Sebastian looks up, his face blank at first, then transforming to such animalistic savagery that I draw back in shock.
“That was a mistake.” His eyes gleam bright gold again before he bursts up and launches himself back toward Caiden.
“What the - Where the fuck did he go? I’m gonna tear him apart!” Sebastian roars, teeth bared.
“Seb, calm down, dammit! Nothing happened!” He turns towards me and snarls. I’ve never seen him lose it so completely before.
“I’m going to find that little prick! Where is he?” He whips his head back and forth, scanning everyone around us, but Caiden’s nowhere to be seen.
“Sebastian, let’s just go. Come on.” I try to take his arm to get him moving, but he yanks it away, growling.
“Come on. I’ll explain everything later, let’s just go!” Everyone is staring, whispering. It looks like the whole party is out in the backyard.
*Emerson and CAIDEN? Oh my God!*
*Man, what a slut... Getting it on with another dude when her boyfriend’s in the next room...*
*I would soooo not want to be Caiden right now. He’s gonna get jumped...*
My head starts to pound again. I need to get out of here.
“Fine, I’ll walk home.” I take a few steps and the crowd backs away, opening a path to let me through, like I have some horrible contagious disease. Josh is staring daggers at me as he hovers protectively near Sebastian. I see Mei and Kayla behind him, both glaring in my direction.
“Sebastian! Em! What happened?” Olivia, always up on the latest gossip, seems to be a little late for this show as she bursts out from the other side of the lawn.
“Ask him. I’m leaving.”
Olivia rushes over to Sebastian, her voice low and soothing. Lifting my chin up and straightening my spine, I ignore them all and walk away.
Chapter 4
The further I get from the house, the better my head feels. The wind picks up, blowing dried leaves around my feet and a few tendrils of hair around my face. I close my eyes and breathe deeply, relaxing into it, blocking everything else from my mind.
I hear footsteps following behind me. When I reach the street, I swing around to see who it is, expecting it to be Olivia. Instead, Sarah Bell sashays up to me, her long, platinum blond hair glowing under the streetlamps. She gives me a vicious smile.
Great. This’ll be fun...
Sarah and I have hated each other ever since I first moved to town. I don’t know why she took such an instant dislike to me, but we’ve been battling it out in one way or another for years. I should have known she wouldn’t let this opportunity pass.
“Poor Emerson,” she tsks, moving closer. “One loser isn’t enough. She needs to screw two at once....”
“Wow Sarah, did you think that up all by yourself? Clever.” I turn my back on her and continue walking down the street, wrapping my arms around me for warmth. I’m not too far from home – it shouldn’t take me more than a half hour – but I really wish I’d brought a coat. I try to ignore Sarah, but the clicking of her Jimmy Choos follows me. I reach the end of the next yard before she speaks again.
“So, is it just a slut thing? Or are you really as bat shit crazy as your mother was? I’ve heard about the ‘fits’ you’ve been having. Are you going to go fling yourself off a bridge too?”
A roaring sounds in my ears, like a speeding freight train. Like that noise people describe when a tornado approaches. I don’t remember moving, but suddenly Sarah is hurling through the air, slamming into a parked car on the side of the street.
I stare at her blankly for a moment, confused. Sarah’s laying ten feet from me, her eyes closed, neck bent at an odd angle. The car next to her has a dent in the front fender, a dark smear above the wheel well.
“Oh God!” I run over to her, my stomach in my throat. “Sarah? Sarah!” I shake her but she doesn’t move. I go cold all over. What have I done? I touch a lump on the back of her head. My fingers come away sticky. “Oh God...”
“What happened?” Caiden says from behind me.
“I don’t know – I don’t know!” I shake her again, my lungs constricting. I can’t get enough air. “I don’t know what happened! She just – and then I –” I’m babbling, but I can’t stop. How did this happen?
I hear people murmuring. Bright light spills out across the yard just one house over as two guys leave Kayla’s house, laughing loudly.
Caiden places a hand on Sarah’s forehead and closes his eyes.
“She’s has a concussion. A nasty one. And a fractured skull.” Opening his eyes, he calmly looks around, making sure we’re alone before meeting my horrified stare. “The tendons in her neck are strained as well. I can heal her, but you need to promise me you’ll meet with Caroline tomorrow.”
“What? Just help her!”
“You meet Caroline tomorrow morning or I walk away and you can explain this to the police when they show up. I’m not going to waste my energy fixing your mistakes if you’re just going to do it again. I told you this was dangerous. You didn’t listen. Now you’ve hurt someone, just like I said you would. She’s in really bad shape; I don’t know if she’ll make it until an ambulance arrives. At least, not without brain damage.” He just waits, cold eyes watching me. “It’s your decision. Choose.”
“Alright, fine. Tomorrow. Just heal her. Please.” I look around nervously.
“I’ll pick you up at ten. Be ready.” His words echo in my mind, eerily similar to what my mom said in my dream: ‘Be ready...’
Suppressing another shudder, I watch as he shuts his eyes and reaches for her head. His muscles tense, eyebrows drawn together. Sweat drips down his neck despite the chilly October temperature. The night air thickens and starts to tingle along my skin. There’s a slight whiff of ozone, that scent you get before a lightning storm, and the hair on the back of my neck stands on end.
Caiden begins to glow dimly, then brighter. It creeps up his arms, to his hands, then he lights up like a supernova, brilliant white light encasing his entire body. It’s like earlier that morning, when I saw the strange colors around him. He was bright then, but now he’s blinding. I flinch and shield my eyes. Sarah’s body flares too, then everything winks out, darkness engulfing us once more. Like a candle being snuffed. I catch his shoulder as he sags forward, shaking.
“Caiden? You alright?”
“Fine, fine.” He tries to sit up a little straighter, but still leans heavily against my side. In front of us, Sarah begins to stir.
“Come on, let’s get out of here before she wakes up.” Caiden staggers to his feet and I jump up to help him. “My car’s over here. I’ll give you a lift.”
I help him over to a beat up black Toyota parked across the street. He stumbles before climbing into the driver’s side. I stand there, debating whether or not I should join him. I look back over my shoulder at Kayla’s house. If anyone sees me getting into Caiden’s car, it could get ugly. Well, uglier. But after what just happened with Sarah, I don’t have much energy left to care. I slide into the car.
Without speaking, he starts the engine and drives. Peeking at him from the corner of my eye, I try to figure him out. It’s creepy how calm he is. Was he really going to leave Sarah with permanent brain damage if I didn’t agree to see Caroline? Thinking back to his callous words, his unruffled demeanor, I decide yes, he would have. A chill runs through me.
He pulls up in front of my house and I fumble with the seat belt, scrambling to get out.
“I’ll be here at ten to pick you up.” He says before I slam the door and run up my driveway.
Once inside, I turn the deadbolt and slide to the ground, my back against the door, my knees pulled up to my chest.
I almost killed someone.
I start to shake as tears spill down my cheeks. The sight of Sarah flying through the air replays over and over in my head. Sobs suddenly burst from me, racking my body. My chest is being ripped apart. The room sways in front of me; I can’t get enough oxyg
en. I gasp great lungfuls of air, but it doesn’t help the dizziness.
My arms go numb – I think I’m having a heart attack. I clutch at my chest, drawing my knees in tighter, trying to halt the uncontrollable shaking. Sarah’s body, unmoving, sprawled in the grass next to the road... my hands sticky with her blood...
I’m gasping, fighting to get air into my lungs. I close my eyes and focus on that, blocking out everything else. I concentrate on my breath: In... out... In... out...
I don’t know how long I sit here, just breathing. It could be minutes. It could be hours. But finally, my breath slows and my tears dry up, though the shaking persists. I wobble to my feet, relieved that I’m able to fill my lungs again. Gripping the banister tightly, I half walk, half crawl up the stairs to my room. Collapsing on my bed, I pull the covers over my head, trying to blot out my memories of the night.
* * *
I stay curled up in bed all night, staring at the wall. Sleep won’t come. Every time I close my eyes I see Sarah, unmoving, collapsed in the grass. My body is leaden, weighed down with fear and grief. My phone vibrates on the floor where I threw it earlier. I ignore it. It’s been vibrating on and off all night, but I can’t find the energy to reach it. The room gradually lightens from black to gray. The wind starts howling outside and rain splatters the windows. Thunder booms from overhead, making me flinch.
With that small movement, feeling begins returning to my body. I uncurl my fingers, one by one, only now realizing how stiff they are. Slowly, inch by inch, I unfold, sitting up as if from a dream. Testing my numb legs, I stand up and limp to the bathroom, stripping off my clothes along the way. I step below the shower head and blast the water as hot as I can stand. Grabbing a washcloth, I scrub my body raw, trying to scour away the memories of last night. My chest still hurts, but my eyes remain dry.
Eventually, I step out of the shower and dress in a daze, leaving my wet hair loose around my shoulders. For once, I don’t care what I look like. I’m numb, in a stupor.
I almost killed someone. No, I did kill someone. If Caiden hadn’t done... whatever it is that he did... then Sarah would be dead. I’m a monster, a murderer.
A car rumbles in my driveway and I freeze, a flash of fear streaking through me. I peek out my curtain, peering through the rivulets of rain streaming down my window. Expecting to see a police cruiser, I sigh in relief at the sight of my father’s sleek black Jaguar. For a moment I was afraid that Caiden didn’t heal Sarah last night – that she had died instead and the cops were here to take me away.
The garage rumbles open and my father pulls in. A few moments later, his shoes squeak on the hardwood floor downstairs.
“Emerson? Are you home?”
I don’t answer. I don’t want him to see me right now. I know what I must look like. Even he will notice that something’s wrong. As quietly as I can, I creep to my window, sliding it open noiselessly. My liberal use of WD40 keeps it opening smoothly – helpful for when I need to sneak in and out.
Water from the storm outside blows in, startlingly cold compared to my shower minutes before. I duck through the opening into the downpour, closing the window behind me. I’m soaked through and shivering within seconds.
I inch my way to the left, careful not to slip off the slick roof, and reach for the lattice conveniently located on the side of my house. With practiced ease, I climb down, dropping the last few feet with a splash.
It’s only nine a.m. I have an hour before Caiden picks me up. I consider ditching him and hiding out at Olivia’s instead, but I have a feeling he would just track me down. Besides, if I went to Olivia’s I’d have to explain what happened last night, and I’m just not up for that yet. Stuck outside, lighting flashing above me, I realize I have nowhere to go.
I trudge through the waterlogged lawn toward the woods that border my house. Reaching the tree line, I sit down on a small boulder to wait. It’s relatively dry under the tree canopy, only a few drops splattering here and there.
I push my dark, saturated hair out of my face and watch the sky light up every few minutes, hoping Caiden shows up early. As much as I hate being forced into this meeting, I also feel a small kernel of curiosity. How could Caiden have healed Sarah? It doesn’t make any sense. And did Caroline really know my mother? How? We weren’t in town very long before she died...
Grief swamps me as I think about my mom. The police say she killed herself. Witnesses claimed she jumped from the bridge outside of town into the Housatonic River. The water was high that day, swollen from recent storms. By the time it was calm enough to drag, police told my father her body had probably washed so far down river that it would be next to impossible to find.
I was devastated. My dad threw himself into his work. He couldn’t take being home anymore. He started working longer and longer hours, leaving for business trips on the weekends. It was like I had lost both parents at once. Even three years later, he can barely stand to look at me. With my black hair and violet eyes, my appearance is too similar to my mom’s for him to handle.
School was the worst. When something like this happens in a small town, it fuels nasty gossip. But when it happens to outsiders who only recently moved in, it becomes a scandal of horrific proportions. It was all anyone could talk about. They speculated about the reasons for it. Why was my mom so unhappy? What could have been going on at home that caused her to take her own life?
School counselors began meeting with me, asking thinly veiled questions about my father – whether he contributed to her mental instability. When they tired of that line of questioning, they started interrogating me about my mental state. Illnesses like this often run in the family, or so they tell me. If my mother was unstable, I might be too.
Whatever friends I had managed to make in those first few months of school began distancing themselves from me, their parents afraid that I might be a bad influence. Any who stuck around didn’t stay for long. Not after I started drinking and cutting class. I just needed a distraction. Something to take my mind off of everything.
Then I met Olivia and Sebastian, and they were like a tonic, a painkiller. It still hurt, but with them, I could forget about it for a little while. They were wild and fun, just out to have a good time. They didn’t want to ‘help’ me, or talk about my feelings. They weren’t afraid that I was crazy.
A prickle of awareness brings me back to the present. I look around, wondering what caught my attention. I don’t see anything. I close my eyes to listen, thinking maybe it was a sound I heard. With my eyes shut, a picture starts to form behind my lids; through the sheeting rain I see an older black sedan turning onto my road, its lights cutting through the late morning gloom, wipers working overtime.
I open my eyes and peer down my street, looking for the car. Then I hear a low rumbling amid the pattering rain.
I jump up from my perch, only now realizing how cold I am. Caiden’s black Toyota comes into view, the same one I pictured a moment before. I jog down to the road, eager to get into the dry car and out of the rain.
It comes to a stop next to where I’m standing, arms wrapped around myself, shivering.
Caiden takes in my appearance through the windshield. Is it my imagination, or does he look concerned? I get in the passenger side as quickly as I can.
“What in God’s name are you doing?”
Yep, definitely my imagination. Caiden’s glaring at me, eyes narrowed in anger.
Chapter 5
“What? You said you were picking me up?” Confused, I try to figure out why he’s so mad. Was I not supposed to get in his car?
“And you decided to stand outside for a few hours to wait? Look at you, you’re drenched! And you're getting my seats all wet.” Shaking his head in disgust, he starts to drive. “It’s going to smell like wet dog in here for weeks.”
“Are you saying I smell like a dog?” I ask incredulously. This is the second time in two days that I’m being accused of stinking up someone’s car.
He doesn’t answer
, just continues to drive. The silence unnerves me. It gives my brain more time to fret.
Why is Caroline forcing me to meet her? Is it just for the sake of my mother? If so, why have we never met before? If they were friends, surely she’d have stopped by the house after everything happened, to express her condolences. Everyone else had. Though, ‘condolence’ was just a flimsy excuse neighbors used to snoop around our house, trying to ferret out some juicy gossip.
We park outside a white, Cape Cod style house. Caiden gets out and immediately opens an umbrella. I follow him, huddling close, trying to stay under its protection the best I can.
The front yard is surrounded by a white picket fence. Flowers and plants, browning now with the onset of fall, take up every inch of yard except for a narrow walkway leading up to her front door. Before Caiden can knock, the door is opened by a very pretty brunette with pale blue eyes. She appears to be in her early thirties, though I have a feeling she’s much older.
“Come in, come in. It’s nasty out there. You two must be freezing! Come by the fire while I get you something hot to drink. Goddess, you’re soaked right through!” She takes in my appearance, maternal concern radiating off of her. “I’m sure I can find something for you to change into. I’m Caroline, by the way.”
She introduces herself while waving us into a cozy living room on the right. The floors are a dark walnut that contrasts nicely with the light tan sofa and chairs. Taking up half of one wall is a giant stone fireplace. I immediately gravitate toward the warmth radiating from the crackling flames.
The mantle above is made from the same dark wood as the floor and has several strange items on it. Holding my hands out to the flames, I study the intriguing figurines.
One looks to be half human – half animal, about eight inches tall. It starts out with a man’s head and face, with two curved horns extending up through his brown hair. He’s holding a wooden pipe to his mouth like he’s playing an instrument, his eyes dark and intense. His sharply defined chest and torso give way to hairy goat-like legs, ending in cloven shaped hooves. I stare at this, bizarrely entranced. I’ve never seen anything like it.
Silent Circle Page 4