘hello’ to Jake’s security guard and waited impatiently for him to open the gate. I sprinted up the driveway to the front door. I knocked impatiently.
“Mom? Dad? Is that you?” Jake sounded excited, even ecstatic at the possibility. He opened the door. “Oh. It’s just you.”
“You know, I can just sprint back where I came from.” I folded my arms and gave him a dirty look for his rudeness.
“No, no, Carly!” he said immediately. “I was just expecting somebody else. That’s all”
“Whatever,” I said, still angry. “Well, you won’t be seeing anyone. Haven’t you heard?”
“Heard what?” he sounded confused.
“Your mom’s company lost a million bucks, so they’re trying to get it back. They’re campaigning.”
“Oh,” he sounded sad. “That makes sense. Well, do you want to come in?”
I checked my watch. 6:28. “No,” I told him, “I have to go to dinner,”
“Oh, okay then. Bye.” he gave a pathetic little wave.
“Bye.” I turned around and started sprinting. Once his giant house was out of view, I wielded a water board again, and zipped away.
No one looked up. No one saw me.
The Super 4 : Dark Death Page 26