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The Radiant Trilogy

Awake by Nightfall

Emilia Sherman

 



“As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there’s a twilight where everything remains seemingly unchanged, and it is such twilight that we must be aware of change in the air, however slight, lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness.”

-Justice William O. Douglas, 1976

PREFACE
Marina

Every one of us is going to have to confront death eventually.

You can’t miss it like a bus, or train.

You can’t run around it.

You can’t exchange it for a different prize.

And, you can’t hide from it.

There was no way avoiding it.

If you were meant to die, then death will eventually find you.

Why can’t death be an option?

There are times in hopeless situations where life is very painful and there is nothing you can do about it. Death is the only permanent solution. How can anyone have a painless death?

I fell in love with this amazing, unimaginable guy. The kind of love where you get that weird feeling in your gut. You sneak looks at him to see if he was staring at you. You can’t wait to see him smiling down at you. The kind of love that you wish will never vanish. The kind of love that you knew it was fate.

That is what I felt for him. I made my choice. There was no doubt in my mind that I had chosen the wrong person. He wasn’t perfect, but I didn’t want perfect. I wanted a guy to be imperfect the way I was. I knew deep inside this was the path for me. I would have given my life to save his.

This wasn’t supposed to happen though. I knew I wasn’t supposed to die just yet. I was some kind of immortal. So why was he doing this to me? You were supposed to die for love. That was what love was. You would give up your life to save the one you love most. So, why was my love doing this to me?

I walked over to him and grabbed his shoulder in a comforting way. We had survived the fight. He pulled me in tightly the way he always did. That is until I felt a sharp pain go into me. I gasped. I leaned into him, weakened from the blow. He pulled away from me, letting my body slowly fall to the ground to my knees. I looked up at him but his eyes were avoiding mine. I gripped my stomach and pulled my hand away. It was covered with blood. I finally fell into the ground. My world became a big blur to me.

I’m sorry my love for Death has taken me.


 

Chapter 01: Falling
Marina

Falling.

I was falling.

Not very fast. It was more like I was being carried by someone or something. We were falling. Together.

The air was cool and smelled of rain. The clouds were passing me and evaporated as I fell through them. The wind was brushing against my body. My hair whipping against my face as I fell. My clothes were damp and tight against my skin. I dare not move.

I could see the night sky above me, after the clouds disappear. The stars were twinkling down at me, almost like they were talking to me. Even though the thought brought me little comfort, I didn’t want to twist my body around. If the night sky was above me, then there was only death below me. And if there was one thing I did know, I was afraid to face death. I would crush against the earth soon.

I closed my eyes.

~~~~~

“Did you see that?”

“She fell from the sky. In a bubble?”

I heard them speak in hushed tones. A lot of people. I listened more closely. Their voices were like beautiful melodies circling around inside my head. Like I was in an empty room, and their voices were echoing back and forth all around me.

I had no idea how I survived that fall and no clue on how much time had pass. My body felt numb and cold. My lungs felt crushed and breathing was difficult. I wasn’t able to concentrate on any my movements. Even if I wanted to run away from these people, I had no possible chance. The only thing I could do was keep my eyes shut tight and breathe.

“How can that be? All of those people.”

“She should have died like the rest of the people.”

“Isn’t it obvious? She has to be one of us.”

No, it wasn’t a lot of people, more like a few. Maybe three or four. They must have come to take me into the ambulance, but it was strange, I didn’t hear a siren in a distance. Maybe I should fear them.

“If she used it in the sky, they will know that she fell here. They will come for her.”

“Seekers will be here searching. Maybe even the heartless.”

They had gotten so quiet. I thought they had left me here to die.

“Heal her…”

I felt pain going inside my head. This wasn’t any normal migraine. It was scalding, burning in my skull. The pain started to spread everywhere through my body. I tried to cringe but I couldn’t move my body. I couldn’t fight against it. There was nothing to concentrate on. Where were my legs and arms? Was my heart even beating? The burning sensation left bringing back the cold stiffness. I finally found my breath. I gasped for air.

“I am trying… we… so they can … take her to the hospital.”

The voices were starting to disappear. I didn’t want to be here alone, not in the cold darkness. I knew that whoever was talking needed to help me. I didn’t care who they were. Just stay here with me.

“No.” I barely squeaked out.

“She’s conscious!”

“Tamara, now.”

Someone grabbed my chin and opened my mouth, without any force. I felt completely weak. A warm, syrupy liquid enter my mouth. My mouth was forced shut. The liquid slid slowly down my throat. I felt the warmth of it spread everywhere. It felt soothing. My body was starting to go into a rest. There was a bright light outside my eyelids. I began to feel exhaustion take over me. Then, I finally went back into darkness.

~~~~~

The next time I came back into focus, I find myself inside an unfamiliar white room. A nurse at my side, patting my head with a damp cloth. Another man standing behind her, looking down at a clipboard. I knew I wasn’t strong enough to be looking up at them, and I knew I was about to slip into the darkness again.

The nurse saw my eyes opening, and turned to the doctor. The doctor came closer to me. His mouth was moving, but I couldn’t comprehend the words that were coming out. I closed my eyes again.

When I opened them again, the nurse was there waiting. She gave me a comforting smile and went to a side phone. I felt more alert this time, as I watched her whispered into the phone. She placed the phone back on the hook and left through a side door.

Few seconds later, the same doctor from before stood beside me.

He did some simple tests on me, making sure I was awake and responding. He then explained to me what happened. He gave me the news as lightly as he could. As the details of my story came to me, my heart began to hurt worse and worse.

There was a plane crash, and I was a passenger on the plane. I wasn’t alone. My parents were with me. He stopped and placed his hand on my shoulder. He asked me if I could remember any of this. I shook my head. He went a little bit farther on the details. He showed me my x-rays and clarified that I lost parts of my memory. The doctor paused and finally explained that I was the only survivor on that flight. There was no description of the pain that took over my heart. He stopped talking to give me a chance to take it all in.

As he left the room, I curled into a ball and try to comfort myself. I cried over my parents that I couldn’t remember, the memories that were no longer a part of me. I could try searching for the memories but it was no luck. I was lost. Lost and alone. Alone in this world.

It didn’t take that long for me to be wishing that I was alone. As soon as I became more into realization about what had happened, the police came in. The police wanted to know every single detail that could have cause the accident.

But there was only one thing that I wanted to remember. That I wanted to hold onto forever, since it was the one thing I could remember. I wanted to remember what happened that night and I wasn’t going to tell anyone about it. If they knew, they would think I was crazy. That is if they didn’t already think that. Hearing voices was one of the reasons they sent people to the crazy houses.

After I fell, I black out before I hit the ground. I didn’t even remember crashing into the earth. When I came back, I heard voices. Voices all around me. So, I guess I was psychotic in a sense. I knew that this was impossible. How could one teenage girl survive a plane crash that killed everyone, even her family?

Chapter 02: Dawn Angel
Darien

My mother was the first to tell me about the mortal world. When I was younger and foolish, I wished for anything to be part of their world. As years pass, I began to wonder.

How could a world sound so fascinating?

Then, I grew older and became more diligent on my wild fascination. I learn the real truth about the mortal world. I knew their world wasn’t meant for me. The world had its amazing objects like laptops, iPods, and cell phones but then there was also war, famine, and deaths.

Death.

That word seemed foreign to me. Almost like, it didn’t really exist. There is only one known way to kill us.

What am I?

I am a descendent of a Fallen. The human word for it is Nephilim. Yes, we’re real. You can call me whatever you want. Demon, monster, demon child, freak of nature, blah, blah, and etc. Yeah, I read everything what humans call us. But you see we don’t like being called the Fallen. The original Fallen angels changed our name a long time ago. The Radiant is what we call ourselves now. Did it catch on to the humans? It doesn’t look like it.

Now about Death.

You could try to kill us, but well it was really pointless. Bullets, knifes, daggers, spears, and anything else you can think of, they just shatter against our skin. Unfortunately, there is a way to kill us. There is only one known way to kill us. If there wasn’t then, there would be a lot of us. The only people who knew how to kill us was, of course, the Radiant Council. Oh, right I forgot to mention. My mission, Leon Knight, also discovered how to kill an angel.

You see, I am a Seeker. My duty as a Seeker is to follow my mission that is given by one of the Radiant Council. Since, I didn’t grow up with any special powers; I was forced to learn about the human world and train to become a Seeker. Seeker is the lowest thing you can be. The job could get dull. You spent most of time in the mortal world searching for Nephilims or Fables. Nephilims were usually simple to find because they didn’t know how to control their gifts. Fables were tougher considering the fact, they knew about us and could hide.

You see, a Fable is a Radiant that betrayed the council. The reason they are called Fables is because they escaped here and lived among the humans. You know, act like humans but hide their real powers. There aren’t a lot of them since it was hard to escape from the Radiant Council but some had the advantage on escaping their clutches. This brings me back to Leon Knight.

Since Leon was my friend before he became a Fable, the Council thought that I would know what happened to him. Him knowing how to kill one of us was bad news to the Council. No one knew how he got his hands on those details, but he managed to find them. The Council thinks he’s searching for an army in the mortal world. He was probably also searching for the poison there, too. All of this was a very bad thing for him, once the Council finds him.

This was bad news for me if, I failed this mission.

~~~~~

Our arrival didn’t go according to plan.

First off, I was having trouble discussing about the mission to my fellow Seekers. I was assigned a Healer, and Water Manipulator. Both were women, which I knew in the future was going to be a problem for me. Not only that (even though it was true because women have emotional issues), but my mission was already known by every Seeker in our world. We lived on this floating island above the mortal world called the Day Star.

Everyone knew my mission was marked for failure. They didn’t know all the details on way we were searching for Leon but everyone knew it was a cursed mission. So, no one wanted to come on this quest. There were already many Seekers that tried to succeed this mission, and failed. Leon was just impossible to find. Untraceable. When the Seekers come back from the mission, they seem distant, almost unapproachable. No one knows why but it happens to all of them.

Like I said this mission was cursed.

But since this was my first mission, I couldn’t turn it down. I have to prove I could be a more than average Seeker. So, I got a Healer who wasn’t serious, and Water Manipulator who was fierce. Both were inexperience and because of this, they weren’t so keen about making me leader.

I already made a mistake on our arrival. Since there is no night or day on the Day Star, I had trouble knowing what time it was on earth. We left our island and dived towards the earth. We were supposed to land during midnight, when most humans would not be awake. Instead, we were flying above a beach around dawn. I chose the beach because I thought it would be deserted. I didn’t plan on the plane coming right at that moment.

The weird thing was I have seen pictures of planes. Big objects that went against gravity and floated in the sky. I seen enough photos to know that most planes are not supposed to be on fire.

It exploded right in front of us. We were taken by surprise. We were only trained to fly above planes when we come across one. But they never said anything about fire.

We circled above it, trying to see if any humans survived. Mostly out of curiosity. Unfortunately, nothing, of course, the humans were helpless. We flew away from it, ignoring as the fiery object went crashing down to the water. We moved on, without even a second thought. This is how they train us on the Day Star.

We were trained to hate the humans. We were supposed to vent our anger onto their uninteresting, witless heads. We are their superiors. When they wandered off, we weren’t supposed to look for them. When one of them died, we did not care. We simply turn our backs on them and continue on our mission.

We landed in the beach, softly. We all watch as the plane crashed into the water. The waves, formed by the interruption of the ocean’s peace, slowly came towards the beach.

That’s when I saw her.

At first, I didn’t know it was a girl. I couldn’t really describe what I saw. She was inside some type of bubble. The bubble slowly disappeared and she began floating slowly down the sky. Against the odds of gravity. It was obvious that she came from the plane, but I couldn’t understand how she survived from the blow.

My fellow Seekers followed my gaze and urge me to go after her.

I spread my wings and took off. I flew fast and I caught her before she hit the water. Her cold stiff body crushed against the warmth of my own. I sped towards the beach.

She looked like any other ordinary human girl, but I felt like she was more delicate. Her shoulder length hair was damp and black and sticking to her pale, oval shaped face. Her whole body was covered by damp, clothes that were freezing. I wasn’t positive but I think there was what looked like mashed food all over her shirt. Even though I was utterly grossed out, I had no choice but to hold her close so, she didn’t freeze to death.

I place her body gently in the sand. The sand began to stick everywhere on her body, like it was magnetized.

“Did you see that?” The Healer named Aria Griffin asked. She had a round shaped face with a tiny figure, but all Healers were small-like. Her short, brown hair bounced whenever she moved or talked. She was never a quiet one. “She fell out of the sky, in a bubble?”

So, I wasn’t the only one that saw the bubble. “Quiet. She’s still breathing. She could be hearing everything you’re saying. I am still trying to figure out how she survived.”

“How can that be, though? All of those people.” Aria continued, not listening to me.

“She should have died like the rest of the people.” The not so friendly Water Manipulator, Tamara Flores muttered. She was more force than grace. Her body was built like a man. She had broad shoulders, tall figure. Her face was oval with a pointy chin. Her caramel skin made her even more intense.

“I said silence.” I yelled. Why did the Council give me two women to deal with? “Put away your wings just in case.”

Our wings folded and vanished beneath the skins of our backs. It didn’t take concentration or strength to put them away. It came natural to us. No pain. We just had to make sure that we were not covered on top. Clothes would rip off our bodies when our wings spring out. I had to go shirtless whenever we were in flight. The girls had to wear these custom made shirts that only covered their chest and had an opening for their wings.

“Darien, isn’t it obvious? She has to be one of us.”

“I know what you are thinking, Healer. The answer is no. We have a different mission.”

“If she used it in the sky, they will know she fell here. They will come for her.” Aria went over to the girl’s body and knelt down, began inspecting the body. She placed her finger on the girl’s neck, rested it there for a moment, and turned to me. “Faint heartbeat.” She mouthed, more to herself than to me.

“Seekers will be here searching. Maybe even the Heartless.” Tamara said.

We all winced. Heartless were the warriors of the Fallen. The Radiant looked for descendants that had amazing powers that they could use against the humans or each other. Heartless were feared among Seekers like us. They could do just about anything from controlling your minds to possession. We may be the superiors over the humans, but the Heartless were the superiors in our kind. If the Council found out about a girl like this, it would be possible they would send Heartless after her.

I wasn’t positive but I think she had the Guardian ability. We haven’t had one of these in awhile. Since they were a powerful gift to have in war, they were the biggest targets. If she was able to conjure up a shield around when she was unconscious then she would able to do a lot more when she was awake. The Council would just love to have her on their side.

“We need to leave.” I finally said.

“Heal her.” Tamara said ignoring my orders.
Aria placed her hands on the girl’s forehead and her heart. She started to say a chant under her breath. I watched closely on the girl’s reaction. Her face at first was confusing to me. When a Healer uses their magic, we were instantly healed. This girl was cringing in pain. I pulled Aria away from her.

“Stop. She still has her shield around her. You are weakening her. Try using your mind to calm her down.” I glanced up to the sky, curious. “Other Seekers will be on her. I’m surprised no one appeared here yet.” I didn’t need others to see my group stalling. I also did not want to be seen helping out a human. Embarrassment was out of the question on my first mission.

“I am trying but there is no connection. We should try using Tamara’s water to heal her from the inside.” Aria stared at me urgently. “They cannot find her, Darien. At least, not now. We can protect her for awhile. We can make sure humans find her and they can take her to the hospital.”

“So you are suggesting that we take this girl under our wing.” I crossed my arms over my chest. I looked at my fellow Seekers. We were supposed to work as a team. Their choice was clear. They already decided to help the girl and didn’t care what I said. Typical.

Why should I help an insignificant, little girl? It’s not like the Council would do anything bad to her. They would treat her like a queen. Then, political will intervene. They would force her to choose sides. Then, she would have to constantly watch her back, trusting no one, because everyone would try to kill her. She wouldn’t have the strength to last but maybe one day in our world.

But maybe, she could help us on our quest? Not in the way the women were thinking, but in a whole different scenario. A plan began to form inside my head. If Leon was searching for an army, then she would be the perfect addition for him. I could use her as bait. We were certain that Leon was in this area. How could I make sure he gets to her?

I kept this all to myself. If the others knew, they might be hesitant. Healers were known for their kindness towards humans. Tamara, she liked Aria, so there was definitely no hope there. I would have to deal with this plan on my own.

“No.”

The girl muttered.

“She’s conscious!” Tamara grabbed her bag of water and started to bend the water. She formed a bowl of water. Aria reached into a pouch and threw some crushed herbs into the mix.

“Tamara, now.” Aria opened the girl’s mouth. Tamara forced the water down the girl’s throat. Aria shut it close and waited for the girl to swallow.

Tamara then covered the girl’s eyes with water. The water turned into a blinding, white light. If anyone was searching for the girl, they would see this light. She held there for a few seconds than let it vanishes. The girl’s body began to relax. The area around us seemed to calm down.

Sirens interrupted the silence, from a distance.

“What should we do?” Aria got up from her spot.

“Take her to the humans. We will dig up every piece of information on this girl. Who her family is and where she is going? I am guessing she will be in the hospital for awhile but not too long.”

“How do we take her without looking suspicious?” Aria whispered.

“I will take her from you.” A woman's voice came from behind us.

We were alerted and turn to attack whoever dared to sneak up on us. I assumed it to be a Heartless, or another Seeker. But to my surprise, it was a normal human wearing a cloak. It that what she appeared to be. I was not easily fooled.

The first thing that caught my attention, she wasn’t frightened. When humans see a three half-naked people surrounding a limp body, most would jump to conclusions and alert the authorities. This lady was nothing like this. Her facial impression showed sadness, but not one ounce of fear. I was little disappointed but I was still aware. A woman sneaking up on train Seekers. It was nearly impossible. So, I only made a wise guess.

“What is your name, Fable?” Her eyes stared back at me, angrily. I guessed right. Even though we were forbidden to talk to Fables unless it concerned our mission, I had to make an exception on this one.

“Cassandra.” Her voice was soft, almost a whisper. Her stern eyes never left mine.

“Are your orders, in anyway, come from Leon Knight?”

“No.” She looked taken aback but regain her stern look. “I know you have a Healer, Seeker. If I was lying, I know you wouldn’t hesitate to use her.”

I laughed. “Why do you want to help this girl?”

“That is my own business. She is with me, which is all you need to know.”

“Does she know?” I broke our trance and stared at the little figure.

“No.”

“Hmm.”

“Just give her to me. I will erase her memories.”

Ah, so, she wasn’t just any Fable. She had the power of memory manipulation. If she wasn’t a Fable, she would be a Seeker maybe, even a Heartless, depending on her skill. If she was a Seeker than, she would have no difficulty finding us quickly. Heartless tend to linger and observe their prey before attacking.

“Fine, but we will be watching.”

I moved away and let her walk passed me. I motioned the girls to follow my lead. They dare not move from the girl’s sides. The Fable didn’t seem to mind. She picked up the girl into her arms. I noticed she didn’t use her wings.

“How long has it been?”

“A hundred and sixty-seven years.”

Aria gasped. Tamara stared at the woman in shock. I was more in control of my emotions and facial expressions.

When one of us becomes a Fable and escapes to the mortal world, we become mortal. It was a slow process but we start to age. That is why, most of us, wouldn’t dare fall for a mortal. On the Day Star, we never aged after we finished our transformation. We become immortal. Even as a Seeker, I knew we couldn’t stay here long. We are to report back in three months and stay away for one month to regain our strength and immortality.

“Thank you for saving her.” The woman replied to our shock. She began to walk away but I stopped her.

“Her name, Fable.”

She looked a little defeated. Her eyebrows formed a V as she concentrated on rather or not to tell me. She let out a breath and finally said, in a whisper.

“Marina. Marina Stonehart.”


 

Chapter 03: In the Dark
Darien

White.

I was surrounding by white.

I had certain distaste for the color. Nothing I can do about it though.

Aria sat across from me. Swinging her legs, one at a time, to her own little rhythm. She was probably thinking about how to help everyone in here. She, being a Healer, was in her favorite spot in the mortal world. Tamara sat next to me, keeping her eyes down and her right foot tapping the ground. She was a claustrophobic, but most water manipulators are like this. Like water from the ocean, they like to be able to move around freely and hate confined areas. I was doing the same thing, trying my hardest to avoid any wandering eyes. But unfortunately for my case, I was too curious about humans.

Everyone would look at us, until I stare back at them. Frightening them. We didn’t look so good in this hospital. Our pale skin looked sickly in bright light. Even Tamara, her skin looked like a dried mud. There was something unusual about it. Or maybe, it was because we were all wearing black cloaks. I was still shirtless, and Aria and Tamara were still wearing their outfits. We had no choice but to bring them out because of our apparel wasn’t quite up to date with this century.

There were many other humans that looked oddly strange in this waiting room. A young, male human staring at a vending machine covered in metal piercings and skin tight jeans. A female behind him was wearing a skirt over jeans, like she couldn’t decide on what to wear. Sitting behind me, a male was holding a bag of ice that held three of his fingers and was wearing an eye patch over his eye. And yet out of all the humans, we had more of a haunting edge to our appearances. Haunting, yet interesting enough to catch everyone’s attention.

I jumped as I felt something burn against my chest skin. My hand grasped around the object. I checked around the room to see anyone noticed.

The burning sensation came from my Attain necklace. It was given to me after the Council gave me, my mission. An Attain necklace looks like a compass. It starts to heat up and points whatever direction a descendant’s talent is being use. I already knew who it was pointing at. That was the reason we were here in the first place.

Aria and Tamara have chain necklaces, too. Healers get necklaces with a bottle at the end. They put whatever they want inside, usually an uncommon herb. Aria’s necklace had some type of white crystals inside. She also added some pendants to it, a bow and a heart locket. Tamara’s necklace was more complex. Every element manipulator gets to make their own necklace as long it comes with something that represents their element. Tamara’s was a seashell. Her necklace had a piece of metal that had some writing on it than a twisted wire that held the seashell.

My Attain went cold just as fast as the heat had come. Cassandra must have had an distraction.

Aria stared up at me. Her green eyes were bright under the fluorescent lighting. She pointed at her necklace than pointed at me. She wanted to know if it was working. I rolled my eyes and nodded. She then pointed to the counter.

Cassandra was arguing with the hospital attendant and doctor. I bolted up immediately and went over. We needed things to go smoothly. The people that were looking at us were now staring at the new commotion. Humans don’t have a long attention span. They don’t pay close attention to details and assume too much. From what I could see, the doctor was looking around nervously like he was waiting for a person to take the woman away.

“You don’t understand I am her only family. She has to see me.” Cassandra said in a harsh tone. Her eyebrows formed the V-shaped again and her eyes began to tear up. She noticed me staring at her, and all her built up anger vanished. She turned her face shyly away. I walked up to her and grabbed her away from the doctor. The doctor let out a sigh of relief.

“What is the situation?” I put my hands on both of her shoulders, trying to be comforting.

She slapped my hands away. “I think I outdid myself with her memories. Her shield thing was still up and hard to get through. I was afraid of hurting her. I haven’t had to use my powers since she was born and even then, I used it for a very small matter…”

“How far did you go?” I interrupted.

“She lost pretty much everything. I tried to bring some of her basic memories back but the doctor interrupted before I could finish.” She places her hand on her forehead, rubbing her temples. She used too much of her power.

“You need to get some rest.” I waved my arm towards the nearest seat.

She ignored my polite request. “You don’t get it. I don’t know if I made her forget the whole entire night. I didn’t have time.”

“It’s alright. We will use some of Aria’s herbs.”

“No. I won’t let that happen. If she remembers anything, I will be there.” For someone as weak as she was, she still had the strength to push us away. “But there is another concern I have for her.” She lowered her voice. “That plane crash was no accident. I saw in her memory. Someone was there to kill her.”

“You erased that memory though.”

“Yes. If she knew, she might run to find out what happened to her parents. I wouldn’t be able to protect her. Alone.” She looked up at me in concerned.

Perfect. It couldn’t have work any better for us. Well, for me actually. Cassandra knew someone was after this Marina. She knew she was too weak to protect her, so naturally she came to us. She would need us to protect her and watch over her. Aria and Tamara would agree to help, and I would pretend to agree with them. We will be Marina’s own personal guardian angels. I laughed at my own personal comment.

“What was the mission assigned to you?” She asked.

My smile faded. “You know perfectly well, that I am not allowed to give that information away. Especially, to any Fable.”

“Last night, you said something about a Leon Knight. So, obviously, you are searching for a Fable.”

“Clever.” I frowned. “He is in this area. We know for sure.”

“So, you will be able to stay here?”

I hope by my stature that I was appearing neutral on the situation. Too much joy could cause suspicion. “Well, for now, yes.”

“I want you to watch her at school.”

I was taken aback. I had not planned her to suggest this. Seekers in a high school were not unusual, since most of our jobs involve finding unique humans that have powers identical to ours. But since this wasn’t our mission, it seemed useless to waste time in a high school.

A thought just hit me. No one has ever succeeded in finding Leon because maybe they were searching the wrong spots. The Radiant sent Seekers to find him as a regular human but he was my age. If anything, I bet he would hide in a regular high school like most descendants. He wouldn’t use his powers though. He would just act like a normal teenager.

“Perfect.” Aria said in a cheerful voice. Both her and Tamara were eavesdropping on our conversation. “I always wanted to go to a human school. We could learn a lot from humans.”

“In high school. The young humans do not have a clue on anything. They care nothing but their social life status. They suffer in high school every day.” Tamara added with a sly smile. “Let’s do it.”

“Looks like we will take you up on your offer.” I finished.

“I will take care of everything. You will start school Monday like the rest of the students.” She gave us a short nod. She waited until we each nodded back then replied. “Follow me.”

We followed after her, our black cloaks flowing at our feet. We looked like body guards for Cassandra. The doctor didn’t even try to stop us, which I think Cassandra was planning all along. She led us down a leading passageway from the main waiting room. We went into an elevator, and let her control the elevator. We left there and into another hallway. She finally brought us to a patient room. She waited until we were all in and locked the door behind us.

“You know you can’t keep us in here.” Tamara warned.

“It’s not for you. That doctor wasn’t too happy, watching all of us come in here. He’s calling security.” Cassandra smiled. She walked up to a white curtain and pulled it away, revealing the girl.

The girl had been cleaned up. She was curled up into a ball, maybe for protection from the nightmares. Her wavy, light brown hair was covering her pale face. I noticed her fingers twitched at the sound of the curtain being pulled away. She was still sick, though, almost as scary-looking as us. Her heart monitor showed even breaths so, she was at rest.

“Why did you bring us here?” I questioned Cassandra.

“To meet my son.” As Cassandra said that, a boy entered from a side bathroom.

I stared at him, and smirked. “Impossible. He’s human.”

The boy came in with a firm attitude. He had to be human. Stating the fact, that he had no similar features like Cassandra. His hair was mud and eyes were a bore. There was simply nothing appealing about humans. The personality was almost a match to Cassandra though. She probably got him young. Him growing up with her, at a young age, would make him feel a certain attachment to Cassandra. Some notes to take before I work with them.

“I don’t see why we need them.” The boy muttered in an unpleasant tone.

“Gabe-”

“No.” I snapped at Cassandra. I walked in front of the boy. I was going to enjoy messing with him. “You should know well boy that we are here to help. But know this, you should be frightened.”

The boy didn’t stand down. “I know everything about you Seeker. I also know there is a way to kill you, and I will be the one to find it.”

“It’s impossible to find.”

“Really? Because-”

“Gabriel!” Cassandra stopped him. “They do not want to hear about your silly research.”

“Actually, I am quite interested on what he has to say. Please continue.” I pushed a chair towards him.

He stood there, momentarily and then burst into laughter. “I know you don’t have any special gift, Seeker.”

I took a step back. No one knew that I didn’t have any powers. Not even my fellow Seekers. A dear friend of my mother told me that I do have a power but having problems triggering it. I was a reject or I guess more of a late bloomer. But how could a mere mortal know this before anyone else could? Maybe he was more than he appeared to be, I must have missed it by his pure human awkwardness.

“He studies the Fallen ever since I told him the truth.” Cassandra explained. “He can tell right away by examining your necklaces or any pendants that you might have. We know that you have a Healer, and a Water Manipulator. I knew since you didn’t have anything symbolizing yourself except an Attain, that you must not have been born with one.”

“This boy wouldn’t know the difference between fiction and real.” Tamara said in a too loud of a voice.

“I am afraid that there are a lot of things that we still don’t know about ourselves.” Cassie added prophet like.

“We might as well just get into introducing ourselves fully. My name is Darien Cross, and I have a gift, I just need something to trigger it.”

“Like do you need to get angry, like the Hulk.” Gabriel suggested, mocking me.

“I have no idea what this Hulk thing is and I have no clue on how to trigger mine.”

“Enough of that. I’m Aria Griffin, a Healer and also the nicest one of the group.”

“Tamara Flores or Tammie. I am a Water Manipulator.”

“Nice to meet, all of you. I am Cassandra Striker but Marina knows me as Aunt Cassie, and this Gabriel or Gabe.” Cassandra motioned Gabe to stand up. “We must hurry and find you a place to stay while you are here.”

“The doctor might have called in some back up.” I wasn’t really concerned but, might as well and try to draw less attention to us. “And I still have questions.”

“Gabe can answer any questions that you might have while you leave. I will deal with the doctor and any security.”Cassandra opened the door.

Gabe leads us through a different hallway. He walked fast, trying to show off most likely, but he underestimated how fast we were. Especially, Aria. We passed him without any effort. Aria was like a little kid hyper on candy, can’t sit still for too long. She twirled all the way down the corridor.

“Are you leading us a back way?” I asked Gabriel, since the path he was taking us in was taking longer than the other one we just arrived in.

“Just through a hallway outside the Emergency Rooms. The hallway leads to the parking lot.”

“Do you think we will see any sick patients?” Aria tilted her slightly, making a puppy dog face.

“No. We don’t have time.” As those words slipped through my mouth, a door leading to a hallway burst opened.

We all stepped out of the way as some nurses pushing a gurney by us. A man chasing after them crashed into me with such a force that it caused me to fell down. I saw Gabriel reaction to my clumsiness and didn’t even concentrate on his facial expression. As I recollected myself, I peered over my shoulder to catch the idiot who made me fall. The lucky bastard had disappeared already. He left a stinging sensation on my left shoulder and my Attain necklace had a little warmth to it. Not enough to lead me to the guy but a thought just accrued to me. Was that Leon?

Did Leon have his own Attain necklace? Is that why he was here? Did his necklace led him to this hospital and to only find out that we were already here, so he ran? Gabriel did say this was a back passageway to the parking lot. Maybe, Leon had the same idea. Was he really forming an army against the Radiant?

Aria yanked on my arm, and pulled me up. I let the Leon thoughts disappear as we exited the hospital. We finally made it outside. The warm breeze felt welcoming here. Gabriel led us to the car. I stopped him before he got in the passenger side.

“Gabriel, I wanted to know if we are to tell Marina anything about us.”

“What are you nuts? Only me, or my mom, will give her some facts about it, no one else. She needs to be in the dark. She can’t know too much or they will find her.” Gabriel opened his door to get in. “Look, it’s like a family thing. I think she would rather hear about who she really is from a close family member than a couple of strangers. Don’t you have a family.”

“Yes, but the way we find out about ourselves is different. We are automatically thrown into learning how to control our emotions and gifts. To learn about ourselves.”

“Oh, sounds… uninteresting and lonely.”

I shrugged and thought aloud. “So, right now, she doesn’t know anything.”

“Not a single fact.”

“What about her gift?”

“It disappeared after the doctors gave her some medicine.”He got into his seat and slammed his door.

I nodded. The poor girl would have no idea what was coming. If that was Leon, than there might be possibility that others are looking for her. Cassandra did say that the plane crash wasn’t an accident. What if someone knew about her powers and tried to kill her? And if they knew she was still alive, would they come back? What were we getting ourselves into?

And what about this Gabriel and Cassandra? Could we trust them like they trust us? Gabriel, is doing research on us, so he must know something about how to kill us? There has to be a lot they are not telling us?

In the dark

. I felt like that girl wasn’t the only one in the dark.

At least, I had one thing that could cause all these questions to disappear. One thing that I know for a fact, is way different from our world. In our world, knowledge was the upmost importance. Down here. Not so much.

 

Chapter 04: Puzzle

Marina

“Miss Stonehart, I will ask you again. Please give us any information you might remember from the flight.” The old, police officer asked.

He was maybe in his mid-thirties. He had a shiny, bald head that look a lot like a big bowling ball. I would laugh at him but he seemed like one of those tough cops, that I didn’t dare smile. He never smiled or showed his eyes to me because of the sunglasses that hid them. I didn’t get who would wear sunglasses inside a building. Although, maybe, he hated how the white walls made everything bright in here. I hated the color white. Everything in the hospital seemed to be white.
From the walls, to the doctors, to the pudding they keep giving me. I was sick of white.

I was also sick of all the repetitive questions. I already told them I didn’t have a clue what happened on that plane. But every time the doctors said I made progress, the police came in right away. I stared at the ceiling again, trying to avoid his cold stare before I answered.

The thing about cops is you have to know how to lie. One thing that they always seemed to catch, is whenever you twitch or make a small movement that indicates you're lying. If you look them directly in the eyes, which means no looking down and you have to blink less, then they know you stand behind the words that are escaping your mouth.

“I already told you. I only remember that I hated flying, but we went anyways. Then I found myself in this hospital.” I kept my hands firmly upon my lap, my eyes focused on him, and kept a straight face.

“Do you remember your parents?”

I felt my stomach drop. Or maybe the hole in my heart was getting bigger. My parents were on that flight with me. They died and I survived. I had little problem remembering them. I suffered a head trauma and lost a bit of my memory. I couldn’t remember much of my childhood which included my parents.

The doctors brought in pictures trying to help me remember. They observed all my reactions to the pictures and recorded all the details. The pictures was helping. I could remember my mom’s smile and my dad’s awkwardness. I remember it was my mom who convinced us it was faster to travel by air. I blinked my eyes trying to cover the tears that were beginning to form.

“I can’t remember that much about the flight.” I looked down at my hands, a big mistake but I didn't care anymore.

“So, you do remember something.” He scooted forward, anticipating for an answer.

I heard what he said but something about how he said made me sick to my stomach.

“Yeah, throwing up.” I leaned over and threw up all over his neat black shoes.

He stood up immediately, alerting the nurse. The nurse ran in and gave the police a towel to wipe up his shoes. She then came over to me and helped me out of the bed to go to the bathroom. I glanced back at the officer and smiled weakly.

“Oops.”

~~~~~

“Marina, your aunt is here.” My nurse said while exiting the door with my untouched lunch.

I nodded. I watched as my aunt entered the room. She was tall and slender, which made her look a little bit floppy. Her dirty blonde hair was tied into a bun but was slightly coming undone. Her hair was popping out in some spots. Her eyes were brown but had dark circles underneath them. Her face looked gray, like there was no color left in it. She had been crying. I was starting to think that every hospital was like this big black hole. It was like it sucked the lives out of everyone here. Even the doctors looked really pale.

She pulled me into a deep hug. The hug pulled every cord thing, which was hooked up to me, with us. Her lavender scent took over me, but I breathed it all in. It was a nice addition to the super clean scent here. She broke the embrace and starting messing with my hair. She pulled every strand of hair back, she could see my eyes. Just like my mom would do.

“They wouldn’t let me come see you. They said you loss some of your memory and seeing me might be too much for you.”

“I loss bits of it but nothing too bad.” I lied. I lost more than a bit. Like the doctor explained to me, my whole childhood was going to be a faded memory. It was a like big puzzle to me. I was putting one puzzle piece at a time to create the masterpiece but it was taking an extremely tough time to finish. I remember faces of people but I felt like I was barely getting to know them.

“I’m just glad you’re okay and you haven’t forgotten me.”

“I wish I could forget what happened.”

It got silent in the room. I didn’t want to tell her that I cried a bunch when the doctor told me what happened. Or, how much, I needed some comfort from someone. But I knew deep inside, that Aunt Cassie was going through the same thing I was. My mom was her only sister. Her only family that was left was me and her seventeen year old boy. She needed just as much comfort as I did.

“So, when can I leave?” Changing the subject, for me and her.

“Today, actually. Gabriel is sitting in the waiting room for us. I’ll tell the nurse to gather your things.” She touched my hand and left the room.

The nurse came back and handed me some clothes. Of course, these were not my old clothes. These were brand new. My aunt must have gone shopping while I was in here. I wonder what will happen to all my stuff back home. Do we go over and get my things? Or will they send the things over here? I hurried and got dress and walked out of the room.

The bright sun was glaring through the windows, making my skin look really pale. How long was I in here? Three weeks? How could I have gotten so pale? I walked faster. Hospitals were not on my top list of favorite’s spots to hang out. I glanced into the rooms that I passed, catching glimpses of the people inside. Everyone looked pale and sick. It made me want to throw up. I could never get a degree in medical. The thought seemed just outrageous and more like a bad joke. I wouldn’t want to spend all my time in a white building that smelled too clean.

Aunt Cassie led me into the waiting room. I looked around for any familiar faces excepting to find Gabriel. Aunt Cassie said he was here, waiting for us. I noticed a lonely boy standing next to the water fountain, with his back to me. I stepped away from Aunt Cassie, excited. It had to be Gabriel. I haven’t seen him in an awhile but the usual school photos of him. He should still look like the awkward boy like he did in the pictures.

“Hey, Gabe.”

The boy turned around, confused. It wasn’t him. Aunt Cassie came up from behind and apologized to the boy. I walked away, ashamed of my mistake. I could feel my cheeks burning with embarrassment. I let Aunt Cassie lead me to the right Gabriel, who had turned out had been waiting outside the waiting room.

“Marina.”

This had come from a taller boy then the one before. Gabriel had certainly changed from his last photo. He used to have chubby cheeks but now, his face was broad and slim. He had brown hair that look like a deep, dark chocolate. His eyes were green like bright, taken-care-of-the-grass green. He had gotten way taller from before. He hugged me, burying my face inside his chest.

I pushed him away. It wasn’t hard to remember him. He was such a pain when we were little. He was always picking on me because I had braces. Those memories weren’t hard to figure out. How could anyone forget their most horrible nicknames? Gabe gave me the nickname, Metal Grin. He told me at first it was a wrestling name. I believed him until his mom yelled at him to stop making fun of my braces.

“Hello, Gabe.”

“I knew you couldn’t forget about me. I mean we were best of friends back in the days.” He snickered and wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

Aunt Cassie didn’t mention my little mistake back there. I didn’t want to look like an idiot. Also, if they knew I was still having trouble with my memories they might trapped me in there again. I was grateful that Aunt Cassie probably understood my embarrassment.

Gabe led us to a white ’92 Honda Civic. He got in the passenger seat while Aunt Cassie helped me into the back. We finally drove away from the hospital. I looked back. I couldn’t sit on a memory of my lost parents forever. I could barely remember them. I would soon forget about the plane crash and just remember my parents before that event.

Nobody wants to remember death.

~~~~~

“This will be your room for now, until we can get a bigger house.” Cassie placed a stack of sheets on an air mattress.

I glanced over her shoulder through a tiny doorway. There wasn’t much I could say about the room. The room was small. Well, technically, it wasn’t a room at all. It was Cassie’s walk-in closet from her room, which was the size of a bathroom. The twin-size air mattress took up most of the space in the room. There were bars for hanging up clothes that took up each of the three walls. On top of the bars, there were boards intact to the wall to hold stuff above. The shelves were there to hold all my stuff. If we were ever in an earthquake, I was likely to be squished.

“It’s fine.” I half-smiled encouragingly.

“Just for two weeks, I promise. I will find a better home and more space.” Cassie said while looking uncomfortably around the tiny space. “Maybe, I should give you my room. I can put my stuff in here and I will sleep in the living room. The sofa is pretty comfortable once I put some blankets on top of the cushions.”

I looked back at her room. She had a twin bed also, but that wasn’t the only thing in her room. She had a long dresser, with a mirror, which was placed against one wall. The thing that took up most of the room, was the computer desk.

Cassie was a work at home mom. She did most of her work here at home. She was psychologist, but that was all I knew. I wasn’t sure what kind of psychologist, only that she has being doing this kind of work for years. She helps people with bad memories and pushes them to move forward.

Anyways, I could tell that there may be only enough room for me to sleep in the closet. I was used to sleeping in a ball but Aunt Cassie. I don’t think it would be wise, at her age, to sleep like that. She would be sore and she was the one with a job. If we didn’t have any money, we would never get a bigger house. I would just have to sleep in here and not cry about it.

“It’s fine.” I repeated pathetically.

She didn’t seem convinced but she also didn’t want to linger on the subject. She left me alone to put my clothes on top of the shelves. I didn’t dare use hangers. I didn’t want to sleep with clothes above my head, that might have a chance to suffacate me. I just put everything on top of the shelves, either in boxes or suitcases. I stuck my under garments inside a box marked “Barbies”. Knowing Gabe, he was unlikely to touch anything too girly like Barbies. I stuck all my family photos into a little corner by the bed. I promised my aunt to go through them to try to get some of my memory back of the “Before” time.

I started to straighten out my bed. Sliding all the sheets and what not into the correct spots. I slept on air mattresses before and I didn’t really care for them. Hopefully, my first two weeks will go by fast and I won’t even think about the mattress or the room.

Gabriel came into the room. He crashed on Cassie’s bed. He propped his head up and watched me fix everything through the tiny doorway.

“Sorry about the arrangements.”

“It’s fine.” I slid a pillow into a pillowcase.

“When you say things are fine, what do you really mean?”

“I mean that…” I searched for the right words. “That I am fine with living in this room until we find a better place.”

“Oh." He regarded me for moment than asked. "So, I don’t have to feel guilty about not giving you my room?"

“No. You should feel guilty.” I said picking on him.

It got quiet. Apparently, I was the only one making jokes. Which made me feel rather uncomfortable. I mean I remember Gabe. But all I remember was him being mean to me, which weren’t great memories. Sitting here, hearing how he feels guilty, was like I was missing something again. Like me and him had never had those fights in the pass. Like, I forgot a time, a family moment, where we forgave each other and became friends.

“You’ve changed a lot.” Gabe looked me over.

“I was just thinking the same thing.”

“Usually we would be fighting over… well pretty much everything, right about now.” We both smiled at the memories. He got up from the bed and went to the door. He stopped and turned to face me again. “So, you wanna play some games with me.”

“Like what?”

“Like Halo or something.” He shrugged. “You know, just to get your mind off of things. I mean you are starting school tomorrow.”

“I’m starting school already? I just barely got settled.”

“It is the middle of the semester. You already missed the first few weeks of school and will probably have a ton to get caught up in.”

I forgot about that. It was already the end of September. My parents were coming to visit the week before school started. I was surprised how much I missed when I was in the hospital. That means whatever new students that came were already in groups. I was going to be the only new girl. I mean at least I knew one person there but what were the chances of Gabe wanted to hang out with me. He probably had his own group also.

So, I would have to find my own group. The thought frightened me.

Gabe led me into his room. Just like him, his room had changed over the years. In some pictures, he had model cars stocked up on shelves. Then he grew out of that, and had a skateboarding theme. Now, he had posters of what appeared to be dark angels everywhere. I looked over one curiously. One of the posters, hanging over his bed’s headboard, had an angel boy holding a girl in his arms. No doubt, they were in love. I stared at the other ones spreaded out across his room.

“So, you’re into angels now." I assumed, and laid down on his bed.

“Actually, no." He looked around the room. "These are the Fallen.”

“Fallen?”

“Yes, the Fallen.” He grabbed a tiny black book from his computer desk. He flipped through some pages and opened the book to reveal a picture. It showed a naked man, covering his manly parts with black wings, falling from the sky. “Angels that were exiled from Heaven.”

“Oh.” I wasn’t really curious about these types of things.

“Yeah, I just started collecting them.” He handed me the book.

“So, you’re obsessed.”

“Apparently.” He pointed at the picture over his bed. “That’s a Fallen angel that fell in love with a human. It’s not strange because that was the way they reproduced.”

He laughed and went over to his Xbox games and debating on what to play. I stared down at the picture of the guy falling. It reminded me so much about me falling in the sky. I rubbed my back, checking for any suspicious bumps. Of course, there was nothing there. I observed the guy's facial expression. The guy falling from heaven looked sad and frightened.

Gabe scared me by tossing a controller by me. I closed the book instantly, blocking any thoughts of me being a Fallen angel.

“Come on before my mom takes you shopping.” Gabe said, turning the Xbox on.

Chapter 05: Hope for the Best
Marina

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

That saying was in my head while I was heading to school.

Hope for the best.

Or rather pray that today won’t end up me being completely, and utterly, embarrassed.

Gabriel drove me to the school with the windows rolled down. The cool morning breeze bringing chills inside. The heat of the engine was coming inside Gabe’s ’90 Ford Bronco. If we had closed the windows, we would be extremely hot. I couldn’t decide if I would rather be hot or cold, but then finally decided that I didn’t want to arrive to school sweating. So, I would just have to live with goose bumps growing on my arms.

Today, couldn’t have gone more worse. Maybe I was curse or something. I mean I barely had time to throw on a crew neck shirt with a pair of jeans. We woke up late this morning and I didn’t have time to debate on many outfits. I was lucky that I matched. I had to burrow one of Gabe’s old backpacks because we didn’t have time yesterday to buy me some school supplies. The only things I had for today was a notebook and some pencils. To make my backpack look full, I stuffed a hoodie inside.

To admit, I was a nervous wreck. My plan for today was to be the quiet, unnoticeable girl and hopefully unapproachable. I really wasn’t in the mood to talk. My first night, in the closet, was a rather uncomfortable one. I couldn’t get my mind set on sleeping. I was thinking about too many things at once and my mind felt like it was about to explode. Just as I was drifting off to sleep, I heard the alarm clock go off, and I wanted to murder it.

Not a great way to start the day.

As we pulled into the school parking lot, I knew we were late. The parking lot was packed. We had to park in the way back, where most of the empty spaces were. Gabe parked the truck diagonal over two car lines. I would have found this annoying but I didn’t have time to argue. I jumped out of the passenger seat, and impatiently watch Gabe casually getting out of his side. Irritating as he was, I had to wait for Gabe to walk with me because I had no clue where to go.

“Hurry up, Gabe.” I said intolerantly.

He got out of the truck, slamming his door. He grabs a binder and stuffs some pens into his pocket. We started walking towards the back entrance of the school. There was couple of other students that were also late. They didn’t look at us, although, concentrating on other things more important. I overheard a guy’s conversation on the phone with his parent as we passed.

“Mom, you have to call in before I go up there. She won’t give me another pass unless I’m excused.” He said nervously.

We arrived at the attendance office. We got behind the other students, who were already had formed a straight line, waiting for our passes. Gabe said hi to a few of them, but stayed by my side. This put my nerves a little bit at ease. I would never have thought Gabe to be this nice towards me. When we finally got to the front of the line, I understood why the guy was so scared. I also figured out why Gabe needed me to be by his side.

The attendance lady was threatening looking. She was old and wore thin, rectangular glasses that slightly hid her dark, brown eyes. Wrinkles were spotted nearly everywhere around her small forehead and circling around her eyes and lips. This only made her even more frightening. She was wearing a hot pink dress. The dress was too bright that I could hardly make out her name tag, which said, Ms. Abba Johnson. She was talking on the phone with someone, nodding aimlessly to the person’s words. She pointed at us to come forward.

She was standing behind a tall, wooden counter. The room she was in looked like the hallway. The walls were white but were covered with calendar, some news ads about the school, and school clubs. The floor where we were standing was just plain grey tile. She was standing on flat, navy carpet.

“Gabriel Striker, this is your second time being here this week. What’s your excuse this time?” Ms. Johnson asked after she hanged up the phone.

“Actually, I was late the other day because you see my cousin was in the hospital.” He wrapped his arm around me, trying his best to look compassionate. “I’m late today because we had to get her.”

“Are you Marina Stonehart?” She asked, inspecting me with her eyes.

“Yes.”

“Do not make a habit on being late. Get here on time unlike your cousin here.” She handed a signed pass to Gabe.

“Always a pleasure, Ms. Johnson.” Gabe laughed, snatching the pass quickly from her outstretched hand.

“Get out of here.” She smacked him across the shoulder with the pad of late passes. She came around the counter and grabbed me by the shoulder. “Marina, we need to get your schedule and school map. You will also need your aunt to sign a few guardian forms.” She pointed at a student, which was helping in the office with her. “Take over the attendance office please.”

“Ok.” The girl said shyly.

The girl got up and I heard a few of the students cheer. They had gotten lucky. I followed Ms. Johnson to another office. This one was stock with file cabinets and a stack of unused chairs. She opened one of the file cabinets and pulled out some papers and handed them to me. She led me to the front office again and looked through some papers and handed me a schedule.

“We usually don’t get students in the middle semester. Hopefully, the adjustment here will move quickly for you.” She pulled a map of the school, and started highlighting parts of the school. “I suggest joining a club, or some of the sports will help with the adjustment.”

“I will think about it.”

She nodded and handed the map to me. She peered around the corner and said down a smaller hallway. “Aria, can you come help a new student?”

A short, skinny girl came out the nurse’s office, smiling cheerfully. She looked like a slightly rocker and halfway pixie with a short, round face with cropped, straight bangs. She was a brunette with some highlights. She was wearing a small, floral day dress with gladiator sandals. Aria looked me over, her green eyes shining, and took my schedule.

“Bye Ms. Johnson.” She said as we exited the office through another door.

We walked into another hallway. These hallway walls were covered by lockers. A handful of students were going through some of their things. Others were just conversing on the latest gossip. I doubt my name was going to be in any of those conversations. This was a big school, and a new student was unlikely the biggest topic to talk about.

“I will show all your classes are in order so you don’t get confused. Sometimes, they switch around the classrooms but, usually they tell us. Not all the time but you will get the hang of it.”

“Is there anything I should know about this school?”

“Not really. It’s just your basic high school. We do have cameras in the hallways though.” Aria pointed out a few as we passed by. “They like to spy on us.”

“Wow.”

We heard the bell ring. Students started exiting out of their classes, conversations starting up. The loud voices of students’ laughter filled the emptiness of the hallways. Aria led me to a back staircase.

“I guess we don’t have time, to go through the whole list.” She handed me back my schedule. “You’re next class is with me, so let’s just head there.”

We headed up the stairs passed some others lining up outside the classrooms. Aria ignored most of the students. I would think that a girl dressed like Aria would be more popular. But yet, not a single student said hi to her, or waved to her. It was more like we were both new students. Aria walked into the classroom and introduced me to the teacher.

Mr. Dodd was a tall, slender man. He was wearing suit pants and a dress shirt with a vest over. He looked maybe in his thirties, but some of his blonde hair was already disappearing. He smiled.

“I won’t make you introduce yourself to the whole class.” He said to me. I felt relieved knowing that I didn’t have to make a complete introduction about myself to an entire class. He looked at Aria. “Do you think she can join your group?”

“Certainly, we will gladly take one more.”
“Perfect. Here’s a packet then, Marina.” Mr. Dodd handed me a pile of light blue paper. “You will need to copy down the things you missed from Aria or your other group members. Just make sure you study it by next Tuesday, okay.” He said while exiting through the door.

“Thank you.” I followed Aria to a back table.

I looked around the room. I could see how the groups were separated into social class. You have some girls that looked more concerned about their cell phones than their packets or class. Another table had some guys who looked like they were all really tired, piling their heads on top of the school books. There was another group that was boy and girl mixed but they were all couples, one way or another.
Compared to the rest of the room, Aria’s table only had one other girl sitting at it. Her skin was light brown, and her dark cocoa, brown hair fell over her face, hidden from me. Aria sat right next to her, and I pulled a seat next to Aria.

“Tammie, we have a new kid joining us, this is Marina. Marina, this is Tamara.”

“Hi.” I said shortly, not really sure what to say.

“Great, now maybe we will have a chance at getting more points.” She looked up at me. Her hazel eyes were intriguing, very beautiful like gold. “We really have to beat the Comic Con Zeros.” She pointed at a group of boys, who were all looking at a video on one of the boys’ iPod.

“Tamara, their team name is Comic Con Heroes.” Aria corrected.

“Whatever.”

“What is our team name?” I was hoping it wasn’t as cheesy as the nerds.

“The Quiet Ones.” Aria said ecstatically, clearly she had come up with the name.

“That’s an interesting name. How did you come up with it?”

“Well, I wanted the Healers, but Tammie said she wanted something cleverer than that. Darien just told us to grab a dictionary and pick a word.”

“I finally gave up and let Aria pick our name.”

“It was too late anyways, Tamara. Mr. Dodd couldn’t wait forever for us to come up with a name.” Aria looked angrily away from Tamara and switch seats. She looked from her seat and smiled. “Ah, finally.”

I turned around in my seat to see what she was staring at. One boy came into the room just as the last bell rang. He slid his hood off his head and use his fingers to combed through his dirty blonde hair. His outfit was by far the best I ever seen on a guy. He took off the hoodie, showing his clothes underneath. He was wearing a dark gray tee, with sleek dark indigo jeans. It was simple but looked extremely good on him.

He came over to our table and sat down between Aria and Tamara. He placed his packet, which was crumbled into a little ball, on top of the table. He completely ignored my presence at the table, never looking in my direction. His eyes were never leaving the first page of the packet. I began to wonder what he was so focused on.

“Late again, Darien.”

“Only you would noticed that Aria.” He half smiled, a dimple appearing on his left cheek. “Where is Mr. D?”

“He left to get some papers. We are doing the usual group work today.” Tamara answered sounding bored.

“What fun?” He said mockingly.

“Do we do everything in this class as team groups?” I asked. I curiously looked to see if the boy noticed me speaking but he just unfolded his packet and began to read.

“Well, it’s tough to explain. He gives these packets of information and gives us the answers to everything. We just have to study them before the test and get a good grade. As team groups, we play games to help us study along the way.” Aria explained. She nudged the boy. “Darien, this is Marina.”

He finally looked up at me. His eye were normal shade of brown but had a tint of green. “Hello.” He muttered.

Aria was about to say something but stopped as Mr. Dodd came back in. He erased the whiteboard and turned on a projector, showing the answers to the packet. Aria handed me her packet, which was completely finished. I mouthed “Thanks” to her, she nodded. I tried my hardest concentrating on the packet but I couldn’t help it. I kept seeing what Darien was doing. He was just sitting there, his eyes fixed to the front of the room.

This was pretty much how it went the entire class. I was just curious how someone could stay so quiet. Even I couldn’t stay so quiet for so long. I checked my schedule and noticed that we had lunch next. I looked around nervously at the others. Should I ask to sit with them? Or should I wait and let them ask me? But why would they have any intentions on asking me? A silent battle went in my head that I jumped when the bell rang.

Darien got up quickly and stretched. “Let’s go.” He went to the classroom door waiting for the others.

I handed Aria her packet back and watched as she packed her binder into a bag. I built every ounce of courage in me, and finally asked.

“So, what do you guys do at lunch usually?” I was trying to make the question sound casual.

“It depends.” Aria answered, not even noticing what my question really meant. She made her way to door. I followed.

Darien, on the other hand, understood immediately. He stopped at the door and turned around. He stared down at me.

“We don’t eat here.” He said with distaste.

I understood. I mean school lunch was usually the last thing I wanted to eat. But, I was confused by his tone when he said the word “eat”. Like as if, they didn’t eat at all.

“I’m sorry, but we are needed elsewhere. I apologize.” His voice sounded apologetic and sincere.

I tried not to look hurt. “It’s okay, see you guys later.” I smiled and turned away from them.

I rushed into the crowd of the other students. I could feel them staring at me as I walked. I didn’t want them to feel sorry for me. That was the last thing I wanted. I should have never talked today. I should have stayed to myself. I followed the other students heading over to the lunchroom. I rubbed my eyes making sure there were no tears.

The cafeteria was already full of students. Most of them were talking really loud. There were three big lines, each having different things on the menu. I went to the shortest one, and waited for my turn. In front of me was a group of guys, which look like some type of jocks. One turned to my direction as we got closer to the food.

“Hey, beautiful.”

I automatically ignored him. I examined every piece of food on the counter before putting them on my plate. I peeked through my hair to see if the guy was still there. The guy was watching me carefully. Maybe I should say something to make him go away. But before I got a chance, his friends pulled him away. I paid for my lunch and saw where the guy was sitting at.

There were a handful of round tables in the middle of the cafeteria. The tables were arranged to look like a circle. The jocks were sitting at the edge of circle. I tried to find a spot away from them with no luck. The only empty table was right next to them. I made my way to the table, trying to keep myself from not staring at the jock table.

Before I could even take a seat, a group of girls came rushing in and took every empty chair next to the table. They didn’t even look up at me, even though anyone could realize that I was just about to sit down. I spotted a chair next to a blonde girl. I decided, what the hell, and moved over there. I pulled the chair out but the blonde instantly put her purse down. I swallow my anger and said politely.

“Excuse me; I was just about to sit there.”
A couple girls next to her turned to see what was happening. Some of them seem to be excited, probably hoping for a fight.

“So?” The blonde girl rolled her eyes, and went back to her friends’ conversation.

“Oh so you would rather put your purse there then let me sit there.” I said between clench teeth, because I was trying to smile politely.

“Is that not obvious for you?” She scooted the chair in.

“So you are saying that you would rather put your purse where, probably I don’t know, hundreds of butts have touched and rubbed on that chair, instead of letting me sit there.” I blurted out.

The girls at her table got quiet. They all immediately got out of their chairs, like it just turned into a hairy spider, screaming “Gross!” at different times. They all stared at me and the blonde hair girl. She grabbed her purse slowly, and stood up. She glared at me and turned away. She motioned the other girls to follow her. As they walked away, I heard her muttered to the others.

“What a freak?!”

They all laughed as they exited to the hallways. I threw my lunch tray down onto the table and exited through a back door. The back door led outside which was still chilly. I reached into my bag and grabbed the hoodie. I sat down on the grass, wrapping my arms around my knees, staring at the nearby forest. I began nibbling on my hoodie sleeves. How could one day have gone so wrong so fast?

I heard rustling, footsteps coming towards me. I turned around to see who it was, kind of hoping that it was Aria or Darien. It turned out to be the jock from the lunch line. I glared up at him.

“What do you want?”

“So, you must be new here?” He said stupidly.

“You think?” I said sarcastically.

“Just listen.” He sat down next to me. He was sitting too close to me, because his cologne was overtaking my area. “I know how it feels to be new, I’ve been there.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a card. “It’s a party at my cousin’s private beach house, this Saturday.”

“And you are inviting me because…” I know what happens to new kids that go to parties. They usually get publicly embarrassed in front of the whole entire school. I have seen a lot of movies knowing perfectly well that I am not going to be at this party.

“Because a party is a relaxing way to get to know people, there are no limitations, no rules.” He bumped his shoulder against mine. “Not everyone at this party goes to this school, so it’s not like you will have to ever have to see them again. Unless, you know you like them.” He winked.

I couldn’t help but laugh. The way he said it, it sounded like a cheesy line he ripped off from a romantic movie. I really hated those types of movies. I handed his invitation back.

“Thanks but I have plans.”

“Liar. You are a new kid in school, how can you have plans?” He said kind of angrily. He saw my face and added. “Sorry, I didn’t mean no offense, it’s just I’m jealous. I didn’t become friends with anyone until I joined football. I didn’t have any plans until after my first game.”

“Oh.”

“Look you can ignore me at the party, but this is a really great place to hang out. You can bring anyone.”

I could bring Gabriel, just in case, I did get in trouble. But would he even want to go? Especially, with me? I took the invitation back and finally decided that my new life needed a little change.

“I will think about it.”

He smiled.

The lunch bell rang in the distance.

“Shit, I don’t know where my next class is?” I hurried and grabbed my schedule and map out of my pocket. “I have Chemistry next with Mr. Johnson, Room 206.”

“Here let me see.” He searched the school map, and showed me. “It looks like you are upstairs, next to the bathrooms.”

“Thanks.” I almost left, but then turned around. “Wait, I don’t know your name.”

“It’s on the invitation, silly.”

I paused and didn’t know what guy ever said silly before. I looked down and saw at the top, Travis Newman.

“Okay, see you later Travis.”

“Later, Marina.”

I ran to the front of the school, and as I turned the corner, I peeked behind me. He was still standing in the same spot, smiling. I waved goodbye to him, because he saw me staring and I didn’t want to look like I was crushing on him. As I entered the school, something just occurred to me. I never said my name to Travis. So, how did he know my name?

Chapter 06: Prepare For The Worst
Darien

We had no choice but to leave her.

We had made a promise to Gabriel that we keep our distance from the girl.

This, of course, was not our plan.

We spread out our schedules to have some classes with her. I choose only to have British Literature and World History with her. I let Aria and Tamara decide on the others. I knew I couldn’t last watching her all the time. I was already having a horrible time in this so called school, that I didn’t need any other distractions.

I saw how disappointment fell across her face. She was confused about our negative response to her invite.

“I’m sorry, but we are needed elsewhere. I apologize.”My effort to make the blow less hurtful.

“It’s okay, see you guys later.” She forced a smile and left the room.

I watched her light, brown head disappeared amongst the other students heading to lunch. She was avoiding our stares. Maybe, Gabriel would meet with her at lunch. I shouldn’t have to worry about her every second of the day. I sighed and motioned for the others to follow. We headed over to the spot where we usually relax. Off campus. Behind the school, there was a little wooded area by a small creek. We hanged out there so no one could bother us.

Aria was checking out the sight for any plants, walking around picking at things. Tamara was playing with water, twirling it between her nimble fingers. I sat down on a mossy rock and closed my eyes. Aria was first to interrupt the silence.

“Did you see what she was wearing? She looked like she was freezing.”

“Maybe you should start dressing warmer.” Tamara suggested.

“I rather look cute.”

“Yeah but it’s going to be raining this weekend for sure. Maybe you should start wearing a jacket and some pants. Enough with the dresses.” Tamara said.

“Well, I helped dress all of us.”Aria sounded hurt. Ah, here we go. “The Radiant really need to upgrade on their books about humans. We were so out of fashion. You guys are lucky to have me to dress you. We would have stood out horribly.”

“You cut off most of my hair though.”Tamara pulled on her hair. “I liked mine long.”

“At least, she didn’t make you take a potion to grow out your hair. I don’t care about scene hair, or bangs or whatever. This hair in front of my eyes is annoying.”

I blew the hair that hanged over my right eye. We all laughed. I coughed when my Attain necklace started burning against my skin. This wasn’t normal warmth. Someone was using their gift and it was powerful. I got up abruptly and didn’t look at Aria or Tamara. I just ran towards the school. If the girl was using her gift, we had to stop her.

I wanted Leon to be close enough to get her. I wasn’t even sure if he was near here to find her. If she was using her gift now, someone else would find her. I needed Leon to find her, not any random Seeker.

“What’s the matter?” Aria asked as they came chasing behind me.

“The Attain necklace. It’s strong.”

We entered the hallway and tried to walk casually into the cafeteria. I searched the many students and spotted Marina. She was standing beside a full table, holding her tray. By her intense stance, and her forced smile, I concluded that she was angry of course. She must have triggered her shield without even noticing. I concentrated on her area and listened in on the conversation.

“So you are saying that you would rather put your purse where, probably I don’t know, hundreds of butts have touched and rubbed on that chair, instead of letting me sit there.” Marina asked a bleached hair girl. Some guys behind Marina laughed.

“Gross!” The girls at the table all jumped up. They all gave Marina dirty looks. The bleach hair girl looked up at Marina and just turned away. As she passed by us, she muttered to her friends. “What a freak?”

They all laughed and exited to the main hallway.

We all looked back at Marina, and everyone else in the school was also staring. Marina obviously heard them. She dropped her tray on the table and left through a back door. Aria was about to follow but I stopped her. My Attain was still pointing towards the guys table. I watched as a boy got up and followed after Marina. The arrow slowly followed him. Shit, this was not good news for me. It was definitely not Leon.

We followed after them and stood by the corner of the building, watching them. Marina was sitting on a hill which leads down to the forest which we just had left a few minutes ago. The boy walked slowly up behind her. Gabriel had warned us that Marina wouldn’t know anyone here, so who was this boy. I concentrated again on her area and listened in.

“What do you want?” Marina said, still clearly upset. By the sound of her tone, she must have met him before. But the possibilities of how they met could have been endless. Clearly by her tone of voice, she did not want him there. The boy should have taken this as a clue to get the hell away.

“So, you must be new here?” So, he wanted to start a conversation.

“You think?” Marina looked up, slowly rolled her eyes, annoyed.

“Just listen.” He sat down close to her. It was a human tactic to show that he was interested in her. I have observed this exact move on many of the humans here. That one move usually worked. Hopefully, not this time.

I couldn’t see any reason why anyone would have any interests in Marina. She didn’t have any qualities like a normal Nephilim would have. We were god like, and everything about us made us more inviting to humans. Our scent was appealing to humans, you got too close and it would throw off your senses, making you weak. Our voices were soft, and calming, making humans feeling relax. Our skin looked really pale in bright light, but in the dark we sort of give off our own glow. Our bodies never got cold. We give off everlasting warmth, which kept us warm in flight.

Marina, on the other hand, looked like a normal human. She appeared to be cold. Her hair was dark brown, and dry. Her voice was a nervous wreck and sometimes out of tone, nothing like ours. As for her scent, it smelt like spices and wet dog mixed but her hair gave off the slightest smell of tropical fruit. And her skin was, well, tan. None of these seemed appealing to us Nephilim. She was too human for my taste. But then again, some have fallen for these types before.

The guy reached into his pocket. It brought me back to reality and alert. I stared intently at his back. “I know how it feels to be new, I’ve been there.” He pulled out a card. “It’s a party at my cousin’s private beach house, this Saturday.”

Oh so he was trying to get her alone. Clever.
“And you are inviting me because…” Marina asked.

So, she didn’t have the usual human stupidity.
“Because a party is a relaxing way to get to know people, there are no limitations, no rules.” He touched her shoulder with his. “Not everyone at this party goes to this school, so it’s not like you will have to ever see them again. Unless, you know you like them.” His right eye twitched or maybe he winked.
To my surprise, Marina laughed. He smiled, his right eye sort of twitched again.

“Thanks, but I have plans.” She answered and handed back his card. I already knew she didn’t but he didn’t know this. He was taken aback by her answer.

“Liar. You are a new kid in school, how can you have plans?” He said intensively. He stopped and glanced at her surprise. “Sorry, I didn’t mean no offense, it’s just I’m jealous. I didn’t become friends with anyone until I joined football. I didn’t have plans until after my first game.”

“Oh.” Marina muttered. She didn’t look she knew how to answer to the abrupt outbreak of jealously.

“Look you can ignore me at the party, but this is a really great place to hang out. You can bring anyone.” He was coming up with a different tactic to make her come to the party. Well, we will just make sure she invites us.

“I will think about it.” Marina took back the invitation. Well, Marina just went back to human stupidity.

His face broke out to a smile.

What was this guy playing at? I felt a certain distaste and anger towards him.

The lunch bell rang. Some students came through the back door, covering us from Marina. Marina pulled out her schedule, hastily.

Aria gasped. I look back at her curiously. “Crap, I forgot to show her where her next class will be.” She moved but I stop her again.

“Shit, I don’t know where my next class is?” We heard Marina. She fumbled around with some papers. “I have Chemistry next with Mr. Johnson, Room 206.”

“Here let me see.” The boy grabbed one of the papers and overlooked it. “It looks like you are upstairs, next to the bathrooms.”

“Thanks.” Marina took a step forward but turned around. “Wait, I don’t know your name.”

“It’s on the invitation, silly.”

Silly? I laughed silently but then thought. Why wouldn’t the guy just automatically tell her his name? Maybe, he just wanted to seem more mysterious.

Marina paused and checked the card.

“Okay, well see you Travis.” She smiled.

“Later, Marina.”

We all watched as she ran to the front of the school. I turned and looked back at the boy. He was just standing there watching her. My Attain necklace was still burning. What could this Fallen’s gift be? It couldn’t be something controlling because he would have forced Marina to say yes. I stared back at Marina before she turned the corner. She looked like she was thinking hard about something. My eyes went back to the boy and saw him smile victoriously.

My anger reached its boiling point. I stepped away from the corner. The guy didn’t see me coming. When I reached him, the guy smiled at me, but then his smile quickly vanished. Just as sudden, my Attain necklace went cold. I watched as the guy’s eyes went back and his body fall down before me. Aria and Tamara came up behind. Aria checked out the guy and looked at me in shock.

“He’s human.”

It hit me. The nervous twitch in his eyes wasn’t because he was weird. He was possessed. Possession was one of the higher gifts of us. Whoever had this gift, can take over somebody’s mind and control everything. It was one of the hardest, and disturbing, gifts ever, and it was really hard to locate the Radiant who has the skill. Once they possessed someone, that’s where the Attain necklaces point. No wonder the boy fainted.

“We should take him to the nurse’s office.” Aria checked the boy’s pulse. “He has a weak heartbeat.”

“Leave him.” Aria looked up at me but didn’t object.

I checked the boy’s pocket and saw the invitation to the beach house. I pocketed it and told the others to follow me into the woods. I checked around making sure no one was watching us or following us. We came to our usual spot. I waited, listening to any sudden movements that weren’t ours. But nothing reached my ears.

“Possession.” I muttered.

“I figured, but the boy was in complete possession. Whoever did it, they are very powerful.” Aria spoke up. “We can’t let her go to that party.”

“We are all thinking the same thing. It’s the Heartless.” Tamara kicked a rock into the creek. “I don’t get it. The girl hasn’t used her gift for weeks. How is that even possible?”

“Unless…” Their eyes instantly went to mine. “I think this has to be Leon.”

Someone applauded, breaking the silence in our group. Someone came out from behind a tree. A young man wearing a hat, and black tux seemed odd to be out here in the forest. He had sleek black hair, combed back, showing off his beady black eyes. He was clean shaven and was carrying a jeweled cane. I looked down at his right hand. On his middle finger, it was shiny even though there was no sunlight today, was a titanium ring.

“Darien Cross, I should have known you would be on Knight’s case.”

“Julius Neverwood.”

Julius was a Heartless. He was the last person I wanted to see here so near to Marina. His gift was power augmentation, otherwise known as, the ability to weaken or strengthen anybody. His gift came in handy in war. He could stop anyone in their paths.

The reason I knew him so well, was because he was the one that trained Leon a year before Leon had escaped. He wanted to train me as well, but gave up, telling everyone he didn’t see any talent in me. He was the one that trained Nephilims to be more than Seekers. He wanted most of us to be Heartless like him.

“Your mother says hello and bids you good luck.” He smirked.

Another reason I disliked him. He was too sweet on my mother. He was always helping her in tough situations. She always told me to be kind to Julius for this.

“Give her my thanks.” I walked towards Aria and Tamara.

“Wait, Darien, I would like to have a quick word with you, concerning your search. Of course, alone.” He looked intently at Aria and Tamara. “Hello, my dears. I know you denied my requests to make you stronger. But if this quest fails, please do not hesitate to find me.” He smiled. His teeth were giving off their own glow.

“We will of course give you a private moment with Darien.” Aria said politely and gave me a warning look.

“Don’t take too long.” Tamara said, never taking her eyes off Julius.

They headed back through the path, going towards the high school.

“Human high school is not the place for someone who isn’t searching for more Radiant children.” He grabbed my shoulder and pulled me into a different direction. “Tell me why you are bothering with blending in with such lowlife.” He finished.

“I have my own business there.”

“Does it have to do with the fact that yet another Radiant girl is there? Tell me do you like this, Marina?”

Marina’s face flashed in my mind but I brushed it aside. “None of my intentions are in that matter.”

“So…”

“How do you know about Marina?”

Julius stopped and looked down at me. “I was there on the night.” He didn’t have to explain what night, I knew which one he was talking about. “I was searching for Gavin, my friend that is also a Seeker, I needed him for training one of my new students. I knew he was in Florida but wasn’t quite sure where. Anyways, when I did find him and we were heading back, we saw a fiery object coming down. We were curious since everyone knows planes don’t usually just blow up.” He laughed. “So, we inspected and saw you three save that girl. So for your mother’s sake, she does worry about you a lot, I investigated on what you were up to. And find out that Marina has a remarkable gift.”

“How come you didn’t take her to the others right away? Or come to me?” I know for a fact, that his whole entire story was rehearsed. He said it calm like none of it was a surprise. Like none of the events that had occurred that night were breaking news to him. I was also curious why he didn’t bring up Cassandra and Gabriel into the conversation.

“Well, it hit me that you might want to use this girl to bring Leon to you. Am I right?”

“Yes, in a way.”

“See.” He laughed again, his smile flashing. “I know you more than you think I do. So, what is next on your search for Leon?”

“So, you don’t know about the possession that happened just a few moments ago?”

“Yes, so are you going to let her go or not?” He said curiously.

I thought about it. I should let her go. But Aria and Tamara wouldn’t want this. Cassandra definitely would suggest not going. Gabriel would agree with anything his mum would say. But if, it was me, Aria, Tamara, and Gabriel watching her, we would be able to catch Leon. But why was Julius so keen on helping me?

“I don’t know.”

“Well, you think about it.” He patted my back roughly. “I have to get going. If, you do happened to see Leon Knight, I expect great things will happen to you in the future boy. Just think whose side you’re on.” He took of his suit jacket and shirt and spread his large black wings and took off.

Just think whose side you’re on. What did he mean by that? If he thought I would ever side with him, he clearly didn’t know me. But what if that statement meant, he knew about Cassandra and Gabriel but didn’t say anything about it. I needed to clear my mind on these things before I make my next step. So instead of heading back to school, I sat by our creek and waited till I heard the last bell ring.


 

Chapter 07: Pain
Marina

I headed up the backstairs, practically gripping my bag to my shoulder with one hand, and the map in the other. I looked desperately around for any sign of a bathroom. I dodged my way in between groups of people here and there, searching. None of the groups bother to move out of my way, so I nearly had to shove myself through them. I caught some people pointing at me and laughing, most of them most likely had witnessed my lunch argument. I tried my best to ignore them. When I finally found the bathroom, I rushed into the classroom next to it, right when the bell rang.

The classroom turned out to be a science lab. On the walls, there were posters covering every side of the room. Most of the posters were either school spirit or something about doing better in school. The others had some chemistry jokes on them. There were no classroom desks, just lab tables that seated two people. I glanced around for an empty spot, but it looked like everyone was assigned a seat. There were only two spots left. I moved towards the furthest one away from the front.

“Who are you?”

I turned around. The words had come from a small man, that I could have easily mistaken him for student. He was young, with oily black hair, big thick glasses that kept sliding down his stump of nose. He was wearing a lab coat over a sweater vest and suit pants. His arms were full with a messy pile of papers. I concluded that this must be Mr. Johnson, my Chemistry teacher.

“Are you the new student?” He questioned.

“Yes.” I let the words slipped through my lips slowly.

“Well, don’t just go sit anywhere. Please come introduce yourself to the class.” Mr. Johnson let go of the pile onto his desk. The pile slid down and spread out all over the desk. Mr. Johnson ignored it and grabbed a clipboard. He waved his hand for me to hurry up and start.

My stomach dropped. This is what I regretted since I came here. I didn’t want to introduce myself to a room full of strangers. Or for that matter, people that I will never ever know after these classes are over. I let out a huff and moved to the front of the room. Everyone looked up at me, all with the same expression. It was like they were all sharing a silent joke. I tightened my hands into fists, my fingernails digging into my skin.

“Is there anything you like to know?” I asked him, through clenched teeth.

“You can start with your name and where you came from.”

“It’s Marina. And I’m from Fort-.” I stopped shortly. Whenever people hear where I’m from, they usually laughed at the name of the town.

“Yes…” He urged me to continue, without looking up from his clipboard.

“I’m from California.”

“Yo, I’m from California.” This question came from a boy who was seated up in the front. His shaggy blonde hair fell over his tan face, hiding his eyes from me. “Bakersfield. What part are you from?”

“I went to school in Crescent City but lived north of there. Anything else you need to know?” My desperate way of trying to bring the conversation to a different topic. Any other topic.

“Wait.” The boy face went hard in concentration. The boy smiled and silently laughs. “You’re from Dick, aren’t you?”

The class burst into laughter. Immature as it was, it was true. I used to live in Fort Dick, California. I never understood why outsiders thought that was funny. Fort Dick was a small town that only had one school for its elementary and middle school students. You had to drive south to Crescent City to attend the high school there.

The name of the town wasn’t the only reason I was trying to let it go to a different topic. That was my ‘before’ life. A life I was trying to forget for right now. I didn’t need to remember my parents while I was at school. I didn’t need anyone to see my face of pain and regret. I wanted to keep my emotions to myself.

Like last night, the reason I didn’t get any sleep. I was focused on finding any reason on why I was alive and not my parents. I don’t know if Cassie heard me or not, but I was in that closet crying myself to sleep. The photos she gave me only made the abandonment that more real. I couldn’t come to terms with myself that my parents were really gone. Gone forever.

“Okay class calm down.” Mr. Johnson pulled me away from my thoughts. I regained my emotions and I focused my attention on him.

“Wait, I want to know something.”

A girl in the back raised her hand. I rolled my eyes. I didn’t want to answer any more questions. Let’s just get this class going already. As the laughs quieted down, she asked.

“Can she sit with me?”

My eyes widen at her and then I glanced at the teacher. He nodded. I didn’t expect that sort of question but was glad to get away from the front. I made my way towards the back of the classroom, trying to get away before any more questions came up. I place my bag on the ground and sat down next to her.

I observed her image more better. She had light brown hair that surrounded her perfect cheek bones and rounded chin. Her eyes were a dark green like an evergreen tree. Her outfit had a punk rock style to it. She was wearing a leather jacket with a tank top, over skinny black jeans, and boots. She was slouched in her seat and had her pockets stuffed in her jacket pockets.

“I’ve been there and done that, except when I introduced myself, I was soaking wet and my make-up was dripping down my face. I looked like a total zombie.” She laughed. It sounded like it came from a mouse with how silent it was. “One of my worst memories ever. The name’s Veronica.” She withdrew her hands from her pockets and sat up.

“Hi, and yeah I was hoping I wouldn’t have to do introduction.”

She smiled and whispered over her shoulder. “If you didn’t know, Mr. Johnson is the front office lady’s son. He’s new here. The guy gives most of the girls the creeps since his eyes tend to wander.” She looked me over, and smirked. “Spent most of his time in a lab at the university and now he’s here. Doesn’t get out much. We are all betting that he still lives with his mom.” She pointed to the front. On the edge of Mr. Johnson’s desk, a brown paper bag sat crumbled up into a ball.

“Couldn’t it just be from his…?”

“Shh…” She shushed me and told me to do the warm up.

My attention went to the front and saw on the white board, the warm up assignment. I took out my notebook and began coping the warm up. It wasn’t any difficult warm up, just something about ions. My concentration on the subject was flawed so I started tapping my pencil against the desk.

The repetitive tap, tap

was soothing. I just kind of zoned out all the other noises in the room. That is until I heard a faint, yet positive that I heard it, scream. I stopped tapping and looked around. None of the other students looked up from their papers. So obviously, I was hearing things. I ignored it and went back to my writing. I stared at the white board trying to figure out the problem in my head.

Stonehart

.

“Did you say something?” I asked Veronica, the only person closest to me.

“Not a thing.” She continued writing.

I stared at her paper and noticed she wasn’t writing, but drawing. I watched as her pencil traced across the paper. My eyes began ache and wanting to drop. Unwilling to sleep night was catching up on me, and now I could feel sleep, creeping up in my mind. I watched as her pencil did loop-the-loops across to the side of her paper.

Sleep

. A voice came from inside my head.

Her drawing started to form something. I watched more intently and watched it starting to form a black swirling hole. I edged my hand towards it. Why? I wasn’t sure. A feeling inside me wanted to touch the drawing, drawn to it like a moth drawn to a light. Like if I didn’t touch it, the drawing, itself, will disappear from me. I didn’t care what Veronica thought. I wanted this picture. My pointer finger was the first touch it.

My whole body began to vibrate, sending chills everywhere. Black shapes start to cover all the walls. The students became black blobs and Mr. Johnson just disappeared. My gazed went on Veronica, who didn’t go dark, but instead, she was giving off a faint glow. She rose up and I finally disappeared from the classroom. I fell deeper into darkness.

My body fell down into emptiness until it began to bump around. My arms were hitting against something hard. I finally noticed that I had my eyes shut tight. I opened my eyes and wished I hadn’t.

I was on a plane.

Or at least I think I was. Where else do they have small, full of hard plastic bathrooms?

There was a lot of banging around. My body, moving back and forth, was crashing into everything in the bathroom. I placed my hands on opposite walls to stop myself from moving so much. There was something oddly familiar about my situation. Like I’ve been here before. I glanced at the toilet hole and noticed a gray smudges everywhere around it. Puke. I was in here before, puking my guts out.

There was a knock on the door.

Another familiarity came to me. I felt like I knew what was standing out there. And whatever it was, I didn’t want it near me.

Another knock. I turned the lock and slid the door opened, afraid at what I was about to face.

My mom.

I was face to face with my mom. The impossibility of this moment happening to me, was vanishing from my mind. I didn’t want to believe in the reality that this couldn’t be my mom. That I couldn’t be only inches away from her. She was dead. There was no explanation on way she was standing right in front of me. Breathing.

She’s not dead.

I threw myself into her. Our bodies crushing against each other. I wrapped my arms tightly around her, never wanting to let go of this moment. I could feel her heart beating against my chest. She coughed and I finally pulled away from her.

I wrapped the tears away with the edge of my sleeve and stared at her. I couldn’t believe that she wasn’t gone. She was back. And the plane crash was just a nightmare. A horrible, out-of-control nightmare.

Her facial expression was unreadable, and she didn’t say a word to me. She lifted up her hand to my face. Her cold, soft fingers brushed against my cheek. She breathed in and whispered. “Marina, I’m sorry.”

I grabbed her by her shoulders and stared into her eyes. I wanted her to understand me completely.

“Mom, I’m not leaving. I will never leave again. I promise.” I assured her. I could feel the tears coming down my face. “I will never, ever leave you guys again.”

She pulled my hands down and kissed them. She let go of them and took a step back away from me. She looked down the aisle. Men were coming towards us, and a urgent manner. She looked back at me and I finally understood. Her face was stricken with sadness, and the men took her away from me. One guy came up from behind me and his arm moved across my chest and he pulled. I dropped to the ground and screamed for my mom.

I couldn’t let her leave. I didn’t want to be alone. But as I moved further away from her, her and the men went into darkness.

The guy took a handful of my shirt and dragged me downed the aisle. He didn’t care if he hurt me. He let my body banged against the aisles and aisles of seats. He finally threw me against a wall, my body crunching against the solid wall. I slowly fell to the floor, stuff falling from above tumbling all around my body.

I saw down the little aisle, that it was now a blazed with colorful fire. The seats turning into black, slowly. The guy blocked my view. I stared up at him and saw his hand covered with fire. He moved his fist down and was about to bring it into collision with my body. But something had blocked him, and the force of his blow. I still felt it though. Pushing against my body, crushing against my lungs, my breath escaping me.

And just like that everything disappeared, and I was back into darkness.

Falling.

“Awake.”

I bolted up from my desk. My eyes flew wide open with fright, the realization coming down on me. I was back in the science classroom. The brightness of the outside sunlight making whatever darkness in my dream vanish. I looked around to see if anyone noticed that I fell asleep. Nothing. People were still working on their warm up assignment. Someone place the hand on my shoulder. I jumped.

Veronica eyes looked at me with worry. But there was something different about them, like they appeared to be a different color. They seemed to be lighter than before. Almost close to white or gray. She looked at me funny.

“What’s wrong?” She asked me.

“Your eyes look different.”

“It’s just the lighting in this place. It happens to me a lot.” She shrugged the subject away. “You dozed off. Better not let him catch you sleeping.” She joked. I didn’t react quick enough because worry was written all over her face again. “You want me to take you to the nurse’s office.”

“No thanks.”

I touched my forehead, noticing that my hand was trembling. My forehead was covered with cold sweat. I didn’t need to cause my aunt worry, and I definitely don’t want to visit another hospital bed. I closed my fingers tightly into fists to stop the trembling.

I glanced at Veronica’s paper to see if she finished the warm-up. There was that drawing again. Except this time, it didn’t look like a black hole. It looked more like fire. I noticed that she shaded a spot in the center. It looks like a man’s figure.

She caught me staring. “You like it?”

“Where did you get the idea of fire?” I asked, sounding a little on the edge. I swallow and said. “It’s really graphic.” Like you were inside my dream.

“I’m not sure. I just began to draw at random and then it becomes something.”

I was shaken by my dream. My mom being there, didn’t look like nothing a dream. She was real. I was real. So maybe, this was more than a dream. I rapidly felt pain spread in my heart and I grasped my chest. I shut my eyes and concentrate on not crying.

“I think I know who you are, now.”

“What?” I shot my eyes opened. I was a little taken aback, and well, frightened. I also knew that she had changed the subject from her to me.

“You’re that girl that was all over the news. Something about a plane crash.” She pulled a newspaper article out of her bag. “I work for the school’s online newspaper. It’s my job to talk about local stories. I recognized you because well they have your school picture in there.”

I looked over the newspaper article. It did have my old school picture on there but my hair was longer then. There was only one article. I read the beginning and saw that police and investigators had blamed the accident on engine failure. I skipped over the rest to look for anything about me. I didn’t remember talking to any news reporters so, what could they possibly say about me? I unfolded the paper but Veronica’s hand covered the article.

“What?”

“There is nothing good about you.” She grabbed the paper and placed it on the table. “I checked everywhere. But all they say is that there was one survivor and it was you. They only mention your age and where you used to live. But that’s it. It’s like no one even cared enough to questioned you.” Her eyes looked at me intently. “Don’t you think that’s weird?”

I didn’t answer.

She continued. “This isn’t like one of those random crashes. It was big.” She rolled her eyes in disbelief.

She was right. This was something bigger. No one but the cops and the doctors had questioned me. Was that normal? What about my aunt? She would have been able to answer questions. Although she was a quiet girl and mostly kept to herself, someone would want answers. Someone like me.

Veronica let out a sigh and rolled her eyes again. Something caught her attention. “Is that what I think it is?” She pointed at my hoodie’s front pocket.

I emptied my pockets onto the desk and noticed the invitation had been sticking out. She snatched it out of my hand.

“How did you get so lucky to get this?”

“I’m not sure.” I answered truthfully.

“This is one of the biggest parties here. Travis’s parties are always in the best locations. Who invited you?”

“Travis.”

“What for real?” She said in disbelief. “Well, I guess I am kind of scary towards the guys since I drive a bike and all. I also have that whole thing ‘I am one of the school’s newspaper’s editors’ going. Man, I am such a nerd.” She patted her forehead with the palm of her hand.

“You drive a bike?”

“Yeah, I live with my dad and older brother. I am pretty much a tom boy and always loved helping my brother fix up old bikes and cars. My dad finally got me my very first bike this summer. Every since then, I haven’t been talking to a lot guys lately. I think I am ruining all of their testosterone around here, with me doing fancy tricks around them.” She put up her hands in defeat. “Oh well, what can you do? So, are you going?”

“I haven’t really decided.” I just noticing that she talks a lot when she wants to.

“What’s holding you back?”

“I don’t know anyone.”

“Oh.”

I looked at the invitation. Travis did invite me himself. That must mean he wanted me to go because him. But I still didn’t want to go alone. Even if I was lucky to find someone, I would have to convince Cassie to let me go. I glanced at the newspaper on the lab table.

People were probably talking about me. Talking behind my back, probably wondering how I survived the plane crash not the whole lunch fight thing. People are going to want some answers, like I needed answers. Do I really need that kind stress right now?

I handed Veronica the invitation. “Why don’t you go?”

“I would accept but not without you. Travis invited you. Himself. That must mean something.”

“It’s fine.”

Veronica nibbled on her lip and placed the invitation in her bag. She took out a pen and grabbed my hand. She wrote down a phone number, making my arm feel all tingly.

“That’s my number just in case.” She clicked the pen. “Just call and I will come get you okay. Thanks for the invitation.”

“Really, it was nothing.” I hated being thanked for something so small. It's just one party. Nothing big.

The bell rang. I gathered up my things and place them in my bag. I took out my schedule and looked down around for my next class. It was downstairs near the gym. It was going to be a long walk. Great.

“See ya later.” Veronica said over her shoulder and left through the door.

~~~~~

My last class turned out to be just a drawing class which wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. The teacher didn’t even leave his own office, so the class was more like a gathering. I did my assignment quietly to myself, didn’t even try to talk to anyone. I was concentrating on my dream. Before I knew it, my drawing turned out to be a picture of a shadowed figure. I crumbled up the paper and tossed it in the trash.

As the final bell rang for the day, I hurried out of the classroom. I was glad that my first day didn’t go as bad as it could have gone. Yeah, I got in a tiny fight but nothing I couldn’t get over with. The only problem is I wished I could get a grasp on my dream. I kind of wished that I didn’t wake up so I could have seen what happened to my mom.

I searched the crowd for Gabe’s head but with no luck. As I exited the school, I searched for his truck in the parking lot. But it was gone.

“Crap.”

“Hey, Marina!” Veronica came running down the steps towards me. She was holding a biker’s helmet under her left arm. “I just got back. I had to get a Baconator before I sit in the dull library with the other newspaper’s nerds.” She held up her finger like she didn’t want me to interrupt. “And, yes, I am qualified to call them nerds because I’m a nerd. Anyways, you look like you were searching for somebody. Need help?”

“Actually, I need a ride.”

“Really, why?”

“I know its kind out of nowhere. But my ride just ditched me. Well, I think he did. I’m not exactly sure.” I didn’t want to accuse him of anything before I knew his side of the story.

“Okay, fine. But you’re going to have to wear the helmet.” She tossed me it. My hands fumbled around it, barely catching it. “I guess this means I don’t have to pay you back for the invitation.”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

We head towards the back of the parking lot. Veronica’s bike looked expansive but didn’t really stand out. It was all black except some red swirls on the front and the word “Whisperer”. Veronica had done the same exact thing that Gabriel had done. She parked her bike diagonal over two parking spaces. Annoyed, but kept it to myself because I didn’t want to ruin my chances of getting a ride. She swung one leg over and patted the spot behind her.

I placed the helmet over my head and got on behind her. She revved her engine to start and jerked forward. I wrapped my arms around her fast and tightened my grip as she sped towards the parking lot’s exit. Whatever nervousness and pain I had, vanished as the engine’s vibrations shook my whole body. She took off again and stopped at the intersection.

“What’s your address?” She yelled over her shoulder.

“Turn left on Denton Boulevard. It’s on Colonial Drive.” I yelled back.

She gave me a thumbs up and sped off to my house.

Chapter 08: Bad News
Darien

It is times like these that I wish I had never come to Earth.

This place is where all the chaos was happening.

The Day Star was quiet and relaxing. A heaven replica. No threat of danger of any kind. No sickness, no darkness, and everyone there was civil. At least, that was what the Radiant Council wants their kingdom to believe. But underneath it all, there were secrets. Menacing secrets. Secrets, that the Council was willing to do anything to keep those secrets secret. That’s why there was no danger there on the Day Star. That is if you follow their rules. If you did, you were safe.

But this world, this place was quite different from mine.

I was sitting on a chair in a sky blue living room of Cassandra’s apartment. She was hesitant of letting me in here but what choice did she have. I have news and everyone is curious to know what I know. The only problem was she wanted Gabriel here for the news. We had to wait for him to come here without Marina.

I was annoyed by this request. I hated being alone with someone I didn’t really trust. I focused my eyesight on a human painting of a beach. There was nothing appealing about it. I was just keeping my eyesight on it to avoid someone else. Cassandra was at the breakfast bar. I could feel her eyes bearing down on me, but I forced myself not to return the contact. She was worried and it was only going to get worse.

This place was too quiet. It kind of reminded me of a past time. A familiarity of this room brought back memories. Back when Leon and me were consider friends.

~~~~~

Leon was no ordinary Nephilim. I met him when I was training. He was also training to be a Seeker. He didn’t have any special gift so of course, he was training like the rest of us. But he was different from me; he had power over the other Seekers. I didn’t have a gift, so the other Seekers completely ignore my presence. Not Leon. Leon was the friend I needed during those horrible times. Everyone accepted Leon but despised me. Who could blame them? I hated the fact that I was weak also. And because of this thought, Leon helped me through most of those terrible times. He trained with me.

He only left my side when he had to train with Julius. Julius was trying to train me also but it didn’t go down that well. He was right, to throw me out of his class. He couldn’t train someone who didn’t have any gifts. Leon, on the other hand, had the most amazing strength and speed. We were all fast, but he was faster.

Even though, we were becoming distant from each other, Leon was always there after training. We would mess around, playing tricks on the other Seekers. Then one week, he disappeared. I became worried but my mother told me that Julius sometimes takes his students to Earth to train. So, I waited for Leon’s return.

When Leon finally came back, he changed. His attitude towards humans changed. We used to make fun of them, only small jokes here and there because we were also half-human. I didn’t understand what brought his anger on them. Leon hated them, and hated being half of one.

I ignored this though because I was his friend. He was there for me, and I would be there for him. Then, he convinced me to do something out of my power, my limitations. He wanted me to help him sneak into the courtroom where the Radiant Council holds their trails. Most of us were never allowed in there unless, we were given a mission. Unfortunately, he convinced me that I could sneak because my mom was part of the Radiant Council. I was nervous but he was friend so, I did it.

I got caught though when I arrived in the Hall of Knowledge. I thought he got caught too, but Leon disappeared in time. He was fast enough to get away.

The guards threw me into a prison cell. I waited there in the prison cell, wondering what happened to Leon. I didn’t know how much time had passed, because there was infinity of sunlight in our world. No darkness. So, I would never know when nightfall had arrived to claim another day.

Me being here in Cassie’s living room, I was in the prison cell all over again. That’s what I felt like. I felt locked in, misguided. Not knowing what was going to happened.

Moments later, I was set free from the jail. I expected to see Leon outside waiting to laugh at me. But I never saw his face. I went back into training and never knew what happened to him. Weeks passed, and I finally saw his face posted on the Fables List. I ran to my mother and demand her to tell me what happened. She could not say a word. I told her whatever Leon did was my fault.

I didn’t learn that my words were a mistake until I got my mission.

When I found out that I was the one that helped him get that information. I felt unwanted. How could I have helped him? He wasn’t my friend anymore, he was the enemy and I was going to catch him. No matter what. Even if it meant sacrificing Marina, I was willing to let one girl go to save others, because Leon needed to be caught.

~~~~~

In the distance, I could hear footsteps rushing up the stairs to the apartment. I could feel the corner of my lips curving up. Finally.

“Did you guys finally catch him?” Gabriel asked after bursting through the door.

“No.” I answered in an annoyed tone of voice. It was obnoxious hearing that same question over and over again every week. This is why I hated the fact that we had to deal with a young human in our mission. He had jumped to conclusions too fast. He is such an unintelligent being.

“So, you guys still can’t find him, can you?”

“There have been complications.” I said.
Leon was somewhere near here. I was certain of it. My Attain necklace had warmth every time we visited Marina in the hospital. Someone was lingering close by. Stalking her. I made sure no one else was using their gift. But no luck. The necklace would be warm for a moment then cold instantly. Someone was here in Florida watching Marina.

“Complications? Right. You guys have been here for three weeks and still no progress.”

“I have a feeling you don’t like having us here.” I said mockingly.

“I believe you guys are just here to cause more problems for us.” He replied. But his thoughts didn’t stop there. “You’re not doing your job very well.”

“My job is no concerns of yours.” I said this last part somewhat defiantly. I wanted to challenge the human to see what he would do in his defense of his beliefs. I did not, however, let him know how much I wanted to smash his head in.

His brown eyes glared at me. What a time waster this guy was. Before Gabriel could continue, Cassandra told him to take a seat. He did as he was told. I smiled. He knew he lost.

“Now, what happened that you needed to see us?” Cassandra asked.

“I have news about the events that happened today. The Heartless are here.”

“What?” Gabriel asked stupidly.

“Anyone I might know?”Cassandra said ignoring Gabriel’s remark.

“Julius Neverwood. He claims to have witnessed Marina’s accident and saw me rescuing her.” I stared at Cassandra’s eyes. They were alert. She knew who he was. This is what I wanted to avoid. “There was also something else that occurred today at lunch.”

“Did Julius do something to Marina?”

“No. Maybe. Do you know what his gift is?”

“Of course. He was the one that trained me. He pushed me to make me stronger. He made me use my gift to find out some of the others past memories. It was horrible.” She moved her hand over her back. Tracing her hand where her wings would be. “He was the one that ripped my wings off.” She cringed at the memory.

“I didn’t know.” I was shock to learn this information. No wonder she was down here for so long. Even if she wanted to chance going back to our kingdom, she wouldn’t be able to. Some of the Fables go back because they don’t want to give up immortality. When they reach the Day Star though, they were trialed in court. Most don’t survive. “How did you become a Fable?”

“I failed Julius on a mission. Instead following him, I escaped. I ran right into a human boy. He helped me hide from the others. He kept me company. Then I made the biggest mistake. I fell for him. The others finally found me but before they could reach him, I erased his memories of me. Julius took me to the Council right away. I was sentenced to death. But instead of killing me, Julius ripped my wings and left me here. He told me that he will need my gift some day.”

“Do you think he’s back for you?”

“I don’t know.” She looked away and frowned. This news was unpleasant but I had a feeling Cassandra just stopped herself from telling me something. I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. “But what happened today?” Clearly changing the subject, even though, she needed the news.

“A boy was possessed today. Complete possession.”

“How could this happen on Marina’s first day?” Gabriel said quite lamely and quickly got up from his spot. “She barely gets to school and they are already on her.”

“We knew this was going to happen. I did suggest last week that we should have watched her more closely at school. But you turned down my suggestion.”

“Marina is going to know something is up.” He moved closer to me. I caught a whiff of his scent. He smelled like wet dog, with a mixture of some type of cologne. “If all three of you have the same classes, Marina would have noticed. She will start asking questions.”

“Well, I didn’t see you there at lunch offering her your company.”

“I was held up in class.” He replied with a quick look at his mother.

I was taken aback. He was with her. That’s why he didn’t come to pick up Marina for lunch. What is with these people? What were they hiding?

“So what happened to Marina? What did the boy do to her?” Cassandra said immediately.

“The boy gave her invitation to a party this weekend.” I replied. They eyes looked bewildered and stared at me wanting more of an answer.

“Is that all?” Gabriel snickered. “A party?

I controlled my frustration and stared at him. “Don’t you understand? Whoever possessed this boy wants to get Marina alone. Marina doesn’t understand. She is mostly human after all. If he asks to come up to the room, she will most likely follow.”

“Gabriel, Darien has point. We are not letting Marina go to this party.” She paused and went to the breakfast bar. She grabbed some newspapers and handed them to me. “I know Nephilims get their gifts when they are young. Some of these articles might be helpful for your search. They are some missing teenagers around this area. Some are missing since two years ago. I don’t know how your mission is doing this but I think you’re right about him creating an army. Marina would be next. She is the perfect shield.”

I walked over to the window. The sun was glistening through the cracks of the blinds. I looked over one of the articles. There seemed to be a lot of pictures of girls and boys. All teenagers. If Leon was creating the army, he was moving quickly. I don’t know how he was making all these girls and boys join him but Marina needed to be next.

But before Marina went to this party, I had to make sure Leon was the one who wants her there. I wonder if I can convince her to go. Maybe play toy with her feelings. Cassandra and Gabriel didn’t want her to go to this party. I just had to up the game. Make her think that they weren’t the only ones wanting her to go. She would get mad and think we are ganging up on her. All I needed her to do was get angry.

I heard footsteps coming up the stairs again. Softer than Gabriel’s had been. I listened intently. The person footsteps were coming closer to the door. I stared out the window as a motorcycle passed by. I heard keys jingling in the key lock but didn’t turn around as it opened.

Marina was home.

I waited until Cassandra went towards her then finally turned around. Marina had a newspaper in her right hand, and the keys in the other. She was staring right at me. Her face expression changed from dissatisfaction to a relief. Her eyes were a shade of green. It was almost like she was happy to see me. This made me a little uncomfortable. I looked away, trying to control my feelings and my expressions.

This girl is not going to be satisfied when she gets the bad news.

I hear human girls hate being controlled.

Hopefully, this was Marina. This was the time to observe Marina’s reaction and enjoy it.

Chapter 09: Grounded by Strangers
Marina

I waved good-bye to Veronica, with the newspaper in my hand. She gave it to me, so I can read what happened to the plane. Her attempt to be helpful and nice. She even told me that I didn’t need to tell my side of the story to her, because she was only in the newspaper to get the counselor off her back about joining a club. I’m glad I met her. I watched her helmet, now on, disappear down the road. I climbed the steps to my apartment, digging for my keys. I stepped on the last step, and rounded the corner. My mind was stuck on the newspaper. And the reality was, I did want to know everything that happened on that night but I was also trying to move on with my life.

Am I not allowed to complain of still being alive?

I stood by our door, fiddling with the keys. I had two sets of keys. One for the mailbox, and the other for the door. I also had tons of key chains that my aunt just happened to have. They all had a variety of quotes on them. My favorite was “Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead.” I wasn’t quite sure why this one appealed to me but it felt right to keep it with me. Deep down, I wanted to believe that my parents and I knew a secret. But now they’re dead, and I’m left to find that secret.

But then again, I was just fooling myself.

I unlocked the door and stepped inside. Surprise, surprise, Gabriel was already home. Knowing this, I would have been pissed off. I would have yelled at him for forgetting me. I would probably even snitch on him, but I didn’t do any of that. For one, we weren’t alone; I didn’t want to make myself look like a complete jerk in front of stranger. Then two, it looked like my Aunt Cassie wasn’t mad that I was walking in late. Alone.

God, how I wished I was alone.

It wasn’t just Gabe and Aunt Cassie. There was someone else in the living room, who had their back to me at the moment. He was wearing a hoodie and neat, ironed jeans. In his hands, he was holding a newspaper. Right away, my mind went to the article in the newspaper. News reporters. Since they found out that I was out, they probably wanted an interview. They didn’t even give me a chance to relax. How could my aunt just invite them in? She knew perfectly well that I wasn’t in the mood to talk about the accident.

“Gabe, Cassie, what’s going on?”

The guy turned around. Nope, definitely not reporters. Did not see that coming. I was relieved to see him and not reporters.

It was Darien. In the faint glow from outside light, he looked more freakishly pale. His appearance looked frightening and I saw nothing interesting of the boy. He looked a lot different in school. Cute almost but now in the dark, he was nothing but abnormal.

“Oh.” I was beyond shock now. I felt as my mouth dropped and opens a crack. I was loss for words. I mean I barely met this person and he was already in my house. Why?

“Well, look who just decided to drop by?” Gabe said sarcastically.

“WH-What?” I spitted out. I pointed a trembling finger at him. “You p-p-purposely left without me.”

“What? No, I didn’t. I sent a note to your class, saying I was leaving early.”

“Liar.” Finally, I found my voice. “So what have you been doing? Just hanging out?” I looked around the room.

Everyone fell silent. Darien’s eyes were fixedly on Cassie. Cassie was looking at Gabriel, sorrowfully, while twirling a strand of hair in her finger. Gabriel was glaring at Darien, noticeably mad about something. It was like they were at an unspoken battle amongst themselves. Each of them was blaming each other.

I stared at them, perplexed. “Okay, what’s really going on?

“Marina, how was your first day?” Cassie asked.
I searched my mind for the right word. “It was good.” I chose the one word that everyone understood and accepted. The room went silent again.

“We heard about the party.” Gabe blurted out.
All eyes went to him.

“Yeah, so?”

“We don’t think you should go.” Aunt Cassie answered before anyone else could say anything.

“When you say we. . .” I paused.

“I mean everyone in this room.”

Everyone shifted uncomfortably, except Darien. His eyes staring at me, hard, like he was examining me. His brown eyes were intensifying. I broke away from his gaze and looked instead at Cassie.

“But I hardly know any of you.”

“We were concerned.” Cassie replied.

“Concerned about what? It’s just one party. I’ve been to plenty of parties before.” At least, I think I have. Not really sure about my past life. “How do you guys even know each other?” I pointed at Darien and Gabe.

“We’re friends from school.” He said but with a hint of annoyance. Even Darien finally shifted his weight when Gabe said friends.

“Yeah, I can feel the love.” I muttered.

“Gabriel has mentioned to us about your conditions.” Darien said in a very stern tone.

Gabe hit Darien’s shoulder, which I noticed, didn’t have any effect on him. “What the hell, man? Conditions. You’re making her sound like some kind of mental psycho.”

“She does have mental health conditions.” Darien pointed to his head. “This party could cause more drama in there.”

“It could be too much for her to handle.” Cassie agreed.

“I still don’t think it’s a big of a thing.” Gabriel said. I was glad to have one person on my side. “She wants to have fun. There’s nothing wrong with that. I’ll just go with her.”

“Gabriel, we already spoke about this. The answer is no.”

“You’re going to believe him?” Gabriel raised his arms up angrily.

“You heard your mother. The answer is no.” Darien spoke as if he was talking to a little kid. I saw the side of his mouth curled up.
That’s it.

“Will you all stop speaking about me like I’m not here?!” I stomped my heel. They looked back at me. “What right do any of you have to decide what I do in my free time? This is a beach party. One party. If I am correct, people make mistakes and things happen. Well, let this be my mistake.”

“But what if it’s the wrong mistake? Are you actually willing to risk your life?” Darien steps toward me. Really close to me.

He was invading my space, but he didn’t seem to care. In the back of my mind, something was telling me to flee or back down. Our bodies were inches apart, I was afraid to breathe. I pressed my lips together, feeling nervous and anxious. His eyes staring straight down into mine. They curved up on the sides. I finally understood. He was making fun of me. He let a silent laugh. His breath was warm against my forehead. His scent crashed with mine, sweet and inviting. What was going on?

“You are not going.” He said.

“Are you going?” I blurted out. His eyes had me in a trance, that he was making me say things without thinking.

“That’s not any of your concern.” He smirked and stepped away from me, breaking the trance.

I took a step back, confused. Aunt Cassie came by me and hugged my shoulder. I was defeated. In a few seconds, couple of sentences, the strange boy beat me. How was that even fair?

~~~~~

Aunt Cassie and Gabe left the house with Darien. That is after I promised not to go to the party. But with every promise there is a loophole. I promised I wouldn’t go to the party. But no one said anything about going to a beach. And if I happened to meet someone at the beach and they want to go to the party, then I will accompany them so they don’t have to go alone. Safety first, right?

I picked up the phone and dialed the phone number on my hand. It was smeared so I ended up dialing two numbers before I got the right number.

“Hey, this is V.” The voice that came from the other end sounded bossy, and bored. This sounded like the right one.

“Veronica?”

“Yes?”

“Veronica, it’s Marina, umm, from Chemistry.”
“Oh, yeah. So you changed your mind about the party?” She guessed right away.

“Yeah.”

“What changed your mind?”

“Well, my aunt, cousin, and some guy.”

“Who’s the guy? Is he cute? Does he have a friend that I can take?”

“I don’t know if you know him. He goes to our school. He’s name is Darien.”

“Darien… Darien?” I can hear her clicking her tongue as she was going through her mind of people. “I only know one Darien at our school and he’s really hot, but also known as the creepy guy. He used to hang out with some of the jocks but he became distant. Now, he only hangs out with some weird girls, that don’t even seem to notice how hot he is.”

She must have got turned down by him. I would never consider him hot but creepy fitted the description. “I think that’s him and well, I don’t really know him.”

“But you’re going to the party with him?”

“No. He doesn’t want me to go.”

There was a moment of pause. “Wait, I’m confused.”

“My cousin, aunt, and Darien don’t want me to go.”

“That’s weird.” She paused. “Did they ground you?” I could hear a smile behind the question.

“Yes.”

“But you want to go? So, is breaking the law something you do? Something that puts you on the edge?” She laughed.

“Will you help me sneak out?”

“Do I look, or sound, like a bad girl to you?”

Yes

.

She continued. “Of course, I will help. Just tell them you’re coming to my house. I live near the address on the invitation anyways, so it doesn’t matter. It’s not like they’re going to stalk you and supervise your every move.”

“Ok, thanks a lot.”

“No problem. Just have someone drop you off, in the afternoon around one. If you can come around early, it won’t look that suspicious.”

“Ok.”

“I’ll come up with more ideas to help you. We can talk about it tomorrow in school. Kay bye.”

“Bye.”

I hung up the phone, feeling satisfied with my decision. I opened the bedroom door and peeked out. No one had come back. I checked the clock in the living room. It was only five. I may as well check the mail for Cassie. Even if I was mad at her, I wasn’t going to ignore my responsibilities.

I felt on the edge and yet, kind of disappointed with myself that I was disobeying rules. However, I wasn’t about to let someone tell me I can’t go to a party to meet more people. Because that’s all I was going to do. Meet more people. I stepped out the front door, smiling for my latest accomplishment.

“What are you so happy about?”

My heart began to pound, as I look and saw Darien standing against the hallway window. I hurried and made sure my face didn’t look completely scared to death and said calmly. “That’s none of your business.”

“Ok.”He shrugged and looked back out the window.

“What are you doing here anyway? What, did Cassie put you on guard duty?”

“I was waiting for my ride.” He gave me a strange look.

Okay so maybe, me suggesting that he was a kind of a stalker was a little too much. But he did interfere with my life, telling me I couldn’t go to the party. I hardly knew him. He shouldn’t put his nose in other people’s lives. Who does that?

“Should I be watching you?” He said jokingly. “Are you about to rob a bank or something that… deceitful?” He let the last word roll off his tongue.

“If I was doing something devious, I wouldn’t let you know.”

He moved away from the window, and came over to me. He didn’t say anything. He was just standing there, staring at me.

“Why did you come anyways, you know, to ground me?”

“I am a…” He paused. “A family friend. Concerned for your well being.”

“Whatever.” I turned away from him and rushed inside. Before I closed the door on him, he took the hint and headed for the stairs. I shut the door. I locked the door and checked that I locked it.

I can’t believe Cassie and Gabe told people about what happened to me. That was supposed to be a family secret.

I went into the room, and slammed my body onto Cassie’s bed. I stared up the ceiling, creating images that weren’t even there. I tried as hard as I could but couldn’t get comfortable. The last hours of memories were burning inside my head. I left the room and I tried the living room but it was just too dark. I finally got up. I wanted to be outside but didn’t want to see Darien. God, this whole day has become so complicated.

I went to the back door and opened it. There was a small balcony that overlooked the nearby street. We were on the second floor of the apartment building. The balcony could hold maybe a small dresser, but the balcony wasn’t the spot where I wanted to hang out. Gabe showed me, yesterday, how to get up onto the roof.

There was a tree growing so close to the balcony. Its branches covered some of the railing. The last branch was pretty far from the ground. It was almost impossible to climb the tree that way. I stepped onto to the railing and reached for the gutter. I took a grasp of the metal and pulled myself up. I used the tree branches for footing to push the rest of my body up.

I sat on the roof and started picking at the gray roof tiling. This was a good place to relax. On the other side of the street, was an telephone company which has one those big satellite towers right next to it. I watched some big ravens circling it, settling on its metal bars. Bored of watching them, I stood up and looked over the parking lot. It looked like everyone was already inside their own apartment buildings. It also looked like Darien finally left. I felt a breeze against my back bringing a fresh smell towards me.

I breathed in the new air.

“If you’re going to jump, you might want to hurry.”

I turned around too quickly and slipped on the roof tiling. I could feel my body falling, my heart racing. Darien grasped my arm before I fell off the edge, and pulled me up. I watched as the tile I was picking at, fall to the ground. I looked up at Darien. He smiled.

“I didn’t mean it literally.” He snickered and helped me stand up. Holding me close to him. My eyes went to his body and I noticed he was shirtless. His body filling mine with warmth. “You shouldn’t be up here, alone, you know.”

“Where in the…” I couldn’t think straight. My heart was thumping against my chest. I was positive he could feel it against his chest. “How did you get up here?”

“I was checking up on you. You left pretty quickly you know.” He forced a sad face.

“How did you get up here though?” I looked his body over and noticed his defined body and muscular arms.

“I climbed the tree.” He finally let me go. He bends down and picked up his shirt from the rooftop and pulled it over his head.

“You… Why were you shirtless?”

“That’s really none of your business.”

“Yeah it is. You were invading my space and you came up here. And…and this is my house.”

“Not up here.”

He had me there. But nobody comes up here. That’s why I picked it.

“What were you doing up here, anyways?” He asked.

“I was thinking.”

“Thinking? Dangerous spot to think.” His lips curved up on the right side. “Are you still mad about not going to the party? Get over it already.”

I ignored him and didn’t let him see my burning face. I slid to the edge of the roof and stretched my foot to the tree branch. He stopped me by grabbing my shoulder.

“Let me help you down.”

“I can do it myself.”

“Stop being a selfish human and let me help.” He jumped to the tree like a monkey and turned around holding out his hands. “Jump.”

“Yeah right.”

“Come on.”

“No.”

“I dare you.”

“I’m not a kid. I don’t believe in the whole dare game.” I looked hesitant at how he was standing on the tree. Why wasn’t he scared that he was going to fall? With my body weight, plus his, the tree branch was either going to break or snapped, which would cause him to drop me or, both of us will fall and hurt ourselves.

“Do you trust me?”

“Not in particular. I kind of hate you.”

He laughed. “I don’t like you in particular either.” He looked up at me, holding my stare with his eyes. “Just shut up and jump.”

I don’t know what made me do it but I did just that. I jumped feeling the wind brush up against my hair and skin. My body, seconds later, crushed against his arms, and he brought me closed to his chest. His arms tightened against my back and legs. My stomach filled with butterflies as he blew my hair away from my face. His warm breath made my eyes fluttered as the hair moved away. His eyes looked like a deeper green, and were now twinkling. He smiled a crooked smile.

“Do you trust me now?”

“No.” I said breathlessly.

“Are you still going to go to that party?” He placed me down and watched from the branch as I stepped down onto the balcony.

“No.” I repeated pathetically, only knowing that I was going to go no matter what he says.

“We’ll see.”He climbed down the tree, and jumped from the last branch onto the ground. I watch him disappeared around the corner.

My stomach was doing flips but I didn’t care. I made my way back to the balcony. I went back inside and walked right up to the front door. I checked all the locks. Both of them were still locked. I wonder how he got up there.

He must be amazing at high jump.

Chapter 10: Free
Marina

Sometimes you have to break the rules, just to get some control over your life.

I thought while I was sitting in the truck with Gabriel, heading over to Veronica’s house.

I kept fidgeting in my seat, staring out, hoping that Gabe didn’t notice my nervousness. Today was hot and humid, typical Florida weather. I had my window opened wide and had my head resting on my arm. I enjoyed the warm breeze every passing car would bring towards my way. I watched cars pass us heading over to their busy schedules. Saturday was a busy day. Everyone had plans today. Even I had a plan and it went down amazingly perfect.

Veronica couldn’t have been more convincing. She convinced Cassie that we be hanging out at the mall, then going home to do schoolwork. She wasn’t really lying to Cassie. She was just bending the truth. Cassie took it all in and said I could go. I think it’s only because Cassie thinks Veronica is my only new friend I made at the high school which is partially true. I mean besides Darien’s group.

Even though I tried to distract my mind from thinking about Darien, I just couldn’t stop thinking about him. It’s his fault, because Darien wasn’t at school for the past two days. I mean it’s hard to ignore someone when you are wondering where the hell they are. I heard his name pop up in my English class and of course, I had him in History. I looked desperately around to see if he was there. But nothing. He simply disappeared.

I just wanted to talk to him about the roof situation on Wednesday. He seemed to enjoy messing with my mind. In elementary the boys would just make fun of you and that meant they like you. Middle school, the boys would get their friends to ask you out. Now, high school was different of course and it was becoming more difficult to understand the male mind.

Aria and Tamara never talked about Darien. Like him missing school wasn’t out of the ordinary. Instead, they kept asking me if I wanted to hang out this weekend. I know, they knew that I was grounded from the party. They were Darien’s only friends so, I assumed that conversation had to come up. I was planning on asking them where Darien was but decided against it. I didn’t want them to think that I cared about him. Which is true, I didn’t have enough energy in my body to worry about him.

Finally, Gabe pulled up into Veronica’s driveway, and we both got out of the car. Her house was nice, better looking than an old apartment building. Her house was a faded blue with a white trimming, looking like it needed an update on the house paint. Most of the windows were big and opened. The front lawn had some green plants growing but was covered by a lot of sand. Not unusual around here since, the city is near a beach. The house part was small compared to the garage that was attached to it. Not a big surprise, I recalled V saying that her family were into automotive things.

“I wish I had this garage.” Gabe said, overlooking the garage. “I am so tired of working on my truck in the parking lot.”

“Hurry up.” I climbed up the front porch steps that led to the door.

“What’s your rush?” Gabe said coming up from behind me.

“I hate being late.” I knocked on the door. We heard the garage door opened. We both turned to see V coming around the corner and smiling.

Veronica was wearing a large t-shirt with pajamas bottoms which were a mess. There was smeared, black handprints all over the front of the pants and the sides. Her hair was up in a messy ponytail. Her face had one black spot on her cheek, and her face glistened with sweat. Veronica smile vanished when she saw Gabe. She looked down at herself and ran back into the garage. We followed in after her.

The garage was a bigger mess than Veronica. Tools were spread out everywhere. Nuts, bolts, screws, and anything in between were scattered. The concrete ground had new and old oil spills splattered in many spots . There were dirty rags piled everywhere. Then there was somebody’s legs sticking out from underneath an old car. The guy rolled out on a trolley when Veronica jumped over him.

“V, what the hell man?!” He shouted angrily.

“Sorry Set, need to do something.” V disappeared into the house.

“Whatever.” He glanced over at us.

This must be V’s older brother. Set and her looked a lot like twins. Well, if he had longer hair and boobs. He also had some black marks all over his face, hands, and clothes. He didn’t seemed to mind, though. His wavy, blonde hair glistened as he got up. He was lean and average height, almost a few inches taller than Veronica. He reached for the closest rag and cleaned his hand to shake Gabe’s.

“Hey, Gabe, didn’t expect to see you here. How’s the truck doing?”

“Trying to find a new exhaust and I might fix the interior.” Gabe shrugged. I just stood there not knowing what to say, since the topic was heading into cars which I have no clue about. “So, you’re in college already?”

“Yeah, business and automotive.” He popped opened the car’s hood, and stared at the car’s engine.

“Must be an easy A, huh.” Gabe stands next to him and stare at the car with him.

“Depends. We are doing basics right now.” Set looked over at me. “You must be Marina. Gabe go with your sis—”

“Cousin.” Gabe and I stated together.

“Why don’t you both go inside and have a drink? I will be there in a sec. Kitchen is just down the hallway.” He went back to inspecting the car.

Once we stepped inside, V was back but this time she had cleaned up with some new clothes. Her face was fresh with no makeup on but she really didn’t need any. Her hair was down and she probably just quickly brushed through it.

“Hey Gabe, I didn’t think you would be here.” She looked at me accusingly.

“Yeah, my mom couldn’t drop off Marina.” He rubbed his neck, uneasily. My eyes darted back and forth between them. “Just let me get some drinks and I will leave you two alone.”

“Let me get the drinks.” Veronica disappeared again through another door. We heard her fumbling through kitchen cabinets.

I stared at Gabe and his guilty face. “Oh my god, you guys are totally crushing on each other.”

“Shut up.” He was actually almost smiling at the thought. But the next instant his smiled vanished. “Even if I was, I can’t date anyone right now.”

“Why not?”

“I am busy worrying about something else.” He said distantly.

I nudged him in the shoulder. “Well, whatever it is, hopefully it will end soon so, you can find love.”

“Trust me you don’t want this thing to end soon.” He said, avoiding my eyes.

I started to wonder maybe that thing was me. Veronica came back with some cans of soda. Gabe left quickly before I could questioned him. I stared at his back before he went into the garage. Veronica handed me a soda and I popped it opened.

“Why didn’t you warn me?” Veronica said staring at the door that led out to the garage.

“I didn’t know you liked him. Or any guys for that matter.”

“Gabriel is like one of those guys that are friends with everyone but aren’t part of any of the groups. He separates himself from the others but isn’t distant. Girls go crazy for him.” She finished softly.

“Are you one of those girls?”

“Let’s get ready for the party.” She announced happily, changing the topic.

~~~~~

“What in the world did you pack?” Veronica asked while going through the backpack Gabriel lent me.

“Stuff.” I said from the bathroom.

I was trying to squeeze my body into a dress that Veronica convinced me to buy. For eighteen bucks, there was no argument. I sucked in my breath to zip the zipper but with no luck. The dress didn’t want to fit me. I was going to have to take this back. I regret no listening to Veronica about trying it out first. I opened the bathroom door and peeked out.

“V, the dress won’t fit.”

Veronica went through some of the bags of stuff that she bought. She pulled out some red cloth and showed it to me. It was a simple, red dress.

“No way. I would grabbed to much attention with anything that bright.”

“Just put it on Marina. It will make some boys actually look at you.” Veronica closed the bathroom door.

“No, it’s feels weird being too exposed.” I said while sliding into it. This dress was more loose and comfortable, but it came over one shoulder exposing my bare body.

“Shut up and just put it on. You will look great.”

“Come help me zip it up then.”

She opened the bathroom door and zipped up the back. She turned me around to look in the mirror.

“The red compliments your skin tone.”

I looked at the image before me. I pushed my hair to the side that showed the bare skin. The dress made my hair looked glossy, almost like a deep, chocolate brown. I hadn’t put any makeup on but my eyes still look the same as ever, brown, just a simple brown. But even though my skin was pale against Veronica, it wasn’t sick looking. It looked healthy, almost glowing.

I glanced at Veronica’s image and saw what she was wearing, and gasped.

“You get to dress in jeans and a tank, and I have to wear this.”

“It’s not just a tank, and some jeans. I am wearing a silky tank, to get a classy look over some distressed jeans so I’m not overdressed. I also am wearing some gladiator sandals, which I also picked you up a pair.”She handed me the shoes, looking satisfied with herself.

“Don’t you think I am a tad overdressed?”

“How do you expect to attract any guys, if you don’t acquire the proper outfit on?” She asked sarcastically. She went to the mirror and pulled out a mascara brush. She fluttered her eyes as she applied.

“I am only there for Travis.”

“Travis?” She gave me a bizarre look. “Didn’t you hear?”

“About what?”

“Travis is at home, resting.” She did air quotes, and went back to her makeup. “He passed out on Wednesday. Maybe too many work outs, I don’t know, but they said they found him outside the lunchroom, unconscious.”

“What?!” I said alerted.

I was with Travis, at lunchtime. Wednesday. I tried to think what could have happened after I left him. I try to go through the memories. He followed me outside. We talked, and I think he flirted a little with me. I left and he was smiling. He also knew my name but he could have picked up from someone else, not weird. But what happened to him, after I left him?

“Marina, don’t worry. It happens sometimes to some of the athletes. They overworked themselves and sometimes have too much pressure. Nothing unusual about it.” She came over to me and played with my hair. “I think we should put your hair up.” She lifted my hair up and started brushing it backwards.

I felt my forehead skin lifting as she pulled my hair together. She was right. I had nothing to worry about. I just have to keep reminding myself this. I wasn’t sneaking out to a party. I was just making a statement. Parties never get dangerous if you keep a clear head. I just have to focus on meeting the right people or hanging out with Veronica until I get bored. One party was never life-threatening. Those were only bars or clubs.

I have no idea what Cassie was worrying about.

~~~~~

The party was all kinds of wrong.

The party was huge. When I say huge, I don’t mean a crowded room where no one can get by huge. Nope this was more of a whole neighborhood party. The party was at one house but it seemed like the neighbors had joined in with the fun. There were crowded people on one street. The music was blasting, you can hear it like a mile away. Also, we were lucky to find parking spot. Veronica parked her car in the beach parking lot.

“This is crazy.” It was a intake of breath kind of moment.

She smiled. “I told you that Travis’s parties were the biggest and always near the beach. This is his cousin’s house.”

“Why would you need an invitation?”

“Because this is a private beach area. You can’t go hang out on the beach without one.”

“How will I get in?”

“You’re my plus one.” She reached the backseat and picked up something. She brought it up to the front seat. It was Gabe’s backpack. “Now, this is our emergency clothes and a safe place to keep our phones.”

“Why our phones?”

“Because at these events, your phone always tends to disappear.”

“Oh yeah.”

“Well, we will just stick our phones in here.” She unzipped the front pocket and a black book fell out of it. I handed her my phone and picked up the book.

I recognized it right away. It was the Fallen book from Gabe’s room. How did it get in my bag? Gabe must have dropped in there by accident. I flipped through the pages and there was a bookmark on one page. I just noticed that the writing in the book was all hand-written, kind of like a journal. On the right page, there was a picture. The guy, in the picture, had sleek, black hair and piercing blue eyes holding a baby. In the baby’s tiny hand, it was holding what look like a black feather. Ah, Gabe’s little fascination has become obsessive, I see. I placed it inside the bag, without a second thought.

“You ready?” I asked V.

“Let’s go.”

Veronica led me to the beach. I was thankful that she bought me some sandals. They were easy to slide off when we came up to the sand. If I was wearing sneakers, I would have got sand everywhere. Veronica stopped to roll her pants up. The sand was still hot from the day. The sun was setting giving a light glow on the beach. Someone had already started a bonfire. People were dancing around it to some music set up on a picnic table, where there were also refreshments.

“Invitation?” Some stocky guys came up to us. They were wearing football jerseys and they looked a little depressed.

Veronica handed him the card. He stamped our hands both with ink and moved to the next crowd behind us.

“That job must suck. Stamping hands all night.” Veronica announced too loudly that the guys turned to stare at us.

“Wonder how they got that punishment?”

“Who cares, as long it’s not us.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me to stand next to the refreshments. She handed me a drink and we cheered.

“This isn’t alcohol, is it?” I sniffed the cup.

“Good friends don’t let their friends drink. Especially, when they are my back up driver. That’s Coke, and I am only having one drink.” She took a long sip from her cup.

I rolled my eyes and took a drink from mine. I watched the waves crashing the shore, and the sky was beginning to change colors. I began to curl my toes in the sand, in a massaging kind of way. Warm and soothing just like the air around here. It was calming.

Veronica nudged my shoulder.

“What?”

“That guy over there is checking you out.” She pointed at a group of guys on the other side of the bonfire. One was staring in our direction.

“He could be checking any of us out. Or the fire.”

“Nope, he is definitely trying to catch your attention. Looking at you every few seconds.”

“Will you stop encouraging him? He’s probably wondering why you’re staring at him.”

I moved my attention on the people messing around on the shore, getting their feet wet.

“He’s coming over.” Veronica whispered.

“Let’s move.” I grabbed her arm.

“No, it’s too late, you will hurt his feelings.”

It was too late. His shadow took over ours and he tapped my shoulder. I turned around.

“Would you like a dance?”

Imprint

Publication Date: 12-18-2010

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
For my friend, Alicia Mireles. Happy Birthday.