by H G Lynch
“Hey. I’m back. Sorry for ditching you earlier, but I needed some space.” Ember wandered over to her bewildered, upset friend, standing at her desk with a frown. Sherry looked at her like she’d just said she was going cliff-diving in Acapulco.
“What? Why are you apologising to me? By all rights, you should be curled in a ball on the floor! How can you be so… so… calm?” Sherz was wide-eyed, and just a little awed.
Ember shrugged. “I sat in a tree for a while,” she explained, dumping her bag on the floor and kicking off her scrappy trainers.
Sherry just stared at her for a moment before saying, “And? I mean, I know how the outdoors calms you but this is huge. You can’t imagine some of the things people have been saying about you-”
Ember cut her off there briskly, “Actually I can. And I don’t care. It doesn’t matter what they think because I know it isn’t true. And as long as you know it’s not true.” She gave Sherry a gentle smile, and Sherry returned it with a fierce hug.
“Of course I know it’s not true! You would never do anything like that!” Sherry sounded close to tears and Ember couldn’t understand why. She gave her friend a careful glance, but Sherry just smiled at her weakly.
“I think Reid might leave me alone from now on. Hopefully. I made it clear I was tired of him, and I think he’s decided I’m boring. I told him he could say what he liked to everyone else about me, because I don’t care. He looked disappointed,” Ember said calmly, prying her friend off herself. Sherry’s green eyes were bright but her mouth was pinched. She obviously wasn’t so sure about Reid getting bored. Ember ignored it. “So, have you got another date with Ricky any time soon?” Ember arched a brow suggestively and Sherry blushed. “Uh-huh. I thought so.”
Sherry shook her head, grinning. “He’s just so sweet and nice. He always compliments me, and he’s such a gentleman. He even holds doors open for me.” Sherry was floating her own world; Ember could see it in the haze descending over her green eyes.
“Yeah, yeah. Well, I’m glad. And right now I’m going back to my tree.” Ember grabbed a pair of gloves to protect her hands this time, and pulled on her most ragged trainers, as well as a thick jumper. Sherry looked a little concerned, obviously not keen on Ember being out in the forest alone when it was getting dark, but she nodded and let her go.
It was pretty dark by now, seeing as it was a little after six o’clock, but Ember could see just fine anyway. She made her way through the forest, easily remembering which direction to go, recognising trees and bushes here and there that kept her on track - having a good artistic memory came in handy sometimes. She found her tree after a good ten minutes of hiking and she propelled herself up it much more easily than she had this afternoon, not having a schoolbag or her school uniform to worry about.
She perched on the same branch as earlier too, and closed her eyes, absorbing the smell of the freshness and chill. She could hear birds chirping in neighbouring trees and the rustle of leaves all around. She slowly lost herself to her senses, feeling the rough bark under her hands, the deep space of emptiness below her; the nip of the autumn air on her face.
But something jerked her from her peaceful trance, a noise below that wasn’t animal or element. Voices. She couldn’t make out exactly what they were saying, but they were female voices. She glanced down and searched the forest floor, catching a glimpse of movement headed her way. The voices got louder, but they were still too quiet for Ember to hear, thirty feet up a tree.
Then four girls appeared, walking in a group right past her tree. They seemed to be arguing, and they stopped at the tree next to Ember’s, one girl whirling on another sharply.
From up here, Ember couldn’t see them clearly but one had long red hair, one had cropped black hair, one had a curtain of chocolate brown hair and the other had long black hair streaked with red and blue and purple. Ginger hair was shouting at Rainbow hair, saying something about oak bark being stronger than maple bark. The Rainbow-haired girl yelled back that maple was more potent and hibiscus partnered it well. The girl with the brown hair cut in at this point saying that rose and willow bark would make a great combination. The cropped-haired girl muttered something that Ember couldn’t make out.
She had no idea what these girls were talking about, sounded like they were arguing about gardening plans or something. Even that didn’t make much sense though. Ember, curious as a cat, slunk down a few branches lower, careful not to make a noise. She could hear the girls better here.
“But if we don’t use a strong enough one, they might figure out what’s going on.” Rainbow was saying earnestly to Ginger.
Ginger said back, “And if it’s too strong they’ll be useless. Oak bark and blossoms would be best.”
Chocolate didn’t like that much, judging by her twisted facial expression. “Willow and rose works just as well, and it’s more predictable.” There was a collective sigh and they all turned to Croppy, who looked thoughtful.
Ember had assumed up until this point that Ginger was the leader of this little group, but it was clear that Croppy made all the decisions.
“White ash and violets. Strong, predictable and most effective if we lace it with orchid petals,” Croppy said, making it sound totally final. The group nodded, murmured something that sounded like a chant in another language, and wandered off. Ember wasn’t sure what to make of the strange encounter, but she suddenly had a chilling feeling down her spine and wanted to get back to her room. Whatever those girls were talking about, it was creepy in some inexplicable way.
She began climbing down slowly, finding it difficult to see her handholds clearly in the ever-dimming light. She reached halfway down the tree before she made a mistake, putting her foot in a hole in the bark so she could slip onto the next branch down. The bark though, crumbled under her foot and she lost her grip on the branch she was holding.
She let out a sharp scream as she plummeted to the earth, bashing her elbow hard on the branch she’d been aiming to climb down onto. Twenty feet wasn’t all that far to fall, but if she landed awkwardly, she’d snap her ankle, she was sure.
But when she landed heavily, the only pain was a dull thump behind her knees and shoulder blades. She lost her breath and felt dizzyingly disoriented for a few minutes before she realised what had happened. Really, it was the blue eyes gazing at her worriedly that gave it away.
“Nice catch,” she commented lightly to Reid, who quickly set her on her feet, seeing she was clearly OK enough to make witty remarks.
“What were you doing up there? Trying to fly?” Reid retorted, the worry in his eyes fading and becoming cold. That was a look she hadn’t seen from him in a while.
“I was thinking,” Ember answered simply and then said, “What are you doing out here? Stalking me now?” She brushed the twigs and dirt from her jeans, wincing when she tried to move her right arm. She’d really given it a good whack on that branch. Reid just glared in response to her comment, his blond hair sitting in his eyes. He looked a little scary actually. “Well, thanks anyway. I should go before…” Ember started to turn to walk away.
But she never got to finish her sentence because Reid’s mouth was abruptly on hers, rough and warm and demanding. His fingers closed around her upper arms, holding her in place. Ember wanted to ring his damned neck, mostly because she just couldn’t help herself when she began kissing him back with just as much ferocity. His hands moved down and gripped her hips, tugging her against him and preventing her escape. The world seemed to spin, and heat flashed through her body like lightning. Why did this keep happening? She only ever got that out-of-control, burning feeling when Reid kissed her, and he kept kissing her without encouragement.
Eventually, Ember remembered how to make her body react to her brain, not her hormones, but she couldn’t escape with him holding her so tightly and her sore arm aching. Instead she used her cunning and, ignoring the pain in her arm as much as possible, linked her fingers through his to slyly take his hands off her.
She took off in the direction of the dorms, trying to push away the sensations rippling through her like melted silver. She’d made her decision and she was sticking to it, no matter what. She told herself that over and over on her way back to the dorms, but she was starting to think that she was running out of options here. She’d tried playing his games, tried to be friends with him, and now she was trying to ignore him - and failing already. There was only really one option left if this didn’t work, and she didn’t like it.
Reid
Reid slumped to the ground, sitting in the dirt like some abandoned puppy. He couldn’t believe it. Ember had really just walked away from him. He’d saved her, kissed her until she ought to have been dizzy - until he himself was dizzy - and she was just… tired of him. It seemed that she honestly didn’t want him, but he couldn’t stop wanting her.
He’d thought earlier that maybe she wasn’t the girl he’d thought she was, when she’d told him he could say whatever he liked about her, spread whatever rumours he wanted because she didn’t care. He’d thought at first that she’d turned boring, lost her fight. But the more he’d thought about it, the more he realised she was still fighting. Fighting to get away from him, to break all ties to him. Then he’d begun to wonder about her apparent lack of emotion toward him; could it simply be a great show of control? Hiding what she really felt by acting like she’d gotten fed up of him? That was why he’d followed her scent out here, to confront her and make her crack. It was simply a coincidence that she’d fallen from the tree and he’d caught her. He wouldn’t even have guessed to look up in a tree for her otherwise.
He’d kissed her like that to induce some sort of emotional reaction. He’d gotten a physical reaction, but that wasn’t what he wanted. She didn’t even slap him, didn’t scream at him or beg him to stay with her. She’d given him a verbal slap though, one he was replaying over and over incredulously. ‘I’m tired of you’. No girl he’d met had ever gotten tired of him. Could she really be completely unaffected by him, emotionally? Even after he’d saved her from Joseph, taken her horse riding, played the mental games with her?
Reid felt like a puppy kicked to the curb and, as much as he needed to feed, he didn’t care enough to try. He’d have to go hunt up some other girl, seduce her, feed on her, erase her memory. It all sounded so tedious. But what else was he supposed to do now? Try to move on? He didn’t want to move on; He wanted Ember.
Crumbling Walls
Brandon
“What do you think is up with him? He hasn’t fed this week and it shows,” Perry whispered, his voice too low for the surrounding humans to hear.
Ricky, nearby, just watched Reid swimming with a deep frown. Even Brandon himself was worried about their friend. Something was wrong with Reid, even he could tell that much.
Reid had been acting strange the past few days, and it wasn’t like him not to feed. He was getting weaker by the day, and it showed in his slowed swimming times. He’d been holing himself up in his room, and Ricky had mentioned that he’d noticed he hadn’t been sleeping well either.
Brandon sighed and looked at Ricky; if anyone knew what was going on with Reid, it’d be Ricky. He was the only person Reid ever talked to about things.
“Come on, Ricky, there must be something you can think of?” Brandon asked quietly. Ricky met his gaze with thoughtful aqua eyes, and shook his head slowly.
“I don’t know. I mean, he’s been all over the place over Ember but this is more like. Well, I’m not sure but I think Ember ditched him. I haven’t seen her around much and Reid hasn’t said anything about her since Monday. That was the same day they had detention. I just wonder what she said to him,” Ricky muttered, glancing back at the blond boy in the pool doing laps.
Brandon thought for a moment and, reluctantly, decided they would leave Reid alone for the time being, hope he would sort out whatever his problem was on his own. He didn’t like it, didn’t want to leave Reid to deal with it on his own, but they couldn’t be worrying about their friend when they might have to fight witches any day now. Because Brandon knew the witches were around, he’d found evidence of magic being used several times over the last few days but it was a different kind of power than vampires used. They’d all been keeping a low profile, but Brandon just hoped it would be enough.
Ember
It was Thursday again and Ember was not a happy bunny. She was lying on the floor with her feet propped up on her bed and a pillow behind her head. She had a killer headache; she was nauseous and was in about the worst mood she could be in. She was suffering caffeine withdrawal.
All this pain just because Sherry had taken her bottle of coke and hidden it from her. Something to do with how she disapproved of the way Ember had been acting toward everyone. Ember had defended herself, explaining that she was doing what was necessary. Sherry disagreed, saying that Ember didn’t need to be cruel to shut people up.
For the past three days, she’d been rattling off harsh remarks to anyone who said the wrong thing about her. She’d even made a girl cry yesterday - that was just before Sherry had stolen her precious caffeine supply and hidden it somewhere. Ember had a feeling she given it to Ricky to hide in his room, but she wasn’t even going to go near that room. And that was another thing Sherry wasn’t happy about, though Ember couldn’t understand why. Apparently, Ember was being ‘unnecessarily mean to Reid’ by acting like an emotionless drone whenever he so much as looked at her.
Ember sighed to herself, and groaned. This was an especially cruel punishment for something she deemed as insignificant. Just as she thought that, Sherry came back into the room, flipped on the lights, and handed her a bottle of water.
“Drink this and stop moaning,” she instructed coolly, and Ember glared up at her.
“I’ll stop moaning if you give me my coke back,” she grumbled. Sherry ignored her. “Can you at least tell me why I should stop being mean to poor little Reid?” Ember knew her voice was scathing but she was always a total bitch without caffeine in her system. Her mother had accused her of being an addict, and then gotten angry when Ember had simply admitted it. Really, Ember couldn’t understand what the big deal was.
“Because he didn’t do anything wrong. You were both messing with each other, and he did save you from Joseph. And it’s not his fault you got caught passing notes. And don’t even start on the kissing thing because you know you liked it, whether or not you want to admit it.” Sherry didn’t even have to glance at her to know that that was going to be Ember’s next argument.
“So, what? You want me to go and jump in his arms? Turn the rumours into truth? I just got tired of playing about with him; it was too draining. Talk about stress ulcers. And you only want everyone on the planet to be as happy as you and Ricky are.” Ember regretted the words once they were out. But, Ember’s slurs bounced off Sherry with as much impact as a dust particle.
“I just want you to stop acting like you don’t have feelings. Don’t you realise you’ve turned into Reid? Arrogant, bitchy and too big for your boots. Sure, people shouldn’t be saying the things they’re saying about you but you could ignore them instead of retaliating all the time. And as for Reid… Ember haven’t you noticed him lately?” Sherry’s voice went soft and Ember knew what was coming, a pleading session, instead of a lecture. Sherry would try to peel out her emotions to use against her. No doubt it would work, but Ember would still put up a fight.
“Nope. I’ve been ignoring him remember?” Ember scowled, her head thumping as she tried to sit up. She gave up quickly as her head throbbed, and laid back down again, throwing an arm over her eyes.
“Ember, he’s been miserable. I don’t think I’ve seen him flirt with a single girl all week, and Ricky’s worried about him. Says he hasn’t been eating right. He just
wanders around with no purpose. Ember, you practically broke his heart.” Sherry made the final words lilt with amusement but something lurked behind the lightness.
“He doesn’t have a heart. He’s got guts and nuts and that’s it! I don’t understand why he doesn’t just go screw some dumb, D-cup ditz in a bar,” Ember growled. Why did Sherry care so much whether or not Reid was upset? Seriously?
Sherry was quiet for a while and then left the room. Ember didn’t question where she was going, because she already knew. She was going to see Ricky, either to escape Ember or to get her coke back from him. The latter was less likely.
Her hope peaked, though, when Sherry returned ten minutes later. Ember opened her eyes and sat up slowly, then groaned when she saw Sherry wasn’t alone - and also didn’t have her coke. Ricky was here for some Godforsaken reason.
“What now? If you two are planning on a hot and heavy party, use his room because I am not moving,” Ember muttered, expecting Sherry to throw something at her. Instead she just sighed and sat down next to her on the floor, along with Ricky. “OK, what’s this all about?” Ember sighed, propping herself against her bed to look at the happy couple properly. They exchanged a look and Ricky gave a slight nod. Ember felt an irrational bout of jealousy at that, like they were using an unspoken code, the way Sherry and herself usually did. Then Sherry met Ember’s eyes with cautious green ones.
“Look, I’ve wanted to tell you this for a while but Ricky thought it would hurt Reid, so I promised not to tell you.” Oh, great! She’d been right when she thought Sherry had been hiding something from her. “But Reid’s hurting now anyway so it doesn’t matter. Telling you can only make things better as far as we figure.” Also the ‘we’ part of that irritated Ember. She knew Sherry could feel the waves of hurt and anger rolling off her. “Just listen without killing me and you can have your coke back,” Sherry sighed, looking just a little guilty - which meant she was feeling really guilty right about now, but she was trying to be stern.