Edge of Darkness Box Set

by Margaret McHeyzer

  “Love you,” I say.

  Dad responds the way he always does, “With all my heart.”

  Smiling, I shut the door and walk into school to find Jared. The moment I turn down the corridor, I see his tall, lanky frame standing in front of my locker.

  He smiles when he sees me, and his eyes wander over my t-shirt. The smile he had for me quickly fades and his lips thin out into a stern scowl.

  “What are you wearing?” he barks at me.

  Opening my locker, I shove my bag in and grab my books for the first lesson of the day. “I’m well, thanks, Jared,” I reply cheekily.

  “Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” He waves his hand in front of my chest. “What is this? Didn’t I tell you to burn it?”

  Rolling my eyes, I hold in my chuckle as I close the locker door and lean against it. “What? This one? I thought you meant the other t-shirt.”

  “Ugh. Seriously, girl. That has to be the ugliest t-shirt I’ve ever seen.” I push off from the locker and we head toward the back of the school, where our math class is.

  As we’re walking to class, I hear Katie say, “Did you see him? He rides a motorcycle. Man, he’s so hot!”

  “Who’s hot?” I ask Katie, who’s come up beside us with Chloe and Isabel.

  “The new kid. Didn’t you see him?” she asks.

  “Oh my God, talk about super-hot,” Chloe chimes in with a dreamy voice.

  Isabel smiles, her head nodding in agreement with Katie and Chloe.

  “Let’s hope he’s not into chicks,” Jared whispers to me.

  “You have a boyfriend, already. Let one of them have him.” I jerk my head to the side, indicating Katie, Chloe, and Isabel.

  “You’re no fun.” Jared shoulders me playfully.

  “See ya,” Chloe chirps as she and her group head toward their first class.

  “’Bye,” both Jared and I reply in unison.

  “I wonder who this new guy is,” I say as I check over my shoulder to see if anyone can hear me.

  “Why, you gonna ask him out?”

  “Seriously, Jared?” Shaking my head at him, I clutch my books closer to my chest and continue on toward math class.

  We get into class just as the bell sounds. We take our seats quickly, and Mr. Stanton enters the room looking just as flustered as he always does. He’s a brilliant teacher, but man, he’s so disorganized. He’s short with no hair and very thick glasses, but a totally fantastic teacher. “Morning, class,” he announces and takes a sip from his travel mug.

  The coffee he’s drinking spills down the front of his white shirt, and we all chuckle when he grumbles at his own clumsiness.

  “Yes, yes I know. Lucky I have a spare shirt in my drawer.” He walks around to the other side of his desk, opens the bottom drawer and huffs in frustration. “I think I’ve used it already. Doesn’t matter.” He grabs a paper towel off his desk and tries to clean his shirt, but it only makes a bigger mess. His lips form the ‘F’ shape, and we all know what he’s stopping himself from saying. He lifts his head and notices us all staring at him. “Right, we’re starting the day off with a surprise test. Surprise!”

  The entire class complains.

  “Ugh,” Jared groans.

  As we get ready for our test, the door opens and a guy walks in.

  And I know immediately who he is. The new kid Katie, Chloe, and Isabel were talking about.

  He’s tall, with dark hair, and is incredibly lean. He’s wearing a gray t-shirt and black jeans. His t-shirt stretches across his torso, defining the planes of his chest. His arms are solid, and his sleeves outline the muscles beneath the material.

  I see what they were saying about him being good looking. He has this crazy intensity about him. The way he stands, so assured and charismatic. Yet there’s something hiding in his dark eyes.

  “Yes?” Mr. Stanton says looking at the new guy.

  “I’m new here.” He hands Mr. Stanton a slip from the office.

  Mr. Stanton takes the slip and reads it. “Mr. Baxter. The seat there is unoccupied.” He points to the one beside me. Great. The new kid is going to sit beside me, and everyone’s going to be staring at him. I hate people looking at me, or even toward me.

  He walks over, drags out the chair and sinks down into it. “Hey, how you doing? I’m Jared and this is Ivy,” Jared immediately leans across my desk to introduce himself.

  “Hey,” the new kid responds with a nod, and turns forward to look at Mr. Stanton.

  ‘Wow’ I mouth to Jared. Talk about talkative.

  Turning forward, I try to concentrate on the test we’re about to take. However, out of the corner of my eye, the new guy steals my attention. Not on purpose, he doesn’t even know he’s doing it. But I can’t help being distracted by his mere presence. There’s something about him, and I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something draws him to me.

  The test begins, and lowering my head, I bring my left hand up to rub against the tension in my temple. The new guy, who’s sitting to my right, is bouncing his leg up and down.

  It’s the only thing I can focus on, his jittery leg. I wonder why he’s so nervous. Maybe because he’s new, but that gives him the upper hand. Everyone’s going to want to know who he is, where he came from, and why he’s moved to our little town.

  Mr. Stanton says something, but I’m way too inattentive to hear him. Jared hits me on the leg, and makes a face as he looks down at my test, which has no answers. “Shit,” I grumble and focus on this stupid test.

  Flying through it, I try to answer as many questions as I can before Mr. Stanton calls, “Time.”

  “What’s wrong with you, Ivy?” Jared asks as we hand our papers forward. “Did you even do any of the test or were you too busy making eyes at Mr. Sexy over there?”

  “Shut up,” I hiss at Jared. But I do sneak a look at the new kid, before I stand and head out of class. I check to make sure no one can hear us, before I turn to Jared and say, “Do you think there’s something kinda weird about him?”

  “Like what?” Jared asks as we walk toward our next class, biology.

  “I don’t know, he’s kinda…” I shrug my shoulders, unable to verbalize the feeling I have about him.

  “Does he scare you?”

  “Nah, nothing like that. It’s more like, he’s hiding something. I don’t know.” I shrug again. “Maybe I’m making shit up ‘cause he’s someone new.”

  “This town is super tiny. If he’s hiding anything, the gossip will start by the end of the next class. Don’t worry, girl, I got your back.” Jared puffs his chest out, protectively as he walks beside me.

  “Really?” I lift one brow at him. “I’m the one who has to kill spiders whenever you see them. I’m the one who watches horror movies while you hide behind a cushion.”

  “Girl.” He flicks his wrist dismissively at me. “I don’t do any of those things.” He looks over his shoulder too, leans in and adds, “You promised you’d never tell.”

  Chuckling, I shake my head at him. “We’re gonna be late for biology.”

  We get to biology, take our seats, and listen to Mrs. Richards, our teacher.

  She sets up the group task we have to complete and Jared and I turn to each other to team up. “Teams of either three or four,” Mrs. Richards calls from the front.

  Jared and I look at each other and scrunch our noses. “Can I join?” Katie asks as she plonks herself down beside Jared.

  “Sure,” we answer in unison.

  “I heard the new guy was in your math class this morning. He’s hot, right?” Her eyes glaze over as a smile tugs at her lips.

  “Yeah, he’s nice to look at,” I casually add.

  “I wonder if he plays for both sides?” Jared waggles his brows.

  “We’ve gone over this. You have a boyfriend already,” I say to him.

  “A girl can look.” He cheekily smiles at me.

  “Oh my God!” Katie breathlessly exclaims. We follow her line of sight and notice the new guy in t
his class.

  “Seriously?” I mumble. He’s here too? Gah.

  Mrs. Richards goes to him, takes his slip and pulls him to the front of the room. “Class, we have a new student starting today. His name is…” She looks down the bridge of her glasses to see his name. “Tobias Baxter.” I hear a few of the girls giggle and I roll my eyes at their immaturity. “We’re working in groups today, Tobias, so you can sit here with Ivy, Katie and Jared.”

  Double great. Math and biology.

  He strolls over toward us, and takes the only available seat, beside me. Eyeing him, I opt to not say anything considering he wasn’t vocal in math class. “Hello again,” Jared giddily says.

  “Stop it,” I mumble to Jared. He’s going to make a fool out of himself.

  Tobias gives Jared a nod, and turns forward.

  “Hi, I’m Katie. So, your name is Tobias?” Katie stretches across the desk, and twirls her hair around her finger. She’s flirting with him, and he doesn’t look particularly interested.

  “Yeah,” he replies.

  Wow, big talker. He flicks his eyes toward me, and when I turn to look at him, he winks and half drags his lips up into an almost smile.

  “Where did you move from?” I ask.

  He holds my gaze, just staring at me. “Around,” he replies casually with a lift of the shoulder. He doesn’t turn away, he keeps his focus on me.

  Suddenly, my heart jumps and I feel uncomfortable with him. He’s staring at me, looking straight through to my soul.

  Can he see him? Can he hear him? I have a demon who calls to me. Does he?

  Swallowing my nervousness, I look down at his muscled arms. On his forearm, I notice a tattoo in cursive writing. It reads ‘Stay strong.’

  Bringing my brows together, I take a shaky breath.

  Stay strong.

  Two words that are each significant on their own, but together on Tobias’s arm, they become much more. They become, powerful.

  “I like your tattoo,” I say to Tobias, whose intense stare is still focused on me. “Stay strong.” Even saying the words causes my arms to pebble with goosebumps.

  Tobias drags his eyes away from me for a moment, and they land on his tattoo. He arches one brow and his jaw jumps. “These two words…” He doesn’t finish his sentence. He stares at the fluid black lettering as if he’s lost in memory. His breath hitches, and for a second, I swear I see tears well up in his eyes. He reclaims himself, pulls his shoulders back and lifts his head to look at me. “These are the words I live by,” his tone is assured, and his manner is confident. He’s hiding the truth about what those words mean to him, I’m sure.

  It takes one damaged person battling demons to see that he’s fighting his own monsters.

  Chapter 2

  “I can drop you at school,” Dad says as I grab my bag and head out the door.

  “Nah, it’s okay. Jared’s picking me up. Aren’t you working today?” I notice Dad’s still in his pajamas, leisurely drinking his morning coffee.

  “They asked me to work a few night shifts.”

  I hate it when Dad’s on night shifts. It means I’m home on my own. “Oh, okay,” I say, trying to keep how I really feel out of my tone.

  “Do you want me to pick you up from school?”

  Shaking my head, I move closer to him and give him a kiss. “I’ll walk.” When Dad works nights, he sleeps through the day. If he has to pick me up from school, it disrupts his sleeping. Considering he works in the glass factory with its huge ovens, I’d rather he got enough sleep so he doesn’t get fatigued when working. “Jared’s working after school, so maybe he can drop me off on his way to the grocery store.”

  “I don’t like it when you walk home on your own. How about you get your permit and I teach you how to drive?”

  Scrunching my nose, I shake my head again. I’m nowhere near confident enough to handle a car. And definitely not around people.

  Ivy.

  Go away. Stop it. I’m not listening to you.

  Ivy.

  Go. Away!

  “I think it’s a good idea. I’ve been saving, and beside your college fund, I’ve got some put away for a car for you.”

  My pulse quickens, and chills grip me as a wave of terror washes through me.

  Ivy.

  Azael taunts me, whispering an artificial promise. He tells how the blade is calling me, and once I cut I’ll feel freer and happier.

  Lies. They’re all lies. The happiness only lasts a minimal amount of time before reality sets back in and he starts to harass me again.

  My hands are shaking. Nothing terrifies me more than getting behind the wheel of a machine that has the potential to kill. Well, that’s not entirely true. It’s not the most terrifying thing. My Dad finding out about my beast is the most disturbing. Because once he knows, everyone else will too.

  “I’m not ready for that yet, Dad. Maybe when I finish high school,” I try to steady my shaky voice.

  Ivy.

  Stop it.

  “Ivy, you’re seventeen, how can you not want to drive? Most kids your age would be busting a vein to learn.” He takes another sip from his coffee while leaning against the wall.

  I shrug my shoulders. “Maybe at Christmas.” Bile rises to my throat. I’m not ready. Can’t he see how frightening this is for me? Probably not. I’ve learned how to hide so many other parts of me, I’ve perfected the art cloaking the truth.

  He huffs and nods. “Okay, Christmas.”

  Jared beeps his horn from outside, and this gives me the excuse I need to escape. “Love you,” I say, kissing him on the cheek.

  “With all my heart,” he replies.

  When I leave the house, I take a deep breath. Phew, I got out of that fairly unscathed.

  Ivy. Azael reminds me of his presence. His murmur of my name is intimate. It’s seductive. I hate him.

  “Hey girl!” Jared calls from his car.

  “Hey.” I push the demon down, refusing to be infected by his inviting voice.

  “Please tell me you burned that ugly-ass t-shirt.”

  Absentmindedly, I look down to what I’m wearing today. “No, I didn’t. And if you don’t let up about that t-shirt, I’m wearing it again and I’ll harass you at work.”

  Jared chuckles. I buckle my seat belt and lean back. “I’ll tell everyone you’ve escaped from a mental hospital and it was the first thing you found at the second-hand store.”

  There’s a parking space pretty close to school. “Is that Tobias’s bike?” I ask Jared, expecting him to know the answer.

  “I don’t know anyone else who rides a bike, so I expect it would be.”

  Tobias has easily slotted into school life. Although our school has less than two hundred students we still have a group hierarchy. There’s the popular kids, the geeky kids, the cool kids, the nerdy kids, and the smart ones too. The only difference is, everyone knows everyone. Doesn’t matter what grade you’re in, everyone knows you and which group you belong with.

  Tobias has assimilated into the cool kids. But, the weird thing is it doesn’t look like he’s completely comfortable with them.

  Well, at least to me it doesn’t.

  Getting out of the car, I look around and see Chloe and Katie walking toward us. Katie’s parked two rows behind Jared’s car. “Looking sharp today, ladies,” Jared chirps.

  Katie, Chloe, and Isabel are nice; I like them. They’re good company and are usually full of small talk. But, I’d never trust them with my secret. Hell, I haven’t even told Jared. Not because I don’t trust him to keep it, but because I don’t want him to treat me differently. I don’t want to see sorrow or pity in his eyes when he looks at me, and I don’t want him talking to me like I’m made out of glass.

  Katie twirls, and her incredibly short tartan skirt flares up, showing off her boy-shorts. “Do you think this is cute?” Katie asks Jared.

  “Yeah, it is.”

  “Except for the fact, you can see what you’re wearing under it,” I chim
e in.

  “You’re supposed to. I’m going to flirt with Tobias today. Hopefully, he’ll let me show him the town.” She flutters her eyelashes at us and tosses her light blonde hair over her shoulder.

  “Oh,” I respond. “Good luck with that.”

  “Thanks,” she trills eagerly. “By lunch, I’ll be sitting with him.”

  “I keep telling her, he’s into brunettes, not blondes,” Chloe says.

  “Or he’s into penises,” Jared adds.

  “He’s so not gay,” Chloe says. “He’s… so…” She stares off dreamily, not finishing her sentence.

  “Yeah, my gay-dar isn’t flagging into the red,” Katie says.

  “I gotta agree with them.” I jab my thumb over my shoulder toward Katie and Chloe.

  “I know, but a girl can dream,” Jared responds.

  We just make it to our lockers before the first bell of the day sounds. Heading toward gym class, Katie swaggers in front of us. Her hips are swaying with quite a lot of energy. Some of the guys stop to stare at her butt and legs. But she has her sights set on someone else. Tobias Baxter.

  Once we’ve changed, we make our way into gym. The coach has set us up to play indoor volleyball. Looking around, I see Jared talking with Tobias, but to me it looks like Jared is talking and Tobias isn’t interested. Heading over to them, I stand beside Jared. Tobias walks away, not even acknowledging me. “Great guy,” I say to Jared while jutting my chin out to Tobias.

  “Trust me, he’s not the type of guy we want to be hanging around with. When I saw him, and started to talk to him, he just crossed his arms in front of his chest and turned away from me.”

  “I gotta say, it looked awkward.”

  “That’s an understatement.” Jared and I move to one side of the volleyball net along with Katie, whose shorts look like they’ve gotten smaller and tighter than normal. “Can they get any smaller?” Jared says to Katie, gesturing at her shorts.

  She turns, gives Jared a wink and giggles. “That’s the point. Oh… which side is Tobias playing on?” She watches as he walks over to the other side of the net. “See ya, they look like they’re short a player.”