by Sara Preucil
That was an easy enough one.
“Mi nombre es Emberly,” she replied, then looked at the list of questions, picking one at random.
“De donde eres?”
“Estoy de San Antonio, Texas,” Dylan said easily, without taking his eyes off Emmy.
“Guess that’s why you seem to know Spanish so well,” she remarked.
“En Español!” Señor Marshall passed by them that very moment.
“Lo siento,” Emmy mumbled.
“Me recuerdas?”
“Umm…” Emmy looked down at the prompts again. She didn’t see what Dylan said written on the list. “Um, que?” she asked, embarrassed. She seriously needed to study more.
“Porque te recuerdo.” Dylan continued, looking at Emmy with an odd expression on his face, his head tilted to the side like he was studying her face. “En mis sueños.” He tapped the side of his head with a slender finger.
“Okay.” Emmy rolled her eyes. “Now you’re just showing off, Kai.”
His dark brows shot up. “What did you call me?”
“Dylan—I said Dylan.” Emmy stuttered. What had she called him? Kai? Where did that word come from?
Dylan’s blue eyes caught hers in their penetrating stare. There it was again, those butterfly wings of a memory, fluttering around her subconscious, uncaught. She reached for it.
The bell rang.
The butterfly took flight, and Emmy shook her head, trying to clear it as she broke their gaze. She stood up.
Dylan caught her wrist.
“Meet me out front. After school.”
“I can’t,” Emmy said automatically.
“Meet me,” he insisted, his dark brows knitting together. “Please.”
“Okay.” Emmy relented, mostly to get him to let go. The way his hand felt wrapped around her small wrist, his cool skin against hers, felt far too good. Small tingles erupted from where their skin made contact and spread their way up her arm.
Slowly, Dylan released her wrist.
Quickly, Emmy gathered her things and, forcing herself not to look once more at Dylan, left the classroom.
“Hey, space case!”
Emmy received a sharp poke to the ribs, bringing her back to her surroundings.
“Ow! What?” She turned in the bench to look at Mariah, whom she was only vaguely aware had been chatting about something that Emmy was not following.
“You were totally just staring at the new guy, weren’t you?” Mariah smirked, twirling her fork around the spaghetti on her tray.
“What? No.” Emmy felt her face grow hot. Dylan was, in fact, seated a few tables away, chatting with a couple of kids from their Spanish class, and Emmy might have glanced over in his direction. Once or twice.
“Ha! You so were,” Mariah gloated. “He is pretty hot. Don’t tell me you like him?” Mariah peered at Emmy with that look that meant she wasn’t going to drop it.
Not wanting to admit that she had agreed to meet Dylan for some mysterious rendezvous, Emmy thought of the next best reason she would be caught looking at him.
“I had a really weird dream about him last night, that’s all.”
“Oh?” Mariah wiggled her thin orange eyebrows suggestively, plopping the fork-full of noodles into her mouth.
“Not like that.” Annoyed, Emmy elbowed her. “He had weird powers, like he could control water or something.”
“Ooh, was he like that hunky superhero; could he talk to fish?” Mariah smiled appreciatively. “Nice.”
“Not really. I mean, he wasn’t talking to fish or anything.” Emmy took a bite of her sandwich. “I did have one of those movies on in the background this weekend, so it was probably inspired by that.” She shrugged. “It’s no big deal.”
“Whatever you say,” Mariah said, using a tone that suggested quite the contrary.
“What are you guys talking about?” Austin put his lunch tray down on the table, and sat next to Emmy.
“Em’s superhero dream,” Mariah said. Emmy cast her an incredulous look. Mariah’s eyebrows shot up. What?
“Oh?” Austin looked at Emmy for an explanation.
“It wasn’t that great, really.” She gave Mariah another cold look. “I just dreamt that the new guy had these weird powers.”
An odd look crossed Austin’s face, darkening his usually cheerful expression for a fraction of a moment.
“What kind of powers?” he asked, biting into a slice of cafeteria pizza.
“Like he could control water or something,” Emmy said simply, shrugging. “Like I said, not too exciting.” She returned to her lunch, feeling guilty that her boyfriend found out that she had dreamt about another guy.
Mariah clearly felt bad about telling Austin because during the rest of their lunch hour, she did her best to steer the conversation into more upbeat, agreeable directions. Both Austin and Emmy did their best to participate, but they fell short of their regular rapport.
When Austin excused himself before the bell, Emmy noticed an unusual look on his face. She caught up with him at his locker, but he was on the phone and only gave Emmy and acknowledging glance before turning around.
“Thanks a lot,” Emmy complained as she retrieved her English book from her locker.
“What?” Mariah pouted. “A little jealousy can be a good thing; makes him work harder.” She smiled.
Emmy rolled her eyes. “Whatever you say.”
The bell rang, and they walked together to the English classroom.
The last few periods of the day dragged on as a growing anticipation stirred in Emmy. She was anxious about agreeing to meet up with Dylan. She knew she would be upset with Austin if the tables were turned, and he were the one meeting another girl. That alone should have been reason not to go. But she couldn’t suppress the curiosity that had been piqued by this new kid.
Sitting at the back of the class in world history, she doodled on the brown construction paper that covered her textbook while she debated what to do.
She could meet him, if only to tell him she had a boyfriend. But maybe that was presumptuous of her. Maybe his interest in her was unrelated to that. Maybe he had a question about schoolwork.
Maybe not.
Finally, she decided that it would probably be better if she pretended to forget her promise and went home instead.
Chapter 13
The last bell of the day rang shrilly throughout the building.
Finally, Dylan thought. The afternoon after Spanish class had dragged on. Anticipation ran through him like adrenaline.
He found her; he was certain of it. He recognized her the moment he had laid eyes on her at the football game.
Kenna. Emberly, Emmy, as she had corrected him. He had recognized her soul instantly in this new body.
She was always prone to anti-conformity, so her rebel-like appearance of dark clothing and dyed red hair had not surprised him one bit. It endeared him to her all the more, and it took all his self-control to not reach out and pull her against him every time she was near.
He wouldn’t have to wait much longer. She was awaking now, she had to be. She had called him by his original name. Kai. The sea. The memory of his true name on her lips was exhilarating, even if it had been an unconscious slip.
Soon, he told himself. Soon she will remember.
They were bonded.
Past. Present. And future.
Dylan headed to the parking lot, wanting to drop off his things at his Jeep before meeting Emmy. As he approached his vehicle, he noticed two men dressed in black suits standing idly by a non-descript black car, eying his Jeep.
Dylan froze.
How did they find him so quickly?
Slowly, Dylan turned away, his mind racing. He thought immediately of Emmy. He had asked her to meet out here; she might already be on her way. He couldn’t lead them to her.
Resolved, he turned back and continued to his Jeep, wishing that it was currently raining. He eyed the puddles left behind from the last downpour. The
y might come in handy.
Pretending to not notice the men, he unlocked his vehicle, reaching across the driver’s side and dumping his things into the passenger seat. Quickly, he twisted off the cap of a water bottle he kept in his cup holder, just in case.
Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the men approach.
Dylan straightened, bringing the water bottle with him.
The men approached from the back of the Jeep, trapping Dylan between them, the black car, and his own vehicle’s open door.
“Can I help you gentlemen?” Dylan asked, laying his Texan accent on thick. He raised the water bottle to his lips.
“We’re going to need you to come with us.” The man closest to Dylan reached for the handle on the back door of the black car.
Dylan drew a mouthful of water from the bottle, spitting it out at the man’s hand. The water turned to ice on impact, freezing the man’s hand to the car handle.
“Grab him!” The man snarled, trying to yank his hand free.
The other man lunged for Dylan, but he was quicker.
He dumped the rest of the water on the pavement. Using the same trick, Dylan froze the water on the ground around the man’s feet, holding him in place.
Knowing that the ice wouldn’t hold long, which was part of his plan anyway, Dylan jumped into his Jeep.
Tires squealing, he pulled out of the parking spot, just as the men broke free.
Out of his rearview mirror, he watched them clamber into the car and pull out of their spot.
Dylan pulled out into the street, and they followed as he had hoped they would.
He stepped on the gas, speeding down the road, leading them away from Emmy.
Chapter 14
Now you’re just showing off, Kai. Emmy shook her head, trying to shake loose the memory. The rain had started up again; fat drops began to fall from the sky, splattering against the pavement. Emmy stood under the awning of the front entrance, waiting.
Why had she called him that? The weird thing was, how right that name seemed.
Emmy pulled out her phone and glanced at the screen.
Dylan was ten minutes late.
By the time the bell rang at the end of world history, Emmy had basically talked herself out of meeting Dylan. She had gone to her locker, packed her bag, and was heading to Austin’s locker when Austin passed her in the hallway. He was on his phone again, backpack slung over his shoulder. He barely even waved to Emmy before heading for the locker room to change for football practice.
Seriously? Emmy thought. All this over a dream? If this was how Austin handled a little jealousy, she wasn’t impressed.
Spurned by Austin’s behavior, and feeling more than a little defiant, she had decided to meet Dylan after all.
Emmy sighed, shifting her heavy backpack higher up her shoulder, debating how much longer she was going to wait.
A half hour later, feeling completely embarrassed and fuming, Emmy walked through the rain in the mostly deserted parking lot to her Geo. She jerked open the door, dumped her stuff into the passenger side, and plopped down in her seat, slamming the door closed.
She should have just gone home like she had planned; she didn’t know what made her wait for him. Well, she did, but she wasn’t going to admit it.
She jammed the key into the ignition, and started the car. Angrily, she shot out of her parking spot and drove out of the lot. Something shimmered in the periphery of her vision, looking suspiciously like a patch of ice on the pavement, but it was far too warm for water to have frozen. Disregarding it, Emmy merged on to the road, forgetting it almost immediately.
Her cheeks were flaming with anger over Austin’s cold attitude, and with the embarrassment of being stood up by Dylan.
“Why are guys such jerks?” she mumbled as she turned on to her street.
The house was empty when Emmy arrived. For that, she was grateful; she didn’t feel like talking to anyone.
What she did feel like, was a bath. Already sensitive to the cool weather, she had gotten a chill waiting outside for Dylan.
She stomped up the stairs, deposited her bag on her bed, and went into the small bathroom at the top of the landing. She turned on the faucet, waited for the water to warm, and then pushed down the silver plug at the bottom of the small white tub. While she waited for the tub to fill, she returned to her room, removed her clothes and slipped on her fluffy plaid bathrobe.
Emmy pulled her phone out of her bag. There were no new messages. She frowned and tossed it on to the quilt.
The least Austin could do was apologize for his crappy behavior. This was the first almost-fight that they’ve had. Shouldn’t he be feeling bad about it too?
Giving up on trying to figure her boyfriend out, Emmy went back into the bathroom, where the tub was reaching capacity. She turned off the water, slipped out of her robe, set it on the countertop, and carefully stepped into the tub.
She fumed over Austin for a few more minutes, trying to focus on him and forget the main reason why she was so upset.
Despite herself, her thoughts drifted back to Dylan.
Why had he stood her up? It couldn’t have been a miscommunication; she was sure he said to meet up in the front of the school.
Maybe this was his idea of a practical joke. Emmy grew angry at the thought. Or was it some ego trip to see how quickly he could gain a girl’s interest, and she was his chosen target? He had probably been hiding somewhere in eyesight, maybe even taking bets from other guys on how long she would wait for him to show up.
As these thoughts swirled around, growing increasingly cruel, Emmy became more agitated. Her heart began to race, and as her anger continued to rise, so too did her body temperature.
Was it just her imagination, or was the water actually getting hotter?
Emmy tore her thoughts away from Dylan, her attention snapping back to her surroundings. Steam had risen in such a thick cloud around her, it was a wonder she hadn’t noticed it before. And the surface of the water was bubbling.
Her bath was boiling!
Emmy jumped out of the tub, and grabbed her towel. As she dried off, she searched herself for signs of burns, but her skin was fine; it wasn’t even all that pink.
As her heartrate began to return to normal, she glanced back at the tub. The water was no longer boiling. She would have passed it off as only a trick of the eye if the evidence—the thick cloud of steam—wasn’t still surrounding her. But even that was rapidly dissipating.
What the hell had just happened?
Carefully, Emmy reached a hand toward the tub, dipping a finger into the water. It was no longer scalding. Submerging her arm farther, to find the bath back to normal temperature, she pulled the stopper.
Watching the small whirlpool that formed over the drain, she wondered if it could have just been her imagination after all. She checked the pale skin of her hands. Definitely no burns.
Dazed, Emmy returned to her room, got dressed in her favorite old sweatpants and overly-large sweatshirt and plopped on her bed. She unzipped her backpack and retrieved her English notebook, flipping to a blank page. She was supposed to turn in five haikus by Friday, and so far…well the blank page said it all.
“Am-I-go-ing-nuts?” Emmy muttered, counting off the syllables with her fingers. She chuckled to herself. As the minutes passed, it became easier and easier to shrug off what happened as an illusion. “Boys-are-real-ly-dumb.” She counted out another possible opening to a haiku.
Emmy continued counting syllables to her pitiable attempt at poetry until Dianne returned home. Emmy heard the refrigerator door open and close, the beeping of the microwave buttons, and then Dianne called, “Dinner!”
Emmy pushed herself up off the bed, shuffled downstairs, and sat at the small dining table in the kitchen. Dianne, still wearing her scrubs, plopped a reheated frozen dinner down on the table.
“Thanks,” Emmy said, picking up her fork and skewering the small square of macaroni and cheese.
“W
elcome.” Dianne grabbed herself a beer from the fridge, while the microwave cooked her dinner. “How was school?” She popped the tab and took a drink from the silver can.
“Okay, I guess.” Emmy chewed the somewhat warm pasta. She considered venting about Austin’s unjust attitude, but the microwave chimed, and Dianne grabbed the steaming plastic tray and headed for the living room. So instead, Emmy finished what she could of the meal, cleaned up after herself, and headed upstairs to finish her homework.
She refused to check her phone until right before she was going to bed. Austin never texted.
Chapter 15
The rain continued throughout the night and was still going strong by the time Emmy’s alarm went off the next morning. She jabbed a clumsy finger at her phone screen until the chiming melody stopped, and then rolled over in her bed, wishing she could stay there all day.
She was dreading seeing Dylan, anticipating the smug look he would give her for falling for his cruel trick. Nor was she too thrilled to see Austin; she had no idea how to navigate his reaction to yesterday. Should she apologize first? She frowned at the notion.
It’s not like I can control my dreams, she thought stubbornly.
Her alarm went off a second time. Groaning, she finally sat up, and turned it off for good, knowing that she shouldn’t continue to snooze it or else risk being late to school again.
She quickly showered and, returning to her room, combed out her hair. From her closet, she selected a pair of black destroyed jeans and a red flannel. As Emmy stood in front of her mirror, applying mascara, she felt like she needed a little extra external toughness to help her with the day. So, feeling a bit like she was applying war paint, she added a thick line of eyeliner to her almond-shaped eyes, enhancing their natural angles. Somehow it actually worked; she looked and felt a little more badass. Narrowing her kohl-lined eyes, she tried her best “don’t screw with me” look and laughed.
When she finished getting ready, she packed her bag, pulled on her boots, and headed downstairs. She was running uncharacteristically ahead of schedule, so she was actually able to sit down and eat a couple of pieces of toast topped with hazelnut spread before heading out the door.